Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of the characters in the game; however, Scarlet and the plot are mine.

Author's Note: I've reedited yet another chapter. Now, that I've made a complete outline I feel like I can finish this story. I am truly sorry for those of you who read this story when I first posted it. I didn't keep my promises. With my procrastination issues, I shouldn't be making any promises, but I will tell you all that I plan to at least give two real updates this week. Thanks for reading.

Chapter II: First Impressions

Finally, the anticipated day when Scarlet was to arrive, came. Jack stood at the edge of the Goddess Lake, finished with all of his daily chores. He thought over what they could do during his sister's visit, how to handle Gray's resent behavior, and the little time he's spent with his family recently. He was starting to put his work and friends over his immediate family, but how could he spend more time with his family?

Jack stared at the multi colored leaves floating by on the water while pondering what he could spend more time with them, until he thought of the perfect idea. Kiyoshi hasn't been to any of the festivals yet and Mary hasn't gone to as many as she used to since their son was born. Jack was already planning on participating in the festival, so asking his wife and son to join him would be the perfect opportunity to spend more time with them. The idea made him grin as he thought of how excited Kiyoshi was going to be after he told his mother. Quickly, he rushed back to the farm to tell his wife and son his plan.

"Mary!" Jack called as he opened the door.

"Jack? Why aren't you at the festival?" Mary questioned, telling Kiyoshi to stay there, and walked to him from the kitchen.

Before answering, he kissed her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Would you do me a favor?" Mary nodded, giggling. "Will Kiyoshi and you come watch me compete at the festival?"

Kiyoshi rushed over to them having heard. "I wanna go!" He stated as he pulled on his mother's dress.

Mary smiled at her adorable little boy and sighed, "But aren't we suppose to be watching for your sister."

Rolling his eyes, Jack replied with slight humor in his voice, "She's a big girl. She'll find her way to the festival. With all the noise, how can you miss it?"

Mary shook her head knowing that later this would come back to haunt them, but she did want Kiyoshi to start going to the festivals. "Alright, but if she doesn't show up at the festival we're going to go search for her."

Kiyoshi jumped at the news he could go as Jack kiss his wife's forehead whispering a 'thanks sweetie' in her ear as he headed for the door.

"I'll meet you two there. I've got to get Fluffy ready." Jack stated before waving goodbye and walking out before shutting the door.

Jack headed to the Yodel Ranch with a huge grin. This year like every other year, he knew he would win. He never entered a competition unless he was confident he had a good chance of wining.

As Jack entered the Yodel Ranch, he saw Elli and Doctor by one of the rival sheep holding hands, and Rick and Lillia discussing Popuri's last letter. He greeted them as he passed and headed towards Thomas and Barley.

"Are you ready to start?" Barley asked as Jack turned to find Mary and Kiyoshi walking through the entrance, but they weren't walking towards him but to Gray.

The thought that Gray might attend the festival didn't even cross his mind when he planned on bringing his family. 'Maybe inviting my family was not such a good idea.' Jack stated in his mind.

Jack quickly replied, "Not yet. I've got to take care of something first," and rushed to his family. Barley sighed at the delay and went back to discussing the evening's events with Thomas.

Gray wasn't even looking at Mary as she tried to talk to him. His face was emotionless, but his eyes were flaming with jealousy. Unfortunately, the direction he was avoiding looking at her was where Jack was coming from. Jack could clearly see the jealousy in his eyes and the painful expression that swept across his face.

By the time Jack reacted them, Mary had finished whatever she was talking about. Jack smiled at his wife holding his son's hand. "The festival is about to start. Why don't you two wait over by Fluffy?"

"Ok, lets go Kiyoshi," Mary said smiling, turning to Gray, "It was good to see you again, Gray." Waving as she walked away, she explained to Kiyoshi how ranchers took care of their sheep.

Gray looked at his friend frowning, "What are they doing here?" Jack eyes fell to the ground, feeling guilty for not thinking about Gray.

"Sorry Gray, I wasn't thinking when I asked them to come." Without a word, Gray walked calmly out of the festival and headed to the beach.

Sighing, Jack headed to tell Barley to start. He waved to his wife and son on the way and they waved back to him. Barley saw him approach and asked once more, "Are you ready to start?"

Jack nodded and joined Mary and Kiyoshi by his sheep. They watched as the judge observed the sheep. Kiyoshi was smiling the whole time whispering to his mom that, "Daddy's sheep is gonna win".

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Gray retreated to the beach to calm down and think clearly. The only thing that had held him back from doing something that he knew he would later regret, was the constant thought that she had chosen Jack, and no matter what he did, nothing could change the fact that she loved him more.

A few hours passed and Gray still stood staring at the soft white sand at his feet, unmoving. He was so deep in thought that he failed to notice the boat that had just docked at the harbor. A short young girl stumbled off the boat dragging several suitcases behind her. Her choppy auburnhair danced in the salty breeze as she spotted Gray staring at the ground. She walked over to him hoping he was friendly and knew her brother.

The three suitcases she was carrying were too heavy for her scrawny arms and they crashed into the soft sand causing the one of the suitcases to burst open. "For crying out loud!" Scarlet shouted as she fell to her feet gathering the scattered contents of the suitcase.

Noticing that he was no longer alone, Gray looked around and to find Scarlet on the ground picking up books. At first, he wondered who in the world she was then remembered Jack' telling him that his sister was coming to visit during the sheep festival. Sighing over all the crap that has already happened today, he walked over to her.

When Gray reached her, Scarlet already had finished picking up her books but couldn't get the suitcases to close. Taking a deep breath out of frustration, she focused all her might into closing the suitcase once more, but failed to do it. Sighing, she stood up and kicked it lightly.

As she looked up from her stubborn suitcase, Scarlet realized that Gray had witnessed her whole charade. Feeling really embarrassed she stammered, "Oh I'm sorry...I was...I mean...um... I'm Scarlet. Jack's little sister.... who are you?" She laughed slightly in hopes of feeling a little more relaxed, but it didn't help.

Raising an eyebrow, Gray knelt down to her suitcase rearranged the books inside and closed it. "H-Hi…I'm Gray…You like to read?" He could see that she wasn't relaxed and forced a smile in hopes of helping her relax just a little.

Even though Scarlet was his best friend's sister, Gray couldn't help, but be shy. He was like that with any person he did not know well. It would probably be awhile before be would feel comfortable enough to be himself around her, but for now, he would at least try being friendly.

Scarlet stared at Gray amazed and grateful that he closed the suitcase, so when he smiled at her, she couldn't help but smile back. "Yes, I've written some of these books...do you know where my brother, Jack, is by any chance?"

Gray put his hands in his pockets. When Jack said his younger sister was coming he didn't imagine her to look like this. She didn't look like a writer to him either since he imagined female writers to have glasses and wear old-fashioned dresses, but she wore baggy cream pant with a pink tank top under her tight brown low cut shirt. Her wrists were covered in bracelets and her long nails had black and white butterflies painted on them.

Even though he was a bit surprised of what she looked like, he was more surprised over the fact he thought she looked attractive. "He's at the festival with his wife and son right now, but it's almost over so there's no point on going there. I can show you where his house is if you'd like."

Gray knew that the festival wouldn't end for at least two hours; he didn't want to bring Scarlet there since he would have to see Mary again today.

Picking up her suitcase that had fallen, she thought to herself, 'The Sheep festival? He didn't tell me that today was a festival. He probably thought it would be funny for me to wonder around the empty streets. When I see him, he's so dead!'

Scarlet sighed. She was really eager to see his family, and now she would have to wait longer. "Alright, but can I leave my other suitcases here for now?"

Nodding, Gray headed towards the stairs. Scarlet trailed behind slowly, gripping her suitcase with both of her hands. Gray turned right before they reached the steps and grabbed her suitcase. "…Here." She let it go of them willingly and thanked him.

After walking up a few steps, they reached the Town Square. Scarlet look around the large empty space thinking to herself, 'This is huge, but there's like nothing here. What's the point of keeping it empty like this?'

Gray stopped and stated, "Well, this is the Town Square. Most of the festivals are here, and some of the older women come to gossip here in the afternoons." He quickly moved towards the inn, frowning at the thought of his first conversion with Mary was here.

Following behind, Scarlet noticed that his pace had quickened, so she began to power walk to catch up, but tripped over one of the stones. She screamed in surprise and landed face first. As she sat up, she felt liquid run out of her nose and quickly covered it up.

Gray dropped the suitcase and was quickly went her aid. He helped her to her feet slowly making sure not to hurt her.

With tears in her eyes, Scarlet tired not to complain about how much her nose hurt. 'This is nothing compared to a broken leg and you lived through that.'

Moving her hand slightly away from her face, Gray observed her nose carefully. Her nose was bleeding pretty fast so he untied the yellow cloth from his neck and put in on her nose. "Keep this one your nose." Scarlet nodded as Gray guided her to the clinic.

Luckily, the clinic was unlocked so Gray just walked in and guided her to the examine room. "Stay here, I'll go get the doctor." She nodded even though she didn't want to be left alone.

Before Gray left, he gave her the box of tissues on the front counter then rushed out the door. It was only 2:50 so the festival wasn't going to end for another two hours. He felt guilty for telling Scarlet that by the time she got to the festival it would be over.

Scarlet looked around the eerie white room taking deep breaths. She was usually pretty good with pain, but her nose hurt so bad that tears came to her eyes. 'I hope that guy comes back soon, and I wish Jack were here.' She looked at the loose yellow scarf in her hand, stroking it gently with her fingers remembering the smile on his face, 'That guy looks really cute when he smiles.' Her thoughts made it impossible to not smile to herself.

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When Gray reached Yodel Ranch the results were just about to be announced. He didn't want to cause a commotion, so he walked slowly to the doctor, trying desperately to catch his breath.

"And the winner is…Fluffy from the Joyful farm." Kiyoshi cheered running to the sheep and rubbing his face in her soft wool, but Mary's cheering subsided as she saw Gray walk past. The expression on his face made it clear that something was wrong so she followed him.

Jack failed to notice this, and picked up his son and set him on top on Fluffy. Kiyoshi grinned and asked Stu if he would like to ride the sheep too. Stu shook his head, but stated he would like to ride one of Jack's cows next year at the Cow Festival.

The doctor was talking to Elli as she held her three-year-old baby boy's tiny hand. The little boy, Shawn, sneezed into his long sweater. "I think you should take him home, Elli. It is starting to get cold, and you look tired."

Shawn looked up at his mom with his big brown eyes and threw his hands up in the air. "Pick me up, pwease." Elli couldn't deny his request with the politeness he used. Grinning she pick him up, and turned around to see Gray standing in front of her. It wasn't hard to see that he was worried about something.

Elli and Tim exchanged a question glance at each other before Tim could ask what was wrong Gray spoke up. "Go back to the clinic. I think her nose is broken."

Arriving on the scene, Mary over heard Gray and ran up to him. "Gray, are you talking about Scarlet!?" Her voice was full of concern. "What happened?"

"I'll explain later. Doctor, I think her nose might be broken." Mary was a little surprised he raised his voice, but she could also see how worried he was about her. He was determined to get the Doctor to the clinic as fast as possible.

Tim nodded and rushed to the exit with Mary and Gray trailing behind. Elli looked at Shawn and stroked his ruffled black hair. He snuggled against his mother and yawned sleepily. She walked towards to Jack and Kiyoshi, trying to come up with the words to explain what was going on.

When Elli reached him, Jack had just taken Kiyoshi off Fluffy. "Hi Elli, it looks like Shawn's had a busy day." Kiyoshi's eyes where on his shoes as his dad talk to her. Jack grinned at his son then turned his attention back to Elli.

"Jack, do you know someone named Scarlet?" Jack happy mood disintegrated and was replaced with worry. He nodded, his eyes pleading for more information. "Well, Gray just told Tim to come with him to the clinic. He said that Scarlet's nose might be broken. Mary went with them."

"Elli, please bring Kiyoshi with you to the clinic." Jack requested as he quickly ran out of the Yodel Ranch towards the clinic.

Kiyoshi looked close to tears. His parents had never left him alone with one of their friends before.

Crouching down, Elli smiled sweetly at Kiyoshi. "Don't cry. We can walk to the clinic right now if you want." He sniffled and nodded grabbing on to her dress as they slowly walked to the clinic.