Zubicu- a Hetalia fanfic.

Chapter 20

I finally manage to get to the top of the stairs. People suck in a breath at what I'm wearing when they see me, and I smile nervously.

I'm dressed in a light blue, flowing, organza shirt with puffy sleeves and a darker blue vest underneath, that curves in to wrap tight around my arms at the elbows and around my waist, matched with light blue puffy organza trousers that curve in to be tight around the ankles. I'm wearing darker blue tight trousers underneath, but you can't see them well. I have white sandals on, I'm not sure why but there we go. My hair has been put up as best as it can into pigtails, down near the bottom of my head, one on either side, tied with light blue ribbons. 

All in all, I look stunning.

Flicrote stands next to me and guides me down the stairs. Once I reach the floor, she goes off, probably to find Canada. I take a deep breath, and let it out, relaxing. I smile, and walk into the sitting room, plopping down on the couch and watching the others as they pile all the presents in a corner. My eyes widen as I see the amount of presents there. It's nearly as large as me, dude, how many presents are there?!

A certain bouncy American brother of mine plops down next to me on the sofa with such force it sends me flying up a little way into the air with a small squeak of surprise. He laughs, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "Heya, sis, how are ya?" he asks.

I hug him. "I'm feeling better. It's great to see you again, big brother!" I chime. He grins down at me.

"Was this party your idea? It's great!" he says. I laugh, knowing how much he loves parties, but shake my head.

"Nah, it was Spain's idea. What with everything that's happened recently I lost track of time, even forgot that it was my birthday today! How weird is that?" I say. We both laugh as he agrees with me. I look at him. "Hey, you know England? Do you know what he thinks of me?" I ask.

He shrugs. "As far as I know, he thinks you're cool." he says. I smile, a little relieved that he doesn't hate me. That makes it seem like it's going to be that much easier to make friends with him. "So, dudette, you gonna come open these presents or what?" he asks, grabbing my arm and dragging me up from the couch. I cry out in shock, but then laugh.

"Hey, let go! You can't force the birthday girl to do anything!" I cry. He lets go.

"Sorry, dudette. I forgot." We look at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing at the kind-of reference to me forgetting my own birthday.  "Anyway, I'm gonna go talk to Japan, if ya don't mind. Don't forget to mingle with the others!" he says, and disappears in the crowd. I giggle at the nation's bounciness, shaking my head, and walk into the bathroom. I stare at myself in the mirror and suddenly find myself thinking things over.

It's been weird lately. Japan hasn't been his usual self. He's spent hours, sometimes days, away from our house, and when he comes back he never tells us why. He isn't showing as much affection toward me as he used to, either, and sometimes can go a whole day without talking to me. His behavious has almost become like France when he's....

Cheating. My eyes widen as the word pops into my head.

Uh-uh. Don't be ridiculous, Zubicu. There's no way he'd be cheating. Japan isn't like that. Right? Of course not. But then, he could be too. I wonder what I did wrong. I need to talk to Aleita. I quickly walk out of the bathroom only to bump into Prussia. "Huh- Oh! Hi, Prussia!" I say, smiling. Probably the first thing I notice about him is that he hasn't changed a bit since I last saw him. He hasn't even aged, so I'm probably around the same age as him now. "I didn't think you'd show up!"

He laughs. "Are you kidding? The entire world is here! Japan told the awesome me I should come get you; we want you to open the presents now!" he says. I decide not to question why he didn't come himself, and instead follow Prussia downstairs. Hmm. Nah, there's no way Japan could be cheating on me. Like I said, that's impossible. It's not in his nature...or at least, not that I know of. He's been changing so much lately his personality is approaching that of a stranger.

Wait.....now that I think about it, we haven't been that close recently. I haven't even been thinking about him as much as usual.

Are we even still together?

I shake that thought out of my head and decide to dwell on it later, when the party's over. Instead, I sit down on the couch between Romano and Prussia. America shifts the pile of presents over to me and I pick up the top one off of the pile. I smile when I see that it's from Romano. Upon opening it, I beam when I see the hadmade card and gift. Lifting it up, I gasp in surprise. It's a huge hand-stiched pillow of a kituna fruit, but on the front is stiched my flag, in exquisite detail. I turn to him, smiling. "You made this?"

He nods. "Yeah, that's why I wouldn't let you in earlier, I was finishing it off." he explains. I smile and hug him.

"Grazie!" I chime, speaking his tongue to convey just how happy I am. "I love it!"

He stutters in surprise and gently pushes me off him. "Y-You're welcome." His stammer makes Spain chuckle as he looks between the two of us, then frames us in a heart with his hands, resulting in him getting a well-aimed cushion in the face from Romano. I laugh and turn back to the presents pile, opening the rest. As I do so, I thank each country in the turn, sometimes reacting in a similar way that I did with Romano's if I really like it. I notice Japan didn't give me one, but don't sweat it, deciding to ask him later. I pick up the last present and notice it's from Prussia.

Thinking back, I remember how over past years he's had a tendency to pull cute, funny, and embarrassing pranks on me for my birthday. Last year was a jack-in-the-box that squirted ink in my face. Luckily it was washable, but Hungary still let me use her frying pan. So I'm careful when I open his gift.

When I notice it has breathing holes in it, my curiosity is suddenly aroused and I quickly unwrap it, reaching in. My fingers brush against something soft and I pull it out to reveal a little bird, very similar in size and body shape to Gilbird, except crimson red with bright, intelligent gold eyes, sitting in my palm.