A/N: So, uh, yeah. This story's finally being reposted. On a different account. After... er... over two years? ...ish...

B-but hey! At least I have the fourth chapter for the 'original' ready...? Just, er... well... it won't be the fourth chapter after all, hey? See, after trying to edit and revise the original story the first time, I realized something...

Something very important...

...The chapters were too long...

So, er, yeah. As you can probably tell, they're being cut down...by a lot... to, like, 2k+ words a chapter? I'm making 2k the minimum, though hopefully no more than 3k at most, so it'll be easier to go over later. Much better, right? And likely to get much more frequent updates... so, er, yeah...

Basically the same story, revised so it's purely 3rd person, and on a different account.

...with 2k or so long chapters. So hopefully you'll all be able to enjoy a revamped story with quicker updates for the most part (depending on how much time I have in the physical world, aha...ha)...

Well, uh, you've been warned? And, ah, about Omake's... they'll probably be posted as separated 'chapters', especially that one super long one that's between 3 and 4... probably the only exception I'll have to the 2k-3k or so chapters, since Omake are just extra's that...don't necessarily fit into the story, so, er... yeah. I'll think of something by the time that portion gets posted. Either it'll be posted here as an omake, or I'll post it separately as a one-shot, cuz, like, hell! It's totally way to slaggin' long to work as an extra chapter... But, uh, still not sure yet, so...er... yeah.

Enjoy this for now, and expect an update pretty soon...or as soon as I finish revising parts 2-5 of the original "chapter 1" of Woruba to be posted here.

Well, I'll shut up now, and I swear, no other A/N will be as long as this without very good reason. So don't expect anymore of these super-duper long A/N's in the future...

And so, just one thing left to do before I turn this over to y'all (for those of you who're actually taking the time to read this freakin' long Note, anyway).

In no way do I own the characters and series of Fruits Basket or Hetalia with the exception of series and character paraphernalia that pretty much anyone can buy and own. Above mentioned series (and their characters) belong to their respective owners, and the only things I own of this story are an idea, a writing style, and someOC's.

Super long Blurb over. Please proceed directly to the actual story. Thanks.

edit:: finally looked up the actual meaning of Juliana. Our protag is not going to grow a 'downy beard' so I've decided to change it Jocelyn (which I seem to rather fond of as of late), which means "just" or "right", which honestly suits her more, methinks. Anyways, back to the story for those that haven't read it before!

[Woruba: the World in a Basket] Chapter 1 (Word Count: 2,658; Post Date: 8/19/2014)

"Uwahhh, it's so warm... Looks like today'll be another hot one..." a slim hand shaded surprisingly warm fawn colored eyes as the onyx-haired girl smiled faintly at the clear sky. Wearing a simply blue tee with faded letters above a caricature across the front and a black skirt with knee-length leggings underneath it, the teenager appeared to be like any other girl her age.

A pair of worn canvas shoes turned so that their owner could look back fondly upon the picture of a rather stunning woman with long obsidian hair, and dark coffee-brown eyes framed by long black lashes. The woman was smiling brightly at the camera, lips painted a cherry red that only seemed to enhance her beauty.

Taking a deep breath, the girl adjusted her trusty old messenger bag, and lightly slapped her cheeks before turning her attention back towards the picture frame. "Well, I don't think I forgot anything," she began cheerfully, now ready to head out into the world! Or, rather, to head off to school. "You'll be in charge again today, mama! I'm off!" she exclaimed, before heading out.

It was here, that any assumption of her being a normal girl could be thrown out the window of the nearest high-rise building.

After all, what 'normal' girl lived in a tent out in the woods upon a mountain and left a picture frame in charge of all her worldly possessions? Certainly not a normal girl!

But then, Jocelyn Martina Bennett, daughter of Antony and Sabrina Bennett was probably the least likely to count as normal. Especially not with the life she'd led thus far...

An Orphan of little over a year, Jocelyn was unselfish enough to not want to cause trouble for her remaining close family. Despite being evicted from the small, two-bedroom apartment she had called home after her mother had died (though thankfully, the landlord's wife had been kind enough to give her plenty of time to pack what important and worldly possessions she had), she still maintained the cheerful demeanor that she had had since the beginning. Jocelyn knew very well, after all, that though her life had not been easy, it wasn't likely to be the worst either, considering that she'd always been able to 'make it out' alright.

In fact, despite her hardships, she still considered herself 'lucky' enough as it was. After all, there was always someone who was worse off, right? Well, even if it weren't true, it was just her nature to continue on with such an optimistic mindset...

Anyways, continuing on.

As she walked down the path she took to school, the onyx girl managed to spot a house, normally in too much of a hurry to notice the structure. And though it wasn't exactly normal, it didn't look too strange, either. What with the eclectic mix of both European and Asian architecture clear to see, especially from the path she took.

Curious of the house that sported the Japanese patio and sliding doors that she'd only ever seen before within the manga that Rei liked to read, she wandered closer for a better look without a second thought.

As got close enough for a better view, she could only be awed at the peaceful scene. One of the sliding screen doors -was that made of paper?- had been left open, revealing a kotatsu in what looked to be a living room. It was such a peaceful scene.

'Oh, how cute!' she thought, noticing a bunch of little clay figures drying out on the deck, a map of the world with little pins on it keeping it in place on the board behind them. Entirely unassuming and unaware of the fact that someone had to be living on the property that she had just effectively trespassed on.

'Is that an eagle?' she blinked. The little figurines seemed to be of animals, none of which was a zodiac or specifically themed as she stared at the various figures with some awe. There were birds, various mammals, and assorted sea creatures as well from what she could see.

In fact, most of the creatures, from what she could tell, had the name of a country pinned under a section of it. Were they the National Animals of the world's nations? She should could only wonder, taking in and mentally ticking off the ones she knew, only to notice that some were missing as well, so perhaps not all of them.

There were what looked to be different types of Eagles (the only difference so far being color and size), at least one rooster, some horses, bears, and bison... a bull, different cats of the feline species, and-

"Mon dieu! What's this? I must be seeing things~~!"

"Oh!" the girl stifled a squeak, a startled look on her face as she looked up at the source of her surprise.

"Une belle demoiselle, out here? My, my..."

Jocelyn blushed at the visage of a rather handsome looking man with baby blue eyes, shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair that was only loosely tied into a ponytail at his nape, and just enough facial hair to seem like he'd yet to shave for the day. This fact seemed to be supported by the fact that he was only wearing a fluffy blue bathrobe tied messily at the waist, loose enough for it to hang loosely on his shoulders and revealing a pale chest and...

W-Were those...boxers...?!

"E-eh? Ah...er...H-Hello! Uhm, I'm really sorry about trespassing it's just...I was...I saw these cute figures and-" freaking out a bit, she could only cry mentally, berating herself for looking like such a fool. There was no doubt that she had to have leaves and whatnot stuck in her waist-length black hair from the 'shortcut' she'd taken in her haste to get a closer look at the building and the figures -well, without compromising her attendance, of course!

But oh gosh, there had been someone there? Jocelyn was so embarrassed...

The man, however, simply chuckled, a rose (and just where did that come from? She was sure that hadn't been there before!) in one hand, and a rolled-up newspaper folded and pinned under his arm with the other. He gave her a charming smile, half hidden under the rose that she could (still) swear had appeared from nowhere.

"Oh, go on. Please, go ahead and look all you wish, oui? I was but merely setting them out here to dry, you see~"

Blinking at his accent and the liberal use of french that peppered his speech, as well as his odd... demeanor... (and was it just her, or was his robe 'conveniently' slipping enough to show off more of his upper body? Whether he was doing it intentionally or not should probably have also been called into question, as his robe slipped enough to show off a smooth white shoulder as well.)

It was just a little hard to understand just what he was trying to say as he hummed and continued on.

"Although... you know, I thought you gens jeune were bored by such things...?" he asked, "Especially those geographie comme...?"

"Eh?" she blinked, causing him to blink in turn, the rose now touching his lips lightly.

"Ah, did I use Francois? My apologies, mon chere. I meant that 'I thought you young ones were bored by such things geography related'?" he smiled.

"O-Oh! Oh, no, I... I mean it's true that's I'm not the best, academically speaking, but..." Oh dear, she blushed, mentally berating herself for revealing her weaknesses so easily. How embarrassing. "Uhm, I r-really love things animal related s-so...and, uhm, c-countries are very interesting as well! I mean... there...there are so many different types of cultures and foods...languages...symbols...b-but we're all the same!" she continued, unconsciously beginning to smile at the thought, "We're all the same inside, after all... we're all still people of the world!"

"Oh...?" How interesting. The man blinked, thoughtfully studying the girl with new eyes. "Is that so..." he murmured, a slow smile growing as he seemed reached some unknown conclusion. "So? What do you think?" he asked.

"Eh?" she blinked, tilting her head slightly at the sudden question as he grinned.

"What do you think of the figures?" he clarified.

"Oh!" she blushed again (Ohoho, how cute~ he thought). "Uhm, w-well, I think they're very well made..." she started, before hesitating for a moment. "But..."

"But?" he prompted, raising a single blonde brow in question.

"Uhm, well... It...It looks like you didn't make the 'Lion'..." she pointed out the first thing to come to mind, a sheepish look on her face. She wasn't quite sure what had compelled her to bring it up but...

"Oh? You mean...l'animal national de Angleterre...?" he asked, surprised by the observation.

"Er...yes...?" she guessed, not quite sure whether he meant what she was thinking or not. Hopefully she hadn't guessed wrong (she was guessing it meant 'the national animal of England'), though how she knew this sort of thing... That is, she had mentioned that she liked animals. And it was so much easier to remember countries if she linked them to their animals... Especially the 'world powers', among other things (Though World Powers were easy enough to remember by themselves as was).

"Though...I guess I really shouldn't be surprised if you consider the 'history'..." she mumbled without thought, recalling how her mother had taught her to remember the Nations amongst other topics and things as well. She could be rather dense as well, but...well, at leas the stories helped? ...Sometimes...

"England was the only Nation under 'God' that didn't completely follow the 'rules', you see. Since he tended to use 'magic' that could be associated with the Devil..." her mother had told a wide-eyed and much, much younger version of her self.

"Eh...but isn't that bad...?" she had asked, innocent eyes wide at the thought.

"Hmm...well, since he didn't exactly fit in with the side of either 'God' or the 'Devil', he was really of neither side..." her mother had explained.

"Eh... but that's so sad...!" she had exclaimed, "That's it! I'll stop being American and become British!"

Her mother had laughed, amused by the thought. After all, she couldn't exactly just change her nationality overnight! Though there were, of course ways to do so...but that could wait for when she was older and understood more of the world...

Jocelyn smiled sadly in reminiscence, causing the Frenchman to blinked questioningly. "You are...alright, oui?" he asked, almost hesitantly as she startled back into the present.

"Eh?" she blinked, blushing when she realized that she had spaced out again. "Oh! I'm sorry! I was just... I remembered... You see, my mom used to tell me stories to help me learn. And there was this one story about the Nations, and how they had 'feelings' and were people as well!" she grinned, a sheepish expression on her face. "I... kinda believed it...and I'd actually wanted to be British when I was younger," she laughed. "Silly, isn't it?"

"Hoh?" he blinked, did she...perhaps...know the tales of the 'Curse'...? he wondered, before shaking the thought from his mind. No, there was no way! And it wasn't like she'd mention anything about the animals or...

"See, there was also this one story about the National Animals of different countries," she continued, unaware of the Frenchman's wandering thoughts. "It was about how England ended up choosing the Lion, but everyone thought he was so proud...and they started to ignore him..." she continued, seeming to wilt as she remembered how sad it had been -and still was- to the younger her, as she attempted to summarize one of the many stories her mother had told her (This one for the sake of helping her remember countries and their national animals, rather than history or specific geography or their relations).

The blonde froze. Or...perhaps she does... he ended up thinking, sweating slightly though he motioned her to continue, trying not to show his thoughts so clearly.

Jocelyn nodded, still unaware of the blonde's thoughts. "See, England used to be reaaaally powerful before America, right?" she asked rhetorically as he nodded, "Well, after that, since not many nations liked how powerful he was-"

"...he...?" the man blinked.

"Oh, er...well, I...I guess that is kinda sexist..." she blushed, "I've always kinda seen England as a guy, though...even with such great Queens..." she grinned sheepishly. "Oh, but I'm getting off-track again, ahah... Sorry," she apologized, "I tend to randomly go off sometimes..." she admitted.

"Oh, non, non! It's quite fine, really~ I do so at times as wel-" he started, before a bag landed on the man's head, causing her to notice that he'd ended up crouching so that they were closer in height at some point. "-l..." the blonde trailed off as their attention was taken by the recent arrival.

"Honestly, Francis-san, must you be such a pervert?" a quiet voice asked, "And so early in the morning, too," the newcomer added, sounding somewhat annoyed by the fact.

"Eh..." Jocelyn's eyes widened in surprised at the familiar face. It was the so-called 'Prince' of their school (not to mention town, she was sure). It was a bit shocking, the difference in personality that was presented now.

"Oh! Mon beau visage-!" he exclaimed, rubbing his poor, beautiful face. "What do you have in there, Kiku! Un dictionnaire?!" he pouted, sulking childishly.

The slender onyx-haired boy simply sighed, as if used to such things. "I have two, actually," he answered, completely unfazed and apparently translating the other's french without having to think too much about it. (And there was something new, Kiku could understand french! she thought.)

"...?" Meanwhile, Jocelyn, who had absolutely no experience with the French language (aside from the few obvious and typical words that everyone somehow knew, like 'non' or 'oui' or 'mademoiselle' and the like), could only guess at what he'd spoken. Er, well, other than the 'un dictionnaire' part which she figured had to mean 'dictionary'...

What? She did have some common sense...!

...Really, she did.

"My apologies... Bennett-san... My... cousin... didn't do anything to you, did he?" the Japanese International Student turned to her, taking a moment to recall and attach her name to her face.

"E-eh...?" she started, as 'Francis' pout, protesting his 'innocence' all the while...and was promptly ignored.

"Oh, uhm, n-no! And, uhm, G-Good Morning, Kiku!" she flushed, feeling rather frazzled at not only seeing the SGO President of their grade so early in the morning, but smiling at her as well. (however slightly. And no, she was not a fangirl!)

"Hmph! must you always make me out to be such an apostat?" Francis grumbled. He was not a pervert! He just...appreciated...beauty when he saw it. Yes, that was it. He appreciated beauty!

"... Good Morning," Kiku smiled, ignoring the pouting Frenchman, though he did end up 'discreetly' kicking the man in the leg for the clearly false comment.

"-!" Francis huffed, shooting a glare at the normally mild-mannered Japanese, though he immediately began smiling when Jocelyn tilted her head slightly in confusion, wondering if something was wrong.

It seemed today was going to be an odd day after all, she thought, recalling her horoscope for the day (and yes, she did believe in horoscopes, if only because her mother had taught her about them)...