Hey! :D

This is my first fanfic. I hope you enjoy it! :D

Chapter one – A wonderful beginning?

Briiiiiiiiiing!

Groaning, 18 year old Claire rolled over and slammed her hand down on the alarm clock. Being a total grump as usual, she thought, why won't the clock give me some more sleep?! I need it, dammit! As Claire got dressed, she sighed.

"Uuuugh, this is so boring! I need something new in my life, or else I'm going to turn into a madman. No wait. Make that woman," she grumbled as she ran her fingers through her long blonde hair.

Sitting at the table, she picked up the newspaper and flipped through it. Same old, same old. All these stupid ads, trying to trick the poor people into buying their crap. In the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of color. Reading intently, she grinned slowly, grabbed the phone and began to dial.

A couple days later, Claire stood on the beach of Mineral Town after descending the ferry. Woah, the sky here is so blue for some reason! Man, and I thought it was supposed to be grey! At least, that's what it's like in the city …

"Ma'am, can I help you?"

Claire blinked, and then turned around. In front of her was an old man with a white beard and extremely long eyebrows. She raised an eyebrow, thinking about how difficult it must be for him to see with those bizarre eyebrows.

"Ummm… Ma'am?"

Snapping out of her reverie, she quickly apologized, "Ah, s-sorry! I was just daydreaming!"

"Oh, that's quite alright. When I was your age, I used to do that quite a bit too."

"Ummm … o-okay."

"Ah, sorry! Where are my manners? My name is Barley, and you are …?"

"C-Claire."

"Ah, so you're the one who bought that dump – I mean, farm! Haha! Here, I'll show you the way there …" Barley chuckled.

Claire frowned. "Is there something wrong with the farm, then?"

"N-no! Of course not! Let's go and see it now!"

"Um, o-okay."

"Errr, so this is it?" Claire asked.

"Well, yes. Isn't it a beauty?" Barley asked hopefully.

"N-I mean, yes. Now, can you leave me alone, please, before I bash you with this hammer?" Claire smiled sweetly, while retrieving a heavy looking hammer.

"Ah, y-yes…" Barley eyed the hammer, then swiftly rushed out of the farm as fast as his old legs would carry him.

Sitting down on a rock, Claire sighed. I'm so stupid to even think that the farm could be as good as the ad says! Didn't I have the experience from ads not telling the truth?!

As Claire was feeling more and more depressed, a portly man dressed in completely red peered at the sad Claire. Depending on her sad face, I'm sure that's another potential buyer down the drain, thought the man sadly.

"Excuse me?" said a high pitched, squeaky voice, interrupting Claire's thoughts.

Startled, she fell down from the rock. "Ouch! What do you want?" She said rudely.

"Eep! I'm uuuh … the town's mayor! Mayor Thomas!" said the man hurriedly.

Claire noticed the mayor's frightened expression, so she pulled on the most flirtatious smile that she could do. "I'm Claire, how can I help you?"

Thomas, surprised at her sudden mood swing, thought, Now that she smiles, I can see that she's actually quite pretty! Heeeyyy … come to think of it, she doesn't seem that sad at all! She seems quite happy! (AN: You can see that Thomas isn't a very observant person. xD)

"Heh, I see you found the farm! I guess you fell for the ad then … Ahahahah!" Thomas chuckled.

Suddenly, he stopped. He noticed that the corner of Claire's smile was twitching, and she was reaching into her bag. Curious, he stared at what she was dragging out of her backpack – it was a shiny, big and heavy looking hammer – not a good sign.

"I'm supposing you're the one who sold me this DUMP then?" Claire asked in a sickly sweet tone.

"Dump?! Now, see here - "

Boom.

"Get … away … from … me. Now."

"Look, I know the farm isn't the best - "

"Isn't the best?! That's a tad of an understatement."

"- but you can still make it into a good one." the mayor said hopefully.

"Well, since I've already quit my job, and I have no where to go, I might as well." Claire sighed.

"What, really?! That's AWESOME!" Thomas proceeded to explain how the farm worked, and where everything was.

"Okay, that should be everything, now I have to go and SPREAD the news! Bye now!" said Thomas excitedly as he skipped off.

Claire stared after him. What an odd man. I wonder what the other people are like … are they like him?! Claire shuddered. I hope not! That'd be just plain weird.

"Hey."

That was the third time that day that Claire had been interrupted in her thinking. Sighing, she looked up … to see the tallest man she's ever seen in her life.

"I'm supposing you're the new farmer, Claire? I'm Zack," he said in his gruff voice.

"Yea."

"Thomas said you're going to take the farm, so I have to teach you how to ship, see this …"

"… and I pay you for it. Got it?"

Claire frowned. All the people here so far seem to talk way too much. I hope that not everyone is like that! That's going to be even worse than in the city.

"Yea. Sure. Whatever."

"Okay, good. I'm going to go now, don't forget to not overwork yourself!" Zack said with a hint of a smile before he left.

Claire stood up and stretched. Might as well start meeting the people in town. I don't feel like tackling this miserable field quite yet. Hopefully, there'll be people my age who aren't total creeps …

As she walked out of her farm and turned right, she saw a house that said Blacksmith on it. Claire pushed open the door and walked straight in.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong with it!"

"Of course there is! Open your eyes, boy!"

"Fine, there is. Then tell me what's wrong with it, hmmm?"

"I can't tell you. The answer is in your heart."

"Yea, you can't tell me 'cause there's NOTHING WRONG WITH IT!"

"Ummm … e-excuse me?"

The two men turned around. One was an old man looking unnaturally calm for someone who was just in a fight. The other was a young man with striking blue eyes and a blue cap that says UMA. He, on the other hand, looked livid, and ready to strike someone flat. However, he was extremely good-looking, which was something that the old man was not.

"What do you want?! If you don't want anyth - OUCH! What'd you hit me for?!" the younger yelled.

"Gray! Don't be rude to a customer! Apologize!"

"S-sorry." Gray said without looking at Claire in the eye.

"Naw, it's alright. Ummm, I guess I should leave then …" Claire turned and ran out of the store.

Wow, I guess the people here really ARE psycho. Are ANY people here normal?!

"Hey, wait!"

Claire twitched, recognizing the Gray's voice.

"What do you want?" she said icily, turning around to face him.

Gray turned red with embarrassment, and said, "Look, I'm really sorry about that. My grandpa, Saibara, is always so hard on me … he's never happy with whatever I do! I'm seriously considering quitting now … it's not like I'll ever get better anyways …" Gray moodily stared off into the distance.

Claire softened. "Gray, maybe you should just train more! I'm sure that's the problem …"

"… Are you saying that I don't try hard enough?!"

"Wha … What?! I'm just trying to help here! Geezus, if you don't value my opinion, then just don't come complaining and running for help!" With that, Claire stalked off, leaving a fuming Gray behind.

Honestly, what's wrong with that guy?! I was just trying to help … Claire sniffled, not really paying attention to where she was walking. She had to stop soon, in order to avoid walking into a pole.

Claire glanced up and saw a tall building. Might as well meet some more people here … Sighing, she pushed open the door and stepped in without so much as checking if there were any obstacles in front of her … and was met with a crash into someone.

Behind the Blacksmith's door, Gray was still feeling extremely irritated. I actually went to apologize to her, and she just shoved an insult in my face! What kind of person is she?! Gray returned to work, furiously pounding his fury into each swing. It resulted into his hurting himself badly again.

"GRAY!"

Gray sighed irritably.

Haha, Claire's such a grump. xD Don't worry – She won't be that grumpy later on, I promise! D:

Review please! :D I'll love you forever!

Claire: Love is a strong word.

Me: Shut up, you! D