Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Zelda or Naruto franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you don't like it, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.
Thank you and I hope you enjoy
Legend of Zelda: Interloper of Time
-Chapter 3-
-Hyrule Field-
"So, this is the world outside the forest. It's so… …empty." Saria commented as Naruto, her and the two fairies took stack of their surroundings. Having spent her entire life in the forest, to see such a wide open and spacious area was both awe-inspiring and unnerving. "So which way are we be headed?" Naruto asked, only to get a blank look from Saria, "Wha-Oh right, never left the woods before."
"The G-great Deku Tree said that the owl would guide us," Navi said, her voice cracking slightly at the mention of the tree. "Though I've never heard him mention anything about owls before." "Hoo hoo, how rude of him. And to think we had been friends all these years." All four of them jumped in shock at the unexpected voice before looking around for the source. "Hoo, hoo, up here little ones."
Looking up, they found the source to be a large brown owl with a white face and belly perched on top of a large tree branch. It had markings on its head that made it appear to have two faces, one right-side up while the other upside down. "You're the owl Tree-jiji meant?" "I would hope to think so, otherwise I'd have to reevaluate the strength of our friendship if I wasn't, hoo, hoo." This owl said, with none of the four able to tell if he was laughing at the end or not. "But enough joking around, hoo. Where do you wish to go?"
"Tree-jiji said to take this to the … uhhh.." Naruto trailed off while holding out the Kokiri Emerald causing his three companions to face-palm. "He wanted us to take it to the Princess of Destiny." Elia finished for him. "Hoo, hoo, princess you say? Well the closest princess I know would be young Zelda in Hyrule Castle, just two days walk that way." The owl said while gesturing to the side. "But be weary along your travels hoo, there are many dangers that you may encounter out here. It be best to stay along the paths, and be cautious at nightfall hoo hoo."
With that said, the owl took off from its perch and towards a large mountain with smoke coming out. "Well you heard the owl, off we go!" Naruto exclaimed leading the way. Following the owl's advice and sticking to the path (Naruto had wanted to head straight across but was outvoted) the two children and their fairies headed off.
Their previous enthusiasm however quickly wore down as they marched across the large open plains with the sun baring down on them. Having spent so much time under the cool comfortable shade of the trees, none of them were taking the change very well. By the time the sun had started to set, both Naruto and Saria had angry red sunburns along their necks whilst Navi and Elia had taken shelter within the travel bags.
"I think it's time we set up camp for the night." Saria muttered, only receiving a series of tired groans in response. "Naruto, you set up a fire, I'll set up the beds." "…yes Saria-chan." Setting his pack down next to her, Naruto set about collecting various sticks and bits of wood to burn with Navi following him.
Landing on his shoulder, Navi gingerly placed her hands onto Naruto's neck and used her Fae magic to help soothe and heal the irritated area. "I've been meaning to ask, but what does jiji mean, or chan for that matter?" She asked. "Oh, well they were things from my old home that slip out from time to time." Naruto said sheepishly, "Jiji just means old man while chan doesn't really mean anything, it's just to show affection towards a girl. Or at least I think that's what they mean, Hokage-jiji always tried to explain it to me but it just made my hurt by the end of it."
'He's not even sure what they mean yet he still uses them.' Navi thought with a deadpan before shaking it off and focused back on his neck. With her help, the once red and slightly blistered area was back to its normal lightly tanned color after a few minutes. By then Naruto had gathered enough fire-wood and was already setting it up to burn.
Meanwhile Saria had unrolled their sleeping bags, which were essentially several regular blankets sown together into makeshift ones, and was now sitting on hers while Elia treated her sunburns. Hers were taking much more effort as her pale skin had been much more sensitive to the harsh sunlight. By the time Elia finished, night had fully fallen and Naruto had made dinner.
Plonking down next to her, Naruto handed her one of the apples he had baked over the fire. A comfortable silence settled over them as they dug into their meals, the fairies landing upon their laps with small berries in hand. The silence remained for several minutes after they finished eating before it was broken.
Saria looked down at the small blue fairy sitting drowsily on Naruto's lap, a question that had been bothering her for a while coming to the surface. "Hey Navi, can I ask you something?" Perking at her name, Navi nodded. "I was wondering why you were still with us." Seeing the offended look on the fairy's face Saria quickly said. "I meant why are you coming with us? You're not Naruto's guardian fairy and Elia's is mine, not to mention it is dangerous out here. So why are you coming along?"
Calming down, Navi took a deep breath before speaking. "Well, I always looked up to the Great Deku Tree, so I want to make sure that his last wish is carried out. So here I am." Saria nodded in understanding before dropping the matter.
Eventually the cold, night air got to be too much and the quartet called it a night. Saria and Naruto crawled into their sleeping bags and huddled together while the fairies tucked themselves into the packs. Goodnights were given and the two tired children eventually dozed off to sleep.
-The Next Morning-
Naruto groaned loudly as the sun shined into his eyes and forced him awake. Sitting up groggily, he could just barely make out the blurry form of Saria as she rolled up her own bag. Looking over her shoulder, she giggled at the sight of his half-awake state. "Morning sleepy head, I was wondering when you were going to finally wake up."
Naruto just grumbled quietly about smart-alicky friends as he stumbled out of his bag and clumsily packed it up. Meanwhile Navi and Elia floated out of the travel packs and lazily floated over to sit on Naruto's head. Once camp was fully packed up, a now fully awake Naruto happily marched down the road with his friend.
Nothing eventful happened for several hours, the march slowly dragging on to be like yesterday when Naruto suddenly cried out in joy. Looking up to see what had him excited, Saria and the two fairies sighed in relief as they finally caught sight of a large stone wall poking out in the distance. Excitement giving them a second wind, the green clad duo raced ahead as quickly as possible.
Roughly half an hour later the two children passed through the large gate and entered the town. Saria stood slightly behind Naruto as they walked as the many gazes of adults made her nervous whilst their fairies hid inside their bags. Wandering around blindly, they eventually found themselves in the middle of the market district. Worried about getting separated, Naruto kept a strong hold on Saria's hand as the stopped by the various stalls.
"Fresh fruit here! Come get some delicious fresh fruit!"
"Charms and spells! Potions and brews!"
"The best weapons and armor in all of Castle Town! Worth every rupee!"
Thankful that they used the same currency as the small shop in Kokiri, Naruto and Saria pooled the small amount of money they had and purchased two simply traveling cloaks to protect them from the sunlight and a full map of the country of hyrule. Handing it to Saria, she was quickly able to figure out where they were and which way it was to the castle.
Unfortunately, when they tried the direct approach, the guards had simply laughed before chasing them off. Unable to pass, Saria suggested they back off and think of another way. Fate however, had other plans. "…Psst …Psst," Hearing the soft call as they walked down the path from the castle gate, Naruto followed it to see a young red-headed girl hiding behind a cliff. Pointing this out to Saria, the duo walked over to see what she wanted.
"Hi, I'm Malon! I saw you talking to the guards earlier, are you also trying to go to the castle?" "Yeah, we need to talk to the-ow!" Naruto stated saying only for Saria to cut him off by elbowing him. "Yes we are," She said simply, "Why?" Malon giggled as she looked at the two, more towards the annoyed look Naruto had that he shot towards Saria as he rubbed his ribs.
"Well, my dad went up there to deliver milk a few hours ago and hasn't returned… Knowing him he's fallen asleep somewhere." She said, mumbling the last part while rubbing her forehead. "Anyway," Her happy attitude returned, "The guards wouldn't let me in either, I know of another way in but I'm too short to use it by myself." She shyly admitted. "So, I thought, since we're all headed to the castle maybe we could help each-other out." Malon finished with a cheery smile.
Naruto looked to Saria who shrugged and said, "Sounds good to me." Bouncing excitedly, Malon grabbed both of them by the hand and dragged them over to another section on the wall that was hidden by a pile of boulders. "See, right there." Malon said, pointing to a small hole in the wall just big enough for one of them to squeeze through, the only problem being that it was just out of reach. "All we need is a boost."
Getting the idea, Naruto crouched below the hole with his hands cupped, Saria placed her foot into his hands and he slowly stood up, allowing her to crawl her way into the gap. A few seconds later, she popped back out facing them and pulled Malon through then Naruto. "Well, that was fun." Naruto commented as he dusted himself off. They currently stood in a large courtyard that had numerous wooden crates scattered about.
"*cough* *cough* Your telling me, *cough* way to ruin… my… nap." Navi said as she popped out of his travel bag hacking and coughing only to freeze at the sight of an unfamiliar red-headed girl currently staring at her with stars in her eyes. It was at that moment Navi knew… she'd F#$ked up.
"Oh, my gosh! A fairy! A real live Fairy!" Malon squealed as she gushed over Navi. "Ugh, guess you may as well come out too Elia." Saria groaned as Elia floated up and landed on her head. "Two Fairies! Oh, are you those fairy kids rumored to live in the woods! That would be so amazing!" Malon said as she got right up in Naruto's face.
"Well, yes and no. She is, I just spent some time there before coming here." He explained nervously as he backed away from the excited girl, missing the dirty look Saria sent him as Malon's attention quickly jumped to her instead. "Shouldn't we go find you dad?" Saria asked as Malon spouted a thousand questions off at once.
"Oh, you're right," Malon pouted slightly before cheering up again, "Well let's go." Taking the lead with a skip in her step, Malon lead them through the veritable maze of boxes for several moments before a loud, grating noise echoed through the area. "What the heck is that horrible sound?" Elia asked as she, Navi, and Naruto covered their more sensitive ears. Malon kept going but her companions noticed how her motions came more rigid and stiff.
Rounding one last corner, they came across a rather rotund man laying against a large crate with the words 'Lon Lon Ranch' burnt into the side. He was clearly asleep if the relaxed posture and loud snoring were indication. As Malon got closer and closer to the man, her companions could swear they saw a dark aura flare around her as she came to a stop right next to him and take a deep breath.
"FATHER!" The man shot from the ground with a start, he shook his head clear and looked around only to freeze when his eyes landed upon the angry red-head glaring at him. "Ohh Malon… m-my s-s-swe-et g-g-girl, w-what a-a-are you doing h-h-here?" He asked with a heavy stutter. "DON'T YOU SWEET GIRL ME MISTER! YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE WITH DELIVERY HOURS AGO AND HERE YOU ARE SLEEPING ON THE JOB YET AGAIN!"
Naruto and Saria looked at each-other nervously before carefully sneaking away from the girl as she verbally tore into her cowering father. Before they got very far however, Naruto pulled Saria behind some nearby crates as several guards ran by to investigate the ruckus. Taking advantage of this, the two children and their fairies dashed through the now unguarded door and rushed down the hallway.
Wandering around the castle, the quartet had several close calls with the guards as they tried to find the princess. "Whelp, we're definitely lost. Now what?" Naruto questioned as Saria, Elia and Navi shrugged. "Now you two explain what two children and two fairies are doing trespassing in the home of the royal family." A sultry yet very serious voice stated behind them as a hand grasped Naruto and Saria by the shoulder causing them to freeze.
Turning their heads slowly, they met with the gaze of a tall woman with short white hair, dark tan skin and sharp ruby eyes, wearing dark purple skin tight clothes and metal armor covering her chest and stomach. "*Gulp,* About that… hehehe," Naruto laughed nervously as the woman tightened her grip on them. "Would you believe a giant talking tree sent us here to talk to the princess?"
-End Chapter-
AN: Uh-oh caught by Impa, though even in the game Impa admits she was watching Link sneak in the whole time. I changed up the castle entrance simply cause I find it highly unlikely that two children would just happen to stumble upon Zelda that easily. Also ye, Navi has an actually use in this story and not just to repeatedly say 'Hey! Listen!' To this point, fairies will aslo be much more uncommon to the world hence why they had to hide. Finally, I will mostly be posting during the weekends and maybe the occasion one during the week.
