Divide – Yeah...I changed it on purpose .

A/N-

:takes Kit-Kat out of mouth and sucks at her Capri Sun: Oh, hi guys. Brain food, ne? Anyway, yes, chapter five, sorry I was evil and made you wait some more to see Layla's reaction to Link's kiss...Anyway, so yeah. I'll be a good girl now and make this chapter an exciting one. Here we go.

Layla was surprised at first, but slowly eased into the kiss and responded. She stopped after a while and slowly pushed Link away.

"Wh-why did you do that?" she asked, blushing. Link cocked an eyebrow.

"Why? What do you mean, why? Layla, you're amazing. I love you." He blushed as well and wrapped his strong arms around Layla's slim figure, pulling her into an embrace. Layla buried her face into his shoulder and took a deep breath, breathing in his scent. Right now, he smelled like the desert. Go figure. She slipped her tan hands around and to the nape of his neck, softly caressing the hair there.

"Link, you're more amazing than I'll ever be." She answered. Link smiled and pulled back, and then kissed Layla again. This time, Layla responded with more passion, her slim fingers resting lightly upon his muscular shoulders, however wet they may be from the rain. When they both pulled back for a breath, Layla slipped one hand down his arm and grabbed his hand, leading him inside to her quarters. She waltzed along over to her bed and sat down, grabbing a towel from underneath and throwing one to Link.

"What's this for?" he asked rather stupidly.

"Well, you can primarily dry off with that, and then...you can take a shower when I'm out." She grabbed another towel and slipped away to a room on the right and Link soon heard the sound of running water.

Layla took off her wet clothes and hung them over the rail in the wall, then pulled the lever for the water to come out. She made sure it was hot, then slipped inside the shower. She rubbed all the sand out of her hair and off of her body, then took the soap and scrubbed hard at both body and hair. She lathered and then began to rinse, beginning to sing a song she remembered from when she was just a wee little thief, and that her mother used to sing before she passed away in the line of duty.

"Why do you cry so, my dear?

Is someone you love far away?

Why do you cry so, my dear?

Are you too disgraced to say?

Why do you cry so, my dear?

Must you leave the one you love?

Why do you cry so, my dear?

Has your lover gone up above?

Why do you cry so, my dear?

Are you unable to love another?

Why do you cry so, my dear?

"I have lost my lover."…" Layla couldn't remember the rest, but she knew the tune and began to hum, content with just that. She never really understood the song, but it must have had something to do with her father. Layla never knew a father. She always wondered about those men with her young fellow thieves around the fortress. Who were they and why were they allowed in? Truthfully, the fathers were allowed to stay with the daughters in the fortress until the age of five, when they started the ten years of training that would determine their duty when they became of age at eighteen. (Yes I know, five plus ten is fifteen, but they get three years off :DD XD)

Anyway, none of that mattered now. Layla stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself, steeping out from behind the curtain back into her bedroom. She uttered a cry of surprise when he was yanked sideways and pulled into a pose, then dipped backward. She opened her eyes to find Link's beautiful blue ones staring back into her golden ones.

"You, my dear..." he began. Pulling her upward into an embrace. "...have a lovely voice." He smiled, and Layla twirled out of his grip.

"Thank you." She smirked. "It comes naturally to Gerudos." She twirled again and spun into her closet for a change of clothes. Link smiled softly and took his turn in the shower

Later, Layla and Link were both sitting on the bed with warm coffee in their hands, and Link was telling Layla about "The Great Mido", repeating all of Mido's insane tactics.

"The guy was absolutely full of himself, I'm telling you!" (:starts into her second pack of Kit-Kats:) he laughed. "Always, 'LINK! I'll NEVER accept you as one of us!' Well imagine his surprise when I defeated the virus inside the Deku Tree! Well...actually...he kind of just blamed me for his death, but, whatever. He's probably still bossing the Kokiris around or guarding some random entrance in the lost woods. Goddesses, I hope he gets lost in there..."

"I can understand why." said Layla lazily, adding another few sketchy lines to her pad of paper.

"What are you drawing?" Link asked, craning his neck to get a view.

"Nothing..." Layla leaned backward so that he couldn't see.

"Come on—Layla, come on I wanna seeeeeee iiiiiiiiit!" Link mock whined. Layla just scuttled out of his reach whenever he came close. Link smirked. "If that's the way you wanna play..." he pounced at her and began to tickle her, making her drop the pad.

"Noooooo Link nooo—haha! Stop it—hahaha! I'm so—haha—ticklish!" She began to heave as he stopped and grabbed the pad, looking at her current drawing. It was of him, of course.

"Wow, Layla, this is amazing! Where did you get all this talent? First the singing, now the drawing…" he flipped through the other drawings, of fellow Gerudos, Sheikahs, poes, and even the ranch girl, Malon. "I never knew you knew Malon."

"Oh, yeah, we're great buddies." Said Layla, arching her back.

"Really?"

"No, Link, I stalk her at certain times and admire her from afar." She scoffed. "Geez. Her mother knew my mother. Ever noticed her fiery red hair? Yeah, comes from Gerudo roots. Sadly, her mother died in labor and so, her father took her away to the ranch."

"Oh, wow. I never knew that. You are very full of surprises, now aren't you?" he ran at Layla and picked her up, spinning her around and throwing her onto the bed. "Anyway, it's getting late. Are we going to bed any time soon?"

"Sure, as soon as I brush my hair." Layla answered. She sauntered into her bathroom and reached for a brush, coming out a few minutes later, still dragging the brush through her hair. Once she was done, she pulled it up into a battle bun, so that it wouldn't be messy in the morning. "Let's get some rest, huh?" she smiled.

(:finished her capri sun and starts in on a Butterfinger:)

"Yeah. Do I sleep in that nice cushy bed with you, or do I have to sleep on the floor, like I do every night, when I'm traveling?" Link took on a pained look.

"Oh, stop it, you big baby. You can sleep in here with me until we work out some quarters for you. Climb in." she pulled up the covers and curled up, blowing out the torches and waiting for Link to get settled before giving him a kiss on the cheek and brushing some hair out of her face. "Good night, Link." She said.

"Good night, Layla." He gave her an additional kiss, both on the cheek and the lips, before they both drifted off to sleep.

But wait, theres more!

The next morning, Layla had gone out in the cool morning air to train with her fellow prison guards and Link woke up alone. After changing, he walked outside to see Layla training vigorously in a very neatly compiled form. They were in 5 lines of ten. And they kept slashing forward with their knives.

"HAH!" Left arm. "HAH!" right arm. "HAAAAAAA-YAAAAAH!" both arms. "YAAH!" spin attack.

(:begins a giant pack of Skwinkles:)

Link didn't have two swords, so he just watched, and when they were done, Layla jogged over, drinking deeply from her canteen, and wiped her forehead.

"Wow, I didn't expect you to be up so early." She told him.

"Well, I couldn't sleep with all that racket, now could I?" Link laughed.

"Oh, please." Layla pushed his chest softly. "Come on, breakfast is inside."

They walked into the main hall and there was the table, set magnificently with food, already crowded with hungry Gerudos. Link watched as the usually very serene and serious Gerudos shoveled down their food like hyper children. He warily grabbed some toast and bacon and ate it quickly, while Layla enjoyed just a piece of jelly covered toast. Then she and Link went back outside.

"So, what do we do today, Link?" Layla asked cheerfully.

"Hmm, well...we just defeated a terrible enemy…I say its time for some RELAXATION! Have you ever seen my horse?"

"You mean that pretty reddish brown one? She may have caught my eye once or twice. ...Why?"

Link whipped out his Ocarina and played a catchy tune. Immediately Epona came around to Link, trotting up to his side.

"Epona, this is Layla. Layla, this is Epona." Link jokingly introduced them as if they were at a party. Layla laughed.

"Pleased to meet you Epona." Layla petted the horses nose and no sooner had she done so then she had been whipped up on the horses back and was riding away with Link into Hyrule field, clutching his back. They rode into the green bright field, and rode towards the ranch.

"Oh, are we going to see Malon?"

"Yeah, is there a problem with that?"

"No, not at all! I was just not expecting that, that's all."

"Oh, alright then." Link stopped Epona right outside the entrance and Layla jumped up onto Link's shoulders, riding all the way into the corral, to see Malon where she usually is—singing in the center of the corral, petting some of the horses. When Layla saw Malon, she practically flew off of Link's shoulders and into the corral.

"MALOOOOOON!" She called out happily.

"LAYLA? OH MY GOODNESS, LAYLA!" Malon ran towards Layla and they hugged tightly. "I thought you had forgotten about me, I haven't seen you in so long!" Malon exclaimed in her soft southern accented voice.

Layla laughed and blushed softly. "Sorry, I've been busy training." Malon nodded. She looked around Layla to see Link petting Epona idly but staring at Layla.

"Training, eh? I don't think you're ENTIRELY truthful there..."

"No, well...we beat the Spirit Temple together and defeated Twinrova, and then, we got back, and we go in a fight, but then he apologized and kissed me in the rain, it was so romantic!" Layla squealed. Malon squealed back.

"EEEEEEEEEEEE! That's so cuuuuute!" Malon exclaimed. The girls giggled and Link looked over in that direction before leading Epona to the water trough.

Layla and Malon continued their conversation until Link came over and put his arms around Layla's shoulders from behind and kissed her when she turned her head.

"So ladies...are we gonna just stand around here or what?"

"Oh, sorry! Where are my manners?? Come on, we'll go in and I'll fix something up." Malon led Layla and Link inside and they sat at the table, conversing softly about random topics and drinking coffee. Finally, the sun began to set and Link and Layla had to go to avoid the Wolfos that attack at night. Malon and Layla hugged eachother and Malon and Link kissed eachother of the cheek like family and Malon happily told Layla and Link to call again, waving, while they rode away.

Once they got back to Gerudo's fortress, one of the Bridge Guards had Link and Layla both come with her for a meeting with Nika, the head Gerudo under Nabooru. Layla had a bad feeling about this, but nonetheless followed the bridge Guard as one of the other Gerudos led Epona away to the stables.

They were led to Nika's quarters off of the great hall, and they sat at a table, casting silent glances at eachother worriedly, until finally, Nika, looking very grand in all her Jewelry and other appendages, walked in and sat down opposite our Hylian hero.

"I have good news, Link." She said calmly. Link and Layla both let out a sigh of releif when she said that. "We've worked out some quarters for you, and they are quite near to Layla's quarters, so you won't have to travel far to see her, and you will literally be able to hear eachother throughthe walls, due to the failing of that certain wall a couple years ago…" Nika cast a glance in Layla's direction. Layla had gotten a tad bit too angry once and thrown a couple blunt, heavy objects at that wall..and…broken a hole in it. You can imagine the surprise of the neighboring Gerudo women when they spotted Layla, red face and heaving chest, then forgetting what had happened and walking away rather nonchalantly.

Layla and link looked at eachother and smiled, and were rather relieved until Nika sighed. "And I'd like to have a word with Layla...alone...please...now, Link." Link blinked surprisedly a couple times and nodded silently, walking out.

"Layla, you recall my pestering you to find a husband, don't you? Before you had ended your training?"

"Yes..."

"Well, when you ran off into the desert, time was running out for you, and you know how after the great battle between the King's men and our people has left many of our number dead, and we are becoming a weaker force, we need many more children, so, when...a young prince came to us and asked for a young woman's hand in marriage, we gladly accepted his offer and promised…you to him."

Layla had become more perplexed by the second as Nika had continued explaining the situation to her, and presently had her hands up under her bangs, pushing them back and stretching her skin up slightly. She finally stopped and put her hands over her eyes.

"You're kidding me. You are absolutely kidding me..." she mumbled.

"Well...no..." said Nika uncertainly. "And...he's actually come to call now. Here he is." She called to a guard and the Guard nodded silently, and opened the side door, revealing the rather arrogant-looking prince tweaking a piece of his long golden hair. Layla stared at him as his expression changed quite a bit and he walked over to her, grebbed her, kneeled on one knee and kissed her hand, rather elegantly. He looked up her and his green eyes bored into hers.

"I have never seen such beauty." He said to her in a rather strong foreign accent. Layla blushed and looked away. She didn't like this man, she didn't like him at all. She didn't like the way he looked, the way he dressed, the way he spoke or acted or even felt. Just his aura upset her. "I am Prince Cameron, and I would be honored if you would be my wife." Layla looked at Nika who nodded fervently behind Prince Cameron's back and Layla nodded before saying:

"I would be honored to marry you, as well." She took her hand from his and stood. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to get to my quarters. Goodbye." She left rather abruptly, leaving Prnce Cameron and Nika in a silence that was neither stunned nor releived. More confused and uncertain than anything.

"What did she say, Layla?" Link asked, following Layla close behind as she walked out towards her quarters.

"Oh, nothing Link, just some silly Gerudo business. Classified, sorry, Link." Layla said rather quickly without looking back at him.

"Layla…"

"LINK!" she snapped at him, silencing him immediately. Link clammed up and stared at her, hurt.

"Oh, look. There's where you'll be staying...uh...see you tomorrow morning." She pointed at the sign that hung above the door next hers that said 'Hero of Hyrule Resides Here' and almost ran into her room, closing the curtain of a door behind her. Link stared after her and then walked into his room. He located the rather rickety wall that had been repaired and peered through one of the cracks.

"Layla..."

"Go AWAY, Link. I'm not telling you what she said!"

"Come on, Layla, I don't want you to be upset...or at least I want to know why you are..."

"I'm not upset, I'm just surprised, that's all. Go to sleep."

"No. Layla, I don't believe you. Tell me. He was surprised when Layla's face appeared right before his and put a piece of cloth ofver the crak her was peering into and blocked him from view. Oh well. He could still pester her verbally.

"Come ON, Layla! Please tell me!"

"No, Link!" He could see her shadow behind the fabric, changing into her nightgown.

"Well, FINE THEN!"

"GOOD!" Layla turned out the light as Link jumped into his new bed and sulked. After a few minutes, she turned the light on again and took the fabric down, peering through to the already sleeping Link and sighed. "Goodnight Link...I love you..." she whispered sadly. Once she got back into her bed and turned off the light, Link opened one eye and peered towards the wall.

"I love you, too, Layla." He then feel asleep just like she had.

(:drinks down the rest of her water: NYAWWW it's soooo cute)

Link and Layla spent a rather odd day in eachothers company. A silent breakfast and a silent exercise, sparring together in the training field. Link won for obvious reasons, along with Layla's preoccupation. For the majority of the afternoon, Link was left alone to wander while Layla sat tensely with Prince Cameron all over her, trying to plan the wedding with Nika.

Oh yeah, Cameron bashing reviews are welcome! I hate him, too!

Around five, Layla rejoined Link for dinner and then went right back into Nika's office to be fit for a wedding dress, and then right to her room and began to read a rather large, boring, dusty book, just to have an excuse not to talk to Link.

"Excuse me, Princess Goth, but can I come in?" Sounded from her entrance. There was Link, soaking wet and in his Zora's tunic. Layla closed the book and stared at him rather exasperatedly. Link walked up to her and climbed on top of her without a word, and began to kiss her. Layla wrapped her arms around the sopping Hero and kissed him back, knowing this would be the last time she would be able to do this without sneaking around or being persecuted for it. She puled away and just hugged him for a while and he rolled off of her. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, he was holding out a beautiful sapphire bracelet for her.

"Oh, Link...it's so beautiful!" She took it from him and admired it. It sparkled beautifuly in the light and Link smiled.

"I knew you'd like it." He put it on for her and they smiled at eachother. Nika came by and spotted Link in Layla's room.

"Hey! YOUR CURFEW PASSED TWO HOURS AGO! Troublemaker..." she smirked at him. Link blushed and quickly shuffled out of the room and into his own after waving goodnight to Layla. A few minutes later, after link was fast asleep and snoring loudly, who should come in but Prince Cameron.

"Hello, dear." She said in his sharp foreign voice.

"Hello..." Layla softly said. He advanced on her and sat next to her on the bed.

"Excited about the wedding soon?"

"Er...yes...very excited." Layla said, not sounding it. Cameron glared at her.

"Good. Because you better be. You will be my wife, you will bear my children, and you will LIKE IT, do you understand?" he said, grabbing her wrist in an iron grip.

"Ow, Cameron, stop it, you're hurting me!"

"Oh, and what's THIS?" he said, catching sight of the bracelet Link had given her. "Is it a gift from Link, your LOVER?" he snarled.

"Nono, he gave it to me as just a friendly gift, really, I promise. It doesn't mean much." She said quickly.

"Don't underestimate me, DEAR. I know all about how you and Link feel for eachother. I know all about that boy. He has nothing to give you. He's a worthless little crime-chaser."

"No, we're just friends, It's not that big of a deal. Really."

"Really? Then you won't be too crushed if I just…HANG ONTO it for a while, will you, dear?" he asked, Deftly unclasping the bracelet and stuffing it in a pocket before kissing Layla roughly. "Goodnight." He then stiffly walked out and back to where he was staying. Once he left, Layla grimaced and spat at him.

"You bastard." She grumbled, and blew out the torches before falling into a restless sleep. That's possible, right? Yeah...you can sleep but still be tired...right? Yeah…

The next morning, Layla and Link spent almost no time together, as Link had gone off to find other things and hang out with some of his other acquaintances, while Layla planned for her fixed wedding with Cameron and Nika.

Shortly after noon, Layla and Link took a walk together that lasted quite a while and resulted in a short swim the the river and then a tired horseback ride back to the fortress. Dinner was happier this time, with Layla and Link wconversing about their walk cheerfully.

"Layla..."said Link, spotting her bare wrist. "Why aren't you wearing the bracelet I got you?" he asked, sounding hurt.

"Oh, I just, I took it off before we left on the walk. I didn't want to loseit or anything." Layla thought up a quick excuse.

"Oh, alright." Link turned back to his meal and Layla didn't feel very hungry anymore, and didn't eat. Link gave her a look over his cup. "You're troubled again. You can't fool me this time. What is it?"

"Nothing Link, nothing." Layla said, picking up her tea and drinking at it as an excuse. Too bad it was almost empty.

"You have to tell me."

"NO I DON'T!" said Layla, throwing down her cup and breaking it, and walking out briskly.

"Layla!" said Link, walking quickly out after her. The other Gerudos stared worriedly after them.

"Go away Link! Nothing is wrong!" Layla insisted.

"I don't believe you!" Link said, catching her by ther arm and gripping her houlders firmly but not firmly enough to hurt her. They were at the entrance to Layla and Link's rooms by now.

"There's nothing wrong."

"Yes there is! Look at me!" Link turned Layla's head to stare her deep in the eyes, and Layla justed stared back, heartbreak and love in her eyes, hidden way far back.

"Link..." she began uncertainly.

"Go on…" he said soothingly, though nothing could soothe Layla at this point.

"OH LINK! I'M BETROTHED!" she exclaimed, wrestling out of his now limp, surprised grip and running into her room.

Link cried himself to sleep that night.

...I refuse to leave you an author's note. Oh wait I just did. …yeah.