Alright guys, I'm still alive! 8D And. And. HOLY CRAP. 102 REVIEWS? YOU GUYS ARE SO AWESOME. I...I didn't think that anyone would like this and here you are, all proving me wrong andand ;w; Thank you so much.
This chapter is the one that most of you guys, I'm sure, have been waiting for. Hopefully, you guys all like it.
Enjoy! I'll try not to take forever again.
Till a man can judge whether they be truths or not, his understanding is but little improved, and thus men of much reading, though greatly learned, but may be little knowing. - John Locke ( 1632-1704, British Philosopher )
"Yao-oppa, in all respect, WHY did you think running into a battlefield before thinking would do any good?" Min-ji moaned as she flopped into a seat. The nations and their allies had made it back to Korea in one piece, relatively, and Kiku had been toted off by the royal doctors in the palace for care. The others were resting in their own rooms and the two Korean siblings came to check on their older brother.
"Kiku was in danger Min-ji," Yao replied, taking a sip of tea as he did so. "If I had left him alone…"
The elder of the Korean siblings sighed, obviously exhausted as she sat back on her heels, rubbing at her forehead. "So…where are the others?" Yong-soo butted in after a long silence, curious. Motioning towards the rooms, Min-ji sighed yet again.
"They're resting…I suppose…now that they know…" She didn't finish her sentence, looking at Yao who nodded.
"They will know everything now, once we explain it to them."
Alfred was inside another room, his head resting in his brother's lap, Arthur hovering somewhat near by, eyebrows furrowed with worry. "M' sorry," Alfred repeated again as Matthew winced and Arthur spun, green eyes flared with rage, sorrow and perhaps, if both brothers were looking carefully, regret. Ivan sat nearby, arms folded as he watched the little fragmented family for a moment.
"You…you…sodding wanker! What the bloody hell were you thinking, racing out like the git you are? Nation or not, that was..." Arthur expelled a breath, trying frantically to piece together his words coherently to express his rage at the younger nation who refused to lift his head from his brother's lap. It wasn't surprising to Arthur, although the others thought it odd. Once they had gotten back to Korea, Alfred had stuck next to Matthew like glue, as they did when they were children.
Arthur knew this tactic very, very well. Alfred would hide behind Matthew and wait for the storm to pass. Considering that Matthew would usually start to cry, and that Arthur had a soft spot, no it was not a giant spot in his heart, for the twins, he couldn't bring himself to yell at one who did nothing wrong. Not very heroic, his younger twin would point out in which Alfred replied with a childish frown that all heroes had to protect their sidekick from the evil eyebrows that would eat them.
Alive.
Arthur breathed through his nose deeply then looked at the other countries in the room. "What do we do from here on out?" he asked everyone as Ivan glanced up, eyes watching the other three in the room before pushing himself off of the wall he had been sitting against.
"Japan," he spoke, his violet eyes narrowed, "Will come with us as soon as he is able to move. With Korea in such close proximity to Japan, it is too close to risk." Arthur nodded along to the logic of this statement as Ivan sent a glance at Alfred who seemed intent on staying close to his twin no matter what it took. "…America," he spoke, no longer at risk of what the exorcists might hear.
"…What?" he asked, lifting his head up and staring at Ivan with a remote interest in his eyes. Ivan snorted at this look, shaking his head slightly, fixing his scarf where he sat.
"What do you know of a Renee Epsteine?"
Kanda walked slowly through the hallways of the Korean palace, most of the servants avoiding him. Although, that was mainly due to the fact that rumor had spread quickly that the man was quick to temper and the eunuch who was the unfortunate man assigned to him had the cut up uniform to prove it.
Walking through the halls, he felt like his head was going to split open, pounding headaches that no medicine could cure. What the hell was this feeling? It seemed as if it were gradually growing more badly as the day grew on and Kanda, for all his mind could wrap around this, could only come up with one solution. It had to do with that man…that man Honda Kiku.
His mind set and his feet walking towards a goal, Kanda's normal scowl only grew as he opened the sliding door and slipped in. The other exorcists, when he woke up, had informed him that the men they had been traveling with were actually, countries. Of course, Kanda couldn't believe it at first, he called it all bullshit. Allen had then told him, in blunt words, to "Shut up, BaKanda!" and to, "Ask Mr. Honda yourself when he wakes up."
Kanda scowled at the memory, stepping inside quietly, looking around. The man in question, the man that flashed through his dreams, nightmares was on the sleeping bed before him, chest rising slowly, up and down. Well, Kanda noted dryly with a small shake of his long hair, at least he would be able to get answers.
When the door shut, the man's eyes flew open and he immediately reached for something to hit at Kanda who moved back swiftly to avoid any frantic blow. As the man's breathing calmed after a few moments of flailing, Kanda brought a chair over and sat down to look at him with a pointed look.
"You," he spoke bluntly, not bothering with politeness as his culture demanded of him. "You're the man in my head. What the fuck are you doing there? I don't even fucking know you." The man stared at him for a long moment, his face blank from emotions before he let loose a quiet chuckle, shaking his head.
Kanda grew angry and growled softly, shaking his head. "Answer me damn you! What the hell did you do to my head?" The man grew quiet at that and shook his head slightly, as if debating how to tell Kanda before nodding slightly and turning his gaze up to Kanda.
"…We have met Kanda Yu," he spoke quietly as Kanda strained his head to listen. "We have met once before, in your past." Kanda immediately froze up at that, shaking his head, glaring at him.
"You weren't there," he spoke with a cold, icy glare. "You weren't at the place where those bastards…those bastards…"
"The Asian headquarters, the Second exorcists…Kanda-san, I may not look like it, but I am much older then I look," Kiku finished with a small smile, then paused, a flicker of worry flashing across his face before it was chased away. "Do…you wish to know how Kanda-san?" he spoke as Kanda, shaking himself from the reverie of his thoughts, glared and nodded. The man sat up at that, making himself more comfortable and making sure the blanket was still on him before nodding. "Excuse the rude introduction Kanda-san, but I am Honda Kiku."
Kanda made no response to that, glaring at him still.
Kiku seemed a little hesitant to go onwards, but did so anyway. "I had business, with the Asian Headquarters," he spoke softly, shaking his head. "So I went ahead to visit them. The…" He shook his head, staring at the wall in front of him, as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. "I had no idea that such an experiment was taking place."
"No one had any idea of that shit. It failed, that's why," Kanda retorted, eyes flashing the pain of that memory, the pain of those days. Almost as if unbidden, a small little memory rose up and inflated until he had to take a step back mentally and shut every thought out.
Alma…
"…There was a boy, they told me, that shared…" Kiku paused, shaking his head. "Kanda-san, do you know of the truth?" he asked, staring at the boy with a curious glance as Kanda rolled his eyes, grunting rather noncommittally.
"You mean that bullshit about how you and those others are country personifications?" he retorted easily, staring at Kiku as if he were crazy. "Yeah, they told me."
Kiku offered a small smile and a shake of his head. "It is true. All of it. How else do you think we are able to connect in such a way?"
"By the innocence! By the experiments, I don't know, you're bullshitting me right now! There's no way you or those others are…" Kanda, by then, had realized the almost stupidity behind what he said. Really, there were demons wearing human skin, a seven thousand year war and the second exorcist experiment…would it really be such a stretch to say that there were country personifications running amuck?
Yes, it would be. Kanda immediately retorted to the more sensible side to himself. Then again, did he have one? He glared briefly then shook his head, words falling short as Kiku averted his gaze and stared elsewhere, eyes closed. "…They told me that a boy was part of who I was, as a country. I went to meet you while you were still…"
Kanda, despite himself, was starting to listen now, more than he originally intended to as he leaned forward slightly. "While I was…?" he asked slowly, watching for the man's reaction to this.
Kiku didn't flinch rather he focused his blank brown gaze in front of him, at the tapestry on the wall. "…While they were testing if the innocence would accept you or not," he finished, his emotions never faltering to not show on his face. Kanda sat back, staring at the man's placid face for a moment then growled softly. He did recognize him.
That man, Honda Kiku had been talking to Bak Chan's grandfather and then he had noticed Kanda who at the time was trying to synch with the innocence once again. Why didn't he notice this...?
"…You. You're the man who came to talk to me later, after all of that."
A faint flicker of surprise echoed across Kiku's face as he smiled slightly and nodded. "…I am. I asked if you were hungry and wanted a bite to eat." He smiled then wiped the smile away from his face easily, staring at the wall again. "You…told me 'no' in… less kinder terms and yet…I was intrigued by you Kanda-san, so I continued to talk."
"How does this end up with us being able to dream about each other?" Kanda asked, some of the hostility ebbing away from his voice as Kiku nodded.
"I…We…Our situations mirrored each other. You were trapped in by the church and I by my duties to my people. We both had people we loved and yet, they were torn from us by factors neither of us could control." He smiled slightly and tapped Kanda's head. "Although your tattoo might also play a factor in this."
"Then…we're connected. I'll feel your pain while you feel mine. What kind of fucking relationship is that?" Kanda snapped as Kiku smiled slightly, shaking his head.
"An unfair one," he answered then paused, staring at the wall. "I have never shared such a deep bond with any one of my citizens before and to be frank Kanda-san, I am not sure I can reverse this."
Kanda's mind tried to wrap around this and spun at all of this as he sank down into his seat a little more, staring at Kiku. "Then…because our situations supposedly click, you and I are connected," he stated with a small frown as Kiku chuckled once, then nodded. "You know how idiotic that sounds right now? How…"
"Kanda-san," the nation, and Kanda, despite all his thoughts that screamed nay, was starting to accept that they were nations, cut in politely. "I myself cannot explain it, how I, a nation, your nation, am able to emphasize with one such as yourself. But, if I might say," he paused, fingering the blankets in between his fingers, feeling the soft silk.
"Because we are nations, because of what I am, I feel my people's pains daily, what they go through, who they are…perhaps…you are more augmented due to your childhood experience," Kanda snorted dryly at how the nation danced around the word 'experience', "-and when we finally met…" He waved his hand again. "Both you and I were able to connect through the fact that I am a nation…and you, an…"
"An experiment. Dammit, I know what I am, you don't need to dance around it so carefully like you'll fucking break me or something," he immediately retorted bitterly as Kiku stiffened then allowed a small smile. Shifting off his chair, Kanda stared at Kiku with a scowl. "Then what happens beyond this? After this? What are you going to do since you can't come back to Japan?"
Kiku fell silent, then sighed, staring at his hands for a moment. "I…did not expect to be rescued, Kanda-san. I do not know what they want of me, what…" He stared up at the exorcist with a small frown. "Although, that does not mean I am not grateful, far from it." He sighed, shaking his head once again. "I…the nation of Japan managed to survive the Akuma attacking my home," he said slowly as if he wasn't sure that he could believe it.
Kanda sat there silently, watching and trying to organize his thoughts before Kiku smiled. "Now that you have seen me, Kanda-san, do you feel your headaches are better?" he asked, still smiling as Kanda glanced up before snorting with a toss of his head.
"Tch. Of course, as if I would be held down by that forever."
Kiku's smile only grew. "…Then that is good to know."
To reply to reviews~
Romano issue, yes, I realized that way too late into the story but due to laziness, I stuck with Romano. *cough* Sorry about that.