I…am so tired. It's 4:05 AM. And I'm uploading right now. Haha. I must be crazy.

You know, if I stop with the disclaimers, I think they get the point…or is the lack of sleep just getting to me?

ALSO THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING. All of you get cookies for helping me get to 55 reviews! It means so much to me that I got this far! Considering my longest fic was Thanatos and I gave up on that one, this is really an improvement for me. A-As sad as that might be.

I like this chapter, no…well, not really, but yeah. 8D

Edit: Sorry for deleting this about 238947 times. I keep noticing mistakes. *FAIL*

Every human mind is a great slumbering power until awakened by a keen desire and by definite resolution to do. - Edgar F. Roberts

Japan breathed heavily, flopped against a rock while wiping the blood off his forehead. He winced at the sting of the forehead cut before pressing a relatively clean rag to his head. That was the fourth level four Akuma he defended against his men and his blade had broken too. Not that he minded, but he liked a break now and then. He was an old man after all.

Lately however, whenever he tried to rest, he was constantly bothered by a strange dream, one of a young boy who couldn't stop screaming. Japan had tried to muffle the screams in his dream with his arms but failed miserably. When he woke up, fragments of that dream would still remain with him and hinder his fighting skills.

That little boy…was he dead? Still here, among the few survivors of his people?

He didn't know, but to all the deities above, he prayed that the little boy survived so that he might be able to talk to him one day.

Hearing a loud shriek of laughter, he glanced around rather wildly. A naginata was hidden in the depths of the broken home, the blade shining in the dim light.

Without hesitation, he pulled out the weapon and raced forward, expertly swinging the weapon. (1)

If he had the time of course…

Kanda's head was killing him. At first he wrote it off as a headache then it slowly grew into a throbbing pain that he had to rest for a bit before marching forward, ignoring all protests. He was having dreams again as well…about her, about that man, and…

Alma…

He pressed his hand to his forehead as he slowly opened his eyes, blinking at the bright sun. Glancing around, he sat up abruptly, eyes wide. This wasn't the forest of bamboo they were in.

Where were they?

He reached behind him, groping for his ponytail only to realize his hair was down. Mumbling something about hair ties and not to touch his hair ever, he glanced around him.

The room was decorated with ornaments with Chinese characters written on a few items. The walls were a warm red color as he stared at the bed he was in. They were in China?

The door slid open as Lenalee came in, giving him a cup of tea. "Here," she said softly, setting down the cup of tea. "Wang xiansheng told me to give this to you." Kanda nodded his thanks before glancing at the Chinese girl. (2)

"We're in China?" he asked slowly as she nodded, smiling widely.

"It's why I'm using Chinese, homeland and all," she admitted as he shook his head at that.

"No, I mean, when did we get here?" he growled as she nodded.

"A day ago," she replied, and then frowned at him. "You…you were asleep for the longest time again. Kanda are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," he replied gruffly, sipping some of the bitter tea. She looked as if she wanted to question him again but thought better of it, stepping outside the sliding door. Pausing as she did so, she glanced inward at him.

"By the way," she called as Kanda glanced towards her. "Have you seen Lavi's booklet? He's been missing it for awhile."

In the hallway, Wang Yao dusted unseen dust off of the corner of his sleeve before glancing at the visitors sitting in his yard through a window.

Initially, receiving a message from England made him almost want to tear it up and spit on it, until Korea had saved the message, reading it out loud to him, as shaky as his English was. As he did so however, he almost wanted to rip it up until China glared at him, shaking his head.

What, he thought dryly as he stared into the distance, what gave these men the arrogance to prance through the world with the ease they do?

Feeling the affects of old age upon his body, he sighed softly, staring into the distance. Why did he even agree to such a proposition in the first place? Saving Japan, the child who had easily left him after all he did…

He bit back a bitter laugh, shaking his head. He had no right over Japan, no one did. He was his own country. Turning on his heel, he shook his head. No matter, he was willing to save Japan from himself. He had to in the end, because of their relationship, no matter how frayed it was. Japan was still his little brother.

Lenalee Li had stepped out of the room, sliding the door shut before almost crashing into Yao. "Ah!" She bowed rapidly. "Yuanliang wo de culu xiansheng. Excuse my rude behavior," she apologized as he shook his head, patting the girl on her shoulder.

"Zhe shi meiyou wenti de. It is no problem," he replied with a smile as Lenalee started to move out of the way then stopped, glancing back at the elder.

"…Shi…Ta hai hao ma? Is he alright?" she asked timidly as Yao frowned, shaking his head.

"Ni de pengyou... Wo bu zhidao daodi you she me budui, dan ta… Your friend...I do not know exactly what is wrong with him but..." he admitted slowly but sent her a smile nonetheless as the girl's expression grew pensive.

Lenalee glanced inside the room where Kanda was sitting up straight, staring into the distance then nodded at him.

"You're very easy to talk to," she said softly, switching back to English as Yao smiled, nodding.

"I took care of many of my siblings…I should be like that right aru?" he replied as she laughed then stepped around him.

"Then," she said lightly, bowing, "excuse me for now."

Yao nodded towards her then slowly made his way outside of the hallway, glancing outside towards the four sitting under one of the garden tea houses (3) then gritted his teeth, stepping towards them.

"Yao!" Ivan called, waving over the elder country. "What took you so long?"

Yao waved his hand in the air aimlessly. "Things aru," he replied vaguely, sending a bitter glare at Arthur who stared back at him, eyes narrowed. "One of the exorcists was sick so I put him in the guest chamber aru."

"Really?" Matthew piped up, eyes wide with concern. "I didn't think that he was that…"

Yao sat down, eyes closed for a brief moment before staring at them. "They don't know aru."

This sounded like an accusation as Alfred tensed. "Well they shouldn't," he shot back, fists clenched. "If they did then everything would change."

"How is that?" the country asked calmly as Arthur stepped in, waving Alfred down.

"We've always kept our existence from our people hidden," Arthur said as Yao folded his arms, staring at him directly.

Some might call it overdramatic on his part, but he would not forgive the man who poisoned his people, slaughtering them and taking his little brother. He may be still weak, but he had his pride.

"But they are allies in saving Kiku. Shouldn't they deserve the truth?" he retorted smoothly as Ivan stepped in.

"Before we left my home, the redhead, Lavi, was already figuring out bits of who we are," he said cheerfully as he pulled out a ripped piece of paper. "I found this in his room."

Ivan smiled as he placed down the piece of paper. "I burned his book but it turned out that he kept parts of it in his pockets. He is quite a clever boy," he commented offhandedly as the others all had almost the same reaction.

"Why did you burn his book?" Matthew nearly squeaked as the Russian smiled but didn't answer as the Canadian continued. "He was going crazy, looking for it in the kitchen! Toris had to reassure him if he found it that he would send it to him as soon as he could."

Alfred nodded to his younger brother's statement. "I mean, I'm all for covering our identities for as long as we can, but Ivan, wasn't that too much?" he asked as Ivan made a clicking noise under his breath.

"You two are too naïve," he replied, eyes narrowed slightly. "The boy is a Bookman in training."

Alfred snorted, tossing his head. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Arthur rolled his eyes, whacking the boy upside on the head. "Git! Don't you even know what a Bookman does?" he snarled in irritation as Alfred whined from the sting through his head.

"A Bookman," Yao interrupted smoothly, glancing at Arthur who relented the explaining to him, "Is a man or woman who travels through the world, recording history aru. As they do, they learn more about the world than a normal human would aru." He tapped his head, one arm still folded across his chest. "They have a perfect memory as well, although…" he paused, shaking his head. "Why he wears an eye patch is beyond me aru."

"So…when learning about history, they would eventually learn about us?" Alfred asked, eyebrows both raised high. "How does that work?"

Yao almost smiled at the younger nation's question. It sounded like something Korea or…Hong Kong would ask him when they were younger.

Well…they couldn't really now, could they?

He mentally shook his head, continuing with his explanation. "We're in history, whether we want to or not," he replied as Alfred mulled over this for a moment.

"Which is why I burnt his book. You get it da?" Ivan asked as Alfred glared at him.

"Of course! But you still shouldn't have burnt his book," Alfred said with a frown as Ivan glanced at him with a mixed expression.

"So, you say that you want our secret hidden," the Russian began as Alfred watched him carefully. "But you approve of the red head's book?"

"It's not like you had any right to burn it," the American retorted as Ivan laughed, a strangled sound, one that sounded obviously forced as he looked at the American with some sort of amazement in his eyes.

"Alfred, have you forgotten you are not in America anymore?" he asked as Alfred glared at him, about to give him a piece of his mind before Yao cut in, glaring at them both.

"Back to the original point," he growled as Alfred glanced elsewhere. "It won't seem well if we hide the truth from them aru," he said as England glanced at him, eyes narrowed.

"Even if we tell them, will they believe you? Won't they stop this mission because they feel as if they are led on a wild goose chase?" he asked as Yao glanced at him with disdain in his gaze.

"How will we know until we try? As Ivan had said, the Bookman already is onto whom we are aru," he replied, folding his arms as Arthur stared at him. Yao stood up from his seat then strolled back into his home. "Make yourselves comfortable aru," he called, waving his hand as the other four sat there in silence. "We leave for Korea in a few hours."

Matthew glanced at the other three countries before swallowing his fear and speaking up. "…I…I think Mr. Wang is right," he spoke timidly at Alfred glared at him.

"Not you too Mattie!" the country exclaimed as Matthew shivered at the look his older twin was sending him.

"I-If we hide the truth, how will we explain it when the truth is finally shoved in their faces?" he asked as Alfred's glare dropped a few notches.

"True…but…they still wouldn't believe it anyway!"

Matthew stared at the floor, wishing he had Kumajiro with him. "That's what you think," he mumbled to himself.

Allen and Lavi, the latter distressed about his book, were sitting around in the garden, Allen trying to calm Lavi down. "I'm sure that no one took it," he said as Lavi tightened his fists.

"Moyashi, they took everything! Even the scraps in my pants! My PANTS!" he exclaimed, shooting up from his sitting position. "It's like they were on to me or something, or that creepy bastard Ivan did something to my book!"

"I…I'm not sure you want to say that out loud, no matter how much I might agree with you," Allen replied with a wry look on his face while ignoring the Moyashi bit.

"Moyashi, that book was the first thing that Old man Panda gave to me! It was his way of saying that I was closer to becoming a Bookman!" Lavi protested as Allen stared at him in almost shock. This was the first, seeing Lavi react so violently about something. "I…just can't believe I lost it…"

"…Lavi…" Lavi turned towards him, eyes lit with fury.

"Before I lost my book, I was wondering about something," he confided as Allen blinked. "It was about them, how they all have innocence even though there's only one hundred and nine in the world."

As he said this, Yao could be seen walking towards Kanda's room, his arms tucked into his sleeves. Bumping into Lenalee, he blinked then smiled. "How is your friend?" he asked curiously as she nodded, her arms behind her back.

"Much better thank you," she replied as he stared at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. "…Um…"

"Come here," he said suddenly, taking her wrist and walking briskly down the hallway.

What was he doing? He wondered that as he took the girl to the outer gardens where he was sure no one would be there.

No, no, he knew, he was going to reveal a time old secret to an ally. It was only right, fair that they know. If one holds secrets against allies, then they fall because they are unstable.

Among the lotus flowers, he turned around, eyes watching the girl, gauging her reaction. "Your friend has been wondering about us aru," he said softly, deciding to speak in English, as Lenalee blinked then nodded, a slight embarrassed look on her face. He smiled, shaking his head. "He is a Bookman, I understand that much," he said with a small grin as she smiled back at him.

"Wáng xiānshēng, what did you call me out here for?" she finally asked after a long bout of silence. He smiled stiffly then nodded, pulling his arms out of his sleeves. He bent his head towards the skies, his smile drifting away as he then turned his gaze back to the girl.

"What I'm about to tell you is something that we have guarded for a long time against our people, for fear of their reactions," he said slowly as he nodded, affirming that statement. "We were right to do so however, you and your friends are our allies. We cannot keep running forever away from the truth."

"Wh…What are you…?" she began to ask as he held up a hand to stop the questions.

He then smiled at her, his age seeping into his features and his smile turning more…gentler, kinder than what she had seen before. Lenalee blinked rapidly at the man who was so easy to talk to. This man was so regal…and ancient…different than what she had just seen before, earlier too.

The realization hit her hard.

He was China.

(1): So, I was browsing through the Hetalia LJ community and stumbled on a post that said that Japan's preferred weapon was a naginata. The reason was something along the lines of Japan being girly. I liked it so it's in here. CREDITS TO THE PERSON WHO SAID THAT.

(2): I'm not sure what dialect this is. ;____; I don't mean to offend people when I just threw a blanket over Lenalee saying that she's speaking Chinese because Google translator was like that. Also, if it's wrong, I apologize again.

(3): I...have no idea what the crap that's called. Would someone like to inform me? =n=;;

So yeah. I TOLD you I had a reason for liking this chapter, beside it being the longest I've ever written. *grins stupidly then toddles off to sleep*