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

The blue feather seemed to always float to the top of my underwear drawer, no matter how many undergarments I piled on top of it. I was beginning to think things would have been a lot better if I had just disappointed Karen. Things would be easier if I wasn't such a people pleaser.

A people pleaser. I froze where I standing over the underwear draw, trying to suffocate the blue feather so it couldn't keep on soaring back up. It was something I had never considered before.

But I wouldn't stay with Cliff just to make him happy. That was a terrible thought. That was an unnecessary thought.

That was a thought that had more truth to it than I was willing to admit.

"You!" I shouted at the blue feather. "You screwed up everything! You're supposed to make me happy, but you just ruined things with Gray! What am I supposed to tell him now, huh?"

I pulled my empty suitcase out from under my bed and zipped the blue feather inside. At least then it didn't matter if it floated to the top, I had emptied my suitcase out and wouldn't need to go into it unless I planned on moving- then again, at the rate my life was heading down that could be pretty soon.

I wanted to explain things to Gray, but I couldn't see how that would be fair to Cliff. Run off to tell his old friend that I wasn't going to propose to Cliff, not to worry, because I liked him more than I had expected? No, that wasn't fair at all.

So instead, I headed to meet up with Ann.

Where, coincidentally, they both were.

Before I could think of it, the door closed loudly behind me and I swore under my breath. They were mumbling something to each other and then both Cliff and Gray turned to look at me. My eyes flew to the floor.

"Claire!" Kai called out. "I'm going to leave tomorrow, and you weren't going to come say good-bye to me?"

I looked up excitedly. "That's why I'm here!" I hurried to where he was standing- next to the boys- and we hugged quickly.

"I'm going to miss you tons, kid. Even with all your little problems."

"What are you trying to say?" I retorted, and he laughed.

"Ann knew you wouldn't mind if she told me. So she filled me in on all the…farm stuff," he said when he realized Gray and Cliff were just staring at him. "If you ask me, I think the stronger, though a little meaner cow would be much better than the chick-"

"Kai!" I snapped. "Whichever one I choose will not be based on strength, or any of that. It will matter about how much I like them. And I don't know if I like chickens or cows and it's a big mess!" I waved my hands in the air, only to have him catch them and laugh.

"You do have a lot on your mind. Lucky I found you, right?" More like lucky he saved me.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled and nodded. "Yeah, right."

"Well, come over here and I'll tell you my advice. Maybe you should say hi to your boyfriend first, though," he grinned, heading over to a table against the wall.

Feeling my cheeks flush, I turned to Cliff. "Hi," I told him softly, waving. "Sorry I didn't meet up with you yesterday."

"It's okay, Gray told me you went to the pond," Cliff smiled at me, looking so innocent. Had he picked up on everything Kai had said, or was he totally oblivious? I was never too sure about him.

"Yeah, she has tons of stuff to think about apparently," Gray muttered bitterly to nobody in particular.

I shot him a look, but what could I say? "Yes, I do. I had a weird run in with Karen yesterday. She wanted me…" I tried to think of a way to explain it so maybe Gray wouldn't be mad at me. "She wanted me to buy something that I didn't really want to buy. But I did anyways."

"What was it?" Cliff asked. I should have anticipated that.

"You know Karen, always trying to force more and more seeds on her. Nobody else buys them," Gray answered, looking at me blankly. I was dying to know what he really had to say, but obviously I wasn't going to find out.

"Oh…well that's not too much to think about." Cliff answered. If he had looked confused before, he looked totally lost now.

"I'm just having a tough time!" I cried out. "I don't know how to say no to her or to anyone else!"

Kai smirked. "You don't have to talk to me if you don't want too."

A blush grew on my cheeks as I left Cliff and Gray and sat with him. "Sorry, you're the one person I actually do want to talk to right now, especially since you're going to leave soon."

"Yeah, leaving is the worst," Kai groaned. Finally, someone who didn't have feelings for someone, someone who wasn't wrapped up in what was apparently- at least according to Mary- very strange in Mineral Town. "It's especially going to be hard to leave this year," he gave a heavy sigh.

I froze. Maybe he was wrapped up in this all. "Is there someone holding you back this time?" I teased.

I was surprised to see an actual blush go onto his cheeks. "Actually, yes."

My hands flew to my mouth in surprise. "Well, who is it? Ann?" I had always thought he liked her. "Or is it…Mary?" Kai went to the library every once in a while, didn't he?

"No, neither of them. Ann's great, of course, but she's like my sister. And Mary….I'm not sure if I've ever even talked to her. It's Popouri, actually."

I tried to picture the two of them together, and it came to me easily. They did fit together nicely. "In fact," he continued, "I really need to go see her. I promised I would spend some time with her." At the thought of Popouri, my troubles had apparently flown right out of his head. He stood up and held his arms out to me. "I'm gonna miss you a lot, Claire, but I've got to run. Thanks for the talk."

As if he was the one who needed advice. "No problem, Kai. See you next summer."

Could I blame him? He was about to leave Popouri and not come back until next summer. If I were him, I would spend my last day with her too. I looked over at Cliff and Gray, the first of who looked very uncomfortable, and the latter who was staring, looking perhaps a little apologetic, into the space before him.

"Claire!" he called when I was about to go out the door, and I hesitated as he caught up to me.

We looked at each other, and then he finally said, "Um…do you still want to explain it to me, or do you hate me again?"

I rolled my eyes, but I knew that was as close as I was going to get to an apology for a while. "If you have time," I shrugged. It was well known that I tended to drag out stories to be as long as possible without even trying to.

We walked out and towards my farm as I retold the story of what I had gone through the day before, trying to shake off Karen and watching Stu and Elli and talking with Mary. It was surprisingly easy to talk to Gray- when he was quiet, at least.

Finally we stood inside my house, where I pulled out the suitcase and opened it to show him. The feather danced around, and I continually slammed the suitcase over it. "It never quits! It's taunting me, Gray! It's messing with me! I just don't know what it wants."

"It wants to be given to someone," Gray chuckled. "It's rumored to have a power, but I'm not sure it's dancing. Just looks like it's floating around from the air, to me."

"That's because it's not harassing you," I muttered, picking it up and holding it out to him. "Try holding the thing and I bet it'll do it to you, too!"

"I'm not supposed to touch it," he shook his head, moving his hands away.

I gave him a puzzled look and pushed it more towards him. "Take it, Gray, what's wrong with you? See, you don't want it to bug you either!"

"No, it's just…it's supposedly bad luck if you give it to someone you don't want to marry," he told me quietly, pulling his hat down once again and burying his hands in his pockets.

I stared at it for a long time. "Then I definitely don't want to give it to Cliff," I said decidedly.

Gray looked up, and his hat bounced up as well. "What?"

"I didn't even know what to say to him at the inn today. If I married him…what would we ever talk about?" I put the feather away in my suitcase. "I just…guess it's time to admit it. I can't force feelings for him. I guess I like him but…nowhere near as much as…"

"As much as what?" Gray asked when I drifted off, his eyebrows still raised as if I a permanent state of shock.

"As much as I thought," I finished quickly, putting the feather back into the suitcase, zipping it away and hiding it beneath my bed. "Now I've just got to…tell him that."

We looked at each other again, unsure what to say. Finally he told me, "He'll understand."

Neither of us looked so sure about it.

Author's Note: I didn't really like this chapter. Sorry if you guys didn't either…thanks for reading, though! I don't have much to say as usual, sorry about that too. Come again! =p