::Russia::

You tugged up on your scarf AGAIN, hoping to keep it up for good this time. Your eyes stung and your nose was freezing, especially when you sniffled in the bitter, crisp air as it swirled around you, taking snowflakes for a ride.

You crunched your way through the foot-and-a-half deep snow, thanking yourself that you had remembered to wear your boots with extra-tough grips on the bottom.

'When I finally meet up with Ivan, I'm gonna kill him,' you thought with a grimace, making your way down the street with your back to the icy wind.

Four Days Prior

"You want to WHAT?" you asked again, making sure you had heard correctly.

He nodded as he repeated, "I want to take you to see my favoreete place een de whole wide world: Sahnkt Pyayterboorg."

With your head in your palms, you mumbled, "What's that? Some kind of demon-infested hotel? No thanks."

He chuckled, patting your head. "Nyet, silly goose. Sahnkt Pyayterboorg ees… ah, how do you say… Ah! Eet's 'Saint Petersburg' een Eengleesh. You hev heard of dees, I am sure of eet. You hev, da?"

Oh…

"Yeah, actually," you replied, looking at his grinning face.

"Yayee~! Den we go to Sahnkt Pyayterboorg een chetirye (four) days, da?" Ivan asked, his violet eyes brimming with joy. He was so excited that he even began bouncing on his heels.

You couldn't resist the child-like guy, so you chuckled. "That'd be great. Are we going to fly to get there?"

"Eef you want to, eet can be arranged."

"I've never been on a plane before, let alone one going to Russia, of all places, so can we? Please?" Your smile widened, showing off your teeth, as you pleaded, standing on your tip-toes in an attempt to meet his eye level. (It didn't work.)

"Da! We weell fly to Raseeya, my home, and I weell show you Sahnkt Pyayterboorg and tell you why I love eet so much, but not unteel den, and- Oh, ya tahk vzvolnavahn! I'm so very excited now, _! Spaseeba~"

"What does sp-" A light kiss was placed on your cheek before Ivan trotted off, singing to himself in Russian.

Now

As previously stated, you wanted to kill Ivan. Violently.

Why, of all places, did he want to come to some ratty street in the middle of winter when the temperature was in single digits? Why?

You huffed, shoving your hands inside your pockets after adjusting your scarf and earmuffs again, not wanting to die of frost bite before you actually met Ivan.

If I did, though, it'd be all his fault. Where IS he, anyway? Stupid Ivan. Stupid winter. Stupid Russia. GRAH, I hate this place! Why would you want to-

Your thoughts were interrupted by a certain something in front of you. Your jaw crashed to the ground, spraying up fountains of snowflakes.

There, right in front of you, was the Winter Palace. THE Winter Palace that housed the royal family of Romanovs. THE Winter Palace that was plated with gold and white paint. THE Winter Palace that watched its occupants celebrate their monarchy with a grand ball or festival. THE Winter Palace that was ripped to shreds when the Bolsheviks revolted against the Romanovs in 1917, killing the entire royal family, except, supposedly, for one of King Nicholas I's daughters, Anastasia.

That Winter Palace.

You remembered to breathe, gasping and clutching your jacket where your lungs were. With wide eyes full of awe that started stinging with the onset of tears, you smiled to yourself, sniffling in the cold wind.

"Ees eet not beauteeful…?" a voice asked quietly from beside you.

You jumped at the sound, unaware that there had been someone next to you. You quickly picked your jaw back up from off of the ground and dusted the snow off, clicking it back into place.

"I-… Hi, Ivan!" you spluttered out, rubbing your jawline with a twinge of embarrassment.

He grinned back at you, the childish demeanor shining through his face. His long coat swirled and billowed in the wind, making him look a bit majestic as he stood with the palace behind him. "What do you theenk of eet?" he asked, turning back to face you.

"I… I don't think I could ever say just how much this means to me, Ivan. It's beautiful. Thank you." You looked up at him with a gentle smile, his light hair swishing around his face.

"Ahaha~ Anytheeng for leelte Anastasia. Oh!" He blinked in surprise at the words he had just spoken. "I… um…"

You interrupted his awkward moment by tugging on his sleeve and wondering, "Can we go inside? It's a museum now, right?"

"Da, eet ees. Would you like to do dat?"

"Yeah!" A chance like this? It could only come up once in a lifetime!

"Come, den. I weell show you what eet means to be part of Rooskee (Russian) heestory."

Through the gold-tipped iron gates of Imperial Russia's past you went, and with each second you tried to prepare yourself for whatever you would see.

Five Hours Later

"OH MY GOSH THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN AND WE ONLY GOT THROUGH, LIKE, AN EIGHTH OF IT AND I REALLY SHOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN THAT COFFEE, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS COLD OUTSIDE COMING HERE, AND THAT COFFEE WAS SO GOOOOD! AHAHAHAHA~!"

"_, _... ahaha… please calm down," Ivan said to you, putting his massive hand on your shoulder.

"THERE'S NO FREAKING WAY I'M GETTIN' TO SLEEP NOW, BUDDY!" you yelled, getting up and staring him in the face.

"_. Here, let me help you fall asleep, da?" Ivan asked with a cute grin, taking your wrists captive.

"H-Hey!" You tried yanking them back, but to no avail.

"Ahaha~ Do not worry. Besides, I do not see why you cannot sleep- you hev warm place to sleep, food een your tummy, and someone here to keep you company. If dat ees all, den dere ees no reason for you to be awake."

"Well…"

"Oh! Maybe you theenk I cannot put you to sleep by… counteeng sheep? Da, eet weell do. Of course I can make you sleep with leettle sheepies AND, eef I cannot, den… kol kol kol kol kol…"

"What? I… whoa…" Your sugar crash suddenly hit, causing you to blink a few times and dizzily mosey over to the bed.

"Dat's right. Here you go," Ivan offered, pulling back the covers and allowing you to crawl underneath them. He sat next to you after shutting off the lamp in the corner so that the only light was coming from the night light in the bathroom.

"Ready?" he questioned, watching you with curious violet eyes.

You nodded sleepily.

"Harasho (Good). Adna ovtsa~ Dvoohk ovyets~ Tree ovtsih~ Chetirye ovtsih~ Pyat ovyets~ Shest ovyets~ Syem ovyets~ Vosyem ovyets~ Dyevyat ovyets~ Dyesyat ovyets~"

He shifted, frowning slightly when he noticed that you weren't asleep yet. "Hm… I thought you would be asleep by now, but… Do you know what ees eenteresteeng? Dere are so many sheep all over de place… like here een Raseeya… and een Eengland… Funny leetle creatures, sheep…"

You slowly blinked at him.

"Ah, anyways… I weell keep goeeng. Shut de eyes."

As you closed your eyelids again, he continued. "Adeenadsat ovyets. Dvehnadsat ovyets. Treenadsat ovyets. Chetirnadsat ovyets. Pyantnadsat ovyets. Shestnadsat ovyets. Syemnadsat ovyets. Vosyemnadsat ovyets. Dyevyatnadsat ovyets. Dvadsat ovyets."

His face came a few inches closer with squinted eyes as he quietly wondered, "Ah? Ees eet posseeble dat you are asleep already? I was not feeneeshed, but…"

"Mm… I'm not asleep yet," you drowsily answered, rubbing your eyes.

He blinked at you with raised eyebrows. "Eh? Ahaha~ Hey, you know, eef you were to sleep at my place, I would count sheepies for you every day of de week. I do love dose leetle sheepies… so soft and fluffy… and vulnerable…" he trailed off, looking away from you.

"Uh-huh… Keep going…" you managed to say with a yawn in your mouth.

Ivan continued rambling as if you hadn't even spoken. "Well, eet ees not like eet would keel you to come see de sheepies being counted at my house… seence everyone weell become one weeth Mother Russia anyway, right?" He looked at you, grinning.

"No."

He sighed. "I see… Well, eet was worth a shot. I guess I weell keep goeeng, da?"

"M-hm…" You adjusted yourself so that you were laying in a more comfortable position and tugged the sheets up, taking in a deep breath.

"Dvadsat adeen ovyets. Dvadsat dva ovyets. Dvadsat tree ovyets. Dvadsat chetirye ovyets. Dvadsat pyat ovyets. Dvadsat shest ovyets. Dvadsat syem ovyets. Dvadsat vosyem ovyets. Dvadsat dyevyat ovyets. Treedsat ovyets."

You had just begun to nod off when he stopped, so the absence of sheep counting spurred you from your almost-slumber.

"Steel not sleepeeng… Ah, haha, dat's right. Eef you do come to my house to play, I can make really good food for you, like borscht and pelmeni, and, even dough eet ees holadna (cold), we can bundle up to keep warm. Leeveeng een Raseeya ees very nice to- Oh? Did you… You are not quite out yet, so… ten more or so should do eet, da?"

Stubborn droopy eyelids finally won, leaving you defenseless against the oncoming sleep. Ivan's quiet, gentle counting was easy on the ears, to say the least, and it wouldn't be long before dreams soon filled your head.

"Treedsat adna ovtsa… Treedsat dve ovtsih… Treedsat tree ovtsih… Treedsat chetirye ovtsih… Treedsat pyat ovyets… Treedsat shest ovyets… Treedsat syem ovyets… Treedsat vosyem ovyets… Treedsat dyevyat ovyets… Sorahk ovyets… Sorahk adna ovtsa… Sorahk dve ovtsih… Sorahk tree ovtsih… Sorahk chetirye ovtsih… Sorahk pyat ovyets… Sorahk shest ovyets… Sorahk syem ovyets… Sorahk vosyem ovyets… Sorahk dyevyat ovyets…Pyatdyesyat ovyets."

Ivan chuckled to himself. "H-hm… You are finally sleepeeng. You look so very… peaceful, _."

He covered his mouth as he yawned, hoping the sound wouldn't wake you. His violet eyes searched your face as he finished with, "Eet ees late, so I must be getteeng de sleep, too. Spakoynoy nochi, _~"

A/N

Man, I dunno about you readers, but I get so sleepy just writing these…