Heya guys, I was raised from the dead, along with this fanfic.

To Dolphinea- I am aware that you said that there's no need to thank you but I really have to thank you for submitting a review and saying that the story is great and that you like the previous chapter. Again, thank you~!

With that said, please enjoy the new chapter of this fanfic.


9th Chapter
The Date

"What?"

He covered his eyes with his hand from the blinding light. The light suddenly disappeared and the young blacksmith just found himself lying on top of something silky. He touched it and found out that it's hair. 'Neat' that is all he could say, the young blacksmith stood up and the scenery immediately changed, he is now standing in a middle of the ocean. Gray didn't understand what's with the silky hair and the ocean but there is one thing that he's sure,

He's in a deep dream.

Gray started to walk and the ocean started showing images, images of his memories. He thought that the ocean might be representing his memories with his dear mother, Mari. Gray did say that the ocean reminds him of his mother's eyes to Saibara back then.

He walked and walked, the color of the ocean changes depending on the emotion he felt at that moment like his memory of his mother's death, the ocean is gray. The young blacksmith continued to go on until he encountered his most despised memories; the ocean fluctuated and is changing colors red and black. He started running.

As Gray runs, the memories that's being shown gets worst and worst and the sounds boomed, deafening him. He ran and ran with hands covering his ears and with his eyes close.

The sounds and voices got louder and louder every step he take. Gray tried to stop but his legs didn't listen no matter how hard he try to stop them until the young blacksmith is at the point of begging... to his legs.

A blinding light flashed in his eyes and he shot up from his bed. Gray breathing was so hard and fast, along with his heart beating so heavily in his chest. He was having a nightmare.

"Aren't you supposed to be angry at Gray, Pop?"

What Ann said made Gray fully awakened. He assumes that she and Popuri are downstairs of the inn, who appears to be talking about him. The young blacksmith just stayed in his bed.

"Yah, but, since it was her and I want to contribute some help with this, I'll join. But to be honest, I never liked his attitude one bit." she paused, "He thinks that he's always alone and always pushes everyone away from him. Not to mention that he made such an impenetrable wall around him."

He heard Ann gave a short laugh, "'Pushes everyone away from him'? Not anymore." then he heard Popuri laughed.

Everything went silent again. As he thought, nobody likes him, just like the people and kids he once encountered when he was a child, they all hated him but for once he knew the 4 out of millions of reasons why they hated him. Flashbacks of his worst memories appeared right before his eyes again.

"Dude you alright?"

The young blacksmith was surprised when he saw a tanned man beside him, wearing a worried expression. Gray rubbed his eyes and said 'what' at him, Kai chuckled, "As always, you're not so delighted to see me."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Not just 'not so', I'm not really delighted to see you everytime Kai." He threw him a glare but the tanned man just brushed it off by laughing, "C'mon dude, don't be such a glum to a guy like me," he said, making a 'puppy-eyes' look and the young blacksmith snickered, "To commemorate our reunion, meet me tomorrow by the beach tomorrow, 9 in the evening! We'll grill lots of lots of corn all night!"

Kai saw Gray's earlobe move as he heard the word 'corn' and 'grill'. The young blacksmith coughed, "Okay, I'll be there, just this once." Then smiled, "Since it's grilled corn." Gray whispered.

Well played me. Kai knows when it comes to corn, Gray will never reject or back down, especially if it's grilled, in short, it's easy to bribe him.

So, part one of Claire's plan is now complete.

"Hey Pop! Here! I know what kinds of food to cook!" Ann showed her an old thin cookbook of Italian cuisine and was flipped through the 'Pasta' section. The cover of the book is tattered, several pages are gone and some are chewed by rats, and the letters and words are already faded. "Pasta! Everything is romantic with pasta!"

"Yah! Just like in that Disney movie!" Popuri cleared her throat, "This is the night, a beautiful night. Na na na na na~."

Rick's sister grabbed Ann by the hand and started dancing with her while humming the tune, the waitress just went with the flow. "You two sure enjoy what you're doing."

They both look at the direction where the voice came from, he was there standing by the staircase with his arms crossed and a smile formed on his face. Popuri laughed and so is Ann too. "You sure it's okay to discuss that here?" Kai asked.

Popuri just nod, "That person doesn't even know a thing what's coming!" The waitress cleared her throat, "Anyways," she grabbed the book, "I already crossed out the other pasta cuisines except for Carbonara, Ravioli, Lasagna and Spaghetti with meatballs." Rick's sister smiled and showed them what she found, "And we can use this recipe for making the dessert!"

Kai and Ann looked closely at the book and smiled, "Nice find, Pop." she said. "So Kai, since you're the only guy for our operation! You are to set up the tables, utensils and other stuff that requires your 'Manliness'." the waitress informed him as she teases him.

"Roger!"

God, they sure are loud. The young blacksmith said in his mind. He's still up and as usual, staring at the dusty ceiling. Even though it's unavoidable and it's just accidental, the boy cannot help himself on eavesdropping on what in the world they are talking and he could guess that they're talking about food. Maybe it's Ann's new gimmick for the inn so people won't eat the same food her father serves is, depending on what season. Gray continued to listen to them.

They continued to talk about food for almost 3 hours today and they didn't realize that it's already 7:30 in the evening, they didn't even realize that Cliff had gone back hour and a half ago. The young blacksmith suddenly got bored on listening at the three people downstairs that he became sleepy and at the same time, hungry. Because of his drowsiness caused by the 3 people talking about food, he slowly drifted to sleep.

A new day had come and it's the day that Claire's plan has to be fulfilled. The blonde, just like yesterday, she immediately works on her farm and waited until it was an hour and fifteen minutes before the designated time. She ran to the inn with a tablecloth made out of silk in her arms and she took an another route where she ran pass by the library, clinic, supermarket and the church.

Just from the inn's door, the blonde can smell something good and delicious. She opened the door and followed the scent; there she found Popuri and Ann, cooking. On the counter, there are three plates with spaghetti with meatballs, lasagna and biscuits in it.

Luckily, when Ann asked her father to close the inn early, he complied.

The blonde stared at it, her mouth watered and her stomach growled, ordering Claire to eat the food on the counter. She shook her head and ignored the complaining and hungry terrible beast that resides in her stomach.

"Mouth watering, is it not?"

A voice came from behind her and the blonde felt a pair of arms snaking around her waist and pulled her closer, hugging Claire. The blonde's eye twitched and pinched the hand that's resting on her stomach.

His hands involuntarily pulled away from her and he cursed. "Do you really have to pinch me that much?" he pouted, "You almost peeled off my skin."

"Then stop doing that."

Kai was about to hug Claire again when Popuri and Ann came out of the inn's kitchen. Rick's sister flashed a smile the moment her eyes landed at Claire and gave Kai a small shy smile. The blonde smiled at the two women and the beast in her stomach roared, getting the attention and reminding not only its master but as well the three people near her.

Their eyes widened and the blonde immediately placed a hand to her stomach hoping to silence the infuriating beast. Ann smirked and placed a plate with the spaghetti and lasagna, except it was a smaller serving. She insisted Claire to dig on the food; the blonde didn't have second thoughts and just wolfed down the food in front of her. A pretty reminder that when a girl is hungry and the food is free, she will only stop when she realized she's getting fat.

Without a matter of minutes, Claire successfully emptied her plate, as in emptied it real good, not leaving any sauce on the plate itself. The blonde knows her bad eating habits, especially when the food is free, so is Kai. After showing it to Popuri and Ann, all she could do is slump her shoulders in shame. But they just giggled, as if they saw something cute about it.

"I didn't know that you're so cute when you eat." Popuri said, covering her mouth in a lady like manner.

Ann grinned, "Yeah, the way your cheeks puffed! Ooh~... It made me want to pinch your cheeks while you are eating."

"I'll take that as a compliment?"

Kai let out a short chuckle, "Now that you had made a promising offering to the monster at Claire's belly and now she's well fed, I'll have you know that we only have half an hour before nine and i'm pretty sure that Sleeping Beauty will wake any second now from his night siesta."

Claire panicked, "Well? What are we waiting for? Christmas and New Year? C'mon let's go!"

They all run to the Mineral Beach. Kai set up the table and chairs, Claire placed the plates, glasses and utensils, Popuri whipped up the candles, napkins, roses and the center piece and Ann placed each food delicately on the table. They finished all this with 15 minutes to spare.

"Ok! On with phase 2!"

Ann and Popuri looked at her puzzlingly, "Phase 2?"

Kai just gave Claire a nod and ran in different direction. Phase 2 was pretty easy, well, easier when said, but simple. Kai runs to Gray, will tow him to Mineral Beach, if necessary and bail on him and disappear like a ninja, Claire will do the same but she has to wait a minute or two before dragging Mary to the beach.

Lucky for Kai, towing the blacksmith was not necessary at all, it seemed like he believe that whole corn thing. Pretty corny there, Kai sneered to himself in his mind. The tanned man doesn't feel any guilt about lying to Gray, not much of a surprise, all Kai have to do is give him a grilled corn and a glass of hot milk, served in a blue thick mug as a reconciliation gift and peace offering to the blacksmith.

As Mary open the door to her house, she was greeted by Claire, with a undrawable smile on her face. They walked slowly, enjoying each step on their way to the beach.

Uncertainty enveloped the blonde's mind. Bunch of 'what if's' popped up. Truth to be told, Claire just planned it on a whim and is not 100% sure about her own plan. She knows how smart Mary, the young blonde must be thinking that what if Mary already knew the plan she hatched? That the librarian just went along with it?

It all started a week ago, Wednesday, after her farm work, Claire went straightly to the library and bumped into Gray on her way there. For a second there, it kind of looked like the blacksmith was waiting for her but that would be completely illogical. The two of them ended up walking together on their way to the library.

Claire opened the door but just as she entered the library, she felt Gray not moving a muscle and has a distance between him and her. The blonde immediately got the idea, she pouted and towed Gray in hand. The librarian smiled, expecting Claire but disappeared when her black eyes landed to Gray.

Mary frowned and her day was ruined. The blonde looked at Gray and saw how hurt he is. What made the librarian more upset is that Claire just forgave him like that and they're friends like everything for them is all right and the worst is that the young blonde is actually holding his hand without volition.

The blonde just smile at her and continued to drag Gray upstairs. Claire let out a disappointed sigh and glared at the blacksmith who is sitting and sulking by the corner. She stomped her way to him and looked down at him.

"What the hell was that?"

He just pouted, "You know very much yourself about what just happened."

Claire grabbed a chair nearby slumped down beside the blacksmith, as if all of her energy was sucked out from her. The blonde abandoned idea of reading something because of what happened.

She knew that Mary is still angry at Gray but Claire never knew that it was never a good idea to anger the librarian, the blonde might have thought that Mary isn't a fan of the saying, 'let bygones be bygones'.

So, that's brings her here; hooking up two polar people with different perspective about each other. She felt guilty about Mary's treatment to Gray.

Good, Gray wasn't facing the entrance.

Just as they near the beach, Mary has an unpleasant expression on her face the moment she saw the blacksmith's back. The librarian was about to complain to Claire but the blonde vanished mysteriously.

Something inside the librarian felt that Claire has something to do about Gray being at the beach at that time. Unconsciously, her feet started to move towards the blacksmith. Mary did her best to make a unimpressed face and confronted Gray, asking him the reason why he's at the beach at such hour.

The blacksmith blushed and told her about Kai inviting him to grill some corns by his shack. Mary shook her head, obviously not amused. Everybody knows how much of a gullible of a person Gray is when it comes to corn, like his life is revolving on corn. But nobody knows that Kai can even bribe him, the two have some issue with each other and practically they are at each other's throat, well more like Gray is at Kai's throat for a perfectly unknown, probably illogical reason.

"This is ridiculous, I'm going home." the librarian scowled, turning her heel.

Claire elbowed Kai, telling him to light up the candles for illumination. The tanned man, like a professional ninja, lit up the candle, revealing the lone and out of place table in the middle of Mineral Beach. Fortunately, the light of the candle caught Mary's attention, so is Gray's.

Hiding at the shadows, Ann and Popuri looked at each other and nods. They appeared in front of Gray and Mary like a mushroom and insisted them to have sit. At first, the librarian refused but her stomach disagreed with her and demanded food. Hungry and having no choice, the librarian gave in and took a seat, opposite to Gray.

"So I guess this is an unintentional, arranged and forced date?"

Gray's cheeks reddened more and he pulled the bill of his hat to hide his flushed cheeks from Mary, "It has Claire's mark all over it. She even managed to pull Kai, Popuri and Ann with this crazy plan."

Mary giggled, "I guess that's because she's great at convincing people. And-"

She was cut off when Ann placed four plates on their table with spaghetti and lasagna. "Bon appétit!"

"What? No romantic background music?" Claire complained. Popuri shrugged and Kai has no reply but Rick's sister raised a violin that seemed to belong from her brother. The blonde grunted and jumped out from the shadows, "At Least those stupid violin lessons are of use... For now."

The young blonde snatched the violin from Popuri and started to play a piece of Beethoven Symphony No. 5 for a short rehearse and a gag and then played a slow and romantic melody. All of them was taken aback, Mary and Gray was surprised about the music playing out of nowhere, Ann was expecting Popuri to play a cheap romantic music that is commonly used in cheap chick flicks. Popuri and Kai did not expect Claire to play such adoring sound and at the same did not expect the blonde to play the violin.

Gray looked around trying to locate the source of such incredible melody. His eyes landed on a moving figure in the shadows. Even though he can't see the face of the figure but the moon illuminated its silky blonde hair, that's when he knew it was Claire.

The blacksmith's mind forgot that he is having a nice, slightly romantic, arranged and force date with the love of his life the moment he realize it was Claire. His attention was now to her. The melody that the blonde was playing made him remind of his own mother. For him, it's not a romantic melody but more like happy lullaby.

His heart raced, it was unlike whenever he's near Mary. It's a lot different than that.

"Gray? You alright?"

The blacksmith snapped back to reality when he heard Mary's worried voice. Ann threw a pebble him and glared, apparently telling Gray not to waste Claire's effort by being hypnotized by a melody. He gave the librarian a small smile and just nod. "She really did a good job arranging this."

Mary let out a short ladylike laugh, "I knew Claire will do something like this." she played with the meatball, "She does whatever she wants, including wanting everyone to get along."

"You made it sound she's some kind of a meddler."

Mary stabbed the meatball, "Maybe, but for me it was good thing and I meant that in a good way as possible."

For the first time, Gray smiled at Mary without embarrassing himself.

Thank you Claire.