As always everything belongs to Natsume and I am merely a mortal.

"There's a new girl up at that old farm, you know."

Ash could feel his mother's eyes on him from across the table and didn't bother to look up from his food, his stomach beginning to flip uncomfortably as it often did in loo of one of his mother's schemes that more often than not meant trouble for him. More to be polite than anything, he cleared his throat. "Oh. Is that so?"

"Yes." Jessica paused for a moment, her eyes still boring into him as she absentmindedly piled another helping of spinach onto Cheryl's plate. "She's about your age. Very pretty. Nice smile."

Beside him, Cheryl blew an angry raspberry. "Then she's really old!"

He snorted into his food before reaching across the table to pull affectionately on one of her pig tails. "Are you saying I'm old too then?"

"No, but-"

His mother cut across them both, heading off the beginning of an argument before it started. "I think you should go over there and introduce yourself, Ash. Heaven's knows you need some more friends your age."

He frowned at her across his plate. "I have friends my age. What about Cam and Laney? And Georgia?"

"Regardless," She sighed, standing and beginning to clear the dishes from the table. "Do it for her sake, then. From what Rutger told me she had a rather nasty fall off her horse and is going to be having a hard enough time as it is. First time on her own, the poor thing. The least you could do is be kind. I'll give you some milk and eggs to bring over to her tomorrow."

Seeing that there was no way around it, he sighed as Cheryl blew another wet raspberry.

He couldn't quite place the nagging feeling in his stomach the next day as he walked toward the new farmer's ranch, his arms laden with a heavy crate filled with milk and eggs. His mother's plans always seemed to fall terribly awry, most notably for him. No doubt she had seen a barn she liked or a chicken coop she fancied on the abandoned land and had convinced herself that a marriage between himself and the unknown farmer would be the cheapest way to acquire it.

The twisting in his stomach seemed to disappear as soon as he rounded the corner leading to the farm. At once, he felt almost ridiculous for worrying- why did he even bother? The last one to inhabit the ranch had been a rather old farmer and his wife, who had let it fall to ruins shortly after her husband's death. The thing had been abandoned since before Cheryl was born- there was nothing in sight that his mother would bother to acquire.

He stopped in front of the old farmhouse, grunting slightly as he set the crate on the ground. The farm itself was a sorry sight, he decided, slipping his hat off his head and wiping the sweat off his face. Even on its worst day, his mother had never allowed their place to look as bad as this- crumbling buildings, overgrown fields full of weeds, paint peeling off nearly every surface... How could anyone in their right mind want it?

"Argh!"

A small feminine cry sounded from his left before a sheet of fabric collided with the side of his face, startling him so badly he nearly jumped. Extracting himself from the bandana, he turned around.

His mother hadn't been lying when she said that the new girl was pretty- merely one look at her was enough to send both a low swooping sensation into the pit of his stomach and sweat to his palms. She was running full speed at him, her light brown hair swirling around her as she came to a stop beside him, her skirts swishing around her legs.

"Sorry." She huffed, leaning forward and gasping for breath, her palms pressing against her knees for support. "Guess it got away from me." She let out a deep breath and straightened at last, her full height nearly a head shorter than he was. He felt his cheeks blush slightly as he fit his hat back on his head, extending her bandana back to her before he noticed the exact green of her eyes.

"No problem. The hats can be a bit tricky sometimes too." He felt his cheeks blush again as she flashed him a crooked smile, trying not to count the freckles plastered against her cheeks. "You must be the new farmer. I'm Ash, Jessica's son."

"Oh... Hi. I'm Lillian." He watched her loop her bandana back through her hair. More to give himself something to do, he bent and picked the crate back off the ground.

"Mom sent me over with these. She seemed to think you needed some more housewarming presents. And seeing the state of things myself, I have to agree."

Lillian's smile dropped slightly as she moved to take the crate from his hands. "Well... I guess I do need a little help. It looks like nobody has lived here for about 10 years."

He shrugged the crate up and out of her reach. "Ah, better let me do it. This one's a bit heavy for someone as small as you." She opened her mouth as if to argue with him but seemed to think better of it, her brows furrowing slightly as he ducked around her, already kicking open her front door and not waiting for an invitation inside. "And you're right," He continued, sitting the crate against her dusty floor. "Nobody has lived here for about 10 years. Not since we were little kids."

She leant against the front door frame, her arms crossed as she watched him, seeming hesitant to get closer.

He chuckled slightly to fill the silence that had settled between them, his hands beginning to nervously pull at his suspenders. "You certainly have your hands full. If you ever need any help, don't be afraid to ask. Like with fixing up that fence, or putting a new coat of paint on the barn... I could come by this weekend and give a hand, if you want."

He had been expecting to earn another of her crooked smiles, and was disappointed when she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you supposed to be my rival or something?"

He let one of his suspenders slip through his fingers unexpectedly, the loud snap against his skin making him wince. "Uh. Yeah, I suppose so."

"Then maybe you shouldn't be offering me help."

He could hear the disdain in her voice, and half-heartedly tried to convince himself that she was kidding; yet, as he watched her cock a hip against the doorway and frown slightly at him, he knew that it was pointless to pretend otherwise.

"Well, whatever." He said finally, more to break the silence than anything. "I have a lot of work to do."

"Good." She moved aside to let him pass, her skirts nearly getting tangled about his knees. "Evidentially I do too."

He heard the door snap shut behind him as he went red about the ears.

I love writing these two, especially when playing up the idea of them supposedly being "rival farmers." Thus far in writing this I'm about 12 chapters in... one review and I'll post the next one :)