The Past and the Present: Nichu Hetalia JapanxChina

Rabbits, writing and hiragana

"I'm home-aru." I called to my panda as I closed to door. The long walk home from America's place tired me out, and I walked over to where my panda was sitting, next to the door, right where I left him. Picking it up, I rubbed my face in its soft fur and heaved a sigh of relief. Panda will always be here when I need him. Then, I sneezed.

"You're so dusty,-aru!" I cried, my eyes watering. "When was the last time I gave you a bath-aru?"

Panda didn't reply, but if he could, I'm sure he would reprimand me for failing to wash him as often.

"Um...so the last time was Chinese New Year..." My face fell. "Two years ago-aru."

I had been so caught up with the political problems of the world that I didn't take good care of Panda! 

"Ok then. Let me go run the hot water-aru." I set Panda down on the chair. "Will be right back-aru."

I filled the kettle with water and stuck it on the heating coil to boil. Whilst waiting, I walked into the living room and inspected the area for any other sign of dust.

"I should dust the mantelpiece." I thought to myself as I grabbed my duster. Taking the items off the mantelpiece gingerly, I dusted it wildly, clouds of black flying out to greet me. 

Afterward, I picked the items off the floor and arranged them back on the wide ledge gently. Just as I was about to pick the last item, I froze.

It was a china rabbit. It was sitting on its back legs, ears long and eyes sharp. It looked familiar. Although the rabbit had been up there for a while now, today's the first time I noticed something about it.

Then I remembered. I began to smile. That's right, the first thing he drew was a rabbit...

~

When Japan first arrived at my place, he was fascinated by all the drawings I had up on my walls. I liked calligraphy and Chinese visual art, so I had kept a whole stack of rice paper and barrels of ink.

Handing him a brush and paper, I settled back, waiting to see what he could do. The result surprised me. Japan had drew a pretty little rabbit, with long ears and sharp eyes, sitting on its legs while nibbling on a carrot. For a first timer, that was astonishing, but I still wondered if he knew how to write...

"Here you go Japan-aru." I presented him with a sheet of neat Chinese characters written in straight rows. "You can use these basic Chinese characters to write -aru These characters are the foundation of all Chinese words. Learn it, and you will become an expert in no time-aru!"

Japan merely looked at the sheet and nodded. Then I left the sheet of paper with him, and went to get a new ink pot.

---

"Oh! I see you have started to use them." I entered the room, seeing Japan busily writing away. I walked up to the table. "Good for you-" I glanced at the sheet. The characters I saw was nothing like the characters I had given him. Instead, they had curls and loops and were simple yet complex at the same time.

Plus, Japan was muttering to himself. "A - I - U - E - O"

"Aiya! How dare you make them up on your own aru!"

~

I looked at the china rabbit fondly. Then I shook my head violently. Why am I thinking about that idiot? Who cost me so much pain? Just because I saw him at the meeting today means I can spend the rest of my time enjoying the flashbacks of the past?

All the same, I put the rabbit back on the mantelpiece and my thoughts drifted to Japan. Is he coping well? Is he eating healthy?

Even all the questions in the world couldn't patch up the aching, gaping hole in my heart......

(Well this was a long chapter. I couldn't break it up into parts so I had to post it like this. Please forgive my possibly bad grammar and the transition to the flashback, I was really running out of ideas. Well, I hope China was not acting OOC in this one, but he'll probs start to in the next chapter. BTW, hope you're all looking forward to having a JAPAN POV for once! TNT out:)