Well, it's about time I returned. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that I'll be posting as often as I use to. A lot has happened since I last had anything on here.

So here's what's up. I wanted to wait until after semester finals before I started working on my stories again because of everything that was happening. To those who believe that being a music major is easily, I laugh. XD No. It's not.

Anyway, things were looking up. The end was coming...in more ways than one. The day after my classes ended,...my mother died. It was so sudden, and she and I were incredibly close, so...if I'm a little out of it, that's why. I'll come around, but I need time.

For now, I'm just happy that I still have artistic inspiration despite the slight writer's block and I intend to use it while I can. This chapter is a little bit shorter, though. ^^;

Please enjoy!

When Japan had first run into Italy, though he couldn't possibly have been more confused as to why he was there, it had been a relief to him. Not only was it someone he knew well, but it was also someone who could do the talking for him, for the most part at least. Italy was a friendly and outgoing nation, so he shouldn't have any problems saying hello for him while he watched in silence. On top of that, he had Texas now. Though he didn't know him nearly as well, he still definitely seemed to be the kind of guy that you could count on, and the culture differences between them were already something he'd gotten use to after spending so much time with America. Yes, things seemed to be looking up for Japan. Now, hopefully, it would stay that way.

But he knew better then to hope at this point, so he chose to enjoy the "quiet" while he could, instead.

"So, I imagine this has been a little strange for you, huh?"

Japan looked up in slight surprise at suddenly being spoken to. "Eh? Oh, hai. It has been quite strange."

Texas chuckled. "Yeah, it seems weird, but when they say "melding pot of cultures", they aren't just talking about immigrants."

Japan nodded in acknowledgment as Texas smiled fondly and continued. "If you say you know America, congratulations. That's the overview. But once it comes down to us, it's a whole new ball game."

"Hai. It's kind of like...a little bit like dealing with separate countries altogether."

"Exactly. No two states are alike, whether it be the people, the culture, or the laws."

"Laws?"

"Yep. State laws are a thing here. Each of us have our own government and boss that we answer to and have both direct input on what happens in our states and partial input on the overall country. It's complicated, but I'd have to say we get a pretty good deal out of it."

"And what deal is that?"

"We get to exist."

Japan slowed his pace and watched the ex nation in front of him intently as he let the meaning of his words sink in. "The American government isn't centralized to one personification." Texas continued. "Power and responsibilities are shared between the federal and state governments, so we get to be a thing. I think that's a pretty great deal."

"Hmm..."

"Don't y'all have something similar in your country?"

"Sort of. I have prefectures rather than states, though."

"I see. I'd like to meet 'em sometime."

"Hai. That would be nice. I just don't want all of you showing up at my door at once and give us all heart attacks. In all honesty, this experience has been...stressful."

"Gotcha."

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" Italy asked, stopping in his tracks as they past a hallway on the second floor. Japan and Texas looked back at him, listening for whatever Italy heard. It didn't take long, as some of the strangest music Japan had ever heard came to his ears. Not that it was bad by any means. It, in fact, sounded very difficult and well played. It just wasn't something he heard very much.

Texas shook his head and smiled. "Saxophone solo, jazz music, yeah. It could only be one person. Come on." Texas motioned for the two nations to follow him, striding down the hallway in a rhythmic motion to the beat. Sure, jazz wasn't Texas's favorite genre, but that certainly didn't mean he couldn't enjoy it.

Italy did his own little dance, waving his arms around in a snake-like way with a smile so wide that he was just asking to swallow a fly. Japan, on the other hand, simply chose to walk past him, taking the time to enjoy this music that he was unaccustomed to. Texas peered into the doorway where the music was coming from, finding, as he expected, one of his siblings playing away to a recording of multiple instruments. When Japan saw her, he had an intense moment of deja vu. The difference was that the last time a state resembled a nation he knew so strongly, he had feared for his life.

The girl playing the saxophone had long, bright blonde and extremely wavy hair tied back in a ponytail and blue eyes. Despite being casually dressed, Japan couldn't help but be impressed by her fashion sense, though something told him that it wasn't intentional. She couldn't look more like France even if she tried. Her fingers flew across the keys with ease as she danced around the room. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Texas, who was causally swaying his head about to the beat. The music hit a downbeat and she threw her head back.

"Woo! Ain't no music like jazz music, you know?" she all but shouted.

"That's debatable, Louisiana."

"You wanna fight?" she responded playfully.

"Ve~! You play very nice." Italy smile.

Louisiana grinned in response. "Yeah? I've spent years and years and years perfecting it, so I better be! What's a party without a saxophone, anyway?"

"A party?"

"Yeah!" she turned to Texas. "I just answered one of Alabama's science-y space questions right, and I think that it's time for a celebration!"

Texas chuckled. "There's always a reason to celebrate with you, isn't there?"

"Life's a celebration! You gotta enjoy it!"

"Oh, calm down. It was just a quadratics equation." Japan whipped his head to see another state in the room. His appearance was...controversial, perhaps? He looked dirty and rugged with overalls and grass in his mouth. However, he was also wearing a very clean lab coat with a breast pocket that looked like it was carrying a monocle. He was writing equations on a white board that made even Japan's head spin.

"Oh, Alabama!" Texas exclaimed. "I didn't see you there!"

Alabama smirked. "Of course you didn't. I'm not even in your peripheral vision and despite the higher frequencies of my marker to the board compared to her saxophone, the higher level of decibels being created by her noise is too great. That, and she's dancing around like a maniac, causing your brain to focus on her existence and making me practically invisible to your eye."

Texas snorted. "And in dumb southern talk?"

"Y'all gonna see that there attention-whore first."

"Excuse you!" Louisiana growled, seemingly legitimately offended. "I am bringing joy to the world through festive celebrations and jazz music! All you got are numbers!"

"And NASA."

"Joy to the world, bud. Joy."

Japan didn't say a word. He was perfectly content with not getting involved in another string of mayhem like the last time he let his guard down. In all honesty, though, he'd love to get Alabama's opinion on the possibility of mechas. He then wondered how many questions like that he got from America every day.

"Ve~!" Italy stood before Louisiana. "You look like my big brother France!"

"Big brother?" Louisiana asked surprised. "Oh. Oh, yeah! You're Italy! Oh, wow. It's been a long time since I've seen any of you European nations, except maybe England."

"Si, si! So, you are Louisiana, yes? Does that make me your big brother?"

"Ha! I don't see why not!"

"Yay!" Italy cheered. "I'm a big brother! Germany's going to be so surprised!" He paused, realizing that he had nearly forgotten the reason that he'd wandered over here in the first place. "Say, have you seen Germany anywhere? I can't seem to find him and I miss him a lot."

Louisiana seemed to adopt the look of why would he be here that Japan knew quite well, but decided to be nice about it. "Can't say I have. Sorry. But have you thought about looking in, oh, I don't know, Germany?"

Italy blinked, while Texas and Alabama seemed to be trying really hard not to laugh at the confused nation's expense. Japan, however, seemed to notice something else entirely: the sound of scribbling. In the corner of the cluttered living area was an old couch, currently occupied by another blonde haired, blue eyed girl, though her hair was left loose with neat curls in the front. She wore very fashionable cowboy-styled attire with a nice cowboy hat and boots, a white blouse, and a jean skirt. In her hands were a note pad and pencil as she scribbled down something, glancing every once in a while to the shiny guitar nicely leaned next to her. Japan quickly noticed the dozens of McDonald's hamburger wrappers surrounding her and felt an odd sense of familiarity wash over him. Before he could ask anything about the new state sitting in the corner completely unnoticed, another flash of blonde sped past the doorway, Texas curiously calling after her.

"Virginia!" he called. "What's the rush? Where are you going?"

Virginia could be heard skidding to a clumsy halt before making her way back to the doorway with a mischievous grin on her face. "Oh, nothing. Don't worry about me. I'm just getting some of the other to gang up on Iggy is all."

"Why?"

"'Cause it's fun." she replied simply before speeding back down the hall.

Texas rubbed the back of his neck. "Can't really argue with her there."

"And what's your name?" Italy asked the new state in the corner that he had now noticed as well. The girl looked over at him and smiled, shining an aura of friendliness that could only make Italy's smile widen.

"I'm Tennessee." she responded.

"What are you writing?"

"A new song."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

They were interrupted by the sound of Alabama clearing his throat. "So, is anyone going to follow after Virginia before she and the others subject England to a fate worse than death?"

Tennessee seemed snickered. "He can handle it."

"You sure?" Texas questioned half-sarcastically. "I have a hunch as to who she looking for and it might not end well if England loses his temper on them. That's usually how this goes down."

"Except with Connecticut." Tennessee mused. "I think he's pretty cool with Connecticut."

"Everybody's cool with Connecticut."

"Oh, there she is again!" Italy exclaimed as the blonde state reappeared in the doorway, staring in at them with curiosity. Japan was quick to notice slight differences, however. Besides the brighter hue of her eyes, she had completely changed her clothes to a nice tee-shirt and jeans combo with a nice jacket and her hair was tied back into a braid. Italy happily waved his hand in greeting while the other states raised their eyebrows in amusement as Japan tried to figure out why Virginia changed her clothes and Italy remained ultimately oblivious.

"Ve~! Hi again, Virginia!" Italy exclaimed. "We were just thinking about looking for you!"

The two nations sent silent when they saw the glare that they were getting from the newcomer. The girl huffed at them as her siblings patted Italy apologetically.

"Slight warning, guys. That's not Virginia."

Japan and Italy both stared at him in as if he'd grown a second head before slowly turned to looked at the state before them in disbelief. She was an exact replica of Virginia. There was a no way it could be a different person. This seemed to agitate the girl even more, who marched right up to Italy and looked him straight in the eye with a glare that had him shivering.

"Don't mistake me for my clone! I love my big sister to pieces, but I'm a totally different person and I'll make sure that everyone knows it!"

"Who are you, then?" Japan asked timidly.

She diffused and looked back at him with the innocent eyes of a young child. "I'm West Virginia."

"So you're still a Virginia?" Italy asked, earning a completely blank stare as the state wasn't entirely sure how to react to the comment.

"So what's up, West V?" Texas asked casually, as if she didn't want to launch something at them.

West Virginia completely dropped her frustration and smiled. "Oh, I was on my way to go on a hike, maybe camp out tonight, and I thought that maybe Virginia would join me. She seemed busy though, so I was going to ask someone else. How about you, Texas?"

"I'd love to, but there's a bit of trouble going on around here and I feel like I should do something about it, as hilarious as it is."

"Sounds like something Kentucky would say."

"He does enjoy a little mayhem sometimes, doesn't he?"

"Don't we all?" Alabama interjected.

"Points have been made." West Virginia responded.

Japan patiently waited for the siblings to end their banter in fear of ending up worse than Italy, who was not a fan of ticking people off too much. Germany yelled at him enough. As of this point, Japan wanted nothing but a nice bath, some manga to read, and a winter long hibernation.

"Yo, guys!" Louisiana suddenly shouted, startling everyone in the room. They'd forgotten she was there for a second. "Are we just gonna stand here or are we gonna go watch England get tortured by a bunch of territories?"

"Am much as I'd love to," Texas laughed, "I think I'm siding with Iggy this time. No one deserves that fate."

"You never fought him..." Louisiana grumbled to herself.

It was about this time that Japan happened to glance out the window. At this point, he stopped questioning why certain things happened when they did, but he still couldn't help but blink from what he saw. First of all, he'd had quite enough with twins already with this whole Virginia thing, but now he was once again seeing double and he wasn't too thrilled on finding out what they were like.

Second, they were racing lawn mowers.

They weren't even the kind that you drive. They were just speeding around a makeshift track on little lawn mowers like madmen trying to kill each other, it looked like. After briefly wondering if this game was actually a stroke of genius, Japan was startled by the two crashing into each other. One of the brothers immediately shot back up and exclaimed that it was the other's fault and questioned himself for being convinced to even race his brother. His brother's response was quiet enough that Japan couldn't pick it up, but it was immediately followed by the first one yelling, "No! I'm the oldest!"

Alabama suddenly appeared next to Japan. "Looks like the Dakotas have been there for a while. Maybe they know where England is so we can warn him."

"Or watch his demise in amusement." Louisiana suggested.

"Or have a heart." Texas added. "Hey Tennessee, you want to join the fray?"

Tennessee smiled. "Sure. It could be great inspiration for my next song."

"I'm in on this, too." West Virginia stated with vigor. "It sounds like fun!"

Italy was now hiding behind Japan, watching West Virginia warily as she marched past them with a grin. She stopped momentarily, looking over at Italy with a sheepish grin. "Sorry about the rough meeting." she said.

Italy visibly brightened. "That's okay! I'm sure my brother Romano would have reacted the same way! In fact, he probably would have shot someone."

"You got a brother?"

"Ve! I am the north of Italy and he is the South!"

"Cool!"

The other states followed close behind out the door. At this point, Japan understood regret. He'd have to apologize to England later for asking how hard this could possibly be.

For those of you who are curious, or reading my other stories, this was suppose to be West Virginia's introduction. I'm sorry for offending so many people in One Crisp September Morning with such on OOC introduction to who I think is a pretty fun character. I feel bad because I have tons of friends from West Virginia and that's also where I go to school. Throughout this semester, I spent an estimated average of 9 hours in that state per day(I'm a Marylander), so it's like my second home. Sorry for misrepresenting you guys with poor timing. If you're reading that story, the next chapter will make up for it, I hope. :)

Anyways, I hope all of you have a great Christmas break and I'll see you later!

EDIT: Wow. I actually managed to STILL offend someone with West Virginia, and now I feel terrible. I wanted to try and get back into the swing of things, but it's obvious to me now that I still need a break, from everything. I'm not blaming you guys. I just have thin skin is all and my mind is somewhere else. Please enjoy what I have here for now. I hope to return soon and not leave you guys hanging for too long. Bye bye.

~AnonymousTwit