Laughter filled the woods around him as he ran. The leaves crunched as he neared a tree, one that seemed larger than the others. This would be prefect to hide from his sestras. He giggled to himself as he crawled into an open spot at the base of the tree, his blue and gold hat nearly taken off by the rigid edges of the opening.

Once he got himself into the small hole and tugged the edges of the scarf his older sestra made for him, he waited. His violet eyes framed by the excited smile under them as he imagined finally being able to win at hide-and-seek he always played with his siblings. It was always his younger sister who found him. How Natalia always seemed to know right where he hid, he could never figure out. But this time, he felt he really had a chance. Who would think he was hiding in the base of a tree?

After not waiting long, he heard rushed footsteps coming his way; one of his sisters running to find him. Trying to make himself even smaller, Ivan wrapped his scarf around him a few times more and pressed himself to the inner wall of the tree more.

"Vanya~! Vanya, where are you~!" It was his older sister, Yekaterina. He could tell by her voice, it was much lighter and cheerful than Natalia's.

Vanya giggled lightly before clamping his hand over his mouth for fear of her hearing it. He pressed his little hand harder as her footsteps neared. Would he be found so soon into their game?

Katya's eyes searched for any sign of her brother, any little thing she could use to find him or give her an idea of where he went. She looked to the ground for his footprints, but the leaves covered the dirt so that she couldn't tell. Frowning, she decided to move on, not even so much as glancing at the tree her brother was in.

The boy let out a small, relieved sigh. He'd beaten Katya! And though he almost always was able to stay hidden from his older sister, he felt like this tree was the best hiding place he'd found yet. But the true test was still to come.

Natalia came soon after her sister. She did not run like Katya, however, this would hinder her from finding the clues to her brother's whereabouts. The younger also did not call out to her brother, but he could still tell she was there.

As with his older sister before her, Ivan kept himself as small as he could inside the tree, now using his scarf to cover his mouth in case any sound slipped out that would give him away. All was quiet in the woods now, the rustle of the leaves as a light breeze blew were the only noises made besides Natalia's few footsteps as she searched for her brother.

After a while, the young Rus thought that she had gone, there were no noises outside of his tree. But just when he thought it was safe to come out, footsteps sounded right beside him. He nearly let out a scream, but it was stopped by his hand and his scarf.

"… Brother~….?"

He was sure he was caught now. Next he would see his younger sister's face at the edge of the opening as she found him. But he stayed still, not wanting to give up just yet. And surprisingly, he started to hear her footsteps getting farther and farther away. Had he finally found a place to hide even from Natalia? He smiled at the thought, now he'd never lose at this game!

After waiting just to make sure neither of his sestras were out waiting for him, Vanya slowly crawled from inside his hiding place, hat in hand. Looking around, his violet eyes shined with excitement. He'd done it! He'd won at hide-and-seek! Giggling, he placed his back on and started off to tell his sister's about how he'd won. He turned to thank the tree that helped him win this game before running off to the field of sunflowers he and his sisters designated as their "base."

So the idea for the tree thing actually came from an RP with a friend of mine. :3 Russia had something that he needed to hide where no one else would find it, so he hid it in this tree that he hid in when he was younger. I may actually do more with this, I thought of a few more times where he'd use this tree either to hide or to hide things when he grew too big to hide himself inside. I had planned to make it all one fic and show how he used the tree thougought the years, but I wrote this one night when I couldn't sleep, so it just ended here since I didn't want to make it super long and stuff. x'D Sooo I hope you liked it and it was fluffy and made you smile. c':