"Hey, a branch!" Claire said, happily picking it up and putting it away in her rucksack. "I wonder if anyone around here likes them. I know! I'll ask Ruby! I bet she'll know!"
Claire, clearly proud of her outburst, skipped happily toward the Inn. She quietly opened the door, and peeked in.
"Ruby? Are you busy?" Claire asked, not really wanting to interrupt anything.
"Oh, of course not, Claire. What brings you here?" Ruby asked, stepping out from behind the wooden counter that Claire knew all too well.
"Well, I was wondering, I know a lot of people come here, so, I was wondering if you knew if anyone of them liked branches?" Claire asked, twirling her blonde hair with her finger, embarrassed about asking such a weird question.
"I believe there is one boy, Gray I think his name was, who happens to like branches. I see him carrying a few around and he fiddles with them every now and again." Ruby stated, looking over at the stairs. "Since it's Thursday, he's here, up in the boys room if you want to give it to him. But, Claire...why do you want to know who likes branches?"
"Well, uhm, you see...I just kinda want to be friends with everyone, so I wanted to know if anyone liked branches since they're always around every day..." Claire answered, inching closer to the staris she knew all too well, just like the counter.
"Well, that makes a little more sense. Anyways, go ahead and visit with everyone." Ruby smiled.
"Thank you, Ruby!" Claire beamed, carefully running up the stairs.
Claire leaned against a wall, panting, as she finally reached the top of the staircase.
"I really -huff- need to -huff- work out more -huff-." Claire panted, as she walked toward the boys' room.
The door was closed, but not locked, but Claire wasn't really ever the type to barge in without notice, so she knocked on the door, then opened it.
"Is it okay for me to come in?" Claire asked, although she was already in the room.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess." Gray said, looking around, trying not to look at Claire.
"So, um, I have something I think you might like. Well, Ruby told me you might like it, so if you don't, I'm really sorry, and please don't hate me, okay?" Claire said shyly as she reached into her rucksack.
"I wouldn't hate you -ah" Gray stopped himself before he said anything else and covered his eyes with his hat.
"Well, here. Do you like it? Because, if you don't I won't pressure you into taking it or anything." Claire blurted, her face slightly tinting pink.
"Oh. Thank you. Are you sure?" Gray asked, taking the branch happily.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Claire sweatdropped.
"Were you planning on using it for lumber?" Gray asked.
"Uh...well, I could've...but I like the stone materials better for building." Claire said, twidling her thumbs.
"Oh...so you just gave it to me because you wanted it out of your way?" Gray asked, looking a bit disappointed and angry.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Not at all! I just really wanted to know if anyone liked it since I want to be friends with everyone and Ruby told me that you liked them, so I thought it would be great if I could give it to you..." Claire said quite rapidly.
"Hey, Claire?" Gray asked.
"Y-yes?" She looked up.
"Thanks. Now, I have to get over to the mines, so..." Gray looked over toward the door.
"Oh! I understand! I'm really sorry if I wasted any of your time! I'll talk to you later! Bye!" Claire waved, rushing out the door a little too fast.
Before she could react or slow down, she tripped down the stairs, and whimpered.
"Dang it! I fell down again!" She tried to get up, but realized she twisted her ankle. "Oh great...now how am I going to get all of my work done?" She sighed, obviously not really able to do anything else.
"Claire? I heard some thud noises, did you fall down the stairs again?" Ruby asked, peeking around the corner. "Oh dear! You did!"
"I think I twisted my ankle, too. Goddess, I'm such a klutz..." Claire mumbled.
"Gray, dear, would you mind helping Claire over to Dr. Hardy?" Ruby asked, looking up the stairs.
"Uh...sure. No problem." He said, walking down the stairs and picking up Claire bridal style.
Gray carried Claire over to Hardy's place, but he wouldn't look at her the whole way.
"Are you mad at me, Gray?" Claire finally asked.
"Why would I be mad at you?" Gray asked back, still not looking at Claire as he opened the door.
"Well...I dunno...because you had to carry me here when you were supposed to be going to the mines..." Claire said, looking away from Gray now.
"Oh, that. I'm not mad at you." Gray plainly stated.
"Oh, but I totally threw off your schedule and you had to carry me and now you're still here even though all I've really done is cause you a lot of trouble and -"
"Claire?" Gray looked at her.
"Y-yes?" She asked, a little afraid that he was mad at her.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but, shut up."
"Wha -" Claire was cut off by Grays lips pressed against her own.
After a few seconds, which felt like hours, Gray pulled away and set Claire on the bed.
"Oooooh." Was all Claire managed to say before Gray left.
"What was that all about, Missy?" Dr. Hardy asked, walking into his house.
"Well...all I did was give him a branch and then..."
End! 3 I so hope you liked it. That was my very first ever attempt at a one-shot. EVER! So, please review. Cruel criticism is okay, but don't murder me with sticks.
Disclaimer: I dun own Harvest Moon DS Cute or any Harvest Moon anything. D Sad day, man, sad day. If I did, the guys wouldn't say such stupid things when you gave them stuff. Like when you give Gray a branch. b I'd make it exactly like this one-shot.