I don't own Hetalia. If I did, Japan would babysit their adopted daughter when they went out.
"Where did that girl go?"
"I don't know. Maybe you should ask your little unicorn friend?"
"Quiet, you! Why do you follow me around, anyways?"
"Ohohoho~n!"
England glared at his blond rival. Someday I'll rip that annoying goatee right of his stupid face... he muttered to himself, looking around for Seychelles.
"Oh, look, there she is," said France, pointing to her across the ship.
"I'm going to go to her. Can't have her making alliances...You stay here!"
France did as he was told. He would talk with Seychelles later...
Meanwhile, Seychelles was making her way towards Latvia. He was talking with several other countries she didn't know.
"Hey!" she said, waving at them.
"Why hello there. Um, who're you?" asked Estonia, confused as to just who this pretty girl greeting them was. (As you know, girls are kind of rare in Hetalia. Oh, and she had changed into a swimsuit, like many other countries on the ship.)
"Hey! Fancy meeting you again." said Latvia, shocking everyone around him by knowing this mysterious girl. "You look really hot in that-"
"Latvia!" yelped Lithuania, "That's no way to greet a girl!"
"Who is she?" asked Estonia.
"I'm Seychelles, an island nation off the coast of Africa. Um, you?"
Estonia gave a dazzling smile. "Estonia. Pleased to meet you."
Lithuania smiled as well. "I'm Lithuania."
Finland began to speak, but was cut off by Sweden. "I'm Sweden. And this is my wife, Finland."
"Heheh...That joke never gets old, does it? Heh...heh..." Finland stuttered, laughing desperately trying to lighten the mood. Sweden had a tendancy of makig people feel odd.
Sweden gave him a completely serious stare. Everyone else waited around, the awkwardness increasing with every passing second.
Luckily, the silence was broken rather quickly by England, who had finally made it over to Seychelles and her new friends. "What are you doing, Seychelles?" he inquired accusingly.
"Took you long enough to get up. What is it, one o'clock?" said Seychelles defiantly. "I'm talking to my new friends. I met Latvia this morning, and everyone else I met just now."
"I see," said England disapprovingly, "Well, I don't think you should be talking to strangers without my consent. I mean, if they turned out to be-"
"Oh come on!" Seychelles cut in, sick of England's rules, "Now you're going to try to stop me from talking to people? No way."
"Now you listen here young lady-" England's lecture was cut short again by Poland returning from his spa day.
"Heeey!" he called, running towards the group. When he reached them, he started talking to Lithuania, apparently not noticing Seychelles or England. "Have you seen this pool? It's, like, the biggest pool ever! We should totally go swimming."
"That sounds great," said Lithuania, who didn't really have a choice because he was being dragged away by his best friend.
England still wanted to give Seychelles a piece of his mind. "Well, you gentlemen can, but neither me nor my territory here will join you."
"I don't know why you always decide for me, England. I'd love to. Meet you over there in ten minutes?" asked Seychelles, pointing across the pool.
Everyone agreed and left, leaving England alone to wonder if he was being too hard on Seychelles.
Meanwhile, the Italy brothers and Germany were already swimming.
"Take that, potato bastard!" yelled Romano, splashing Germany with all his might.
"Gah!" exclaimed Germany, blinking the water out of his eye. "Don't you have something better to do than antagonize-YEESH!"
France burst out of the water just a little way from Germany, laughing hysterically. "Something wrong~?"
"That goes double for you..." said Germany in a threatening voice.
"What did he do?" asked Italy.
"Thankfully he just grabbed my foot." Germany was genuinely relived. "But I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled me under..."
France winked. "Keeping it rated G, are we?"
Germany would have responded, but just at that moment America began to yell. "HERE I GOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed, yelling all the way to the pool, where he landed with a loud splash. He swam over to Romano, who was completely confused. "Spain, did you see that? THE MOTHER OF ALL CANNONBALLS!"
Romano was furious, because that's his default emotion. "How could you mistake me for that jerk!"
"Sorry, dude, I don't have my glasses. You're...uh..."
"ROMANO!"
"Right. Really sorry!" He blinked furiously, determined to get the other people right. "Uuh...France, Italy, and...Sweden? What're you doing with Germany's-"
"I'm Germany." said Germany, slapping his hand to his forehead.
"Right." said America. Then he turned to thin air. "And I didn't miss you either, bro."
"Who're you talking to?" asked Italy.
"Canada."
"Who?" asked Italy. "I can't see him..."
"I-I've been here the whole time..." said a soft voice no louder than a whisper.
"Can't you see him?" asked France. His question was answered by the complete silence that followed it.
Canada gave an inaudible little sigh of defeat and swam off in another direction. Italy, Romano, and Germany just looked confused.
"Hey! Canada! Where are you going?" called America.
Any response was too quiet to hear.
"Ooh, look, you scared him off." said France, getting closer to Romano, "Looks like I'll have to punish you..."
"YOU CREEP!" screeched Romano, splashing furiously and swimming away from France. France just laughed and headed over to Italy. Germany blocked his path, but this didn't stop him.
"Don't worry, Germany, you'll get a turn, too." he winked.
Germany kept a straight face. "We both know I'm going to say no."
"Your lips say 'No, no,' but your eyes say 'Oui, oui.' "
Germany did the smart thing and went away, taking Italy with him. Romano followed, not wanting to be left alone with France.
France turned around, expecting to see America, but he was nowhere to be found. He wondered where the blond nation was. He didn't have to look long, for soon enough he spotted him at the top of the high dive, screaming, "I'M THE HEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" as he fell.
Japan leaned against the side of the ship, wanting to relax after a traumatic ride with Italy the day before. A gentle sea breeze blew through his black hair. He closed his almond eyes, wishing he could stay this calm forever. As if mocking his pleasure with this tranquility, Greece and Turkey strolled up, bickering as usual.
"Japan likes ME best!" said Turkey in his loud voice, a somewhat tall man with a white mask and the beginnings of a beard lining his chin.
"No...he obviously...likes me more..." said Greece in his slow, monotonous voice. He was already annoyed that he was only allowed one cat on the ship, (and even that he had to fight for,) which rested on top of his head of long brown hair.
"C'mon Japan, who do you like best?"
"U-um..." stuttered Japan, unable to think of a way to avoid the question. He didn't like making decisions like this that could offend someone. Luckily for him, a sharp-witted friend just happened to notice them.
"It's hard to think he'd like either of you, acting like that." said Taiwan, an intelligent girl with shoulder-length hair with pink flowers and a single black lock drooping down on one side.
Greece and Turkey turned around, a little confused. Neither of them had seen her before. "Who are you?" asked Turkey.
"Taiwan." she replied.
"Oh..." began Greece, "You're that...Chinese territory...right...?"
"According to China." said Taiwan. "Let me guess-Greece and Turkey?"
"Yeah, nice job." said Turkey.
"How did you...know...?" asked Greece.
"I've heard plenty about you from Japan." she told him.
"Oh really? Like what?" asked Turkey. Taiwan began to tell, as Japan faded into the background-far enough to stay unnoticed, but close enough to butt in just in case Taiwan said something he didn't want these two to hear.
"Well, he says that he likes cats," she said, "and also that he-"
"Helps him with his Japanese!" said a flustered Japan, butting in, "Greece is very interested in Japanese."
"What about me?" asked Turkey, not wanting to think that Japan was more fond of his rival than him.
"He said you're very, uh, friendly," said Taiwan. His exact words were 'overly friendly,' but what Turkey didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
Turkey, Greece and Taiwan walked over to a table and sat down, where they continued to talk about Japan. The subject of their conversation only spoke when necessary to keep Taiwan from saying something he didn't want the other two to know. Eventually the subject changed, and he, too, was able to relax.
Don't be shy now; review! I won't bite, promise.
Originally I was going to end this chapter right before their conversation, but it felt kind of incomplete. So, I decided to let Japan take it easy in the end. This ship seems to really calm everyone down, doesn't it? I know that Lithuania and Taiwan are two of the more nervous characters, but I tried to make them more relaxed. Because it'd be a shame to stress out on a lovely cruise like this!
Speaking of Taiwan, I wasn't sure how to write as her, never having read a strip with her in it. But, I really wanted to have her in this just the way, don't think I forgot the intruder~ There just wasn't room in the chapter to include any of his thoughts...
Thank you for reading!