Oh, lord. Re-reading the last few chapters makes me feel stupid…ah, well -_- Ok, well, I got a request to write some KaixMary from NinjasRockYourFace, so here it is! (I hope it's better than the last two I wrote)! I kind of wrote this in a different style. Just trying something new ~ AND THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS EVERYONE!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon

…

She was timid – quiet – petite with pale skin. She was a librarian, preferring to stay indoors than go outside. And Winter was her favorite season.

He was friendly – kind and likeable – tall, broad-shoulder, with tanned skin and a bright smile. He was a traveling man; bound to the outdoors. Summer was his favorite season. Actually, Summer was the only season that you could see him within that small town.

It is quite ironic that, of all seasons, of all times, she saw him that year, on Christmas Eve.

That's what happened, though.

The black-haired girl had begun to shut down the library that night. Most of the books that had been carelessly strewn around were back in their rightful places, all for one small stack.

She read the titles of each of the books – all slightly risqué romance novels, presumably left by Popuri. Now, normally, Mary would have organized them properly like a good librarian, but that night, her interest had been piqued. She couldn't resist it, she didn't care how trashy they were, she just had to read them.

Settling into a not-so-comfortable chair, Mary opened up the first novel and read. Now, Mary, being the writer and reader that she was, could not put them down, finding them quite…er…intriguing. But, thank goddess, there was no one around to catch her avidly turning the pages. That would have been downright embarrassing.

Well, Mary wasn't one for luck, and the Goddess must have been distracted or something that night, because Kai just so happened to walk in when said book was describing something that was causing the poor girl to giggle and blush at the same time.

Now, when Mary looked up at who exactly had swung open the door, two thoughts crossed her mind:

One: What the heck is Kai doing in Mineral Town in the Winter?

And two: I've got to hide these novels fast!

As stated before, Mary was timid. Her cheeks were so red that tomatoes looked like they were pink in comparison, her stammering was so bad that broken records sounded like symphonies, and that all left Kai so confused that he walked outside and then walked back in to make sure this wasn't some bizarre illusion.

Sadly, it wasn't.

Mary scrambled, shoving books into random shelves and then fixing her dress and trying to calm down before he returned.

She considered how the Goddess must seriously hate her or decided that she had some bad karma. Why did Kai have to walk in – her mini-meltdown wouldn't have been nearly as bad if, say, Elli or Ann, or heck, even Cliff, had seen her. But no, it had to be the highly-attractive male that only came for thirty days a year, who also happened to be, after Gray's marriage to Claire, Mary's new object of affection. Not like she made it obvious to anyone. She barely accepted that fact herself. Her love was simply there – founded by glances as he passed by the window or small meals at his restaurant, a slight happiness in her eyes whenever his name was mentioned or possibly dropping off Cliff's book when he was around – but never acknowledged or left out in the open. It was a crush, no more, only someone to think about after her previous love had become forbidden.

"Mary…I don't know you that well, so I shouldn't judge, but…what were you doing?" Kai questioned once he had entered again, satisfied with what he saw.

"I…er…w-was c-c-cl-cleaning up?"

"Uh…ok then."

"B-but, what are you doing here? I-it's W-winter and all, and...you're covered in snow…"

"Oh…well, I was supposed to spend Christmas with Popuri, but obviously Rick didn't want me there, and Popuri was obsessing over something, and all in all I just didn't fit in. I guess Christmas for them is a kind of family thing, and…I'm just not family." He sighed, a mournful look adorning his face.

"So, y-you left and…came here…i-in t-th-th-the s-s-sn-snow?" Mary couldn't control her stuttering as she attempted to take his coat and hang it up.

"Yea, well," He shrugged, "I knew you'd be here, and I needed to go someplace."

"Oh…ok."

"This isn't a bother right?"

"N-no, not at all…" She trailed off, trying to avoid eye contact so she could speak normally.

"'K, good. So, what books were you reading? And why did you not want me to see them?" As he sat down and asked that question, all the color drained from Mary's face.

"Uh, well, um…i-i-it's n-not like t-that, b-but-"

"Don't worry, I don't care if you were reading some of Popuri's trashy romance novels." He turned to her, grinning widely, "I read them myself as well. They're quite entertaining, right?" The bandana-clad man winked.

"Yes, I've noticed that they are interesting to read."

"What's you favorite part?"

And at that moment, in that time, it really didn't matter that Kai was with Popuri and Mary hadn't quite gotten over Gray, for the little bit of a spark that was between them exploded into a fire, and if only for that night, they could pretend that they were friends, maybe even lovers, and converse like they knew each other.

And even though Mary knew that after that night she would go back to sneaking looks at him when no one was looking and mourning the loss of Gray, she couldn't help but feel like she had fallen in love for the first time.

Now, that's something she felt like she had read in one of those trashy romance novels.

…

Where was I going with this? I hope it came out well, I sort of didn't know what to write…I hope you liked this, NinjasRockYourFace. Please review!