Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the other characters in it.

"Hey, chicky chicky," I chimed to my chickens as I set down their feed. They hobbled up quickly, greedily gobbling every last grain. I wrinkled up my nose, setting their eggs in the shipping bin as I picked up my basket and ran towards the mine, happy to feel the cold air whipping at my face.

I shoved some loose grapes and herbs into the basket, hopeful that the ores I piled on top wouldn't smash them. Then again, Zack didn't seem to mind smushed grapes, for whatever reason. He usually didn't care, as long as the vegetables were okay.

My mind shot to Gray and the look on his face and the look on my face when I had ripped that turnip from the ground. The frayed roots turned into foreshadowing in my mind, of our frayed relationship, and I shook my head. Thinking too much, I told myself, hacking down on a few random branches with my axe before I picked up the basket and headed towards the mine again. I had a habit of thinking into things way more than other people.

I got my way down to the third level rather quickly, since that was where I knew the gold would be. It was useless to me, piling in copper ore after copper ore and gasping in delight when I found a gold ore when I could be racking up money with gold ore after gold ore and sighing when I got a silver ore.

Everything seemed to be going good as I hammered away, dropping in gold ore after gold ore into the basket just like I had predicted. I had my entire day planned out, just like I always did. When I got back I would dump my things into the shipping bin, go spend some time with Ann, meet up with Cliff as he got off of work, walk with him to the inn and hope he wasn't there, and then run straight to the general store and pick something up since I am a bit lazy, as Gray suggested. I preferred 'procrastinator,' however.

Then, speak of the devil, he decided to show up and ruin everything. I'm slowly starting to notice that ruining things seems to be what Gray is best at.

He looked sort of shocked when he came up the staircase and saw me hammering away, so at least he didn't plan being a jerk. Then, he pulled his cap down, shifting the bag of ores he had to the other hand. "Hey, Claire," he said quietly, though his voice echoed in the mines.

I stayed quiet again, just slamming my hammer onto a rock angrily. I gaped as the top shot off of the handle, and then I felt Gray's hands turn me away as it ricocheted off of the wall and slammed onto the floor, and his hands disappeared from my waist instantly as I stared down at my possible suicide, the hammer top laying where I had been seconds ago.

Gray stared as well, shocked again, and then we met eyes and he started grinning. "I guess you'll have to head down to the blacksmith's now, won't you?" he picked up the top and the handle, and I yanked them away, pulling too hard so I hit myself in the stomach, evoking a soft, "oomph!"

"You made me do that!" I accused, picking up the gold ore that lay somehow undestroyed and pushing it into the rucksack on my back. Gray rolled his eyes, pulling the handle and top back.

"Look, I'll carry it for you, and I did not! You just don't know how to mine properly," he retorted, and I yanked the broken pieces of my hammer back again.

"I do too! You just…frustrated me enough to make me mine improperly, alright?" He just rolled his eyes, not even bothering to argue with my bad comebacks as he yanked the pieces back again and headed up the stairs. I thundered after him, calling to his retreating form, "Give me my pieces back!"

"Just hear me out," he held them away from me with his outstretched arm, spinning so that I looked like I was dancing around him as we walked up to my shipping bin, where he gestured for me to deposit my belongings. I gave up, sighing as I dumped my ores into the bin, and then launched myself at him again.

He caught me easily with one arm around my waist, using it to shove me away as he held the hammer bits away. "I'm the one who's going to be fix it, so why even bother getting it away from me?" he asked, smirking a bit as I stared at him and finally shrugged, heading towards my house.

He caught me again by my wrist, not pulling me, but holding me still. "You do have to pay my grandfather, though. I mean, I guess I could give you a discount seeing as how I did it…" I could hear the mocking in his voice, but he had a point. I had to pay Saibara, and I wasn't about to just send my money off with him, even though I trusted him to give it to its rightful owner. I didn't want him to know I trusted him in that way.

"Claire, look, I…you know how hard it is for me to apologize, so you know how hard it is for me to say I'm sorry, okay? You know I didn't mean what I told you that day," and he didn't even have to clarify what day it was. It was burned into our memories as that day.

I shrugged, and he continued. "I think you're a great farmer, and of course you put it off. I mean, you have…Cliff…and Ann…" he said the names in a strangled voice, and I glanced over at him weirdly, one eyebrow raised.

"So…why were you so mad?" He looked ecstatic that I had said something to him, since it had just been, 'Get away from me!' 'Go to hell!' 'You made me!' and other childish shouts up until this question.

"You know how my grandfather is. I burned my hand and all he told me was I needed to pay for all the mistakes I was making, that I was lazy, I screwed up your axe so I had to take it to you and show you what I did…" he trailed off, shrugging. He didn't really have to explain- everyone in town knew how his grandfather could act.

I thought about my axe. There hadn't really been anything wrong with it, to be honest. "Fine. Fine, Gray! I'm only…forgetting about this…because I know how your grandfather is and I don't…like fighting," I sighed. Giving up didn't usually come as quickly as this, but staring at Gray's sad eyes as he kicked the dirt in the street made me feel guilty, just like I had felt watching Ann watch Cliff. I was a sucker when it came to guilt.

"Really?" he asked, staring down at me strangely. I nodded weakly, not willing to shrug since I had so much in our conversation. I was giving up bizarrely, and I knew that, after acting so headstrong for so long. But there was something in me that didn't want to be mad at him. I didn't want to keep tearing myself in half. Besides, it wasn't like I was saying we'd be best friends now. I just wouldn't hate him.

He grinned, looking for a moment like he was about to hug me before he looked down at his full hands and then looked away. "Good," he said, making it sound as if he had won an argument. I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything. I really didn't like fighting, either, and I didn't want to start another one already.

"Goddess Claire, what did you do to it?" Saibara demanded when I set the pieces of my hammer down, and I glanced at Gray, who was watching his grandfather nervously, like he was so sure I was going to sell him out. I rolled my eyes again, telling him only, "I dunno, the top just flung off when I was mining. I guess I hit the rock too hard, or something." What a pathetic excuse.

"Well, it'll be fixed in a couple of days." I handed over the money I knew it would cost, and Saibara took it eagerly. I exchanged a short look with Gray, who looked surprised- easily shocked, that one- and then walked out towards the winery.

"Hey Claire," Cliff said when I leaned against the railing like I usually did. He was picking grapes off of the bush right next to it, so he continued working, but looked at me often, trying to prove that I had his attention, I suppose. "I thought you had to go the supermarket."

I shrugged again- I was so passive lately! "Changed my mind. I don't feel like it. Do anything interesting today?" I always tried to get Cliff to talk about himself, but he often just talked about me, saying all he did all day was pick grapes.

Cliff glanced at me, a blush touching his cheeks. "Well, I'm talking to you," he said, the blush brightening as he glanced back at the bush, pulling off three grapes at one time, all of them coming off the vine easily and with no breaks. I wished I was that good at harvesting anything on my farm.

I grinned at him, burying my face in the arms on top of the railing to hide my blush. "Thanks," I said softly, and his only response was a shrug and a faint smile as he continued picking. "Have you talked to Ann today?" I asked, and he glanced up, thoughtful, and then nodded.

"She asked if I wanted something for breakfast, and said it'd be free. Made me, Gray, Kai and her dad pancakes," he told me, probably thinking it was going to be boring. My attention was all on him though, as if pancakes were the most amazing thing in the world.

"What did Gray and Kai say?" I asked, surprised with myself for being so curious. What was so exciting about their reactions to pancakes?

"They said 'thanks,'" Cliff snickered a bit, and I laughed when I realized he was actually laughing at me. Spending time with Kai was pretty good for his self confidence, huh? "Oh. I was just wondering, you know. For all I knew, Gray could jump on a table and declare his love for Ann. Pull out a blue feather. The usual," I shrugged, and Cliff laughed, pulling more grapes from the vines. One smushed in his fingers, staining them with purple goo as he dropped it onto the floor, kicking the dirt over it.

"Yeah, likely," a voice said as I felt someone lean on the railing next to me, and I turned to see Gray standing there. I shouldn't have been surprised, since he was starting to show up everywhere, but I was.

"You again," I muttered. I couldn't help still being a little bitter. "Yeah, I just can't stay away," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at me, though he had a small smile that I had to return.

Cliff watched us, his eyes wide and puzzled. Maybe, just maybe, I should have taken the time to explain that Gray and I weren't arguing anymore. "Hello, Gray," he said quietly, picking another grape that he smashed between his fingers. I wondered if that was nervous energy, or something. "They should make you pay for that," I teased, and Cliff's eyes snapped to my face, thinking I was serious, but his expression relaxed into a smile when he realized I was joking. I felt Gray's eyes on me, but I just looked away.

"I'm going to go to the library…do you want to come?" the last few words were added painstakingly slowly as Gray watched me. He was probably still trying to make up for shouting at me, so I smirked, shrugging, and then finally nodding.

Cliff watched our retreating forms, his jaw dropped, and I didn't remember until I was turning the corner to wave good bye to him.

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to get up, but I got back only a little bit ago and I still had to shower and unpack and get back to normal again. :) Well, hopefully this chapter was worth the wait! I know some of you are probably like, Claire forgave him to fast! But you'll see the reason why as more time goes on. Oh, and to whoever thought they were over analyzing (I don't want to say about what right now, if you really want to know check the reviews but it might spoil it a tad) don't worry, you're not. ;) Thanks for reading everyone, and thanks to all of you guys who wished me a fun time camping, I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoyed, and thanks to all of the reviewers so far!