Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, though if I did I would certainly put a lot more romance and quite a few more features. I can't even claim Natsu as mine, though he is my son in AnWL.
A/N: So this is the second installment of the kid series! And my first authors note…oddly enough, I'm sorry I haven't it before, but this and Haunted Night
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Kate walked towards the woods, humming a Christmas Carol as she put her hands in her pockets and looked around. As always in Forget-me-not valley during his time of year there was a thick layer of snow on the ground, white and shining in the sun's glow. The cold air that came with the season didn't seem to bother anyone either, as people quickly adjusted and changed their daily routine. It was the quiet time of year, the peaceful time of year, and the one that had the most holidays.
Kate looked up at a small tree, planted only a year before that had only sprouted leaves sometime in late summer. Now the young tree was bare, stripped of color and of its sense of youth. Kate frowned slightly, it was one of the things she hated about this time of year, and everything was so colorless, so plain. Sure the snow was fun to play in and inspired many adventures, but it still made everything seem to lifeless. It bothered her.
Kate finally arrived at the clearing in the woods, a particularly cold gust of wind passed by, causing her to rub her arms and mitten-covered hands together. Her shivering quickly stopped as she spotted her friends near the Harvest tree. This was the last time they were getting together before the holidays. Their parents this year had strayed from their usual traditions and decided to do something different for a change, probably to try and spend more time with their family because of current events.
Hugh's parents were bringing him to see his relatives in the city for Christmas; they had never really met Hugh. So his parents thought that because they were actually free this year that they might head down and introduce everyone. Kate's parents on the other hand, had gone for something a bit quieter, where the family would spend a nice quiet Christmas together, much to Kate's annoyance. They were going up north to a small cabin, which her parents had rented out. So for most of the holidays Natsu would be alone, spending more time with his parents and the other villagers as his friends stayed with their parents. None of them were pretty happy about it, and were even more bothered when they found out that they could only spend one more day together before they went away.
Kate shook her head, trying to get rid of the thought.
"I shouldn't be thinking of that right now." She thought as she approached her friends, who were smiling at her. "I should just enjoy today, it is our last together after all."
Natsu and Hugh walked up to her quickly, anticipation and delight written on their faces.
"You got here just in time, if you had come later I would have had to do Hugh's dare." whined Natsu, as he smiled in relief and he stared at Kate.
"It wasn't that bad a dare, they're just mushrooms after all, and what can they do to you anyway, make you shrink?"
"No, but they could be poisonous, you never know when it comes to mushrooms, they could cause hallucinations, insomnia, sickness, headaches, mild in-"
"Enough with the scientific drabble, pipsqueak." Hugh said rolling his eyes. "I get it; we shouldn't eat something that we don't know about…I was just curious."
Kate stared at them, an eyebrow raised in confusion. Natsu glared at Hugh, as he looked at Kate and smiled apologetically before turning and pointing the mushrooms out.
"Those mushrooms over there, they've been there for years but no ones ever eaten or picked them, I always wondered what they did."
She walked past the two boys, before kneeling down beside the mushrooms. She poked them lightly with her finger before licking it.
"Kate what are you doing!? We don't know what that mushroom could do?!" exclaimed Natsu hurriedly as he walked towards her, Hugh not to far behind him.
"I hate to admit it but…the pipsqueak's right. You feel ok Kate?"
"You two are big babies. The mushrooms' harmless, I feel fine."
"You sure Kate?" asked Natsu worriedly, as he looked between her and the mushroom.
"Yeah Natsu, don't worry about me, no mushroom is going to make me sick anytime soon. I mean you guys know how I am…"
The boy looked uncertainly at each other, before nodding their heads hesitantly. Kate was very stubborn, and usually took sicknesses very well, but poisonous mushrooms were a different story.
"Maybe we should just stay home today Kate, you know do something inside and-"Hugh started before quickly being interrupted by Kate,
"No way am I staying inside! This is our last day together and we're going to do something exciting!" she said, eyes wide as she stared at her two friends. Suddenly her eyes seemed to gleam mischievously. "I just had the perfect idea!"
Natsu frowned slightly at her suddenly hyper attitude. Kate could get excited easily but she couldn't become hyper over an idea. Maybe the mushrooms were affecting her. Hugh looked at Natsu momentarily, before his curiosity got the better of him and he turned to Kate,
"What did you think of Kate?"
"We can look for Santa Claus!"
Both boys stared at her disbelievingly before turning towards one another. Their frowns showed their worry for their friend, they could tell something was wrong with their friend, she usually didn't mention Santa Claus very much, for she was one of the firm Santa Claus believers that thought Santa would think you were naughty if you questioned him.
"Santa Claus? But Kate….if we look for Santa Claus don't you think he would get mad at us or think we were being naughty?" asked Natsu worriedly staring at his friend.
"Of course not! Don't you guys realize that none of us have actually seen Santa Claus? I've heard many kids in the city have, but none of us, so if they can see him, why can't we?"
"Well…maybe the kids have already been naughty and didn't get any presents…so it doesn't make much difference. "
"I highly doubt it, why would Santa be there then?" said Kate as her brow furrowed in thought. "He couldn't just be there for their parents…"
Natsu stared at his friend in confusion; a worried expression crossed his face as a thought came to mind.
"Wait…you mean our parents don't get presents? That can't be possible though, they always seem to have presents under the tree…"
"The presents aren't from Santa…they were obviously bought for them by their family and friends." Kate stated wistfully rolling her eyes.
"Well that's no very fair to them." said Hugh suddenly. "They deserve presents too. We should go talk to him."
"Yeah, our parents deserve to have something for Christmas too." Natsu said with a firm, nod of his head.
Kate beamed at her friends, though sometimes they could be a hassle; she could always depend on them. Not to mention they were easily persuaded and some what gullible, but she wasn't going to tell them that.
"Alright then, there's no time to waste, we have to find him by the end of the day, so we have to hurry."
Christmas carols and the up coming trip far from her mind as Kate began to walk away from the tree, the two boys trailing not to far behind her. As she neared the exit to the area, she caught a glimpse of white out of the corner of her eye. Stopping abruptly she began to turn, causing the boys, who were quickly following, to bump into her.
"Oof! Both of you shhh! I think I just saw him!"
They looked at her with a stunned look on their faces as they both look around quickly before quickly following Kate over to a bush near a tree near the edge of the clearing.
"Kate are you sure? Me and the pipsqueak didn't see anything…"
"Actually according to most stories Santa should be at the North Pole, with his elves preparing for Christmas Eve, I don't see why he would be here, especially two weeks before Christmas…"
Kate quickly silenced him with a glare before looking back around the clearing. She could have sworn she saw something, a glimpse of white…very white, and from the looks of it there had been a lot.
"Natsu you know how people always get excited, especially here in the valley during this time of year, and how in the city, people go visit Santa to tell him what they want. How does he know what we want if we don't tell him? He ahs to come here sometime—"
"Well, he never has before, why are you so sure that this year he'll come?"
Hugh watched the exchange with amusement as he stared at his friends, briefly tuning them out; he looked back towards the tree to find a large white creature standing there.
"—alright! Now stop being so curious and logical and help me look, please?" Hugh heard Kate say before she let out a frustrated sigh.
He quickly poked her and pointed to the creature standing beside the tree. With a motion from his hand telling them to be silent he moved from the bushes to the grass beside the pond. Getting comfortable, Kate and Hugh began to study the creature. He certainly fit some of the criteria for Santa Clause.
"Ok, so he has white hair and a white beard." said Kate as she looked back towards the other two.
"Actually, he's just completely white." said Hugh, also turning around and keeping comfortable as he leaned towards his friends.
"Wait…" Natsu said as he strained his neck to look over the grass. "Isn't that MukuMuku? The creature that Daryl is always trying to capture."
Kate and Hugh stared at him with blank faces, as they both turned to look at MukuMuku again.
"He could still be Santa in my opinion." whispered Kate, almost as if she was afraid that MukuMuku would hear. "He does fit the general appearance…and doesn't he always disappear at night? Maybe he goes back to the north pole then…"
"But that doesn't make sense…how woul-"before he could finished, his friends silenced him with a glare; in response he gulped back his words and coughed. "I mean…perhaps we should ask Daryl, he knows most about MukuMuku, maybe he could tell us something?'
Satisfied with his answer, Kate and Hugh quietly snuck to the edge of the grass and stood making their way down the boardwalk trying their best not to be seen by MukuMuku. Natsu stayed behind and looked over the grass to look at MukuMuku once more, however he had disappeared, and in his place was a small chest, made of what appeared to be wood and painted a light brown color. Without much thought he stood, scanning the area to see where the white creature had gone, before sneaking over and grabbing the chest and running off after his friends.
Walking along the quiet streets, where snow lay trampled and compacted obviously trod on often by the villagers. Kate and Hugh seemed too focused on the task at hand to notice Natsu trailing behind them slightly, a curious and analytical look on his face as he studied the chest in his hands. As they approached, the familiar buzzing sound coming from Daryl's house grew louder, before they finally reached the entrance. Daryl was standing near the pots beside the entrance to his house, a pensive look on his face as he paced back and forth. Kate and Hugh walked up to him, determination in their every action as they stopped and folded their arms as they stopped. Daryl saw them out of the corner of his eye and swiftly turned.
"Well hello Children, may I ask what you want from me today? Some sort of experiment that explodes upon impact? An invention perhaps?"
"No, actually we wanted to ask you something." said Hugh as spread his feet apart and stood up straight. "Something about the creature that you've tried to capture…"
Kate nodded in agreement as they watched Daryl's face light up with excitement. Natsu, standing by the edge of the property watched on in discomfort. He didn't like how his friends were acting towards Daryl, as well as afraid that their quest would be revealed and Daryl would think that they were crazy.
"You mean MukuMuku? Sadly I do not have much information on the creature, only that he only appears during winter and he has a peculiar flower fetish, though for a winter creature that is uncommon." Daryl rambled as he tilted his head skyward and began to pace again.
Kate sighed at shook her head; this was beginning to sound like talking to Natsu while he was studying something. Or when he wasn't paying attention to what they were doing.
"Do you think that MukuMuku could deliver gifts all around the world in a few hours? He does look pretty strong, I'm pretty sure he could carry a large sack of gifts."
Daryl's head snapped back towards them, a bewildered and almost comical look on his face.
"Are you suggesting that MukuMuku is Santa Claus? Preposterous! He could never go around the world in such a short span of time! It's physically impossible! Not to mention MukuMuku despises clothing, he could never stick himself into a large red outfit." He laughed loudly as he opened the door to his house and began to walk in, thinking the conversation over. "What amusing minds, children have, amusing minds indeed."
Kate looked back to Hugh with a defeated expression on her face. The door to Daryl's house closed softly as Hugh and her exited, once again rejoining Natsu outside.
"Well that pretty much proves that MukuMuku isn't Santa Claus, and that we wasted a lot of time on this. " Kate sighed before stopping in front of the two boys. "So where should we go ne- Natsu what is that?"
Kate stared at the chest in his hands as he shrunk back and squirmed slightly, uncomfortable in her gaze.
"Its something I found after you guys left…I don't know who left it though, it could have been MukuMuku but…as Daryl said he can't be Santa Claus so it couldn't have been."
"Hey Pipsqueak can I have a look at it?" asked Hugh, taking it and looking it over. "Have you tried opening it?"
"No, not yet…I was studying the outside and trying to identify the type of wood."
Kate smiled as Hugh finished studying the chest, handed it to her to see if she noticed anything else. It looked like a normal chest in her opinion, small with nothing all that significant, but it had a mysterious air to it, one she could not
place.
"We should open it!" she said curiously, shaking the chest lightly and holding it to her ear to hear if anything was inside.
"Um…Shouldn't we continue looking? We don't have much more time so…we should get a move on." Natsu said, a somewhat anxious and shy tone in his voice as snatched the chest from Kate's hands.
Kate nodded in agreement a small pout on her lips because of the chest being snatched away from her, as Hugh once again folded his arms and nodded as well.
"The pipsqueaks right…but who else could be Santa Claus? We don't have a lot of people in the village who are like him."
"It would have to be an old man…someone with a beard, who we don't see that often…" her face lit up as a thought struck her. "I know! Galen!"
"Galen?! That old man? He couldn't carry a hoe, let alone a bag full of presents!" cried Hugh incredulously.
"Hugh! Galen's nice, and he's probably very strong but doesn't show it! You know he's been depressed every since Nina died." She gasped suddenly. "Nina must have been Mrs. Claus! Oh no wonder he was so sad, they'd probably been together for such a long time."
Hugh had a sudden pained look on his face as he changed his focus to the snow in front of him. Guilt began to spread across his features as he recalled how nice and cheerful Galen used to be.
"So should we go talk to him? He would tell us I think and Santa Claus doesn't lie ,so if we asked him directly he'd have to say something."
"Your right, Santa can't lie, so if Galen was him, he'd have to tell the truth. Come on lets go! We have no time to lose!" Kate said as he turned around and walked quickly past the Inn towards the bridge.
Natsu walked up to Hugh briefly patting him on the arm before continuing after Kate. Noticing he was alone, Hugh began to walk in that direction, hands in his pockets as he thought of Nina and how Galen was in the past.
Kate didn't even wait for the others to catch up as she knocked on the door, wanting to find out quickly whether he was Santa Claus or not to make sure they didn't waste any more time. The door slowly opened revealing Galen's tired face, but upon seeing Kate his face cracked into a smile.
"Ah Kate, what brings you here today lass? Off on one of your little adventures again?"
"Actually I wanted to ask you something." Said Kate sternly, before turning as Natsu reached her side, breathing somewhat heavily from having to catch up with her.
Galen raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he also took in the new arrival, barely glancing at the object in his hands he took a step outside and looked around trying to see if anyone else was coming, he was about to walk back into the house before spotting Hugh, walking slowly across the bridge and heading for towards house as well. Instead he returned to the doorway and returned his attention back to Kate.
"We were wondering if you were Santa Claus." Kate said with an air of seriousness that only a child could have while speaking of such a subject.
Galen then burst out into laughter, Hugh finally arriving at the house and smiled at the sound, as he was reminded further of the days past when Galen used to laugh like that all the time.
"If I was Santa Claus Lass, everyone would be getting bonsai trees, only the goddess knows how many of those city kids need discipline."
"Wait so…you're not Santa then?" asked Kate with a somewhat defeated look on her face. "I was pretty sure that- you just seemed so-sorry for bothering you."
"Not a problem lass, not a problem, I was often mistaken for him in the city so it's not that uncommon." He looked over the three youngsters for the moment, collecting his thoughts. "What are you up to anyway?"
"We're trying to find Santa Claus; we know he spends days on end in the city asking other kids what they want, so he has to come here sometime to ask us what we want." said Hugh somewhat embarrassed, as if he suddenly realized it was a silly idea.
"Ah, didn't you kids know that Santa knows what you want without asking you? That's how he's made gifts for you in the past, why are you wondering now why he hasn't come to ask you?"
"Well we usually get what we want from our parents, and we don't tell them what we want, yet they somehow seem to know." Ignoring the questions Galen had asked her, she continued with her own. "Could it be that Santa's telling them?"
"Hm, yes actually, I'm amazed that kids your age have actually figured that out." A proud smile on his face directed at the younger children. "Actually I have something here for young Hugh that Santa told me to get him."
Galen turned and limped back into his house, grabbing something near the far wall, and with a few grunts, limped back to the door. In his hand was a small soccer ball, made of plastic with black and white patches. Glee could be seen in Hugh's eyes as he looked at the ball and approached Galen.
"A soccer ball, I've been wanting one of those all year! My father refused to get me one though…saying something about it being less challenging then marathons and triathlons."
Placing the soccer ball in Hugh's hands, Galen nodded before smiling at the other two.
"Santa hasn't managed to contact me about your presents yet, but I assure you, you'll both have them by Christmas, and hopefully they'll be exactly what you want. " Kate and Natsu nodded to him in return. "Anyways, its much to cold for an old man like me to be out, so I'll be going in now, unless I don't see any of you, I just want to wish you all a merry Christmas. "
After the children's chorus of 'Merry Christmas!' in return, he limped back inside his house and closed the door. Kate turned to her two friends, a defeated expression on her face.
"So…anyone have any ideas? There are no other old men in town, nor anyone that could fit Santa Claus's description, so what do we do now?"
"It can't be Sebastian, his hair is too short and he's always at the manor, nor can it be Griffin, Santa Claus doesn't drink anything beside Eggnog…"Natsu stated as he began to pace back and forth, Hugh stayed uncharacteristically quiet as he played with the ball in his hands. "Patrick and Kassey are too short and Marlin and Carter's hair is too curly and black…so there's no one else that could really be Santa."
Kate sighed and sat on the ground, chin in hand she closed her eyes thoughtfully.
"I guess this was just a big waste of time. I guess Santa doesn't visit Country kids, just ones from the city. Not even his elves want to come here to check on the people."
Natsu head snapped up in response, a sudden thought occurring to him.
"The Harvest Sprites!"
Kate and even Hugh looked at him with surprised expressions, at his random outburst.
"The Harvest Sprites! They have to be Santa's Elves! They must know where he is!"
A smile spread over Kate's face as she jumped up onto her feet and thrusts her fist towards the sky.
"Natsu you're a genius! The Harvest Sprites have to be his Elves! Come on we have to find them!"
"How?"
Hugh's question stopped Kate in her tracks as she turned towards Hugh.
"What do you mean how?"
"We only see the Harvest Sprites when they want to appear. We have no idea where they are, unless they come to meet us, so how are supposed to talk to them?"
Kate just gave him a confused look, she had never seen Hugh act like this before, he usually wasn't the one spoiling their plans unless he was scared of something or he didn't like it, and he had participated in the adventure up until this point so he couldn't disapprove of it. Looking for guidance, she turned back to Natsu, who was looking somewhat lost.
"Um well…I've heard that they spend most of their time by the Harvest Tree…maybe if we go there…they might…be…there?" he said slowly, waiting for Hugh's reaction.
Hugh looked up from the ball and finally looked at the other two. Quickly standing up he, much like Kate from before began to walk off in the direction of the bridge, not saying anything until he realized the other two weren't following him.
"Well?! We don't have a lot of time left! Come on, let's go to see! Maybe they'll be by the tree!" he yelled enthusiastically, before he continued walking.
Kate and Natsu turned to one another, confused yet relieved by his renewed enthusiasm, before quickly running to catch up with him. Noon had passed awhile ago, and the sun was slowly sinking back down to the horizon as they approached the clearing once more, the place where their quest first began. Once in the clearing, they noticed that no one was there, unusual considering the nice weather and the time of day. The light filtered in through the tree's casting shadows along the path leading to the Harvest Tree, as well as across the pond, which depths seemed so deep and dark that it appeared to never end. Stopping in front of the tree, the three friends gazed at it, calm in its presence.
"So what now?" asked Natsu, breaking the silence. "Do we just wait?"
"There has to be something here…something that will bring us to them." Kate said looking around the clearing. "The Harvest Sprites have to have something that will help us contact them."
As if her words had caused an odd reaction, they all began to feel nauseous and the next thing the three knew was that they were opening their eyes to a small room, filled with pots and glowing mushrooms, with a small table in the center. In front of the table were three familiar figures.
"We found them! We actually found them!" said Hugh in disbelief as he stared at the three sprites.
"Of course you found us! You asked!" said Nak as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
"What can we help you with!?" asked Nik flapping his arms from side to side as he wobbled.
"We were wondering if you could tell us where Santa is." Kate said as she kneeled down to their eye level. "We want to meet him."
"Sorry, we can't do that." said Flak, who stood off to one side standing perfectly still.
"What, why!?" said Hugh incredulously.
"Wait you mean, you mean, you do know Santa?" Kate said as she shot a warning glare towards Hugh who became quiet almost instantly.
"Of course we know him!" squealed Nik in astonishment.
"All the Harvest Goddess Servants do! He's apart of the training! You can't work for the Goddess unless you've worked for him first!" replied Nak in a strict tone as he jumped up and down.
"And he's very tough, he goes out once in awhile to visit the kids, but only around Christmas time, besides then, he's always on ours backs." Grumbled Flak obviously troubled with bad memories.
"Really?! Do you think he would ever come here? We've never seen him before…" Natsu said, his focus moving between the three sprites.
"He only goes to places where kids have been really naughty and need a talkin' too, you should be glad he hasn't come here, it means you guys are doing something right." Stated Nik, obviously excited to have visitors and giving up any information to keep them entertained.
"Yeah! The only reason he comes here is if he wants to drop off presents or talk to the Goddess, though that's very rare."
"Actually he left a present for one of you!" said Nak happily, motioning for Flak to go get it.
The three children's faces lit up, obviously surprised and yet delighted by the thought. Flak knelt behind a small pot, and brought out a book, though the weight seemed to be too much for him, and after several seconds he tumbled backward only to be stopped by Kate.
"Thanks! Now let's see…" Flak stared at the cover of the book and blew a bit of dirt off the tag. "It says, 'to Kate' is it for you?"
He handed the book over to Kate who nodded her head in delight before reading the cover. Her eyes sparkled when she finally looked up and she smiled at the sprites.
"This is the Autobiography of my favorite author! The order for this has been backed up for Months! Thanks!"
The three sprites nodded in reply and formed a semicircle quickly. Standing up, Kate headed back over to her friends to talk to them as well. Finally parting, the Harvest Sprites turned to them.
"It seems you have to go." said Nak tipping his hat to them.
"We're sorry you couldn't stay longer but your' are calling you. " said Nik, bobbing his head up and down.
"So we're going to have to send you back."
The kids nodded in agreement, they knew they couldn't stay long, though hopefully they could come visit again soon.
The feeling of nausea returned, and suddenly they were back in the clearing, nothing apparently different about anything around them except the book Kate was holding and the light snow that was now wafting to the ground.
"Natsu! Kate! Hugh!" came three sharp feminine yells. The three friends turned to one another, ready to say their goodbyes.
"Well I guess I have to go, I'll see you guys in a week or two k?" said Kate, stepping forward and briefly hugging her friends, before taking a step back. "Stay out of trouble and don't go on too many adventures without me! I'll see you soon, Merry Christmas!"
And with that she ran off, leaving only small footprints and two small boys behind.
"Hey Pipsqueak, I guess I have to go too. Have a Merry Christmas and don't get into too much trouble." At the somewhat lonely expression on Natsu's face he gave a reassuring smile. "And don't worry about it, we'll be back before you know it, so don't miss us too much."
Nodding and showing his understanding Natsu hugged his friend and wished him a Merry Christmas in return before Hugh too ran off. Now leaving Natsu standing alone in the snow.
Walking rather slowly towards the exit of the clearing, Natsu opened the top of the chest, his expression brightening as he saw what was inside. Looking from side to side to see that no one saw him, he closed the cover and exited the clearing, as he quietly began to hum Jingle bells to himself. Perhaps this Christmas wouldn't be so boring after all.