GOD THIS TOOK FOREVER. I'm sorry, I got really distracted by a role play group I'm in. Haha...ha...*bows* SORRY.
I love to lose myself in other men's minds. When I am not walking, I am reading. I cannot sit and think; books think for me. - Charles Lamb (1775-1834, British Essayist, Critic)
"…B…But that can't be…" she murmured as China gently picked up a fallen flower, staring at it. "How…?" Lenalee stared at the floor, trying to gather her thoughts as she shook her head, eyes shut. "I don't understand. So then…all of you are…countries? How is that possible?"
China hesitated before answering slowly, eyes closed. "You're asking questions," he said softly, eyes creased as Lenalee tried to piece together her answer. "That I have been asking for the longest time myself aru."
"I thought there was something…familiar…I haven't been here in a long time, but Ge-ge would tell me about it, and it felt like a second home to me. Then when I talked to you…" she paused, opening her mouth to speak then closed it but spoke after a minute of silence, "You seemed so easy to talk to, so…" She waved her hand, trying to make her point.
"Your brother, he is… Komui correct?" he asked as she nodded, a small smile now appearing on her lips.
"Ge-ge…he always…was very protective of me," she said as China snorted dryly, shaking his head. "I don't know…how I would repay him."
"I took care of many of the Asian nations, including one that we are going to in a few hours aru. As long as he knows you love him, it should be enough for him aru," he said gently, patting her shoulder as she smiled widely at him, nodding her head. That smile disappeared after a bit as China sighed, directing her to a tea house next to a lake edge.
Lenalee stared at him before lowering her gaze. "I…why me?" she asked as he smiled slightly.
"You seem to be the best to tell at the moment, the one that I can most relate to aru," China admitted as Lenalee nodded.
"Then…I suppose I shouldn't tell anyone else yet?"
He nodded at that, taking his hands out of his sleeves. "I told the others that we should tell you and your friends, however, I feel a bit ashamed that I cannot tell the others aru. It feels as if I am going back on my word aru."
She shook her head, frowning. "I am grateful that you told me sir, but I do agree with what you said, about not telling the others."
His eyebrow rose as a court lady brought them both a cup of tea. Stretching out his hand, he picked it up, sipping at his tea lightly. "What makes you say that?" he asked as she stared at her hands tucked in her lap.
"…Allen should hear the truth from England and Lavi…Lavi from everyone. Kanda…is the one I'm most worried for right now," Lenalee mumbled from her sip of tea as her eyes softened.
"Ah…from his wounds."
"Now that I know, do you think you can explain to me what's happening?" she asked, almost panicked as he shook his head.
"I don't know myself, Japan would be the only one who knows the answer aru," he replied as she deflated visibly.
"…I'll be sure to ask him."
As they boarded a ship to Korea, Yao turned to Ivan who was enjoying the gentle spring breeze. "Why are you going along aru?" Ivan turned to his southern neighbor, smiling slightly.
"I wasn't going to go myself," he said with a glance towards him. "I had visited Japan recently, about…ten or so years ago, it didn't seem that bad." Yao sighed at that, shaking his head at him as he continued. "But Kirkland sent me a telegram and after my Czar read it, he ordered for me to go and help a fellow nation in need." Ivan's face twisted into a wry expression as he shook his head. "One would think that he would take care of our people instead."
"I see…" Yao had no response to that besides that as he shifted slightly off his left foot he had been leaning on.
The rest of the ride consisted of Alfred acting like an idiot, Kanda trying to kill him, Matthew trying to hold him back, and Lavi scribbling something down on a piece of paper he took from a shop before they left.
The rest were tying to rest in the midst of the noise.
"And you, Yao. Why are you going?" Ivan asked after the boat docked in what the locals call Busan.
Yao gave him a long glance as he smiled slightly. "He is family aru. No matter how far he went away."
"Which is why Hyung is so softhearted!" The small group turned to look at a young boy standing near them with an older girl standing near him, bopping him on the head. The boy whined, grabbing his throbbing head. "Noona! What the heck did you do that for?"
The girl rolled her eyes as she bowed towards the group. "Welcome to Korea."
Inside the capital city of Seoul, the two siblings had allowed the group to get comfortable before planning out the final plans to enter Japan. "So this is Korea?" Alfred asked as Yong-soo grinned, nodding.
"Besides that," Min-ji interrupted before the American could continue. "What are you going to do from here on out?"
Arthur nodded as he set down the tea the siblings had given him. "With the exorcists' help," he said as the others leaned towards him to listen. "We will begin our mission from the closest we can get to Edo. From the last telegram Kiku had managed to send, he had been running towards Edo so we will meet him in a certain area and fend ourselves off the best we can until we can get him out."
Ivan's eyebrow rose. "That does not sound as foolproof I had expected from you," he chided as Arthur nodded.
"I know, and I'm a bit worried myself," the British man admitted with a nod, "But the most important thing as of now is to get Kiku out of there."
"One thing though," Yong-soo butted in as Min-ji tried to get him to shut up. He shook her off, staring at them. "What happens when this is all over? Wouldn't he try to take over? He had already been trying to take over Korea several times [1], what stops him after we help him?"
"Right now," Allen rebutted, staring at the young boy who stared at him back. "It's more important to focus on saving Mr. Kiku."
"True," Yong-soo admitted as he held up his ridiculously long sleeves in a shrugging manner. "But I'm trying to protect my home from him. You can't blame me for being a bit paranoid. After all," Yao immediately whacked himself in the face as Min-ji groaned. "Paranoia originated from me!"
Min-ji punched her brother, glaring at him as Yong-soo held his head tightly, whining. "Paranoia does not originate from you," she growled as he laughed through a hiss of pain.
"Noona, you're such a jerk sometimes," he teased as she had half a mind to strangle him, seen by the strangling motion towards his neck.
"Show some respect towards your elders aru!" Yao snapped, a bit annoyed as Yong-soo grinned at him but quieted after the other countries glared at him.
"In any case, there is a ship prepared at a dock edge, towards the closest we can get it towards Japan," Min-ji spoke, eyes closed as she remembered details. "The captain just asks that he turn back as soon as he can, to prevent any damage to the ship.
"Thank you," Arthur said stiffly as she smiled somewhat forced, nodding her head as she got to her feet, calling orders in Korean to the servants outside.
"You should go soon," she spoke without turning around as she slid open the door and left outside. Yong-soo sighed, shaking his head.
"Sorry about her," he apologized as Lavi blinked, staring at him.
"Why are you apologizing?" he asked as Yong-soo frowned, shaking his head.
"…My Noona is wary of all foreigners. She's helping you guys because she trusts Hyung's judgment." He smiled slightly, nodding his head in their direction. "I do too. But, not just because of Hyung." Lenalee joined the conversation, nodding her apologies as her curiosity got the better of her.
"Why is that?" she asked as Yong-soo smiled at her, flapping his oversized sleeves.
"As much as I don't like Kiku, we're still family…you know…we kind of have to stick together," Yong-soo replied, looking older than his age for a brief moment before smiling at them. "Want to try some kimchi? It originated from me!"
As the younger of the two Korean siblings dragged the exorcists off, Yao sat himself next to the elder sister, sitting in her yard. "…You're worried aru," he poked as she sighed, shaking her head.
"Oppa."
Yao blinked, staring at her. The Korean girl shifted uneasily then stood up, her hanbok fluttering in the wind. "I heard something," she said as Yao made to stand up but she shook her head. "The European countries' dignitaries came to my king…they were talking about the Black Order."
"What about them?" Alfred called from afar, joining them with Arthur at his side, as she glared at him but continued.
"Not all are like the children you're with right now," she said, caution in her tone. "…If…If the Black Order hears that we are countries, then they will kill Kiku."
"What?!" Arthur spluttered eyes wide as she nodded solemnly, brown eyes watching the others. "They can't just kill a country, the people would die as well!" he nearly yelled as Min-ji glared at him.
"That's the point, if they learn that Kiku is Japan, they will kill Japan to kill the Akuma!" she snapped angrily as Arthur shook his head.
"But that doesn't make sense!" Arthur protested still, causing Alfred to stare at him. "They would kill all of us to do that!"
"Only the country with the most Akuma," she cut off, clenching her fists. "The Asian Black Order branch mentioned it to my brother and me on their last visit here." She sent them a wry glance. "There are a few who know of our existence."
"So it is more important than ever to save Kiku aru," Yao muttered as Min-ji nodded.
"I wanted to warn you Oppa. Before anything and before you get there of course," she said slowly as Yao nodded his thanks while standing to his feet. His smile was completely wiped off, eyes narrowed as he moved towards the door.
"Where is your port?" he asked as Min-ji smiled slightly before calling in Korean to Yong-soo.
"베가 어디 야?" she asked as the boy paused in his feeding Allen kimchi [2]. The boy's face was bright red from the hot pepper cabbage as he darted around for some water.
"근처에 있어요," he replied waving his hands as Min-ji sighed, shaking her head.
"Let's go, we'll take you now," she ordered as she gave Allen a cup of water.
Both Yong-soo and Min-ji watched as the boat took off as Yong-soo glanced at his older sister, taking her hand. "Hyung will be alright…right?" he asked as she smiled at him, nodding.
"It's Oppa. He can't be taken down so easily," she replied, trying to soothe her little brother's fears. She had a hard time forcing the smile on her own face as the boat disappeared into the sea.
Allen, avoiding the others for a bit, climbed to the mast, and sat down, his left hand balancing on his chin, his right clinging to the wood under him. He was headed to Japan again, back to the place where he had almost lost his life half way there only to return, more powerful than before. His hand fell to his heart, eyes closed as his innocence enhanced heart glowed a faint green.
Did he regret it after all this time? He wondered about that as he stared up into the sky, the ship moving quickly through the choppy waters. No….even with the fourteenth, he still had a purpose to achieve, to go forward as an exorcist.
His thoughts trailed back to the men below him, the group that Lavi had growing suspicions about. Lavi had told him everything that he had learned and guessed so far. Pulling out a sheet of crumbling paper, he stared at it, starting to connect the lines.
Each man had claimed to be a representation of each country, a dignitary, a noble of some sorts, just someone important to the sake of that country. His eyes fluttered closed as he paused in thought, trying to come up with some sort of idea to cover such a coincidence.
The Im siblings were both important officials inside the Korean government, Francis was also key to the French government. Arthur had relations to the Queen, all of them were important officials besides Alfred. From what Lavi had told him however, Alfred was present at all the meetings that his government had and was also an important official.
Now if that wasn't bullshit, Allen didn't know what was. It wouldn't be possible, why would they let their most important officials go off into the yonder to save one man? And so many too…there had to be something behind it.
There were so many things wrong with this mission, the objective, the men traveling with them, everything! Komui knew nothing and Lenalee had been avoiding the group as of late, just replying with her normal, "Everything's fine Allen!"
Everything was not fine Lenalee.
As Allen dug deeper into his thoughts, he stumbled upon a small gnawing fact. Mr. Kirkland…he had seemed so familiar to him. But he had never met the man before so why…?
That feeling of nostalgia…
Could it be?
Somewhere in his mind, it clicked.
This man…was his home…
"Ah, there you are."
[1]: So, considering I'm Korean, I'm biased. Obviously. Haha. Anyway, Japan actually invaded Korea a lot during their history together. It's kind of funny actually.
[2]: IT'S SO SPICY BUT GOOD. 8D
So, sorry! I didn't mean to take forever but I promise to get the next chapter out sooner! If Min-ji sounds Mary-sue ish, ARRGH SORRY!