A/N: Here is transgender!England for you all... I'm not sure if this will be contintued though. If anyone can give some constructive criticism, it would be much appreciated!
I know the part explaining Axis, Virginia seems out of place but I when I wrote it I was thinking that explaining the town on the way to school would help to understand how some of the future characters may act... I dunno. Heh...
I don't own Hetalia, Advil, Game Informer, or anything else I may have mentioned. And, as far as I know, there is no Axis, VA - I just made it up from the name of the anime/manga/webcomic we all have come to love so much.
I hope I don't gross anyone out with the first part of the story, but it's essential for explaining Emily/Arthur's situation. Also, when you see the changes of Emily to Arthur and back to Emily and same for pronouns, it is purposeful, but I'll leave that up to you to figure out why~

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did while writing it!

Slightly Edited: 01-05-12

Emily Kirkland stared up to her dark ceiling. The fairly new blue paint was just barely discernable through the blackness. A tiny light from the small television across the bedroom was the only light – though it was irking.

On the wall behind her she had the Union Jack flag hanging from the wall, a Jolly Roger on the wall to her left. Knickknacks collected throughout her youth were placed in a decorative fashion on the dresser; a giant mirror behind it reflecting the blackness.

It was calm, peaceful. Everything was in place.

Then there was a sharp pain in her stomach.

Emily groaned inwardly. She rolled onto her side, clutching her stomach, willing the knotting pain away, but to no avail.

It was the 17th. Around midnight. The time when that always began.

"Go away. Go away," she whispered.

She could feel her body at work, preparing itself to cleanse itself of useless, unfertilized eggs.

She could feel the cramps and nausea coming on.

The metallic smell every woman knew too well filled her nostrils from past experience. The very thought of her period filling her with dread.

It was only one of many things that she hated. Hated with such a passion.

But, one had to wonder. Why was she waiting up in bed for her period? It seems an odd thing to do, right? Especially for one as young as herself. Just barely in her teenage-years.

"I'm not supposed to have this," Emily whispered to herself. Chanting almost. "It's wrong, all wrong."

A small pain struck her stomach again and she began to cry.

"Please stop," she cried to herself as he felt the uneasiness well through her.

Emily fell asleep holding her body, repeating the earlier mantra over and over again in the recesses of her mind.

=0=0=

Emily woke with the same knot in her stomach.

There was a small red stain on her night clothes and bed sheets and she stared at them with a defeated glare.

Stuffing the bed-wear and sheets into the laundry machine, Emily got ready for the day after showering and applying the necessary feminine hygiene products on herself, stuffing emergency items into the recesses of her messenger bag, away from prying eyes.

She downed two Advil and headed on her way to school, locking up the front door on the way out.

Slowly, as she walked down the sidewalk to high school, Emily pushed the thoughts of menstrual cramps to the back of her mind as the medicine worked its way into her system. Slowly, she reverted into her more comfortable self. Slowly, she reverted into Arthur Kirkland.

Short hair – not to girly and not to boyish; somewhat androgynous clothing style; gentlemanly mannerisms; Emily reverted into her, sorry, his self.

=0=0=

Axis High School was a fairly diverse school, when it came to demographics and such. The town it was in was just as diverse. A cultural melting pot of sorts.

On the outside, both were perfect images of America's icon community. All ethnicities coming together and living in harmony, but truthfully, were one to look past the white picket fences and into the large bay-windows of the many houses in the Axis community, they would see what really went on in daily America.

Families ignoring each other: children watching too much television, mothers treading deadly waters in the latest gossip of the neighborhood tramp, fathers kicked back in a chair, beer in hand, as the games played. Life was drab and grey.

The school community was not much better. Students avoided other students due to social class, ethnicity, idiosyncrasies.

When entering the school for the first time, you found your group and stuck to it. No intermingling. No friendships between the Jocks and Geeks. No meetings with the Scholars and the Punks.

And that was life in Axis. A small town – grinning on the outside and snarling on the inside – in Virginia.

=0=0=

Emily, or Arthur as sh-he preferred, got to school a good thirty minutes before the first class was to begin. He headed to his usual meet-up spot in the cafeteria, past the Punks and Pot-Heads and to the patio just outside the cafeteria.

There he met with a small group of friends. Outcasts of sorts – not knowing where they fit in or not allowed to fit in by their fellow classmates.

There was the exchange student from Russia, Ivan, the boisterous Alfred, timid Kiku, and finally, Arthur – Just Arthur.

The three boys were already sitting at the table when Arthur arrived. Alfred waved his arm wildly in what was probably supposed to be a greeting.

"Put your arm down before you kill someone." Arthur sat down next to Alfred anyways.

"But I'm just so glad to see you! This weekend was so boring!" Arthur emphasized his words by flubbing on the table with exasperation. "Mom made me and Mattie clean the whole house for a party she had."

Arthur turned his head, having forgotten about the fifth addition to their little group. The infamous Matthew. Always disappearing, that one. "Ah, sorry, Matthew, I didn't notice you there."

"It's fine."

Alfred took hold of the conversation again, hating to share in the attention for even a second (even if it was with his twin brother). "So it's the 17th, Artie~" Alfred waggled his brow, nudging Arthur in the ribs. "You know what that means~"

Arthur's face reddened a bit and he shoved Alfred away from him. "Shut up about that, eh? It's none of your business."

Although, it was relieving to know that his group was accepting.

"Aw, but I was just being curious!"

"Oh, you were curious? Well, would you like to know how my day's been so far?"

Alfred nodded childishly.

"Alright. I've had blood and other unmentionables pouring from the inside of my body in a most disgusting and painful way. Add to that additional stomach cramps from blobs of the stuff being pushed though tiny tubes in my body to actually get out, I'd say I was just dandy."

Alfred stuck his tongue out, the other boys hiding their slight disgust.

"Well, that must suck."

"Yes, Alfred. It most definitely sucks."

And the bell rang.

Kiku and Ivan jumped up, relieved of having to listen in on any more feminine talk. Matthew excused himself, though really, no one heard him, and Alfred and Arthur went on their way to Algebra 3.

"We have a math test today."

"What!" Alfred flung his head towards the blackboard to, sure enough, find that "Test 6 – Lessons 26-32" was written in their teachers scrawling handwriting.

"Let me guess, you didn't study?"

Alfred ignored his friend and instead decided to fume on his desk, head lying across his bag.

The first half of school passed mostly uneventful. Alfred complained about the test before and after and in-between taking it, Kiku almost exploded the chemistry lab after Arthur misread the instructions and the Asian added a tad too much Sulfur to their concoction, Ivan scared the three other exchange students from the Baltic nations, the youngest one (a freshman) nearly wetting himself. Yeah, a mostly uneventful day.

=0=0=

Matthew was waiting for the others to arrive at their usual table at lunchtime. He had band fourth period and was always able to get to the cafeteria before the huge mass of students was able to crush him as he obtained his lunch.

He waved shyly to Arthur as he neared, who downed one more Advil and drinking from a water bottle. "Good afternoon."

"Ah, I think it's still morning, actually." Arthur glanced at his watch and nodded. "I swear, they serve lunch too early. It throws off our eating schedules too much."

Matthew nodded, not really saying much else, not one for words instead more of quiet company.

They waited for the others in a friendly silence.

Alfred ran up behind them a few moments later, shouting, "I've got a sandwich," and flinging said food onto the round table in-between Matthew and Arthur.

Ivan came up next, carrying his tray of lunch food – really, it didn't even deserve to be called food at all. And Kiku came last, having to navigate to his locker on the third floor for his lunch box.

The group ate silently for a few moments before Alfred started babbling about his latest issue of Game Informer, brandishing said magazine from no-where and opening it up to a random page to start discussing. Kiku scooted closer to him, reading an article, or looking at the cute figurines on the page beside the article, Arthur couldn't tell.

"You will rot your brains with such activities, da?" Ivan commented around a sip of milk. "Oh, I'm sorry. Alfred has no brains to begin with." The Russian smiled childishly as Alfred began defending himself.

"Oh yeah? At least I'm not from some Communist country, like you!" A bit harsh, but none of it was meant truly.

"Better Communist than Capitalist, Comrade."

A typical lunch for the group.

=0=0=

As he trekked down the sidewalk, this time with Matthew and Alfred flanking his sides, back home at three o'clock, Arthur was smiling just a bit more. Though, he knew he would have to start switching back his mental use of pronouns to their feminine form before he got home.

"We'll see ya tomorrow Artie, Mattie and I've gotta get to the store before we head home. Bye!" Alfred and his twin waved goodbye and Arthur turned into his walkway, searching for the house key buried somewhere in hi-her bag.

Emily unlocked the door, her senses instantly being hit by something that smelled awfully French.

He was home.

"Is that you, Mon Lapin?"

Francis. Her cousin from Quebec.

"I'm not your damn rabbit, Frog!" She shouted into the house.

"But you are still my favourite cousine, Emilia~"

"My name's not Emilia, either!"

"Oh, then would you prefer me to call you Arthur?"

Emily paled. "S-Shut up, Francis."

"Oh, don't worry your head. You're mother's not home yet."

Francis popped his head out from the kitchen. "I'm making dinner tonight so go wash up. Lord knows how many germs you've contracted from that filthy public school you attend."

Emily bit her tongue to refrain from snapping at Francis. Her school was just fine, thank you. It may not be the best ever, but it did perfectly fine in giving her an education.

Francis shook his head after Emily as she made her way to the upstairs bathroom, farthest away from Francis at the moment, and sighed.