Ok, I got the idea for this chapter after the review I got from NotSoSlightlyCrazy (love the name by the way). I figured that I may explain why I think Vaughn would see himself in such a negative light. So here's the explanation. And yes, it's supposed to be slightly random and almost sad....I think....I dunno, just read it XD

Harvest Moon (c) Natsume

Chapter 10

It was a lonely summer after Chelsea's birthday. She became too preoccupied with her ranch work to really sit and talk anymore. She'd greet me at the dock on Wednesdays like usual, but I wouldn't see her again until Thursday evening. She'd give me a jug of milk or the occasional bowl of porridge and apologize for not having time for dinner.

I knew she had plenty of work to do and I thought it was a good thing, but it felt like something huge was missing from my life. I realized near the end of summer that it was my best friend whom was missing. I vowed that autumn would be different and we'd go for a walk on Thursday afternoons and have lunch in the meadow or something. She made me feel like I was actually needed in life.

But autumn turned out to be much worse.

She planted three times as many crops as she did in summer (she had six rows of corn and four of tomatoes), she had bought another calf after getting Belle pregnant, she bought three more chickens, and she suddenly found a new interest in fishing and mining. It was a very lonely autumn after all...

It was a rainy Thursday, near the end of fall, though I didn't know the date. I had high hopes that Chelsea would come to visit due to the lousy weather, but she had headed up to the mine anyways. I felt totally bummed and was taking it out on Julia.

"Are you two fighting again?" Julia asked, scowling at me.

I threw my arms in the air. "If we are, I wasn't informed! I'm not mad at her for anything, she just doesn't even pop in for more than a few seconds. It's frustrating!"

"Well yeah, get used to it. You're best friends with a ranch owner. She's got money to make, several animals to tend to, and a town to fix. She's the closest to a government this island has," Julia said, drying a glass by the sink.

I sighed. She had deduced that the week prior, but it didn't make me feel better. I folded my arms on the table and laid my head on them. "Well, it sucks. We should make her take a break before she falls apart," I grumbled.

Julia giggled and turned to me. "It's cute to see you so love-sick, Vaughn. She'd stop in a heartbeat if she knew how you felt, ya know."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not in love with Chelsea. She's my friend and nothing more; close to family if anything more. It just pains me to think that she could be passed out in the mine or close to sickness because she works too hard. You know as well as I do that she won't tell anybody if she needs help."

"Huh, I wonder where she got that stubbornness from," Julia said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes again, smirking widely. "I can't help that my ways rub off on her. She's too damn easily influenced."

She pointed a wooden spoon at me and waved it threateningly. "You had best keep your hands to yourself. Momma would get very angry with you if you-"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" I growled. "I've never done anything immoral with a girl before and you know it."

I stood to leave, but she grabbed my arm. "I wasn't going to-"

"You were! I can't help that mom was the way she was! But I'm not like her!"

Tears started streaming down her face, but I didn't care. I walked into the back room and into my room, flopping on my bed.

Past memories flooded back slowly. I had never known my parents, but I had overheard conversations about them from family. Most were horrible comments to make. Not even Mirabelle said nice things about her sister.

The man my mother married was not my real father. I was the result of an affair that my mother had and my family hated me for it; everyone except Mirabelle and Julia of course. It can't be helped, I guess, but I grew up thinking that I was a monster or something: not worthy for anybody. It almost hurt when Mirabelle had contacted me telling me she was moving to the island to work. That meant I had to get my own place and could never see her again. She had probably contacted Jake in the first place to get me to be the animal trader....Yeah, probably.

I rolled to my back and sighed. Mirabelle was the only one in the family who saw past my lineage and believed I had a heart of gold. I chuckled at that thought. If gold was warm, then my heart was steel. Oh wait, I already said that at some point....Oh well, I'm simply emphasizing the fact.

I had to admit: Chelsea made me feel less....well, worthless and mean. I felt like I was with some holy being and had to be a perfect little angel or she'd leave for some reason and I'd never feel good again. I could probably tell her she was the ugliest girl ever (she's not and I know it) and she'd laugh at me and tell me it was true. She made every mean thing I said into a compliment of some sort.

I threw my pillow at the door and rolled to my stomach again. I put my head on my folded arms and sighed. She was such a complicated girl that I was tearing myself up over it. She couldn't see my past, but she obviously knew I wasn't the best guy around. My meanness is just a mask I wear to hide my abnormality. People who knew my mother (family mostly) shunned me and told their kids that I was a horrible kid. So fine, they want to think that I'm mean, I'm gonna be mean. I'd shove their kids into the dirt, call them stupid or peg them with kickballs when they pissed me off.

I chuckled. I was such a mean little kid and nobody ever told me off. I had no folks so people couldn't just walk up and say 'let me speak to your mother'. I could then use that against them and almost everyone knew it. I smirked; I was still a nasty guy.

I sighed. No I wasn't. Once I opened up to people, I treated them differently. I was usually cold to girls who fawned over me, but didn't actually take the time to get to know the real me. They just wanted to kiss me (or something else) without understanding me. Annoying as hell...

I heard a knock on my door and I rolled to my side.

"What?" I asked coldly.

Mirabelle appeared and picked up the pillow I had thrown. She looked up at me motherly. "Julia said that you were in a 'mood'."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. Mirabelle was the closest thing to a mother I could ever have. She could read me like a book and knew when I was in a 'mood' that I just needed someone to talk to.

"Yeah, kinda..."

"You brought your mother into the conversation..." It wasn't a question. It was a fact that saddened her.

She crossed over to the bed and sat down, touching my hands. I glanced down and saw that they were clenched tight. I unclenched them and ground my teeth.

"You wanna talk?" she asked, putting the pillow where it belonged.

"Not really," I said curtly.

She smiled. "You know as well as I do that you're not your mother," she said, pushing a piece of hair out of my face. Had anyone else done that, I would've yelled. "You are your own person and can make your future as you think it should be."

"Then why do I feel like a poison or something?" I asked as I stood and began pacing.

"A poison?" she asked skeptically.

"Like some sort of tainted meat or something. Like something dirty!"

She chuckled. "My sister was a very scummy person. She saw a cute face and went into a certain mode to get what she wanted." Mirabelle shuddered. "To think I was the older sister to such a woman; I can't even bear it."

I scowled at her. She was not making me feel better. She looked up and smiled as if reading my mind.

"You're not like her though. I know that you treat all women with decency. You may be a little cold about it, but you are very respectful. It was the way that I raised you to be."

I turned away from her. "That doesn't change what I am...." A bastard child. I couldn't say it aloud; it irritated me too much to say.

She hugged me tight from behind. "You are my nephew. I'm sure that even Chelsea can look past what you hate about yourself."

I tensed up and she chuckled. "Julia told me that you may have a little thing for Chelsea. I think that she's perfect for you, but that's just the Mother Hen side of me."

I smiled at her use of my term for her. She kissed the top of my head motherly and released me from her grip.

"Give Chelsea a chance, Vaughn. She may accept you when others refuse to."

She walked out, leaving me alone to my thoughts.

That's why I think Vaughn would be cold to people....But hey, just my opinion....

Read and Review if you'd like to. And have a good day =)