Zubicu- a Hetalia fanfic.

Chapter 11

Flopping down on the huge, elegantly-patterned bed again I sigh. "Wow, wearing a dress sure is effort." I mutter to myself, not caring who hears as the door is still open. "I wonder when I can take it off. Or at least take off this damn corset. I'm surprised I haven't fainted yet, it's so tight and such an effort to wear!" I complain to the ceiling, throwing my arms up in frustration before letting them fall down again. It's been a very long, tiring day so far. Recently I've had to go to a sort of practise thing to tell me how to 'act like a lady' to impress England. Gods, they all think I love him! There's no way I'd love my kidnapper! The only reason I went through with this in the first place is to protect Kiku, not for England's sake! Honestly, if Kiku hadn't been put in danger like that I probably wouldn't even be here. Then again, that's probably why they caught him.

I stare up at the ceiling, my arms resting on the bed above my head. They work together to pull the elbow-length white silken gloves off of my hands, before chucking them somewhere across the room, as I think again. Why is it Spain's singing voice has been haunting me recently? I've been going without hearing his voice for years now, so why is it at sea on a ship that he suddely pops back into my head, I wonder? Dismissing it, I sit up when I hear the door open, swinging my legs over the side of the bed so I'm sitting on the edge of it, my feet touching the floor.

"Work's over for today. Good job for your first time. I'm impressed, but that means you're going to have to work a lot harder tomorrow." a rough voice grunts. I get a brief view of a huge, wide man with insanely huge muscles and hairy arms wearing a grey shirt. Then my view suddenly gets blocked by Kiku getting shoved into the room. Before I can yell at the man to not treat him so roughly, he slams the oak door. Is it me, or does everyone slam that door? What did that door ever do to them?

Yet again, Kiku stumbles forward and trips over something before he can regain his balance, and falls onto the bed, knocking me over completely so my back presses into the bed and my arms are out above my head. His arms are each positioned underneath my armpits, not on purpose but still keeping me from bringing my arms down. I blush as I find him hovering right above me. He opens his eyes. They quickly connect with mine and his eyes widen as he quickly scrambles off of me. "Sasha-chan, I'm sorry!" he apologises frantically. I look away from him, suddenly unable to look at him for some reason, instead looking down at the folds of my dress and allowing my shoulder-length hair to hang in my face.

"We really need to fix whatever's tripping you up, don't we?" I say shyly, making him chuckle and agree. I can feel the pressure of his gaze upon me, but won't look up, instead beginning to feel very uncomfortable. He continues to stare at me and I find it feels very much like when Russia was staring at him a while back, before he explained to England about his curse. In other words, creepy, unnerving, and generally not fun at all.

"What is it?" I ask, turning my eyes but not my head to look at the curtain of hair blocking my view to him. He coughs, clearly trying to hide his embarrassment at being caught staring at me. I smile a little gently. "You can tell me, you know. I always listen. What's up, Kiku-chan?" I ask.

My hair gets gently pulled out of my face and Kiku turns my face to look at him. He smiles warmly at me and I can't help but smile back, despite being a little nervous at the fact he's sitting right next to me. I can feel my heartbeat speeding up, weirdly. He pulls me against him in a hug suddenly. My eyes fly wide at the sudden movement, which is completely against his usual no-touching attitude, before I relax and hug him back, letting my head rest on his chest as my mouth spreads into a gentle smile. He rests his head on my shoulder and whispers into my ear, "Oh, there's nothing wrong, Sasha-chan. It's just that...." he pauses, and I wait patiently for him to continue and finish his sentence. I try not to gasp when I hear him continue, instead my breath catching and my heart skipping a beat.

"I love you."

Those three words make me melt. I hug him just a litle tighter as I feel tears welling up in my eyes. What? What's going on? I have no idea, but when I think about it, I finally realise something I never thought would be possible before. I brush away the tears from my face as Kiku gently pulls me away to face him again, gently resting his hands on my shoulders as he looks into my eyes, with nothing but kindness and truth in them. Smiling, I lean my forehead against his, carefully sitting on his lap. He wraps an arm round my waist and pulls me against him, my side pressing into his chest.

I look up at him, and read his surface thoughts to find out what he isn't saying. He's loved me pretty much since we first met, but never had the courage to confess. So he tried to show me so many times, with gifts, showing me places, saying a good compliment about something and actually meaning it to be about me. But nothing seemed to work.

I giggle and he blushes when he realises I'm reading his thoughts again. His multiple thoughts about trying to tell me he loves me, all of a sudden disappear. They all become replaced by one; Sasha-chan, why'd you do that?!

Laughing a little, instead of explaining, I simply sigh happily and rest my head against his chest. He dips his head down so it rests on top of mine. Closing my eyes and listening to the steady thump of his heart, I almost whisper my own thoughts in reply to his as I let my realisation turn into thoughts, then into a single, short sentence;

"I love you too, Kiku-chan."