It was a hot day. That was the thing about that day that jack remembered the most. He was a soldier in the US millitary serving his first tour of duty in afganistan. He sat in the passenger seat of an armored car, with most of the rest of his squad in the back. They were all good men. Each one had saved his life more than once and he'd returned the favor on a few occasions.

First up was the squad leader, Seargent Johnathan Norwood. He was a cool and collected veteran on his fifth tour. he often spoke of his wife and two young children at home. But his love of country led him to this job. Currently in his early thirties, he was a man with a bright future ahead of him in this career. Some whispers back at base said that he was up for promotion soon.

Next was the squad's medic, Nathan. Though he prefered to be called Nate. He usually had some kind of book in his hands when not on duty and didn't speak much, but everyone knew he was a good man at heart. He once gave away his day's rations to a family of refugees.

then there was "Redneck" nobody knew why he was called Redneck. Most likely it was because he was southern. Most people didn't know his real name, since he thought that being called solely by his nickname was pretty cool. A party guy at heart, Redneck was the one you asked to get you stuff that army regulations typically wouldn't allow in terms of hard alchohol and the like.

Sitting next to Jack in the front of the car, and driving it, was his squadmate and closest friend, Daniel. The two were close friends, having grown up together, and helping each other through life.

"Something wrong, Jack?" Daniel asked. Looking at his friend with concern before he turned his eyes back to the road. Jack looked up from the letter he had been reading.

"I don't really know."

"What's the letter say?"

"Dear mister Jack Mitchelson, It is with great regret that we inform you that your father has recently passed away." Jack began to read out loud.

"Your father?" Daniel asked. "The jackass who left you and your mom when you were like, what? three?"

"Yeah, but that's not all." Jack started to read again.

"Your father, Alexander Mitchelson, passed away two weeks ago from a heart condition. After the reading of his will, you have inherited all of his worldly possessions. Including a farm in Forget-Me-Not-Valley."

"Your dad was a farmer?" Daniel suddenly interupted. "That's a bit of a surprise."

"Yeah, but it seems he was dirt poor when he died." Jack said. "There's barely anything else on this list of things I've inherited."

"Well, this couldn't have come at a better time." Daniel said with a smile. "Today's your last day before you get to go home, lucky bastard." He lightly punched Jack's arm.

"You go home next week, I don't see how I'm the lucky one." Jack sighed. "I joined the millitary because I wanted more time to think about what I wanted to do with my life."

"You got nothing didn't you?"

"Not a clue."

"So maybe you should try farming? You've got the farm, so why not give it a try? If it doesn't work out, just sell the property and move on."

"The farm's in Japan." Daniel gave his close friend a wierd look.

"What was your dad doing way out there?"

"Not a clue. And that's just the thing." Jack closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't know a thing about Japan. I go out there, I'll be walking blind."

"But there isn't much else you can do is there?" Daniel pointed ut. "You have no place to stay since your mom died. Where would you go until you got a job? and in the economy these days..."

"I'd probably be on the streets for a year or something. What about you?"

"Same boat as you, you know that."

"No, I mean, what if I did decide to go work on that farm? What would you do?"

"If you don't mind, I guess I could lend a hand or something?"

"The two of us working on a farm?"

"You got any other ideas? It'll be a roof over our heads and food in our guts. At least until what we figure out what we want to do with our lives." Jack thought about it for a while.

"I guess it makes sense." Jack nodded. "Okay, when we both get home we'll go check out this farm my dad left me."

(A year later)

Jack walked down the path leading to Forget-Me-not-valley alongside a man named Takakura. The man claimed to be an old friend of his father's.

"I'm surprised that you agreed to work the farm after so long. I thought you wouldn't be coming after the first few months." Takakura spoke in badly accented english.

"No, I planned to come all along. I also planned on bringing a close friend with me as well actually." Jack replied.

"He had other plans?" Jack turned his sad gaze down at his feet.

"I'd rather not talk about it." He said two of them continued down the path for a good few minutes in complete silence.

Takakura was a little concerned about his friend's son. He'd heard that he'd spent a few months in the psychiatric ward of a hospital soon after hearing about his father's death. He didn't know much about his old friend's family, but he did know that he hadn't been around enough for the kid to feel too attatched to his father. Something had happened back then, something really bad.

Before long, the duo reached the bottom of the hilly trail that was the only way into and out of the valley. They passed by a large farm, and a large woman working the fields noticed them.

"Oi! Takakura!" She called to the old man, getting his attention. She was speaking Japanese. "Is that the new farmer you got there with you?" Takakura was about to answer, but the American beat him to it.

"Yeah, my name's Jack, I'll be running the Forget Farm up the road starting tommorow." the brunett spoke fluently in Japanese. Much to Takakura's surprise. He thought he'd have to teach the boy. And he spent all that money on those English to Japanese dictionaries too... now what was he going to do with them?

"Great to meet ya!" The woman said with a smile on her face. "My name's Vesta, you ever need seeds or advice, don't hesitate to ask!"

"Thanks! Will do!" Jack turned back to the trail. "Something wrong?" He asked when he saw Takakura's expression.

"I didn't know you spoke Japanese."

"I had a lot of free time this past year. I once heard this joke, "What do you call a person who only speaks one language?""

"Monolingual?"

"Nope, American." He chuckled. "I didn't want to fit that stereotype, so I started learning soon after I learned of my inheritance."

"Hey, Takakura!" someone back at the farm yelled. "Who's the guy with you?" Marlin asked, having just emerged from the house. Celia was also with him.

"His name's Jack, and he's going to be running the other farm." Vesta explained.

"How've things been going on the farm?" Jack inquired.

"Yeah, like we'd tell our competition." Marlin scoffed. Vesta elbowed him in the gut.

"That was really rude Marlin!" She lectured, she turned back to Takakura and Jack. "Sorry about that! I'll make sure that he doesn't get any dinner for that comment!" She practically dragged the man back into the house to lecture him on proper manners.

"Terribly sorry about that!" Celia said and bowed politely in apology before getting to work on the fields.

"It's okay, don't worry about it!" Jack replied before resuming the walk with Takakura to his new farm just across a small river.

It was a nice looking farm. Three fields for crops, a barn for the animals to stay and a pasture for them to wander around when the weather was nice, plus there was a chicken coop and a food storage building.

Then there was his house. Jack wasn't too impressed with it to be completely honest. It mostly consisted of a single large room with a bed, a TV, a small kitchen, a small desk with a miror hanging over it, and a seperate bathroom. Jack barely opened the door before he began sketching out blueprints to expand his house more in a sketchbook he'd bought before coming here. Thank God he'd taken those carpentry and architecture classes in high school.

"How about we go introduce you to some of the locals?" Takakura suggested after he finished giving Jack the tour of his farm. "I'm sure they'd like to meet you." Jack sighed and set aside his sketchbook on the desk.

"Sure. I'll just get to work on ideas for the house later then." He followed Taakura out the door and down into the town.

The first people they bumped into were an elderly couple out for a stroll. Because the sun was already starting to set and they were just starting their tour of the village, Takakura and Jack just introduced the new farmer to them before moving on.

They had barely said their goodbyes to Nina and Galen when the duo stopped in front of a small hotel. Takakura called over the owners, Tim and Ruby as well as their son Rock and introduced them to the new farmer. Said man's only thought in his head was how two people with jet-black hair could have a blond kid.

Up next was undoubtedly Jack's favorite place in his new village so far: The Blue Bar. He thought the owner, Griffin, was a pretty cool guy. The girl Muffy on the other hand... he'd bet all the money he had that she was one of those annoying girls that cared more about boys and their own appearance than anything else. Seeing as his bank account only had fifty bucks in it, it wouldn't be much of a devastating blow.

Next, there were the firework twins. Jack couldn't help but think Redneck would have loved their merchandise and planned on sending the explosive-enthusiast party animal a package of the stuff when he could afford it.

Then they bumped into a man in a white lab coat who was muttering things to himself. He didn't even notice when they spoke to him. He just continued down the road muttering about his latest theories... and a gorrilla.

The next group of people they came across was a couple with a young boy. The father and his son were dressed for a jog. The two males demanded that Jack join them for their morning run tommorow, which he politely turned down.

When they got to the villa on the edge of the village, Jack couldn't help but be a little impressed with the place. IT WAS HUGE! The owner, an elderly woman named Romana, just gave Jack the feeling that she was saying "I'm rich and that makes me better than you" with every word that came out of her mouth. Then again, it could just be that he didn't like rich people. After all, most rich people where he came from were either snobs, idiots, or both.

Her butler and granddaughter were both kind to him, but for the life of him, he couldn't bring himself to really take them seriously. Maybe if he met them in town and not in front of the HUGE MANSION.

The sun had set, and it was quickly getting dark, so Takakura decided to finish the rest of the tour in the morning. It had been a long tiring day for Jack, so he didn't object. He just wanted to get some sleep.

Takakura had entered his house, and Jack was about to do the same when a tiny voice caught his attention.

"Who is it? Who is it?"

"I don't know!" Another voice answered. "There aren't any other harvest sprites other than us!" The former soldier looked around, and unsurprisingly, didn't see anyone.

"Those quacks give me the wrong meds or something?" He wondered, grabbing a pill bottle out of his pocket and examining the side effects.

"Down here!" Said a third voice. Jack did so, and was surprised to find three tiny people looking things. they each wore a different colored jacket, blue, red, and yellow.

"I'm Nic!"

"I'm Nak!"

"I'm Flack!"

"Did I grab somebody else's medication by mistake?" He still wondered aloud

"What's your name?" One of the tree creatures asked.

"Jack." He replied. Still looking at his medication.

"Ah, I see. It's the harvest sprite named Jack!"

"...I really need some sleep." The farmer walked into his new house without another word.

"The two of us working on a farm?" Jack heard himself say. It was this dream again. Another dream about the day when everything went wrong.

"You got any other ideas?" Daniel asked. "It'll be a roof over our heads and food in our guts. At least until what we figure out what we want to do with our lives." Jack wanted to shout out a warning to his friend, but anything he tried to say died in his throat. He heard the next words come out of his mouth.

"I guess it makes sense." he nodded. "Okay, when we both get home we'll go check out this farm my dad left me."

"Sounds like a-" Before Daniel could finish his sentence, a deafening explosion went off directly under their vehicle. The armored car flew a few feet off the ground and smashed into the ground upside down.

Jack woke up, shaking, panting and drenched in his sweat.

"It was only a dream. It was only a dream." He chanted until his breathing came back under control and he was no longer shaking.

Checking his watch, he noticed that it was 11:16. He'd barely gotten three hours of sleep before the nightmares reared their ugly heads. He reached for his pill bottle and swallowed dry two of the contents. He got up and got dressed. He desperately needed some fresh air to clear his head.

The valley was quite peaceful at night. Nothing made any noise except for the insects, and the view of the stars out here was just downright jaw-dropping. He spent nearly an hour wandering the valley, just now starting to notice and appreciate the beauty around him. Though, he had to admit, his favorite spot was right along the beach. Where the sound of the ocean crashing into the shore and the noises of the insects created a harmonious symphony he knew he'd never find anywhere else in the world.

Eventually, his legs got tired, so he sat down and enjoyed the view. Turns out, he was so distracted by his new discovery that he didn't realize he wasn't alone.

"Do I know you?" Asked a redheaded girl he had sat down next to without noticing. She wore a blue button down shirt with an orange t-shirt under it, and khaki shorts. Her deep blue eyes were filled with annoyance. In her hands were a large notebook and a pencil.

"Nope." Jack answered oddly cheerfully. "I don't think you do."

"Then can you get away from me? That look on your face is kinda scaring me."

"Oh, really?" The man asked, not knowing he'd been smiling like an idiot. "Then how's this?!" He showed her the creepiest smile he could manage to conjure up.

SMACK!

The Rehead smashed her very thick notebook into his face.

"Owwww!" Jack cried.

"And I thought Rock was annoying." She stood up and went home, leaving the combat veteran on the ground, groaning in pain.

"This is why I hate my meds, they make me all giddy for no reason." Jack muttered to himself as he got back to his feet. "On top of that, they make me halucinate. And now I'm talking to myself. Shut up and go home." And that is exactly what he did.

A/N: There we go! Chapter 1 is done! I'm probably going to come back later and rewrite a few things, but meh, not now.

So, I've been writing a long time, but my biggest problem is my dialouge, and such. Yes, I know it, you don't have to tell me. This is actually the reason I'm writing this in the first place. After all, practice makes perfect! I've already got this massive project underway, but I figured I'd try a little side project, and since my main project gets a new chap maybe once a month, it'll be a while before this story really gets rolling.

Anyway, it's almost 1:30 AM and I act drunkk when I get tired, so I'm gonna submit this and go to sleep before I say/do something wierd.

I do not own anything in this story!