Somewhere I Belong

Chapter Five
“Memory’s Return.
~*~

I sat wrapped in my cloak, my arm aching and a lingering malaise echoing through my body. I was resting my back against a rock, and found myself wishing to play my ocarina. That I did not have. I had left it back in the forest, when I played it, I frightened myself, remembering songs I had never heard before. Now I longed for it. I drew the Biggeron, resting it across my thighs and staring at my reflection. I looked startled. Why, who knew. Maybe it was the moonlight making my blue eyes look almost black. It made my stomach ache. I sure hope I don’t always look like this.
It is a beautiful night. The moon is large and full, so perfect and so close I could almost reach out and touch it. The breeze stirs the soft grass here on the cliff, and looking down all there is, is mountainside, across from me, nothing but waterfalls again. It is so beautiful here. No wonder the Sheikah guard the knowledge of this place so fiercely. I close my eyes for a moment to listen to the sound of rushing water echoing through the cave behind me, the roar of the waterfall in front of me, drowned to a mere hum by distance, and the soft murmur of the wind through the canyon in front of me. The light s of of morning glories assaults my nose.
I open my eyes, needing to see. The scent is strongest behind me, and I turn. The whole wall surrounding the cave behind me is covered in vines of them. They must have just opened under the moonlights teasing tendrils. Pale blues, silvers and purples shiver in the faint breeze, covered lightly in evening dew. I sigh aloud. It is so beautiful, and I wish I could share it with someone. I wish I could share it with him. Yes, Sheik. Every moment I take a breath now I remember something new. I can no longer stop the torrent as it rushes over me, and it was as if a dam had broken somewhere in my mind. I barely had a moment to note it before it all comes back to me:
/Zelda, Gannondorf, Sheik, the ocarina songs…the Triforce…the fallen city of Hyrule, what sun? There hasn’t been a sun shining here for years… I had failed, no I hadn’t, I was the Hero, I was the chosen one. Sheik, holding me when I was wounded…the battle…the final battle…I had to go back, back where I came from, it was best after all…falling, Sheik crying. Zelda’s sad eyes…NO!!!!/
I awoke shrieking “NO!” into the canyon. It kept echoing mockingly even after I fell onto my hands and knees, my fingers digging into the grass.
“Sheik!” I sobbed. “I’m scared.” I whimpered, wishing against all hope that he could be there. And for the first time in my life, I prayed. I lay there in the grass and beseeched whatever god was listening for something, anything, good to happen to me for once. Peace was not enough. Not when Sheik stayed behind. Everything was lost. Everything. I now understood the look of sadness in Zelda and Impa’s eyes. I had lost my everything and my ability to know that I had. But even that had not been enough. Deep down I had know, even the the loss of my memories. I had not even had the chance to tell Sheik that…that I…I love him. I curled onto my side, staring at the moon, now higher in the sky by several hours. It swam in the tears, in the choking sobs that shook me, but I did not look away. I felt betrayed, and glaring accusingly at the moon gave me something to focus on. If it was a Leever, it would be in little puddles of goo. But there was nothing I could do, and no one I could blame, nothing I could take out this screaming misery on. So I just lay there and choked on my own shivering sobs.
The wind died, seemingly in sympathy to my agony, and there was a breath of warmth. The smell of sandalwood drifted to my nose. I just closed my eyes, and was unable to stop myself from sobbing harder.
“No more memories!” I choked. “It’s not FAIR!”
“Link?” A gently hand caressed my back as someone hit their knees next to me.
I shoved myself to my knees roughly, reaching for my sword on reflex when a hand stopped mine. I looked up, tears still quivering on the end of my eyelashes, and somehow I knew, thame ame startled expression on my face.
“Link, it is I!”
“Sheik?” My stomach froze, my heart quivering with so much pain, someone might as well have raked hot coals over an open wound inside of me. I looked at him, his face wraps had fallen loosely around his shoulders, his eyes were wide, and the edge of hisl wal was drenched in sweat. He looked exhausted, as though he had fought a terrible battle for hours. I wanted to reach out and hold him, something in his eyes was dreadfully raw, and then I checked myself.
“This is just another dream.”
“This is no dream Link.” Sheik breathed, his voice was weary.
“Yes it is, this is just like every other dream, vision and memory I have ever had. And I will wake up, and you will be gone.”
“What in the name of Hyrule is wrong with you Link? You look terrible?!”
“This is all a dream” I whispered, hugging my knees to myself for comfort. “I am dreaming.”
“No you ARE NOT!” Sheik all but bellowed. Had I ever heard him raise his voice before? Not in my memory. “What is wrong with you?!” He let go of me then, moving to a crouch.
“It’s too hard to believe!” I snapped, trying to keep the heat out of my tone and barely succeeding.
“Why not?! I am here! I am touching you! I am real!”
“Since when has anything good ever happened to me?! I snapped at the ghost in front of me. “You kissed me in my last vision, touched me. What’s the difference between that and this?”
“You can’t feel pain in a projection that a Sheikah sends.”
“So?” I asked feeling surly.
“This will hurt me more than it will you Link.”
I only had a moment to startle before he slapped me full across the face, knocking me sprawling.
“You ASS!” I yelped, jumping to my feet and tackling him into the dirt.
Somewhere around the second I felt him reach for his knife, felt his muscles bunch and coil underneath me, I realized that this was not a dream, and that my face hurt. So did my shoulder. I stopped trying to grapple him, and he paused mid draw on his knife.
“Sheik?” I whispered, knowing I must look like a startled rabbit.
“Link.” He let the knife slide back into its sheath.
“It is really you, isn’t it?!”
Sheik nodded slowly, a soft smile playing across his visage.
My elbows trembled where they held my weight up on either side of his waist.
I lowered the blade, and then noticed something strange. Sheik had a reflection in it. I said nothing, setting the blade to the ground, and then crawled backwards off of him.
“How…how did you get here?” I asked.
“I missed you too much…I was…terribly alone…without a purpose. I was tired of going on…” He reached out then, his hand trembling. “Link.”
I reached back.
“I’m here.” I whispered as I took his hand.
“I know.” Sheik breathed. “Everything will be…better now.”
There was a calm moment between us, of frayed nerves soothing, and exhaustion setting in.
“Is that the sun?” Sheik asked as he traced a highlight of gold across my cheek with a curious fingertip, then turned to look out into the canyon. His eyes were wide and almost burgundy with astonishment as the first traces of golden light spilled across the mountaintops.
“You look exhausted.” I told him. “Come sit with me and watch the sun come up?”
Sheik nodded gratefully as I stood and helped him up with my good arm.
“Are you in pain?” He asked carefully.
I chuckled, not even thinking about it.
“You slapped me pretty hard, why?”
“Your arm.” He said.
“Oh, that? Not much.” I sighed as I moved to sit with my back against the rock.
Sheik stood in front of me, looking conflicted, his knees bent as though he were halfway between the thought of kneeling or sitting.
“Sit.” I said gently and then held my arms open. “You can lean against me, you are sweat soaked, and if I tuck you into my cloak you won’t get chilled.”
“Link…I…”
“Sheik, it’s ok. Come on!” I encouraged.
Sheik smiled slowly, and then sat between my legs with a little sigh.
“I promise not to tell any of your big bad Sheikah friends, ok?”
Sheik laughed then. It occurred to me, I had never heard him do it before. It was a light chuckle, a warm and relieved sound.
“ May I lean on you?” He asked, his eyes worried.
In reply I gently wrapped my good arm around his waist, snuggling him into the hollow of my shoulder, letting him slide down until he was simply dead weight in my arms.
I unhooked my cloak then, pulling it neatly over us both until we were simply a lump of black velvet, watching the sunrise.
“You are shaking.” I whispered. He half turned in my arms then, resting his cheek on my shoulder.
“I am exhausted. I thought the spell I used might actually kill me. It didn’t, but I am very tired…the sun…its so…” He yawned, unknowingly making me smile. “Beautiful.” He slumped then, his breathing slow and eveis ris ruby eyes closed in a relaxed slumber.
Feeling his chest rise and fall steadily against mine, I luxuriated in his nearness. He was sweat soaked still, but the cold was leaving him, being replaced slowly by our combined body heat. One pale blond strand of his hair stuck to his forehead, and I reflexively brushed it away. It gave me a moment to think. The spell that sent him here? He willingly chose to send himself back…to be with me and risk everything? And he reflected in the blade of the Biggeron. What did that mean? Did it mean he was like me, a shadow banished to a time no longer his, or did it mean that he was a missing part of me; so much a part of me that he reflected in the blade as truly as its rightful owner? It was hard to tell. And try as I might, the rise and fall of his chest against mine, and the chattering of my brain were all pushing me towards sleep. I dozed off before I could come to a conclusion.

~*~
I woke with a jolt to someone shivering in my arms. I cannot tell you how glad it made me a moment later. It was like that moment of time between when you wake from a nightmare, and then realize it was only that, a nightmare, and you are filled with an incredible rush of relief.
“Sheik?” I whispered as I pulled him closer to me. He had rolled away some in his sleep and was now cold. He snuggled unconsciously into my warmth, like a kitten that seeks heat even before its eyes are open.
“Mhhhff.” He grunted.
He must have been wiped out from that spell. Usually if a cricket farted three miles from our camp he was awake and had his blade out.
“Sheik, you are going to get a crick in your neck if you keep sleeping like that!”
“Mhhh. Link?” He sleepily lifted his head from my chest, eyes amber with sleep.
“What time is it?”
I looked up to the sun.
“Somewhere around mid morning?”
“I am so weary, I feel like I’ve been carrying Zelda around inside again, but this time for five years.” Sheik sighed.
“That spell you cast?” I asked
“I practiced for nearly a year.” He cut me off. “It was complicated, I have been trying to come to you for at least that long.”
“Sheik! I…” Stunned wasn’t the word.
He suddenly changed the subject. I actually believed him to be blushing.
“So how is Zelda?”
“She’s fine. The spell of holding had no lasting effects. She has all her memories as well, but as close to the sages as she is, I can imagine she would have gotten hers back before I did.”
Sheik nodded.
“I am glad.”
“Sheik?” I asked quietly. “How could you do that? Weren’t you afraid to be that close with the princess?”
Sheik smiled.
“Between you and I?”
“Between you and me.” I echoed.
“I was so terrified, I cried the whole night I was supposed to be preparing for the fusion.”
I hugged him gently then. He sighed appreciatively, resting his hand on my arm.
“There were so any implications, the twisting of our memories, her death if I should die, the stress alone is terrible, its like an all encompassing pregnancy, I eat for two, breathe for two, sleep for two. If I had wavered, if my body had wavered, all would have been lost. Yet it was a risk I had to take. I was afraid, more than dying, or even Zelda’s death, to loose myself. Sheikah are not supposed to care. We are to protect at all costs, but it was something I feared greatly…”
“Was it as bad as you though?” I asked.
“No, Zelda was surprisingly understanding. Later I learned we had both shared the same fears. She was as much of a comfort as she was a source of worry…why the interest?” He asked, stopping mid sentence.
What was I supposed to say, when you loved someone so much, you cared about how they had felt, how they were feeling? That I wante kno know more about the mysterious Sheik that I so madly wanted to kiss.
“I wanted to know…that’s all.”
Sheik shrugged. “ Well, that aside, I know this place very well. Trust me?”
He asked as he stood, untangling from my cloak and offering me a hand up.
“Sure.” I said, looking curious.
“I would like to go for a swim. Follow me?”
“Don’t you want to go to the village?! I asked nervously as he walked nonchalantly towards the edge of the cliff.
“Maybe later.” He said as he stepped off the edge.
“SHEIK?!” I yelled, sprinting for the cliff edge at a bolt.
“What?!” Sheik replied, his voice echoing below me.
“Sheik! You scared the HELL out of me.”
“There is another cliff under this one, follow me, you can just climb down from here to the bottom of the canyon and then walk to the waterfalls on the other side. But you would never know that without looking WAY over the edge. Which I take it you have not.” The last few words were laced with barely bridled laughter.
Why did I not find this amusing in the least?

~*~
I stood on the bank, watching Sheik swim like an enthusiastic trout. I wanted to join him, really I did. Maybe hesitation was due to the fact that I had to be naked to swim. Maybe. Or maybe it was the fact that I would be naked, and Sheik would be naked, and we would both be naked together, and I already had a hard on that even cold water couldn’t suppress? That too.
“Link, are you certain you don’t want to come in? The water is quite warm.”
Excuse Link. Think fast.
“I would, but I can’t actually get this shirt off without help.”
NO. I didn’t. Why don’t I THINK before I speak.
“Why did you not say something before?”
“Uhh.” I blushed then. Beet red.
“You were embarrassed.”
“Maybe” I said meekly, trying not to panic as I watched him swim for the shore.
/This is not happening this is not happening this is not happening…NAKED…must look at the grass, must look at the grass…ohh, interesting sparkly rock./
“Link. You are trembling.”
He knelt next to me, water running off of his tanned skin, his long golden hair brushing the top of his perfect shoulders in damp curls.
“No I’m not.” I said sullenly, trying to hide my blush.
One of his hands gently cupped my chin, forcing our eyes to meet as his other hand began to unbuckle my shoulder harness. I couldn’t look away, and I certainly couldn’t look down.
He shushed me gently as he sat my sword and belt on the grass, then, letting go, pulled my tunic up over my head. I winced. He made an apologetic sound in the back of his throat. Careful fingers unlaced my undershirt, pulling the strings wide until he could just help me pull my arms out of the sleeves, then tugged it off over my head. He paused then, to look at the bandages covering my right shoulder. As he leaned closer I had to hold my breath to keep from moving away. I looked down and to the left, trying not to look at the wounds. Trying not to look at him. Breathing was now impossible. If I fainted though, I was never going to live it down
/Settle down Link, just breathe, this is Sheik, its JUST Sheik./
Right. Yeah. Whatever.
He gently unwound the bandage, pausing from time to time to inspect the wound as more of it became exposed. When he pulled the last of it wrap away, most of the scab came with it.
“Ouch!” I yelped in surprise.
“I am sorry.” Sheik said, sounding like he really meant it. “Do you know how lucky you are to be alive?” He asked as he touched the wound on my shoulder carefully, checking for any residual swelling.
“I’ve been to..ooh..hold.” I articulated as he pressed on a tender spot.
“You frightened me.” Sheik whispered. “I do not like not being able to protect you.”
Why am I so frightened to look in his eyes…and then it hit me. Denial. I was trying to act like nothing was wrong, that Sheik did not care for me in anything other than a platonic manner…it was a lie. For Sheik to have come this far, for me, it was a display of undying Sheikah love. He had lead me to his village for goddess’ sake. What was wrong with me?! Isn’t this what I wanted?
“You made a very pretty coyote Sheik.” I said, smiling.
“What coyote?” He asked cluelessly. But his eyes gave him away. “Now quit babbling and strip. The water is great…or do you need help with your leggings and boots too?”
It wasn’t quite a threat, but close enough for my tastes.
“I can manage.” I said.
“Oh good. I am getting back in the water then.”
I peeked. He does indeed have a very nice butt. But don’t tell, ok?

~*~
I stripped the rest of the way reluctantly, blushing the whole time. (Damn I hate that reflex) Sheik was making a polite show of not looking until I had submerged myself into the water. It was mountain spring fresh, e.g. freezing, and it took more than a few hushed hisses to submerge to my shoulders.
“I thought you said the water was warm?” I accused Sheik as he sat with his back to me, lounging on a rock and soaking up some sun while still submerged from the waist down.
“Once you start swimming you will be fine.” He reassured.
I shrugged. What did I have to loose.
So I dove in, enjoythe the way the icy water enveloped my aching shoulder, and brushed the stinging bruise on my cheek. I surveyed underwater for a while. The waterfall rolled the water underneath it, churning into a froth of white bubbles, there were rocks, some fish flitting around, and Sheik. Yep. Sheik form the waist down. I did an immediate detour, quick as a pike I shot under the falling water, kicking hard through the tumultuous current, and then emerging into the calm on the other side.
I surfaced with a gasp, shaking my hair out of my eyes and treading water. The motion made my shoulder ache, but in a good way, the muscles stretching and helping the healing process. I swam up until my feet could touch the rocky bottom. I peered through the veil of water. Sheik had his head back, tilted up worshipfully to the sun. Yes I wanted to kiss his lean throat and well-muscled shoulders…I wanted to...distract myself before I did something stupid. I surveyed around, noting the ivy that draped either side of the falls. There was a dark spot close to the cliff face. The water was deeper there. I swam to it until I was treading water over it. There was nothing but a green glow from it.
“Sheik?! I called over the roar of the water. “What is this?!”
He turned, I could see one eyebrow raised.
“What is what?!” He asked as he immediately leapt in, wading until he hit deeper water.
“I doubt it is going to eat me!” I shouted.
Sheik dove anyways, moments later coming up beside me. He tossed his head, and shoving his long hair back out of his eyes.
“Sheik, I’m fine, I just wondered what this glowing stuff was…can I touch it?”
Sheik smiled.
“You would if you could dive that deeply.”
“So what is it?” I asked, poking at the surface of the water curiously.
“It’s a type of algae, and it glows in the dark. It only grows in very deep cold water though.”
“You sure do know a lot.” I murmured.
“A Sheikah should always be prepared.”
“Hm. Well, it is pretty.”
“Yes.”
I suddenly had a terrible cramp in my arm and plunged under the water. I came back up spluttering and wincing.
“You should stick to shallow water until you are stronger.” Sheik said, drawing me to his chest protectively with one arm around my waist; backstroking until we were back in the shallows. I didn’t even have a chance to protest.
“I can take care of myself!” I snapped reflexively, trying to pretend that the feeling of his muscles rippling sinuously beneath me wasn’t breathtaking.
“I am sure, quite, actually.” Sheik replied as he helped me settle onto a rock that I could rest on in the shallows and still be submerged. The water dripping from his hair to his shoulders, ruby eyes dark and earnest with his protective nature, his muscles rippling as he steadied me. Suddenly, my hands were on his shoulders. His hands came up to reflexively clasp on either side of my chest.
“Link?” His damp lips parted with his breathless question.
I tilted my head, holding my breath for a moment, and tremblingly placed a kiss on his full mouth. I did not pull away, instead, I breathed out, my breath caressing him. A moment later, his mouth was on mine, fingers coming up to gently tangle in my hair.
“Link!” He groaned against my mouth, his tongue a quick, silky wetness against my bottom lip. /Oh sweet goddess./ I opened reflexively a moment later, and his tongue tenderly pressed against mine, a question. Not a demand. I whimpered and then gave in, letting him inside me, letting him taste me. I had never done anything so intimate before, so giving, and it was making part of me deeply fearful. If he rejected me now I would never be all right again. I was making myself vulnerable,
/ “You bitch!” His cold lips against mine, his tongue forcing my mouth open, forcing his way inside unbidden, his hands like bands of steel across my hips, leaving bruises…/
“Hell! I gasped, jerking away from a startled Sheik.
“Link, are you well?!”
I know I must be pale, shaking. I feel like my insides havet bet been seared, scalded with terror and violation. Sheik didn’t do this to me, he would never, just like I could not tell him, he would not understand.
“I c…c…can’t.” I stuttered, and then dove back under the falls, leaving a shocked Sheik to gape.

~*~
I scrambled up onto shore, Sheik a heartbeat behind.
“Why Link? Why can you not? Did I read the signs wrong?”
“Just, leave me alone.” I almost sobbed, scooping up my clothes and bandages in one arm while heading back for the cliff.
“Link!” He called to me.
I ignored him, still resolutely walking away.
I heard him running, and one strong arm had me restrained around the chest, spinning me around, forcing our eyes to meet.
“Link, what is going on?”
“I just can’t.” I sobbed, no tears, simply exhaustion.
“Why not?!”
I looked him in the eye then, my pain, my fear, all falling out into my gaze.
“Who hurt you.” He asked.
His voice suddenly a cold fury.
“I…” I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. I wanted to tell him, but the words wouldn’t come to me.
“Who hurt you Link.” He demanded.
My knees buckled underneath me then. I sat with my head bowed, hiding behind my hair like a frightened fox in scrub. The sun was hot on my shoulders, already drying my skin and no doubt leaving the pale expanse of my shoulders sun tinted.
“Link.” Sheik hit his knees next to me.
I sobbed his name then, throwing my clothes down, and myself into his arms.
He was safety. He was strong, and he smelled so good. He was a protective fire in the dark of the forest, a kind word, the ghost of a song. He was everything I wanted, and it only took touching him again to drive the fear away. I didn’t care if I was killing what dignity I had left. I might have USED to be the hero of time, but right now, I need a hero of my own.

~*~
Zelda had hugged me once, this was nothing like it. He was holding me to his shoulder, holding me like he was afraid I would break or fall apart if he didn't hold me tight enough. Maybe I would. I sighed. Everything ached. I felt like I was fevered again. I tucked my cheek against the hollow of his neck, listening to the steady beat of his pulse.
"You had a right to stop me Link."
"It isn't that...that was about something else...altogether."
"Link, you can not lie to me. I have seen that look before."
"I wasn't trying to push you away, I just..."
"Became ftenetened?" He finished the sentence for me.
"Yeah, but I wasn't really scared of you."
"Who hurt you." His voice was promising dark and terrible things.
"He was already hung...unless of course, Impa lied to me."
"I see." His voice was deep with a politely unexpressed dissatisfaction with the ability to kill my assaulter.
"It was really my fault Sheik, I got drunk. My fault that I wasn't smarter."
"You? Drunk?" He didn't do quite as well not expressing sise ise on that one.
"It's a long story."
"I want to hear it." Sheik said as he laid back against the cool green grass, taking me with him.
"We will sunburn in unmentionable places before I am done."
"I doubt that very much."

~*~

“You need time.”
He said as he finished lacing my tunic.
“Really, I think I will be ok.”
“Perhaps, but take some time. I will bide mine.”
He tried to stand, to move away. He offered me a hand up, but I pulled him back down with it, a small smirk curling at the corner of my mouth. I didn’t want him that far from me. He understood, kneeling cooperatively.
“Sheik, that is not fair to you, you...” I sighed just thinking about it. “Have wanted to be with me for a long time, you waited so long, so patiently...”
“I lived in denial longer than you think, it took me losing you to be absolutely sure.”
What could I say to that?
“The same here.” I whispered, my face down turned.
“Do not be ashamed, do not be ashamed of anything, there is no reason for regret. What matters is that we have another chance. I think both of our times are made up of many second chances, or neither of us would be here.” He reminded me gently.
The wind blew, stirring long strands across the curve of his high cheekbones, making a contrast of golden pale with his tanned skin.
“True.” I reached up and captured a strand, twisted it around my fingers, getting a little trill in my stomach from the easy familiarity that the gesture implied. The way Sheik LET me do it. The way he did not shy away from, or consider the gesture patronizing.
“I...” I looked into those amazing ruby eyes and couldn’t breathe.
“I know.” He interrupted gently.
I met his gaze again, drowning as helplessly as a man in heart’s blood.
“Kiss me?” I whispered.
This time I meant it.
He nodded slowly, understanding in only the way Sheik could. The way that made me love him more than life itself.
He gently let one hand cup my cheek, the other pull us together slowly until the delicate fingers and broad palm spread comfortingly across the sway of my back.
“I thought so long ago, that nothing else mattered but my duty.” He let his lips trail my temple, placing a butterfly kiss just there. “That I did not need anyone, nor was it wise to want anyone.” He moved again, making the tension in my stomach build as he sensuously let our aura’s brush. “I tried to push you away.” He paused for a moment, and then closed his eyes, his breath, his words, brushing my forehead until I wanted to whimper, to press us together, to break the tension.
“And every time you came back to me, kindness in your heart, light and friendliness in your eyes, your hat in your hand. No matter how I rebuffed you, you returned, determined to love me anyways...though at the time I did not know it was love.”
He pressed a tender kiss on my furrowed brow, making me let out the breath I was holding. “And now...I see. You are my sunrise, for you...I want to give up part of myself. I once thought love was for fools. Now I see that it is only a fool that fears to love.”
He trailed his nose, his mouth down my nose, never touching, rising the hairs on the back of my neck, making the tension build at the base of my spine. I thought he wouldn’t kiss me at all at that point. But instead he drew me closer, then softly, his lips met mine. It made my knees weak, it made my heart pound in my chest, and made me moan in encouragement. Though he was being ever so gentle, I could tell he was holding back. My moan must have encouraged him, because his hand was suddenly roaming my back, his mouth feasting hungrily. I beat him to it though, as I gently touched the tip of my tongue to his bottom lip. He opened quickly, letting his tongue and mine spar nimbly. My fingers were in his hair, on his neck, moving to the small of his back, and then to his waist, kneading pleadingly. We both suddenly stopped mid kiss, realizing how quickly heated this was becoming, and our whole original discussion about time. I burst out laughing and so did he. We both leaned away from each other, sobbing for air between holding our sides. Why it was so funny, I would wager neither of us could really say. But it was. And it had been perfect despite the fact that my leggings were a little tighter than I wish they were.