Hi all, here's a different take on a Skye x Jill relationship! Of course, Natsume owns all the characters and it's my twist on them.
Chapter 1
The sun blazed in the sky, which was blotched by small puffs of white clouds. It was as if the rays were absorbing all the moisture from the land, causing a wisp of dust to squirt out from any foot that dared to step onto the otherwise deserted farm fields. Weeds tackled the earth, kidnapping any kind of beauty that could be found there, and the wood of the barn house was farm from acceptable conditions. Various hurricanes had carried large logs and stones, only to drop them across the already messy land.
Jill sighed heavily, slowly losing any sort of confidence she previously had. In her right hand was a crumpled letter, worn from the folded creases. The black script on it was barely legible now, but she might as well have the entire thing memorized by now. So many times she had read the words over in an effort to make her final decision to come here. However, regret now tug at her heart as she scanned the poor excuse of a farm in front of her.
"What did I get myself into?" She whispered sadly to herself, shaking her head at the same time. Her tongue clicked irritably and she tapped her foot impatiently. Breathing another loud sigh, Jill crouched down, hovering herself above the dried, cracked land. Slipping the black glove off her hand, Jill scooped a handful of the soil in an attempt to find some sort of quality that could provide the nurture that crops needed so badly.
"Not what you expected?"
The scratchy voice from behind startled Jill, and she couldn't help but jump slightly. When she turned, she saw a face she didn't recognize. An old man stood behind her, wrinkles that came from spending days in the sun pulling his face down. Huge black eyebrows caused a distraction if someone were to try and speak with him. A stern frown was plastered to his face and a head of black hair receded quite a bit, revealing more than the desired amount of his forehead.
"Uh… Are you…?" Jill's hands suddenly shook as she straightened out the paper in her hand. Eyes squinted, trying to read the faded name at the bottom of the page, she worked over the word in her mind a couple times before speaking. "Are you Takakura?"
An uneasy smile appeared on the old man's face. He chuckled slightly, rubbing his calloused hands together. "Yes, I'm Takakura." There was a noticeable difference of pronunciation of his name when he said it. "I see you did get my letter, after all."
"Yeah, it's right here." Jill waved the crinkled paper in front of Takakura's squinty eyes.
"I sent that almost two years ago…"
Jill scowled fiercely, sending a strong glare to the slightly hunched-over man. Her arms crossed on her chest unconsciously in an effort to display her obvious displeasure. "I'm sorry I took so long."
The sarcasm that hung on the words didn't seem to affect Takakura. Maybe he didn't understand it at all, since his facial expression remained the same. "Well, it's okay now, I g—"
"Yeah, I'm sorry I took so long to uproot my entire life in the city." Jill tucked a portion of her bangs behind her ears irritably. "I'm sorry that I wasn't rushing to the aid of some random guy who knew my father. The father that I didn't even know. The father that left out of the blue one night, without saying anything or telling us where he went. In fact—" she met Takakura's gaze with her livid violet eyes, which were narrowed so much she could barely see out them, "—I'm sorry that you expected me to show up in the first place!"
A painful silence clung to the air. The smile had vanished from Takakura's face, now replaced by a hurt frown. He scratched the back of his head and sighed loudly, trying to choose his words carefully. Jill wasn't anything like he had expected.
"Then why are you here?"
Jill froze; any kind of feisty comeback was caught in her throat. Unwanted tears stung at the corners of her eyes and, in an effort to maintain the pride she still had, Jill turned her face away from Takakura, staring blankly at the ground. There was another hush that plagued the atmosphere, and Jill was searching frantically in the dirt to find an answer or some sort of response.
"I said, why are you here?" Takakura's previously soft tone had turned stern, a rasp catching in his throat.
"B-Because… I…" Jill twisted the end of her ponytail around her fingertips anxiously. The lavender polish was still pristine on each nail, still smooth to the touch. Takakura noticed it as well, wondering privately to himself why there was paint there in the first place. He had once seen Muffy strut through town harboring red-tipped fingers, but he always tried his best to avoid her. "Whatever, I'm here now so you can stop complaining." Jill's sharp words snapped Takakura back to attention.
"Alright," Takakura clapped his hands together, "get some rest, explore the town. As you can see, you've got a lot of work ahead of you." With that, he whisked off, heading to the small log cabin at the far corner of the farm.
A twinge of guilt remained with Jill as she watched him hobble off. Her mother had always said she was awful with first impressions. She felt that she was able to make friends easiest when her mom was there to basically take the initial conversation step by step. However, she couldn't help but have distaste for Takakura. Maybe her father never would have left them in the first place if the old man didn't exist.
Eventually, Jill shook her head angrily. Stop being so nostalgic, she closed her eyes and told herself quietly, mom's gone now, so there's no use wishing she was here now. As she scolded her own thoughts, the ground underneath her feet gradually turned into a stone material. She had been so caught up in her sulking she hadn't even realized that she had walked into town. The sun had visibly dipped from its zenith, and the village was still bustling with movement, neighbors sauntering through the streets, occasionally stopping to speak with one another.
"Hey!" A voice off to the side called out to her. A voluptuous blonde girl with an unnecessary amount of makeup caked on her face was strutting towards her, strappy black heels clicking vexingly against the stone. Jill's eyes couldn't help but find their way to the needless amount of skin exposed on her chest by the short red dress she wore. "Are you the new girl the town's been abuzz about?" The girl's nasally voice made Jill's eye twitch slightly. When Jill still didn't respond, the girl giggled and continued speaking incessantly. "Heehee! You totally don't have that, like, farm girl look! You're def from the city, I can tell! Ohh, I've always wanted to live there, but I could never leave this little town! It's just the best!"
Oh, Goddess, Jill couldn't fight the urge to roll her eyes, so she forced herself to close them completely, moving them behind closed lids. Seriously, what have I gotten myself into?
"Oh my Goddess!" The blonde girl suddenly squealed, and Jill clutched tightly onto the sides of her green skirt in an attempt to stop herself from covering her ears from the shrill tone. "I'm so sorry! I've been rambling and I never really introduced myself! I'm Muffy." The bodacious girl flashed a pearly smile framed by red lipstick.
"I'm Jill." It was a struggle to speak without sounding stiff.
"Teehee! Jill. That's so cute!" Muffy's hand flew to her cheek. "I work at the Blue Bar! Come by tonight! It's, like, a really great way to meet the village, you know? It's like we're already besties!" Without warning, she threw her arms around Jill, squeezing her shoulders tightly, and her overexposed bosom pressed noticeably between the two of them.
Unused to such overt affection, Jill felt her face flush red. Her hands delivered an uncomfortable pat on Muffy's back that would normally signal the end of a hug, but the blonde girl didn't let go. Finally, after a tiny squeeze, Muffy released Jill, still bearing her same smile from before, and skittered off.
From where she stood, Jill could just make out the sign that told passersby what was inside the stone building. Next-door was a large wooden structure that resembled an inn. Across the cobblestone street were three houses, each made by the same material but shaped a little differently. It was nothing like the city, yet Jill hadn't figured out whether or not that was a bad thing. At this time of day in the city, she probably would be headed to one of the diners that dotted the crowded streets, listening to the cars shout at one other.
Caught in her reminiscent daydream, Jill had begun to walk, and now she found herself passing by rows of strawberry bushes and tomato vines. They flowed gracefully in the small breeze that came from the mountain, adding a certain flair that Jill hoped she could capture in her future farm.
"Admiring the view?" An orotund voice made Jill jump. Leaning on the other side of the wood fence separating her from the pasture was a large woman with red hair tied back into a ponytail. An apron, whose pockets bulged slightly from objects inside them, decorated by picture of various fruits was tied around a loosely fitted, yellow t-shirt. Red rainboots sloshed at the woman's feet, which seemed a little strange given the lack of precipitation.
"I-I… It's nothing like my father's- I mean, my farm…" Jill stepped towards the fence, staring wistfully at the green plants in front of her.
"So you're the kid who took over Jack's farm." The woman grinned, her teeth visibly less white than Muffy's, and Jill frowned at the mention of her father's name. Beads of sweat were sliding down the red-haired woman's face, Jill's eyes following them until they dripped off her chin.
"A-Actually… Jack-" His name felt awkward as it rolled off her tongue, "-was my father."
"Get outta here!" The woman's eyes widened, revealing their emerald color. "I didn't know he had a daughter! Why didn't you ever come to visit?"
Jill curled the end of her ponytail around two of her fingers, fidgeting slightly, unsure how to respond. For some reason, she felt a pang in her heart; she was pained by the fact her father had not even mentioned her. It was like he had forgotten all about the family he had left behind in the city. "Well, I…" I just found out myself where he had been living this entire time, she thought the words, but didn't speak them. "I lived in the city my entire life… so…" She ended her statement with a shrug, averting her eyes from the large woman.
"That's too bad." The woman had shifted her weight off the fence, now keeping her arms crossed over her chest. "Maybe if you'd been there, the farm wouldn't have fallen to ruins like it did. Sorry," she added quickly as if to make sure Jill wasn't offended, "I didn't mean to make you feel bad."
"It's fine. Just seeing what I could make out of the land I have is enough to inspire me to work." Jill gestured to the swaying fields of crops before her. They danced in perfect harmony with each other and leaned back on one another when a gust came through.
The woman bellowed a laugh. Her hand slapped against Jill's shoulder with an unexpectedly large force that almost sent her tumbling backwards. "I like the way you think, girl. What's your name, honey?"
"Jill."
"Nice to meetcha!" Her hands were on her hips now, lifting the area of fat around her hips up slightly. "I'm Vesta. I live here on this farm with my brother, Marlin, and our farm aid, Celia. Hey," she suddenly perked up, pulling a cloth bag from the pocket of her apron, and shoved it towards Jill, "take this. It's tomato seeds."
"Oh, no, I couldn't." Jill forced a smile and shook her head. The last thing she needed was to be in debt to someone one her first day.
"Consider it a housewarming gift." Vesta let out a guffaw. Her crooked smile remained on her face as Jill stood still, staring at the bag of seeds that Vesta had dropped on the fence post. "Well, if you never need any more seeds, we sell 'em here, so feel stop by anytime, sweetheart." After she finished talking, Vesta slipped on a worn pair of gloves, wiggling her fingers until they were comfortable, and went back to attend to her farmland.
Jill clicked her tongue, eyeing the sack in front of her. She hated it when people called her 'sweetheart'; even her mother was a culprit.
In the end, Jill snatched the seeds from the fence and made her way home, consciously avoiding another run-in with a villager. Next to the barn was a small shed, mold growing under the paneling on the walls. Inside were shelves along one of the walls, with rusted tools hanging on nails that looked like they were going to snap under the weight at any second, and one cabinet, where, upon opening, Jill discovered dozens of cobwebs dotted by black spiders.
"Ah, what the hell…" She sighed, slugging the sack onto one of the shelves, which caused a cloud of dust to blow into her face. After one cough, she made her way out of the shed and couldn't help but angrily kick at a pebble to send it flying across the weed-ridden ground.
Tapping her foot anxiously, she let out a long breath, staring at the puffs of white in the sky as they spread over the sinking sun. Her feet began taking her towards the only place she knew she could find some solace from the disappointment that was her farm: the Blue Bar.
Read and respond! Sorry Skye didn't make it to this chapter, but he'll be here next chapter. I just needed this chapter to introduce some characters and background information :)
