Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.

Special Thanks to The Rune Reverend for my first and, so far, only review. If you guys have any free time go and check out his stories. =)

Sideways

Meeting Taro gave her the idea. Getting shipwrecked gave her the chance. Now she's giving ranching a go.

You could say Chelsea's life has been turned just a little bit sideways.

Chapter Two

A cold sweat covered Chelsea's forehead as she twisted and turned violently on her small bed. Her forehead was creased in worry and her breathing turned ragged as her flailing grew more and more restricted as her sheets tangled up around her body, preventing her from moving freely. Suddenly, her breathing stopped for several seconds before she sat bolt-upright in her bed, gasping and panting for breath.

Pivoting her head around rapidly, it took several long moments for Chelsea to realize it had only been a nightmare. In the two weeks since she'd washed up on the beach, shipwrecked from the terrible storm, she'd had nightmares about drowning and the storm every couple of nights. This was one of those nights.

Slowly untangling herself from the mess of sheets, Chelsea got out of bed, lit a candle she kept on her nightstand, and walked into her small bathroom, splashing water on her face and drying it off with a towel. Walking back out, she stripped the sheets off her bed and began remaking it. When it was done, she sat down on its edge. Getting back in bed would be pointless. She already knew that she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep for a while.

The clock on her nightstand read two in the morning. Too early to get up and start working. Sighing, Chelsea stared out the window at the moon. Two weeks. It hardly seemed real at times. She'd been looking for a new life, but she hadn't expected to find that new life after being shipwrecked with Taro and his family on a deserted island.

Maybe it was just luck, or maybe it was fate, but after hearing Taro talk about his young days as a rancher, Chelsea had been interested in trying it out for herself but hadn't thought she'd ever get the chance. As things would have it, on the island was a rundown and abandoned ranch which she now called home. The house's condition was fine for being so old, but the field was requiring lots of work to farm it, and if there ever was a coop or barn, there wasn't now.

Picking up the book she'd been reading before she went to bed, Chelsea flipped it open to her spot and started reading. The book wasn't the most exciting, but the only books really on the island were ones that had been found in the abandoned buildings. Taro had found a few about farming, and given them to her to read. The book in her hands titled How to Have a Green Thumb was all about the proper care of plants.

When growing potatoes it is important to not overwater. Overwatering will cause the potatoes to rot while they are in the ground, but if not enough water is given the potatoes will not grow, and will be small and hard. To know how much to water a potato pay close attention to the soil color around it. The soil should be slightly dark and easy to work with, but not muddy. When the potato is nearing harvest time…

Letting out a big yawn, Chelsea shut the book after marking her place, and returned the book to her nightstand before crawling back under the covers. Taro had been more than happy to tell her what he knew and remembered about growing different types of crops, so she'd already heard most of what the book had to say. Still, it couldn't hurt to read it, and it always helped her feel sleepy at night.

Blowing out the candle, Chelsea pulled the covers up to her chin and snuggled into her pillow. The next time she woke up the sun was streaming through the windows of the farmhouse and the clock on her nightstand read a little after six in the morning.

Getting up Chelsea had a sparse breakfast of cold oatmeal. After washing off her breakfast dishes, she headed outside to tend to her crops. Dragging the old watering can from the stream to her crops and back again multiple times took most of the morning even though she'd planted her crops as close to the small river as possible.

Taking a break when she was done, Chelsea pulled off her boots and dangled her feet it the cool water, leaning back on her hands. If she wasn't mistaken it would only take another day or two and her crops would be ready to harvest. She'd have to go ask Taro to come and take a look at them. She didn't want to be wrong and start harvesting her crops too early.

Feeling her stomach tightening uncomfortably as it let out a growl, Chelsea grimaced. For all the work that she was doing on the ranch she wasn't getting nearly enough to eat. Not that she had much choice though. Things on the island were scarce even with the general store that had opened up three days ago and was being run by a man named Chen and his son Charlie.

Feeling annoyed, Chelsea put her boots back on and started the walk into town -if you could call it that since it was so small. Hopefully, Taro would have good news about her crops so she could harvest them soon and add a little bit of variety to her meals.

Stopping at the front door to Taro's house which also functioned as the family's shipping business that they'd started to make a profit shipping the things she grew and found, Chelsea knocked on the door before entering. She'd already been told several times that she didn't need to knock and wait for someone to let in her, but to just come in. That felt wrong, so Chelsea had settled for knocking and letting herself in which seemed to satisfy the family.

Inside Felicia was standing at the kitchen sink while Taro sat at the kitchen table. Elliot and Natalie were nowhere to be seen, so Chelsea assumed they were either in their rooms, or outside somewhere.

Greeting them both with a friendly hello and a smile, Chelsea joined Taro at the table where the old man was wiping down a long piece of wood with a cloth.

"What's that Taro?" Chelsea asked curiously.

Stopping what he was doing, Taro smiled. "This is an old fishing pole that I found. I'm cleaning it up now. I was actually going to come up to the ranch later and see if you'd like it. Fishing could help you earn a little profit while your crops are growing, and you could also eat some of what you catch." Holding out the old rod towards Chelsea, Taro smiled and nodded approvingly when she hesitantly took it from his hands.

Examining it, Chelsea could see that while the rod was old, it was good and sturdy. The thought of a little extra money and food on the table was definitely appealing. "Are you sure it's okay for me to have it Taro?"

"Of course!" he declared, thumping his chest with a fist. "As soon as Felicia is done making lunch and we eat, I can come up to the ranch with you and show you how to use it." Nodding, Chelsea smiled. She already knew the basics of how to fish, but she'd let Taro teach her all the same. It was easy to tell that he loved sharing his knowledge and she wasn't about to hurt his feelings by refusing his help. Besides, there was always the chance that there was some small trick he knew that she didn't.

"That sounds like a plan to me. I actually came down here to see if you could come look at my crops since I think they're almost ready to harvest. We can kill two birds with one stone this way."

"Are your crops really almost ready to harvest?" Felicia asked curiously from the sink where she was washing off some wild herbs.

"I think so. The flower buds on the potato plants have started to open up just a bit, and the turnip tops are looking big and full. The cabbage still has a few days to go though. Well, that's my opinion at least," rubbing the back of her head Chelsea smiled ruefully. "I'd still like to get an experienced opinion though. I'd hate to make a mistake and start harvesting too early or too late and ruin my crop.

"Well then, I'll have to make sure and take a look while I'm up there," Taro nodded decisively as Felicia set a plate of food in front of him and another in front of Chelsea.

"Wait Felicia, wasn't this supposed to be your plate?" Chelsea quickly said, putting a hand on Felicia's arm. "I didn't mean to impose on you during lunch." The woman smiled.

"We have enough to share. Working on the ranch can't be easy, so I'm sure you work up quite an appetite. Just bring me a few fish or crops and we'll call it even." Biting the inside of her lip, Chelsea nodded and let go. She hated to be a burden, but Felicia seemed to always see right through her. She'd make sure to catch some nice big fish and bring them down to repay Felicia for all of her kindness.

After lunch, Chelsea waited for Taro to retrieve his gnarled walking stick that he'd picked up from the beach and then the two of them made the walk up to her farm. At the sight of Chelsea's few crops, Taro nodded approvingly. Walking up to the first of the plants he bent over and looked at it, fingering the flower bud which was barely starting to open.

"Looks like you were right about your potatoes. I'd give them another two, three days at most and they'll be ready. Just watch these flowers here, and when they're all the way open your potatoes will be ripe for the picking."

Crouching down next to Taro, Chelsea nodded, suddenly thinking of something. "Taro, how do I harvest potatoes?"

Blinking Taro paused for a moment before responding. "Did I not tell you that already?" Chelsea shook her head. "Alright then, this is what you do. When your potatoes are ripe get the soil just a bit damp so it's not very hard. Then using your hands or a small trowel, you dig up around the potato."

Using his finger Taro drew a large circle in the still damp soil around the potato plant. "It may seem silly, but you'll want to dig up a big area like this. Since potatoes grow underground there's no way to tell how big they are until you pull them out. If you aren't careful you can gouge a potato without meaning to with your trowel. If you use your hands it doesn't really matter."

Nodding as the information sunk in, Chelsea inspected the circle Taro had drawn more closely to get a better idea of just how far out around the plant to go. She wasn't sure if she even had a trowel, but if she did she'd use it since it would be much easier than digging everything up by hand.

"What about turnips? Is it the same to harvest them as it is potatoes?"

Shaking his head, Taro waddled over to where her turnips where growing. "You still want to get the soil kind of wet, but turnips are a bit more persnickety than potatoes. You need to loosen up the soil around them a bit, and then take a good hold of where their leafy green tops meet the white part you eat and give them a good hard yank."

Inspecting one of the larger turnips Chelsea had managed to grow, Taro let out a satisfied 'hmm'. "This is a nice looking turnip here. I'd say you'd be good to harvest these tomorrow morning. Just make sure the soil is nice and loose when you pull them out so they don't break or get damaged. Also, make sure there aren't any rocks in the soil cause they'll hurt your turnips when you yank 'em out."

Chelsea hadn't thought about that, and immediately made a mental note of it. Rocks are bad for turnips. Next Taro inspected her Cabbage patch which like she'd though had almost another week of growing to go. Complimenting Chelsea on a job well done getting the crops to grow in the poor soil, Taro led her over to the river so he could teach her how to fish, but not before digging some worms out of the ground to use as bait.

The next hour was spent with Taro showing Chelsea how to properly bait a hook and cast a line into the water. While she didn't really learn anything new, Chelsea had fun, and by the end of her lesson she'd caught three small fish. Holding them up Chelsea smiled.

"Do you think you could take these back to Felicia and tell her thanks again for lunch?" she asked, holding the fish out to Taro who nodded as he accepted them.

"I'll make sure to do that. Now, don't forget that you can also go fishing on the beach, and you'll probably be able to make bigger catches there than here on your farm. If you don't have any other things you need to get done today, I'd recommend heading down there and trying your luck." Without another word, Taro turned around and started walking. Chelsea had quickly learned that the old man never bid goodbye. Instead he'd just suddenly up and leave.

Smiling, Chelsea spent the next half hour digging up worms and putting them in a cup to take down to the beach where she sat on the edge of the dock to fish. Charlie who was playing on the beach eventually wandered over to see how she was doing.

"Heya Lady! Did ya catch anything yet?" Smirking, Chelsea showed him the two fish she'd caught and the young boy whistled. It made Chelsea laugh. Charlie tried to act so grown up and always called her Lady even though she'd told him he didn't have to, but the look on his face at the sight of the fish was just too amusing.

"Now you're laughing at me," Charlie grumbled. Stifling her laughter, Chelsea apologized and patted the dock next to her.

"Here Charlie, why don't you sit down and tell me what kind of adventures you had today. We haven't had much of a chance to talk since you moved here."

Plopping down Charlie kicked his feet back and forth above the waves that washed below the dock. "Life's good. I like this island. There's lots of fun places to play, but…"

"But what?" Chelsea nudged, as her rod went taunt. Reeling and pulling in her line, she was disgruntled to find that instead of a fish she'd caught an old boot. Charlie burst out laughing at the sight. Grinning, Chelsea bumped the boy playfully, knocking him backwards he was laughing so hard.

Unhooking the boot, Chelsea was surprised at how heavy it felt. Turning it upside down with her hand out to catch anything that came out, she was disappointed when nothing but water came out. Giving the boot a final shake though, she heard a soft clinking noise, and then five gold coins fell out into her hand.

By now Charlie had stopped laughing and was staring at the coins in wonder. "Who'd a thought there were coins in a stinky old boot?"

"Not me," Chelsea admitted, setting the boot down on the dock, "but I'm not complaining." Drying off the coins she placed them in her russack before grabbing another worm out of the cup she'd brought and sticking it on her hook.

"Ya know something Lady, you're pretty cool."

"Oh, and why's that Charlie?" Chelsea asked as she cast her line back out into the ocean.

"Cause you don't freak out about worms and you don't mind having a kid like me hang around you." Glancing over at Charlie who seemed a bit down, realization dawned on Chelsea. The kid probably wouldn't ever say anything, but even with all the new places he had to explore, exploring them by himself had to be boring.

Chen was busy with his shop so he didn't have much time to spend with Charlie. Felicia was busy just like Chen, and Taro was probably too old in Charlie's eyes to be able to play games with. That currently left three other people on the island: herself, Elliot, and Natalie -all of whom were far older than Charlie.

"Hey Charlie, have you ever thought of asking Natalie or Elliot if they'd go exploring with you? I'm sure it would be more fun if someone went with you."

Charlie pulled a face. "Elliot's too quiet and boring, and Natalie is just scary." That made Chelsea laugh, but she had to admit Charlie's words were pretty accurate. Elliot was a nice guy she'd discovered, but he was very soft spoken and shy, and the fact that he was always being teased by Natalie gave him a very low self-esteem. Natalie on the other hand was loud, brash, and as rude as she'd been when Chelsea had first met her.

"What about you Lady? Dad said I shouldn't bug you because you're so busy with your farm, but could you maybe go exploring with me sometime?" Chelsea paused to think about it for a minute. It was true that the farm took a lot of time and energy, but all work and no play wasn't a very good idea in her book. She couldn't just abandon her chores on the farm to play either though.

"Hmm… I couldn't go exploring everyday, but I think I could manage once or twice a week."

Charlie jumped to his feet excitedly. "Really, Lady?" Chuckling, Chelsea nodded. Grinning from ear-to-ear, Charlie thanked her several times over, making her promise to let him know when she was free to explore.

Watching the small boy retreating up the beach, skipping in his happiness, Chelsea chuckled. A few hours later she made her way up the beach with a decent sized catch of fish in one hand. Most of them would be getting shipped for money, but that night she enjoyed some roast fish and herbs. It was the best meal she'd had in days, and for the first time since the shipwreck she went to bed with a full stomach.

Well, any thoughts?

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