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 13

Jiji held her hand to Iggy's forehead and asked if he was okay. He looked rather pale, hadn't said much all evening, and seemed kind of detached. Iggy shook his head, mumbling that he was fine. They had made it home and eaten dinner.

Jiji had to have been suspicious of him since the forest. He'd stopped suddenly, having reached the spot he'd planned to do it at. She'd stopped and asked him what he was doing. Iggy lost his nerve at the last minute and said he'd thought he heard a skullkid trying to sneak up on them. Then he did the same thing with a stalchild in the field.

The fact was he kept second-guessing himself. He'd work up the courage and then, when it came time to actually say something, he pawned if off on some imaginary stalker. Iggy felt like a total idiot, and it didn't help that she just shrugged it off. If she'd just pushed him and made him tell her what was really going on… she must have known he didn't really hear anything. He couldn't have been that convincing three times in a row.

Iggy picked at his food half-heartedly. Jiji was beginning to worry if he was sick or something. As he declined for a fourth time to actually ingest a forkful of potatoes, Jiji lowered her utensils and looked across the table at Iggy. "Iggy, are you certain you're okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine…" he mumbled.

"Are you sure? I mean, you haven't really said anything all afternoon and you're not really touching your dinner," she explained.

"I'm fine," he insisted.

Pursing her lips, Jiji picked up her silverware again. "…Cause if you aren't, you can just say so, and…"

"Jiji, I'm fine!" Iggy repeated, a bit more forcefully than he intended. Jiji narrowed her eyes at him.

"Sorry. I was just a little worried," she said. "It's not like 'I'm fine' really tells me a whole lot."

"It should tell you enough that I'm fine," he replied exasperatedly.

"Well, pardon me for caring. Next time I just won't," Jiji rejoined, cutting into her meat.

"Just drop it, please," Iggy said, quietly, returning to his food. "I'm sorry, all right?" Jiji shook her head slowly.

"Okay…" They continued with their dinner.

Iggy gave up on his food before his plate was halfway cleared. Probably the better half too… He stood up and cleared his place silently. Jiji watched him but didn't say anything, opting to continue eating. Iggy stood at the sink and washed all of the dishes they had left from breakfast as well. When Jiji was finished, she stood up and set her plate on the counter for Iggy.

"I'm going to bed. I'm sorry I snapped at you," she said, leaning over to kiss him. He nodded, turning his head slightly, causing her kiss to land on his cheek instead. She watched as he continued what he was doing for a moment, then turned and exited the room.

When she left, Iggy turned his head to watch the door, feeling thoroughly dejected. He didn't know why, but he felt that if he couldn't express his love in the biggest way, he had no business sharing it in the smaller fashions. When he was finished, he dried his hands and headed to the bedroom as well. He changed in the dark, so as not to wake Jiji, and then climbed into bed next to her.

The bed creaked beneath them as Jiji scooted closer and put one arm around him. Iggy turned his head slightly and glanced at her. Giving it only a moment's thought, he rolled over onto his side, facing away from her. About two seconds later, Jiji did the same thing, facing the wall… and pulling the quilt with her.

"Jiji, what's the matter?" Yugi sat with Jiji by the lake, watching as Link and Iggy took turns throwing the twins into the lake. Yugi studied her young friend's face for a moment. "Is something troubling you?"

It had been several weeks since she had helped Selphie baby-sit the twins while Iggy and Kage went shopping. Iggy had been acting rather strangely ever since. He wasn't nearly as affectionate as before and almost… avoided her, in some ways.

She knew Iggy was a guy, and guys aren't generally very good with the touchy-feely stuff, and everyone liked to joke about Iggy being a bit dense. But he still was usually pretty open with her about his feelings. She couldn't think of any reason he would suddenly withdraw from her. Unless… was it something she did? Jiji thought hard for something she might have done to make Iggy upset, but nothing came to mind. "Jiji?"

Jiji turned her head slowly to meet Yugi's gaze. "…Yugi, when you and Link first got together… did he ever become… reclusive?" she asked slowly, choosing her words carefully.

Yugi seemed a bit surprised and confused by the question. "Well, no," she replied. "But, then again, our relationship moved really rather quickly. It wasn't much longer after I got separated from Kage that Link and I got married and-." She realized Jiji had semi-lost attention. She shifted her gaze to the lake and saw Iggy. It made her think. "…Jiji, are you and Iggy having some kind of problem?"

Jiji looked over at Iggy as well. He seemed to feel their gaze and looked back at them, at which point Jiji immediately looked back to Yugi. "I don't know," she said somewhat distressedly. "I mean… everything was fine until a couple of weeks ago. But then Iggy just started to be… well, reclusive. He doesn't eat as much as he should either, and sometimes when I wake up he's already sitting at the table, not even doing anything. I thought at first he was sick, but whenever I ask him, he kind of… well, he gets a bit short."

Yugi listened pensively, staring off over the lake. When Jiji finished she thought for a few more moments. "…Did you happen to notice any specific point where he changed?" she asked.

"I dunno, a couple of weeks ago," Jiji replied. "Uh… I guess I really first noticed it the day we watched the twins, when Iggy and Kage went to the Castle Town." Yugi thought for another moment. "I've tried to think of anything I might have done to make him this way, but I really can't think of anything… Do you know what the problem might be?"

Yugi shook her head. "I've never encountered it before in my relationship with Link," she said. "You might ask Selphie, but I don't recall anytime that she and Kage were ever on the rocks."

Jiji drew her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top. "Great… I really don't know what to do, Yugi," she said.

Yugi placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "Well, did you ever try confronting him and asking what the problem was?" she asked.

"…Well, no… but that's only because I didn't think it would help," Jiji answered. "I thought about it, but I worry that it would only make things worse, that he'll be put out and retreat even more, especially with the way he reacts when I ask if he's feeling well…" she explained. "He's become so distant already. I don't want to risk pushing him away any more."

They both watched as the sun began setting behind the hills.

"Well… sometimes in love you need to take risks…"