A treasure of greater value...
A GrayxClaire Fanfiction
Chapter One
A light brown haired man wearing his usual "UMA" cap stood in his grandfather's blacksmith, working hard, his face showing obvious frustration. His grandfather Saibara, his hair white with age, yelled at him once again. This was just a tiring routine they went through daily, one neither of them liked.
"Your work is crap!" he shouted at his grandson, no tone of sympathy in his voice. Gray's face was red with anger, although he had heard this many times before. Saibara gave a sigh. "Get out of my shop. Go get me some ores to work with." His tone wasn't harsh, but it was stressed and demanding.
Gray threw down his work and rushed for the door, happy he could get out of work. He heard his grandfather mutter something under his breath, but he was too angry to care. Although he was glad he could go mine, his grandfather had never gotten this angry. Usually, they both just sucked up the other one's presence.
As he grasped the door and stormed out, he didn't notice his roommate, Cliff, coming in. They collided, knocking each other off their feet and on the ground, and Cliff into a patch of grass.
"S...sorry Gray..." Cliff apologized, quickly getting up and holding out a hand for Gray. He didn't take it, but got up on his own, shaking the dirt off him. "Cliff." he said with curiously, since Cliff wasn't a usual customer. "Er... yeah...." Cliff mumbled, avoiding eye contact. Gray waited for an explanation, like Cliff would usually give, but Cliff just stood there, his face the shade of scarlet.
Then it hit him- Cliff and Ann had been inseparable recently, and if you liked a girl, what better present to give them but jewelry? "I'll get out of your way." Gray said, stepping out of the doorway. He heard Cliff mumble an apology, but Gray was on his way to the mine, one place he could think straight.
He went into the dark mine, holding his hammer he had token with him. Approaching a rock, he swung the hammer over his head and smashed down hard. It broke in three large swings, and out crumbled... "A useless Junk Ore." He sighed. It was hopeless, he would never accomplish anything great.
He heard a noise, a small clunk, and looked up from the rock he had smashed. In front of him had dropped a shining mystrile ore, one of the highest quality. He rarely came across these. With a slight hesitation he picked it up, the blue of the ore shined in the darkness. He heard someone's footsteps right near him. His stomach felt sickened, knowing that was true owner of the ore who was standing almost next to him. He knew he should return the ore, but he didn't want to give up something he could claim for his own, one thing that might find him at least half-worthy in his grandfather's eyes. Then again, it was his grandfather he was talking about, but his mind was made up as he clutched the ore tightly in his hand. 'If they want it, they'll say something.' He convinced himself. There was a shuffling noise moving towards the entrance of the mine, and Gray wondered who the owner could have been. 'They're obviously a better miner than me.' Gray concluded with a sigh. 'Who else would mine in Mineral Town? It can't be gramps…' he told himself with a cold look. 'Who would keep the shop open?' In his grandfather's mind, no one was good enough to even stand behind that counter besides his blood, with a few exceptions, including Gray at the moment.
He waited for another noise, but all was silent. 'They must have left.' He told himself, loosening his grip on the ore and putting his hammer down. 'Maybe I should go and see who this belongs to…' He began to pace, thinking hard, his face showing determination with a hint of guilt knowing he stole what wasn't rightfully his, as he put it in his pocket and picked up his hammer, continuing to smash more rocks.
Once he was done he slung the hammer on his back and walked out, basically as unsuccessful as usual, besides the mystrile ore. Even though he had the ore, there was the downside of guilt and curiosity… who was this unknown miner? If he didn't find out, the curiosity, and perhaps even guilt, would continue to haunt him. Gray wasn't a particularly curious person, but it was human nature. He took a deep breath and decided to forget about it. It would just be idiotic to skip work to find out, not to mention there would be a severe punishment from Saibara. He guessed it wasn't important enough for him to worry.
