This is my first fan-fiction, so feel free to comment and give advice on areas in need of improvement. Enjoy.

Chapter 1: Place to Live

I hated the city. The towering buildings, the congest of traffic and the mass of people. It was all so suffocating, I felt trapped in a cage of the routine and mundane. I spent the greater part of my life working, all for the chance to escape.

I don't know what it was that drew me to this place. If it was the simplistic way of living, or the fact it had more trees than people. But somewhere, inside my mind, I felt drawn to this location, I knew that I needed to be here, in this town.

It was around midnight by the time my boat had ported in Forget Me Not Valley. The lights from boat dimly lit the docks as we pulled into port. I stepped off, taking a deep breath of sea and fresh air. It was cool as the heat from the day had passed with the sun. Silence filled the air, expect for the sound of a few nocturnal bugs.

I glanced around the docks, I wasn't surprised to see no one around, I was slightly relieved, the trip was long, and I doubt I could handle the excitement that would accompany it. The seamen pointed me toward the Inn. I wandered off the beach and up the hill toward a two story building.

As I entered, I took noticed of the exotic atmosphere and the plants that were seem to come from all areas of the earth. I wasn't surprised to see there wasn't a soul in sight. In spite of my fear of waking anyone up I rang the bell...then again...then again...

"What?" someone shouted.

From the back a woman marched out. She had short and messy crimson hair and wore a blue vest over an orange shirt. She had blue eyes that seem to contain the world's wisdom. Those same eyes seemed awfully pissed at me at the moment.

"People are sleeping, you know!" she announced, scowling. Even as she said that I wondered why she was still dressed up if that was the case.

"Right...," I responded. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb anyone. I just need a room." I added, stepping back a little, sensing her unease. I was already regretting ringing that bell.

She studied me for a minute. Looking at me from head to toe, as though she was trying to decipher what to do with me.

"Are you the new guy? You're not due till tomorrow morning," she commented, her voice still tense, but with less animosity.

"Yeah, the boat arrived earlier than anticipated," I replied, trying to explain my situation.

"Ah... I see, well I get you a room then… hold on," she went back again and came back with a key.

"Room 3," she spoke as she handed me the key.

"Right, thanks. My name's Cam," I replied. Looking over at her, she didn't seem so dangerous now that her eyes weren't tearing into me. In fact she was kind of pretty.

"Nami.." she muttered heading back to her room, yawning as she went up the stairs.

I headed up to my room and tossed my things on floor and flung myself on the bed. I attempted to shut my eyes as tired as I was my mind was too awake. I decided to head back outside to calm my thoughts.

I loved the night; it was that time of day where the world was quiet, where only the wind and the late night crickets can be heard. Where the only light seen is the moon and the stars shimmering their light upon my path. As I continued, I noticed a lone figure mulling about the farm across the river. As I approached I got a better look of the man, he had silver hair and a leopard print shirt. He held a almost princely demeanor, but he also had a mischievous smirk on his face, giving me the signal that this guy might be troublesome.

"Why are you out so late?" I called out, louder than intended. I scanned to see if I had unintentionally woken anyone, no lights but the moon and stars.

He stood shocked as he turn to see who had called him out.

"I could ask you the same thing!" he retorted, regaining his composure.

"Night stroll, you don't seem to be the type into gardening, any reason you're in that field?" I inquired, stepping forward to better gauge his actions.

I ran by thoughts of what he may actually be doing. Most of which held no good intention, than again I may look just as suspicious to him. I decided to believe he held no ill desires.

"I'm admiring nature's beauty in the light of the moon's everlasting splendor," he professed gazing up at the sky with a twinkle in his eye.

"Poetic?" I laughed. "Who's the author?" as attempted to learn the man's name.

"Why, I'm, none other than the Phantom Thief Skye!" he declared. "And you are?"

"My name's Cam. I'll be starting my new life out here," I replied, introducing myself a rather bland and generic introduction looking back on it.

"Well then, I wish you the best of luck, I must depart now for a maiden awaits my visit." he spoke as he headed across the bridge.

I chuckled internally, as he departed, "What kind of person calls themselves a Phantom Thief?"

As I made my way back toward the Inn I heard a melody come from somewhere over the hill. It sounded very faint but I could feel a pull from the almost memorizing tune as if something was desperately calling to me.

Just as soon as it had begun it stopped. I stood there dazed as my mind snapped back to reality. I shook it off and headed back to the Inn. I threw myself on the bed and quickly drifted to sleep.

I awoke the next morning, looking at the light entering my room, my things were more or less unpacked, I grabbed a shower and headed downstairs and into the kitchen, no one was around so I began to make some food for myself.

"I hope they don't mind me using their equipment," I thought as I proceeded to make some omelet rice. As I was cooking a woman came into the kitchen.

"Oh? What are you doing in here? And cooking none the less!" she quizzed, looking more shocked than upset.

"Oh... I'm sorry; I didn't want to wake anyone, so I made my own food… If that's alright," I shyly replied, wondering if I was stepping out of line.

"There's nothing wrong with that, I just usually do the cooking for the tenants here." She smiled, it was a very warm and homely smile. It made me feel at ease.

"I don't want to trouble you, I can handle this much!" I insisted. "Care to have some? There's some extra." I pointed out.

She came over and took a taste of the omelet rice. Her eyes growing sharper as she judged the food on her palette.

"This is incredible! Where did you learn to cook like this?" she exclaimed taking another spoonful.

"It's nothing really. I cooked a lot when I was younger," I informed her, thinking back to the times I would help my father in the kitchen, sighing a little as I reminisced. I was starting to miss my family a little.

Just than Nami wandered in half asleep, her hair disheveled still in pajamas. I had to admit she looked kind of cute like that. Judging by her melancholy expression, I figured she wasn't much of a morning person.

"You're making omelet rice this morning, Ruby?" Nami asked, seeming unaware I was in the room.

"Actually, this young man here made it ... Um…wait, I'm sorry, but I never got your name!" Ruby stumbled, looking guilty for not having asked earlier.

"It's Cam," I replied, reaching out and shaking her hand.

"Oh..." Nami had noticed I was in the room "You're than guy from last night, huh..." she finished helping herself to the rest of the omelet rice.

"Yeah. Sorry again about last night, I didn't mean to wake you," I apologized, a little nervously.

"Don't worry about it, I wasn't sleeping anyway..." she trailed off, helping herself to some food.

"So you're the new tenant… Are you?" Ruby began, thinking for a moment "How would you like to be the Inn's chef, in exchange for staying here?" she inquired.

"Really?" I questioned, surprised at the offer of a job at the drop of a hat.

"Of course! Your food is wonderful, and even Nami enjoys it, see?" Ruby pointed toward Nami who had finished the plate clean.

"Huh...you didn't make this Ruby?" Nami asked confused. I knew for sure now she was not a morning person.

"No. I told you that Cam made this… So, what do you think of it?" Ruby asked slightly annoyed at Nami's inattention.

Nami looked up at me. "It's not too bad..." she mumbled.

"Thanks, glad you like it," I commented, smiling at her.

"So then, would you be interested in cooking for us? To be honest, I teach cooking to others during the day, so it's not often I have time to cook for the tenants," Ruby informed me.

"Well, I wouldn't mind, but I don't plan on being here long, I am going to be building a house here," I told her, thoughts of my plans for my house began to fill my mind.

"Not to worry, you can just be our chef until your house is complete," Ruby grinned.

"Alright then, I'll be your chef. Thank you for giving me this job." I bowed, feeling lucky that I could so quickly become part of the town.

"Oh, that's great to hear!" Ruby announced. "By the way if you want to build a house you should see Takakura. He works up at the farm just up the road from here," she finished.

"Ah, I see. Well, I should go see him right now then!" I said, as I headed out of the Inn.

I approached the field of the farm; the field was relatively beat up, a few stumps and rocks covered the soil. Fresh tuff of grass poking out beneath the soil was as if they were recently sown, and a few stems of plants also were poking their stems out above the ground.

The buildings seem quite wore and old, the paint had come off in a lot of places, putting the weak looking siding into view. I wondered how long this farm had existed. I wandered over to the field where I found a young cow munching on some grass. She was a young looking cow, most likely one who had just started to produce milk.

I stepped over the fence to observe the animal closer. The cow noticed me as I tried to approach her. She mooed happily as I patted her. A man approached, obviously responding to the cow's cry.

"Hey there, you seem to be quite popular with my cow!" He spoke cheerfully "He doesn't even like me that much…" He added, still smiling but with a hint of envy in his voice.

"Ah… Are you Takakura?" I asked him, with uncertainty.

"Do I look that old to you?" He joked. "Name's Jack." He stuck his hand out.

"Cam," I replied as I shook hands.

"What's going on over here?" I looked behind me to see a man much older make his way over.

Once glance at either of them and you could tell they were from different lifestyles. Jack had the face of someone who was hopeful in life, the kind of face a city boy who have with the prospect of a big break. The older gentleman held the appearance of someone who has had a lot of struggles and sorrow in his life, he looked full of fatigue.

"Hey Takakura!" Jack ushered him over. "Cam here is looking for you!"

"Oh…? What can I do for you?" he offered his thick calloused hand.

"Well, I was told that you're the man to see to build a house," I asserted.

"Am I, now?" he appeared interested in my plan. "Come, let's discuss this inside my house." he offered. He lead Jack and I into his house and prepared some tea as we sat down.

I sat discussing with him my plans to build a house by the beach.

He was impressed at my ability to plan for cost and have a blueprint by which to work by. I had explained to him how I had worked with my father on construction of a house.

Takakura told me it would take around a season of so to finish the house with no problems arising.

After the details were taken care of I talked with Takakura and Jack some more to learn that Jack had too moved from the city, because his father had taken ill and passed away.

In our discussion, I had learned that Jack moved here to take over the farm, also looking to escape the city. He enjoyed the idea of a more basic lifestyle, without all the business of city life. Takakura, was close friend of Jack's late father and had work for him for years.

By the time we had finished talking it was already evening. I thanked Jack and Takakura and started to leave.

"Wait!" Jack called out, running up to me.

"What is it?" I asked. He had been in thought for a while, and I wondered if this was related.

"Well, Tak said that even with the people he had, you'd still be short handed. So I figured that I would offer help out," he offered, slightly out of breath.

"I couldn't ask that of you, you have the farm to take care of," I told him.

"Well, how about we help each other out, you help me here at the farm a little and I can help out with your house?" He suggested.

"I don't understand why you want to help out though." I looked at him confused. Why would he want to help at the house if he had a farm to take care of? It would only cause more work.

"Well..." he paused, looking at the ground. He continued, "I'm not really that good with any of the animals. I get nervous around them, and so since they seem to like you, you could help me with them." he ended, enthusiastic about the idea.

"Ah, I see. Well that's no problem. We have a deal!" I shook his hand.

I headed back to the Inn to cook supper for the tenants. As I walked in I heard an argument taking place. I rounded the corner.

"Ann, you're adding way too much sugar!" Ruby exclaimed.

"But it tastes better this way!" announced a girl with overalls and an orange ponytail.

"Uh… am I interrupting?" I asked quietly.

"Oh, Cam! No not at all. This is my student, Ann!" Ruby explained.

"Hi there, nice to meet you!" she smiled.

I smiled back. "Is that cheesecake there?" I motioned at the two cheesecakes on the table. "I could eat a dozen of those." I claimed. "They're my favorite."

"Ha! I bet I could eat twice that," she challenged.

"Is that a challenge?" I inquired.

"You bet it is! How about we see who finishes their cake first?" she asked.

"You're on!" I stared at her with flames of challenge.

Ruby tried to calm us down but we sat at the table, forks drawn.

"Ready…"

"Set…"

"GO!"

"Ugh..." we both grumbled as we look back at the crumbs of cake left on the plates

"Told...you...I'd win," Ann mumbled her face paler with every word. "Excuse me..." Ann ran upstairs, diving into the washroom.

"I told you two it would make you sick!" Ruby scolded.

"Right...not...the best idea…" I moaned out. "I think... I'll talk a walk." I motioned out the door holding my gut.

As I began walking the night wind began to calm my stomach. I marched up the hill past Jack's farm to a pond Jack had mentioned looked incredible during the night.

I stood amazed at the shimmering lights that glowed off the plants illuminating the trees. The pond gave off a light that made it seem almost magical. It was a secluded location, the trees created a sort of barrier around the pond, as if to protect it. The light breeze gave the trees life as their branches danced, as though they were joyful of having company.

I took off my shoes and dipped my feet into the pond letting the cool water refresh my body. As I began to close my eyes, I heard that melody again.

However, this time it was a little louder than before, it gave off an alluring trance like sound, it was graceful yet sad. There were no words or instruments that could be heard. Just an odd ring that enveloped me. I felt like it was calling to me, trying to communicate something.

I felt my heart sting for a moment as though it had been stabbed by an unknown force.

When it had stopped, I blinked as I snapped out of my trance. I looked across at the waterfall. Did it come from the waterfall? I thought to myself. I must be hearing some bird... I convinced myself.

I went back inside the Inn and quickly fell asleep the melody still reverberating in my mind.