I apologize for such a delay with updating! My computer was attacked by a dreaded younger sibling who somehow managed to download a virus... Luckily I had this backed up and I'm back! Thanks for the patience, I'll update again soon to make it up to you guys :)

The cow he had been brushing mooed unexpectedly, smacking him in the arm with its tail as he yanked a brush though its hair a little roughly. "Sorry Melissa." He muttered, giving his head a shake.

He needed to get Lillian out of his head. It had been nearly a week since he had last seen her on the mountain and yet it seemed as if she was constantly on his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about her; he could hardly close his eyes without seeing her lovely expanse of exposed leg, could hardly look at a green apple without being reminded of her eyes. As much as she infuriated him a small part of her existence had managed to secure itself in his mind, and he had been unable to shake her presence in his thoughts.

"Ash?" He jumped slightly, looking over his shoulder to see the girl in question leaning over his fence, her hair barely grazing the tips of the white posts. He felt his neck go red.

"Lillian... Hi." He turned full on to face her, giving his cow a slight pat on the rear in dismissal. "What are you doing here?"

As he got closer to the fence her could see her cheeks going slightly pink. "I, um..." He had never seen her flustered before. She seemed to be determinedly avoiding his gaze as she reached into her bag, pulling forth a bottle of warm milk. "I heard it was your birthday." She reached across the fence and stuffed it rather roughly into his hands.

"Oh. Thanks." He couldn't think of much to say in response, and yet he couldn't stop the number of thoughts buzzing through his head- how on earth did she know warm milk was one of his favourites? And who had told her it was his birthday?

"It's from the cow you gave me." She was speaking very quickly, her pitch increasing slightly with her apparent nervousness. "Well, your mom gave me. I figured you'd like to see just how hard I've been working... I also wanted to apologize." He had been staring at the bottle in disbelief and jerked his head up so quickly that he felt his neck ache. If possible, her cheeks were turning even more pink, her eyes fixed on her crossed arms. "I've been kind of a jerk to you... Georgia came to talk to me the other day and- well, it wasn't your fault my dress ripped. And if you hadn't helped me out I would probably still be up there. So... Sorry."

"Oh." Once again, he had difficulty forcing his mouth to work. "Yeah, no problem."

While he was having difficulty getting words out, it seemed as if Lillian was having trouble keeping them in- her cheeks burned a deeper pink as she continued talking. "I got new clothes." She took a step back from the fence so he could see; her usual billowing dress had been replaced by a smaller and tighter white one, her curves being framed by a denim vest. The gentle swoop of the dress's hem and the tightness of her aqua leggings sent his head spinning- he had to give his head a shake to stop himself from staring, the memory of what was beneath those leggings all too fresh in his mind.

She was watching his face and misread him once again, letting out a somewhat annoyed sigh. "I know they're not what people usually wear around here, but Nori in Konohana is still fixing my dress... And these are a bit better for work."

He was tempted to take the opportunity to bad mouth the other village but decided against it, his hand reaching up to scratch the base of his neck. "Yeah... I don't know a lot about fashion, but if they work for farming how bad can they be, right?"

"Yeah." For the first time in weeks she sent him a crooked smile, the act alone sending a low swoop to his stomach. It was the first time since she had moved in that he truly felt half at ease with her presence; as the two of them stood on either side of the fence he wasn't worried about saying the wrong thing or doing something stupid. It occurred to him that he was staring, Lillian's air of awkwardness increasing as she dropped her cool gaze to her feet.

"So, anyway..." She began, absently pulling her hair over her shoulder, an act that caused another wave of the familiar lavender scent to crash against him "I just wanted to say that I... Well you're not as bad as I thought, I guess."

She paused for a moment as if waiting for him to say something and leant back awkwardly when he didn't, her fingers drumming against her side of the fence. "Well... Okay. I've better go, it's almost six and I need to get my cow back in the barn...See you around, Ash."

She left him standing alone on his side of the fence; he supposed there were only a few things that would prompt a certain amount of peace with Lillian- one of them was rescuing her from her own snarled skirt.

Well here you go! Let me know what you think.