Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Hetalia characters. All of them go to Himaruya Hidekaz. I had to look up how to spell that lol. (I also do not own Mickey Mouse or Minecraft whom you will hear about in a sentence. Just had to throw that out).

Chapter 10

The five went home, happy and normal, with the walk fairly pleasant. The breeze cooled them off, so the trip back wasn't too hot. It was wonderful weather. Victorea turned to speak to Arthur about it, when she noticed someone familiar walking the opposite direction on the opposite side of the street.

She was very thin and rather tanned, with fine dark brown hair pulled into two ponytails with large red bows, and a blue dress with white flowers was all she could make out. She was walking with some other girls, who looked similar to her, except one of their dresses was yellow and had her hair down and the other had a cap on her hair pulled into a single ponytail and a pink dress. They looked eerily familiar, and Arthur could see it in Victorea that she became slightly afraid. Her walking (which was already stiff and strange) sped up a bit, and her body hunkered down ever so slightly that only Arthur and Peter would have noticed (maybe Matthew as well, if he wasn't talking to his twin about how Alfred should not play with Kumajirou).

Arthur was about to ask what was wrong, until he recognized one of them. His blood went cold as he saw how she glared at Victorea with as much spite as the devil himself. No wonder she was scared. He raised a thick eyebrow at the girl, but she didn't notice him at all.

Their trek home after that was a bit more unsettling, with Peter focusing on all of the birds flying above, though, he saw nothing. Arthur and Victorea stayed silent as the twins and Peter talked, but Arthur continually glanced in her direction, worry etching his features. She did not seem to recover from that strange encounter, and she continued to walk a bit…defeated.

Once they were back, however, she was fine and merry as she has been all of the day. Alfred decided that they should hang out in their backyard, and Victorea was happy with the suggestion. Arthur nodded to Alfred in approval, and he beamed. As thick-headed as Alfred is, he really seems to understand what people like and dislike, and he's good at helping them stay in a situation that they are happy in.

Maybe that's why he befriended her so quickly? Arthur shrugged the thought away. Alfred was probably being his dorky self then. But who knows?

They all sat under an oak tree, content in the shade. All except one. Once she was able to sit down, Arthur noticed that she was constantly shifting around and her eyes would on occasion wander toward the direction of the street apprehensively.

"Don't worry about her, love. She's a sweetheart, you know," Arthur said softly, hoping it was of some comfort. Clearly, it wasn't. She didn't look any less nervous.

"Who are we talking about here?" Alfred perked up a bit, not wanting to be out of a conversation. Nosy prat.

"I don't really know," Victorea laughed nervously. "Who was that?"

"Michelle. She's from our school?" Arthur prodded her memory slightly. She still looked blank. "Oh, we don't have any classes with her."

"Why are we talking about Michelle?" Alfred asked. "I wanna know! Don't leave me out in the dust!"

Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Michelle and her friends passed us by on the street and frightened Victorea a little." Victorea looked a little hurt by his words. He didn't think she was prideful. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, I just…She just really scares me," Victorea gulped. "Why does she always look at me like that?"

"What? Who scared you? Michelle? How is she scary?" Alfred laughed. "She's as sweet as sugar!"

Arthur shrugged. "She was glaring at Victorea rather harshly. I'm not sur – wait. What do you mean, always?" Arthur suddenly caught on to what she said. Victorea flinched a little, as if she slipped a secret out.

"Oops, sorry. You weren't supposed to hear that."

"What do you mean, always?" Arthur repeated, slightly angered. Not at Victorea, but at Michelle. Why would she glare at Victorea more than once? Victorea looked really hurt now. Arthur didn't realize that his harsh tone appeared directed at her. Alfred and Matthew looked a little suspiciously at Arthur, and Peter just looked confused. "Sorry I sound harsh, love," he added quickly. "I'm not mad."

"Oh," she deflated. "Well, every time I saw her in the hallway, she would always glare at me like that. I never spoke with her, so I'm not sure why she looks at me like that."

Alfred shrugged. "Well, I suppose she's just jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?" Victorea laughed. "Why on earth would anyone be jealous of me?"

"Well, because you're as pretty as she is, and I think that's like some sort of dominance thing girls have."

Victorea blushed. "No, I'm nothing like her."

"Well, sure you are," Mattie smiled. "But I dunno, Alfred. That really doesn't sound like Michelle. She's too kind and…Self-doubting, eh?"

Arthur nodded. "I'm sure it's nothing."

Peter just looked in between all of the older teens, confused. Victorea giggled at his expression. "Don't worry about it. She's long gone."

Peter raised a thick eyebrow, but shrugged. "Alright, if you say so. Oi, Arthur! We should play a game!"

Arthur rolled his eyes, pretending to look exasperated. He really wasn't, and his smile broke the mask. "And what kind of game are we talking about?"

Peter hummed in thought. He didn't think his plan through very well. "Umm…How about…Duck-Duck-Goose?"

Victorea giggled. "That sounds like a strange game."

Four boys stared at her dubiously. Alfred said, "Don't tell me you've never heard of it." When Victorea shook her head, Alfred pretended to pass out with a dramatic sigh. "Jesus, did you live under a rock or something?"

Victorea looked down for a moment. "Of sorts," she said casually. She did not give any time to explain herself, however, and she asked Peter, "Does it involve any sort of exercise?"

"Yep, lots of running," Peter said happily. "It's lots of fun."

Victorea shook her head. "Sorry, but I can't do that. Just walking has exhausted me," she gave a breathy chuckle. "I'm not allowed to be doing too much physical exercise."

"Why is that, anyway? You're a buzz kill in gym 'cause you have a silly doctor's note," Alfred said, sitting back up. Matthew slapped him on the back of the head.

Victorea smiled. "Back injury. Can't do any physical stuff for, like, a few years or something like that."

"What happened?" Arthur asked, clearly concerned.

Victorea just shook her head and leaned back into the tree. "Not important."

Arthur was about to say, if you are hurt, then it is VERY important, but Alfred snickered. "Well, it's alright, cuz you can have Artie kiss it so it's all better!" He made smooching noises, and cupped his hands together under his chin.

Arthur boiled. "Shut up, bastard!"

Victorea blushed deeply, but snorted a laugh, attempting to hide it behind her hand and make a straight face. Peter giggled at the naughty word. "Ooohhh, wait until I tell Mummy!"

"Holy shit, your mother doesn't know you swear?" Alfred thought this was a riot. "Damn, she's gonna be in for a truckload, isn't she?"

Matthew just rolled his eyes at his brother. Arthur glared menacingly at his annoying American brother. "Oh, stiff up a lip, will you?"

Victorea shook her head at the exchange. Arthur was about to yell at Alfred that at least his mother cared to correct him when he swore, unlike Alfred's parents, but that would be pushing it too far. So instead, he noticed Victorea staring up at the clouds, with a small, sad smile.

"What's the matter?" Arthur asked. Alfred wasn't expecting such a change in conversation, and the others watched Victorea as she scanned the sky.

"Well, my favorite game to play was cloud shaping. Mamma and I would play that for hours, because the clouds always change their shape with the wind."

"Cloud shaping?" Peter asked. "Is that any fun?"

Victorea shrugged. "I do it all the time, because I don't really have anything better to do with my time, except cleaning and schoolwork. I like it, because you can make up lots of silly things with it. Plus, you need to use your imagination, which is lots of fun for me."

"Oh, is that the thing when you make clouds into shapes?" Matthew asked.

Victorea nodded and looked at one of them. "That one looks like a sea turtle with a jet engine on its shell."

Peter laughed. "Well, that is using your imagination! Let me try! Let me try! Ummm…" he looked around and pointed at one that was a bit above the house. "That one looks like a hot air balloon that caught on fire!"

The others squinted at it for a moment before laughing. "Yeah, it does!" Victorea smiled. She got up and moved so she was out of the shade, then lay down so that her head was facing the house, and she looked at the cloud from upside down. "If you look at it from here, it looks like a Christmas tree!"

"And if you look at it sideways," Alfred tilted his head to the left and held out both of his index fingers and thumbs so it boxed what he was looking at. "It looks like a meteor on fire!"

Mattie turned his head the opposite direction, forming his hands in a similar way to Alfred's. "And this way looks like a…fire-breathing box."

Everyone laughed at the absurdity. Victorea got up again and layed back down in a different position, so her feet were facing the others once again, but her head was pointing the opposite direction. "That one-" she pointed upwards to a cloud directly above, and with the other hand shielded her eyes from the bright sunlight- "looks like a dragon!"

The others had to get up and lay down where she was to see it, as their tree blocked the view, and once they saw it, they laughed. "Sure does!" Arthur smiled. Then he got up and turned himself around so he was laying the opposite direction of the others. "Looking at it this way makes it look like a mermaid with one wing, though."

Victorea and Alfred turned themselves around so they could see what he was looking at, and sure enough it did. Victorea laughed loudly. "It looks like she's holding something, too. Like, some sort of tennis racket?"

Alfred laughed. "I would have said a light saber with a head speared at the end!"

Victorea closed her eyes and laughed loudly again. This was a sound Arthur could hear all day. She seemed really happy. "Wha-Alfred! You're a dork!" The others soon laughed as well as they turned to see what they were looking at. From then on they moved all around the yard, changing positions and locations to get a good look at each cloud, and they were constantly laughing. Since the one-winged mermaid with a light-saber carrying a detached head they found a whale cuddling with a train, a large tree being eaten by a giant Mickey Mouse with serpent eyes, a Creeper from Minecraft carrying a lamp on its head, a tiger being lifted by his balloon-tail, and so many others. It was really fun for them, as some of them got really creative.

"Look! That one's a conga line of mice!" Victorea pointed to one.

"I found a flower that's about to be stepped on by an elephant!" Alfred pointed to another.

"There's a man riding a carrot!" Peter laughed as he pointed it out.

"I see a little robot being chased by a snowman," Matthew said happily.

"And that one is a vicious pillow stabbing the Eiffel tower with a mushroom!" Arthur laughed. "What is wrong with us?"

Victorea laughed at his comment. "Not sure, but this is fun!"

Alfred stood on his head and squinted at another cloud. "I think that one looks like a butterfly with an axe hitting a penis." Arthur, Victorea and Peter laughed as Mattie got up and pushed Alfred down, landing with a thump face-first on the grass. "Well? It does!"

Mattie just shook his head and sat next to him cross-legged as his twin struggled to get back up. Victorea stood up and walked next to Alfred, laying down so that she could see the cloud from upside-down like he could. "Hmm…Looks to me like a leaf falling from a tree."

"Well, sure. It does now," Alfred huffed. "But I'm telling you what I saw."

Victorea laughed at him. "Well, you do seem to have a perverse mind as it is. I'm sure you were just assuming you saw something that wasn't really there."

"Perverse?" Alfred laughed. "You make that sound like a compliment!"

Victorea giggled. "Well, what do you want me to call it? Don't answer that," she pointed at his face from where she was lying down, her hair facing Arthur, as his mouth was about to open to say something inappropriate. Arthur doubled over laughing at Alfred's shocked expression – nobody hushed him!

"That was probably a good choice," Peter said between fits of laughter.

Alfred huffed and attempted to bite her finger. She was quick enough to pull it away, but she laughed as his teeth snapped where her finger was a split second ago. "Did you just try to bite me?"

Alfred laughed. "Sure did, babe," he winked.

"Pervert!" Victorea laughed. "I didn't mean for it to sound so kinky!"

"Well, I am, as you say," he put one hand over his heart and another out, palm up, and his head bowed a little, "Perverse."

Victorea, Matthew and Peter laughed at this. Arthur, however, wasn't amused. It looked like he was flirting with her. Alfred caught on to this, and snickered. "Awww…Poor Artie. Are we jealous?" he cooed.

Arthur snorted. "Absolutely not. I just find your actions completely inappropriate and foul."

"Perverrrrse," Alfred pointed to his heart. "Weren't you listening?"

Arthur huffed. "Bloody wanker."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I know it's been forever and a half since I've written another chapter, but I got a wonderful comment from a wonderful Fanfiction member that asked me to continue, so I got the motivation to :3 Thank you, Pineapplebombgirl!

I really wanted the next chapters or so to be light and fluffy, because the storyline will begin to get dark soon. I gotta get a balance, you know?

Ciao!~

~Dreampainter97