Disclaimer: I do not own, claim to own, or pretend to own the characters involved in this work of fiction. Besides, I'm too indecisive to pick just one.

Enjoy, su!

Chapter 1

The first day of Spring was always a promising time for Mineral Town.

It was the first day of the New Year, there was the promise of budding crops and growing business, new romance was always a common thing for the town's youth, and then there was always an air of change. This year was no different; Duke's grapes were already showing their stuff, Zack's business was turning a profit as always, and most of the young people left in town were already beginning the awkward dance that many courtships started with. Even the shy chicken-boy was thinking seriously about his feelings for a certain supermarket heiress.

But that didn't account for the charge in the air—the one that signaled change, good or bad, was coming. And boy howdy, was it coming!

Mayor Thomas for the most part enjoyed the Spring and the changes it wrought, but he was seriously starting to rethink that sentiment as he stumbled off the property of the decrepit old farm, rubbing his head.

"What happened to you?" he heard the chicken-boy, Rick, holler at him. Thomas looked at him when the awkward-boy-turned-awkward-man draped his bony frame over the wood fence. "You got a goose-egg growing on your head.

The stout man glared at him while Rick looked at him innocently; that must have been where Popuri got it. "You've got a new neighbor," he replied cheerfully despite himself. It really wasn't every day that the small town got a new resident—from the city no less!

Rick blinked at him, eyes absolutely owlish behind his thick glasses. "That right? Reckon he might be a little buggy in the head for buying that hunk of land Mayor?"

"I 'reckon' you ought to go and find out yourself," he huffed. While the mayor loved the town he had been elected to govern, there were times where he bemoaned the country bumpkins that made up his neighbors; were there no sophisticated young people anymore? "Her name is Claire."

It really was a crappy piece of land when she took time to think about it. There were rocks, stumps, and twigs everywhere, weeds out the wazoo, the house looked dilapidated and like it might collapse in on it self (as did many of the other buildings), and it looked like the town had started using it as a landfill.

All in all, Claire had indeed been scammed by MT Realty, but despite all this she was rather giddy with excitement. She'd just made the biggest decision of her young life, after all, and all on her own!

Grinning to herself, the blonde bounced around the property to familiarize herself with it before going in for a late lunch and to investigate her toolbox. By the end of the day, she'd already cleared a small patch of land for planting and retired early, quite pleased with herself.

The whole town was a buzz with excitement by the end of the week when the Mayor had finally gotten around to telling them about their new neighbor. They'd been passing by Chicken Lil's every chance they got just to see if they could catch sight of the illusive blonde working tirelessly in her fields, pestered Rick and Zack for details (seeing as the chicken-boy was her neighbor and would naturally know her by now and Zack went to collect the day's shipments at 5:00 pm on the dot everyday), but they didn't dare venture onto the property lest she think them rude.

It was hard, especially since she had only made short appearances to buy seeds from Jeff and was working the farm by herself, but they managed.

But then she finally got around to introducing herself to everyone, and they were only too happy to accept her into their community. Well, most of them anyway.

Claire had the dire misfortune of running into one of these people on her way to the Blacksmith's to meet with him and ask him about how to upgrade her tools.

"Why can't you ever just say something nice about the work I do, huh?! All it is, is, 'This is crap this,' and, 'This is shit that!'"

She blinked from her spot outside the door, weighing her options. At some point she stopped caring about the repercussions and just pushed into the little shop silently.

"I tell you its crap because it really is crap!" fumed a rather short old man. He was glaring up at a boy somewhere around her age, who seemed to be returning his glare with equal (if not more) intensity. "Stop putting out shitty work and maybe you'll get a compliment."

Claire blinked as she watched them, completely in awe of their stubborn rage.

"And when am I ever going to be good enough, huh?! When you drop dead and there's no one else to run the shop except your 'failure of a grandson'?!" he bellowed as he slammed his hands down on the counter. Okay, this was getting a little dangerous… "The way you treat me is bullshit Gramps! Do you have any idea how hard I work?!"

The old man snorted at him. "Apparently not hard enough if you're still making bonehead mistakes like this one," was his dry reply as he gestured to a broken broach.

Yeah, this definitely needed to be stopped, she thought as she watched the red-headed boy clench his fists in anger. "Excuse me?" she squeaked.

Gray rounded on the blonde stranger with blue eyes alit with burning fire, and she swore she was going to need to find some burn cream later just from the intensity of it. "What the hell do you want?!" he yelled.

His grandfather smacked him up side the head for his impudence. "Stop yelling at the customers or you'll find yourself out on your ass," he snapped before giving Claire a much kinder look. "You're the new farmer across the way, right? It's nice to finally meet you—the name's Saibara."

She merely watched the red-head grumble a few choice words about his grandfather, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the ground.

"Don't you mind him," Saibara sighed. "That's just Gray, my no-good-grandson."

Gray snapped a dirty look at Saibara before storming off without another word. Wincing at the sound of the door nearly being slammed off its hinges, Claire watched him go with both fear and wonder.

There were many things that Cliff was, not that anyone really cared much. He was the wandering tramp and resident charity case of the town (not counting Carter, but that was by choice). However, as many things as he might have been if anyone had cared enough to ask, he was most certainly not a social butterfly. Uh-uh, not him! Him and people simply did not mix.

"Hi," he heard a voice call to him cheerfully.

Dark brown eyes looked up from praying to meet the kind blue ones of what must have been the new farmer in town. He vaguely recalled some of the town's gossips whispering furiously about her over the course of the last week and briefly wondered why he'd never gotten this much attention when he'd arrived. When he thought about it though, it was clear because he was plain and uninteresting to all but his room mates back at the inn, and even they had a time of keeping a conversation going with him.

Cliff looked away, face flushed red; he had his issues with people, sure, but they were no where near as bad as his issues with girls.

He saw the girl frown out of the corner of his eye and dearly hoped she would leave him be since he wasn't answering anytime soon. Unfortunately, she decided to take a seat next to him and glanced around the church in awe.

"The church here is awfully pretty," she commented. "The ones back in the city were big, sure, but they felt colder and more like a business then a place of worship."

He continued to remain silent, but she wasn't to be deterred.

After brushing a few stray strands of hair behind her hair, Claire went on, her eyes sparkling in the early morning light while the stained-glass windows illuminated her skin ethereally. "I used to wonder why they built them like office buildings when a real church was supposed to have steeples and stuff, but I guess that's just how the city is."

A little curious, he asked, "Do you pray?"

Taken aback by the sudden break in silence (he turned red again when he realized he'd spoken), she grinned. "Nah. Could never get into the whole religion thing."

"I see," he remarked, disappointed. Go figure she wouldn't believe in the Harvest Goddess; most city folk didn't.

"That's not to say I don't believe!" she recovered quickly when she saw the look on his face. "I just prefer to do it on my own time in my own way. I make daily offerings at the Goddess Pond you know."

The smile Cliff gave her was small, almost non-existent, but it was there all the same. Carter, who had been watching the exchange from where he'd been arranging his sermon for this coming Sunday, smiled at them and the small victory Claire had achieved.

Around noon was when the bell to the clinic chimed, signaling the arrival of a new patient.

Trent sighed from his spot at his desk, wishing he hadn't sent Elli on her break so that he didn't have to deal with the nuisance. He'd been so close to a break through in his research! Silencing the thought, the good doctor stood and made his way to the lobby to see what was wrong. The sight of the blonde farmer surprised him just a bit.

"Good afternoon!" she greeted him brightly.

The look he gave her was wary as he gave her a visual once over; well, there didn't appear to be anything wrong with her physically…

"You're the doctor right? I thought I'd come around and introduce myself! The name's Claire in case you hadn't heard."

"Yes, the mayor told us all about you when he came in with that bump last week," the doctor grunted, deciding she was fine if she had the energy to laugh nervously at the jab. "You're done, right? Why don't you go on your way now; I'm sure you have so much to do after all."

Claire frowned at the sarcasm drenching his words as he let them slither out of his mouth. Was a doctor supposed to be that rude when a potential patient wasn't sick? Yeesh, she'd hate to see him if she actually were!

Scratching the back of her neck nervously, she chuckled. "Well, yeah, I guess. Um, guess I'll see you around," she muttered as she turned to leave. All at once, the door flew open and a harried looking brunette crashed into her. Being taller, Claire was able to steady them both before they hit the floor. "Whoa there, where's the fire?"

Elli glanced up at the blonde in confusion before she realized who exactly she was.

"Oh my, I'm sorry!" the fairy-like young woman gasped. Almost immediately she began to look the other girl over for injuries, her clear brown eyes wide with worry. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Claire shook her head. "Not at all. I'm just fine, I promise," she chuckled. "I'm Claire by the way."

Smiling in relief, Elli introduced herself as well before peering over the taller girl's shoulder at the doctor. She read the question in her eyes before the brunette had even given voice to it.

"I'd just come over to introduce myself to y'all, that's all. In fact, I was just leaving!"

Trent watched in amusement as his nurse's face fell at that; so attached already? Sighing, he retreated back into his make-shift office, wondering what about this strange girl made her so likeable when they'd only exchanged a few words. "Take the rest of the afternoon off Elli, I'll be fine on my own."

At her squeal of delight and the slam of the clinic door, he wondered if maybe he should have gone with them.

By the late afternoon of her seventh day in Mineral Town, Claire had met and exchanged a few words (or in Elli's and Ann's case, several long conversations while she was treated to a free meal at the Inn by Doug) with everyone in town with the exception of the family who owned Chicken Lil's. It had been decided even before she'd started this short adventure that it would be her last stop, seeing as it was just up the road from her own farm, and so she'd gone about her business. She was actually rather excited to be meeting the family there; she'd always wanted to raise chickens ever since she was little, long before she'd ever thought of farming.

Bidding the smiling Old Barely and his adorable granddaughter, May, a pleasant evening, Claire headed off in Chicken Lil's general direction with a proverbial spring in her step. She grinned when she heard the loud clucks of the hens and the voice of who must have been Rick, Lillia's eldest, as he shooed them into their pens.

"Greetings," she hollered cheerfully when she was within hearing range, waving madly.

Rick looked up in surprise, having apparently not expected to see her that afternoon, before smiling shyly and waving back. "Hello," he returned as he extended his hand to her when she skipped onto the farm. "Claire, right?"

The blonde hummed her affirmation as she glanced around curiously, shaking his hand warmly. "That's me! Just thought I'd come over and say hello since we're neighbors now and all."

How kind, he thought as his smile grew into a more confident one. Honestly he hadn't really thought about going down there to say hello much, and so was slightly embarrassed that she'd been living down the road for a little over a week and they hadn't even exchanged pleasantries yet. His mother would give him a disapproving look if she knew; speaking of…

"Why don't you come in and I'll introduce you to everyone," he said suddenly and gestured back at the house. "I'm sure mom and Popuri would love to meet you."

Nodding with wide eyes, Claire followed her newest friend inside the house once the chickens were put away for the night. She was immediately greeted by a loud squeal and an eye full of pink.

"Poppy, you're crowding her," she heard Rick say sternly; ah, so he was shy around everyone else, but not with his sister. How curious.

Once she'd acquainted herself with Popuri (who had promised they would become the best of friends, even better then Ann and Elli, who had already informed her they had claimed full rights), Rick introduced her to Lillia. She smiled serenely up at the blonde farmer, apologizing for not getting up since she'd been feeling rather out of sorts lately. Claire informed her that there was nothing to apologize for and the kind woman asked her to stay for dinner.

"We're having Spa Boiled Eggs," Popuri informed her excitedly.

Grinning, Clair informed them that, "I love eggs!"

That first week ended on a good note for Claire, who had already become fast friends with three of the local girls in town and been given best wishes from everyone else. Well, mostly everyone else, but try as they would, they couldn't find any real reason to hate the new girl and her happy-go-lucky personality and go-getter attitude.

Not yet, anyways.

END

So what'd y'all think? Good? Bad? Still as of yet undecided? I know it was really choppy and weird, but I was trying my best to introduce Claire without going into too many details about her as a person (you'll all learn about her as we go, which is why I ended the chapter with a sense of foreboding). I want the people of Mineral Town to be excited about their new resident before shiz happens and they're all, 'wait-what?' Anyways, got some interaction with the bachelors and a few other people, but I'll officially kick it off with the next one; just wanted to get this out of the way.

Anyways, I know a lot of people describe Claire as a petite and rather girly blonde who looks rather fragile, but has this weird inner strength, but I wanted to try something a bit different. In my mind, our favorite farmer has always been robust and tall, though not too tall, with a cheerful attitude and a dreadful temper. Not to mention an epic sarcastic attitude, but much of this comes later. I'm just warning you all so you won't also be like, 'wait-what?'

Reviews save lives. They're also used as brain fodder to keep my muse going.