After Link had taken the bowl of water outside, dumped its contents on the lawn and fetched clean water, he noticed another shadow in the dimly lit grass. When he turned around he was met with a curious looking Malon. He gazed awkwardly at her for a moment. "Clean water," he explained holding up the now empty bowl for her to see.

"Oh, I know what you are doing," she responded, clasping her hands behind her back. She continued to watch him. After what seemed like another long moment to Link, she spoke again, tilting her head to the side. "You really have no memory of us, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

A look of disappointment crossed her features. "I will assume that means 'no'." She sighed and found herself explaining things for the second time that night. "Long ago, before Ganon had come into power, and I was small, there was a horrible storm that had came across the land. It destroyed many homes and took many lives."

"What does that have to do with me?" interrupted Link, looking confused.

"Hold your horse, I'm getting to that. There was a family that had come from a far off land and they offered their help to rebuild our stable." She explained. "The mother, the most beautiful maiden to have ever been born, prepared food and drinks to those who worked. The father, the strongest man around, rebuilt the stable and house, along with my father, of course. And the son, a playful little boy, without a care in the world, helped me tend to the animals that survived.

"When all the work was done, and Hyrule was rebuilt, my father gave the family one of our foals to repay their kindness. Before she left I taught her my melody. That foals name was Epona."

"Epona?" Link gasped, "my Epona?"

"Well how many other Eponas do you know of?" Malon giggled as she turned to walk back into her house.

"Wait! That was my family? You knew my mother and father?"

"I did." She said not looking at him. "But what happened after they left, I do not know. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to bed, and you have Sheik to tend to." She walked the rest of the way to her house, entered and carefully closed the door behind her.

'That's why she trusted me so easily,' he thought, making his way back into the stable. 'She knew me as a child.' When he entered the hidden room Sheik was in, he noticed that the boy had changed from his clothes into the ones Malon left from him; his shirt was still off. He walked over to the table and picked up a clean rag and set down the bowl of water.

"There are some cut and scrapes on your neck, but I'll leave those for last," said Link as he dipped the rag in water. "Hopefully you will be shaking less by then."

Sheik blushed and held his hands firmly in his lap to stop the shaking. He was very nervous about having Link touch him in a non-sexual way. He was a whore and was accustomed to be treated that way. The blond didn't care that random men paid a great amount to use him, but this was different. Link was taking care of him, having conversations with him, and he didn't know how to act.

When Link set himself in the chair, facing Sheik, he noticed that the other wasn't paying attention. "Sheik," he said.

The smaller blond jumped slightly and turned to look at Link. "Yes?" he squeaked.

"Turn around," he commanded softly and Sheik obeyed. Link placed a hand on Sheik's shoulder while the other cleaned a particularly deep gash there, probably made from a dagger.

'He flinches when I touch him, but not when I clean his wounds?' Link wondered, absently rinsing the rag and starting on another cut.

Meanwhile Sheik's mind was racing just as fast if not faster. He tried to sit as still as possible as he waited for Link to finish up. He felt the other blond's gentle hands work their way lower and lower down his back; they paused for a second. "Are you finished?" he asked turning his head to the side as much as he could.

Link looked up from his work to the red eyes of the boy in front of him. "There are finger nail marks on your back," he said tracing them with his own fingers until they disappeared underneath Sheik's pants.

Sheik's eyes widened for a second before returning to an unreadable expression. "Please continue cleaning my wounds." He whispered and turned to face straight ahead once again.

"As you wish," Link replied, "but your back is clean. Only your neck is left." Sheik nodded and positioned himself so he was facing Link. Avoiding Link's eyes he leaned forward and pulled stray strand of his long blond hair out of the way for easy access to the cut.

Link frowned looking at the circular marks around the Sheikah's neck. 'Bite marks,' he thought, and it didn't take long for him to put two and two together; Sheik had been raped.

"I am done," Link said after he finished wiping the last piece of dirt from Sheik's neck. He rinsed the semi dirty rag in the cloudy water one last time before letting it drop back in the water.

Link got up and moved the chair back to its spot under the window and sat down again. He noticed Sheik was watching him and had a light dust of pink on his cheeks. "Well," Link said looking back at Sheik, "I believe this is the time when we sleep."

The boy in the bed only gave a small nod in response. He laid down on his back and pulled the covers over his body. It was just the beginning of summer and a fairly warm night, so he didn't bother about putting his shirt back on; he would be warm enough. With one last look at Link, he turned his head and closed his eyes, ready for sleep.

Link stared out the window for most of the night, watching the moon; he wasn't much of a sleeper. He knew Sheik had finally fallen asleep when he heard the boy whisper 'thank you' before his breathing came in long and even breaths.

AN: Yay finally done, I'm so proud. It's been a bitch trying to keep writing and doing homework. But I've finally managed to up date. Woot. Anyways, I have the next chapter planned in my head so it'll be just a matter of writing it out and typing it up. Oh, and I've decided to post where I am in my stories so you can check that out at the bottom of my profile, ok? Reviews are welcome and I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter up (you can even send a review to yell at me for it, I won't mind, I love getting reviews as long as you're not flaming my story or my writing style).