Laughter filled the wooden halls of the grand palace as the small female nation dashed about, her choppy dark hair blowing behind her. The little girl could hear frustrated screams from across the courtyard as the emperor tripped head first from the top of the front stairs and into the crowd of squealing pigs. A snicker escaped Vietnam's lips and continued her frantic rush to her hiding place. That'll show that conceited royal pain! She felt quite proud of herself, finding comfort in her achievement of finding a nearby pig pen where her little friends could….'roam'.
Quickly turning the corner, the child ran out of the halls and into an open-roofed garden in the building. Trees and flowers decorated the immediate area around her, fallen leaves and petals painting the clear blue skies above. Frantically, the Vietnamese girl dove into the berry bushes, the brambles rustling from the intrusion of the nation. The shouts were more audible now as the emperor rushed to find the one who caused this treacherous act. Anger was inflicted in his voice as the man sped up his pace, walking along the walkway and out out of the garden.
The nation noted several other footsteps that followed, assuming it was his advisers and guards. A smirk crossed her soft face as she silently hid, waiting for everything to calm down. This wasn't the first time she's caused mayhem around the palace. Oh no. After her first successful attempt of hiding the rats and gnats in the kitchen under the silverware, she grew to love her time here.
Being threatened and dragged to be under Chinese rule, she loathed every moment within the walls. Chinese lessons, writing lessons, pottery lessons, silk lessons; the Vietnamese nation was required to learn all of it as long as she lives under the emperor's rule. Pottery and silk lessons she attended to, but the Chinese one did not interest her in any way possible. The Viet would always be skipping them and going out to play instead. However, she would always get a scolding from that boy.
The dark haired child peeked her golden eyes out of the bush to see if the man and his men were away, only to be spooked by another pair of eyes staring back. She yelped in surprised, stumbling onto her back.
"There you are!" spoke a young, long haired boy. His face was strewn into a serious expression, his dark eyes glaring at her with disappointment. "You are in big trouble now!" he yelled, rustling through the bush to get to the girl.
"And who said so, huh?" Vietnam retorted back with the same harshness. "You're not the boss of me!"
"Oh yeah?" he challenged. "What if I told the emperor what you did, huh? Would I be in charge then?" the boy said in a serious tone. Out of all the people who knew the small nation, only China would have known she was the one pulling all the strings and tricks. The Viet let out a frustrated huff.
"You wouldn't dare," she spat, glaring at him. Despite her tough act, Vietnam was terrified of the idea of the royal pain finding out. The fear reflected in her eyes, making the Chinese smile victoriously. Now he had something over her, he thought. Perhaps this was the chance to get her to do something for him.
"I'll make you a deal, alright aru? If…..you learn Chinese, I'll keep all your misdoings a secret," China smirked. He could see the small nation purse her lips in hesitation as she thought about it.
"Fine. But under one condition," the girl said, watching as the other raised a questioning glance. "You teach me it. I don't want to learn from that old hag who smells like sweat most of the time," Vietnam finished, shuddering at the image of the teacher.
The young boy chuckled, ruffling up the other nation's hair. "Alright. Let's start with the basics, okay? Um—….," China sat down, his hand against his chin as he thought of something to teach her. There was a moment of aha! in his eyes. "Jiějiě," he said with a smile.
"Jie…jie?" she repeated, missing the accents in the word. The other nation shook his head.
"Jiějiě. It means big sister," he clarified.
"Jiějiě," Vietnam repeated, rolling the word around it her mouth. "Okay. What else?"
"Gēgē," he said, a goofy grin plastered on his face as he waited in anticipation.
"Gēgē," she repeated perfectly, glancing at him expectantly to correct her. Confusion filled her golden eyes as his smile widened. "Did I say it correctly?" China nodded his head in confirmation.
"Gēgē means older brother. Since you know the word now, you can call me that from now on," the boy replied cockily. His smile disappeared as he noticed the Vietnamese girl giggle. "What?"
"Why would I call you older brother? You're almost as immature as me!" she retorted, giggling even more. There was a loud huff from him.
"Rude!" he exclaimed, hushing immediately as he remembered where they were. "Fine! Since you're getting so well at learning, I'll teach you something harder!" he responded sarcastically. A playful smile stretched across Vietnam's face.
"Bring it on!" she imposed with determination in her voice, her level of loudness surprising the other.
"Alright-… say wô ài nǐ," he said, slowing down his words for her to catch it. Vietnam blinked blankly at him, trying to process the foreign words.
"Wô… ài…nǐ…?" the small child said softly and delicately. "What does that mean..?" she glanced at China suspiciously and accusingly, thinking he tricked her into saying something bad. He gave her a crooked smile.
"It means 'I love dumplings'," he said enthusiastically. The other nation stared at him with dumbfounded glare.
"Really? Already thinking about food!" she spat, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
A/N : I tried to make it somewhat historical, with both nations being young. Fun fact if you didn't know yet: the northern part of Vietnam used to be under Chinese rule for around 1,000 years, but during those years, there were many rebellions and all, hence Vietnam's little 'pranks'. Vietnam was also under a different name at the time, being called Nanyue in Chinese, or Nam Viet in Vietnamese, but just to keep it simple, I just called her Vietnam. Also, I didn't really use either China's or Vietnam's human names because I don't really think they had names during this time, but only got their names recently after the end of imperialism. At least, that's what I like to think. ^-^"
Wô ài nǐ = I love you