It was a peaceful day; Japan walked out to his gardens. Oh, how he loved the sight of his beautiful gardens growing, it comforted him, knowing that not EVERYTHING had changed. This... American influence, was affecting his people more than he thought possible. Though the fluffy and furry animals were absolutely adorable, he wished that everything would rewind, go back to the way it was when he was isolated.
Japan sighed, and started to walk. He went to his rock garden, raking patterns into the rocks. He always loved the way the rocks looked when he was finished, all the lines, all the colors of stone...
He was getting lost in thought, but that was ok. He liked the peace, he liked the quiet. He listened as birds chirped, and started to walk through the garden again. He went over to a little, sort of, secluded area, bent down to the hollowed out tree stump, and grabbed a fresh piece of paper, some ink, and a brush and he began. He used the stump as a table.
Sometimes, he spent a few minutes there, others, a few hours. But he only did one thing as he sat there, enjoying his little secret hobby with nobody to see. Especially her, then he would be very embarrassed. He took a second to look up, watching the trees, before quickly looking down again and continuing.
A lot of the times, he was so quiet. He let his thoughts run wildly through his head, like the ones about her, the most absolutely perfect beauty. As he thought, he didn't hear as the intruder sneaked up behind him, and politely saying,
"Kon'nichiwa, Japan!"
Even though she spoke softly, it still made him jump.
"K-Kon'nichiwa, Taiwan." he replied before setting the items off to the side where she couldn't see them, off of the stump.
"So, what are you doing here, Taiwan?" he asked.
"Huh? Oh, just wanted to say hello to you." She sighed as she gathered her kimono and sat down on the grass next to him, sliding a bit because her foot grabbed onto her kimono as she sat down. He stared at her, she wasn't the bubbling joy that was Taiwan today. She looked upset.
" My brother is being a jerk." answering why she looked so sad at that moment.
"How so?" asked Japan.
"Well... He said the guy I like is never going to like me, and that I should just give up on finding someone because my waist is too thick anyway." she sighed as she began to tear up the grass on the ground, all while poking her hip. Japan could see she was truly disappointed and upset, but he didn't know what to do.
"Hey, what are these, Japan?" she said suddenly taking a scroll that dated back to a very long time ago. He quickly realized he hadn't hidden the scrolls, and, politely, took it from her hand before she could read it and gathered the other ones as well.
"Japan, what are those?"
He blushed a bit, she couldn't read them! That and he would be so embarrassed by the things he had written and drawn!
"Just some empty scrolls..." he mumbled.
This was a surprise to Taiwan, Japan never mumbled!
"I see marks on them, and there's ink on the ground." she pointed out.
"Well, I... I... Um..."
Japan was truly nervous, he had a very light pink grazing his cheeks. He looked so cute when he blushed, because he never did.
"I was writing..." he trailed off, looking in the distance at the cherry blossoms.
"Oh! May I look?"
He was blushing still, turning his cheeks from a pink to a bright red.
He sighed before saying,
"Sure."
She smiled warmly at him. Then took the oldest scroll, there were quiet a few. She opened it up.
On the page, there was a hiku:
Eyes bleed out small tears
A demon to ruin her
A friend to help her
There was a picture of a girl, sobbing with tears in her eyes, being cradled by a boy. The scene looked oddly familiar.
When she looked closer, she realized.
The boy was Japan, and the girl was her.
She looked at the date again, and pain coursed through her.
She remembered that day, the day her first boyfriend had crushed her heart and pounded it into dust. She had run straight to Japan's house and cried for hours, while being held in his arms. Why would he...?
She took the next one, dated two moons (months) after the first one.
She runs through the field
Brown hair flying behind her
She smiles at me
She remembered that memory as well. She was running through a field to get rid of her boundless energy that day, while Japan sat on a bench and recorded his thoughts...
There was a picture of a girl jumping in the air, while a boy sat on a bench, her and Japan again.
She took the next one eagerly, wanting to see what he had written again. Also, this was dated two moons after the last one.
Walking down the street
With her walking next to me
A beautiful day
Another memory, she hadn't seen him in a while, so they walked around for a bit, talking.
A picture of a boy and a girl walking.
The next one was dated they very next day,
A new figure comes
Holding her hand as they walk
A noise is heard
This next picture showed the girl, holding hands with a different boy, while the original boy sat in the corner, he appeared crying. In his chest, there was a broken heart.
Was Japan crying? Was that noise the sound of his heart shattering?
She spent countless minutes reading them all, seeing her and Japan in every picture. Sometimes she would be crying, other times, he would. Taiwan didn't know what to think or feel, but she kept reading. Soon, she had only one left, and it was dated today. She craved to know what it said. She opened it and gasped.
My chest becomes tight
Her eyes glimmer with much light
I know I love her
Tears formed in her eyes as she rolled up the scroll. She turned around to see that she was alone, Japan had left.
She would have too if she had written such poetry about him.
He loved her? And for this long? She smacked her head, why was she so oblivious? She wondered where to put the scrolls, when she saw that the opening to the stump was open. He must have done that before he left. She carefully gathered the scrolls, and placed them inside the stump, also putting the ink and brush in as well. She got up, dusting off her kimono. She quickly ran back to Japan's house.
He couldn't bear to be there when she read his feelings, his memories. When he saw the third scroll, he welled up in tears. Taiwan had bee so engrossed in the scrolls that he was able to walk back to his house unnoticed, not before opening up his hiding place for the scrolls so she would know where to put them. When he got back, he took a bath, hoping the hot water would ease his mind and nervousness.
It didn't.
He got dressed in a fresh kimono and went outside to sit on the bench on his porch. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to think. Why did he even write those scrolls? Why did he continue to do so, even though someone would find them eventually? Because he needed to get his feelings out of the way, that's why. Why was he so stupid?! He was shaken back to reality by a Taiwan running straight towards him. He got nervous, what was he going to say to her? She had probably read all of the scrolls by now. He felt like running, but no. His culture didn't allow that. He stood up.
She ran up to him, out of breath. She had a few beads of sweat on her forehead. She wiped them off and looked him straight in the eyes. She was standing close enough so that he could feel her body heat radiating off her. He began to blush a light pink again.
"I... I... Read all...the scrolls." She said between breaths. He got nervous, and felt butterflies awaken in his stomach. He didn't say anything, mostly because he couldn't.
She took a few more breaths and they stood there for a while. Finally, her breathing returned to normal. His blush had gone away, but returned when she started to speak again.
"I read all the scrolls." She repeated.
He only nodded, embarrassed at what she would think of him. His blush darkened, bit because this was Japan, it turned into a normal person blush.
"I...I..." She looked into his eyes, her own piercing his sight, so that he couldn't look away. He forced himself to look at her.
"I'm sorry, Taiwan. For what I've done. It's-"
"Beautiful."
His eyes widened in surprise, what did she say?
"What?"
"Beautiful. Your poetry is beautiful. Your drawings are beautiful."
She walked a little closer to him, put her hands on his shoulders lightly, as if asking permission to do so,
"YOU are beautiful." she whispered. He blinked, then again, in shock of what he was hearing, he was completely speechless. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him.
"You are beautiful." she whispered again. She lightly kissed his cheek, barley even putting her lips to his skin.
"No."
She pulled away from him, a sad and worried expression on her face.
"What?" She whispered.
"No." He said again.
She was on the verge of tears. What was he saying? Were those scrolls a lie? What was he doing this?!
"What do you mean by 'No'?"
His expression went to a sad one, and he closed his eyes. She could feel his pain as he spoke.
"You have been with lots of other boys, whose relationships only last a week. I have loved you for CENTURIES Taiwan, I need to know if you love me as well, and are not in love with me just because of the things I draw or the things I write." A single tear fell from his eye. He opened his eyes and looked up.
Tears slipped down her face. She sobbed once before saying,
"I have loved you the same. For years, it grew stronger and stronger. I tried to find someone else, thinking that if I confessed to you, you would break my heart. But no one could distract me, all I thought about was you. But I love you with all my heart, Japan. My brother told me that you would never like me and that I should give up on you, but I just cant, I love you too much." She looked him in the eyes again, and gasped quietly.
Tears were POURING from his eyes. No noises were made, just tears, flowing down his cheeks. He took his thumb and rubbed it against her cheek, wiping up her tears. She went and hugged him again, taking in his scent.
They stood there for a couple of hours, just holding each other, until it got dark. Japan was never this touchy-feely with people, but he couldn't help it. When it was dusk, they finally let go of each other and walked inside of his home. They walked over into his bedroom, where the both sat on his blankets on the floor that served as his bed, he held her in his arms, crying silent tears.
Only did they stop when he moved even closer to her and kissed her forehead lightly. She looked up in his eyes as he quietly murmured,
"With our silent tears,
Hold each other together,
Beautiful secrets."
She smiled and turned to him, and put her hand on his shoulder again. She leaned up and kissed him, full on the mouth, she whispered to him,
"When the moon goes down,
Have a peaceful sleep tonight,
Wake in lover's arms."
Silently, they both fell back, and held each other as they fell asleep on Japan's bed, both of them smiling, just the tiniest bit.
End