So hi, it's been what almost 2 years since I've updated. Well here's part 4 and there's just one more part to go. As always I don't own Hetalia and I never will.

During the day, Julchen and Sakura had gone on a shopping spree. Al and Matthias wondered how exactly they planned to take all their new stuff before getting laughed at.

It turned out, Sakura's mother was still in town and had agreed to take the purchases back with her.

When night hit, the trio of awesome best friends decided to teach Sakura how to play poker.

That was their biggest mistake. Sakura turned out be a natural at the game and totally cleaned all three of them out.

Matthias could only gape and Julchen was irritated with the fact that a certain four-eyed blond would not stop laughing.

Al had been quiet the night before but tonight he was being plain annoying.

"Al, shut the fuck up before I punch you."

Julchen growled. She then mumbled.

"I don't care that Al's one of my best friends. He is going to die if he doesn't stop laughing."

Sakura looked at Julchen with a sheepish expression on her face. Sakura was slightly sorry but not too sorry because she was still getting money after all.

"You know what. I'm done with this. I refuse to play this game anymore. I am so done with all of you."

Alfred and Matthias intoned,

"For now."

Julchen rolled her eyes and got up to go to the bar. She really needed a drink right about now and the sooner the better.

Julchen never did get a drink that night.

Halfway to the bar Julchen saw a kid who looked a bit like Ludwig, her little brother. The kid looked upset for some reason.

Curiosity overcame Julchen and she walked over there to see what was going on.

The kid was surrounded by a group of men and it looked like they had been gambling.

"Well kid, you gonna give up now or are you gonna keep playing."

"Please leave me alone. Haven't you people had enough? I have no money left."

The ringleader grinned as he leaned into the kid's face.

"Aww. Is the little boy going to cry? Maybe if you keep playing, you'll be able to earn your money back."

Julchen had heard enough. She cursed Al for instilling a feel for heroics in her as she walked up behind the ringleader and tapped him on the shoulder.

The man turned around ready to punch the person who'd interrupted his fun but relaxed when he saw Julchen.

Ringleader man leered at Julchen who smiled and then punched him. The punch knocked him to the floor and kept him there.

Julchen had a frosty look on her face.

"I didn't realize that cheaters were allowed to gamble in this casino."

The ringleader's face was stormy as the rest of his group helped him up.

"The fuck did you say to me? I ain't no cheater."

"Sure looks like you're one to me. After all, only a cheater would target a kid to get all his money."

Sakura had noticed something was wrong and had come over to where the altercation was taking place.

"Julchen, is everything okay?"

The man's sneer grew as he looked at the petite girl in front of him. Just what he needed.

"Well doll, your friend here went and called me a cheater and that's just plain rude. Now normally I don't hit women but I'm willing to make the exception. Self-righteous bitches like the two of you need to be put in their place."

Julchen almost charged at the man but Sakura stopped her.

Sakura moved in front of Julchen. She took a deep breath and channeled her mother when she said her next words.

"I can see why she would think so. In fact, you're not only a cheater but a coward as well. You're also a bastard who feels the need to beat up people just because they disagreed with you."

The man snapped and charged at Sakura.

Sakura moved to the side at the last second and tripped him. She then grabbed Julchen and ran.

Al and Matthias were already outside waiting for them when they saw Sakura and Julchen running towards them with group of angry men following them.

Sakura yelled.

"Don't just stand there! Run!"

The four of them ran like crazy when Matthias noticed a restaurant up ahead.

"Let's go in there."

They entered the restaurant just barely managing to avoid their pursuers.

Al went and ordered for them while the other three found a table to sit at.

As soon as Al came back, the interrogation started.

"So why were those guys chasing us?" Matthias put his elbows on the table and leaned forward in anticipation. Whatever had caused that chase was bound to be interesting after all.

Sakura looked away, unused to being the center of attention, but Julchen, who loved the spotlight, launched herself into the story.

"Okay so first of all this is all Al's fault."

"Hey! I wasn't even there."

"So what? Your hero complex is what set off the whole situation. If you hadn't infected me with your sense of justice, we'd probably still be at that casino."

"Oh man. He's rubbed off on you too."

"Shut up Matt. It's still not my fault."

Al was pouting. His friends always gave him shit for his hero complex.

Sakura on the other hand was showing no emotion on her face but her voice gave away her exhaustion. "Um… Hey guys, I think Julchen was trying to tell you two what happened."

"Thanks Sakura. If these two idiots keep talking, I'd never finish the story."

"Hey!" Both Matthias and Al sounded offended but Julchen ignored them.

"As I was saying, there was this group of guys picking on this kid so I go up and get the ringleader's attention."

"Well that was stupid."

"Matthias. Did I ask you? The answer is no. Anyways, I got his attention, he was being douche, so I punched him."

Al was grinning. He hated bullies so he was glad that Julchen had punched the guy. "Nice! I hope you knocked him flat. You do have the best right hook. Definitely better than Matt's."

"Hey!" Matthias had to wonder why he was even friends with Al and Julchen.

Sakura decided to take over and continue the story before things got out of hand… again.

"I noticed something was going on so I walked over to Julchen. Just as I got there, she was accusing the man of cheating."

"Sakura was awesome. The guy told her what I said and she just looked at him and said something about how he was not only a cheater but a coward as well."

Matthias and Al looked awestruck and Sakura blushed. Julchen's signature shit eating grin grew bigger.

"The guy got so mad. He charged at us and Sakura grabbed my arm and moved me out of the way. She's surprisingly strong for such a small person. She tripped him and his momentum caused him to all flat on his face. We weren't going to wait for him to get up so we ran and you know the rest."

Matthias let out a low whistle. "Damn Sakura. You're amazing. Why weren't we friends with you back in high school?"

Sakura's blush grew and she gave him a small smile.

"Not my fault that you were too busy being loud to notice me."

All of them laughed at that and Al felt his respect for Sakura grow. She was amazing and it was a pity he hadn't known that before.

Las Vegas had been a lot of fun but there had been something breathtaking about the Grand Canyon. Everyone had fun exploring different parts of the landmark throughout the week. On the last night there, a man named Ivan and his sisters invited them to a party.

Al, Julchen, and Matthias were excited to go, but Sakura was refusing to go.

"I'm not sure I want to do this. Can I just stay here?"

Al shook his head.

"No way! You have to come to this party with us. I promise that it won't be that bad. Trust me Sakura."

Sakura sighed.

"If I don't have fun, you guys have to bring me back to the hotel."

The trio looked at each other before agreeing with Sakura.

"Deal!"

Sakura tried to have fun but seeing Alfred dance with Ivan's little sister, Natalia, soured her mood. She asked Julchen to take her back to the hotel and that was the end of it. It wasn't like anyone else would notice she was gone either.

Matthias turned around to look at his friends.

"Can you believe how haunted Santa Fe is? It's so cool."

Alfred and Julchen rolled their eyes. Matthias was a huge fan of ghost stories and it got a bit annoying after a while.

Sakura quietly said,

"Mama always says it's unwise to speak of spirits that aren't at rest. She always said that talking about them would anger them and cause them to curse you and your family."

Matthias gulped and fell silent. He had enough bad luck as it was.

Julchen and Al were just thankful that he wasn't going to keep talking about ghosts.

Jett, the tour guide, knew quite a bit about Santa Fe and had taken them on a tour of some of the haunted sites.

The last stop on the tour was the hotel they were spending the night in.

"This hotel is said to be built over the grave of two lovers whose forbidden romance got them killed. People claim that some nights you can see the two lovers dancing on the terrace. Due to all the accidents that have happened up there, the terrace is closed so you can't visit it."

Alfred took that as a challenge and that night he was sneaking up there when he heard a noise behind him.

He was just about to turn around and attack his follower, when they jumped on his back.

"Boo!"

Alfred screamed and ran the rest of the way up the stairs to the terrace with his attacker on his back.

As soon as he reached the terrace, he found out who had attacked him.

"Julchen was right. You really are afraid of ghosts." Sakura got off his back and laughed. She then smiled giving him a silent apology.

Alfred gaped.

"Sakura! What are you doing here?"

Sakura shrugged.

"I was planning on coming up to the terrace to look at the full moon tonight. I saw you and thought I'd see if I could scare you."

"Well it worked! I need a drink."

Sakura laughed again took out a flask and handed it to Alfred.

"Here have some sake."

Alfred stared at Sakura for a moment before taking a swig of the liquid. He handed it back to her and she took a sip as well.

"I didn't know you drank. You don't seem like the type to." Alfred took back the offered flask.

"I don't drink often and usually only my family is around when I do. You might be the first guy I've shared a drink with." Sakura had sat down cross legged and Alfred joined her.

Alfred gave Sakura a look.

"You've never shared a drink with your boyfriend."

Sakura was bemused.

"I don't have a boyfriend. What are you talking about?"

It was Alfred's turn to shrug.

"That first night in Vegas. Your boyfriend and you had a Skype call together. I think his name was Feli or something."

Sakura stared. No one had ever assumed that she was dating Feli before.

"Feli is one of my best friends. Practically a brother. He lives in New York currently. The call was to tell me that he's going to be in San Francisco for his sister's wedding next month. I'm also planning on going to med school in NYC so we're considering getting an apartment together."

Alfred felt sheepish.

"I guess I jumped to incorrect conclusions. It's amazing that you want to go to med school but damn do I feel like such an idiot. Its times like this that makes me doubt that I'm going to fulfill my dream of traveling the entire world."

Sakura's surprise at learning his dream was hidden but a part of her wasn't surprised at all. Alfred was just the kind of person with big dreams. She smiled as he talked about all the places he wanted to visit.

It was in that moment that Sakura realized two things. One, she was in love with Alfred and two, she could never tell him because his dreams were too important for him to give up for someone like her.

"Look out!"

Sakura tried to keep from laughing at Marianne whose hair was the victim of the snowball Sakura had thrown.

Of course she didn't have much time to enjoy the moment because Matthias threw a snowball at her that she needed to dodge.

The group had been told the night before on the bus that they would be going to celebrate Holi with some other tour groups and the trio of friends didn't know what to expect but Sakura did.

Her godfather was Indian and had taken her family to celebrate a few times and it was always a lot of fun.

When Julchen woke up that morning, Sakura had already left the bus and Julchen was quick to wake up Alfred and Matthias to help her to find her.

"Okay so Sakura wasn't in the bus this morning so she has to be around here somewhere."

They had just stepped out of the bus when they were attacked by Sakura with a water hose.

Matthias yelled,

"What are you doing?"

Sakura grinned,

"Introducing you to the joys of Holi."

Alfred, Julchen, and Matthias stared for a moment before exchanging a look and running to join in.

By the end of the day, all four of them were soaked to the bone and very colorful.

Sakura knew that a change of clothes would be required and had already grabbed clothes for Julchen and herself.

Matthias returned to the bus to grab extra clothes for Alfred and himself. He was looking through Alfred's bag when he found the letter.

Matthias normally wouldn't read his friends' mail but when the envelope's return address is in France, his curiosity was stronger than his need to protect his friends' privacy.

Alfred and Sakura had been joking around and talking. Alfred felt so much wonder looking at Sakura and Sakura was just about to confess to Alfred, when Matthias came up to them.

"Al, what the hell is this?"

Matthias slapped the envelope on Alfred's chest and Alfred's face turned stormy.

"You read my mail."

"It's a good thing I did. Were you ever going to tell us?"

Julchen came up behind the two of them.

"What's going on?"

Alfred was about to explain when Matthias exploded.

"He's been offered a job in France and he had no intention of ever telling us."

"That's a lie. I was going to tell you guys tomorrow on our way back to SF."

Matthias just rolled his eyes and stomped off.

Julchen looked at Alfred sadly.

"I wish you had told us earlier."

Alfred tried to justify himself.

"I didn't want to ruin this trip. If I told you guys before this, the trip would have been–"

Julchen cut Alfred off by raising her hand.

"Save it Al. Congrats on the job. I'm going to go find Matt now."

As Julchen left, Alfred turned to Sakura with a pleading look. He didn't want her to be mad at him as well.

Sakura, even though she felt her heart breaking, just smiled.

"I'm happy for you Alfred. You're on your way to fulfilling your dream."

The next day on the flight back to San Francisco, no one really talked much. Maybe they should have because that was the last time any of them saw Alfred for six years.

End Part 4

So it's been so long for a few reasons. One, I'm not actively writing Hetalia anymore but I will finish this fic. There's just one chapter left after and it's been outlined but no guarantees for when I'll finish it. Two, I'm more comfortable with AO3 so anything new fandom wise that I've written is over there. So yeah. There you have it. If you read and review this that'd be great.