A/N: This is my first Harvest Moon fanfiction. I've wanted to do one for awhile but couldn't think of a plot. I'm really excited to release the first chapter!

Inheriting the Farm

Claire looked around at the little farm. She used to come here every summer and stay with her grandfather. The farm was in shambles now, or had it always been like this? Claire could barely remember. Her last visit was so long ago. She kinda regretted never coming to see her grandfather. She hadn't seen him in several years before he died a few months back.

"Hey!"

Claire spun around to see an angry little man in a red suit charging at her.

"This is private property you can't just come waltzing in here!" The rotund little man got up in Claire's face.

"I believe you are the one trespassing," Claire handed the mustachioed man an official looking piece of paper.

He read the piece of paper carefully, "I guess you're right. Do you have any idea how to run a farm?"

Claire shrugged, "I used to help my grandpa in the summer but I guess I'll just have to figure it out."

"Yeah, I guess you will," He folded up the paper and handed back to Claire, "My name is Thomas by the way. I'm the mayor of Mineral Town. I was taking care of the farm after your grandfather died."

"Woof!" A beagle puppy ran up to Thomas and pawed at the bag of food he was carrying.

"This is Toby. Your grandfather rescued him right before he died. Here," Thomas handed Claire the bag of food, "You're going to need this."

"Thanks," Claire graciously took the puppy chow from him.

"I'd also like to suggest getting to know everyone in town. We're a close community. Everyone in town can help you in one way or another," Thomas tipped his little hat, "I better get going. I have a lot of mayoral duties to accomplish." Claire watched the little red man waddle off her property before turning her attention to Toby.

"Hey boy, do you want some breakfast?" She cooed. Toby wagged his tail excitedly. Claire poured the puppy chow into a bowl near a small dog house. "I should get into town," she told her puppy as he dug heartily into his breakfast.

Claire wandered down the path into town and turned at the first right. She got lost in the scenery that she had missed on her way in because she had her nose in the map she was given by the captain of the boat and absent mindedly ran into a boy about her age.

"Oof!" They both cried. The boy with the auburn hair had not been looking where he was going either.

Claire scrambled to get to her feet grabbing the boy's hat on the way, "Here. Sorry about that!" Claire said apologetically.

The boy snatched the hat from her hand, "Watch where you're going," he snapped before affixing the hat back on his head with the brim over his eyes. He headed into the shop on her left.

"Well!" She muttered to herself, "He sure was friendly!" Claire narrowed her eyes at the door he had disappeared into. "I guess I'll visit that shop later," she sneered. Whoever he was she sure didn't want to run into him again.

Instead Claire veered right. She was greeted by a young woman approximately her age with soft curly pink hair and a cheerful demeanor feeding a flock of chickens.

"Oh hello!" She chirped, "I'm Popuri!" The pink haired lass threw one last handful of bird feed to her chickens before turning her attention to her guest.

"I'm Claire. I inherited the farm down the road," Claire held out to shake Popuri's hand and was surprised by a hug.

"Oh this is great!" She cheered with a slight southern drawl, "Another girl in town! There are five of us. There's Mary, she runs the library. Mary loves books and plants and stuff like that. And Elli is the nurse in town. She works with Dr. Trent at the hospital. She's really sweet. Oh and there's Ann, she works at the Inn with her father. Ann's a real sweet heart. She's one of my best friends," Popuri gushed, "Karen works at the supermarket with her mom and dad. She tends to…" Popuri mimed drinking, "but don't get me wrong! She's really sweet!" Popuri leaned in and whispered, "and my brother really likes her," she giggled.

Claire smiled at her new friend.

Popuri began to flail excitedly, "You should totally join us tonight at the Inn for dinner and a drink! I'm sure the other girls would just love to meet you! The boys also meet there a lot," she smiled gleefully and giggled, "We like to talk about them."

"I'd love to join you," Claire laughed at the girl's enthusiasm.

"That's great! Did you need anything else while you were here? We sell chickens! Chickens are so cute," she gushed, "and they lay eggs everyday so they're a great source of income."

"Maybe I should get one. I could use the money," Claire thought of the meager funds she had brought with her, only three thousand G.

Popuri beamed, "That's great! I'm sure you'll take care of one of my little chickies well. Come on inside. You can meet my mom and my older brother and we'll get you settle with a chicken."

Claire followed Popuri into the little barn shaped building. "Mom! Rick!" Popuri called as she entered her house, "Come meet Claire! She wants to buy a chicken."

A young blonde man with a green apron helped an older, frailer version of Popuri down the stairs. "Hello Claire," the older woman said with a sweet gentle voice, "My name is Lilia and this is my son Rick."

Rick nodded in Claire's direction, "It's nice to meet you."

"Did I hear something about you wanting to buy a chicken?" Lilia questioned as she finally got off the last step.

"That's right," Popuri beamed.

"Well come over here and we'll get some paper work filled out," Lilia made her way over to a desk near the door. Rick watched his sickly mother carefully.

"Don't forget!" Popuri called after Claire who had her chicken tucked under one arm, "The Inn at seven. Nearly everyone will be there."

"I won't forget, promise!" Claire waved at her new friend and began the short walk back to her farm to put Clementine away and after making sure she was happily tucked away in her new home, Claire decided to explore the path south of her farm.

There was a little forest behind her farm with lots of wood to chop and things to gather for a profit. She remembered her grandfather teaching her what to look for.

"You can ship herbs but not flowers," Grandfather told Claire, "There's lots of things in this forest that can make you money."

Claire smiled fondly at the memory. She had enjoyed her time on the farm as a child but as she got older she neglected coming to the old farm to do other things over the summer.

The newbie farmer searched the first part of the forest, with the little log cabin, for spring harvestables.

"Hey!" A bearded man probably in his late thirties or early forties called out to Claire. Claire looked up at the man and he approached her. "I haven't seen you around here before. The name's Gotz," He held out a large hand for Claire to shake.

"My name's Claire," she gave her delicate hand to his large rough one.

"Nice to meetcha Claire. What brings you to this neck of the woods?" He asked.

"I'm the new farmer. I was just exploring," Claire explained.

"Oh. Well, I'm the town's carpenter. I can upgrade buildings around your farm if you decide you need more space," He smiled warmly, "My cottage is right over there if you need anything. Hope to see you around, Claire."

"Bye," She called after Gotz as he walked to his little cabin in the woods. Claire gathered some more harvestables to put in her shipping bin but before she knew it, it was time to head home and clean herself up so she could meet Popuri at the Inn. Claire could barely remember where the Inn was!

She took a quick shower and threw her hair into a sock bun. She quickly changed into a pair of fresh jeans and a light yellow blouse. She usually wasn't big on wearing make-up but she swiped a coat of mascara over her blonde eyelashes anyways. And after grabbing a light jacket and scarf she was out the door.

According to her map the Inn wasn't too far, up past the blacksmith, take a right and it would be the second building on the left. When she entered the building it was already crowded.

"Must be the town's hot spot," she thought to herself.

"Claire! Over here!" A pink hair maiden waved to Claire from a table in the back. Three other girls sat with her and a red head stood behind the counter with an older man. Popuri had mentioned that Ann worked here with her father.

"This is Karen, Mary and Elli," she pointed at each girl respectively, "Ann's behind the counter with her father but she'll be over soon," she turned her attention to her friends, "This is the girl I was telling you about. Her name is Claire."

The group of girls collectively greeted her and Claire sat down. She looked around at all the guests. Mayor Thomas was there and Rick, but that was everyone she knew asides from Popuri.

"So how was your first day on the farm?" Popuri asked in her drawl.

"It was pretty good," Claire scanned the menu Popuri had handed her a moment earlier, "It isn't too difficult yet."

"Trust me it'll get harder," Popuri drawled as she picked at her fries.

"Don't scare her off," Elli scolded, "We need a farmer in town. Prices on fresh produce have been terrible since that sweet old man died."

"You should come by the supermarket and get some seeds," Karen suggested, "You grandfather may have some lying around but probably not a lot."

"Alright, thanks," Claire closed her menu and Ann walked over.

"Hi! You must be Claire. Popuri was telling me about you earlier. Can I get you anything?"

"Can I have a ham and cheese sandwich with a side of the homemade chips and a cola?" Claire handed her the menu.

"Coming right up. I'll be right back. Dad said after this I could be done," Ann bounced off to the kitchen to put in Claire's order.

A moment later Claire noticed Karen elbowing Mary, whose face had become as red as a tomato, excitedly. Claire turned around and saw that the boy who she had run into earlier had just walked into the Inn.

"That's Gray," Popuri leaned over and whispered to Claire, "Mary is in love with him."

Claire scoffed, "I ran into him earlier, literally, and he was extremely rude."

"That's Gray for ya," she shrugged, "He's just shy so he masks it by being rude."

Claire glared at the capped man, "That's no excuse."

The other girls watched anxiously as he passed their table to trudge up the stairs.

Mary sighed, disappointed that he didn't talk to them. "Maybe tomorrow," she murmured.

"It'll happen Mary," Elli gently rubbed her friend's back. Mary just continued to look sad. The quiet librarian desperately wanted Gray's love but lacked the confidence to actually do something about it.

The night passed quickly after that. They ate, drank and chatted for several more hours before Claire had to call it a night, she had early mornings from now on.