A/N: I got this idea when the Starry Night festival went on and I had Skye come over. Originally it was mainly just going to be a fluffy one-shot regarding them making the meal together, but… Well, you'll see. I hope you enjoy! Btw, this features the brown haired girl player for DS Cute.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.

Beautiful

I remember what he said that night that I met him. He had called me beautiful. I've never heard those words directed at me before. I usually don't believe such words when directed at me…but he was such a pretty boy and he was calling me beautiful for no reason. I wasn't trying to stop him that night, I made that obvious when I stepped aside to let him pass, yet, maybe it was my imagination, but when he called me beautiful it seemed different than when he said it to Lumina. I know Lumina is a beautiful girl, there's no doubt about that, but he called me beautiful too, so maybe he meant it…That's why I gave him a chance, and I fell head over heals in love with the handsome, smooth-talking, Phantom thief Skye.

My hands are numb as I brush the animals and I absentmindedly pat my cow, Cowy, on the nose before walking over to the fodder storage bin that connects to the silo. I trip over thin air, which is actually quite common, and snap out of my daze as my head hit's the wall. "Ow…" I rub the afflicted spot and glare at the wall before grabbing a stack of hay and tossing it into Cowy's food bin and then into Wooly's, my pregnant sheep, Rammy's, the ram who impregnated my sheep (I still don't know how I was accidentally sent a ram by Rick, but I don't complain because it's still a sheep), and Bessie's, Cowy's calf, bins, filling them. I breathe in the scent of the sweet smelling hay as I think about the reason I had been zoning out.

He is coming over tonight.

I didn't ask him to join me for the Starry Night festival, Goddess knows I wanted to, but I knew he probably had better things to do then spend an evening with me. I'm just a quiet, plain farmer girl, so I was surprised when he asked me as I was handing him some white curry. I had just nodded dumbly and then, after giving him a small smile, I ran away blushing up a storm. I must've looked like an idiot and I'm probably going to make a fool of myself tonight too. I don't even know what the Starry Night festival is, let alone how it is celebrated. I had only been able to visit my father on this farm during the summer on my break from school since the winter makes the mountain pass hard to travel, and I can't remember back to when my parents and I had all lived in this village together….

The blast of cold air knocks me out of my thoughts as I walk out of the barn and I rub my numb hands together once again. I also rub my arms as goose-bumps form along them; I definitely want my missing jacket and gloves right now. I jog across the bare field, the snow crunching under my boots, and stop at the stable to check on Storm, my horse, before continuing towards my house. By the darkness surrounding me I can tell I'm late for the event going on at my own house, how stupid can I get? He's never going to actually like me if I keep this up. I skid to a stop as I see Skye at the door, about to knock, and he turns to me at the sound.

He is so handsome, especially with how the moonlight makes his silver hair glow even more; I don't know how Vesta was even able to ignore his charms last season. He's wearing his black and white leopard print shirt (over which is a black jacket) and black pants, his usual black pack hanging on the side of his waist. Skye's beautiful azure gaze locks with my violet one, causing my already flushed cheeks to become even more so. I look so drab compared to him… My flushed cheeks, obvious against my pale skin, and the panting breaths coming from my blue lips (it's very cold). My T-shirt with black sleeves and a white torso, a black logo across the front, and some worn black jeans, over which is a small black apron, all of it seemingly covered in filth compared to his appearance… So very, very drab… Breaking my gaze with him, I look down at the ground, hitting my foot against it as I think about what to say.

"Ummm, hi? Uh, it's cold, so, um, let's go inside?" I open the door and, to my surprise, he makes me go in before him before he quickly closes the door behind us. I give him a confused look as he glares at me. What I just said wasn't stupid enough that he hates me now, was it? He takes off his thick black jacket and drapes it over the shoulders of my shivering form before taking off his black gloves and pushing them into my hands. "N-No, I c-c-can't….! Thank….thank you Skye, but I'm f-fine."

"What were you thinking?! It's the coldest part of winter right now, you could've caught pneumonia or frostbite…" I look down in shame and embarrassment before tensing as warm arms wrap around me from behind, pulling me against a warm, hard chest. "A beautiful girl like you shouldn't be overcome with hideous illnesses such as those." We stand there for a few moments like that and he runs his hands through my, for once, unbound hair. "I like your hair like this, it's very pretty."

"Th-thank you," I reply, looking up at him and giving him a small smile. A light pink dusts his cheeks as he returns my smile and then he moves away suddenly, as if breaking out of a trance. I give him a confused look before walking over to the fireplace and getting a fire started. I must've done something wrong, or he realized precisely who he was holding. My brown hair drapes over my shoulders as I bend down and poke the wood with the poker, now I'm glad that I decided to wear my hair down today in order to keep me a little warm. The fire suddenly blazes to life and I fall back on my butt with a surprised 'Oh!'. Chuckling comes from behind me and I look to see Skye offering me a hand to help me up, I gladly take it with a smile. We both walk over to my dining table and he gives me an expectant look.

"Did you prepare a meal?" I look at him stupidly for a moment before looking down at the ground in embarrassment as I silently berate myself. I should've known about this! Without thinking I tug on my hair like I usually do when stressed and it brings me back to the situation at hand.

"I'm so sorry Skye! I should've known. I'm sorry…" With a sigh I pull off the jacket around my shoulders and hand him it and the gloves I had never put on. "You can go and spend tonight with someone else if you want to… I really don't know much about this holiday and I've probably wasted enough of your time already…" I pull on my hair again, not even looking at Skye; I don't want to see his disgusted look that an incompetent idiot like me had wasted so much of his time. A soft hand caresses my cheek before moving under my chin and making me look up. I do so and see Skye there with a small smile and such an intense look in his azure eyes as he searches my face. He uses his thumb to wipe off a tear that had managed to escape from my watery eyes before he speaks.

"Tears do not belong on a pretty face." He says quietly, letting his hand move from my chin and across my cheek to my hair, which he begins to pet soothingly. "I don't want to spend this night with anyone but you… Plus, I had a feeling something like this would happen, so I brought my special curry mix. We can make it together, which is so much better than anything else." I smile, feeling happiness rising up in me, and we move to the kitchen. "Now go get washed up and then we can start."

After washing I join Skye in the kitchen with a smile, happy that I can spend this time with him. He is looking through my little blue recipe book and I feel my cheeks flush; it is a rather empty book. All I have in there is pretty much curry recipes since I don't even really know how to cook; I only learned those after finding Skye's liking for curry. Since then I had worked really hard so I could get a kitchen built, still giving Skye at least one of the pieces of jewelry I tend to find at the dig site everyday. I had started giving him those in the hopes that the value of them would be enough for him to stop stealing. I don't want him to get caught… I had never told him my reasoning for giving him the jewelry, but he had seemed pleased with it. Now I mainly give him curry, telling him he reason is so he won't be fatigued or anything with how he is always out so late at night. Truthfully, I just like to see him smile.

"These recipes for the 'color curries' are really precise," Skye says and I think my mind is playing tricks on me, making me imagine an impressed hint in his tone.

"Oh, really?" I ask, actually quite curious. "Um, I just thought I should be specific because of the risk of poisoning someone with the red herbs and such if you don't prepare them right. I-I don't know what I would do if I ended up hurting y--someone." I quickly cover up my slip and blush again; he must think me strange for all of my blushing. "Plus, I've found that by only boiling the leaves of healthy herbs-like white or indigo-still adds the unique tastes and healing qualities. The latter of which are then increased by only slightly cooking the roots and adding them into the food." I stop as I notice my rambling, something that happens when I'm nervous, and begin preparing the rice.

"That does make sense… I guess with how hard farm work is that you had to find some ways to replenish your health easily." I nod at Skye's observation. Truth is I had been trying to find a way to impress him, but the collapsing in my fields had made me come up with the idea. Takakura still scolds me for that, but I have to get the sprites and goddess back…it's my fault for not getting started on the farm sooner that they had been banished… I break out of my thoughts before I can get upset over the reason I had to come take over the farm, a reason that is a year old as of a week ago. Tomorrow is actually the one year point of me living in this valley again.

We work in silence, actually performing the cooking together as if we have done so our whole lives, and soon enough the food is ready. I walk over to the fridge and grab a bottle of grape wine, snatching a couple glasses from the counter on my way over to the table, and move to sit down after pouring us some. I actually don't really like alcoholic drinks, but tonight is special and Skye likes them. Of course, he had confided in me that his reasons are that it is romantic, but that doesn't mean that I'm trying to make this night with him a romantic one, right? Goddess, I hope he doesn't think that, it would be so embarrassing. Skye is smiling as he looks at the wine, a satisfied smile, and he halts me from going to my seat by grabbing my arm.

"What a wonderful woman you are…" I look at him with confusion as he stands. Why would he think I'm wonderful? I'm anything but that. His smile changes into a small, sad one as he looks at my confused face, the doubt in my eyes at his words, and he gently pushes a piece of hair out of my face and behind my ear. His hand moves back to caress my cheek and I try to stop myself from leaning into his touch. He wouldn't like that; who would? "You need to get more confidence in yourself. You're beautiful and wonderful and so very sweet with how you try to protect me. I'm so glad that I can spend this night with you…" He trails off and leans down. My eyes widen as his soft lips meet mine.

The kiss is gentle, not at all forceful or dominating like one would think from a flirting thief. I close my eyes and press my lips against his in return, wrapping my arms around his neck as his right hand moves to hold my waist, the left still holding my cheek. He softly nips my bottom lip and I shyly open my mouth to allow him entrance. His tongue explores my mouth slowly and with obvious skill. I don't care about why he is so skilled though, all I notice is the delicious curry-like taste of him and the wonderful feeling as he urges my tongue to dance with his. I'm not very good at it, but the moans of pleasure that manage to escape me make him smile into our kiss, so I don't feel ashamed. After what seems like too short of an eternity, we break the kiss for air and I rest my head against his chest. I can feel his soft hair shift as he rests his head on top of mine and I give a soft smile of contentment.

"What did I do to deserve a lovely girl like you?" He asks to the room and I pull back to look at him. I give him a smile, all of my doubts now gone, and reach a hand up to caress his cheek now. He truly could have any girl in the world, but he has chosen me, and…

"You called me beautiful."

A/N: Did you like it? I'm not really good at romance, and this is my first one-shot ever, so I hope it was okay… I didn't give the girl a name since 1) I don't like the name Pony, it sounds too weird, and 2) The reader can insert themselves more into the story when they are not given a name. I actually wrote this as if it was me, so I hope that doesn't bother y'all. It's just really easy considering I look a whole lot like the brown haired girl, with the exception of eye color and glasses, so it's easier to write as if it is me (hence the first person POV). Um, I won't demand reviews, but they would be really nice and helpful… Anyways, take care and have a nice day.