Title: Coming Of Age
Rating: PG13 (References to WW2)
Genre: … Angst?
Characters/Pairings: Japan, brief mentions of China and Singapore(OC).
Summary: When you're a nation, you get to decide how old you want to be that year! How fun does that sound?
Words: 340. I'msorryItried!
Notes: Um. First time participating in this, hope this works out right... If the word limit is really too much for the drabble category, then uh, please just don't consider this entry. Written for Hetalia_contest on Livejournal, under the week 17 prompt of "twenty one", drabble.

–

Age, as Honda Kiku, Japan, had learned, was relative.

One could say that he was old, but then there would be Yao, who was far older.

(Olderweakercrumblingfighting digdigdigdigdig for what I wanted, needed, craved and-

Yao was crying. Blood was flowing. Tears- were they his? Why was he crying...? Then I noticed the dagger in his side and the blood on my hands and it was flowing and soaking and seeping into my-)

Of course, you could he was young, then compare him to someone, say, Singapore, who was notably younger.

(Younger, frailer, smaller, inexperienced, and she never saw it coming- the mangroves. I could see the smudges of sweet potato on the corner of her lips when she, a little girl, stood amongst the men and the women on the beach, sitting waiting for their turn.

Her hair is still tinted red at the tips. Red like-)

So, for nations, age really wasn't an issue. Half of them were able to pass for young men and women anyway, even old Yao (Yaowhoscreamedandfoughtand-). Birthdays were birthdays, a day where Nations themselves would be as high as a kite, with the beautiful adrenaline rush of having people believe and feel like they were one. Kiku knew how it felt.

Decades went by their kind like months, independence was lost and gained, so hardly anyone counted the years. A birthday? A birthday. Which one? Doesn't really matter.

But this year, I feel twenty-one.

No one knew his real age (perhaps even himself included), so why not? Kiku could pretend that this was his twenty-first birthday if he wanted to, he even looked the part (if you ignored the scars).

Twenty-one, after all, was a good age, was it not? The coming of age. When everything was thrust upon you, and you were expected to cope, and even if you weren't you were forgiven more easily than you usually would be.

Honda Kiku, Japan, looked out the window, from his hospital bed, as he convincingly lied to himself.

"I'm twenty-one this year."

–

Footnotes:

- I would imagine that this took place on the 15th of February, 1946, the National Foundation Day of Japan. Its pretty much the founding of Japan, and so, I consider it Kiku's birthday. 1946 is the year right after the Japanese surrender in World War II, which took place on the 15 August 1945.

- According to my brief research, Japan's war with China (Communist and Republic) was fueled by the need for their resources. 3.9 million Chinese were killed, mostly civilians, as a direct result of the Japanese operations. Apologies in advance for the credibility of this information, or if there are any wrong bits. I'm not very well versed in this part of history.

- Singapore was occupied by the Japanese from the 15th of February, 1942 to 1945, where Singapore was handed back to British colonial rule. Japanese troops invaded Singapore through Malaysia (then Malaya), by boats through the mangroves on the Northwest coast of Singapore, a move which was not expected by the British forces. The British lost the battle, and surrendered Singapore to Japanese forces.

- Sweet potatoes were a common staple food during the occupation, due to the high inflation of banana notes, the currency used then, and the ridiculously high prices of food. Most people grew them in their own gardens, and had them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

- The men and women sitting on the beach "waiting for their turn" is a reference to the Sook Ching Massacre, which was carried out on various beaches of Singapore. Although it was mainly Chinese men, Chinese women were also taken if the Japanese had screened them, and thought them "anti-Japanese". They were executed on the beaches, and the death toll statistics vary from 25000 to 50000.

- Singapore, who is mentioned here, is my own OC. Um, I haven't come out with a full profile for her yet, sadly, but she's generally small in stature (Singapore's a very small island nation), and is Peranakan in race, which is sometimes misidentified for Chinese (which might have resulted in her being brought away to the Sook Ching Massacre). Appearance wise, she probably seemed around twelve or thirteen then.

- The "coming of age" is usually the period where a child is now thought of as an adult, and is usually around the ages of 18 to 21. P-Please ignore the fact that in Japanese customs, the coming of age is usually at twenty. (I'll do my research beforehand the next time. Promse!)

A/N:

I know this is a touchy subject, World War II, and I'm extremely worried that I misrepresented it somewhere, so please, your pardon if I did (and tell me! So I don't do it again). Comments, criticism and general thoughts are always welcome.