With my feet crossed Indian style, I sit across the table from Kiku, smiling.

"So, how have you been Ivan-san?" Kiku seems a little nervous, I can see it in his almost shaking hands and cautious words.

"I've been good. Dank you for asking. How have you been?" I reply joyfully. It's been a while since I've hung out with one of the gang.

"I have been werl, thank you. Would you care for some tea?" As I nod my head yes, Kiku stands up and heads to his kitchen.

My feet have fallen asleep beneath me, so I decide to walk around the room and gaze upon my surroundings.

It's a very simple room, almost bland. The floor is a pale blue with a dark wood cutting the floor into patterned rectangles. The walls are a pale tan that light up the room an compliment the floor nicely. There are three traditional Japanese shōji as well. Paper-like doors that lead outside to the beautiful garden in Kiku's backyard, and to other rooms of the house. The ceiling almost mimicks the floor, only with a slightly different color and pattern to them. The ceiling also has two white paper orbs with a light of some sort in them to brighten up the room. There was a short and simple wooden table, the same dark material embedded in the floor, that was surrounded by four small, tan and brown pillows. Off to the side with no doors, there was a wide, half bookshelf with some shelves in it, a few covered by a door. Again it is same martial as the wood floor and table; there were also some small pictures on it next to a pretty wysteria bonsai tree.

The pictures were mostly of Kiku and the other countries, including myself. After World War II, we all had become good friends.

Besides that damn Alfred. He was annoying, and I did not care for him much. I admit I still may hold a grudge over him from the Cold War.

There was one picture in particular that caught my eye. It was of all the main Axis and Allied countries. Alfred was, of course, in the middle. He had his huge goofy grin on, his arms wrapped around Kiku and Arthur, a thumbs up adorning his left arm, the one practically suffocating Kiku. Yao stood next to Kiku, a grin on his face, he was holding his beloved panda. I stood beside Yao, a happy smile on my face, holding a sunflower I had found. Next to Arthur, to the right of Alfred, stood Francis, making his usual kissy face and striking a "sexy" pose. Francis's little brother, Feliciano, stood right next to his older brother, practically hugging Francis. He seemed scared of something, his small curl was crooked and tears were sprouting in his eyes, and I'm sure he didn't like how high up they were.

I do not remember taking this picture, perhaps that is what caught my attention. Typically, Kiku takes the pictures. I don't see Ludwig in the picture, so I assume he is the one taking it. But I do not really recognize where we were either.

Behind us, I could barely make out a beautiful mountain range. There was a fog in the distance to try to hide the mountains, but the mountains wouldn't have their beauty hidden, and struck out of the fog. It must have been early fall, because there were many leaves on the trees adorning the mountain that were orange, red, and violet. But there also still many with green leaves. Unless of course they were pine trees. But I could not make that out in the picture. But none of us, besides myself, were wearing really warm clothing, so the weather must not have been cold.

I'm so absorbed in the picture, I do not sense Kiku come back until he clears his throat. I look up and smile at him and ask "Where did we take dis picture? I do not remember it."

He sets his tray of two small tea cups down on the table and walks over to me to see which picture I speak of. Me being taller then him, I lower the picture so he can see it clearly.

"Aw yes. That is one of my favorites of everyone. We were visiting the Appalachian Mountains after finally making peace following Worrd War II. Such a beautiful sight it was."

The memory comes back to me now, and I remember why I forgot it. It was an average meeting at Alfred's house originally. We decided to have a get together, to try to mend our friendships. I mostly just listened to Alfred go on and on about something making him a hero, Arthur and Francis were bickering over trivial matters again, Kiku sat next to Yao quietly listening to the Chinese man talk about silly pandas, Ludwig and Italy sat to the side. I heard Ludwig sigh a lot, and Italy was asking if he could go make some pasta.

I was bored, and starting to get a little annoyed by everyone's repetitive manners, when Alfred suddenly stood up and hit his hand on the table, making Italy jump.

"I've got it!" The American exclaimed. "Let's go do some sight seeing! I don't think many of you have been able to see my land yet, so let's go!"

"Ya, zat sounds like a good idea. Especially since your lands are still pretty new." Surprisingly, Ludwig was the first to comply.

And with that we were on our way to see some sights. The Appalchian Mountians were the first sights we saw. We were all getting along great, but I couldn't shake this annoyed feeling I had deep down.

Every time Alfred said something, I wanted to punch him in the face. I do not really know why myself, but it eventually boiled up inside, and I couldn't hold it in any longer.

As america was bragging about some "Old Faithful" or whatever, I exploded.

"DON'T YOU EVER SHUT UP?"

Everyone stared at me, Feliciano started to tremble and Alfred was dumb-srtuck. I don't know what came over me, but I didn't wait to see what the other countries would do, I simply left.

When I finally got back home, I decided to calm myself by watching some news, but all I ever saw was idiotic things about America. This annoyed me further, which lead to the Cold War.

I do not know if I have any regrets, but I don't think I do. Alfred deserved what he got coming to him, but I'm also glad we were able to patch things up for the most part. Not because I wanted to make up with him, but because my people were worried, and I did not like seeing them in fear. So I did my best to solve things with that damn American for my people.

"Ivan-san?" I heard the quiet voice of Kiku next to me. "Are you arright?"

I must have spaced out. "Aaahhh yes. Dank you kindly for worrying. I am alright. I was lost in thought."

I give Kiku a smile, setting down the picture and walking over to the table with the steaming tea.

Sitting down, I grab a cup and thank the Japanese man for the tea. As I take my first sip, I hear a loud crash followed by multiple tmp tmp tmps and then a loud "Sorry dude!" I would know that voice anywhere.

Alfred.

~AN~
I'm a little proud of my self for getting so many updates done in two days ^w^ I suppose I'm trying to finish this story before summer ends so that I'm not making people wait a month for an update. And even though I'm new here ( kind of ) I thought the best way to get a story going is to get a lot of chapters out all at once. So, thanks for reading and if you want let me know what you think!
~Blü~

BTW:
Kiku = Japan
Francis = France
Alfred = America
Ludwig = Germany
Feliciano = North Italy
Yao = China
Ivan = Russia
Arthur = England