Note- Russia and America's constant fights have little historical significance. It's not really that important, but the reason that they fight is because of all of the steam built up during the Cold War, when they couldn't touch one another without a full-out nuclear war. But now, the year is 1994, the Cold War has been over for years, so they can swing at each other as much as they want without a war.

Come to think of it, Sealand is probably exempt from the 'Only tell your boss that you're a nation' rule. His land is too small to really keep a secret like that. With say, America, seeing him in America would make you think that he's just another guy, but in Sealand, everyone knows each other, so one extra person would really stand out.

Maybe this chapter you might get a glimpse of the girl's identity. Who is she? What does she want? And why did she ask Norway of all people? Find out this chapter! Maybe.

Also- I'm dropping hints to which nation she is. If you find at least two of them, PM me, and I'll tell you what will happen to her next!

Chapter 28 (Robin POV)

Nami yawned. "I'm tired… I'm going to bed now,"

She went into our room.

Luffy yawned.

"Tired?" asked Zoro. "What exactly did you do today…?"

SPLAT! Luffy fell face-flat on the ground.

"Waaah!" Ussop cried. "What's wrong with him?!"

"Something like that must be a problem," Sanji muttered. "Chopper! What's going on?!"

Chopper shook his head.

"What's wrong?!" Sanji repeated.

"N-nothing's wrong!" Chopper trembled. He let out a sigh. "It's a good sign that he's falling asleep. Luffy needs to recover. He's still recovering from his spleen injury…" he gave an accusing glance at Russia.

"Vhat, it vas a fight, да?" Russia smiled. I saw his picture, and he doesn't look any less creepy as an adult.

Chopper trembled more than ever. "I-I'm n-not sc-scared of y-you," he said.

"Oh, shut up, you commie," America glared at Russia, raring for a fight.

"You vant to fight, да?" the pipe was out in a flash.

"Hell yeah!" America yelled, fists held up.

"Capitalist pig-dog," Russia said quietly- because muttering wasn't something that suited him.

"All right, that's it, Soviet commie!" America lunged, and caught Russia full on in the face.

"Aiyah, why do they have to do this e'ery time?" Yao complained. He turned to us, those of us who weren't yet used to their constant brawls, and held out a bowl of rice. "You want/don't want rice [1]?"

"Sure… actually, I'm a little tired from everything that happened today. Just apologizing to the police was pretty stressful…" I said, but I gave a look to the others that meant that I was following Nami.

"Good night, then," Zoro said.

"Good night," I said back. I marched down the hall silently, straining my ears to hear what they were saying in the room next to ours. I could hardly understand a word they were saying, but they were discussing something soberly. Even Italy sounded fretful.

When I got in my room, Nami was sitting on her bed in her pajamas, ear pushed to the wall. She made a few quick gestures which I took to mean, "Be quiet," without actually looking at me.

I changed into my pajamas and climbed onto my own bed, next to Nami's, and listened at the same wall. Nothing they said made sense to my ears, whatever language- or languages- they were speaking, it wasn't one that I understood.

Finally, I heard the sound of cheap boots hitting wood. "Someone is eavesdropping!" Spain shouted.

Nami and I exchanged glances. "This is bad," she seemed to say.

I hastily pulled the covers over me, and heard Nami do the same. The door creaked open a crack, but no one came in.

"…Come on, they're the only one next to us, we're at the end of the hall," Peter said urgently.

"Ja, ja, but none of us heard zem move zis whole time," Germany said.

I heard the clunking of cheap boots and the sound of someone opening a window. There was another dull sound. "They might be outside," Spain said.

There was a noise like a cheap boot stomping on a windowsill. So he's jumping out the window…

THUNK!

CRASH! Tinkle.

Frantic footsteps filled the hall. "T-tomato jerk!" Romano shouted, panicking. "Hold on, I'll come help you!" Footsteps pounded the floor, and the door opened and slammed shut. "Spagna! "You had better be okay, you jerk!"

"Ugh…" Spain groaned. "R-Romano…"

"Spain!" Romano shouted, relieved that he was alive.

"R-Romano…"

"Don't talk; I'll carry you back up!"

I wondered how he was going to carry him with a five-year-old body, so I used my Hana-Hana power to get a better look. Extra eyes appeared on the outside walls of the inn.

Romano was sitting at Spain's side, eyes closed under the strain of the effort of lifting him up.

"R-Romano…" Spain put his hand to Romano's face.

"Sh-shut up, you jerk! We have to get you to-"

"Your cheeks are so soft…" Spain sighed.

There was an angry pause. "V-voi…" Romano's voice was full of barely restrained fury. "Idiota!" (Voi means you, Idiota means idiot in Italian.)

Romano hopped onto Spain's back and jumped up and down on it.

"Guh-" Spain coughed up blood. "Eh- uh- agh-" he sputtered.

That was it, enough waiting. I stood up, and got out of bed. "He's injured, and he has this weird disease. I'm not going to hit a child, but this is another matter entirely." I jumped out the window.

"W-wait!" Nami cried, but it was too late.

I landed on my feet; thankful that the drop from our window was less than the one Spain fell out of. "What was that noise?" I asked.

"Stupido jerk hit his head on the windowsill," Romano explained, still crushing him.

I sighed. "You know, he'd recover much more easily if you'd just stop doing that,"

"Okay," he said quickly, and landed on the ground instead of Spain's head. ("My vital regions…" Spain moaned.)

"He cannot refuse a voman," Austria said.

"(H-h)'ow did you g-get 'ere?!" Spain yelped.

"Ze front door, how else?" Austria said simply.

Luffy came bounding out of the inn. "Oi! Is it true that you were married?!" he shouted.

Instantly, Spain tensed up.

Nami followed him and shouted, "Don't ask such a personal question!" She smacked him hard on the head. "Just look at him!"

"M-Me arrastró hasta el altar y me obligaron a casarme con él!" he blurted out in an unrecognizable language.

"Eh? What was that?" asked Luffy.

"I-I said, he dragged me to the altar and forced me to marry him!" Spain said fearfully.

"Really?" Luffy asked way too calmly.

"Luffy!" Nami scolded. "That's worse than you probably think it is!"

"Ja," Austria said simply. "Vhat? Mein boss made me,"

"Your boss made you marry another man." Nami said. "Why?"

The three of them exchanged nervous glances. "Well…" Spain began.

"You see…." Romano fidgeted. His hands were whipping around like some sort of sign language that I could barely understand.

"Ze reason eez-"

"WHAT THE- WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US THIS EARLIER?!" Ussop yelled from inside the inn.

We all looked at one another, and decided that this was a good time to go in.

"ごめんなさい, I am sorry," Kiku said when we went in. "I did not know sat you did not know,"

"Well, it's bloody obvious that we didn't," Cap'n said angrily.

"Well, I wanted you to remember!" Canada yelled with a muffled voice.

"You're the occult expert!" Peter shouted.

"Ve…" Italy and Romano hugged each other and trembled. I had a sudden vision of both of them at the same age and height doing the exact same thing, except perfectly in sync. And a peninsula that looked like a boot. Or a hockey stick [2].

"Why would I tell you, mon ennemi?" France said maliciously. (French for 'my enemy')

"Ve! Ve! Ve~!" Both Italy and Romano seemed to lose the ability to speak, and were making complicated gestures with their arms. If they were twins again, and were dancing, they'd have beaten Mr. 2. But for some reason, when they did this, Romano seemed less like a child, and more like an adult…

"I forgot," Germany stated.

"I aporogize," Kiku bowed deeply.

"Aiyah, I did not know either, do not retaliate on us," Yao complained, probably soured by the fact that Cap'n didn't remember his name.

"I aporogize," Kiku repeated.

"Ve! Ve! Ve~~~… Ve!"

"Dude! You mean you didn't know?!" America shouted, genuinely surprised.

"It vas your fault, да?" Russia kept on smiling serenely, unabashed by the other's antics.

"I aporogize," Kiku bowed deeper, until he was groveling on the ground.

"Ve! Ve~~~~~~. Veveve!"

"How should I know? I yust got here!" Austria ranted. (There doesn't seem to be a 'j' as we know it in German)

"Ve! Ve! Ve!"

"Shut up, Italien!" Austria snapped.

"Ve…" Miraculously, Italy stopped moving his arms, breaking the illusion that Romano was at his full size again. He was still clad in full maid's dress, complete with head rag.

"'ey, now you know, right?" Spain said serenely, not taking in the atmosphere. The past few weeks left me to conclude that unlike Russia, who brought his intimidating aura with him wherever he went, Spain was just insensitive. Not to imply that it was that bad, he was like Luffy.

"I aporogize," Kiku said to each of us in turn.

"I-It's okay," said Nami nervously. She probably never had someone apologize to her like that. "But what was it that you didn't tell us?"

"Ja, vhat did you say, anuyvay?" Austria repeated.

Kiku blinked. "Oh, you were outside. You did not hear?"

Romano sulked. "Of course we did not, Nikujaga jerk!"

Kiku hung his head. "In sat case, sis is what happened…"

Meanwhile… (Figure POV)

I carried the girl who knew where Russia was to the forest, where I planned on staying for the night. I had no money, when I tried to buy food, the storekeeper laughed at my forints, euros, yen, and every other kind of money I had. Personally, I preferred plains and open land to forests, but I had a few woods here and there in my land. Anyway, the forest had more cover, and shelter from the rain.

"Ugh…" the girl stirred. She opened her eyes just a crack, and closed them just as quickly.

"You are avake?" I asked.

She didn't reply. Still pretending to be asleep, eh? "Vake up!" I snapped.

Unable to feign unconsciousness any longer, the girl sat up slowly, her left hand to her belt.

"And take your hands off dat veapon!" I snapped again.

"H-h…" she trailed off.

"Vhat?" I demanded. She flinched. For a fleeting instant, she reminded me of Italy when he was a child under Mr. Austria… I was filled with shame. I had allowed my obsession with finding him cloud my heart. "I… I am sorry," I said in a gentler tone.

At the sound of an apology, the girl's eyes widened. She dropped her weapon- a knife, not out of fear, but mainly surprise. "Wh-who…?"

"Am I?" I finished. "My name is… not important. Vhat I vant to know is vhere dis man is," I showed her a picture of him, sitting with me the others who were at that meeting.

She shook her head. "Why would I do that? You beat me up and kidnapped me!" she said with more spunk than she had in front of her leader.

She had a point. I got up. She flinched, but I continued. "Den I have no reason to stay here," I said, and began to walk away.

"Wait!" she called.

I turned around. "Vhat is it?"

"Th-the man you were looking for…" she trembled, kind of like the Baltics.

"Igen?" I asked, waiting for a response.

"I-I wasn't planning on telling you, b-but since you didn't hit me like Kay did… Oh no!" she panicked. "I wasn't supposed to say that! If Kay ever finds out…" she turned to me, a desperate look in her eyes. "Please, I'm begging you, don't tell anyone that I said that!" she was on the verge of tears.

"I von't." I promised firmly, like an older sister. "Cawm down. Vhy are you so afraid of dem?"

She stopped sobbing, but hiccups still marred her speech. "K-Kay's a b-boy, and Muh-Mister Smith s-says th-th-that girls c-can't be as strong as boys… so…" she sobbed harder. "I have t-to b-be his s-slave because I'm smaller and wuh-weaker than him…"

I shook my head. "Dat has nosing to do vith it."

"Wh-what?" she looked past her tears.

"Yes, girls are smaller dan boys, but dat does not make a difference! Men and vomen are de same, it does not matter vhat gender you are, if you vant to be stonger dan dem, train to become stronger! Train harder dan dem, and you vill become stronger!" I rose dramatically while I spoke. "Of course, you must know how to fight before you train. Is dere a dojo anyvhere?" I asked as an afterthought.

"Y-yes," she said, slightly jaded from my rousing feminist speech.

"Go dere, and learn vhat you can."

"B-but they-"

"Do not say dat dey do not allow girls! Vatch what zey do, nosing can stop you if you really vant to be stronger!" [3]

She looked at me with a new light. "Th-thank you. By the way, this is where I saw the silver haired kid…"

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] China saying, "You want/don't want rice,"- I'm serious, literally translated, that's a valid sentence in Chinese. I added the slash mark so that it would make more sense. Another translation would be, "Do you or do you not want rice."

[2] Robin's vision of a peninsula that looks like a boot or a hockey stick- That's Italy. I might get this mixed up with New Zealand, but everyone says that Italy looks like a boot. Well, New Zealand does, too. I thought that Italy looked more like a hockey stick.

[3] Stereotypical Chinese marital art movie reference. All dojos have a conveniently placed window located right in front of the trainees. That, or a servant boy learns.

What is the thing that Japan revealed? Who is that mysterious girl? And when will I get better insults between Russia and America?