Another story! This one is a Two-shots about Cliff and Ann. Cliff's departure is never easy for me and I never make him depart in my game either. Anyway, in this story, there was never a winery job. So Cliff never got a job. And he eventually has to leave. This one is dedicated to Alisa :) RnR?

Cliff's POV

Everything's packed.

I looked around to see an empty room, what was left was Gray's stuffs. Mine were already gone, all packed in my suitcases.

I had completed everything, ticket, packed goods. Everything. Finally, It was all finished.

Well, maybe not.

There was one other thing that was left.

Ann.

My heart felt an ache every time I thought of Ann. I had not said anything about this departure yet. I could not imagine how she would react. As I myself could not imagine being far from her.

I didn't know, I just didn't. I knew that leaving would be the best for me, as this town had left nothing for me. I couldn't stay any longer, I ran out of money. I had no jobs, and I had nowhere to live. I just couldn't stay at the Inn, because I had to pay to stay there.

The only people who knew about my departure were Doug, Gray, Jack, and Claire.

I didn't tell Doug directly but I always told him about my financial condition. He offered me discounts to stay longer at the Inn, but I just couldn't. I mean, sooner or later my money would run out by itself anyway. And I didn't want to become his burden. Because I was a grown man and at the end of the day I had to work on my own.

At first, I only told Gray. He was my roomate, and I told everything to him. Both of us were probably the worst candidates to speak in this city, but because of this similarity we both became sort-of-close. Though sometimes his mood-changing kind of scared me. Anyways, I trusted him to keep my secret about leaving. At first he became upset and told me not to and also reminded me of Ann, because he knew how i felt towards Ann. But then he told Claire. I guessed he was an easy person to read, because Claire could really tell he was upset. In his defense, the two were going out, and he couldn't lie to her. I was initially scared when I found out that Claire knew because well, she was close to Ann. And of course she would take Ann's side no matter what happen.

-Flashback-

"Cliff!" Claire shouted at me while running towards me.

Oh no, here she comes. No, no, no. Act natural!

"H-hey Claire," I coughed a little, fixing my squeaking voice.

Claire faced me and put her hands on my shoulder. "Is it true?"

"W-What?" I stuttered.

"Please tell me it isn't!"

"About... what?"

"Your departure!" Oh noes.

"Well?" Claire asked.

I was thinking about lying but I knew how I terrible I was at it, I refused.

"Y-Yes..." I looked down, scared to face her.

"What? How? Why? When?" Claire shook my shoulder in disbelief.

"I-I..."

"Why? What about everything?" she whispered.

"I had nothing left Claire..."

"What?"

"This city left me nothing, I didn't have a choice. I had to leave," I sighed.

"Nothing? What about Ann? You call her nothing?"

My eyes shot wide. I-I..

"I-I... I j-just..."

"She'll be upset about this."

"I don't have any place to go, Claire."

"Live with me for awhile! Just don't go and hurt Ann like this! Because if you do, I'll hunt you down by myself!"

"W-What? B-But that'll just get me beaten up by both Gray and Ann."

"She'll beat you up anyways if you leave!"

"B-but I..."

"Come on Cliff, you just can't be like this, don't give up like this... What about Ann...?" her voiced softened.

"She... She can find other person" I looked back down, my heart was aching when I said this.

"Who?"

"Jack... Jack can make her happy."

"But she loves you! Don't you get it?" she stared at me in disbelief.

I lifted my head, staring back at Claire. My eyes shot wide once again.

Even if Ann did love me but I... I didn't think she would be happy with me.

-Flashback Ends-

Jack. Jack was the guy I envied. He was a successful farmer, a hard worker, and a nice person. He was always caring and gentle towards everyone, including Ann. Not to mention, good looking, or whatever the girls mentioned it. The thing was, ever since he came, Ann's attention to me was sort of diverted to him. I was jealous, yes it was true. But then again, he was a great guy. And he could make Ann happy. I told him because I thought he should knew that he had to take care of Ann. Because I didn't know who else could, and mostly, deserved Ann.

I knew that once I had promised myself that I would take care of Ann and make her happy to the fullest.

So lately, I've been wonderin

Who will be there to take my place

When I'm gone, you'll need love

To light the shadows on your face

But seeing how things went now, I knew that I wasn't the one.

If a great wave should fall

It would fall upon us all

And between the sand and stone

Could you make it on your own

I took a deep breath, calming myself down. I stood up, left the room and headed towards the kitchen.

I am going to tell Ann now.

I headed downstairs, and went to the kitchen immediately. It was snowing outside, and she was usually at her room at this time. I went straight to her room. My body was shaking as I touched the door knob. I chose to ignore it and knocked the door once then opened it.

"Cliff? Hey, what are you doing so early?" Ann smiled warmly at me.

The smile that weakened my knees everytime I saw it.

"H-Hi Ann... I-I j-just want to t-t-talk..." She probably saw how my face redden right now.

Ann giggled, "Okay then, what do you want to talk about?"

My body was frozen, not a single word made it out of my mouth. I couldn't, I just couldn't. Seeing how happy she was, I just...

If I could, then I would

I'll go wherever you will go

Way up high or down low

I'll go wherever you will go

If only I could stay...

I snapped back to reality, I realized that tomorrow I'll be leaving. She had to know, and it had to be from me.

"So?" Ann got up from her chair and walked towards me. My face was getting redder at the moment.

Ann leaned into me, making her face closer than before to me. "Hmm?" I was sure I was about to faint.

"So, youlikeJack?" damn it, wrong topic. too nervous. damn it. damn it. I covered my mouth, realizing that I said other things without thinking.

"Huh?" Ann gave a puzzle look.

"Uh, never mind," I turned around, heading back to the door.

"Hey, wait up!" Ann pulled me by my arms, turning me to face against her once again.

"To answer your question: no," Ann smiled at me. "And that was random!" she giggled. Oh, how I loved her giggles.

"Why?" Ann leaned closer to me, making my heart pounding extremely fast.

"Uh-hu just wonde-!"

I did not know what was happening. But I thought, Ann was kissing me. Yes, she was.

I could feel her soft lips pressed on my lips. Her face was bright red, but not even close to how red mine was. Her eyes were shut while my eyes were wide open.

Seconds later, Ann parted her lips from mine. Her face was almost as red as her hair. My eyes were still wide. She looked up to me, and realized how shocked I was.

"S-Sorry!" Ann looked down. "Sorry! I wasn't thinking! Sorry!"

Ann just kissed me. Ann just kissed me. I just had my first kiss. Ann just kissed me. Ann just kissed me.

"C-Cliff? You're mad?" I snapped back to reality once again.

"N-No! No! I'm not!"

"Why were you spacing out like th-"

"It was nothing! N-No, i'm not mad!" I said quickly, nervous.

Ann giggled, "Relax Cliff! I should be the one who's nervous!" Ann smiled at me.

I could feel my mouth forming a smile. It felt like, all of my problems I had just went away by that little smile of hers.

"But you're clearly not," I teased her a bit, taking a few steps closer to her. Goddess what had gotten into my shy self?

I claimed her lips with mine once again. It felt damn amazing. She was leaning into me too.

If I could, then I would

I'll go wherever you will go

Way up high or down low

I'll go wherever you will go

If only we realized this sooner.

How was it? Sorry if there's any major grammar errors :3

Now go hit that review button! I mean it! Or Cliff shall never come back in your game! XD

Disclaimer

Harvest Moon is not mine. Harvest Moon belongs to Marvelous and Natsume.

This song, "Wherever You Will Go", belongs to the band 'The Calling'