Hey everyone! Kuruk here!

Well it's late at night and I was thinking about different things when I was struck by inspiration-- the idea of inspiration itself! I knew I wanted to make a Nami fic and make it canon so I progressed from there. This is the result. It's just a big ball of fluff, really. :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon... if I would this would be a Nami/Gustafa Rival Heart Event... and it would make more people love the pairing!

I hope you enjoy!

Melody

Nami didn't like being interrupted when she was sitting off by herself.

For all the person that interrupted her knew she could've been in the middle of trying to get the exact shade of the sunset down perfectly on her sketch, or she could've been applying the tiniest, most delicate detail to someone's portrait... she might've been contemplating something important.

Still, no matter how much she made it obvious that she didn't want to be bothered, someone always managed to do so.

Whether it was an admiring Lumina that peered from over her shoulder at her work, or a flirtatious Jack that would drop by to hand her another artifact he'd unearthed at the dig site, or an excited Muffy eager to tell her about something like the date she'd just been on or the man she'd just met... someone always tended to interrupt her.

And always at a crucial moment too!

Like the one time that she was just about to add a small, yet defining detail to her portrait of Ruby when Rock passed by and loudly exclaimed that her 'drawing' looked a lot like his mom and that wow, she was good!

Nami had seriously considered wringing his neck... her hand had slipped in her surprise and the pencil she had been delicately guiding had instead produced a long, ugly squiggly line through her rendition of Ruby's face, ruining hours of hard work.

Yet all she had done was glare at Rock so venomously that the young slacker had simply let out a very girlish squeal and proceeded to run off somewhere... and while that did make her feel better, it didn't do much for her portrait, since now she would have to erase that horrendous line and correct all the features she'd erased with it...

Yes, Nami could hardly trust anyone to let her have quiet and peace to finish her works...

Except for one person.

Instead of talking, he would just sit somewhere, not near her, but near enough that she could still see him. Instead of rudely interrupting her, he would just strum a few notes on his guitar, all the while looking directly at her while he did so.

Sure, Gustafa didn't interrupt her per se... but the calm look he'd give her while she sketched unsettled her to the point that she couldn't focus on her subject, let it be a graceful tree whose leaves had begun to turn into all the beautiful, diverse oranges and reds and yellows that only Autumn could bring out in the leaves or continue thinking a simple thought.

Gustafa's simple stare derailed anything she tried to do.

And Nami didn't know why.

It wasn't that it gave her a bad feeling... no, it didn't make her feel anything. It was just strange... to be looked at for no reason at all.

But one crisp Autumn day, a delightfully chilly day that wasn't yet cool enough to bundle up and yet cool enough to make you shiver when you went outside, Nami was sketching a majestic tree by the Turtle Swamp when she heard the familiar notes from a certain guitar.

At first she refused to let herself be deterred, but after a few minutes of trying to no avail to concentrate enough to resume her sketching, she turned towards where the sounds were coming from.

There was Gustafa, a smile on his face. His fingers danced on the strings of his guitar, producing a variety of notes. He was looking directly at Nami through his dark glasses... and she thought that maybe today was the day to give him a glare so that he would finally leave her alone with her thoughts.

So she did.

Her blue eyes turned to the coldest of arctic ice as she glared at the musician.

He did not look away like most people would. Instead, he gave her a small frown and his fingers moved differently on the guitar's strings, producing a whole new array of sounds that Nami had never heard him create before.

Her expression turned to one of surprise as the sounds made it to her ears.

Gustafa's fingers began to move as if they had no direction whatsoever, like a confused tourist trying to find his hotel in a strange, foreign city.

Nami stared at Gustafa a bit more and as the minutes passed the notes changed, and his fingers danced on the strings in a variety of different ways, producing all the sounds Nami had heard him practice all those times that he had looked at her as she drew or thought or walked the Valley.

Suddenly, Nami's eyes narrowed in understanding... and in an emotion that she was certain she wouldn't feel anymore.

Just as suddenly as she did so the notes changed again into an airy, cool sound.

Gustafa continued to play and Nami continued to watch him, feeling embarrassed and strangely special at the same time.

As time passed Gustafa's notes melded into a single melody. One whose notes were often cool and almost as if they themselves were in awe of something, but at times drifting to colder, almost angry notes, but suddenly changing into ones of no aim, of confusion and disorder... and finally ending with something of cool understanding and emotion... emotion captured within a melody so beautiful to Nami that she couldn't help herself when she walked over to Gustafa and calmly sat down before him.

He continued to play and she continued to watch.

When the melody ended, Nami looked at the musician through her fiery-red bangs. "What was that?" she asked. It was a useless question, Nami knew, since she already knew the answer.

Gustafa smiled. "It's a song I came up with," he said humbly, "Just a little melody I thought up by looking at an inspiring subject."

Nami tried not to smile, but despite herself, she did. A beautiful smile that reached her eyes and made her look different than she always portrayed herself to be. It made her look more beautiful than ever. It made her look as she was meant to be-- a beautiful woman.

As if on cue Gustafa beamed at the traveler and his fingers danced beautifully on the strings, conveying something so beautiful that Nami could only continue to smile wider and wider.

"What's it called?" she asked him.

He pulled out a trick blue flower from the grass next to him, and twirled it in his fingers when he answered. "Fire's Arctic Melody," he replied.

Nami laughed, she couldn't help herself. "Really? How does that make any sense?"

Gustafa smiled. He purposefully looked at the trick blue flower and then placed it behind Nami's ear. She smiled even wider-- trick blue flowers were the only ones she liked... her favorite. "Does it have to?"

Nami smiled again and shook her head as the first of the Autumn leaves began to fall around them...

From that crisp, delightfully chilly Autumn day on, the arctic fiery-haired girl would sit by the peaceful musician's yurt, creating beautiful, vivid art as the most beautiful, inspiring music flowed from the guitar the musician carried.

Both had never found something more inspiring.

A/N: You have no idea how much I enjoyed writing this fluffy little canon pairing here! :D

To be honest, the first time I played Harvest Moon: DS I didn't like Gustafa... probably because I wanted to marry Nami and he was her rival bachelor, who in my opinion was the worst canon match for a bachelorette I had ever seen on any Harvest Moon game. But then I played AWL and I befriended Gustafa, and the music he played by his yurt was a nice change from the record by the farm, and I softened up to the idea of him...

So when I let go of the irrational dislike of him, I managed to understand why he and Nami were a canon pairing. To put it quite simply-- they were each other's ultimate inspiration, a reason to continue doing what they loved, to stay. When I took that into account this pairing became one of my favorites. The lesson I learned from Gustafa's character was that usually, all canon pairings are there for a reason, although some of the reasons aren't as obvious as others. You just have to be open and watch the characters interact, then judge for yourself.

I'll get off my little stage now. XD

I hope this fic captured what the pairing means to you. It certainly portrayed what I think of them. :)

Hope you liked it as much as I loved writing it. Please review, I love them! ;)