Japan heard sounds, voices, weaving in and out of the dark fog he was in. "Critical condition…Lucky to have survived." He struggled towards the words sometimes, and pulled away at others. "…catatonic? For how long, aru?" There were some people he wasn't ready to face yet. "…in hell are we here, da-ze!?" And others that he wanted to tell something to. "Shut up, he's your brother."
Oftentimes, someone would stop and talk to him. "Japan, I'm really sorry, I know you can't hear me, but, oh, god, I'm so sorry… Everyone's been visiting you, and we're working with your government, so please, come back when you can…I'm sorry…"
It was a mark of his "family life" that he would finally come back to the smells of home cooking and the sounds of arguing.
"-and I'm sorry, sir, but I just can't allow you to bring that kind of food into this hospital!" A nurse.
"What do you mean, aru!? This food is for SICK people! My little brother is unwell!" Yao. Oh hell, what was China doing here?
"That food is too salty!" The nurse again. Seems like they've been arguing for a while.
"Kiku loves salt! And this is an ancient Chinese remedy, aru! I should know, I created it!" That is true, he did like salt. The pair finally came into view, Yao waving his free hand wildly, all the way managing to hold on to some sort of lunch box. "I am a country, aru! Zhong Guo!"
"Fine, have it your way!" The nurse stormed off muttering something about stupid stuck up countries that really seemed delusional half the time and oh why couldn't they just shut the hell up sometimes.
"And I thought nurses were supposed to be nice, aru…" China pouted. And realized that Japan was awake. "KIKU!" For a second Japan wondered if a hug could be considered fratricide.
"Gege, Kiku-nii can't breathe." Hong Kong had decided to come too? Great. Just great. China released his little brother and immediately began fussing over him.
"Kiku, you look so pale, it's good that you're finally up, you need proper food, aru!" He sniffed self-righteously. That seems like something England-san would do…They were allies though. "I made you Shiquen dabu tang. Much better than the hospital food, aru!"
"…." China shook his head. Japan had always been quiet, but this was a little overboard. He placed a bowl that seemed to have been conjured from nowhere on a tray that Hong Kong had supplied.
"Do you want me to feed you, aru?" China looked concerned.
Japan shook his head. He tilted his arm to pick up some food with his chopsticks. Hashi. Almost like bridge.
"Ah, Kiku! What happened?" Yao was looking at him, concerned. Another memory.
"Yao-nii… It hurts…" He was crying, which he would be ashamed of later. Yao wasted no time in picking up the boy and carrying him to Kiku's room.
"Just stay here, okay?" Kiku's tears began to slow as Yao tucked him in. "I'll be right back, I promise." He came back in five minutes and thirty-two seconds. Kiku had counted, to distract himself from the pains.
"Kiku, here!" Yao was offering him some sort of soup. "It'll help you get better faster, so eat up, aru!"
Kiku stared at the bowl of soup. "Aiyah, does it hurt that much, aru? Do you want me to feed you?"
"No thank you, nii-sama." He had eaten the whole bowl, under Yao's careful supervision. Amazingly enough, it had helped, although not much. When he mentioned this to Yao later, the elder country laughed.
"Of course!" He said. "It's an ancient remedy, aru! I invented it myself!"
In the present, Kiku had unconsciously finished the bowl of soup. "Good job, Kiku!" China laughed. "We'll get you back to good as new in no time, aru!" Japan noted that China still mixed up some sayings. Korea had shown up, and was now pouting in the corner, casting dark glares his way every so often.
Salt water splashed on the inside of the empty bowl. "Kiku? Are you okay?" China took a tentative step closer.
"Isn't it obvious, Aniki? Jerk-Kiku is crying." Korea. Yong Soo obviously would hold that grudge for a long time. Right now, though, Kiku couldn't stop the flow of tears. Shameful, shameful, shameful!
"Why?" He looked up at China, the other country still confused. "Why are you being so nice to me! You should…you should hate me!"
"Kiku, don't say that." Hong Kong…Maybe his little brother did care.
"No! He should! After everything you've done to us, you bastard!" Korea. Of course.
"Shut up." China was defending him?
"But Aniki!" Korea protested.
Yao snarled, "I told you to be quiet!" China turned, and began walking towards the door. "Yes, Kiku, you may have done horrible things." He opened the door, and paused within its frame. "But…you are still family."
The door clicked shut, with some sort of finality, as Hong Kong and Korea followed the eldest member of their broken family out. Japan was left holding a bowl and wondering where he had gone wrong, as Kiku watched the splashes his tears made in a forgotten gift from home.
Short chapter is short… I apologize! Er… I switched between the names a lot because I wanted to make a sort of point. I don't have much practice with it yet, so it's a bit confusing, my sincerest apologies. Also, does anyone have a guess on the identity of the person who said "Shut up, he's your brother." in the first paragraph?
Shiquen dabu tang is a Chinese soup. Its name means "wholesome great restorative soup". (Thank you, Wikipedia) Also, I'm going to try edit the line breaks in chapter one... If possible.
Thank you for reading, and I still don't own Hetalia.