Hetalia: One Flower A Day
Title: One Flower A Day
Rating: T
Genre: Historical
Characters/Pairings: Korea, Japan. No pairings.
Summary: Korea does his own part for the rebellion, with one flower a day.
Words: 536
Notes: Written for hetalia_contest 's week 23 prompt, "flowers".
--
One flower a day.
Korea hums tunelessly as he walks the streets to his aniki's (aniki, he laughs, loudly, in his brain where he can't be arrested for mocking the language of his brother) house, a small vase in hand, a single stalk of mugunghwa inside. There are no other sprays of foliage to adorn it, just a single leafy stalk alone in a simple clay vase. There is nothing to hide it, no need for fancy masquerade. Because this-- this point-blank statement, he thinks, as he places it on the doorstep of Japan's house in his capital, doesn't require the courtesy of veiled intentions.
Immortality, he breathes, the petals wavering in his breath, the flower's scent staining his senses, as Korea taps on the door and takes his leave.
One flower a day.
Today, the vase is a little prettier, a little more polished, the flower inside it in full bloom. Korea leaves it with a note this time, unsigned, but Japan needs no hint of its author.
For the late Empress, was written in Korean, may this bloom do more than to fuel Japan's fires.
Japan thought that it made a less than satisfactory sound of crumbling beneath his heel. He grinded it down several more times for good measure.
One flower a day.
He feels the ache of emptiness in him as he walks down the path which has become familiar. His hands grip the clay holder as Korea lifts his head just in time to see Japan exit the house, his hands frozen in the motion of fixing his cap. Their eyes meet, and Korea smiles.
“For you, nii-san,” he says, in flawless Japanese, head bowed in a mockery of respect, offering the vase.
And then he looks up through his bangs, eyes slitted but voice still exceptionally courteous. “Thank you for giving so many of my men jobs in your nation,” he murmurs in his own mother tongue.
As he walks home, right cheek pink and aching, Korea feels that the slap was worth the look on Japan's face.
One flower a day.
Korea walks down the streets, humming under his breath.
Until the day when the East Sea's waters and Mt. Baekdu are dry and worn away.
A tune no longer so tuneless, he feels the song grow on him.
God protect and preserve us. Long live our nation!
He arrives at the house he had been stopping at every day for the decades past, and he smiles at the empty house. It feels good. Really good. Today, he uproots the wilting chrysanthemum from the pot Japan had left behind, throwing it on the floor. In its place, he plants a new shoot of mugunghwa.
It's not blooming just yet, but it will grow, and for that, Korea is thankful.
Because while single blossoms only last a day, the flowering shrub will bloom for years to come.
Three thousand li of splendid rivers and mountains, filled with Roses of Sharon;
Great Korean People, stay true to the Great Korean way.
Footnotes:
- Mugunghwa, also known as the Rose of Sharon, is the national flower of South Korea.
- Its symbolic meaning is "immortality".
- Apparently (this is sourceless, but from my memory), the Japanese burned bushes upon bushes of mugunghwa during their occupation of Korea.
- "The late Empress" which Korea had written about is in reference to Empress Myeongseong, also known as Queen Min, who was assassinated by the Japanese. Today, she's viewed by many as a national heroine, for striving diplomatically and politically to keep Korea independent of foreign influence.
- "Thank you for giving so many of my men jobs in your nation" is a reference to the National Mobilization Law, which recruited (and eventually coerced) Koreans for working on the Japan mainland. The men were forced to work in extremely poor conditions, and an estimate of 60 000 of them are said to have died of the harsh treatment, another 70 000 were affected by the atomic bomb.
- The song Korea is singing is Aegukga, the national anthem for South Korea. North Korea has an anthem of the same name, but romanized differently. The lyrics of the anthem was said to be written in 1896, the tune composed in 1935. It was adopted as the national anthem in 1948.
- Korea switches between Japanese and Korean multiple times in this. This is due to the banning of Korean in all schools and businesses. However, since Japan can't really do anything to Korea, I guess Young Soo just used it to piss him off.
- The chrysanthemum is the Japanese national flower, and also the namesake of Japan, Kiku.
God, I actually finished it! Research was exhausting for this one, but I quite like the end product. Credits to this fic's mention of the mugunghwa for inspiration (that story is M rated, by the way), and halcyon_queen 's fic as well. Thanks for reading.