Well this is my first fanficion, I hope you like it. ^_^

And I'm not a native speaker of English, so it could sound kind of... weird sometimes.

Ring~

Finally the doorbell rang. "Coming! ", Arthur shouted, hurrying to the door.

"Kiku! I'm glad you really came, come in!"

"Of course I did", the Japanese answered with his usual kind smile, while England closed the door behind him, "After all you said there was something you wanted to show me".

"Ah, yeah, that's right."

"Well, would you mind telling me what it is, Arthur-san?"

"Um, I'll just show you, it's in the kitchen", Arthur replied, turning towards the direction he just came from to open the door.

The kitchen. Kiku got a bad feeling hearing that the mysterious thing his friend wanted to show him was there.

"He would not have made an attempt to cook again, would he?", he asked himself, preparing for the worst, but at the same time deciding that he would keep those thoughts to himself to make sure he did not hurt the English's feelings. He had tried to cook several times but Kiku could not remember a try that had even looked save to eat. So he had always kindly refused by pretending to just have eaten lunch. However, for a long time he had not been invited to eat at England's house so could it possibly be that the thing he wanted to show him was something different for a change? Maybe he just got a new chair replacing that old one Russia had destroyed accidentally a few times.

"Kiku? Are you daydreaming or something?"

"Ah- I'm sorry, Arthur-san, please show me what is in your kitchen". After shyly bowing and excusing, he followed the blonde in the kitchen, still hoping to see a new chair in said room.

"Kiku sure is acting strange today," Arthur thought, guiding the smaller nation to his kitchen. Wasn't he looking forward to what he had to show him? It had already been a while since the last time he asked Kiku to come over and all these times he had been…

Wait. Every time the Japanese had visited him, Arthur had offered him his cooking which, as he had to admit, wasn't as tasty as Japan's, and said country had always politely refused the meal. Could it be that he thought he'd be offered his food, which he didn't want to eat, again? That'd explain his aloofness, but today it was completely different! He wasn't gonna serve him his bad food again. The thing he was going to show Kiku would really surprise him, Arthur just knew it!

The first thing Kiku checked was the big table in the right corner of England's kitchen. It was clean and its nice wooden surface was partly covered with a square tablecloth, neatly decorated with stitched patterns showing flowers and some little fairies amongst them. Seeing this, the Japanese had to snicker slightly, this could really only belong to England, as he knew no one else whose hobby was stitching. And no one who kept on talking to his invisible friends. Everything in that corner seemed to be the same as the last time he had been at Arthur's house and that was definitely a bad sign. Around the table Arthur had placed five chairs, in case a larger number of people would come to visit him, which rarely happened. But there was one chair standing slightly away from the table. It showed a lot of signs that it had been damaged or even destroyed, but someone had put it back together again and again. Busby's chair. The one Russia had sat in a few times… The fact that it was still standing in Arthur's kitchen had to mean that he had not bought a new one, that the thing he wanted to show Kiku was something else.

Quickly he turned to the kitchenette, hoping England would ask him why he was looking there and then point on the wall saying he had painted it in a different colour or something else. But the British stood in front of the cooker, now turning around to Japan, holding something in his hands.

"Well, when I last visited you, you made this delicious meal… So I… tried to cook it as well. I had to practice a lot until it looked like yours, but now I think it's good". He waited. Japan didn't respond for a while and Arthur really wanted to know what the other was thinking. After all he had tried really hard to make the Curry he had eaten at Japan's house and since he wasn't good with words he wanted to express his thanks by making something delicious in return. But apparently the smaller nation wasn't that happy about the outcome, because if he was, he'd have said so, wouldn't he? Or at least he'd have said something. But he was just standing there, staring at the food in England's hands.

God, how stupid he felt for inviting him now! He should've known that his cooking wouldn't be popular, no matter how hard he tried. But how should he solve this embarrassing situation now? Pretend he wanted to poison France with this? Well, that was certainly a good idea; he'd just use that as an excuse.

But somehow his mouth didn't obey him and Arthur couldn't believe what he was saying now.

"Um… This… I-I made it because I really like you – ah, I mean your cooking and… well, I wanted to show… no, thank you and I… I really put a lot of effort into this, so it should be fine, shouldn't it?" A pause. "Err… But if you don't want to eat it, it's also okay, I'll just throw it away or eat it myself, I don't want to force you… "

It was only then that Japan noticed the taller nation's hands. They looked awful, on each finger Arthur had put at least two plasters, some of them clearly worn out and older than the others. Some of them were even too small to cover the wounds hidden beneath them completely, so the cuts could still be seen.

"Where did he get those?" the Japanese thought to himself, "could it be from trying to cook the Curry?" It would not surprise him if England had cut himself by accident, because he had watched that happening from time to time, but today many more wounds were covering his fingers. It was obvious that Arthur had put a lot of effort into this "food", refusing it would be more than impolite. Apart from that – Kiku almost couldn't believe his eyes – the Curry looked eatable, which Arthur's food usually did not.

"Arthur-san, you don't have to worry. I would be very pleased to try your cooking," Kiku calmed Arthur down, his hands reaching for the plate the other held in his damaged ones, to show him he really meant it.

"Well, if you insist on it…," Arthur replied shyly, trying not to meet Kiku's eyes after these unexpectedly honest words he'd said earlier and handed the dish to the Japanese.

Said country took the Curry, mustering it for a while longer. He shivered. Should he really eat this? It looked okay, even at close range, but as much as he liked and trusted the blonde, he still could not trust his cooking skills.

Japan was brought back from his thoughts by green eyes focused on his own dark ones as if trying to read his mind in them, waiting for him to try the Curry. Okay, so he would eat it, he just could not disappoint England, someone that dear to him.

Eyes shut he slowly moved the spoon to his mouth, emerald eyes still following every movement of his.

And then the spoon disappeared inside his mouth.

"A- And? How is it? It's all right, isn't it, Kiku? … Kiku?"

It was dark. Were his eyes still shut? He tried opening them, but they felt heavy and when he barely succeeded in doing so, he still didn't see much.

Blurry.

Then there was something green. Emerald, to be precise, and very close to him. Finally Japan managed to open his eyes completely, slightly blushing as he noticed England's face only a few centimetres away from his own. But then he was puzzled. Why was Arthur looking at him like this? He seemed to be worried… or even sad, desperate. And that was not the only odd thing. Why was he lying on the couch now, when he had been standing in the kitchen until… Yes, until he ate the Curry.

"So nothing has changed after all," the Japanese thought, "his food is still how it used to be". He should be glad to encounter something stable after all the changes his westernisation had brought about… shouldn't he?

"Kiku!" The English's voice broke in on his thoughts. "Are you okay?"

He was glad to see the smaller nation open his eyes again after he had collapsed in front of him, just because of his awful "food". Yes, he called his own food awful. There wasn't another name for something that had almost killed his friend. And something that wouldn't become better, no matter how hard he tried. Something that didn't change.

Guilty. Maybe that could describe his feelings at the moment best? Guilty because he wasn't able to change anything so he ended up hurting Kiku, which was definitely the least he wanted to do.

"Yes, I guess I'm fine, Arthur-san," Kiku replied. "I'm sorry if I made you worry".

"Ah, no, it's not like that, you didn't… It's okay". He sat down on the edge of the couch, allowing Kiku to sit up. "I'm sorry… I wasn't able to cook something edible again…"

"But at least it looked as if it was, didn't it? That shows you made progress. I'm glad".

He turned to Japan again, looking at him expectantly. "So… Do you think I changed something?"

"… Change?" The Japanese gave him a puzzled look. "But… do you not think it is bad to change things on is used to?"

"Eh? Why should it be a bad thing? Kiku, don't you want to change your life sometimes?"

"Well, I-"

"My life," he turned away again, "changed for the worse on that rainy day. Ever since then I've wanted to change it, first back to how it used to be. But after some time I had to accept that it's impossible". A slight smile appeared on his face as he tried to lighten the mood. "So, I tried changing it to something else, but if I can't even change my food, I won't ever be able to change my life, will I?"

A pause.

"I think I understand how you are feeling, Arthur-san". His left hand touched Arthur's shoulder. "But you do not have to change your food to change your life, right? Because that would be a bit… difficult, I think. If you look for them, I believe, there are a lot of possibilities to-"

Before Kiku could end the sentence Arthur hat grabbed the smaller nation's hand resting on his shoulder, pulling them closer and softly pressed his lips against the other's.

His dark eyes opened widely in astonishment. He had expected a lot of things when Arthur had invited him, but he had never thought it could turn out like this. Suddenly he felt dizzy again. Everything was so different today… He wanted to push the other away and ask for an explanation… but instead he closed his eyes, returning the kiss.

Maybe a little change wasn't that bad after all…