It was a lovely spring day in Mineral Town…I'm sure you all know the type of day I'm talking about. A warm, bright, beautiful day that would cause everyone to spend it taking the best of times by doing nothing. However, on a small farm with its main export being strawberries, a young girl wearing pink overalls with short blonde hair was working away. The sun let its rays cast down upon bringing sweat down her face. She casually wiped it from her brow continuing to harvest her fresh strawberries. A scruffy dog that appeared like a young wolf with black fur, deep blue eyes and a blue bandana tied around his neck ran over to his master working in the fields of strawberries. He barked at her a few times before she looked down.

"I'm fine Star," She assured him, "I promise. I just need to harvest a few more strawberries. You know I'm close to getting your doghouse remodeled right?"

The dog chased his tail in excitement while his master giggled continuing to harvest her many strawberries.

"Flute!" A small girl with long black hair tied into a long ponytail coming down to her waist, glasses, a blue shirt with a small black thin ribbon and white sleeves, a skirt coming down to her knees that was also blue and brown shoes ran onto the farmland.

"Mary? What's wrong?" Asked Flute.

Mary struggled to catch her breath and flipped her bangs away from her eyes. "There's….there's a tornado heading off the coast and it could be here very soon!"

"What!?" Flute examined the sky. Mary was right, it was a lot more humid than she had expected. "Star quickly! I want you to lead the chickens inside the coop then you and Autumn go inside, you can stay with me tonight," Star arfed in return heading out to the pasture. "Thank you Mary, I hope you get home safely,"

"I hope you and all your animals make it through the storm," Mary ran off. Flute watched her friend flee the farmland and glanced at her fields.

"I have enough time and I'm not going to let this storm take away my crops!" Flute bent down scooping armloads of strawberries into the basket.

Star did his job exceedingly well, all the chickens were put back in the coop were luckily Flute had left enough bird feed. As for the livestock, they were inside the barn with the first sheep to arrive on the farm who was now pregnant. And her house had enough sense to go into the stable when he first heard the word "tornado". Autumn, Flute's orange tabby cat and Star quickly fled through Flute's pet door into the house. And as for Flute, she now had three more baskets filled to the brim with the sweet fruit she had produced so much of. She carefully put the last strawberry into her basket without smashing a single one. She felt the cold and furious wind surround her as she held her hand to her face. "The watering can wait, the storm will do that," She placed the basket on the ground and ran to the barn to give the animals some much desired fodder. Finally, after finished she picked up the baskets and ran to her house not dropping a single strawberry. She placed the baskets on her table, latched the door and closed the pet door and with that, Flute and her friends were safe. She sighed in relief as she fell into her chair. Autumn, always one to comfort, leapt on her lap purring gently. Flute pet her head starring at her crops, it was well worth it. Tomorrow when the storm blew over she would probably catch a good price for them. Slowly, her attention returned to her pets.

"Why don't I make us some dinner?"

-

"Come and get it!" Flute smiled putting down the last piece from her seasoning kit. She took two dishes as well as a saucer and a cup of water. She lowered a plate of different kinds of meat (chicken, fish, and beef mainly but she bought it she would never kill an animal) and a small cup of water. As for Autumn she was given a plate with a juicy medium sized fish and a saucer of cool milk. And Flute made herself strawberry milk and an omelet. She glanced down at Star about to go head-first into his meal. "Ah ah ah," She leaned down to her dog, untying his bandana. He barked happily at her going face first into the meat, Flute never liked for his bandana to become a bib.

Flute, herself, was a very successful farmer. Very hard working, very dedicated. It had been almost three years since she had bought the little run down farm in Mineral Town leaving her past life in the city behind. She however remembered the word's of her relatives urging her to take on a new life, she was about 18 at the time and was officially old enough to fend for herself. So with only a fodder keeper, a small barn, littered farm land, a small house, shipping bin, dog house and watering hole, Flute made it into something amazing. She had made many friends in Mineral Town, mostly girls. But there was one special boy.

"Kai," Blushed Flute looking down at a small picture frame. In it was a picture of a younger looking her and a tanned boy wearing a purple bandana. Kai ran a snack shack during the summers when Flute spent the days with him. It was hard to be friends with him considering she only saw him in the sunny month but wasn't it worth it? Maybe Flute was a little young, but she had the idea of marriage while around him. Could he be the one she would court and have a family with? Flute gulped down the rest of her strawberry milk while thinking. She glanced outside where gust of wind threw branches all around with clumps of dirt and pelts of rain and hail. "I think I should take a bubble bath considering I don't have any farm work to do," She usually only had time for a quick 5 minute bath or shower, it wasn't every day she could take a long hot bubble bath. She went into the bathroom filling the tub with water and suds.

-"Aw, how nice," She sighed happily leaning down into the bubbles. If only days like that could last forever. No worries, no stress, just lavender scented soap and relaxation. That is, until Star's eerie bark alerted her. "Star what's wrong?" She called. He continued to bark. Someone was there, she knew it. Flute leapt out of the bath but halted before she ran into the main room. She almost forgot to get dressed. She swiped the bubbly mess off her and threw on her overalls leaving her hair dripping wet before running out again. Star starred out the window barking when she finally made it. Oh well, at least someone wasn't in the house. Flute pressed her face against the window-a dangerous event during a storm but needed since someone was for a fact there. Against the pouring rain, she saw the blurred image of a person. A boy. She had certainly never seen this boy before, his hair was dark brown tied back-he probably hiked a lot-, a green sleeveless shirt with cotton around the neck, black pants, bandages around his ankles and orange shoes, and sad but willing blue eyes. "Who is he?" She asked curiously.

"Hello?" He screamed, his voice fading along with the wind, "Is anyone here? Where am I?" He covered his face with his hands as his eyes began tearing.

"He doesn't know where he is, he must be lost," She tossed her coat onto her arms but before she could open the door, Star bit at her pant leg. "It's ok, Star, he needs help," She tugged her dog off her before lighting a torch and going out. The boy looked around warily trying to make out the images, maybe they could be a key to helping him find his way. But while the young man was looking, a branch came unlatched, hitting him in the face. Flute gasped when she saw it and tried to shield her face from debris. However, Flute was more astonished when this young man kept the effort to trail on despite the blood streaming down his face.

"Please!" He screamed, "I'm not sure where I am and I need a place to stay!" No response came from anywhere, especially not since Flute was too dumbstruck for words. He collapsed onto his knees looking close to fainting. Flute ran to his side and grabbed his arm with gentle loving care. He looked at her, the sadness in his eyes grew deeper.

"Don't move you're hurt," Flute looked at his face which was still bleeding but she couldn't identify the cut, "my house is over there, let's go before things get worse," The boy returned to his feet and followed Flute, his eyes lost the hurt they once had and were replaced with compassion and amazement.

When they returned to her house, the boy was in awe at how he had never seen this place before. Flute set him down at the table, draped a cotton black around him and on his lap, and made him some food. Star stared at the boy with great anger and lust in his eyes while Autumn jumped on his lap purring. The young man smiled petting her glossy fur. Star, however, glared and began barking, much to the young man's scare.

"Be nice to company, Star," Flute hushed her dog. She looked up at her guest, "You're lucky, you know. If Star hadn't been barking I never would have found you," The boy stared at her in confusion and blinked. "Oh I'm Flute…who're you?" Flute asked. The boy stared at her, Flute gave him a warm smile, and the boy looked away blushing.

"Cliff…" He mumbled.

"Cliff? That's a nice name," Flute smiled returning to her cooking. Cliff turned back to her.

"You know you're wasting your breath talking to me, I'm not very social,"

"It's ok, we all have something we're bad at," Flute reminded him mixing curry powder into the rice balls.

"Thank you Flute, but," He looked around as if searching for something, "I feel like I'm intruding on you. Wouldn't your husband-"

"Husband?" Flute laughed. "Don't worry Cliff I'm single," Then Kai came into her mind. She frowned. Was it a bad thing to like Kai but have another boy in her house.

"Thank you, that's a relief," Cliff sighed, going back to his quiet self.

"Finished," Flute poured the mixture from her pot into a silver cup. She skipped over and placed a cup of Finest Curry in front of him.

"Curry?" He asked. Flute frowned.

"Do you not like it?"

"No no, but I've never tried it before," He reached for his spoon, "I suppose now would be a good time," He dug into the heap of brown liquid with rice and vegetables floating in it and returned the spoon to his mouth. Flute's eyes glimmered. Cliff nodded slowly. "This is really good," Flute's eyes shined more than before as she watched him eating.

"Now, next thing is your cut," Flute told him.

"I'm fine," Cliff tried to assure her. Flute didn't believe him considering his face had splinters and blood going down it. She took a damp washcloth and wiped it away. He tried to shake it off without hurting her but it failed. And after that was the crisis of how they were going to sleep.

Both walked over to Flute's bed which was a large size and stared at it, then each other, then back to the bed.

"Since it is your house, Flute, I'll sleep on the ground,"

"No you're the guest so I will,"

"But you're the lady and that would be rude,"

"I don't care I'm not letting you sleep on the floor,"

"This is getting us no where,"

"Agreed," Flute nodded.

"But we can't sleep in the same bed without everyone thinking…well you know," Cliff remaindered her.

"True," Flute nodded, "How about we pull the beds apart? Maybe that'll work?"

"Probably," Cliff tugged one bed apart from Flute's and settled in.

"You're strong Cliff," Smiled Flute. Cliff ignored it, still due to his shyness and fell asleep. Flute followed in his example.

-

The next day was bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky, it was hard to tell the storm last night had actually happened. Well except for the debris swept endlessly across Strawberry Fields Farm. Flute's animals were roaming the farm, the baskets of strawberries were set by the shipping bins to where Zack could collect them, and the crops had been evenly watered. Flute decided tomorrow she would clear her farmland and today she would visit and gives gifts to her friends. So, Flute had spent the day mining and unearthed many treasures her friends that were girls would enjoy. First stop, Karen's house.

Flute happily skipped into the grocery store where Karen, a young lady with brownish blonde hair who always wore a purple vest with a white shirt under it and jeans, was in the back eating Pizza her all time favorite food. She looked up when she heard the bell ring.

"Hello how may I he-" She paused and gave Flute a blank stare when she saw it was her.

"Hey Karen!" Flute smiled. Karen's expression stayed the same. "I got you a present in the mines today," She reached in her bag pulling out a beautify carved bracelet made of purple gemstones with small gens the same color as Karen's eyes along it. She handed it to her which made Karen just stare more. "I saw it and I just said 'hey this is perfect for Karen!' I hope you like it!"

Karen gave her an odd smile, one that seemed to have mixed emotions in it of which Flute couldn't identify. "You wanna know what I think of this?" Flute nodded. The expression melted off Karen's face as she hurled the bracelet on the floor and stomped on it repeatedly, the jewels scattering all through the store while Flute's jaw dropped in horror. Karen glared at her when the remains of the bracelet had scattered. "Get out!" Karen screamed. Flute didn't hesitate and threw herself out of the grocery store, puzzled. She had a good idea what happened-Karen was known as the alcoholic of Mineral Town she was probably drinking again and got too angry. She'd find Karen a bracelet when she was feeling better but for now, she reached into her bag pulling out a sparkling broach with a pink shining gem in the middle with golden embroideries. It was obvious who this little trinket was for, Popuri one of Flute's other best friends.

Flute clutched the bag tightly to her waist and sprinted off towards the Yodel Ranch where sure enough was Popuri surrounded by a group of chickens and chicks and even a few ducks all trying to get the best food. Popuri laughed at the many squawking animals as she threw the bird feed high into the air watching the birds chirping in glee as it fell to the surface below.

"Hey Popuri need some help with the chickens?" Flute asked running over to her. Popuri turned to her when he sudden cute smile disappeared.

"Oh…hi Flute," She said sadly.

"Is something the matter?" Flute asked.

"Didn't Rick tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"That…I'm not allowed around you anymore…"

"What?!" Flute screamed. "B-b-b-but we're best friends…remember?"

"I know but, Rick would-"

"Hey Popuri have you finished feeding the ch-ch-ch-AAH WHAT THE HECK IS SHE DOING HERE?!" Screamed Popuri's older brother Rick.

"Rick! I-I told her to leave but she wouldn't listen to me!" Popuri lied.

"What's going on here?!" Flute screamed.

"GET OFFA MY PROPERTY!" Rick screamed at her, seeming even angrier than Karen. Flute spun around and ran off down the road and as far away from them as possible. First Karen, then Popuri, now Rick, what was wrong with Mineral Town?! Flute's breathing slowed as she reached somewhere a place Rick defiantly wouldn't follow her to, the beach. And of coarse on the beach was none other than Kai, head in hands grumbling something to himself.

"Kai!" Flute called running over to him. Kai didn't even look up. "Kai, what's wrong with everyone in town today? It's like they're all against me,"

"What happened?" Kai asked. He looked up glaring at her. "YOU happened!"

"Oh-no not you too!" Flute backed away just as Kai leapt up from the bench. "But I don't understand, how is this my fault?" Kai shook his head at her.

"Everyone in Mineral Town knows I have a reputation for liking more than one girl at once and then breaking they're hearts, I didn't think that was the case with you. I actually did like you, but you told everyone in Mineral Town! They all really liked you and didn't want me to date you, so now they're against both of us! I lost my shack because of you! Why I oughta-"

"Leave her alone Kai!" Screamed a girl with purple haired tied back in two long ponytails and a short black dress with rainbow ribbons tied onto it. She jumped in front of Flute and held out her hands to defend her.

"Kurai!" Flute smiled when she saw her friend.

"Flute didn't do anything to hurt you so back off!" Kurai told him.

"Didn't do anything? Didn't do anything?! My shack is gone because of her! That's an unforgivable act!"

Before Kai could finish his rant, Kurai grabbed Flute's arm and they raced back to her farmland, the one place of sanity left.

Kurai sat down on a tree stump doing all she could to catch her breath while Flute looked over her farmland with tearing eyes.

"It's over," She looked down, tears strolling down her cheek.

"What is?" Kurai asked as she fanned herself.

"My life. Now that everyone in Mineral Town hates me, there's nothing I can do about this farm anymore,"

"Huh?!" Kurai leapt off the stump to comfort her friend. "Flute that's not the real you, the real Flute would never give up just yet, she'd keep pursuing until the end,"

"Thanks Kurai but I don't think I can do that anymore. Let's face it, now that Zack hates me, he wouldn't come pick up my crops anymore. And there's no way he or Won would buy them. I guess they realize that if there was a sign on it that said 'from Strawberry Fields Ranch' no one would buy any of it. Unless I can get everyone in town to like me again, I'll have to move out,"

"Flute," Sighed Kurai, sad to see her friend like this.

"May I help?" Someone asked. Flute looked up in surprise, was it Kai back to help her back on her feet. The answer was no, instead, it was Cliff smiling warmly at her, a look of hope on his face, but the sorrow still deep in his eyes.

"Cliff," Flute said in amazement. Cliff walked over and took her fidgeting hand.

"I hate to see such a beautiful face stained with tears, and I hate to see such a hopeful young women giving up. So…I want to do everything I can to help you, Flute. I promise you can depend on me,"

"Cliff…" Flute jumped up and hugged him.

-

"Hm?" Flute opened her eyes and looked around. To her surprise, she wasn't still in the farm field she was in her bed, Star sleeping ontop of her, the gusty winds blowing to and fro outside. She turned and heard Cliff's still breathing from the bed beside her, Autumn sleeping soundly on top of him. Flute smiled and reached for her bed side table. She picked up a rubber dog ball and squeaked it. Star's ears perked up in alarm until he saw it in his master's hand. Flute tossed it silently across the room causing Star to chase after it. Once she now had mobility, she walked to her guest bed. She carefully examined him and was relived to find no wedding ring on his finger. Flute gave him a sweet smile, leaned down close to him, and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you Cliff," She thought before returning to bed. Star jumped on her with the squeak ball proudly in his mouth and both fell soundly asleep.

Author's notes

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It was a lot of fun to make! But please guys if you're a fangirl or a fanboy of any of the characters used (Like Kai or Cliff in this case) DON'T SPAM/FLAME ME! There are other people in the world who like the same character believe it or not and just liking him/her does not give you special rights to him mmkay?! Sorry. Ok also Flute is an original character owned by my friend Nijihamu-can of DeviantART. As for Kurai, she was made by Yayyoi of DeviantART but there were no pictures of her so I had to assume she looked like her character named Hina. The dream scene was based off a real dream Nijihamu-chan had to make her fall in love with Cliff.