Story: Sticks and Stones, Chapter 8 - Regretful Thinking
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia

Note: This chapter is kind of ish at FIRST, but it gets better. I Promise.

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Sunlight showed through some of the windows in the house, illuminating America's room. He groaned, trying to block out the brightness, to no avail. Aside from his now formed head ache, America got up that morning on a fairly good note, looking over to see Japan still asleep near the edge of the bed. At first, it was all a bit fuzzy, but he then soon after recalled the events of the night before.

He gave a somewhat strange face, as he mused over the recent happenings. Japan was usually stone-faced, and seemed 'emotionless' for the most part, but last night, he'd been a completely different person than what he was familiar with. He honestly wasn't used to his 'caring' side.

That's when said Asian opened his eyes, abruptly setting up.

"I-I don't understand, you have no right to come on to me like this!" Japan suddenly exclaimed, falling off the bed.

America looked over, worryingly. "Hey, are you okay, dude? What were you dreaming about, anyway?"

After a moment, Japan gazed up at him.

"You probably...don't want to know..." he muttered, setting up on the floor. He rubbed his head in pain, as he slightly groaned. America studied him, then shrugged.

"Well, if you say so..." (Hope you like the reference to the Soul Society Arch from Bleach. This exact thing happened with Hanatarou, Ichigo, and Ganju in the underground tunnels XD)

"Also, if I'm not mistaken, I believe we have a meeting today." Japan told him, noticing the sudden glint of worry in the American's eyes.

"Oh yeah, that's right." America briefly glanced away, then back at Japan. "Before you'd came over, I was actually considering ditching the meeting, so I guess it kind of slipped my mind..."

He nervously laughed, recognizing the expression on Japan's face.

"...I see." said the Asian, obviously unamused.

"Come on, dude. Don't be like that." America nudged him on the shoulder, grinning playfully. "Even you have to admit that it's not like it'd really matter. Greece and a couple other nations usually sleep through the entire thing. But, anyway, if we're planning on going, we'd better go soon."

"Hai." After a moment, he pushed away his negative thoughts, as he glanced up at the clock on America's wall, checking the time.

'12:24.' he noted, pondering what Germany had last said to him. If he was correct, the meeting had been planned for 2:30 in the afternoon, and from where they were at, it would take at least two hours to get there. That's when realization hit like a brick. They were going to be late!

"I just remembered. The meeting was at two thirty. We only have about two hours to get there." he told him.

"Crap, you're kidding, right?!" America exclaimed, immediately jumping up. "We're over two hours from the meeting place! There's no way we'll make it on time!"

"We've got to try!" replied Japan.

America sighed. 'I suppose that this is what I get for watching movies like that late at night... Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk now...'

He found it kind of ironic that, out of all the nations there were, Japan happened to be the one to almost forget the meeting. The Asian was usually always on time, and one of the most orderly people he knew, beside of...Britain, so he couldn't help but wonder if it was his fault.

Well, that was a dumb question. Of course he was to blame. He'd basically forced Japan to come over to his house, possibly interrupting his schedule, then he was also the reason they'd stayed up so late watching movies, which messed him up on his sleep. If it weren't for him, Japan would probably already be heading to the world meeting place right now, and he would've got there on time, too.

He'd suddenly found himself blaming himself for almost every little thing, when Japan's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"America-san, we have to go." The Asian said, heading towards the door. As America remembered his promise to Japan, he somehow found himself a little relieved to have an excuse to be able to delay eating a little longer. he momentarily nodded, following behind.

"Right."

About two hours later at the meeting place

"Can't we ing begin, already? I'm beginning to lose my patience, dammit." Everyone in the room had been made aware of Romano's agitation quite a while ago. Spain placed a hand on Romano's shoulder, only to slapped away.

"Please, try to calm down, Romano. I'm sure we'll be able to soon." he bluntly ignored him, only allowing himself to get more irritated, as he cursed beneath his breath. The Spaniard couldn't help but feel a little hurt by this.

Germany nodded. "Unfortunately, we can't, as we're still missing some nations."

"Da. I do not believe Amerika is here yet." Russia smiled, briefly catching England's attention.

"Nor Japan, aru." China added. Everyone was pretty much doing their own thing; Greece sleeping, as always, Prussia bragging to Germany about how awesome he was, Italy once again rambling on about pasta, Russia haunting Latvia, Denmark and Norway taunting Iceland, and Lichtenstein admiring her brother.

Canada sat in his seat, holding Kumajiro close to his chest, as he glanced over. France and England were oddly some of the only ones who hadn't said anything almost the entire time they were there.

"¿Te pasa algo?" France looked up, forcing a smile at Spain.

"Oh, Espagne, no, no, you shouldn't worry." he told him. "Everything is fine."

"You can't lie to me with that face, mi amigo." Spain said, with a warm smile.

"Oh? I guess I'm not the best at masking my emotions, after all." France chuckled sadly.

"Really though, ¿qué pasa?" Spain questioned, worry in his eyes.

"It's Angleterre and Amerique..." he finally admitted. "I-"

"Gomennasai!" That's when America and Japan burst in the doors, panting. England, followed by everyone else, turned his attention to America, some nations pointing and whispering amongst themselves about how pale he was.

"Sorry we're so late, dudes! We both overslept and-" America started to explain, when Germany cut him off.

"It's fine." he told him, shaking his head. "Just hurry up and sit down."

"Hai." Japan nodded.

"R-right..." America scratched his head, reluctantly taking the only seat left next to England.

"Hey, aren't we still missing someone?" Denmark questioned, suddenly.

Russia smiled darkly. "Da. I believe so."

"Where's Canada?" someone asked.

"I'm right here guys." a ghostly hand waved from behind Russia's back. Everyone immediately felt pity for the poor Canadian.

After everything was finally straightened out, Germany announced the beginning of the meeting. However, a certain Brit wasn't really paying attention the entire time. He honestly tried not to stare, but with how white America's skin had became, it was becoming a practically impossible task. It hurt seeing him like that, but he couldn't look away, he knew he was to blame for this. Well, he knew America could be very stubborn at times, but who did he get that trait from, but the obvious?

He cursed himself yet again, wondering if what France had suggested would be good enough to show how sorry he was.

"Angleterre, I have an idea for you and Amerique to possibly make up." England looked up at France, who'd been quiet for a long time.

"Well, what is it? Speak up already, you bloody frog!" he demanded, abruptly standing up. France wrapped a finger around his chin, deep in thought. Finally, he turned his gaze back to England.

"On that day, didn't he say something about a new restaurant?" he questioned. England's glare faded, as he glanced away, a look of guilt present in his eyes.

"Yeah, he did. He said he wanted me go with him, but I said no..." he admitted. France then softly smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Why don't you ask him to go there with you at the next meeting?" he suggested. "That way, you can tell him that you're really sorry, non?"

He sighed, looking away. There was no telling if America would actually except his offer or not, considering that when America had asked him, he not only said no, but he also bluntly insulted his eating habits. America was liable to do the same, and even if he did go, who's to say he'd except his apology? Well, either way, he supposed it was worth a try, right?

"Before I conclude the end of this meeting, does anyone have anything else to say?" England looked up, snapping himself out of his thoughts. He was really surprised to see that the meeting was already about over, but at the same time, not that surprised.

"I guess not." Germany sighed in relief. "Everyone is dismissed."

America was one of the first to get up, however, England stood up right after. Reaching out, he gently grabbed America's thin arm. "America,"

America hesitantly turned around, facing him. "England...? What's up?"

"I was wondering, if maybe, you wanted to go to..." the American cursed, as he suddenly started feeling extremely light-headed. His sight turned blury, while England's voice was becoming softer and more incomprehensible by the second.

"America?", and "America-san!" were the last things he heard, before everything around him turned to darkness.

~ End of Chapter

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A/N: What do you think? Please review if you will. I hope it wasn't too sloppy of a Chapter. Are there any improvements I could make, or any complaints you have? Feel free to share. Also, for any of you who may not know, 'Angleterre' is England in French, and 'Amerique' is of course 'America', then Espagne, is naturally 'Espana', or 'Spain'.

¿Te pasa algo? - Is something the matter? (I think.)

¿Qué pasa? - What's up?

What will happen to America? Will England finally be able to make up and apologize to America? Further more, will America accept his apology? Or will he continue to push his family away?

Any suggestions at all? I'd love to hear them. Grazie~