Japan: 8

Taiwan: 6

South Korea: 5

Hong Kong: 2-3 (no specific age)

China: ?

Yao looked out the window, watching as his three charges ran around in his yard, playing with the neighbor children. The fourth, and youngest child, laid lazily in Yao's arms, amber eyes staring with boredom at his surroundings.

"Xiang..." He cooed softly. "Xianggang..." Hi nuzzled the child, hoping to get some sort of reaction.

Hong Kong simply stared, and proceeded to gently gnaw on his sleeve.

"You're a lost cause, aru." China snorted, shifting the boy around in his arms.

Bang.

The door slammed open, and there was the sound of multiple feet stomping And probably scuffing... the floor.

"Mother! I'm home, da-ze!" Korea screamed with as much force his five year old self could manage.

China rolled his eyes at the younger one's irritating nickname and arrogance.

"So, aru. Did you have fun?"

Japan nodded thoughtfully, before opening his mouth to speak.

"Yes. They were very kind, but rather o-"

"They were awesome, da-ze! They even gave me this!" Korea dangled fireworks in front of his guardian's face. Barely fazed, Yao simply plucked them from Korea's hand, at set the explosives on top of a cupboard, where (hopefully) none of the children could reach. Hong Kong reached out a small hand, lingering over the foreign objects for barely a moment before returning to his solidarity.

"Aiyaa! We can set them off tonight, okay aru?" China raised an eyebrow.

Korea shrugged, as long he got to explode something, he didn't really care when.

China proceeded to set the table for dinner, balancing Hong in one arm, and multiple plates in another. As soon as they began to eat, however, it was obvious something was wrong. It wasn't like dinner was silent or anything. That was easily taken care of by Korea, who seemed to never stop shouting. No, the disturbance manifested itself in a different way, which was definitely not going to be passed over by China. Taiwan repeatedly sighed, and her chocolate colored eyes seemed almost fixed on her plate.

"Taiwan, are you feeling alright?" Yao prodded gently.

Taiwan let out a startled gasp, and quickly nodded. "Y-yes?"

China barely suppressed a laugh, the little girl was definitely not going to achieve a career in acting. "It's alright, aru. You can tell me."

She simply bit her lip and pushed an egg roll around her plate.

She obviously doesn't want to talk about it, aru... Yao made a mental note to ask later, and continued eating.

•oOo•

The rest of the day continued in a mostly ordinary way - Japan honing his writing skills, Korea further annoying everyone in the household (and occasionally out if it), China taking care of business abroad, and Hong Kong doing absolutely nothing - save eating and sleeping. It seemed that everyone's day was going perfectly normally.

Except for Taiwan's.

She flitted from activity to activity, room to room, person to person, but she couldn't forget for the life of her the information she'd learned outside. Finally, China managed to catch her alone, proceeding to immediately pelt her with questions.

Was she hurt?

Was someone rude?

Was she sick?

Was it Korea?

Taiwan quickly shook her head, (simultaneously resisting the urge to claim that it /was/, in fact, Korea's fault) no, it was not these things.

She opened her mouth and quickly blurted out, "W-why don't we have names?!"

•oOo•

Whatever Yao had expected, it certainly wasn't that. He supposed it was logical - after all, he had a name, why shouldn't she? After a long silence, he opened his mouth to reply with some sort of comfort, only to be abruptly cut off by the Taiwanese child.

"And don't say they aren't important! Those kids all have names, and you have a name, and your friends have names and-" She panted heavily, tears streaking down her face.

"I want a name too! And not just 'Taiwan' because they said that's a country name, and it doesn't count!" She stomped her foot stubbornly, her eyes not wavering from their determined glare.

China let out a tiny snort, and crouched down to her level. "Alright, what would you like your name to be, aru?"

Taiwan stood stock still, she really hadn't anticipated that response. "Er... I get to choose?"

Nodding in encouragement, Yao waited.

Taiwan's eyes widened, and she began to babble, waving her hands around. "How do you choose a name? Does a name have to have rules or can I just make something up or maybe choose a name of something that already exists - do you think two people can have the same name because I think that might not work well I mean how would you know who was talking to-"

"Aiyaa! Hush! A name is very important, and you'll have it for a very long time. You don't need to decide right now. Give it some thought, aru."

The young girl looked up, unsure of how to proceed. "I... Don't know how names work."

"And...?"

Her eyes filled with anticipation and worry, Taiwan cocked her head. "Can you... Pick one for me? Maybe?"

"This is your name... Don't you want to pick it?" China fidgeted with his ponytail.

Taiwan looked once again on the verge of tears. Hoping to avoid it, Yao quickly looked at the first object he saw, and called out the name.

"Mei! How about Mei? It's the Mandarin name of your flower!" China braced himself for the oncoming storm but to his utter surprise... She actually seemed to like it! Grinning widely, Taiw... Mei/, bounced on her heels.

"I love it! Thank you thank you thank you thank y-"

"You're welcome, aru. Are you sure you want to keep it this way? You'll have it for a very-"

"Korea! Guess what guess what guess what!" Mei screamed, cutting Yao off abruptly. Several crashes and bangs resounded throughout the house, and in a matter of seconds Korea was standing in the doorway, disheveled and all, Japan standing behind him with an almost bored look. (And who could blame him, it wasn't like occurrences like these were very rare in the East Asia household.)

"I got a name, I got a name..." Mei sing-songed.

Japan's eyebrows rose, and he turned towards China for reassurance. After receiving an explanation, accompanied by a certain 6 year old's high-pitched singing, the other two did the obvious thing- beg to get whatever their sister had gotten.

•oOo•

"Aiyaa..." China mutter, plucking the paintbrush from Korea's hand. After recieving his human name - Im Yong Soo - Korea would not stop writing it. Walls, scrolls, furniture, animals... Whatever. You name it, Yong Soo attempted to put his name on it.

Japan had opted for a simple name. Kiku, the Japanese name for Chrysanthemum. No less excited about this sort of 'rite-of-passage' then his siblings, Kiku simply had a calmer, less chaotic way of showing it.

Only after watching Mei, Yong Soo, and Kiku safely make it outside to play did China feel he could truly relax. Maybe, just maybe, today he could take a break from foreign affairs and chaos, and rest.

Yeah, like that was going to happen.

But to his surprise, Yao seemed to be able to settle down pretty well. His book was interesting, the temperature was nice, Xiang (which was the most voted name for Hong Kong, given that he couldn't pick his own.) was down for a nap, and every few minutes he'd hear an exuberant scream from Korea reassuring him that the children were indeed still alive. After about a half-hour, China closed his eyes, and tried to let his mind drift off.

That was when he began to smell smoke.

•oOo•

Racing into the kitchen as fast as he could, he found Hong Kong fully awake and to his eldest family member's astonishment... Smiling?! Xiang's sudden mood switch wasn't something that immediately bothered him though. He was much more concerned with the lit fireworks sparkling on the wooden floorboards. Yao quickly stamped out the sparks and lifted up Hong, and once he was assured that the child was not on fire, cuddled him on the couch.

"You're quite the problem, aren't you aru?"

Hong Kong just made a face, and resumed his attempts to grab the now squished sparklers.

They sat that way for awhile, just relaxing and enjoying each others company.

Bam.

The door slammed open, and Taiwan ran crying into the living room.

"Those kids said they have two names!"

A/N:

SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY REAAAALLLLLY SORRY.

You guys don't deserve this unplanned hiatus, and I promise that it's OVER. For real. Every week, I'll pump out a new chapter. With quite a few things happening to me, and school starting up again, I just haven't been able to focus on writing.

I have absolutely no idea if this is on par with my previous writing or not, but I'm trying. Leave your compliments and criticism below - it was mainly your lovely reviews that got me back on track!

REVIEW RESPONSES:

Hinotori-Hime: Thank you so much! Since it's been so long, I don't remember if I responded already... But yes! A part two will eventually surface! (Featuring Estonia and Korea) I'm glad you liked it, it's my priority after A New Life.

Happy Cake: Aww, thanks.

Guest: Uh... What do you mean? Every update is an actual one! XD

mimi-chan & aliling-chan: That sounds tough... Thanks for reviewing!

Maya5392: *nervous laughter* Yes... I went a bit overboard. My apologies. :)