A NOTE ON THE CHARACTERS AND SETTING: I'm using lots of characters from lots of different Harvest Moon games, the leading characters however will be... Skye and Jill (DS Cute), Claire, Kai (FoMT/MFoMT) and Vaughn and Chelsea (IoH) and also, either Dr. Trent (FoMT/MFoMT) or Dr. Alex (MM). There's a question about them a the bottom, so please read and answer if you have the time ^^
About the setting, Tani no Yuki translates into something like Valley of Snow I think and the school is placed in a valley (typically). It's like a town in the valley and there are houses for the students to live in if they want. The houses are separate to the school building though and students can either lie together or separately. There is also a town square for festivals and there a shops too, but no big shopping centre or anything like that. I hope that wasn't too confusing, but hey, just enjoy!
Chapter One: Tani no Yuki meets the girls.
Gill sighed heavily, lifting up the crimson blazer to eye level. The first day of the new school year... Tani no Yuki used to be an all-boys school, but then the government had to make budget cuts and, well...The ended up turning Tani no Yuki into an ordinary school. It was to be expected though, he slipped the blazer on over his crisp white shirt, checking his tie was straight before buttoning it up. Tani no Yuki, despite all its pompous get-up, was simply a rabble of delinquent boys. Save a few like himself of course. It was no wonder the government had decided to pick on them and hurl a pack of girls at them. He sighed again, picking up his bag and turning away from the mirror. He had to face it sooner or later and sooner was always better.
"Come on! I want to see all the hot chicks!" Kai yelled, jumping on Skye's bed again. He cracked an eye open groggily.
"Time..."
"Half eight, school started half an hour ago."
"Two more hours..." Skye rolled over to face the wall and fell asleep again. Kai huffed and sat back on his heels, still balanced on the edge of his friend's bed. Vaughn stood in the doorway, hat tipped down low. Even without his blazer on, the cowboy hat made him look silly when he was in uniform. "Should we just go?" Kai asked. Vaughn shrugged and left the room. There was a crash from the kitchen downstairs and Skye was bolt upright in a millisecond. Kai fell off the bed in shock as the definitely-not-a-morning-person adolescent leapt from his bed in just an old T-shirt and shorts and crashed downstairs, yelling profanities in his wake.
Skye flew through the arc leading to the kitchen, just as Vaughn casually pushed another bottle of spices to the floor. The glass shattered at his feet. "What are you doing?!" Skye yelled, unable to strangle the cowboy thanks to not having shoes on.
"Waking you up." Vaughn said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"You've ruined all my spices! It took months to steal all of those!" Vaughn shrugged the complaints off, stepping over the mess and turning Skye around, marching him back up to his room. A uniform was thrown in his direction and Kai stood there proudly, "Get dressed, we've got hot chicks to flirt with!" Skye gave him a despondent, you-can't-be-saved look and picked the uniform up off the floor as his two friends left. Really, Skye didn't like flirting so much with girls like Kai did. Skye was a gentleman. A thief, yes, but being a gentleman he felt made up for that a bit. Kai just didn't seem to understand. With a sigh, Skye realised the tan boy was not going to give him the time to shower and make himself look good.
Jill sat, pencil scratching against the paper of her textbook, trying to avoid the numerous pairs of eyes on her. She wondered if it was just her, or if all of the girls were getting oggled at by the boys. It was as if they'd never seen a female before in their life. She held back a sigh and tried to focus on her work. She had to concentrate! Her eyes flicked to where Claire sat on the other side of the room, near the back of the class. Their eyes met reassuringly. Oh how Jill wished she could be sat next to her. Chelsea wasn't even in the same classroom as them anymore, which made it even worse. Those two always succeeded in making Jill quell her anxiousness. Not anymore though, she'd only be near them at break and lunchtimes. The thought still sent her stomach churning. She looked at the seat next to her. A rather unassuming boy with short bluish-silver hair was humming lightly to himself, swinging his legs a little and drawing fish in the corner of his book instead of answering the questions on the board. He was shortish and had his eyes closed happily. Jill bet he'd drawn so many fish over the years instead of working that he didn't need to see the ink of his pen to know what it was he was drawing. Then again, maybe he was just doing it mindlessly? Loud voices travelled down the hall and a couple of heads turned to the door. It slid open and Jill's curiosity piqued. Three boys strode in, completely ignoring the teacher who had pursed his lips in an attempt to look calm. "Kai, Vaughn and Skye. What a pleasure it is to see you boys again on time as usual." The man bit sarcastically. Kai, Jill presumed, waved his hand nonchalantly, "What's up teach?" Jill saw the teacher grit his teeth.
"Find a spare seat and sit down, I will be having a word with you after class." He seethed. Kai, the tanned boy with a purple bandana over his head scoured the room with his eyes, Jill saw them land on Claire and he whistled. "Plenty of hot chicks here I see." A grin rose to his face, but Claire didn't seem at all pleased. She turned away in disgust and Jill had to grab hold of the seat of her chair to stop herself from marching up to him and strangling him to death. "Just ignore him." The boy next to Jill whispered, still humming. Jill blinked, but relaxed and faced forwards again. Her eyes were scanning the next question when she was one of the boys who had come in waltz past her. Her heart leapt when she saw him, all porcelain skin and silver hair like a china doll. She looked quickly back to her textbook, trying to stop a blush from rising to her cheeks. He hadn't even paid her any mind and she was going red! What was she, a swooning little girl?! She had to concentrate. And yet, she noticed when he took the seat behind her.
"Ooh! Can you believe that boy?" Claire hissed, face tinted red with anger as she stormed towards the benches in the school grounds. It as break time. Chelsea giggled as the blonde stomped her way ahead, fists clenched and brows knit into a deep scowl. She dumped herself on a bench and crossed her arms and legs. Jill poked her cheek on her way past and sat down. "Cheer up, he's just a flirt looking for the pretty ones." Claire flared up even more. "Then that's even worse! He's the type that I detest the most, the playboys and..." She trailed off into random insults quickly. Jill sighed and leant back, pulling at her ankles.
"What's your class like Chelsea, are you sat next to anybody you know?" Chelsea shrugged.
"It's alright, a bit on the loud side, but Mark's there."
"Mark?"
"Yeah, we used to be really tight friends when we were little kids, but I didn't get to see him much after he moved." Chelsea smiled, looking up at the clouds, "I'm glad they made it into a coeducational school." Jill shrugged and turned away. She had been pretty happy in the all-girls school. It had been less dramatic already and a lot more work-orientated. She sighed, she couldn't wait until the day was over.
"Bye, Chelsea!" Jill and Claire waved, smiles on their faces as their friend left to go to her own classroom. They turned to enter their own - always ones to be early to class - when they heard raised voices through the door. Claire withdrew her hand from the handle. "No wonder your grades are dropping, you're attitude is worse than your attendance. Don't you care about your futures?" Jill recognised the teacher's voice.
"Ch. Like we care old man!" That was Kai's voice. Jill frowned and peeked through the window set into the door. It was those three boys, still having their 'talk' with the teacher. "Should we leave?" Claire asked, though Jill could tell from the glint in her eyes that she was enjoying hearing the flirt being yelled at. Someone coughed behind them. "Aaaiiiiiieeeee!"
There was a scream and two loud thuds rattled the door. The teacher and three boys jolted, hearts suddenly racing from the sudden noise. The door slid open and Toby smiled in, stepping over two girls from their class. He gave no explanation, just went and sat down in his seat and acted as if he expected the lesson to begin. Jill and Claire moaned, rubbing their heads as they sat up. "Toby, what was that for?" Kai asked, raising an eyebrow. He smiled but said nothing. "It's okay," Jill laughed nervously, going red in the face. She helped Claire up, "He just caught us off guard is all." One of the boys, the one in the cowboy hat, gave them a deadly glower from beneath the rim of his hat. What's his problem? Jill wondered, going to take her seat next to Toby. Claire went to her own and the three boys were dismissed to go to their seats too. The bell rang, signaling the end of break and the start of lessons. Five and a half hours to go.
"Finally!" Jill cried, stretching out her arms above her head, "It's over!" Chelsea and Claire giggled,
"What, you don't like school Jill?" They asked. Jill gave them a pouty frown.
"They don't concentrate on work enough, it's stupid."
"That's funny coming from you." Chelsea poked her arm, "You used to be one of the worst delinquents our school had ever known!"
"Yeah, but at least I kept my grades up. I was a clever delinquent." The brunette tapped her head. Claire rolled her eyes,
"Yeah, you'd like to think that wouldn't you?"
"Hey!"
"What are you smirking about?" Skye asked, exasperated at Kai's cheeky grin and antics. He'd tried to 'grope' five girls that day alone. Kai wiggled his brows suggestively, "You up for a game?" He asked.
"Whatever it is that you're thinking, I'm not getting involved."
"Aw, you're so blunt Skye..." Kai whined, pretending to cling to the other boy's arm. "I just wanted to see who could get a girlfriend first."
"You won that one a long time ago." Skye just wanted to go home, sleep and prepare for his nightly raid of the village. Besides, He thought, No woman would ever want a thief, no matter how gentlemanly he may be. Kai huffed and looked up at the sky,
"Fine then. I'll just go ask Vaughn."
"You know what he'll say-"
"Vaughn! Wanna see who can get a girlfriend first?!" One thick-soled, heavy cowboy boot smashed into Kai's face.
"Go to hell!"
"-and do." Skye finished, ignoring the tanned boy grovelling on the floor for mercy.
Finally at their three-bedroom, one-bathroom house, Skye threw his tie onto the arm of the sofa, stripped off his blazer on the staircase, one shoe was kicked down the stairs and the other landed elegantly atop the unused linen basket. He flopped face-first onto his unkempt bed, his sigh of relief muffled by the sheets. The deep breaths of sleep followed.
Vaughn huffed, eyes scanning over the mess Skye had left behind. Could he be bothered cleaning up after the night owl? No. What he did have to clean up though, was the shattered glass and pile of spices scattered over the kitchen floor. Maybe he could lump it off on Skye... No, best not. Kai would probably stand on the glass if it wasn't in the bin soon. Closing his eyes against an oncoming headache, he opened the cupboard where the dustpan and brush was kept. Great... "Kai! Where's the Goddamned dustpan and brush?!"
Jill hung her uniform up neatly in her wardrobe, ready and waiting for the next day. She exhaled slowly, Calm Jill, calm. She opened her eyes. Calm. Her toes curled around the lilac carpet of her bedroom and she pulled at it, lifting it up a bit. "Calm." Turning, her long brown hair now in a low ponytail, she sat down at her desk, switching the lamp on. Her eyes scanned over the books in front of her. Science, maths, english, history, geography... She pulled out the maths one from under the rest, flicking a few pages back. To change the subject of the formula...
Jill woke up to her phone ringing. She moaned and pushed herself up, stumbling slightly. She could feel the indentation left by the books on her desk in her cheek. Great... I fell asleep studying again... Shaking that despondent thought from her head, she trotted out of her room and downstairs, picking up the phone on the set of drawers at the bottom of the staircase. "Hello?" Her eyes roamed her house aimlessly. There was light spilling through the kitchen window. "Hey Jill, me and Chelsea are heading over now, so you'd better be ready!"
"Yeah, yeah, okay. See you in a bit." She heard Claire giggle over the phone and hang up. Jill set the phone down. "Shit."
Skye rubbed shampoo into his hair casually, he'd just gotten back from the Inner Inn in Forget-Me-Not Valley. It wasn't too far away, but it wasn't exactly close to home either. When he had a shower, it always felt as if he were washing away all the bad deeds he had done, even if just for a moment. A mere few minutes. His thoughts wandered to school and if he would bother turning up at all that day. He poked his head out of the shower and looked in the mirror. A smudge of shadow was cast under his eyes and he frowned. Bags. How displeasingly vulgar. Retreating back under the hot water, he washed out the shampoo. I don't think I'll be going in today...
Jill brushed her teeth madly, hot water pummeling down on her head. It was too hot, scalding the hand that rubbed shampoo into her hair, but she didn't have the time to change the temperature now. Spitting out the toothpaste into the shower drain and hurling the brush to the side, she rinsed out the shampoo, kicked the tap off with her foot and leapt out of the shower whilst wringing her hair. She whipped a towel off the rack and dashed down the hall to her room, snatching up the hairdryer and blasting her face with it, simultaneously rubbing herself down with the towel. Casting that aside, she flung the doors to her wardrobe open, pulling out her uniform. Still with the hairdryer aimed at her face, she pulled on her shirt, having to switch hands, buttoned it up, jumped about trying to hitch up her skirt and then fell over. The doorbell rang. Letting out a long note of panic, she switched the hairdryer off and ran for the door, snatching up her bag and tie on the way down.
"I actually prefer strawberries to turnips." Chelsea told Claire, "They may take longer to grow, but they're so much sweeter!"
"Yes, but you can't really preserve strawberries, not to mention, you can use turnips in a lot more cooking dishes than strawberries-" The door flew open, almost coming off its hinges. Chelsea and Claire blinked at the bedraggled Jill standing in the doorway. Chelsea snorted and soon after they were both laughing at the brunette. "S- shut up! It was almost a record speed."
"G- get your socks." Claire managed to gasp out. Jill huffed, dumped her bag, and ran up the stairs to find her socks. She stomped back downstairs, tie done up and with socks on her feet, grabbed her bag and slipped on her shoes and stepped out of her house. "Right. I'm ready, you can stop chortling now."
A look of distaste swept across Jill's features when she and Claire entered their class. Not only was it a rambunctious mess, but one of the pupils was asleep! Her teeth ground together, especially when she noticed it was the silver-haired porcelain doll she had blushed at the day before. Sure, she had realised he was a delinquent from the start, but so had she been and she hadn't taken her morning nap in class! She was not only ashamed of herself, but also disgusted that someone could be so... grossly disrespectful. Her lips puckered in annoyance as she sat down, noticing how the unassuming boy next to her was drawing fish again. This time decorating his desk with them. She was really losing her patience with this school. "Hey Skye, you'd better wake up, teach is comin'." The boy to Jill's left reached over behind her and rocked the silver-haired boy's shoulder. He groaned and swatted the hand away. "Two more hours Kai..." He mumbled out.
"It's not Kai, it's Chase." The boy next to Jill corrected. "Come on, you've got to get your head off the desk at least."
"Teach'll just be happy I'm in on time." Jill could hear how Skye's voice was slurred from sleep. She was losing her temper with him and fast. "Skye, wake up or you're gonna get yelled at again-"
"Don't care, just let me sleep..." Jill snapped then. She turned around and pulled up the boy's head by his silver hair.
"If you're so tired, then why did you even bother coming to school today? You obviously don't do or want to do anything, so just stop wasting everybody's time and go home!" A few heads turned, but Skye didn't seem abashed at all. In fact, he yawned straight in her face.
"Pony has a temper~" He sang out before his eyes slid just and his breathing turned deep and heavy.
"Pony?!" Jill seethed, dropping Skye's head so it bumped onto the table with a nasty-sounding crack. He didn't even stir. Still miffed off, she turned around and immersed herself in her books. Hunger clawed at her stomach annoyingly, but she pushed it aside to concentrate on her work before the teacher came. He was late and once again she thought of what a shabby school this was.
Skye, thank the Goddess, was relatively awake after lunch. It must have been something to do with the smell of curry wafting in from one of the cooking rooms down the hall. It smelt delightful, but in need of a little more turmeric. An angry growl came from the stomach of the girl in front of him - Pony he had decided to nickname her, she had two ponytails afterall. He smirked as she punched her abdomen in an attempt to stanch the rumbling. It did nothing of the sort and he could see heads turning every so often to look at her. The tips of her ears were tinted red in embarrassment.
Jill realised with a dread that lunch wasn't for another one and a half hours yet. Her face was burning from the embarrassment of people looking at her, she could feel the stares drilling into her and the murmurs running through the class. She tried to focus on her work, dipping her head so that her fringe hid her face a bit. The movement of her head made her dizzy and the feeling of nausea only heightened. She really needed food and fast. She peeked over at Claire, but she had her head down, working. Figures, she always liked maths... Jill looked back to her own work, Maybe I could just pretend to be ill? I know how to do all of this already anyway so I won't have to do any catching up and-
"Hey Pony." Jill jumped when somebody poked her in the back. Her chair screeched back a bit and everybody turned to look at her. Her face went beet red and she stuck her nose in her book to hide her face. "Pony." Skye again. Jill's eye twitched. Why was he calling her Pony? She turned to glare at him. "What?" She hissed, an open packet of chewits were waved in her face,
"Want one?"
A crumpled up note bounced onto Chelsea's desk. She looked to find the sender and Mark waved next to her. Flattening it out, she read the note.
Teach has a nasally voice ;P
She snorted, slapping a hand over her mouth. Mark grinned and leant back in his chair, kicking up his feet. Chelsea threw a note at his face.
Shut-up.
I wasn't talking.
-_- You know what I mean.
Are you coming round to mine tonight or what?
So long as I don't get cooties XP
I can't promise Jill and Claire won't try and hit you =/
Strap your hat to your head though and you should be okay XD
You've got a deal then :D
The bell for the end of school rang and Jill leapt up, snatching up her bag and dashing out of the classroom. Skye chuckled, sauntering over to Kai and Vaughn. "You seem awake." Vaughn muttered, ignoring the five-hundredth paper ball that hit the back of his head.
"Bullseye." Kai sung out, getting up out of his chair. Skye exhaled heavily, "I want to go back to sleep." He admitted, picking up a paper ball and writing Obnoxious Loser on it before sticking it to the back of Kai's shirt with a bit of selotape that had been stuck to the desk. "Hey!" Kai complained, trying to take it off. It was stuck right where he couldn't reach it. "What'd you write on it?!"
"It's a compliment, I assure you." Skye noted dryly, leaving the classroom. Kai watched him go with a confused expression on his face,
"Jeez, what's up with him?"
"He wants to sleep."
"So this is Mark!" Chelsea grinned, introducing them to her childhood friend. Jill and Claire eyed him.
"He has a hat." Claire said.
"That he does."
"Is my hat going to be okay Chelsea?" Mark asked, a note of worry tinging his voice.
"Probably not, which is why I suggest you start running!" She slapped him on the back and he stumbled forwards. "Go Mark, go! You have a five second lead!" Jill and Claire handed their bags to Chelsea and she waved them off. "Have fun!"
"Hey gorgeous," Chelsea turned to face the voice, a frown on her face. A tan boy with a purple bandana on his head grinned at her, "Could you tell me about your blonde friend?" She looked from him to the tall, dark cowboy next to him. They were both in her school's uniform.
"Who are you and why'd you want to know?"
"I'm interested in her." His grin was still plastered to her face.
"If you're so interested in her then you should talk to her yourself." Chelsea had the funny feeling that this boy was the one Claire had gotten so angry about. "Besides, I need to go now." Mark doesn't know how to get to my house. She turned and walked off.
Skye looked out of his window, watching the group of three - one boy and two girls - run around down the path going past his house. The girls were from his class and one of them was Pony. They were trying to grab the boys hat. Another girl trotted into his view. She had chestnut eyes and was carrying three bags in her hands. The boy ran to her and hid behind her. Pony stuck her tongue out at him and they all continued on their way home. Skye sighed sat back on his bed, head leaning against the cool wall. It was going to be a warm night tonight, so where should he steal from?
Well, I hope you liked it ^^ I've never really written a high school FanFic before, so any feedback would be nice. QUESTION!
Dr. Alex or Dr. Trent? I can't finish the next chapter without a vote, because I can't decide.
