Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers. All rights belong to its creators.

Part 1: Chapter 5: Beneath

Natalia showed up to the Kicking Ticker the next night, a bundle of purple hyacinths in her arms and shoved them into the blonde cashier's face.

"I'm sorry." She said, as Arthur gathered them in his arms.

"How do you know I'm not allergic to these?"

In a panic Natalia scrambled to take them back. "Oh fuck!"

But she was halted by Arthur taking a step back, a smirk on his lips, mischief in his eyes.

Natalia pursed her lips. Bastard.

"Don't worry there are plenty of other ways for you to kill me."

Natalia felt her cheeks warm with blush as she shook her head. "Please believe me, I didn't want to hurt you. I won't do anything like that again."

"No harm done. I've been meaning to return your knife anyway." He said, placing the flowers beside the register and pulling the knife out of his pocket. He handed it to her and Natalia took it with an appreciative nod. She noticed it was wrapped into a handkerchief.

Her knife had been cleaned, almost as if it were brand new, the blade just as sharp as it was then too.

"So does this mean you want to date me now?"

"I suppose you're not completely terrible to be around although you tried to kill me. So why not?"

Natalia reached up and was going to kiss him square on the lips but he quickly covered her mouth.

"Have you no modesty woman?!" She settled for kissing his hand instead, to which he let out an undignified yelp. His cheeks cherry red with blush, as he uncovered her mouth. "W-what is wrong with you?" His voice high pitched and shrill.

"A parting gift." She said before leaving out of the store and to her own home.

At home in her bed, she held up the handkerchief to her face and sniffed, smelling roses and generic male cologne before she fell into the deep abyss of sleep.

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They had a squash festival every year but Natalia never went after her mother stopped taking her and her siblings as a family. They stopped going when Natalia was about nine years old, coincidently when she got her reputation as the town weirdo. No one wants to be near the girl who murdered her family's cat without a shred of remorse. She remembered that she and Boris never really got along; he was Ivan's cat, and they loved each other, not her.

But there in front of her were two tickets and one beaming Italian American, "I was thinking we could double date!"

Natalia raised a curious eyebrow, "Double date? Since when did you start dating someone?" She was currently at the Kicking Ticker, actually doing some grocery shopping, about three weeks from the last time she was here.

Feliciano flirted with anything in a skirt, and it was hard to tell if he genuinely liked someone or was just being nice. He loved giving women compliments, and helping them whenever he could. Natalia was impervious to his charms, because she'd been around him for so long.

"Technically we're not dating. But I thought it would be fun!" He lowered his voice, "And maybe it could lead somewhere." Feliciano wiggled his eyebrows.

"Sure." Natalia said snatching the tickets. "So who's the lucky girl?" Natalia asked.

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They were earlier than Feliciano and Marianne. She should have expected Feliciano to be late, the man was never punctual to anything, and the only reason he got away with it at his job was because Lovino didn't have enough willpower to care.

"Figures with Marianne with him. She can't go anywhere without fixing herself up as though she's going to some fancy gala." Arthur rolled his eyes, "We might as well start the festivities, it'll be a while before they get here." Arthur said leading the way from the entrance.

Natalia took one last look at the entrance before following Arthur. "Which one do you want to go to first?" He asked her, his eyebrows wrinkled and his mouth turned into a frown.

"Are you ok?" She asked him, lightly gripping his arm. How had his mood been spoiled so quickly?

"Yeah, sure. I guess it'll only be the two of us."

"Is that not a good thing?" She asked, tightening her grip on his arm and pressing herself against him.

He looked at her, and she could see pastel pink blush covering his cheeks, a brief look of surprise before he frowned again. "W-well people should stick to their commitments! Being punctual is just good manners! We shouldn't have to change our plans because they're incompetent!" He let out a breath, "Oh look there's the crossbow shoot. How about I win you something."

He said, pulling out of her grip to walk over there. Natalia pursed her lips but followed him anyway.

He paid the man about 25 cents, and in order to win a prize he had to shoot the marked ducks that moved back and forth amidst the other non marked ducks. Armed with the small crossbow she watched as he shot the little arrows with acute precision.

Natalia blinked upon seeing him shoot down all three marked ducks. "What does the little lady want?" The man running the stand asked her. Natalia picked out the stuffed brown bunny that was almost half her size.

She hugged it to her chest, almost strangling the bunny's neck. Natalia felt blush warm her cheeks. "No one has ever won me anything before."

"Well I did archery ever since I was younger, my mum would send my brothers and I to summer camp every year. I wasn't that great at tent pitching but I could shoot arrows. So it was no problem really." He said brushing her off with a click of his wrist.

"Hey! You guys started without us!" Natalia heard the high pitched yell of none other than Feliciano. Feliciano pouted, and was joined by a beautiful blonde woman. She looked like she could be a model, but with Natalia's luck, she probably was.

"Of course they did, Feli, Arthur can't take the stick out if his derrière long enough to have waited."

"Well you should be on time." Arthur said, crossing his arms.

"I wouldn't expect you to know what it is like to actually try to look your best." She said before taking a moment to look him over. "Oh non, my mistake, that is your best." The woman said, her expression condescending.

"If you couldn't tell we're at a carnival Marianne, not a cotillion, but I guess it can't be helped. You were always an attention whore." His eyes narrowed.

Natalia glanced at Feliciano whose expression was that of unease.

"Well! Natalia, this is Marianne Bonnefoy. She's a fashion model. She's in town for a few months for a shoot in Srafbridge." Feliciano gestured to the woman, "And Marianne this is Natalia Braginski, she works at the local funeral home." Then he gestured to her.

"Oh you poor thing! Natalia you look lovely but you could do so much better than him." Marianne said, giving her a smile.

Natalia frowned, gritting her teeth, and gave her a cold glare. Natalia did not like this woman.

The woman's smile dropped and she looked apologetic. "I didn't mean to offend. It is actually nice that you are together. I was worried Arthur would die alone, he is quite stubborn you know."

Natalia held out her hand, "Nice to meet you." She muttered.

"Tres bon! I hope we will be seeing more of each other." Marianne shook her hand rapidly, gripping her hand lightly as her smile got even wider. Natalia hoped this was the last she'd see of her, but of course it probably wouldn't be.

"Great, now that that's out of the way, why don't we play some games?" Feliciano suggested.

Feliciano wanted to play Whack-a-mole next to win Marianne a prize. Natalia, not having played any games yet, went up against him.

"I'm sorry little guys." Feliciano quietly said to the game, taking a mallet.

"They're not real moles." Natalia said, taking the other mallet.

"I know, but I still don't want to hurt them."

And soon the buzzer went off and her first mole popped through the hole. Natalia landed a hard smack to it with her mallet.

Natalia kept hitting the moles as they came up, until one slipped back into its hole. "Fucking sneaky bastard!"

And soon their three minutes were over. Natalia was surprised to have gotten 800 and even more to see that Feliciano scored 1000 points. "What?" Natalia's eyes widened.

"Oh! I thought you would have beaten me for sure! But that's ok, I'm sure you'll win another game." Feliciano gave her a small smile before turning to Marianne, "Marianne what stuffed animal would you like?"

Marianne ended up getting a stuffed lion. "Look at it's full mane!" She said, puffing it out with her fingers. She gave Feliciano a kiss on the cheek, "Merci mon cher."

Marianne then gave it back to Feliciano to hold. "I want to take a turn. Would you like to play against me, my little grouch?" She shifted her cobalt blue eyes to meet prasiolite green.

"I would love nothing more than to rub it in your face after I win." He said, a challenging smirk on his face, as he took a mallet.

"Don't tell lies Arthur. You know I will be the one rubbing it in your face." She said, taking the other mallet.

Once the buzzer went off, Natalia had never seen such intense focus. They whacked those moles as though their lives depended on it. "Should I cheer? I'm a little scared." Feliciano said clutching the lion in his arms.

Marianne was ultimately the winner with 1200 points to Arthur's 1150. "See I told you! In your face!" She pointed a manicured nail right between his eyes.

Arthur grit his teeth, "This isn't over. There are plenty more games I could beat you in."

"I'd like to see you try." She picked out a stuffed turtle for Feliciano.

"There is the water gun shooter game! I could beat you in that!"

"We'll see about that!"

Natalia almost jumped out of her skin as Arthur grabbed her arm and started to pull her over towards said game, she looked over to see Feliciano in a similar state, being pulled by Marianne.

Feliciano and she stood, watching as the two slammed 25 cents on the counter in unison before sitting down to shoot water through the scarecrows' mouths, filling the balloons over their heads.

Arthur won this game. And stood triumphantly as his balloon popped first.

"Now we're tied. So we have to play another one to break it. Don't look so smug yet." Marianne said.

Arthur picked out a stuffed unicorn for Natalia before giving it to her to hold.

"Alright, I can beat you twice."

So they went through game after game: strength test, ball toss, cornhole, ect; piling Feliciano and Natalia with stuffed animals.

"Isn't there something we could do together?" Feliciano asked, not liking the fierce competition, and the fact that none of them were really having fun. But the two were arguing about what game to play next because they were currently tied so they didn't answer his question.

"God fucking damnit! Are we your dates or your fucking butlers? Let's go on the fucking bumper cars! Feliciano and I drive; I'm sick and tired of walking around with these stupid stuffed animals while you two try to one up each other!" Natalia spoke up then, dropping all of the animals onto the ground.

The other two blonds looked at her, blinking.

Natalia stomped in the direction of the bumper cars and turned to see none of them followed her, still shocked. "Did I fucking stutter? Bumper cars, now!" She yelled, beyond furious, and Feliciano yelped, running ahead of them.

"Okay, alright. Calm down mon cheri. I realize we might have gotten carried away." Marianne said, a pout on her lips, eyes downcast as she walked over to put a gentle hand on Natalia's shoulder. Natalia shrugged it off.

"Get on the bumper cars and spend time with your date." She gave the blonde the most intense stare she could muster. Marianne flinched before she scampered ahead to join Feliciano in line.

Arthur started gathering up the stuffed animals she dropped. Natalia grit her teeth as the other man deliberately avoided her gaze. Once he'd picked him all up, she could see his cheeks pastel pink with blush. His mouth was twisted into a grimace, "I apologize, it was childish of me to stoop to Marianne's level." When he looked at her, his eyes softened, "At least keep one of these." Natalia felt her anger dissipating, as she walked over to him.

She forcefully grabbed the brown bunny and swiftly turned towards the bumper cars.

When Arthur joined the rest of them in line, the other animals were gone.

Natalia had fun for the first time tonight, slamming into other people and having Arthur practically cling to her as doing so almost knocked them out of their seats. "Could you maybe slow do-whoa!" She'd been hit by Feliciano, who in turn stuck his tongue out at her along with Marianne. She backed up and was going to try to bump them when someone else bumped into them instead.

When the ride ended, they had used up all of their change for the night. Also the festival was going to close soon.

"Ah well this was fun! I am so happy you invited me, Feli!"

"No problem, I am happy you could come." Feliciano said, giving her a hug.

Marianne then came over to her, expression apologetic. "And Natalia, I am truly sorry. Arthur and I..."

"What? Are you two past lovers or some shit?" Natalia said looking between the two blonds. It had been bothering Natalia all night. She wasn't stupid, she could feel the tension between them, friends or not, something was there.

Behind all the snarky remarks and insults there were some raw feelings, and in that moment she saw it all come down for Arthur first.

"Quoi? Non, you misunderstand, Natalia." Marianne said with a haughty laugh, a smile on her face only for Arthur to look at her as though he had given up.

"I was never good enough for you, was I Marianne?" He asked, the most sincere he's been all night.

Marianne's smile drops and she frowns, "I told you before, I could never feel that way about you." She paused before adding, "Maybe if it was before."

"Before what? I've analyised every single stupid moment we've had together! What chance did I miss? What didn't I do?" Arthur had stepped closer to her, anger flared up again.

Natalia noticed Marianne's nostrils flared. "I-I just can't! I've tried, it's not your fault! She said before her gaze flickered downwards, her mouth in a frown, lips pursed. "There's really nothing you can do. "Her voice was steely and firm.

"How is that fucking fair?!" He waved his arms around animatedly.

"It's not! I'm sorry, please just stop bringing it up!" She said hugging herself. "It hurts too much to think about." Her voice was quieter. The onset of tears were in her eyes and her gaze was not on him anymore.

"I think we should call it a night." Feliciano spoke up then, stepping in between them.

"No! I want fucking answers!" Arthur stomped forward pushing Feliciano out of the way.

"You're a different person ever since the accident." She said, almost bitter, as though it was something she'd said many times before. A default response. Her eyes still were not meeting his.

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean? Of course I'm different, anyone would be!" Arthur yelled, irritated. He watched her, and Marianne did not respond. Natalia noticed she'd pursed her lips, tight. Feliciano cast a nervous glance in Natalia's direction. Natalia did not regard him, focusing on Marianne as she left the three of them in silence, awaiting her response.

"Marianne, I'm tired, truly. I would like a fucking resolution to whatever it is between us."

"The boy I loved died with his brothers in that automobile accident!" She screamed in his face. Arthur was taken aback, a brief moment of shock. Natalia could assume that Marianne had never told him this last part before.

Natalia saw Feliciano gasp.

Well fuck that's harsh.

"How dare you say that!" Rage consumed him once again; a deflection of the hurt he was feeling; Natalia knew that reaction well.

And before any of them had a chance to react a smack echoed above the murmur of everyone at the festival. Natalia stood stunned as Marianne cupped her cheek.

It was as though time had stopped. Natalia looked between the two blonds. Marianne was shocked by the action too, fear, an overwhelming level of fear was in her eyes.

Feliciano mustering all of his strength managed to land a punch right to Arthur's jaw.

"Come osi colpire una donna!" He yelled, and Natalia had never seen the man so furious in her life.

He was never angry, annoyed maybe, but never angry enough to hit someone. Natalia gripped Arthur's arm and started to drag him away before the two of them got into a fight or he tried to hurt Marianne again.

"Sei meno uomo! La prossima volta che la vedrai, farai meglio a chiederle perdono!"

Feliciano's angry yelling in Italian was soon drowned out by the sounds of the festival as they walked towards the entrance.

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Natalia took Arthur to her home, she insisted on giving him an ice pack for his bruised cheek.

She made him sit at her kitchen table as she went to the bathroom to get the ice pack.

Coming back out she lightly pressed it to the area that was forming a bruise.

"I just keep fucking things up, don't I?"

"You were hurt. Sometimes we can't control ourselves."

He sighed, "I probably wouldn't have hit her before, like she said, I'm a different person now. You probably think I'm a terrible person as well."

"That's bullshit and you know it. I did almost slit your neck, if anyone's terrible it's me." She said, and noticed that got a small smile out of him. "Besides, I didn't know you before, but I fell in love with you anyway." Natalia shrugged. "That counts right?"

He met her midnight blue eyes with his prasiolite green eyes, suddenly reaching up to cup her face. "Do you really mean that?" He asked, voice just above a whisper.

Natalia furrowed her eyebrows. Did he not know that? It was common knowledge. That was why she spent time with him; she did say she wanted to marry him. He was the one who declined her marriage proposal.

"Of course, that's why I said it." And suddenly he pulled her down to press his lips against hers.

Natalia was so shocked she dropped the ice pack.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Criticism Welcome.

Translations from Google Translate, Sorry if they're inaccurate

Come osi colpire una donna! -How dare you hit a woman!

Sei meno uomo!-You are less of a man!

La prossima volta che la vedrai, farai meglio a chiederle perdono!-The next time you see her, you better beg her for forgiveness!