A/N: Yay yay RoChu, here we go *clapclap*! Anyways, other pairings in this fanfiction are: USUK GerIta Spamano Giripan GilbertxMatthew and.. I dunno, whatever else comes our way. xD;;

Disclaimer: I do not own Axis Powers Hetalia aru!

All Ivan wanted was for someone to treat him like a person, not a monster. Where ever he went, someone would give him this cold stare, and shoo away from him. No one could talk to him without stuttering, nor could they hold his gaze. His presence was treated like the plague, and if anyone stood near him, they'd die. He couldn't even converse with his own sisters, his own flesh and blood.

Well, he could talk to his younger sister, Natalia, but she'd go on a rampage about marriage. Now, he didn't want to go down that dark road. Normally Ivan liked the dark, but that wasn't the case here.

It didn't help either when Ivan stood out from the crowd. Being six foot two inches had it's disadvantages, and his white-blond hair stood out like a bottle of vodka in a church. Then there was that scarf of his.

"What is with that scarf?" People would ask behind his back. They would stare in confusion as the Russian man would wear the fabric around his neck even in the warmest weather. Some people would think he was hiding marks from a fight, or from a 'fun' night. In all honesty, none of those were true. The truth was far from what people would expect.

The reason why Ivan always wore the scarf was because it reminded him of a special time. What time would that be? Well, it was when he was a child. His older sister, Katyusha*, had given him the scarf one cold winter. Actually, it was that day Ivan had gotten lost.

While their parents were gone, Katyusha, Natalia, and himself went outside to play in the snow. At the time they lived in Siberia, and the winters there were unbearable. They were all bundled up in multiple layers of clothing, and Katyusha was wearing a long scarf she had finished knitting.

Ivan was busy rolling the body for a snowman while his sisters were gathering objects for the nose, mouth, and eyes. While rolling the snowball, he had slipped and fell into a large pile of snow. Since he was still a little child, and his layers of clothing made it impossible, he was unable to get up. He kicked and screamed until his throat went sore, though he still screamed then. His legs flailed as much as possible.

It was then Katyusha heard a muffled cry. She looked all around, but saw nothing, other than Natalia still gathering stones. That was when she realized her little brother was no where to be found. She looked everywhere for him, until she saw the stubs on Ivan's boots sticking out from a mound of snow. Luckily she managed to pull him free.

Ivan's face was red from the cold, and his teeth chattered loudly. Katyusha giggled when she saw the dark look he was giving the snow. Then she wrapped her scarf around his neck, telling him it would keep him warm. After they returned home, Ivan tried to give the scarf back, but Katyusha refused. From then on, Ivan always wore the scarf, even if for a long period of time, it was too long for his little neck.

But that was then, and this was now. Ivan liked to be reminded of the times his family got along, and before they moved to the tropical land of San Francisco, California, the United States of America. As he was old enough, at the age of eighteen, he was to go to Hetalia University to get his college degree in plumbing.

And so, there Ivan was, just walking up to the main office building of Hetalia University. It was a few weeks after the semester had started, and he had to get his schedule, map, and dorm room key. He would've gotten it in the mail, if his family had a mail box in the postal office (they had yet to get one).

Fixing the strap on his beige messenger bag, Ivan entered the building, a giant map found in the center of the lobby guiding him to the guidance office. He knocked on the door, once he found it, and a soft voice inside told him to enter.

In the guidance office was an aging woman at the front desk. Her hair was a dusty brown that was cropped so it barely reached her ears. Streaks of gray randomly ran through her hair. Her eyes seemed to droop with age and her neck was weighed down by a scorpion medallion. The woman looked up over the glasses that rested on the bridge of her nose. A glint of disgust shivered through the onyx depths; a reaction Ivan was quite used to.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

Ivan smiled innocently. "I would like my schedule for the semester, a map of the campus and my dorm room number and key would be nice, da~" Behind his smile was a promise of pain if the woman did not comply. Even if she was old, he would not hold back. The woman seemed to understand, as she slowly nodded her head, and clicked the mouse on her computer a few times, and pressed a few keys. She then walked over to the printer and grabbed a newly printed piece of paper, then handed it to Ivan. It was his schedule, which included his dorm room on it. Walking over to a cabinet she pulled out a key and map of the school, which was also handed to him.

"Now, have a nice day," the woman forced a smile on her face for Ivan. In return he smiled back, and waved slightly.

"I will be sure to, as you have been very nice to me. Thank you, da~" With that the Russian man exited the building, not seeing the look of loathing on the woman's face. Ivan looked at his map. According to it, the dorm rooms were on the other side of the campus. Great. Wait, which side of the campus was he on again? Oh ебать*, just his luck. The map was in fucking German. Or was it French? Why couldn't the map be at least in English? Well, looked like Ivan had to go ask for help. Just great, another reason for people to look at him like a freak. What kid didn't know his way around the campus already?

Ivan sighed, not looking forward to the task. Even with the smile on his face, he wasn't particularly looking forward to asking some stranger for directions. Mostly because the Russian man has been fine on his own (even if the only reason he could find the office building was because of the hint his mother gave him being it was the tallest building on campus).

"Ne, ne, fratello!" Ivan turned his head around and saw an olive skinned, brown haired man skipping towards an identical man with auburn hair. They both had profound curls sticking out on the sides of their heads. The brunette spoke with a certain accent. Italian maybe? Being the curious man that he was, Ivan listened in.

"Did you get the pastaaa?" The brunette man clasped his hands together and pleadingly looked at his "fratello", whatever that meant.

"Why don't you go ask that potato-bastard, after all you're both buddy buddies now!" The auburn man shoved the younger looking male away. In response the other man started to cry, and wave a white flag that he pulled out of nowhere.

"But fratello, the pasta Ludwig gets has that wurst on it. I love him and all but his wurst sucks." The "fratello" ignored the other man, who just continued to whine. Eventually the whining became too much for the auburn man who threw his hands up in anger.

"FINE! I'll get your fucking pasta, but this means we're having pizza with tomato slices on top for dinner tonight!"

"Do you want the tomato slices just because Antonio isn't here for the weekend?"

"Don't you dare mention that tomato basta-" That was when the auburn haired man noticed Ivan looking at the two squabble. The Russian man smiled at the two and waved, quietly laughing. The older-looking man was not amused however.

"What are you looking at you bastard?" He asked leisurely, twirling his hand slightly.

"I'm just looking for the dorm rooms. You are willing to show me where they are, da~?" Ivan tilted his head to the side, his innocent smile slowly turning into a twisted one. The two males, even the tough, auburn-haired one, cowered under his state. They slowly started to back away. Once they were far enough, they ran off.

Snarling, Ivan punched the side of the building. Dammit! Why couldn't anyone just answer him like a normal human being! Slowly his hand crept inside the front flap of his messenger bag. There held an old water pipe. What looked like to be rust on it was in fact dried blood. He was about to pull it out and chase after the two males.

No! His thoughts stopped him from gripping the pipe. You're going to live a normal life here. No more using the water pipe. …Well.. Maybe if I - NO. To clear his thoughts Ivan shook his head.

"Aiyah, what is a student doing out on campus on a Saturday? Aren't you young ones usually in your rooms playing Tuna or something like that?" Ivan didn't look up, but his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Did the woman (he assumed it was a woman, judging from the soft, yet scolding-in-a-motherly-way voice) mean CoD -or, Call of Duty?

"I'm just looking for the dorms, da. I can't seem to read the map… it's in French." He answered, still not turning around to face the voice. He didn't want to scare off another person.

The voice sighed and grumbled, "Ancient Egypt, always giving out the wrong maps aru…"

"…Ancient Egypt?" Ivan asked, curious. Did the voice mean that old woman?

"Oh, the secretary in the guidance office, aru. She comes from Egypt, and she looked like Cleopatra back in her day. That was quite a while ago, aru. Anyways, you walk straight forward, then take a left at the building with a dome on top of it, you should arrive at a building that has a strong of flags running across it. That's the dorm building, aru."

"Thank you very much, da~" Ivan smiled, even though the voice couldn't see it. Finally, he'd gotten someone to help him. He then started to walk towards the dome building the voice had told him to walk to.

As he left, the voice mumbled. "Kids these days, can't even look into a person's eyes while holding a conversation, how disrespectful, aru."

A/N: I'm really excited for starting this story, mainly because I've been wanting to write a fanfiction with RoChu in it. (I know I wrote another fanficton that hinted it, but this will have actual romance in it!)

The title for this story comes from the Clannad OST, which I kept listening to while writing this xD.

So I'm planning to have this fanfiction be my little writing prompt for Gaia's SumWriMos. Originally I was going to write my own original story, but I want to practice writing fanfiction, just to get back in the swing of writing a story.

If anyone can guess who the voice and reviews gets cookies and pasta~

*So on the Hetalia wiki, it said that fans gave Ukraine the nickname of Katyusha, so since I needed a name for her, I just gave her that one.

*ебать - fuck