Where Thou Art, That Is Home (Hetalia Fanfic, Part 2)

Chapter 109~!

A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.

-Robert A. Heinlein

Carlea chuckled darkly to herself as she uncapped the bottle of powder and lightly smeared it in the folds and creases of various articles of clothing in Kate's drawers. Her hands were encased in blue rubber gloves to prevent a horrible backfiring of this measly portion of her master plan.

The bottle read: property of THE AWESOME ONE. TOUCH IT AND DIE.

Carlea had discovered it while snooping around the house for implements to use in the war she'd waged on Kate. It wasn't the only thing she'd found, either, but those were hidden away in a special place so no one could take them back.

Now, to think that she would do something like this was just bewildering. Carlea knew Kate and Prussia were dating and happy together, so why would she try to plague their lives and make them miserable?

Well, the answer to that is another question: Why do the misunderstood, insecure, and wicked characters do what they do? Because that's what they are, deep on the inside.

Not to say that Carlea is really wicked, or even misunderstood.

No, it has much more to do with insecurity.

'I'm so lucky to have met Gilbert. And he loves me. He loves me. I can't stand seeing him with someone else, not when I know he loves me!' This went through Carlea's head over and over like a mantra of encouragement.

So, to say that Carlea was unjustified in this little war is true. She really shouldn't be doing this. And yet, at the same time, it makes sense why she's doing it. The poor girl is just misguided and young. Without years of experience in thinking rationally, she is making poor choices like all humans do at some point in their lives.

That's just the way life goes.

About ten minutes later, Kate stepped out of the shower and toweled off, pulling on her clothes. It wasn't even a full minute later when she started to feel something was definitely wrong. But what was it?

Absentmindedly she scratched her inner thigh and turned back to the mirror so she could apply her makeup. That action, that little scratch on her leg, disturbed more powder and made it touch more of her skin. Now her arm was itching inside its sleeve, too! Kate set down her mascara and scratched again, this time with more force. That only made it worse.

Carlea waited, listening intently, from her perch in the bedroom doorway just down the hall from the bathroom. Wait for it... Wait for it... Just a few more seconds...

"AH!" Kate shrieked, bolting out of the bathroom and down the hall. "Gil! Gil, help!"

"Vhat, vhat is it?" Prussia asked quickly when he appeared in the kitchen doorway. His girlfriend was quite a sight: she couldn't stop scratching herself everywhere she could reach at once! "Kate?"

"Itching-- Itching powder!" Kate shouted, straining to reach that hard-to-scratch spot in the middle of her back. "What did you do?"

"Me? I did nozhing, I promise!" Prussia defended as he tried to stop Kate's frantic hopping around. "Kate, liebe, stop for a second! Take zhe clozhes off, you can't stay in zhem!"

"Argh!" Kate yelled as she raced back down the hall and slammed the bathroom door shut behind her with a thunderous BOOM. She was in such a hurry to get back into the shower, she didn't even notice Carlea desperately trying to hold her snickers in from where she crouched in the same doorway as before. And Kate blew right past her, too!