Disclaimer: Do not own hetalia!

Note: This is sort of like a prologue to my other story, Double Vision. It's very blunt since its from a spontaneous idea, but I hope its still enjoyable!

Once again, she found herself intrigued by his mysterious dark eyes that were often unreadable. His aura seemed to radiate reserved power, gentility and gracefulness all at the same time. Everything about his culture and country amazed her, but she could not tell whether he ever felt that same way about her as she felt about him. While they were often together, they never engaged in anything the least bit intimate.

"Philippines-chan?" His voice broke her thoughts and she blinked and saw Japan smiling at her softly. They were sitting under one of his cherry blossom trees, and the Philippines remembered that he had been trying to explain politics with her before she lost herself in her thoughts.

"I asked you if you would like to join China and me tomorrow morning. We are going to Germany for a few days for a business conference," he repeated patiently.

"Oh," she replied, frowning slightly. The Philippines had hoped that they could have spent more time together in Japan, just the two of them. Furthermore, she did not particularly like the nations from the West; their personas were strange to her and their constant bickering annoyed her sometimes. "Um, I don't know…" she trailed off uncertainly.

"You should go," he insisted, "You hardly make an effort to get to know them. Being isolated to just Asia and Oceania isn't good for you, and China agrees."

"I'm not isolated!" she protested, "I know America and Spain well enough."

"Well, only because they inhabited your islands as imperialists…" Japan pointed out, to which she responded with a warning glare. Then she sighed, defeated.

"Well…why not? I guess I have nothing better to do," she caved in. As long as she stayed with Japan, it shouldn't be too bad, the Philippines thought to herself.

Later that afternoon, Japan had to go to China's place to make sure everything about the trip was set, and the Philippines was a bit surprised to realize how much she missed him as soon as he left. She had been thinking about him more frequently as of late, and was dying to know how he truly felt towards her. Soon the Philippines began to blush at the realization that she did not really know exactly how she felt towards him either. the Unable to stand insecurity any longer, she resolved to get some advice from one of her Asian neighbors.

At first she wondered who to ask; she figured Vietnam wouldn't know anymore about serious relationships than she did and Korea's advice probably was not the wisest…She wondered what Taiwan would say, but pushed the possibility out of her head. In all honesty, the Philippines was a bit jealous of the gorgeous country. Her hair was always picture-perfect and her clothes were always dazzling. Overall, Taiwan was stunning and the last thing she needed was being looked down upon as a silly love-sick girl by her. Even though Taiwan was always sweet and kind, envy got the better of the Philippines. China was definitely out of the question. Then she remembered Hong Kong, who seemed down-to-earth for the most part—he could help her out. Mind made up, she headed off to visit Hong Kong.

The Philippines found Hong Kong surfing the internet at his house, which was neatly arranged as usual. He did not notice her until she tapped him on the shoulder. Jumping a little, he turned to face her brusquely and then gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh, hey Philippines," he greeted politely. "Can I get you anything? Tea?"

She shook her head, and then flushed. "I, um, wanted to ask for your advice about something…" Suddenly she became mortified, subconscious about sharing her deepest feelings. Hong Kong noticed her fluster and gave her his full attention.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"I-I, uh, wanted to…ask you, um about these…feelings that I have towards someone…you see, Japan," she finally mustered the courage to spit it out. Instantly she flushed at the sound of her own words which sounded a bit pathetic to her.

It took a while for Hong Kong to process what exactly she meant, but when did, he struggle to hide a smile. "Wait, wait, you are crushing on Japan?"

"Hey!" she said angrily, cheeks getting even brighter. "Don't make fun! You're so insensitive."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he composed himself, "It's just that, I think you're friend-zoned already." He spoke without thinking, and too late he realized his poor choice of words. The Philippines's face fell at his observation, and Hong Kong tried to console her right away.

"No, no, it's not as bad as it sounds! Now you just have to make him see you as more than just a friend." He was not too sure that that was even possible but he did not like to see his friend look so down.

"How am I going to do that?" she asked dejectedly with sad brown eyes.

"Knowing Japan, I suppose he likes maturity. He's a very enriching country and intellectual too. Impress him by being those things," he suggested considerately.

"…Okay," The Philippines mulled this over, "I'll try it tomorrow. I'll show him how amazingly suave I can be!"

The whole flight to Germany, the Philippines worked to master her composure and her diplomatic speech. She did her best to be graceful and refined, while still being herself with Japan and China. Once they had arrived and caught a taxi Germany's conference building, the three entered the grand lobby, where Germany was waiting for them.

"Hello, Japan, China and the Philippines," he welcomed as he shook their hands. Then he led them to the conference room. After taking their seats, they tended to professional business, discussing world affairs, trade, and economics. The Philippines remained poise, listened quietly, but could not find anything useful to say, so she just nodded every once in a while. The meeting only lasted a few hours since it was just the four of them, even though the Philippines was not too sure what exactly was accomplished.

When they had returned to the lobby, Japan got a call from him boss, and when he came back, he wore a slight frown. "My boss says that China and I are to travel to France at once for another diplomatic visit."

The Philippines grimaced, wanting to do anything but see that bearded pervert again. The first time she met him, he tried to pull romantic moves and hit on her, but he was definitely not her type.

"I'm sorry," Japan said apologetically, "I know you don't like going there, so maybe you can stay here with Germany for tomorrow and we'll pick you up the day after first thing in the morning." While she would love to stick with Japan for the whole trip, she detested being groped even more.

"Okay, fine," she sighed, and then Japan asked if that was alright with the German, who nodded curtly.

A few hours later Japan and China had boarded the plane to France, leaving Germany and the Philippines standing together awkwardly. She had never really gotten to know the blonde too well, and knew that sometimes he could be intimidating and a bit fierce.

"Vell, um," he started, not sure what else to say, "Let's head over to my house. Italy vill be coming over in an hour, so ve can meet him there."

"O-okay," the Philippines replied, shrinking back a little. His voice was so forceful, as if he was giving her an order or something. During the car ride, she could think of nothing else to talk about, so she just asked about his history, and Germany, who was not the best at small talk, went along with it.

Once at his house, Germany received a call from Italy and he rolled his eyes. "Italy's trip has been delayed so he von't be here until tonight. Something about his brother trying to hold him up…" The Philippines was only half-paying attention; she was distracted by a long, brown leather whip coiled in a glass box on display on a shelf near the front door.

"Is this just for looks, or do you actually know how to use this?" She pointed to the whip.

"Oh, that? Yeah, I've fought with it before," Germany answered, then seeing her fixation with the weapon asked, "Do you vant to learn how to use it?"

The Philippines blinked. Weaponry and fighting were not her strongest suits. Japan had given her lessons in martial arts and she had picked up some techniques from America and Spain, but that was it. "Um, sure?" she said hesitantly. Germany removed the whip from its case and led her to his backyard, a few acres of open space.

Germany showed her how to grip the whip and demonstrated the motion of whipping on a tree. "See?" he asked after hitting the tree the second time. Define slashes were left in the bark after he was done.

"Um, maybe?" She said as he gave her the whip. By using the hold that he had shown her, she cracked the whip, but missed the slash marks that she was aiming for.

"It's all about the flick of the wrist," he instructed, guiding her hand and cracking the whip with her. The whip sliced across the marks and the Philippines's face lit up. When Germany realized he still had his hand on hers, he stepped back, turning red (out of pure feelings of awkwardness), but she didn't notice because of her excitement of mastering the weapon.

"I think I get it now!" Then, she cracked the whip on her own and made her previous cut in the tree deeper. "Yay!" She practiced until sundown, with Germany giving her tips and showing her how to use the whip to wrap around an object as if it were grabbing something, and pull the whip back to obtain the object.

By the time Italy arrived, she was a bit sweaty, but she did not care—she had actually learned how to use a weapon, and could probably use it in combat! After Italy made pasta for dinner, which was delicious as usual, the Philippines saw Germany take out some beer, so she excused herself by saying she was sleepy and retired to the guest room.

The next morning Italy made breakfast and the three decided to go sightseeing for the day. Germany and Italy took her to some of the most famous landmarks, but she was the most fascinated by the Berlin Wall. Italy did most of the talking on their outing, which was fine with the Philippines; he actually did not bother her—his naive, happy-go-lucky personality had a positive effect on her.

When they finally returned home at midnight, she found that she actually enjoyed her stay in this country. Maybe socializing with other nations was not such bad idea. Feeling good about herself, she decided she would go out more and become more involved.

The next morning Japan and China came back for the Philippines. Before departing for Asia once again, she thanked Germany and Italy, the Italian giving her a big hug.

When the plane took off, she asked Japan how his trip to France went.

"Not too bad. America was there, though, and he was reminding everyone about the International Science Competition taking place next week in his country. Speaking of which, would you like to come?" Japan inquired after noticing how much she had fun in Germany.

The Philippines could almost see Hong Kong saying "This is your chance, so take it." She smiled at the thought and nodded. Maybe this really was her chance to break the friend-zone.

"Of course I would!"

Continues in my other story Double Vision. Please review! Tell me what you think!