Rated M. This is a piece of literary fiction. The Author does not claim ownership pertaining to the ideas/characteristics/ect, of Hetalia or any subsidiary thereof.
Also, according to the Internet... Dutch guys actually did carve clogs for their intendeds... so... Dear and Lovely people of the Netherlands, if that is incorrect, forgive me! :)
Credit to The manga/Anime Fox Matchmakers
OoOoOo
Once upon a time...
There was a rabbit spirit, a funny talented man gifted in the ways of healing who was also capable of painting extraordinary works of art from crushed stones and berries, who fell in love with a human girl. One unremarkable month, when the flowers had just began to bloom from beneath the white blankets of snow that were slowly melting, she had come from a village that was in the midst of some epidemic of a coughing sickness. Brown hair had been tangled and wind swept by the breeze, her cheeks were smudged with dirt as was the rest of her.
And Lars, was struck by the glorious blue of her eyes. More vibrant and captivating than anything he could ever seem to create. He swallowed heavily as those beseeching blue orbs seemed to stare right through him.
"I beg of thee," she said softly, in a an accent that belied her peasant status. "Medicine?"
She was uncertain of what kind was even needed. She had been one of the few that had been passed over by the affliction. With a death grip on the few meager coins that had been gathered from around the village, she grabbed at his hands and pressed the warm bits of metal in his hand.
The rabbit spirit was dumbstruck.
Worry puckered at her brow. She nibbled at her bottom lip.
"Is it... not enough?" She questioned lowly, as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
His gaze wandered over her, noting the recent scabs of dired blood on her arms and the tear in her modest dress. He held no doubt that she had walked to him, from wherever she had come. His ear, long and floppy, exactly that of a rabbit, twitched. The tan and cream colored fur, caught her attention, and he saw a slight smile turn at the corner of her mouth, even as her features were cast in a heavy look of concern. A hint of desperation was evident in her posture.
"It is sufficient." Lars replied stiffly, nearly blindly stumbling to gather the herbs that would be needed. He would grind them into a fine powder, and soak them in a concoction of minerals to make a poultice. If applied to the chest three times a day, it would help speed the recovery.
He explained all this to her, and she nodded along, silently watching him with gratitude seeping from every speck of those blue orbs. She smiled at him then, and all Lars could feel was the way his heart speed up at the sight of it.
For the first time in his six hundred years on the Earth, he had fallen in love.
It would be two more months until he would see her again, her arms laden with the humble thanks of her village. Foods that were preserved well enough not to spoil. Amidst bumbling conversation, he plucked up the courage to ask her name.
In a soft voice, with cheeks pinked with innocent affection, she told him it was Hyacinth.
OoOoOo
Beneath the Tree of life, the rabbit spirit, now slightly older, made an offering of some of his power, on a simply carved wooden clog. One that had been worn only once to signal her acceptance. They bowed their heads as they asked to be married before this wondrous and powerful Tree that dictated love, life, and destiny. They asked that their love carry over to Hyacinth's next life, and the next, then the next after that. Until the stars blinked out of the sky, and the works of humans dwindled into dust. Until the very last reincarnation was seen through.
As long as they loved, may she be forever by Lars' side.
When it split in half, it was a signal that their offering had been accepted. She cried tears of joy as he kissed her. The leaves of the Tree never swayed, nor fell, for they were the Earth. But, they experienced a moment of untainted and pure bliss. Their love would last the ages and Hyacinth hugged him tightly. The Rabbit spirit's arms encircled her and they embraced for all they were worth. Now wedded in the most sacred of ways for all eternity.
They left the presence of the Tree with thanks ringing from their lips with as much reverence as any prayer.
For nearly sixty years, they live in a state of matrimonial happiness. Though their are some arguments and moments of dissatisfaction, their love proceeds with Hyacinth into the cycle of reincarnation. As she breaths her last breath on her deathbed, Lars' -unchanged by time- weeps openly to see her go. Though he tries to smile for her, only for her. She brushes a wizened hand across his cheek, the love she has always felt is visible in those blue eyes he has spent decades gazing into.
"Until we meet again, Dear Husband," she said with a sense of peace, as she departs the mortal world and leaves her Spirit husband behind.
The Rabbit keens in sorrow that a human's life was so pitifully short. But, as the nearly eternal partner, he is confined to the world, to wait for her to be reborn again.
OoOoOo
It is the fox spirits that are in charge of reuniting the couples that swear their love before the Tree of life.
Therefore, everyday, Lars rises and waits. He goes about his life, missing his wife keenly everyday. He can remember her scent, her smile, her voice. All of it. He goes about his work, time passes and the people change. The style of clothes changes, and he finds a way to barter and trade. It is when he misses her to the point of forgetting to breath, that he paints the places he used to visit with her at his side.
The colors are flawless, but the sky is always the same shade of blue. The exact shade of her eyes. In the sky, he sees her. The people and Spirits alike fall in love with the romantic scenes as they are painted from his memory. The stream where he made love to her on her twenty-seventh birthday, the meadow they walked when he first started to court her, and the flat lands where she convinced him to tumble through the flowers like they were children. He paints them all until they contain every feeling he has for the woman he waits for. He amasses a decent sized fortune by the time the a child-like spirit appears at the door of his new home.
Some 300 years after losing his beloved wife.
The bright stock of blazing red hair is at first slightly amusing. Lars' floppy ears twitch slightly.
"Laugh, and I gut ya Bastard." The small fox spirit spits out in a foreign accent. The amusement of the Rabbit spirit does not fade in the slightest.
"You-?"
"I'm here ta inform ya, that yer wife-"
"Hyacinth?" He questions with a breathless tone. Disbelief and joy surround every single thought. She was back. She was reborn.
The fox's face scrunches up in confusion. Before understanding dawns, and he looks vaguely bored.
"She's named Palegeya this life." He informs Lars blithely. "She lives in a cold country to the East."
Lars is a buzz with renewed purpose and vigor. He eagerly grabs for the painted miniature portrait of a young woman. The same age as Hyacinth had been when they first pledged themselves underneath the Tree. Though the features had nothing in common with his Hyacinth, the eyes were exactly the same shade of blue. His heart nearly melted as he looked at the painting. Absently he gently stroked the figure's cheek.
The fox tells him where to find her. And, Lars, packs up everything without so much as a second thought. He heads for the unknown to him Country.
OoOoOo
Palegeya spends a lifetime with him, and their love was just as it had been. For she is still at her core, the same person. The same soul. It sustains him for the next prolonged wait for her. But, he is calmer this time, settling into the notion that this is the routine and his love will be back. He returns to his homeland, to his abandoned shop and starts up once again.
He takes up new skills, perfects them in his time alone on the Earth. Though some make offers of companionship through the decades, he never entertains them. He is waiting for his wife. Each lonely night, and moment of bitter sadness will disperse when she is in his arms again. Each day, he waits patiently. Knowing that another 300 years is nearing an end.
Soon. So soon. He busies himself in his work, wanting to provide for his wife, all the comforts if not more that he had provided Palegeya.
The half of the clog he keeps, glows again one day. Lars nearly bounds up with excitement. His ears twitch, and he grins widely, understanding what the glow means now. She's been reborn.
It is only nineteen more years before he meets her again. The Rabbit spirit walks with a pep in his step that causes his neighbors and clients to comment and wish him the best. The other Spirits that have human wives and husbands understand his joy.
Therefore, he was wholly unprepared, for the sight of the Black haired and older fox that appears at his shop one night. The fox's tail is inky black like his hair, his dark eyes stare at Lars with a look of near-sadness and a touch of pity. Instantly the Rabbit spirit is on high alert. Something is wrong.
He feels it in his very bones.
"It is with regret that I must inform you," The fox spirit starts, "That your wife has passed from this world."
The force of the statement slams into his gut like a fist. It knocks the wind from him, and causes the room to spin. At the edge of his vision, black dots dance.
"Wat?" He askes, and demands in the same question.
"Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, your wife departed this world ahead of what was planned, therefore it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that you must wait until the next reincarnation." The fox spirit said with a sense of formality tinged with sadness. This was not the greatest part of the duties of a Fox spirit.
However, for Lars it was a sentence of something worse than hell.
Another 300 years? Another stretch of centuries without the feel of her in his arms? Without her laughter? Without his love? The Rabbit spirit could not accept such a horrid fate. HIs love twisted with his anger and his sense of bitterness. He had obeyed every rule... Why?
Why was he being punished?
Lars snarled at the Fox demon.
"Who are you to say such... horrible things?" He demanded, shaking with his fury. This had to be a cruel joke! A lie!
"I am Kiku, the head of the Fox matchmakers, and I have come in person to express my sincerest apologies for what you must now endure."
The world was spinning rapidly around him, and the Rabbit spirit gave into the sense of injustice that threatened to consume him.
OoOoOo
It only took a year, for the people of Holland to whisper of the deranged Rabbit spirit. Though, it had never killed, that was not the rumor that circulated around the area of slight forest before the meadowlands began. It was said that his screams of anguish and blood thirsty need for revenge, stemmed from his human love betraying him. Others stated he killed her in a fit of pique.
Soon, one year turned to three, and people stayed far away from the forest, convinced that he would leap upon them and devour them. The spirit, turned to a beast. Lurking in the festering wound of his sorrow.
On the Seventh year, his world was changed once more. He had spoken to no one. Never cared to try again. However, in his feral state he sought his refuge from the emotional pain. Yet, his instincts always warned him when someone else entered the domain he staked as his own in his grief. The familiar scent turned his sorrow into unending rage...
It had the gall to come back? After all it had done to him?
The fox approached on footsteps too soft to be heard by human ears. The grotesque twisting mass fur and muscle turned toward the intruder with a snarl. Long gashes were visible on the fur, tan and cream splashed with copper brown.
"Sir, I have come this night-" The Fox, the bastard fox, began.
The raging beast was not to be trifled with. Jagged claws, still caked with mud and dried blood slashed through the air. The fox gracefully dodged it. His black tail coiled around him, and the tip twitched, almost in amusement.
"I would caution you," he began lightly but still in a chastising manner, "to calm down."
The beast roared ferociously. It was furious at the mere suggestion the fox dared to utter. Had this demon no shame?
"I only advise this," Kiku continued mildly, "because you might scare your wife."
The feral rabbit spirit lunged, ready to rip out the fox's soft underbelly in his near-mindless rage.
The fox's eyes were far too keen for that though, instead, Kiku gently unfurled his tail. It revealed a stock of blonde hair, and a young human wrapped up tenderly in a soft pink blanket. She had been concealed both by the fox's tail, and the long sleeves of his kimono. The back half of a simply carved wooden clog was clutched tightly, even in slumber, in her hand.
Lars froze, mere feet away from the pair. His animalistic eyes were riveted on the child. He gave a deep, soul wrenching, groan. Equal parts despair and disbelief.
"..L...ies."
The spirit heaved a breath. The very act of speaking was nearly impossible in his current state.
Mischievous eyes gleamed under the moonlight, casting a coy appearance about the Matchmaker spirit.
"Oh, I assure you," Kiku continued cordially, "This is your wife. In this life, she is called Amelia."
Confusion, pain, and heartache shone deep in the rabbit's eyes.
"M...My? Im-...Impossible!"
"Forgive me," The fox said in a light and sweet tone. "There seems to have been some miscommunication. When I said that your wife had to be reincarnated again, I did not mean to imply you would be forced to wait another 300 years."
Kiku's inky black tail twitched back and forth in open amusement.
"You see, in cases like your Amelia's," he gestured with a head tilt to the sleeping child in his arms. "They are placed at the head of the reincarnation circle. After all, you had obeyed every rule."
The 'until now', went unsaid between them.
"Therefore, instead of 300 years, you only had to wait three."
Three years. In a Spirit's near endless life span, it was nothing. Equivalent to a day, if that.
In an instant, as Kiku finished his little speech, the feral beast faded into nothingness. Almost as if Lars had never lost control. In its place, stood a human-looking spirit with obvious rabbit ears. Lars looked lost, but so full of hope that it was nearly painful for even Kiku to witness. The rabbit spirit glanced at the child once more, an expression of sincere longing on his face. His soiled hands reached for her, out stretched as he moved toward the pair.
"Ah," the fox chuckled brightly. "I see you understand now."
Lars said nothing as the precious weight of his wife was transferred to his arms. His bright blue eyes were busy studying ever detail of her face. Every feature about her.
His throat was parched and it had been such a long time since he'd last spoken to another.
"H...How old is she?" He whispered huskily, his cream and tan colored floppy ear brushed briefly across her face as he turned toward the fox. His stance already protective around Amelia.
The fox spirit tilted his head to the side and appraised the pair. It did look a tad mismatched, but the human was not grown yet. And, to be frank, he'd seen stranger things in all his years.
"She is four, but I am afraid that I must return her before the sun rises."
The rabbit spirit looked lost again, confusion spread over his features, even as Lars tightened his hold around Amelia. As if his body refused to ever let her go again.
Kiku took a small amount of pity on him.
"I can give you until the sunrise. But no more. I have to return her to her parents. Otherwise the authorities will be involved."
"W..wh-"
"Why sunrise?" The fox asked blandly.
Lars nodded quickly, his floppy ears swayed a bit at the movement.
Kiku grinned then, a mischievous and amused grin that spoke volumes. "Well, they might notice she is missing by then."
Lars blinked, and looked down at the child then back at Kiku.
"You... You kidnapped my wife?"
The black tail twitched again. As the fox laughed.
"Well, if you want to phrase it that way..."
OoOoOo
He follows her family to The United States. His Amelia is born to Military parents, who had been stationed in Germany.
Without a second thought, Lars picked up what was left of his things, and the untouched funds he had... and followed her. Again. He stayed in his rabbit form, as they moved from one state to another. Every few years. He watched over her, patiently living in her family's yard. When they lived in an apartment, he made a home at the local park, which was not too far from her.
There he stayed...
Waiting for her to remember him. Waiting for the day, the fox spirits allowed him to be with her again.
OoOoOo
Amelia lived a fairly normal life. Yet, from her birth, everyone in her family knew she was a Spirit's bride. Though they had no idea who, or when the said Spirit would show up. In childhood, she had often days dreamed about something fierce and awesome. Like a war-scarred Eagle with fierce eyes. Or a strong and sturdy tiger with a nice smile.
Yet, something always seemed off about those imaginings.
However, as she continued into adolescence, she grew to think about her supposed spouse, less and less. Everyday life, the constant worries of growing up and school soon filled up her waking moments.
So, therefore, she was wholly unprepared, when she turned nineteen, and in the middle of an Anatomy and Physiology lecture, in her first year of college...
For something to literally smack her in the head. Amelia blinked as she saw stars and an amused Fox Spirit, with a black tail and hair staring at her. She opened her mouth, ready to call him a whole lot of things, when the weight of three other lifetimes came crashing into her. Her head pounded. Her heart was racing, and she was trying ot make sense of the words, emotions, and places that were unknown to her. She slumped forward on the table, waiting for it all to subside, when a single face exploded to a bright image in her mind's eye.
Lars.
The rabbit spirit that had loved her. Still loved her.
Tears gathered in her eyes, and spilled down her cheeks as she remembered their time together. The vow they made beneath the Tree of life. Everything. Her chair made a horrid screech as she pushed back from the table.
"Ms. Jones!" The professor called out in shock and annoyance, but she didn't bother to hear him. She shoved the door open with her shoulder, and bolted down the hall. Her hands shook as she reached for the keys in her pocket.
She had to get home.
Her rabbit was waiting for her.
OoOoOo
She's had time to calm down, when she slowly pulls up to her house, an hour earlier than she should have been. A cream and tan rabbit, gently hops from underneath the pine tree in her front yard.
Lars. She'd recognize him anywhere now. Amelia crouches down, slowly. She beckons him toward her.
"Come here, little fella," She says, as if she really is talking to a wild animal. Its not exactly the first time she's done this. But, he comes toward her all the same.
Amelia picked up the rabbit, stroking it softly.
"Let me tell you a story," she began in a gentle tone.
The rabbit said nothing.
"Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there was a young peasant girl. Her name was Hyacinth."
Wide brown eyes blinked up at the human, as she continued to pet the tan and cream colored fur. It still held rather still, but did not tense under her words.
"Hyacinth was not educated. She never learned to read or write. But she did learn when the flower she was named after looked like. Thanks to a rabbit spirit. The first time Hyacinth ever saw her name-sake, it was because that rabbit spirit had grown a single flower of it. Just for her. You see, the rabbit was in love with the young girl. They had seen each other a time or two, when the girl went to barter for goods once a week. Hyacinth's family worked the fields, and extra grain that was left over, they would pick from the ground, until there was enough after harvest to trade. But he didn't notice the girl, until a great sickness swept through her village. She was the only one old enough and strong enough to make the trek to see the healer Rabbit."
A pink nosed twitched delicately.
"They fell in love together, you see, after the rabbit took great pains to grow a Hyacinth for her. They spent a summer courting, and then he asked her father for her hand in marriage. They swore their love before the Tree of life, and the rabbit spirit offered up a portion of his power so that they would be bound together by their love through all of her reincarnations."
Amelia stared off into the trees briefly.
"Then Hyacinth passed away, and became Pelageya. But the rabbit found her again, and for a long time they were very happy. Then Pelageya passed, and became Da-Jeong..."
At this the rabbit froze under her touch. Amelia could sense that her last life was the one that haunted him. She couldn't explain it, but somehow she knew.
"Da-Jeong, who, had the misfortune of catching the flu as an infant."
Something so simple, a disease that thousands contracted every year. Yet it was still a fatal illness, especially to the elderly and the young. The rabbit trembled in her lap. Part of her wondered if he truly knew why she had passed at such a tender age.
"When Da-Jeong passed, not long after, Amelia was born."
She sucked in a steadying breath, feeling her heart pounding all the way to her finger-tips.
"Ameila, who was born to military parents." Her blue eyes gazed down at the rabbit, gently she moved her hand to stroke his long ears. "Who, despite moving a great deal, still always managed to find a rabbit in her back yard. "
Her tone turned even more gentle, a soft note of affection shone through.
"It seemed odd to her that all the rabbits had the exact same markings, but her parents convinced her it was impossible for a bunny to follow them across the U.S. and over seas into Germany once."
The rabbit twitched under her hand, just barely.
"The same rabbit," she continued, "that seemed to watch her window. The same rabbit, that when she was nine and everyone had forgotten about her birthday due to another move, left a box of chocolates on the doorstep."
The tone was semi-questioning. She had always wondered who had left the small box, tied up with a pretty blue ribbon. One that matched her eye color to near perfection. The Rabbit moved its head, until it was staring at her fully.
Blue eyes bored into honey-brown.
"The same woman who was always destined to meet her rabbit again one day. Amelia... who is waiting for her husband to realize that he can't kiss her in his animal form."
She tilted her head to the side, and smiled widely.
"What do you think of my story, Lars?"
In the blink of an eye, the rabbit had transformed into a man she knew from two life-times worth of memories. The one whose eyes were as green as leaves in spring. Bright and fresh and new. They gazed at her with such surprised adoration, that Amelia burst into happy tears.
"I have missed you," she confessed, touching his cheek as he leaned over her, careful not to squash her with his weight. "I didn't know who I was missing, exactly, but I knew I was waiting for you."
He smiled then, like the first time he had when Hyacinth had asked after his health. As if she was giving him something precious.
"Every day," he said slowly, with his voice husky from disuse, "has been like an eternity without you."
Then he kissed her, for the first time, as Amelia.
But in their heart of hearts they both knew that this would not be the last time, they would kiss for the first time.
OoOoOo
Watching, from a roof not far away, two fox spirits watched the couple.
One with amusement, the other with annoyance.
"Why'd ya break the rules for him?" The red-haired fox demanded with a snide tone.
Kiku grinned then, as his black tail twisted about him.
"I didn't do it for him," The most powerful matchmaker confessed. "I did it for her."
"Her?" The younger repeated in surprise. "Why?"
The black haired fox smiled coyly, laying on his elbow as he watched the pair with a sense of contentment.
"There was once a time... when I too, was impressed by Hyacinth."
But that, was a memory the fox refused to share.