Author's Note: This one was a little hard on the fact that I didn't know what I would be writing this week. This one turned out good. I'm still not sure if I will have Ivan and Lin Yi in a more intimate relationship. I'm happy to have my laptop, Celty, back and the battery life got better. I already know what I'm going to write for next week. I will come back to Ju, Yao, and the Liao clan the week after next. For now, let us enjoy this match.

Match Eight: Russian House:

-Ivan-

Their talking blended together for him. If Vozrozhdeniye couldn't have the tadpoles for themselves, they would have to create a being that could rival them. Sure it was his idea, but it was just to shut them up. How was he to know they would take him seriously? Ivan should've expected as much.

"I just about nailed the exact make-up of the tadpoles," Boris said as he pulled up the data on the screen. The group crowded around for a better look. The DNA strand slowly turned on the screen. The bright colors were enough to make Ivan glance up from his knitting. Boris tapped out each part.

"These are the different drugs that have fused with the cells," he said. "Each piece contains a number of elements in a certain drug."

"Can it be separated and broken apart?" Ivan sked.

"No," Boris said. "But I can try and take the sample for closer examination." He got typing to bring up more data. Ivan returned to his knitting. His boss insisted that he had to be here. It's just humoring at this point. They already lost the Dis Program. Kenya, Karp, and Lazar tried to recover Yoemon-sensei's computer, but the hard drive was fried beyond repair. Any data that could get from it was rendered unless.

"It does not matter now," Fyodor told them over Skype. "We have a new angle to capture the tadpoles." He still wouldn't let it go? Ivan just checked out mentally at this point.

Besides, he had something else to worry about.

Ivan himself started to have strange visions. They started off as dreams. He's had nightmares before in the past and practically learned how to block them out. This time, the Russian man could tell this was different.

He saw himself back in the 1950's. The white walls around him looked like they were ready to crush him. His eyes looked so empty. Ivan himself sat on a low bed in this tiny room. He didn't move, but his body told a dark story of self-harm. He didn't want to hurt himself. He just wanted to stop the voices in his head. They made him do these things. They showed him things that would make grown muscled men screamed. It didn't help that he heard a constant tapping when he was in his room.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Always those same six taps. Then, there was her.

He didn't look up when the door opened. She always comes in smiling.

"Good morning!" she greeted him. Her smile is a lie. The voices told him about the mask that she always wore.

Do not believe her lies! She's trying to kill you. She's going to poison you.

Why did she care about him so much? What was her goal? Today, she carried a tray in her hands. She walked over to him. He can never see what she looks like. He just saw her curves in her dress. Speaking of which, said dress blended in with the white around them.

"How are you this morning?" she asked. He never spoke. The voices wouldn't let him. She doesn't notice the war in his head. She seems to talk to herself as she works.

"Your medication seems to be working," she said. "No suicidal thoughts or actions, huh?" He doesn't respond. Does she even notice? Does she even care?

"Good, good," she said. "We'll have you all better soon." She set down the tray. "Time to eat." She fed and bathed him. The voices in his head didn't trust her.

She's evil. She's trying poison you! You have to kill her!

Something inside of him snapped and started the final downward spiral.

-Present Day-

Ivan found it hard to focus with these visions. He's been keeping it to himself for a long time now. The members of Vozrozhdeniye would pass it off as stress. They didn't believe in supernatural elements. They were all about science. Even after seeing everything that goes on in Ikebukuro, they still weren't convinced.

Ivan stopped knitting when his phone buzzed. He reached over and looked at the screen with no emotion in his eyes. One new text message. Sender identity unknown. Ivan idlily opened the message.

"We need to talk. See me after the meeting."

Heh, the leader wanted to talk to him, huh? Ivan put his phone back into his pocket. What could Fyodor possibly want he wondered. Commitment to the game? His lack of interest? Or maybe…

This meeting wouldn't be over until morning.

-Lin Yi-

They've been married for a year. Ivan's been very good to her. He gave her gifts and nice dresses. He took her to Japan when he had a business meeting in Ikebukuro. He never tried to force himself upon her. In fact, they've never had sex. Ever since Lin Yi threw up on their wedding night, Ivan didn't even try to seduce her. They slept in the same bed, but that was about it. Even that took about eight months to happen. Ivan found himself quite surprised when she asked for him to sleep in her bed.

"You are okay with this?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "I mean, we are married after all. You just seem so lonely in your office every night. It just doesn't feel right." He didn't seem to sure at first, but in the end he gave in. Lin Yi felt so tiny next to him in bed. Ivan didn't come across as a sexual sadist that she heard rumors about. Despite how this marriage started, things started to look up for the couple.

But, Lin Yi couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with her husband. She was used to him keeping her out of the loop when it came to business. However, there was a problem that he seemed to be bring home with him.

"Welcome home," Lin Yi greeted him when he came up this evening. Ivan looked up with a dull look on his face.

"Oh," he said. "I'm home. His wife frowned.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Ivan said. He walked by her to his office. Lin Yi raised her hand.

"Ivan…" she said. This wasn't the first time she saw it. He left his laptop on one day and Wang Ja showed her something that he saw on the screen.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I was looking around on his computer and I found these," Wang Ja said. Her brother moved the mouse. Lin Yi shook her head confused.

"What am I looking at?" she asked. "It's all in Russian. Why are you showing me this?"

"I've been learning how to read Russian over time," he said. "He's been looking up something past lives. Not only that but look at this." Wang Ja brought up another file on the computer.

"What is this?" Lin Yi asked.

"Mental hospital records that date back to the 1950's," the Hong Kong man said. "He's been looking them up for weeks now. I can't figure out why just yet, but I will get us out of here." His sister blinked.

"Do you think we should be doing this?" she asked.

"This will get us out of that bastard's house," Wang Ja said.

"Why?" Lin Yi asked. Her brother turned to her with an odd look on his face.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"He's not that bad once you get to know him," she said. Wang Ja turned to her.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "He's a tyrant. Haven't you heard the stories?"

"Well yeah… But, he's been good to me," Lin Yi said.

"Have you gone crazy?! We were forced here against our will. We were happy back at home! When was the last time you saw any other our siblings?!"

"Three weeks ago."

"Okay, there was Kiku. But what about the others?"

"I don't know…"

"That's what I'm talking about! He's cutting us off from family."

"No, he isn't. I can still see Yao if I want to."

"Then why haven't you?"

"I'm still mad at him. Look, can you please close that laptop? I'm not supposed to be in here."

Wang Jas was about to speak when they heard the front door open. He cursed himself under his breath. "Damn it, why are you doing this now?"

"I'm home!" Ivan called from the doorway.

"I'll be down in a second!" Lin Yi shouted. She ran out of the office to greet her husband. Wang Ja frowned and shook his head.

On the plus side, Lin Yi wasn't alone in noticing something wrong with her husband.

"How has Ivan been doing?" Katsuya asked.

"Fine, I guess," Lin Yi said. She hesitated at first. "Actually, I'm worried about him." The young wife half-expected her sister-in-law to ask her what she meant. Instead, Katsuya stared her down.

"Is he having dreams again?" she asked.

"Dreams?" Lin Yi asked.

"I don't know how to explain it," Katsuya said. "But, he's been more withdrawn lately. The other day he asked me about mental hospitals that were open and running back in the 50's."

"Why would he about something like that?" the young wife asked. She thought back to all of the Google searches that her brother showed her the other day.

"I can't really say myself," her sister-in-law said. "He's had nightmares like these before." Katsuya's smile started to dim. "Though… it's not been like this before."

"What do you mean?" Lin Yi asked. The Ukrainian woman brushed her off.

"It's probably nothing," she said. "It might pass in a few weeks. I wouldn't worry about it if were you. That's how he is at times."

"Yeah…" the young wife said, making herself smile. Somehow, she didn't seem to be convinced to hear that. Maybe her worries are warranted.

-Wang Ja-

His case is gaining momentum. Wang Ja has been witness to the Vozrozhdeniye meetings. The butler has been picking up on Russian over the past year. He managed to pick up hearing something about a game. Like hell he would ask his boss about it.

"He never talks about business with us," Toris told him. "We don't even try to ask."

"That's not right," Wang Ja complained.

"That's just how it is," his colleague said. The Hong Kong man clenched his fists at his sides and gritted his teeth.

"So frustrating," he grumbled. That didn't stop his quest to void the arrangement. It didn't help that Lin Yi started to want to stay. How could she want to stay in the marriage to a man who had the sadistic nature of a child? Wang Ja wanted to scream at the Baltic states for not standing up to their boss. He was determined to not be as weak as them.

Lucky for him, Wang Ja might have the evidence to get him and Lin Yi free from their arrangement.

The butler had been doing his homework on Vozrozhdeniye. These people were hardcore supporters of the Soviet Union. There were rumors about human experimentation. The more he looked, the more Wang Ja saw red flags. Coupled with Ivan's mental state as of late, the Hong Kong thought that he would be able to get himself and his sister out and maybe go to America. Or at least somewhere that Russian government would not touch them. If only he could translate more Russian into Chinese and put the pieces together.

His luck and chances would get better with one e-mail.