A/N: Shipoopi! Shipoopi, Shipoopi, the girl who's hard to get! Shipoopi! Shipoopi, Shipoopi, but you can win her yet.

Conquest

Malon sighed at the closed bedroom door. Waking the lazy Vincent every morning was becoming aggravating to Malon. Deciding to do her best to irritate him as well, Malon forced opened the door forcefully. Malon found herself surprised at what she saw. There was no one in the bed, which was perfectly made, and Vincent was wide-awake. There he stood fixing his collar in front of the window. He had his eyebrow raised at Malon.

"A little to eager to see me this morning, aren't we?" Vincent said.

"Uh, Vincent, your up early this morning," Malon said, stunned to see the heavy sleeper awake in the early morning. "What's the occasion?"

"It may have taken me exactly two weeks but…" Vincent stretched his arms. "I'm finally able to wake up on time. I'm still dead tired but I can fight that." He walked over to Malon and passed her. Vincent continued his way into the kitchen, "Is something wrong, Malon?"

"Huh, oh, no…" Malon answered. She followed Vincent to into the kitchen. He was already helping himself to breakfast along with an extra platter. "Ravishing appetite?"

"Actually," Vincent said. He set the two plates of breakfast on the table. "Just thought I'd get you a plate as well. Come sit, we always have a big day ahead of us."

Malon walked over and sat on the table, "Thank you, Vincent."

Vincent waved it off. He started to dig into the morning meal but something came across his mind. "What are we doing today? Everyday it's something different. Why don't you tell me before hand?"

"Because I don't want to," Malon retorted devilishly. "Its such a good thing to have a strong man around in my father's absence. I would've hated filling the cart with milk all by myself."

Vincent's red eyes opened wide. His mouth dropped and his eyebrows were raised high. The idea of himself alone adding case after case of specialized milk onto a cart made him cry. "Why?" Vincent whined. He crossed his arms and pouted his lower lip, "This isn't fair!"

Malon smiled and shook her head, "Are you doing it?"

Vincent quickly returned to his normal self, "Yeah, I guess. I'd do anything if you ask me to… um, I mean. Its part of the job right? Stocking up the cart won't be fun but I guess I have no choice right? Who is going to the carthorse?"

"I wanted to talk to you about that," Malon said. "Elliptus looks like a strong enough horse and-."

"He's a warhorse though," Vincent said. He looked down at his plate of food and picked at it. Malon was a little stunned at his blatant argument. He sighed and looked back up, "Sorry about that. Shouldn't have cut you off."

"That's all right," Malon said. Vincent always did that. Whenever he got himself into an awkward predicament with her, he would always hold himself responsible. "Are you mad?"

"What? No, with you, never," Vincent quickly smiled at Malon. She could tell it was half-hearted.

"Well, I should've realized it. Elliptus isn't as big as Salem," Malon said. Salem was essentially Malon's private horse. Caramel color with a dark fudge like mane, it was specifically a horse for carrying a cart. She was grand in stature, unlike the more compact Elliptus. Vincent's horse looked ready to ride into battle and capable of the violent images. "That's it, just ready Salem. Are you all right with that?"

"No problem," Vincent answered. He quickly devoured the rest of his breakfast and marched off to do his work.

Malon picked up her fork and prodded the sausage on her plate. She rested her head on her backhand; "There I go again, scaring off another man, for now anyways. Vincent always comes back. He has no real reason, he works for no money and he works hard. He surely is different."

Vincent's eyes were focused on working but his mind wandered far off. His mind thought back to the gentle ranch owner back inside. How she kept invading his subconscious and entered his nightly dreams. The very feelings and emotions that kept his heart beating faster then normal whenever he was alone with her. Even to the pivotal butterflies that pestered his stomach whenever they became close. "I wonder how Malon feels…" came in a soft voice.

As he stacked the loose bottles of milk in the cart, one fell from Vincent's grip. With a panther-like agility and speed, Vincent crouched to catch the falling dairy. Unfortunately, Vincent caught it as soon as the bottle hit the ground. Shattering, the glass cut into Vincent's smooth hand. The redhead cursed under his breath as both the milk and blood soaked into the soil. He clenched his mouth shut as the pain shot through his hand. His hand was balled into a fist and the crimson liquid ran down and collected into drops.

The scarlet eyes winced in pain. The sting from the cut was becoming unbearable. More blood seeped from the crevices in his hand and made its journey downwards. The fluid of life reflected in his eyes and was quickly taken away as his eyelids closed and tears welled. Vincent groaned a little as the pain started to subside.

"Vincent?" Malon asked from behind him.

"Malon!" Vincent said. His voice was strained.

"Oh my, what happened?" she asked as she quickly examined the remnants of the broken bottle. She caught a glimpse of blood fall to the ground and noticed that it came from Vincent. Catching sight of Vincent's stained hand, her eyes opened in fearful shock. "Vincent, you cut your hand! Please, come inside so I can mend it."

"Malon," Vincent tried to reason as Malon took his free arm and dragged him back inside. "Its nothing serious. I just had an accident."

"Stop being stupid. Your hurt, you need help. My help," Malon said. She opened the house door and forced Vincent into a chair. "Wait right there and don't move!" she said. Malon quickly ran up the stairs and entered her room. Malon scoured her room for a special bottle. Finding deep within her dresser's drawer, it was a medical bottle in clear glass. Much like the bottles of the milk, this one held a very thick blue liquid. She grabbed a roll of bandages and quickly rushed back downstairs. She found Vincent sitting patiently waiting for her.

Malon took a deep breath and calmly walked to Vincent. She placed the bottle and bandages on the table and sat down on a seat. "Let me gat your hand Vincent," she ordered.

Vincent gave Malon his closed fist and when she grabbed it, he released it. Malon watched as his hand kept gushing out blood. A little worried, Malon quickly got up from her seat and went into the nearby bathroom. She picked up the bucket within it and filled it with cool water from the faucet. Malon took it back to Vincent and forced his hand into the pristine water. It quickly became reddened with his blood.

Malon watched as he winced in pain. Giving him a soft sorry, she took the bottle and opened it. "I know the water must've stung but, please, brace yourself for this." Malon took Vincent's hand and straightened it. His palm was read but the blood was slowly stopping. She took her clean rag from her belt and dipped the tip into the cerulean liquid. Taking a deep breath, she wiped Vincent's wound with it. She felt his hand resist and his low grunts. Keeping his hand firmly in hers, she cleaned his wound and then quickly bandaged it.

"It's not to deep, just pretty big," Malon said, finishing with the last wrap. "I don't think there should be any permanent damage or anything like that."

"Thanks," Vincent said.

"What happened?"

Vincent's eyes adverted her gaze, "I let one of the milk bottles slip. I think I'm getting rusty. I could've caught the falling bottle but… it sort of shattered when I did. What did you put on it? It stung like hell."

"A blue potion, simple name right? It supposed to heal any minor wounds. I always keep it with me, just in case," Malon said. "Listen, I'm supposed to take the cart to the market. I could've needed your help but if you want to stay…"

"I don't think so," Vincent said. "It takes more than this to keep me home. If you really need my help, hell even for a simple nothing, I'll come." He softly smiled at her.

Malon returned the gesture and looked down to her hands. She realized that she had never let Vincent's hand go. She quickly released it and looked down to the floor. Her face flushed with red. Malon looked up, careful not to reveal her blushed face (as if that was even possible) and still found Vincent smiling at her. His eyes revealed that he cared much about her, enough to take the pain and accompany her to the market.

"Vincent- I want you to…" Malon cut herself off. She grew fearful at the closing proximity of both of them. Were they… about to?

Vincent stopped. Malon watched as his right eye winced. It must've been the wound that caused him to act up. They relaxed back to their chairs. "I, well, we should finished prepping the cart so we can go while there is still light out."

"Right," Malon said.

Later, by midday they finally reached the bustling marketplace. Overly crowded, it was amazing to Vincent at how many people put up with the propinquity of everyone else. To him, it was a thief's paradise. Vincent, with the assist of Malon managed to set the cart right up and waited for any customers. Vincent mainly kept out of the way of Malon as she handled with the consumers.

It hadn't been an hour until Vincent came to meet someone very important, both to the country and to Malon's past. With the sun high above their heads, a young man clad in a worn, green tunic and matching cap walked into town. While his mundane, yet foreign, appearance mislead others, it instantly let Malon knew who it was.

"Oh my Goddesses, Link!" Malon yelled as she hugged her old friend. After embracing each other, what Vincent counted as, for an eternity, they let go. "So how's everything been? What have you been doing? What about Zelda?"

Link softly chuckled and signaled her to quiet herself. He gave a full smile and nodded over to Vincent.

"Oh that's right… Link, this is Vincent," Malon said.

"Dante Aegis II," Vincent added. "Nice to meet you."

Link outstretched his left hand. Vincent closed the gap and shook his hand.

"We really need to catch up," Malon said. "Vincent, could you look after the cart for me?"

Vincent sighed, "No problem."

Malon and Link walked off together. They didn't walk off to far, only enough to be by themselves. Vincent kept his eyes on them. He clenched both of his hand together in a tight fist. Even the awakening pain couldn't stop him.

"If your looking for another notch on your belt, you better look somewhere else," said a cackling old woman.

Vincent looked down to see the old lady browsing through the milks. "I don't keep notches. I never even made it with a woman."

She laughed, "What's the matter, cant find one willing to give it up?"

"They are all the same damn milk! I know that for a fact," Vincent said. "Just pick one."

"Oh I see. How I didn't notice this when I saw you is beyond me. It's all in how you keep staring at her. You love her don't you? Boy, its almost sad how obvious it is," she asked. She hooted, "Its only a shame that you will never meet her outlandish criteria."

Vincent's eyes narrowed, "What are you talking about? What criteria? I mean, I just want to know. Not that I love her or anything."

"Boy, she wants a knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet," the old woman retorted. "And by the looks of it, you don't seem like a knight or have enough money to even afford any armor."

"A knight… armor… She never- This is just not going for me," Vincent muttered.

The old woman looked over through each bottle, "You can't pick and choose whom you'll fall in love with. It happens, its fate. Almost like how the best milk is hidden among commons, you can search far and wide to find her." She picked one up and examined it close. She opened her raggedy purse and paid Vincent the amount for the milk, "And like how I found mine, you found the woman you love."

Vincent scoffed and looked away. He watched as the old woman walked away. "Talk about senile, me in love with Malon. Absurd. I may not be a knight, but that doesn't mean I can't afford an extravagant piece of armor. But… she's the reason why I even began to work at the ranch. It can't be love at first- snap out of it. I'm a proud Aegis, the first son and master of duel swords. Could I…"

Vincent looked over to Malon who was laughing as Link spoke to her about something.

"Love her?"

A/N: Now we see something. Oh, yeah, Hyrule may be medieval but… they always had cool crap like internal plumbing.