Japan's House (aka Place to Bother Japan)

"We just had tea earlier..." Ludwig mumbled to himself. But Kiku said it was a pretty area, and the blond was still curious to see it. The whole garden was filled with glorious content. When the Japanese man said that the tea ceremony pavilion was especially pretty it must be really beautiful.

He turned towards Kiku after giving Feliciano a brief glance. The Italian seemed to have calmed down and put his attention to the small dog. He would possibly not cause any new problems now.
"I would like to see it if that's okay with you." Ludwig gave the smaller man a nod and took a little step closer to the way to prove that he really meant what he said.

The Italian wrinkled his nose and let out a little "Ve~" in appreciation at the licks the little dog gave him, mood improving and returning to its natural happy disposition in no time. A presence of something soft and fluffy and cute like this always cheered him up! And, the dog didn't get made at him for wanting to look at stuff, either!

"Tea ceremony?" Feliciano pipped up, finally returning his focus to his friend's conversation, eyes off the ground and roaming around their surroundings again. "You have an outside pavilion just for that?" He didn't know much about Japanese tea ceremonies (it was supposed to be an art, right? But drinking tea didn't seem like much of an art to him), but he imagined if the the pavilion was in such a beautiful garden, then it must be pretty, too! Maybe it had some structures of some sort that he could look at!

"I wanna see it too! It sounds cool!" The Italian trotted up with Ludwig, looking back at Kiku expectantly.

Kiku nodded and lead the way. The Italian was chattering again, and he supposed he should answer the questions, at least it had a straightforward answer. "Yes," Kiku told him, "I do. I have gone in there for reasons other than that, however."

The garden continued into the pavilion area, but it was just more...closed off. The pavilion itself was a pretty structure, plus the various trees and other plants that surrounded it were serene.

Kiku took in a breath and closed his eyes for just a moment as they entered the area, his favorite scenery making him forget about any possible chaos, if at least for just this small moment in time.

Until a part of his mind was loud enough to remind him he needed to be wary of Feliciano.

He opened his eyes and they immediately sought the Italian.

Ludwig followed his friends into the hidden area, looking around at the beautiful scenario. The blond could understand why Kiku would build something important and meaningful like a tea-ceremony pavilion into a place like this.

The whole area particularly radiated serenity. Nothing from the world outside seemed to get through the bushes and trees, not a noise of annoyance, not the constant sound of cars from a nearby road like Ludwig used to hear in his city-house in Berlin.
Just the chirping of the birds and the rustling of the wind was audible in this little place of heaven. And that made this part of the garden only more perfect as it already was.

Ludwig stepped up behind Kiku, not taking his eyes from the pavilion. "Damn, Kiku. If I'd known about this I would've demanded to have the tea from earlier here." The tall mans voice was lowered to not destroy the peace of this place.

"Woaaah!" Kiku has said the pavilion was pretty--and pretty wasn't a strong enough word for it! The garden extended into the area, and the beautiful green foliage only added to the tranquility of the pavilion itself.

Feliciano loved Kiku's buildings--especially the older ones. At the height of his own architecture, the Italian's buildings had been built for strength and power, marble towering and domes shining--true feats of architectural prowess! But Kiku's buildings were beautiful in a way his could never be. Less flashy and more simple, with lots of wood and greenery, blending right into nature...it was something to be jealous of!

He trotted up in front of the pavilion itself, putting down the little dog and allowing it to run at his feet, gawking openly at it. "It's so beautiful, Kiku! I can see why you like it, everything about it is wonderful!" If only he had brought a sketchpad--everything about the building was picturesque!

"Thank you," Kiku replied to the compliments. "And I apologize, Ludwig-san," he added afterward with a slight bow of his head, "perhaps next time."

Feliciano seemed excited, but so far wasn't causing any trouble. The Japanese man relaxed the tension from his body and gave a slight sigh, walking over to the pavilion itself. He sat himself down momentarily, wondering how long his friends wished to stay in the area.

The little dog came over to him, still not far from the Italian, but close enough for Kiku to give him a pat. "Good boy, Pochi-kun," he told the dog.

Pochi then scampered back over to Feliciano, as if the excitable Italian were another dog he was friends with, instead of another person like his master.

Kiku just watched for the moment, waiting to see what they wanted to do, or for a signal to move on.

Ludwig observed the pavilion with growing interest. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and his facial expression showed off his concentration. The blond walked around the pavilion with slow steps, obviously deep in thoughts.
When he was done with his observations he stopped in front of the pavilion and fixed Kiku with a stern glance.

"This place is seriously only for drinking tea?" Ludwig looked up to the building again. Somehow it seemed to impress him a lot.
"It would be perfect for secret meetings." The tall man nodded to himself. "And since your garden is hidden like this, it would fit perfect for mental and physical training too."

"We should have a trainings session here. I am sure it will be very helpful to tie the bond between us as team-members even stronger."

Had he really heard the word training?

The Italian's head shot up, stopping dead in his tracks as he had a near allergic reaction to the mere thought of training--let alone in such a pretty place! Why would Ludwig think such a horrible thing? Pretty things should just be pretty and not filled with awful training!

Feliciano looked nervously at Ludwig and Kiku, hoping with all his might that Kiku wouldn't agree. They should just drink more tea instead! He would take a hundred tongue burnings over training!

...well, maybe nothing that drastic, but still!

His attention was grabbed once again by the little dog at his feet, a small yip alerting him to its presence. The brunet knelt by the dog, giving it a good scratch under the chin as he tried to swallow the sense of dread building in his stomach at any prospective training session.

"Do you know any hiding places, doggy...?" He mumbled under his breath, hoping that the topic would be dropped, or at least pushed to another day (that he could skip)--Kiku and Ludwig worked too hard!

"T-That's a bit..." As Ludwig spoke, images flashed in Kiku's mind of his nice, peaceful place being used for such things, and his cheeks burned.

"This is not a place for training!" the Japanese man reacted suddenly, and then calmed himself. "I mean to say...this place is for peace and tranquility. For body and mind. I apologize, Ludwig-san, but some things I hold more sacred. I also apologize for my outburst."

He took a deep breath and then released it. "Meetings would be fine," he amended.

His face dropped and he sighed. How rude of him to have yelled. It wasn't like him. Whatever would people think of him? It wasn't acceptable behavior.

He bowed to the German. "Again, I am very sorry."

For the first time since they had left the house, he wasn't paying any attention to Feliciano.

"Well, fine..." Ludwig frowned and tilted his head at Kiku. This place seemed to be more special to the older man then the blond had thought.
The German himself wouldn't build a house just for the use of drinking tea. A building like this should be build up for a better reason. Otherwise it would be a waste of strength and time.

But Japan was quite far away from Germany and Italy, and traveling so far just for training didn't seem like a smart idea now that Ludwig thought about it.
Kiku didn't seem to mind traveling. He came even over to Ludwig's place just for asking to borrow some oil.

"It is still kind is a shame though." Ludwig kept his attention on Kiku. "I would like to build such a nice house in one of my forests too." Then I could use it for training or whatever I feel like using it for.

It turned out that the doggy did know a good hiding place. Or at least it seemed like it, to Feliciano.

The fluffy pooch had trotted off and the Italian was quick to follow, in case Kiku had agreed to start training (which Feliciano was sure to not stick around for)--and in no time the two were in the back of the pavilion.

Which was just as stunning as the front, Feliciano noted. He could still see the little stream with the beautiful fish flowing past him--and he eagerly went to finish his greeting of the fish that the two worry-warts had cut short earlier. There was also small wood that stretched on behind the little building, full of vibrant green plants and trees.

"Ve...Kiku has a lot of pretty gardens for living in such a modern place~" The Italian was impressed, and any thoughts of his other two companions were completely forgotten in his thirst to see more. "I wonder if there's something else back here, too!" The Italian picked up the little dog, starting to venture a bit into the trees.

"Well, Ludwig-san," Kiku spoke evenly to the German, "certain places in this world have their purposes just as certain things do. Some places are meant for training, others for peace. I would not wish for the quality of such a place to be shattered. That, I think, would be the true shame."

He quietly closed his eyes at the end of this, taking a breath. He felt a silence in the air.

"Even Pochi-kun knows enough to-" His sentence broke off suddenly, and he looked up again sharply.

"Where are Feliciano-kun and my dog?" he asked.

More than Pochi, he didn't know Feliciano to ever be around so that you couldn't notice his presence.

And again, more than the dog, that could mean trouble for them.

Kiku seemed upset somehow. And Ludwig couldn't understand why. He actually couldn't tell if his Japanese friend was really upset or not, the blond just got a bit of the feeling he was. A normal discussion about a random building like this shouldn't make someone upset. That didn't make sense.
Just as Ludwig's brows furrowed into a frown and he started to ponder if he should put up an observation diary for Kiku too, the sound of the others voice reached his ears and he perked up, immoderately on guard.

"Huh?" Ludwig looked around in confusion, trying to spot Feliciano. But for the second time today the smaller Italian was no where to see. "Verdammt, this guy..." he mumbled to himself and then looked back at Kiku.
"What is the most dangerous place in this yard? Somewhere you will get in trouble for sure? We will possibly find your dog and Feliciano right there."
The Italian had a sixth sense to find places like that and cause trouble.