Title: Unforgiven
Rating: T
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Kiku Honda (Japan) and Meili (Taiwan) with what was intended to be Japan/Taiwan though might have been a bit more subtle than I expected. Mentions of Yao Wang (China).
Warnings: Non-detailed beatings and possible OOC coming from Kiku. I apologize. ;u;
Disclaimer: Both characters belong to Hidekazu Himaruya.
Meili blinked back the tears that threatened to spill as she stood, her hand stinging only slightly and clenching into a fist. She watched with narrowed eyes the red tint forming on Kiku's face with a hint of satisfaction.
His only response was a stare; eyes wide in shock and a hand straying up to touch his burning cheek.
A heavy silence settled between them, muffling the fading echo of the skin striking skin.
But only for a moment.
"Why?" She could hear her voice trembling, the accursed sobs beginning to inevitably rise. She didn't want to cry, not now, not in front of him.
"Why…?" The question was repeated in a whisper and died in her throat- the girl's raging thoughts refused to let themselves be known without the accompanied tears.
Kiku seemed to have recovered from his shock for he replied in an equally quiet whisper- "I'm sorry."
"Don't give me that!" She let out an exasperated cry. "I'm not asking for an apology- I just want to know why." He looked at her calmly, the hurt shining subtly in his dark eyes.
"I told you why, Meili." He murmured. "Yao wants you back."
The answer didn't satisfy her in the least.
"That's… That's not what I-" She bit her lip, stopping herself from saying more, already feeling her throat constricting from the sobbing that wanted to be heard.
Why?
Why was he leaving her like this?
The girl stared down at her feet, blinking, fighting back the tears.
Once.
Twice.
The third time, to her disappointment, revealed a blurred world, and she blinked once more, feeling the warm drops of liquid roll down her cheeks freely.
No, she told herself. Stop it.
She kept her head down, hiding her face behind brown locks of hair, willing the tears to stop coming. She refused to cry in front of him. She was supposed to hate him, to loathe him for everything he ever did to her. She wasn't supposed to be crying at the thought of leaving him. Of him leaving her.
Yet that was exactly what she was doing.
And Kiku noticed.
Taking a step forward, he raised a hesitant hand and lifted her chin gently so that he could look at her. The tears didn't faze him- but instead carved a scar deep within him.
It hurt.
It hurt worse than his stinging cheek as she slapped him once more, sending him stumbling backwards.
He stared at her with an unreadable expression and she held her sleeve to her face, wiping away tears that refused to stop falling.
After a pause, he spoke once more.
"Did that make you feel better?" He asked softly.
"Yes." Her reply was curt and blunt.
He smiled sadly. "Then come. Beat me one hundred times so that maybe I could forgive myself, even just a little."
She stared.
He stepped forward, taking her hand and looking at it solemnly.
"I'm sorry."
90. 91. 92. 93.
He counted in his head each time he felt her fist make contact with face, every time her foot connected with his stomach.
94. 95.
He could distantly hear her counting off under her breath, synchronized with him, muffled by the sobs that escaped her every so often.
96. 97. 98.
The whole while, he did nothing to protect himself from her blows. He took it all in, relishing each strike and turning it over in his head, searching, desperate for even a small glimpse of a way to forgive himself.
99.
He never found it.
And all of a sudden, she just stopped. Where Kiku had expected one last blow came an abrupt emptiness.
99. He was sure that she stopped at 99.
Opening his eyes, he blinked as he felt a drop of something warm fall on his face, eyes focusing to see Meili hovering over him, her fist raised above his head, choking out sobs as tears fell uncontrollably. Her hand was bruised from overuse and bloody from repeatedly striking his face in which his nose was dripping a thin line of red.
Sitting up with a wince, he could feel the many bruises on his body, but he paid it no mind. Instead, he focused on the girl in front of him, taking a finger and gently lifting her chin once more.
This time, she let him, but she kept her eyes closed to avoid having to look at him.
"Why?" The question came from him, as he stroked her face with his thumb, pushing away the tears that seemed to have no end.
Meili took a deep breath, her voice unsteady as she spoke.
"I could beat you a hundred, no, a thousand times, and my heart would still be broken." Despite her words, her hand clenched again into a fist, as if ready to strike him one last time.
But in the end, she did nothing- nothing but continue to sob miserably, clutching her skirt with her other hand and let her face be touched.
Again and again she cried while Kiku watched her, each one of the sobs that racked her body scarring him deeper and deeper.
"Please." She whispered. "Please… Don't leave. I hate you, but don't leave…"
He could only softly kiss her tear-glistened lips and whisper.
"I'm sorry."
100.
A/N: This is what I end up working on instead of Korea's belated birthday fic. OH WELL.
So this came to life when I imagined a sad, angry Taiwan beating up Kiku in which both were trying to get some good feeling out of it but only end up feeling the same, if not worse, than before. I apologize if the "storyline" in this is a little choppy- I needed a situation in which it could happen and it sort of... brought itself together. :'D
Anyhow, thank you for reading, and reviews would be lovely!