Chapter Five

Russia's home felt lonely without the nations that had so recently left him. Even the Baltic states were gone now, it was really just him, sometimes the cat, and his thoughts. His house was a few miles out of Moscow where no one really ever thought to visit so the only real noises were the wind beating against the slowly collapsing walls and the whistling of the snow as it scraped on the windows.

In this cold, regrettably silent, shelter he now sat. A few weeks had passed since their meeting and he was still aching to know what had caused China's outburst. If he was lucky this outcome would help them to become better allies. Personally perhaps, or just through government. It was kind of hard to 'get back together' even if they had never dated and therefore never split up in the past.

Their short fall-out had partially resulted in a win from the opposing side and brought Russia's family to the ground. Truthfully he deserved it but that was something that he would never admit, especially to that American fool or himself. Though things were looking brighter for their political relationship things were still a little strained.

Russia had kind of hooked up with the American a bit before this all went down. But no. No, no, no. That didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was to find out what was causing China to act differently so that their relationship would hopefully be improved. Even just small personal gain was enough for him to feel better about his current political place.

Many new laws were being placed and many were being revoked at the same time. It kind of felt as though there was a weight lifting off his shoulders and he had the suspicion that it felt the same for many of his citizens. Yet so much was changing. It was really frightening in that way because no one could see what would come next. Much of the energy that he usually used for practical things like spying on others seemed to be sucked up so quickly by the basic process of trying to take care of his mental health.

Yet what he really needed to focus on now was China. The nation had acted very far from his normal personality and though Russia ever so slightly remembered incidents in history when he had acted similarly it still had to mean something. What little Russia had learned about how people worked included that if there seems to be some sort of breakage in their normal functions then something is up.

What seemed particularly suspicious beyond the personality switch was that he seemed embarrassed afterwards. Usually when China did something, even if it was wrong, he didn't really regret it. There had just been so many mistakes in his long life-time that it didn't really matter anymore. Any regret was a sign that something was wrong. Just like any laugh, no matter how forced, had to mean something about how far he was willing to stretch his limits.

When Russia had been under the Mongolian Empire's control, specifically in the short time when China had been as well, they had been put through a lot of stress mentaly within reach of each other. Even with the age gap, Russia had been able to learn a lot about how the Asian country reacted to pain and difficulties.

By now much of that had been dulled and he responded even less to pain then he had in the first place. Russia had experienced a similar thing as he grew up through countless battles. Amounts of pain just weren't the same anymore. They had been both affected in the terms of reaction.

That was another thing that made China's actions suspicious. If he had felt uncomfortable or insulted enough to honestly speak up, let alone yell, there was probably a negative experience that triggered the reaction.

Either that or he was just over-thinking all of this.

Maybe he had just had a bad day like Japan said and it could be left at that, yet for some reason Russia felt that Japan also was aware of his former-caretaker's out of place actions. If they were still in the same country, for Russia had neglected to confront the Japanese man while still in his household, he probably would have forced or somehow tortured agreement out of him. Though why the nation wouldn't just tell him something as simple as an agreement was beyond his logic.

It never got old, having to find things out about his world that he didn't know beforehand. Maybe the secrets would be personal and he could use them as black-mail to get his way later on. Maybe they would be boring and lead to nothing. Nonetheless the chase was still his favorite part of the hunt, the end result always paled in comparison to the enjoyment he had in messing with other nation's heads.

Creativity was often a big part of his schemes, even if it was in a child-ish and blundering way. Twists and turns, even having to question the fine line between trust and distrust often played a part in his investigations but really it was all for him in the end.

But for China he needed some background knowledge first, since much of what he knew had stuck from past memories that only held pain for both of them. Though research was boring, in this case it was also necessary in order to begin the chase. Maybe check up on recent history he had missed, possibly brush up on the subjects he had forgotten more about like The Period of the Warring States or whatever it was called. With a basic grasp on history he could begin to interpret what different battles and lashing-outs had meant in his life and see how it compared to his recent outburst.

Though it was an overreaction Russia felt his heart racing at the prospect of a new project to work on. It would probably keep him from going insane over the next few weeks or however long it was until he was needed governmentally again.

Until the current god-awful snow storm subsided he was also stuck in his house to a level. Traveling would cause more effort and by extension it would take more money, which was something he didn't have much of at the moment, either in the form of nation and national banks or his personal wage and money. He had many books about history, though it was usually just for show or decoration.

Now that he needed them, the books seemed much friendlier. Almost brighter in their old leather bounding or new plasticy sheen. What he needed was a history of a different country, which he had less of, since this was his house and he didn't usually need to use books to look up a person. Often he would only stalk them instead or at the very least stop caring so much.

A bit of shuffling through the bookshelf pulled down four books of varying girth. One was more of an encyclopedia. It was one of the new books he had bought only a bit back at America's place. Of course reading through all that English might be a struggle but he could always take a break to the other three books which were all in Russian.

Opening one of the smaller books, careful not to bend it's delicately bound spine too far, Russia skimmed a page or two. This one was about the silk road and other types or trade 'throughout history'. Perhaps it would have been more helpful if it hadn't been made around a hundred years back. Outdated was too soft a term. This book was carefully placed aside, to be examined later when he was getting desperate.

The second Russian book was slightly smaller and resembled a sort of rule book, except instead of rules there were poems. This one was useless for this activity, though he might keep it aside for entertainment.

The third book he picked up was slightly larger than the last two and also thicker. After another quick skim he revealed that it was a slightly outdated history of the entire country that would have been helpful about sixty years prior. Maybe he would turn to this if he was struggling to translate some of the odd English words that they sometimes used.

He had learned British English first, which was why some of American English came so slowly to him at times. England had tried to learn some of the American's version but had given up quickly, so Russia hadn't followed in his footsteps, seeing as he could understand most of both dialects. Yet then again...

America.

The man was suddenly the only thing he could think about. Maybe he could help with the investigation? Yet this idea was inevitably shut down quickly. That selfish teen wouldn't help him, especially if it had to do with China. He would probably become jealous and things would go undoubtedly wrong.

At the very least he had identified an obstacle in the operation, America was a wildcard in the very best of situations and this would surely bury Russia deeper into the pages of his terrible books.

Carefully closing the history book, Russia placed it on the pile with the others. So there he sat carefully contemplating what paths he could take in this game. To make it more interesting it would be so easy to introduce America, but at the same time this mission had a reason and a third player like the Westerner would surely jeopardize it. After collecting the major history he would probably go to China directly, maybe not to ask him but instead to 'comfort' him.

Yes, that seemed like a good move, he would study up and go to China as soon as the direct snowing stopped. At China's he would gently ask about what happened, but only after he carefully and respectfully let himself into the house to say hello, just as he had so many times in the past.

Then China would probably just tell him and the whole problem would be over, even if it was a regrettably boring way of using his time in such a slow chase. Maybe after earning the nation's personal trust he would have America turn against them both with another fight. His reaction would probably be interesting to watch and to generally obsess over.