Chapter 2

"Owen! Owen! Get up!" a little orange-haired girl shouted as she jumped on her cousin's bed. She yelped when she felt a gigantic hand grab her skinny leg and pull her under the blankets. She was basically being cuddled to death. "OWEN!" She struggled as she tried to free herself, but it was impossible with the difference of their body mass. After a few minutes, she suddenly went limp from exhaustion. This moment of silence gave her an opportunity to think of a strategy and, thank Goddess, she knew exactly where his weak spot was. Once she felt Owen's grip weaken just enough for her to slightly turn towards him, she poked him in the flat area right below his sternum.

"GAHHHH!" Immediately feeling Owen's grip loosen, she made her escape. Knowing her cousin, she knew better than to stop there so she continued running out the door. "CHLOEEEE!" He tried running after her, but as soon as he opened up his door, his face met with a steel pan.

"YOU TWO ARE BEING TOO LOUD, TOO DAMN EARLY!" shouted their grandfather Ramsey, who was the town's blacksmith.

"Yeeeeaaaahhh," Chloe taunted, poking her head out from behind him. Owen made a face at her and snorted when she made an even uglier face back at him.

"Now that you're up, you better get a move on," Ramsey warned as he turned to make his leave.

"Yes, grandpa," Owen sighed, going back into his room to get dressed.

Owen made his way down the Mines, whistling a catchy tune that danced with the sounds of his footsteps. He stopped in front of a large boulder on the 10th floor. For the past few days, he enjoyed smashing away at the mysterious object in replacement for his workout. It never used to be there, but he never really thought much of it. However, today was the day he was going to conquer it. He could feel it in his bones! He even brought a backpack full of food and water so as not to waste time going back to the surface when he got hungry.

He set his backpack down in front the stairs, stretched out his large muscles, and took some practice swings with his hammer to prepare himself. After about ten minutes, he tightened his grip on his trusty hammer and positioned his feet to a proper stance. He swung his hammer behind him, ready to make his blow.

"Ahh!" All of a sudden, a girl came rolling next to him and made an abrupt stop once her head hit the boulder. The girl rubbed her head in pain and looked up.

Still in his stance with a hammer in hand, Owen was frozen from shock. Once they made eye contact, the girl screamed in fright and Owen yelled from the sudden outburst. They both turned away and tried to catch their breath. After about a minute, they slowly looked at one another. Once they made eye contact for a second time, they both broke out in laughter.

"W-what just happened?" Owen attempted to say through his laugh.

"It was dark and I tripped on something in front of the stairs!" the girl explained defensively, pointing at Owen's backpack.

"Aha, sorry about that. I wasn't expecting anyone to come down here." Owen offered his hand and swiftly pulled her onto her feet once she accepted it.

She blushed at his kind gesture, but Owen didn't seem to notice. He was too busy looking around for the hammer he unconsciously threw during their little screaming session. "Thank you. I don't think we've met. My name's Hikari."

"Oh, so you're the new farmer! I'm Owen. I'm an apprentice of Ramsey, the blacksmith. What brings you down here?" He turned towards her once he found his hammer, but was taken aback to find her staring up at him with eyes of awe.

"So YOU'RE Owen! Ramsey told me you might know something about a red bell!" she explained rather hurriedly.

Owen scratched his temple. "That old thing? It hasn't rung in years. But if you're still interested, it should be right behind this boulder." He watched as Hikari's body slumped down in disappointment upon seeing the boulder. This caused him to panick.

He never really knew how to handle girls. They were like fragile beings, both physically and emotionally. Even as a young child, he always felt guilty for accidentally causing some sort of harm towards a girl. Rather it be on the playground, or when he just wanted to joke around with them. The only girl he didn't really have to be gentle with was his baby cousin Chloe. But maybe pain tolerance and roughness runs in their genes.

"I mean, I've been swinging at this thing for a few days now. I should be able to get rid of it by the end of today..."

Her whole body rose back up so quickly, you could practically see ears pop out of her head. In addition, her eyes grew wide with high hopes. "You can?!" Owen awkwardly nodded and was startled at her sudden jump of glee. "I'll come back tomorrow then! Good luck!"

He watched in amusement as she hurriedly skipped her way towards the stairs, stopping in front of his back pack and carefully stepping over it before continuing her joyous skips up the stairs. He chuckled as he crossed his arms and shook his head. In his eyes, this girl reminded him of an big-eyed tiny rabbit.

Author's Note:

Thanks again for giving this story a chance! :D It's a tad shorter than the first chapter, mainly cause I wanted to hurry up and post up more chapters so you can get a better understanding of what the story will be like.

P.S. The beginning scene is actually based on me and my boyfriend's wrestling sessions. He likes to initiate them because he knows I did judo in high school, but I was never good at floor work. He's rather muscular and isn't very ticklish, but I found a sensitive spot on his chest that causes him to retreat with just a light touch. Mwahaha! &For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, just google image search of the "xiphoid process."