Kitsune foxfire here. This is a one-shot to the super-mega-awesome manga Tripeace. If you have NOT read Tripeace, you're missing out. It's about stopping wars! Feel the Peace, Love, and Crossdressing. Go read it, the plot is amazing, and it's addicting. Obviously I don't own it, I'm just trying to spread the love. Additional small Author note at bottom.

A still person laying on the ground in front of him. A cracked road, More bodies. At first it seemed every time he opened his eyes, he was looking at something new. He didn't remember deciding to move, but he found himself doing so anyway, not knowing why. Before he knew it, there were no still people laying on the ground anymore. In fact, there was nothing to be seen anywhere around. And still he kept walking, even when the yellow thing in the sky was replaced by a white one and many smaller ones. He had nothing better to do, or at least, he didn't think he did. Maybe he was always walking? If he walked, he didn't have to think about what had happened... and why he didn't remember anything. Something told him it was very wrong that he didn't remember anything.

He walked until he couldn't walk anymore, and then he just dropped where he was and slept. When he woke, the yellow thing was back in the sky, but so were these dark fluffy things. He wondered what they were as he lay there. The teen found that he was shaking slightly, and felt weak. It was hard to get to his feet, and those first few steps took forever it seemed, but walking was all he had, so he kept going. He had a vague feeling he'd done this a couple times since 'waking up' in that strange, terrifying place.

His mouth didn't feel the way it had before. It was much drier, and it was almost painful, like when he had tripped over a rock. It was something to focus on, everything else seemed to drift by him at a speed that frightened him; none of it felt real. Looking up, the teen saw the dark fluffiness had taken over the sky. He didn't feel as warm without the yellow thing in the sky. There was a flash of light and a loud BOOM, and he ducked. People screaming, running in fear, loud clacking noises, something hitting him painfully, cutting into him... Something was hitting him!

He looked around desperate to find out what was hitting him, cutting into hi...but no. He blinked, something was hitting him, but it didn't hurt. It almost felt nice. He watched as the clear substance smacked against his hand and ran down. More followed the first, and he looked up at the dark fluffies above him. There was another flash of light followed by a BOOM and he yelped in surprise, getting the falling substance in his mouth, soothing it. Smiling, he thanked the things above him for helping fix his problem.

The teen continued his journey to nowhere, growing weaker and weaker as the world around him shifted once again. People once more surrounded him, but these people were up and moving, laughing, yelling, running. They all ignored him, the strange vacant eyed boy who walked passed them, though. Finally he came to a stop. He didn't think he'd sat down, but he found himself suddenly on the ground, unable to get back up. With a sigh, he decided to lean against the wall. His mouth was dry again, and his insides hurt, too, but the teen hadn't been able to figure out what to do about it. He could ask someone, maybe, but he was a little afraid to. Everyone seemed busy, so he'd just wait until he found someone who looked less busy. Was it alright to ask questions like that, anyway?

He wasn't sure how long he sat there. It could have been just moments or it could have been a lot longer then that. His mind had done that out-of-focus thing again. Just, one moment, the street across from his was empty, and the next it was full of laughing little people and a taller person. The little ones were pulling at the cloths of the bigger person, trying to get her attention as she made her way to a...she called it a bench. He couldn't help but stare at them all, drinking in the sight.

"All right children! Today's lesson is going to be on counting." The woman said with a bright smile at all the little people. "And to help the lesson stick, I've brought some snacks in this bag! But first! Let's review the last lesson."

"Hai, teacher!" the children said all together, looking at her intently.

"All right, Sensei is a...?"

"Woman!"

"Very good!" She beamed, "Mr Baker is a...?"

"Man!" they rang out, with one voice trailing behind "my momma says he's hot!" everyone laughed.

"Don't tell Ms. Baker that, Sally. Sally is...?"

The children chanted, "A girl! and Peter is a boy!"

"All right children, alright! I can tell where your minds are," the woman held up the bag, "We're going to count one through six."

"But, teacher, there's only five of us!" One of the little girls pointed out.

"Sensei wants a snack, too, you know." The woman winked, pulling something out of the bag. It was slightly round and bright red.

"Apple!"

"Yep. We're going to count out these apples." She held the one up and said, "One. Hitotsu."

The children diligently said, "Ichi. Hitotsu."

The teacher held out the apple and one of the children took it, "No eating until everyone has their apple, now. Two. Futatsu." She held up the next apple.

"Ni. Futatsu." The children replied.

"Very good." She handed over the apple and reached into the bag. "Next, Three. Mittsu."

"San. Mittsu."

"Oh, you kids are too good for me! Let's try a slightly more tricky one. Four. Yottsu."

There was a slight pause as they muttered to themselves. Then grinning they replied, "Yon or shi! Yottsu."

"Very Good! Do your parents know their kids are so smart?" That got a bunch of giggles as she gave over the fourth apple and held up the next one, "Five. Itsutsu."

"Go!" The kids rang out, one boy waving his hand for the apple, "Itsutsu!"

"Don't tell me you forgot about Sensei?" The woman reached into the bag and pulled out another apple. "I'm hurt, children. Six. Muttsu."

"We didn't forget you, teacher! Rocku. Muttsu." The children replied. "Can we eat the apples now?"

"Sure you can. Enjoy. " The woman went to crumple up the bag, "Oh? What's this?" she paused, a little surprised as she pulled another apple out of the bag. It looks like the store keeper gave me an extra one." She looked around her eyes passing over him as he watched. He just blinked at her, and she smiled. "All right, children. I know you're hungry, and that I said I'd stop at six. But do you want to try one more? I'll warn you, it's a tough one."

"Sure!"

"Alright! I knew you had it in you! We have here the last, extra apple. Seven. Nanatsu."

There was a pause,"Shichi?" the children said, "Nanatsu."

"Close. What's another word we use for seven? I'll give you a hint. Nana-tsu."

"Oh!" one of the girls exclaimed, whispering to the others before they all confidently said, "Nana. Nanatsu!"

"Good job! I'm very proud of all of you! Now, what shall we do with Nanatsu?"

"My dad always says if you have more then enough, you should share." one of the kids said.

"That's a great idea. Your dad is very wise. How about someone take it over to that person over there?" She pointed to the teen who was still watching them. Blinking in confusion, he pointed to himself as well. She nodded, "Yes, that sounds like a great plan. He looks a little hungry to me."

"I'll take it!" a little girl piped up, holding out her hands for the apple. In moments she was right in front of him, holding out the apple with both hands, a big grin on her face. "Here, mister, you can have it."

"For me?"

"Um hum! We had seven and we only needed six, so you can have it."

"T...Thank you." He smiled back, cautiously taking the apple from her as if it was the most precious thing in the world. As she skipped back to the group he couldn't help but think, "I'm Nana-tsu, then...?" he watched as the children bit into their apples and copied them. It was sweet, juicy and crisp. Chewing and swallowing he felt his insides clench, and then suddenly relax. He felt much better then he'd felt since he'd come to. "...Nana. I like the sound of that." He said to himself. The teacher and children were nice always smiling and happy. They'd given him this extra apple, helping him. People were good, he knew it. Even if he didn't know anything else, he knew that, and so things would be alright.

Me again. Sorry about the (bad!) Japanese lesson, people. And yeah, I'm aware it's not the most accurate of lessons, to boot. Quick explanation is it's a pre-school teacher out with her class. They're like, six years old or so, and just learning the basics. So, you have one to seven (please note that 4 and 7 have two different ways to say the numbers) plus the counting-of-items version. Counting in Japanese is different depending on WHAT your counting, too, so it does get confusing (for me at least). Long things are/can be counted using one word, example: Ippon, not Hitotsu, and ippon is also 1 point...see?

Also, in case people didn't notice, he's spacing out and finding himself somewhere else...he's in shock.

Well R&R if you want, or don't. Either way, read Tripeace if you haven't! Spread the love if you have!