An- Told you it wouldn't take as long as last time! It helps I've had this written for forever. Anyway, onto the part. As you may remember from, how ever long ago it was, I rewrote the whole Legolas in his smiley face boxers incident, trying to make it a bit more…mature. Yay for me succeeding, and since I did, I decided to give it a go with this skinny dipping part. Honestly, I just wanted a chance to sex it up some, but wanted to try it a different way. The last part I tried to make it sexy, this time I was going for something a little more…sensual.

l.l.l.

Niori took a tentative step into the water, wondering if it would be any cleaner than the ankle deep water everywhere else. She didn't know how exactly the water had went and formed that way, but there was a certain bit of raised dry land, and because it was bowl shaped all the water rested in the middle. It was basically its own little lake. It was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep. There was a crescent moon in the sky, casting an eerie light on the water. Everything about the night was calm and silent.

And everything about Niori felt disgusting; her body was covered in dirt and grime. There was still dried blood coated on parts of her body. Her clothes were in an even worse state, and if she had had anything else she would have burned these already. Her wound was closed and Aragorn had told her that it would stay that way as long as she didn't strain herself. That was why she paused before stepping totally into the water; closed or not, water this dirty probably not that healthy.

In the end the desire to be clean won out.

She shed her blood stained clothes and put them in a pile on the dry land. She pulled her hair out of its pony tail and shook it out, grimacing at how grimy it felt.

She walked into the water and kept going she was treading water. She sighed in contentment; the only this that could have made it better was a bottle of shampoo.

"Are you sure you should be exposing your wound to such unclean water?" a voice asked from the dry land behind her.

Niori whipped around to face the shore, grateful that she was chin deep in water. Standing there, leaning against a chunk of rock and smirking, was Legolas.

"How is it that you always seem to make an appearance when I'm naked in the water?" Niori demanded, anger tracing through her voice, "And how long have you been there?"

"I just arrived," he replied matter-of-factly, "but I had to make sure you don't end up drowning yourself."

"That's bull and you know it," Niori snapped, "you were just hoping to get another glimpse of me naked."

"I have been meaning to ask you something; last time you did this, were you more distressed that I saw you unclothed, or that I looked at the others?"

"You egotistical, conceited and stuck up bastard! Don't even give yourself that much credit!"

To give her declaration more power (and maybe to make sure nothing on her face contradicted it) she turned so all he could see was the back of her head.

A minute later she heard a small splash, and a moment later a hand gripped her shoulder.

"I'm waiting for an answer."

She turned back around at the sound of his voice and his touch, and looked on in disbelief when she realized he was in the water with her. Not only that, but the clothes he had been wearing were in a pile beside her own. Yet he seemed to be more joking and amused than turned on at the moment.

"You've got to be kidding me," was the only thing she could get out.

"Do I get the honour of saying that I managed to make you nervous?" he asked in a joking voice.

"Egotistical bastard," Niori repeated, "it takes a lot more than you to make me nervous."

When he made to say something else, Niori splashed him to make him shut up.

"Hey!" he cried, splashing her back.

Niori couldn't help but laugh as she splashed him again. She swam back so that her feet could touch the bottom, but it wasn't far enough back to avoid the next splash he sent at her. Now they were both shrieking with laughter.

Legolas reached out and grabbed onto her arm before she could finish her next attack. He laughed and yanked her towards him…and then both their laughter died when he realized how close he had pulled her in. There was no more fun and games atmosphere anymore; any sense of joking was gone. There was no playfulness left. Too close…way too close.

She paused long enough to take a deep breath, and then looked down at the water to break her gaze with him. Then she decided looking down at the water wasn't such a great idea, considering it was oh so transparent and giving her a magnificent view of his lower body, and she focused on his neck. She put her hands on her chest, thinking it was to push him away; instead her hands just stayed there and she splayed her fingers. She could feel his heartbeat, and she made no further move to push him away. One of his hands continued to hold onto her arm, and the other moved under the water until it rested on her stomach. His thumb slid across the length of her scar, as though he was trying to commit the feel of it to memory.

Niori hissed when the initial stab of pain hit her, but after a brief moment it was gone; instead of hurting, if felt good…very, very good.

"I'm sorry," Legolas began to draw his hand away the moment he heard her hiss, "I-"

Niori slid her hand down his chest to stop his hand from leaving her stomach.

"Don't. Stop," she managed to get out in a husky voice.

And even after a moment of hesitation, he didn't.

Which his second hand still traced her stomach, his first let go of her arm. With it he encircled her waist and rested it on the small of her back. He drew her closer, and now they were nearly flush against each other. She could feel the evidence of just how much this was affecting him and it made her groan.

She began to trace patterns on across his submerged chest, making her way up to his neck, where she planned to wrap her arm around it and then close the little distance there was between them. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and Niori realized that she had forgotten to breathe. She let out a long, shaky breath and realized something else; she was nervous…almost frightened. Niori had never been frightened, not even her first time. Even the whole thing in the kitchen didn't come close to this; that had been hot, this…this was deeper than average lust. At least for her. Everything about this –everything about him- was different than anything she had ever had or felt before.

That fact alone was enough to scare her.

He tipped her chin up, and for the first time she looked up into his eyes; the same insecurity she felt was reflected in them, and only made it feel as though neither of them knew what they were doing. And that made her want to do it even more.

"Niori…" the way he whispered her name made it sound as though it was some kind of prayer.

Then he began to lean his face down towards hers, and her breath caught in the back of her throat.

"Hey Niori!" Carla's loud voice penetrated the night air, "Where are you?"

And just like that, the spell was broken; Niori realized just who she was with and what they were about to do. She also realized that she had promised herself a long time ago she wouldn't do this.

"I…" she stuttered, finally pushing him away from her, "have to go."

Without another word she waded back towards land, mind still whirling. When she reached it, she wrapped her blanket around her, picked up her clothes and raced back towards camp. Legolas watched her go in confusion, wanting to call out to her to stop but not doing it…wanting to go after her and not doing it. Instead he waited until enough time had passed and then got out of the water. He redressed and prayed that he wouldn't come across Niori when he returned to the others.

l.l.l

As the sun rose, the company was ready to continue to Rohan.

They were beginning to mount, and Legolas had yet to see Niori. He wasn't completely sure if he was glad or disappointed about it, but he was confused; she was his riding partner, so avoiding him would turn out to be an issue. When he finally did see her, Niori was walking towards him. He noticed instantly that she wasn't looking him in the face, and his stomach dropped.

"Are you ready to mount?" he asked her softly.

He wasn't going to bring up what had happened last night. He wouldn't mention it at all, and then they could just forget about it. Not that he would ever be able to forget it. Or not think about what could have happened…and how much he wished it had.

"Actually," Niori finally spoke, "I'm going to be riding with Carla."

Legolas's face fell, and Niori did look up in time to see that.

"Oh."

She turned to walk away, but Legolas touched her arm to stop her.

"I'm sorry…last night, I-"

"Don't apologize," Niori told him softly, "it's not…not you."

"Niori, are you coming or not?" Carla's irritated voice called to her.

Without another word Niori walked away and climbed up behind her cousin.

They all rode on for awhile it silence, and then Niori couldn't take it anymore.

"Legolas," she spoke, "it just might be because you looked at the others."

Legolas at first looked confused, but then realized what she meant and nodded with a small smile before riding past.

l.l.l

An- There you go! Again, I tired for something a bit different, here's hoping it worked. Do leave a review and let us know! And good news, the next part is also already written, so look for it within the next few weeks. See you then!