Yeah! Another chapter! I love it so! And thank you to everyone who reviewed and alerted and anything else to this! It really makes me want to write faster. Did anyone happen to notice the Loveless reference with the butterflies last chapter? I stole Soubi's lines a bit...

Warnings: Abusive!AmericaxJapan, eventual GreecexJapan, angst, boy love, and all that stuff. Not a political opinion in any way and entirely fictional!

The italics are a flashback, just in case someone gets confused.

Fragments 2

Kiku rested his aching head against the rich wood of the foot board in Heracles' guest room as he ran his fingers through the fur of the small tabby in his lap. Greece had left earlier for a meeting, though he had offered to skip it in light of the events earlier that day. Japan had insisted he not miss his meeting, seeing as nations were usually called in only for matters of extreme importance, claiming that the day had had no such effect on him that required Heracles miss a business appointment. Of course that was an outright lie and Greece would return home to find a distraught Japan who was more shattered than anything.

Alfred – yes, actually Alfred, not America as the two were entirely different lately – had arrived about noon the day after Kiku's discussion with Arthur. He was dressed formally, for him that counted as jeans and a button down shirt, and looked as if he had kicked a puppy only to immediately regret it. His eyes were watery and sparkling behind Texas just as Kiku had predicted and even Nantucket seemed less attentive than usual. Greece had left them alone in his living room, being sure to sit in his room close by just in case he was needed. A few cats stayed behind as well, gathering around Kiku in a small pile ready to spring if they felt him to be in any danger – they had taken to him as if he were a second Greece in the two days he had been there; one he'd even named after the Greek because it liked to fall asleep at strange times and places and was the most attached to him.

"Kiku...Why are you surrounded by cats?" Alfred eyed the cats warily, they seemed to enjoy glaring back at him.

"They are rather attached to me..."

"Ah...Kiku, what I've done was really unheroic, but you know I love ya' right?"

Alfred looked slightly hurt when Kiku didn't respond. Not that he didn't want to, he didn't trust himself to. He had made up his mind last night after waking up to find he'd cried to Heracles a second time; he would not be going back to Alfred. The decision was tentative and he knew that if Alfred did not have the problems with his nation that he did he'd have been back at his place the moment he walked through the door, but that was not the case. Maybe once things cooled down in America he would consider it, but it was a very unlikely situation.

"Kiku please. I swear, a hero's honor, it will never happen again."

"Can you really promise me that Alfred? You said the last time as well and the promise was never kept." His voice had no feeling, it was as if they were having a war meeting instead of a discussion of relationship issues. Alfred recognized it as well and changed his strategy.

"I uh...well, I got you something yesterday...to apologize."

He stuck a out a red box, a silver ring nestled in a small tuft of black velvet. It was elegant and something that Kiku would have been comfortable wearing...under different circumstances of course.

"You think proposing will change what you did?"

"Well...yeah, who doesn't want to marry a hero?"

Really he shouldn't have expected a better answer. Sometimes the American was too dense for his own good.

"And what happens should you break your promise again? And what of Arthur-san? I know about what has been going on with him as well."

"You actually know about that...?" he didn't sound so heroic anymore. He sounded scared.

"You were planning to marry me without mentioning that you had been cheating? I thought you were a different kind of man Alfred."

He was struggling to keep talking now. He wanted to accept the ring and return to America with him, but that wouldn't help anything. The problems would still be there, they would always be there. He had to stay strong and forget trying to fix things now. He gripped his pocket tightly, gald it was hidden by Heracles the cat's sleeping form.

"Do you love him?"

The question startled both Kiku and Alfred. He didn't want the answer, he knew what it was going to be, he just wanted to hear it come from Alfred's mouth and not his own mind.

"Of course I love him." Kiku's heart sunk to his stomach. "He raised me, after all, it'd be cruel if I didn't love him even after declaring independence. He'd have been robbed of my awesomeness and all."

He was avoiding the question, they both knew it.

"You know I meant if you were in love with Arthur-san, Alfred."

Alfred sighed, setting the ring on the table between them.

"Yes Kiku, I love him."

He was positive he didn't have a heart anymore. Surely there was no way someone could have a heart after that. It had been ripped out. Yes, that was what that pain was. That was why he was gripping that pocket so hard. He had ripped out his heart and now it was lying in that pocket, as broken as the vase.

"Then I believe you should leave America. Please take the ring with you as well, I have no need for it."

He didn't meet Alfred's eyes and remained silent until he was alone, even as Alfred placed a kiss to his cheek on is way out. He didn't look up from Heracles the cat until he was positive Alfred was long gone and Greece was asking him if he was alright in his sleepy way.

He wasn't sure how to answer that; was he okay? He felt as of he'd been run over by one of those monster trucks that Alfred had gone to see once. Everything hurt and he felt as if he wasn't even part of his own body. No, he wasn't okay. He didn't think he would be okay again for a very long time.

Kiku let his tears fall silently down his cheeks. They landed on Heracles the cat who proceeded to ruffle his fur and use Kiku's chest as leverage to lick the man's nose in comfort. He smiled slightly at the cat, thanking him as the cat returned to his nap in a dryer area of Kiku's clothes, when Heracles the person pulled Kiku to his arms to allow the man to cry as much as he wanted. There were stains on Heracles' shirt, which Kiku apologized for between sobs, but the Greek refused to let the smaller man go until he needed to leave for his meeting.

And now he was alone – sans Heracles the cat – to sulk over his decision to force Alfred out of his life as much as possible. He had wanted to accept that ring, he wanted it more than he had wanted that salted salmon that tie Germany decided he was on a Alfred loved Arthur, not him, it would have been shameful to accept, especially considering that he was not planning to admitting to his relations with Arthur.

No, he was going to hurt, but he was not going back to Alfred.

~*~

When Greece returned home, Kiku had fallen asleep on the floor with Heracles the cat curled beneath his chin and his tail wrapped around his neck.

Heracles smiled sadly at Kiku's shivering body, picking him up and gently laying him on the bed. The cat leaped to his side, choosing to sleep above the man's head. Heracles thanked it for keeping him company while he was out, running his knuckles over the soft fur of its back.

Kiku shivered and groaned in his sleep, murmuring something unintelligible and most likely Japanese. Heracles frowned and pulled the comforter up to Kiku's shoulders, brushing a few stray hairs from his forehead before placing a small kiss to it.

Kiku shifted again, forcing Greece to step back and wait for the man to wake up. When nothing happened after several moments he left the man to sleep in peace. He had to plan for tomorrow.

~*~

"Japan~! I came to play with you because you're sad and lonely!"

Feliciano burst through Greece's door carrying as much pasta as he could ("Pasta makes everything better ve~!"), along with tomatoes and who knew what else, singing at the top of his lungs. Heracles had called him over for a while, seeing as he was the closest nation that he knew Japan got along with that wasn't Turkey. Japan needed a friend, not someone trying to get him to "become one" with him in a way similar to France. That, and he didn't want he house to stink later.

"Italy-kun? What are you doing here?"

"Greece called me and said you needed a friend while he was out ve~!"

He nodded, accepting Feliciano's company and listening to his stories of Spain, Romano and Germany while trying to understand why he felt less broken when he heard that Greece had worried over him to this extent.

~*~

Alfred was surprised to find Heracles at his door. He was even more surprised when he asked for any of Japan's belongings. He wasn't entirely dense, he knew he and Japan were no longer together, he'd just been expecting the man to come retrieve his items himself. The fact that Greece had come instead...made him mad.

He helped the Greek carry Japan's sparse collection of items to his rental car, silently fuming at the man's lazy – though normal – attitude. He was actually more annoyed by the fact that Kiku had gone to him for help. He muttered something about them possibly having a relationship and how rude it was of Kiku to penalize him for the same thing under his breath. Unfortunately for him, Greece heard it and the lazy nation had Alfred pinned to the wall of his house in record time and was glaring daggers at the blond.

"Gr-Greece, what are ya' doin' man?"

"Japan and I have nothing going on." He let some of his anger for the man slip into his voice, making it as cold as ice and watched as America grew silent. "And if you had one tenth of the sense most people have, you would realize what you threw away so carelessly."

He pushed America in to the wall one last time before releasing him and heading to his car. America coughed for a moment, watching as the Greek drove away.

"Ah...so he feels that way, huh."

~*~

Greece was still fuming as he got on his flight home. The nerve of America to even suggest that Japan, that Kiku, would ever do what he had. It was ridiculous and probably the most idiotic idea the nation had ever conceived.

Not that he would have minded being in any kind of intimate relationship with Kiku, it just wasn't how the Japanese worked. If he knew about that small kiss the night before or the significance it held for him, not to mention the fact that the man had actually allowed him to hold him as he cried, he would find himself in a very empty house.

Yes, he was in love with Japan, or rather he was in love with Kiku. He had been for a while, but never felt the need to tell him when he was perfectly happy with Alfred. Not to say he was glad to see their relationship fall apart, he hated to see Kiku like this, but he was happy to have a chance to at least show the man how he felt. There was no way he was going to tell him, it would only cause him more problems than were needed at the moment, but he could be there for him and with luck Kiku could come to return his feelings once he was over Alfred. Sure, it may take a while, but he was nation, he had plenty of time. The only thing was if he could wait as long before stealing more than a peck on the forehead.

Oh yeah! Go Greece! I love making him protective of Japan. It's so cute! The salted salmon reference is from the strip ironically called "Salted Salmon." I thought it worked when I wrote this lol. Aws little Kiku has no idea he's falling in love! So cute! and I really want a cat names Heracles now, but my dad hates cats and I don't think my dog would be too happy about one either... yeah. Did anyone ever notice how people like to propose after having a really bad fight in T.V. shows? Like that makes everything go away or something.

What will America do now that he knows Greece lurves Japan? I have no idea! Reviews are love peoples! Everyone loves love!