Chapter Twenty-Seven: Come Home

It was abnormally bright for a late February day. But then again, Ivan assumed, the sun was out, and was bouncing on the snow (how Ivan loved the snow). The pale blond made his way down the freeway, dead-set on seeing his little sister. She was at Natalia's parents' house. Yes… that had to be it. Though he should have called first. But they knew him pretty well, so a little surprise visit wouldn't hurt.

He finally got there and turned off the ignition. It looked like Mr. and Mrs. Arlovskaya's cars were in the garage, as the doors of the garage were open and Mr. Arlovskaya was just coming out, rubbing his grease-stained hands with a wash cloth. He gulped when Ivan came out of his car and gave him a good-natured smile. Then Mr. Arlovskaya smiled and took Ivan's hand firmly.

"How are you, Ivan?" the older man asked of the pale-blond.

"I'm fine."

Mr. Arlovskaya called for his wife, who smiled upon seeing her daughter's ex-boyfriend despite the fact that they weren't an item anymore.

"Sorry about the break-up, Ivan," Mrs. Arlovskaya finally said after a few seconds.

Ivan let go of her husband's hand and shrugged, "No worries. I had hoped Natalia and I would stay friends… which is partly why I'm here. Are Katyusha and Natalia here?"

Mrs. And Mr. Arlovskaya looked at each other warily, "They call almost every week… but I'm afraid… I'm afraid they aren't staying here…" Mrs. Arlovskaya told him.

There was a tight silence as Ivan thought about it. Not staying with her parents? And Katyusha and his parents were back in Russia, taking care of their granddad. So where in all of Monde could they have gotten to?

"Would you like to come inside for some coffee or tea?" Mrs. Arlovskaya asked.

Ivan snapped back to reality, shook his head good-naturedly, and shook both of their hands before getting back into his car, "No thank you, Mrs. Arlovskaya. I'll just be on my way. I'll find them one of these days…" he said, the smile he gave Natalia's parents giving them shivers down their spines.

He tried calling Katyusha once more, but his call went straight to voice mail. He listened absentmindedly to her recorded voice: Hiya! Kat here. Sorry I can't take your call right now, but I'm either with my friends or tending customers in the craft store. Leave a message after the tone and I'll try to call you back just as soon as possible! Thanks for your call!

Ivan sighed, put the phone in the drink holder, and pulled out of the Arlovskayas' driveway, back onto the street; he thought about where his sister and her friend could be. He drove until he came to a tiny, out-of-the-way restaurant to order some lunch for himself. Maybe if he found himself a hotel he could get rested and try again tomorrow. But the day was still fresh, and Ivan really wanted to see his sister, as she was still not picking up her phone and ignoring his texts to her. He sighed into his arms as he waited for his food to cook and present itself.

"You okay, sir?" a dark-haired man said from the next booth.

Ivan looked. It was a short, Chinese man, with his long hair back into a ponytail. The smaller man came and sat across from Ivan and gave the bigger man a cute smile.

"I'm Yao Wang… you look familiar, aru…"

Ivan didn't say anything, somewhat confused as to where he had seen this man before. "Yao… oh! We went to middle and high school together!"

"Ivan, right, aru?" Yao asked, "Ivan Braginski…" then Yao remembered. He blanched lightly and squeaked, knowing that this was the man Natalia and Katyusha were running from, and why Natalia had been coming over to Yao's house to learn martial arts. Oh no…

"Yes! Yes! Tell me… are you still with that adorable little Japanese boy?" Ivan asked.

Well… he doesn't seem as bad as the girls say, aru… China thought. "No… he's going out with Ludwig now, aru…"

"And you?" Ivan asked, leaning forward. His nose almost touched Yao's, but the skittish Chinese jumped back into the cushion behind him quickly.

"Aiyah! I'm… I'm single right now, aru!" Yao squeaked. He was just about to get up when the waitress (Bella) brought out his meal.

She glanced at the new arrangement and grinned neatly before placing Yao's meal in front of him. She would have to call Kat and Nat about the situation promptly… after she waited on a few more people and got Ivan's lunch to him.

Once both meals were out and Ivan and Yao were quietly eating, Ivan finally asked, "So… what are you doing these days, Yao?"

"Uhm… I run a craft store, aru…" Yao replied, after swallowing.

Ivan nodded and took another bite of his food. Wait a minute… he thought, "A craft store?"

"Uh huh…" Yao replied, calmly as he could.

"Do… uh… a Ms. Lozinski and a Ms. Arlovskaya work with you?" Ivan asked, as calm as Yao was acting, if not more. It sent shivers down Yao's spine.

Yao knew he was stuck. Lie to Ivan and the bigger man would probably have his head. Tell the truth… and Nat and Kat were done for. Natalia hadn't 'passed' his training yet, and Katyusha… well she was too sweet to die an early death. (Not that Ivan would kill her…)

But Yao didn't want to have a scene in this restaurant, either. There were many innocent people here… and Yao had been hinted at by the girls on Ivan's changing… personality. He got mean and physical, and then later, he wouldn't remember what he did, but he did remember the feelings of intense rage and passion he felt. It was an odd form of Dissociative Identity Disorder, but, so far, Natalia hadn't got professional help in all her years as his girlfriend.

"Yes, aru," Yao replied, regretting it as soon as the word(s) were out of his mouth.

Ivan took out his wallet, slammed a twenty on the table, and stood up. Then he kissed Yao squarely on the mouth (and lingered, I'll add), before he ran out of the restaurant and out to his car. Yao felt really bad about what had happened, (though he was blushing from the kiss) so he took out his phone and dialed Kiku's number.

"You might want to get home, aru. Ivan's here and… I told him where the girls work, aru. Yes. I'm sorry, aru. Really, truly sorry…"

Kiku quickly got Kat and Nat home, but it wasn't enough. Somehow, Ivan had gotten where the Japanese man lived from the records in Yao's office, and was now knocking on the door. Kiku squeaked, but knew he was stuck. Nat and Kat looked up from the couch and whimpered, Nat standing up boldly.

"No," Kiku replied, and went to the door, looking through the peephole. From such a small window, Ivan really did look like a giant, Russian bear. Kiku wasn't sure his martial arts would help him now…

"Open up, girls, I know you're in there. And if your precious stray is there, have him front line you, I want to make sure he never comes back!" Ivan said; his 'bad' personality had all ready engulfed him.

Kiku looked back at the girls and gulped, opening the door to the giant.

"Who's this?" Ivan asked, grabbing Kiku's shoulder rather roughly. Kiku made a pained noise before he replied, "Kiku… sir."

"Your new little stray, Katyusha?" Ivan asked, rattling Kiku a little bit. Natalia could tell the Japanese man's shoulder was dislocated and hurting like the dickens. She was good at figuring out the body's problems in herself and others, which was how she could subdue Ivan for the brief moments she could. She jumped forward, but Ivan swatted her into the wall. She winced, but nothing was broken. She decided, though, to recuperate for a moment.

"No…" Katyusha replied, "If… I don't like men…" she said, glancing at Natalia.

Natalia stood up, popping her shoulder back into place like it was nothing. Kiku was in too much pain to even do that… Nat had to figure out a way to get behind Ivan and save Kiku from any more injuries.

Too late. Ivan took out a pocket-knife from his back pocket, "No men, huh?" he asked, slicing Kiku's cheek. He winced, but refused to cry out.

Natalia's phone was in her bag. Which was behind Ivan. Dammit! Natalia thought. She stepped close to Ivan, who was now waaaay too into slicing (rather pretty) patterns into Kiku's chest. He had to tear away the t-shirt in order to do so, but he cut a little too deep in places, and both Kat and Kiku whimpered a little when that happened. This was just too much. Finally, Natalia ran at Ivan, and head-butted him into the wall. He flew into a vase, but that was what he got for hurting her friend.

Then she used what techniques she knew from Yao's teaching and blocked a few places on his body, rendering him paralyzed in his outer extremities. He nashed his teeth together, but Natalia was already picking the big guy up. "This is the last straw, Ivan Braginski. We're getting you help!"

Matthew was just about to get into Alfred's car when he got a call from Katyusha. He opened his phone and checked in the backseat to see if Arthur and Francis were behaving. "Hello?"

"Mattie! Kiku's in the hospital!" his Ukrainian caller nearly shrieked.

"What?" Matthew asked, a worried look on his face.

Alfred had paused with his keys halfway up to the ignition.

"Ivan found us and… he tortured Kiku before Natalia went all Amazon woman on him and… well… I'm fine, but Kiku is barely breathing. Natalia went to get Ivan some psychiatric help, but she was pretty badly wounded too…" Katyusha said.

But Matthew's eyes had widened and he wasn't really paying any attention. Finally he just said, "O-Okay… I'll… see you at the hospital," he said, closing the phone. He sat there, though, eyes still wide.

Arthur looked at him, "What happened?"

"Ivan came. He hurt Kiku. Kat took… Kiku to the hospital…"

"Mon Dieu!" Francis said, putting his hands over his mouth.

Alfred watched the French-Canadian for a minute, especially as Matthew's wide eyes began to cry. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"His best friend is in the hospital, you twit! Now start the car so we can go check on him!" Arthur cried from the back.

"Non…" Francis said, pointing at the weeping, yet still shocked, French-Canadian.

"I… I remember!" Matthew finally cried, putting his head in his hands and weeping.

Uhm... I'm sorry? -mad dash across the Canadian border-