Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Zelda franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.
Thank you and I hope you enjoy
The Legend of Zelda: Interloper of Time
-Chapter 8-
-Hyrule Field-
Naruto groaned as he rubbed the lump, with two much smaller ones next to it, on his head with a wince. Saria had spent the last hour chewing him out for his reckless actions and scaring her half to death with his stunt. Even now she was shooting him a disapproving look as they trudged across hyrule field, though Elia and Navi were oddly absent. "For the dozenth time Saria-chan, I'm sorry. I should have asked your permission before doing that."
Saria just huffed while turning away. "Darn right you should have." "Oh come on Saria-chan, you had fun too, don't deny it." Naruto said as he nudged her side getting her to sigh. "Yes. I admit it was kinda fun, but still a little warning next time you decide to do some hair-brained idea would be appreciated."
Naruto didn't get a chance to respond as Navi and Elia suddenly appeared from above. "We could just see the ranch from here, at this rate, I'd say we'll be there around nightfall." Navi informed them while she wrapped herself up in Naruto's hair, Elia doing the same in Saria's, and started reading a small, fairy sized book she pulled from… somewhere.
Naruto passed the time by focusing on the scroll exercises, having gotten the leaf to stick and now focusing on making it float without falling off. Saria had at first practiced her aim by shooting at random rocks and trees, occasionally using her super-shot (as Naruto called it) to help her get used to the drain it caused. This stopped however, about halfway through the day when she had accidently shot at a Pea Hat and making it chase after them. Naruto had gotten a few cuts along his arms when he killed it by stabbing its vulnerable roots, though Navi and Elia quickly saw to those.
Now she was writing away in a small journal she had bought in Kakariko. Whenever Naruto tried to see what she wrote however, she'd quickly snap it shut and walk ahead a bit. After this happened the fourth time, he gave up and went back to his exercises which was now three leaves instead of one. When the sun was halfway through its descent was when the ranch finally came into view. It consisted of a large house, a barn, and two large penned off areas that horses and cows wandered in while grazing.
Approaching the front entrance Navi and Elia hid themselves inside Naruto and Saria's shirts. Looking up at the large sign reading "Welcome to Lon Lon Ranch" Naruto felt he had heard of that before while Saria sighed. Seeing her reaction, Naruto was about to ask her what was wrong when a familiar voice called out. "Oh my gosh! It's you two again!"
Turning to the source, Naruto gulped nervously as he saw Malon rushing towards them with a happy smile on her face. She skidded to a stop right in front of them and seemed to get even more excited as she spoke. "It's so nice to see you two again, now I can prove to father I didn't make up meeting you." She hadn't even let them speak before dragging them towards the barn with her.
Pushing the door open, they were greeted with the sight of Malon's father lazily moving about, feeding a pen full of cuccos. "Father! See, see! I told you I didn't make them up. I really did meet a fairy boy and girl!" Malon called out, causing the man to jump in surprise at her voice. Turning towards them, his eyebrows practically disappeared into his hair at the sight of his daughter with Naruto and Saria.
That surprise quickly turned to humor as he chuckled loudly. "Ah, so you are the squirts that helped Malon find me at Hyrule Castle. Mighty rude of yourselves to up and leave without even meeting me, huh?" He asked in a joking tone. "Poor Malon was so upset when she tried to introduce you and you weren't there around. She was all depressed on the way back here." He said, getting another laugh as Malon blushed in embarrassment.
"Any-who, it's a pleasure to meet you, my names Talon and this here is my ranch." He said while continuing to feed the cuccos. "Hello mister Talon, my names Saria and this is Naruto," Naruto waves, "We were actually hoping you'd let us cross through your ranch to get to Lake Hylia."
"Lake Hylia? Sure, not a problem, heck you can even stay the night if you wish since its getting pretty late." Talon said while looking out the barn window. "Just be sure not to cause any ruckus or what not, ya hear?" Seeing them nod in agreement, Talon chuckled again before shooing them off so he could get to nappi- … er working, yeah working.
Malon having calmed down quite a bit, decided to give them a tour of the ranch. She showed them around the house, the cow pastures where they met Ingo who was constantly complaining about Talon's laziness, horse pastures, a garden area where she grew fresh fruits and vegetables to help out, and inside the foal and pens where newborn and young horses and cows stayed with their mothers till they were big enough for the pastures.
While Saria and Malon were petting a foal that was only a few days old, Naruto noticed a single foal all by itself. It had reddish fur, a long white mane, and tufts of white fur on its legs. Growing curious, Naruto started up to it, only to pause as it froze up when seeing him approach, clearly getting ready to bolt. However, the moment its eyes locked onto his, the young horse seemed to instantly calm down and actually trotted up to him.
Confused at its behavior, Naruto shrugged it off as unimportant and started petting the small horse's neck. With Malon and Saria however, Malon gasped in surprise when she turned around and saw who Naruto was petting. "Is something wrong?" Saria asked, confused by the girl's behavior. "Epona has never let anyone other than me close to her before." Malon told her as they watched Naruto give the foal attention. Not seeing the big deal, Saria walked over to him only to blink in surprise as Epona immediately ran away once she got close.
"See, that's how she usually acts around people." Malon gestured to the foal as it hid behind a large chestnut horse's legs. "Plus she only started letting me near when I sang her my favorite song." She said, holding her hands to her chest and singing. Seeing the shy horse poke its head out, Saria pulled out her ocarina and played along with the song.
(Play Epona's Song)
Saria stopped playing when Malon finished singing to see Epona walking up to her shyly. Reaching out, she gently pets the young mare's snout getting her to neigh happily. "Wow, your pretty good with that ocarina of yours," Malon said getting Saria to smile at the complement. They continued to play with the foals and hang out until nightfall. Navi and Elia occasionally came out for a breather, much to Malon's delight as she would constantly bombard them with questions until they went back to hiding.
During dinner, Talon embarrassed her daughter by jokingly asking Naruto if he'd like to marry her. This was made even worse though, when neither Naruto or Saria knew what that meant and Talon had Malon try to explain it to them.
"Marriage is, well, um, when two people who like each-other very much and… uh decide to stay together for the rest of their lives and… start a family." Malo explained, a very, VERY, deep blush crossing her face as she explained this to them. This in term lead to Talon seeing their still confused faces and giving them the most dreaded thing possible… … … The Talk! When they went to bed that night, the two childhood friends couldn't even look at each-other without their faces turning red enough to fry an egg.
Thus leading to the most awkward night's sleep ever.
-The Next Day-
-Hyrule Field-
The three children and two fairies stood just outside the other end of Lon Lon Ranch. Naruto, Saria, and Malon were still blushing madly around each-other much to the amusement of Elia who could be heard trying to stifle her laughter in the background.
"G-g-good luck," Was all Malon could muster out before she ran away in embarrassment. Naruto and Saria just turned around before walking away from that place as quickly as they could. As they walked, Naruto and Saria would occasionally try to chat with each-other only for it to quickly die down into an uncomfortable silence shortly afterwards. Instead they distracted themselves in other ways, Naruto had gotten the leaf exercise to the point he could float four leaves casually around his head with little concentration and Navi deemed him ready to try the next one, wall/tree climbing.
Given the lack of trees in the area, Naruto would try the exercise on the occasional rocky outcropping whenever they passed one. The first few tries were… comical to say the least. Naruto would manage to get a few steps upwards before either A. getting blasted off the rock, or B. slipping and falling onto his head. This even helped clear the air a bit as whenever Naruto messed up he'd laugh it off and try again getting Saria to giggle at the silly way he acted.
Saria practiced with her slingshot again, this time being extra careful not to hit anything she shouldn't. She could now manage around nine super-shots before tiring out, and was now experimenting with shooting out a cluster of shots at once. It worked well, but it made her accuracy drop a lot.
When they finally reached Lake Hylia that afternoon, Naruto and Saria had left behind a trail of shattered rocks and craters that would baffle travelers for months to come.
-End Chapter-
AN: To get right off the bat, only 90% of the reason the Talk was had was that I thought it would be absolutely hilarious for them to deal with. The other 10% is that A. they are currently living in a middle ages time where it was very common for most to marry at the ages of 10-15 years old (which isn't binding unless consummated) thus would need to know this sort a thing, especially since their going to go get the Zora Sapphire next, and B. I highly doubt two children who lived in a community of eternal children have ever had the Talk. As for Epona's reaction to Naruto, Naruto is a very compassionate person, something that supposedly gives him an aura of friendliness that draws other in. Finally as I've put up in the summary I haven't settled on a pairing, and honestly don't think I will very soon as this game had so many possible ones, so please send any suggestions or preferences you have. Thank you for reading and please review.
