Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or
events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely
coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.
Wine Red no Kokoro
by flame mage
Part 11: Rebirth
**********
It was the 7th of Fall, and as long as I live, I will remember that day. I'd been out at the beach all day, fuming, and I got back just before sunset.
The vineyard was just like I'd left it that morning, except that the grapes, which had been almost invisible on the withered vines, were purple now, standing out in the dying light. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a silver flash, and I knew what it had to be.
I started to run.
"Jack!" I cried as soon as I burst onto the farm. He was dropping the last of the crops into the shipping bin.
"Hey, Karen. You look excited," he said.
I grabbed his arm. "Hey, hey, come on! Come to our vineyard! It's incredible!"
"Wha--what?" He was blinking.
"You'll understand when you get there! Come on!"
He stumbled behind me through the crossroads and up the hill to the vineyard. The last glowing embers of the run were fading now, and in the darkness, the silver shimmers were visible. The grapes were bursting out now like the fireworks we'd shot, ripe and round and purple. The tiny silver fairies were diving in like tiny points of starlight, gently kissing the grapes.
"See, isn't it amazing?!" I was jumping up and down like a little girl. "The fairies are kissing the grapes!"
"The Kifu fairies!" he cried with sudden comprehension. "That means the vineyard...the vineyard..."
"Yes, Jack." I ran to the grapevines and inhaled. "Smell that?" I asked. "The grapes have turned incredibly sweet!"
"You can make Heaven's Gate again now, can't you? It's going to be like the old times."
"I know." I looked at him suddenly. There was something in his eyes. Almost as if... "Jack? You...you did this for me? You brought back the Kifu fairies?"
He shook his head. "No. You did this."
"I always thought it was an old fairy tale..." I shook my head, unable to take it all in. "I didn't believe it. I think I finally understand why Grandma's wine was so good."
Suddenly I wanted to dance more than anything. I felt my feet moving on their own and then I was dancing, whirling around in the starlight of the fairies. For the first time in my life, I was totally free, totally unafraid. I was there, alone, the grapes and the fairies and the two of us were the only things that existed. And for the first time, too, I felt beautiful.
And then Jack was beside me, his arms around me, and he was spinning with me. Gone was the awkwardness we'd felt at the Goddess Festival. We were both drunk from the light of the fairies, and for once there was nothing between us. I wasn't thinking about the steps--somehow our feet were just finding the way, by some instinct. This was what dancing really was, I felt suddenly.
In the violet-silver light of the grapevines, I felt a change, and then his hands were in my hair and we were kissing.
Everyone knows what your first kiss with someone is like. Your heart is racing so hard that for a moment there, as the romance writers like to say, you think it's going to leap out of your chest. Your face is flushed, maybe you're breathing a little harder, but suddenly everything just feels right...
We broke, touch fading gently. He was looking at me, a slight smile on his face, and I sensed a hint of the teasing, "I-know-your-heart's-racing-doubletime- because-of-me" look I'd gotten at the festival in Spring. But I could feel the warmth, too, and...damn. He was blushing.
"What was that for?" I asked softly, letting the smile play across my lips.
He adjusted his hat, plunged his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure." He looked back at me. "We shouldn't be doing this..."
And then he dipped me back and kissed me again, longer this time. I remember feeling that something was happening, something that I'd never felt before, and that I wanted it. I wanted to be in his arms.
We stayed there among the grapevines all night, dancing. A few days later I found a bottle of Heaven's Gate on my doorstep.
He left at dawn and I staggered inside, suddenly feeling drained and exhausted. We'd been out all night. My father griped at me and sent me up to bed, and Kai gave me a lecture about working too hard when he came in to bring up the tea. I was enveloped in a warm, Veryberry-tea-scented (they wouldn't let me have any wine) haze when I heard my mother say, "Oh, hi, Jack. Karen is sick in bed. Why don't you go pay her a visit? Good, come in. I'm sure she'll be happy."
Damn!
A few seconds later, he bounded up the stairs. "Hi, Karen," he said. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm just tired. I guess dancing all night got to me." He set a bunch of wildflowers carefully on my bedside table. I looked at them and moaned, "Oh, this is so embarassing. Jack... you didn't have to come visit me. I mean...I haven't even washed my face."
"You want me to go get you a towel or something?" he asked, with the typical male cluelessness.
"No, I'm fine. No, don't go get it," I told him. He was looking around the room: the simple wooden furnishings, the blue beadspread, the flowers in the corner. "Kind of an empty room, isn't it?" I asked, just to break the silence. "I don't like setting things out all over the place."
"Yeah, me too," he said. "My house is like that too. I don't even have a rug." He was jumping all over the place, looking at everything in the room.
"Gosh, you're so restless. Calm down," I told him.
He came back over and dug around in his rucksack. "Hey, I have something to show you." Eventually he pulled out a small music box.
It opened, and I could see the tiny dancer. "Hmmm, a music box," I murmured. The music was familiar. "That's 'Dance Under the Moon,' isn't it?" It wasn't a question; we both knew it.
Jack nodded. "Yeah. Do you reme--do you know that song?"
"Of course." I closed my eyes. "Brings back memories. I remember that from long ago, deep down in my heart..."
Wordlessly, he pressed it into my hands.
"What?" I blurted. "For me? Are you sure?"
"Sure. I thought it might cheer you up a little bit," he said.
I turned it over in my hands, struggling for...what, I wasn't sure. There was a memory, something I was trying to grasp. The edges of something...a song. There were two voices singing. And a promise...
"Why me?" I asked.
He hesitated. "I...I told you. Because you're sick."
"There was nothing else?"
A small smile, looking almost a little sad--although it could have just been the way the rain was falling. "Just a promise I made to someone a long time ago."
For an instant, there it was. The whole thing was crystal clear. The boy who had let me out of the cellar...that boy, Jack, the same person, the person I'd fallen in love with a summer long ago...a music box I had given to him...he buried it, promising...promising what?
Promising he'd come back to me?
It was gone again.
I shook my head. "Thanks. I'll take good care of it." I set it carefully on the bedside table.
He stood up. "Well, I'd better let you get some rest. Isn't harvest season coming up? You need all your energy."
As he got to the stairs, I called after him, "Thanks. I feel a little better now."
He smiled and went down. I opened the music box again and let the melody rock me to sleep.
Wine Red no Kokoro
by flame mage
Part 11: Rebirth
**********
It was the 7th of Fall, and as long as I live, I will remember that day. I'd been out at the beach all day, fuming, and I got back just before sunset.
The vineyard was just like I'd left it that morning, except that the grapes, which had been almost invisible on the withered vines, were purple now, standing out in the dying light. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a silver flash, and I knew what it had to be.
I started to run.
"Jack!" I cried as soon as I burst onto the farm. He was dropping the last of the crops into the shipping bin.
"Hey, Karen. You look excited," he said.
I grabbed his arm. "Hey, hey, come on! Come to our vineyard! It's incredible!"
"Wha--what?" He was blinking.
"You'll understand when you get there! Come on!"
He stumbled behind me through the crossroads and up the hill to the vineyard. The last glowing embers of the run were fading now, and in the darkness, the silver shimmers were visible. The grapes were bursting out now like the fireworks we'd shot, ripe and round and purple. The tiny silver fairies were diving in like tiny points of starlight, gently kissing the grapes.
"See, isn't it amazing?!" I was jumping up and down like a little girl. "The fairies are kissing the grapes!"
"The Kifu fairies!" he cried with sudden comprehension. "That means the vineyard...the vineyard..."
"Yes, Jack." I ran to the grapevines and inhaled. "Smell that?" I asked. "The grapes have turned incredibly sweet!"
"You can make Heaven's Gate again now, can't you? It's going to be like the old times."
"I know." I looked at him suddenly. There was something in his eyes. Almost as if... "Jack? You...you did this for me? You brought back the Kifu fairies?"
He shook his head. "No. You did this."
"I always thought it was an old fairy tale..." I shook my head, unable to take it all in. "I didn't believe it. I think I finally understand why Grandma's wine was so good."
Suddenly I wanted to dance more than anything. I felt my feet moving on their own and then I was dancing, whirling around in the starlight of the fairies. For the first time in my life, I was totally free, totally unafraid. I was there, alone, the grapes and the fairies and the two of us were the only things that existed. And for the first time, too, I felt beautiful.
And then Jack was beside me, his arms around me, and he was spinning with me. Gone was the awkwardness we'd felt at the Goddess Festival. We were both drunk from the light of the fairies, and for once there was nothing between us. I wasn't thinking about the steps--somehow our feet were just finding the way, by some instinct. This was what dancing really was, I felt suddenly.
In the violet-silver light of the grapevines, I felt a change, and then his hands were in my hair and we were kissing.
Everyone knows what your first kiss with someone is like. Your heart is racing so hard that for a moment there, as the romance writers like to say, you think it's going to leap out of your chest. Your face is flushed, maybe you're breathing a little harder, but suddenly everything just feels right...
We broke, touch fading gently. He was looking at me, a slight smile on his face, and I sensed a hint of the teasing, "I-know-your-heart's-racing-doubletime- because-of-me" look I'd gotten at the festival in Spring. But I could feel the warmth, too, and...damn. He was blushing.
"What was that for?" I asked softly, letting the smile play across my lips.
He adjusted his hat, plunged his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure." He looked back at me. "We shouldn't be doing this..."
And then he dipped me back and kissed me again, longer this time. I remember feeling that something was happening, something that I'd never felt before, and that I wanted it. I wanted to be in his arms.
We stayed there among the grapevines all night, dancing. A few days later I found a bottle of Heaven's Gate on my doorstep.
He left at dawn and I staggered inside, suddenly feeling drained and exhausted. We'd been out all night. My father griped at me and sent me up to bed, and Kai gave me a lecture about working too hard when he came in to bring up the tea. I was enveloped in a warm, Veryberry-tea-scented (they wouldn't let me have any wine) haze when I heard my mother say, "Oh, hi, Jack. Karen is sick in bed. Why don't you go pay her a visit? Good, come in. I'm sure she'll be happy."
Damn!
A few seconds later, he bounded up the stairs. "Hi, Karen," he said. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm just tired. I guess dancing all night got to me." He set a bunch of wildflowers carefully on my bedside table. I looked at them and moaned, "Oh, this is so embarassing. Jack... you didn't have to come visit me. I mean...I haven't even washed my face."
"You want me to go get you a towel or something?" he asked, with the typical male cluelessness.
"No, I'm fine. No, don't go get it," I told him. He was looking around the room: the simple wooden furnishings, the blue beadspread, the flowers in the corner. "Kind of an empty room, isn't it?" I asked, just to break the silence. "I don't like setting things out all over the place."
"Yeah, me too," he said. "My house is like that too. I don't even have a rug." He was jumping all over the place, looking at everything in the room.
"Gosh, you're so restless. Calm down," I told him.
He came back over and dug around in his rucksack. "Hey, I have something to show you." Eventually he pulled out a small music box.
It opened, and I could see the tiny dancer. "Hmmm, a music box," I murmured. The music was familiar. "That's 'Dance Under the Moon,' isn't it?" It wasn't a question; we both knew it.
Jack nodded. "Yeah. Do you reme--do you know that song?"
"Of course." I closed my eyes. "Brings back memories. I remember that from long ago, deep down in my heart..."
Wordlessly, he pressed it into my hands.
"What?" I blurted. "For me? Are you sure?"
"Sure. I thought it might cheer you up a little bit," he said.
I turned it over in my hands, struggling for...what, I wasn't sure. There was a memory, something I was trying to grasp. The edges of something...a song. There were two voices singing. And a promise...
"Why me?" I asked.
He hesitated. "I...I told you. Because you're sick."
"There was nothing else?"
A small smile, looking almost a little sad--although it could have just been the way the rain was falling. "Just a promise I made to someone a long time ago."
For an instant, there it was. The whole thing was crystal clear. The boy who had let me out of the cellar...that boy, Jack, the same person, the person I'd fallen in love with a summer long ago...a music box I had given to him...he buried it, promising...promising what?
Promising he'd come back to me?
It was gone again.
I shook my head. "Thanks. I'll take good care of it." I set it carefully on the bedside table.
He stood up. "Well, I'd better let you get some rest. Isn't harvest season coming up? You need all your energy."
As he got to the stairs, I called after him, "Thanks. I feel a little better now."
He smiled and went down. I opened the music box again and let the melody rock me to sleep.