[A/N] Exciting, isn't it? I'm not dead :D Anyway, short chapter for anyone who's reading. I hop you enjoy it.
One thing I wanted to mention was that when I'm reading, I really hate it when people write stories where EVERYONE'S gay.
You know, those one's where the main character moves to a place, then falls in love, then realizes it's ok because everyone else is gay? That just doesn't happen. I'm sorry, but personally, I prefer reading stories where it's more real. Because then I can appeal to it. Sorry if my stories don't appeal to you, I just prefer to write more real. If I have many pairings in this story, I'm going to make sure they have plenty of struggles. Ok, enough rants, I hope you enjoy. :D

A whole 10 minutes passed, as I stood there speechless. How did this happen? Was it really the government that did this? What the hell was I going to do now?

I stood looking at the burned house. I stared at it, even though I knew it would do no good. Nothing would bring my dear wife back to me. She was gone.

I just stared and stared, until I couldn't bear to even think about the sight in front of me. But I couldn't tear my gaze away; I was paralysed to the spot.

20 minutes went by, and then 30 minutes. The policeman beside me was also frozen. In fact, when I looked back at my house, the smoke had seemed to slow down, almost completely. Wait…I tried to move. No! I was literally paralysed! Even if I tried, I couldn't move at all.

"Oh man, this was our fault wasn't it?" a familiar voice appeared from behind me.

"I don't know. He must be related to this whole issue somehow. But it really makes no sense, don't you think Alfred?"

Alfred! That was the name of that guy. But why were they here? And couldn't they see me? Why weren't they helping me?

"Dude, what do we do now?"

"I don't know… I think he'll be safer if we relocate him, da?"

"But Ivan, his house is gone, his wife is gone, his whole life has been destroyed! I can't just do that to one of my citizens!"

His citizens? I added that to my list of "Weird things about Alfred and Ivan".

"Ally, my solnushka. You are such a kind man. I do not understand how someone can have such a big heart."

"Stop, this isn't the time." Alfred sighed. "I'm sorry man, I'm just tired from all our work. But you know, this wouldn't have happened to him if he were another normal human, right?"

Wait, what? I wasn't human? The two walked around in front of me to inspect the damage done to my house. Then they turned around to look at me. Alfred leant forward to inspect my face close up. I couldn't move my face, so it was very awkward; just until Alfred started in surprise.

He jumped back and pointed at me, "You can…hear us?"

I blinked.

"Dude! Ivan! He's conscious!"

"What? How?"

I looked back at them, unable to say a word. Alfred snapped his fingers, and as soon as he did so, I fell flat on my face. Alfred had seemed very worried about this whole mess, but more worried about what I had just heard than about my destroyed home.

He looked at me weirdly once I got up.

"… Peter?"

"Yes, I heard your conversation. Is that so bad?"

Ivan walked over and gently held Alfred's arm to calm him down.

"Well Alfred, I guess we have to take him with us now."

"Oh man…"

BOOM

The shot rang through the forest, making the birds fly out to the sky, and shaking the ground. A dear shrieked and ran from the noise. Yet, it remained a peaceful day.

A man climbed down from the tree and headed towards the closest clearing. He halted suddenly, when he saw the damage. A smaller man was lying, wounded, blood sprouting from his lower abdomen.

Damn. That wasn't what he had planned at all. Guilt flowed into his mind, but he reminded himself that other people weren't supposed to be here unless they were qualified. This was obviously just a poor beggar.

But when he looked closer, he saw that the man was wearing neat and clean clothes; a green jacket over white pants, and he wasn't moving. Or breathing. His heart skipped a beat while he screamed inside his head that he might have actually killed someone.

He was about to step from behind the cover of the forest, when he heard footsteps quickly closing in on him. A little girl came into the clearing. Yet she was skipping happily. More guilt flushed into him, as he imagined what this poor girl must have been thinking. In fact, she was now bending down to look at the man. Oh dear! That poor, poor girl!

"Brother. Wake up, brother. It's not good to sleep in forests."

He grimaced at the sight. This little girl seemed like a little angel, with a small sweet voice. And here she was, and her brother was never going to wake up. This was his entire fault! What had he done? She was now shaking him furiously.

"Wake up brother!"

He set his mind, and readied himself to step forward again. However, he spotted a strange sight. The girl was not in fact shaking her brother, but tickling him. And he was weakly but surely brushing her hands away. He started to giggle louder, and his actions became bolder. He suddenly jumped up and tackled the girl to the ground, and started to tickle her. She lay rolling around, laughing in her absolute bliss until they both fell to the ground, looking up at the trees.

"You said you wouldn't do that anymore, brother. You're much stronger than me, you know."

"Oh come on, Lilly. You'll never be a strong young lady if you think like that, will you?"

"But I will always have you to protect me, brother."

The man behind the tree stood in shock, his jaw going lower than his chin. How had this happened? Wasn't the man dead just a few seconds ago? The girl finally seemed to notice her brother's wound.

"What is that, bruder? Did someone shoot you?"

"Yeah. Can you believe how camouflaged I was for that to happen a whole three times?"

They didn't seem bothered at all. In fact, the blood on the man's shirt had dried, and it had obviously stopped flowing. That was it, he decided. This was enough waiting. He stepped out and made his way towards the man.

"Excuse me, sir. Do you happen to have a hunting licence to be out here? I'm very sorry to ask, but it's important for me to know." Just in case, the man showed him his own hunting licence, and waited for a response.

The other man lifted himself off the ground, and proceeded to laugh slightly. He took out his card and admired it for a second before handing it over.

"Here it is. And don't worry, I'm experienced. Actually, I live really close to here, so I'm used to the area too. But I'm usually at my practicing fields, so I don't come around this part too often. I'm Vash by the way."

"Ok Vash, I admit, your qualifications are admirable. I'm Mike."

"I can show you the place if you want?"

"Sure, I do need some practice if I want to keep up with my buyers."

Vash smirked a little before calling for his sister and leading Mike over a nearby hill. They walked for a while before they saw a heavy metal fence. Vash had to use many keys and passcodes to open the gate.

"Wow. No wonder I've never seen this place before. It's not very big though, how do you practice?"

"Like this."

Vash took out a button pad and pressed the button. Instantly, a gunshot ran out, and a flight of birds flew up from a far away tree. Vash picked up his gun and took a shot, and a bird fell to the ground.

"I have a machine programmed to make loud noises to scare the birds. Then I can practice on those."

"That's quite impressive. You hit that bird in one shot, and you can't be over 16. How much practice have you had?"

"Oh it's not just me. Lilly!"

Vash called out for his sister, who was sitting at a flowerbed, picking some daffodils. She looked up and skipped over, smiling.

"Bruder, I picked you some flowers. I hope you like them."

The blonde teen blushed and took them, placing them carefully in his bag.

"Hey Lilly, do you want to show Mike how well you can shoot?"

Lilly sighed a little before taking the obviously heavy gun with ease. Vash pressed the button, and once again, a bird fell to the ground within a couple of seconds.

Mike was astonished.

"Michael. Come on. We have to get groceries. You know that."

Arthur looked at the blank face.

"Please Michael. Just come inside. Please."

The two stood just outside the local Sainsbury's, watching as other people come and go. When Arthur received no response, he took the boys hand and walked in. He knew that Michael would go without argument; he just wanted to hear the boy say something. It had been almost six months since he had started taking care of Michael, and admittedly, it wasn't that hard at all.

"It's ok. We only need a few things."

Michael had passed his English theory lessons with flying colours, but he would hardly say a word when it came to talking.

"We definitely need some fruits and vegetables. Are there any you would like?"

With no response, Arthur went with the default of what he knew and took some spring onions and carrots. The boy shivered a little at the cool air conditioner. He reached only up to Arthur's waist, still awkwardly holding his hand.

"Oh Michael, I just wanted to remind that setting off fireworks in our neighbours trash cans is not ok. Do you understand."

The boy mumbled something, and Arthur was almost ecstatic until he realized that it wasn't English in which he was talking.

They walked along the aisles, picking up random products. Well, Arthur was the only one picking things out, and it was a very one-sided conversation, but Michael walked along without protest.

Once they reached the pay-point, Arthur attempted one last time to get Michael to talk.

"Come on Michael, is there anything else you want? Ice cream? Chocolate? Dumplings? I know you like dumplings."

Michael looked up at Arthur's face.

"Li Xiao, you like being called that, right? Come on, talk to me!"

He looked up into Arthur's face, and he started tearing up.

"You know, I've taken you in, and cared for you for a long time now, and you won't even talk to me! It feels like I'm talking to a brick wall, for God's sake! Why won't you talk to me?"

Arthur was obviously getting angrier by the second. Michael started shrinking to the floor a little.

"I taught you English, and you're so good at it. But you won't even talk to me; it makes me feel like I've done a bad job. Why won't you talk to me? Isn't there anything you want? Anything at all?"

"I want big brother." Michael sobbed out. He quickly ran from Arthur and out of the store.

The lady behind the cashier looked back at Arthur, having witnessed the whole spectacle.

"Will he be alright, sir? Do you want me to call someone for you?"

"No, no. That's fine. He'll be all right."

The clerk wasn't convinced.

"But he's only a child, sir. He's just a kid."

Michael/Li Xiao - Hong Kong (WHO I'M IN LOVE WITH ATM)

Please review, it really makes me happy :D