Ugh, I'm sorry about the lateness =3= I had finals all this past week and I have two more this week, one's just a painting…that…I'm not done with OTL and the other isn't going to be that hard DX. Oh yes, I'd also like to apologize for the translations…even I found the continuous scrolling down to be a bit obnoxious…so that will be changed from now on x3. I'm glad you guys like Dimitri, I haven't really gotten into his character much, but more so in the future, this is what one would call… a tough time in his past XP. But yeah…also, as I've stated, if he seems to be growing too gary-stu, please tell me DX. I'm actually trying to establish a character here so any comments would be great x3.

On a final note, for all you RussiaxEngland fans who are reading, yes this is labeled as a Russia and England fic, HOWEVER, there will be other pairings. I simply picked those two because they get little no love here ;w;. I suppose I should make a list of all the pairings in this story =O, I'll do that and make this a ridiculously long author's note xD.

Pairings: IvanxArthur (well yeah), LudwigxGilbert, GilbertxLudwig, Arthurx(whoever he gets his hands on, the bastard xD), IvanxDimitri, YaoxIvan (one sided), IvanxYao (one sided), YaoxDimitri (not so much in the sexual way…oh you'll see =3= *too lazy to explain at the moment*), and there may be a few others as well as a few triangles. There may be more but we'll see how the story goes…but yeah. So don't be too depressed if I happen to focus on one pairing for a couple of chapters before moving onto another. Heh.

Anywho! Read, Relax, Review!


Chapter Seven: Later… Part One

Five months, that's how long it had been sense their first meeting. Dimitri had grown rather attached to Yao and in return Yao did his best to try and teach the boy a few basic skills that would help him in the future. It would seem that during their weekly meetings, the boy would be livelier and more open about various matters; he knew he could trust Yao so he told him everything. Admittedly, Yao was surprised at how quickly the boy was to open up about these matters, it was like he'd been keeping them all bottled up inside until finally the cork popped and there was no stopping him.

Dimitri loved to talk about his home, he said it was the most beautiful place in the whole world, even though this was the first time he'd been anywhere else. But, he still found his home to be the most beautiful, the snowy tundra, the dark green forests, everything was clean and clear. Yao would sit with his cup of tea and listen, smiling and chuckling whenever the boy would mention a particularly happy memory. He was such a good boy, such an unfortunate turn of events had bound him to this fate, but it wasn't unbreakable, Yao knew this but he'd kept silent. If he told the captain about who this boy was, he was certain that Arthur would use this to his advantage and try to reap the benefits.

Sighing quietly and closing his eyes, Yao glanced off to the side. This action did not go unnoticed by the snowy haired boy, he tilted his head and leaned forward, "Yao?" he asked quietly, in those five months, Dimitri had started to pick up on several English words, Yao's name being the first naturally, and then his own name, and so on and so forth. The look of concern had formed on his face, it usually wasn't difficult to brush the look off, but this time Yao glanced back and couldn't stop himself from answering.

"It is nothing, aru," he smiled, "I was just thinking, we're going to be docking soon, would you like to join me for a bite to eat in a real French restaurant?"

"F-Fran…Frinch?"

Yao chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair, "Fer-en-ch" he pronounced slowly so that Dimitri could repeat after him.

"Fur-ench?"

"Close enough, aru." Yao smiled, before the door that blocked the dark outside world from their beloved sanctuary suddenly burst open and the familiar sound of heavy boots walking across the room had turned the head's of both males. Sure enough, as they expected, it was the captain.

"Breaks over you two…back to work!" he snapped at the two, earning a slight flinch from Dimitri and a sigh from Yao.

"Yes sir…" Yao set his tea down on the small trey that rested on the floor with an equally as small tea pot. He then got to his feet and lifted the trey, casting a glance down at the boy who seemed to be slowly losing that color in his face he'd grown to find quite fitting.

Arthur in the mean time hadn't taken his eyes off of Yao, that cocky smirk only seemed to spread just a little bit wider whenever the other would move or twist in just the right manner. Dimitri was watching this out of the corner of his eye, he didn't particularly like it, he didn't like it when that man would look at Yao like that with such vulgar intentions in his eyes no less. Had he been stronger physically and mentally he would have done something about it a long time ago…but he didn't.

Once Yao had left the room, Arthur turned towards the boy who was now getting to his feet, "Don't think I don't know what's going on between you two…" the captain said, his voice arrogant as always, that smirk splitting his face as if he knew everything that was going on, "I'll admit, the only useful thing he's taught you was how to speak properly."

Dimitri remained silent, this seemed to please the other sense it didn't look like he was expecting an answer from the boy. The pirate captain then walked up behind the other and put his arms around his waist and resting his chin on the others shoulder, "Hmmm…don't do anything foolish now," he whispered, "It would be a terrible waste if we had to make an example out of him…don't you think?" It was very clear that he was threatening him, Dimitri glanced away, what could he say to that?

"Hmph…" Arthur's smirk turned into an dissatisfied frown, "I've got work to do, you're going to keep my company while I do it…got it." He drew back and stared down at the boy who simply gave a nod. "I couldn't hear you…." He then said quietly, a subtlety demanding tone to his voice.

"Да, сэр ..." ( "Yes sir…" ) Dimitri then said quietly, but not looking at the other.

"Now in English…"

"Y-y-yussh…sir."

Arthur chuckled and roughly ruffled the boy's hair before leading him out of the room and back down to his office. By this point in time, Dimitri had gotten used to the captain's some times spontaneous urges , and as always he'd be there to satisfy them to the best of his ability. Simply put, he was well broken in and now knew just what it was that really made the other tick. Had he been a stronger person, he could have used this to his advantage, but he really was not a fighter by nature. To act as a sort of comfort or at least to reassure himself, he liked to consider it his way of making someone else feel better, that he was helping them through something. But then…he would just need to open his mouth and say something truly insulting.

Another hour before they docked, another hour of 'helping' the captain relax while doing some sort of paper work or chart reading or whatever it was. Dimitri didn't even try to understand what the other was looking at as he knelt by the other's lap, leaning over it and allowing his right hand liberty to undo the front. Perhaps he could do a less then half – assed job and really make the other's toes curl…that would be fun but he'd probably get in trouble for doing that. Oh well….the boy took his task from their confines and went to work while in tern the other had opened up a small bottle of ink and seemed about ready to write a short letter.

--

The sun was out but concealed behind a light layer of overcast, it made the atmosphere almost a dull grey color which seemed to put the dusty blond in a reasonably good mood. He had been contacted just the other day that there might be a lead, a rumor had spread that pirate activity had grown in the past few months. This meant all sorts of things, it also gave him an excuse to hunt them down…if they were the one's that took what was his…well…they had better be ready.

The nice lady from before opened the office door to let Vanya in, the man from before was standing in almost the same spot, however this time around he had a smile on his face. "Ах! Просто на время, я считаю, у меня так мне информацию о возможном местонахождении своего брата." ( "Ah! Just on time, I believe I have so me information about the possible whereabouts of your brother." )

"Где он?" ( "Where is he?" ) the boy cut straight to the point, which seemed to make the other falter slightly, that was not a promising sign.

"Caravan, что ваш брат был в недавно был найден, он был погребен под довольно много снега, который сделал его трудно найти. Но, когда он был найден, было никого в живых. " ( "The caravan that your brother was in was just recently found, it had been buried under quite a bit of snow which made it difficult to locate. But, when it was found, there were no survivors." )

The boy was silent, the smile on his face did not change but one could tell that he was not honestly smiling, oh no, this was a dangerous smile.

"Ты говорил мне, что он умер?" ( "Are you telling me he's dead?" )

"Ну вот именно, мы не знаем .... Странный частью о нем, что он ушел с другой двадцать пять человек, включая самого себя. Но было найдено всего двадцать четыре трупа, все из них мертв задолго до хоронят. " ( "Well that's just it, we don't know….the strange part about it is that he left with twenty five other people including himself. But only twenty four bodies were found, all of them dead long before being buried." ) The man explained further in hopes that it would make that look on the boys face fade. It seemed to work though, the boy seemed to be thinking to himself.

"Так что же еще ...?" ( "So what else is there…?" )

The man took out a fold out map and set it on his desk, he then helped the boy onto the chair so that he could see, "Право здесь, где был найден Караван," ("Right here is where the caravan was found,") he pointed to a spot on the map, "This road here, it crosses paths with this line here…a known area for high amounts of slave trade."

"Так ты говоришь, что кто-то должен купила его?" ("So you're saying that somebody must have bought him?")

"Это не совсем может быть и речи." ("It's not entirely out of the question.") The man replied though had a bad feeling this was going to turn ugly. The boy looked thoughtful for a moment, what was he thinking? That was one thing over the past couple of months that the older male started to notice. There was more to this boy then he was letting on, those subtly thoughtful looks, the surprisingly cold sensation his eyes gave off, he was not as innocent a child as he'd originally thought.

"Выясните, кто его купил, я должен идти, я встречу во Франции в течение двух дней я должен подготовиться." ("Find out who bought him, I have to go now, I have a meeting in France in two days so I must prepare.") The boy gave a bright smile before turning on his heels, the other male sighed after the boy left. He then turned and called the woman in, he informed her of the plan and told her to send out as many men as she could find. They were getting close, he was certain of this, but…was what they were going to find going to be enough to satisfy the boy?


Ok, I was planning for the next chapter to be a time skip, but I ran out of time so I'm making this chapter and the next a sort of two parter AND THEN I'll do the time skip. Ugh….but yeah….I really hope you enjoy this chapter!