This is the first one-shot of a possible few that I've considered writing dedicated to my favorite shipping in the Harvest Moon universe: Cliff & Ann. I never married Ann in any of my play throughs of Harvest Moon 64 because I always married her grandmother in my playthroughs of the SNES version of the game (making the player character, according to my head cannon, her cousin).

In later games my support for the two only grew, as from 64 to BTN, the only ship that was left cannon was Ann and Cliff. The whole universes had been dramatically rewritten, love rivals shifted, but Ann and Cliff were still after one another and relatively unchanged... albit Ann could now cook and Cliff was no longer longer a homeless, hawk owning, wander but a shy inn tenant. Later games, such as Island of Happiness and My Little Shop mention their marriage. Anyways. I should stop rambling and let you all get to the story.

I had never been the most feminine of women in town, that was plainly clear to everyone, even my own father. I knew my tomboyish ways worried him, he has always been of the opinion that every woman needs a good man.

But I can't change who I am. I'd never been much of a girly-girl. I found the restrictive high fashion Popuri wore around too restrictive, sure her tight little corsets, and silk skirts looked gorgeous, but you'd be hard pressed to ride a horse or hay a field in that kind of outfit.

I've always had a boyish frame, lean from working on the farm daily and tending to animals. I'd often envied sweet little Elli from the bakery, with her her soft, voluptuous, womanly curves. Yet here I was: I could eat cake all day without even gaining a pound! The only part of my body that even came close to qualifying as not flat and sticky, was my wild and unruly red hair that I constantly kept up in a braid.

Even Karen managed to look more girlish than me an her worn-out cut-off shorts and too small tank tops. Kai had confided in my, more than once, about how those legs just went on forever and his secret love for her... I've had few ideas of romance in my life, fairy tales were always more Maria's kind of thing and I found reading to be a bit of a bore... but recently I had begun to bemoan my lack of femininity.

Since that gorgeous, handsome, hunky farmer had moved into town I'd found myself questioning why I'd never invested more of my time developing myself as a woman. I can barely cook, the only recipe I've mastered up until recently is mashed potatoes and salad. The only womanly feature, or skill, that I'd ever bothered to develop was knitting.

Which is what leads me to where I am now. I'd found a recipe for red dye in one of my grandmother's old "recipe" books, bundled up in a think lamb-skin jacket and was marched out to gather the few ingredients I needed.

The snow cracked as the ice layer that had formed over top of the snow broke under foot and snow fluttered down from above like, landing light the soft down feathers of a pillow then melting on my skin into droplets of water.

I could see my breathe in the air as I headed down to Lillia's Flower Shop, first ingredient on the list was hibiscus, a rare flower that could be brewed onto a sweet and almost fruity tasting tea. I'd never had it before, that's just what I knew from reading through the recipe book.

The shop door jingled open as I entered.

"Hello Ann 3 What brings you in today?" Lillia greeted me kindly.

"I was, um..." I flushed, hunching in my shoulders and glancing away embarrassed "I was... I was just wondering if you had any hibiscus flowers?!"

I hadn't meant to shot but just thinking about my gift sent my pulse sky rocketing.

"Well, as it happens, we do." She giggled and then knocked on the back door, "How many do you need?"

"Just, one." I answered shortly, relieved that they were in stock.

"Popuri dear, would you fetch a few of the hibiscus flowers from the green house for our customer?"

"Hehe, no problem!" I heard Popuri giggle.

Only a moment later she emerged with the flower for me.

"Here you go Ann!" She exclaimed happily handing the flower over to me.

"Thanks." I answered and paid them at the counter before leading.

"I hope you have a good day."

The next ingredient was Pontata Root which could be found in the Winter Mines.

I tromped down to Moon Mountain and into the old cave. I didn't much care for the cold, but I especially didn't like the dark much. The cave was lite where natural lighting leaked in through breaks in the wall.

It was nearly dark by the time I'd dug up my prize, the thick rust red pontata root was the other key ingredient in my recipe. I shivered, as the already cold day had passed on to an even colder night.

Carefully I made my way out of the dark cave. The ice cover on the ground made it very slippery and as I crossed the bridge back to Kappa Lake I slipped and toppled into the river. I panicked, as cold water rushed up my nose and I coughed and sputtered as I struggled to keep my head above the surface.

The icy water was chilling to the bones and I could feel it seeping the energy right out of my body, I screamed as the water overtook me, there was a splash as I slowly lost consciousness.

I awoke, to my horror, with a nearly naked man had his mouth on mine and... His hand over into chest. I unleashed yet another scream, slapping him clean across the face as had as I could.

"How dare you?!" I yelled.

"Excuse you?" He balked.

"How dare you touch me, like... like... THAT?!" I shouted, furiously.

"Is that any way to speak the the man who just SAVED your life?" The answered back, equally heated now.

"Saved my life? By what? Stealing my first kiss?!" I roared.

"It's called CPR, you know, what restarts someone's heart after they drown." He responded aghast with my vigilance.

"Why would you need to restart my heart?! I was just fine until you came along." I answered hotly, I could feel the heat burning in my cheeks.

"Because you drowned after you fell from that bridge you clumsy idiot!" He responded frustrated.

"D-drown..?" I stuttered, to my own disgust. The blood leaving my face.

"Yes, you're lucky I was even here. If I hadn't dived in after you... well, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"I... oh."

"Not even a thank you? This is my life now..." He muttered irritably.

I shivered, my sopping wet clothing did not pair well with the winter cold.

"Come with me, we need to get you warmed up immediately before you catch hypothermia."

"Hypo-what?" I asked, but followed him anyways.

He guided me to a camp fire that was lit only a couple yards away.

"Take your clothing off." He instructed.

I choked on my own breath.

"I CAN'T DO THAT!"

"I'm serious, you'll get sick..." He paused, realizing it wasn't going to be easy to reason with me, "You can change into these."
He handed me a set of warm brown leather skins, lined with some soft sort of fur, to change into.

"I... thank you." I answered slowly, taking them from him. "...but you'll have to turn around for me to change!"
He laughed but obliged me.

"You can warm yourself by the fire while your clothing dries." He told me, "Greg just started preparing dinner anyways. You can eat with us if you're hungry."

I curled up on a rock by the fireside, warming my hands while he hung my jacket, socks, shoes, overalls and shirt on a line by the fire.
An elderly black man with a straw hat sat down beside me with a couple of fish and a small handful of eggs.

"Hello there miss, you a friend of Cliff's?" Greg, as I presumed him to be, asked me.

"Uhh..." I answered, suddenly embarrassed for some reason that I couldn't put my finger on.

"Well, we're always welcome to sharing with others." He answered.

I smiled, it was nice that I had happened into a group of such selfless people. The smell of grilled char, trout and fried eggs wafted up my nose. I hadn't eaten since this morning and I was famished! My stomach grumbled.

"Here you are dear." Greg said, handing me a stick of grilled trout.

"Thank you." I answered.

I munched down on my fish while I watched the two vagabonds with relative anticipation. Cliff, having finished clipping my clothing up to dry, joined us by the fire. He took the left over shells from the eggs, filled then with snow and sprinkled then with a couple leaves and rested them on the grates of the grill. In only moments the snow had dissolved in to a bubbling hot liquid.

"Here, drink this, it'll help you renew you stamina." He said, handing me one of his beverages in shell.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Just a spiced tea." He answered.

Cautiously I took a sip, it was warm and tasted like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

"This is delicious!" I exclaimed, surprised.

He smiled before snacking down on his own stick of fish.

"So... when did you get here? I don't think I've ever seen you around these parts." I asked.

"I just ended up here one day. You tend to end up in a lot of places as a traveler." He responded.

"Ah."

"Yep, it's just been me and Kane. It's been tough pickings the last few winters, I'm lucky Greg here has shown me so much about fishing!"

"Who's Kane?" I asked.

"My hawk," he pointed across the fire to a large bird picking apart an uncooked rabbit. I gagged a little, trying not to throw-up my tea.

"Kane and I have been together for a good couple years now. Some poacher killed his mother, when I happened upon her nest he was the only one left, poor thing was nearly starved. I nursed him back to health and we haven't been apart since."

"Well..." I paused trying not to look too hard about the uncooked rabbit it was tearing apart, "I suppose Kane is lucky to have you."

After we had finished eating and my clothing had dried, I changed back into my crusty overalls, he escorted me back home.

"This is it. So... uh. I guess I should thank you for saving me."

"It would be nice."

"But then again... you did kiss me."

"It's not kissing. It's called CPR!" He exclaimed.

"I'm sure that's what you tell ALL the women." I answered.

"Well... maybe you should watch where you're going." He suggested through gritted teeth.

"Hmph!" I stormed off without another moments notice. Just when I was starting to think he was a nice guy! What was I thinking?

My dad was furious, but that couldn't be helped.

"Where were you all night?!" He asked.

"I was just out." I answered, not wanted to be interrogated.

I rushed off to my bedroom, locking the door behind me.

I'd been foolish to think my dad was actually furious though. I could hear him and my brother making a toast to a hasty assumption as to why I'd been out all night.

I ditched my overalls and collapsed onto my bed from exhaustion.

The next morning I freshen myself up as best I could, tomorrow's the day. Winter 25th, and all the excitement of last night had nearly caused me to forget my original reason for going out yesterday. Red dye for the socks I had spent the last month knitting.

Red was my favorite color and I thought it would match that red bandanna he was always wearing around his neck so well... I left my wild red hair loosely curl in wild waves around my shoulders.

I rumbled through the pockets of yesterdays overalls, praying to the goddess that I hadn't them... To no avail, they were no where to be found.

Just then a knock came by the door.

My dad answered, "Hello."

"Hi, is your daughter here?" I heard a now familiar voice ask.

"She should be." My dad answered, a hint of a smile in his voice.

"Ann, there's someone here to see you!" My dad shouted in the direction of my room gleefully.

I slipped into some clean overalls and headed down stairs.

"You... uh... dropped this yesterday." He said, handing me the flower and root I had so carefully been in search of the other night.

"Thanks." I answered, my heart beat suddenly pounding faster than it ever had before.

"Well... I suppose I should be going."

He departed, almost a little to quickly.

"Wait! Would you... would you like to come by for dinner a little later?" I asked, for what reason I couldn't tell you.

"Sure, that'd be nice." He said.

"OK, well, see you then!" I exclaimed as he left.

"You like him, don't you?" My dad prodded.

I blushed, "Of course not!"

He laughed uproariously.

I stalked, grumpily, off to the kitchen to make the red dye.

I tossed the flower petals into a pot with water and root into the pot and raised the turned on the burner.

I headed up stairs to fetch my home-made socks. To keep from burning myself I tied them together with a long piece of yarn and then suspended them in the dying water with a wooden spoon that I'd balanced across the top of the bubbling pot.

While I waited for the socks to dye I pulled my hair back into a high braided pony-tail and secured it with my favorite white bow. It had been given from mother to daughter for generations as a gift coming into marriage. When my mother died she gave it to me early. It brought back a lot of warm memories, I wore it almost every day.

When I came back to my dye pot the socks had turned completely red so I turned off the burner and hung them to dry.

I headed outside to help with the chores when yesterday really hit me.

I had almost died.

I suppose I might REALLY have been lucky that that guy... what was his name again? Well, had saved me. My heart skipped a bit as I thought of it, must be the trauma of it all. I headed out to the field when suddenly I saw him. Again. What was he doing here?!

My heart started beating like crazy and the blood ran straight to my face. "What are you doing with Cliff?!" I yelled as I stormed up to the stranger who had saved my life last night.

"Huh?" He looked over at me from across the fence.

"Oh, Ann. Hi there!" He responded ignoring my wrath.

"I was asking, what you are doing with Cliff?!" I said, louder this time.

"Oh, this horse's name is Cliff too. Maybe that's why we seem to be kindred souls."

I didn't really have a response for that...

"What kind of pig-head are you?! Our Cliff is far more handsome than you could ever hope to be!" I stormed off taking Cliff, the horse, with me.

"I'm sorry, I just came by because you invited me over for dinner."

"What?!" I spun on my heels, then I remembered, "Oh... yeah. Well, I guess it is about that time, I'm sure Grey's cooked up something delicious."

The four of us crowded around the small table for dinner, for dinner there was carrot broccoli casserole, corn fritters, mashed potatoes and barbecued spare ribs.

"So..." My dad ribbed eagerly, "How did you and Ann meet?"

I flushed with embarrassment.

"Well, we met up in the mountains... not too long ago. She was out swimming and I ended up joining her."

My dad raised an eyebrow at me and smirked.

My brother just stared coolly under the brim of hit hat.

"Interesting, so what do you do?"

"I'm a traveler, been going town to town for awhile, looking for the right place to settle down. I do a lot of fishing and hunting."

He nodded agreeably.

"So how long have you and Ann been seeing eachother?"

I practically spit my food when he said that.

"DAD!"

"Oh come on Ann, I'm your father, I can tell when my daughter's in love. I've seen you about the house knitting and brushing your hair. You can't tell me there isn't some boy you've been trying to impress."

"Daaad, it's not like that!" I exclaimed, my face flushing, yet again.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop pestering you. But you still can't hide the truth from me."

I glowered but resumed eating.

Later that evening Cliff and settled down on the white picket fence that lined out property.

"So... who is he?" Cliff asked quietly.

"Who?"

"...The guy... The one you're in love with?"

"What? Oh... uh. No one."

"...I see." He paused, looking away, "Well, whoever he is... he's a lucky guy."

"You think so?" I asked nervously.

"Absolutely, you're an... amazing girl. You're beautiful, and outgoing, you've got a great family. Any guy would be lucky to be loved by a girl like you."

My heart skipped a beat, "I don't know about that."

"What about you? What's your family like?" I asked nosily.

"They... were... pretty great." He answered tentatively.

"Were?"

"My dad died when I was very young, I left for awhile to strike things out on my own. But... when I came back home my mother had died and my sister had vanished. Kane is the only family I have anymore."

"That's sad..."

I could empathize with the feelings of loss I saw in his deep soulful blue eyes. I reached out to touch his shoulder...

The bare skin was ice cold to the touch, he was freezing!

"You're so cold!" I stated, alarmed.

"It's winter, it gets cold."

"That's no... you know what. I have something for you. Follow me."

I couldn't believe what I was about to do, I pulled the soft woolly red socks that I'd been working on for the last month off the line I'd been drying them on.

"I... made these..." I said slowly.

He looked at me confused, "And... well- I was thinking, maybe you could have them. They'll keep you warm."

"Thank you..." He said, taking them from me.

"Merry Christmas." I said with a smile.

"Merry Christmas," he said and then planted a soft kiss on one of my cheeks.

I punched him out of reflex

"Ow!"

"Sorry, I- I just wasn't expecting that." I stammered.

"Here..." I said and kissed him back.

And they lived happily ever after!