Training Hard

While I really just literally ran about a two miles (For those of you who are wondering, I laid down right after this. I am very short for my height, and a small person at 4'11. And I'm fifteen. I find that kind of sad.) when this idea came to me, I'm pretty sure Sicily had a lot more troubling work than that to do. It has been stated before that Sicily wasn't allowed to fight for her country due to her gender. Sexism- discrimination due to gender- much? Anyway, having no military experience, Sicily was given a low expectation by a certain Axis member. I'm not naming anyone, but if you read a previous chapter, I'm sure that you'll be able to figure out who I am speaking of. But now, Sicily is determined to make a reputation for herself among the Axis... and hopefully try not to get protective of Italy during her training. Enjoy!

"Count off!"

"Uno~!"

"Ni."

"It's time to start our train-" Italy raised his hand. It was that time when the Axis began their training session. However, due to the recent events of yesterday, the Axis had one more member.

"Vhat is it, Italy?" Germany said with a sigh.

"Shouldn't we wait for mia sorella?" said the Italian

"Und vhere is your Schwester Italy?"

"Uh…" Italy sweatdropped and laughed nervously. "I don't know. Romano said she was already here…" Germany pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Don't you think zhat maybe he lied to you?!" Italy nervously laughed again before nodding. Along with Germany, Romano hadn't been too excited about Sicily joining the Axis. In fact his exact words were: "There is no way I'm letting my sorellina anywhere near that goddamn potato bastard!" It was one of those strange circumstances where Germany and Romano actually agreed on something.

"I'm here!" The Axis turned their heads to see Sicily running towards them. She jogged up, nearly out of breath. She had a small, semi-healed cut on her forehead. "I am so sorry that I'm late! I overslept."

"Sorella?" Italy asked. "What happened...uh…" He pointed to the same area Sicily was bleeding out of. Sicily gave him a quizzical look before touching the spot and pulling back.

"I...uh...I fell down the stairs…" She laughed nervously. Germany pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I don't care," he said, "Just get in line vith zhe ozhers." Sicily nodded and got in line beside Japan. "As I said before, it's time to start our training. Italy und Japan, I vant you to start out vith twenty laps. Understood?" Italy sighed, and both nations nodded before taking off. "Sicily, you'll start out vith five. Under-"

"Why do I have far less than the other two?" Sicily asked. "They get twenty, and I get five. Why is that?"

"Granted by zhat you just joined us, und zhat combined vith zhe fact zhat you have no prior training, I believe zhat it is most likely you vouldn't make it halfvay zhough vhat zhe ozhers have to do."

"Are you saying I'm weak?"

"I'm not saying zhat I am. Just go." Sicily clenched her hands together repeatedly, releasing all of her anger at the statement. Out of all things, only a few things would make Sicily angry. One of those things was being called weak.

She sighed and looked the German in the eye. Sicily raised her hand in a half-hearted salute.

"Sì, capitano," Sicily said through her teeth before taking off running with the others.

'Goddamn it,' Sicily thought to herself, 'I can see why Romano hates him so much… but still...'

"Sicily."

'I want Veneziano's friends to like me. Japan does. He voted for me to be in the Axis.'

"Sicily."

'How can I get Germany to accept the fact that I'm part of the Axis now?'

"SICILY." The Italian girl came to a stop as her heels grinded against the dirt. Unfortunately, it didn't go as flawlessly as she had planned. Sicily's heel hit harshly against a stone, stopping her abruptly. She tripped and fell face first into the ground. A pair of small, gentle hands helped her to her feet. As she spat out the dirt in her mouth, Sicily turned to see her brother beside her. She smiled before seeing the other two Axis members walking towards her. She dusted off her clothes and stood up straight.

"Vhy didn't you stop vhen I asked you to?" Germany asked.

"Why do you think?" said Sicily, crossing her arms over her chest, "I didn't hear you." Germany narrowed his gaze, and Sicily dropped her arms. She shuffled behind Italy. Germany groaned.

"You all are dismissed," said the German as he walked away from the others. Japan followed quietly behind. Italy bounced behind them. Sicily, however, remained on the dirt track. She looked behind her and then back at the Axis. A spark lit in her dirty brown eyes as she remembered the conversation she had with Germany earlier.

"No," said Sicily in probably the firmest tone she could use. "I am not leaving." The Axis froze and turned back to their female member.

"Vhat did you just say?"

"You heard me. Loud and clear, and I'm pretty sure that I didn't stutter. I said no." Sicily crossed her arms over her chest once again. "I'm not leaving." Italy put his hands behind his back, most likely playing with his fingers. He knew why she was doing this. The others did not, and that's the way Sicily wanted to keep it. Japan remained emotionless. Germany stood there, unblinking.

"Sorella… Penso proprio che io e te dovremmo parlare di questa-"

"No, Veneziano. I don't want to talk about this. I know what I'm doing."

"Sicily, listen to Italy," said Germany. "One mistake vill possibly be your downfall in zhe future."

"No. I want to prove myself." Germany raised an eyebrow at her. Sicily sighed. "You treated me like I didn't know what I was doing. I do. I've watched all three of you for two months. I think I know what I'm doing when it comes to this."

"How do you expect to do that?" Sicily uncrossed her arms. She sighed.

"Nevermind… but I will prove I can be just like anyone of you. I know I can."

"Good luck vith zhat." Germany walked away, with the rest of the Axis following behind. Sicily sighed before following along with the rest.

Italy dropped down into his bed. It was a nice and beautiful night. But he was tired. He didn't have time to enjoy it.

The Northern Italian curled up under the blankets, filling himself with warmth and comfort. He was just about to fall asleep, when he heard the door slam shut from down below. Italy jumped a bit, before going out to his window. He saw a figure in the darkness, right at the front door. Eventually, the figure became recognizable as his sister. He became far more curious, wondering what she was doing at this hour. Sicily looked around before running off. Italy just shrugged this off, and went to sleep.

Weeks went by. The Axis began to notice something weird about their eighteen year old member. After each training session, Sicily was getting noticeably more and more exhausted than she normally was after a session. She was smiling brightly as well. When asked about it, all she would say is that they would find out soon enough. Eventually, that day came when they did find out.

"Count off!"

"Uno~!"

"Ni."

"Tre."

"It's time to start our training," said Germany. "You all know vhat to do. Italy, Japan und I vill start vith twenty. Sicily-"

"Twenty," Sicily cut in. "I can run the twenty." Germany groaned with frustration.

"Ve have spoken about zhis before. You're not ready to-"

"Well, you've never given me the chance to show you I can. I can show you now that I can."

"My answer is still no."

"Please, Germany?" Italy asked, interrupting the two-way conversation. "You never know! She might even be faster than you!"

"Fine. Vhatever. But I don't vant to hear a vord from eizher one of you if she can't do it." Sicily smiled brightly and nodded.

"Yes, sir!" She said. With a sigh, the Axis began running.

Having finished rather early, Germany watched as the rest of his allies ran the track. As usual, Italy was lagging behind at a turtle-like pace. Germany had to reminding him to speed up. Japan was keeping his normal pace, however, someone was tagging along behind him only by a few feet. At the exact same pace. Although she looked like she was about to collapse at any second, Sicily still kept pushing herself to go further. Her pace never slowed. Germany had told her countless times to stop, but the girl just waved him off. She had a great deal of determination. That was something to be admired. However, it was also something that could hide another fact from prying eyes.

As Japan finished, Sicily came to a stop next to him. She was smiling.

"Venti!" she said through heavy breaths as Germany walked over to meet them both. "That's the entire twenty!"

"It appears so," said the German, "However... you're pushing yourself far too hard."

"I am not. I'm still standing." Germany tapped her forehead.

"Vhat is vith you und trying to behave like one of us?"

"I don't understand what you mean." Japan placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"I berieve that Germany-san is saying is that you're not acting Itarian at arr," Japan explained. Sicily wrung her fingers behind her back in embarrassment. "You're pushing yourserf far past your rimit, Siciry-san." Sicily brushed Japan off of her.

"I'm fine, Japan. Really."

"Are you?" Sicily bit down on her lip. A flow of lies she could use flowed in and out of her mind, but she knew that none of them would work. In the end, she sighed.

"I just wanted you to treat me like an actual soldier, Germany." She shook her head. "No, I wanted to be treated like Japan and Veneziano do. I see the way you treat them, but you treat me differently. And I know it's just because I'm a ragazza. Because I'm a girl." There was silence until Germany sighed out of pure frustration.

"Zhat's not even close," he said. Sicily raised an eyebrow.

"Che cosa? But that's what I thought. Nearly everyone I've ever known has treated me differently because I'm a girl. If that's not the reason, then what is?"

"I said it before, und I'll say it again. You have no military training or experience. Zhere's a reason You're being treated differently is because you don't know vhat you're doing. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal..." Sicily looked up at the blonde. "But... we are friends then... right?"

"I barely even know you."

"That didn't stop my brother from becoming your ally. As I can tell, you both are pretty close now."

"Yes. Vhat's your point?" Sicily laughed.

"Nothing. I just want to be friends."

"You'll have to earn that." Sicily sighed, but straightened up.

"Then I'll try my best. If Veneziano trusts you and your word, then I do too!" The three of them were silent for a moment, until a cloud of dust shot past.

"Inghilterra sta per arrivare me!"

"ITALY!" Sicily and Japan watched as Germany ran off after the Italian.

"Does this happen often?" Sicily asked the Asian. Japan nodded.

"On most occasions, yes," he replied. Sicily paled.

"Wait... the Allies don't actually spy on us, do they?"

"I have seen Engrand once or twice. Why?" Sicily crossed her arms, but instead of defiance like before, it was more out of insecurity.

"It - It's nothing. I was just wondering." Sicily looked back along the dirt road, a dampened look on her face. The fact that Japan just told her made her feel uncomfortable. She looked on as thick, gray clouds began to roll in. She turned back to Japan. "Since we're finished, why don't we head inside? I have a feeling it might rain."

"Shouldn't we wait for Germany-san and Itary-kun?" Japan asked. Sicily shook her head.

"They'll be fine."

"Hai." The two walked together back into a nearby building. However, Sicily couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being watched. She always let her fear get the best of her. After all, fear is the worst enemy. And Sicily had yet to defeat it.