DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

A/N: English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

Italic words – Thoughts

IT WAS YOU

Part 4

- Claire's POV –

Oh man. This is so not what I have in mind when I agree to go meet everyone else in town. I was walking towards the Mineral Town's library with Mary as we make our way to the last house in the town; the Mayor's house. Aaah…Why can't Jack be the one who guide me? Not that I like him to be one but it's his idea for me to go and meet the townspeople and all.

"Claire?"

"Huh? A-aah," I looked up from the ground that caught my interest to the black-haired woman beside me. "S-sorry. I guess I spaced out a while ago. What was it?"

The black-haired woman looked at me worriedly."Are you okay? You look kind of distracted. Do you feel unwell? Should we stop and rest for a bit?"

What are you? My aunt? "I'm good, Mary," I lightly shook my head. "Thank you for being concern but there's nothing wrong with me. It's just…you know, uh, hot…yeah. The Summer in this town is hotter than the one in my hometown so I'm still trying to get used to it," I lied and forced myself to smile.

"That's good to hear," Mary sighed in relieved. "Well, Summer's always been like this in Mineral Town. I'm sure you will get used to it later, Claire. However, if you ever feel unwell, do tell me."

"Aah," I simply told her. I'm an adult and can look after myself, thank you very much. "By the way," I added, trying to change the topic. "What are you doing in the library?"

"Oh, some new books came in. I need to make a log of it," Mary answered as she pushed open the door after unlocking it with a key she'd just tossed in her dress's pocket. "I hope you don't mind waiting for me for a bit. Or perhaps you prefer to come in? There might be books that will interest you inside."

"Uh, it's okay," I politely decline her offer. I don't want us to be together in a room now. "I'll wait outside – here, I mean," I said and leaned against a lamp post. "No need to rush though. Take your time, Mary," I told her.

The black-haired woman nodded. "Very well, Claire. Just come in if you're bored waiting outside, okay?" she flashed a smile before entering the library.

I watched as the door closed and the black-haired woman disappeared from my sight. I sighed. I scanned my surrounding to search for something interesting to gaze at but found nothing – Mary's previous home where her parents Basil and Anna lives, a library and a house where Ellen and Stu are staying – they're Elli's grandmother and younger brother. I sighed again.

"If only Konoe's here with me it'll be less boring waiting for her," I said to no one and kicked the small stone near my feet on the ground.

Konoe's on his own tour of the place with Akira as his guide. Knowing the brown floppy-eared dog, Akira should've probably done showing Konoe all available and visit-able places in the town and are currently playing tag at the hill behind Jack's farm. Going on a tour with Akira as the guide would've been fun since Akira and Konoe are so much in common – they're both having a good sense of humour and both are laidback dog and cat, viewing almost everything in the world in an optimistic way.

"Come to think of it, Konoe's motto is 'Don't worry, be happy' and Akira's 'A smile a day shun the bad luck away'… Bah. They should've just changed it to 'Hyperactive mode all day long' or something." Gosh, Claire. You suck in thinking of a motto. "Quiet, my conscience," I scolded myself – those who saw this will probably think I'm crazy for talking to myself.

I wanted to tag along on Konoe and Akira's tour but seeing that it'll look weird to the townspeople that I have a dog as a tour guide – added the fact that people won't understand a thing he's talking whenever he introduce me to someone or describing the description of a place to me, it doesn't seemed to be a good choice to pick. Jack's busy with his farm – his cow gave birth to a calf early this morning and he got to tend the parent and child as well as plant some more pineapple seeds. That left me with the one and only choice; Mary; his wife, the woman I hated as my guide. I don't mind going around the town alone-I'm not a kid and this is a small town anyway-but Jack didn't approve of my suggestion.

"Which is suck," I grumbled. My left hand went up to my neck and pulled out a necklace. I stared at the silver-coloured clover-shaped pendant. "The task sounds easy to me, but I still don't understand why I have to be in the same place as Jack's last test." There is no way I'm failing mine like he did though. "I still think it's better to go along with Chelsea…Oh, right. 'You forgot that this is an individual test; to see if you're capable enough to cope with how humans act and if you have the ability to differentiate their various kinds of emotions'," I tried mimicking Konoe's voice as I said his previous statements aloud.

I wonder how Chelsea is doing now. Chelsea Springfield is my best friend in Caelestis. Just like her name, Chelsea's personality is like Spring, she's a I-have-flowers-all-around-me-and-it-makes-me-happy type of person, cheerful and she was always seen to be smiling. I swear that she's a human version of Konoe and Akira. The brunette is another of many Harvest Goddess candidate and just like me, received her last task-it's not the same though-and is now in a place called Sunshine Islands to complete it. Chelsea, although is a year older than me is even childish than me – I can't remember how many times she'd get herself scolded by Aunty for doing stuffs or performing rites that made no sense to other people around her. Surprisingly enough, her Guardian is the same as mine – a cat but with a white fur that she called Aoba. Wait a minute. Does that mean we actually have the same personality and all? Nah. It's impossible. I don't remember being cheery like she is. Come to think of it, the islands name suits her very much. Hahaha. Aoba, on the contrary, is the opposite of Chelsea, Konoe and Akira – he's a serious cat that loves nothing but books and spends most of his time in the library. He seemed to enjoy preaching about the responsibilities of a Guardian to Konoe and Akira, much to the black cat and brown dog chagrin.

I sighed-I think it's the third time I sighed this morning-at the unfortunate event that befalls me, or so I called it myself. "I miss Chelsea and Caelestis," I whispered; eyes on the ground and my fingers fiddled on the necklace around my neck. My thoughts wandered to my previous life in Caelestis – the house, the garden where I used to play with Konoe and practice my magic, Father… Pull yourself together, Claire. A day hasn't passed and you're already feel like crying? Talk about being a baby. "I'm not. I'm just…homesick…I guess," I debated with my conscience. "I've never been away from Caelestis before, you know."

The chains of my necklace snapped in half out of a sudden and it shocked me, making me dropped said necklace onto the ground and the pendant, separated from the chains rolled onto the middle of the paved lane. "Hoo boy," I cursed as I watched the pendant stopped rolling and moved forward from the lamp post I'm leaning onto to get it; never bothered to look up or scan my surrounding before moving. Such action resulted in me knocking myself onto something.

"Hey!" come the voice of the something – someone, I realized, that I bumped into. Startled, I tried to look up but lose my balance and was about to fall onto the ground before a pair of hands caught me; the arms were wrapped around my chest and waist. "You okay?" the voice asked.

"So-somehow…," I replied and knowing that I will not fall anytime soon looked up to my saviour. "I'm sorry for that…T-thank you."

There stood a young man with ginger hair and a pale brown-coloured work outfit. Most of his hair was covered by the blue-with-'UMA'-written-on-it baseball cap that he's wearing and his clothes were kind of dirty but nevertheless he still looks very handsome. I feel my face heated a little as a pair of deep-blue eyes rested on my face – he was staring at me anxiously.

"You are…," he started, still staring at my face.

I noticed that he is now frowning. What? Is there something on my face? "Uhm…I-I'm new here...," I stuttered the first words that came across my mind as he frowned more. That is, if he could do that.

"…I see," the ginger said, his tone cold. "So you're his little sister, eh?"

"Eh?" I quoted his last word. "What do you-Kya!" I let out a shriek as he, without any notice released his hands, dropping me unceremoniously on the ground and I landed on the paved lane butt first.

"Hmph. I've got no time to spend for an airhead like you," he told me and walked away after giving me one of those you-stupid-person kinds of glare.

I watched – my mouth formed an 'o' shape as he walked away, passing the-what I can tell from the signs in front of the buildings-supermarket and clinic and turning on the right of the path before he completely disappeared from my view. It took 2 seconds before my expression changed and my eyebrows knitted together.

"W-what the heck is wrong with that person!?" I sputtered, clenching my skirt tightly with both hands. "Scratch that handsome part. He's a jerk! He's a complete idiot, brainless, unmannered jerk who doesn't know how to treat a lady right!" I rubbed my butt. "Ouch. It's a good thing that the lane is stone-free or else this'll hurt even more. Crap. I swear if I ever found that jerk again, I'll make sure to do something that'll embarrass him to no end!"

Still rubbing my butt and my eyes focused on the path the jerk disappeared into, my other free hand fumbled on the ground, trying to search for the clover-shaped pendant. It didn't take long for me to find it but the pendant felt warmer than it used to when I touched it. Confused, I turned into the pendant and was immediately taken in by the view.

"The pendant…," I stared in amazement as the clover-shaped pendant gave out a faint light and blinking for a few times. "It's glowing…," I picked it up and rested it on my palm; my other hand caressed its outline. "What…what does this mean?"

oooooo

"Well, that was funny," Konoe commented as he licked his front paws. "It seemed that you're having fun today, ne?"

"Don't 'ne' me Konoe," I pouted, picking up the blue overall and a white-with-red-stripes shirt on the bed and hung it up next to the cupboard. Yep. A blue overall that matched Jack's. Thank you so much, brother. Now it's official that the house is resided by three people who wore blue. Yay! Not. "No, it's not funny and…hey, stop grinning!"

"Ehehe. Sorry. It's funny so…hehe," the black cat replied as he jumped onto the bed, landing straight on the spot where the overall and shirt previously lying on. "But the pendant is not broken. You shouldn't be too work out about it now, no?"

I shrugged. "Maa, you have a point there. Jack did say that it's fine and all," I answered, staring at the pendant lying innocently on the table next to the cupboard. I remembered the quick talk about the pendant I had with Jack when he took me to my room on the 1st floor after dinner. "The problem now is the chains of the necklace. It's broken so I can no longer wear the pendant as a necklace. It'll be troublesome to put it inside of my pocket when I start working on the farm tomorrow," I added as I glanced at the overall – Jack bought it especially for me and told me to wear it when I was working on the farm. I have a feeling that I'll be wearing that thing quite a lot starting tomorrow though.

"Hmm…That's indeed will be a problem," Konoe nodded, agreeing completely to my previous statements. "Well, why not just make a new one?" he suggested as I approached him and sat on the free spot on the bed beside him. "Ask Jack where to buy it tomorrow. I'm sure he'll know a place where you can get a new one."

I adjusted my legs on the bed. "Aah. I'll do that tomorrow. But now," I paused to yawn and Konoe took this opportunity to positioned himself on my stomach. "I need some sleep. Can I turn off the light or are there still anything you wanted to do?"

"Nah," the black cat answered. "Turn it off. I'm sleepy as well. It's really tough chasing Akira around the hill today. Man, I almost fall into the lake while chasing him."

I chuckled. "You know that Akira is faster than you, right?" I said and patted him on the head once. "Good night, Konoe," I added as switched of the table lamp beside me and pulled the sheet upwards my body.

The room was dark and I can hear Konoe snoring. Konoe can win a gold medal in the annual Caelestis Sports Week. That is, if there's any event for 'The Best Snoring' in it. Heh. My eyes blinked for a few times and I can't help but feel that I missed something – the feeling is so strong it prevented me to go to sleep. Hmm…I can't put my finger on it…hmm…retracing today's event…Wait a minute. Holy…

"Konoe!" I jolted up from the bed, sending the cat on my stomach flying down onto the floor with a 'thud' sound. "I just…Oh dear Harvest King and Harvest Goddess…Oh my…Oh my...," I frantically raked my hair. "How did I-Aaargh!"

Konoe slowly rose from the ground. His sleepy eyes widen in shock as he jumped back onto me. "W-what? What happened, Claire? You have a nightmare? You saw a pervert outside the window? Oh, no. This is the 1st floor so that's impossible. Ah, you saw a flying waffle staring at you from outside the window with a striped candy-cane on its hand? Tell me you do!"

"No, no and no!" I paused, my eyes fixed on him. "You should probably cut down the amount of sweets you're eati-Wait. That's not right!" I grabbed him and pulled him closer to me until our forehead touched each other's. "The jerk. That idiot, brainless jerk!"

"You know, those words practically got the same meaning," the cat snickered.

"No, Konoe!" I shook him for some seconds before he cried out that he's feeling dizzy. "I bumped into that jerk!"

. TO BE CONTINUED .

A/N: I love writing about Konoe and Akira...hehe. XD Ah, this is random, but I've removed 'Little White Lie' and will focus on this and 'Desert Rose' for HM fandom. Some one-shots might be up though. X"D This is the longest chapter so far. (n.n);