A/N: It has been forever hasn't it? The school is still killing me as you know and I also had an writers block this time... But now we shall meet Mikayla, Andrius and Marcus. Andri is my baby. :)

10. A day in a park

"Mi-Mikayla! Be careful! You might fall!"

"Ha, I won't fall. I'm too good to do that."

"How did you even get there?"

"I climbed of course."

"Right…"A thirteen-year-old boy ran a hand through his brown hair which barely touched his shoulders. Then he looked back up to the midst of branches where his blonde ten-year-old cousin Mikayla was sitting.

"Andriii… Come up here." Mikayla tried to coax the boy to join her.

"I…" The boy, Andrius, hesitated. He really wanted to. It seemed fun and naturally it would be interesting to see the park from a whole new angle. But then there was the fact that…

"Big brother!" A little boy collided against the teen's back. Andrius sighed. Not a moment of peace.

"Hello Marcus." He greeted the kid without turning to look at him. The kid had brown hair like his brother but it was lighter and curly.

"Big brother play with me." Marcus demanded while clinging onto Andrius's arm.

"No. I need to make sure that Mikayla won't fall." Andrius replied, still not taking his eyes off the girl up in the tree. Marcus looked up there too and glared the grinning girl. He didn't like much Mikayla. She was always taking Andrius away from him whenever she visited them. To be honest Marcus would've been more than happy if the girl fell from the tree but then they would have to leave the park.

"Come down Mikayla." The little boy whined and tried puppy eyes on the girl who was only two years older than him.

"No. It's a great view from here. Andrius, join me, please." Mikayla begged, her light blue eyes twinkling in excitement.

"I'm rather here… So I can keep an eye on both of you." Andrius told them. "Marcus, go play with your friends. They must be missing you already."

"…Okay." Marcus reluctantly let go of his brother's arm and headed slowly towards the giant sandbox further away where some boys of his age were. The kid didn't really like them. He'd rather be with his big brother but their parents would be worried otherwise. And Andrius sometimes hung out with his own friends. Marcus hated everyone who kept big brother away from him. Well, maybe hate was too strong word for it but still!

Andrius followed his little brother going back to his friends before sighing again. This was one of those days when Marcus was being extremely clingy. It was bad enough on normal days when he was all sweet and smile and wouldn't leave Andrius alone for a second from the moment the older boy stepped in from the front door. And then there were days when he would glare everyone who tried to take Andrius's attention from him. The boy could only hope that something wouldn't go horribly wrong with his little brother and he wouldn't end up hurting someone.

"Hey, Andri, you coming?" Mikayla asked.

"Nah… What do you think Marcus will do if he won't spot me anymore?"

"Goes home? I mean. He should already know well enough how to share. You're not his property or anything. Yeah, you're brothers but he won't give you a moment of peace." The two cousins didn't know that their conversation was being overheard by four passers-by. Four nations to be exact. The Baltics and Poland who like from a mutual agreement decided to sit on a bench near the tree.

"Yeah…"

"Just come on. I'm leaving tomorrow I have every right to have you today." Mikayla descended on a lower branch and extended her hand downwards for Andrius. The boy smiled and took it, swinging himself so he could get a hold on another branch. In no time he was up and sitting steadily on the branch next to Mikayla's.

"Do you think it's okay to climb on these trees?" Andrius asked.

"Oh, c'mon! You ask it now? Of course it is! What is the point in planting perfect climbing trees like this if you are not allowed to climb on them?" The girl laughed.

"Right…" Cue an eye roll. "But we still need to be careful. I'm the one who gets the blame if something happens to you or Marcus because I'm the eldest one of us."

"Yeah, yeah… Let's climb higher. You've seen nothing yet and higher up no one will see us." Mikayla stood up on her branch and started climbing up, towards the top of the tree which was about six meters from the ground. After a second of hesitating Andrius followed her.

"You know, I'm not going to let you push me around. I'm doing this only because I don't want to be with Marcus all the time…" He told the blonde.

"Whatever you say Andri. I know you secretly are thrilled about this all. I just persuade you to follow your own mind rather than yield on the kid's will."

"…"

"Come, look." Mikayla was now in the height of five meters and pointed out of the foliage. Andrius sat on a branch a bit lower than hers and looked there. His breath hitched in his throat. The view from up there was magnificent! All the rooftops of the Vilnius old town lit by the sun that was beginning to set. All those colors and interesting architecture. And the other parks that could be seen far away. Andrius couldn't get enough of it. He loved it all. A bright smile lit up the boy's features as he admired everything he saw. Seeing in it from this perspective was just something unbelievable and beautiful.

"Aš myliu šį miestą.(I love this city.)" Was all he was capable of saying at the moment. Mikayla grinned at him.

"See, I told you you'd like it." She told him a bit cheekily and glanced down at the park. "Oh, look. Your mother just arrived. She's talking to the kid."

Andrius glanced there too and indeed his mousy-haired mother was discussing with his brother who had inherited the hair-color. "Yeah…"

The woman looked up at the tree they were sitting in but didn't seem to notice them and left the park then.

"She really trusts you, huh?" Mikayla half-asked, half-stated.

"Yeah. Gives me responsibilities while Marcus is being spoiled by her and father." Andrius shrugged and looked at the rooftops again.

"Well, I'm going down. These branches are a bit uncomfortable." Mikayla started descending when Andrius's mother had left the park.

From the bench near the tree one of the nations got on his feet and walked closer to the tree. The four of them had listened to the conversations between the cousins but none of them more intently than him, the oldest of Baltics. The other two had fallen into a casual conversation and the fourth member of their little group had started to paint his nails with pink nail varnish(very manly).

"Liet?" Poland looked up from his little 'mission' to focus on his best friend who had stood up now.

"Yes, Feliks?" Lithuania looked over his shoulder at the blonde.

"Like, what is it?"

"I… I don't know." Something just told him he should stand up. Just like something had told him to stop to listen to the conversation between Andrius and Mikayla Laukaitis.

"Mikayla, be careful."

"I am." There was a sound of a faint crack that startled the girl and then a sound of shoe slipping. "Yiiiiks!"

"Mikayla!"

The ten-year-old girl fell right on Toris arms. Lithuania could only stare at her in astonishment when she recovered from the fall. The girl looked up at him, opened her mouth only to close it again. There was slight rustling from the foliage and Andrius appeared on the lower branches. Mikayla looked up at the boy as if to say something but then the nation placed her on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Toris asked worriedly.

"Yeah…" Mikayla said shakily. Andrius hung from the lowest branch for a second before dropping on the ground.

"Mikayla…" He walked to the girl and placed his hand on her shoulder. It met something wet. Andrius removed his hand and looked at it. It was blooded up but he couldn't see where the blood had come from. Although Mikayla was wearing a dark red turtleneck shirt that she had gotten as a present two days ago. Normally she wouldn't wear anything that would be too close to her neck. She said it felt like choking.

Andrius sprang into action. As soon as he spotted a tear in the collar of Mikayla's shirt he realized what had happened. A stub of a branch must have scratched her badly enough to make it bleed and most likely to leave a scar too. Mikayla herself was in a shock and just staring at the man in front of her. The man stared back, seemingly confused about what was up with her. The three others with him came to them quickly but didn't say anything.

"Mikayla… Don't move. Not even your head, okay?" Andrius said quietly and reached to pull the collar down. There was the bleeding scratch about two inches long.

"A-Andri?" Mikayla asked with a faint voice.

"Yeah?" The boy answered absent-mindedly while inspecting the wound.

"That man looks just like you."

Andrius looked up at the man who had saved his cousin. He most certainly bore some resemblance to the boy himself. Hair was about the same color and length and the eyes were forest green. There was something also in his facial features that were a bit like Andrius. Maybe the boy would look a bit like him when he grew up.

"I can see that." The teen unwound a light blue scarf around his waist: they had been playing pirates earlier that day, and wrapped it around Mikayla's neck. "Now put pressure on it, okay?" He took Mikayla's hand and pressed it against the wound. "You are going to be just fine."

"What's wrong?" One of the men, one with glasses, asked. He had somewhat funny accent.

"Hematophobia." Andrius replied quietly and led Mikayla to sit on the bench the four nations had sat on previously. He was about to sit next to her when a blur of curly hair latched himself on his arm.

"Big brother, what happened? Are you alright?" Marcus asked worriedly and gazed up at Andrius.

"I'm fine. Mikayla got hurt though."

"Oh." The worry was gone immediately. The boy turned to look at the nations near them. "Who are those? Why that man looks like you, big brother?"

"I don't know and it doesn't matter. He saved Mikayla though. Go get mum now, okay? Mikayla needs help."

"But I don't want to leave you big brother…" Marcus whined.

"Marcus I promise I'll play with you tomorrow but Mikayla is much more important that some stupid game." Andrius's voice gained volume as he spoke yet he didn't progress to shouting. The smaller of the two stared at him for a moment before shooting a hateful glare on Mikayla and sprinting off. Andrius sighed and sat next to his cousin who was staring the ground and pressing the scarf against her neck. Toris sat on the other side of the girl and sent a glance to the other three that signaled that they should go. And they left, no questions asked. The two brunettes looked down and the blonde girl.

"Hey, Mikayla… Would you like to tell me what you are going to do when you grow up?" Toris asked gently. He figured that it was best to keep the girl talking and focused on something else than the wound on her neck.

"I'd like to travel. All around Europe or even the world. I want to join a circus and preform on a big stage." Mikayla smiled.

"I bet you are going to be great. You have already now a lot of confidence and talent." Andrius smiled when his mother came running to the park, a first aid kit in her hands. The boy noted that Marcus wasn't with her.

"Where's Marcus?"

"At his room." The woman answered and put the kit on the bench. Toris had gotten on his feet to make space.

"Kid is most likely sulking." Mikayla chuckled but winced then.

"Don't talk. Andrius, take the scarf away I need to see the wound."

Expertly and quickly the mousy-haired woman bandaged the wound and thanked Toris for looking after the children(and naturally for saving Mikayla, too). Mikayla also thanked the nation before being dragged out of the park to rest. Andrius watched him for a moment too and merely nodded then. For some reason he felt he didn't need to say anything else. Lithuania watched after them a faint smile on his face before walking away.

The next day Andrius watched from the window of his room how a grey car drove away, Mikayla and her parents inside it. The girl had asked to keep the scarf the boy had used to prevent her bleeding to death. Of course that was exaggeration but anyways Andrius had let her keep it. After it had been washed. Before walking out of the door Mikayla had wrapped it around her neck again to hide the bandages and hugged Andrius tightly. She had promised to never take it away.

"Big brother." Marcus appeared behind the young teen. Thankfully they weren't sharing a room.

"Yeah?" Andrius didn't remove his gaze from the courtyard which was empty now. He pondered what Mikayla's home looked like back in Utena. He had never visited it…

"You promised to play with me."

"That I did."

"Are you coming?"

"Soon." He just wanted to stay like this for a little longer. And remember the rooftops he had seen.

A/N: By the way, Utena is a real city in Lithuania. I saw it on a map.