Greetings, HetaWriter/HetaReader here...

Well, sadly this isn't an update. But I can't do them for now...or the following week or possibly a little longer than that, I really don't know. I have to go to China quickly because I just found out that there's family business going on. Serious family business. I'd rather not go far into detail about it, but long story short; my grandfather passed away.

Again, I deeply apologize; I wouldn't be surprised if this sounds hollow to you or like an empty promise. But, really I sometimes get the feeling that I'm letting people down because I can't fulfil my want of expressing and showing something that I wholeheartedly love doing during the time that I want. But I hope you can find it somewhere in yourself that you can forgive my tardiness and be patient, and maybe during that time away I can find it in myself to not beat myself up too much.

Sincerely,
HetaWriter/HetaReader

P.S. - I have posted this note on all of my stories still in-progress. But, to sum it up, here are a little series of previews on what will happen in the next chapters:

A Tail For Two Legs:

Kasem couldn't help but give a sad smile from the front door as he gazed out onto the beach. His golden eyes were fixed on his Vietnamese cousin who was sitting all alone on the golden shores - patiently waiting for his red-tailed lover to return home to him.

"He's still waiting?" questioned Yong Soo as he and Mei came up to his older cousin's side.

The Thai man nodded, "Yes. He's been there since Antonio left, ana."

Quan himself simply stared out into the distance of the salty waters; his honey-gold orbs scanned slowly and carefully around the surroundings of the environment to look for any sign of shimmering, scarlet scales or glittering, golden fins. The Vietnamese man leaned his body forward - resting his chin on his knees as he continued to examine the sea in that same calculated manner. He wouldn't budge from his spot; no, not until Antonio came back home to him safe and sound.

So for now, he'd wait.

Yes, he'd wait for days if he had to.

'Come home soon...' he thought quietly to himself. 'And be safe...'

Fly High! Maple Version:

From behind one of the dressers, Matthew could see a pair of big, bright brown eyes peering nervously. When the Canadian boy's eyes fixed on the little thing, it gave a sudden squeak and darted behind the dresser some more.

Lovino clearly noticed this; he arched an eyebrow and asked, "What the hell was that?"

Here, Roderich heaved a sigh, "That would be Minccino."

Gilbert then bent down and roughly picked up a little ball of fluff by the scruff of its neck. The little Pokémon was revealed to have grey-coloured fur, with more more scruffs on it on its head, the insides of its larger ears, and neck. Its limbs were rather small and rounded, while its tail on the other hand, was long and particularly fluffy. Right now, it looked utterly frantic as it flailed and thrashed around in Gilbert's grasp as it squealed, "Minccino! Minccino!"

Matthew immediately opened his Pokédex to take a look, "Minccino, the Chinchilla Pokémon," said the mechanical voice informatively. "Minccino loves shiny things, and will use its tail as a brush to clean any objects that are dirty. They greet each other by grooming one another thoroughly with their tails."

"Feisty little thing, are you?" Gilbert gave a wicked grin as he leered in the little Minccino's face. "Kesesese!"

All of a sudden, the little Chinchilla Pokémon flinched upon locking eye contact with the Prussian man that was holding it. Minccino then scrunched its tiny nose up, and its brown eyes were swimming with big, fat tears. Unsurprisingly, it began bawling its eyes out as it started flailing around even more in Gilbert's grip - almost desperately. Needless to say, everyone was rather shocked from Minccinio's reaction - everyone that is, except for Roderich who simply heaved a slightly exasperated sigh and shook his head instead. "Brilliant, now you have frightened Minccino," the Austrian musician said; voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I didn't do anything!" snapped Gilbert, though he looked understandably confused and a little panicked - he honestly didn't know what to do with crying Pokémon. Especially ones that were rather tiny like the one in his hand. "Hey! Stop crying; what'd I even do?!"

Lovino then spoke the obvious, "Your face and weird-ass laugh scared the poor little bastard, that's what."

"My face and laugh aren't weird-ass or scary!" exclaimed Gilbert. "They're awesome! And you, quit crying already! Mein Gott, quit using Fake Tears!"

HetaVoice:

It is a nice, calm and lovely afternoon – the sky was becoming mixtures of the colours blue, pink and gold blending together. The sun was shining very brightly up in the painted sky as it was progressively beginning to set past the horizon's point.

A long, red carpet stretched out to a massive building that stood proudly with the HetaVoice sign in the form of a great statue of silver and platinum components.

Right at the steps, which was at the end of the red carpet's straight trail, a very familiar Romanian man with strawberry blonde hair and red eyes, was this time wearing a green trench coat with his usual little top hat perched upon his head.

He gave a wide beam; revealing he had rather elongated canine teeth as he tipped his hat in greeting to the camera, that was now focused on him. His crimson eyes were flashing mischievously. "Hey everybody, and welcome to this episode of HetaVoice!" the Romanian man said cheerfully; obviously in really good spirits here. "I'm your host, Dracul Dalca!"

The camera then shifts into a far, high shot that shows the Performance Stage that is tinted night blue and bathed with plenty of blaring, white lights that shone overhead, eventually settling onto four big, red chairs that turned to face the camera, each with the four Judges seated there in a low angle shot. In front of their seats were big, shiny, red buttons that were on black podiums.

A/N: I've also developed a new writing format, so I'll rewrite the previous chapters as well, and hopefully it'll be revamped.

Little Plum Blossom:

The seasons had run around the corner i such a fast pace at the lake. Mei herself was growing - she was becoming stronger and bigger, and she was blooming into a rather pretty, little girl; she fit like a puzzle piece of a jigsaw, whenever she was frolicking and dancing around the colourful patches of flowers.

Once three winters had left, a teacher from Emil's school had sent word that Mei should come to the Town of the Resting Koi and attend school. However, Quan knew very well that his niece was very happy with her life at the lake. Strangely enough, he also didn't want her to leave, either. So, with that, he sent a rather polite (yet somewhat stern) word back that no; his niece, Mei, would not come down to town and into school.

He was perfectly correct, though - Mei was more than happy to stay at the lake.

If you would ask her what she loved most about it, you'd be stuck for a long time as she described everything in great cheer. She loved how the summers were warm and welcoming with their bright hints of sunlight, and the colder yet nurturing winters where she stayed inside her uncle's warm home. She was very much content to spend her time with older company - her uncle Quan, Emil, Lovino, Feliciano, Grandpa Romulus, Lukas, Tino, even Berwald and Mathias who were previously unseen before but whom she met several times, and of course, the water buffalo. In all honesty, she did not really long for lessons or the company of other children her age.

However, it was one day when a man came to visit Quan.

When Mei was dancing out of the house as she twirled around, she almost bumped into him. She was rather startled by him just standing outside the door. He had green eyes and brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail.

Upon catching sight of Mei, he gently smiled down at her. "Hello there," he greeted. "You must be Mei - it's okay, there's no need to be scared. I'm an old friend of your uncle's."

Quan himself came out of his cottage right behind her, prompting the little Taiwanese girl to shift herself close to him. Especially because though her uncle offered his hand out to the man with the ponytail, his face was pulled down into a stern expression, and his eyes appeared cold. "We were neighbours once," Quan explained to Mei quietly before prompting her to go back inside the cottage. Once she was inside, Quan then raised his head and stood up straight, "Now, what brings you here, Daniel?"

"I'm pretty sure you know why I've come," the ponytail man, Daniel, replied. "It's about Mei - I can see that she's living in good health and that you're taking such good care of her, but really Quan, you must send the child to school."

Here, Quan snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest, "She is faring very well up here with the water buffalo and the birds. She learns good things from them."

"She may learn good things, but she does not learn new things," said Daniel calmly as he tried to coax the Vietnamese man. "She is not a water buffalo or a bird; the time has come to send her to school so she can be with other children. Next winter, she must begin schooling."

Quan glowered; his golden eyes glinting dangerously, "I will not send her for a number of hours on the steep path through snow and ice, only to struggle the same number of tedious hours to come back home at night. She is only a little girl - she could freeze before reaching halfway."

"That, I agree," Daniel said gently. "You shouldn't send her out in the cold and most especially during storms. You know...perhaps it's time for you to return to the town as well."

Quan grew silent when Daniel finished.

Smoke Catching Fire:

If there was something that Emil was sure of with high school in this country, it was that it was just like the climate and the terrain.

Harsh and heated.

After a lesson of Mathematics, Emil had Chemistry and since he was new, had to be assigned a textbook. The Icelandic boy accepted the thick, hard-covered book, and placed it into his bag, feeling the weight sag down, beginning to cause a serious strain on his back. He made his way to recess as soon as the bell rang in a hurried pace – remembering the huge crowd that he and Michelin had narrowly escaped from that morning.

At once, wherever he walked, people would stop with what they were doing, their laughing ceased, and now their stares all fixated upon him. Their whispers creeping into his ears as they continued stabbing their fingers at him, pointing.

Emil felt even more self-conscious and tried to hide the flush that was seeping onto his pale face; he utterly hated being the center of attention – why were they even staring at him? He really wasn't that interesting…

He tried to ignore all the pairs of eyes settled upon him as he attempted to eat his apple, but that proved to be a difficult task.

The next two periods were English and Health. And both lessons proved to be worse than Math and Chemistry.

During English, students were studying Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Emil was assigned his book and asked to read his number for recording which one he had, but when he responded, the teacher didn't understand him.

The Icelandic boy had to repeat what he was saying a good several more times before the teacher could finally understand just what he was even saying. By the time it was all over, students were bursting in laughter at Emil's expense.

Emil felt his face go in flames, and he wished desperately that he could just evaporate on the spot.

Health was disturbing and distasteful to him. It seemed that the only thing that Emil could properly hear in the classroom were a bunch of innuendos and rude jokes about a person's private areas, be they male or female.

The Icelandic boy didn't know how many times he turned red, but assuming how he felt his face grow hot every so often, it would probably be many times.

Unfortunately, the boy who showed ill will towards him in the morning, Alex, was in both Emil's English and Health classes, and he proved to be a great nuisance.

A/N: Because I now am aware of the 2P's, I will use them as villains. In this case, I will have Alex (2P!America) be the antagonist in Smoke Catching Fire. Simply because I feel that using OC's are too sloppy.

The Soldier:

"That was a sick game out there, Toni!" Gilbert grinned as he smacked his Spanish friend's back. "Really! That move you did; it was awesome!"

Antonio flushed a little with pleasure at the compliment, and he beamed brightly back at his silver-haired companion, "Muchas gracias, Gilbert, mi amigo! I practised really, really hard to perfect that move in time for the big game!"

Francis gave a little chuckle himself while the others were immersing with their ice-creams, "Tell me about it, mon ami. I have seen you practice - you are a very determined person."

Antonio simply smiled, "Si, I try really hard. Especially if it's something I really care about."

"One Maple walnut and bubblegum cone, one Milo and mango cream, and one strawberry and mint cone?" the clerk asked, though she looked breathless and excited at seeing the three teenage boys.

"Merci," Francis said gratefully before giving her a wink. The female clerk swooned so much at this, as the Frenchman took his ice-cream and gave a lick, "Very nice..."

"Mine's awesome, too!" Gilbert flashed a thumbs-up.

Antonio took his and turned around, just ready to take a step, when he suddenly bumped into something hard and a bit too unexpectedly.

The next thing the Spaniard knew, his scoop of Milo ice-cream was no longer on the cone, and it was on someone's suit. A rather darkly coloured suit. And to say that the someone who was wearing the suit with Antonio's scoop of Milo ice-cream was angry was an understatement.

No...he was furious.

"What the fuck?! You again?!"

Antonio blinked as he stared in dazed shock at the person who was in front of him - it was that Italian man who he had accidentally bumped into the day that he, Gilbert and Francis skipped classes and went to that diner that served the pancakes. 'It's him! Lovino!'

Seeing the outraged expression on the Italian's face, and the flames that were dancing in his eyes, Antonio then realized the brown delectable treat that was splattered on the man's rather nice-looking suit. At first, Antonio only stared at it blankly, but when his brain finally processed on what had just happened, the Spaniard gasped, "O-oh! Lo siento! I mean! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to get your suit dirty, I-"

"You fucking dumbass!" Lovino snarled angrily; his mood definitely not calmed down as he was handed tissues from his blonde, bespectacled companion. "This was expensive as fuck!"

"And a waste of perfectly good ice-cream," a rather heavyset man with dreadlocks sighed sadly.

"Here! Let me help!" Antonio was handed a bottle of water from Francis who tried to be saving grace to the rather bleak situation. However, Antonio wasn't sure whether it was his eagerness in helping out, or his nervousness in seeing this man again (and furious nonetheless), but he suddenly became rather clumsy, and, as a result, he stumbled forward and almost dropped the bottle of water.

Sadly, its contents landed all over Lovino's head.

Lovino's mouth was wide open, and his amber eyes were wide with absolute shock. His two partners both looked astonished as to what just happened, and Francis's jaw dropped in surprise. Gilbert meanwhile was simply licking his ice-cream, obviously enjoying the sweet flavours. Antonio himself was horrified - his mouth was flapping open and close, as he tried to string some words together. "I..." he really did not know what to say here. "I...I am so sorry...I" And Lovino looked like he was close to exploding, too - his face was becoming redder and redder. Much like a tomato. Well, Antonio could definitely use a tomato at the moment - those were his comfort food after all.

Before the young Spaniard could say anything more, it seemed as if Lovino did explode.

"CHIGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"