O.o My faithfull reviewers, I have no words to express my apologies. No point in my entire writing being would I have thought that it would have taken me 5 months to update one chapter. I don't expect you to forgive me, I just hope that you continue to read this story until I finish it. When I start something, I finish it, no matter how long it takes.

Disclaimer (Lawyer): Livi does not own Harvest Moon. She also seems to have disappeared before she could write the disclaimer. Although in her place she has left us with a pile of used tissues. It seems something has depressed her.

Pile 'o' tissues: Really now? I would have never have guessed.

Lawyer: O.o

"speech" thoughts ! actions or sounds ! emphasis

Chapter 12: How Could You

Fall, Day 22

"Damn it!" Basil yelled, slamming his fist down on the table. Various assorted glasses trembled at the sudden movement. "This is completely unacceptable. Something needs to be done about this boy!"

"This isn't the first time." Harris said before Basil could go further. "Have you seen the aftermath of what he has done to Popuri?"

Lillia, looked down, clearly distraught. Popuri could be considered Cliff's first 'victim.' She has never been the same ever since.

"You said the boy had changed Doug! Clearly this is not the case. Kicking him temporarily out of the Village the first time clearly wasn't enough." Of course, Manna knew all the little rants of past meetings. Doug had definitely defended him the first time he came back. He was supposed to have become a 'changed boy.'

"Cliff needs some intensive counseling," Carter stated simply. "There is something wrong with him. Normal boys don't wake up in the morning thinking 'I'm going to go try to rape someone today.' Repeat offender or not, something must be wrong with him mentally. He's not stable."

"Jail! Convict him!" Some random villager screamed from some random place somewhere within their meeting place; the Inn.

"We'll have to send him elsewhere to convict him. The only legal system set up in this small village is Harris, and he's just a cop." The Mayor had decided not to disband this 'meeting' as he normally did. This one was way too needed.

"I'll escort him to the nearest neighboring Village." Harris wanted so badly to roughly through the youth into a jail cell.

That seemingly ended the 'meeting' right there. It was unanimously declared that Cliff would be sent to jail somewhere. He was to leave on the next boat out.

This boy needs counseling, yet no one wants to listen... Carter thought solemnly as he walked out the door with the rest of the villagers.

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! FLASHBACK !

Jack had no idea why the hell Asuka was running from Cliff, just that she was roughed up and made him lock her door. He carried her all the way to the clinic, although she passed out halfway there. Mumbling something about Cliff before she lost consciousness, she twitched constantly in his arms. Right before he reached the door to the Clinic she started screaming. Everybody including the poor patients could hear her wild cries.

"No! Get away!"

"Asuka, hold still or I'm going to drop you! Get your fucking ass out here now someone!"

"There is no need for such language! Children are treated here," Elli told him sternly, dragging behind her a rolling stretcher, motioning for Jack to put her down. Doctor came rushing out, just as they started to roll it into the building.

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Gray could hear the yelling at the Clinic all the way at the Library, where he was currently at. He was oogling over a new book Mary had just received about metal cooling temperatures. Looking up, startled from his book, Gray finds the yelling to hard to ignore. He droped it as he ran out of the Library, Mary asking him where he was going. It's not like she could leave, since someone had to watch the Library. Following the sound of the yelling just before it ceased, he found himself at the Clinic.

Right as his hand reached out and touched the door someone else on the other side pulled it open. Jack appeared before him. They stood staring at each other for a few moments before Jack simply uttered.

"Asuka is in there."

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"No!" Asuka unconsciously screamed right as Gray practically ran into her room.

"Gray, get out of here please. We're trying to calm her and you're probably not going to help," Doctor said, as he turned his head to see who had walked in. He was holding a needle in one hand, full of a strong sedative.

"Let me talk to her before you do that."

"She completely out. How are you supposed to-"

"Just let him," Elli said, quickly interjecting. "He'll do more good than you think," she finished as she grabbed Doctor by the arm and led him out the door. He continued to protest the entire way.

He didn't bother to question why Elli let him stay with no questions. He was too busy thinking about Asuka. Walking over to the bed she was currently twitching in, he pulled a chair next to it and sat down. He placed his hand slowly on hers, waiting for when it seemed to twitch the least. The moment he did her eyes shot open and the twitching stopped.

"Asuk-"

"Don't touch me!"

From her lying position on the bed, she jumped up at the sudden touch and became huddled onto the far corner of her bed. She started looking around, and then spotted Gray.

Gray knew she was unconscious, but the sudden outburst on her part saddened him. Why can't I touch her? What the hell has happened?

"Asuka, I- I'm sorry." Gray stumbled as he started to get up, so he could leave her alone. Clearly she didn't like the touch, she didn't need him around.

"Gray!" She finally realized who had touched her. It was not Cliff as she had thought it was, but Gray. After the initial shock wore off she got up quickly, crawling over to him. She stopped his advancement up, wrapping her arms around his neck and starting to cry into his shoulder.

All of the sudden Gray had a body clinging to him. Letting a weird kind of instinct take over, he placed his arms around her waist and let her cry.

"What the hell happened to you?" I've got to stop finding you in the Clinic. You've been here twice already. Now what has happened?

Her words were hard to pick out through her tears. Everything was muddled together against his neck. Her not bothering to enunciate didn't help either. All he could hear thoroughly was 'Cliff', 'tried', 'no help'.

Placing his hands on her shoulders and, very softly, pushed her off of him so he could speak.

"Asuka, slow down. I can't understand anything you're trying to say," he whispered as he stared into her clouded eyes.

"Cliff, he-he tried ta-ta ! sniff !... rape me."

"What!" His eyes grew bigger than his head. "I'm going to kill him!"

As he tried to leave as quickly as possible to hunt down the bastard Cliff, arms wrapped around him, stopping his exit.

"Why…. Why are you stopping me? Why are you protecting him?" Asuka had him from the side, where he had advanced to when she stopped him. His eyes moved to where her hands were around him. Each wrist was badly bruised with a dark black ring, each in the shape of a hand.

"I don't... know. Just leave him alone. L-let Harris deal with it or something."

I'd rather deal with it! Just look at what he did to your hands alone! I want to beat him an inch of his life! Wait a minute...

"I tried to warn you even before you let him work on the farm! But no! You wouldn't let me! I tried to stop you from even letting him work! I tried Asuka, I really did, but you wouldn't listen to me."

"What? How could you have known something like this was going to happen...?" Asuka asked, releasing Gray and falling back onto the bed.

"This has happened before. Only, Popuri was the victim. She's never been the same since. Why do you think she always seems spaced out or never there? She was perfectly normal before. Afterwards, he was banned from the Village for a few years. We were hoping that when he came back, if he ever did, he would have changed. And as I can see that is not the case. And I tried to warn you!"

This is all my fault... I let this happen by not listening in the first place. I... I'm just another victim.

Her seated position on the bed became slumped as she removed her arms from around Gray's person. Placing her eyes in her hands, she just cried. Her hangover seemed to have decided to take this moment and come crashing back.

I-I caused that pain... I shouldn't have told her... For the second time that day, Grays' chest felt as if someone sawed it in two as he walked quietly out the door.

! END FLASHBACK !

Cliff was sent out on the next ferry the day of this meeting, escorted by Harris. No one had talked to him since the incident. He had not said a word to anyone since Asuka locked him into her home. Not even when various burly men came to drag him violently away from the house just to be thrown into a windowless room until this day.

Gray unfortunately was not allowed to confront him in any way. Most of the villagers thought that would lead to a disastrous result. Asuka hasn't said a thing to anyone since her conversation with Gray. Gray blames himself for her silence.

(A.N. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!! Angry friends of mine in real life and over the internet have already come at me with pitchforks about never seeming to update. I am deeply sorry. My life has spiraled out of control this past almost-half-year, and I'm attempting to try to pick the pieces back up. It's not easy, and in the end it may not be worth it, but I'm trying. So don't hate me please. Review if you would like me to know that you found out that I'm still alive.)