Man did this take a long time to write or what? I had a lot of trouble with it =.=

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon! *Pouts*

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Claire jolted awake as her head banged against the icy window. With a groan, she rubbed her head and looked around, trying to remember where she was. The blonde was in a tiny room full of seats. Out the window, the only thing she could see was water. Water? Oh right... the ship. We're going in town today.... It was very early, around 5am or so and everyone was dozing off, lulled by the rocking of the boat. Well, except for Popuri, the poor girl was as pale as a sheet and she was griping onto Kai like he was her lifeline.

Claire looked around at the other familiar faces one by one; Ann and Cliff in the seats in front of hers, Gray in the seat right next to her and Trent, Elli, Kai and Popuri on the other side of the tiny cabin.

Claire smiled encouragingly at her pink-haired friend. Motion sickness sucked, really bad. Claire was rewarded with a forced half-smile while Kai rubbed Popuri's arm soothingly.

A sudden weight on her shoulder made Claire turn around. Blue eyes widened as she realized that it was Gray's head which had lolled in his sleep. Not knowing what to do, Claire stayed still, her face burning. Thoughts were whizzing through her mind but only one was perfectly clear, Please, goddess almighty, make it that Ann doesn't wake up before her brother!

Ann groaned from her seat and rubbed her eyes, slowly waking up. Claire's eyes narrowed. ...The world hates me. Thinking quickly, Claire did the only thing she could think of, she let her head fall on Gray's and pretended to be asleep.

Claire stayed in that position until she heard Ann chuckle evilly, get up and leave, presumably to go to the bathroom. Well at least that's what the blonde would have liked to believe. Unfortunately, a gnawing feeling in her stomach told her of how wrong she was. Quickly, she opened her eyes and proceeded to poke Gray relentlessly. The redhead only groaned and shifted, bringing his knees up and wrapping his arms around them. At least his head was off her shoulders. As Ann came back, Claire smiled at her and went to say good morning but the words stuck in her throat. Her eyes narrowed as she recognized the object Ann was holding.

"...Ann? Why do you have a camera?"

A few hours later

Claire looked around, slightly amazed at the enormous mall ahead of them. She had only been in Mineral Town for a season and yet it seemed like she had never seen a mall. Living in that small town, it felt like nothing else existed, like the outer world was just a myth.

As everyone strolled inside, the girls immediately saw a shop full of the latest clothes, accessories and other stuff like that. The weight of their full wallets (thanks to the horse races and Claire's psychic powers) was suddenly very obvious and a glint lit the eyes of the young women. They exchanged glances and looked back at their oblivious male partners. With an evil smile that could very well rival with the devil's, the girls dragged the poor, poor guys into the shop.

In a room somewhere, a person was watching images transmitted by the safety cameras located throughout the shop. He hated his job, to be honest. But there were some quirks that made it much easier. Like watching the new group of women terrorize and mentally scar their male partners by showing them how many different brands of mascara there were.

The man laughed as he saw one boy being forced to try on the said mascara. He had long brown hair tied up in a low ponytail and he had a horrified look on his face while everyone laughed. After the mascara, lipstick was forced upon him too and it looked like the young man was going to faint. The next victim was a man with a purple bandanna and tan skin. He was forced into a pair of golden, glittery strap-on sandals. With heals a few inches high of course. Immediately after, a young man with a hat that had the word UMA on it was tackled to the ground. The hat was thrown off to show his brilliant messy mop of red hair and a girl with similar features tied pink bows into it. The last victim was a man with onyx hair. Poor guy had to wear large clip-on earrings and a tiara.

The man watching the videos almost choked on his doughnut as he laughed. This was just too funny. He wouldn't mind at all if this gang came back everyday. That would definitely make his job easier. And it was with sadness that he saw them go, a few hours later, the guys' arms full of different bags.

Outside, Claire was smiling brightly, proud with her purchases. The shopping spree had been really fun and they even had managed a mini 'makeover' on the guys. As she chatted with her friends, Claire noticed that the guys were lagging behind. She nudged Ann who turned around and saw them, a depressed look on their faces, arms full with bags and a tiny pink bow each in their hair. Yes, a tiny pink bow. After trying them on Gray, Popuri had decided that it was just completely adorable and that they had to buy them.

Ann smirked and pulled her camera out of her pocket. This would be a trip to remember.

Cliff was talking with Kai … Well it would be more considered complaining... While Gray cursed under his breath and Trent stayed silent. When a sudden flash of light made them freeze on spot. As the tiny spots of white faded from their eyes, they saw Ann, an evil smirk on her face and a camera in her hands.

"Smile everyone!" And the downpour of flashes started, blinding them instantly.

Half an hour later found them in a little restaurant, drinking lemonade. Gray sighed in relief as he stretched his arms, smirking when his shoulders gave a satisfactory 'pop'.

Claire grimaced, "That's gross Gray."

Said redhead just shrugged and avidly started gulping down his drink. Casual conversation drifted over and time passed slowly. As the sun rose higher in the sky, they ordered lunch. When their meals arrived, Claire sighed and looked out the window. As nice as the atmosphere was and as delicious and mouth-watering as the food was, her spirit was low and she sighed often. The blonde played around with her food, only finishing half her plate before staring out the window again. Elli noticed and arched an eyebrow.

"Claire? Are you alright?" the little nurse asked, perhaps Claire had gotten a sunstroke? After all, the sunlight was rather harsh on that day.

Claire jolted at her name, "Yes?"

Silence fell slowly around the table as they gazed worriedly at the young farmer.

"Are you alright?" Elli repeated.

Claire felt her face flush, "Yeah, I'm fine. Perfectly fine!"

Gray rolled his eyes, "Cut the crap Claire. You're not. It's really obvious."

"Yeah," Ann said, "You know you can tell us anything!"

Claire opened her mouth and closed it a few times, hesitating. With a sigh she briefly glanced out the window again while the gazes of her friends pierced into her.

"It's... sort of a long story..." Claire hesitated again.

"And we've got a long time to spend with nothing particular to do," Kai said as it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Claire gazed at them one by one, knowing they would insist until she cracked, "...Fine. It happened about three years ago..."

Flashback

Claire was in a tiny living room, sitting on a couch with her knees up and her arms wrapped around them. The girl was pouting as she fought the tears that stung at her eyes. It was so unfair! They had promised! Promised!

"Hey sis, you alright?" someone asked from next to her. It was a young man with messy brown hair and chocolate eyes. He seemed about two years older than his sister.

As Claire promptly ignored him. The young man's eyes twitched in annoyance.

He started poking the blonde, "Claaaire... Claaaire... Claire..."

"Alright! What do you want Jack?!" Claire snapped.

"Chill! I just wanted to say that if you have a problem, you should go talk about it to mom and dad instead of sulking here like the spoiled brat you are," Jack said simply, ruffling his sister's hair.

Claire slapped his hand away but smiled and got up. She headed down the hallway to a door on the end. Light seeped under through the crack at the bottom. Claire inhaled deeply and puffed out her cheeks determinedly before opening the door. In the simple bedroom a man was sitting at a desk, filling out paperwork. He had blond hair with a few streaks of gray and he was frowning as he concentrated. He looked stunningly like Jack. On the bed, a woman with long brown hair was reading a sort of novel. She had stunning blue eyes and her face was almost precisely the same as her daughter's except for a few dark rings under her eyes, betraying slight exhaustion. The couple looked up as Claire stepped inside.

"Hello honey," the woman said in a soft voice, "Is there something you'd like?"

"..." Claire frowned, "You know what I want! Why can't we go?!"

The man turned around and looked at his daughter, "You know why we can't go to the Pet Shop or Center or whatever to get you a puppy! It's raining buckets and we didn't change the tires on the car yet! An accident could happen!"

"But it's my birthday!" Claire cried out desperately. Jack, who had joined them, leaned against the doorway and listened intently.

"I don't know honey..." the woman hesitated.

"Please!" Claire cried out, tears coming into her eyes.

"...Fine," the woman relented and looked at her husband who nodded his agreement.

Claire wiped the tears away, "Thank you mom! Thank you dad!"

Jack rolled his eyes and closed the jacket he had slipped on, knowing perfectly well that it would end like this. After everyone was bundled up, the family left.

…

Later in the car, it was dark, night was falling. The man was tense, concentrating on a road he could barely see. Suddenly, bright headlights were in front of them, bursting through the curtain of water that was the outside.

"Be careful honey!" the woman screamed as her husband swerved the steering wheel, clearing the road. As he tried to turn the other way, he noticed that the car was not responding. The timeworn tires were slipping on the soaked asphalt.

Claire shrieked in terror as the car went over the edge of the road at high speed and she clutched desperately onto her brother. An enormous crash was heard and shards of glass were falling around her. Claire shrieked again as something atrociously heavy landed onto her right leg. She was silenced as her mind became too fuzzy to think properly. The car had fallen into a ditch full of water.

"M-mom? D-ad?" Claire managed to croak out, she was met with silence, "Jack?!" More silence.

She could feel his body under hers but he wasn't moving. The blond girl struggled uselessly against the heavy weight on top of her. With a terrified gasp, she felt water touch her ankle. The icy water rose slowly and her leg was now completely submerged, it was cold... So cold... She was stuck... Helpless...

Suddenly, an ambulance screamed in the background. Claire mustered whatever strength

she had left for one last desperate scream, "Help me! Please!"

Darkness.

End Flashback

Claire slowly opened the eyes she had closed while she had been telling the story. Everyone was just sitting there. Blinking.

Kai grimaced, "Ouch."

Popuri glared reproachfully at her boyfriend, "Not the right thing to say Kai."

"So let me guess," Trent said, pulling out his 'awesome doctor attitude', "You felt guilty for the accident, which happened not far from here. Coming back here triggered your memory into action making you feel the guilt all over again and therefor explaining your melancholic mood and absent gaze."

Gray rolled his eyes, "All in all, you're just thinking about it and feeling depressed."

Ann laughed at the simplified version while Trent sighed and mumbled under his breath about 'not being appreciated enough'.

"Well, yeah that's kind of it," Claire admitted.

"So... Did anyone except you survive?" Cliff asked softly.

"My brother, but he's in coma right now," Claire answered. Everyone was silent, not knowing what to say.

"Well, I know how to make everyone feel better!" Kai exclaimed suddenly.

Gray readjusted his hat and grumbled, "Here it comes."

Kai stood up proudly and pointed out the window, "We should go to that fair!"

Trent and Gray just grumbled some more while everyone smiled and decided it was a good idea. Ann punched her brother and told him to 'stop being a wet blanket'. Everybody got busy with packing their stuff, paying for their food etc etc before they left the building. Claire smiled and followed them, letting the conversations drift over her in a pleasant sort of way. Ann and Gray were arguing, no surprise there, while Cliff listened to them. Trent and Elli, well, Elli was just talking about this and that while Trent would throw in a sentence or two. Kai an Popuri were behind the others, exchanging sweet words of 'I love you' 'You're beautiful' etc etc...

At the fair, everyone relaxed and split into groups of two to cover the fair faster. Claire ended up with Gray, no big surprise there either. Instead of going to a stand with books or something boring, Gray surprised her as he pointed at the Ferris wheel. Nodding happily, Claire grabbed his hand and skipped over to the queue that was formed next to the entry of the giant wheel.

Once inside, Claire immediately squashed her face against the window happily while Gray just took a seat. No one said a word as they started moving and the ground grew farther and farther away. Claire admired her used-to-be-home attentively. It was nice, she had to admit but she preferred Mineral Town and it's clean paved roads and overflowing nature. Gray shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Claire turned around to look at her friend, curious as to what was bothering him.

"Is there a problem?" she asked.

Gray jolted, surprised, "Well... Uh, I know it's far away... Really far away as a matter of fact... But... would you like to go to the Fireworks festival with me? As friends of course."

Slightly disappointed at the 'just friends' part, Claire still felt an enormous bubble of happiness grow in her. She nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Sure! But why do you ask now? The festival is in three weeks!"

Gray shrugged and looked out the window at the city. Claire sighed, when something pink crossed her view. The blonde giggled before laughing quietly.

Gray looked at her, confused, "What is it?"

"All of you are still wearing that little pink bow!"

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So here it was! The long, not funny and angsty tenth chapter! But hey! I got to chapter 10! I never thought I was going to make it this far! XD

El: Hope you enjoyed and please review.