Hey readers! Here's chapter three of "The Grass is Always Greener". Here we get an inside look at Luke's Saturday morning, a bit of a Luke introduction if you will. Thanks to all reviewers for, well, reviewing! I've said it a bajillion times, but I really do appreciate it :). Any new readers, please feel free to reivew! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Yours,

Theatrelove

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon. It all belongs to Natsume in NA.

Chapter 3: The Axe Man Awakens

"Goooood morning! Come on now, get up! Rise and shine!" I shouted as I jumped up and down on Bo's bed.

"Ugh, Luke, it's 6:03 in the morning." Bo mumbled as he looked up at me. "Five more minutes…"

"Oh come on now! The early bird catches the worm!" I shouted.

"Who wants a worm?" Bo replied, covering his ears and rolling on his side.

"You do! And you need to get up now, because today's gonna be EXTREME!" I jumped even harder, as close as I could jump to his head without stepping on him.

"Stop it! Okay, okay!" Bo yelled, pushing me off of his bed.

"Aw, come on, Bo! You're no fun." I pouted. Sometimes, I wished that Owen was my roommate instead of Bo;he wouldn't mind being woken up early. Still, Bo was like a brother to me. We had been apprentices together for almost five years, and, even though we didn't have that much in common, he was one of my closest friends.

"Luke! Bo! Breakfast!" Pops shouted. I grabbed my axe, my best friend, and dashed out of the bedroom, followed by a groggy Bo.

"Mornin' Pops! What's for breakfast?" I asked as I pulled out a seat at the table.

"Pancakes!" He said, setting down two heaping plates. "A carpenter's got to be fit. Eat up boys!"

I dug into my pancakes. Mmmmm!The Saturday morning ritual was going as it usually did. Wake up, check. Wake up Bo, check. Grab axe, check. Run downstairs, check. Pancakes for breakfast, check. The only thing that's missing is…

"Who wants maple syrup?" Pops asked. Maple syrup, check. Yes, Saturday morning was going exactly as it always had. But there was still something gnawing on my brain, something I couldn't pinpoint. I looked across the table. Bo was eating his pancakes slower than I was, he preferred to take his time. I couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to take time with anything; taking time is wasting time that you could use doing other things! But Bo is Bo, and he can do things however he wants to. It's his time, not mine. Next to his pancakes sat a few juicy strawberries.

Clarissa, I thought immediately. While Pops smelled like pine trees, and Bo often smelled of ham and cheese sandwiches, Clarissa always seemed to carry the scent of freshly picked strawberries. That's what's bothering me. I was brought back to the night before, when I ate that orange cake that Clarissa had made for Chase. Chase kicking me out didn't bother me at all, that's how it usually goes anyway, but Clarissa's reaction hit me hard. Why was she so mad at me? Why did that cake have to be given to Chase in the first place? Why do I care so much? I attempted to shrug the whole thing off and keep eating. But I couldn't bring myself to eat as heartily as I had been. Still, I did manage to devour every last pancake.

"You done, Luke?" Pops asked.

"Yeah Pops, I think I'm gonna go out for some quality time with the good ol' axe." I said, picking up my axe and grasping it firmly.

"Sounds good. Do good work out there, boy. Profits have been down lately…" Pops began mumbling to himself about how the islanders didn't seem to have use for good quality wood anymore. I sighed; he would just never be satisfied, would he? My one goal in life has always been to make Pops proud; that's why I practice with my axe every day. But no matter how hard I've tried, he only focuses on the business; he never really noticed my accomplishments. Sure, I'd always get a 'nice load son' or a 'it's been a good day, Luke my boy', but it wasn't really the praise that I was trying to earn.

I ran outside, swinging my axe gleefully. Normally, when people see a guy smiling and swinging an axe, they get really scared, like 'oh goddess, did he just murder someone?' or 'oh goddess, he's gonna whack someone in the head!' But not with the Castanetians; they know that I know what I'm doing, and if I was actually going to hurt someone, then it wouldn't be with my precious axe.

I skipped past Barbara's store.

"Hey Luke!" She waved to me. "Care for some banana pudding; just got some in stock!"

"Not now Barbs, but thanks!" I shouted, and then continued on my merry way. It was hard to believe that I had been worried and confused about Clarissa and Chase only a good ten minutes earlier. When I had my axe in hand, everything else seemed so small and silly.

I eventually came to Harmonica town. As I ran through there, swinging my axe about, I met many faces. Some of them were not overly pleasant.

"Hey, get out of the way, you lunatic!" Yolanda shouted at me as I pushed past her. I wasn't really listening though; I've never been too good at that.

"Hey bud!" I yelled as I passed Chase on his way to the Brass Bar. He barely even glanced at me, and his eyes held a look of malice. I didn't really care though; even the best of buddies have bad days.

Finally I was out of Harmonica town and in Fugue forest. I had to cease my running when I came to the door that led out of the clearing and into the forest itself. Panting, I took out an old key and pushed it into the lock. The gate door creaked open, and I dashed inside. I was in a forest, surrounded by trees, with an axe in hand. I ran up to the nearest one and started hacking away at it with my trusty tool.

"TIMBER!" I called as the tree hit the forest floor. I chopped up the large log into smaller pieces of lumber, then stowed those away in my backpack.

"Woohoo!" I yelled as I continued to run through the forest without stopping. I felt as if I were on top of the world, like I could do anything I set my mind to.

I had a feeling that today was going to be a great day!