A/N: Someone in this story has a crush, and I bet you guys can guess who. Enjoy this chapter and Chase's angst (when is he not angsty though?)! I know this story seems slow right now, but be prepared for some suspense and romance soon.


Chase was embarrassed to be a man at this point.

He planted Akari's shovel in the damp soil and leaned against it while panting like a hound dog. He had been working since 6:00 in the morning. The late summer heat was relentless in its assault on his pale skin. He prayed for rain, although the sun was blazing high in the cloudless blue sky. He realized now just how much of a priss he actually was. He never worked a manual labor job in his life. And Akari, who was as bony as the width of the shovel he was holding, was able to tend to a farm like this every day. To say he was ashamed was an understatement.

"You can take a break at any time, you know!" She called from the front door of the barn. She was smirking. He knew she was enjoying this. Arrogant, know-it-all Chase pouring sweat like a 500 pound guy on a treadmill. He was used to getting a bit sweaty from working around hot grease without air-conditioning but this was different.

"I'm fine!" He called back. He unearthed the shovel and began digging. Akari wanted him to dig holes in the river plot and the plot in front of her house. Altogether he dug 245 squares in the past four hours, and now he needed to dig five more. His workmanship was shoddy to say the least, but the brunt of the work was over. Thank God she hadn't purchased the farm plot; he didn't think he would be able survive shoveling 200 more squares of soil.

"You'll cut your time in half once you get the hang of it," she said as she led her cow and her horse out of the barn.

Hopefully I won't have to be here long enough to get the hang of it, he thought.

A day later, he still didn't understand why he accepted Akari's offer. The boat ticket he purchased from Ozzy was crumpled in his pocket, a wasted 400g. He knew he was going to leave the island sooner or later. He had that inkling feeling, the urge to travel again. The bar burning down only forced his hand sooner. He usually left on a whim with no destination in mind anyway. Where could he go? For years, the people at the inn looked out for him. Colleen, Jake, Yolanda...even Maya. They were like his family. Yet he felt the need to get away from them to search for something to make him feel more alive. But no matter how much he traveled, he couldn't escape the boredom he felt.

Akari of all people convinced him to stay. In fact, she was the only person to ask him to. Everyone else expected him to leave. Kathy even told him to send a postcard from whatever cool place he ended up in. Chase's Achilles' heel was always his sense of loyalty, and without anything to be loyal to, he was free to do as he wanted. But what did he want?

"So how do you make money around here anyway?" He asked. Akari returned from her house with a tall pitcher of orange juice. His favorite. The ice cubes rattled against the glass as she walked.

She poured some orange juice in a Styrofoam cup and handed it to him. He gulped it down in ten seconds. He could have drank the entire pitcher, as parched as he was. "I make money lots of ways. But with farming, I ship my crops. The better the quality, the more money I get."

He extended his cup out to her, requesting more orange juice. This time she filled it to the brim.

"What else do you do?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Most of my income comes from mining. But I don't do it too often because it's expensive and time consuming. I spend all day in there, and sometimes I have nothing to show for it."

He frowned. He didn't know whether to be amazed or jealous. "You mine too? Geez, who are you anyway?"

She laughed. Chase could see she was still in pain, although she had been chipper all morning. Her subtle winces and pained movements didn't slip past him. "The Amazing Woman That is Akari," she boasted.

This side of Akari was one he had never seen. In their past encounters, she was either agitated or downright depressed. She was...cool. But he reminded himself that this was just business. Once the bar was rebuilt, he'd never have to talk to her again. A wave of relief flooded over him at the thought.

"Arrogant, aren't we?" He teased.

She rocked on her heels. "Nah, just confident."

She was cute, even with that patch of gauze on her head. He shook his head. He forbade himself for thinking like that. "So, uh, what else do I have to do?"

Akari reached into her pocket and placed 200g in his hand. "Nothing. I still need to buy seeds for you to plant, but you can do that tomorrow."

He gawked at the money in his palm, still outstretched. "200g? The hell? That's chump change!"

She rolled her eyes. "You forget I have to make money before I can pay you. That money came out of my own savings, dummy."

He stared at her. "But it's going to take forever for your crops to grow."

She gave him a pitying look. "It takes five days for my crops to grow, nine maximum. That's hardly forever."

Chase sighed. He hoped he could survive off of 200g every day for the next few days. Doable but not ideal. Or he could board Pascal's ship and never have to participate in farm work for the rest of his life.

"You're going home, right?"

He nodded.

"You want to go with me to Marimba Farm to pick up some fertilizer and seeds?"

He shrugged. "Depends. Are you going to pay me another 200g?"

She nudged his side with her elbow and in spite of himself, he laughed. He eventually agreed to walk with Akari to the farm, after much chastising from her. As they walked in silence, he peered at her with curiosity. Why was she acting so chummy toward him? He could understand civility; one had to be professional when working with others. But this was different.

He opened his mouth to speak before the two of them ran into an unlikely but familiar face.

Akari stopped as if she had collided into a brick wall. "Owen?"

He was carrying a brown bag of milk, cheese and eggs before setting it down to hug Akari. Chase shifted uncomfortably and sidled over to the other side of the dirt path.

"Akari!" He cried.

She hesitated before wrapping her arms around his waist. "Where were you? Did you know I was in the clinic?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I found out yesterday evening."

"Yesterday evening? Where were you?"

He shrugged. "Working as always. From dawn to dusk."

Chase opted to say something but decided to keep his mouth shut. He knew Owen was lying. But every time he opened his mouth, trouble seemed to follow behind. His mouth almost got him slaughtered with a hammer.

"Kathy stopped by yesterday morning and Chloe told her you were still sleeping."

He laughed. "I left before she and Uncle Ramsey woke up. She never saw me leave and probably assumed I was still asleep."

He reached out to cup Akari's face, which was masked with skepticism and confusion. He brushed her skin with his thumb. "Uncle Ramsey told me Kathy stopped by when I got back around 9:00. I figured you were resting by then, and I was just on my way to see you. I'm glad you're okay. Are you still in a lot of pain?"

She sighed. "Yes, but these painkillers are helping some. But I still can't remember what happened."

"Nothing at all?"

"Nope. Sucks."

Chase cleared his throat. This guy was lying through his crooked face, and he couldn't tell if Akari was oblivious or not. Owen tossed a glance his way.

"What's he doing here?" Owen asked her. Chase snickered. Address me by name, why don't you?

Akari sent Chase an apologetic look. "Oh, he was helping me get some things from Marimba Farm."

The dark look on Owen's face was exactly how Chase remembered it from a few weeks back. He was just as unfazed by it now as he was then.

"I'll help you," Owen offered.

She shook her head. "You already look busy…"

"Never too busy for you," he said, smiling. He planted a kiss on her cheek, giving Chase a sideways look of triumph as he did so.

Akari shrugged. "Okay, cool."

She looked over at Chase. "I'll see you later then."

"Yeah. Right," he answered.

No way was he going in that direction now. He headed in the opposite direction into town, feeling strangely agitated. Angry. Suddenly hungry. He headed to the inn, head downcast as he navigated through some of the villagers who were still cleaning up the debris from the storm. He glanced in the direction of the bar and felt a pang of sadness. Luke, Dale, Bo and his white Pyrenees were there, sizing up the destruction with looks of defeat, although the dog's tongue lapped with content.

The gold bell to the inn jingled when he opened the door. The scent of spiced pumpkin filled the room. Yolanda was cooking, and he found himself longing to be in the kitchen with her.

He greeted Colleen with a quivering smile, which she seemed not to notice. "Hi, Chase! I thought you'd be gone by now, even though I'm glad you're not."

"I'm staying," he responded coolly. "Or, well...I don't know. But for now I'm here."

She nodded. "One day I hope it's for good. So what changed your mind?"

His eyes scanned over the menu above him. Orange cake, orange pie…

"I got a job at Akari's farm."

She beamed. "Oh, that's wonderful! How is she? I heard about her injury."

He settled on the orange cake, which cost almost as much as Akari paid him. Oh well. "She's fine. I mean, she looks okay. I'll take a slice of orange cake."

He paid for his dessert and managed to escape from Maya who hugged him so hard that he felt his eyeballs bulging from his sockets. Apparently she heard the news of him leaving. Colleen told him Maya was distraught and balling her eyes out all night over it.

Chase's aggravation subsided, and he wandered around the town as he ate. He didn't know what to do with himself now. Work kept him occupied for twelve hours at a time and now he had nothing to do. He stopped by a flyer pasted on the bulletin board advertising for the firefly festival in a couple of days. He hadn't been to the festival in years. He thought about Akari. He wondered if she liked that sort of thing. But what difference did it make? If he really wanted to go, he'd ask Kathy.

Still.