Dear readers: This is an AU story. It is based on Rip Van Winkle. My characters tend to be original. They have the same name and looks as the other characters, so just imagine them as they are in the anime/manga. There is also a reference to my favorite character in Bleach somewhere along the way. Anyhoo, please enjoy my story, and please, submit feedback.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Hetalia. They all belong to Hidekaz Himaruya. As well as my Bleach reference, I do not own the character. Tite Kubo does.

The Magnificent Tale of Yao Wang

On the battlefield, samurai bounced around, swords in their hands, whipping away at anything in their way. The trees in the forest of Japan made good defense barriers when wanting to rest or simply popping out and slicing an enemy that happens to pass by you. One down. A fallen comrade laid still at my feet while his crimson blood gracefully mad its way out of his mouth. I looked away, the sight unbearable. Hundreds of samurai fell to the ground, their deaths not in vain. I rested my back against a tree, scooted down to the ground, and stared up at the blue daylight shining in between the packed treetops.

"What the hell are you doing? Get up! A minor leg wound is nothing to be sulking about." Hmm? Oh, that's right. Earlier I had an encounter with an English knight. Apparently our enemies of Okinawa decided to establish an alliance with them. No matter, we had the Chinese on our side. Plenty of advantages come with that.

"Yes sir. Sorry, sir. I'll continue to-" I was interrupted by a shrewd yell by the man who had scolded me, who I later found out was Lieutenant Musashi, a prodigy and well respected man by fellow samurai including me. To my utter amazement, he had been stabbed by one of the English holding a now-bloody lance and riding a horse. "Lieutenant!" I yelled as I ran to his aid. I examined his wound while listening to the English. I could understand their language; my mother was of English origins.

"Good work, Kristoff. Don't bother with the other one. He's a mere weakling."

Me? How dare they insult me when they haven't even seen me fight! I stood up, ready to face the men.

"Yao. Now isn't the time."

Yao? Oh right, my name. Yao Wang.

"You should be tending to Lieutenant Musashi."

"Kiku!" I realized it was my best friend, Kiku Honda. He is two ranks above me, third seat. "Right."

"Here." He handed me a long piece of fabric that seemed to appear out of nowhere. I wrapped the fabric around Lieutenant's stomach and tied it, the blood immediately seeping through.

Come on, work! Lieutenant Musashi, please live!

Behind me, Kiku was trying to drive off the Englishmen. He strode off and came back 5 minutes later; a cut appeared horizontally on his cheek. "Yao, place the lieutenant on my horse." I shot him a confused look. "What?"

"You stole a horse." I deadpanned.

"Yeah, so?"

"You stole a horse. Why would you steal a horse?"

"What do you mean 'why'? Because I wanted one. His name is Yumi." I rolled my eyes and proceeded to do as my friend commanded who continually hurried me whining about "the others are coming." I rode on Yumi, and we hurried down the unnamed river separating the forest from one of the many villages in Japan.

"Yao," Kiku didn't look at me, but I knew he was very serious and not in his usual humorous, idiotic manner, "I'm going to need you to do a mission for me."

I was riding Yumi, riding down to headquarters, fending off the enemy. Scroll in my hand, I planned to make a huge announcement to Emperor Kammu, telling him the plans of the enemy. All I knew was that if I didn't hurry, the whole world would vanish. Kiku had trusted me to do this, I don't know why, I don't know how, but I was supposed to live one way or another and get the message to Emperor Kammu. What was I supposed to do anyway? Kiku had told me that I just open the scroll and I'll immediately understand but… what if I don't?

"Aiyaa!" I ordered Yumi to halt when I saw the enemy coming towards me. They had spotted me, and there was probably about 10 of them. Outnumbered. Great. As soon as they were close enough to me, they ordered their horses to halt too.

Smirks decorated their plain faces, accompanied by evil grins and maniac laughter. Plain is so ugly. I thought to myself. I wasn't one to be bland like the Englishmen. I came from Japan. I came from China. It's completely different. How can 2 places change so drastically? These two places are definitely the complete opposite of "plain" and "bland". "Hah!" One of them yelled. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, staring blankly at the people above me.

Confusion set in and a searing pain shot across the back of my head. "Damn." I cursed under my breath. "Damn it! Get up!" Just then I realized: what was I doing here? Why am I so determined to get up? What is there to gain? I looked at my hands. There was a piece of ruined scroll balled up in my fist. Where did I get this from? I heard laughter above me and one of the men took this battered scroll balled up in my hand. No. Give it back. No words came from my mouth. Give it back. I couldn't see myself, but I knew my eyes looked pleading. Why was I still so determined? Give it back! My vision started to blur. Everything around me started to dim and go black. My eyelids felt heavy, and the pain was worse than before. Kiku. Kiku? Who was this "Kiku" I thought of? I'm… sorry. My mind raced. I had no idea what I was thinking anymore. My eyes shot closed. My head fell to the ground. The pain in the back of my head and the misery I once had, disappeared.

I woke up the next day, and found myself in a completely different place. The forest floor was gone, and I was laying down on replacement concrete with drawings on it. I got up, stiff and sore all over my body. It felt like it took me 10 minutes just to stand up, and another 5 to fully stretch. I smacked my lips together. A nasty, dry taste was in my mouth, the kind you get when you don't brush your teeth overnight or when you don't get enough sleep. I walked over to a painted bench and sat down (it was obviously dry. I wouldn't be that stupid.) It seemed like everything here was painted and drawn in. I looked up; even the ceilings were painted.

I admired the art for what seemed like forever, and it practically was, the sun had set and the moon had risen. I stared out the glass - also painted - windows until a young lady interrupted me. "Excuse me," the lady said, "my lover and I have been watching you for a while now. I noticed you haven't had anything to eat or drink all day. Would you like anything?" I stared at this beautiful lady dumbfounded. Why was she being nice to me? It took me a while, but I noticed she was speaking English. I thought of the Englishmen of yesterday. I shook it off, thinking this woman could never be as mean as the others. I tried to open my mouth to speak, but it wouldn't budge. "Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe you can't understand me." I shook my head, but she didn't see me. She turned and waved to something behind me. "William!" She called. She looked at me and smiled. "Mister, meet my lover, William." William turned to me and took my hand. He shook it firmly, a sort of greeting I noticed others do quite frequently.

"William Shakespeare at thou service."

"Thou?" I choked out. I managed to say something and this is what came out. Foolish. And apparently, the lady realized I could understand.

"Thou name? Do thou haveth a name?"

"Wa-Wang. Yao Wang."

"Well Sirrah Wang, mayhaps thee would liketh something to eat or drinketh?" I looked over at the young lady, who was marveling at this William. "Thou waiteth a minute. Anne. Did thou hear this sirrah?"

"I'm sorry." This lady now known as Anne fell out of her trance.

"Thou's name, Wang Yao."

Anne's eyes grew. "Yao Wang?" She exclaimed. "You have got to be joking!"

"Anne, 'tis not polite."

Anne blushed. She looked at me, bewilderment in her eyes. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along beside her. She dragged me to who-knows-where (I was stuck in a trance, too. This beautiful lady was holding my hand!). We finally arrived into a big, dark room. In the back, I could see an empty stage with red curtains pulled to the sides. Much to my disappointment, she let my hand go. She ran across the room, towards the stage. When she came back from behind the curtain she had disappeared from, she brought a stool with her and placed it where I later found out was called "downstage right."

"William, darling. Come here for a second." She gestured for her lover to go to her. Like a silent puppy, William obeyed her gesture and followed her to the stool where he was forced to sit down. "Yao, did you know that my husband is a playwright?" She placed her hands on his shoulders and proceeded to massage him.

Oh, how I envy him. I thought. "No, ma'am. I did not know."

"He's also a poet and an actor. He's famous worldwide! I'm so proud of him."

"You two are married?"

"Yes. Sorry for not making that clear earlier, but indeed we are. He was only 18 at the time and I, I was 26. My family forced him to marry me since I was already pregnant with Susanna. We were reluctant because we wanted to become a little more ready but we gave in after a while." She explained to me half-heartedly.

So it was an oops marriage.* I pondered, then mentally punched myself for being so offending, despite not saying it aloud.

"Anyways, enough about me. Yao, you are not the Yao Wang samurai who saved the world are you? That was more than four centuries ago!"

Four centuries ago? Did she say four centuries ago? Impossible! Surely they do look a lot different, I do smell horrible, I have gotten stiff and grown a huge beard but that doesn't mean… It couldn't be! I cannot have been asleep for so long! But, I have never heard of a samurai named Yao Wang. My mother gave me that name because she had always adored the Chinese so… Another Japanese with a Chinese name?

"Where am I exactly?" I asked her, full of wonder. What was going on?

"Warwickshire, England. Why do you ask?"

I ignored her question. "What year is this?"

"Umm. 15… 1588. Is something the matter, Mr. Wang?"

"1588!" I thought aloud. I shook my head and threw my hands up in exasperation. "My dear Anne, fellow William, I need your help." They exchanged wondering looks, then turned at me and nodded. I explained to them what had happened, but that I don't remember giving Emperor Kammu the message.

"It is said that Yao Wang, you, went to Emperor Kammu after being beaten senselessly and suffering from a concussion. You went to the Emperor with only your sheer will power. They said they mistook you for what is now known as a zombie. You were half-dead, half-alive. They tried to heal you with Chinese healing methods, but then one day you just up and left. They never heard from you again."

I thought about this in my head, her words making everything so vivid and real, I truly can't explain to you readers how lifting the sensation is. It felt like the raincloud above my head has finally eliminated its perpetual raining and thundering. The feeling was short lived. Immediately another raincloud replaced the previous and I was overwhelmed once again.

"What'll I do?" My voice was so quiet that I could barely hear it. Apparently the two heard nonetheless.

"What shall thou do, indeed. Anne? Would thee mindeth if thou idol stayeth with us?"

"I don't mind at all."

"Idoru?"*

"Idol. I read a lot about you when I was younger and have always adored your courage."

"Read about me?"

"Yes. You were made into a fairy tale for children. But now, I finally get to meet you!" Anne squealed and delightedly hugged me. Again, I was very pleased about this and I felt my face get hot and flushed. "Will you stay with us?" Anne asked after potentially squeezing the air right out of me. "Please? You have nowhere else to go do you? Stay with us! We could show you around England and help you and do anything in our ability to help."

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to return back, to Lieutenant Musashi, Emperor Kumma, to Kiku. Maybe I would be able to see Kiku soon. After all, Anne said that Kiku had had the same kind of encounter with Englishmen. I should accept their offer, and search for my best friend. And so I stayed. The rest of my days I spent doing research on many things. I learned what had happened, and eventually learned about the modern culture known as renaissance. And every day, I looked around for signs of Kiku, looking everywhere until finally…

One peaceful Thursday afternoon, I was walking along the sidewalk in the town square admiring the art as usual when I see something odd and out of place. I walk up to a man with a long dark gray beard scrawled on the floor with horrible hygiene. "Excuse me, sir. Are you all right? Do you need some water?" The man stared up at me blankly. "What is your name, my good sir?"

"H-h-h-h. H-Hon-d-d-d-a. Ho-Honda. Ki-ku. Honda Kiku."

*In Japan, a forced wedding or "shotgun wedding" was called, "Dekichatta kekkon," which translates to "oops marriage."

*You know how Japanese are… they can't really pronounce 'L's.

Story by: Amber Walle

Original Story: Rip Van Winkle by the late Washington Irving

Thank you everyone who took the time to read my epic story! I am really proud of my story, please tell me how I did and what I can improve (if there is anything to improve). Thank you once again! Keep reading my future stories!

Onto the Bleach reference, I used Yumi. He is known as Yumichika Ayasegawa and my favorite character. Forgive me for using him as a horse... I was going to explain how handsome and elegant the horse looked but decided not to. So everyone, imagina Yumi as the most beautiful horse you have ever seen. Thank you for reading once again. Please review and tell me how I did. Thanks!