The Voice of Japan

*2*

He listened to the chatter that filled the room, wondering if they would conclude things before he and the others met the next day. He tried to focus, yet his mind wandered. As the other nations came to his country, he found himself more and more along the oceans edge, watching and waiting for any sign of hope.

Kiku found himself growing restless as his leaders spoke freely with each other about the war and their government, it just seemed that they wanted to avoid the topic at hand. So, he dismissed himself and walked the halls. He was tired of the war, tired of how things had escalated from the year before and how they sat now. It was draining him and his people. Tighter boarders, tighter security, tighter rules, and anyone that disobeyed those new rules found themselves in a serious situation. He just hoped that his own thoughts were wrong with how things have turned.

Before Kiku made the corner, a body slammed into his as he heard the body hit the floor. Looking down he saw Liberty brushing herself off as she got back up.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Kiku, I didn't mean it." she apologized to him.

"It's alright, are you ok?" he asked as he checked her over.

"I'm ok. I play with Alexei all the time and we rough house a lot. Well, that's what our mommy's say." she smiled at him as Alfred's voice called out her name.

Kiku turned to see Alfred sitting in one of the hall chairs as his little boy looked eagerly past his head, "Daddy! Lincoln!"

Before he knew it, Liberty ran towards the two as Lincoln's excited giggles filled the air. The little boy was more of a miniature Alfred than Liberty was, the only thing he had that wasn't his father was his mother's dark hair as Liberty played peek-a-boo with him.

Kiku gave a small chuckle as he continued his way to his office, his mind still stuck on the situation at hand, yet it also wandered to the ocean as well. He heard small chatter as he approached a room as curiosity sunk in to the familiar voices. Looking within, he saw Nora and Yao as they spoke to each other, Yao carefully taking Nora's leg and looking it over as she chided him for doing so.

He still could remember seeing as Yao carried her out of the hideout, her body a mangled mess, a pure miracle she was alive in the first place. He watched as she flexed her hands, moving each finger. Her wrists moving around as Yao moved her knee back and forth, even though Nora was healed fully, he was worried that she would still get hurt. Nora saw Kiku standing there, giving him a small wave as Yao went into another room. She came over to him, a bright smile adorning her face.

"Nǐ hǎo Kiku, you are escaping the meeting?" she asked.

"For the moment, it's still the same as earlier." he replied. "How are your hands?"

"Occasionally they get stiff but that's after a while on the computers, eyes strain too but everything is back to normal." she replied as she hiked her thumb towards Yao's location, "Just hard to have him believe that."

Kiku smiled knowing how Yao was when others were hurt. He remembered when Mei fell off the back wall of his home, nearly breaking her leg. Yao was a worried mess when he found her and wouldn't leave her side until she nearly shoved him away in annoyance.

"You seem puzzled, everything alright?" she asked him.

"Oh, no. There is nothing the matter, I promise." he reassured her.

She raised her brow towards him as she looked over her glasses, the very same look he saw the mothers give their children when they misbehaved. Looking back from where Yao last was, Nora took his arm and pulled him away as she made him walk the hall with her.