The Deku Tree's shade was welcomed comfort from this paticularly warm day in the Kokiri Forest. The trees and grass seemed to be growing healthier than ever. A handful of familar looking plants, no doubt planted by Link, dot the Deku Tree's meadow. Coming down the stream, a few Kokiri are swimming around. The scene is typical of the forest. One Kokiri, of course, is more mature and larger than the others. He is on his deck of his tree house, taking a nap in a large wooden chair. Snoring, his mouth is hanging wide open and his eyes seemingly
glued shut. Suddenly, his eyes dart open. He doesn't move, but scans his surroundings with his eyes.
"Hello?"
He begins to reach over for something, but stops when he sees Saria's head poking from the top of the ladder up to his roost. "Morning sunshine!"
"Hey." Link rubs his eyes a little bit and sits up. Saria jumps on him, giving Link no time to get his thoughts together. Sharing a big hug, Saria then jumps off. Link moves his legs and gets to his feet.
"Forget what today is?"
"Uh..." Link knew what tomorrow was: his eighteenth birthday. But he was trying to avoid the other memory he had: six months earlier to the day, he had killed his biological brother, Lych, who was attempting to overrun Hyrule with sheer numbers. He had almost succeeded, but thanks to Link and a few friends from over the border he met his end. After that, Link simply returned to the forest and stayed there. With the exception of his now steady girlfriend Malon, no outsider of the forest had spoken to Link since that incident - not even Zelda. But Saria quickly changed the topic for Link before any of this could even come up in conversation.
"Today you have to go into the woods and get those things we need."
"What things?" Link barely knew what Saria was talking about.
"We need two blue Hylian mushrooms, three or four leaves from a gold papao tree, and a handful of Deku berries. That's the recipe for the medicine Kiko needs, remember?" Saria pokes Link a little bit, jarring his memory.
"Oh yeah." Link gets up, and slides down the ladder to the ground below. Saria begins to do the same.
"Right, so get a move on before she gets even sicker." Saria was lying to Link. Kiko, a fellow Kokiri who was always sittin above the shop, wasn't sick at all. This was all a ruse for Link to be gone so Malon and Saria could plan Link a suprise party. Link didn't know it, but Malon had secretly arranged for a few secret guests to come down. Link and Malon would take a little walk to a newly built pair of little guest homes made from hollowed out trees. On the outskirts of the Lost Woods, it served as a small little rest stop for travelers and a park for locals to relax. But that night it would be where Darunia, Link, Ruto, Dux and Nabooru, and the leaders of Lachia and Hyrule - King Unco and Queen Impa, King Tryeon and Queen Zelda - among a few others, would be waiting. Waiting with a large amount of alcohol and weed, which would probably stink clear up to Death Mountain. But Saria couldn't let that slip to Link. So, she came up with a plan to throw Link off track - take advantage of his teenage boy mind.
"See that over there?"
"What?"
"That bird sitting at Mido's door." Saria pointed down the trail.
"Yeah?" A small bird was pecking at the ground beside Mido's house, looking for seeds and whatever it is birds eat.
"I bet you twenty rupees you can hit it." Saria pulled out Link's trusty little red boomerang.
"Where the hell did you find that?"
"Where I find everything else you lose, Link. The hidden storage room underneath your house."
"But that's MY secret enterance! You tresspasser!"
"You want the money or not, Link?" Saria handed Link the boomerang.
"Well...yeah, I can do it." Link squinted, aiming slowly with the edge of his throwing instrument of pain and occasional item retriever. Saria watched, continuing to be skeptical of Link's abilities.
"I don't think you can, Link."
"If I can smack a jellyfish on the ass from across the stomach of a giant whale, I'm pretty sure this'll be easy."
Saria turned away for a second. "Right..."
Link let go of the boomerang. Right as it left his fingertips, the bird flew away as Mido opened his door and started to step outside.
"Hey Li..AARGH!" The boomerang made hard contact with Mido's groin. Mido hit his knees immediately. "Fuck you...pph.." Mido coughed and gasped, clutching himself. Link chuckled a little bit, while Saria loked on with a mixture of shock and concern.
"Sorry, Mido...hey, that's good enough, right Saria?" Saria ignored Link and started waling briskly over to Mido. "You all right?'
Mido began to rise to his feet. "Think so...man...I'm really glad my nuts will never drop." Mido leaned over, with his hands on his knees. Saria sighed and walked back towards Link, who had slowly made his way over.
"Nice one, jerk."
"Come on. Like I meant to."
"Well, you could at least help him up or something..."
"Do I still get the twenty rupees?"
Saria walked away. Link turned back looking puzzled. "What?" Mido slowly waddled his way over to Link.
"It's cool, man."
"Yeah, you'll get me back eventually." Link pats Mido on the shoulder, then walks in the direction Saria went. Mido pauses to catch his breath and walks back into his house.
Link is climbing the ladder to his house. As he makes it to the top, he hears another noise - this time from inside of his house. "what the..."
Link pulls a small knife from his belt and peeks in one of the windows. His intuition pays off: there is definetely an intruder in his home. Gripping the knife, he watches the shadow travel from his main room into his bed chamber. (You see, in those days it was a bed chamber, not a bed room. Yeah, I know, I just broke character in the middle of a fanfic, but that's just how I roll.) Walking into his home, he is extremely careful not to make noise with his footsteps. Finally, flattened against a wall adjacent to the doorway, he takes a second to prepare himself before jumping out, knife ready, about to descend his wrath quickly onto whoever is invading his home.
The person barely has time to turn around and see Link lunging with incredible speed.
