Seasons: Coming soon to a story board near You!

Hikari: "Hi! I'm Hikari. Travis is finally starting a new story."

Holds up flag.

Hikari: "He wasn't here right now so I decided to take over, for a bit. For all of you who have been waiting for other stories to get new chapters, sorry I got nothing. I asked him what should be said, but he told me that he was just too busy and muttered something the effect of "I'm outta the zone". Personally between you and me I think he's just being a lazy bastard".

Glass shatters

Hikari: "Oh um I think I should go now, bye!"
Travis: "HIKARI, get back here!"

Indiscriminate yelling/swearing

Travis: "A'ight here's your goddess-damned story"

Hikari: "And remember even though this story contains only me getting yelled at so far, this story is in no way affiliated with/endorsed by Natsume or any of its co-companies."

Chapter 1:

More Friends of Mineral Town

(Not that there are anymore…)

Claire's POV, Fall 2nd

"Let's see seeds, oil, flour, and bread." I said to myself, silently reciting my shopping list in my mind.

"I'm outta here; even looking at you makes me want to commit murder." I heard someone shout. Looking up I saw a boy, roughly my age, slam the door to the blacksmith shop and stomp in my direction.

"What are you looking at?" He yelled. Stopping as he did.

"Nothing just walking, that isn't a crime now is it?" I retorted.

"Don't question me, Shorty" Oh no, he didn't! Ever since I was small I absolutely hated being called short. There's no way he's getting away with this. Screw shopping this is personal.

"Gyaah!" I screamed as I tackled him onto the ground and started beating him senseless. It's actually pretty hard to remember what I was screaming as I did so all I knew was that this bastard had insulted me and he was going to pay BIG. However in all my rage I never took into account of where we were and when he shifted to get away, the next thing I knew was that we were both falling. Falling down the steep river side was bad enough then we hit the bottom and I tried to scream from the immediate pain, but the wind was out of me so the expected sound didn't come; all that did, was darkness

Gray's PoV, Fall 2nd

"I'm outta here; even looking at you makes me want to commit murder." I screamed. It was true I hated my old ass of a grandpa. He expects me to work harder than I possibly can. He blames me for the smallest of mistakes. "What are you looking at?" I yelled; the blonde girl, Claire, being my target.

"Nothing just walking, that isn't a crime now is it?" She replied smartly.

"Don't question me, Shorty" Don't ask me why I said that I don't know. Suddenly she screamed and jumped onto me beating me in the face as hard as she could. She was screaming things like "Don't call me short!" and something that came across to my mind as "You deserve it!" Then it happened I tried to get out from under her not noticing we were on the edge of the slope down to the river, we began tumbling down into the river bed until we finally ended up on the rocks that line the banks.

Then that's when I heard one of the most gut-churning I've ever heard in my life. "CRACK" I looked over to Claire who look about ready to scream, but nothing came out, she then passed out. I then noticed where the noise came from; Claire's arm had been completely dislocated.

"Gray? Gray are you alright? Oh my God, let me get help." I knew exactly who's voice that was, my grandfather's, Saibara's. Though that wasn't on my immediate concerns list, I looked back to Claire who now looked like she was having trouble breathing. Surprising myself I found myself lifting her up bridal-style. Carrying her towards the clinic.

"Why hello Gray, what brings you…Oh my goodness. Doctor!" Elli screamed as I entered the clinic.

"Elli, what's with…" Doctor Trent paused seeing what the commotion his desk nurse had alerted him to. "Okay get me a stretcher, take her into X-ray, Stat. (Travis: A.N. I've always wanted to use that "stat" thing, just never got to, until now!)

Claire's PoV, 7hrs later

I woke up several hours later in the doctor's office. I couldn't move my left arm, and I was immensely pained in my chest just below my right breast (whose size, truth be told, honestly amounted to very little…) "Elli?" I said asking for the presence of the brown-haired nurse who was one of my close personal friends.

"Claire, you're up." She said coming into the room.

"Yep, and now it's time for everyone's favorite game" I said, trying to sound as humorous as I could, despite being in shitloads of pain. "How Badly Did I Jack Myself Up This Time?" (Travis: You really should get that game, its loads of fun!)

"Well let's see" Elli laughed going along. "You dislocated your left arm, have three cracked ribs, multiple scratches, bruises, and cuts, and you've finally achieved in giving yourself a minor concussion."

"That's all huh?" I said sarcastically.

"Afraid so" She replied, scribbling something down on a clipboard.

"…So when do I get out?" I asked sitting up.

"The doctor would have liked to keep you longer, but after some persuasion, he said you could go home soon after you woke up." Elli replied, noting down something, probably miscellaneous medical jargon, down on the clipboard that had been, until, resting in its shelf on the foot of the bed.

"Is she okay?" I heard a gruff voice. "Looks like you're okay, Shorts" Goddamn it! Again? Idiot just didn't learn did he?' I would have gotten up and slugged him in the stomach, but a quick burst of pain from my left arm (My slugging arm…) told me that it wasn't going to happen. I sighed and slumped down in the hospital bed.

"Could you please not call me that?" I muttered. Gray's expression softened a little from his "I-don't-care" look.

"Sorry…" It sounded exactly like the last 10 times he's said it to me. Gray and me certainly shared our share of spats, but never one that resulted in injury. Then again there was that one time that Rick tried to break one of our fights up, he succeeded, but only because I had punched him in the nose; sending him to the floor, out cold and breaking his nose in the process. But alas…

"So how bad are you busted up?" I asked him.

"Not nearly as bad as you are; a few bruises, cuts, nothing I'm not used to from my work. Except the fact that my head will kill me tomorrow." He said tipping his hat down and leaning against the wall.

"By that you must mean to hint at the fact that it will swell up, absorb all the blood in your body, and then leave the rest of you to shrivel up." I commented, trying to make an attempt at humor to keep mind off the ever existing pain in my arm.

"I meant a headache, but I'll have to watch out for that" he said letting off a chuckle.

"Alright" Elli said interrupting. "You'll be happy to know that you can go home now Claire"

"Great1" I sighed, I'll be able to sleep in my own bed tonight. (No offense, but hospital beds suck; especially the ones in mineral town, they're to soft.)

"You're also very lucky" Elli continued.

"And how's that?" I questioned, tilting my head to the side.

"We got some new kinds of braces in for broken arms and legs in similar situations as yours so you'll be at least be able to bathe with this type, since you can remove it. However only remove it for that, if you end up hurting it more; me and the doctor will have our way with you and put your arm in a real cast. Don't bend down to much using your back, use you're knees, because of your cracked ribs. Also try not to do to much lifting with that arm, but if you need to move something heavy then I'm sure Gray and Saibara wouldn't mind coming over for a few minutes to help you" She explained, showing me to my newest hardware piece, and glanced at Gray during the last part.

"Alright, any questions?" Elli asked handing me three pill bottles

"Yeah, when do I get this damn thing off?"

"You can start removing it for simple things in about a season, and depending on how it's healed you can take it off completely in spring,"

"Great" I said, becoming slightly drowsy.

"Claire? You look tired are you ok?" Gray asked.

"She's fine" Elli said. "The medication we gave her is probably starting to kick in, though. Gray can I ask you a favor?" She asked, Gray nodded. "Could you take Claire home and then stay with her tonight?"

Gray's PoV

"Could you take her home and then stay with her tonight?" Elli asked looking just a pinch worried.

"Yeah I guess so." I muttered, but curiously wondered "But why stay with her?"

"Well other than the fact that she has a broken arm…" Elli continued, as I looked at the blond farmer girl putting on her shoe. "The medicine I mentioned earlier appears to have started to work a little earlier than it's supposed to; in other words, just to make sure she doesn't have complications."

"Are you ready to go" Claire asked flatly.

"You're ok with me going with you, that's weird of you." She usually doesn't want help at all, she'd break her arm before…agh nice choice of words there Gray.

"It's not like I have a choice" she said turning to Elli. "Nurses orders I'm sure." She finished with a small smile.

"Alright then, we are off" I grunted.

The trip to Claire's house was uneventful. It was to awkward to talk to her from my end; and she probably couldn't think of anything to say or for that matter, think of anything besides going home. Tonight was going to be pretty uneventful.

As we walked up to the door Claire opened it, getting in I set her stuff by the door. I looked around; it was a humble home to say the least, until now I had only gotten a glimpse of the inside when I occasionally stopped by (usually by some crazy request by grandpa.) She had her kitchen, bedroom, and living are in the front room, while off in the back I saw a small room, probably her bathroom. I had to say though… I liked the general look of the place.

"Gray?" Claire asked.

"Yeah?" I replied

"What's you favorite color?" What an odd question, wait did she just giggle? This could be bad…

"Uh, Blue why?" I said still admiring the intricate trimming applied to the walls.

"…Which ones do you like better?" she asked.

"Which ones w-w-w-wha" Yeah this was going to be bad. What I turned to meet was the blond girl slouched against her bed, holding two pairs of blue boy short panties, a slight blush noticeable on her face.

"Which ones do you feel would look better on me?" she asked giggling a little. Goddess, what the hell had Elli given this poor girl? It certainly wasn't doing her any good.

"Claire, are you feeling alright?" Was the only thing I could think of right now.

"Which ones Gray?" She said in sing song voice. This was about where my brain started to say "Oh my god". While the rest of me could help but notice that both the pairs of panties she was holding were exactly the same. I wasn't even her friend and she was showing me things that have a secondary name of "unmentionables."

"Claire I think you should get ready for bed, worry about that tomorrow." I suddenly blurted out. Thank goddess my subconscious still had some ground to stand on. She got up and swaggered to the backroom as I finally got a chance to sit down and recover from the almost-heart attack I had just been handed. Thoughts of rouge Claire's panties related topics started flowing into my mind, a lovely gift from my hormonally-crazed teenage years.

"Gray I'm ready." Claire's voice suddenly rang. I looked up to notice she had changed into a white T-shirt that was long enough to fit all the way down to her mid-thighs. I got up and led her to her bed, as she climbed in she spoke up again. "Gray, do you think I'm pretty?" she asked catching me off guard. "My dad never said I was." She added. What was Claire's family like? She never talked about them; just another mystery of the blond girl, some people said.

"Yes you are" I spoke up. Truth be told she was, very, in fact; but there was also a part of me that didn't want to hurt her right now, a part of me that burned when we always fought. A similar soft spot to that of the one with Mary.

"Thank you" she whispered. Then she did nothing either of us would have expected (or would have expected to happen), she leaned up and place a small kiss on my cheek then immediately reclined and was out light like a light. However for me the kiss didn't end there, it felt strange to receive a kiss from someone your not even friends with. What was more disturbing was the fact that I couldn't get mind to "put it down" and leave me alone. Finally, feeling tired I laid down on the couch, which was surprisingly comfy, and fell asleep.

Travis: Well that's it for now, this is what I'm on right now. I find I can really only right about/on a story if I am concurrently favoring the subject. So this is what happened to my other stories…any way I still don't know the exact direction I want to take this story in right now. All I know is that it will Graire fic

Hikari: I still say you're a lazy bastard!

Travis: sigh I have to go now, death is to be had."