Finders Keepers

***
“Keet, you stay here on the lookout for Zelda or Karane. If you see either of them, for the love of Hylia, please keep them away from her room.”

Keet looked at Link and nodded, “I got it, but what do you want me to say?”

Link looked up at the ceiling a second and sighed, “I don’t know, just lead them away from the door. The absolute last thing I want is for Zelda to find out that I was snooping through her room.”

Pipit leaned against the wall next to Zelda’s door and slightly laughed, “I wish you’d tell us what on Skyloft you’re looking for. And you lost it in Zelda’s room of all places!”

Link ignored Pipit and grabbed the doorknob, quietly knocking and hoping that no one responded from the other side.

After a few moments of waiting for a response, Link slowly opened the door and peaked inside, relieved to see her room empty. Sighing of relief, he and Pipit stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind them.

Pipit slowly pushed Link farther inside and he walked to the other side of the room, “Now will you tell me what we came in here to look for?”

Link looked at Pipit briefly and shook his head, “It’s confidential.”

Pipit rolled his eyes and smirked, sitting down at the edge of Zelda’s bed, “Why did you make me come in here with you if I can’t even help you look for it?”

Link ignored Pipit once more and continued carefully searching under things and through things, extremely cautious of what drawer he opened and what boxes he looked through.

“Soooo, there’s been a rumor…”

Link looked up at Pipit, and his eyes slightly widened as he froze like a deer in the headlights, “You hear that voice, too… right?”

Pipit looked at the “wall” that divided Zelda and Karane’s rooms, spotting a crack where the wall didn’t completely join, “I think it’s Karane…”

Link looked at where Pipit’s eyes were directed toward and spotted Zelda and Karane through the crack. He felt his stomach twisted a little bit, but Pipit didn’t seem worried one bit.

Pipit smiled amusedly and walked closer to the unfinished wall, peaking through at the girls.

“Are you crazy?!” Link whisper-yelled, “They could spot you!”

Pipit backed away slowly with his hands up to show surrender, “Gosh, Link, it’s not like they’re looking into Zelda’s room all the time to see if anyone snuck in to look for something.”

“Oh? What’s the rumor?”

Link recognized that as the waitress’s voice from The Lumpy Pumpkin, Kena. How many girls were in there? And is it worth it to look for what he thinks he lost in there. ‘Heck yes… if Zelda finds this…’

“I heard that you and Keet kissed.”

“What?!” Kena cried from the other room.

Pipit looked to Link and Link looked to Pipit, the two sharing the expression of confusion.

“Way to go, Keet…” Pipit whispered, causing Link to smile and shake his head, continuing his search for the stupid object. ‘Oh Hylia, what if she already found it? She would have said something if she did… I hope.’

“Well, did you?” Zelda giggled, watching Kena’s face turn red.

Kena shook her head, “I-I don’t… we didn’t- I can’t… I… w-who told you that?”

Karane shook her head and laughed, “Kukiel told me.”

Kena’s face color drained, “Oh dear Hylia…”

Zelda giggled and threw an arm around Kena’s shoulders, “Don’t be embarrassed! Come on, Kena, you should have told us anyway!”

Kena looked down, “But we haven’t spoken since then… I think I scared him away…”

Karane crossed her arms, “Impossible! That boy has been in love with you since you two were in diapers. Nothing could scare him away from you!”

Kena blushed again, “I doubt that…”

Zelda smiled, “Hey… when Link and I first got together, we kissed on an island alone… and after the kiss, Link ran and jumped off the island! I cried for hours on the island until Link came back to explain why he jumped… I thought he was so disgusted that he had to get away from me as soon as possible, but it turns out it was just cause he was so scared that I’d be mad at him for kissing me…”

***

Zelda felt Link’s lips on hers and her heart began to race, beating a million miles a minute.

Link’s reaction to the kiss, however, was the exact opposite. He was horrified with himself, cursing at his sudden courage to kiss Zelda. Why couldn’t he have just held back like he had been doing all these years?

Zelda was about to kiss back when she suddenly felt cold once more as Link pulled away and turned his back to her.

“Link…?”

She could tell he was as breathless as her, but that didn’t stop him from running and jumping off the little island they were on. He called his Loftwing and she watched him fly away, horrified at the fact that he just left her.

Zelda felt her heart rip as she watched him fly away, obviously disgusted with the kiss between the two.

She wanted to believe that he had forgotten to get something or do something, but who was she kidding? No one. Absolutely no one.

***

After waiting for him to come back for twenty minutes, Zelda sighed and felt another tear trail down her face. She observed the small island and frowned at the happy memories that were with everything that she saw.

When she looked at the little pool of water that was to her right, she remembered when her and Link had a water battle, soaking each other until it was really late.

When she saw the patch of flowers, she remembered when they were thirteen and first found the island. Link had picked some of those flowers and hander them to her. She wished those flowers were still alive, for they were the prettiest flowers she had ever seen.

When she looked at the carved Loftwing statue, she remembered when Link surprised her with it a few months ago.

This island was their island. After they were able to fly, everything they did together was on this small, but roomy island.

Zelda felt another tear fall and she laid down, closing her eyes slowly. “You’ll be fine, Zelda… Who needs Link?”

***

Link could see barely see the island in the distance as his Loftwing had lots of trouble flying in the darkness. The headlight that Mr. Gaepora let him borrow helped a little bit, but not a lot.

As he neared the island, he saw Zelda laying down next to the Loftwing statue, asleep. A few of his nerves left him, but certainly not all as his bird landed on the island a bit too loudly.

Link grimaced as he saw Zelda turn over in her sleep, hoping that she won’t wake up.

To Link’s dismay, she slowly sat up and looked around, her eyes scanning the island. At first she didn’t see Link standing to her left, but when she heard Link’s bird fly away, she saw him in the flash of light from his Loftwing’s headlight.

“L-Link…?”

Link gulped and sat down next to her timidly, “Yeah… It’s just me…”

Zelda felt Link’s arm brush against hers and she shivered slightly, wishing that she could lean over and kiss him.

Link avoided eye contact for a few moments, but when Zelda’s hand grabbed his, he looked into her eyes.

“I… I thought… I thought you… you wouldn’t come back…” she whispered, sounding a bit too desperate for her liking.

Zelda’s words confused him and he squeezed her hand, “I thought you hated me…”

At those words, Zelda let go of his hand and turned her body toward his, “Link, are you kidding? I don’t think I could ever hate you…”

Link’s look of confusion didn’t falter, “But… what about earlier…?”

Zelda looked away from him, but scooted closer, “I… I could never hate you for what you did earlier… Although, I feel a little embarrassed to say that when it’s certain that you don’t feel-”

“Hold it right there,” Link stopped her, his cheeks slightly turning red, “Do you mean to tell me that you actually liked what I did… earlier…?”

Zelda looked into his eyes and saw a glimmer of hope and longing the made her heart flutter.

Link gradually moved closer to Zelda, his arms wrapping around her waist, “Well?”

Zelda’s nose brushed his and she breathed in sharply, “Dear Hylia, yes, I enjoyed what you did earlier… I enjoyed it more than you could ever imagine…”

Link’s heart began to beat faster, “Is that so?”

Zelda nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck, “But… why did you leave…? I thought that I disgusted you so much that you never wanted to see me again…”

Link’s eyes pierced hers, “Zel, oh Hylia, Zelda, I couldn’t last a day without seeing you… You did anything but disgust me…”

“Then why… why did you jump…?” Zelda asked weakly.

“Because I got scared…” Link pulled her into his lap and kissed her cheek.

“Are you scared anymore?”

Link looked in her eyes briefly, but leaned in to whisper in her ear, “Not at all…”

Zelda waited for his eyes to lock on hers again before she said anything, “Neither am I…”

With that, Link’s lip pressed against hers, making this kiss much more enjoyable than the last.

Zelda smiled against his lips and a tear escaped from one of her eyes, mixing into their kiss.

Link pulled her as close to him as she could get and then slightly pulled away, “Zelda Harkinan… Would you please go out with me?”

Zelda giggled slightly and kissed him again, “Nothing on Skyloft would ever make me say no…”

***

Link smiled down at the floor, thinking back to that night, “I remember that night… One of the best and worst nights of my life.”

Pipit laughed, “Yeah… I remember, you ran up to me like a hand had just popped out of the toilet and nearly screamed, “I screwed everything up with Zelda!””

Link smiled, “Yeah…”

“When me and Pipit first kissed, I slapped him.”

Kena looked at Karane, “What???”

Link looked over to Pipit and raised an eyebrow, “What did you do to her…?”

Pipit laughed, “She’s about to explain…”

“Well, we were fighting over what we were gonna do our social studies report on and after we had been yelling at each other for a few minutes, he leaned over and kissed me. My first thought was to slap him.”

Zelda smiled, “I remember seeing a hand print on Pipit’s face for a week after that.”

Pipit frowned and glared down at Link, “Your girlfriend’s making fun of me…”

Link smiled slightly, “It’s hard not to…”

Pipit scowled at him, but before he could say anything, Karane spoke up.

“Sooo, Zel, I want a confession.”

Zelda raised an eyebrow, “I don’t like where this is going…”

“You’re in love with Link, riiiiiight?”

Zelda’s cheeks reddened. Sure, she and Link had said that they loved each other to each other, but admitting it to someone else almost horrified her. It wasn’t that she was ashamed for loving Link, it was the exact opposite, really, but she felt like it was only something her and Link shared.

“Uhh…”

Link felt Pipit’s eyes on him but he ignored it the best he could, looking under Zelda’s dresser for the object he lost.

His eyes looked all underneath the dresser and was about to give up, when he saw a little sparkle. I got it!

“Come on Zellie… spill.”

Link grabbed the object and sighed. He slowly stood up and started to put it in his jacket pocket when he heard Pipit whisper-yell way too loudly, “Is that a ring?”

The girls all shut up and Link’s eyes widened, shoving the ring into his pocket. “Pipit!” Link hissed, pushing him to the door quickly, “You blew it!”

Pipit shoved the door open which sent Keet stumbling forward and into the wall ahead. Link and Pipit rushed out and helped Keet up, rushing down the stairs quickly.

Zelda opened the door to Karane’s room and looked out, seeing no one. She slowly stepped out and opened the door to her room, seeing quite a few of her things thrown on the floor.

Kena and Karane trailed in behind her.

“Link?”

Zelda looked to Kena and nodded as Karane added, “And Pipit. That was his voice I heard.”

***

Karane folded her arms across her chest, "I know you two were in Zelda's room..."

Link looked to the ground, "I know it looks bad, but I swear that I was only looking for something!"

Pipit smiled and looked at Link, "Yeah... I can't believe that you'd loose that of ALL things in Zelda's room."

"I didn't leave it..." Link mumbled, "It fell out of my pocket..."

Karane looked to Kena and Kena shrugged, "What did you loose?"

Link's eyes continued to study the floor as his face began to turn red, "I-it's just a gift... that I've been planning to give... Zelda... but I don't think I'm gonna give it to her..."

Pipit looked at Link and about punched him in the nose, "Dude what is wrong with you?! You have to give it to her at some point!"

Karane walked closer to the two guys, "What did you loose...?"

Pipit frowned when Link took his jacket off and stuck his hands in his tunic pockets , "It wasn't that big of a deal..."

Karane grabbed Link by the collar of his tunic and her eyes pierced his, "What... was it?"

Pipit watched Link's grip on his jacket loosen and he reached out to grab it, successfully ripping it from it's owner's hands.

Karane's eyes moved to Pipit as he searched the pockets, wrapping his fingers around a circular object. "Ahha!"

Karane let go of Link and Pipit held up a Lifesaver, frowning as he realized that it was most certainly not what he thought it was.

“You’re… You’re kidding right?” Kena frowned, “You made a big deal out of a Lifesaver?”

Pipit laughed nervously and looked in the other pocket, sighing, “I swear, I saw you put it in your jacket pocket…”

Link’s eyes widened and he grabbed his jacket back, “I… I did…”

Karane frowned and placed her hands on her hips, “Um… What did he really leave?”

“A ring!” Pipit and Link shouted in unison as they realized that it had gotten lost once again.

Kena started to smile and laughed, “You’re kidding… right?”

Link and Pipit’s expressions didn’t falter and Karane face palmed, “I’d be happy for you, Link, but you’re an idiot! What kind of idiot looses and engagement ring twice!?”

Link sat down on the edge of his bed and hid his face in his hands, “An idiot who could have possibly lost it while flying this time…”

They all turned to Link, “What?!?”

***

Zelda sat down on the edge of one of the jumping platforms and sighed, thinking about what had happened a while ago.

“Zelda?”

Zelda turned and saw Kukiel smiling down at her, holding a small object in her hand.

“Hey Kukiel…” Zelda smiled, her eyes not leaving the object once.

Kukiel saw what Zelda was eyeing and held it out to her, “Isn’t it pretty? I found it laying on the stairs in the knight academy…”

Zelda held out her hands and her eyes met Kukiel’s, “Can I see it?”

Kukiel nodded and laughed, “You can even have it!  It doesn’t fit me, but I might fit you!”

Kukiel placed it in Zelda’s hands and then sat down next to her.

It was the prettiest engagement ring that Zelda had ever seen… Ten small diamonds were shaped like a triangle with seven smaller diamonds in the middle to make it look like a Triforce. “It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen…”

Kukiel smiled as Zelda placed it on her ring finger, and it fit perfectly.

“I feel so bad for every girl who didn’t get an engagement ring that was this beautiful…”

Kukiel slightly frowned, “What about you?”

Zelda smiled and looked at Kukiel, “I still have time before I get married… I don’t even know who would want to marry me…”

Kukiel placed her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows, “That is a lie, Zelda.”

Zelda slightly laughed, “Okay, okay… but he wouldn’t be able to afford this…”

Kukiel’s smile slowly started to appear again.

“I’d love to keep this ring, Kukiel… but the poor man who spent a fortune on this ring needs to give it to that special someone that he obviously cares so much about…” Zelda slowly took the ring off and offered it back to Kukiel.

Kukiel’s smile confused Zelda, but she wiped that thought away as Kukiel began speaking again, “Hmmm… I’ll go ask around…”

Zelda nodded, but Kukiel took her hand before going anywhere and slid the ring back onto her finger once more, “But I want you to hold on to it for me… okay?”

Zelda smiled and nodded, “Of course…”

***

“Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink!!!”

Link looked up from where he was looking and looked around for the ring.

“Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink!!!!!!”

Link stood up and opened the door to his room, spotting Kukiel yelling at the top of her lungs.

“LIIIIIIIIIIII-”

“I’m right here!!” Link yelled, causing Kukiel to stop yelling and smile.

“Link! You’ll never guess what Zelda has!” Kukiel watched his face carefully as he raised an eyebrow.

“What…?”

“She has your ring!”

***

Link spotted Zelda sitting on top of the waterfall, her feet hanging in the water as she looked down in her lap. Link felt his heart rise to his throat just watching her, but he guided his bird to the island and landed on it softly.

He slowly got off his bird and made his way to Zelda, dreading the conversation ahead.

“I didn’t think you’d show…”

Link froze as Zelda’s voice rang in his ears. Suddenly, the realization hit that she might have figured out that that ring was hers to keep hit him and he felt like he was going to fall off the top of the waterfall if he took a step wrong.

“Why wouldn’t I…?” Link answered softly, walking over to where she sat, sitting down next to her. He slid his boots off and rolled up his pants legs and stuck his feet in the water with Zelda’s.

Zelda was looking down at the ring which was unsettling for Link, and he continued to hope that she hadn’t figured it out yet.

“Cause… You snuck in my room earlier…” Zelda whispered and grabbed his left arm that was pressed to her arm, “And now you have to explain why you did…”

Zelda’s teeth grazed Link’s ear and he shivered, trying to relax so he didn‘t look tense.

“Why were you in my room…?”

Link looked into her eyes and a smile appeared on Zelda’s face, “I was just looking for something…”

“In my room?”

Link nodded slowly and Zelda’s lips pressed to his for a few moments.

“What were you looking for?”

Link kissed her again and his arms wrapped around her waist, “Why does it matter?”

“Oh…” Zelda mumbled between kisses, “it doesn’t…”

“So then can we both just forget about it?” Link kissed her nose and Zelda’s eyes closed in delight.

“Sure…” Zelda sighed, “But I have another question…”

Link tried not to show any fear or anxiousness as he looked in her eyes again, “Okay…”

Zelda showed her ring finger to Link and Link faked a look of pure hurt.

“You got engaged…?” Link said as his voice wavered, but not in sadness, it wavered in fear.

Zelda shook her head, “No… No!” She ran her fingers through his hair with her right hand, “Of course not… I love you… not anyone else…”

Link sighed of relief, “Oh… Well… Where did that ring come from…?”

Zelda slightly frowned, “You mean you don’t know?”

Link’s voice caught in this throat and answered quietly, “No…?”

Zelda’s frown deepened… “Well… that poor man who lost it is bound to come looking for it soon…”

Link nodded and kissed Zelda’s cheek, “Yeah…”

“Although… I do have an idea on who’s it is…”

Link gave Zelda a short kiss on the lips, “You do?”

Zelda looked into Link’s eyes and smiled softly, “Yes…”

Before Link could say anything, Zelda’s lips caught his in a short, but passionate, kiss.

“That was a yes to both questions by the way…”

Link looked at her with a confused look and she kissed his nose, “To both questions…?”

Zelda giggled softly and kissed him once more, “Yes… to both questions…”

Link’s eyebrows raised and Zelda laughed, “Yes to I have an idea on who lost the ring…”

She paused and kissed Link’s lips once again, “And… yes, I’ll marry you…”

***