A/N: So I decided to take the 100 Hetalia Theme Challenge a while ago, and this is the redo of my first one. I like it a lot better than the old one- it was way to short the first time. It's still fairly short, but I like it a lot. I also think it's a bit confusing because of all the pronoun usage floating around... So! First theme- intoduction. Character focus- Kiku Honda. Title- When The Black Ships Came. Enjoy~!
.001. Introduction- When The Black Ships Came
It was a bright spring morning- the songbirds were singing, the sakura were in bloom, and there were flowers everywhere. It was the kind of morning that would make most people want to sing with happiness and go lie naked in the clover.
However, one man, walking slightly behind his exuberant companion, was anything but happy. It showed in the way he hesitantly followed his companion –for the man was not normally a follower– and in the way he kept staring at the ground. The man he was walking with was doing his best to cheer him up, but he wasn't succeeding very well. Although the language barrier might have been the reason why the petite black-haired male did not even pretend to be listening to the taller blonde, it was most likely the fact that the blonde was the main cause of his problems.
The black-haired man frowned at his companion (who by now was wildly waving his arms around in an attempt to capture his follower's attention) and turned away. All he wanted to be doing right now was to make a mad dash back to his house and hide under the blankets for another 50 years or so until he was truly ready to do what he was being forced to do. But, he reasoned with himself, after more than 200 years of isolation already, no person would truly step out into the wide, wide world without being first given a mighty shove from behind.
His shove came from the blonde who had suddenly shown up one day on a boat with black sails. He had first introduced himself as the United States of America (a terribly flashy name, the black-haired man remembered thinking, he must be a new nation) and then had demanded that Japan's period of isolation come to an end.
And kept on demanding, until America finally managed to drag his fellow nation out of his house to a world meeting ("I arranged it just for you!" the young man had chirped brightly at him when he had been told) so that he could introduce himself.
America dashed ahead to enter the meeting room, leaving his companion behind. The black-haired man hesitated, debating whether he could make a break for it now, before he decided that running away would be a very dishonorable thing to do and not suitable for someone of his age and standing.
Yet he couldn't bring himself to open the door either. 200 years of quiet and solitude left him with a churning stomach and sweaty palms. Nervously, he adjusted his hakama and counted to ten.
"Ichi… Ni… San… Shi… Go… Roku… Shichi… Hachi… Kyu… Juu."
The man opened the doors and stepped into the world meeting room, self-consciously noting how loudly his geta clacked on the floor. The stares of the other countries focused on him caused the man's face to slowly turn a lovely shade of scarlet. He could hear whispers and muffled laughter slowly spreading throughout the room.
Taking a deep breath before he could lose his nerve, the man bowed low and introduced himself.
"Ohayou gonzaimasu. Watashi wa Nippon desu."