Start Time: December 12, 2006; 3:39 PM, PST


Chapter nine, folks.


"…"

Zelda shook her head in utter disbelief, not wanting to accept what was happening as reality- as if she could, anyway.

She suddenly felt sick to her stomach; as if someone just kicked her belly. The room suddenly began spinning, and her vision was blurred out with tears, rendering everything she saw as nothing but a distorted image; it was as if everything was a painting with the colors melting and mixing together into a giant, meaningless puddle.

Through her tears, she could tell Link was hurting as well; it was written all over his face and in his eyes. Never before has she seen such a deep mix of guilt and frustration than the combination that was soldered into his cobalt pupils. It made her heart melt, but not in the romantic, heart warming way; it chilled her to the bone and almost caused her to double over in throes of anguish and misery had she not been sitting down at the moment. She could have sworn that she saw a few tears coming to his eyes…

He then blinked rapidly in an attempt to hide his emotions and forced a smile upon his face, and while he fooled much of the class, his mask didn't trick Zelda one bit; she may not have known him for very long, but she knew enough to know when his smile was genuine and when it was only a weary front, and this smile was anything but real.

The second Rauru left the room; the class erupted in cheering at the news that Link was their new teacher. The class liked Link a lot; they could relate to him on much a friendlier level than they could with someone like Madame Din. Link was someone from their generation, and he was a lot more laid back and lenient. In addition to that, he made the learning fun: he would crack jokes, he would add a certain extent of interactivity with the class during lectures by creating hypothetical situations in which the students took on the roles of important figures in Hylian history, and he didn't pile bus loads after bus loads after homework on them. It's only been a week after he began teaching at the school, and pretty much everyone on the campus has accepted him with open arms: all the girls liked him, all the boys looked up to him, and the staff had all the respect in the world for him. Part of it was attributed to the fact that he was a Hyrule High alumni, and most of the faculty have known him, being that he was very active in the school in both academics and extracurricular activities: he graduated at the top of his class, he was on the academic team, he was involved in ASB in all four years and the ASB president during Senior year, he was the varsity commander of both the rifle team and armed fancy drill team in ROTC, and he was their ROTC battalion commander. The teachers he had during his years at Hyrule High were some of the best he's had, and he spent some of the greatest days of his life at this school; the least he could do was return the favor by teaching there.

"Dude, are you really our new teacher!?" Asked Mikau.

"Was Principal Rauru really telling the truth about Madame retiring!?" Romani cried out.

"Yeah Mikau, I'm your new teacher for the rest of the year," Link replied, "and yes Romani, he was serious about Madame Din retiring. From now on, I will be teaching AP Ancient Hylian History."

In response, the class boomed in utter jubilation at the news of their emancipation from Madame Din once and for all. They all concluded that Din's constant screaming at them was a blessing in disguise; not only did it cause her to pull out from teaching due to frequent voice loss, but it also hooked them up with one of the coolest teachers any of them have ever had.

Link chuckled at their antics and sat on his desk, slightly kicking his feet against the sides. "Jeez guys; try to contain your sadness…" He remarked sarcastically. The class laughed and they slowly fell quiet so Link could begin teaching,

"As if you wouldn't do the same thing, right Link?" Romani shot back jokingly, taking her seat and getting out her pencil. Her question made Link smile somewhat.

"You got me there, Romani. I suppose I would do the same; Madame Din was never my favorite teacher, and I can't say that I found her teaching enjoyable…"

Romani smirked smartly. "Exactly."

"But still," Link tried to reason, "I'd rejoice in a more… you know… subtle manner, instead of…" He got off his desk and imitated some of the kids by howling and laughing and jumping up, clicking his heels together midair. "YES! Din is gone forever! The Goddesses really do exist!"

The class erupted in laughter at his parody of them. Link sprinted over to Romani and lifted her up from her seat and whirled her around in the air, tossing her up in the air.

"Oh blessed grace of the Goddesses that has delivered me from that witch!"

This caused the entire class to laugh harder, and Romani protested that she was put down between squeals and giggles. Link snickered lightly and complied with her request, slowly putting her down on the floor. Romani dusted off her skirt and the young man look down at her.

"I'd wait after class to act all crazy," Link told her and the class. "Or I'd at least pretend to look sad and I'd jump for joy in my mind."

Romani smiled and took her seat. "I guess."

Link beamed and walked back to the front of the class. "Okay kiddies, time for some school work! Get your books out and turn to chapter four, section one, and we'll discuss the events that triggered the Imprisonment War."

After Link had finished his lecture, he gave out worksheets that introduced what they would be learning in his chapter, vocabulary words to define, and questions that asked standard questions about the period of the Imprisonment War. The class worked diligently throughout the period, but a certain female blonde simply could not focus as hard as she tried to apply herself.

The event at the beginning of class- Link humorous imitation of her classmates, that is- lightened her mood somewhat, but it wasn't nearly enough to fully ameliorate her foul mood. Her feelings have been bottled up long enough; it was time to let them out.

She shot up from her seat, causing her chair to fall over, the loud thud rousing shocked gasps and yelps from much of the class, with Link included. He looked up from the computer screen, drawing his attention away from his creative essay over to Zelda who was trembling noticeably, tears beginning to form in her violet eyes.

"Why did you have to come back!?" The female blonde cried out, her voice cracking with overflowing emotion. Link looked at her puzzled, not having the foggiest idea of what she was talking about. After a short pause, Zelda ran out of the room and down the stairs, the sounds of her rapid footsteps and sobbing slowly echoing until it was too far out to hear anymore.

Malon was about to get out of her seat to run after her friend, but Link stopped her before her bottom was lifted off from her seat.

"Stay here," Link ordered seriously, looking at her straight in the eye. "I'll go after her."

Without a second of hesitation, he ran out the door and down the stairs, pausing for a second to figure out where she may have gone. A slight, chilly winter breeze swept past him, blowing the leaves of the concrete floors down the walkways. His long ears then picked up a faint, distant sound: it was the sound of a female girl crying softly. He followed the noise down straight down, running through a tunnel illuminated only by the sun's light and dim overhead lighting fixtures. All the classroom doors were closed, but the first giant entrance to his right was left open. He noticed a sign next to the door.

"GIRLS' RESTROOM."

He knew that he'd risk some serious squeals and shrieks if he were caught by girls if he were to run inside, but he didn't care; that's where the crying was coming from. He slowly walked inside, making his way through the winding entryway until he found himself in the middle of the restroom.

The room was brightly lit, and the walls and floors were covered in polished granite. It was a lot nicer looking than the boys' restroom to say the least, given that there was no graffiti on the walls of the stalls or tagging scratches on the mirrors. From the small cracks under the stalls, he saw a pair of legs crossed together. He cautiously approached the stall and stopped at the door. The soft sobs were somewhat muffled, and it seemed like she girl inside did not notice his presence. He knocked softly on the door.

"Zelda?" He whispered. The crying stopped immediately after he spoke.

"W-who's there?" The girl asked in a raspy voice.

"Is that you, Zelda?"

He heard the lock on the other side of the door click and it slowly opened, revealing to him a very tired looking Zelda. Her eyes were red, and there were bags under her eyes; she must have been crying for some time.

"Link…" She spoke softly. "This is the girls' bathroom! If you're caught, you'll be in trouble!"

He shook his head slightly. "I don't care. I want to know why you ran out the way you did."

The young girl rubbed her eyes quickly and walked out of the stall past him, over to a sink, and washed her face, trying to get rid of the bags under her eyes. Link walked over behind her. She turned off the taps and wiped her face on her jacket, and looked at him through the mirror.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, not taking her eyes off of his reflection.

He lifted his head to look back at her own reflection. "What… what are you talking about?"

She whirled around to stare at him straight in the eye. "You knew. You knew, didn't you? You knew that you would be teaching after last weekend, didn't you!?"

He paused for a moment before answering. He sighed softly nodded. "Yes, I knew. Rauru assigned me Friday evening before you called that night."

Zelda groaned in frustration and looked away, slowly shaking her head. She looked back at him with a stern expression. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Do you think I didn't try? I tried to tell you over the phone, but you cut me off! I was waiting for the perfect time to tell you that weekend. I wanted to tell you before we got in too deep. I wanted to tell you before we… you know."

The Hylian girl scoffed rudely. "Well we all know how well that plan worked out…"

His raised an eyebrow at her, starting to get a little annoyed. "Don't even begin to act smart with me, Zelda. We're already in some deep shit already. We don't need your petty remarks to make it worse."

Zelda's eyes began to widen at his tone; he's never spoken to her like that before.

"…So now what?" She asked him. He furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. "What do you mean, 'now what'?"

"I mean, what are we going to do now? We can't just go on with our lives, pretending that last weekend didn't happen, you know."

Link sighed in frustration and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know…"

Zelda smiled mockingly and turned around. "Why did you have to accept Principal Rauru's offer?"

"How could I not, Zelda? It's not like I can tell the future. I didn't know you were going to call me. I didn't know that you were going to ask to spend the weekend with me. I didn't know that we were going to have sex. I told him I'd do it before all this crap happened, so don't go around trying to fault me for all of this happening."

"But even then," she countered, "you should have known at least something would have happened, especially after school that day."

"What the hell are you talking about!?" He was beginning to lose his temper.

"Don't play dumb! We almost kissed that afternoon! That's more than enough of a hint that I wanted to be with you! We had it all, Link! We had it all, but then you had to take the job and now we're in deeper because of it!"

"Whoa, whoa! Excuse me!? I'm sorry for not paying attention to your 'hint,' but that's still no reason to place the blame on me! It takes two people to kiss, Zelda. It takes two people to have sex, and last time I checked, I'm just one person in his entire predicament! It's not my fault alone, Zelda; it's both of ours."

There was a short silence between them, and Link spoke up again.

"And even if I did know, and that he offered me the job after we slept together, were you expecting me to turn him down?

The female blonde turned slowly to face him. "Now you understand, Link. You finally see things my way."

He was speechless. Completely and totally speechless. "You selfish, little bitch…"

He didn't really mean what he just said; he was too blinded by his aggravation that he wasn't thinking clearly, but that didn't stop Zelda from hurting. His words stung her in the most painful of ways, like he had just smacked her senseless and punched her in the stomach. Her fists clenched tightly at his insult so firmly her nails started to draw blood. Without thinking, she shoved him away and started for the exit.

"Zelda, come back here; we're not through talking." He regained his composure and proceeded to follow her. Noticing that he was catching up, she quickened her pace.

"You come in dragging me into this giant hell hole of a situation… You call me a selfish bitch… As far as I'm concerned, Link Avalon, we're through talking- about anything."

Before she broke out into a run, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back so forcefully he accidentally threw her against a wall.

"I said we're not done," Link stated coldly, staring at her square in the eye. She looked up, not able to look at him, and winced at the slight stinging sensation she felt in her spine upon her forceful contact with the granite wall.

"Let me leave," Zelda demanded.

"Not until we sort this entire thing out together," Link told her. "You'll stay here until we sort this entire thing out, or at least get an idea of what we're going to do for the time being. Like you said, pretending none of this is happening isn't the best decision."

"Why… why didn't you just back out afterwards?" Zelda asked him. "You could have just called him back, saying something came up that restricted you from teaching…"

Link heaved a loud sigh in frustration. "As if I could. You know perfectly well that I could not do that, as much as I wanted to. He's me friend; I can't just back out of something like that right after I agreed… And even if I did, what was I going to say? 'I can't teach anymore because I slept with one of my students. Sorry, Rauru.' Fat chance!"

Zelda nodded slowly. He did have a very good point. She felt him place his hands on her shoulders and squeeze them tightly. "Zelda, you know if I could… I'd change this whole thing around in a heartbeat. I'd do anything just so we can be together without any restrictions. I'd get rid of this fucking social taboo if I could… but I can't. What's done is done, and at this point, we can do nothing but move forward. There's no time for regrets…"

His words rang with cold, hard truth in her mind. She was so foolish to even think that they could be together, without being judged, without being questioned. By the looks of things, their chances of getting through this were very bleak, and if they continued this secret relationship, they'd run the risk of getting caught, and the chances of that happening increased with every second they spent together. She wanted to blame someone- anyone- for them not being allowed to come out as a couple, but she had no one to blame but themselves. The cold, hard reality was that it was their own damned faults that they are in this entire dilemma. Had they had more control over their emotions, keeping their adolescent wanting for each other under glass, none of this would ever be happening.

No. She was lying shamelessly to herself if she were to tell herself that it was both their faults.

All of this was her own doing, and her own alone.

It was her naiveté that told her that she could find a way to be with Link. She was so stupid of her to try to find a way to be with him. She should have just left it alone, but did not do so, and because of it, both her and Link were paying the price for her idiotic actions. There was no denying it: was not Link who dragged them into this hell hole of a situation- it was no other than her.

Not only has she ruined her own life, she ruined the life of her love, and that was something she could never forgive herself for doing.

Link didn't deserve any of this. He had done nothing but his job: to teach her. He was merely doing what he was paid to do, and now he was slowly getting caught up in one of the most scandalous and seemingly hopeless quandaries anyone could ever hope to be in, and it was all because of her.

It was her who should have had more control over their emotions, and it was her who should have kept their adolescent wanting under glass.

This was proof to show her that Link was right; she was nothing but a selfish, little bitch.

She said nothing. She didn't move. She stayed frozen. She did nothing.

All she did at that moment was cry.

Link watched the girl before break down into tears. She slumped down onto her bottom, and he heard a soft yelp as she hit the ground. Her hair fell so that it covered her face, and as if that wasn't enough, she looked down, trying to hide her shame and disgrace from him.

If there was anything that was more heart-wrenching to Link, it was watching a girl cry. It tore and tugged and pulled at his innards. He could not stand the sight of a girl breaking into tears, and could not handle the sound of a girl sniffling and choking on her own sobs, and the fact that it was Zelda of all people, crying in front of him, only made it worse.

He knelt down and took her in his arms, placing her head over his shoulder so that her chin was resting on his shoulder blade. She buried her face into his neck and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly for dear life, as if she were going to die if she ever let go. He rubbed her back reassuringly, trying to calm her down, but it did little to help her. He whispered softly into her ear, telling her that he was terribly sorry for insulting her, telling her not to blame herself for everything, and telling her that somehow, someway, they'd find a way to be together, free from the prohibitions that restricted their freedom to love another.

Link just did not understand what was so wrong with a teaching falling in love with a student. He's never questioned the rule up until recently, and as of late, it has started making less and less sense. Why was it so horrible that if there's even a suspicion that something may be going on, they were almost instantaneously excommunicated from society? Was it that much of a scandal that they'd write people off as an outcast just for even thinking about violating it? Whatever the answer may be, he would stop at nothing to find a way out of it, for the sake of his and Zelda's relationship.

It wasn't before long that Link slowly began to cry as well. He didn't know why exactly; he just started to cry. Perhaps it was because Zelda was crying? He always found a girl's tears infectious, that it made him want to cry as well. It's always been like that for him, and he was willing to bet that it was the same for a lot of other guys too. Even then, though, rarely did he ever cry; he honestly could not remember when he last did. Sure, he'd tear up, but that's about it. He'd never let the tears escape the brims of his eyes. Every time he felt he was going to shed tears, for his pride's sake, he blinked them away and tried his best to keep them hidden. He was a man, and men weren't supposed to cry.

The girl pulled away from him to see crystalline tears run down Link's cheeks, much to his disappointment. She smiled weakly and wiped his tears away with her jacket sleeve. Link chuckled and sniffled softly and cleared his throat.

"I love you Zelda…"

His words evoked more tears from her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. She choked softly and pecked him on his lips. "I love you too, Link…"

He leaned in to kiss her passionately, pressing her deeper and deeper into the wall. She pulled him closer to her to the point that their bodies were so tightly wrought together not even a germ could slide through between them. He began kissing down her neck, and slid his tongue back up where he started only to repeat the action again, much to her enjoyment.

"I promise you Zelda…" He started between kisses. "I'll find a way to make this relationship work… no matter what the cost."

"No… no you won't…" she whispered softly. The young man stopped his barrage of kisses to look at her in total confusion. She then smiled and added on to her first thought.

"We'll find a way… together."

Link laughed quietly and dove back down to continue kissing his lover.

From behind a wall leading to the exit, a particularly round man in is late fifties, a large bald spot on the top of his head, and a bushy grey moustache with a deep, booming voice watched them intently, with an angry fire burning in his pupils so hot that he could probably drill holes through Link's head if he wanted to.

'Link, you fool…'

Then, the bell rang.

The man looked over to the clock that hung over the couple on the bathroom floor and he slowly took one last took at the duo slowly get up to their feet before he took off, leaving them behind just before they caught sight of him.

AT LINK'S HOUSE LATER THAT EVENING

Link was sitting at the dining room table with his laptop in front of him. It was rather late, around eight thirty, and he had just finished his essay. He pressed 'print' and the printer which his laptop was wirelessly hooked up to began whirring and started to print out his essay.

He walked over to the printer, waiting patiently for it to finish. Once it was done, he stacked them neatly together and place it next to his laptop. He picked up his tea from the coffee table and took a deep sip from it. It was then the doorbell rang. He walked over to the door, not looking through the monitor to see who it was, and opened it to see Rauru standing in front of him.

Rauru wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning. He didn't look very happy, nor did he look the least bit upset. His expression was emotionless, and that look sent chills up Link's spine. Whatever Rauru's reason was for being here, Link could tell it was urgent.

"Rauru…" Link spoke. "What are you doing here?"

"Link," Rauru started in a monotonous voice, "let's talk…"

The young Hylian nodded slowly, and then the older man continued.

"…About you and Zelda."


Cliffhanger moment… again. You're welcome. Sorry if this chapter isn't up to par. I make a reference to one of my other stories in this chapter- let's see who can find it. Review, please.


End time: December 13, 2006; 10:42 PM, PST