Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or Rune Factory…

Life on the Mist Farm

Fourth Week of Summer: Sick Daze

It was around late morning and Mist just woke up. It was raining outside. She never liked the rain too much as it reminded her of how lonely she felt. By no means was she physically lonely, Rosetta was always there and so was Felicia and Lara were also her close friends, and of course there was Raguna living in the house to the north of hers too. But even knowing her friends were there for her, she still felt isolated from everyone else. When she was younger, on rainy days like this, she would sometimes just stay in bed for the entire day crying herself to sleep, though she rarely ever does it anymore, especially when Raguna came into her life.

But she still didn't like being in her house by herself so she decided to go to Raguna's house so that she wouldn't feel so lonely. When she got inside she felt something was a little bit off today.

"Raguna?" she yelled, "Hey Raguna, where are you?"

"Mist?," Raguna weakly said, "Oh hey, I'm over here."

"Huh?" she found him in his bed coughing, a lot.

"Why are you here?"

"Well it was raining, the crops get watered on their own so…"

"You got bored and decided to come here to check on me?"

"Yeah, and I'm glad I came, are you okay?"

"I'm just a little sick right now…"

"Have you been overworking yourself again… you always do this Raguna…"

"Sorry, but recently it's gotten a little worse recently, especially after coming out of Clements Cave."

"Didn't Edward tell you to take it easy for a while, I mean I'll be able to do some of the work too you know."

"I know, I'm sorry…"

"…Look saying that now won't change the fact that you're sick so, stay right here and I'll go and get Dr. Edward." She got up and started to run to the clinic but it seemed like Raguna was trying to say something important before she left, but she felt too concerned that she ran out before hearing him.

"Wait what?" when she got to the clinic, she found a notice from Edward.

I'm out of town for two days to get some more supplies for the clinic. Lara should still be around so if you need anything, ask her.

Apologies in advance, Dr. Edward.

"Okay, if Lara's not here, then where is she?" Mist thought.

"Oh Mist hey!" Lara cried out.

"Lara there you are, I need you to come with me for a second." Mist grabbed her arm and dragged her to Raguna's house.

"Mist where are you taking me?"

"I need you to check up on Raguna, he's sick."

"Wait, really? How sick?" They ran into his house and Lara did a quick diagnosis. When she finished, he fell asleep and she talked to Mist. "He'll be fine for the time being, but he should rest today. I can't do much for him right now but have him sleep well tonight and when Dr. Edward comes back tomorrow, I might be able to get a good medicine for him."

"But what now?"

"Well, Raguna should more or less just stay in bed for right now. And seeing how its raining right now, he should be going anywhere soon."

"So will he be alright tomorrow."

"Well, he'll still be a little off so he still shouldn't be up working as much as he should, or perhaps in this case has."

"And Dr. Edward should be here tomorrow right and he will be able to recover by the day after tomorrow."

"That's right."

"That's good."

"I guess it's a great feeling."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, taking care of the person you love so he won't be sick."

"w-w-wait… I just want to make sure he's alright so he doesn't go unconscious again while he works."

"We're all worried about him, that's for sure, but you especially."

"Lara!" Mist said angrily with a huge blush showing up.

"I'll stop by tomorrow to check up on him, until then, you take care of him okay," Lara said winking at her while leaving.

"Lara, wait…" but by the time she said that, she left the house. "But I don't know what to do…" she said giving a large sigh at the end.

This left Mist at a very awkward position. She knew he wasn't going to go anywhere, but he didn't want to leave him alone sick like that. But she didn't know how to take care of a sick person. So Mist did the next best thing, at least the next best thing she could think of…

"Ugh… aw man…" Raguna said as he started to get up.

"Hey you up Raguna?"

"Huh? Mist?"

"You were sleeping like a rock Raguna, and you were burning up so I put a bag of ice on your head." Raguna felt the bag on him.

"Mist you don't have to…"

"You're right I don't, but I want to…"

"Mist…" Raguna faintly said, flattered that she would help him recover.

"Hey, you want something to eat? I can cook something up for you."

"Well… I have some eggs in the fridge if you want to cook some eggs."

"Got it!" Mist put on the apron hanging on the wall and started to cook some eggs. Eggs were not very hard to make (for her at least) and she decided to add several different seasonings and spices to the eggs when she was cooking it. When she finished, she put the eggs on a plate and gave it to Raguna. "Here you go!"

"Thanks Mist." Raguna took a bite out of the eggs and he seemed to enjoy it but something felt off. "Um… hey Mist, what types of seasonings did you put in?"

"Well, I didn't put in a lot, but I did use that red one, I didn't see what it was called though since there wasn't a clear label on it, why what's wrong?"

"Mist… that was a hot pepper spice…" The hot pepper finally hit his senses and he started to fan his mouth frantically while Mist went and got a pitcher of water for him to drink. After it calmed down, Raguna laid back down in his bed.

"Raguna… I'm so sorry…" Mist apologized while rapidly bowing.

"It's alright, its my fault for not labeling it…"

"But I shouldn't have…"

"It's alright... hey look, you mind doing something for me?"

"Yeah what is it?"

"Well, my Wooly should have his fur grown again so do you mind taking my sheers and get the wool?"

"Yeah, but will you be alright?"

"I'm going to be fine."

"…alright…" she took the shears and went off to his monster barn and left to go shear the sheep. It was still raining so Mist was a little wet when she got into the barn she found the wooly and two of the squirrels he caught as well.

"Hello there!" Mist said when petting the little Wooly. She thought it looked adorable… that is until…

chomp

…the Wooly decided to bite her hand. "Okay… you can let go now…" she said sweetly despite her angered look on her face, "let go…" it still didn't let go of her hand. "LET GO!" At this point, she was furious so she started flailing her arm around and hope that it lets go at some point. At least it was able to hold still while Mist was shearing off its wool. It eventually let go after some 'persuasion' from Mist, though it might not be waking up anytime soon.

"Well… that's over," she said sighing while exiting the barn. It was still raining and now started to pour harder so she ran to the house again and got in as quickly as possible. When she got in she was soaked and was dripping wet.

"Hey, you alright Mist?" Raguna asked.

"Yeah, but should you be moving around like that?" Mist said to him.

"I'm alright, I'm just getting something out of the fridge… but you look a little wet."

"Yeah, I guess so, ha ha…" she said weakly laughing, "anyways, I'll be alright in that department. I usually keep some spare clothes here sometimes, so… let's see where I put it…" Mist started looking for her spare clothes trying to remember where she kept them.

"Hmm… Oh, I think I put them near my clothes…" She went into his drawer and was able to find her clothes there.

"That's great… but why did you put them right there near your clothes?"

"Um… well… it was right there and all… and so…" Raguna told her feeling a little bit embarrassed.

"Oh, okay... anyways…" She started to take off her clothes in order to change forgetting that Raguna was right there near her. It was only until he sneezed that she realized that he was standing right there. Though he wasn't paying attention to her, she thought he was looking.

"Um… Mist?"

"AAAAHHHHH!" She screamed and started to throw whatever she had her hands on, which thankfully were just pillows from his bed.

"I'm sorry!"

"Just turn around!" And he did just that. And to make sure that he wasn't going to look, he ducked near the middle table of his kitchen. After putting her dry clothes on, she walked to him.

"Hey, I'm sorry Raguna… I didn't mean to do that to you…" Mist said to him.

"It's alright, I didn't realize that you were going to… change right there…"

"It's just that, I'm kind of used to living alone so I don't really pay much attention to my surroundings much while I change and stuff."

"It's alright… cough I'm kind of not either though so… cough" Raguna was starting to cough more and more so Mist helped him back into bed.

"You alright now Raguna?"

"Yeah…" He said, "I'm alright…"

"That's good, I thought I had to drag Lara here again."

"No, that won't be necessary," Mist said with a small smirk on her face, "I really rather not go in that rain again…"

"I guess that's true, though it is pouring a lot harder today."

"I'd rather not have it rain period."

"Ha, yeah, though I won't have to water the crops when it's raining," Raguna said, "though it wouldn't help that I'm sick as well."

"Yeah, I guess, but… its still rain…" She had this dreary look on her face when she said that, more evident when she stared out the window.

"Hey Mist… do you… not like the rain or something?" Mist was a little taken back with his question, he continued saying, "I mean, you always come here when its raining,"

"Well, since the rain waters the crops for you, I don't have any reason to be in the rain."

"But there has to be a better reason than that…"

"I JUST DON'T OKAY!" She snapped at him when he was trying to ask her about it. Realizing what she did, she apologized to him, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"No… I shouldn't have asked you… I'm sorry…" he said to her, "I shouldn't have asked that…"

"It's not that I don't trust you with my personal problems… it's just"

"It's hard to explain it because it might spark some bad memories…"

"I'm sorry… I know I'm a little selfish sometimes… I at least have a past…" she said looking depressed, "It must be hard for you sometimes, I probably wouldn't be able to take that sort of pain."

"Mist, it's alright, I'm fine…"

"Raguna… do you ever feel that sometimes, you feel lonely?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, while you were living here… did you ever feel lonely because you're the new guy here, and you didn't feel like you belong here?"

"Honestly… yeah, I did," Raguna said, "It felt weird, especially since I didn't have my memories…"

"Did it scare you sometimes?"

"Yeah…"

"Did you feel like everyone's just passing by while you're just another body in the way?"

"It did… but then everyone started to accept me…"

"Does it feel like sometimes that you're still a bit of an outcast?"

"Yes…"

"Raguna, I'm sorry I'm asking these things to you…"

"No, it's alright, its nice to have someone to talk about these things to."

"Heh, I guess," Mist said with a smile on her face. "It's nice to just be with the people you love too right?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's true…" Raguna took a long hard look at himself when she asked him those things. When he really thought about it, he was feeling a little happy but depressed at the same time. Mist caught on to this and asked him…

"You thinking about leaving if you got your memories back, correct?"

"Mist… I still don't know, maybe it's too early to think about something like that."

"I see…" she said.

"Hey don't worry so much over it," Raguna said, "who I am won't change so I really do see myself staying here for a while longer."

"I guess that's okay too…"

After a while, the rain that was pouring hard before was starting to clear up a little bit. Raguna was able to get some more sleep but Mist went outside to check on the crops. She noticed that Rosetta was there so she realized that it was fairly late.

"Oh, Mist what are you doing in Raguna's house? Don't tell me…"

"Rosetta… It's not like that! Raguna got sick so I'm taking care of him right now…"

"Isn't taking care of sick people Lara's job?"

"She had to take care of something…"

"Aww… how sweet…"

"Rosetta…"

"Anyways, have you heard?"

"What is it?" Mist asked.

"There's something going on in Mt. Gigant."

"You mean besides the monsters?"

"Yeah, Mei saw it the other day, she said it would be a good idea to talk to you and Raguna about it since the both of you are the most involved."

"So what did she say?"

"Well…"

Mei ran into Rosetta while she was making her daily shipment.

"Hey Rosetta…"

"Hey Mei, you look a little tired."

"That's besides the point, guess what I found out?"

"…okay I give what is it…"

"There's some sort of strange individual that's going to the Mt. Gigant!"

Rosetta pulled her aside a little more just to ensure nobody was listening.

"Wait, who did you see?"

"Well, I know for a fact that it definitely isn't anyone around here… And what that person was wearing… it looks like a military person."

"Raguna and Mist both say that this might have something to do with the Sechs empire… do you think that it's possible that…"

"It may be a military person from the Sechs empire? Yes, I believe it is, in fact with what you told me about how Raguna and Mist both think that the Sechs is invading our land, I have no doubt."

"Do you want me to tell that to them?"

"Yes, they seem the most involved in this situation, I think it would be wise to do that."

"No way…" Mist said surprised.

"Yeah… we think it would be best if you two investigated it first without telling anyone."

"I know, I don't want anyone to worry…"

"So, you going to tell Raguna about this?"

"…no, I can't…"

"Huh? Why not?"

"Well, the most likely case is that he goes anyways. I don't want him to rush things."

"Oh Trying to protect your lover right?"

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Mist yelled, "Listen… he's been overworking lately, and if he goes to Mt. Gigant, he'll probably…"

"I see…" Rosetta said, "Knowing him, had he known about this, he would probably leave immediately. Who would have guessed that all of us would be so reliant on Raguna?"

"Well… I did say…"

"Besides you…" Rosetta sighed, "But I really think it'll be a better idea if you kept a closer eye on him for the time being so he doesn't do anything foolish. I'll ask Mei not to talk about it to anyone else for now."

"Okay then…"

"Alright, later then!"

"Okay bye!"

After saying her goodbyes, Mist went back inside and found Raguna still sleeping. She thought he looked very peaceful and innocent like that, and not the kind of person who would go and risk his life in order to find his lost memories as well as to protect the people he loves.

"Oh heavenly spirit," Mist said to herself, "please watch over Raguna, I want him to be safe when he goes into more of these dangerous areas… and also help me protect him, so that I don't have to lose him… the same way I lost…"