Title: Always You
Series: Axis Powers Hetalia
Pairing: Ameripan [America x Japan, Alfred/Kiku]
Rating: K for fluffiness.

Notes: OH MY GOOOOOD. Hnnng. I really wrecked myself big time writing this. But I'm not sorry for it. Kiku's pov and pretty much my romanticism retelling of their history because I'm a fucking sap and goddamn it all I DON'T CARE. So there you go, that's all you need to know. This was originally posted on my tumblr and has been edited once more for posting on here. Dedicated to my friends ALynnL, Torayashachan, and Chaos Silk. The enablers and corrupters they are. I WILL GO DOWN WITH THIS SHIP. Anyway, enjoy.


It was you.

You who first came upon my shores after my long standing isolation.

You with your foreign look so different from me.

Your crystalline blue eyes, your skin-how it was pale but not-how quickly it could change in the sun to a dark, flushed tan.

Your golden, light hair that seemed to brighten when the sunlight hit it just right, how different it was from mine.

Your infectiously wide smile and your voice...

I could not understand your words at first, how quickly you spoke and the language you used. It was awkward, and strange.

It was scary, but you only smiled. Only smiled and laughed at my confusion and hesitation, but moved from speaking to gestures. That, I could understand. Body language, unspoken words told from expression and movement.

It wasn't hard to like you, not at all. No matter how strange and foreign you were, how we seemed so far apart-not just geographically. How you even managed to find me left me awash with awe.

When we could understand one another with words, broken phrases of our languages clashing together, strange and yet somehow intrinsically beautiful, you offered to take me with you.

To explore, to see how broad the world really was.

I was scared and I refused, at first.

You left, with a promise to return with that same smile even as you told me you'd drag me with you next time.

And you did.

I had not thought you would actually go through with your words, but you stole me away. Away from everything I knew, and... Oh, the sights were scary and wonderful at the same time, the vastness of the ocean truly showed me how small I was.

And when we met with others, touched upon land, I was filled with hesitance, but elation.

It was overwhelming, a little cruel, but wonderful and beautiful.

You showed me the lands beyond my small borders, the places I had only dreamed of in my sleep that was beyond the horizon of my view. All the while, you smiled.

You smiled, and I couldn't help but do the same.

It was you.

You, that I fell in love with.

I took your hand when you offered it again, and you promised to show me even more. With excitement and contentment, I went gladly. Being at your side, seeing your smile. Your voice always brought me much joy.

How could I not love you?

You brought me to your home, and it was strange, not at all like my home, but so... So beautiful. The lush grass, the mountains, the air... Oh, but the sunsets and the sunrises were the most breathtaking.

I might have cried a little the first time I saw the sun rise above the horizon from your Home.

It didn't take long for me to consider your home as my secondary home and you welcomed me with open arms every time I visited and I returned it wholeheartedly when you came to see me.

No, it was not hard at all to love you. But I was still surprised when you proclaimed your love for me.

You said it so easily, without reservation. I had thought you to be lying at first because of it. How could one be so open with their feelings without lying?

All I knew was my way, and I was reserved.

Once again though, you showed me your heart, and earnest adoration. You didn't speak with words, but with expression and body language once again.

It was you.

You, who I let grow close to me. You, who I let understand me. I let you see everything that I was, I told you my name.

From the start, I knew yours, it felt. For you said it so easily without care or concern.

I had thought you foolish, for names are sacred, more so for ones like us.

But I learned, it was not foolish to you. For if one knew your name, they could call it freely and you would hear and you would come running.

A Hero.

That's what you said you wanted to be.

And if someone knew the Heroes' name, they could call for them that much easier.

You were my Hero.

Ah... No, that's not quite it. You're still my Hero.

Even now.

Even after all this time.

It had hurt.

Hurt so much, it felt like you had betrayed me. How could you?

Perhaps the feeling I felt was akin to a lover scorned and in my mind, I had every right to feel it.

So I lashed out at you, blindly.

'I never meant to start a war', is that not the line from one of your ridiculous pop-cultured love songs?

But it's true, I had never meant to drag you into the whole mess that had engulfed quite a bit of the world, myself included.

I suppose I deserved what came after that concluded everything in that war.

As much as I had wanted to hate you that entire time, wished I could feel angry for it, I couldn't.

I really, really couldn't.

Because it was you.

It was you that was there in the aftermath, trembling and shaking with tears and a broken gaze.

It was you that lifted my frail, broken body and held me close.

It was you that took care of me, whispered mangled and broken words of apology, pleading for my forgiveness.

I couldn't hate you.

Because even with this, this horrendous, cruel pain and the chaos that followed...

You still loved me.

And I could not keep myself from still loving you.

But I couldn't-I couldn't let it be like it was. There was no going back to that, those days of near paradise.

But you...

You with your smile, your strength...

Even knowing it would never be the way it used to be...

"It's okay. I'll carry you 'til you can walk. And when you can walk, I'll walk beside you. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

There is a saying from my Home...

'To love someone is to walk together; and in walking together, to seek the best path.'

I only fell in love with you all over again.

It is you.

It is you that has been at my side all of these years, who still walks alongside of me.

It is you who has held my hand through the passing of the seasons, sometimes pulling me along when I could not walk on my own, sometimes me pulling you when you would stumble when you looked away from the path.

But here we are, still walking. Stronger, different. We are not how we were, but at the same time, we are. We are ever changing, but remaining who we are.

It is you I love with my whole being, with every breath I draw and every sigh I exhume.

It will always be you that I allow to remain at my side.

It is you, Alfred F. Jones.

...And it always will be.

-End-