Okay people, this is my first fanfiction, so please be nice. It's based off of the Harvest Moon games, and is a pairing of Claire and Cliff. It seems I have a different view of Cliff as a person than others, so he may turn out a little different than you imagine him, and I'm sorry for that. This story has a few twists to it and changes from the game, but I'll try to remain true to the original as much as I possibly can.

Chapter One

The name given to me on the 28th day of Summer, coincidentally my birthday, was Claire, and I am your average girl. Scratch that, I'm below average.

I had a normal childhood, I suppose. My family was middle class and only counting up to three of us, making me an only child. During my school years I held my own in terms of grades, getting by with B's in every class. Friends were there of course, but over the years our paths went different ways and none of us made a move to keep in contact. I had never been popular, now that I think about it. At times my short temper got me into trouble, and my easiness to tears was surprisingly frightening to others. What can I say? When I'm frustrated, I cry. When I'm happy, I cry. You get the point...

Anyway, so right out of high school I was offered a job at a large company my father had worked for until his retirement. He had gained a good name for himself due to his easy going, though determined, nature, and I came by enough as a child to be known by nearly everyone. In truth it wasn't much of a surprise when we received the call from the office two days after my graduation. We had been expecting it, you could say, with how often the higher ups and others specifically asked I come too when they had company dinners or parties. But in all honesty, despite the greatness of the offer, I would have turned it down immediately after hearing what job it was had it not been for the urging from my parents. Filing? Yes, Claire, you got through all these years to end up in a darkly lit room storing away old papers for the rest of your life.

But this is not about Claire, the Wonder Filer. No, this is about a below average girl ending up in a not so average romance perfectly at home with fairy tales... And it all started in a little place called Mineral Town.

- - -

"C'mon, Claire, we're all going out for drinks!"

Turning to see one of my friends from the sales department, Lisa, I force a smile and push the glasses on my face up the bridge of my nose. Prescription? Of course not. What better way to complete the stereotype, I had thought ruefully, when after two days of work in the Great File Sea I passed an optometrist's shop with a sale on strictly non-prescription glasses.

"Thanks, but I'll have to pass. I got up a little too early this morning to try and take the pup to the pound, only to have it throw a fit! I was forced to just let it stay to save myself another visit from the landlady," I reply, groaning at the mere memory. "So I need to get to bed earlier than two in the morning." At this I laugh. The few times I had been dragger along to bar, and I was underaged during all of them actually, I had ended up home just before dawn. No, tonight I needed to catch up on the sleep I had lost at the paws of the stray puppy making itself at home in my apartment. Two days before this I had stopped to kneel down at the entrance of an alleyway to give said puppy the rest of my hotdog while shielding us both from the rain with my umbrella. I love dogs as much as the next person, but it's not right to leave it home alone all day while I'm at work, nor does my apartment building allow animals that make noise. So I said my goodbye, patted the animals head, and continued on my way. I must have been really out of it to not have noticed it following me, and was slow enough in opening and closing the door to my first floor rental to let the thing in. The next morning I was greeted with the sound of a loud crash from my kitchen/dining/living area. So once I had armed myself with a bat to hopefully scare away the intruder with my deplorable aiming skills with the weapon, I burst into the room only to find a furry creature trembling in a corner opposite the pots and pans now falling out of the cabinet they had been kept in. Over the next few days I had tried on many occasions to bring the puppy to the pond or various other places, but the creature started howling bloody murder or would become thoroughly unreachable beneath my couch. Each time I would just give up, though.

"Alright, I'll see you on monday!" Lisa called from across the parking lot, waving to me before she climbed into an already almost full car of other coworkers of ours.

Letting the fake smile fall from my expression, I make my way down the sidewalk to the closest bus stop. The city I lived in had such a high population these days public transportation took you nearly everywhere, so there wasn't much need for a car if you didn't mind waling a few minutes everyday and didn't mean to go out every single night. My apartment building was a mere seven minute walk from a bus stop, and my work place was only two minutes away from another.

Time flew past my voice quickly, as it always did friday afternoons, and in what felt like no time at all I was at the door to my home with my keys finding their way into the lock. Just another normal day, the same as the one before. Tomorrow would just replace work with sitting in front of the TV, as would sunday, until I was back to the cycle on monday. No, I admittedly did not have an interesting life. Who can honestly say they do?

The moment I closed the door behind me I felt something clawing at my pants leg. Fully aware of what it was, I allowed myself a quiet giggle before I bent down to pick up my local stray. In truth I'd begun to enjoy his company, in an odd way. How can I not? Just looking at that face of his made me melt. He was a blue merle Australian Shepherd with warm chocolate brown eyes. Somewhere along the line I had decided to at least try and give him a name for the time being, and after a good long list of potentials I had thought aloud he barked loudly when I suggested 'Chester'. So obviously I consented and called him that, and by now he was answering to it quite well.

"Well then, Chester, I'm afraid you're going to have to be happy with old cereal. I really don't feel like buying dog food only to have half of it left and have nothing to do with it when I finally get you to a shelter or something," I tell him, setting him down on the floor again. He must have been around two months, only coming three fourths of the way up my lower leg.

Once I had poured out some old Cheerios in a bowl - dogs can eat that, right? - for him I made my way into the bathroom to take a shower. The glasses off and my hair pulled out of it's high ponytail I usually put it in for work, I ended up staring at myself in the mirror for a few moments.

The hair sprouting from my head was a blond-ish color, somewhere between corn husks and gold. As a child it was nearly white, but had of course darkened of the years, but to this day I can call myself a true blond. Said hair fell down my back to end just below my shoulder blades, leaving only my bangs to be any shorter, coming to about my eyebrows and ever so slightly layered to grow longer at the sides. The eyes that stared out at me from a faintly tanned face were a clear crystal blue and were somewhat large below my arched eyebrows. At the age of nineteen I was only an inch or so shorter than most other females my age, always having been a little on the teensy side. My body type left much to be desired, admittedly. I have a chest and it's not as if it's overwhelmingly flat, I just know people who look better than me and are better endowed in that area. Partial curves are something I do have, and I'm at a good weight in proportion to my height. Overall I'm an okay looking person, not tremendously hideous or anything.

I quickly shake my head to break the reverie I had formed and stepped into the shower not a moment after the water was at an at least somewhat perfect temperature and I had peeled off my clothes. I couldn't ask for much in this old building with terrible pipes and water heaters. And this was proven by the sudden icy cold blast that hit my skin and forced me to jump out. I had learned to be quick with applying shampoo and the like, so thankfully by now I was so used to it I had already pretty much finished the shower by the time the heater gave out.

With my hair wrapped up into a towel piled up atop my head and another pulled tightly around me, I came into the main room of my apartment and pressed the 'Play' button on my answering machine sitting on the table next to my couch. As it played loudly I leaned against the wall with my arms crossed, listening.

"You have one message. Today, 3:27 PM," the robotic voice announced before it switched over the message itself. "Hey Claire, it's your mother." Now what? "You know how much your father is worried about you, hun. You seem so depressed this days with work and all. He's offered you so much money out of our funds for a better house or maybe a tad bit more schooling so you can get a career! But you always turn him down."

Blah, blah, blah. My mothers usual message. I walked over to the phone to press delete, but the voice continued to something I couldn't help but listen to. "Oh yes, remember that boy you've been searching for somewhat? The one that saved you from drowning that one time? A friend of a friend said they faintly remember someone kind of like that in a little country town called Mineral Town. Maybe you're interested? Call me back when you get home." And it went silent.

I stood, frozen in remembrance. I knew exactly what she was talking about... When I was six my father was sent on a company paid cruise along with mother and I for suggesting something that earned them quite a bit of money. As a child I was a dare devil, and in the middle of the Pacific Ocean I climbed up to stand at the top of the railing along the deck of the ship. My parents were in our room, and it was rather early in the morning. Staring out at the ocean, I spread out my arms from my sides and grinned at the orange sun making it's way up the horizon slowly. Suddenly a voice yelled from behind me that what I was doing was dangerous, and it surprised me so much I slipped. I had hit the cold water with a small splash, and bobbed my head back up, coughing. Swimming was, and still isn't, a strong point of mine.

In my panic I had barely noticed another splash just behind me until the person that had caused it put a strong arm around my shoulders and pulled me just a little higher up, allowing me to breath.

"It's alright, I told someone to go get help," a soothing voice had said into my ear. I was surprised to notice the voice was that of a child, a boy to be exact. But I was too frightened to try and see who he was.

"I'm scared! I can't swim!" I sobbed.

"Shh... Calm down, if you thrash around like that you'll just tire yourself out." This time he sounded more determined, tightening his hold around me as he kicked his legs back and forth in the water to keep the both of us afloat. It sounded like he had more to say, but I didn't understand his words after that. My eyesight was getting blurry, and finally went black before I passed out.

"Please wake up, miss!" Were the last words I remembered. After that I woke up to see a face standing over me as I lay on the deck soaking wet with a crowd forming around me. Later I learned the face was that of the boy that saved me, but when I went into my memory for his face so I could thank him I turned up with a blank. By then we had left the ship, and my mother refused to remind me of his appearance.

"I'm so disappointed in you that you can't even remember someone that kept you from drowning!" She had said.

And so I was never able to meet him again, or at least to my knowledge. But I was always on the look out, and would even people watch or go off searching for a few hours just to see if I could recognize him in a crowd. My friends and father always laughed at me, saying I wouldn't know him now after all these years. Mom was the only one that urged to to continue looking for him, even if she wouldn't tell me what he looked like then... And now here she was, giving me a clue.

With new initiative, I went through changing into sleep clothes and brushing my damp hair so I could call Mom back. Now in a white tank top and loose black shorts, I plopped down onto my couch and speed dialed my parents house with my cell phone, seeing as my house phone was faulty a lot of the time. I laughed. As usual, it only took half of the first ring for her to pick up. My mother was such a talker and enjoyed gossip in such a way we joked that she used most of her words on the phone than in real life.

"Claire, dear! I knew you would call soon after that message," the woman giggled on the other end of the line. "And your father and I thought of the perfect way to get you out of your funk."

"Well, duh, Mom, with how long I've been looking-" I began, only to pause at her last words, now angry. "MOM! What did you do now!?"

"Don't yell at your mother, dear," she scolded. Okay, now I was fuming. I gritted my teeth so tightly my jaw hurt in waiting for what she had planned this time. "Well, we looked into this Mineral Town place, your father and I. We found out there's this cute little farm that's been for sale for years! It's been empty for so long they're desperate to get an owner. And the Salesperson was so nice, they gave us a great deal on it. Your father and I won't be able to go on that trip to Europe we wanted, but this way we can always visit you out in the country when we need to get away." I could just hear how giddy she was.

"Mom, I think you're going a little too far with this. I'm just fine with-" I began. But oh no, my mother had to interrupt me.

"Come over tomorrow so we can talk everything over. Your father is already planning to call the office so he can tell them you're quitting. This'll be such a nice a change for you, dear. You always wanted to go to a farm when you were little! You love animals, and you still like to help me out in the herb and vegetable garden. See you tomorrow!" Before I could say anything else she had hung up.

... I guess I'm moving to Mineral Town.

Chapter One - End

Gomen, you didn't get to see Cliff yet. And you may not in the next, I'm not sure.