We revisit a certain situation and find there was more behind it. Here we go, enjoy!

Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya!

Chapter 9 : Diversionary Tactics

When they arrived back at the Rescue Station, two friends of the albino, Gilbert Beilschmidt, along with the police, were waiting with a very disgruntled man to talk to him. Apparently, Gilbert had, err, borrowed the man's climbing gear and he was very unhappy with the Germanic man. As he was hauled off by the cops, Matthew followed, giving Gilbert's friends, a blonde, blue-eyed Frenchman called Francis Bonnefoy and a green-eyed, Spanish brunette man named Antonio Carriedo, a ride, leaving Ivan and Natalya to deal with the helicopter. As Ivan went to check the helicopter over, his arm was suddenly grabbed by Natalya.

"Why did you lie to me?" she hissed. "You told me that Mećju had already found his soul mate but clearly that wasn't true so why did you lie?" Ivan pulled his arm from her grip.

"You have a short memory, Natalya," he said. "You seemed to have forgotten what you've done to my unmated friends in the past. I was protecting my friend from your obsessive jealousy."

"You seem to care a lot about this man," Natalya replied, eyes narrowing. Now Ivan was unnerved by Natalya's tone. Being soul mated may not be enough to protect Matvey from Natalya's ill-intentions. He would have to warn his Canadian friend to be on his guard and he grabbed Natalya by her wrists.

"I'm still unconvinced that you had nothing to do with what happened to Aleks," he warned. "If anything happens to Matvey now, you will regret it, Sister!" He emphasised Sister just to remind Natalya of their true relationship and put just enough contempt in it to show how much he was regretting being related to her. "I will have no more friends damaged by you!" He shoved her away from him and went back to checking the helicopter. Natalya rubbed her wrists and glared at Ivan as he checked the back rotor. Her brother had indeed changed. The sooner she disposed of Yao and got Ivan back to Moscow, the better.

As it happened, Ivan did not have to worry about Matthew after all as he requested time off to go and meet Gilbert's brother but he was apologetic to Ivan for leaving in his time of need.

"Don't worry about it," Ivan replied, waving off Matthew's apologies. "This is your soul mate we're talking about. Besides, I'm glad you won't be here for a while, Natalya has made threatening noises toward you so it might be better for you to out of the way for a while. My older sister and brother-in-law are here now so my family still have some protection but I will have to call HQ and tell them we need a temporary replacement but I don't see as being a problem."

"Unless they get on the wrong side of Natalya."

"True," Ivan conceded. "But she has been warned."

"I meant to tell you," Matthew said. "Vlad called. There's been improvement with Aleks, he's off the ventilator. He's still unconscious but he's breathing on his own." Ivan breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's good news," he replied. "But I'll be happier when he wakes up."

"Me too!"

The ash cloud was clearing and flight restriction was being lifted so Sergei booked the next flight to Canada which, fortunately was going to Calgary. He informed General Arlovsky that he would be in Canada in a day or so. The General was still stuck in meetings but he would be there a few days after Sergei. Sergei planned to have Natalya caught by then and ready for the General to drag home, leaving Ivan and his soul mate in peace.

At least, that was the plan!

Natalya sat in the hotel bar, stewing at her inability to move against Yao, what with her two shadows and Ivan sticking close to home since Matthew had left with his soul mate and his replacement had yet to arrive so the helicopter would not be going up. She nursed her drink while trying to find away to distract everyone so she could slip surveillance and finally deal with her rival.

Then Ivan came into the bar and met up with Eduard and Katyusha and she cursed. They would all watch her now and she would not be able to make a move without one of them seeing. True, Ivan did not realise she knew about Yao but he would be suspicious of every move she made and would make sure she made no moves toward his home. She watched them talk but she was too far away to hear what they were saying and she wondered if it was her they were talking about.

She was not too far off the mark.

"I got a call from Vlad," Ivan told Eduard after the bartender gave him his glass of vodka. "Aleks has regained consciousness. He is apparently coherent but remembers little about the accident, however the police have been investigating why such relatively new tyres could blow the way they did. It seems they believe that the tyre blew because it was penetrated by something."

"By something?" Katyusha replied. "I'm guessing you don't mean a stone or other road debris."

"The police think it was something of uniform shape," Ivan said. "Circular." Eduard let that sink in.

"Like a bullet?" he guessed. Ivan nodded and took a glance over a Natalya sitting at the bar.

"If Natalya did do this," he replied. "I'm not liking the idea that she has a gun. There is also evidence that Aleks was involved in a altercation with another car. There was paint of another colour in the scratches on Aleks's car and skid-marks further down the road."

"We know that Natalya's capable of hurting others to get what she wants," Eduard mused. "And she wants you, we all know that. So, she did it?"

"There's no proof," Ivan said. "But I suspect she did."

"Why would she, though?" Katyusha asked.

"A place on the rescue team?" Ivan suggested. "Pilots are welcome in Canada and if she put in an application at a time when a space became available and she was nearby..."

"Chances are she would be hired," Eduard replied. "She's a lot smarter than any of us gave her credit for if that's what happened. I hope your father and Sergei get here soon and get her out of our hair because I would hate to see what would happen if she finds out about Yao. How's he doing during all of this?" Ivan sighed.

"He is worried," Ivan replied. "Oddly, he is more worried about myself and Li Xiao than himself. Myself, I do not fear for but Yao and Li Xiao will be in great danger if she should find out. I am wondering if I should sent them to their family back in China until Natalya is dealt with. What do you think?"

"It would be a wise precaution," Eduard said. "But I think you would have a hard time getting Yao to leave without you. Another day or so and Sergei will be here to take Natalya into custody. We just have to make sure Yao stays a secret until then."

Natalya had seen Ivan look over at her and wished it was in affection or adoration but he looked suspicious of her and she stared angrily into her drink. Could he not see that everything she did was for them? So they could be together, despite the world trying to pull them apart? Ivan smiled at Katyusha with the affection that he never directed at Natalya any more and Natalya burned with jealously.

"Such a beautiful girl such as yourself should not look so dour, chérie," a male French voice purred. "Such a beautiful face was made laughter and L'amour." Natalya rolled her eyes and turned to see a blonde, blue-eyed man with light facial hair gazing sultrily at her. She recognised him as someone who had been hanging around the hotel with some Spaniard and that German idiot they had rescue off the cliff. She had seen him flirting with anything that had a pulse, although she was not sure that anything without a pulse would be safe either.

"Leave me alone!" she snapped. "I'm not in the mood." This did not deter the flirty Frenchman.

"Ah, I could not leave a damsel-in-distress, mon cher," he replied. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Francis Bonnefoy and you are …..."

"Not interested!" Natalya tried to turn away and ignore him but then her eye fell back on the little family group and an idea occurred to her. It would put the Frenchman in the line of fire but it would teach him a lesson about being such a flirt and she turned back to him with a small smile. "I'm sorry! I'm just mad at my brother-in-law. He's supposed to be my sister's soul mate yet I caught him cheating on her, I didn't know soul mates could do that to each other." She indicated to the group and sighed.

"She looks so happy but it's all fake," she continued. "She knows but pretends it's not happening. Maybe she should have an affair and teach him how it feels." Francis looked over at the group and recognised the young woman with the two men. He had been giving her the eye and lightly flirting with her but she was rebuffing his advances. Perhaps he should push a little harder if her marriage was rocky and cheer her up.

Natalya saw the gleam in the Frenchman's eyes and knew all she had to do know was sit back and watch the fireworks and, when everyone was distracted, slip away.

Yao would be dead by nightfall!

Katyusha decided to leave the boys to it and sit near to Natalya whom she had seen nearby and pretended she had only just spotted her, sitting next to the French flirt who had been plaguing her for the past few days.

"Hello, Natalya," she greeted, innocently. "Is everything all right this evening?"

"Might be," Natalya replied with an enigmatic smile. The Frenchman looked at Katyusha over Natalya's head.

"Bonjour, chérie," he purred. Great! This was all Katyusha needed and she did her best to ignored the touchy-feely Frenchman but, for some reason, he was persistent.

"Why not sit here, mon cher, next to me," he offered. "I can make your evening very pleasant."

"My evening is pleasant enough, thank you," she replied. "I just want to sit and talk to my sister, if you don't mind."

"Ah, but to spend the evening with two lovely ladies is my idea of heaven. Why not indulge me? You don't have to pretend any more, Belle Dame (Beautiful Lady), I know and I can make everything better for you."

"...?" The Frenchman left his seat and came in close, too close, to Katyusha.

"Maybe give your soul mate a taste of his own medicine, hmm?" The Frenchman took Katyusha's hand in his and Katyusha tried to pull it from his grip.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, adamantly. "And I would like you to leave me alone, I'm a married woman!" The Frenchman simply pulled her resistant hand up to his lips and swept them across her knuckles.

"Married but not happy," he said. "Your sister told me everything. Your soul mate does not deserve you, chérie."

"Told you …. Natalya, what have you been saying?" The Frenchman took the opportunity to put his arm around Katyusha and pull her close as she resisted.

"Let me go!" she cried.

"What are you doing to my wife!"

Everybody looked round to see Eduard standing there with a thunderous expression on his face with Ivan at his shoulder who looked downright disturbing with a dark shadow over his eyes, a dark cloud that seem to spread around him and he was muttering, "Kolkolkol …..!"

Francis recognised Ivan as one of those who had gotten Gilbert off the mountain and decided that discretion was the better part of valour and ran, with Eduard and Ivan in pursuit. Katyusha stared after them and Natalya took her opportunity to leave while everyone was distracted and slipped out of the door with a smile.

Ivan was as enraged as Eduard when he found that blonde friend of the drunken German man pushing himself on to Katyusha and all was forgotten as they began chasing him through the hotel. They even chased him through the basement where Ivan ripped a pipe with a tap off the wall (thank goodness the water had been switched off down there) as they chased him back out and through reception and they cannoned out of the doors to find they had lost him. There were two red-headed men, one of whom had fallen and the other was picking him up but no sign of the blonde Frenchman.

"Where did he go?" Eduard demanded, looking around. "I'll teach him to mess with my wife!" Ivan agreed with the sentiment, whole-heartedly.

"And my sister!" he said, brandishing the pipe and ran in a direction he thought the man might have gone, not realising that he and Eduard were doing just what Natalya had wanted them to.

Li Xiao made Yao his favourite herbal tea and put some snacks on a plate for him while Yao read the book that he got for his for his last birthday. A book of Chinese legends in Braille that Ivan had found on-line and Yao loved the thought Ivan had put into the gift but then that was Ivan. Yao might never know what Ivan looked like or ever feel his heart beat but he considered himself to be lucky in his soul mate.

"Here's your tea," he heard Li Xiao say. "And some, like, nibbles for you."

"Xièxiè (thank you), Li Xiao," Yao replied, putting down the book and holding out his hands. Li Xiao put the tea and the plate in Yao's hands, making sure he had a firm hold of them before letting go. Yao put the snacks on the small table he knew was by his chair and then he heard a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Li Xiao said and Yao heard him walk out of the sipped the tea and listened to the footsteps come back into the room but he knew something was not right. He knew the footsteps of Li Xiao and Ivan, even knew the footsteps of Matthew, Aleks and Vladimir and these footsteps matched none of them. The female voice he then heard, he had never heard before but he knew it's owner from the words, dripping with hatred in an East European accent.

"So you're the blind man who thinks he can take my brother from me!"

Natalya was here and she knew! But Li Xiao had answered the door.

Where was Li Xiao?

EVIL CLIFFHANGER! Yes, I know I'm evil, you should be used to that by now! XP So it was no accident that Francis ended up being chased through the hotel and can anyone remember who the two red-headed men were ;)

To Normandy – He doesn't go home when he's drunk, he climbs mountains, apparently! ;P Poor Neko Kiku! And we do have Danish Butter cookies in England, all year round too but they're more obvious at Christmas because of the special tins they come in! :)

To Guest – Yes it did and it will get realer! Gil is heading home but with Matthew, not Yao! And don't let your brain melt, at least not yet! ;)

What's happened to Li Xiao? What will happen to Yao? Will anyone reach them in time? This sounds like one of those old shows where they used to ask those kind of questions at the end of each episode! XD Well any way, tune in next week to find out! XD

Hasta la Pasta!