Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ Four Gourds Adventure ❯ Butternut Squash ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA
Four Gourds Adventure
by AladdinAbu

In my universe, Zelda's blonde; Nintendo seems to kind of flip-flop between blonde and brunette for her, anyway. All characters (except "Lando") are copyright to Nintendo. All hail the most awesome game company ever!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CHAPTER 1: Butternut Squash~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"NOOOOO!"

Zelda looked back over Link's shoulder, tears clinging to the corners of her eyes. "The castle! M-my father-"

"Don't look back now," he panted, hands clutching the reigns in a deathgrip. Cinders were drifting into his eyes and mouth, and he tried to ignore them and devote his full attention to guiding the white steed - and the princess - away from danger.

"We HAVE to go back, we h-have to do SOMETHING!"

"It's... it's too late, we have to worry about getting you to safety! Hold onto me!"

Even so, he couldn't help but picture the look in Impa's eyes as she stared down Gannondorf, giving them the precious moments they needed to climb onto the horse and escape. For a brief, shining second, he had been sure she was going to ride off with Zelda herself, but before he could blink she had swapped their positions - how did she do it so fast? Was it a trait of the Sheikah? There hadn't been enough time to ask, for Impa was barking for him to ride away, and ride away he did. It was their only option.

"This way, Link!" Navi was coaxing, floating along ahead, tiny wings beating furiously. "We need to hide!"

"Where are we going?" the princess asked him in a small voice.

Link considered this. He was following the river by instinct, and he suspected Navi had been doing the same, drawn to where the Deku Tree had made a home for his children. "Um... the forest! Yes, nobody will think to look for you there first - I mean, a princess lost in the woods?"

"Okay," she sobbed, clinging to him, fingers digging into his back. "It's your home, I'm sure you know it well."

"Pretty well - I just hope Gannondorf doesn't!"

Soon, they had reached the safety of the trees. Link brought the horse down to a trot, though the animal protested - it wanted to keep fleeing, and he couldn't blame it one bit.

"Do... do you know where we are, Hero of Time?"

"Stop calling me that," he said nervously, glancing between a few trunks and trying to search out a path. The area was very familiar, of course, but in his panicked state of mind he was having trouble making the mental connection. "I'm... I'm just a Kokiri, you've got me mixed up with somebody else."

"No, I do not," she insisted as she drew back, clear, blue eyes focused on him. He allowed himself to be distracted by the unwavering trust in her features; did she really have that much faith in such a nobody? "You cannot deny that my dreams have come to pass - it's you, I know it's you!"

"Yeah, yeah, boy from the forest, green stone," he muttered, forcing himself to look to and fro, hoping a hill or clump of foliage would jog his memory. Which way was the village from here? "Maybe you're right, but... I mean, I sure don't FEEL like a hero, running away like this."

"You're protecting me. If my father is-" her voice caught "-if he never wakes again, I'm what's left of the royal family, and the only challenge to that bastard's rule. Maybe it sounds conceited, but making sure my lineage is safe is the most important thing right now."

For a moment, he merely watched her, then hopped down. "Well, my brain is muddier than this bank, and I can't figure out where I am. Let's stop for a minute, catch our breath."

"Of course," she sighed nervously, glancing around into the dark boughs. "I- I mean, I'd rather you have the chance to make a plan than feel like I'm rushing you; that could get us hopelessly lost."

"Need some help?"

Her frightened expression softened when he slipped his hands around her waist. "How gallant. And you said you're not worthy of being a hero?"

"OooooOOOOooooh," Navi goaded, circling his head.

"Oh, come on, it's a really tall horse," he said dismissively, averting his gaze. Once she was safely on the ground, smoothing out her robes, he immediately backed away, swatting at his bothersome fairy. "A-Anyway, let's um... do you want a drink?"

They took a few moments to partake of the river they were still following, sating their thirst, then washed off their faces before standing and beginning to lead the horse along the bank, Link still straining to catch a familiar sight.

"You know," he said at last when they passed a rotting old swing made from vines, "if we turn right up here and head further in, I THINK... yeah, that might just be right!"

"Can... can we rest again?" Zelda panted, leaning against a tree within the small clearing they stood in. "I'm sorry, but they- Impa's always watching me like a hawk, and all the guards, and... and I don't usually see this much excitement in one day, and my feet are killing me, I'm-"

"Hey, don't sweat it, princess; I'll watch our backs."

"I'll go on ahead," Navi chimed in. "I sense the Deku Tree's remains are near - maybe I can find help!"

"Thank you, little one," Zelda bade her as she zoomed between the trees. "Good luck!"

Link smiled as Navi disappeared and Zelda sunk to the ground, flinging her heels with disgust into a bush. Since he'd met the young princess, she'd shown herself to be so brave and intense that he kept forgetting she was raised like a princess, and wouldn't be as rough and tumble as the Kokiri he grew up with. "Those shoes don't make much sense, you'd injure yourself trying to climb rocks in them."

"They're gorgeous," she said, a sour expression on her face. "Or that's what all my chambermaids told me when they forced me to learn to walk in them. Preparing me to be Queen someday."

"But if they hurt when you walk in them, what good are they?"

Zelda smiled, revelling in the feeling of her toes against the cool grass as she stared at his boots. "You have a fair point. Yours are far more practical, and I'm sure they don't break if you take a wrong step."

"Never have yet," he said, plopping down next to her. "Wow... looks like you're probably going to get blisters."

"Oh," she said, turning one foot slightly toward her line of sight. She caught sight of the angry red patches he'd been looking at and winced. "You think so? I've never had a blister before."

"Really?!" he gasped. "Not once?"

She smiled nervously, blue eyes glancing up at him and away again. "Sorry... are they common?"

"Only for commoners, I guess," he laughed, feeling sheepish that he'd drawn attention to it. He didn't know how to apologize, since it wasn't his fault she had blisters, so he instead said, "Um... it might help ease the pain if I rub them? Always works for me."

"Oh? Oh..." For some reason, her face, which had already been pink from overexertion, grew yet pinker as he sidled over and placed her leg into his lap. "No, I- don't, that's the work of a royal attendee, not a Hylian hero!"

"Nah, don't worry about it. Saria and I used to do it for each other all the time when we were first allowed outside the village; we ran around so much we probably almost lost our legs!" Zelda merely nodded and made a vague noise as his thumbs worked into her sole, her eyes closing automatically. After a few moments of quiet, he smiled up at her. "They're soft; you can tell you're royalty, not some kid from the sticks like me."

"I know," she gusted, though she still wouldn't look at him; her fingers were twisting together idly in her own lap. "There's not a single blemish on me anywhere, being that I've had no chances to make any of my own. Anytime I come close to anything resembling work, there's another servant doing it for me. The easy life is TOO easy, I feel."

"Hey, I didn't mean anything bad by it," he said quickly, dropping her foot. "I m-mean, well, they're very smooth, and pretty! All of you is! You're not some kinda-"

"Link!" she breathed, blinking over at him shyly. "You- you can't say things like that to a lady, not if- well, I wouldn't dare be so foreward as to assume- to-"

"Like what? I- you thought I was saying your feet weren't good because they're soft, I think, but that's not-"

"If you tell a lady that any part of her is beautiful, then-" Her face was so red now that Link began to worry that she was running a fever. "It's like you're a s-s-suitor!"

"A suitor?" He found himself becoming more and more bewildered by these events. Everything he did seemed to be coming off exactly the opposite of how he intended. "What's that?"

Without warning, she made to stand angrily. "You can't ask me to explain something like that, it's, it's - it's indecent! Please, Link, d-don't ask me any- EEEEK!"

Link started to ask what the problem was when he spotted it: a giant Skulltula descending from the tree above and aiming straight for their horse. With a mighty neigh, the steed bolted in the direction it was facing, disappearing into the brush and leaving only the receding CLOP-CLOP! sound behind.

"Stay back," he whispered, drawing his blade and putting himself between Zelda and the horrifying creature. After a moment, it turned to face him, arms waggling in a threatening manner.

"Wh-what is it?!" she screeched, looking to either side; Link guessed she was searching for a place of safety to dive behind.

"Skulltula," he said as he circled to the back of it. "Don't worry, I got it." Unfortunately, the creature followed him, and as he knew from more experience than he wished to remember, he had to hit its soft underbelly to destroy it. "Wait, it's not... oh, come on, stand still!"

Two mandibles clacked together, and Link raised his wooden Deku shield and braced for impact - except it never came.

"And take THAT!" Zelda shouted as she hurled the second heel into its meaty heart, causing it to drop and roll down the gentle slope away from them. "EWW, such a GHASTLY beast, how dare it try to eat us!"

"Wow," Link breathed, glancing down at where the corpse lay with a pair of shoes sticking up from its depths. "Damn, that was quick thinking! Thanks!"

"Can't let you take all the credit for saving us." Most of the redness that was in her cheeks a moment ago had drained away from terror. "You've done so much of that lately that I felt indebted."

"Man, I can't believe you killed it with SHOES!"

"Yeah," she laughed shakily, and he joined in for a brief moment. They both lapsed into an awkward silence, her hands clasped in the small of her back and one of his scratching the back of his head. After a while, he cast around for a change of topic.

"So... the horse ran away."

"I know," she gusted, turning to look after where it had gone. "Even if Navi comes back with help, Gannondorf is sure to find us if we can't move any faster than footspeed - and me without shoes!"

"I'll carry you," he offered, then grimaced. "No, we still need a horse if we don't want them to catch up to us... I wonder if..."

"What?"

"Well, I found this horse once," he said, pulling out a battered old wooden ocarina. "Seemed to like music, but I don't know if she'll hear me from here..."

"Use the Ocarina of Time." Her eyes were on Link's instrument as she produced her own gleaming, blue one. "There's magic in its wood; the winds may carry the song further."

"Oh! Yeah, that's worth a shot, I guess."

Link was on point of raising it to his lips when Zelda said, "Where did you get that other ocarina?"

"Saria," he said. "She wanted me to have something to remember her by when I left the villiage. Man, I wonder if everybody is okay?"

Zelda remained quiet as he played his song, hoping against hope that it would bring them transportation. After a few tries, however, he handed it back to her dejectedly. "Guess we're too deep in the forest."

"This Saria," she said quietly, looking up at him shyly. "She's your... sister?"

Link carefully climbed to the bottom branch of a nearby tree, scanning the surroundings for either a clue as to their wherabouts or a sign of assistance on its way. "Nah, just a friend. I don't think Kokiri really have family, because we're all family - in a way. We're part of the forest."

"But you're not, are you?" The smile in her eyes was warm, adoring even. "Your calling was higher. You left these woods and came to the castle, because you're unique."

"I guess. I mean, it took me a really long time to get a fairy, and even then it was only because the Great Deku Tree needed help, and fast."

"Oh, it all sounds so wonderful!" Zelda burst out suddenly, walking across a very overgrown patch of spongy moss to help him look. "Having your own fairy, living in trees... running wild through the brush, not having to bother about the state of affairs or taxes or whether you're wearing the right brooch for the right occasion..."

"Gotta admit, all that does sound super boring," Link snorted as he hopped down next to her, causing her to jump back a step. "But somebody has to do it. Sorry it has to be you, though; you're way too fun to be cooped up doing things like that."

"I... I am?" She gulped noisily, staring down at the forest floor. "I'm fun?"

Link laughed aloud at her anxiety. "Sure you are! All I've ever heard about royalty, from my fellow villagers and the people of Hyrule Town... they all made it sound like the court and the king were stuffy old guys who ate expensive pastries and thought they were important, but you're-" He considered a moment. "You're wise, and caring, and full of all kinds of life! Instead of sitting on your duff and drinking tea, you're out here fighting Gannondorf, and- and you just killed a Skulltula! How many of your royal attendees can say that?!"

"But I- I'm getting blisters from only a few minutes' walk," she snickered, staring down at where her feet would be if not shrouded by the hem of her robes. "I know how you mean it, that royalty tends to beget pompousness - and I've always tried to resist falling into that stereotype, but... I'm afraid I've come up short. Try as I might, I remain rather spoiled."

"Hey, I rescued Princess Ruto from the belly of a giant fish," he said ruefully. "All she did was whine and command me around the whole time. You're not spoiled at all, not like- ACK!"

Without warning, he found himself lying flat on his back, supported by the bed of moss, looking up into blazing blue eyes that were boring into his own. "Really? I'm not just some rich girl with famous ancestry to you?"

"Whoa, I- what are you doing?!"

"Link, I'm scared," she breathed, hands clutching his shoulders as if afraid he would fall through the earth if she slackened her grip. Droplets were forming in the corners of her eyes again. "The black cloud in my dream is hanging right where my castle used to be, and- for goodness sakes, I don't know if I'm going to live to see tomorrow! I- if we never see each other again after this moment, I don't want you not to have known!"

When she first pounced atop him, she'd been holding herself away, concentrated on pinning him. As she spoke, however, her warm body lowered onto his, chin resting on his shoulder, and his hands automatically rose to lay on her back. Strange feelings began welling up within Link, feelings that had not been brought about by anything he'd seen or done before - what was he doing? What was ZELDA doing? She was holding herself against him now, and though he'd hugged his other companions time and time again in his days spent as a Kokiri, this felt somehow different - more unique. Instead of simply wanting to end the embrace after a brief, happy moment, he felt an urge to bring her closer still, to continue to touch her as much as possible. Was it because she was Hylian? That must be what was different - none of the Kokiri felt this good in his arms.

"Please, I..."

"Zelda?" he breathed into her royal headdress.

"Link, I can't tell you, I c-can't seem to- but you have to know, I couldn't stand it if..."

"What is it?" he said, breathing deeply. Though she was wearing expensive perfume, it couldn't mask the salty perspiration of their escape and hike through the forest, nor the pure, clean hint of moss and river water from their surroundings. Maybe it was something about her sweat, or something else about her, but even more sensations sprung up from within. But she was trying to tell him something important - about Gannondorf? About the Triforce?

"My hero," she whispered, saying it with so much more meaning than she had before as her fingers toyed with the end of his ear, "I... I know the fate of our people is on your head, and m-maybe you think that's why I've been so worried, and wanted to help you so much, but... oh, it isn't fair!"

"What's not fair?" he said. His breath came faster as one of his hands moved down to rest closer to her rear end. Why? His hand had moved by itself - he could think of no reason to put it there! But once he got there, it didn't seem wrong anymore, and he left it where it came to rest, fingertips pushing in slightly. Zelda, for her part, drew back suddenly and looked into his eyes; he could see a hint of surprise at his action, but she did not let it stop her from pressing on with her words.

"You're so good, so- oh, so very kind and noble, and here's myself and the entire kingdom asking you to go up against Gannondorf and his forces alone! Who do we think we are?! Before I met you, I had only felt strong hope that you would succeed, but now... Link of Kokiri, I want you to live! I don't want you to face him, I'm- I'm so afraid!"

Suddenly, his heart swelled, and he could almost feel budding tears of his own. Zelda wanted to tell him that he was her friend. His smile was relaxed and easy. "Oh, I knew that."

"What?"

His thumb stroked over one of her cheeks, and her eyes closed briefly as she enjoyed the action, the tiniest sigh escaping her. "I could tell. You didn't treat me like just some soldier in your army - you treat me like a good friend. I know the difference."

"Maybe," she whispered, her nose touching his now. She was awfully close. And what was that stirring in the pit of his stomach? "But... I don't think you understand precisely HOW good a friend. You're so very important to me, now!"

"No, I don't understand," he said slowly. "I mean, I'm glad, but what do you-"

His eyes flew open when her lips met his, when they slid up, then down to envelop his bottom lip entirely. Though his heart was beating faster than ever, hers was thundering against his chest, and he was amazed he couldn't hear it aloud its force was so strong. What in Hyrule was she DOING?! Saria had kissed him on the cheek a few times, but he couldn't have predicted how much stronger it might feel with both people doing it to each other's mouths. After a few seconds, though he was shaking slightly and unsure of why he was doing it, his eyes closed and the hand that was between her shoulderblades moved to cup the back of her head. He began to return the kiss, wondering at the feeling of her toes brushing his legs, the two small, soft mounds behind her royal robes pressing gently into his chest.

"We have to move," Zelda gasped, pulling back to sit atop him, one hand clutching between the bumps on her chest as the other pressed into her flushed cheek. She was heaving to recover oxygen and looking around, as if worried they would be caught. "We- Gannondorf, he'll be looking for us, there's- this isn't the time to-"

"Yeah," he said distractedly. She was too heavy to be sitting on him, but for some reason he didn't mind; her weight and warmth felt right, soft fabric-covered flesh of her backside spread over his own lower torso. "Let's g-get moving, find someplace to camp for the night."

"Ahhh..."

He glanced up at her face to find her eyes had glazed over slightly. "What? What's the matter?"

"Link, you... what are you... what IS that?"

Without warning or explaination, she shifted her weight slightly, and something that had been feeling warmer and stronger in that area sent a wave of pleasure through him. "MMmm... hey, what did you just do?"

"OH!" she gasped, sliding off him to land with a slight BUMP! on the mossy ground between his legs, her own still draped over his hips. "Link, you - oh my goodness, not here, that's- LINK!!"

Her blue eyes were no longer glazed over; in fact, they were now wide as saucers, and he followed their line of sight to where a slight rise had developed beneath his Kokiri tunic. "Huh? What is that?"

"You ought to know, it belongs to you!" she said exasperatedly.

"No," he said, sitting up to look down at the error in his own clothing. "I mean, it's kind of where my yellow gourd is supposed to be, but-"

"What yellow gourd?" She looked up at him, bewildered. "What are you talking- oh. Oh?"

"You know," he said, shrugging nervously. Was he really supposed to explain this to her? "The gourd you pour from when you feel the need. It's how you get rid of the water you drink when your body is through with it."

"Ahhh," she said slowly, a smile creeping into her eyes. Then, for no reason, she giggled. "THAT yellow gourd. Sorry, I uh, must have forgotten."

"Good," he sighed. That had been awkward. "But that's too big to be my gourd; maybe it's a rock? I don't remember feeling it when we fell, but-"

"No, I don't think so," she laughed, changing her positioning so she was kneeling with her legs tucked beneath her. "See, when a young boy becomes a man, sometimes that 'gourd' can... grow."

"It can?!" he blurted. Then he caught himself; he was supposed to know this already. "Oh yeah, I remember now. It grows sometimes. Yeah."

Zelda's smile was very clever, and Link wasn't sure he liked it. Maybe she hadn't remembered immediately, but he had a suspicion she'd learned more about the yellow gourds in her fancy palace than he had in the forest. "Very well, Sir Hero Of Machismo. Then can you make it go away so we can return to finding shelter for the night?"

"GO AWAY?!" he shouted in alarm. "Never! No, you're never supposed to lose your-"

"I mean, un-grow," she added hastily, laughing more jovially this time. "It can go back to its usual size, too. I never meant you had to get rid of it!"

"Well, I don't know," he said, drawing his clothing back to look at it. Sure enough, it was at least twice its normal size, and standing up straight to boot. For some reason, the little gourd at the end of the stalk, which usually remained hidden, was in plain sight. "Man, this is weird - it's more of a red gourd now than yellow."

"Hah..."

With some hesitation, he touched the tip of it; it swayed slightly, and the sensation was not at all unpleasant. "I'm not sure what to do to make it shrink, but... it doesn't hurt or anything." He grasped the stalk between his fingers and it throbbed, which made his heart beat faster for some reason. "Maybe I should just leave it alone for now. It's not causing me any pain, and I don't think it's going to slow me do- d.... Zelda?"

Link had glanced up at her for the briefest moment, and had to look again when he realized she was staring fixated at his gourd. If she'd been breathing hard before, she was now positively gasping for air, and her hand was still clutching at her heart as if worried it might explode. The other hand, he was mystified to see, was inching down her stomach.

"Zelda, what's wrong?"

"Wow..." She gulped noisily. "Why did... wow..."

"You okay?" he whispered uncomfortably. "Is yours doing the same thing?"

"I've never seen a boy's- I mean, you're so... Link, why are you showing me?"

"What do you mean?" But even as he said this, his cheeks began to feel warmer. A long, long time ago, he had remembered comparing gourds with his friends; for the villagers, as long as boys only showed boys and girls only showed girls, it was okay to do it once or twice. But she wasn't a boy, and she wasn't Kokiri. "Gosh, I- Zelda, I'm sorry, I wasn't supposed to do that, was I?"

Her hand was drifting down toward it. "It's so thick, so... rigid. I want..."

"You... wanna touch it?"

"Yeah..."

It was Link's turn to gulp, which he almost didn't manage. Letting a Hylian touch his gourd seemed like it might not be allowed, but for some reason he couldn't explain, it sounded like he might like for it to happen. "You- is that okay? I mean, I don't care, I guess, since you're the princess, and even if it was against the rules you could- OH..."

Since he'd learned to pour from the gourd standing up as a young boy, he'd grown used to touching it every day. It was another part of his body, after all, and you can't help but touch your own body. When it had sprung up a moment ago and he'd felt it again, the sensation was different - more intense, and pleasant. He still hadn't understood why when Zelda's hand came to his gourd, but at that moment it became a tiny bit clearer.

"It's-" Zelda had to break off her word, as she was too concentrated on this discovery. Her pale, delicate fingers felt their way from the spout down to the base of the stalk. "It's so warm, and firm, and-"

"Great Deku!" Link gasped, spreading his legs further apart unconsciously. Nothing had ever made him feel like this in his life, and even though part of him wanted it to stop so he could think about it and figure out what it meant, the rest of him only yearned for more. "Zelda, w-what are you doing to me? This- I don't know what this is, it's some kind of spell!"

"This is so much more than the books said," she heaved, one hand lowering to rest on his hip for support; he found even this felt nice, though not as powerful as what she was doing to his gourd. A small pink tongue appeared to wet her own lips, and Link was confused to find he enjoyed watching her do that - and more confused still when it made the gourd twitch. "I mean, I know what's supposed to happen, in theory, but... but there are things I want to do that don't make sense. We aren't even wed!"

"Things that don't make sense?" he repeated. He laughed shakily. "None of this makes sense!"

"That's because I'm guessing Kokiri aren't taught much about the making of love," she whispered, a finger tracing its way down the stalk and resting on the pods at its base; he found he liked this nearly as much. "I- well, I've seen charts and diagrams that made me blush, but none of those explain these feelings I'm having, the urges, I- things I want to do."

He was sure they were both blushing far more now than any book had caused in her. "Like what?"

By way of answer, she pressed her moist lips to his gourd, and he gasped; it was so light and beautiful, and it made power and electricity ripple throughout himself. "Like that," she sighed onto it, and even her breath felt appealing on his skin. "Nothing in the books said a boy's pen- I mean, 'gourd', should make me feel like kissing it, or- or make it look so..."

Link waited for her to finish, but she only continued to feel along the stalk, staring at it as if wanting much more. "So, um... so girls' gourds don't make you want to do stuff like that?"

"Huh?" Though her hands remained on him, her eyes turned up to his in mild surprise. "What do you- Link, girls don't have gourds!"

"What?" he gasped, startled at this news. "But... but you have to, I mean- I think Kokiri girls do, anyway, I don't know if Hylians even have yellow gourds, but- come on, if you don't, then how do-"

"No, we have- oh, what would I call it..." She glanced at his gourd again, then looked away quickly as her finger moved to her chin. He noticed she was also touching her belly again. "We have, well, um... pink peaches?"

Something in her voice told him Zelda was not very comfortable with this term, but he was too preoccupied with learning that she had no gourd to question it. "Really? Are- no, I mean, I've never heard of that. Can... no, I can't ask you to do that!"

Though he was hoping she wouldn't figure it out, she did, and her breathing stopped suddenly as she clutched at her robes, looking somewhat frightened. "To see it? You want to, don't you?"

"NO!" he shouted. When Zelda's eyebrows hiked very close to her headdress, he thought maybe this had sounded rude and said, "I mean, sure, but you're the princess, and I can't ask you to do anything that makes you-"

"No, no, don't be silly!" she giggled, even though he could see sweat beading on her forehead and temples now. "It's only fair, but... I'm so embarrassed!"

He laughed, secretly trying to put his gourd back under his tunic. It refused to cooperate, and he fought the bizarre urge to moan from touching it again, but he managed to mostly cover it. "Yeah, like I said, I can't ask you to show me, 'cause you're royalty and I'm just some guy, and... and besides, your gourd or peach or whatever belongs to you, and nobody-"

"You think it's because I'm royalty?" she asked, frowning at him. "No, I... Link, I thought you said I was different."

"Huh?" Though he was struggling to keep up with her line of thought, he was now totally bewildered to see tears welling in her eyes again. "Zelda, hey, I didn't mean anything by-"

"Fine!" she snapped. "Then I will show you right now, if only to prove I'm not some stuck up, snobby blue-blood - I'm not, I... I'm just a normal girl!"

Link opened his mouth to apologize again, feeling thoroughly frustrated with himself for not being able to say things the way he wanted them to sound. Before he could get a word out, she began rising to her feet, grabbing the hem of her robes. Unable to think of anything else, he grabbed her wrist and said, "Hey, wait, you don't have to do it if you don't-"

"Let go!" Tears were rolling down her cheeks, and Link's grip disappeared immediately; he didn't want to do anything else to hurt her if he could help it. "You wanted to see my v- my peach, and- and I want to show you! I want you to see it, now let me show you!"

He didn't move from where he was. "Are you sure?"

As she answered, all the anger drained from her voice, even as she continued to cry. "I... Link, if there's anybody I want to view it, it's you, because you're the one I... but only for a moment, I'm too- I'm not ready for anything more, okay?"

"O-of course," he said in a rush. "This is all up to you."

When her hands had brought her robes up to her chest, he saw a pair of soft, white panties were covering that part of her. 'How weird,' he thought. 'Why did Hylians wear clothes on top of clothes?'

"P-pull them down," she said impatiently. "So you c-can see my p-p-p-peach."

As Link raised his hands, fully intending to do this, he found he was just as nervous as she was. "Are... Zelda, it's okay, you sound really scared. You can show me some other time, when you're ready."

"No!" she barked at him, angry once more. "You will look NOW, or you won't- no, I-" A whimper escaped her as she stamped her bare foot. "Will you hurry up and do it, please? You're making me feel more shy than before, as if that were possible!"

"Okay, okay!" he griped, hooking both fingers over the waistband and jerking them down around her ankles.

"EEEK!"

Link's eyes were screwed up tight, and he slipped his hands around her shins. "Sorry! I can pull them back up, nevermind all this, I-"

"No," she gasped, and he could feel her shaking all over. "It's... so, what do you think?"

"C'mon, I can't look now, not if you don't really want me to - and don't say you do, I can tell!"

"Please look," she pleaded with him. "This is really hard for me, but I DO want you to have seen. And I'll be very cross with you if I had to let the entire forest observe my nether region and you didn't even look!"

Link opened his eyes, focusing on her knees. As he let his eyes roam from there along her thighs, he wondered at how little muscle tone her legs had, but the smoothness and creamy complexion suited her regal status - and his eyes, as well. Then, when he came to where her yellow gourd should be, he gasped. "There's nothing there!"

"Yes there is," she whispered. "I mean, there's not nothing. You should... touch it, if you want. You can't learn if you don't..."

The tiny mound of flesh that should have been where the gourd grew from was very rosy, and there was a crease in it, like the one most people had around back of there. Gulping, amazed that she didn't want to stop him, he let his fingers brush the outside of it, and its owner twitched violently.

"Zelda, are you okay?"

"Don't take long," she panted. "I can't stay standing very long with you touching me. But... well?"

"You were right," he snickered. "It IS like a peach - I mean, soft and pink, and a little fuzzy..."

"It's FUZZY?!" Her legs drew together involuntarily. "You r-really think so?"

"You really DON'T have a gourd," he said, and taking his cue from her, he kissed the fruitlike formation lightly. "It's pretty, though."

"Haah!" she gasped, staggering back a step. For a moment, he thought he spied the gleam of nectar forming on the underside of it. "Link, I... can you pull my bloomers back up, please?"

He blinked, then laughed nervously, not even daring look at her peach again. "You're right, you didn't tell me I could do that. Hang on."

When her underwear was safely back in place, she drew back and knocked him over again, this time kissing him with so much vigor that he was worried she was trying to eat his tongue. Though he hadn't been noticing his gourd as accutely the last few minutes, now that she was lying atop him again, he could no longer ignore the way it stuck straight up into her, and with a worried jolt he noticed it was probably grinding into her (apparently) very sensitive peach.

"Hey," he whispered as he broke the kiss, "are you okay? I m-mean, with my- kinda stabbing your-"

"Shh," she breathed, laying her finger atop his lips. "Just... be with me?"

"I am with you," he said, confused. Then, as he looked at all the worry and uncertainty in the princess's eyes, he thought perhaps he understood, and repeated himself more fervently. "I'm with you."

The longer their sweet embrace lasted, the more he tasted of her mouth, the more certain he became that this was not somehow wrong or insane. Though he had not been taught this much by the Deku Tree, it seemed to him that boys and girls were meant to fit together like this, or else it wouldn't feel so... RIGHT to him. At first, when his hands passed over her behind and down her side, he had been hesitant and she had flinched, but as time passed she seemed to respond positively and he became more sure of himself. Then, when his hand had just squeezed the base of her thigh and forced her into him, she drew back and smiled down at him.

"Link... I... I want to be with you forever. Is that okay?"

"What do you mean?" he breathed. "We're friends, and I don't ever plan on that changing."

"But I want to be..." Another noisy swallow; her hands slipped over his chest and onto his shoulders. "Can I be your... BEST friend?"

He blinked, letting his hand roam up to her neck, which she nuzzled into. Everything about her was so perfectly formed, so frail-seeming... "Hmm... I don't know. I've heard of that before, but I've never had one. What do 'best friends' do?"

"You have to..." Again, droplets fell from her eyes, splashing onto his cheeks. His heart thumped yet more wildly, and he wasn't sure why. "I have to be the most important person in all of Hyrule to you, okay? And you'll be the most important to me. Even when we're apart. Okay?"

A smile lit up his features, and again he couldn't begin to guess at its cause - except he knew when Zelda told him he was the most important person in the world to her, everything in him wanted to laugh into the winds and tell the world. "It's a deal - Best Friend."

"And-" Her head came to rest on his chest, one hand stroking over it and down his abdomen. "You can't ever forget me, or- and I might still be a princess, but we have to treat each other the same. No more 'you're royalty and I'm not' bull droppings. And... ooh, wow, you are so HARD!"

"Hmm?" But as he said it, he realized that once she had changed positions, his gourd was pressing right into her stomach, and it must hurt. "Oh, sorry about that - are you okay?"

"No, no, I... I don't mind," she almost whispered. "Not in the slightest, I... Link, I think I may want to touch it again. Do you... I mean, would that be all right, or d-do you not want that?"

He thought about that a moment; it didn't seem fair that he'd feel so much mind-blowing pleasure from her, and all she got out of it was moving some gourd around. "Only if you let me touch you. We're treating each other the same, now, right?"

"OH!" she gasped, then coughed involuntarily. When her fit subsided, his worry began to fade when he found she was chuckling nervously. "Um, I, uhh... yes, sure. Afterward, though, okay? I'm... still feeling a touch shy about that."

"No, of course," he laughed. "But... are you sure you want to? There's not-"

Zelda's snicker cut him off as she slid down, placing her head right above his hips. "What's wrong? Don't you want me to?" He had no words for her, and could only watch as she moved his tunic aside again exposing his gourd to the forest once more, fingers playing at his hip bones as she gaped at him. "My word, I think it may actually have grown MORE!"

"If you say so," he said. Then she began touching him again, and his mind went blank. "Ahh..."

"You do like this," she said, as if making absolutely sure something wasn't a myth. "So do I."

"But... but it's just a weird th-thing," he gasped stupidly. "I'm the one feeling all this- this- wow, do I feel it!"

"You're wrong, Link. I do like it... so sturdy, yet smooth, and hot in my hands, and the scent is... intoxicating."

When she kissed it again, he glanced down to watch. She couldn't be lying; the look on her face said she felt nothing but joy at being able to touch his gourd, which while he didn't understand, he couldn't deny the truth in it. He gasped her name again, and when he did, she smiled and cupped the pods in one hand, moving them around, which only caused him to shiver.

"You like that, too?"

"Yeah... I like everything."

She giggled, then cleared her throat hesitantly. "Link, I... it looks so... oh, maybe this makes me a strange girl, but there's something I want to do, and I can't stop wanting it, even though it's so silly."

"Do whatever you want," he laughed, fighting to keep himself upright on his elbows so he could look at her. "Nothing's felt silly at all so far."

"Your gourd looks so... delicious," she whispered, face so red he wondered if she were ill. "Can I... can I, perhaps, taste it?"

"Taste it?"

Her body rolled onto its side, and as he watched, perplexed, she reached under her robes with one hand. "Mmmh, I... my pink peach? It tingles when I th- when I think about doing it, and... oh, I apologize, I sound like a raving madwoman."

The thought of her wanting to do such a thing made no sense, and neither did the way she was touching herself underneath her robes like that, but both things made the stalk supporting his gourd harden yet more. "Yeah. If you want to, you can... have a taste."

Again, her lips met the tip of the spout, and he laughed without meaning to. He worried for a second that she would feel he was laughing AT her, but this went away the moment her tongue met the base of the stalk and slowly made its way up, leaving a trail of saliva that felt cold when the slight breeze touched it.

"Oh, Zelda," he panted, a tingling sensation running from the tips of his pointed ears right through into his toes. "What are you doing to me?"

"It tastes so good," she said, her voice thick with hunger as she removed her hand from beneath her robes and grasped his stalk, squeezing hard. A moan burst from him without him intending when he felt how slick her peach nectar had made both gourd and stalk. "I'm... oh, you can't think of me as a lady anymore, I'm so, so... brazen!"

"Don't worry about it," he gasped, watching the way her eyes flitted between his and what she wanted. "I... you're my Best Friend, I'm still gonna like you. And everything you're doing feels..."

"You're sure?" Her voice cracked a bit. "When I tasted you... you didn't think I was a lunatic, or a pervert, or just a horrible Hylian being?"

"No way!" he yelped. "I mean, I've never heard of anybody tasting a yellow gourd before, but it felt so good that it can't be, y'know, wrong or anything!"

For a long moment, she continued to stroke the length of his stalk and gourd, occasionally passing her fingers over his pods and even further down to what the Deku Tree had called "the knothole", though she made no move to explore that further (and Link felt strongly that she shouldn't, anyway, so he said nothing). Then, without forewarning of any kind, her lips came to envelop the gourd entirely.

"Whoa!"

"Mmhh!" came her muffled cry, and he felt something sliding around where gourd met stalk - was that her tongue? He couldn't give voice to this question, because her ministrations were causing the entire forest to spin, and his legs spasmed on either side of her. Though he was sure nothing could bring more intensity to that area of his anatomy, when her other hand slid around his pods and squeezed gently, his arms buckled entirely and he hit the forest floor with a THUMP!, his hat and the moss cushioning the fall.

Zelda's lips disengaged, and she lifted slightly to look at him. "Link, my goodness, are you all right?! Are you hurt?!"

"Ohh..." Grinning dazedly, he looked up at her. "I feel great. How are you?"

She smiled down at him, licking her lips again - only this time, she took more care, making sure anything on them ended up on her tongue. When she had swallowed, she said, "Still hungry. M-maybe you want me to stop, but if- that is, can I...?"

"Seconds?"

"I'm sorry." Her voice was so meek he almost couldn't make it out. "Is this all too much? My conscience keeps telling me I should slow down, but it's all coming so naturally, and-"

"Don't ask me," he laughed heartily. "I've nver done anything like this before, what do I know? But if it makes you happy, and it makes me happy..."

She blinked at him for a moment, then crawled on top of him, planting a brief kiss on his lips before moving back into position above his gourd. He only had a moment to wonder at how sweet-yet-pungent the mixture of his gourd-water and her own peach juices was before her mouth was around him again, and his back arched slightly.

"Link, I love it so much," she moaned heatedly, stroking wildly along his stalk and planting light kisses around the base. "Having it throb against my mouth, I- I want to take it all, I want it deep in my throat, it-"

"I w-want it, too!" Even though he'd been responding in kind, as he said it he felt the truth that had been hidden even from himself. "It feels so amazing, it- you're amazing!"

"But I'm a whore!" Her cheek ground into the stalk, her hands snaking up and digging into his hips as she pressed his gourd into his own stomach. "We're not even wedded, and I'm doing these things, and- you can't respect me anymore, not after this!"

It was getting harder and harder for him to reply, but he forced himself not to concentrate on the smooth, cool surface of her face as it pressed into him. "What are you talking about?! I've never heard of a 'whore', but if it's something bad then you can't be one!"

"Unnh!" she moaned, lips closing around the side of his stalk and sliding up as her tongue flicked back and forth. As this happened, he began to feel an immense urge building somewhere deep within, and it caused his pods to tingle within their cocoon.

"Zel..." It was as much of her name as he could manage to speak. Then, just when he was sure nothing could ever feel any better, he felt his gourd reenter her mouth, and this time she pushed it yet deeper, forcing her lips to reach halfway down the stalk, then two-thirds. "OOOHHH!"

"Mmhmmng!" When she hesitated for a moment, he forced himself to glance down at her face to find her eyes squeezed shut, mouth stretched wide to accomodate him. Link began to grow worried. Was this causing her some pain? After a few quick breaths through flared nostrils, however, she hooked both hands under his legs and around to his hips and used the leverage to force herself to take all of him, her chin just touching his pods.

"DEKUUUU!" he cried into the skies, amazed at how hot he burned within her head, unbelieving that her unheard-of desire to want to taste his gourd could lead to so much enjoyment. "Oh Deku, I- Zelda, how did- where did you learn- it's so good, I feel so good!"

She could only whimper in reply, but even as he continued to revel in the sensation of touching so deep a part of her throat, the tongue returned to wrap itself around and toy with his stalk, and his back curved yet more. As his hands clawed desperately at the ground, she began to move him in and out, still stroking at him with her tongue, her fingertips massaging into him and causing every sensation to multiply tenfold.

Then the vague urge that had been building made its presence more obvious; something was going to happen if she kept this up. As good as every moment felt, he knew the approaching moment was going to feel all kinds of interesting, but he wasn't sure what it would do to her, because it felt somehow akin to the 'need' he felt when his gourd was full. Was something going to come out this time, too? He felt he had to tell her. "W-wait, wait, stop, Zelda, I- wait-"

"Hhmmmah?" she said as she pulled his well-lubricated gourd and stalk from her lips, letting go of his legs to grasp it. "What's wrong?"

"Something's... it's gonna happen, I don't know, but I... I dunno what'll happen, I'm..."

This time, her features lit up, as if she had been told she were getting an expensive gift for no occasion. "You are?! I mean... you're really going to, you like it that much?!"

"Huh? What..." His head felt full of water, and the oddness was at the bottom of it for some reason. "Going to what?"

The bridge of her nose crinked as her smile grew yet wider. "Don't worry, you'll like it. I've heard there's nothing else better in all the lands. Just... oh Link, I'm so happy!"

And before he had time to gather effort for a response, he was back inside her throat, sliding out and back in, and though she had been doing this gradually before, the pace quickened, and the waves of pleasure it sent out began to hit him so frequently he didn't have time to recover between. Unable to stop himself, he started shouting Zelda's name over and over between unintelligible groans of pleasure, back arching higher and higher as she moved faster and faster, sucking at him ravenously, still massaging his pods and pushing at the area beneath them. He couldn't be sure if it were accidental or not, but this last act spurred him yet further into the depths of ecstasy, and even tightened and strengthened his stalk's rigidity. This, of course, she noticed.

"Link!" she gasped briefly as she withdrew, hand sliding along the stalk with ease due to how thoroughly she had coated it by now. "Do it, don't hold back! Let me drink!"

"Dah... drink... what?"

There was a depth to that hungry look that told him she wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than what she asked of him. "When you feel it again, whatever's going to happen... don't try to stop it, don't worry! Just let me have it, all of it, as much as you have!"

"B-but, what if-"

"You're my Best Friend. We need to trust each other, and you can trust me when I say I NEED this." Her lips pressed against him once more as she whispered, "So please, Link... quench my thirst for you!"

"Oh... okahhh- okay..."

Sight left him this time when he reentered through her lips, the insides of her cheeks and tongue pressing in harder on him as she forced him in and out at a feverish rate. His hips began bucking up to meet her without him trying, and she only moaned in reponse, fingers playing over the base of the stalk and his pods though she mostly concentrated on trying her best to envelop his gourd. The something that had been building rose to the surface, and he now knew it would burst forth and into her, and that seemed dangerous. Was she going to be okay? Did she know what she was talking about?

"Z-Zel- ahh, I- it's going to- you can't take it, what if-"

"Mmm-Mmh!" she admonished without allowing him to withdraw; her hands moved back to clamp each buttock, preventing him from pulling away. She needed it, whatever it was - and despite what she'd said about equality, she was his princess, and he couldn't refuse her.

"I'm sor- sorry!" he shouted; he at least needed her to know he didn't want her hurt before he could allow himself to release fully. "Oh, I- I want you, I- I need to-"

"Mmmh!"

"Zelda, I- ZELDA!!!"

"MMMMMMMMHHHHHHHNNNNGGGGG!!!"

This last utterance was more of a scream; his heart broke a little even as it exploded with joy. Every good feeling that had been spreading throughout his body drew to the base above his pods, and when it had all gathered shot forth through his stalk and into Zelda's throat, causing her to cry out in surprise. While he was so deep in the feeling, it seemed distant, but he registered tears running down her soft, rouged cheeks even as she tried to swallow everything that had burst from him. Though he couldn't know for sure since he hadn't seen, it had felt like a lot; sure enough, eventually she drew back and hacked violently, a white, thick fluid dribbling down her chin and onto the ground.

"Wha... I... wha... wow, it's... how..."

"Too much," she managed between coughs, and he could tell she was in some pain. "I... ouch!"

His euphoria refused to go away, but it lessened a tiny bit. "Zelda, are... you gonna be..."

"Yeah," she grunted, swiping at her chin with the back of her hand as she swallowed again, and more forcefully. "I'm fine, don't- don't worry about me."

"But you coughed so much, I-" He tried to push himself up but he felt so drained that he flopped right back down, staring at the leaves overhead. "Oohg..."

"I'm great," she panted. For a while, he wondered if this were true, but then she lay down next to him and he could look over into her eyes; it was true. Even though her face was shining with sweat and flushed with the effort of the coughing fit, she looked happy as a lark. "That was so much fun, I... and everything felt good, I don't know why, I- oh, Link!"

"Hah," he half-laughed. "Thought I killed you for a second, there."

"Not that easily," she snickered as her arm came to lay across his stomach. "It was a... a LOT, I couldn't believe how much there was, but I loved every minute of it. Thank you."

"Thank ME?!" he burst out. "I should be thanking YOU, that was incredible, I- are you sure you didn't cast any spells?!"

She grinned at him. "Positive. Just good old-fashioned fellatio."

"Fellachy-wha?"

"Link, I'm so glad you liked it," she breathed into his ear; he wished she wouldn't do that, as he was already feeling drowsy and it only made him yet drowsier. "I- well, once I got going I remembered what I saw in that book before Impa found me with it and took it away, but I had no way of knowing if I was doing it right!"

"I'd say you probably were, if it's supposed to be the best feeling in the world," he laughed dazedly, and she laughed with him. "Zelda... it's my turn now, I think... yeah, I want to t-"

"Shhhh," she said, putting her finger over his mouth again. "You don't have enough energy to sneeze, Hero; we'll get to that later."

"No... I can't, you..."

She sighed exasperatedly. "Very well. How about a sample to tide you over?"

With a deliberately slow movement, she reached under her robes and touched her peach again, moaning into his ear. Link could feel the something that she had sated with her throat trying to reawaken, but it had no life, so he merely enjoyed the sights and sounds, trying to swallow even though his throat was so dry. After a few moments, she withdrew her wet, dripping hand, entirely covered in her nectar, and touched a single fingertip to his lips.

"Mmm," he sighed, licking up every one of the tiny droplets and marvelling at how his tongue tingled. "You're sweeter than honey."

Zelda made a shy, nasal sound as her sopping fingers stroked his stalk - it wasn't nearly as straight and rigid as it had been before. Was the strange white fluid the cause, and once she'd bled it from him the stalk could go back being more like its usual vine? "Thank you. Sleep now, and then we'll go find shelter, and maybe THEN we'll see to the rest."

"But-"

"Sleeeep," she soothed, and her leg brushed his as she rolled further onto her side, caressing his shin with the arch of her foot - her nearness lulled him yet further away from consciousness. She kissed him on the cheek again, but before she could draw away, he used the very last of his energy to move his head forward and engage her lips, showing her with action what he could not convey in words. Her arm moved further up, hand resting between shoulder and neck, and she sighed happily as she pulled away. "I know, Best Friend. You rest. I'll be with you."

And he rested.