I'm BAAACK! Not like I was gone very long, but hey! Ok, so this story is going to be my new and improved AkarixLuke fic. As for my other one, it's tied between Chase and Gale for the lucky bachelor, but I can't pick until I get a ton of reviews! (hint hint) Anyways, I'm writing this one first because I can't stop coming up with ideas for this story and I just REALLY want to make the best LukexAkari fic I can! I hope you like it!

I don't own Harvest Moon (obviously)

Prologue

I'd only seen my dad cry once in my entire life.

It was a year after my mother died (no, he didn't cry when she died, or at least I didn't see it) and he was taking me to see visit her grave. I'd picked a tulip out of the ground to bring for her since tulips had always been her favorite flower.

When we got to the graveyard, my dad and I just stood there for a really long time, staring at the grave. Dad held my hand tightly (I was only seven at the time) and I held the tulip tightly in my other hand. Unlike my dad, I'd cried for days after my mom died. She was the best mom in the world. She didn't care that I didn't good grades or that I almost always came home with a new injury or that my only friend was the one kid everyone else was afraid of.

When I was younger, she'd come home from town once with this bandana that had flames all over it.

"To match your fiery personality," she'd told me.

I'd worn it every day since. When she died, it became the only thing I had left of her, so I never let it out of my sight.

After a few minutes of just standing there, I let go of my father's hand and placed the tulip on her grave, my eyes welling with tears.

"Hi, Mommy," I'd said, "I hope you're happy up there in Heaven. Tell sissy I say hi and that I love you both."

That was when my father seemed to break down. He'd grabbed me by my waist and lifted me in the air, pressing my tiny body against his enormous one. I could feel him crying into my neck. Just hearing his sobs made me burst into hysterics and I clung to him tightly, my tears soaking his shirt.

When he put me on the ground I clung to his leg, sniffling softly. I really missed her and now I knew that he did, too. He actually showed that he cared.

He then set me down and told me to stay where I was. I assumed he was going up to the church to pray, but I didn't want to ask and bother him. So I just sat beside the grave, reading the epitaph over and over.

"What are you doing here?"

I jumped and turned to see Gill standing not too far from me, watching me with his icy blue eyes.

"I'm visiting my mom," I said in a surprisingly strong voice.

Gill had always liked to pick on me, but I never knew why. I watched him roll his eyes and go over to a different tombstone, kneeling down and bowing his head in prayer.

People always compared me to Gill: how much smarter he was, how polite he was, how mature he was. But we weren't really that different. At least we had one thing in common: we'd both watched our mothers die.

"Gill…"

He turned his head slightly, shooting me a dirty look.

"What?" he snapped.

"Do you think our moms are happy up there?" I asked.

The hate and disgust drained from his expression, actually revealing a side I'd never seen on Gill: compassion.

"Yeah," he said, "I think they are."

I smiled at him, something I'd always been able to do even when I was sad. He returned it with a weak grin, but then instantly bowed his head and returned to prayer.

My dad returned just at that instant, with no sign that he'd been crying. No tearstains, no puffy, red eyes, no sniffles. Nothing.

"Come on, Luke," he said.

He didn't even offer me his hand.

And just like that, my loving father was gone.

Yeah, kind of a sad beginning, but I really wanted to reveal a lot about Luke's past - and even some of Gill's - to show that the two really aren't polar opposites. It also reveals what kind of relationship Luke has with his dad and will be the source of conflict through the whole story. Woot! We have complications AT LAST!

So PLEASE review, guys! Once I decide on the other bachelor, I'll start writing that story at the same time as this one, so for all those Chase/Gale/Owen/Toby/Jin/Calvin/Julius fans... Review!