Konnichiwa! Welcome to the second chapter of Britannia-Hime! Sorry if I go a little fangirlish because I'm currently watching episode 47 of Axis Powers. Well I'm more listening really since I'm writing at the moment but I'm just listening to England's voice so ^^

Oh and you will notice that from here on in, there will be poems at the start of every chapter. The reason for this may not be clear yet but it will by the end, trust me.

Tanoshimu!

If you persist, you can break through
And put your fears to rest.
But then a new test will face you
And put you to the test.

"Can we-?"

"No."

"But-"

"Never."

"Can I just say..."

"AIYA! Just give up already!"

Yao stood there with his hands on his hips: he was obviously not happy at all. There he was, enjoying a peaceful relaxing time out in his front garden, when five men appeared at his gate, all with many servants and different modes of transport so they were all obviously nobles.

Many years had passed since Igiko had been found in that stalk of bamboo and since then, Sakura and Yao had become extremely rich and had even gotten a new house. This was because of the gold pieces that Yao always found in his bamboo. Obviously he had made a fortune out of gold and it had become like an everlasting supply. Yao was sure that it was Igiko who had blessed them with this amazing luck, so in order to thank her, he protected her from the many suitors that came to see her.

Today, five of Igiko's suitors had showed up and were more persistent than the rest. All had heard of the famous princess's beauty, but few had ever actually seen her. These men were determined to see the famed beauty and were obviously not taking no for an answer.

One of the men was obviously French. He had wavy golden hair and pretty blue eyes. The second was not as distinguishable, for he had white hair and seemingly red eyes. The third suitor had lightly tanned skin, curly brown hair and green eyes. He was supposedly Spanish. The fourth wore a long white kimono accompanied by a large white scarf. His eyes were not visible, for he was smiling with his eyes closed but his hair was a snowy white. The fifth and final suitor had wavy blond hair but didn't look as confident as the others. He also held a strange creature in his arms that looked quite similar to a panda bear so it was probably a type of bear that Yao had never seen before.

"Please Mr Wang sir..." The suitor with the panda bear pleaded.

"Yeah Mr Wang. If you let us see the famed 'Britannia-hime' then that'd be totally awesome!" The albino suitor smirked.

"Where did this Britannia-hime stuff come from?" Yao snapped.

"Well she doesn't look like she comes from Japan- she looks kind of British if you ask me." Spanish suitor explained.

"Oui, but we don't really care about where she is from. All zat matters is zat she is truly a sight to be'old and we intend to take 'er as a wife. Please Monsieur Wang. It would mean a lot to us." The French suitor explained.

Finally Yao broke and decided to let the suitors inside. They left their servants, animals and all other things outside and followed Yao into the house.

"She's never met any outside people before so be warned." Yao explained.

"Da. Thank you very much for this honour Mr Wang." The smiling suitor grinned.

"Just Yao is fine."

"Well I am Ivan Braginski." He smiled.

"I am Francis Bonnefoy." The French suitor bowed.

"I'm the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt!" The albino suitor laughed.

"I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo!" Smiled the Spaniard.

"A-and I'm M-Mathew Williams." The shy suitor whispered.

"Right. We're here-aru. Be respectful or I'll kick you out." Yao explained.

Yao opened the sliding door and all of the men peered around the door, desperate to see the famous beauty. No-one had really ever seen her properly and the rumours were too great to be ignored so they stepped in rudely.

And there she sat with her back to them. On a pillow in the middle of a room, hands in her lap and eyes closed sat the famed Britannia-Hime. Of course there were other pretty furnishings hung up and lying around the room, but the men didn't care about that, they were more interested in the girl that was now standing up and had turned around to face them. Her beautiful golden hair looked like it was shining and was tied up into two high ponytails and decorated with pretty red ribbons. Her kimono was also red and showed a very pretty flowery pattern.

Then her eyes opened, her emerald green eyes. That was what made the men fall completely for her. She was amazingly beautiful and distant. Igiko didn't smile, but the men were sure that if they did they'd go absolutely insane for her.

"Father, who are these men?" She asked, voice so small it was just barely a whisper.

The men all blurted their names out at the same time, so she didn't get the answer to her question. Yao sighed at how foolish the men had become just by the sight of his daughter. It made him feel proud, but also lacking in respect for the men who had now been reduced to the level of hungry dogs.

"Igiko, these men are from faraway lands, all seeking your hand in marriage-aru." Yao explained.

"I see." She whispered.

The men were all smiling eagerly, almost pathetic and goofy. One would expect her to look each man up and down, but she didn't. She just stared in their general direction, though she wasn't actually looking at anyone in particular.

"You men say that you are in love with me?" She asked, to this the men nodded. "Then prove it. I want each of you to bring me something."

She then proceeded to point at each of the men as she told them the items she required.

"You, I want the Buddha's stone begging bowl, located in India. From you, I require the jewelled branch from the island of Hōrai. Next I want the legendary robe of the fire-rat of China. After that, a coloured jewel from the dragon's neck and finally: the cowrie which was born from the swallows. The first to bring me back their item successfully will be my husband." She explained.

Each man noted his item down and then bowed to the princess before setting off on their journey. Yao just stared at them and then looked back to Igiko with fascination.

"I honestly never thought that you'd pick a husband-aru." Yao gasped.

"I don't intend to." She smirked. "After all, they need to bring me their items first."

Yao nodded and then left his daughter to her thoughts. All she did was sigh as she slowly approached the shoji screens at the back of the room. She opened them to reveal a balcony on the outside which she stepped out onto, not even putting her shoes on first.

Once outside, she looked up and saw the crescent moon shining brightly in the sky. She knew that it was the waxing crescent moon, for every night she stared up into the sky to gaze at the moon. She cared not for the stars around it, just the moon that sparkled with such a mystical moving light.

I know that there probably wouldn't be Canadian, Spanish, Russian, French and Prussian men visiting Japan in this time period (since it is the 10th century) but just go along with it because it sticks to the Hetalia characters and it's more interesting!

I hoped you enjoyed the suitors! The items mentioned are all from the original Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. I wonder how each man will fare against these challenges? Oh and which suitor do you like? Just out of curiosity. Personally I don't want to choose from the current men because I'm saving it for another option that comes later...

Review, PM me if you want or email at my fanfiction email account (on my page). You can check out my other fics too (I recommend Changing History and As Long as We're Brothers) but that's only optional!

Sayonara minna-san!

~Neko