"PEACE IS HERE," The Chinese girl called as she took off Peace's shoes.
"Everyone's in the kitchen," a strange voice called.
Peace watched as the women took her shoes off. Peace held her small white and brown dog close to her chest, not wanting to let it out of her sight. Her Papa was going to attack her this morning, and then her Daddy left her here, and so did her Papa. As the women put Peace's shoes to the side she heard a quiet sniffle and saw that the small girl was crying. Chun-Yung simply smiled and hugged the girl close, knowing that she had apparently had a very rough morning, before picking her up and carrying the silently crying girl to the kitchen. Through her teary eyes Peace saw the women with brown hair and golden eyes smile down at her and carry her into a room that seemed busy. The tallest one was wearing white-ish pants and a weird red top. Peace couldn't figure out if the tallest one was a girl or a boy, it had long hair, but if he was the voice from earlier he sort of sounded like a guy.
"Is she alright, aru" the strange voice asked coming from the person.
"She had a long morning," the women answered. "Peace, do you want to meet everyone? Or do you want to go take a nap?"
Peace simply tucked her face into the women's chest and closed her eyes. She felt a soothing hand smooth out her hair and she felt the women move somewhere. When Peace revealed her face she was in an unfamiliar room, and the women was putting her on a bed. The women laid down next to her and pet her hair with a smile. Chun-Young looked down at the small confused child with a smile. She didn't know the full extent of what the little girl had been through, but knew that she needed sleep. Chun-Yung started to hum a song that was in the back of her head and the little girl fell asleep pretty quickly. Once that happened she turned to see that Yao was standing in the doorway to her bedroom. She could hear their small siblings eating at the table, but didn't really care.
The man came over and sat on the other side of the bed, he was obviously tired and needed sleep. He laid down next to the small sleeping body and just watched her for a little before saying that she was cute. Within minutes the old man was sleep, and Chun-Yung couldn't help but want to take a picture of the two. She did, taking the camera out of her nightstand drawer to take the picture. It was cute, something that she would have to give England and France.
When China woke up from his nap a little blond girl was poking his face to wake him up. He smiled up at her and she pulled back to sit on her but with her hands in her lap, as if she were going to get hit or be lectured or something. China just sat up so that his elbows were supporting him and brushed some hair out of the small child's face. He introduced himself to her with a smile, and she seemed to accept it with a smile. They walked out of the room with him holding her hand and leading her to the backyard where the rest of the kids were playing. He called them over and had them introduce themselves one at a time.
The little boy in a blue dress-like-thing with brown hair and brown eyes was called Japan, and he ran around barefoot. The loudest brown haired boy was wearing a white dress-like-thing, but with a blue vest thing and white socks. His name was Korea, but he was very loud. The quietest one was named Hong Kong. He was wearing black pants and a red and gold dress-thing like China's, but he wore shoes. The one with a pink top, white skirt, and a flower in her hair was named Taiwan. She was the only little girl in the house, and if you got her mad she was sort of scary. They were all really nice though, and they just sort of dragged her into the game.
"Can you talk," Hong Kong asked loudly.
Peace just stared at him and hugged her puppy close to her chest.
Hong Kong started to scream, "China! Big Sissy! She can't talk!"
Chun-Yung was sitting on the porch writing something and didn't look up, "Be nice, Hong Kong. If she doesn't want to she doesn't have to."
"She can't talk," he continued to complain.
"Be nice," China yelled at him. "If you can't play nice then you can come work on your calligraphy, aru."
They all were outside for about two hours. The two guardians worked at the porch while everyone else played so that they could get their work done. Hong Kong didn't complain again, but you could tell that he was frustrated that the new girl stayed mute. Peace and Hong Kong seemed to work together well, so did she and Japan. She didn't really get along with Taiwan though, but no one could really figure out why. When Yao went to go work on lunch everyone went to the dinning and living room to work on something. Chun-Yung tried to get Peace to lead aloud, but Peace refused and just looked up and watched the women as she read aloud.
Lunch was strange to Peace, but the food was good and as soon as she took a bite she smiled. China asked if she liked it and Peace smiled and nodded as she took another bite. She was using her hands though, instead of the chopsticks. Chun-Yung told Yao just to ignore it, but the other kids just watched her in confusion before continuing to eat their meal. He wasn't very surprised when the phone rang and Francis was on the other end. He already knew what had happened that morning, and sort of felt bad for the guy.
"I have a favor to ask," Francis seemed to beg, "I hate to ask but we think that Peace may have some scars, and we would like to get a second opinion on it. Is it possible that you could take a look?"
China looked over to the table where the small blond girl was messily eating her food. She would need to change her clothes after this anyway, would it really hurt to take a look at the supposed scars? "Sure, I can do that. Would you like to talk to her, Francis? I heard what happened this morning, that she didn't want to say good bye to you."
On the other end of the line Francis smiled, "No, I don't want to upset her. Just take a look at the marks, please?"
"Of course. I'll see you later, and we can talk then, aru."
When lunch was done Hong Kong complained that Peace was too messy, while Japan told him not to talk like that because Peace was a guest and she deserved respect. China set to the job of sending everyone to bed for their naps. Hong Kong was the hardest of them all, as normal, Yao had to simply lock him in his room and sit there until he was finally silent. He did wait until he heard the soft snoring of the childish toddler. When he got back his female twin was sitting across from Peace at the dinning room table, asking her yes and no questions to try to get to know the girl a little better.
Peace really was a mess. Her dress had spots all over it, and food that was hidden in the pockets and in the folds. Yao wasn't surprised when he lifted her up and some rice fell to the floor. He had a button up shirt that the little girl would wear with her tights while he washed her dress, so after telling his twin what he was going to do Yao brought Peace to his room so that he cold change her. The little girl seemed to be enchanted at the pandas that were everywhere in the room, and didn't put up a fight while China undressed her like he did with all of his younger siblings. When the girl was just in her bloomers and tights China was able to see exactly what France had described. The pale scars lined her back. Some were drawings and others were just lines. They all overlapped, and the pictures blended into one another. He could make out some: a sun, a moon, a cat, a house, some stick figures, a heart, and what seemed to be a few stars. Her skin was already so pale that the scars didn't seem to show, which explained how Francis and Arthur had missed them. They were everywhere on the little girl's torso, but she seemed to just ignore them and focus on the pandas in the room instead.
When the little girl was sleeping on the couch Yao couldn't help but just watch her and wonder what she had been through. She was playing with the others with such a smile that it didn't seem to make a difference to her. She even let him hold her stuffed animal for her. She smiled and laughed, but she was quiet. He understood how her family had fallen in love with her.
When everyone was up they all went and played in the front yard. Chun-Yung watched them on her own while Yao did some work. They were playing hide and go seek for a while, then tag, and then Japan asked if they could make a fort out of the blankets in the living room. Somehow they managed to make a tent out of a few blankets, but that was all they could come up with. Japan read them some of his books in the tent, and Hong Kong claimed 'no big sister' was aloud in. She loved to watch them, they were all always so happy.
Arthur and Francis pulled up with Alfred and Matthew in the back at about four fifteen. Yao came out and greeted them. The two older boys were put in charge of the younger ones while the adults talked inside. The kids didn't know what was going on, but they liked the idea of being independent and not having the adults around. The adults sat in the dinning room to talk, knowing that the older boys would just listen to Japan read and help him along. They were really good with little kids, but they weren't around them very much.
"So I think that those are scars," Yao explained.
Chun-Yung looked at her twin as if he was insane, "they're drawings, Yao. DRAWINGS. Someone did that on purpose and left those scars there. There are just so many and her skin is so pale that you can't tell the difference."
Arthur looked at the girl in confusion, "you saw them too?"
"Yao was so spooked that I couldn't help but look, aru!"
Arthur sighed and put his head in both of his hands. Francis simply sat back and tried to decide what to say.
Francis simply smiled a little bit, "Then it's a good thing that her doctor appointment is tomorrow, isn't it?"
"How did the day go," Arthur asked to change the subject.
Both of the twins smiled, the same exact smile that made everything seem like nothing was wrong.
"She was wonderful," the female said.
"You wouldn't be able to tell that she had those scars," the male agreed. "Or that she had such a rough morning."