Author's Note: I've recently reloaded the first 25 chapters of the story on the site here as a lot of them were about to expire for editing, and I've reread and fixed a few things. Anyone who notices a mistake or grammatical error in what's posted- could you please let me know about it? My goal is to have everything online be complete, so I can allow the chapters to become permanent next time. To that end, you may notice that the story gets changed just a little within the first day I post a chapter- it never fails that I misspell something the first time.

Also- I'm getting ready to focus more on romance, so let me know who looks like a better fit for Phillip and Lillian! (Although honestly I wing most of this because it's fun to write that way, but I do have a general favorite pairing for each, not that I'm gonna tell you guys that!)

Thanks!

The Frog

.

.

The breeze ruffled the trees around them with the warm promise of summer, joining the cool shaded pathways with a hum of afternoon activity. Below the reaching branches lush with spring green walked three figures, winding down the hillside in a natural migration.

Lillian had grabbed her brother's arm and urged him forward in excitement. She pointed needlessly to things that he'd obviously seen on his walk here an hour ago, eyes open and expressive with awe. The river that ran along the winding path down seemed to take up the most of her attention, and Phillip stopped when Lillian got too distracted by it and started to dart around foraging.

Georgia watched the two as they walked ahead of her, saying nothing. She'd noticed Phillip whether she'd wanted to or not these last weeks, and this behavior was a nothing like what she'd come to expect from him.

True, he had gone out of his way to talk to her, but there was always an edge to him when he spoke, and there was something off about it.

Whenever they saw each other randomly around the village everything became so awkward and his usual confidence seemed to evaporate into an uncomfortable silence. They either just looked away from each other or shared a curt nod.

She never knew why he was bothering to acknowledge her in the first place, and it bugged her, but for some reason the way he seemed to force himself to be cheerful around her was even worse.

If she knew herself better she would have recognized the small seed of discomfort that had taken root that first day he'd said hello to her in town and known it for what it was when it slowly began to blossom into humiliation. Everyday she'd watched him working hard to accept the village that had done him so much harm. Everyday she found that she was waiting for him to call out to her again, just to see if he was that thick-skinned to keep trying to win everyone over, even a girl like her.

He was too giving, offering his time to help everyone, learning what he could about people, throwing himself into the farm he had been made to answer for. He was a hard worker, but that just made it worse. Nobody did anything without being motivated by their own needs. Phillip, who had needed to find his sister and see her safe, now had found her again.

So he was back to being able to pursue his original goal, whatever that really was.

Not many people came to this mountain in the middle of densely forested wilderness. There wasn't anyone who should know about the villages to send tourists or residents here in the first place… which is why for all the beauty of it, no one ever moved in.

Now that he found Lillian, would they try to run, or stay and fulfill their original goal? By now it was possible that Phillip had learned a few things that would make Bluebell vulnerable.

But even though Georgia had been recently trying to understand him, today he was just… confusing.

Gone was the cautious expression that was always on his face, the determined set to his wide jaw, the hardness of his clear-as-marble, granite gray eyes. Instead of just being a silent observer among the Bluebell villagers she watched him getting swept along in his sister's energy to become a willing participant in her enjoyment. Today he was laughing in a way that touched his eyes.

He was unguarded and content.

Before Georgia knew what was happening, he was sharing his new cheerful energy with her too, and she felt warmth in it that she hadn't felt from anyone in a long time.

All she could think was, if she had met him any other way, they might have been friends.

…

Lillian was having an amazing time.

The day was gorgeous, she had slipped by her guard, and she was definitely going to raid her brother's fridge for snacks later.

As they made their way away from the long winding, churning river, and towards the actual village, she pretended not to notice Phillip's discomfort around the redheaded girl.

But when it became too obvious to ignore, she told him she was right behind and fell into step next to the girl, curious.

The girl had pale brown eyes and her hair fell in long locks about her shoulders. She walked with confidence, surveying everything around her as if it were hers. There was a striking difference between someone like her, not afraid to challenge others with just her eyes, and someone like Nori, polite to a fault.

"It's beautiful here." She said to the girl as they fell in step together.

The girl nodded and kept walking.

"Have you always lived here?" Lillian asked, prompting the girl to actually turn and face her.

The severe expression came back, and Lillian found herself explaining, "It's just that, I noticed you have a different accent sometimes from the other people I've met. Is that just a Bluebell accent?"

Georgia shrugged. "I don't know. Does it matter where I come from? What do you want to know fer, anyways?"

Well that backfired.

"Since you're close to my- well not exactly close to him, but because you know… I want to know about the people who are living in Bluebell. I'm just curious." She finished, feeling kind of stupid for asking now.

"No, I'm not from Bluebell, not properly." The girl said after a pause. "But I been here long enough to belong by now. Can I ask you somethin'?

Lillian perked up. "Yes?"

"What are you both here for? I know what happened with the accident an' everything, but what was the original idea of coming here?"

Oh, that's why she was asking. "I'm sorry we disrupted things for everyone." Lilian said quietly. "I hope it helps for you to know, if we knew it would be like this we never would have come here in the first place."

Georgia stopped walking for a moment, stooping to pick up a small stone and skip it off of a thin tree trunk into the forest. Not satisfied, she picked up another.

Phillip doubled back. "You okay, Geo?" He never let an opportunity to use her nickname pass him by: she hated it too much.

The redhead practically growled. "Fine, I'm fine. Just trying to figure you guys out." She muttered half under her breath. "But you know what, I realized there's nothing to figure out. You probably thought you'd come here and get a good long look at this place, then run along home to the city to tell 'em all about it."

Another stone flung through distant branches, breaking off leaves to come fluttering down.

"Tell 'em about what?" Phillip asked, honestly not sure what she was talking about.

"Tell 'em how pathetic it is, how we spent generations here fighting over slivers of land on a single mountain when there's a whole world to go out and see, to conquer!" Aggravation fueled the next stone, which went whizzing past the group and bounced off of only one tree.

His voice was soft. "Why, is that how you feel about it?"

She stopped, stone cocked in her fist and ready to fly. Then she let it go with all of her strength at once. "Yah!" And then turned back to him. "Maybe it is. Maybe not. I'm just sayin' that's how people view our villages. Yokels who can't control themselves. You come here to write a story about us?" She shot a glare at Lillian. "You want to observe both towns, right?"

Lillian let out a giggle that she couldn't suppress. "Seriously." She shook her head, looking at Phillip. "Is this the sort of thing you deal with here?"

Georgia dropped the next rock to the ground a created a fist, stepping towards Lillian threateningly. "I can wipe that smirk off your face for ya, if you don't mind it." She said.

"What?" Lillian shot her hand out just in case. "Hey! I'm just saying everybody really jumps to conclusions- knock it off will you?" She braced herself for the girl to come after her.

Georgia lowered her fist to look the chestnut-haired girl in the eyes.

Then Phillip walked over, and silently put his hand over Geo's fist. She tensed and turned on him- but he surprised her instead.

The fiery young rancher found herself in a warm embrace, and all the heat of her anger suddenly melted away with it.

"I'm sorry, Georgia." He said, holding her firmly.

"Wha- sorry for what?" Geo found herself sputtering, and he released her.

"Like Lil said, we're disrupting your lives here."

A look of doubt was on her face. "Well, what are you all doing out here, then?"

And Phillip grinned. It was the sort of grin she'd seen on him before, but it had never been aimed at her, and she found it near impossible to not smile back at all. Before she knew it, her mouth was turning up at an angle.

"Let's get the rest of the way to the Farm and we'll tell you about it." He promised. Lillian nodded, and the twins turned to go back down the path in step.

It wasn't until they were several feet ahead of her that the redhead found her heart rate increasing at what had just happened.

…

Kana toed the line, his mind and his body in complete disagreement with each other.

He didn't see anyone from the bluebell patrol, but that didn't mean that somebody wasn't out there, waiting for him to cross over.

Was that even Lillian's handwriting?

He tried to quell his fear with anger and wasn't successful. Knowing them, they'd just kidnapped her right out from under his watch. He had been so stupid, waiting for her without staying in earshot.

A voice echoed in the recessed portions of his mind, the voice of doubt that always kept him working so hard.

Dammit, Kana! You were too busy being confused about her to protect her- you call yourself a man!

He was angry with himself, but also… somehow he'd expected better of that idiot, Cam. He should've known Cam would try and pull something like this, he realized now. His kind act had always been a show, a farce to get what he wanted from other people.

And now that Kana had been away from the scrimmage line, he had made his move. How foolish had it been to think that there was any integrity there, that he was able to leave her alone with them!

Kana covered his eyes from the light that was streaming in on him from the clearing for a moment.

"I was just trying to give you space…" He muttered, regret in his voice.

So, what now? If he went after her he would be treated like an insurgent and would be lucky to escape with his life.

If he went to get help from Konohana they would definitely be viewed as a force of invasion. He cursed and stalked over to Hayate, who could sense his unease and was pawing the ground impatiently. He rubbed the velvet of her snout and patted her face, allowing the big creature to calm his heart.

In a swift motion he was saddled, and heading down the path to Bluebell.