HM:AP LukexHikari FanFic Ch1

Harvest Moon: Animal Parade – Luke x Hikari FanFiction – Chapter 1


Lush green fields stretched for miles, or so it seemed, to little Hikari whom was being jostled around in the hay cart due to the bumpy texture of the dusty road.  Still, despite the fact that she had hay strewn all over her hair, and her seat was not one of the most luxurious, she was in high spirits. She was finally going to get her own farm, like she had always dreamed of since she was younger. Whilst other little girls in their pretty frilly dresses dreamed of being a princess, Hikari, in her bright yellow wellington boots and sparkly fairy tutu over her dungarees, was dreaming of being a farmer and playing with the cows and chickens all day before turning in to sleep with the fluffy sheep at night. Of course, as Hikari had aged so had her dreams; she still wanted to be a farmer, but she realised that cows and chickens weren't really the type for playing, and sheep would probably not appreciate her sharing their bed.

Hikari's thoughts were interrupted by a tiny glowing ball of light fluttering around her head. Hikari sighed as the glowing ceased to reveal a tiny, orange Harvest Sprite.
"Hey, don't forget that we have to go see the Harvest Goddess! I have a feeling she needs our help! " Yelped Finn, "And you're the only one who can see me!"
Ah, yes. Only Hikari could see the adorable-yet-annoying Harvest Sprite, Finn. This was both good and bad news for her. It was good news, because that meant Hikari was what people call "The Chosen One". It made her feel pleased and special, as this small town needed her. Hikari liked being needed, she liked being depended upon. Sadly, the bad news was that this task was extremely daunting and Finn was a bit of a pest. Hikari did indeed like being depended upon, but not in order to complete such a large task as mending a whole town. As well as that, Finn put her under pressure when she just wanted to settle down and farm.

"Oh, hey…Er, what was your name again?" Asked Cain, a fellow farmer of a muscular build. He looked back at Hikari, making sure he gave her his full attention.
"Hikari."
"Ah, that's right…Hikari…" Said Cain, swivelling back round in his seat to focus on the road once more. He need not have bothered as it was a very empty road with nothing but a few randomly placed fences to smash into, and Hikari was sure that the cart-horse had enough common sense to refrain from doing that.
"Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"
Hikari didn't really like answering questions as she found subjects hard to explain. If Hikari was a teacher, her class would never learn anything as Hikari would never be able to explain anything to them. Luckily, Cain's questions were simple things, like "What's your favourite food?" and "When's your birthday?" Thanks to the simplicity of the questions, she didn't really have to focus much on what Cain was saying, and was instead able to draw a majority of her attention to the wonderful landscapes that were passing by her. Cain must have seen that Hikari was admiring the view, as he commented that the land had seen better days. This amazed Hikari, as the rolling hills and highlands were so enchanting and beautiful. Hikari tried to imagine what the place would have looked like in it's better days, but she was unable to think up a place so beautiful.

"Hey, Hikari! I know you're excited about finally getting your farm! Remember that we have to go see the Harvest Goddess as soon as we get there, though!"
Hikari just closed her eyes and pretended she wasn't listening. She liked teasing Finn this way, as she found it amusing to watch his hat bob around on his little green head and to see his eyes grow wide with astonishment. As usual, Hikari's actions managed to make Finn rant and rave; his hat bobbing around and his eyes wide. Hikari giggled.

When Hikari finally arrived at her new farm, she was no longer giggling. She just stood there, flabbergasted.
"Uhh…This farm is pretty beat up…" Said Finn. Hikari just nodded in agreement as no words could express her despair. All her life she had dreamt of a cute little wooden house with a stout chimney busy puffing tufts of smoke from the warm fireplace. Accompanying the house, there would be a little coop, but not so little that it couldn't house a large family of chickens and ducks. Next door to the coop would be a big barn that had many tidy stalls and clean troughs ready to house the cows and sheep. What stood before Hikari was completely different and completely disappointing. The roof was falling in, and the columns that held up what remained of it looked unstable. The wood that wasn't already destroyed was rotting. In fact, the only intact features of the house were the door and the mailbox. The coop was absolutely miniscule; she'd be lucky if she could fit just one chicken or duck in. And to top it all off, the barn also had a roof that was falling in and wood that was rotting and crumbling away.
"Might be a bit drafty." Thought Hikari.

"Hello! Helloooo!" Cried an out-of-breath voice. Hikari turned to see the owner of the voice. She saw a small, tubby man waddling towards her. She guessed that he was quite rich due to his fine garments, and she also guessed that he spent a lot of his riches on hair gel. Either that or he paid a cow to lick his hair into a unique hairstyle every morning. Upon reaching her, the small man quickly managed to catch his breath and greet her.
"Hello! You must be Hikari!"
Hikari nodded and smiled so as to say, "Ah, yes. That's me!"
"Welcome to Harmonica Town! I'm Mayor Hamilton!"
"The Mayor!" Thought Hikari, "So that's why he has such fancy clothes on! But that still doesn't explain the part about the cow lick."
They exchanged smiles before turning to gaze at the fallen wreck that managed to be called a house. Mayor Hamilton looked like he was going to say something about the house, but he seemed to think better of it and instead set about explaining the basics about farming. Hikari was only half-listening as she had been studying agriculture for as long as she could remember, and was sure she would manage to get by with or without Hamilton's help. She looked lazily around the farm, at the broken buildings and the quaint plot of land with not much growing on it. Still, she was glad there was anything growing on it at all, and felt grateful to whoever had planted the crops for her. Hikari accepted some farming essentials and a map of the area from Hamilton as well as his directions, and after asking her to meet him at the Town Hall later, he waved goodbye to Hikari and dashed back towards Harmonica Town.

Hikari cautiously entered her new home, opening and closing the door gently in case the slightest hard handling would cause the rest of it to collapse. Hikari scanned the dull room and it's scarce furnishings. There was a petite bed, just the right size for petite Hikari, a bedside table with a rusty diary sprawled across it, a practically empty bookshelf standing alongside a completely empty toolbox, and a kitchen unit with a dining table and chairs.
"Home, sweet home." Sighed Hikari before flopping onto her bed like a fish out of water. This caused dust to rise and fill the air. Hikari coughed violently and tried to open the nearby window, but it was jammed shut. She became sick of the house and decided to go and meet the Mayor. Anything would do, so long as she could escape from that hell of a home. And so, her actions decided, she almost bounced out of the dusty room and closed the door, carefully, locking it behind her.

Hikari prowled the streets of Harmonica Town, searching for residents to meet and greet. Much to her disappointment, the streets were rather bare, so she turned her attention to the dainty local shops. There was Sonata Tailoring, Brass Bar, Ocarina Inn, Choral Clinic, etc. Hikari was sensing a musical theme running throughout the town, which she loved, as she loved music. It soothed her sometimes and lifted her spirits during other times; it brought life to the world.
As she was walking past Ocarina Inn, the door to the Inn opened and a young girl skipped outside. Her plaits bounced about beside her round head and her shiny blue eyes were alight with joy and curiosity. Hikari immediately knew that she wouldn't enjoy associating with this person, she seemed a bit too enthusiastic for her. The girl spotted Hikari staring at her glumly from the corner of her eye and grinned widely in reply before proceeding to bound towards her.
"Hey, I haven't seen you around here before!" Exclaimed the girl, stopping just before she could bang into Hikari. Hikari gritted her teeth and chose to get the meeting over with quickly. After all, just before she began prowling the streets, Hamilton had asked her to meet and greet everyone in town.
"Yes, I'm the new farmer!" She replied, "My name is Hikari! And you are…?"
"I'm Maya!" Said the girl, her voice resounding around the almost empty town, "I hope you'll stop by Ocarina Inn sometime! The food here is delicious!"
"Oh, really?" Asked Hikari, faking interest.
"Yup! But I must add," Whispered Maya as quietly as she could, which wasn't very quiet, "the guy that cooks for the Brass Bar makes much better food by far." Maya then blushed and giggled, placing both her small hands on her rosy cheeks.
"Oh, well maybe I'll compare tastes for myself someday." Said Hikari, "But for now I've really gotta get around and greet people before the day ends."
"Oh, alright! Bye for now, then!" Giggled Maya. And with that, she skipped away again.

"Helloooo?" Called Hikari, knocking on the green wooden doors of the Brass Bar, "Anyone in? Helloooo?"
After a while of knocking, Hikari was about to give up and leave when the door opened slightly to reveal a woman with blond hair and enchanting green eyes.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" She asked with a smile playing about her face.
Hikari cleared her throat, "I'm the new farmer, I just came to say hi. My name is Hikari."
"Well hey, Hikari! Sorry I can't give you the grand tour, but I gotta help my daddy to get the bar ready for tonight's customers. Oh, my name is Kathy and my daddy is Hayden! If you come back later in the evening, I'm sure we can give you a huge introduction and have a mighty fine conversation!"
"That'd be lovely, thanks!" Exclaimed Hikari, smiling. If there's something Hikari loves, it's bars. Ever since she turned eighteen, she has been visiting bars frequently so as to become intoxicated by the feeling of maturity and freedom. Kathy gave a wide parting smile and then closed the door.
Hikari proceeded to greet everyone in the same manner, trying to make contact with the rude Lolita, Luna, attempting to make a good impression on Doctor Jin, and failing to reach the Wizard at all thanks to the locked door.
It was late afternoon by the time she had met everyone (Well, almost everyone), and she couldn't wait to get home and tend to her crops. Maybe she could even go fishing, or mining. So you can guess that after happily making such plans, she was frustrated that the Mayor had more chores in store for her.

Hikari unhappily lugged the heavy green toolbox up the hill past her house to a bridge stretching across to the Garmon Mine. Much like her house, the bridge was falling apart, and so Hikari was instructed by the Mayor to bring a toolbox to a boy by the name of Bo. Hikari was rather sick and tired of doing Hamilton's bidding, and very much wished to just go home and feel remorse creeping up on her. Still, she guessed that she could do with more greeting and sightseeing, so she regrettably took up the challenge. She wished she hadn't as the walk was tiring, and though she had the intelligence of a farmer, she lacked the experience and stamina of one.
Upon reaching the bridge, she found what may be the boy she was looking for. He was surveying the damage on the bridge and nodding his head every now and again, probably agreeing with the repair decisions he made in his mind. He wasn't what she'd call a hot guy, but he was certainly cute with his wide eyes and freckled face.

"Bo?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. The boy spun round and looked the worn-out Hikari up and down. He then focused on the green toolbox she was holding.
"Ah, just what I needed!" Exclaimed Bo, ass he took the toolbox off of Hikari's hands, much to her delight, "Thank you…Uh…"
"Hikari." She panted, her hands on her knees and her head hanging low.
"Thank you, Hikari!" Smiled Bo, "Let me guess; new farmer, right?"
Hikari was too out of breath to reply, so she gave him a thumbs-up. The state of her caused Bo to laugh.
"I would invite you into my home for a drink, Hikari. But, uh…it's kind of across this broken bridge. If you want to attempt to venture across it, be my guest."
"No, thanks." Puffed Hikari, "I'm still too young to die."
Bo chuckled, "Well, you should definitely come over when this bridge is fixed. Dale will probably want to lecture you, and Luke will probably want to show off his skills to someone new…Speaking of Luke, I haven't seen him in a while. He went to Fugue Forest and hasn't returned in a while."
To Hikari, it seemed that Bo cared about this Luke person; especially as he was doing that dramatic, far-off gaze into the distance. But then Bo shook his head and smiled at her.
"Well, I'd best be getting to work. Bye, Hikari!"
Bo placed the toolbox on the ground and knelt down to rummage around for tools. Hikari decided to leave him to concentrate and wearily headed back towards her house. Whether her bed was dusty or not, she was intent on sleeping on it.

The Garmon Mine was a shabby little place, and yet it had such a cosy feel to it. All the people that resided within the Mine were cheery despite the state of their land and they offered help to Hikari to no end. Hikari had managed to become close friends with Bo and often went to visit him at the carpentry. After a few days of living in that town, Hikari had managed to pay off her debt for the land as well as afford a house renovation. She had also acquired two chickens and a cow which she loved very much. Whenever she went to the carpenters to see Bo, it seemed like the man with a heavy build and a spiky blue ponytail, Dale, was rather sad. When Hikari asked Bo about it, he replied that it was because Luke had still not returned.  Now Hikari, being the good Samaritan she was, decided to go and search for Luke. She had become quite friendly with Dale as well as Bo, and was sad to see him so worried and concerned.
"Oh, Hikari! That would be a huge help!" Cried Dale, "I'm really busy here, and I don't want to leave Bo here to care for things himself whilst I search for Luke. And I need Bo here to help me, so him searching is out. I know that Luke's an adult now, but he's still a clumsy oaf."
"It's okay, Dale. Anytime! But, where do I search?"
"Fugue Forest. It's locked right now, so take this key with you." Said Dale, pulling a beautifully carved key out of his jacket pocket, "And try not to get lost yourself, okay? Take care."
"No worries, Dale. I'll return safe and sound with Luke." Called Hikari as she ran out the door, eager to help her friend.