Chapter 1:

The door slammed shut after Italy as he ran into the animal shelter. The country frustratedly shook water from his hair and clothing as he stared in disbelief at the pouring rain outside. It had been sunny out only half an hour earlier, and now thick droplets fell from the dark grey clouds in a relentless torrent. Italy sighed slightly, desperately wishing that this wouldn't hinder his trip to America. It had been a long time since he had visited the rambunctious country, and after the surprisingly huge spikes in earthquakes in the Midwest, Italy wished to show his support.

He had been walking through one of the worst effected towns in the area. The amount of pure destruction left Italy feeling very small and distraught, with not much of an idea as for what to do. It was a rather unsettling sight that left Italy with the desire to run away from this place and back to somewhere no one was suffering, or sitting homeless on the street. But the nation had steeled his nerves. Germany was always yelling at him to be braver, and now seemed as good a time as any to start trying.

But now he was stuck inside a stuffy shelter, unable to leave due to the storm. Thinking for a moment, Italy pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed his brother. Romano had insisted he tag along, not wanting Italy to be walking around in a strange country alone. However, with a little convincing, Romano had allowed him to walk off on his own, as long as he stayed in the town. Romano currently had the car, and was probably waiting inside wondering where he was. His brother was just his ticked out of there. Italy was so emotionally warn from today, he wanted nothing more than to head back to the hotel for the day.

After a short conversation, mostly yelling from Romano about how only a brain dead idiot gets caught out in a storm like this, and he should have paid more attention to the clouds, Italy hung up, satisfied that Romano was on his way. The Italian looked up to at last take in his surroundings.

He was standing within the middle of the stone tiled lobby, an impressive marble counter top at the far side acting as a front desk. A woman in a lab coat with her blond hair pulled back in a bun tapped quickly at a computer keyboard. He nervously approached the lady at the counter.

"E-excuse me?" he stuttered slightly. The lady looked up with a friendly smile.

"Hello, sir. Are you here to adopt a pet today?"

"O-oh, no." he waved his hands quickly, dismissing the idea. "I was just wondering if you maybe had a towel in the back I could borrow. I got stuck in the rain, and I'm absolutely soaked."

Her expression was tender and concerned. This was definitely a woman who had spent most of her life caring for animals.

"Sure. Hold on a moment." She disappeared into the back and returned with a fluffy, white piece of cloth.

Italy expressed his thanks as he shuffled the towel across his wet locks.

"If you like, you can leave your coat to dry on the coat rack."

"Oh, thank you!" He removed the outer jacket, which stuck to his body due to the rain, and left it on the top peg. Italy then moved to sit on one of the waiting chairs, feet tapping impatiently on the ground as he waited for Romano to pull up.

After a few minutes of silence, the lady looked up once more from her work.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

"Oh, sí. My brother is coming to get me with the car."

"Ah. To be honest, I was hoping you were a customer. After the earthquake, so many animals were displaced that the shelter is almost at full capacity. If we don't get some of them out the door soon, we may have to go against policy and start putting some down. We don't have the budget for this." She remarked sadly.

Feliciano felt a pit open in his stomach.

"Aww, poor animals." As much as he wished he could help, he knew the last thing Romano wanted in the house was a pet, and Germany had enough dogs already. He would never agree to more.

"Would you like to look at them anyways? I'm sure they could use some human interaction outside of myself."

"Oh, do you have cats here?"

"Why yes, we do."

"Oh! I would love to looks at some please!"

She chuckled at his childish glee.

"This way, then."

Italy's eyes opened in a mixture of joy and pity. All the cages where filled with cats! From full grown adults to little kittens, all types of breads, mixtures, patterns and colors, it looked as if every cat you could think of was in here. And yet that was also the problem. Each cage was at max capacity, and according to the lady, more just kept arriving, very few leaving. It seemed that after the earthquake, no one cared about their cats anymore. And that just made him want to pick them all up and take them home! But he had to limit himself to petting only.

Italy made his way around the room, taking a variety of cats out to hold as he ran his hands up and down their spines. The beautiful felines arched their backs and purred pleasantly at his touch. Apparently they were sick of being in here, too, and where perhaps hoping he would think they were cute enough to take home. As much as he wanted to, Italy put each one back in their cage with a few gentle words.

"I'm sorry, kitties. I'm sure someone will come for you soon."

The blond lady from the front desk was also going around from cage to cage, checking each cat had food, water, and where in good health. A sick cat never got adopted.

As he moved to the next one, Italy found a cage that was suspiciously quiet. From what he could see, there was only one cat inside, as it was curled up tight in a ball, most likely sleeping. As he approached, the cat's ears twitched and it rose up from its curled position, turning a sleepy gaze his way.

Italy's eye widened in surprise. This was a very beautiful cat. He was a even brown color, with a dark drizzle patch along his spine. The cat's face, and paws were covered in white and despite the large difference in colors, his pelt blended and mixed wonderfully, no spot looking out of place on the feline. But what really caught his attention where the eyes. A deep honey color, they were warm and friendly, and spoke to him in a profound way that he could not place, as if he and the cat shared a deep connection he didn't remember. Opening the cage, he bent slightly so that he was at eye level with it.

"I see you've taken a liking to this one." The lady commented from behind Italy.

"Yes, he's very pretty."

She murmured in agreement.

"He's the quietest one here. Sleeps most of the day and eats whatever I give him without complaint. Feliciano's one of the best cats I've had here."

Italy stiffened.

"What did you call him?"

"Oh, Feliciano. That's his name. We found it on his tag. Unfortunately the couple that owned him passed in the earthquake. It's a surprising name, I know. Someone giving their cat an Italian name? In America? That's pretty rare."

But Italy was barely listening anymore. The country was stiff with shock and disbelief. This cat shared his name! Well, his human name, at least. They were names rarely shared and only used when trying to blend in with society, but each country felt a connection to their names. They were proof that they were more than just the embodiment of their countries, but their own person as well, with a unique personality and dreams and ideas. It was like the only piece of unique identity they had.

Italy had never thought about what would happen if he met someone who shared his name. He figured it was normal enough to encounter someone with your name once or twice, though that had not happened yet, but a cat? This was too weird. An odd connection and a shared name…

Italy reached in to pick up the sleepy feline, but a flash of claws racking across his hand stopped him. The Italian cried in pain slightly and jumped back. A new cat was standing over Feliciano. It was much tanner than the other, and had dark spots arranged in a Siamese like pattern across its face, paws, and tail. Its lips were drawn back in a snarl, hissing viciously at Italy as he stood over the other cat, who was more alert now than he had been a little while ago.

"Bad cat!" The lady scolded and batted the new one away slightly, closing the door.

She walked over to Italy and examined the small cut on his hand.

"I'm sorry about that. He's usually like this."

"It's no big deal. Who was that?"

"That was Lovino, Feliciano's brother."

Italy was in shock once more.

"What?"

"Yes, we found them out on the streets together. It's very strange. So rarely do you see families of cats stick together like this, but there they were. Lovino has always been protective of his brother, hissing at anyone who tried to pick him up. That's one of the reasons neither have been adopted."

She sighed in frustration.

"I wish I could tell him that acting like this is only keeping them both from living a happy and comfortable life! If this keeps up, they might have to be the first to go…"

Italy's breath caught in his throat. There was no way he could let that happen now. A cat with his name, a brother with his brother's own? This was remarkable! Nothing short of a miracle! Italy tightened his grip around his shirt hem in nervousness. Romano was going to kill him later, but he knew what he had to do.

Romano pulled up outside the local animal shelter, rain still going full force around him.

"Gah. Fucking shit storm!" he cussed has his face was assaulted with buckets of water the moment he stepped from the car.

He walked towards the front door, cursing out his brother for getting stuck, the traffic lights for stopping him each time on his way there, all the way up to God for allowing it to rain this hard today. Needless to say, the Italian was pissed.

He stepped through the front door, ringing water from his hair and jacket.

"Hey, brother. You in here? Let's get a move on-"

Romano stopped short as he came face to face with Italy, smiling nervously and holding two cats in his arms.

"No." Romano replied sternly before Italy could open his mouth.

"Oh, brother! Come on!"

"No, no no! We talked about this already! No animals, no pets, no nothing in our house!"

"But-!"

"No buts! I can't believe you went and did this behind my back! You know how much I hate pets! They're cute and all at first, but they ruin the furniture, shed everywhere, and make messes where ever they go. This is the last time I let you wander off on your own-"

"Brother." Italy pleaded. "Please, listen for just a moment."

He lifted one of the cats in his arms.

"This one is named Feliciano." He held the other out to Romano, dropping it in his grasp.

"And this is his brother, Lovino."

Now Romano was staring eyes wide, jaw open at the feline in front of him. It was giving him a rather stern, angry look. Face determined and angry, seemingly just as pissed as him. Grabbing his brother close, Romano quieted his voice to a whisper.

"You found cats with our names?"

"Yeah!" Italy was also managing a whisper. "Isn't it great? And they're just like us, too! Look, Feliciano is all sleepy, and almost looks like he's smiling!"

He lifted the cat towards Romano's face. He did seem rather calm and peaceful, with dropping eyes and lazy whiskers.

"And Lovino is kind of like you! All angry and grouchy looking. And very protective of Feliciano!"

Romano returned his gaze to the tan tomcat in his arms. It was still giving him that stern and displeased look. Romano sighed again.

"Shared names or not, we can't take them."

"But Romano! If they don't get adopted soon, Rebecca says they'll be put down."

"Wait, who's Rebecca?"

"The nice lady at the front desk."

Romano felt a hole unexpectedly open in his gut at the thought of the cats being put down. Oddly enough, he did feel a strange sense of companionship towards the felines, as if they truly were echoes of themselves, and losing them would be like losing a piece of who they were.

"Okay." Romano spoke in a defeated tone. "We'll take them."

Italy squealed in joy, hugging Feliciano tightly to his chest.

"Now, let's get out of here." Romano remarked cynically. "Before this rain drowns out the place."

The Italian brothers ran out to the car, with Italy singing calmly as he stroked and come his namesake cat as they drove back to the hotel.