Kokiri Village

A week later

Sitting atop Saria's couch, Guts allowed said girl to thoroughly check his stitches and wounds on his back, whilst he removed the bandages from his arms; he was afforded a new pair of brown pants to replace his old beat up and torn ones, his boots were still in good condition, but Saria had assured he'd need to get new ones made as he grew older.

While Saria was kneeling on her couch behind Guts to begin removing the stitches from the severe wounds Guts had all over himself, he finished removing the bandages from his arms and hands, letting them drop to the floor, his thoughts led him to some introspection.

Living a less harsh life from the time he spent amongst the Kokiri, allowed Guts to reflect on what he wanted to do once he fully healed. From the recommendation of that Judeau kid to stay low for a while, to Saria insisting he stay and enjoy the time he had in the village from the wider world, Guts on the other hand spent each day walking around, figuring out what he really wanted to do once he healed.

His answer in his mind was that he did not know, other than to find some job to swing his sword for.

Guts inspected his hands and arms, seeing the faint scars left over from his healing, something that would never leave him; they were marks of survival, of brushing with death and coming out on top.

Clenching a fist, feeling barely any pain now throughout his hand and arm, a small smirk worked its way through the boy's face. "All looks good!" Saria's voice chimed in, breaking him from his thoughts, as he felt her pull the last suture out from one of his wounds. She shifted herself over to peer over Guts's shoulder with a brimming smile, "You weren't kidding, you didn't whine at all when I removed your stitches!" she teased him somewhat, as she shifted over her couch some more to sit beside the boy now.

Guts reach up over his shoulder to feel the wounds were now fully healed, thanks to the combination of natural healing, the stitches, fairy dust and creme that Saria applied to his wounds; the whole process made Guts wander how long it would have taken if she didn't use any of the methods she used to speed his healing up, pondering about it more, made Guts thankful he ended up with the right person to dress his wounds.

"Whining wouldn't solve the problem, it needed to be done, that's all." Guts replied back to Saria with a straight glance at her, giving her a frank tone in the process. He still remembered back when Gambino barely offered anything at all to heal his wounds, he was lucky at all whenever the other mercenaries shared their medical supplies with him.

'Hold fucking still! Damn brat! And stop whining and crying! You said you wanted your wounds healed, so stop fucking crying and man up!' Gamino's voice echoed in his mind of the one time the man shared his salve to heal the burn marks from when he fought a Goron troop with the others.

Those Gorons sure did a number using hot magma rocks and their own bodies, his old mercenary band was fortunate enough to be backed up by other Hylian soldiers, else he was sure they would have never fought the rock people back to the mountain successfully.

Saria lightly slapped Guts's arm while giving him a wry smile as she stood up and brushed her skirt off, before she began picking up the threads she pulled out from Guts's old wounds, "honestly, boys like you are always acting tough! I know for a fact it hurt pulling out your stitches, you just didn't want to be seen spilling any tears." she teased, while earning an eye roll from him.

Navi took the opportunity to fly down and stand on the boy's right shoulder while Guts bent over to pick up his bandages he tore off from his arms and hands, before standing up to pitch them into the nearby trash bin, "It hurt, just didn't feel like crying over it." Guts answered back with a nonchalant tone, a dry look crossing his face as he tossed his old bandages into the bin while Saria finished picking up the thin strings off from her couch.

Saria responded to Guts's comment with an eye roll over her own as she pitched the old sutures away, and brushed her hands off, before giving Guts a mock glare while planting a hand on her hip and giving a finger wag to the boy, "Now, just because your wounds are healed, they aren't healing completely, give them a few more days at least, okay?" she asked him.

An annoyed look crossed Guts's features as he stood across from Saria, the height different notwithstanding with him a few more inches taller, he glared at the girl, "So what, no exercising to pass the time? No practicing with my sword?" He challenged her with a scowl.

Saria sighed to herself and shook her head in dismay, of course the boy wanted to practice with his sword the moment his stitches were out, "honestly, what am I going to do with you?" she asked while pausing in the shaking of her head, and stared at Guts with a disapproving frown, she now had both hands planted against her hips, "Would it kill you to enjoy some other hobbies!?" she accused him.

Unperturbed by the attitude he was being given to by Saria, he scratched at the back of his head as he looked back at Saria, "You had me practice that Ocarina." he offered with a hapless shrug in a frank tone, before making his way out to leave the building with Saria followed after him in a huff.

"That's just a hobby I wanted to share with you!" Saria replied back to the boy, some semblance of a smile began to form on her face as she followed Guts outside, the boy did indeed take up to the ocarina quite well when given the chance; and he was shaping up quite well in making a few tunes with it.

As the both of them exited Saria's home, with Navi and her own fairy trailing after them, Saria continued to speak with Guts as he walked towards the tree house she stored his stuff in, "Try and at least find something on your own that doesn't involve swinging a sword." she insisted with a roll of her eyes and wry smirk, Guts always seemed to have a one track mind at times.

While the both of them walked, Guts glanced over his shoulders as he conversed with Saria, "Kinda hard to think of anything else that I might like…." He answered back, before looking back forward, and continued to talk with her, "Perhaps I'll try out those slingshot things I saw the other Kokiri use." he offered as an idea.

"Right! Exactly!" Saria palmed her fist, excited that Guts was thinking about giving slingshots a go, "And hey!-" she continued to speak with her finger up in the air like she was pointing out her idea, "We even hold slingshot contests, and not just that, you can take up stick fighting!" she remarked, giving Guts a moment to pause in his steps and look back at Saria.

"Stick fighting?" he asked her, giving her raised brow at the concept of the last thing she said, and offered a smirk, "What, do you prefer me picking up a stick to fight with, over using my sword?" he questioned her jokingly, before resuming his trek towards the tree house, its distance just short of walking down the hill incline.

Saria continued to tail Guts as she spoke with him, "Well at least you can't get cut by one!" she challenged back, offering a mock glare as the boy climbed the ladder of the vacant home.

"Trust me, a stick can hurt, it just depends on what sort of stick it is." Guts responded back in a fank tone, his voice trailing off as he entered the treehouse.

Saria remained rooted in her spot while she continued to converse with Guts, cupping her mouth as she hollered up at Guts, "I'm sure the know it all triplets would be more than welcome to let you join their stick fighting matches, they're always up for others to join them!" she encouraged the boy, trying in earnest to get Guts to socialize more.

The sound of Guts rummaging through the tree house could be heard, Before the boy finished getting what he wanted and exited out with a sheathed long sword in his grip; As Guts approached the ladder, he dropped down from the height leaving Saria to grumble a bit with a soft glare as the boy landed without fault and stood up while holding his sheathed sword up against his shoulder.

Saria gave Guts an annoyed look while puffed her cheeks out, before stepping over to lightly punch him on the shoulder, "I said be careful! Sheesh!" she rolled her eyes and stepped back, while Guts lightly smirked back.

"I was, but then you punched me where my wound was." He mocked back, earning a surprised and worried look from Saria.

"Oh, oh shoot, let me-" she was about to ask for him to let her see if she did anything bad to cause any discomfort or harm, but Guts simply walked past her while lightly slapping her back on the shoulder.

Rolled his eyes, "I'm fine, I'm just yanking your chain." Guts Joked with some smarm in his tone as he unsheathed his sword, the sound of the sword exiting out its sheath echoed a bit from it, before the boy held it out in front of him vertical at a diagonal angle in the air to test his grip strength, "hmm."

Saria sighed, and turned to watch as Guts lifted his long sword and swung it down, making a quick stop with the swing just before it hit the ground, "Yeah, still good…" he said to himself.

Shaking her head at the boy, she walked around him to get out of the way as he practiced his swings, "Just please don't overexert yourself." she tried to warn him as she took her leave, she had other things to do besides try and be parental with the stubborn boy. "I'm making bean soup for lunch, so be over mister!" she lightly hollered.

"We'll see." Guts dismissively responded, the two used to each other's attitudes by now, Saria knowing the boy wasn't being outright dismissive of her request, while Guts found it better to oblige the girl's whims than have her nag him all day.

While Guts continued his reps with his sword, Navi flew down from the air to hover behind Guts's shoulder, "Huh, the sword is pretty big for a kid like you to wield, now that I see it closer." She observed.

"I used to wield a smaller one, a standard sword when I was younger." Guts responded with a flat tone, focusing himself on each swing he made with his sword, "Just got used to always wielding big and longer swords…" he grunted in exertion as he made another rep, the blade itself just barely reaching the ground before he raised it back up. "Works out well just fine, really. I've found that the heavier the blade, the easier it is to get past the armor of my enemies with my strength and the weight of my sword." he added.

Navi shrugged her small lithe shoulders in response to Guts's answer, as she hovered around a bit while staying clear of Guts's swings, "I guess that would make sense, but wouldn't it be better if you could swing faster with a small sword?" she asked, curious on the subject matter. "You know, to react faster?"

"Probably." Guts answered with an flat look, his focus a tad bit split now that he was in a full conversation with Navi, "But I'm more comfortable with this style, I don't really see myself wielding a smaller sword without a significant weight to it…pretty sure it would throw me off more than I could afford it."

Navi nodded in agreement with the boy, hovering down to stand atop Guts's shoulders as he began making horizontal swings; each swing halting at the center, before bringing it up and around to swing from the other side.

Saria

Standing just within the entrance of her home, an hour had passed, and she wanted to see if Guts was still going at with his sword; and lo and behold, the boy was still practicing with his swings. The focus he put into each one was very practiced and deliberate.

Snapping her fingers, a stray thought passed her mind as she remembered something after seeing Guts still without a shirt. Walking back into her home, Saria moved towards her chest where she kept her things, and opened it up with a sharp creak of the hinges. From out of the chest, she pulled out a simple white shirt. "I knew I forgot to give him something before he left." she chided herself.

Draping the shirt over her arm, she walked over to check her stove top where her pot of bean soup was simmering; taking a wooden spoon out from one of her small wooden counter drawers, Saria spooned out a spoonful to taste test her soup. After tasting the end product, she scrunched her nose up a bit, and put her spoon aside to pick up a small bottle of salt. "Needs more salt." she murmured to herself, and gently sprinkled in some of the fine grains of salt before stirring the pot up with a ladle.

Picking up her spoon again after cleaning it with a towel, she took another spoonful of her bean soup, she hummed in delight before putting aside her spoon. "There we go!" she remarked, and allowed the soup to sit and simmer.

Making her way to the entranceway, she exited out of her home to head over and give Guts his new shirt; as she walked over towards Guts, Fado spoke up from the side as the Kokiri girl jogged over from the store. "Saria, there you are!" she waved with a broad smile.

"Oh, did you need something?" Saria questioned her fellow Kokiri, as she continued her trek towards her destination.

Fado caught up with Saria and began talking with her, "Yeah! The upcoming slingshot contest is coming up this weekend, but I need help finding the right logs for the boys to chop and carry back home! I figured since you know the Lost Woods better, you could help me find the best fallen trees!" She explained to Saria.

As the two walked together, Saria answered Fado with a thoughtful look as she glanced up, thinking of the deeper parts of the Lost Woods, "I do know quite a few places with fallen trees, but some of them might be too thick for our boys to cut through them…" she thought on it more as she tilted her head a bit while still looking up in thought.

While both girl were approaching where Guts was, both Fado and Saria looked where Guts was still swinging away with his sword; at that point, the both of them stood at the top of the hill incline, with Fado whispering into Saria's ear with a smirk, "Hey, I bet you anything, the Hylian boy can use that Hylian lumber axe we found in the woods a few years back."

"Hmm." Saria blinked in realization, and viewed the sword Guts was still swinging, and visualized the difference between the two, "I…suppose he just might be able to swing the thing." she nodded, before shaking her head with a smirk, "Of course, that is if Guts will offered to help-"

"Oi!" Guts hollered up at the girls, his concentration broke as he stopped in a mid-vertical swing, his blade was held out in a diagonal angle as he held it up, both Saria and Fado jumped back a bit in surprise, before Fado afforded herself a giggle at being caught while Saria chuckled nervously.

Guts relaxed his posture and gently lowered his blade to rest on the ground, before reaching down to sheath his sword, his gaze went back to the girls once he finished putting his sword away to speak with Saria and Fado, "What was that you were saying about me helping with what?" he asked with a flat look, unsure of what the girls were talking about.

"Uh…oh right!" Saria nodded, and walked down to hand the new shirt to Guts and explain to him what they were talking about. "Well you see-"

"We need someone to help chop up a few large trees!" Fado cut into the conversation, her expression of cheekiness as she pressed past Saria who yelped in surprise from being sidelined by her fellow Kokiri.

"Fado!" Saria admonished the girl while stepping back in to hand Guts's new shirt for him to wear, she offered Guts the item and nervously laughed, "Sorry for the wait, hope you like it!"

Guts eyed the offered shirt, and took it from Saria's hands, "Honestly, I was almost beginning to think I'd have to leave this place to find a new shirt." he somewhat joked with a smirk, before frowning a bit as he set his sword down to slip the shirt on over his head.

As he tugged at hem once it was fully on him and found that it was loose somewhat, before he looked over at Saria questioningly, "Sorry, I figured I made it so that you can at least have a few good years wearing it before getting a new one." Saria explained.

"Hm..right…um…thanks" Guts muttered with a nod, as the shirt was not exactly too loose, nor too tight; the shirt was just big enough for him to grow into it for a year or two at least. He glanced between the girls, "Now what was that about chopping wood?" he questioned them, while Saria made a quick proud smirk all the while at Guts appreciating the 'gift' as he looked at Fado for answers.

Guts

It was after lunch when Guts headed out with Saria and Fado to procure the supposed adult lumber axe, up where the know-it-all brothers housed their yard with fencing, bushes and rocks, was a variety of tools strewn inside a wooden box.

While Saria and Fado were conversing with two of the brothers about getting their help in cutting and carrying the chopped logs back, Guts was alone with the third brother as he looked at the lumber axe in question. "...hm…"

Pici, the third brother that usually stuck around the fenced area to do whatever he liked, sat up against the fence with his arms crossed, "Yup." He nodded as he looked at the same axe, it was almost as long as Guts's sword, but with the caveat that most of the weight centered at the metal wedge part. "It's difficult for any of us Kokiri to probably use the thing, but I keep it anyway for safekeeping." he shrugged, "You know, never knew if it has other uses."

Reaching out to pick the axe up by the handle, he lifted the tool up with a little effort and tossed it a bit to flip in his hand so that he could hold it upright below the wedge, "Looks a little rusted…but still has a good edge on it…" he examined the wedge and flicked his thumb against it, mindful not to run his thumb along the blade.

Feeling that it needed to be sharpened a tad bit, Guts looked at Pici with a curious gaze, "Saria said you guys have hatchets, so does that mean you have whetstones?" he questioned the other boy.

Pici nodded, and thumbed at the closed chest beside the open wooden box, "should have one in there." he answered.

Guts wordlessly walked over to said chest and opened the lid up to look for the stone; finding the object in question, Guts reached down and pulled the stone out.

"So…" Puci tried to strike up a conversation with Guts as the Hylian boy put the whetstone down and spat on it, before getting to work in sharpening the wedge a tad bit, "...you…you could have asked me to bring some water, you know…" he pointed at to Guts.

Pausing in getting the wedge to a good sharpness, Guts looked up at Puci with a flat look, "Didn't see you had any on you, so didn't ask." he retorted, before resuming his tasked,

"Right, right." Puci chuckled a bit at the blunt statement, before continuing his conversation with Guts, "So what's it like outside the woods? You know, like, I heard it was pretty rough out there."

Guts simply offered a shrug as he kept his focus on the whetstone and wedge he was smoothing the bluntness out, "It was…" he answered back, before stopping in mid work, lifting the wedge up to check his work, and nodded. It didn't need to be too sharp, but sharp enough to get the job done.

"Oh…well, I expected more of an answer than that…but I suppose that's fine…" Puci shrugged, leaving Guts to stand up and put the whetstone away and look at the Kokiri boy with the axe resting against his shoulder as he held it.

With a careless tone and look, Guts spoke back to the Kokiri boy, "If you really want to know, the fields were full of dead bodies out there by the end of it all, blood flowing an shit…" he described, leaving Puci speachless, "That better?" he asked with a smirk.

"Jeese." Puci remarked, laughing nervously while reaching up to scratch the back of his head, "Was just curious if the rumors were true…we Kokiri don't leave the forest, else we shrivel up and die…or something like that…"

Guts furrowed his brow in confusion, "...What?" he asked with an incredulous look, "...What kind of shit is that, that if you leave, you shrivel up and die?" he asked again.

Puci simply offered a shrug, "Don't know kid, just that the Great Deku Tree warned us all to not leave the forest, or we will die in some manner. I was thinking we'd age or something and become dust in the wind."

"Hmph…" Guts pondered on the words of Puci, and shrugged at it, "Well, then don't leave. Probably best you don't anyway." he offered his advice as he headed off to meet back with Saria, "It isn't that great outside the woods anyways." he hollered back with the axe in hand while it rest on his shoulders.

"Right…" Puci hollered back.

Saria

"Alright!" Saria announced, as she finished her discussion with the two other know-it-all brothers, clasping her hands with a brimming smile, "Once Guts- oh, here he comes!" she remarked as she saw the boy heading their way while effortlessly carrying the adult lumber axe against his shoulder, with Puci not far behind him.

Fado leaned around Saria to peek at Guts carrying the axe, and expressed a smirk across her face, before standing back up and held her hand out, "Cough it up! I won the bet!" she cheered, while Saria shook her head at Fado's antics.

Both Puthi and Pephu turned their heads to look at Guts, and grumbled before pulling green rupees from their pockets to hand over to Fado, "Figures the Hylian boy could do it." Puthi the eldest muttered.

"Whatever." Pephu, the youngest brother grouched as Guts approached the group with Puci trailing behind him.

Guts of course furrowed his brow and gave a confused look towards the others, "What going on?" he questioned, as he saw the brother groaning at their misfortune.

Saria shook her head, and gave Guts a flat and annoyed look while thumbing at the two brothers. "They betted against Fado that you couldn't lift the axe." she rolled her eyes.

Fado responded by patting her pocket with a cheeky smirk, and gave Guts a victory sign with her fingers, "Thanks! I knew you could do it!"

"...right…" Guts Drawled out, leaving Saria to face palm at her Friend's antics.