Darunia: Disclaimer! Selphie Louise does not own the Legend of Zelda or any of its characters. They are the property of Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo.
Tingle: The characters she does own are Selphie, Iggy, and Jiji. The characters of Kage, Yugi, Mable, and Raven belong to Kearra. The character Ravick is the property of Selphie's friend, Patrick.
Chapter 11
The next morning Jiji got out of bed again and tried to forget what had happened. She went downstairs and found Selphie in the living room talking to Yugi, the twins playing on the floor. When she heard Jiji come down the stairs, Selphie looked up and nodded in acknowledgement. "Morning," she greeted.
"Hi, Miss Jiji!" the twins welcomed and went back to playing.
"Hey," Jiji replied. "Where're the boys?"
"Running furniture to the house," Yugi replied. "Link, Darunia, and even Ravick are out there."
"They just about got everything already," Selphie added as Jiji sat on the couch with them. "Not surprising the way Daru was carrying the big stuff all on his own."
"I think he and Kage were competing a little bit," Yugi smirked, and Jiji smiled too.
"So, I guess you'll be kicking me out again pretty soon?" she asked Selphie.
"Well, now you don't have an excuse to be sleeping in everyone else's house," Selphie replied, smiling. Her grin widened and a mischievous sparkle appeared in her eye as she added, "Ironic timing, considering Kage and me finally have the extra room to loan you."
"Oh, yes. Did you two sleep well last night as well?" Yugi grinned.
"Not as well as the night before last," Selphie rolled her eyes. "One step at a time, Yugi."
Jiji listened in bemuse. "What are you guys talking about?" she asked confusedly.
"Well, we'd tell you, but the kids are within earshot," Selphie answered, winking. Jiji narrowed her eyes slightly, but they shot open when she realized what her friends were talking about.
"Oh, gods! Are you serious!" she asked, lowering her voice slightly.
"Mm-hmm," Selphie nodded, trying to contain her smirk.
"But a week ago you and Kage were sleeping in different bedrooms!" Jiji whispered.
"Things changed when…" Selphie trailed off, remembering exactly what had brought it all about. "Never mind," she said. "I'll explain more fully later." Jiji nodded her head slowly. Suddenly there was a click in the lock and Kage walked through the door with Iggy, Link, and Darunia right outside. "Hello, love," Selphie greeted as Kage walked over and planted a kiss on her lips.
"Daddy!" Mable shouted, jumping to her feet and running to Link, who picked her up and kissed her forehead.
"I figure my work here is done," Darunia called from just outside the door. "I need to get back to Goron City… no snow there…"
"Bye, Darunia!" they all called as he curled up and rolled away through the frozen forest.
"The same may be said for us," Link said, setting Mable down.
"Dad said he'd teach us how to ice skate this winter!" Raven said excitedly as he took his mother's hand, gathering around his father.
"Yah… impatient little ones they are," Link smirked, putting the ocarina to his lips.
"Goodbye, all," Yugi smiled as they disappeared in a flurry of blue lights.
"Okay, you two," Kage said to Iggy and Jiji. "It's cold out there, and I'm not running back and forth across Hyrule Field anymore. You two have to cart the last mattress."
"Is that all that's left?" Jiji asked.
"Yup," Iggy nodded his head. "Once that's in there, the house will be complete and livable."
"Finally," Jiji smiled.
"Yah… now get outta here!" Selphie said, tossing Jiji's coat at her with telekinesis and pushing them out the door, closing it behind them.
"That wasn't very nice," Kage said, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her towards him.
"Ooh… are you going to punish me?" Selphie grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Maybe," Kage said puckishly. Selphie yelped as he picked her up and carried her across the room. "You've been bad! We must cure you of your wayward ways!" he declared.
"Gods, have mercy!" Selphie laughed as he made his way up the stairs with her.
Outside Iggy and Jiji had each taken one end of the mattress and began carrying it through the forest. "So you're feeling all better then?" Iggy asked Jiji as they waded through the snow.
"Top condition once more," Jiji replied.
"That's good," Iggy said. "We were all really worried about you. You were burning up and all, and you didn't wake up."
"Yah, well…"
They made sure to keep talking from the forest all the way across Hyrule Field. It was still so cold, the conversation helped to keep their minds off the temperature. When the house finally came into view Jiji grinned wide. Iggy glanced back and saw it, "What?"
"It's weird," she said. "I can actually look at that house and say, 'There's my house. I'm going home.'"
Iggy smiled, "That's part of the reason we finally got around to building this thing."
When finally they reached the house, Jiji held the mattress up against the side of the house to keep it from getting wet while Iggy fished out the key. "It's official," he said, unlocking and opening the door. He took his end of the mattress again and helped Jiji carry it through the door. They set it down briefly while Iggy closed the door again and then moved it right into the bedroom on the right side of the house.
"We set this thing down on the frame, and we… are… done!" Iggy said as they shoved it into place on the bed frame. "Phew!" he breathed as they both fell heavily onto the bed.
"I can't believe it," Jiji said. "This house is actually ours! No more drifting between Link and Yugi, Selphie and Kage, and Goron City and the field! We have a home base!"
"And I don't have to worry about breaking that promise ever again either," Iggy said. "We each have a bed now, and neither of us will ever have to sleep on the hard ground again, ever." Jiji laughed and then sighed.
"Well, I guess I better put those sheets me and Selphie worked so hard to make to good use," Jiji said.
"Yeah, they're right in here," Iggy said, standing up and walking through the next room, the kitchen, into the main room, the living room. He returned a moment later with a set of sheets and blankets topped off by a couple of pillows and set them all down on the end of the bed. "Here you go. I'm going to go take care of mine too."
"Okay," Jiji said. She stood up and got to work putting the sheets on her bed. About ten minutes later she took her bow- which had remained onsite the whole time and somehow managed to make it to her room- off the table and lit a fire arrow, sending it into the grate. Now her room was better lit and warmer.
"I was just about to see if you'd thought to do that," Iggy appeared in her doorway. She smirked.
"You know, I haven't really had my own room since I was ten, when we joined our class, and I can still remember making my bed was the worst part of cleaning it," she laughed, sitting down again. Iggy sniggered too, making his way into the room and leaning against the wall at the end of the bed.
He knocked on it once. "Hey, it's still standing! We must've done something right!" he joked, and Jiji rolled her eyes.
"You did a very good job," she said, pulling her feet up onto the bed and sitting Indian-style. "I'm pretty sure it won't fall down on us."
"For at least a week," Iggy added, making Jiji laugh again. "Yeah, I guess there are some things even I can't screw up." Jiji rolled her eyes once more.
"Please," she said. "You're very good at a lot of things."
"I know, I know…" Iggy said.
"No, really, Iggy," Jiji continued. "You do a lot of stuff you don't give yourself credit for."
Iggy turned his head slightly, sitting down on the end of the bed and crossing his arms over his chest. "I still can't take good care of you though…" he mumbled quietly.
"What?" Jiji asked, barely hearing what he said.
"Nothing," Iggy tried to shake it off.
"No, really," Jiji said. "Did you say you can't take care of me?"
Iggy grimaced, squirming slightly. "Well… yeah…"
"That's not true!" Jiji insisted. "No one has ever taken better care of me."
"Right… I get it, just explain it to the house so it will understand too…" Iggy said sarcastically.
"Iggy," Jiji said, moving toward the end of the bed. "Not only have you been there for me literally my whole life, you saved my life when we went back to Ikana, you kept me from freezing to death two nights ago, and to top it all off you built a house- with or without others' help- so that I would have a place to live."
"All right so I do take care of you…" Iggy conceded, sitting with his back against the wall.
"You don't just take care of me," Jiji said. "And everything you do is not just because you're a good person or because you don't want to see anything happen to me… You're my…" She trailed off looking for the right word.
"Your what?" Iggy asked softly, almost painfully. "Your brother?"
"No…" She closed her eyes, lowering her head slightly.
"Your friend?"
"No…" Jiji shook her head, raising it once more.
"Right…" Iggy said almost skeptically, turning his head away. He started slightly when he felt Jiji's hand against his cheek, turning him to face her again. It almost looked like she was about to cry. "Jiji…?"
"Iggy… you're not my brother, and you're not my friend…" she whispered. He sat up and held his hand against hers, and she stroked his cheek with her thumb.
"You're just… mine…"
Iggy was numb. It was the most amazing thing. They stared at each other for a few more seconds before Iggy opened his arms to embrace her. Instead, Jiji leaned forward, moving her head slowly closer to his, until finally they met, and, for the first time, they were definitely more than friends.
They didn't break away for a long time, and suddenly Jiji found herself pulling Iggy down onto the bed. It was like everything that had been hiding for seventeen years was calling, "Ollie-Ollie oxen free!" Nothing felt wrong, and everything felt right. And Iggy's bedroom may never actually be used…
End Part 2