Disclaimer: I don't own it!
A/N: To continue or not to continue is always a question for me! And sorry if Nami is a little OOC, but then again, she is falling in love. You really can't tell either way in the game until the actual proposal, am I right or am I right? I think I made her smile in this one. She never does smile in the game.
To Win a Woman's Heart
4th day of winter
Winter was a good season; it cleansed everything and put a nice sheen of white over everything. I had passed by Hatori's fields yesterday and watched him tend them for a while, putting fertilizer on each plant with great care and love. He had such a love for farming and was such a gentle person. After all the times I've tried to push him away he still comes back trying to win me over, and what he hopefully doesn't know yet is that he now has. He's won me over and I love him. I never wanted to depend on anyone before in my entire life, I even resented my father's aid to getting me away from him, but then again, I guess I never really had someone I felt I could truly depend on, truly love. Hatori is someone like that. He seems and acts like the kind of guy I can trust. I could trust him not to break my heart…at least, that's what I think, just a little bit though. I'm scared to tell him, because if I do, that means I give up a part of myself to become something I may not be. Would I really be suited to being the wife of a farmer? I wanted to see the world, see everything there was to offer. Then again, would it really be bad to settle down now after all I've seen already?
I've seen many things in my life, even a little bit of war and struggle. This…This valley is a place of peace. Everyone here is so nice and kind and absolutely loveable never mind their small faults. In many ways really, I didn't even want to leave here. Ruby was wonderful and if I left I would never get to taste her cooking again. Tim was so nice and so was their son. Everyone here was nice, they always seemed so friendly to me, and now they all love Hatori as well. Hatori and I were really the most recent newcomers to this peaceful valley.
What ran through my mind though was that I'd end up like my mother. I'd be unable to cope with things once I settled down and then take a fall and end up in the hospital dying. Then again, my father hadn't helped much either. I remember one night hearing her cry and hearing father screaming at her. It remains on my mind as a memory to the kind of man I don't want to marry, the kind of man I would never want to settle down with, but then again, did mom know before she married him?
Did she know he would be that way? If she did, was she so deeply in love she couldn't bear not to be with him even though he was terrible? Hatori didn't seem like that, he didn't seem like the kind of man who would strike his own child or wife. Here in the valley there was security of sorts. Everyone watches out for everyone else and no one is truly alone. Sure, there are a few feuds here and there that I've seen like how the twins argue over who makes better fireworks or how Muffy and Celia got into an argument over which vegetable was the healthiest, but those couldn't be considered real arguments either, considering the fact all vegetables are healthy and taste good when fresh. (At least that's my experienced opinion). There are real arguments though; I heard Takakura had argued with the doctor over some trivial thing and they didn't speak to each other for a week afterwards or how our favorite local scientist doesn't seem to comprehend what Dr. Carter, our local archeologist is doing and secretly lusts after Dr. Flora. Everyone knows about that except Flora and Carter I think.
It isn't like this place is entirely boring. There may not be much, but there is the harvest festival in the fall, of which I heard Hatori ate too much at and got sick, and a few other things. It's not like it's a place where a rut is too much for me. I can always go see the world later on, settle down for now and have a normal life. It isn't like I can't do that, and maybe Hatori would go with me. We'd leave our son or daughter to tend to the farm and in our older years go see all the places we want to see, travel the world and return to tell our grandchildren, if there are any when we return, about all we saw and did. Listen to me; I'm not even thinking like myself anymore. Here I am I haven't told Hatori how I feel and already I'm planning ten, no, maybe thirty years into our future.
I let out a sigh and raised my head towards the clear blue sky. At least it wasn't snowing today. I had brushed some of the fluff off of one of the benches and was just sitting here, thinking. It was amazing how much I just wanted to think these days. Before, I never much had anything to think about.
FLASH
"Hi!" he greeted
me.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I just moved here to care for my dad's farm.
Well, it's sort of my farm now," he said, "Oh, my name's Hatori." I had thought it
was the silliest name in the world to have at first, and now, I like how it
rolls off of the tongue.
"I'm Nami," I introduced,
wanting to leave. I had wanted to get away from him so badly; I
didn't care how rude I was going to have to be once introductions were done.
"How long have you been here?" he asked. He had the biggest brightest eyes back then
and he still has the biggest brightest eyes now. That never changed. In reality, he never did change, did he? I was the one to change. Hatori was already perfect.
"I stayed here the whole year, and what is worse
is I can't believe myself that I would do that," I said. I smiled faintly, remembering how rude I had
been to him then. I had been rude, and I
continued to be rude for a while after that.
Slowly he'd broken down my barriers I guess and gotten through to
me. Slowly he had stopped me from
snapping at him and I slowly got just a little bit more polite. I couldn't go all the way to that side and
just be polite all the time, it wasn't me.
"Oh," he said, and then he left me to do
something else. He was cute, I'll give him that.
FLASH
"Um, Nami, are you all right? You're just sitting there looking so out of it," a voice said and I turned and saw Celia. I sighed.
"Sorry, I guess I was just lost in thought." Celia smiled and brushed some snow off the bench before sitting down next to me, her smile growing wider.
"You've changed Nami; I've been noticing that over this past year. You've really changed."
"Is that a bad thing?" I asked her. "Do you think I'm changing for the better or the worse?"
"For the better actually, I'm happy to say. When you first came here I always thought you were really moody and rude and you didn't have much character or really much of anything."
"I take offense to that you know," I growled.
"I know, but even for me that was a bad impression. I always try to see the good in people," Celia said. "I just didn't see it at first with you. When Hatori arrived though I think he was the one that broke through whatever barriers you held up around yourself. I think you just were mean because you were afraid of being liked by others and having to like others in return."
"You should become a philosopher," I muttered and stared down at the ground. "I mean, that's ground breaking stuff you're saying!"
"You haven't changed completely though, and that's a good thing too. It means you're still yourself but a better person all around. It's good Nami, it really is," she said and stood up. "I hope you plan on staying in the village with us for a long time. I would like to hear all about your travels."
"Aren't you jealous that Hatori likes me or something?" I asked her and she began to laugh.
"You didn't know he was in love with you? Everyone here knew it but you! Oh my, it's like with Carter and Flora and Daryl, except it's just between you and Hatori." I stared at her and she blinked at me. "Oh my, he still hasn't told you?"
"Told me what?" I asked, pretending I didn't hear the words out of her mouth.
"Hatori loves you, it's plain to see. If you thought I'd be jealous you're wrong. Its okay, love happens, we move on if it's not our time, right? I thought you, seeing as how you've seen so much would understand that." She began to walk away from me. "I wish you both luck and I'll be sure to tell Hatori that too, that I wish you two luck." I think Celia was too kind for her own good. Then again, maybe that was just how she was. Just like me, she said I had changed and yet was still myself. I guess that was true. I didn't really feel any different, except I was in love. Is this what love felt like then? Just being myself but with affection for another?
…
"Nami, I have something for you!" Hatori's voice reached my ear and I turned to see Hatori running forward, Sashimi in his hands.
"Home cooked food?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him and he nodded, handing it over to me. "It looks good."
"I used two fish instead of one for this," he said. "I hope you like it. Tell me what you think of it then, won't you?"
"Maybe I will, maybe I won't," I said and he smiled. I glared at him. "What's making you so happy?"
"You're attitude is making me smile," he said. "I don't know what about it is making me so happy but it is."
I glared at him and then let my face return to something a little more neutral looking, no smile and no frown. "I'm going to go eat this now then…um…see you later?"
"I always do, don't I?" he asked and walked away whistling. I stared down at the Sashimi in my hands. Well, if I stayed here in the valley and did end up marrying Hatori, I would never go hungry, that's for sure. He did know how to cook.
TBC
A/N: Like it, hate it? Let me know in a review just don't flame! I don't like flames.
This story is coming to an end soon, just to let all of you know. I look forward to the next chapters with you guys until I do finish. I will hopefully soon, so keep looking. I'm aiming for over 200 reviews with this thing at least by the time I'm done, just so I can say I have two stories like that. Meh, I've been at this one for at least a year now, haven't I?
