All The "Else"

"Ukrainian Sector is different," Kat told him one day when she came over. Arthur had insisted on making them treats so now Angus and Matthew were both trying to save their household's reputation by not letting Kat eat anything that Arthur would make by himself. "More people drink."

"Drink...?" Kiku repeated, at a loss for what that meant.

"Alcohol," she mimed the act of imbibing it. "I not see many people do here."

"Maybe it is more private?" he suggested.

Kat shrugged. "You live with your brothers, yes?"

"Three of them, currently, and occasionally one of my sisters," he nodded. "Yao is in charge. None of the rest of us are Chinese, except Xiu. Maddox is only half Chinese. Yong Soo comes from the Korean Sector and I was involved in a mix up. Brother Yao did not want me to return and went through the trouble of making everything official so I could stay with him."

"He must love you a lot!" Kat said happily, a big smile on her face.

Kiku supposed that was true, though sometimes Yao had a weird way of showing it. An annoying way of showing it. "What about you? Surely you have missed your family."

"Yes, I have," she agreed. "But it is not as large as your family. Just mama and papa and me. They came from different sectors, but both work for same company. They met because of work visa. I was born while they were in Ukrainian Sector – they went there many times – then they settled there."

"How fascinating," Kiku mused. "Not too many people from different sectors marry."

"And I know it technically doesn't make me Ukrainian," the girl admitted, looking even shyer than usual. "I'm half Russian and half Belarusian. It not much problem! No one picks on me. I don't know if they even know sometimes."

It was odd, now that Kiku was thinking about such things. How many people lived in sectors when they were not actually the nationality of that sector? Yet they were all separated. Why was this? Why? Why was it that he would only be here for six months and then never again?

Kiku realized he did not want to leave the English Sector. Even though it was a long time from now. All of the bonds he was making here... what would become of them?

"What do your parents do?" he asked.

"Agricultural economics and culinary arts."

He was sure there was a company with those things included, but when talked about separately like that he could not think of one.

"Food just 'bout done," Angus said as he walked in with a couple of drinks. The look on his face was a bit tired, but it did not look like they had been defeated. He handed one of the cups to Kat. "Matt might need a bit of help with the other stuff. D'you mind...?"

"Not at all!"

With that, Kiku entered the kitchen with Katyusha's story on his mind. Her parents settled down in a sector neither of them were raised in. The idea seemed so alien.

It reminded him of how Alfred seemed insistent Tony was an alien. Kiku believed him. It was hard not to. Kiku did not think Alfred really had it in him to lie well. And on the subject of what they had been discussing...

It made sense.

"Why are you leaving him alone with her, eh?" Matthew hissed when Kiku entered the kitchen.

"...eh?" Kiku blinked owlishly.

Matthew did not respond, simply grabbing a plate and following his other brother's path out of the room. Leaving Kiku confused.

Arthur chuckled as he handed Kiku a bowl, of which Kiku took with one hand. "I swear, I would have forgotten how strange it was to be that age if not for those kids."

"...what?" Kiku asked as Arthur handed him another plate.

"Never you mind," Arthur admonished. "You don't need to get mixed up with their drama."

Kiku nodded wordlessly, deciding if that was the case to remain in the kitchen for a bit longer. Plus, Matthew did just leave. If Kiku left than Arthur would be alone in the kitchen. Kiku knew how to spell disaster. It was just different than it sounded. And it was a sentence of four English words.

Arthur in the kitchen.

"Can... I ask you something?" Kiku asked as Arthur thankfully was only cleaning up.

"Of course."

"How is it..." Kiku paused as he considered how to say it in this language. "How have you and Yao stayed in touch so long?"

Arthur stopped what he was doing, looking over at Kiku. "How have we stayed in touch?" he repeated.

"I know both you and Yao are very prompt with correspondence," Kiku continued, "but you have not seen each other since you both met in the Russian Sector."

For a few moments Arthur did not reply. Then he smiled and went back to cleaning. "It's not like we have many second chances. It's just another incentive not to lose contact with the people you care about."

Kiku knew Yao too well, perhaps. For some reason it made too much sense that Yao would have written something that would have gotten on Arthur's nerves. Or even the other way around. The personalities of both of them seemed to make that possibility likely.

Which was when he realized how it would seem to his brothers, or Matthew and Angus, about his own correspondence with Alfred. And they had never met. What if (because of never meeting) they did fall apart? And he would be writing to Angus when he left, would he not? And Matthew when he left?

And Katyusha.

"I know it hurts to think about now," Arthur said. "It's worth it though, Kiku. When you look back on all of this... I know you will see that."

At this very moment, Kiku could not see it. It seemed like making friends in another sector was for the sole purpose of making him feel miserable right now. He took the food he had been given and returned to the other room, where it seemed everything was fine. It was probably fine only because Kat was so oblivious and did not get the fact that Angus was trying to ask her out and that Matthew was trying to shut Angus up.

It was fine until Kat left and Matthew and Angus started bickering again. Kiku munched on the last of the food and watched them like they were some sort of reality show.

"It's just a bad idea!" Matthew finally exclaimed. "She goes back in less than two months!"

"I know that!" Angus retorted.

Kiku could not tear his eyes away, even though the entire situation was starting to hurt his head. It really was not his place to get involved, after all.

"Then what was all that?" Matthew said, waving his hand as if to help recall what had just been going on in the room.

"I was just talkin' to her!"

With this, Kiku would have sided with Angus. Angus usually became awkward when talking with Katyusha. Matthew was really thinking too much about it.

Then again, Matthew was right. She would be gone and there really was no point in trying to make anything more of it.

Why am I here? I will not matter in five months.

"Matt? Let's stop."

"What?"

Kiku realized that Angus noticed he was still in the room. Both boys instantly looked sheepish. Kiku decided he had liked everything a lot better before people had started paying attention to him.

"Sorry!" he squeaked before rushing out of the room as naturally as possible. Which of course meant he would bump into Arthur as soon as he entered the next room. "Sorry!"

"Sometimes I wonder about those two," Arthur tutted as he guided Kiku into his study.

Surprisingly, Kiku found himself provided with tea. As it seemed that was the one thing that neither Matthew or Angus seemed bothered with Arthur making (then again, neither of them seemed to drink all that much tea) Kiku was able to squelch his first instinct of throwing the consumable substance far away from him.

He sipped at it, despite the knot he felt in his throat. It certainly was not like any tea he would have drunk at home, but it was not bad. Kiku took another sip. Glancing up over at Arthur, who was drinking from his own cup while sitting at his desk, Kiku's head hurt a little less.

"There was a year Yao and I lost track of each other," Arthur finally said as he set his tea down.

"...oh?"

"The best part about rotation is that you are never the only person on it." The elder man smiled. "We both made quite a few friends while over there. I write all of them, as does Yao."

"Does it bother you that you have never seen any of them again?" Kiku tried not to blurt out the question, but was unable to help himself.

"But I have," Arthur shrugged. "Maybe not as often as I'd like, but that is not the point. True friendship is not affected by time and distance. When you can start up talking to someone like you just did so yesterday, even while you are spending the entire time catching up... when you care about them whether or not they have contacted you for a while. That is true friendship."

"If it isn't?" Kiku asked desperately.

Arthur did not say anything.

Kiku stared back down into his tea cup.

"Then you have made experiences to aide you in the future. Nothing done can really be considered a waste. It's taught you something new."

Finally, Kiku felt his headache and the knot in his throat disperse.

"I spent a lot of time questioning the same thing," Arthur explained. "But even if I never heard from any of them again... I would not wish that I never met any of them. I have a lot to thank them for. Now finish your tea. It's getting late and there are some chores that need to be done before bed. Don't forget you have school tomorrow."

"Thank you."

Leaving the room with the used cups, he (once again) nearly crashed into Angus as he turned around after closing the door.

"Sorry about earlier," Angus said, no hesitation in his voice. "It's easy to forget that you aren't family."

There was nothing Kiku could say to that. He had barely been here for over a month. Did he really fit in that well?

"Funny how mature Arthur can be," Matthew commented. "And hypocritical. He doesn't follow any of that advice when around Francis."

Just because someone did not always take their own advice did not make it bad advice.

"It is okay," Kiku said to the both of them. "I do not mind. I..."

"Got overwhelmed?" Angus suggested.

"Happens to the best of us," Matthew assured him.

"And the worst," Angus added. "It's a sectoral truth."

Kiku nodded. Matthew took the cups and he joined Angus to make dinner before Arthur could escape his office.

Before bed, Kiku sat at his desk, putting all of his homework in his bag for tomorrow. In front of him lay his latest letter from Alfred and his latest attempt at a response.

Dear Alfred...

He could not write it down.

Will you ever forget about me?

Kiku wondered about all the jobs that would give someone a work visa.


People are people, no matter where they are.