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 9
- Claire's POV –
"No as long as I'm breathing aka over my dead body first," I answered back, glaring at the man in front of me. "You, a mere human dare to ask me, the daughter of the Harvest King to be your servant? Are you out of your mind? Do you realized what you're just asking me to do!?"
"Duh?" Gray scratched his chin. "Do you think I'm an idiot?" As a matter of fact I do, jerk. "Of course I know who you are, which is exactly why I'm ask-no, demanding you to be my servant. It'll be fun to have a princess, the daughter of the almighty Harvest King," he paused to chuckle at his own words. "Serve me, a pitiful-as you said earlier-mere human, no?"
"Screw you," I spat. "I've told you that there is no way I'm going to be your slave."
"Servant," he corrected me. "There're differences between both words. Or perhaps you prefer the word 'maid', hmm?"
I quickly turned to the Harvest Goddess. "Curse him now, Harvest Goddess! And trap him inside of the Waterfall Cave! Bury him with all the rocks and ores there so he won't tell the townspeople what he knew about us!" I said between gritted teeth and panting hard after finishing my sentences.
Harvest Goddess chuckled. "There, there, Claire. Calm down, my child. If I were to do that, the Harvest King will surely penalize me – he'll lecture me and stripped me out of my title. I wouldn't want that to happen. Plus, you do remember that in no way we can use our magic and powers to harm humans, even though they-like that man over there-clearly deserve it, right?"
"Told you that already, didn't I?" the ginger butted in, letting out a laugh that I am sure will wake up the entire town if he were to do that in Mineral Square.
"B-but…But he's threatening us! Even if we're not supposed to use our magic on humans, this boy clearly needed to be punish! He's an idiot! Can't you see how he's trying to blackmail us here? He has no manners towards beings that're there to watch over him, to protect him! He's pushing his luck by asking me to be his servant! He-"
"You seemed to like him very much, Claire," the older woman cuts my words, looking at me with the same amused look she had previously.
My face reddened, both from embarrassment and from anger. "I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I did not!" I exclaimed. "Why in Caelestis would I allow myself to like such a brusque being?" Steams of annoyance were practically coming out from my nostrils and ears. I hate this jerk! I have always thought that I can never find someone who I'll be hating more than Jack but this jerk surely proved me wrong – congratulations for getting the second spot in my 'Most Hated' list, Gray Wellington!
"Relax, my child. I was just joking. I can clearly see your hatred towards this human here," Harvest Goddess said, placing a hand on her mouth to prevent the laugh escaping through it. "You know, you were supposed to laugh at that."
"If it was indeed a joke, it's not funny, Harvest Goddess!" I complained with puffed cheeks and knitted eyebrows.
"Fufufu…," the older woman continued chuckling. "Okay, okay. Putting all those nonsense aside; what are you going to do now, Claire?"
Oh, it's easy. Put a curse on this jerk's hair so it'll all fall and he'll be bald like his grandfather and bury him with the stones and ores inside of that cave behind him. Then I'll-
"You won't be able to work on whatever plans you're thinking of right now on me," Gray chimed in. "You do realize that your grin and stare gave it all away – that you plan on something towards me, right?"
Oh, shoot. "W-what are you talking about, Mister?" I gave the young man in front of me an innocent smile. "Surely you're imagining things…?"
I saw the jerk shivered for a split second. "Please don't do that – acting all innocent and girly-like all of a sudden. You're giving me goose bumps."
Screw you. "You just can't shut up, right?" I spat out, completely forgotten that I no longer mind my own manner despite having Harvest Goddess in my presence. "It'll be my honour to help you with that-keep your mouth zipped, I mean-if you allow me to."
The ginger smirked. "Thanks for the offer but I'll pass. I'd like to keep this big mouth of mine, if you don't mind, for it'll be easier to spread this one juicy information about a certain blonde to the townspeople," he added. He paused for some seconds to stare at me before continuing. "Come to think of it, if you're the Princess of whatever-realm-it-is, then Jack…Aaah…So that's the story, eh…"
Shoot! Shoot! He's actually smarter than I think he is! He's supposed to be dumb! "You got it wrong!" I quickly interrupted his sentences. "Jack got nothing to do with this!" The least I wanted to happen now is having Jack knows that this jerk knows my true identity – his as well. It'll be bad not only for me and my test, but for him as well. Yeah, I know I hate him, but I'm not a heartless person. I wouldn't want something happens to his marriage with Mary. I mean, where will he go if he was shunned out of Mineral Town?
"Riiiiggghhht," he nodded, still with the same smirk he had earlier plastered on his face. "This is sure an interesting night, don't you think so?" he chuckled, bending down to pick up the hoe he dropped earlier. "Well, just to ease my curiosity and to confirm the truth of your words, I think I'll go ask him myself," he threw me one last look before turning around and started to walk away.
"What!? What about the deal-I mean, w-wait!" Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. No, no, no. Just no! Jack can't-! He absolutely must not know-! "Hey! Jerk! Come back you-!" I rushed to the retreating ginger, reaching out my hand to grab his arm…or any part of him that I can grab. Urk. It's impossible! He's quite a distance from me and- Eh?
I paused on my track and my already-reached-out hand froze in midair as I watched the ginger's figure fall down face first to the ground out of the sudden. I tilted my head to the right. What happened?
"You owe me big time, Princess," a very familiar voice said as I approached the still figure.
"Konoe?" I covered my O-shaped mouth with my left palm. "What are you-"
The black cat was sitting casually on the back of the ginger's head-since he's currently kissing the dirt of the ground his face fallen onto-, licking his right paw and after a couple of seconds stretched out both his front legs. "What? No 'thank you for stopping him' or something similar to that?" he said as he looked at me.
I saw his eyes glinted mischievously. "…You knocked him out," I said as I pointed the unconscious ginger underneath him. "You knocked an innocent man out of cold with that fat butt of yours."
"So I did," he shrugged. "Do I look like I care?"
I sighed. "You're not supposed to do that," I told him, crossing both arms over my chest.
"Meh. Says the person who tried oh-so-desperately to stop him before he go and talk to Jack about identity issues that was supposed to be a secret," he smirked at me as he made himself comfortable on the masses of the orange hair of the person below him.
"You're good," I feel my face flushed at his remarks. "Thank you, Konoe," I gave him a soft smile. "I owe you big time."
"I've said that already," said black cat chuckled. "But how did he found out anyway?"
I threw a disgusted look at the fainted person. "He's eavesdropping. That must be the only reason for what in Caelestis name is he doing here this late?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Harvest Goddess's interrupted. I turned to the older woman. Oh, right. I forgot that she's here. "He has a very good reason coming here, or there," she pointed out to the entrance of the Waterfall Cave. "And that reason involved a certain someone," she giggled heartily at her own words.
I raised an eyebrow. I noticed that the Harvest Goddess of Mineral Town had been acting a little strange since the unwanted presence of the now unconscious ginger below me. "And what would that particular reason be?"
"That, my child is for you to find out yourself," the older woman chuckled. I seriously don't see anything funny here. "Speaking of which," I sensed her trying to change the topic of our conversation. "What are you going to do with that poor soul over there?"
I switched to look at the unconscious figure on the ground. I fixed my stare at the black cat who was patting – or rather playing with the strands of orange hair of the ginger. "Right," I sighed. "What am I supposed to do with him? Judging by the weights Konoe gained recently," I smirked at the black cat who paused from the thing he's doing just to frown at me. "I doubt that the jerk will wake up anytime soon. I can't leave him like this here either. I have to make sure that he didn't remember anything that he saw tonight," I continued as I kicked the edge of the ginger's left boot.
"In that case," Harvest Goddess clapped her hands once. "I have an idea."
oooooo
"Tell me again why am I doing this?"
"Because we love you," Konoe and I replied in unison before staring at each other faces and letting out a chuckle.
The floppy-ears dog sighed. "Both of you are partners indeed. And I don't get Harvest Goddess as well. What in the name of Caelestis was she planning with this kind of idea?"
"Maa, maa," I dismissed his question as I kept on pulling the leg of the jerk closer to the wall and abruptly dropped it as soon as I'm sure I've placed him in a position I'm satisfied with. He didn't even stir along the way. Wow. Konoe must have weight tons compared to before. I shall keep a mental note to remind him to go on a diet. "Well, we got her permission doing this. No harm done."
Akira frowned. "No harm done? Then pray tell me about that," he pointed a finger to the unconscious ginger.
"Uh, it…can't be helped," I grinned in embarrassment. "Meh. Quit dilly-dallying. Hurry up and prepare yourself. We need to get this done before the Inn's close."
"Ugh, fine," Akira replied as he adjusted the blue cap he's wearing. "One more question; why am I doing the disguise thing and not him?" he asked again, raising an eyebrow as he pointed the black cat sitting on the ground near my feet.
"Hey, you're the disguise master," Konoe grinned evilly at his best friend. "Besides, my work is tougher. All you have to do is stroll inside and shun Kai and Cliff out of the room for some minutes. I have to lift this man up to the 1st floor!" he pointed to a window-the room of the boys-at the 1st floor of the Inn. "Imagine the pain of me, a cat, carrying a human with only both front legs up there!"
Akira rolled his eyes. "And whose fault do you think is that?"
I chuckled at the scene in front of me. Despite his constant complaints, Akira didn't turn down our request. Harvest Goddess told us to carry Gray to the Inn and have someone to disguise as him to make sure that the room the ginger is staying at is empty before putting the real Gray on his bed – 'delivering' him via the window of his room. I can't deny that I was surprised when the older woman proposed said idea and tell me that she'll help me erase the memory of what Gray saw as well as heard tonight in front of the Waterfall Cave. She didn't let me use my magic though for she said that doing so will result in me breaking the rules of my task. I can hardly see the relation between this and my task. However, knowing that I can't possibly do this with only Konoe as my aid, I sought help from Akira – Konoe's the one who filled him up with the information as he went back to the farm to call said dog. Akira is excellent when it comes to this matter – disguising himself as someone or something else was never a problem for him. It's really hard to differentiate him with the original person or thing he disguised himself into. I have no doubt that he can pull this act of being the jerk perfectly.
"Remember not to act out of character, Akira," I heard Konoe's warn as he looked up to the dog-now-Gray in front of him.
Akira smirked at the cat's words. Oh, he's good. He smirked exactly the same way as the jerk! "Who do you think I am?" he said as he shoved his hands into his pants' pockets and walked away to the front door of the Inn.
"I hope everything goes according to plan," I expressed my worry as I heard the door slammed shut. I looked down at the unconscious man near my feet and once again, kicking him lightly. "It's your fault, jerk. If it's not because of you, I'll be doing none of these and currently enjoying my time watching television."
"Part of it is your fault, Claire," Konoe said, his eyes fixed n the window of the boys' room on the 1st floor. "Next time make sure that there's no one around before blurting out your dirty little secrets like that."
I frowned. "Dirty little secrets?" I choose to ignore his remarks. "I don't know that people in this town have a habit hiking in the middle of the night, Konoe. I never thought that he was there. It was too dark to see the surrounding before Harvest Goddess showed up."
"Well, of course you didn't see him. He's not even in the vicinity during your talk with the Harvest Goddess – before you reached that identity topic of yours, I mean. He's inside the cave doing…something."
I looked at him curiously. "Do you know something that I don't, Konoe?" Why am I thinking that I'm missing something very important here? If I'm not mistaken, Harvest Goddess had said something similar to this to me.
"What do you think?"
"Konoe, you know I don't like-"
"Ah, the window is open," the black cat cuts my words before I was able to finish it.
I looked up and saw 'Gray' on the window, making a 'V' sign and signalling us to carry Gray upstairs. "Keep watch on the surrounding, Claire," Konoe told me as he dragged the unconscious man closer to him, pulling him with both front legs. "We're at the back of the Inn and I doubt people will come here but just to be safe-"
"I know, I know," I waved a hand at him. "Go, Konoe. Let's get this over with. I'm getting sleepy and I need to take a bath so bad."
"You should. You stink," he smirked at me before flying up to the window, the unconscious figure of Gray in his hand.
I looked up to the flying black cat and smiled at the view. "It amazed me how you can fly while carrying such heavy stuff in your hand with that weight of yours, Konoe." I can't help but wonder what the jerk is doing inside the cave. It seemed that Konoe and the Harvest Goddess knows something that I don't. I yawned. "Whatever. I can't bother about that now. I'm sure they will tell me about it later," I muttered to myself and let out another yawn. …Or maybe not.
. TO BE CONTINUED .
A/N: I'll be honest and say that I'm currently in the mood for hurt/comfort, tragedy and angst story. XD However, this chapter is fun to write despite being in said mood and I hope you have fun reading it as well! XD
