Hetalia © Hidekaz Himaruya

OCs © reaper-of-lost-souls

A/N: Hello! Well I'm just bored and my WIFI is acting weird, so I decided to review and post another chapter ^^ I hope you guys and enjoy and I'll see you at the end! =3

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A few bottles later and you finally started to feel tipsy. Then again it took a lot of alcohol to get you drunk because you could hold your liquor fairly well, but as you looked at Ivan he didn't seem at all flustered by the bottles of vodka the two of you had consumed. Though you did notice that his cheeks and nose were red and he was tugging at his scarf as if it was hot in the building, so maybe he was starting to feel its effects. Apparently Alfred had taken Arthur home and said goodbye, but before he left you told him that you had something to do Sunday morning so you won't check up on him till that afternoon. You wanted to get up early tomorrow, so you told Ivan thank you for the drink and that you would be heading home. The man wanted to walk you back and paid for the bottles; the two of you walking side by side in the chilly fall air. As you looked up you saw a few stray leaves falling from the sky, a smile on your face as one drifted your way and you caught it in your hands. "… So Ivan," you began, twirling the leaf in between your fingers as you walked down the street towards your hotel, "just wondering, what is your favorite season from the best to the least?"

"Eh?" Ivan looked at you confused, noticing the goofy grin on your face as you stared in awe at the leaf in your hand. You were obviously drunk and may not even remember this conversation, but the hiccup escaping your lips as you stared back at him with a smile make him chuckle. "Spring, summer, fall, and winter –"

"Why~~?" you continued to ask, your movements along the road stagnant as you almost walked into the street and stumbled back over to the man.

He scratched the back of his head, unable to stop a snicker from escaping his lips as he grabbed hold of your arm and pulled you close to him. "Spring, the snow melts and General Winter leaves me alone. Plants begin to grow again, even though it's a short amount of time, and I'm able to roam around my house again vithout worrying about the cold," Ivan grinned, watching as you snuggled lazily up against his arm and your eyes began to droop from lack of sleep. "Summer, because it's hot at my place and I don't have to vear so many layers," he chuckled, "and there's food to eat and festivals everyvere…" He paused, seeing the hotel across the street, but instead ushered you across the street and took a right, walking around the hotel as he continued. "Fall… because it starts to get cold and everything starts to die, but I can still leave my house from time to time," he explained, though your mind wasn't completely registering what he was saying, "and winter I loathe because it snows and I can never leave my house, no matter how much I try. Девочка, vat about you?"

"Winter," you mumbled as you lazily leaned against his arm, unknowing to you that you had passed by your hotel, "fall, spring, summer…"

"… Vhy?" Ivan asked, a confused look on his face when you mentioned winter first.

"Winter, because I get to ski," you paused, a giggle escaping your lips as you rubbed your nose against his arm, "and the days are chilly and I get to play in the snow. Fall… because it's time to bring in the harvest and I always make time to do that. Once everything is done w-we have a banquet in town to celebrate the end of the harvest season… Ummm… what did I say next?"

You looked up at him, your face staring at him groggily as he smiled back. "Spring, девочка –"

"Ah yes!" You snickered, though the comment wasn't as funny as you thought it was. "S-pring, because… because… it's warmer, but not too warm. It's different to winter and everything starts to grow again, b-but my family is sowing the fields and planting crops so I don't care much for the season," you shrugged, "and lastly… uh… Summer, because it's hot, too hot. I feel sluggish during the summer and there's always work to do… hey Ivan."

"Да? –"

"A-re we almost to the h-otel?" you asked, your mind barely noticing how tightly you were gripping his arm. "I-I'm about to… to… fall o-ver."

"Да, we're almost there," he lied, the smile on his face beginning to linger as he looked up to the sky, a sigh escaping his lips as he went back around the hotel so they were at the front of the building. "We're here, девочка. Do you need me to bring you to your room –"

"N-nah I can manage," you chuckled lightly, letting go of his arm and slowly making your way to the door. You were about to trip on yourself when he didn't let go of your hand and you let out a yelp, quickly regaining yourself as he stared at you with concern and you waved your hands in front of your face. "I'm fine! Fine! See you around Ivan?"

"Д-да," he nodded, "…Пока девочка. Sleep well."

"Byyyyyyee~ Ivan!" you waved your hand and grinned, a smile growing on his face as you opened the door and disappeared into the hotel. He watched as you left, waiting till you walked into an elevator and descended up to your hotel room before turning his heel and walking back to the outskirts of the city.

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)(*&^%$# !

You cracked an eye open, groaning as you heard an alarm by your head and tried to shut it off. "… Shut up… Shut up!" you snarled, smashing your hand against the alarm clock and groaning as you shoved your head into your pillow. "Damn hangovers," you grumbled under your breath, but you reluctantly pulled yourself up from your bed and rubbed your eyes. You noticed that you were still wearing the clothes you had worn last night, but the room seemed stuffy because you didn't open the window. You snorted, looking down at your feet and noticing one shoe was still on and the other was on the ground by the door. You groaned when you shifted out of bed, holding a hand to your head and knowing you had to get up. You started the small coffeemaker in your room, but hissed in pain at how loud the machine was. "You would think after all this time they could make a coffeemaker that's not LOUD!" you yelled at no one, huffing as you threw off your clothes and whatever else you had on before hopping into the shower. You sighed happily, the warm water waking you up as you washed your hair and put some fruity smelly shampoo into your hair. You used the steam to wake you up, a sneeze escaping your lips and a groan escaping your mouth from how violently the air came out of your nose.

Once you were done you went through your routine, brushing your teeth and using whatever else was in the bathroom before walking out and shuffling around your hotel room looking for clothes to wear. Decent clothes, not a suit but not the blue jeans you were wearing before. Since you were in Europe you decided to wear a long skirt that reached down to the tops of your ankles, heeled shoes, and a white collared shirt that you tucked into the skirt. You grabbed a black cloth and tied it around your waist, putting a black scarf around your head to keep your neck warm from the cold. Lastly you put your Russian Orthodox Cross back around your neck, tucking it under your scarf, but letting it hang loosely on top of your shirt. You hid a few weapons on your person, letting out a tired sigh when you heard the coffeemaker hiss at you. You quickly got the rest of your belongings from you small black bag and put the strap around your body, pouring the coffee into a mug and slowly drinking the liquid. "… Needs to be stronger," you shrugged, but continued to drink the coffee till all that was left was a small amount of liquid at the bottom. Then you looked down at your watch, noticing it was 9:30am. "Good," you smirked, putting your mug down and walking out of your hotel room, "I still have some time before the mass starts."

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Ivan walked into a small building complex, the smell of incense filling his nose as he looked around for two familiar people. His Katyusha always made it mandatory for him to come with her to a Russian Orthodox mass because it was provided here in the city and it was the only time she could spend with him without the prying eyes of their governments, and of course Natasha, once hearing about the meetings, came with старшая сестра too. He shuddered at the thought of seeing Natasha, but he promised so he would bear through the pain. Suddenly someone caught his eye, someone oh so familiar sitting two rows towards the front in a pew. "Ivan!" he heard a whisper, looking over to see Katyusha waving him over as Natasha was being held back by her sister, but they looked in disappointment as he continued walking down the aisle and sat beside a lone woman sitting towards the front.

You had your eyes closed till you heard someone sitting beside you, looking over and noticing Ivan sitting beside you. "Привет Ivan," you smirked, though you didn't look over at him and kept your eyes closed as if you were deep in prayer.

"Добро пожаловать -insert-your-name-. I didn't know you would come," Ivan smiled back, but once he noticed you were quiet and deep in thought he sat back in the pew uncomfortably and kept his eyes on the front of the building.

You opened your eyes and let out an annoyed sigh when two other people joined Ivan and you in the pew, a tall, large breasted woman sitting between Ivan and you while a smaller woman with long blonde hair sat beside Ivan, much to his discomfort, and clung to his arm as he shifted away and scooted closer to the other woman next to him. "Ivan, why didn't you come over?" The older one asked in Russian, shooing the younger woman away from Ivan's arm before continuing.

"старшая сестра, I-I –"

"Can you people please keep quiet during the mass?" you snorted in a quiet tone, glaring at Ivan before sighing and looking back forward to the front. They stared at you in confusion, obviously stunned by your comment, before slumping into the pew and staring to the front. A sly smirk plastered itself on your face until you heard the mass was beginning, standing up along with everyone else and singing along with the music being sung.

You noticed that the woman on the other end of the pew was staring at you in a rather creepy way, a look of killing you right where you stand if it weren't for the two other people between you and the other woman. The woman sitting next to you would glance over at you and whispered into Ivan's ear, which he shook his head and looked away, trying to keep a red tint from entering his cheeks. You didn't know why, but you shrugged off the presence of the people beside you and paid attention to the mass, your mind deeply involved in everything that was said and sung until the very end. Once everyone started to leave you turned to Ivan, who was sitting quietly as the older woman talked to him and giggled slightly under her breath. "… Ivan," you began, getting their attention, "who are these two women? –"

"I'm Ukraine," the woman sitting next to you smiled, "and our little sister Belarus. Right младшая сестра?" The woman beside Ivan simply nodded, clinging to him tighter as he cringed and tried to move away.

"Ah," you answered with a nod back, though you didn't like the look the woman named Belarus was giving you.

"You work for Америка, да?" Ukraine asked with a smile.

"O-oh yes," you answered with a smile, "I do. New, but we'll see if I stay –"

"I think you should leave me with brother," the woman named Belarus said, Ukraine shaking her head as you looked over at the other woman and was met with angry dark blue eyes.

"Natasha, be nice –"

"I see you walking vith brother. He not like you, right большой брат?" Natasha asked, Ivan unable to answer her as you stood up and walked around the pew so you were looking at her face to face.

"Is that so~~?" you responded, setting you head down on the pew in front of her and staring her down with your own glare. "You like to stalk your own brother? Isn't that a bit obscene?"

"Obscene? –"

"If you want to get your brother's attention you shouldn't go around threatening people who are trying to be nice to him," you smirked, noticing Natasha's confused gaze on you. "In fact if you want your brother to be happy you shouldn't try to hurt those who make your brother happy, but hurt those who threaten him. Hmmm~~ Natasha? Or should I show you in a more threatening way –"

"You don't know what большой брат needs –"

"What he wants is for you to stop clinging to his arm," you continued, your hand moving behind your back to grab a weapon hidden under your clothes just in case this woman didn't reason with you. "Trust me, I know how it is to have an older brother you adore, but if you don't give the man room he'll avoid you. So how about you let Ivan go, please Natasha?" Natasha glared at you, but slowly let go of his brother's arm. In an instant Ivan shifted away and stood up from the pew, you raising an eyebrow at him as he nervously smiled to you. "Better?"

"Большое спасиб –"

"Без проблем," you smirked, getting up and sighing as you decided it was time to leave.

"W-wait a second!" The older woman said, your head looking back around at them as you stared at the woman confused, "Would you like to join us for breakfast?"

"Ummm… sure I guess," you shrugged, giving the woman a smile as you tugged on the black strap around your side, "but if you don't mind I'll have to take a few calls first."

"Да, go ahead," Ukraine smiled, you giving the woman a nod and walking faster than them out of the building so you could open your cell phone and answer the calls you had been getting during the whole mass.

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You let out a tired sigh, your head hitting you pillow as you looked up to the ceiling. It took you weeks to remember every country, every name, and every secretary. There are still a few countries you didn't fully know about, but you wanted to fix that problem in the future. During the day you ushered Alfred around the city and at night you would fill out his paperwork while he went to sleep. Whatever had to be signed and dotted by the country himself you waited till morning to wake Alfred up, since he always showed up late you learned to give him time to sleep before waking him. If this arrangement did work out you would be relieved because going back and forth from the hotel room to Alfred's house was becoming a pain. You rubbed your eyes in exhaustion, letting your eyes close as you thought to yourself.

The past few weeks have been interesting. You were always seeing Arthur and Joseph around because Alfred always wanted to hang out with Arthur, and even though you've forced this habit you called almost everyone by their first names now because Alfred does and everyone expected you to also. Not only that, but they wanted you to so you let them call you by your first name instead of by your whole name. Sometimes Francis and Julien would be there to torment Arthur, though you hated Julien's advances towards you. Luckily Joseph noticed your hesitations and would butt into the conversations and defend you, but you simply watched as all the emotions unfold every single day. Then from time to time Matthew and Rachel would show up and when that happened you would talk happily with Rachel while ignoring everyone else. Sometimes you would talk to Matthew too and ask from time to time if he was getting good snow at his place. You liked talking to Matthew because you always love going to Canada for vacation, so you discussed a lot about his home whenever the others were gathered together. While you were with Alfred this was the group you were usually forced to hang out with during the week, since Alfred liked to be social and always promised to go places even though he didn't tell you beforehand.

At your free time during the world meetings you would go to Alfred's house and clean around his place, but by now you've already cleaned up his entire house to the point that all that you would have to do is take out the trash from time to time, grab any loose clothing and sometimes use his washer and dryer, and go out almost every day to buy groceries. The man seemed to eat and eat whatever he could find, so you didn't buy a lot and when you'd go to his house you'd notice that almost all but a few little cans would be gone. You didn't mind buying the food, but you had to stay on budget and wanted to keep the money you were earning for yourself and not for him. Sometimes, while you were walking about the city, someone would say that Alfred hadn't paid his tab so you would either pay or tell them they will get the money by the end of the week and make a mental note to go back. Alfred was always buying un-necessities, which was one of the things that infuriated you, but you let that slide and would simply feed him less. You were able to put him into a habit of eating at home, at least for dinner unless it was business related, because he liked your cooking. You had doubts because he says that anything is good, but after you cooked the burgers for him Alfred wanted you to make more and more and eventually you began to anticipate when he'd want food. He always bought snacks and fast food, but you were slowly weaning him away from those types of products because it was one of your requirements to do so. It would take some time, but hopefully Alfred will see the benefits of having a stable healthy diet; yet you would never call it diet. He would stop in an instant.

Since your free time increased after his house was clean, you began to walk around the city more and see all you could see. Occasionally you should run into someone you met at the meetings, country or secretary, and you would go have lunch with them. There were some countries that would show up to the meetings and others never did. You ran into a brown haired country with a curl that called himself Romano and seemed to despise you for no reason whatsoever. He called himself Southern Italy and argued that his other brother was the one who went to the meetings. You realized the other Italy was the one who had startled you and threw his arms up in the air, but you also recalled that he was always sitting by Germany during the meetings so many he stayed in the same place the other Italian did. There was another country you had seen at the meetings and he called himself Prussia, also Gilbert. Apparently Gilbert Weillschmidt was the eastern half of Germany, but since Germany was a whole country it confused you when he introduced himself as Prussia. You had to research what Prussia was and saw that it was a region of land almost exactly where Germany was today. He was a fun guy and the two of you would meet up at a pub from time to time to drink. He talked about the past, laughed about the little things Ludwig did, and answered your questions between drinks. He would order a beer, you would either have beer or vodka, and the two of you would talk casually about all sorts of things. He was the type of man that knew a lot about other people, but when you talked about Ivan Gilbert told you to stay away from the country. You didn't understand why, but by the look on his face you saw a tinge of fear and anger.

Regardless it took you a long time to understand the interwoven relationships between the countries. Some were hostile, others were friendly, but they fluctuated from time to time. The secretaries didn't put time and effort into understanding the other countries, and only placed their energy into understanding their own countries and their problems with others. You did too, but the love-hate relationships between countries were rather fascinating and if you stayed you wish to understand every single problem and dilemma. Every Sunday you took time to go to the Russian Orthodox mass and pray, and run into Ivan and his sisters every single time. Afterward the four of you would go out for breakfast and sometimes your whole day would be derived of walking through the streets with Ivan and his sisters. You liked how Ivan was always shy when it came to his sisters and was a stoic man to everyone else. A different atmosphere after following Alfred all day, thus you liked the differences. Yet you never talked about work and neither did he. Katyusha would try to get information from you, but you never said a word. It was nice to talk to a group of people who knew Russian because the people you are usually speaking Russian to were your own family and sometimes if you have to for your job. It was nice to be casual with all the countries and secretaries, but you could tell that they all had their secrets and sometimes they would put on acts, as you did.

The secretaries were another problem. Each had a secret past like yourself and no one shared what it was. Rachel seemed to be the only secretary that vaguely shared why she was chosen to be Matthew's secretary, but you quickly realized that every secretary had special skills. They knew how to fight and protect, were smart, and could be a liable threat if you ran into each other on different circumstances. Yet each one of them was nice in their own bazaar ways and so were you. There seemed to be some mutual understanding that if you work for a country then the countries as well as the secretaries have your back, unless you are at war with one another. That was a different tale because everyone has been trying to keep peace for several decades, including Alfred. You knew that the American economy wouldn't be able to cope with another war, even if they wanted to. Yet in the back of your mind you had a feeling a war would happen soon enough, but how and when was a different story. It was only a matter of time, since it's simply nature's way to have conflict and the countries are that way all the time. Alfred seemed to get on every country's bad side and even though he kept a grin on his face you could tell he was hiding hints of anger and sadness at other countries as they did with him, so if you stayed you wanted to pry into his problems further and see the man behind the mask.

You slowly opened your eyes, a pout on your face as you continued to think. The end of the month was almost here and you didn't know if Alfred would keep you or not. You had done a lot of things for the man, but yet there were areas that you doubted the relations were strong and well grounded. The secrets were prying into your mind and you didn't like having to keep them, but if you didn't then your whole assignment will be in jeopardy and you don't know what'll happen after that. You finally got to talk to your family every day and you didn't want to lose that bond again. You had a feeling that if you stayed the country would open up to you more, but if you didn't then the two of you would have to move on. What you knew he was uncertain about was Ivan, or Russia. There was still bad blood between the two countries and you knew that, and the fact that you were always meeting up with the man during your breaks didn't help your case. You weren't sure about Ivan either, you'll admit that, but something internally drew you towards the man. Maybe it was because he was Russia, maybe because of the man himself, but you really didn't know why.

Plus the man seemed to pop up wherever you went. If you went to a bar he would be there a few minutes later or already be there. If you went out to eat by yourself he was either already there or showed up later then you. If you were simply walking through a park you would run into him in some way, which was odd because the only other countries you were with so intimately was Alfred and Arthur because Alfred always wanted to talk to Arthur. So why did this man always show up? Why was he always there? You sighed and shook your head, finally lifting your head up off of your bed and began to walk around your hotel room. You knew there was a reason for Alfred to be suspicious, and you didn't blame him. Russia may be trying to pry information out of you and you may be giving it to him. In reality you weren't. You never did and he never said a thing to you about his own problems, but he seemed to like your company and to be honest you liked his. It also broke your heart to hear other countries speaking ill of the man and avoiding him. You didn't know why, but they intentionally avoiding the country whenever they walked past and would ask you later why you were with the man. You couldn't answer them because you didn't know why yourself. You just liked talking to the man about little details like the weather and the food they were eating.

You suddenly heard a knock on your door and looked through the peephole to see who it was, a delivery man for a package for you? You cautiously opened the door and signed off for the package, waiting for the man to leave before opening the package to see what was inside. Your eyes lit up when you saw what was inside, a care package from your family! You never gave them your address for fear of their information being traced back to you, but you had made a deal through the agency to get packages and letters from time to time. It was irregular to get one so quickly though. Usually it took a few months before you got a letter sent a few weeks ago, but you decided it was a good thing and brought the package inside, closing the door and locking it before placing your package on your bed.

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A/N: Oh wow! Sort of went fast there XD So there's a major time skip, from the start of your employment to the end of the month. I'll probably change the summary after a chapter or two, since this story doesn't stop for a while and I have a bigger idea now. I don't know what I'll put down, but I'll think of something ;3 And yes, I think the Russia I've been writing seems a bit OOC. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but I'll try my best to make him as Russia/Ivan like as I can =D If you guys have any comments on how I can perfect my story please respond. It'd be nice to hear what my readers have to say =3 Well I won't keep you now. SEE YOU LATER!

старшая сестра – Russian – big sister

Привет – Russian – hi

Добро пожаловать – Russian – welcome (to greet someone)

младшая сестра – Russian – little sister

большой брат – Russian – big brother