So we hit 200 reviews! My blackmail worked! MWUAHAHAHAHAHA. Thank you to each and every one of you for giving me your support and praise. It means the world. As promised, I am giving you a wonderful fanservice, as you will see in chapters thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen. What it is, you'll just have to wait and see!

Big hugs to all the new reviewers and anons last chapter, I hope to see you in the review box again!

~Alyssa

"Aren't you supposed to be at the castle?"

We sat in the banks of Lake Hylia watching the sun rise over the horizon, our feet dangling over the docks, still a bit too short to touch the water.

I had found her there after I left Zora's Domain, still sticky and cross from being spat out of a giant fish and having to carry some stupid girl the entire way when her legs worked perfectly fine, thank you very much.

I would never understand girls. They were so complicated.

She stuck her nose up at me, a small humph escaping her. "I am allowed to have a bit of fun every now and again, stupid." She said defensively, and then paused, her eyes widening. "You won't tell Impa when we get back to the castle, will you? I'm sorry I called you stupid, really, just, I'm not supposed to be—"

I smiled, waving her off. "I'm no tattle-tale like Mido." I told her proudly, sticking out my chest a bit. There was nothing anybody hated more than a tattle-tale, after all.

"Thank you." she said quietly, the tips of her lips turning upward as she turned towards me. "You still have all three of the stones, right?"

I reached into my pouch, carefully pulling out the stones and spilling them between us on the dock. They glimmered in the morning light, the gems throwing rainbows across the grass.

She picked up the Sapphire, stroking over the surface with her thumb, awe appearing in her eyes.

"It's so pretty," she murmured.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Ruto gave it to me and she told me we were engaged." My head cocked to the side. "Do you know what engaged means?"

She grinned knowingly. "I'm engaged." She said arrogantly, setting down the Sapphire. "To a boy named Lucien. Papa told me it means you have to love each other forever."

My nose scrunched up, a look of utter disgust coming over my face at the word love. "Ew!" I shouted. "Ruto is gross!"

"You already took the Sapphire!" she giggled. "You can't take it back!"

"But girls have cooties!"

She frowned at me, scowling adorably. "I do not have cooties!"

"Do so!"

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"Not!"

"So!"

"Not!"

I started to laugh, standing up and dropping my pouch, unbuckling my belt. "Fine," I said, compromising. "All girls have cooties except you."

"Fine," she agreed in a disgruntled voice, watching me with wide eyes as I threw my tunic over my head. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm going to go swimming!" I shouted, throwing off my hat and jumping into the water, throwing out a loud whoop before becoming submerged.

The cool water caressed my skin, the gentle tide scrubbing me free of all the scabs of my cuts, the dead skin off my burns, and the disgusting, gelatinous goo from Jabu-Jabu.

It was a beautiful world under the surface of Lake Hylia, with the ruins from some sort of long-gone building built into the island, the swaying seaweed, the fish that darted in and out of the rocks. It was all crystal clear, all so perfectly peaceful, and swimming was just too easy with my new Zora's scale I had won from doing a suicide jump off a giant waterfall and grabbing a bunch of rupees.

Zoras were as strange and complicated as girls.

No wonder Ruto was such a pain. She was a Zora and a girl.

Too soon, my lungs betrayed me, forcing me to come to the surface.

She stared at me from the docks with a peculiar expression, as if she hadn't decided whether or not to rebuke me for splashing her.

"Come in!" I urged, floating lazily onto my back. "The water feels so nice!"

Her lower lip puckered out. "I can't swim." She admitted, her expression growing dark, like she was loathe to admit there was something she didn't know how to do.

"It's shallow here," I said, standing up. A good part of my torso was submerged, but not so high that I had my hold my head up to keep the water from splashing in my eyes.

"Maybe I'll just dip my feet in," She gave in, reaching up and taking off her cap. Her golden blonde hair spilled from its confinement, tumbling down her back and catching the rays of the sun. She lifted her feet from the dock and removed the bondage on her feet and likewise with her stockings, throwing them carelessly aside.

She eased herself down, until just her ankles were under, but I wasn't content with that. Quick as a whip, I snatched her leg and pulled her in.

She screamed like a siren on the way down, and the silence that occurred after she went under was almost eerie, but I was too busy choking on my laughter that I didn't notice.

A few moments of flailing later her head broke the surface, and as she began to regain her bearings she stood, her expression livid.

"I'll have you hanged!" She shrieked, but I was too lost in the fact that she looked like a drowned cat to take her seriously. "You hear me, Link! I'll have your head!"

I was still doubled over, clutching my chest, so when she fell silent I thought it was Farore finally sending me help and shutting her up, when really wheels were turning in her head, her eyes hardening with a conniving glint.

"I'll get you…" she said in a low voice, stepping closer when I couldn't see, tossing her water-darkened hair over her shoulder.

"Oh really?" I taunted in between my short, breathless pants, still holding my stomach as I straightened up. "What are you gonna do, ar—mmphh!"

Almost as quickly as I had pulled her in, she interrupted me, pressing her lips to mine.

For a moment, bliss clouded every cell in my body, and I was floating on air, until something in my head clicked, that Zelda was kissing me, that Zelda was a girl and that she was kissing me and that wasn't okay because she had cooties!

"Urgh!" I cried, throwing my arms in front of my face and shoving myself away from her, rubbing the back of my hand over my mouth as if I could remove her germs by simply doing that.

Watching me flounder around in the water trying to get rid of my sudden cootie contamination, I must have been quite the sight. She began to giggle madly, crossing her arms winningly over her chest.

"Gotcha!" she declared happily, a small smirk coming over her face.

Okay, oh my god. Little Link and Zelda are the cutest things ever to write and omgashlg;ahegl.

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Seeya guys next update!