Medicine = Magic [RoChu Fanfiction]

Chapter One

Present day is a strange term.

Maybe for a short time it seems true, being in the present, but after a while everything, even that, has to end.

So as a nearly immortal nation, the oldest of those still alive, time was sort of a different concept, a fake reality that didn't deserve attention, or at least in China's opinion. Emotions stretched across time even as things changed so quickly around him, sometimes resurfacing after decades and sometimes slowly slipping out of his mind only to be brought back soon after. Loss truly was an odd concept.

The sunlight filtered through the window, spreading colors around the room and splattering specks of light on the hardwood floor.

China pulled the blanket up over his head in one fluid motion. He was too tired this morning, too tired to face all the current problems in his country and unfortunately too tired to face the past as well. The nation had received far more than his share of pain throughout his time as a country and usually he tried to ignore it, a hard earned habit that had stuck with him since the time of the ancients.

But despite that he still managed to mourn every year. Most parents would be in mourning as well but he had been forced to keep his pain a secret and occasionally got hit harder than normal with the loss. Even now, thousands of years later.

He couldn't help but think about them, the names he might have chosen.

Chen, or "The Morning".

Chunhua, or "Spring Flowers".

Two beautiful names for two beautiful children he had planned on having. Two beautiful children that would never be, who would never be able to say his name or love him. Who would never be able to wake up in the morning and eat breakfast, go to school or world meetings.

The personification rolled onto his side, turning away from the window and looking at the old peeling paint that covered the walls. It was far too late for those people he had never met, even if he felt like he could have in some other time, some other place. He hadn't even made his medicine in a while, and certainly had not started any new projects like that one.

He still had to get up this morning, there was a meeting this afternoon that he couldn't miss. Japan was the host country and he had to get on the plane he had a ticket on by noon (if he was cutting it close) since the meeting started at three thirty.

Rolling to the side again, China fell out of his bed in a not so graceful way. This was nearly the opposite of how he would normally get up, he had just felt like crap recently, mostly because of the classic poverty but also because he couldn't stop thinking about the ancient times and his miscariage. He slowly peeled his blanket off him and brushed a strip of tangled brown hair behind his ear, he would have to deal with that mess later.

As he stood up from the floor his knee made a loud cracking noise.

"Ai-yaa..." he winced as he stood, "I'll have to get that looked at aru," For the last few decades he had been telling himself that whenever anything strange happened with his body. But he never went anyway, since he didn't trust the doctors.

There was no real reason why he didn't, he just didn't always agree with their methods of healing, either that or being in a room with someone he had never met before staring at him wasn't comfortable.

The other countries thought it was strange but then again so did he, since he couldn't explain it, even to himself.

His bare feet padded across the wood floor as he ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly. He had had it trimed a few weeks ago, but that was pretty much the only thing he had done in the terms of self care recently. He should probably do something about that too.

The walls in the hallway were also covered in cracking red and white paint, even though most of the rooms in the house had at least one wall that was made of plain wood and off-white bricks. All of the windows were in the ancient style with carved wood designs. Often times, when there were no meetings and no war, he would sit in the main room and stare out at the town around him. It had changed a lot in the past few decades, and sometimes he missed the old towns of the past.

He lived in an older neighborhood, but even here was starting to be influenced by the modern buildings of the citys.

It was as if they were forgetting where everything had started.

China sighed as he stepped into the kitchen, yawning as he rolled his shoulders back, stretching in an attempt to wake himself up. He blinked a few times and glanced over at the stove, wondering what he would eat this morning, or if he even wanted to in the first place.

That was one thing about being a country, he always felt compelled to follow his own traditions, especially since some of them seemed to be dying out across the country, but at the same time he still had his own opinions and wanted to change things up occasionally. Maybe he would just have tea this morning, since he wasn't really in the mood for his regular food.

After making tea and sitting down on the woven mat he still had from his very early days China rolled his head to the side, closing his eyes for just a moment as he thought about how regrettably lonely this breakfast would have sounded to anyone else. Usually he would eat and then go and talk to his boss or maybe other leaders of the country but today he had a meeting anyway and none of his usual companions were expecting him.

All but his boss lived rather far away anyway, in their modern homes with all their money and expensive belongings. His boss, who was a dragon, usually lived in his house but had been visiting his old friends or something recently, he hadn't actually explained it to China. Since he was gone the nation was all alone for the time being, even if he did have to leave for his meeting soon enough.

"Mhg," he muttered, looking down at his cup of tea that was sitting on the wooden table in front of him.

Usually he would have gladly drank it but today he felt empty and had no desire for any food or drink. But he had already made it so it would be a waste to not drink it, since he knew he was very lucky to have the materials for even this. Not so long ago he had been rather poor for a country, since many of his citizens had been in a state of poverty.

He had never been as bad off as the people who were in poverty, but it had been pretty bad considering how he was a country. There was sometimes still fighting and many things wrong with the way that his government worked but usually he himself was fine.

Unless he was left alone with his thoughts.

Then all he could think about was the past.