"Ayia!" Yao shouted, his frustration taking over. He hadn't seen Ivan in weeks, and he began to wonder if he had taken the words to heart.

He hadn't meant to tell Ivan to stay away from him; he just had let his anger get the best of him. To be completely honest, it was flattering, that Ivan followed him. He knew that with Ivan there, he would always be protected.

'I wonder if something happened…' thought Yao. 'Is he sick? Maybe I shouldn't have yelled at him…'

Yao shouted again. He really needed to stop thinking about this.

'At least I'll see him at the world meeting today.' But Ivan wasn't there.

World meetings had always made Yao nervous, but especially so today. Today would be the day he finally saw Ivan. Today would be the day he finally confessed.

*Flashback*

Yao and Ivan have just met. Yao knew that there would be a new country, Russia, at the meeting today, but he had no idea it would be like this.

The young country was Ukraine's younger brother, but he had not inherited any of her social charm. He sat at the end of the table, as far away from everyone as possible.

Yao thought he must have been lonely. Even though he had come here with his sister, they didn't appear to be very close. Yao had almost forgotten how lonely it was to be a new country.

From that moment, Yao had taken a liking to Ivan. He swore that he would never let Ivan become that lonely again.

*Flashback: End*

Ivan had never really connected with any of the other countries. Yao had seen him with Toris, and the other Baltic states, and his sisters seemed to like him enough (maybe too much), but there was no one Ivan could really call a friend; no one to ease the pain of his loneliness.

Maybe Ivan had never really spoken to Yao, but Yao could tell that he trusted him; otherwise, why would he follow him? It was actually a little endearing.

As gloomy as his thoughts were, Yao actually smiled. It was sick, but he actually missed the company. He missed knowing there was always someone watching him. Where was Ivan now?

Then Yao heard a faint noise. Ever since Kiku had left, Yao had lived alone. The break of silence, no matter how subtle, startled him.

Yao, who was in him living room at the time, crept silently down the hall to the bedrooms.

The sound continued; sounds like someone shuffling around on the hardwood floor just inside his own bedroom. He carefully slid the door open, and inside was…Ivan!

He was standing there, his back to the door, apparently searching desperately for something.

"Ivan-aru?"

The Russian man straightened up and turned to face Yao. He had been crying.

"What are you looking for-aru? I-I could help you look for it…" The expression on Ivan's face was making Yao uncertain. Although his face was tear-stained and blotchy, he looked…relieved. No, that wasn't the word for it, it was more like he was grateful to Yao.

"B-but you wanted me to stay away, da?" Ivan's voice was shuddering, another side-effect of the tears.

So that was what this was all about.

"I-I'm sorry-aru. I didn't mean what I said…" Ivan looked as if he was about to cry again.

"You wanted to know what I was looking for, da?" Yao nodded. "I was looking…for your forgiveness."

Yao was surprised to feel hot tears running down his own face. He'd never wanted to hurt Ivan. Yao ran up to his and collapsed into his arms.

"I'm so sorry-aru." And they fell into a sobbing heap, right onto the floor of Yao's bedroom; everything forgiven and forgotten.