All is Well
An Axis Powers Hetalia fanfiction
A/N: Hi, all those people who are taking the time to read this! You are looking at my first Hetalia Oneshot (or just oneshot, for that matter). Um, so my current story is taking quite long and I got this idea while I was at school because of my weird classmates, so I decided to write it. Hope this didn't waste your time! :D
Was there any other word to describe the world's condition? Japan didn't waste any time thinking of any synonymous words just to make it sound more pleasant. He would come right out and say it.
"The world is a mess."
No one was around, of course. He sat on the Axis training ground by himself as usual, and the only witness to his words was a stout gray cat, which had resulted from a recent visit to Greece. That, however, did not matter. Even without the use of words, the state of the world was no secret. Haywire everywhere – in Italy, Norway, England, and of course…
"Japan!" a cheery voice called from behind him.
He turned around. Philippines.
It was probably currently one of the most chaotic and stressful countries around, the Philippines…especially when it has to deal with hostages, storms, massacres, executions, cheating, and other things. But as the female nation came running towards him, waving, Japan marveled at her happiness. He found it, in fact, odd that the girl wasn't crying or throwing fits at everybody, while he was sulking in a corner, desperately worrying about everyone when he didn't have much of a crisis at all, unless you count the three-part earthquake.
"Hey, Japan," Philippines said, her jog coming to a halt next to the older nation. "How are you?"
He blinked at her. Her happiness and glow emanated. "Uh, fine, I guess…" he merely said.
She frowned at his dull answer. "Doesn't seem like it. Facing a crisis?"
"Well, no…just worrying, that's all…"
"Well, why are you doing that?" she asked, critically raising an eyebrow. She looked up at the sky and gave a broad grin at nothing in particular. "Look, the day is so beautiful. So enjoy it!"
Japan was doubtful.
"I really don't understand how it is you find the heart to be so positive at a time like this," he blurted out, turning away from his former colony. "Part of me wishes to learn your ways, but another part finds you a bit ignorant."
Philippines was startled at her friend's revelation, but was, all the same, determined to get her point across. "I'm not ignoring my country's problems, if that's what you're thinking," she said after a while in a quiet voice. "I'm always up all day and night, working like crazy to help my people as any nation would. But we need rest sometimes, Japan. Even you, you worrier." She smiled at him.
"It's not in my nature, unfortunately," he bitterly muttered, apparently still unconvinced, "to rest during times of crisis."
Still not discouraged either, Philippines beamed. "Why don't I help you, then?"
Japan blinked at her once more. Is she serious? he asked himself.
"Your human name is Honda Kiku, right?"
He who was named Honda Kiku nodded.
"Right! Knock, knock!" she yelled happily.
Unsure what to reply, Japan looked around and gave an embarrassed, "Yes?"
He was frowned upon. "What do you mean 'yes'? You're supposed to ask me who I am! Say who's there, okay?"
"Who's - ?"
"NOT YET!" she cried, rolling her eyes. "Let's start over. Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"Honda."
"…what now?"
Frowning at him again, Philippines said, "Say 'Honda who?'"
"H-Honda who?" He wondered where this was going.
Philippines frown turned into a grin as she opened her mouth to sing: "Honda first day of Christmas, my true love said to meee~*"
She was giggling at this point, but Japan was not because, as you can well imagine…
…he didn't get it.
"I-I'm pretty sure those aren't the right lyrics…" he whispered.
"Of course they aren't!" she replied. "That's the point."
"Eh? Uh, is it?"
"Urgh, Japan, you're getting old," Philippines teased. "You need to have some fun." She grinned and clasped her hands together excitedly. "Another one. Knock, knock."
"Who's there?" he asked, nervously wondering where this was going.
"Honda."
"Honda who?" he asked again, following along with the joke. He secretly regretted ever introducing his motor company Honda* to his former colony.
This time, Philly formed a circle with her right hand, and brought it to her mouth. Then taking a deep breath, she belted, "HONDA wings of love, up and above the clouds, the only way to fly~", feeling like a balladeer.
Japan tried to laugh, but he was never good at it and ended up merely smiling like a humorless clown.
Philippines blinked at him. "Still not laughing?" she asked. "What, have you heard these before?"
He shook his head, but couldn't find the heart to say that the jokes weren't that amusing.
After staring at him for a while with a frown, Philly snapped and grinned once more. "I have another!" she declared, and Japan groaned inwardly. Fortunately, she didn't seem to notice. "Knock, knock."
Japan kept silent. Maybe if he didn't answer, she wouldn't continue the joke.
"Knock, knock, Japan," she said again, actually knocking on his noggin.
"Urgh...who's there?" he said, prying her fist away from his forehead.
"Honda."
"H-Honda who?"
Philippines grinned. "HONDA-RAN-DAN-DAN! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."
She continued the song and repeated several times, all the while dancing like a child in a stop-dance game, waving, and twirling, and twisting, and whirling. Honda watched her silently, waiting for her moment to finish. Mid-song, he noticed her stumble and give a "whoa". Just as he was about to check her condition, she laughed out loud and kept singing, giving no mind to her little fumble.
The embodiment of Japan continued to watch her, still marveling at the fact that she could be so happy. On a first glance, he said to himself, you'll never be able to tell that this is the embodiment of what people call a third-world country who is up all night doing paperwork and answering to a superior.Feeling a bit more light-hearted, he started clapping along with the beat of the song.
Philippines grinned at him and grabbed his hands. Together, they started running in circles on the spot. She was still laughing, while he was still gaping. Slowly, he began to feel dizzy; nevertheless, he also began to enjoy himself and could not help but indulge in the momentary fun he was actually having.
And then Philippines threw him to the ground. He hit the grass with a thud. Being the old man he was, he could feel pain forming on his back and side.
"Whoo!" she hooted, raising her arms up. "Now wasn't that fun, Japan?"
He struggled to get to his feet, the effects of the spinning beginning to register. "That hurt," he muttered.
She stuck out her tongue. "Well, we had to end somehow! And just merely stopping would be no fun at all."
Rubbing the back of his head, Japan sighed. "Well, what else do you have under your sleeve?"
"I –" she began, but the bright orange digital watch on her wrist started beeping. She frowned. "Great. My break's over, I need to get back to the Palace*."
He stared at her.
"I'm really sorry I need to go so soon, but I had fun," she continued, wanting to give him a hug but remembered how he was unaccustomed to the sort. Plus, there was still the matter of their conflict in the war, so she came off it. "Bye, Japan. Don't be such a worrier." And she ran off.
"'Don't be such a worrier'?" he asked himself, finding that he was actually frustrated to see her leave. "Oh yes, I was worrying about the state of the world before she came."
And then he realized something. Yes, taking a break from time to time isn't bad, Philippines was right. It's not like you're ignoring your responsibilities, because no matter how many breaks you take, your duties always await. Even big people like us need rest. In fact,we may even need it the most. We don't get it, though, he thought.
As he watched the sun set, Philippines' weird jokes flooded his mind – how she had used his name multiple times in different songs, how she had hysterically sung each one of them, how they had danced wildly to the mere tune of Happy Birthday. Looking back at all of it, he realized that somehow, he needed those corny jokes. Not once did he worry about the state of anyone's nation during that time, although he did wonder about Philippines' optimism the whole time, but that didn't really count.
"What a lovely break," he said turning his back on the orange sun and beginning to walk back to his little gray cat who had dozed off in the grass. He picked it up and began stroking it, still recalling the events of that day. With a smirk, he finally began to appreciate its wonders. Still wearing that smirk and walking away, he only had one thought to himself:
Yes, there were quite amusing.
-0-0-0-
A/N: First, the asterisk notes (:)
*The first joke – yeah, sometime last year, these kinds of jokes became really popular in the country. I am unaware of who started it, but the main gist of it is to take a familiar line and replace a song's lyrics with that line. Now the point of it, I don't know, since I don't use these kinds of jokes myself, but hey, who am I to question?
*Honda – the car company. It's all over the world, but it has a franchise [is this what you call it?] in the Philippines. I believe this is the root of all the Honda jokes, since obviously a lot of suckers out there don't know and / or appreciate Hetalia.
*Palace – no,this is not a castle. To those of you who don't know, the President of the Philippines resides in what is called The Malacanang Palace in Manila. It's not actually a palace, it's just what they call it. It's comparable to The White House of the United States.
Yay, so my first oneshot is done! Now that that crack is over with, I just want you guys to know that amidst all the trouble you may be facing, it's not bad to take a break. Some people might consider it 'running away from the trouble' but you know, it's not bad to enjoy yourselves once in a while. Life moves on, and those troubles will eventually go away to make room for new ones. Not reassuring? Well, it's true. ^^ And we'll just have to accept it.
Enjoy your lives, everybody!
-OC!Philly:3