Four Seasons

A/N: Hullo, everybody! I know you haven't seen me around this archive, because, well, this is my first Harvest Moon story. You get me. Yes, hooray. *presents Claire throwing off rainbow glitters in the beginning of the game, you know, when you accept your job as a farmer and stuff, yes that scene* Anyway, I'm just an amateur in this, because I've only played HM: MFoMT for a short while online (then I decided to download a VB Emulator and a ROM. Hakuna matata for Wi-Fi!). Sooo, expect a lot of mistakes and stuff, and I hope you enjoy!

THEME SONG: Yes, I wanted to have you listen to something while reading this. Don't worry, it's a piano version, so no words to distract your mind or something. It's just something I was listening to while writing this and thought, hey this could be the theme song. (In my opinion, lol.) Anyway, here is the link: www dot youtube dot com / watch?v=SlgNA49E7lI You can listen to it if you want, but if you don't, then it's good too. :)

DISCLAIMER: Kleia does not own Harvest Moon, Yasuhiro Wada does.

Spring

When they both met.

Strolling across the brick road and absent-mindedly turning around the corner, it took long before Claire realized she was unconsciously walking down the street where the Supermarket and the Clinic was. It was only a week after she had read the newspaper back in the city, showing an advertisement about the farm she resides in at this moment. She lightly shook her head upon reminiscing the events when Thomas had told her about the fake advertisement. It obviously wasn't a laughing matter—she quit her job and moved out of her pink apartment for that farm, for Goddess' sake.

Brushing that day aside, she surely didn't regret moving into Mineral Town. It was peaceful, joyous, fresh, and although it's quite small, she still finds herself not getting tired of walking down the roads she walks on every day since she came. She never got tired of waking up in her small house, her cute little puppy named Peanut greeting her with its little jumps of joy and wags of its tail. She never got tired of breathing in the scent of trees and fresh air. She never got tired of speaking to the townspeople, who were all so friendly. She never got tired of everything, really, albeit the fact that she has lived here for just a week.

Claire only noticed now that she reached the end of the street, where she was supposed to turn right for Rose Square or Doug's Inn—she did start to feel hungry after all the chores she'd done this morning—but instead she obliged to where her feet turned to: the church, much to her own dismay.

It wasn't like she isn't religious or anything—she just rarely visits this place. With all the farm work and socializing she's done, she didn't have much time to be in silence for a moment. She felt guilty all of a sudden.

Slowly, Claire pushed open the big twin doors of the church, creating a loud shrieking noise due to its oldness. And once her eyes landed on the interior in front of her, she couldn't help but feel so awed light-headed silenced as she gaped at the three large panels of stain glass ahead of her, faint sunlight shining in, causing it to reflect different arrays of colors. There were two doors on each side of the windows, as well as two long tables with rows of lit candles. An organ was seen on her right and she couldn't help but smile. She wanted to try out playing that one day, when she knows how to, that is.

Pews in two rows were before her, and a red carpet was sprawled out in front of her. It made her feel welcomed and at peace. She inhaled deeply and took steps forward, taking in the ether the church gave off.

Claire strode until she was beside the first pews. She inhaled once again, closing her eyes. She felt a weight on her shoulders lift and she didn't even know she had been carrying that weight all along. It made her smile. This place could be her abditory her safe haven her nirvana. She should come here more often, but she was afraid that all her chores would get in the way. She frowned at the thought and exhaled with a hum.

A pregnant silence followed moments later until she heard some sort of mumbles beside her. She rapidly snapped her eyes open as the sound made her jump a little bit. She turned her head to the source of the sound and found a brown-haired boy about her age, whose hair was tied into a ponytail. She slightly tilted her head in confusion (and worry at the kind of face he had on this moment). Just who was this guy? She doesn't see him around the town whenever she's out. Sure, she'd been here for seven days, but within those days she already knew all of the townspeople residing in the quaint little town. Well, maybe not all since all of a sudden this long-haired guy was standing in front of her, a wistful look on his face.

And right then and there, Claire noticed that she was staring at a stranger. A stranger. She mentally face palmed at her attitude. What in the world, Claire? Well, it wouldn't hurt to talk to the guy. After all, she was here in the first place and who knows, this guy might be her closest friend in town.

And with that conclusion, Claire put on the brightest face she could ever put on and took a small step forward towards the guy. "Hello," she breathed out cheerfully, raising her small hand to also catch his attention. And it did catch him good—he snapped his head up and emitted what seemed to be a shocked 'wha?' as he turned to her, utterly surprised that he actually had company in the hushed dwelling. And Claire couldn't help but chuckle at his obliviousness, putting her hands over her mouth to keep the place quiet. Once she calmed down from her fit of silent giggles, she once again waved a hand, "Hi." She greeted once again, smiling widely at the dumbfounded boy.

He simply nodded at her, and Claire could see how his cheeks were slowly being covered by roses because of sheer embarrassment as he casted his eyes on the floor, eyebrows knitted in somewhat a shy manner as she could tell. He couldn't even say hi back, for Goddess' sake! This made her smile. His looks were that of a bad boy—or maybe the ponytail told her so—but he was actually pretty shy. She unconsciously giggled at this. And due to that action, she noticed how he slouched more and blushed more and he avoided his look—

"I—is there… something on my face…?" he stammered, eyes still on the ground as he put his hands on his back, lips pursed.

This time, Claire burst out laughing, causing the guy to look at her—half-offended, half-confused, half-amused. "N—no, silly…! Don't worry, there's nothing on your face," Claire said in between soft chuckles and a smile as she stared into his chocolate brown eyes. She held out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Claire, you know, that new girl in town," she energetically said. "You're new here too, aren't you? What's your name?" she inquired, earning another shy look from the guy, who took her hand and shook it as reticently. She smiled at his coyness, clearly entertained.

He nodded, eyes still diverted from her sapphire ones. "Y—I'm… I'm Cliff," he introduced obviously apprehensive. He blushed again and sighed warily, as if the simple introduction was a strenuous activity. "Sorry… I'm just, kinda… nervous…" he admitted in a small voice, hand rubbing the back of his neck as his eyes started to dart around the room.

Claire chuckled. "It's alright, just relax, I'm not that bad, you know." she jokingly said, laughing at her own jest. She looked at Cliff as he inhaled and exhaled, and she could immediately notice how his shoulders relaxed and his contours were too. He smiled in delight, and Claire returned the favor. "So," she abruptly said, wanting to start at least a small conversation with the guy. She had nothing more to do anyway. "What town did you come from? Or were you from the city?"

"Um, well…" he said in uncertainty, looking into her eyes for a brief moment before landing them somewhere else. He straightened up, "I kinda," then he slouched with a downcast look on his face, "don't want to… talk about it…" he muttered in a voice still audible as his index finger scratched his cheek.

Claire blinked, taking in the explanation. "O—oh…! Okay, it's alright," she said in a nervous laugh, which she tried to hide.

Within a matter of seconds, the atmosphere around them wasn't mistakable—it was awkward, and Claire hated awkwardness. It was silent but not a light silent a heavy silent and it was pushing her down down down on the ground and there were no words coming out of her mouth to pull her up. She traveled her eyes around the room, and felt worse when she noticed that a small barrier was around them and it was where the stroppy air resides. She inwardly sighed, trying to think of something to talk about (since just leaving was very impolite for her to do, plus, she couldn't just leave Cliff here now that they talked).

"It's, um, nice here, don't you think?" Claire nervously asked, hands clasped behind her back as she eyed the floor while rocking her feet forward and backward—something she always does whenever she nervous, guilty, and awkward. And right now, it was a complete blend of nervous and awkward. "I meant the town… justsoyouknow." She added, glancing at him before returning her eyes on the ground.

Cliff, she thought, I know I only knew you for like, five minutes, but could you please stop being so awkward? She inwardly pleaded, chewing her cheeks. Or maybe I'm the awkward one… but surely he's the nervous and shy one. He's awkward too. But what the heck, what am I—

"I—yeah, I'm actually liking it here," Cliff answered, which made Claire less nervous and awkward. He sounded a little confident. "So, um, how's farming? Do you… find it hard?"

And that question turned on Claire's switch.

And all her nervousness and awkwardness were washed away.

She groaned, planting her hands on her cheeks in frustration. "Oh, tell me about it! I had no idea on what I was doing in my field! I just kept walking around it and wondered about those random tree stumps and rocks. I mean, how they get there?" she rambled, unaware of the amused face Cliff had on as she kept on gesturing with her hands. "Think about it, Cliff, they wouldn't just pop up randomly everyday, right? And then there was Won appearing on my doorstep one day, said he was selling these apples with weirdly long names like Super Ultra Good Amazing Wow apple or something. I didn't care so I just shut him up by buying the first apple he mentioned then he said something about me buying it," she scoffed, "way to point out the obvious…" she folded her arms over her chest as she frowned.

Cliff chuckled lowly at her, which made her Claire look up at him and laugh along. "Should we sit?" he offered with a smile, and Claire nodded. So they sat down on the first pew, both of them slightly turned to each other. "Okay, go on."

Claire smiled at him. "Anyway, the other day I went to Won's shop to check out some of his other stuff—I don't want to buy any more apples from that guy—but miraculously, when I walked in, Zack asked me if I could have his old fishing ro—"

"Ouch!" Cliff shouted, and only then Claire realized she had stretched her arms far too wide in sheer happiness that she managed to hit Cliff's face.

"Oh I'm so sorry I didn't mean that, Cliff!" she said, half-apologetic, in between soft laughter, as she planted her hand on his arm. Her laugh was growing until she covered her mouth with her free hand and bent forward, her golden hair cascading down her shoulders which were shaking. Cliff started to chuckle. She looked up, grinning. "So—sorry…!" she said, chuckling, "I—I didn't mean to laugh… it was just so funny!"

Cliff laughed softly. "I—it's alright," he said, "… still hurts though."

A/N: I hope you like how this turned out to be, haha. Well, I actually like it myself. :) I just hope that Cliff was alright here, lol, and Claire too. If you have any suggestions, opinions, comments, critiques, feel free to PM me or review! Cheers for my first HM fanfic!