- Get better, Kiku. D:

I was visiting Kiku's house.

"Would you like something to drink, Heracles?" Kiku asked. He was standing by the cupboard with two cups in his hand.

"Just some water, please." He nodded and got a glass of water for me and himself. He sat down.

"So anything going on?" I just shook my head.

"Not really..."

Kiku smiled. "Any trouble with Adnan?"

I frowned. "...a little. It's a long story."

Kiku laughed. He asked me to tell him, and I did. I told him about how I met Turkey when I was going for a walk and how we started to fight, how I beat him up. He would have that black eye for days.

Then I noticed. Kiku had a faint grimace on his face and was clutching his stomach, too.

"Everything alright?"

His voice was barely audible. "I-I think I might be sick."

"You wanna go to your room?"

He nodded. His feet quickly shuffled to his room's door.

"I'm sorry..." Shocked,I turned around. Kiku was standing at the door way,looking at me apologetically.

"It's not your fault."

He just nodded again.

Then he shut the door.

I had been waiting for a few minutes. Kiku still hadn't returned.

I really hope he's alright.

I scoffed. "He's a strong guy. He'll be fine..."

Then suddenly, the ground began to shake. I gasped and held the table. The glasses of water fell on the floor, spilling all over and shattering.

Books were falling off shelves and Kiku's dog was whimpering under the table. My heartbeat quickened as I sat there, scared out of my mind.

"Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell!" I kept on saying.

...Just as suddenly as it began, the earthquake stopped. Then, I heard crying from Kiku's room. My eyes widened.

I ran to the doorway, then tore it open.

He was lying on his futon with his back turned to me. The crying was louder than before. There was vomit on one side of his futon and the blanket was tossed in all kinds of directions, entangling his legs.

I went to his side and he quickly turned to me. Kiku grabbed my arms and pulled me down, digging his face into my left shoulder.

"It hurts, It hurts!" Then all he said after was just a jumbled, incoherent mess because of his sobs. His arms grasped me tighter and his nails dug into my back.

I held tight while Kiku cried and thrashed. I dug my face in his hair and desperately whispered to him. "It'll be okay."

After three minutes, he calmed down. When he released me from his hold, I stroked his remaining tears away with my index finger and he just stared at me.

I hugged him. "Are you feeling better now?"

Still shivering, he twined his fingers in my hair. He was silent for a while.

"A little...Thank you."

I woke up in Kiku's futon. I yawned. We had only been asleep for a few hours and I was already really groggy. When I turned around, I saw his brown eyes staring at me.

I gave him a questioning look and as if he could read my mind, he answered my exact question.

"I've been having a few aftershocks, but they weren't as bad." He said quietly.

I knew the way Kiku said that meant things were still pretty bad. I already knew they were bad before he even said anything. My nap was interrupted many times by tremors.

Then the phone rang. Kiku groaned and was about to get up when I grabbed his arm and gestured for him to lay back down.

"I'll get it."

As soon as I said that, I walked out the door, into the living room and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"H-Heracles? What the hell are you doing at Kiku's house!" He growled.

I gritted my teeth.

Damn that Turkish bastard...

"...He's had an earthquake. A bad one" I said angrily, sounding like my mother when she found out I broke one of her vases.

Then there was a long pause.

"...How's he now?" His voice was unusually grim.

"Been having a few aftershocks."

"Oh... Well, tell him I hope he gets better."

I just released an "uh-huh" and Adnan hung up.

"Hundreds are killed in the earthquake and the tsunami...,"

Kiku and I sat near the radio. He looked down at the hands on his lap as the report continued. I bit my lip.

"Hundreds more are injured or missing...,"

He started to tremble, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. I sighed.

"The earthquake was measured an 8.9 on the Richter sca-"

I turned around. Kiku had simply thrown the radio to the floor. His shoulders were trembling violently and he made strange wheezing and whimpering sounds.

I just stared at him for a while. There was silence. He just stood there.

Then he broke down into tears. He tugged at his hair and screamed. He looked like his pain right now was worse than when he had the earthquake, even.

And I had to admit, sometimes emotional hurt was worse than physical hurt. I knew that. I had the same kind of despair when I found out that Mother was dead.

I silently walked to Kiku. My arms wrapped around him. At first, he tried to push me away, but I just held tighter. Soon, he gave up and let me hold him.

I began to rock us from side to side. My voice began to recite a lullaby that Mother always sang to me when I had nightmares.

Νάνι νάνι το παιδί μου.
Έλα Ύπνε ύπνωσέ το
και γλυκά 'ποκοίμησέ το.
Έλα Ύπνε από τ' αμπέλια,
πάρ' το παιδί μου από τα χέρια.

Πάρ' το σύρ' το στα μαντράκια,
να κοιμάται σαν τ' αρνάκια,
να κοιμάται σαν τ' αρνάκια,
να ξυπνά σαν τα κατσικάκια.*

I simply sang it the best way I could. It had been hundreds of years since I heard it. But it seemed to be working. Kiku was calming down. His erratic, short breaths began to deepen. His eyelids began to droop and he sank in my arms. He smiled against my chest.

"As long as you're here, I'm fine." He suddenly said.

I looked down at him.

He was fine? A few minutes ago, he was screaming like a mad man. A few hours ago, he experienced one of his worst earthquakes. And he was fine?

He read my mind again.

"As long as you're here, I'm fine," He repeated. "You're always there for me, so I'm not as scared."

He paused.

"You make me feel safe."

I smiled. Then, I began to sing again.

Νάνι νάνι το παιδί μου...

As long as we were together...

We'd be fine.

- In remembrance of all the people who died in the earthquake on 3/11/11. (8.9 on the Richter Scale. Holy ****)

Was the magnitude greater than the one in Chile? Haiti?

Chile, 8.8 magnitude Haiti, 7.0... whoa.

*prints out a picture of Kiku, starts petting it and crying hysterically*

*Lullaby translated:

Nani nani my child.

Come Sleep make it sleep
and sweetly lull it.
Come Sleep from the vineyards
take my child from the hands.

Take it to the sheepcote
to sleep like a little lamb,
to sleep like a little lamb,
and to wake up like a little goat.

- Google translate won't tell what "nani" means in Greek... Might mean "sleep"

Find the lullaby on YouTube. Type in "Greek Lullaby" and you should find it.

R&R, even to tell how bad this is. There goes low self-esteem me again! I should really look into that...