This story is part of the Village Square Forum's Secret Santa Project. Merry Christmas to my wonderful recipient, Ultra Drama Queen. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon

Christmas Ball

It was a tradition for the residents of Mineral Town to host a party on Christmas Eve, every year. There would be lots of snacks, music, Christmas decorations, including, of course, mistletoe, flashing lights, a disco ball, and a lot of jumping around to the beat of the music while calling it "dancing". It would get so hot and stuffy in the inn that everyone would just forget about the low temperature and white snow that covered the rooftops and the ground outside. Anyone who was in Mineral Town at the time would attend the party and have a lot of fun, including the very shy, constantly stammering Cliff.

But one year, Ann decided it would be fun to do something different. With the help of Claire, the farmer of Lavender Farm, the girls planned what they thought would be the best Christmas Eve celebration yet.

They planned a ball.

Claire was all for the idea of dressing up in beautiful gowns and dancing with a special someone. She loved the idea of actually dancing, rather than just jumping around like a bunny rabbit. And Ann, who may not have been as girly as Claire was, still liked the idea of dressing up. It was just for one night, after all, and it would probably mean less cleaning up for her to do after it was over. All the jumping around the year before had made several glasses fall off the edges of tables and shelves, some of which were filled with juice or wine that took ages to clean up. A ball sounded like a much cleaner idea.

When Ann made the announcement, everyone agreed to the idea, immediately jumping into fast conversations about what they would wear or where they would go to buy their clothes. Everyone was excited.

Well, everyone except for Mary.

The young librarian had never properly danced before. Yes, she had read several books about it, but she had never tried dancing for herself. She couldn't dance. And besides, the girl didn't like the idea of being so close to someone, physically. She just couldn't imagine herself with her body pressed up against that of one of the boys in town. And she'd probably tread on his feet, too. It would be embarrassing for her in so many ways. There was no way that she was going.

OoO

"MARY!"

The voice of the local farmer could not be mistaken. Claire pounded on the door of Mary's bedroom, without any patience at all. "Mary, open the door!"

The librarian put down her book and unlocked her bedroom door, and was practically tackled by the overly-excited blonde as she raced into the room, carrying several shopping bags which she dumped on the floor, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "Mary! Mary! Mary!"

Mary couldn't help but laugh at her friend. "Claire, calm down," she said, with a voice much softer and gentler than the farmer's. "Why are you so excited?"

"Ann and I went to town to buy dresses for the ball," began Claire, clearly trying hard to speak slowly so that Mary could understand what she was going on about. "And we found this dress and we both thought that it would look absolutely stunning on you and we agreed that you simply had to wear it to the ball. Here; Merry Christmas!" She picked up one of the shopping bags and pushed it into Mary's hands. The girl opened the bag, peering inside, and then looked up at Claire. "But-"

"No buts!" scolded Claire, and she pointed to the bathroom. "Go and try it on."

Knowing that the stubborn farmer would not let her speak until she was wearing the dress, Mary sighed and went into the bathroom to get changed.

The dress was simply beautiful, maybe one of the most beautiful dresses Mary had ever seen. It must have cost a fortune. It was sky blue, a silky material at the top, which was figure-hugging, with a more flowing skirt that would have been easy to dance in. It was sleeveless, but modest too, cut straight across the top, and was complete with a short, thin shawl that went over her shoulders and pinned together at the front by a diamond. Claire had even bought her a pair of white, silk gloves that reached her elbows, a pair of silver high heel shoes, and a little tiara headpiece. Mary stared at her reflection in the mirror. She could not believe that her friend had bought all of this for her. How much had it cost her? She'd have to find a way to pay her back.

A knock at the bathroom door snapped her out of her daydream, and she took a deep breath before opening the door so that Claire could give her opinion. And judging by the gasp and excited squeal that Claire let out when she opened the door, one could be almost certain that she loved it.

"Aww, Mary, you look beautiful!" she exclaimed, walking around said girl and studying her from every angle. "You'll be the belle of the ball, for sure."

"Well, actually…" Mary turned around so that she was facing Claire. "I wasn't planning on go-" Claire cut her off before she could finish.

"WHAT? But…But Mary! You have to come! You just have to!" She grasped her friend's gloved hands. "Please come. For me?"

The blue-eyed farmer put on her best puppy dog eyes, and Mary couldn't say no.

"Alright, I'll come."

Claire squealed in delight and hugged her friend. "I'll go tell Ann the dress fits. See you later!" She raced out the door, and Mary sighed. All of Mineral Town will be there. She won't notice if I'm not.

OoO

Christmas Eve approached quickly; too quickly for Mary's liking. Her plan of simply not turning up to the ball would have worked perfectly if it wasn't for one little problem: Anna. Mary's mother had found the dress in her daughter's wardrobe, and had insisted on helping her get ready on the night. She helped her get dressed, found her a pair of clip-on diamond earrings that matched the diamond pin at the front of the shawl, and she also did her hair. She managed to tightly curl her daughter's thick black hair and pin it up, ringlets falling only to about armpit level rather than to her waist like her hair usually did. She then placed the tiara hairpiece on the top of her head, and Mary turned to face her, without meeting her eyes.

"Oh honey, you look beautiful," said Anna. She then frowned as a lock of hair fell from where it was, hanging down beside her ear. She rummaged through a draw, and pulled out some bobby pins and a can of hairspray. "I can fix that."

"Oh, mother, I can do it," said Mary, taking the hairspray and bobby pins from her mother. "It's already six. Why don't you and father head down to the inn, and I'll meet you there. Please, it won't take long."

"Well, if you insist." Anna picked up her purse. "Remember to lock up when you leave."

"Yes, mother. Have fun."

Mary listened as her parents headed downstairs, and waited until she heard the door shut, before sitting down on the bed with a sigh, dropping the hairspray beside her. She felt guilty for letting Claire and Ann buy her such a nice outfit, and for letting her mother waste her time helping her get ready for something that she wasn't going to. But that wasn't going to change her mind about the ball. She wasn't going.

OoO

While Mary sat at home, the ball started without her. Everyone was dressed up nicely; the boys in tuxedos while the girls each wore beautiful dresses. Claire's was pale pink and sleeveless with a heart-cut top, and Ann's a pale shade of yellow, with spaghetti straps and a straight cut top. Both dresses reached below the knee, with a flowing skirt. Ann had straightened her hair and tied it in a high ponytail, whilst Claire had curled hers and let it hanging out. Mary was wrong to expect that neither girl would notice that she wasn't there. The two were weaving their way through the crowd, trying to find her before the dancing started.

"I'm sure she's here somewhere," said Ann. "She said she'd come, didn't she?"

"Yeah…" Claire sighed. "We'll find her later. The dancing is about to start." Right on cue, a gentle song started playing, and everyone began taking their partner's hand and heading onto the dance floor.

It didn't take long for Claire to find herself a partner. Gray walked over to her and Ann and asked her to dance, and she accepted with a huge smile, taking his hand and joining the other's on the dance floor. Ann smiled at the couple, and then turned around, only to run into…

"Kai!" she exclaimed, eyes widening in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Kai chuckled. "You sounded so excited about this ball in your letter. I just had to come. I may as well spend one Christmas in Mineral Town."

Ann grinned. "Great! Oh, have you seen Mary? Claire and I can't find her."

Kai shook his head. "Sorry; I haven't seen her."

"Oh, okay. Let her know we're looking for her if you find her." She looked around. "I think I'm going to go ask Cliff if he'd like to dance with me. I'll talk to you later."

"Sure. See ya!" he called after her as she headed towards the boy in the brown tuxedo. He then frowned thoughtfully, before heading towards the door.

OoO

It had been about fifteen minutes since the party had started. Mary had spent those fifteen minutes putting away all the hair things that her mother had to use to do Mary's hair, and tidying up her room. She had decided that she wouldn't change out of her dress. At midnight she could pretend that she had arrived home only just before her parents and pretend she had been there the entire time. She could dodge any questions about the ball by claiming that she was exhausted and she could head straight to bed. By the following morning, all the excitement should have worn off and they could just get back to living their normal, dancing-free lives.

Now where did I leave my book? She sorted through her bookshelf, but the one she was reading wasn't there. She concluded that she must have left it downstairs. And sure enough, when she went down to the kitchen, she found it sitting on the counter.

"I thought I might find you here."

The girl spun around in surprise, not quite believing what she had heard. But sure enough, there was Kai, standing in the doorway, wearing a tuxedo.

"Kai?" she asked, blinking as if she thought she was hallucinating. "What are you doing here?"

Kai chuckled, closing the door behind him. "A certain red-head told me you were having a ball, and I thought I'd come down and surprise you all. Hey! That rhymes!"

"No, I mean, what are you doing here, in my house?"

"Well looking for you, of course. What else would I be doing? But why are you here? The ball has already started, you know."

"I, um, I'm not feeling very well," she lied, looking away.

"I don't believe you," he stated, taking a step closer. "You're all dressed up and you look perfectly fine to me. So, why are you in here and not down there?"

The librarian looked at the ground, and mumbled, "Because I can't dance."

Kai took another step closer. "You can't dance? Why should that stop you from going to the ball?"

"Because it's a ball, Kai," she said with a sigh. "Everyone dances at the ball."

Kai rolled his eyes. "Well, what if I taught you how to dance?"

"What?" Mary looked up. "You know how to dance?"

Kai chuckled. "You learn a few things when you travel a lot. Now come on, take my hand."

She hesitated, torn between not wanting to dance and not wanting to be rude. After a moment, she somewhat reluctantly reached out and placed her hand in his. He smiled, his teeth looking very white in comparison to his tanned skin. "Good girl." He took her other hand, and placed it upon his shoulder, before placing his own hand gently on her waist. He smiled as her cheeks turned pink.

"Follow my lead," he instructed, at first starting just by swaying from side to side with her. He then began moving, taking slow steps which she tried to follow, but of course stepped on his feet several times. She blushed darkly. "I'm sorry. I told you I couldn't dance."

Kai chuckled yet again. "No, no, you're doing fine. Here, don't look at your feet. Look at my eyes instead."

She did as he said, bringing her unique, grey-coloured eyes up to meet his brown ones. Again, he started moving, and she followed. After a minute, he smiled at her. "See? You're dancing."

"Yeah…" she said softly, surprised with herself. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Their dancing slowed to a stop, though he didn't let her go. He looked up, smirked, looked back at Mary and said, "Hey, look; mistletoe."

She looked up for a second. "But there's no-"

He kissed her before she could finish the sentence. And to the surprise of both, she gently kissed back.

Their lips parted, Mary's cheeks a dark shade of red. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out. He smiled; his smile soft and sweet. "Sorry. I needed an excuse to kiss you." He gently tucked the loose lock of hair behind her ear, and whispered, "Merry Christmas, Mary."

"Merry Christmas, Kai."

And Merry Christmas to everyone who read this! Hope you enjoyed it.