Oh ho ho, I'm back already! Anyways, we all know lame little me owns no characters here. Just the story. Now that that's out of the way, please read and critique~! I'll love you forever and... Chaka will, too!

Actually, wait. I DO own Chaka. Nobody else, though. c:

The ear-splitting whistle of a train screamed in my ears, but I hardly heard as I scanned the station for Ukraine. She said to meet her under the clock tower, but I couldn't see any tower… anywhere. Just a million people and a million walls, maybe more than a million. I saw none of them, however, because none of them was my sister, I didn't care much who they were past that.

The train screeched to a shuddering halt and I jumped up, jolted by the sudden stop. I never had liked trains much…

"Whruff!"

I leaned out the window and stared down at the biggest sheepdog I had ever seen in my life. Its nose, chest, and paws were pure white. The rest of it was so dark black it was almost blue—except for two small ginger spots above its eyes like eyebrows. It gazed back at me with liquid chocolate eyes.

"Warf! Woof!"

"Hi, Dog. You're a big puppy, aren't—" I broke off, squinting to make out the name on his collar. I couldn't hold back a huge grin. I remembered that name from Ukraine's letter. "You're Chaka, then. Where's Ukraine-Syestra?" I reached down and patted Chaka's head.

He wheezed a little—or panted, maybe—and licked my fingers. I laughed. For once, there was an animal that liked me. What a thought.

I rubbed his ear again one more time before stepping into the isle, cramming myself between two impossibly fat old ladies and half-suffocating, half-drowning my way to the platform. At least I didn't have much to carry.

Chaka had walked around to the stone island, tongue lolling and wide eyes staring at me imploringly. Pets? Pets? I was almost positive I could hear him speaking.

Then again, I was supposed to be insane. Or something like that...

I combed my fingers through the thick ruff on the back of his neck, making little valleys and mountain ranges in his fur wherever I touched. Chaka pressed himself to my leg and hworfed, grinning lopsidedly. I continued to watch for Ukraine, figuring that if her dog was here, so was she.

"Can you show me the clock tower, Chaka?" I felt kind of odd, talking to a dog around so many people, but Chaka wagged his tail and padded through the mass of travelers like the square was empty. I weaved in after him, constantly having to jump back from carts laden with other people's baggage.

After about eight nearly toe-crushing collision courses, I was finally far enough from the other towers to spot a clock stuck to the tallest one. It was nothing amazing, just a simple white disc with black hands and rusty numbers around the rim. It was almost seven o' clock in the evening, contrary to the lightness of the sky. It looked like midday to me.

"Hwoof!" Chaka nibbled on my scarf.

"Nyet, no!" I pulled it back. "This is special! Don't eat it!"

Chaka whined.

I huffed and patted his head consolingly. "Just leave it alone, please."

"Ivan! Over here, Brother!"

Both Chaka and I looked up.

"Syestra!"

"Arfrarfuff!"

I waved to Ukraine, picking out her short blond hair above all others. I could see her friendly blue eyes glittering even from here—I hadn't even realized how much I missed them.

Chaka bounded ahead, swimming through the crowd to reach his mistress. I followed more slowly and trampled less people, but I might have heard someone scream when I stepped on something unusually soft for pavement.

"Hi, Ivan!" Ukraine hugged me, laughing. "It's been a while."

"Hello." I kissed her cheek, not really caring that we weren't exactly supposed to be near each other with our bosses so tense. Keh! They aren't watching! "I missed you, Syestra."

"Me too! Oh, Natalia's still at my house, waiting. I think she had mixed feelings about coming out here…" Ukraine's normally cheerful smile faded slightly. She perked up again in seconds. "But you made it in one piece! Chaka seems to really like you, too," she giggled.

I glanced down at the sheepdog, who kept moving back and forth between Ukraine and me. "He does? That's… great." I petted Chaka with one hand and picked up my bag again with the other.

"A-ah! I'm sure you want to get out of the crowd, though. Come on! Chaka, lead the way!"

Ukraine grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the street after her dog, laughing and telling me all about what I'd missed during out separation. "… And I've finally got enough money again; Natalia's been so helpful, too! I taught Chaka to get the mail as well, oh—and there are sunflowers growing in the field behind my house. I left them there because I remembered you really like them. I've got so much to show you, Brother!"

For a while, I felt like we were kids again: Ukraine running in zigzags down a bustling street, me being dragged behind. Just like she always did. Not much has changed, really…

"Brother?" a pair of deep blue—almost black—eyes gazed at me from behind the door of Ukraine's house.

I forced myself to smile. "Hi, Nata."

"Brotherrr!" she threw herself on me, arms wrapped around my neck.

"Gah! What—"

"I'm sorry I didn't stay with you like I said. I had to come help Sister." Natalia wasn't smiling, she rarely did, but I could tell she was happy. I patted her head awkwardly, struggling to breathe. She was crushing me.

Who knew such a small girl could be so strong? "Nata, I'm dying…"

She jumped back like I'd caught her sleeve on fire. I took a deep breath and turned to Ukraine, who was nuzzling Chaka.

"You're a good boy, you are!" she tapped his muzzle and laughed. "And so friendly. Chaka, Chaka, let's show Ivan our house!" Ukraine grabbed my hand again, dragging me inside.

I stumbled and tried to stand up. "Syestra, I can walk!"

Ukraine released me (why was everyone so grabby today?) and continued on her way. Natalia stayed glued to my other arm, refusing to let me out of her sight even for a moment. I know it was useless to try and convince her to get off, so I let her cling. At least she didn't make me carry her…

"Hwuff!" Chaka scratched at a door some ways down the hall, switching his gaze from Ukraine to me to the door again every few seconds.

"Right, so I'll stick you in this room." Ukraine pointed at it. "Natalia can move upstairs with me." She glided over to her dog and pushed the door open, letting him trot inside to explore.

I nodded. "Okay, thanks."

Chaka barked.

Natalia loosened her death grip on my arm slightly and allowed me to follow him in, setting my bag in the corner.

It wasn't dark and huge like everything was back home—rather the opposite. Light blue paint was peeling slightly from the walls, but only in a few places. I could see another layer of beige paint underneath in the corners. I assumed Ukraine used this room as a study—there was a simple oak desk against one wall, and a sofa bed on the other. A vase of flowers I'd never seen before stood in a glass vase by the window, overlooking a massive field of green and gold.

I stroked Chaka's head. "You have a very nice house, Ukraine. I'd forgotten."

She smiled gratefully. "It took a long time to get things back together, but I'm glad everything worked out."

I nodded. "I… da." There wasn't much of a reason to bring up our last encounter. I turned to look at my sisters.

"Does the weakling Lithuanian still have a crush on me?" Natalia asked bluntly.

I cracked a grin. "Toris always, always will, Nata. You can count on it."

"Hmm." My younger sister examined her hand thoughtfully, as if imagining the best way to break the fingers on Toris' other hand the next time they met.

I didn't want to think of what she would do to him if he were ever unfortunate enough to get a next time.

"Oh, I almost forgot! You have to see the sunflowers we grew out back! They're gigantic!" Ukraine held her arms apart to demonstrate the size of her plants.

Before I could even think of something to reply, she was gone from the doorway and still talking to me from the hall.

I blinked.

"She's very happy to have you back," Natalia said quietly. "So am I."

I started when she slipped her fingers over mine. But... She was just standing by the other wall!

"It's nice to see her so happy again…" I remembered how desperate Ukraine had been to form an alliance with someone to try and pay back my country for oil then. She's declared us unrelated, mainly to save us both the awkwardness of having to demand payment and not being able to give. But she was fine now, and so cheerful. I liked it when she was happy.

"Yes. It would be even nicer if you would marry me," Natalia pressed.

I flinched. "But I can't!"

Nata seemed to realize it was pointless to argue now and instead nodded to the door. "Sister is probably wondering where we went. Come on."

I followed her out, a million thoughts swimming around my mind. Natalia really was beautiful—I would never deny it. But to marry your own siblings… I frowned. It just seemed wrong. But I knew well enough she would never change her mind.

Quite like Toris, I thought, amused.

"Over here!" Ukraine called, waving. She held the stem of the tallest sunflower I'd ever set eyes on like a flagpole and smiled.

I glanced at Natalia, watching her run up to Ukraine and say something. Then something amazing happened: she laughed. Natalia Arlovskaya laughed, smiling and spinning under the flower.

Chaka cannoned into Ukraine, licking her face and yapping excitedly. She ruffled his ears and pulled Natalia down with her, both girls falling under the attack of the puppy tongue.

I shrugged and flopped down next to the three, content to just be with my family for a while. Because that's what we were right now, I figured.

Not countries, or allies, or anything. Just family.

So a quick note before I run off again. I re-read and fixed some formatting mistakes, typos, the like. Changed some words, but nothing super-drastic, so eh. Yep.

This is getting so sickeningly fuzzy. I apologize for being full of awful...

B-BUT IT'S FUN IN AN ODD WAY SOOOO. THAT'S ALL.

*Suffocates in her own fail*