Hello everyone! It's the weekend so I finally had the time to write and edit this chapter! As always, thank you to everyone who added this story to their favorites, subscribed, and/or reviewed! You all make my day with your kind words and actions T.T I love you all! I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hetalia...and I never will. =(
Chapter 5: Where Loves Complicates Things
Two weeks after the banquet, Yao and the others were back in Viet's lab. They had managed to escape the party without being detected by the police because of the chaos that occurred after the explosion. Two more leader were dead, which meant two more branches were broken, an overall success. However, Yao still felt he had failed.
He could've sworn he saw Kiku at the banquet and he was unable to retrieve him.
What was worse was that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about him. Kiku seemed to be doing that a lot, completely occupying his thoughts. Everywhere he turned there was another thing that reminded him of the banquet. Of the guilt. The Chinese android observed his companions around the room, wondering if the mission had the same effect on them.
Currently, Yong Soo was sitting next to Kaoru, watching a newly installed television, while Mei was reading a beauty magazine. Well, it certainly didn't look like they were troubled by the two people they had killed and the hundred more they probably traumatized. Yao only sighed.
"Tch. There's another news report." Kaoru commented, snapping Yao out of his thoughts. He walked over to the TV, peeking over Kaoru's shoulder. On the screen was an English channel with Chinese subtitles. It was discussing the assassination of Gilbert and Romano, along with the bombing.
"The assassination of Romano Vargas and Gilbert Beilschmidt has left the world baffled. Who did this? What were their motives? And more importantly, who is next? Hello everyone, I am Nicole Fanning from TYR news." The news reporter said, holding a microphone to her mouth.
Yao rolled his eyes. Lately, there had been dozens of news reports like this, explaining what little the police knew about the murders.
"The two men were killed at a banquet in Rome, where police have concluded that they were poisoned. It is unknown who committed the murders, and police are still questioning witnesses." Nicole continued.
"God, there are way too many of these. I've seen at least five today." Kaoru complained. He was about to change the channel when Yong Soo snatched the remote from his hand.
"Let's see if they found out anything new to say-da ze." Yong Soo said, holding the remote away from the Chinese android next to him.
"Fine."
"If the murders weren't horrible enough, the perpetrators also bombed five factories, injuring twenty five people. Investigators believe that these murders are connected with the deaths of Francis Bonnefoy and Feliks Łukasiewicz, which happened only a couple of years ago." Nicole said again.
"God-da ze. They think?" Yong Soo said, quirking an eyebrow.
"With me, I have a representative from the English branch of Europa." After she said this, a tall man in a suit walked on screen. He looked like the stereotypical bodyguard, having the glasses, suit, and headset. "Now, what does Europa plan to do about these attacks?"
The man cleared his throat before speaking.
"I assure you, these terrorists will be captured and detained. Europa is using all of its resources to track down these murderers and bring them to justice." The man said in an emotionless voice.
"Yeah right, da ze! They couldn't catch us if we smacked them in the face!" Yong Soo said.
"Shh!" Kaoru shushed the Korean unit, turning his attention back to the tv.
"But what is happening now? People are getting hurt and dying!" Nicole questioned, failing to retain her calm tone.
"We are investigating the murders, what else?" The man replied, not even turning to look at the female reporter.
"You have been doing that for months! What security measures are being taken?" Nicole tried again.
"More battle droids are being mass produced as we speak to protect Mr. Jones."
"What is Mr. Jones's reaction to the murders?"
"That question is irrelevant." The man answered.
'Is this guy human?' Yao thought. So far, the man on the TV didn't move an inch ever since he stepped on screen. Heck, the guy didn't convey any emotion whatsoever. He continued to watch the screen.
"What do you mean it's irrelevant? Mr. Jones may be next!" Nicole argued.
"Ma'am, you are letting all of this chaos go to your head. Please calm down." The man said, voice indifferent.
"NO! I will not calm down! You are just an emotionless droid who-"
Nicole's statement was cut off as a picture appeared on screen. The report was replaced with a picture of a panda cub next to an empty electrical socket. The cub had an electrical cord in its mouth, a wire that was probably supposed to be in the socket. The words 'Technological Problems' were plastered across the top of the picture.
"Well, that's the end of that." Kaoru deadpanned, switching the TV off.
"Tsk. Well, we have nothing to worry about-da ze." Yong Soo said, rolling his eyes.
"Don't get too cocky. You heard them, this 'Mr. Jones' will have plenty of battle droids." Kaoru replied.
"Yeah, but we killed two in one go. This one will be easy-da ze!"
Kaoru only rolled his eyes. "There's just no getting through that thick head of yours, is there?"
Yao tuned the rest of the conversation out, focusing on his own thoughts instead. If this Mr. Jones was truly a part of Europa, then there was no doubt that they would be seeing him soon. That meant another small chance to find Kiku.
"Hey, Yao, are you okay?" Mei asked, tapping the Chinese android on the shoulder.
Yao blinked a couple of times before turning around to answer Mei.
"I...I'm fine-aru." he answered.
"Are you sure? Ever since we came back from Rome, you don't seem like yourself." Mei replied, concern practically dripping from her voice.
"Oh no-aru. Nothing is wrong." Yao said, lying to Mei's face.
"Alright...but if you ever need to talk about something, just tell me."
"Sure-aru."
Mei smiled before turning away and walking over to Kaoru. Yao only sighed. He left the room, retreating to his bed. The Chinese unit flopped down on the bed, staring at his left arm. It was the limb that was injured during his battle with the German unit, Ludwig. Viet had tended to the wound, bandaging it after.
Yao stretched out his arm, staring at it and flexing his fingers. He couldn't believe he had allowed Ludwig to land a hit on him. He felt weak. Yao groaned, covering his eyes with his arm.
'How can I retrieve Kiku if I can't even defend myself?' he thought.
Yao might have been being too hard on himself, but he didn't care. Ever since he saw Kiku at the banquet, he couldn't stop thinking about him. Most of these thoughts were worries about the well being of his master. What if Kiku was being emotionally tortured? Yao would never be able to forgive himself if Kiku was harmed because of his incompetence. Could the worry be some form of-
'No. Feelings like that between humans and androids are taboo.' Yao thought. There was no way he actually loved Kiku, these feelings were just guilt and worry. Nothing more and nothing less.
He needed to stop thinking about everything that could be going wrong with Kiku right now before he went into a chaotic frenzy or something. He was only making things worse for himself. The Chinese unit looked at a nearby clock, seeing it read 6:00 pm.
'It wouldn't be abnormal for me to go to sleep, right-aru?'
He didn't see anything else to do, so he activated his sleep mode and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
Five hours later, Yao's eyes fluttered open to the sound of snoring. He glanced over to his side, where he saw a mass of blankets, the source of the snoring.
'Kaoru...' Yao thought, knowing Kaoru was the source of the noise. He sighed and got out of his bed, being careful not to wake the others. He walked down the hall and into the lab again, taking a place by the computer. There was something he needed to do.
Slowly, he placed his hands on the keyboard and typed in the address of a search engine, waiting for it to load. When the page loaded, Yao typed in a single sentence:
What does it mean when you can't stop thinking about someone?
The Chinese android pressed the enter key, seeing plenty of results in appearing in roughly thirty seconds. He clicked on the first link, an ask and answer website. Yao scanned the web page, reading. The question was written in bold letters at the top of the page:
What does it mean if I can't stop thinking about a guy I haven't seen for years?
Yao shrugged, it seemed similar enough to his situation. He scrolled down, reading the answer. He was not prepared for what the answer said.
Congratulations! You're in love! What are you going to do about it? Will you go ask him out? It doesn't matter how many years have passed, love will conquer all!
Yao's mouth hung open. If this web page was true...oh God. No, there was no way Yao could love his master. He went back to the search engine, opening more pages.
All of them basically said the same thing.
You're in love.
It's love, dude! Go ask'em out!
Love, duh!
You're in love with her. Go ask her out before it's too late. Believe me, I know from experience.
Love. That word felt foreign to Yao. He felt as though he was unworthy of it, like it was a sin. Yao was made to serve his master as an artificial being, not fall in love with him. It was taboo.
It was wrong.
Androids were not capable of feeling love for a human, that was the idea that was imbedded into Yao's head. He should't feel any emotion for any human other then devotion to serve and obey. But with Kiku, it felt different.
Yao did want his master safe, it could be counted as a guardian's protectiveness. But it felt like so much more. He sighed and exited the pages. There was no way this could be happening.
"Hey, bro. Are you alright- da ze?" a voice asked from behind Yao. The Chinese android jumped a little, startled. He slowly turned around to the source of the voice, Yong Soo.
"Er...I could be better-aru." Yao answered.
"Do you want to talk about it-da ze?"
"I...don't really want to-aru."
"Alright, but is it okay if I talk to you about something then-da ze?"
Yao blinked. Yong Soo wanted to talk to him about something?
"Um...sure-aru."
"Thanks, bro!" Yong Soo replied, grinning.
"No problem-aru. Now what's wrong?"
"Well, uh...I wanted to ask you how to pick up someone-da ze." Yong Soo said, scratching the back of his head.
"W-what-aru?"
"No offense, but you kinda look like a player-da ze."
"How on earth do I look like a player-aru?"
"Hey, I said no offense-da ze! Now answer my question!"
"Erm...well, you could always ask them out-aru. I mean, isn't how humans usually pick someone up?"
"I can't do that yet-da ze. He'll just say no." Yong Soo whispered, looking at the ground.
"What makes you say that-aru?"
"He always rejects my advances-da ze. Kaoru barely talks to me unless he's scolding me." Yong Soo said, not realizing he said the name of his crush.
"Kaoru-aru?" Yao questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Wait! I-...yeah. I do like Kaoru, alright-da ze? I've liked him for a while now." Yong Soo confessed.
"But...how do you know-aru? Androids are artificial beings. They can't feel lo-" Yao was interrupted by Yong Soo.
"Don't say that-da ze! I know what I'm feeling for Kaoru!" Yong Soo growled.
"Calm down, I'm just stating facts-aru. Also, you still didn't answer my question. How do you know?" Yao asked again.
"I can't stop thinking about him, hell, every single thing reminds me of him-da ze. I want to know every single thing about him and I care about his safety more then my own. And to top it off-da ze, I get this weird feeling whenever I'm around him. I don't know to describe it, it's just weird."
Yao made a mental checklist of everything the Korean unit had said and found most of what Yong Soo said applied to him and Kiku. Every object reminded Yao of Kiku somehow, resulting in the Japanese man constantly occupying the android's thoughts. Yao knew plenty of things about Kiku, after all, they had spent years together. Yao did want his master to be safe, but that could be written off as mere dedication. As for the last thing on Yong Soo's list, Yao wasn't sure. He didn't recall any weird feelings between him and Kiku...these feelings were confusing.
"So, what should I do-da ze? What can I do if he constantly rejects me?"
Yao snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Yong Soo's voice. He blinked a few times before answering.
"I guess just be persistent-aru. Or maybe you can make him love you somehow...save him somehow maybe?"
"That's a great idea-da ze! When he's in trouble I can save him! I can set up the scenario and everything and then when I save him, he'll have to love me-da ze!"
'Uh oh...' Yao thought. Yong Soo making any scenario didn't sound good...he would probably over do it.
"Er...why don't you let me help you sometime-aru?" Yao suggested.
"Okay! You can be disguised as the villain-da ze!"
Well, Yao didn't exactly like the idea of being the bad guy, but if it was to his friends happy, then so be it. He chuckled.
"Alright-aru."
"Great-da ze! Thanks, bro!" Yong Soo was beaming now.
"Haha, why don't you go to sleep-aru? We all might have to do something tomorrow." Yao suggested.
"Yeah! I need to be in tip top condition when I make Kaoru fall in love with me-da ze!" Yong Soo said, pumping a fist in the air. "Thanks for your help again, bro!"
"Of course-aru."
Yong Soo gave a wide grin before running out of the room, probably to go pounce on Kaoru. Yao only sighed as soon as the other unit was out of the room. Most of what Yong Soo had said matched his feelings about Kiku. That couldn't mean that he loved Kiku, right?
Androids aren't human, so they can't feel complex human emotions. Androids were created to serve and obey, nothing more. They certainly weren't created so humans can have robotic love interests.
Yao groaned. All of these complicated feelings were beginning to mess with his system. He needed to sort his thoughts out.
He didn't sleep for the rest of the night.
And that's it for this chapter! Yao is questioning himself is Yong Soo is being...Yong Soo! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will get the next part up and running as soon as possible!
And remember, comments are always loved and appreciated! =) I welcome constructive criticism with open arms.
Anyway, have a wonderful day and stay awesome everyone!