A/N: ah, jeez, talk about an uncreative title. titles have always been my weak point. anyway, Gray and Popuri this time! they're such a cute couple! far better than Grey and Mary, that's for sure. but maybe i'm just biased since i love hm64 so much. anyway, i really like this fic lots! i have decided it is my favorite hm fic i've completed so far! so, anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: i don't own harvest moon. if i did, my wallet wouldn't be empty. or maybe it would if i spent it all. but i'd like to think i wouldn't.

Flowers

Gray groaned as he sat up to turn off his alarm clock. It was early morning, long before anyone in Flower Bud Village would be waking up. He woke up at this time nearly every day. He didn't do it for chores, nor did he do it to make breakfast for his family. He did it to work on his garden.

After getting dressed and ready, Gray walked out of the house with his gardening tools. Gray worked so early for three reasons. 1.) If he worked during the day, Ann would hover around him and tease him about how he always had a scowl on and babied his flowers, which was annoying and didn't allow him to concentrate. 2.) His father didn't like his son gardening in front of customers, and would often try to get Gray to do some other work. And 3.) Working in the morning allowed him to clear his mind. He did not often get very much peace and quiet during the day.

So, he was up and ready to work on the garden he planted every spring. He had Ann buy the many flowers he planned on planting for him from the florist (he was far too embarrassed to go himself), but did the work on his own. He liked knowing he was responsible for the beautiful flowers' growth. It was one of his few pleasures in life.

Gray liked flowers for several reasons. Their beauty was one, course, since no one can deny flowers being pretty. Another was their scent. When there were so many in one place, you could smell them as you went by. Flowers also didn't talk and would listen to you. Gray knew it was silly to talk to flowers, but he didn't care, since there wasn't anyone around to see him, anyway. And most of all, he liked flowers because they reminded him of certain pink-haired girl who worked at the flower shop…

"Whatcha doin'?"

Gray froze as he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. He looked up and saw that very same girl peering over his shoulder. He quickly lowered his head again to hide his blushing face.

"What are you doing here?"

Gray mentally kicked himself for acting so rude. He was supposed to start up a conversation, not scare her off! Moments like that were exactly why he stayed away from girls.

"Oh, I'm just taking a morning walk," Popuri said cheerfully, ignoring his rudeness, "I'm a morning person, you know. I wake up early every morning just to take a walk up to Moon Mountain to watch the sunrise. It's very pretty up there. I was just about to leave when I saw you working over here, so I decided to say hi. Are you working on a garden? I love gardens! You're planting flowers, right? Flowers are so pretty! I was wondering why Ann was buying so many. I never expected you to be planting them, though! But, like people say, you have to expect the unexpected. Do you think I could help you?"

Gray blinked. She said this all very fast, and he was still having it all process through his head.

"Um, sure…" he said finally.

"Oh, goody!"

Popuri grabbed a shovel and a bag of seeds.

"You know, I never really got to know you Gray," Popuri said.

"Yeah…"

"But now that I know you like flowers, I know you're a good person!" she beamed.

Gray nodded. He was confused by her logic, but still enjoyed the compliment.

They worked in silence after that. Gray tried to come up with something to say to her, anything at all, but every time he'd try, he'd lose his nerve and stay silent. It went on like that for quite a while. Finally, Popuri spoke up.

"This is going to be a very pretty garden, Gray," she smiled.

He nodded again.

"Have you ever tried planting different types of flowers with these ones?"

He shook his head.

"You really should!" Popuri exclaimed, "Papa brought some foreign seeds here called pink cat mint seeds, which would look beautiful with all your other flowers! You have to buy some!"

Gray hesitated. He did want to buy the seeds, but he didn't think his father wanted to spend more money on flowers. The last batch had cost quite a lot.

"I… don't think I can," he finally said.

"Why not?"

"My father… he'd rather not pay for a lot of flowers again."

"But… do you want the seeds?"

Gray looked at Popuri for a moment, then nodded.

"Well, what would you say if I said I'll give them to you free of charge?"

"W-what?" Gray said, looking up in surprise.

Popuri smiled.

"I'll give them to you, as long as you promise to plant them for me," she said, "And as long as you'll let me work in your garden with you as well."

"A-alright. I'll plant them… for you…" Gray answered, turning red.

"Really?" Popuri exclaimed.

Gray smiled and nodded once again.

"Thank you sooo much!" she said, hugging his arm.

Gray turned even redder and pulled his cap down to hide his face. Popuri giggled, then looked at the horizon.

"Oh, no! It's already past sunrise! I need to get back before papa and mama start wondering where I am!"

Popuri jumped up and ran towards the ranch entrance.

"I'll bring you the seeds this afternoon, Gray!"

Gray panicked. If he was ever going to say anything on his own to her, it had to be now, before she left.

"Popuri!" he shouted, surprising even himself.

"Yes?" she said, stopping and turning around.

"When the flowers bloom, I'll… I'll bring you some…" he said, looking at the ground, embarrassed.

Popuri smiled and said, "Thank you, Gray! That makes me so happy! I'll be waiting!"

And with a big wave, she ran out of the ranch on her way home.

Gray smiled at her disappearing figure. After a moment or two, he turned his gaze back to his garden. He hadn't got nearly as much done as he wanted to. Normally, he would have been angry at his lack of work, but, at that moment, he couldn't care less.

A/N: so, how'd ya like it? eh, the ending could have been better, but i was having a bit of writer's block. oh, well! anyway, please R&R!