Disclaimer: As far as I know, I do not own Harvest Moon or any of its characters in any way, so please don't sue me. The character(s) in this story which were originally thought up and written about by me are mine and should not be used in any other stories without my permission. This disclaimer is valid for this entire fanfic and all chapters.

Enjoy, young grasshoppers.

Chapter 1- Storm at Sea

The sea was rough and savage that night. Tall waves crashed down onto the beach, where a pair of lovebirds who had been expecting a romantic night with a full moon at the seaside had just made a precarious escape from an encounter with the cold water. The boy with the purple bandana balanced himself atop the wooden dock, and stared out at the wildness of nature. He flinched when a door slammed close behind him.

"Get back inside, Kai!" yelled a man with cropped brown hair and a bulky stature, as he screened his eyes from the borderline painful rain. "It's not gonna arrive tonight! No ship can make it through a storm like this!"

Kai turned once more to face the incoming waves, just as a rather large one hit the pier and ripped through one of the supporting beams. He reacted instinctively when he heard the crash and sprinted towards the beach as the man screamed his name and took a careful step forward in the drenched sand.

The entire end part of the dock was torn away by the wave, and, despite the speediness of Kai's feet, the boy was unable to make it back in time. He cried out for help as the floor dissolved under his feet and water enveloped him. He felt himself losing all control of movement as his body was quickly spun deeper into the sea before being launched out again, as though the water disapproved of him and spat him out.

He struck another wooden support pillar and held on for his dear life. The other man approached hurriedly, and threw out his right hand for the boy to grip onto. Kai coughed up a rather unhealthy amount of water before reaching out to grab his wrist.

"Zack…" Kai desperately exclaimed in a pained voice. "Help me…"

Zack, in spite of his immeasurable strength and endurance, still found it quite difficult to pull the younger man up, which made sense, seeing as the conditions outside weren't all that great. Eventually the pair made it onto the safeness and relative stability of the beach. They looked at each other before Zack, with drenched clothes and an aggrieved expression, got up and jogged towards his small cottage, hunched over as to deter the rain from blinding his sight.

"Come on!" he yelled, his voice reaching out to Kai through the thunderous noise of the storm.

Kai backed away some more from the intimidating sea. After having witnessed its actual power for the second time in his life, he was more than happy to follow Zack inside. He got up and gazed towards the horizon, determinedly hoping for the best, but there was nothing apart from the rampaging waves and whirlpools.

"That was close," said Zack as Kai slammed the door tightly shut behind him.

"Too close," agreed Kai, coughing a few times to clear his throat of the painfully salty water.

There was quite a long silence. Zack ruffled his wet hair with his hands and Kai removed his jacket and bandana, revealing a spiky mess of black hair. Both men were freezing cold and very, very speechless. Kai walked over to the mirror in the far left corner of the room.

The shack was built for comfort and everyday functionality. There were a few couches placed around a simple-design table and a large crate with a stool behind it near the entrance. Many more crates were littered around the edges of the home- many were empty, but most still contained unsold goods. There was also a very wet and very dirty carpet which needed to be cleaned- a burden which Zack would unquestionably force upon Kai. Unexpectedly, Zack chuckled and broke the silence.

"Heh," he smirked. "Almost forgot you had black hair. You never take your bandana off."

"True that," Kai smiled, but his voice was still very hushed. "This is the first time in, what? Three weeks?"

A loud roar of thunder rumbled outside, causing both Zack and Kai to face each other. Kai raised his hand to his chin pensively.

"You better stay the night here," Zack invited light-heartedly. "We wouldn't want ya to be struck down by lightning, now would we?"

"Thanks," Kai said simply.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Zack's tone became sadder and quieter. "Shouldn't have been out there, Kai."

"I was looking for the ship," declared Kai weakly.

"You know it ain't arriving, bud." Zack responded. "And there'll be another cargo arriving next month, we can hold out 'till then."

"It's not about the cargo, man," Kai replied instantly, looking Zack in the eyes. "It's about the people on the ship. Never considered that?"

"Oh," Zack said with genuine surprise. "Since when did you start caring about anything other than women and food, eh?"

Zack regretted the words, thinking they would sound offensive and hurtful, but Kai smiled and laughed, re-tying the bandana around his head. There was another silence, the only noise being the continuous drip-drop of water splashing on the floor.

"So," Kai started conversationally. "What kind of grub do you have around here?"

Zack merely raised an eyebrow at the young man, who was now smiling with childlike innocence. He cast a curious glare, before smiling and laughing heartily. Kai laughed too, then got up and walked towards the fridge.

"Seriously, though," he said little humor in his voice. "What you got?"

He had been working for a steady hour now, and so he wiped sweat from his forehead. The seashore was dirty: kelp and seaweed, accompanied by numerous amounts of small dead fish, was littered everywhere. Zack also determinedly worked at cleaning the beach up, preferably before 10 AM, which was when the visitors would usually arrive in the summer. Looking up, Kai gazed towards the horizon for the trillionth time that morning, and put his hammer down, walking back towards the beach. After all this time, the pier was almost reconstructed. All that was missing was the repair of a slightly damaged support beam and some planks at the far end. He jogged to grab a refreshing glass of orange juice from a table outside his own shack, which was besides Zack's. Both men were tired beyond belief, and mutually decided on taking a small break.

Three hours later, Zack still lay napping on a stretched out beach chair, while Kai was casually chatting with a bright-haired girl. Very casually.

"Anyways," he craftily winked at her. "Whatcha doing later today, beauty?"

The girl giggled and blushed noticeably. She then narrowed her eyes and bit her lower lip in an exaggeratedly thoughtful manner. She lifted her hand to her chin as well and slowly tapped her index finger on her lips. Kai smiled uneasily and scratched the back of his head. The girl kept doing exactly that, until after a few seconds she stopped the tapping too. She was just standing there like a statue. Kai proceeded to wave his hand in front of her face, and started to freak out a bit when she still showed no signs of life.

"Popuri," he called out worriedly. "What are you doing?"

But Popuri still didn't move and she still didn't look up.

"Oh Goddess…" Kai exclaimed and nervously looked around. "Snap out of it, babe!"

Popuri's eyes grew unnaturally big and she looked up, her hands staying perfectly still, but her mouth hung slightly open now. Kai backed away in fear. She squinted once more and her face turned into an expression of terror for a fraction of a second.

"It's gonna blow!" Kai screamed in a panicked frenzy.

Popuri raised her hands up to her face. She sneezed twice and her puffy pink hair blew in the wind. She lowered her hands and so did Kai, who had assumed a defensive position near the stair railings. Popuri smiled cutely, and Kai couldn't help but laugh. Zack, who had been stirred by all the noise, woke up and saw the two kids. He then checked his watch and jumped up.

"Kai!" he called across the beach, causing the boy in question to cringe slightly. "You told me you'd wake me up in ten minutes!"

"Oh, sorry about that," Kai improvised a lie. "I thought you meant ten minutes…in Russia… Like, ten minutes after 6:40, which would mean-"

Alas, despite Kai's astonishingly believable lie, Zack's perceptive skills were unmatchable.

"Shut your mouth, and give me three-hundred push-ups!" he interrupted.

"But-"

"Right now!" Zack screamed. "One…Two…Three…"

"Umm…" Popuri murmured apprehensively. "I should be getting home now. Bye, Kai."

"Bye..!" Kai managed to exclaim through his exercise, as Popuri left the scene and walked off towards the town square.

"Stop slacking," Zack approached Kai and placed his heavy combat boot on Kai's back, pushing ever so slightly. "Let's up the pace, kid! Ten, eleven, twelve-"

Kai's exercise continued and both the men noticed the progressive cooling of the weather. When the exhausted Kai reached approximately fifty, Zack suddenly lifted his foot and looked out towards the sea. Kai collapsed in a heap and muttered something along the lines of "give up, give up".

"Shh," Zack quieted him gravely. "Thought I heard something."

Zack walked towards the beach, and there it was again. Unmistakable this time, and it came accompanied by another bundle.

Water splashed everywhere as a figure was thrown out of the ocean. The waves pushed it onto the shore and there the man lay, coughing water. Zack instantly noticed his condition was critical and blood was seeping from countless, burning cuts.

"Goddess," Zack yelled in fear, his eyes growing wide in terror as the man continued squirming on the sand, gripping the just about steady floor with his bloody hands. His face was turned towards the sea as Zack quickly approached.

"What?" Kai questioned curiously, cleaning dust off his shirt and turning towards Zack. "HOLY-"

The man had long black hair and a fair- yet scratched up- face and closed eyes. As Zack laid the man's head on his lap, the man slowly went limp and his eyes shut tightly. Kai swore.

"What the hell?" Kai threw his hands up and came closer. "How-"

"Shut up!" Zack screamed critically. "We have to get him to Doc! Help me out!"

At that point the air grew colder and drops of rain started to fall from the air.

"Damn this weather." Kai declared as he draped the man's left arm across his neck and held on tightly. Soon he and Zack were jogging across the square in the middle of the aftermath of the storm. Rain poured down in harsh amounts, rapidly soaking the two men fully. Kai, already tired out from Zack's command, was having trouble stabilizing himself, but soon the man awoke slightly and helped out by taking careful steps in rhythm with the others.

"Goddess, Zack," Kai screamed, as the noise of rain striking the concrete drowned out their heavy breathing. "What the hell is going on?"

"I guess we'll find out sooner or later!"

They dragged the man around the corner of Cartman's church. Luckily, or unluckily, there was no-one around to see them. Kai would rather not be interrupted or seen carrying around a corpse-like figure in an eerie scenario like this, especially when they were near the graveyard. However, he would appreciate some more support, as the weight was pressing down on him more and more- fortunately they had almost reached the hospital.

"Open the door, Elli!" roared Zack when he discovered the door was locked. In moments, the young nurse had rushed to the door and thrown it open. The brunette shrieked and almost slammed the door on the boys, but her calm side took control instantly and she assisted them in carrying the man inside.

"Oh my goodness…" muttered Doc as he approached the case. Stretched onto the bed, the half-dead man was hurriedly being inspected by the nurse and the experienced doctor.

"Damn…" sighed Doc, raising his hand to tousle his pitch-black, short hair, before pointing at Elli and giving orders. "Get me the extra large energizer."

The nurse shuffled past Kai and Zack, and out of the room.

"Hurry!"

The timid nurse flinched vaguely and sprinted back through the door in a matter of seconds.

"Guys, get out! Now!" commanded the doctor forcefully, causing even the brawny ex-soldier Zack to cringe and scurry away. Elli accompanied the pair in the waiting room.

"So what's up with that guy?" asked Kai seriously, but Elli ignored his question.

"Who is he? Was he drowning?"

"I have no idea who he is," Zack admitted his thoughts all over the place. "And he just washed ashore a few minutes ago. We brought him over here as fast as we could.

"Washed ashore," echoed the boy with the bandana, his head growing achy after all the tumult and action.

"Washed ashore?" repeated Elli apprehensively.

"I don't know…" Zack responded quickly, lifting his hands up in an attempt to express his innocence.

There was a tense quiet in the room, and Elli took a step back and gestured towards the room where the Doc was at work.

"I'm going to go check up on him, alright guys?"

"Wait-" Kai exclaimed, grabbing onto Elli's wrist desperately. He coughed awkwardly after his sudden fright and let go. "Is he gonna be OK?"

"I don't know…" the nurse admitted uneasily.

The rain was still pounding on the roof panels overhead. The air outside was frigid and all villagers of the petite yet blissful Mineral town had swiftly retreated within the comfort of their own homes. Storms like these were unnatural during the summer, but they did occur every now and so often.

"Doctor Tim told me he might not make it," Elli walked away and left the two men to ponder about all that had just happened in gloomy silence and exceedingly vivid light.

Oh my. Wasn't that a hoot and a holler? How exciting :D

Now review or I shoot you. Please? :3