"Mr. Honda!" A voice whispered in Kiku's ear.

Kiku groaned and rolled over. It was much too early for this…

"Mr. Honda," the voice whispered again. "Where's your fire extinguisher?"

"My wha….?" Kiku mumbled, opening one eye slowly, before both snapped open. Oh god something was burning. "What?!"

Kiku sat bolt upright and looked around. No fire in the living room but… there appeared to be dark clouds coming from the kitchen. Above him crouched a very handsome stranger- wait, no, this was Alfred, his robot. Memories of the time before he went to sleep flooded back to him. He groaned again.

"I, uh… tried to make break-" Alfred glanced at the clock, which now read 1 PM. "Well, lunch? Anyways, do you have a fire extinguisher?"

"Dear God…." Kiku mumbled, and pulled himself up, stumbling to the kitchen, still half-asleep. A skillet on the stove was spewing out orange and red flames, causing the Japanese man to jump back, now fully awake. "Dear God!"

Scrambling for the fire extinguisher under the sink, he began spraying the fire rather furiously, even after the fire had disappeared, a somewhat panicked look on his face and his teeth gritted firmly in his mouth.

After a few minutes, he finally stopped, putting the fire extinguisher down and leaning against the counter, rubbing his eyes. That was… an eventful way to start the morning.

"Sorry…" Came the quiet voice of Alfred from behind the doorway. Glancing up, Kiku saw the robot halfway hidden by the door frame, looking rather dejected. There was no way Kiku could get upset at him…

"It's… fine," Kiku said, straightening and stretching out his back. "We can simply go out for food. Though…" He looked at Alfred, again noting that the man was in only boxers. "We must get you some more… appropriate clothing…"

"Huh?" Alfred glanced down at himself, now noticing that he was only in boxers. If the robot could have blushed, he probably would have. "O-oh… Y-yeah… that's…. probably a good idea…"

Disposing of what Kiku guessed was eggs, and rubbing his eyes again, Kiku walked back into his living room and searched through his clothes in his closet. Too small… too small…

He finally came upon a robe that was several sizes big. It was supposed to be a one-size-fits-all robe, but it was still too big for Kiku. It was somewhat odd for an outing, but it was all Alfred could wear to the clothing store, and when the man put it on, it fit well enough.

Grabbing his own clothes, he went to take his shirt off, when he remembered Alfred. He froze and glanced over his shoulder. Alfred stared back at him with oblivious innocence that he was preparing to watch Kiku change.

"Could you… wait for me outside?" He asked quietly. Alfred seemed confused at why Kiku wanted to be alone, but voiced no complaint as he stepped outside.

Kiku dressed himself carefully. Despite what he acted like on the outside, he was very self-conscious of the way he looked and dressed. He always struggled to find what made him look nice, but not stand out and seem self-centered. It took him a while, but he finally settled on a simple shirt, dress pants, and a warm jacket (The leaves were turning orange and already the fall chill was sweeping over Japan).

Stepping outside, he was surprised to see Alfred waving to someone, though when Kiku looked, the person was already gone. He caught only the glimpse of a dirty-blonde head of some child disappearing around the corner.

"Who was that?" he asked in confusion, looking at Alfred and leading the way to the elevator in his apartment complex.

"I don't know," Alfred admitted, hands in the oversized pockets of the robe. "It was a child. He was waving this little gun around saying 'Come with me! You're my prisoner! You gotta come with me!', and I wanted to play along, but I told him I was waiting for you."

"You could have played a little, Alfred-kun…" Kiku said softly. He couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt at ruining some child's fun.

"Well if I wasn't there when you came you would've been confused!" Alfred argued, before shrugging. "Anyways, he got all nervous after that. I bet he's not used to being told no. He was shaking like a leaf. Maybe he has a condition?"

"Maybe…" Kiku agreed, though couldn't help but find the child strange. With dirty-blonde hair, he was sure to stand out as a foreigner, yet Kiku couldn't recall seeing any foreign couples living in that building; let alone a child.

Deciding his lack of knowledge of his neighbors was a result of his desire to stay inside long periods of time, he put it out of his mind.

Still, he had the oddest notion that he was being watched all the way to the clothing store.

Sitting outside the changing room, Kiku tried his best to look normal, but people had noticed the strange man coming in with the small Japanese. Personal Robots weren't something unknown; after all, when Kirkland Industries came out with them for the first time, it was world-wide news. They were incredibly expensive, but it was such a rare idea. So far, no company came close to repeating it, and Arthur Kirkland himself assured that the secret was kept safe.

Still, they were incredibly hard to tell from normal people sometimes. Alfred's eyes glowed with a faint blue light, but during the day, it was hard to tell, and with the large robe on, Alfred's joints were all but hidden. That left Kiku in an awkward position, so he would explain quietly to anyone they stopped next to that cast him a curious glance.

"This is my personal robot," he'd say quietly, causing their curious looks to change to ones of shock and awe.

Alfred seemed to enjoy the attention, too. When he heard Kiku explain at a crossing light or on the subway, he'd look at the people who were suddenly taken with the idea they were standing next to a true Kirkland Robot, and flash a very well-practiced smile. Kiku actually blushed every time, and was glad that Alfred and whomever he had told were too preoccupied to notice. He almost wanted to tell Alfred how much he looked like a hero with that smile on.

Across the street, in a coffee shop, his deep brown eyes met with the green ones of a bespectacled man at the coffee shop across the street, snapping Kiku out of his thoughts. His hair was straight, and his fingers typed furiously on the keyboard of his laptop, but when they connected eyes, his fingers froze.

Kiku had hoped it was simply coincidence, but one rarely makes true eye contact with someone else through the glass of a store window and across a busy street. The fact that the eye contact, proving Kiku knew the man was there, threw the man off so much that he had stopped all he was doing in an attempt to sip his coffee and "act natural", wasn't helping Kiku's hopes. Something was certainly not right.

Starting to stand slowly, wondering if he should get a better view, the changing room door opened.

He glanced once at Alfred, back at the now-abandoned table of the coffee shop, and quickly back to Alfred, the odd moment now completely out of Kiku's mind.

Alfred's shirt was a deep blue, like his eyes, that dipped down to expose his collar bone and some of the skin beneath, while his jacket was a nice light grey hoodie, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing the darker underside. His pants were black jeans, while his shoes were some simple white and blue high-top sneakers, the laces untied (which Kiku would scold him on later).

He put his hands in his pockets and swayed from heel to toe, looking nervously at Kiku for his reaction.

"Well?" he asked. "How do I look?"

"You…" Kiku started, trying to find his voice. "You look… Well… I mean, good… And… yes, that will do… I mean, you look… nice… Not that I'm suggesting you look exceptionally nice- I mean, you do! But not in any way that may suggest…." Kiku trailed off, his face as red as a tomato at this point. "You look nice."

"Thank you?" Alfred said, grin plastered on his face, but it wasn't in a rude way, but rather a sort of endearing way. "Then let's get some other clothes and go!"

"Yes…" Kiku said, but couldn't help finding himself staring at Alfred when Alfred wasn't looking. It stayed like that the entire time they shopped at that store, and admittedly, several times after as well.

When they had bought several outfits, and some pajamas upon Alfred's shy request (despite he didn't even sleep in a bed), they walked out, Alfred carrying most of the bags.

"Now what?" Alfred asked curiously, clearly hoping for their day together to continue.

"Well…" Kiku said, looking at his watch. It was around 2 now…"We have time… and I'm a bit hungry, so we can get some food and visit the Shinjuku Gyoen to eat it?"

"The what?" Alfred asked, and Kiku paused. Of course… Alfred hadn't seen the Shinjuku Gardens before…

"It's a beautiful, large garden," he said. "You would need a whole day to explore every bit of it, but it's certainly a great place… I think you'll enjoy it."

Making a quick turn in their path, they instead found the Subway heading to that part of the large city, stopping by a small restaurant and getting some food to go (Kiku got teriyaki chicken on rice, as well as a reminder that Alfred was a robot and didn't need food), and headed along down a rather wide sidewalk. Down this street, the amount of trees on the right side became more and more abundant, until the gates came into view.

The gates were rather disappointing, and Kiku could feel Alfred start to tense a bit as he quickly lowered his expectations. They were old and had a deserted sort of feel to them, with a rusty coin booth where Kiku inserted 400 yen (he didn't bother fighting with the machine that Alfred was a robot, and therefore didn't need a ticket), and got his ticket and admission into the park.

The initial path led through a nice, forest-like area, as though on a nature preserve, and Alfred started to enjoy the tall trees and the fresh air (could Alfred enjoy the fresh air?).

It wasn't until they finally got through the maze of trees and to the beautiful center pond that Alfred fully understood why they had gone there.

The pond rippled softly, as the little islands covered in flowers and greenery of all sorts dotted its surface. A cherry blossom tree leaned over and tickled the water from behind a low fence that barely passed as a fence at all. The white, stone bridges went from island to island, allowing a path over the body of water, while little frogs jumped in from the rocky shores of the island, preferring to find their own way across. Over the distance, trees could be seen in colors of green, pink, and especially for the season of fall, oranges and reds. Alfred was rendered speechless.

With a soft smile, Kiku took Alfred's arm to guide him over the old-style bridges and to a small, shaded spot beneath a somewhat low (but not too low that they couldn't walk under it) tree, whose branches and leaves fanned out instead of up, as though providing an umbrella for them, and that was just what they used it for.

Finding a nice spot off the cobblestone path, Kiku ate his food with his chopsticks in silence, finding no reason to disrupt the beautiful scenery. He could see people walk by, mostly couples and the elderly, but there seemed to be serenity to this place as the frogs croaked and splashed, and the koi swam beneath the deep green-blue of the water. Birds sang many different songs somewhere in the distance, and he could smell, surprisingly not flowers, but simply life. The flowers were not bred to be potent, they were bred to live and grow as flowers in their completely natural beauty.

"This is… amazing…" Alfred whispered. Looking over at him, Kiku was surprised to find Alfred wiping at completely real tears in his eyes. "I never thought I'd see something like this… I figured the pictures I looked up in my head were as great, if not better, to the real thing… I can't…"

"Are you okay?" Kiku asked, completely concerned as he leaned closer to him.

"I'm fine!" He assured quickly, waving a hand. "The tears aren't anything to worry about. It's not like I'm malfunctioning and leaking or something. It's just so… beautiful!"

"It is…" Kiku whispered, but didn't take his eyes from Alfred. He was surprisingly close to the robot, and the unbalance in his leaning was causing him to tilt even closer.

Kiku's lips were getting closer and closer to Alfred's soft, slightly trembling pink ones. Their eyes were locked tightly together. Everything seemed still.

But then, Alfred broke the gaze and looked away, as Kiku fell forwards and his face instead connected with Alfred's chest. There was a dead silence as Kiku found himself pressed against Alfred's chest. He briefly caught the sound of a motor whirring inside, before Kiku pulled back and bowed deeply.

"I-I'm very sorry, Alfred-kun!" Kiku stuttered, not looking up at the other, who was just as uncomfortable and embarrassed. "That was… wrong of me…"

"N-no!" Alfred said quickly. "It was an accident!" Alfred was giving Kiku a chance to pretend their near-kiss didn't happen. To Kiku's surprise, Alfred, who seemed very open and forwards, was holding back something.

"Y-yes…" Kiku said, grateful, but unable to hide from himself the deep disappointment. "An accident…"

Finishing the meal in silence, Kiku was forced to hold onto the box until they exited the gardens, for the lack of trashcans there. Quite the silence filled the air on the entire way back to the subway, and the apartment, Kiku preoccupied himself with noting everything around him while on their walk down the street, towards home.

From the tall buildings, to the bright lights as the sun set and darkness fell, to the children laughing as they passed, and that blonde, bespectacled man again.

Whipping around to take a second look, Kiku for a moment couldn't believe he would see that man again. However, he guessed it must have only been his imagination; in the spot where he believed the man had been stood another, shorter man with brown, slightly long wavy hair, and a peaceful disposition. Strange…

Still, the silence stayed all through the rest of that night; to the forced conversations, to the silence while Kiku put on anime, to the awkward "good nights" while Kiku slid into his futon and Alfred, who had changed into his pajama's just for the sake of sitting in the corner and charging, did just that.

His life was certainly becoming stranger and stranger…

A/N: Story time! So a few months ago I actually got the privilege of going to Japan! The Shinjuku gardens is a place I've actually gone to~ And let me tell you; if you ever find yourself in Tokyo, Japan, you NEED TO GO THERE!

So I was in South Korea for my brother's wedding (he married a nice Korean lady that was his tour guide when he was living in Australia, but visiting Korea. He dated her for three days, she took a chance in following him to Australia, one thing led to another, now they're married). And since we were there, and my dad knew I loved Japan, we took a second week to our trip and went to Japan. To sum up that leg of our trip in one word; surprising.

To explain without explaining, I had received some bad news that was going to cause a two day shortage of our Japan trip. It kinda bummed us out, and it felt at that point like the trip was over. Plus, without a tour guide who knew about the area and culture, as well as our language, we were on our own (and we were on our second week so it was starting to get overwhelming)

We went to Hiroshima before we got the news (and visited the museum for the bombings in WW2. It was horrible and emotional, but eye-opening nonetheless…), then were in Kyoto, which was after we got the news. We were feeling pretty disappointed, but I wanted to visit an authentic Japanese shrine, so I convinced my dad to go to one down the street of our hostel. He was expecting the same ones we saw everywhere in that city, I was expecting one of those larger ones with the bells that you ring and clap your hands for (which we did see there). However, let's just say that my expectations, and his expectations put together, weren't even 1/10th of what we got the privilege of seeing. I don't want to spoil much more because that scenery is gonna show up later in the fanfiction.

Anyways, we were feeling better, but not quite as happy as we could have been when we got to Tokyo; especially when we found out that the Ghibli Museum was closed for the month we were there. (Before I continue, I'd like to say that while in the Tokyo Train Station, we were having trouble getting money from the ATM but this kind man who owned a fancy Italian restaurant called the Acorn, not only offered to give us 4,000 yen (which we refused and instead traded 2,000 for 20$) but ALSO gave us a free meal, fancy cookies, fine wine, and some scented sticks for, literally, no reason other than he was an awesome man. He was just like "hey is this your bag? Here's 4,000 yen and have some food at this fancy restaurant I own, free of charge". Okay, maybe not quite like that, but it's pretty much the summary. Even when we got to the hotel we were still shaking our heads about it. Hell, I was terrified in there thinking he was a drunken man under some delusion that he owned the place and we were going to get charged on the way out).

ANYWAYS, so we were sitting there, really bummed that it wasn't turning out like we hoped, when I googled stuff to do in Tokyo, Japan, and ran across the gardens. We walked down the street, got lunch at a nice place, I believe firmly that I saw Hayao Miyazaki outside it (I saw him standing there smoking and talking with this fancy guy in a business suit. When I saw him, I thought he looked familiar (and even thought jokingly "that looks like Miyazaki"), but I hadn't really seen Miyazaki's picture so I didn't realize until I got home and saw it and recognized those glasses).

The entrance looked just as I described it in the fanfic, with it being old and disappointing, and again we had lowered expectations. Until we got IN the gardens and were like "HOLY CRAP CAN WE LIVE HERE?!"

EVERYTHING was beautiful! It had English style gardens and French style gardens and Chinese buildings and Japanese gardens (which are the best in my opinion) and I got to try some authentic green tea with some Canadians in an actual tea ceremony, and I decided that green tea tastes like liquefied grass but damn was the ceremony cool!

Long story short; Japan is awesome and went beyond my expectations because Japan's cool like that. Yeah. Also it's almost 10 AM, I haven't slept since 2 PM yesterday, but I got random inspiration so I'm going to sleep now.