[A/N]: Okay, so I swear I wrote ¼th of the time I was away, promise. Its just that the original sucked after a couple of weeks; it was first in Chase's POV, and it was so good! Then, it kinda went downhill from there. I didn't write for a whole 3 weeks after I'd gotten to 1,000 words—epic fail indeed. So here's my second attempt, I hope it's good.

Oh, aside from that I went on a field trip the other day to go see a play called 'Of Mice and Men'. The book is good but if you're a squeamish kind of person don't read it… just letting you know before you set yourself up. I'll stop rambling now… enjoy the read. FYI: I have an iPod now, so I don't have to listen to my mom's choice of music. YEEEAAAH!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon—Natsume does. All I own are the plots. This story is based on: Harvest Moon: Animal Parade.

Chapter 6

Teaching Ignis to socialize wasn't such a great idea as I thought it'd be. I kind of forgot that he doesn't quite like humans, oops. It started when we were heading towards Garmon Mine District; I usually head there first, you know, because it's closer. Well, first he had a hard time crossing the bridge. Turns out, deities don't exactly like heights. I know what you're thinking, "Doesn't the Harvest God live on top of a mountain?" Well, if you were a god and you somehow ended up losing not only your powers but your immortality, I think you'd be kind of cautious about your life too.

When I was at the other side of the bridge towards the Mine District I had thought he was right behind me—not so much. I turned around to see him at the other side, staring at the bridge like it was some sort of two-headed monster. I couldn't help but giggle at his facial expression, its just a bridge, its not like it's gonna just pop up and eat him or anything!

Without trying to offend him I tried calling him over, "Hey there, you… you wanna cross over, or do you just wanna stand there?"

He looked up from the bridge, his eyes boring into me, like he dared me to badmouth him. "I'll come over when I'm ready," he crossed his arms over his chest. "Its not as though we're in a rush."

"Um, sorry to rain on your parade bud but we are in a rush," I said impatiently, "I have a date later on today with Chase, so I have no time to be wasting on your lame shenanigans! Now, get your ass in gear and lets go!"

He still didn't budge, so I had to drag him across. That's rather easy said than done, seeing as how he's taller and weighs a lot more than I do; it took me about 20 min to get him across. He acted as though it was my fault it had taken so long, freaking jerk!

I didn't speak to him for the rest of the walk there, but he kept trying to strike up a conversation. One in particular surprised me; "So, who is this Chase you speak of? Is he a friend of yours?"

It was strange really, Ignis had never asked me of my personal life, and it was always the other way around—me asking of his experiences in his vast life. Of course, he wouldn't tell me anything, since deities aren't allowed to give any personal information to humans, or risk being imprisoned or worse… forced to marry!

Still I was rather reluctant to share any information to him, whether or not he was my best friend. But still, if I don't open up to him, he won't open up to me… right? "Well, Chase so happens to be my boyfriend,"

Ignis looked at me, like he had no idea what I was talking about.

I forgot he didn't know what 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' meant; of course it'd sound foreign to him! "Oh, yeah… boyfriend is like, uh… someone you enjoy spending time with… and—"

"I know what a boyfriend is girl," he growled. "Don't mock me human, just because I don't care for humans doesn't mean I don't watch over them."

I ignored his rude behavior; I'm rather good at it now. We continued the trek in silence.

. . . . . .

The first stop was the Carpenters' shop, where Dale, Luke and Bo live. I wanted Ignis to meet everyone, so he wouldn't be as anti-social (and because I was growing tired of his attitude).

I knocked on the door and was greeted by Bo. "Hey Akari, what can I help you with?" he said politely. I always liked Bo, he reminds me of my little brother, Tyler, back at home.

"Nah, I'm good. I just wanted to introduce my friend, Igura, to everyone in town," I said, gesturing to Iggy. "As you can guess he's new, so I wanted him to get a chance to know everyone."

Speaking of which, I could feel him behind me, which was really weird considering that he was beside me on the trip here.

"Uh, Igura… aren't you going to introduce yourself?" I asked, nudging him with my elbow. I didn't get much of a reaction, just a glare.

"Why would I do that if you had just done it for me?" Even though he was calm, I could hear the 'don't-mess-with-me-women-or-I'll-f***-you—up' tone in it.

I sighed, this day isn't going to go any faster, is it? "Well, I guess we'll be on our way then. Sorry for interrupting… whatever you were just doing a moment ago,"

"Alright Akari, see ya!"

. . . . . .

I'm ticked off; stupid loser, always being antisocial and whatnot. He just thinks he can do whatever he wants to do, without concern for anyone but himself—that's probably why he doesn't have any friends!

I had already given up on letting him introduce himself—so I did it for him. It's not like he was going to do it anyways, it was obviously clear that he had no intention of becoming a social butterfly, but instead being some awkward lame seriously boring caterpillar. But he probably doesn't care; he probably thinks that this whole situation is a complete waste of his time and effort.

I figured since Dale wasn't at the carpenters then he was probably either at the Inn having lunch, or doing business on the mainland; and since it was unusually quiet there too I figured Luke was probably in Fugue Forest again or at the Bar, ogling at Selena. So the next best thing was to go to the General Store to visit Barbara and Phoebe.

I opened the door, the bell indicating that someone was entering the shop. Barbara wasn't behind the counter and Phoebe wasn't anywhere insight, probably in the mines (perhaps flirting with Calvin I presume, hur-hur…!). With nothing to do but wait around for Barbara to come from the back, I wandered around the shop, looking at all the items shelved and stocked.

I was hoping that Ignis would look around too but, unfortunately for me, he was following behind me. "Do you mind not following me wherever I go?" I grumbled, growing more irritated than before. "I'd like some time to myself,"

He didn't get the hint.

Its not like I asked for a giant shadow to follow me around; I'm a good person, I recycle and everything. All I ask from him is a little cooperation, and I don't even get that! Geez, it's like he does this on purpose to spite me!

Alright, that's all I can write for now. I'm writing chapter… uh… 7, yeah, I'm writing it right now. I'm also working on a new project and old ones that I've competely forgot about. See ya guys later!