Title: Ties that Bind, Ties that Break
(credit for title goes to Yunbi from our Rochu group)
Author: Koneko-desu
Fandom: Axis Power Hetalia
Characters/Pairing: My main focus is on China and Russia but there will be appearances (and pairings) by many other nations. The real Rochu doesn't start until Chapter 26 (Aigun Reunion) if you want to skip right to the Rochu.
Rating/Warnings: Erring on the side of caution I'm going to put this at R18/NC-17/whatever the highest rating is.
Consider yourself warned that this fanfic contains;
- scenes of non-consensual sex (they're nations, invasions are rarely consensual)
- mentions of historically sensitive issues (Opium Wars I and II, 8 nation alliance, WWII, etc.)
- the author's personal bias (Chinese background)
- fudging of history for plotline sake
Disclaimer: Axis Power Hetalia and its characters do not belong to me.
Summary:
A young Russia is sent to live with his southern neighbour, China, who resides with his four younger siblings. Russia stumbles through his days, growing and learning beneath the wings of the older nation. Welcomed warmly into the family, young Russia learns of the love of family and forms a bond with a nation he never thought was possible and that will change his life forever.
(Notes at end of this chapter.)
CHAPTER ONE: THEIR FIRST MEETING
Wang Yao was used to taking care of those younger than him. Heck, given his age, it would have been just about impossible to not be used to it since he was usually the oldest by default. Alongside mortal beings he had taught and guided their paths of life, bestowing upon the few lucky ones his wisdom gathered over the years. Some of his students did him proud, bringing the nation great prosperity and his people great happiness. Others brought him to his knees by their wretched ignorance and self-indulgence, causing the nation wars, turmoil and bloodshed, leaving his people to drown in their tears, sorrow and pain.
Yes, Yao was used to taking care of others, from the mortal to the immortal. He enjoyed the pitter patter of small feet racing through the rooms in his house, although at times the squabbling and fighting proved an annoyance. He adored picking flowers with Meimei, eating dim sum with Hong, drinking tea with Kiku and even bickering with Yong Soo. The house was always lively, sometimes with conflict as one grated on the nerves of another, but never was there a dull moment. He knew his siblings inside and out, knew their likes, their dislikes, knew how to push their buttons, knew how to comfort them, and at night, when one scurries into his bed after having had a nightmare or being in pain from national affairs that too-often plundered their small bodies, Yao felt the pride of being the big brother that they could depend on and come to for consoling words and warm cuddles.
This was probably why he didn't immediately curse out his bosses when they arrived in his palace, unannounced to boot, lugging with them a young child, no older than Kiku had been when Yao had first found him. A new resident, Yao's bosses tell him, take good care of him, he is instructed before they turn and leave, the large, heavy door closing behind them with a groan. All that Yao had been informed of was that this child is called the Novgorod Republic and will be staying in their house from now on.
Yao stares down at the child measuringly, taking in his appearance. Wispy light blond hair pokes out from beneath a large fur hat. The child's cheeks are rosy, having just come in from the cold wintery weather outside. A large beige coat bundled around his small body, stopping just short of his ankles, making him seem bulky. The child's gloved hands fiddle with the end of the scarf he's wearing, hiding almost the entire bottom half of his face. Yao reaches a hand out to touch the child's shoulder, frowning slightly at the rough material of the coat, so unlike the smooth and soft silk he and his siblings always wrapped themselves in. The colours too, so dull in comparison to the bright and lively shades of fabric he and his siblings adored shopping for.
The young child flinches slightly at his touch, seemingly trying to pull away from his hand while trying not to make it obvious. Yao softens his expression, kneeling down on one knee and gently pulling down the scarf so that the other can talk without being muffled.
"What's your name?"
Hesitancy flickers through gem-like eyes, trying to comprehend what was just asked. Yao smiles patiently, pointing a finger at himself and slowly saying,
"Me, Wang Yao." He turns the finger to the child. "You?"
After a few seconds of blinking the child swallows and replies softly,
"I-Ivan..Bra-gin-skee."
Yao's smile on the surface never wavered even as he mentally threw a few choiced words towards his bosses for having dumped a child here who didn't speak the language, clearly had no idea of the culture, and not even leaving him a translator to work with. Not faltering in his smile Yao begins to help the young boy, Ivan, unwrap the scarf from around his neck.
"Nice to meet you, Ivan"
Before Yao could finish his task, Ivan grabs the unwrapped portion of his scarf and yanks it out of Yao's hands, clutching it tightly to his chest. He takes several steps back, eyes wide, body shaking and pinning Yao with a desperate look. He didn't even pay any heed when his hat fell off his head and tumbled to a stop at Yao's feet in his haste to back away from Yao.
Yao blinked in shock, hands frozen in midair. Goodness, he certainly didn't expect such a reaction from trying to help someone undress. Anyone else in his court could never even dream of having the honour of the Great Wang Yao personally attending to them, minus his siblings. He slowly lowers his hands, reaching down to pick up Ivan's hat and gently dusted off invisible dust particles from the soft fur.
"You might get a bit too warm in here with all those clothes on"
Yao uses his free hand and points to his own neck in indication of Ivan's scarf, then pretends to pull on the front of an invisible jacket before making a fanning motion with his hand as someone might when feeling too warm. He then points to a clothes rack beside the door where several jackets had been hung, indicating where Ivan can hang up his outside wear should he so choose.
Ivan took a few minutes to gather his thoughts, seemingly trying to decipher the other's actions. He looks between Yao and the clothes rack, then down to his scarf and coat. Slowly, he shuffles over to the rack, unbuttoning his coat and slipping it off along with his gloves, but not making any move to remove his scarf. He lifts himself up on his toes trying to reach up to hang the clothes, but his small body made that impossible. Yao chuckled softly before walking over cautiously, not wanting to alarm the child and helping him complete the task. Looking at Ivan now Yao felt himself impressed that such a small child could even handle wearing such a heavy coat. With it gone Ivan looked so much smaller in stature, wearing a simple white button-up shirt, beige pants and black boots. Yes, he'll have to get the child into something more…appropriate for court soon, otherwise he'd stand out too much.
Ivan felt Yao staring at him and met the older man's gaze. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could utter a word a loud growl interrupted. Yao brought a hand up to his mouth, trying to stifle his chuckles of amusement as a lovely pink tint spread across Ivan's face and caused the boy to break off eye contact, lowering his head to stare at the floor in embarrassment. Yao knelt again, putting a hand under Ivan's chin to lift his head up as he smiled, tapped his own tummy with his other hand and asked, "Hungry?"
Ivan nodded hurriedly, a hopeful gleam seeping into his eyes.
"Da."(1)
"Well then, dinner time!"
Yao held out his hand to Ivan who took it quickly before standing up and heading towards the back rooms. He walked slowly, giving Ivan time to look around curiously and still be able to keep up. Yao knew his house was quite large and the rooms can be a headache for newcomers to manoeuvre through, when Yong Soo first came the boy had gotten lost so often he came up with the idea of using a calligraphy brush and marking every corner he turned so that he could find his way back. That didn't sit well with Yao, nor his cleaning staff.
Past the main front room where guests are greeted and entertained, Yao took Ivan into a long hallway brightly lit with large lanterns that led to several other rooms usually used for meetings and conferences with either his bosses or dignitaries from other countries. Ivan caught glimpses into the rooms through half-open doors. In all of them he saw beautifully embroidered fabrics that draped from windows, highly ornamented art pieces that adorned cabinets and furniture. Even simple things like tables and chairs were no lacking in detail as dragons wrapped around table-legs and phoenixes flew up the back of chairs.
At the end of the hallway a vase-shaped doorway opened into the back garden and a '长廊 (chang-lang)'(2) that twisted through the garden. Ivan blinked a few times as they became awash in sunlight. Currently a thick layer of snow covered the ground making a serene picture of white. In the evenings when the weather was milder Yao enjoyed sitting in the chang-lang as his siblings chased butterflies or picked flowers in the garden. The chang-lang led them to a small bridge that crossed a half-frozen pond where water from a miniature waterfall fed into it. In the middle of the pond the bridge is interrupted by a pavilion where a round table of stone sat surrounded by several round stone stools with no backs (3). In the past Yao had sat at this table with great Emperors that had tread through China's history discussing philosophy, politics, the ways of ruling while drinking tea and playing '围棋 (wei-qi)' (4).
Finally, crossing the bridge and standing on the other side, Ivan sees another building, much less formal looking than the one that greeted visitors at the front, but no less impressive. It looked to be about two stories high with large windows, all closed against the cold weather. Somehow, this building seemed much more welcoming and comfortable to Ivan, not as intimidating as the one they had just come from. Yao felt Ivan's steps slow and he paused his own steps to look down at the child. Ivan looked back, nervousness making him squirm slightly.
He had heard before coming that this man, country, called China had several siblings. So far China seemed nice enough, he hadn't struck Ivan or yelled at him but Ivan felt himself shake at the thought of meeting his brothers and sister. He had always been alone back at home; rarely anyone came to visit except servants who brought him his daily meals. Sometimes his sisters would drop by but their bosses rarely let them stay for longer than an hour or two. His own house was also quite large, but never seemed quite warm enough. His rooms were decorated only sparingly, a few paintings of sunflowers Ivan had attempted himself hung here and there, but nothing so extravagant as Yao's place. Without someone else to keep him company the days always seemed to drag and when General Winter visited his house only seemed that much colder.
Yao gave Ivan's small hand a reassuring squeeze, giving him a smile of encouragement.
"Come on, let's get inside before we freeze out here."
And with those musical-like words flittering out of his now-rosy lips nipped at by the cold Yao tugged Ivan towards the front doors.
END CHAPTER 1
NOTES:
1) I have seen some fancomics floating around the internet depicting young Russia living in China's house which initially gave me the idea for the plotline.
2) From what Wikipedia tells me Russia and China first had diplomatic contact in the early 1600's during China's Ming Dynasty, but the story includes an appearance by Monglia in reference to the Monglian rule of China during the Yuan Dynasty, which was approximately 200 years before Russia and China are even suppose to have met, so please forgive that huge time leap.
I'm setting the beginning of this story during the 13th Century, when China was in the midst of the Song Dynasty and Russia was called the Novgorod Republic (wikipedia).
3) If references are made to anything that is not historically accurate please pardon my ignorance. I honestly don't know details like what kind of dishes Chinese people ate during what time period, or what kind of furniture they had, etc.
4) For anyone reading that is Russian or holds a degree in Russian history or something, I do apologize if I should offend any of you with any part of my story. I am the first to admit that when it comes to Russian history I know next to nothing. If you would like to make any corrections/suggestions feel free to do so in the review, but please do keep in mind I didn't write this story with history in mind.
5) For all notes (as indicated when there is a small number in parenthesis ie. (#)) please go here to find the full explanation:
hxxp:/ koneko-desu . livejournal 234250 . html (Please change 'hxxp' to 'http' and take away the spaces between the words for the link to function)
6) Lastly, all reviews will be read and are highly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read and to review.