MOOOORE NICHU! Heh, you all just can't get enough of my stories of this pairing, can you? Well, I was itching to post something new, and I am probably going to turn this into a drabble series, actually! I went to a random word generator and it spat out Youth, so I spat out this beauty. If I do decide to turn this into a multi-chapter project of sorts, I will do the same for the other drabble/chapter things.

I hope you enjoy it, and the drabbles that follow. :)

Hetalia is not mine okay now read.

How fondly and vividly Yao remembers Kiku as a child both frightens and delights him. His beloved student, younger brother, temporary enemy, and current lover held far too many traits from the early years- his haircut, handwriting, emotionless eyes and permanent stone-cold expression... large details and little things alike. Yao took notice of every single one and let them wrack his brain for restless days and sleepless nights. Kiku had become older, stronger, and very much different, but definitely not unrecognizable. Yao would always think of him as the little boy in the bamboo thicket- the strange, foreign-looking toddler with the monotonous voice and odd name.

The memory of the tell-tale meeting between the two nations, brothers, and soulmates came flooding back to Yao's mind so suddenly one night; a balmy evening, right back at that bamboo thicket.

"There you are, Kiku!" the elder exclaimed at the sight of his Japanese companion. The smaller man had disappeared after a shared dinner between the two, having walked hours away from home back to the place he had been discovered thousands of years ago- a place Yao barely recognized, that had been erased from his mind with time. "Don't go vanishing like that! I have been walking for three hours looking for you! What are you doing all of the way out here?"

Kiku idly picked at a bamboo shoot, not lifting his head to meet Yao's gaze. "I came out here to think. I apologize for leaving so abruptly..." He paused, weighing the situation in his head- a habit of his, "but I find it curious as to why it took you so long to find me, and here, of all places."

"Here, of all places," Yao deadpanned. "What on earth do you mean by that? Kiku, it's late, we should start heading-"

"You have no idea where we are, do you?" the younger nation interrupted. He pulled an entire shoot of bamboo out of the ground and pointed it at the Chinese man, watching expectantly. All of a sudden, the memories started to come back.

Yao was dumbfounded. How could he forget? This bamboo thicket, the very bamboo thicket the pair had first met... he was standing right in the middle of it. "T-this is-"

"Yes," Kiku cut him short again. "This is where we first met. Not only that," he set the slender shoot down and helped himself up to his feet, "this is where I used to go when I wanted to think. You used to come running after me after hours of my being missing, and always find me here. Then, we would walk home, hand in hand. Even I remember that, Yao-ge." Kiku smiled fondly and reached for Yao's hand, who offered it gladly. "It still looks the same. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Tear-filled amber eyes explored the area. Somehow, he remembered it all. The two of them had been in that thicket many times, and Yao had a feeling that this would not be the last one. "Y-yes, it is," he nodded, using his free hand to wipe a single falling tear. "But like I said, it is getting late. L-let's go home, alright... didi?"

"Of course," Kiku replied with a nod. He placed a light kiss onto Yao's cheek and led the pair out into the open forest. They walked home, hand in hand, just as before.

Thereeee we go! Maybe the next chapter will be longer. Everything I write is so painfully short. I apologize and will work on that!

Yao-ge pretty much just means "brother Yao." Gege is Chinese for older brother, so... yes. Didi is younger brother in Chinese.

If you haven't read the strip/seen the anime episode where Yao and Kiku meet, they do actually meet in a bamboo thicket. It's really weird, but baby!Kiku is as cute as can be.

I am titling the series Peonies and Chrysanthemums, simply because the peony is a national flower of China and the chrysanthemum is a national flower of Japan. (Not to mention Kiku's name means chrysanthemum.)

Okay, I will stop talking. Review, review, review! Thanks for reading! :D