A/N: Update.

Review Responses:

Karlminion- I already responded to your review.

Karen Moondrop- Yes! I updated! Enjoy!

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Chapter Three: Number One

(Shep, Ann, and Gray; Highway 61, Oh, Forget It)

Green Ranch was (and still is) much bigger than my ranch ever was or is. The pastures were much neater and much more open (I really had my work cut out for me, speaking of those pastures) (I'm trailing). The fencing was really impressive- neat fence that stretched in a perfect set of lines around the perimeter of the farm. The buildings looked sturdy; but what was really great was the atmosphere. You could never go into Green Ranch and feel unwelcome, even with Gray's defensive antagonizing. Maybe it was Ann…

The only thing I didn't like at first was Shep. Shep was a sheep dog, and a big one, too. And he was taught to be very protective of the animals by, who else, but Gray.

I saw the dog from a distance running to me. I smiled and knelt down. "Heeey, cutie!" I called, "C'mere, boy, c'mere!"

Well, I guess he partially listened to me, because he ran over to me and jumped on me- all x-amount of pounds of him. "AHHH! Off, boy! Off!"

Two girls ran outside. One was wearing beat up…whatever that blue material was, and the other was Karen. "Hey!" Karen called. "Shep! Get off!" She knelt down next to me and tried to pry him off.

It responded by biting into me, the small, sharp teeth sinking into my arm. "AHHHOWCH! Get this dog off, please!"

I couldn't really see the others too well from where I was, but I heard someone laughing- a male voice. "This is rich. Hahaha," he laughed.

"Gray!" the other girl yelled, "It's not funny! Stop laughing! Get him off Link!"

How did she know my name? I put a palm down on the ground and my other hand on the dog's torso, trying to push him off. No use- the dog was all muscle, and knew how to keep its ground. I started to find it funny and finally plopped down in the dirt, laughing some.

"Fine," "Gray" mumbled. He laughed some more. "Okay, fine. Shep! C'mere!" he said. I winced- Karen later said that he "sounded like a Nazi," and after hearing one, I agreed. He whistled for the dog and it ran lopsided over to him. He barked. Gray hugged him, muttering, "Good boy," and giving him some kind of biscuit.

"No!" the girl contradicted, snapping her fingers as I struggled up, "Bad Shep! Don't attack Link again!"

But Shep had the innocent look on- even I had to feel bad for the little guy. His ears were tucked close to his head, and he whimpered. "Awww," I crooned. Karen stared at me flatly and rolled her eyes. I reached down to pet him, even with my bleeding arm. "S'okay, Shep." He lashed out to bite me again, but I withdrew.

"I don't know what's gotten into him," said the girl with a very cute smile. She had orange-red hair in a high hairstyle, and these BIG blue eyes, with a small nose and a small mouth. She looked very healthy and very happy, but with a ruddy country girl air that reminded me of Malon. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Ann, and this is my brother, Gray. Say 'hi,' Gray."

"Hmph," Gray grunted.

Ann rolled her eyes. "Excuse him. He's socially inept. But he's a good guy, once you get to know him." Gray grunted again- obviously he didn't like me. "And you're Link. I've heard a lot about you." For some reason, Karen blushed and turned away.

"Oh, really?" I asked, cocking my head.

"Yeah, really," she responded, grinning.

"No way," Karen said, interrupting. "Look, why're you here?"

I blinked. "I need to get a chicken. Takakura sent me. Also, I wanted to talk to you."

Karen looked at me funny. "What about?"

"Just stuff," I said, shrugging. "But it looks like I'm interrupting? I should go."

"No way! You have gotta stay," Ann decided. "Me and Karen just made lemonade. And you can talk to Gray! How fun."

I looked at Gray. Not to be mean, but when a person looks at Gray, "fun" doesn't really come to mind.

>>

Gray didn't prove very interesting conversation, 'cept when he told me I was "unusually naïve." I didn't understand that much, but it made me think a little. The only things I could really get him to talk about were animals, like my ranch animals, and some plants. I tried weather, but he just gave me a forecast in a creepily robotic tone that made me shut up.

Karen and Ann giggled and cackled and rolled eyes throughout the whole thing. The lemonade was good, but I'd never tasted it before, so I didn't know what exactly good lemonade tasted like. It was good enough for me, though! I stayed quiet, except when I tried to get Gray to talk.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Time to get a watch," Gray grumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"……"

I shrugged and asked Ann. "Do you know what time it is?"

Ann looked up at a cow-printed clock on the wall. "A quarter to ten- shoot, we gotta get going on that farm work!"

"I should get going, too," I said, getting up and stretching. "Takakura's gonna be pissed!" I laughed.

Karen rolled her eyes. "Isn't he always like that?"

We went outside- the sun was shining brightly. I wondered what season it was- summer? The end of summer, I knew, because the end of summer felt just like that in Hyrule- hot, muggy, humid. Good weather, just a little…gross.

Shep ran to me lopsidedly, and attacked me again, pinning me against the wood wall of the small cabin where Gray slept. "Ahh! Down, Shep!"

"Bad Shep!" Ann said, trying to pry the big dog off of me. Gray was laughing quietly in the background.

"Shep! Shep you stupid moron! Get offa him!" Karen snapped.

It may seem stupid to you, but when you really think about it, I couldn't kick the dog off me…and it was too strong to push back. I needed help!

Drum roll, please…

Sheik!

We heard a clear, high-pitched whistle from nearby. We looked. I felt Shep's weight lift off me and go to Sheik at the entrance to the ranch; Sheik knelt to him and gave him his hand. Shep licked Sheik's face and Sheik pet him. "Good boy." Shep sat obediently at Sheik's feet.

"Sure seems to like you a whole lot," I grumbled.

Sheik stood up. I noticed that his hair was…blonde. Well, not a blonde like mine, but a more dirty blonde. I also noticed how particularly short he was. Tee hee. "I was hoping to run into the two of you," he said, calmly. He looked up. "Bad news comes soon. I can feel that." He paused, looked through a leather satchel slung loosely around his shoulders, and pulled something out. It glinted sharply in the hot rays of the sun. "Here, take this." He threw it to me. I looked at it. It looked like a magnifying glass…it was purple, made out of a heavy mineral, with a small gold ring around the end of its handle. The lens of it was bulging weirdly out of it, and was a translucent purple color, like a purple film. I touched it. It was glass. I turned it to the sun, and a red slit ran through the center; three ruby pointers were at the top. I looked at him questioningly. "It's called the Lens of Truth. It may need some fixing up, however. I suggest you take it to a tool shop."

"What's it do?" I asked, pointing it up at the sun. My forehead started to burn, so I stopped doing it.

"It can sense the asomatous and immaterial; it can show the secrets and guides of a surrounding area. It can also show you the aura of a person- it should be quite useful to you," he said. "I had forgotten to give it to you when we met last."

Karen looked suspicious. "How do you know all of this?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I am a minstrel," Sheik said, casually. "I hear things where I go. I report back to Link. Any other questions before I take my leave?"

"Who are you?" Ann asked. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Even in the sun's glare I could see Sheik turn deep red underneath the bandages. "Uhh, I, uhmmm………no……I will see you again, Link."

"Okay," I replied. "Have a safe leave!"

Sheik stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Oh. I forgot." He held a red charm on a bracelet on his wrist to Ann and Gray. "That will be all." He disappeared.

"That was Sheik," Karen said, looking a little embarrassed.

"What was Sheik?" Ann asked. She laughed. "You're weird. What're you talking about?"

"Didn't you just-…see him? He came and disappeared!" Karen said, flustered.

"You're going crazy," Ann said. "I didn't see anyone except you and these two studs next to us. You're loco."

Karen walked close to me and whispered, "What the Hell is wrong with her?"

I thought. I'd seen that charm somewhere before…OH, yeah! "Sheik erased their minds of that," I said, "Only old witches use it, so I wonder why it worked with him."

"I wonder," Karen replied sarcastically. She turned back to Ann. "Link needs to buy his stupid chicken."

"Oh, okay. Just go inside and talk to my Dad- he doesn't bite!"

I walked inside, to discover that her Dad did bite…just not in the way Ann had said. "Hi!" I chimed, walking in. "I need to buy a chicken!" I looked around, where I could only see bags of feed and bottles of liquid medicine. "Uh, where're the chickens?"

"Out in the barn," her father said. He walked in from another room; he was a portly man with a red mustache and small blue eyes. He looked friendly enough, in his own rugged way. "What can I do ya for?"

"I need a chicken," I said.

"Alright," he said, taking a small notebook out, and putting on small reading glasses. "That's 500G. You got that?"

"Yep, sure do," I said, taking out my wallet and a few rupees.

"Good, then! Well, then, Greenhorn, sign here and tell me where I can ship it." He turned the notebook to me. I got a little nervous, remembering that I couldn't write in English…oh, man…I tried to scrawl an "L," but it came out looking like an arrow with a long tail. I tried to write a "G," thinking that he though my real name was Greenhorn, but it came out looking like part of the "L." He took the notebook. I laughed nervously. "Interesting signature. Where should I ship it?"

"Oh, uh, the ranch down the road. At the intersection?"

Suddenly, his tone grew dark. The whole room seemed tense. It felt like there was an invisible force pressing down on me and casting the room in a dark play. "Oh. So you're one of them."

"…Uhmm, eh, one of who, Sir?"

"One of those rivals," he said. "Well, Greenhorn, you know what that means. I'll give you your chicken, but look out. We're in competition. I'll try to watch your back, but, ah, well, you see, accidents happen. And people also do things on purpose." He looked at me with a casual killer's eye. "But, ah, next time you see me coming, you better run."

"…" I was silent. I didn't know what to say…Jeez, was everyone in this town so weird? I thought of maybe pulling out my sword if her lunged at me, but then he started to laugh.

"Haha! That was great. Bob Dylan song- haven't you heard it? Highway 61- oh, forget it.I really had you going for a second, huh?" He smiled and put the order form away. "Hah, hah! Well, I'll get that chicken to you, and you can pay me then. No hard feelings, right?"

"Ah…hehe, uhmm, right!" I said, quickly and nervously. "Uhmm bye!"

>>>>>>>

(Hotel California)

I went out with Takakura later. It was a little chilly out. "You have a jacket?" he asked, from the closet in his house.

I shook my head. "No."

He tossed me one. I held it up. It was brown, with some kind of weird fake fur on the collar. I liked it. "You're gonna need one," Takakura muttered, "It's chilly."

"Really? This morning it was pretty nice out."

"Yeah. Now it's night," he grunted. "I'm ready. Let's go."

We started out to the nearby pathway. It was a little chilly out- maybe Fall was coming. I shrugged into the jacket. Takakura looked at me weirdly. "What country are you from, anyway?"

"Oh, me?" I thought for a long time, debating whether or not I should tell him.

"Okay, whatever. If it takes you that long to think about it it's not worth hearing," he said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Why'd you ask?" I asked, looking around.

He shrugged. "I dunno. You're strange. That's all I have to say."

"Oh," I said, reflecting on Gray's previous comment. "Where're we going today?"

"Bar," he said roughly. "Just be careful not to piss anyone off. Not that you can help it." He scratched his chin. "Come to think of it, just be silent."

"Okay!" I said. "Jeez. Is it chilly…"

I could hear music from inside the bar- was it fiddle music? It was lively. There was a tambourine tinkling in the background, and I could also hear a piano's keys. It seemed nice, until I heard some people shouting. It sounded sort of rowdy in there…but a crowd was good.

We walked in. The colors of the bar were warm and vivid. No one noticed us come in- it was all really involved and chaotic in there. I noticed Ann's father, and Gray, and the man from the vineyard drinking solemnly at his own table. There was a sort of rugged guy in shabby clothing sitting quietly with a larger friend, and two guys (one with a small black mustache and one in a blue suit) were sitting relatively close to the barroom counter. A barmaid with strawberry blonde braids was serving with Karen. They were discussing something by the counter. I jumped and waved to get Karen's attention; she noticed me and blushed, and turned away. Her friend nodded at me.

"Will you stop jumping!" Takakura hissed.

"Sorry," I replied. We sat down next to the rugged guy and his friend.

"Hey," Takakura grunted.

I smiled brightly. "Hi!"

"Hey, Tak," the large, burly man said, "Who's your friend?"

"Friend?" Takakura asked, looking somewhat confused. He looked at me and blinked. "Oh, him. This is Link. He now owns the farm."

"Well!" the large man said, giving me his hand, "Isn't that swell! I'm Zack! I run the shipping and food in the town, but you don't see too much of the latter when I'm around! Hah! Hah!" He quieted down and took a swig of the amber alcohol in his mug. "Well, I'll be helping you on the farm, anyways. Give me a call if you need some heavy lifting to be done."

I smiled and nodded, and looked at the other guy. "Hi! I'm Link!"

The other guy looked terrified, with his eyes wide open, like I had just insulted his mother or kicked his puppy…He had blonde and brown hair (that oddly resembled Karen's) tied back into a ponytail; actually, he strongly resembled Karen, with his slightly feminine features. The only difference was that he had brown eyes and looked like a, excuse my language, dirty ass hobo.

"That's Cliff," Takakura grumbled. "Don't talk to him."

"Why not?" I asked, cocking my head.

"Because he's drunk, you idiot! What did you think?" Takakura snapped. "Inebriated! Intoxicated! Smashed!"

Zack laughed tremendously and slapped Cliff on the back. "Yep! He's buzzed. When he starts to get drunk he gets paranoid and nervous, but he's basically a happy drunk, so don't be too afraid. He just needs some more drink. Karen! More drink!"

"I'm busy," she called, putting someone's drink on the table and scowling, "Why dontcha ask Chenault?"

Zack blushed a faint shade of red. Takakura leaned to me. "He has a crush on the barmaid," he whispered. I nodded somewhat understandingly.

We had a couple of more drinks. Cliff proved to be a really, really happy drunk, smiling with his face all red and his eyes foggy. Everyone was having a time, except that there was one table at the corner of the bar that was eerily silent.

"Hey, Takakura," I said, looking over to the table, "What's wrong with them?"

"With who?" Takakura asked. He looked back at the table. "Oh, them. Don't mind 'em. They're always having a bad time, or so it seems. They're an angry drunk table." I watched them for a little while longer, until Takakura smacked me on the head, snapping, "What the Hell's the matter with you? Staring is rude!"

"Owch! Sorry!" I replied, rubbing the back of my head.

"Whatever," Takakura grumbled, and took a swig of his beer. I rocked on the two back legs of my chair and drank, listening to the conversation around me. It all blended in nicely, the way rain does, incoherent but with a steady beat. I liked it. I couldn't really differentiate one voice from another because they all sounded the same to me, in good spirits and high. Someone was singing a song called "Hotel California" in adrunken slur nearby.I smiled and looked around at posters and flyers and other stuff hanging in the bar, this old wine bottle kept in a case near the bar, just little things. I was still rocking back and forth when my ears picked up a different pitch in the noise:

"Yeah? Well who the Hell do you think you are! You're farm shit!"

"You're drunk. Take it easy." (Gray's voice.)

"Take it easy!" (Laugh.) "Tell me to 'take it easy,' you Nazi freak…"

"That's enough, now, Kai." (Ann's father's voice.)

"Will you shut up?" (Vineyard man's voice, a little loud from his table.)

"Don't tell me to shut up! You're a Nazi too! I don't need this shit!"

I looked back over my shoulder slightly, to see who was putting up the fight. I saw a dark-skinned guy with a purple bandanna and ruddy clothing looking drunk and angry and slightly sad. The bartender walked over to him. I listened.

"Listen, man," the bartender said, lowly, "Do what you need to do. Just don't do it here. Okay? You're disturbing some of the drinkers." He nodded over at me. I turned away hastily.

"Hey! They! Well, they can just go and screw themselves! I'm tired of being told what to do!" the dark man spat, "And no one is telling me what to do anymore! I'm high-tailin' it outta here, man! I'm gonna do something, man!"

"Hey!" The vineyard guy practically screamed over the noise. The noise level dropped- a lot of people were turned around. "Why don't you shut up, you damn border jumper!" Half of the bar went quiet. I wondered what that mean- "border jumper."

The dark skinned guy took it to full offense, so I guess it was bad. "Don't tell me to shut up, you slave driver! You do nothing but order me around and I'm sick of it! Who are you t'tell me around, anyway? You can't even be good to your own daughter!"

"Shut up, Kai!" Karen snapped. The whole bar was quiet. The strawberry-blonde girl stayed silent behind the counter. The bartender put his hand in his head. I wondered what was going on, and how Karen knew him.

"My daughter! You ain't good enough for my daughter, you lazy ass!" the vineyard guy slurred. "I give you work and you repay me with this shit! You should just go off with the hobo! Where you belong!"

There was a pause. Cliff stood up, face still red. "Well- I'm done with this," he said, somewhat loudly, and got up from the table.

The dark skinned guy tagged along. "I'm going, too!"

There was an awkward kind of silence before the bar gradually started to get louder and more comfortable. Takakura nudged me and put his coat on. "We're leaving."

"Okay," I said, getting up.

We walked out. I sighed. "So what was that about?"

"Don't ask," Takakura said. "Some people in this town are just really fucked-up. My advice is to not associate with them. That's how I get by…"

We saw Cliff and the dark-skinned guy up ahead yelling and screaming and singing and laughing.

"We're gonna paint the town red! Play some pool! Skip some school! Act real cool, stay out all night…so Rosie come out, tonight…Yeeeaaaaah Rosie come out, tonight…Lieutenant Rosie, and I don't wanna…be your son…"

Takakura shook his head. "Young idiots, both of them…you wouldn't understand."

"I guess not," I shrugged.

Up ahead they were still laughing. "Kai…where're you gun go? I mean you can't go back there, not after…that…uhmm…"

"I'm going to stay with Popuri! She'll take care of me!" "Kai" said triumphantly. "That girl told me that she'd look after me! Or I'll go with Elli! Or even Maria! Karen's always shutting me up and Ann's a little slut! Hahah!"

"Ann's a kind person," Cliff said, loudly but gently. "I'll walk you there or something."

"Okay! Alrighty! I feel like having…some…Dom Perignom! Perignon? Who cares how it's pronounced, ahah!"

"Just walk by them," Takakura said, and I did.

I crashed into bed around 1:00. But I felt like there was something horribly wrong…I tried to sleep.

Takakura fixed things in my room and shut the lights. "Make sure to wake up early. Work starts in five hours. And you can keep the jacket. You'll need it."

"Okay. Thanks, Takakura! G'night!" I chimed.

"Heh," he grunted, and shut the door behind him. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't- I couldn't even blink. Every time I did I felt like something horrible and bad had just flashed before me. I turned over in bed, worried. I started to feel sick to the stomach, or like I had felt when I thought there were monsters around me at night when I was little.

"Link?" Navi's tiny, groggy voice squeaked from near my bedside table.

"Yeah, Navi?" I asked, quietly, turning to her.

"Where the Hell were you!" she hissed, blearily. "I was looking for you! I got worried for you!"

"The bar," I said, and shifted in bed again. The fear started to get worse, like a black lump in the bottom of my stomach, creeping up like tar into my head and freezing there so I couldn't forget it. I tried to get my mind off it by moving around and counting ceiling cracks.

Navi glowed a soft purple color. "Link? You okay?"

I nodded slightly. "Yep. Better than ever. G'night, Navi."

"'Night, Link."

>>>>>>>

(Number One)

I went to Green Ranch after farm chores. With Ann and Karen and even Gray I almost forgot about the bad feeling that'd come over me yesterday. Ann had made lemonade again, but this time it tasted really…uhm, horrible. Karen came later than me, explaining about her "dick of a father" "giving her a hassle because" "the asshole was stressed out about Kai leaving." I didn't really intrude on it. We sat outside and watched Gray ride his horses.

Ann sat on the fence and took a bite of her apple. "They're beautiful, no?"

Karen snorted. "If you like big smelly beasts."

"I think so," I said, watching the horses run with Gray. The only people Gray seemed to like were not people at all- they were animals.

Ann scrunched her nose up. "Karen's not really an animal kinda gal." She smiled and stretched. "Me, though- I love animals." She watched Gray for longer. "He's good, huh?"

"Who?"

"Gray."

I nodded. "Yeah, he is."

We waited and talked for a little while before Ann jumped down and set her feet down firmly. "Well, time for a ride!"

"Here she fucking goes again," Karen said, rolling her eyes.

"C'mon, Link!" Ann said, taking me by the wrist. Karen glared jealously at Ann, I don't really know why…"Time for a ride!"

"No time for that," said a voice. We turned. The man in the blue suit from yesterday walked onto the ranch.

"Harris! Hi! What's up?" Ann asked, running to him cheerily. "Any mail today?"

Harris frowned. "Oh, ah, Ann, I have to talk to you."

"Oh. What's up, then?" she said.

"No. I have to talk to you alone. If you all don't mind."

"I don't," I shrugged.

Karen rose an eyebrow and shrugged. "I guess not."

"Just talk to me here," Ann urged, "No one else minds. Besides, I think this'll concern everyone here, right?"

"Ann…" Harris said.

"Harris, just tell me now," Ann laughed. "It can't be too bad." Gray joined us, walking next to Ann.

Harris swallowed and hesitated for a long time. He looked like he had just tasted something bad and sticky and couldn't open his mouth because of it. I felt the same fear washing over me again. "Well…it seems as if there has been a…uhmm, murder. I'm sorry. It concerns you, Ann."

"A murder…" Gray repeated. "Odd. Hasn't been one of those in a long while."

"There's no evidence whatsoever," Harris continued, frowning and diverting from the topic of who had been murdered. Karen looked at me intently. I frowned and nodded slightly. "The police say whoever did it did it good."

"What do you mean, 'no evidence?'" Karen asked, playing detective closely.

"Well, ah, you see," Harris started. He paused and wiped his brow with a handkerchief in stress. "Well, there was no blood, for one- just the body in the middle of the square. It was twisted, horribly twisted…" He paused, looking fully tense. "They say Popuri actually saw it happen…she's in trauma now. She was found in the square, along with the body…it was…terrifying. It was horrible. I'm sorry…, Ann, I'm sorry…"

"Who was it?" Ann asked, with a look of dread on her face.

Harris was silent. He turned a little to the right but said nothing. I looked at Karen, who looked just as terrified as Ann.

"…I'm sorry, Ann," Harris said. "I'm sorry to be the one to break the bad news. I…it was…I'm sorry. Cliff is dead."

>>>>>>>

A/N: "Hotel California-" The Eagles
"Highway 61 Revisted-" Bob Dylan
"Senorita Rosalita-"Bruce Springsteen

If I forgot any other song- ah, screw it.