Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Natsume, or any of its characters.

Author's Note: I'm sorry I've gone off for so long… it doesn't seem like anyone in this section remembers me, do they? Well let me reintroduce myself: I am Kurai Hitokiri, a writer of Fanfiction and Original Stories. I left the Harvest Moon section months ago to improve my writing elsewhere with basically intense training. I wanted to give the section that I first started in a story so that… perhaps I could find some people that reviewed me in the past so I can find out if my writing style changed.

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Proposal

By Kurai Hitokiri

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The room was utterly silent, the steady tick-tock of the clock in time with the farmer's heart as it thumped rapidly in its confinement. He held the blue feather in his pocket, hand shoved against the azure plume as he fingered its tiny bristles.

He allowed his cinnamon brown eyes to run about the innards of the room… pictures of unfamiliar people hung upon the wall. A small, twin sized bed was squeezed against the corners of the room next to a small writing desk. Papers lay littered about, sketches of animals written in charcoal crumpled in frustration. Small bits of the burnt wood lay smudged against the floor, almost as though the artist had become frustrated with their poor performance.

Faster… faster his heart went as his mind almost broke from his thoughts. What if she didn't accept?! What if she did accept, when would they get married?! If she didn't accept what would he do?! He had to calm himself, inhale deeply and hope to the Goddesses that she would accept.

He opened his mouth, suddenly finding his voice lost and his mouth dry. How could he express his emotions to her…? By the Goddesses, he must look so stupid to her right now, just gaping like a fish as her blue eyes looked at him with confusion and somewhat anxiety.

"Is something wrong, Jack?" her soft, usually energetic voice questioned him as he snapped from his daze. The farmer nearly melted at the sound of her voice. He'd known her for years, surely he could do this.

"W-we've been friends for so long…" he whispered, sure that his face was turning a nice shade of crimson. A hand reached behind to scratch his neck as he cursed himself for the horrid childhood habit. It was always a habit for him to act as such when he was nervous about something. Now she really knew something was happening.

"Y-you've a-always been there for me… Ever s-since I first arrived in the village. We've gone through so much together, you know. I-I love so much to spend time with you," he gave a huge gulp as he lowered himself to the cool wooden floors, taking out the blue feather as he averted his gaze to the floor. "…I-I love you, and I w-wanted to ask if you'd marry me."

All was silent except for the same annoying tick of the clock. His heart was going one-hundred miles per hour in at a fifty mile jog. Several minutes passed, and Jack was sure he'd failed at what he'd come to do. The farmer had been overconfident… So sure that she would say yes, but now he would be lucky if she even remained friends with him.

He allowed himself to stand up, allowing his gaze to meet hers as he opened his mouth to apologize for the unwanted proposal. The sight that met his eyes made him stiffen with shock and alarm.

She was crying, something that he was long sure that she was incapable of, being the optimistic girl he was positive she was. The tears made their way silently down her pretty face and fell with a faint drip upon the wooden floor. But still, the thing that shocked him the most was not that she was crying, but actually smiling. It was the first time he'd seen such a radiant smile cover her angelic features. It seemed as though her face glowed with a shine that rivaled that of the sun.

Within moments she had grabbed him within his strangely powerful grasp and pulled his lips to hers in a passionate kiss. Her hands grabbed at his blue cap and pulled it from his head, tangling her fingers in his messy brown locks as he grabbed her waist and brought her flush against him.

It was the most euphoric thing he'd ever felt in his life… Jack could finally kiss her as he pleased… They finally had a connection that no one could sever between them, not even her elder brother. He was all hers, and she his. They only belonged to one another now.

They pulled away from one another, gasping for breath and still in each other's arms. Jack smiled, greedily drinking in her beauty as he held her close.

"I take that as a yes?"

Ann Green simply smiled, pulling on his collar as she brought him close enough that he could count every freckle that adorned her face. Her long red hair, usually up in a tight braid, curtained them as her grin became impossibly wider. "Whaddya think, Lover Boy? I kiss you like that and you still doubt I say yes?"

Jack hummed, giving a faint chuckle as he drew ever closer. "I think I'll need you to confirm that, Green."

"With pleasure, Harvest," she murmured. Without another moment they were kissing again, the blue feather clasped in her hand.

And so it was that on the tenth of Winter Jack Harvest proposed to Ann Green after nearly five years of knowing one another. One might say "About time." But then again, better late than never, right?

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Author's Note: That was probably really lame, but okay. It was a short and sweet thing that I thought up on the spur of the moment. Please read and review.