Hellooo everybody, it's pokemonsonicgirl123 with her first fanfic in a long while! I hope you all enjoy it! I've did some little revising before posting this! D Oh, and despite Koishi Komeiji being in this story, it's not actually a crossover. Koishi will only have a minor but vital role in this one; mainly to serve as Hong Kong's unofficial "cupid." I don't know if the admins here will catch wind of that, though. ^^; Anyways, enjoy~!
Hong Kong felt a great pain in his chest while he was sleeping. He shifted his sleep position in his bed to be more comfortable, but the pain just wouldn't go away, no matter what. He breathed heavily, gripping his black "Bad Apple!" t-shirt, just hoping it will go away. But it wouldn't. Having enough, Hong Kong got out of his bed, still clenching his shirt in his fist, and went to the washroom two doors down, planting his hand onto the hallway wall for support. But with every step, the pain would gradually intensify, with him getting dizzy.
By the time Hong Kong got to the washroom, he put one hand on the sink, and the other, that was previously gripping his t-shirt, reached up to the medicine cabinet above it to get his heart medication. But awhile, his head began to tingle severely, and then his chest, which bears his scar in the center of it going down vertically. No…! No, not again..! Then his vision blackened, and landed on the cold washroom floor.
All Hong Kong could see was blackness. His skin felt cold; in fact, so cold that he could not move at all. He then could feel his body temperature dropping by the moment; any lower, and he would freeze to death. I… I can't see anything… I can't feel anything… but the darkness and the cold… Please… someone end it… please…!
"Hong Kong?" a voice was spoken, but it sounded distant and filtered. "Hong Kong?" This time, though, it sounded a little clearer, though it's still distant.
At that moment, Hong Kong could feel his skin temperature rising just slowly, followed by his body heat. The voice kept repeating his name until he was able to decipher who it was. Teacher…
Hong Kong then fluttered his eyes open, just to see China, his guardian, sitting on his bed beside him, holding his hand with both their fingers entwined, with the look of worry on his face. Did China carry him back to his bed? Another noticeable thing is that his chest pain was mostly gone, though it felt like his chest is a bit likely to rip itself open anytime soon.
"...Teacher…?" he breathed as he tried to get himself up, but China firmly pressed him back down.
The Chinese nation then lovingly stroked Hong Kong's cocoa brown hair, moving his wider bangs out of his face for his French quarter gold eyes to show. "I saw you lying on the floor of the washroom, aru," he replied. "Did it happen again?"
The Cantonese city-state relaxed a little before answering, "Yes. But how did you know…?"
"I heard a thump in the washroom sometime after midnight, aru," China explained. "I was worried about what had happened, I went to the washroom and I found you lying on the floor, unconscious, next to the toilet. So I put your arm over my shoulder, put you on your bed and did CPR until you were breathing again, aru."
Hong Kong sighed with relief, "Thanks for that." and lets go of China's hand so that he could get his body under the bedsheets.
"I'll go get you some of your heart meds and water, aru," said China as he got up from Hong Kong's bed and exited out of his room.
The teen city-state turned and laid on his side, but his eyes remain open. His room is very dark with the lights turned off, save for a wide strip of light that's dim, although it glowed on the shelves where Hong Kong keeps his Touhou merchandise* (and several posters of Jackie Chan and the movies he acted in) ranging from yukkuri plushies to figurines to doujinshi mangas.
China entered the bedroom once again with two white pills and a plastic cup filled with water. Hearing his guardian's footsteps on the scarlet carpeting, Hong Kong sat up against his pillow, and took the pills from China's hand, put them in his mouth, and took the glass from the other and drank the water, swallowing them. He then exhaled and gave the glass back to him. "Thanks."
China took the glass and replied, "You're welcome, aru. Now go back to sleep."
The Chinese nation then exited Hong Kong's room and closed the door, again leading the city-state back into total darkness. His tarnished gold eyes took a scan of the dark room, adjusting to the darkness. When he was a child, he was very wary of the dark. Sometimes, his fear becomes so great he would either cuddle up against his older sister, Taiwan,** or ask China to open the door slightly so that he would feel safe with a little light. But, that was when he was a little boy; the silhouetted shapes are no longer scary, just non-moving.
Eventually, Hong Kong's eyes begin to burn and his eyelids become heavy, becoming very needy of sleep. Sensing this, he laid down on his other side, but his eyes caught a glance of his digital alarm clock, the scarlet numbers, blinking colon, and the letters glowing against the pitch black. He read the date on the left bottom side of the clock. He could feel a thick substance forming in his throat as he read the whole date silently.
Aug 1/13, 12:19AM
August 1st, 2013. The first day of the last month of summer. The last month of summer. The month when summer begins to end. The month when students that have graduated from high school prepare for college. The month when parents and their children shop for supplies needed for school. The month… when the dreaded incident occurred almost three years ago. The month Hong Kong wanted permanently removed from the calendar. The month, as he would dub it, of sorrow.
The sorrow in which the tour bus he was riding on in Manila, Philippines was taken hostage by a rogue policeman. The sorrow in which said policemen shot all nine of his people, including him, even after an hour of negotiations. The sorrow in which only eight of his people died, leaving him still partly alive even after the bullet struck his heart. The sorrow in which he is the personification of a city-state in China, though he is immortal like the rest of the nations, went into a deep comatose state for six months.
Hong Kong always rued the month of August it had to happen this month of all times. Even though he finally woke up from his coma in February 2011, even after he had went through rehabilitation after the bullet was surgically removed from his heart, along with all this came a curse he was doomed to live through: heart attacks. Severe chest pains. Heart palpitations. Cardiac arrests. And he has to take medicine for all of these until all those stop. However, the curse remains dormant for the next eleven months after the last day of August at midnight, but will strike on the first day at the same time. Hong Kong receives those symptoms every August since the Manila tour bus incident, becoming worse by the year. Any more, and he will enter another coma. Or die.
Finally, Hong Kong's eyelids become heavier and heavier, complying to close them, but not before thinking, "Why…? Why…? Why did all of this have to happen? Why do I need to suffer from all this?"
Somebody… end it for me… please… I don't want to live like this… help me… help me please…!
The next morning, a faint light struck Hong Kong's closed eyes. Naturally, being the heavy sleeper he is, pulls the crimson red covers over his head to block out the light, so he could sleep for a while longer. All he wanted was to sleep away what happened three years ago, hoping all of his heart and chest problems would ease off and stop. But, sadly, they wouldn't. The teenaged Hongkonger scrunched himself up in a fetal position, but he could feel the chest pain from last night slowly creeping back, as well as an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
I want it to end, he was thinking. I want all of this to end. The heart attacks, chest pains, everything my curse has to offer, just free me from all this! I can't take it anymore…!
Just then his thoughts (and his sleeping) were interrupted when China knocked on Hong Kong's door and opened it, coming in fully dressed (though he was wearing panda slippers), with a bright smile on his face. "Hong Kong~" he said in a sing-songy voice. "It's time to wake up, aru~~!"
Hong Kong could only shift under his bed sheets. "Gimme like, another five minutes…"
China walked up to Cantonese city-state's bed and pulled the sheets off him, which prompted him to shield his eyes from the light. "You've only slept in for about thirty minutes, aru! It's 9:53!"
"Still too early…" Hong Kong turned to further protect his face from the light in his fetal position. It didn't really help that his head is starting to hurt from the awkward sleeping position.
China simply grabbed Hong Kong's shoulder and twisted his upper torso to him so that Hong Kong can see him face to face, much to the latter's irritation as he covered his eyes with his lower arm.
Eventually, China let go as Hong Kong rubbed his eyes to get half the sleep out of him. He looked out his window. "Fuhhh. It's cloudy, not at all sunny out."
"Ohh, that doesn't mean I can enjoy mornings, aru!" China replied with a pout.
Hong Kong then sat up and got stretched his arms, yawning in the process. Why couldn't China oversleep so that he could sleep in up until half past ten?
"Now get dressed, aru," said China, clasping his hands together. "I'm making some breakfast."
With that, the Chinese man turned on his foot and exited out of Hong Kong's room and closed his door.
The teen city-state rubbed away the remaining sleep of him. The little chest pain in him was gone, but his stomach was still hurting and his brain matter is slowly turning to jelly. He just shrugged it off because he was feeling hungry (and he can be a glutton, no less).
After he got dressed (though he was not wearing any footwear, just in his socks), he ventured downstairs to the kitchen, where China is cooking up some food. As much as Hong Kong was hungry, his stomach hurting is very gradually getting worse. Maybe the curse is adding in something new? Hong Kong hopes it isn't. It's not like he's going to throw up from eating even a little bit much like his best friend, Iceland, had during his severe depression when Hong Kong himself went all vegetable coma for six months straight. The thought actually sent shivers down his neck when he saw Iceland for the first time in ten months on Skype looking pale and unnaturally thin, his berry-colored eyes near-soulless from the depression he's been through.
Speaking of depression, Hong Kong wondered if China, or else himself, would even go through the same? Rather, the same routine China would go through to make sure that he's with him the whole time ever since he was handed back to him from England in 1997. Whenever Hong Kong would get out to the back porch to get some air, China would always shadow over him, making sure he would never leave his sight. Whenever Hong Kong would get out to get something China requested (usually ingredients for whatever dish he's planning to make), China would constantly call his smartphone and tell him if he's alright, to the point, last year, Hong Kong would turn his phone off out of irritation. Sure, granted, he would be irritated, but strangely, at the same time, he felt content with that. Because he knows that China was a very loving and caring parental figure, even though he himself has been increasingly protective of him (an overbearing mom, as Hong Kong would put it).
This August of this year, though, it would be no different. Back then, in Hong Kong's room, China sounded cheerful and eager to start the day, but Hong Kong knew what's going to happen. Or what China's feelings would be this year. He knows that outside, China is happy, asking him how he slept, what meetings either he or both of them together would go to, the works. But Hong Kong could see in his guardian's eyes was the past emotional turmoil he went through when he was in a coma. Turmoil… but at the same time, rage, fury, in the forms of tears he'd shed inside. Not too long after Hong Kong returned, China sternly forbade Hong Kong from personally seeing or consorting with the Philippines ever again. Though both Hong Kong and Macau, his other guardian, protested that it was irrational, as Hong Kong never saw Philippines personally (let alone if there's an actual personification of it), the Chinese nation made it final and ordered them both to not protest any further. This barely even helped at all in Hong Kong's situation.
Just then, China cheerily announced that breakfast is ready, prompting Hong Kong to realize he's been staring deadpan at China's back, and he mentally slapped himself just for doing that. When China's finished putting the food in the two bowls with two pairs of chopsticks, puts them on the dining table, he and Hong Kong sat down in their chairs, which are across from one another.
The Cantonese city-state took a glance at the meal, which is actually a simple one, presented before him-rice porridge-pinched a small bunch with his chopsticks and ate them. After he swallowed, he said, in monotone, "Thank you for making breakfast."
China grinned as he was eating his rice. "You're welcome aru~! You know, I've noticed just now on how monotonous your voice sounded, aru."
Hong Kong stopped eating and looked up, his stomach gradually getting upset. "Huh? Oh, I was just a little tired. That heart attack got me, like, more groggy than usual."
"I see," China replied, continuing to eat the rice. "Usually, when I make rice porridge for breakfast, you would always eat them happily, since they're one of your favorites, aru."
"L-like I said, I'm just groggy from the heart attack, is all."
China said nothing for the rest of the meal. Hong Kong made no utter nor facial change on this, because he knew what his guardian would be saying, but ironically, he did not expect this. Then again, it's something China would often say when something's wrong with Hong Kong.
Hong Kong emptied his bowl of the rice, but then a thick object started to form in his throat and his stomach feeling upset once again as he got up from the chair.
China gathered the dishes together and put them in the sink, then turned to Hong Kong and said, "Would you please help me wash these, Hong Kong, aru?"
The teen city-state felt his stomach gurgle slightly, pain increasing steadily, and his brain cells turning into gelatin. "U-um… can I, like, skip out, teacher? I don't feel totally great."
"Are you experiencing some chest pain, aru?" China asked with concern in his voice.
"...Yeah, I guess." With the falsified reply, Hong Kong exited the dining area and went upstairs to the washroom as China turned the water on.
The Cantonese teen closed the washroom door behind him, with the object in his esophagus threatening to come out of his mouth. He put his hand over his mouth and breathed hard, his head bobbing slightly. No way in hell is he going into an eating disorder like his best Icelandic friend once did.
Unfortunately, that's already proven futile. Hong Kong felt his cheeks automatically fill up with mushy matter, and he rushed to the toilet and forcefully coughed out the stomach acid and the rice porridge he had eaten. After his vomiting in the toilet water, a few tears came out from his eyes from the exertion and panted from the force of the contents in his stomach spat out from his mouth.
Hong Kong then closed the lid of the toilet and flushed it. Then he got up, turned the sink on and splashed water all over his face to get rid of the tears off of it. Next, the got a paper cup from the medicine cabinet, filled it with water, put it in his mouth, swished it and spat it out, panting softly.
He then turned the water off, but stared at the white sink, his eyelids getting somewhat heavy. "I guess…" he whispered. "I wasn't able to hold back the nausea like I thought… No. No, I'm not going bulimic like Ice did! I will not be!"
With those words, Hong Kong exited out of the washroom and went back to his bedroom, where he just walked to his bed and plopped on it, back first. His stomach was feeling a little better, but at the same time, it made him feel heavy-hearted. Heavy-hearted, as in the weight is somehow pressing down on him. Is Hong Kong still unknowingly depressed from the first few days after he returned home from the hospital in the Philippines? Or is he reliving it? Maybe he felt his emotions were vomited out along with the stomach contents. Sometimes he could feel his own emotions slipping away and returning and slipping and the cycle goes on. His body is either developing an intolerance to food, one of the ingredients was contaminated, or maybe… maybe his subconscious is the only thing that's depressed. He doesn't know what to feel anymore. Either that, or he knows that at the end of the month, he will most certainly die.
He will most likely enter brief vegetative states after a few heart attacks. After the next cardiac arrest, he will enter an irreversible coma. The thought of it felt like Hong Kong's own heart was being squeezed. He doesn't want to enter into a coma, let alone die. It didn't matter if he was a human or an immortal anymore. He doesn't want China to suffer his future third emotional turmoil, nor does he want his best friend and older siblings, including Taiwan, to go through the same.
The teenage Hongkonger turned to his side of his bed and clenched the bed sheets entering a fetal sleep position awhile. What the hell's the point of living when I am cursed? he thought. Better off to die rather than live with this stupid curse.
Eventually, Hong Kong's heavy eyelids took over, and he fell asleep on his bed, breathing softly.
Hong Kong found himself floating in a black dimensional void, eyes closed. He couldn't touch anything, or feel anything, save for his usual scarlet duangua outfit that he's wearing. He grunted slightly, opening his eyes to see the black void before him. Then his feet touched the ground, which is actually a water-like platform, where he can easily walk on the surface, though his shoes cannot get wet. Curious, Hong Kong then walked across the watery surface into the black void, wondering of what might be ahead, even though it seemed pointless walking in this black void with a water-like surface to walk on.
He walked at a steady pace on the surface, careful not to be disoriented. He felt his eyes swell slightly from the darkness of the void, but it did not hurt; they're actually swelling in his eyelids, he can feel it. (Even though his eyes are not actually swelling.)
After nearly ten minutes of walking, Hong Kong noticed a little girl, who looks 10-ish, several feet in front of him and stopped. The girl's back was towards him, her entwined hands resting on her bottom. He took a few steps forward to get a closer look; the girl is fair-skinned, has semi-curly pale mint-green hair, wears a black sunhat with a yellow ribbon around the brim, a yellow long-sleeved tunic with black ruffles coming from the sleeves, a dark green skirt fading to light blue, black shoes and navy blue socks, and dark blue tubes shaping into a heart coming from her shoes to some object-the size of a baseball-hovering over her heart.
The girl's appearance smacked Hong Kong's head like a baseball bat. Koishi…?
There's no mistake; it really is Koishi Komeiji from Touhou Project. Though why would she appear in Hong Kong's dreams if she wasn't his favorite character? Not like that he doesn't like her, it's just… odd. And he thought that Byakuren Hijiri appearing in his dreams was weird enough.
Hong Kong took another few steps closer, and reached out her hand to her to call her name. "Koishi?"
Koishi turned around abruptly, causing Hong Kong to stop in his tracks. The little satori's face bore only a small smile, though her emerald green eyes were a little hard. This unnerved him, though only just a little.
"Your heart has been sealed for the past three years and six months," Koishi said grimly. "Kept away by a barrier of a black depression. Only you and one other can shatter it."
The Cantonese boy blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
"Follow your heart," Koishi continued. "Don't follow what people say. If you do, you will die"
"'Don't follow what people say?' What do you mean?"
The satori did not answer; she slowly sank within the water, never taking a breath as she submerged.
Hong Kong ran to Koishi, but found her submerged under the water's surface completely, leaving behind her sunhat. He pick it up to examine it. He never touched a fictional character's accessories, let alone touching them themselves. The black sunhat was canvas, the yellow ribbon a fine silk one. He then noticed strange writing in white (actually, it looked as if it was written by a white coloring pencil) on the top of the hat. Curious, Hong Kong took a glance at it, and saw it was actually Japanese writing, much to his disappointment. But then he begins to suspect that the writing is linked to what Koishi is saying, after reading the writing a few times over./i
"Lunch is ready aru~~!" China said cheerfully with an equally happy smile as he abruptly opened Hong Kong's door, but his face changed to confusion as he saw that the personified city-state was already asleep in his bed. Well, he's on his bed, but not in a proper sleeping position. "Oh, he's already asleep, aru."
China debated internally whether he should wake Hong Kong up or just leave him be. He wanted to wake him up, but he knows how fussy and cranky he can be when someone suddenly wakes him up forcibly when he's sound asleep. Then again, if China leaves him sleeping, he'd be awake through the night and might have a hard time getting back to sleep.
With a sigh, the Chinese man walked up to Hong Kong and sat on the end of his bed, though the sudden sinking of one spot the surface did not cause him to stir in his sleep. Worried, China moved Hong Kong's larger bangs out of his face, though it proved fruitless since the bang strands would often fall straight down, the tips pricking his nose. He was relieved, though, that he saw Hong Kong's torso expanding then retracting, indicating that he's still breathing and not suffering another heart attack. But then his worry grew a little, showing that Hong Kong might have another one.
Needless to say, China once again moved away Hong Kong's larger bangs from his face and leaned down to plant a kiss on his eyebrow. This, however, made the Cantonese teenager stir, then lay on his back and open his eyes to see his beloved guardian hovering over him, his face containing no expression.
Hong Kong then asked, "Um, how long was I, like, asleep?"
"Around two hours, aru," China bluntly replied.
Hong Kong then rubbed his eyes and got up, with China getting out of the way. "I was worried you had another heart attack so I went upstairs to check on you, aru."
"Yeah… thanks for that," Hong Kong mumbled while looking away.
"Anyways," said China as he got up from Hong Kong's bed. "I made lo mein for lunch!"
Hong Kong looked at China and asked, "Why is it that every August, you make my favorites three times a day, everyday, for 31 days?"
China resisted replying "Because it helps you forget what happened on this month three years ago, aru" due to the emotional pain he's been through previously. "Oh, no real reason, aru. Would you like something different, aru?"
Hong Kong got up and stretched. "No thanks, you know that I love lo mein and other meals you make for me." Though I can see why, teacher.
China smiled again. "Great, aru! Now let's go." He then exited Hong Kong's bedroom, with him slowly following along.
Part of him wanted to not eat, worrying that he might vomit again, but another part of him wanted to eat since he already coughed up his breakfast. That, and if he doesn't, China would get mad at him. Teacher, he thinks. Everyday, you always make my favorite meals to help me forget what happened three years back then… but it's hard to forget. I'll probably never forget it. Next year, for sure… I will "die."
*I have this silly headcanon that HK is a Touhou junkie. And so is Iceland, though not as much.
**There's another headacanon of mine is that HK and Taiwan are actually blood-related.