((Hey, guys! Look, a random oneshot!

Yeah...I've finally finished this...I really wanted to do a HongIce oneshot and I also wanted to do something better with "Kokon Tozai Fushigi no Kuni", so...yeah.

The italics at the end of the story is the translation I made for the song. It's probably not accurate, but if you know Japanese well enough I can give you the lyrics so it can be fixed. ^_^"

Hetalia (c) Hidekaz Himaruya

"Kokon Tozai Fushigi no Kuni" (c) Rin Ginsuke/Ocelot))

"A transfer student?"

That was the question half of the homeroom class asked that morning. Emil Steilsson especially. Class was boring, and he was curious. Who could it be?

"She's transferring from China," said Ms. Braginskya, nodding happily. "From Hong Kong, to be exact. Don't worry, she's a good girl." She opened the classroom's door and announced, "Everyone please welcome Miss Ling Chen Wang."

The girl that stepped in was the last thing the class actually expected.

The girl had long, dark brown hair that flowed down her back, with a small frilly decoration embedded in the side. She had creamy skin and deep, deadpan brown eyes, with comparatively thick eyebrows that were arched in a flat expression. She was fairly tall and had a slim, trimmed figure; in other words, very, very pretty.

The class was suddenly very silent, overlooking the strange and beautiful new student.

"Hey. I'm Ling Chen. Nice to be here," she said flatly, breaking the awkward silence.

"Uh...Ling, why don't you take a seat next to Emil and we'll get started?" Ms. Braginskya prompted, smiling apologetically.

Ling nodded and walked down the rows, taking a seat right next to the rather-bewildered Emil.

THIS is the new student? A hot Chinese girl? Really? Emil was starting to rant inside his head, his face heating up. What kind of girl is she? She looks like she could kick someone's tail if she wanted to. My God, will I have to talk to her? Geez…

"You OK?"

Emil noticed he had blankly staring at her the entire time he was lamenting. He quickly looked away. "Yeah, I'm good."

She cocked her head, her eyes narrowing in sudden interest. "Mm…"

The lesson pretty much continued like this. Emil would try to focus, see her staring, mess up, erase, and start over. Wash, rinse, repeat.

What is this girl's problem?

He-ta-li-a!

"Do you see her?"

"Uh-huh. Where is she from again?"

"China or something."

"Is that why she's hanging at the table with Yao and that weird Korean kid?"

"I think so. She's probably related to them."

"She's really hot."

"Shush! I think she just saw us!"

Emil was finding it hard to concentrate on eating lunch when half the cafeteria was goggling at the new girl. He didn't see why she was so interesting; Yao and Yong Soo were from China and Korea, and nobody really made a big deal about them. Then again, it was probably because Ling was female and attractive and exotic and junk.

"Hey, what's with the grumpy face?" Emil looked up to come face-to-face with Anika, his brother's girlfriend.

"Nothing," Emil replied hastily. "I'm just tired of all the talk about that freaky new girl."

"You should talk, little bro," said Lukas, his snarky older brother. "Your hair is white and you have a pet puffin, for crying out loud."

"As if you're not weird," Emil retorted. He looked over at the Asians' table again. She was staring at him again.

"Why does she keep staring at me?" Emil asked, a note of annoyance in his voice.

"Maybe she liiiiiikes you," said Anika, leaning over the table.

Emil considered the thought, then blushed. "Don't be stupid. Why would she crush on me?"

"Well, come on," said Anika, "You're a nice enough kid. You're pretty cute, too, and you have your brother's weirdo mystery aura."
Emil gave Lukas a flat look. Lukas pretended to be interested in a poster near the door.

"Or, an even better option," Anika continued, "You have a crush on her."

Emil went redder than a tomato. "SHUT UP!"

Suddenly, there was a thwack and something sharp narrowly missed Emil's head.

On the table was a pair of chopsticks with a note attached.

Emil looked at Ling with confusion.

"Whoops," she said flatly.

Emil groaned and picked up the chopsticks, taking the note off and unfolding it.

It read:

Hey. You're pretty interesting. Wanna come over?

~Ling

Emil stared at the note with utter disbelief.

This freaky transfer student...wanted him...to come over...to her house?

Even worse was that Anika and Lukas were both reading the note over his shoulder. "What do you say to that, Emil?" Anika asked, smirking.

"My little brother's first date," said Lukas. "This calls for a celebration."

"IT'S NOT A DATE!"

He-ta-li-a!

Why. Why did I say yes.

After the chopsticks incident, Emil had pledged to himself to deny the invitation and just stay as far away from Ling as humanly possible. It would be easier on both their lives.

...But then again, now he was standing outside Ling's house with the reddest face ever.

Here goes nothing…

He reached out a hand, intending to knock on the door, when the door opened.

Ling was standing in the doorway, dressed in a slightly-sexy red cheongsam. "Hey. You came." She gave him a flat look for a second and chuckled.

"What?"

"Your face is all red."

Emil jolted, knowing his face just got even redder, if that was possible. "Uh…"

"I'm joking with you," Ling said, smirking slightly. She grabbed his hand and started dragging him into her house.

The house was furnished like your typical Chinese home, with lots of red and gold to fill the room. Emil was a little amazed by it-he never really talked to the Asian kids that much, so this was a bit of an adventure on his part.

Ling must have noticed, because she gently sat him down on the couch and said, "Don't worry, all the red is for luck. Feng shui, ya know."

"Ah."

"Ling! You didn't say you were bringing guests, aru!"

Emil and Ling both turned to see none other than Yao standing in the kitchen doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Emil exclaimed. She understood that Yao was Chinese as well, but why were they in the same house? Then, a single thought popped into his head.

Yao wasn't Ling's boyfriend, was he?

Emil had absolutely no idea why, but the very thought of such a thing made him feel severely upset. He turned to Ling, desperate for an answer.

Ling shrugged, not perturbed at all. "What? Yao's my cousin. I was sent to live over here for a while." Turning to Yao, she continued, "And I did too tell you Emil was coming over. I mentioned it to you all day yesterday." She brushed a piece of hair out of her face and smirked. "Or are just too deaf already?"

"Shut up, aru!" Yao cried. "Anyway, I came down to tell you I'm going off to Kiku's house for a bit, aru. Don't make a mess and keep everything in line, OK, aru?"

"Whatev," was Ling's simple reply.

Yao huffed and grabbed a key from a hook near the door and left. Emil stared after him, sweatdropping slightly.

"Don't mind him," Ling said dismissively. "He's a big dork. But no matter. There's a lot to do around here, but let's start with some snacks."

Emil sighed. "What kind of..."

Ling put a finger to his lips and said, "Shhhh. Let's start with some snacks."

Emil took the hint and sat down while Ling went into the kitchen. While he waited, he pondered about the scene with Yao. He really didn't expect to have such a strong reaction to the idea that Ling was taken already, and that kind of bothered him. What is it with Ling that was making him act so...out of character?

Then, Anika's words from earlier that day echoed in his head. Or perhaps you have a crush on her...

Emil shook his head rapidly. No. God, no. He couldn't be getting a crush on Ling. That was impossible. She was just a really interesting, pretty girl that he had happened to befriend in the past few hours. That was it, right? Right?

"I have returned." Ling walked into the room with a tray of Chinese tea and some assorted snacks. She set them down on the table. "Eat up."

"Uh...thanks?" Emil reached for the tea and took a sip. It was a little bitter but it was pretty good. "So...what's this about?"

Ling raised an eyebrow. "What's what about?"

"I mean, why'd you invite me here?"

A teeny smile came onto Ling's face. "Well, hey. I said you were interesting, didn't I? Can't I talk to interesting people?"

Emil blushed. "Well…"

"And you know what else?" Ling asked, a smirk forming on her lips.

Emil blushed harder. "W-what?"

"You are the perfect person to do chores with."

If the table didn't have food on it and he wasn't in another person's house, Emil would have flipped the table. "Are you kidding me?"

Ling shoved a duster into his hands. "I don't kid about chores, Steilsson."

Despite Emil's protests, the duo ended up cleaning the house together. As they did so, they chatted; they discussed TV shows, annoying family members, school, the dislike of homework, video games, food, and eventually they counted all the differences between Asian and Nordic culture. Emil learned a lot about Ling, too: she knew a lot about animals, she was taking piano classes, she liked to sing and enjoyed drawing. Despite his earlier uncertainties, Emil was enjoying himself.

Soon, Ling told him that he could wait for her as she watered the flowers outside.

"What kind of flowers?" Emil asked, attempting to make conversation.

"Mostly water lilies and things like that," Ling replied. "I usually come and water them in the morning, but I slept in today."

Emil blinked. "You monitor the gardens all by yourself?"

"No," Ling replied. "They're Yao's, but we both landscape everything ourselves. We don't have gardeners."

Emil gave her a baffled stare, but he shrugged and let her carry on.

He-ta-li-a!

"So...how was yesterday?"

Emil gave Anika a grave look. "It was fine, thanks for asking. Not."

"Aw, don't be like that, Icy!" she laughed, pulling him over and giving him a noogie. "What did you guys do? Something fun, or something fun?" Anika wiggled her eyebrow to emphasize her point.

Emil reddened significantly. Man, could he ever stop blushing? "Get your head out of the gutters, Anika. We did nothing. We just cleaned the house together...ya know, helped out with chores."

Anika looked visibly disappointed for a second, but brightened instantly. "Well! It's the girl herself!"

"What?" Emil whipped around to see Ling, deadpan look still on her face.

"Hey, Emil," she greeted casually. "Who's this?"

"Anika's the name, and sports are my game," Anika announced. "You must be Ling, right?"

"Yep," Ling said, face not even changing.

"So, I heard you and Emil have been hanging out," Anika pressed. "Are you two a couple or something?"

"NO," Emil denied flatly.

"Yes," Ling replied.

"WHAT?" Emil turned to Ling, eyes wide in pure shock.

"Well, yeah," Ling said to him. "If you don't mind. Well, Anika, I better go see my other friends now." She ran off.

Emil stared after her, utterly dumbfounded.

Ling turned around. "By the way, in case you weren't aware, I really like you."

That child that came from the East country

A very strange girl

Though she is the most popular one in class,

She is likely to have some secrets

She's good at using chopsticks

And comes to water her flowers first thing in the morning

Has a detailed knowledge of dogs

How deep can the mystery be?

That only thing that seems to be likely

Is the sky and earth she returned from

Raining, rainbows, the rain falls

The Wonderland of All Ages and Countries

That child that came from the East country

A very strange girl

Though she is the most popular one in class,

She is likely to have some secrets

She's very good at playing the piano

And she really likes to sing

Has a detailed knowledge of cats

The case is still not solved?

That only thing that seems to be likely

Is the sky and earth she returned from

Raining, rainbows, the rain falls

The Wonderland of All Ages and Countries

((This was a surprisingly long story. Even Oriental Mind, which was based off a MUCH longer song than Kokon Tozai, was at least 1,000 words shorter than this. Weird.

Anyway, I hope it was satisfactory. I tried my best on this one.

Hasta la pasta!))