Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
Akito was making that face again, the one where he crinkled up his nose in disgust and narrowed his dark eyes and then came the words, a torrent of savagery that made Yuki feel tiny and weak and disgusting. But he couldn't help his crying, any more than he could help the terror that filled his gut as Akito shoved him into the lightless room and slammed the door shut.
Yuki fell to his knees like a marionette whose strings had been sliced, feeling tears drip onto his thin wrists. The salty wetness stung the scratches from Akito's fingernails where they outlined the bruises that circled his arms. Akito always gripped too hard, it seemed to help him calm down, in a few minutes he probably wouldn't even be mad anymore and completely forget what had happened, what Yuki had done (what had he done?) and forget Yuki was here and he could be here for days before someone noticed he was gone
he started hyperventilating and then he was screaming pounding on the door let me out let me out LET ME OUT LET ME OUT
"Тихо, тихо, все в порядке... "
He collapsed sobbing into the warm arms that had encircled him from nowhere, and a soft voice soothed him in a language he didn't understand and a gentle hand stroked his hair, quieting his shuddering breaths. Slowly, he felt the darkness that pricked constantly at his sanity fade away, although the room was still black and cold.
"У тебя все в порядке?"
Yuki pulled back just enough to squint up at the boy who was holding him, barely making out a white face glimmering in the shadows.
"わ, 分からない," he whispered, voice small and hoarse.
"Вы Японии," the boy said. He paused for a second, then, "English? Do you speak English at all?"
"も, もう少し. A- a little. Not good."
He felt the boy's thumb stroke his tearstained cheek. "Are you calm now?"
Yuki nodded.
"What is your name?"
"Y-yuki. S-sohma Yuki."
"And how old are you, Yuki?"
Vaguely, Yuki noticed that his hands were shaking. He focused on the unfamiliar words, trying to ward off the panic attack that was still hovering on the edge of his tangled emotions.
"Eight y-years old."
"So young..." The boy's voice was sad. He sounded much older than Yuki, maybe a teenager like Shigure. "Why are you here?"
Yuki's trembling increased, and the strange boy pulled him closer, rubbing his back. Up and down and circles on his spine, slim, crooked fingers trying to feed him strength.
"Hush, it's alright, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I was just surprised. To find someone else here."
"This is my room," Yuki said quietly, and felt the boy stiffen momentarily.
"Yuki, do you know when it is? What year?"
"Year? T-two thousand and four..." He thought of the books he had read and thought he knew what the boy was getting at. "Is it... not? For you?"
"In my world, it is 1952," said the boy. "This room is the basement of... my boss's... house in Moscow. He sent me down here for a few days to cool my heels..." he saw Yuki's look of confusion and amended, "To calm down a little. I have been feeling very... rebellious lately."
"I also am being punished," Yuki murmured, pressing into the boy's chest again. "When Akito is angry he locks me here in the dark and will not allow people to see me-" he was hyperventilating again - "but I do not think anyone wants to see me and they have all forgot me and- and-"
"And you are not alone anymore," said the boy firmly. "I don't know how or why I'm here with you, but I am. So for now, neither of us will be alone in the dark." He pressed his lips feather-light to Yuki's hair.
.
The boy's name, he said, was Lietuva.
"リトバ?" Yuki tried.
"Close enough," said Lietuva. It seemed like something that should be said with a laugh in the voice, but neither of them really felt like laughing. Yuki was still curled in his lap, blinking into the continuously enroaching darkness. They did not talk much after that.
Lietuva's cool hand never stopped petting Yuki's hair, running through the silver strands and lifting them softly and letting them fall again, humming under his breath. Yuki thought of his mother, and how she had never done such a thing for him, how she had not once tried to see him after bringing him here.
"Am I mad?" he asked drowsily. "Maybe you are- 幻想 - er, my mind. Creating things I wish to see."
"A hallucination? Perhaps I am. Or perhaps you are my hallucination instead." Lietuva shrugged. "I don't know. I doubt it. Although darkness and loneliness for too long will send anyone mad, I think." The words were strangely comforting, as everything about this boy was. Yuki snuggled closer.
"I wish you could stay with me," he sighed. "Then I would not fear the dark. But.. you must return, don't you? To your world."
"Probably," Lietuva agreed, still stroking Yuki's hair, but shifting his legs a little into a more comfortable position. "You're being awfully blasé about this, aren't you?"
"Bu- blasé?"
"Um, casual. You don't seem surprised at all that I turned up here, apparently through magic."
"Neither do you," Yuki countered. "And I am, uh, used magic."
"Used to magic?"
"Yes. I am used to magic. Our family is very magic."
"Ah," Lietuva said. A short pause, then, "Mine as well."
"Ah," Yuki said.
They left it at that.
.
Yuki had no idea how long they lay there, curled up together in the darkness. Lietuva snored slightly, as if he had a cold, and his chest was broad and warm where it was pressed against Yuki's back, and his arms felt strong and protective and also warm. Yuki had never felt so safe. So unafraid of the darkness.
When he wakes, Lietuva will be gone, and the door will be open and Akito scowling at him, dark hair like a halo in the blessed light. The next time he is put here, he will wait and wait, and Lietuva will not come (although in the waiting, he will not remember to panic, so perhaps even in absence some good can be done); not that time, not the next time, or the next, until Yuki forgets his friend completely and succumbs again to the madness.
He knew all that, could see it with a clarity that surprised him. But for now, Lietuva was beside him like the older brother he had always wished he had, and really, Yuki thought, closing his eyes, that's enough to chase away the demons just for this one night.
This is... a very different type of Hetalia/FB crossover.
It basically happened because I was musing on the similarities between Russia and Akito, not only in canon but also the ways many fans portray them. Contrary to my usual practice, I did absolutely no research for this fic, except for checking my Russian (and as usual, if I made a mistake, please correct me).
Also contrary to my usual practice, I am not providing translations for the foreign languages I used. Yuki does not speak Russian and Lithuania does not speak Japanese and I just felt like leaving it that way keeps the mood better. Basically, when they're speaking their native tongues, you aren't supposed to understand them.
The latter half is a bit rushed, I think. This actually ties in with an announcement I wanted to make, which is the reason I haven't posted much of anything lately, which is that I am moving. On Friday. Hopefully this will tide you over until I'm settled in and can actually work on the next chapter of Подкидыш.
Some quick notes on dates:
In 1952, the Lithuanian Forest Brothers were finally (formally) demobilized, although passive resistance continued throughout Soviet rule.
The first volume of Fruits Basket was published in 1998, with Yuki 16 years old in the story. The last volume of Fruits Basket was published in 2006, with Yuki 18 years old. Obviously there is no real-world correspondence. I also feel that the story of Fruits Basket is more or less timeless. Therefore, there is no significance to the date it is in Yuki's time. I just picked a year that sounded good.
Yuki's age is, however, thought out. (Skip to the next paragraph if you haven't read book 17.) In canon, Akito is 3 (ish) years older than Yuki; that is, Akito is eleven in this fic. In my personal headcanon timeline, this would have been pretty shortly after Kureno's curse broke, which was in my opinion when Akito really went off the deep end and started "clinging" to Yuki - which we all know translates to "started emotionally abusing him so he would have too much of an inferiority complex to ever leave".
(Spoiler is over.)
Here I would like to repeat my author's note from "The Mouse's Tale", which by the way is not in the same continuity as this crossover:
Note that although the anime does show Akito whipping Yuki at one point, in the manga it's never confirmed that there was physical abuse involved. My personal view is that it's possible and indeed quite likely given Akito's treatment of several other people, but the emphasis would most definitely have been on the mental and emotional aspects of the trauma.
On the subject of fanon abuse that's not actually confirmed, this is not supposed to be an abusive!Russia fic. Notice that while Lithuania in this fic is being punished, he is not physically injured. My intention was for the offense to be political in nature and the isolation to be not only a punishment, but also a way to make sure Lithuania doesn't do anything stupid while things get sorted out, as well as keeping Russia's boss off their backs. However, Death of the Author and all that. Feel free to interpret it however you wish.
Questions, comments, alternate interpretations, character analysis, writing critiques, and reminders that I already have way too much else to do are all welcome. Flames are not and will be reported and deleted.
This is a derivative work, inspired by Fruits Basket, which belongs to Takaya Natsuki, and Hetalia: Axis Powers, which belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz. I do not claim ownership of either, and this work is created solely for the enjoyment of myself and others and not for any kind of monetary recompense or gain.
~Firebird