Summary: When May's parents passed away, she had no idea she'd be inheriting a ranch slash farm

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Author's Note: I loved the game so much (Harvest Moon DS Cute) I decided to make a FanFic of it. Plus, I went through some of this as well, I just overly-dramatized it...I think. . Oh, I know that the entire first scene is copied word for word, but we'll all live, the other scenes won't be like that. 3 I'll be changing them a bit to suit me and my character. But I'll try and keep everyone else as in character as possible.

Also, in the game, the character may NOT have lost both their parents, but it makes it a little easier for me if she has.

HARVEST MOON: A NEW START?

Bright sunlight was just beginning to reflect off of the window panes of what seemed like a recently-built house, threatening to blind those who dared look directly at it. If you had looked in through the window, however, you probably wouldn't have seen anything completely out of the ordinary. Sure, there was more than a slight lack of furniture, with only a bookcase to adorn one wall, a red chest pressed into the corner nearest the only door with a small wooden table with only a phone to decorate it on top nearby, with a slightly taller table next to it with some blank records on top and a calendar on the far wall near the bookcase. And the small bed with slightly faded pink covers and a fluffy white pillow was nothing too exciting. Even the brown-haired girl with her hair tied back into a ponytail with bangs hanging carelessly in front of her peaceful face wasn't terribly exciting.

But then again, generally the important things in a room are those that are invisible to humans. And the Harvest Goddess could do just this, as could the Sprites who helped her.

The Harvest Goddess shook her head and sighed as she said dejectedly, "This kid won't do any work whatsoever...Everything I say goes in one ear and out the other. If something isn't done, the Harvest King is sure to punish her."

She sounded slightly worried as she added, "This kid's mother asked me to make sure that her child would work with passion...But she has no work ethic whatsoever."

Sighing and laughing slightly, the green-haired goddess laughed slightly and said simply, "It's impossible. I'll just tell the kid's mother that it's hopeless."

Suddenly, the ground beneath them jerked and shook, though all of them were only slightly jarred somehow. Maybe they had gotten used to it over the years.

"What are you saying?!" A voice thundered out of nowhere.

"That voice...the Harvest King!" The Harvest Goddess said to herself, cursing herself for being so loud.

"Are you the Harvest King?" Asked Wooly, one of the red-clad sprites.

"Quitting already?!" The Harvest King boomed, ignoring the little sprite. "You call yourself the Harvest Goddess? You always give up without really trying!"

"It's not like I can make someone work if they don't want to," the Harvest Goddess snapped back defensively.

"It's your duty as the Harvest Goddess to figure out a way! You're starting to loaf on the job in your old age!"

He'd hit a nerve, anyone in the room (save for the sleeping girl) could tell.

"W-What?!" The Goddess screeched, glaring at the ceiling. "Age has nothing to do with it, you big baldy!"

The tiny house began to shake again, and the King stuttered in a slightly menacing tone, "B-Baldy? W-Why you! You've crossed the line! Take this!!"

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of white light, and the sprites were forced to cover their eyes. When the light faded and they lowered their arms, however, all cried out in horror and anger.

"You're a mean Harvest King! Change her back!" demanded Wooly.

"That's why people call you names like 'baldy'!" Bran, another sprite but dressed in orange, piped up.

"Baldy!" Kali, a third yellow sprite cried. "BALDY!"

"Silence!" The Harvest King practically screamed in frustration. "You all are to blame, too!! You all need to reflect on what you did!!"

The ground began to shake for a third time, but before any of the sprites could utter a sound, they all suddenly disappeared, including the statuefied Harvest Goddess.

The King cleared his throat and said in a slightly meek tone, "Oops! I got a little carried away. This isn't good...But it is a good opportunity to make them think about what they did."

Reflecting on the reason why the Goddess had been there in the first place, he said with a small sigh, "However, the Harvest Goddess did tell that mother that she would help her child...Hmm, what to do...?"

Not long later...

"...Wake up..."

The voice came to May as if from a dream, but somehow she knew that it was reality. Confused, she slid out of bed with a puzzled look on her face to see a relatively pretty young woman about her own age (or so she assumed, she was terrible at guessing people's ages) standing a few feet in front of her.

"Oh, good, you're awake." The girl said, sounding relatively pleased. "You have a letter from the Harvest King. Read it."

The Harvest King? May thought groggily to herself, taking the letter offered to her by the blonde girl and unfolding it. It read:

'Hello, this is the Harvest King. The Harvest Goddess and Harvest Sprites were punished because you didn't work. They've been sent away to another world. If you work hard and achieve your goals, I will return the Harvest Sprites and Harvest Goddess to this world. Do you understand? The two Harvest Sprites at the Harvest Sprites Station, and Guts at Harvest Sprite Inc. are still in this world, so they should be able to help you get started. Well, do your best.

Sincerely, the Harvest King.'

May stared blankly at the paper as she finished reading. Why in the world were the Harvest Sprites and Goddess being punished because she didn't work?

"It's going to be lonely now that I have no one to argue with," the blonde woman reflected sadly. "Anyway, work very hard. I'm counting on you."

May barely noticed as the girl faded away, and she shook her head slowly as she placed the letter in one of the drawers below the phone near the foot of her bed. "Great. So, because I didn't work, they got sent to a different world, and I have to work really hard to get them back?"

No one answered her (she wasn't expecting anyone to, she would have been very afraid if someone had), and she sighed heavily. "Great. Feeling guilty and having two work hard, two of the things I hate the most. Oh, well, may as well get down to work...Fun."

She sighed continuously as she changed into her newfound work clothes from the red trunk by the phone, then put her hand on the doorknob and pushed the door open to the outside.

Her name was May. She found her last name unimportant, and could barely even remember it anymore. She had recently lost her mother to a fishing accident, and her father had passed on a few years before that for unknown reasons. Their ranch slash farm, though it was just called the ranch for short, had been left to May, and in the years they had been away from the valley, it had fallen into neglect. The man who lived beside her, Takakura, had not been taking care of the ranch because he was recovering from a recent injury to his leg, and even now he could only give May pointers and a few tiny bags of turnip seeds to plant. Of course, she'd gotten a rucksack complete with a hoe, hammer, watering can, scythe, and axe as well, but that was courtesy of the other villagers. They had know May's parents well before they moved away with their tiny daughter, and hadn't even forgotten them - or even May, which shocked her - after all these years. Plus, not to mention May felt bad she knew precious few other names. The only person she knew was Takakura, and remembered no one. And she had the feeling she was going to be taking out her map a lot.

Sighing, May reached behind her into her rucksack and pulled out the two bags of turnip seeds. Ever since she had come to the town a week and a half ago, leaving her old town behind only two days after her mother had died, Takakura had been doing his best to teach her about farm life, how to grow and harvest crops, tell when they were ripe, when they needed more time, and when they should just be chopped down without actually showing her on account of his injury. Of course, he'd only taught her the basic crops of spring. She would have to read some books on the bookcase to learn more about the other seasons, though she already knew it was impossible to grow things in winter.

She also pulled out her hoe, and started across the field to the farthest place. She had decided a few days ago that the crops would take up the far half of the field, and the barns - whenever she got any built by the town craftsman, of course, and bought animals to occupy them - would be close to her house, so if something ever went wrong, she could hurry to them without having to fight her way through areas where food grew.

Finally, she reached the edge of the field. Takakura had marked where the field was, since they had no fence, because May couldn't tell good dirt for growing crops from bad. She sighed, cursing herself for her limited knowledge, but then remembering it wasn't really her fault, and started to take her frustration over whether or not it was her fault out on the field, piercing the dirt fiercely with the hoe and rearranging the dirt like she'd been told. She ignored the rising sun and continued to work hard...just like the Harvest King had told her to do.

Suddenly furious at him for punishing others for her bad deed, May began to do her work with twice the amount of force and energy than before, letting anger fuel her muscles. Of course, there's only so long you can keep that up for.

Suddenly, May found herself gasping for breath, leaning on her hoe for support to prevent herself from collapsing. Damn, she thought to herself bitterly, trying to ignore her tiredness. I can't let that happen again...I get tired too fast.

Trying to focus her thoughts on other things and calm herself down, the brunette allowed herself a few minutes rest before starting back up again, though at a manageable pace. Unfortunately, she couldn't find a solid topic to focus her thoughts on. Memories of her with her parents made her sad, as did thinking of her old town. She tried to think about her friends...but that was hard when she didn't really have any. She could focus on her work, but she had a feeling that would just make her angry again. She really needed to learn to control her anger...

I wonder what kinds of guys are in this village...

The thought came from practically nowhere, and May almost recoiled at the thought. How could she think about young men at a time like this? No, no, that wouldn't do...she had to focus on her work without focusing on it. Which she quickly discovered was hard. And so her mind slid back to thinking about guys.

She remembered one particular boy from her old town, but he would only visit for one season and then leave, which was what made him no noticeable. He'd been a lot of fun, too...oh, why couldn't she remember his name? Curse her terrible memory!

It was a few minutes before she realized she had stopped, and she looked along where she had been churning up the soil. It was a relatively long line, and three-quarters of the field. Impressed with herself, May slowly started to realize she was tired.

"Ehh...but I have to plant the seeds first. Then sleep," she muttered to herself, putting her hoe back into her rucksack and untying the two small bags from her waist, where she'd put them earlier for quick usage. She opened one up and began to scatter its contents along the line she had made, and was pleased to discover that she ran out a little over halfway through. Remembering what Takakura had said about better quality crops growing if more seeds were placed in one spot, May backtracked a few steps and began to scatter the last of her seeds, walking along the line as she did so and taking care not to overlap any, or at least until she got to the end. And as predicted, when she did, she was all out.

But she couldn't go to bed yet, she remembered with a groan. She had to water them now! Looking back at the seeds, she decided quickly that she was too tired to carry on - she didn't relish the idea of fainting the first day on her new job - and that it might rain tomorrow, so she wouldn't have to water them at all. Smiling faintly to herself, May started back towards her house, looking with faint interest at the watering hole a few meters away from her home.

Suddenly, she thought she saw something sparkle.

Her eyes widened slightly, her heart racing and mind intrigued, May ran forward quickly towards the water and peered over the edge, looking desperately for a glimpse of whatever she had seen. It had look so much like blue glitter...

"Hello?" She called softly, not expecting a reply.

Except...she got one.

A blinding white light mixed with blue suddenly engulfed the water, and May stumbled back and tripped over air, landing on her butt hard. She didn't notice, however, because she was too busy staring at what had suddenly emerged in front of her.

"Oh, YEAH, I'm free already!" The creature crowed happily, looking around with glee. But the smile quickly slid from his face, and he looked at May. "You're May, right?"

"Umm...if you're going to hurt me, then no," she replied nervously, weirded out by what she had just witnessed.

The thing burst out laughing, and May noticed some faint blue sparkles above its head. "Of course not! I want to thank you for saving me!"

"I--What?"

"Oh, forgive me," he said, suddenly remembering whatever manners he had stored away in the back of his mind, not very often used. He bowed and said, "My name is Karaf. I was one of the one hundred and one spirits sent to the other world by the Harvest King...probably because of Bran, Kali, and Wooly's big mouths." He muttered the last part to himself, but May still caught it.

"So, I've somehow brought you back?" She asked, now curious because she was beginning to understand.

"It seems that way," Karaf answered. "I guess you'll find a bunch of us just by working hard at your job!"

"Hmm...Two birds with one stone," she said to herself. Her guilt could slowly start slipping away as she found the other sprites and eventually the Harvest Goddess herself, and of course she could find them by working hard, which was exactly what was expected of her. Seemed okay to her.

"Well, anyways, thanks again May!" Karaf said cheerfully. "I've gotta go tell the others I'm back...since Guts and two others weren't with us. Ah, well, I'll be able to help you around the ranch one day, May! Thanks again!"

She smiled. "No problem. I'll do my best to find the others."

"Excellent! But remember, the Indigo team rules all!" He crowed, disappearing in a flash of sparkling blue light.

Smiling faintly to herself, May got up, dusted herself off, and headed into her house, ready to settle down into bed and prepare for the next day. After all, if she was going to find all one hundred and one sprites, plus the Harvest Goddess, she was going to need all the energy and time she could get!

And, she thought to herself drowsily as she climbed into bed and began to drift off, I'll go down to the village tomorrow and try and learn everyone's names...maybe I'll even find a nice guy...

And she drifted off to sleep, her mind filled with thoughts of the nameless boy she could remember from her old town, wondering why she could not remember his name, and why she was even remembering him at all...

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Author's Note: If anything seems weird with this chapter, tell me, because my computer's acting funny. Anyways, review, reviews, reviews, please, otherwise I lose the heart to continue! I'm being bad by posting up a chapter and having no others in words! Ah, well...REVIEW!