A.N.>    Hey everyone, enjoy the next chatper. Am I going to fast with the plot? Tell me, and maybe I'll rewrite the chapters or something. Anyway, tell me what you think. Enjoy!!!

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

(don't you love creative lines like these?)

(I make them myself!!!!!)

(Sorry, that was a little too random. Anyway, ENJOY!!!!)

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

            Impa startled from a slumber that she had accidentally slipped into while sitting beside her favorite "thinking tree." A horse had galloped by her leaving a cloud of dust in the air. She assumed it was just Link chasing some thing, like his shadow, but soon she heard louds screams and yells coming from the other side of the walls. She got up to her feet nimbly and headed for the direction that the yells and screems were drifting from. She easily found her way to where the horsemen had ridden, a trail of blood had soaked into the soft soil beside the tree. She followed the path onto the cobblestone where it had already begun to stain the material.

            The blood trail led to the castle, and of course, to Impa's annoyance, the blood trail continued through the tile floored hallways. She followed the red dots and occasional smears to her own room, where, when she arrived there, the mischevious boy Aikoka was laying Saria's

            Sakaratte was limp, and it was apparent that she was the one that had been bleeding. Aikoka stood there above her, helpless to help her in any way, his pants soaked through with blood. (He wasn't wearing a shirt, he had used that to fashion a turnequette for Sakaratte's arm.)

            "Goddesses!" Impa exclamed, "What happened."

            "He hit me over the head with a rock! H-he attacked her. He t-tried to kill her. I had to. I had no choice," he stuttered.

            "What the hell are you talking about!?" Impa inquired, "Calm down and tell me what happened. Slowly now."

            "We were at the lake. I was beating up on this practice dummy on the shore of the lake. He must of hit me on the head with a rock while I was resting. When I woke up I saw that-that man dragging her limp body out of the lake. I was afraid that she was already dead. But he sat on her stomach and took out a knife. I grabbed a knife out of the pile of weapons he had taken off for stealth. It's an old trick, very basic. He went to slit her throat after saying something. She knocked his hand away and he cut her sword arm. I stabbed him in the spine, instant death. It's just that-that...." he trailed off, unable to continue.

            "Just what?" She asked as she tended to Sakaratte's wound.

            "I- I recognized him," he seemed to be confessing.

            "What do you mean? Where did you know him from?"

            "He was my caretaker," he said. Impa stopped and stared at him. "He was my caretaker before I was dropped off in the forest."

            "Before you were dropped off in the forest. Were you abandoned by someone?"

            "That man, the one who I- I killed. He was a member of a band of rebels. My father was the leader of the group, but he died in a raid when I was about four," Aikoka said.

            "Wow," Impa managed, she was speechless, "So, what else can you tell me about the rebels? They obviously aren't satisfied with abandoning you. Did they do this for political reasons?"

            "I don't know. I havn't had contact with anyone in that group for years now. Why? Did you think I was a spy for them or something? I'm not. I have very bad memories of my days before Hyrule," Aikoka managed to spit out. "I'm not sure if I should be telling you this."

            "Don't worry. I've worked for the Royal Family since before her Highness was even born," Impa said, then muttered, "And why the hell did I just call her 'her Highness'?"

            "Anyway, that man took care of me after my father passed away. He was Hylian, but hated the system of government here. He found my mother in the Gerudian Desert and they married soon after. A few years later they had me, their only child. Four years later it was just myself and my mother. But even she couldn't escape from them.

            She tried to run after my father was killed, but they caught her. They didn't even have their equivalent of a 'trial', they just told us that she was going to be killed. I set her free. They were going to kill me as well, but my caretaker convinced them to just abandon me. He saved my life," he trailed off, painful memories rushing back to him.

            "Sounds...tough," Impa said, making her best attempt to comfort him, "Why didn't you tell anyone this before?"

            "I didn't want to hurt them, I had thought that they were doing the right thing. I've come to realize that they were completely wrong."

            "Well, that was quite a story. I never imagined you had such an...eventful life before you time here in the realm of Hyrule," Impa said, still trying to be comforting.

            "I was afraid I was going to lose her. There would have been a... void in my life is she would have, well-" Aikoka couldn't even bring himself to speek of her death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Sakaratte finally held the sword again. Now she held it in her left hand however, for the injury left close to irrepairable damage to her sword arm. She again faced her "uncle" in a battle. He was going easy on her, and it killed her to know that. Her right arm was still in a sling, but she had protested Impa's insistence on more of a break. (Saria also did some nagging, but that was just as equally ignored.)

            Link swung, his sword just missing the bottom of her feet when she jumped just above the blade. Aikoka watched the battle from the side of the practice yard. He gasped and winced with Saria each time the blade was swung in Sakaratte's direction. Aikoka had to shield his eyes when Link swung his sword at her right arm. Sakaratte managed to parry the attack and bring her sword quickly to his throught. Link dropped his sword at her command. Sakaratte had succeeded in beating Link...again.