Counting Stars - (Straight!AmeriPan)

Chapter 2: Swiss Cheese

"Morning, Car!"

Sakura's brown eyes fluttered open slowly, only to be greeted back by a certain pair of azure eyes beneath half-rimmed glasses.

"For someone from the Land of the Rising Sun, you sure wake up slow!" Alfred laughed at his own joke. Slowly, Sakura sat upright and looked around. It was very early in the morning, she could tell...around 6 AM, or something. Sakura yawned and looked at Alfred, studying his cute features and beautiful eyes. Alfred only stared back. Sakura suddenly realized what she was doing, immediately averted her gaze from Alfred, and coughed. "Ohayo gosaimasu, Alfred-san."

"Finally, you're awake!" Alfred clasped his hands together. "So, since that you're new here...better dress up because I'll be showing you around the neighborhood!"

Sakura's eyes widened. "I...what? You never told me-"

"I said I'd tell you the house rules today, right? Well, I was thinking about showing you around too. Besides, dude, we've got some pretty cool neighbors like...oh, Number 41 and 59. You'll find out why later!" Alfred did the Naruto run while exiting Sakura's room. "Meet ya in 10 minutes!"

Sakura wanted nothing more than to get back to sleep, yet her mind wasn't telling her to do so. Besides, Sakura was curious about what her neighbors are like. Alfred did say that they were interesting. Might as well check them out.

Sakura dressed in her black shirt underneath a casual red tracker suit. Since she felt the need, Sakura wore her glasses. She combed her abnormally messy bed hair and went downstairs to meet up with Alfred.

.

"So how come you decided to show me around this early?" Sakura asked Alfred once they got outside of the house.

"Oh, uh...let's just say that we have very complicated neighbors," Alfred winked at Sakura as they walked. The young Japanese girl guessed that Alfred, Mathias, and Gilbert probably have an inside joke about their "neighbors."

"Ooh!" Alfred immediately hid behind a bush after stopping at the neighbor's house.

Sakura looked at him strangely. "What are you doing?"

"Hiding from Vash, of course!" Alfred said it like this was obvious. "He's still after my sorry ass and Mathematics and Gil won't pay for my funeral!"

Sakura shrugged in confusion and turned to look at the neighbor who came out of the house. He had neck-long blond hair, fierce green eyes, and was scanning the background with a gun in his hand. Behind him, a girl with slightly longer blond hair with a ribbon tied to one side stepped out of the house, following him. She had kind, teal eyes, a dark pink dress with a white collar and a pink ribbon, and she held a basket in her hand. Since they looked so much alike, Sakura guessed that they were siblings. Sakura watched the girl walk out of her house towards the street, probably heading off to buy bread somewhere.

"That's Lily, Vash's sister," Alfred said. "We call Vash "Swiss Cheese" because his name is forbidden in our household, and he's Swiss. We call his sister "Cheese Fondue," because it's sweet, like her...or so Gilbert says." Alfred stood up from his hiding spot once Vash went back inside and they continued walking.

"Why is his name, uh...forbidden in your household?" Sakura asked, trying her best not to stare into Alfred's eyes. Alfred leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

"Because Mathias, Gil, and I owe him a crapton of money," Alfred whispered. Alfred then straightened his posture and pointed to a house nearby, namely house 20. "That's my little bro Matthew's house. He lives there along with Francis. They're great people."

Sakura could do nothing but nod. She pointed a finger towards a house that had a Swedish and Finnish flag billowing on the front lawn. "And...who lives there?"