disclaimer: harvest moon is not mine.


The Princess and the Cowboy

~Wish~


Dinner had not been a fun affair. My father hadn't been happy with me, and neither had my mother. Apparently sneaking out was not the right behaviour for a princess and that I had missed out on a dress fitting whilst engaging in Goddess knows what.

I took it all in, saying nothing. I did wonder why he thought I did it. It's not like I'm trying to bring shame to the family, I just honestly love it out there. I've spent most of my life stuck inside this damn place. Isn't it natural for me to want to break out?

The people here are so stuck up. The people out there are humble. They work hard because they have to, though it seems they enjoy their work. I wish my life was like that. If I could, I'd leave this place for good and set up a ranch somewhere nice. I'd have chickens and cows and sheep and a horse, dog and cat. At the end of every day, I'd come home and cook for my husband, and then I'd fall asleep in his embrace.

It was my wish for the future, but I knew reality wouldn't let it happen. I had to save it for my dreams, which nobody can control.

"Knock knock…"

I rolled onto my back, head craned to the door. "Come in."

My other best friend, the pinkette Natalie entered, sitting herself on the edge of my bed. "Yo. How's it going?"

"Same old, same old. You?"

"Yeah. Let's go with that." She raised an eyebrow. "Was your dad awful?"

I wrinkled my nose, shrugging a shoulder. "Not really. Yammered on about how they worried constantly about me and wished I acted right. I left when he was done."

"Ha. Sounds boring. Then again…My gramps can go on at me for years, so I know how it feels."

I chuckled. Nat was just too funny, even when she was being her normal self. It was kinda comforting to hear that my situation occurred down in the village too, except on a smaller scale.

"I had to run from the guards."

"Really? What'd you do?"

"Ah, luckily Jules saw me, so I hid in one of the stalls. There was a pile of hay so I just crawled in there and waited till they'd gone. Julia is a great actress," I added as an after thought, remembering that I'd forgotten to thank her for it. I'd have to do that tomorrow…

"Wow. Who knew. Under all that prettiness, she's just as crafty as you are."

"Seems so."

A cry of, "Natalie! Get down here! We're going!" pierced the quiet. I gave a bittersweet smile, leaning over to give the girl a hug.

"Thank you for coming up here. It was lovely chatting to ya!"

"No problem. I'm always around if you need me! Within reason, of course," she muttered quickly, standing to leave. "I'll come up earlier next time. Then we can talk more."

"Uh huh." I hesitated, wondering whether or not to tell the pinkette what was on my mind.

Her hand was on the door handle, pulling it open when I'd made up my mind.

"Nat?"

She faced me again. "Yeah?"

"Do think it's stupid if I wish for a normal life?" And I told her about my desire to own a farm, and some animals, and to have a husband who I could love with all my heart, and for this life to have nothing to do with the palace. When I was finished, I leaned back on my pillows, waiting to see her reaction.

"Isn't wishing for kids?"

My heart sank a little. Wishing is for kids, and I'm not a kid anymore. Damn real life.

She watched me crumple and folded her arms. "You didn't let me finish, idiot. Wishing is for kids, sure, but that's only dumb wishes, like being a fairy or whatever - stuff that'll never happen. Your wish is different. You want it to happen?"

"Yes."

"You serious about it?"

"Of course. Otherwise I wouldn't have told you."

Natalie gave me a rare, encouraging grin. "Well then, it'll come true, won't it." It was not a question, it was a statement. My friend was certain that my wish would come true, and that meant a lot. I was only half sure myself - hearing it from somebody else, someone who can be deeply cynical and disapproving of 'weak' behaviour actually made me believe it more.

"Thanks Nat!" I chirruped, bouncing up to hug her again. "That really helped, hearing it from you."

Cocking her head, the pinkette replied, "I'm not sure whether to be grateful or offended."

"Interpret it how you want," I laughed, just as another cry of, "Natalie! Come on!" sounded.

"Coming ma, stay calm!" Natalie shouted back, flashing me another grin before disappearing, the heavy wooden door giving a 'thud!' when closed.

I heard the tapping of feet on the stairs. They died down as Nat got further away, until I couldn't hear them anymore.

Certain she was gone, and wasn't going to turn back, I strode over to the window and stared up at the sky.

It got dark early in the Spring and the Winter, usually while I was eating dinner. One second the sun would be up, the next we'd have to flick lights and lamps on. I didn't mind the night; it provided excellent cover if I fancied doing some late night escaping.

The stars fascinated me too. Felicia had told me that if I looked hard enough, I'd see shapes in the lights, depending on the time of year. I'd looked it up in the library once, when I was smaller. They didn't look like bears or dippers or giants to me back then, just wobbly join-the-dots type things that somebody gave random names to.

One thing that did impress me was shooting stars. People had said that if you saw one, you should close your eyes and make a wish. If you wished hard enough, it'd come true.

Even though I'd grown out of stuff like that, the little child inside me told me it wouldn't hurt to check for shooting stars. I scanned the sky eagerly for fifteen minutes, faltering when nothing came.

I wasn't going to give up that easy.

Clasping my hands and squeezing my eyes shut, I concentrated hard on my wish. If wishing on a shooting star was good luck, surely wishing on any old star would be better luck - the only difference was that these stars were more stable.

"Please…People might think it's great to be a princess, but it isn't. I just want to escape from here for good…Please, please, please let it come true…"

It's not like I was expecting it to happen right away, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed when nothing happened. No spark, no sudden feeling of magic in the air…The night remained still, and I remained where I was, standing by the window in my personal prison.


The next morning, I awoke in my bed, in my room, in the palace. I shook my head at my own silliness. I couldn't expect it to happen right away - that was impossible.

I was not going to forget it, though. Natalie had told me it would come true, and I believed her. For now, I would place it to the back of my mind and distract myself with something else.

The only thing that could do that in this place were two things: irritating the guards - which whilst easy, wasn't a sensible option - or haunting the stables. Yes, this one was better. Maybe I would actually ride a horse today rather than hiding in the stall of one.

I could also speak to Julia and see if she wanted to go to the village tomorrow. It would too risky today considering I'd been caught yesterday.

With this in mind, I skipped there, whistling as I did. I earned some suspicious gazes from the staff - probably because princesses aren't supposed to skip and whistle cheerfully - but I ignored them, carrying on my merry way.

Julia wasn't around when I reached there, but her cousin - that silver haired guy - was. What was his name? It began with a 'V'.

Hmm…

"Vaughn!" I exclaimed, happy that I had remembered.

Vaughn did not seem happy at my exclaiming of his name. "What?" He asked sourly.

I placed a hand behind my head, sheepish. "Nothing. I just forgot for a second there, so I was glad I remembered."

"Hmph." He had soon turned back to his work.

I watched for a second, rocking back and forth on my heels. He must've felt my eyes on his because his angry face was back.

"What do you want?"

"Huh? Oh, well I wanted to talk to Jules, but she ain't around," I explained. "I'd go and find her, but if I'm honest, I don't know where she'd be at. Then I got a little distracted watching you work, so I'm standing here."

"She went to help Aunt Mirabelle with the chickens."

"Right," I answered, not moving from my spot.

This annoyed him more, apparently. "Why aren't you leaving?"

I put a finger to my chin. "Well, considering I live here, I'm pretty sure I can do whatever the hell I want. Just because most of the staff hate my guts and my parents are probably considering whether it would be okay to disown me doesn't mean I can't stand here and irritate the heck outta you." I considered Vaughn for a minute, while he glared at me from under the hat. "You don't have many facial expressions, do you?"

I could tell by him not answering my question that he thought of me as a pest, but I wasn't going to give up that easily. I had sworn to get to know him better, and that was something I would accomplish, no matter how long it took. Besides, I'd needed a distraction, and this was proving to be an enjoyable one.

I marched over, hands on hips. "I'm talking to you!"

"You're bothering me."

"So? When someone asks you a question, it's polite to answer!" Leaning down, I whispered, "If you frown anymore, you'll get wrinkles."

The cowboy jerked away from me, moving onto the next stall. I followed him.

"It was a joke! I was kidding! You're not meant to take it seriously." Geez, I didn't realise the guy was that bothered by it. Or, on second thoughts, by me. "Okay, so it'd be a miracle to see you laugh, I get that, but you didn't even crack a smile."

"No."

"You don't smile?" Oh Goddess, this was going to be harder than I originally thought. "I knew you were cold, but this is just crazy!"

"Deal with it."

"No," I replied. "I'm not going to deal with it. In fact, I'm going to make you smile. Not today, but soon."

Vaughn said nothing.

"I'm gonna go find Jules now," I announced, spinning around and heading in the direction I'd come from. "But you'd better be prepared, Vaughn. I'm going to get some form of a smile on your stubborn little face even if it kills me. And trust me, I'm very determined."

And with that I stalked away, my head already buzzing with possible plans. Ooh, this was gonna be good…


end of chapter


on the chapter: well, this is chapter two done! a lot of chelsea's views on things. and shock at vaughn not smiling. silly girl.

thanks to: probieprincess, HorseGirl784 and LatteCurlz for reviewing. i hope you review this chapter too! oh, and thank you for pointing out the mistake in my spelling. i shall correct it!

please review ^_^ again, i'll update in two days.

until then!