Well, this is part of the Village Square forum's Secret Santa project (the second). And my Secret Santa Recipient is Mage the Observer. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon

It's Only Because I Care about You

"I'm going out. I'll be back soon," called Popuri as she put on her red jacket. She walked out the door without waiting for a response from her mother or her brother. Not that either of them would object. It was winter, and Kai was away, which meant that Rick wasn't worried that she'd go see him, and her mother didn't mind where she went. She could go wherever she wanted, as long as she was back for dinner. The family always had a nice dinner together at the inn on the 24th day of winter. It had been a tradition since Popuri could remember.

The pink-haired girl trudged through the snow to Jack's farm. She knocked lightly on the door, and the friendly farmer opened it, a large grin on his face. He held the door open, and Popuri entered the now very large house, hanging her jacket up the rack. They sat down, and talked for a while. Then they got onto the subject of chickens, and Jack decided that he wanted to show Popuri his recently upgraded chicken coop. Of course, Popuri was very excited to see his chickens, and they went there right away.

"Wow, Jack," said Popuri. "It's HUGE!"

Jack grinned as he fed his chickens. Outside, the wind whistled loudly. Popuri smiled.

"I love listening to the wind when I'm nice and safe inside," she said.

"Me too," agreed Jack, brushing the remaining chicken feed off his hands. "But we should go back to the …" He was cut off by a loud THUMP!

Popuri's smile faded as she looked around. "What was that?" But Jack was already heading to the door, dreading what he might see when he opened it. And his fear was right. They were trapped inside the chicken coop by a thick wall of snow that had fallen off the roof.

"Oh no!" gasped Popuri, looking at her watch. "Jack! It's five to seven! I'm supposed to be home by seven for dinner! Rick's gonna kill me!"

Jack started digging.

***

Rick was pacing. It was five past seven, and she hadn't returned. "She knew she needed to be home by seven," he said. "Where is she?"

Lillia smiled. "She'll be home in a minute, Rick. Sit down."

A minute passed.

And another.

And another.

And another twelve.

Lillia was getting worried now. It wasn't like Popuri to be twenty minutes late, especially not when they were going to have dinner together. Rick was pacing again.

"That's it. I'm going to go look for her," he said finally.

He checked the beach. No Popuri. He checked the inn. No Popuri. He checked the church. No Popuri. He checked the supermarket. No Popuri. Finally, he peered through the window of Jack's house. No Jack and no Popuri. It was a quarter past eight when he got back home, and there was still no sign of Popuri.

***

Jack and Popuri kept digging, trying to get out of the chicken coop. But their tunnel kept caving in. Their hands were cold and numb, and their arms were sore. But they kept digging. They had to keep digging. It was almost eight o'clock when Jack first saw the end of the snow wall. He dug until the hole was big enough to squeeze out of. He climbed out of the tunnel and let Popuri in, wanting her to get out before it caved in again. "Be careful," he told her, and she quietly crawled through the tunnel. Jack followed right behind her, praying the tunnel wouldn't cave in on top of them.

They made it out, shivering. Jack practically dragged her back inside and to the fireplace. They sat there, warming there hands and drying their clothes. Popuri was too cold to care about the dinner. She almost forgot about it, until twenty minutes later. She jumped up and put on her coat, Jack put on his, and they both hurried back to her farm. Rick practically tackled her when she walked through the door.

"Poppy! Thank the Goddess you're alright! We were so worried about you!" He then turned to Jack, an angry glare on his face. Jack took comfort in the fact that they were friends, and at least Rick didn't hate him like he hated Kai. Although, with the way Rick was yelling at him, you would have thought that he was Kai. He forbade Popuri from ever seeing him again, and Jack returned to his house cold and sad.

***

Popuri had completely forgotten about Rick's rule the next morning, until she was about to go to Jack's house again, at about ten o'clock am.

"Popuri, you are not to ever visit Jack again!" Rick reminded her. "He cannot take good care of you."

"But I can take care of myself, Rick," moaned Popuri. Rick blocked the door.

"No you cant'! You need me too look after you! You caused us to miss the family dinner and…"

"It's my fault now is it?" snapped Popuri. "It's not my fault that the snow blocked the door! I'm not a baby, Rick! I can go where I want, when I want. I don't have to listen to you!"

"Popuri! You need me to look after you!"

"NO I DON'T! I'm not a baby. I don't need you! I don't need your stupid protection! I can take care of myself!"

"POPURI!"

"AND I HATE YOU!"

And with that, the angry pink haired girl stormed out the door, slamming it behind her. Rick flopped down on the couch, surprised that Popuri had snapped at him. He decided to let her cool off, and then he'd confront her.

But she didn't come back.

After seven hours he started to get worried. After another three hours, he set off to look for her. He marched straight to Jack's house.

"Can I help you?" asked Jack.

"Where is she?"

"Who? Popuri?"

"OF COURSE! Where is she?"

"Rick. I haven't seen her all day," said Jack, and Rick knew he was telling the truth. And why would Jack lie at eight pm?

Rick kept searching, while Jack rounded up every villager in Mineral Town for a search party. They searched high and low, without any luck of finding Popuri. Jack and Rick made there way to the beach, while the others searched elsewhere.

"Popuri?" Rick called. "Poppy?"

Jack told Rick to be quiet and listened. He could have sworn he heard…There! He did hear it! From the Snack Shack he could hear someone sobbing ever so softly.

"Popuri!" they gasped simultaneously, and barged into the shack. Popuri jumped up, and she ran straight over to Rick, flinging her arms around him and crying into his shoulder. "Rick," she cried. "I'm so sorry. I don't hate you."

"I know, Poppy, I know," said Rick quietly, gently rubbing her back. "I shouldn't have forbidden you from seeing Jack."

Popuri looked up at him. "I-It's OK."

Rick wiped her tears. "It's only because I care about you."

Popuri sniffed. "I know. I care about you too."