Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon

I

It's In the Stars

The sound of the horn thundered throughout the mountains as the captain of the boat called out to the people who were planning on going onto the boat. People were chattering endlessly, finally they were going on an adventure. The sound of feet squishing onto the wet mud was restless as people aboard the small ferry. From faraway, there was a voice shouting towards the boat, her feet running as fast as it could support her and her rucksack.

"Wait! Please wait!" She called out, one of the crew members noticed her calling and told the captain to wait. When she finally jogged up to the boat, she was panting endlessly, out of breath.

"You okay miss?" The sailor asked, patting her back. She nodded as an answer before giving him her ticket. "Is there anyone else wishing to go?" He asked again.

"None that…I saw…" She answered, straightening her back and walking onto the boat. As the captain called out again that they were about to leave, no one else came running so they aboard the boat and took off.

Claire sighed, she looked back at the huge mountain valley that she knew, that she grew up. She has made her decision, she's leaving. 5 years ago, the boy she ever loved left and now, it was her turn to leave too. After that very day, she never felt the same without him. Her smile has melted away along with her happiness and was replaced with her usual frowning. Everywhere she went on the mountain, it reminds her of him, they both have traveled the mountains since they were kids, marking each spot their 'territory'. If moving from this place was the only way she could get a life, she would do it. She has waited 5 years to graduate from school, she's not waiting anymore.

"Hey there." A voice disturbed and took her away from her thoughts. Looking over to see who called her, she noticed a dark man, smiling to her in a friendly manner. She nodded back, showing no expression whatsoever on her face before looking back to the sea.

"Mind if I stand here?" He asked, again he did not receive any answer than a mere nod of approval. "Thanks." He leaned in and watched the waves with her. There was a moment of silence, neither spoke a word until he started talking again. "I'm Kai by the way. What's your name beautiful?" He asked, a flirtatious grin tugging on his lips.

"Claire." She answered monotonously, she didn't even look at him, which bothered him a bit. Ever since he saw her boarding the ferry, he could not help but feel that he needs to talk to her.

"Nice meeting you, Claire." He held out his hand for a handshake but never got one. He embarrassingly took his hand back, never in his life was he humiliated by a girl. He ruffled his hair and flexed his muscles, no response. "So…where you going?" He continued to make a conversation, but with her, it was a question an answer kind of talk.

"Somewhere." She replied. There was another awkward silence before one of them broke it, but this time it was Claire. She turned to face him and gave him a weak smile before apologizing. "I'm sorry, I must be acting rudely aren't I? It's nice to meet you, Kai." She hold out her hand, Kai took one look at it, making sure she won't be taking it back to point at his face and laugh. After being sure, he took her hand and shook it, giving her a smile in return.

"So, you going somewhere?" He asked again, but to his disappointment, her answer stayed the same.

"Yeah…somewhere." Her blue sky eyes lingered on the restless seas, her thoughts wandered on where her destination was, even she herself didn't know where she was going. 'Where AM I going?' She thought to herself, confused and frustrated that she forgot to plan things first.

Kai noticed the frustration on her face and reached out to stroke her back. His movement gave her quite a shock as she jumped at the touch of his hand on her bare back. He didn't look at her, neither did he remove his hand, he merely instructed, "Take a deep breath, and let it go, you'll figure out something."

Puzzled at how he knew what she was thinking, she did what he said, taking a deep breath and instead of letting it go, she let out a loud roar. Her abrupt shouting made all the other passengers, including Kai, jump. "Phew…that did feel a bit better…like I can think a little more clearly…" Claire said after her small wild act.

"Hahahahaha!! And here I thought you were a small little shrimp with no guts. I guess I was wrong about you, Claire." He laughed out loud, ruffling Claire's blond hair into a mess. Claire grunted and squirmed until he finally stopped. "You mind if I call you 'shrimp'?" He asked, teasingly.

"Of course I mind." She frowned, but she couldn't help but smile a bit when Kai gave her puppy dog eyes. For someone who she has just met, she felt like she knew him for a ling time already. "And why should I allow you to call me that? It's not like you're ever going to see me again."

"Yeah, you're right. But we're staying on this boat for some time before we reach anywhere, and I want to get to know you more. So why not…'Shrimp'?" He tilted his head and ruffled her head again, a glint of trickster in his eyes.

"But then if I get close to you, if I become friends with you…one day you'll leave. Everyone leaves…" Her face twisted into a solemn little girl once more, the idea of having someone leave her again haunts her, if it were to happen, she doesn't know if she can cope with it. As she begun to be lost in her thoughts, she let out a surprised shriek when Kai's hand reached out to grab hold of her cheeks and stretch it into a smile.

"You really gotta learn to smile more often. Even when I'm stretching your cheeks, you look like a girl that just lost her puppy. And hey, I know that everyone leaves one day, we all have to, human nature and all…but I can promise you something…we'll definitely meet each other again. It's in the stars." Kai grinned, but immediately stopped at Claire's comment.

"What stars? It's daytime." Claire innocently asked, poking her head out of the boat to look at the sky clearly.

"Jeez Shrimp, you really do know how to ruin a mood setting." Kai sighed, ruffling his own hair as he chuckled at Claire's frowning face at being called 'shrimp', but couldn't resist letting out a chuckle.

"Guess I'm being too paranoid…you're right, I'm sure we'll see each other again someday, the world is round. One day we'll bump into each other." Her smile grew a bit bigger, ever since the day that boy left her, she have never smiled or laugh this much. Maybe fate sent this man named Kai to help her.

"Damn right." As the captain called out that lunch is being served, Kai grabbed Claire's hand and led her to the dining hall.

As they seated themselves in one of the many tables with plates in their hands filled with different kinds of food, they started talking about each other. Where they came from, their family, their childhood, everything. It has been a long time since Claire spoke this much, and she was enjoying every minute of it. She learned that Kai was a traveler of the sea, he has been to many places and has met many people from different nations, and that he was going to visit his cousin, Denny, on another island.

For the past few days, it has been nothing but fun and laughter for Claire, she's never met such an interesting man who could make her laugh anytime she felt sad. He made her do things that she normally wouldn't do herself. He took her sunbathing on the roof, took her karaoke-ing in front of everyone on the boat (and in the end, people threw things at the couple to shut them up), he took her scuba-diving (but eventually they had to quickly swim after the boat before it left them in the middle of nowhere), and sneaked her inside the kitchen for a midnight snack. It was safe for Claire to say that ever since she met him, their time on the boat was the most exciting and fun time she had in her life. Sadly, all things have to come to an end. Time doesn't stop, it goes on.

"I don't want you to go…" Claire moaned, pulling on Kai's bag as the boat reached Kai's destination.

"I did tell you that you could come with me, but you said you had to go somewhere else." Kai flicked her forehead, reminding her of her own words.

"I know but......I'm going to miss you, and who knows when we're ever going to see each other again?" She continued to complain, pouting her lips and shaking her head.

"EVERYONE LEAVING, PLEASE LEAVE NOW!!" The captain called again, catching both Kai's and Claire's attention. Kai sighed, pulling off his bandana and tying it on Claire's head instead.

"I have to go, this is a promise that one day we'll see each other again. I'll have to come back to get my bandana one day, so take good care of it." Kai winked, running out of the boat and turning back to wave to his friend. Claire waved back, tears swelling at her eyes as she tried hard not to let it out.

"I WILL!!! YOU BETTER KEEP YOUR PROMISE YOU JERK!!" Claire shouted to Kai, giving him a wide smile, the widest she was able to make. Kai chuckled, giving her a salute before disappearing into the distance.

We'll definitely meet each other again. It's in the stars.

"It better be…" She mumbled, flumping down onto the wooden floor as she started to cry. "…It better be."

'I'll be with you always. Promise.' He said, holding onto her as he stroke her honey-color hair.

"It better be…" She cried harder, the last time she trusted a man, he ended up breaking his promise and her heart.

A/N: Hi there, I'm sorry about taking such a long time to update this story and Just One Night. It's just that I was planning on finishing Hello My Darling first before continuing these two short stories, but it's taking me such a long time to finish it, so I'm just going to update these two, but slowly.

I'd like to thank you the people who helped me by reviewing ...

.Amberleaf.

Gwendolyn368

girl

Shimmerleaf

LovinHoneyXDHoneyLovin

teacupz'

...You guys are the bomb. Here's chapter 2, dedicated to you guys.

And just to be clear, this is still a Claire x Cliff, Cliff is coming later. :) Don't forget to review okay? Please? D: