Title: Home

Author: Lalipop

Rating: T

Genre: Drama/Romance

Fandom: Harvest Moon: (More) Friends of Mineral Town

Disclaimer: Harvest Moon and Natsume do not belong to me.

Summary: If she was a coward, I didn't know what bravery was. She didn't know how strong she really was, and she needed to find that inner strength I loved about her. I just wasn't the right person to help her.

Author's Notes: Short first chapter, but I hope you guys like it.

Chapter the First

"Baka"

"I'm a coward."

I turned around to look at her. The slim elbows hooked onto the rail, her body bent slightly over this. Blond hair blew in the air like a flag, and she stared at the sea beneath like she wanted to dive right in.

"No, you're not a coward, honey," I smiled gently and put a hand on her back, rubbing in an attempt to ease the tension there. I failed miserably.

She peeked at me, her blue eyes watery, but angry for once. "Then what am I?"

It took me a moment to come up with what I wanted to say, but when it came, it came easily. "You're smart, Claire." She rolled her eyes. "No, listen. It took you a while, but you got out of that house before it killed you. Besides, you stood up to your parents. That took guts, kid, real guts."

"I didn't stand up to anybody." She grumped, but she leaned into me when I hugged her from behind. "I'm a coward," she repeated with a sigh, almost as if she wanted to be one.

"Claire, honey, if you're a coward, then I don't know what bravery is."

She rolled her eyes again. "Where are we going again?"

"Mineral Town," I reminded her. "It's this little place I visit every summer. I even have a restaurant on the beach. And the people are nice." She glanced up at me worriedly. "Besides, it's too low-tech for any advertisements or anything to be streaming. The only TV they have is four channels of local broadcast. The whole town only has one phone, anyway, and it's at the inn. No one ever calls anyway."

Claire nodded, turning to hug me, hiding her face in my chest. I hugged her back, rubbing her spine again when the tears returned and she clung to me in an effort to keep herself together. I hated her family for doing this to her.

I was staring at the phone when it rang, and the surprise nearly knocked me out of my chair. Maybe I was psychic…

Cool.

I picked up the phone, introducing, "Carmen Residence."

"Kai?"

I stared for a minute. I recognized that voice, even through the tears I could hear through it and how quiet it was over the line.

Shit. "Claire, what's wrong?"

"Kai…please… don't hang up…" She was crying now, full-blown and real. I knew that tone to her voice too well to think otherwise. She was hiding it, but she was crying. I could see her face in my mind's eye.

"I'm not hanging up, sweetie," I reassured her, getting up and grabbing my coat. "Where are you, Claire?"

She paused, probably looking around for a street sign. In the moment of silence, my heartbeat thickened. She was in trouble, damn it. I knew she should have come with me when she turned eighteen… Finally, she said, "…Elm Street… Kai… hurry, please…"

I found her hiding in the trees at the park on the corner of Elm and Westside. The second she saw me, she jumped into my arms, sobbing. It took me a few minutes to calm her down. Only then did I notice the bag she'd hidden beside her in the leaves. She was running away. Damn it. I mean, even though her parents would accuse me of kidnapping Claire, I would never let those people near my angel ever again.

I took her to my apartment, where I got her something to eat. While she nibbled on the sandwich and pineapple I'd set out for her, she told me what had happened. She also told me she was sorry…

"I shouldn't have involved you," she whispered, dropping the sandwich and reaching for another tissue. "I'm sorry, Kai…"

I pulled her to my side, stroking her hair. "It's alright, honey. I'm glad you came to me for help."

"Really?" she didn't look like she believed me.

"Yeah," I kissed her forehead and handed her sandwich back to her. "In fact, why don't you come with me to Mineral Town for the summer? If you like it there, you can live at my place for the rest of the year or something."

"Can't you stay?" she whispered, clinging to me.

I shook my head. "Your parents are already suspicious about me, honey. If I just stay away for a year or longer, they'll know I'm with you. We're lucky summer's starting in a couple of days. Everybody knows I don't stay the summer here."

She shrugged.

"Then it's a deal," I finished, grinning at her. "You're staying with me, and we'll figure things out one step at a time. Okay?"

"Okay."

We packed. Well, I packed, loaning Claire some old things that used to belong to my sister. Mostly, it was old flannel shirts, pullovers, and jeans – stuff that fit her surprisingly well, although they were about three sizes too big on her. The day before we left, she even smiled at me a couple of times, although she was still quiet as ever. She jumped whenever someone was at the door or the phone rang. It sort of freaked me out, too, but then we had a good reason to be paranoid.

'If the cops get you, tell the truth. They'll know if you did nothing wrong because your story will check out. If it doesn't, lead them in another direction. But never lie. Never lie to a cop.'

My old man knew from experience. He'd been arrested several times, but somehow, he'd never been actually convicted of anything. He was a smooth talker. Even the cops called him 'silver tongue.' It was actually sort of fun when he got arrested, because I got to stay at one of the cops' apartment and play games with his kid. That was actually how I met Claire.

I was at Officer McTavish's apartment when the doorbell rang, and, lo and behold, there stood another officer with an eight-year-old Claire at his side. I remember McTavish teasing about how his place wasn't a daycare, but he let Claire stay the night anyway. Cliff and I played games with her, trying to get her to talk. She wouldn't say a word.

At the time, I thought she was dumb. As I later figured out, she wasn't dumb. She was just very quiet. I mean, according to McTavish, she hadn't said a word in over two years. The following year and a half, she didn't say anything either.

What always cracked me up was the first thing she ever said to me, "Baka." It was Japanese, which I didn't understand at the time. For some reason, Cliff was learning it. When I asked him about it, he said it meant 'stupid' or 'idiot.' He asked why, and I just had to tell him. We cracked up about it, but for some reason, Claire started talking to me. Whenever someone else was around, she would whisper in my ear, but she was actually talking to me.

She was my first crush, I must admit.

I remember thinking about hat as we packed. She was even more beautiful now than she was then. Her long blonde hair was straight as pin and so silvery yellow it almost looked bleached. Her skin was equally pale. A bruise was fading on her cheek, and there was a bandage on her chin. The bruises and scrapes were nothing new, but they hurt whenever I say them nonetheless.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked curiously, peeking up me from her suitcase.

I grinned. "Just remembering the first thing you ever said to me.

She smiled sweetly and whispered, "Baka." We continued packing without another interruption.

"Claire, wake up," I gently shook her shoulder.

She whimpered in her sleep, flinching away from my hand and curling deeper into her blanket. I sighed, shaking her again. Her eyes flew open that time and she stared at me in the darkness for a long moment before she asked hesitantly, "Kai?"

I nodded. "Come here, honey." She crawled into my lap as I sat down on the bed. "What was the dream this time?"

"The doorbell rang," she told me, her voice so quiet I had to strain to hear it over the traffic. "But it wasn't the mailman. It was Officer McTavish, instead of the mailman. We couldn't figure out why, but then he held up this picture. And he turned to me and hit me over the head with a baseball bat and I woke up in this prison cell and momma and papa were standing outside yelling at me and you were sitting next to me and shaking your head and saying 'thanks for landing me in jail' and you were really mad and… and…" She broke into tears again.

"It's okay, honey," I murmured into her hair. "Officer McTavish died two years ago."

Her shuddering continued, until it weakened around one am, and ceased entirely when sleep came over her again at three or so. We'd have to get up again at six, but it didn't matter. My angel needed her sleep, sleep that wasn't riddled with nightmares.

I stared at Claire. She was sleeping on the bench just inside the little driver's hut where Zack was steering the ferry. He'd pulled a blanket over her, and her head rested on her little rucksack. She cried in her sleep. I reached over and wiped the tear away.

"Who is she?" Zack asked curiously, glancing over his shoulder at me.

I smiled down at Claire. I'd doubted my fondness had been lost on the intuitive shipper and ferry driver. "She's a friend of mine."

"Popuri's gonna be real upset you bringing a lady friend over," He informed me, lifting a bushy eyebrow. "Why you bringing her, anyway?"

"She isn't a 'lady friend,' Zack, she's just a friend," I told him, rolling my eyes. "Well, more like a little sister." I smiled down at her, stroking her pretty blonde hair. I really didn't want to tell Zack, but then the man would need to know if I wanted him to watch out for her parents. "She's… sorta running away. Well, she is. She's running away from her parents."

"And you're helping her," he shook his head in mild disgust. "That ain't so smart, Kai."

I shrugged. "She's my friend. I promised to protect her, help her if she ever needed it. She needs this, Zack." I hesitated. "She needs me. And I swear if you say anything about her to anyone, I will find a way to get revenge on you."

He made a sharp turn and the whole ferry hitched as we steamed into port. "She's your gal, Kai. Take care of her. She seems like a sweetheart."

"She is," I informed him, grinning as I picked up Claire. She mumbled something in her sleep, so I kissed her forehead. "I'll be back for the stuff soon as I get her situated, okay?" He just nodded, beginning to unload the supplies for the supermarket.

She mumbled something else, and this time I understood it.

"Baka."

Read and review for lots of love ^^