Hello, I am back. Sorry about kind of disappearing for a bit. School, laziness, etc, I'd just like to thank everyone who read, reviewed and favorited while I was off being an idiot.
I actually wrote this last year along with a few other things that are currently half or mostly complete. One or two more Hetalia things and three or so Homestuck stories. They just need proper endings.
Also, say thanks to Yuuki-Hime 2097 for messaging me the other day and reminding me that oh yeah, I have some stuff that's almost done.
IN is being a bitch as usual.
"And then I told him he could go fuck himself, because I was not that kind of girl." Ino recounted the tale of her latest (failed) date to Sakura with a flip of her silky blonde ponytail.
"Eh, what a bastard; but you know Pig, you wouldn't have to worry about guys like that if you actually got to know someone before going out with them. What got you this time? Abs? Perfect hair?" Sakura leaned against the door frame of meeting room 11a as she watched the blonde sputter indignantly.
"Only the most flawless ass I have ever seen-excluding Spain-san of course! I'm amazed that I didn't jump him the second I saw it, any lesser woman would have melted at its glory."
Sakura shook her head and gave an exasperated sigh at her sister's antics. Ino looked like she was going to start drooling as she envisioned the male country, but Sakura couldn't blame her. Antonio had a rear that was shaped by the gods.
"Hai, whatever you say. Seriously though, you could do so much better if you slowed down a bit."
"Oh right, like you can give me dating advice Forehead, when was the last time you got any- oh Kami-sama." Ino's blue eyes widened and she grabbed the pinkette's wrist, pulling Sakura closer to her.
"Itai!" Sakura hissed. "What the hell Pig?" She tried to pull her arm back, but the grip around it remained ironclad.
Her sister gave her a nervous look and leaned forward to whisper in her ear.
"Don't look now, but the shinigami is behind you and giving you the creepiest smile I have ever seen."
"Huh?" Sakura glanced over her shoulder to see the cause of Ino's distress. Standing a few yards away from them was Ivan Braginski. His lips were pushed up into an innocent smile as he watched her- an unnerving sight on someone as massive as him. Her jade eyes met his violet ones and his grin widened slightly. She knew that look. 'Seriously, now? He needs better timing.'
Ivan began to walk towards their direction and Ino started to panic. Their governments did not get along in the slightest. It had been that way since the late 1800's and their relationships only seemed to get worse as the years passed.
"You idiot, I told you not to look! Now he's coming over here." She tried to shrink behind Sakura and use her body as a shield, but her five inch-and absolutely fabulous-stilettos made it an impossible task.
"Dobryy denʹ Miss Fire…" Ivan stopped a foot away from the pair and focused his gaze the Land of Fire. "And hello to you too, Miss Earth." He added as an afterthought. "May I have a few words alone with you Miss Fire?"
"Yes!" Ino shouted and leapt from her hiding place behind her younger sister's form. She broke into a brisk walk to the nearest exit. "Take your time Sak; I'll meet you back at the hotel. Ja ne!" She didn't even spare a backwards glance as she all but ran to get away from the dreaded Russian.
"Ah, that was much easier than I thought it would be. Now why don't we go somewhere a little more private, da?" The tall blond looped an arm around his companion's and proceeded to half drag her down the hallway. "We wouldn't want anyone to interrupt our little…chat."
His long strides took the pair through twists and turns around the United Nations building until they finally came to a worn oak door with a faded brass name plate. The words on it were beyond recognition, but Sakura had been to this particular room enough times to know exactly what was behind the nondescript entryway.
Ivan removed his arm from her body to open the door and gestured for her to go in.
"Ladies first, da?"
"Da." Sakura muttered sarcastically as she strutted past him. The man only smiled in response and followed her in. His lips were on hers before the door of the janitor's closet closed behind him.
The man ran his hands over the lean curves of her waist, then took hold of her midsection to hoist her up to his level. As much as Ivan enjoyed the feeling of her mouth moving against his, bending down to the level of someone her size- she was nearly a foot shorter and ninety pounds lighter than himself- really put a strain on his back.
Sakura wrapped her toned legs around his hips and let out a pleased hum at the sensation of their tongues wrestling for dominance and the essence of vodka that permeated her taste buds. The ends of Ivan's scarf found themselves tangled around her clenched fists as she pulled him flush against her body.
Her back thumped almost painfully against a metal shelf filled with cleaning supplies as the Russian pushed her body against the storage unit for more leverage. A few bottles tumbled to the ground from the force of the impact, but neither one gave them any notice.
"Sakura…moy tsvetok," Ivan broke out of their heated embrace to whisper lowly into her ear. His nose brushed the side of her flushed face. "You are so beautiful and warm; like a field of sunflowers. Come home with me." His lips found her jaw line.
"Ivan, you know I can't." Sakura panted, still out of breath from the intense lip lock and feeling of Ivan's mouth moving down her neck wasn't helping. "No one can find out about our alliance. What we're doing right now –and all the other times before that- is dangerous. We're lucky we haven't gotten caught yet."
A decade ago their governments began a tentative and extremely furtive coalition. The terms of which, were never fully disclosed Sakura, something that made her fume internally. Back in the old days her Hokage shared everything with her- war strategies, budget cut backs, even possible baby names. 'Oh Minato-kun, you were taken from me too early…' With the decline of the age Shinobi age, the level of unadulterated trust leader and country shared declined as well. Her leaders no longer knew the feeling of fighting side by side on the battlefields in life or death struggles with her.
Sakura was angry when she first learned of it, they had agreed to something that could possibly bring about a war without her consent. The first meeting between her and Ivan did not go well. The entire time she was cold and uncooperative, while Ivan seemed almost nervous and timid- something she wasn't expecting from such a normally intimidating guy, but it did nothing to waiver her hard attitude.
It went on like this for six months, until her boss convinced (threatened) her to warm up a bit. Ivan clung to her immediately at the first sign of change of Sakura's behavior. She found it rather annoying (and maybe the tiniest bit cute), the way he would follow her around like a puppy whenever she would move more than three feet away from him. He would also bring her a bouquet of flowers whenever they would have a secret conference as their relationship grew steadier. Her leader took that as a positive sign and encouraged her to get closer to the other country.
Eventually that would cause Ivan to shake up Sakura's world with a single kiss after a long night of getting drunk on vodka and sake. He would never look at her the same way again after that and throw himself into courting her, which Sakura would put a valiant but halfhearted effort against, before give in.
Ivan knew better than so familiar in public places and in front of other countries- they had to be very cautious and pretend that their association was only that of polite acquaintances- but more often than not, she would catch him staring and smiling at her while feinting interest at whatever was the main topic of the week's global meeting.
Ivan paused in his ministrations-much to Sakura's displeasure- and pouted.
"Then let us get caught, I do not care."
"Nani?" Sakura was flabbergasted by his completely nonchalant attitude over something this important. "You don't care about the world finding out about our completely illegal and potentially catastrophic alliance? Are you crazy?" She knew that Ivan wasn't the most mentally stable person, but even he had to feel the gravity of his words.
Gingerly, Ivan unhooked the pinkette's legs from his waist and set her back onto her feet. He gazed down at her with fondness reflecting out of his purple eyes.
"I do not like seeing you in situations like this." His large gloved hand began to stroke Sakura's candy floss hair. "I wish I could be with you on my own terms, so that I could hold your hand in public and kiss you in front of the others without repercussion. I want to be with you always, not whenever we can find a chance for a couple minutes of privacy."
For a second, Sakura could see the loneliness and longing that he had felt throughout his history. His façade of child-like innocence slipped away and in that moment she could see Ivan for what he really was; a man who had experienced more pain in his long existence that anyone deserved.
"I-Ivan…" Sakura's fingers found the ends of his scarf again as she stretched onto the tips of her toes and pulled him to her. She captured his mouth in a reassuring kiss, trying to comfort him through the simple action. "I want that too," she told him after pulling away. "But for now, we just have to wait; keep up the act until our bosses figure out where our partnership is going. Hopefully they won't hate each other by then."
"Then I will wait for you, moy tsvetok." Ivan leaned down once more and pecked the top of her head. She let out a laugh and hugged him in return. Her arms were just barely able to fully encircle his large torso. She snuggled into the warmth that his thick frame gave out.
"I'll hold you to it."
They stood in content silence, entwined in each other's arms…until something bounced off the top of Sakura's head.
"What the hell…" She touched the crown of head in surprise and looked around wildly for the offending object.
"Ah," Ivan bent down and picked up mysterious item. "Here it is." He held his hands open for Sakura to see. Lying in his gloved palms was a heart. A living, beating heart.
"Uhh…" She could only stare in shock as the organ pumped away like there was nothing completely and utterly wrong. "Is that, is that your heart?"
"Oh, da, this happens sometimes. No big deal." He shrugged and offered it to Sakura. "You can hold it if you want."
"Ah, arigato..." She examined at the appendage in her possession with growing fascination. The medical side of her was completely ensnared by the baffling situation. After hundreds of years of studying the physiology of the physical embodiment of countries, she still didn't completely understand how they functioned. This could have been perfectly normal as far as she knew. "It doesn't hurt when it falls out, does it? You don't feel strange or sick when it happens?"
"Net, not really."
"Is that so?" Sakura turned the heart over a couple more times with a contemplative look on his face before holding it back out to Ivan.
He refused to take it back.
"Why don't you keep it Sakura?"
"You want me to keep your heart? Are you serious, why? Will you even be OK if you're separated from it?" Her eyebrows rose to her hairline as she gazed at him skeptically.
"Most likely; I lost it for a month once without any side effects, so I think I will be fine. Think of it as a gift, a token of my affection for the woman who holds my heart in the palm of my hands-quite literally. You may do whatever you wish with it." Ivan smiled down at Sakura.
"Oh, wow, that's sweet of you anata; really creepy but sweet nonetheless." Sakura searched for something to place it in (she wasn't going to be walking around in broad daylight with a heart in full view). Settling for a clean looking blue bucket, she gently placed the container. "I should probably go and find a hiding place for this until I fly home." She held the pail to her chest and cracked the door of the supply closet open to check the hallway for any walking by. Even though they were in an older and less frequented wing of the UN, she still had to be careful.
"Do svidaniya then, Miss Fire." Ivan nodded his head to her, already back in their charade.
"Likewise Russia-san." Sakura bowed slightly in his direction. She gave him one last grin before disappearing.
I'm going to assume that most of you know a lot of those Japanese words, so I'll stop translating the easy ones.
Translations: Dobryy den-Good day; Da-Yes; Moy tsvetok-My flower; Net-No; Anata-Dear/sweetheart; Do svidaniya-Goodbye.