Hetalia - Axis Powers 1. Chapter 1

"_Don't get too close to the fire, Yao!"_

All his life, "don't get too close! It you let it touch you, it'll hurt!". Over time, fire was not a beautiful thing of whirling colors and flickering flames. No, fire was a thing to be feared, a thing to hate.

A thing that can burn your life to the ground.

"_Kiku! Kiku, where are you?!" a young boy screamed, looking around in panic. The heat radiating from the burning orphanage was intense and sweat dripped from the child's forehead onto the ground beneath him. The orphanage…_

_It was burning._

"_KIKU! KIKU, ANSWER ME!" Yao cried, unable to find his brother. The black haired boy had left for their room to get something before one kid tried to light a match. Now the whole building….Kiku….._

"_KIKU!" Yao called for a final time, his voice wavering with tears. The fire was eating at the oxygen around him...all this screaming for his brother….the brunette was feeling light headed. He whimpered his brother's name before slumping to the ground, passing out from exhaustion and lack of oxygen._

Yao shot up in bed, sweating hard and crying to himself. _It was over….that was just a memory…_

Just a memory.

Drying his tears, the Chinese man sat up, groaning at the way his clothes, damp with sweat, rubbed against his pale skin. Even now, he glanced across the room as if expecting to see his slightly younger brother sleeping there. But no….the fire…

It had taken Kiku away from him.

Sliding out of bed, Yao shook his head, trying to clear these thoughts. He had a meeting today, coming together with co-workers from many different countries to try and solve company problems. The male walked over to his bathroom and began to take a shower, trying to relax himself.

***_~Playing-With-Fire~_***

"Alright! Is everyone who is in today here?" a man with honey colored hair, Alfred Jones, asked as he stood at the head of the table per usual. There were only a few people in today, Arthur Kirkland, Heracles Karpusi, Tino Vainamoinen, and himself. But well, there was one thing new.

Yao was late.

"Duìbùqǐ!" the brunette exclaimed as he burst through the door, his face still slightly red from crying that morning. All eyes in the room landed on him and the male blushed lightly in embarrassment. He sat down in his normal seat, but worry and fear was still evident on his expression.

"Yao...are you okay?" Tino asked, being the kind person he is. The other man pulled a smile that was painfully fake and nodded.

"I am fine, aru! I was only scared of being late." His accent made a large impact on his speech, but luckily that was normal for the group of foreign people. The group was silent for a moment before Heracles raised his head from the table (he was sleeping) and pointed at Yao.

"That smile...is obviously fake."

The Chinese man bit his lip and tried to glare a bit. "Why are you so concern anyway? Please, continue meeting, aru."

Arther looked suspicious for a moment before sighing. He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, closing his eyes as he tried to remember what he was going to say. "Oh yes, there is a new employee today from Russia, Ivan Braginsky."

As if on cue, on those words footsteps were heard from the hall and all attention was taken from Yao's concerning appearance to the tall man now standing in the doorway. Pale and tasseled blond hair, violet eyes, and a childish smile were all most saw of him before the man stepped inside.

"The meeting already started, da? I am sorry for being so late." he said in a innocent voice, still smiling. It was kinda...creepy. Nevertheless, he continued on his way inside, sitting down next to Yao. The man stiffened slightly at how close he was, and how much taller then he.

"Zdravstvuyte! My I'm Ivan!" the Russian smiled, turning to Yao to introduce himself. The other jumped slightly but smiled back the best he could.

"Ah! Nice to meet, Ivan! I am Yao Wang, aru!"

The new guy was gonna be something different, Yao could already tell.

But then again, weren't they all different?

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**A/N: Good? Bad? The worst story ever? I'd like to know please! Reviews for my first story on my new account? Maybe? Possibly? No? Okay then...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Oh! I forgot to put this in the previous cha[ter, but thank you to YandereTeirin! She helped me with a bit of the first chapter!**

**Arigato, Yandere-nee-chan~!**

* * *

The meeting ended with nothing getting done.** Nothing** at **all. **That was useless.**  
**

"Zàijiàn!" Yao waved as he left the building, the day already gone. Maybe he'd go out to get something to eat...he wasn't too ready to go home yet. The brunette began walking down the street when he felt someone behind him. Not too close, he just had a feel for these things. Turning on his heel, the man saw the new employee smiling and joggin to keep up with him.

"Hey! Can I talk with you, da?" Ivan asked, catching up with Yao and looking down at the smaller male. Yao blinked and nodded; talk with, him? Okay then... "Okay, what about, aru?"

For the first time since the man had walked into the conference room, the Russian frowned slightly. This confused Yao until the question was asked.

"Why did you look so sad?"

The Chinese man stiffened visually before once again forcing a smile onto his face. "It was nothing, just a...bad dream I had, aru." he grinned, hoping to end the conversation.

"Oh? Is it something I can help-"

"No."

Startled by the sudden response, Ivan blinked slightly. Yao bit his lip and looked away in embarrassment.

"I-I am sorry. Would you like to join me for lunch? I'd like to get to know new employee, aru." Yao offered, trying to get off the subject. Ivan's smile returned and he nodded.

"Okay! Do you have place in mind?"

Glancing around, Yao spotted the place he was going to before and nodded. He'd never been there before,but, well, it was the kind of food Kiku had loved. It was strange; somehow, since their parents were of different races, they had ended up one mostly Chinese and the other mostly Japanese. And, well, due to Kiku being the Japanese one he had loved Japanese style food.

"Over there, aru."

After only about 2 minutes of conservative walking, the co-workers reached the front door when Yao noticed a sign.

_'Hibachi'_

_Oh no, oh no, oh no... _the words repeated the man's head like a chant as he pushed open the door. No...not about to show his embarrassing secret. It was only a small bit of **controlled _fire._** **_Controlled._ **But still...

_**Fire.**_

"Excuse me sir, a seat for two?"

Yao snapped out of his fearful state to see Ivan talking to a waitress. The lady soon showed them to a small booth and both men took different sides to sit at.

"So, Yao, you wanted to get to know me better, da?" Ivan asked, that innocent smile still on his face. Yao nodded and they soon were deep in conversation.

* * *

About an hour had passed since they had first arrived, and the two now knew a lot more about each other. Of course, Yao hadn't said anything about Kiku, but it wasn't a matter at the moment. A waiter has slipped the check for the food onto the table and the Chinese man was about to sign when a loud clang of knives brought many people's attention to a large stove.

_The Hibachi grill!_

As soon as he looked over at the stove flames shot up from it.

_**FIRE!**_

Yao screamed before he could stop himself and covered his mouth as everyone present in the restaurant looked over at him. Ivan seemed the most confused and concerned and Yao had to stop himself from letting loose another sound of terror. He swiftly stood, longish brown hair flying out behind him as he ran out of the small building. He didn't care that his card was still on the table with the Russian male, didn't care he had left his jacket behind. No, he had to get out of there.

"Yao!" he heard the voice of his new friend call after him and he ignored it. He kept running, all through town, across streets, he didn't care or stop until he reached his house.

_"Kiku?! KIKU!" _the younger version of himself screamed in his mind and the man ran into his own front door. Ouch, that probably left a bruise. Unlocking the door Yao ran inside and slammed it shut again, collapsing onto his couch in a fit of sobs and bad memories.

_"Brother! I have something to show you!" a young black haired boy called as he ran down the orphanage's steps in between the first and second floors. The younger Yao looked up from what he had been drawing as Kiku ran down into the room._

_"Oh, you do? Please show me, aru!" the brown haired boy smiled and the other nodded, taking off back upstairs to his room on the fourth floor. Yao smiled to himself at what the other might want to show him when he was suddenly aware of an intense heat._

_"Everyone run! The heater caught fire!" Ms. Hēderuvāri called as she ran through the orphanage, holding the youngest of children. She was closely followed by Mr. Eederushutain, who grabbed Yao by the arm along with other children in the room._

_"We have to get out of here! Ze whole building is on fire up top!"_

_Up top...up top..._

_Yao began screaming and squirming._

_"KIKU! KIKU! Kikuwǎng shàng dǐng! Sì lóu! KIKU!"_


	3. Chapter 3

After about 2 hours of trying to stop his sadness and memories, Yao finally managed to dry his tears and pull himself to his bedroom. He sighed, trying not to think of Kiku or fires or the orphanage or anything. Instead, he let his mind stray to work. Why did the two English-speakers, Arthur and Alfred, argue so much? Why did Heracles never really seem to be present in mind?

Why did Ivan care so much to follow him?

Shaking the thought off, Yao began to get changed. It was getting late at night, and he was in serious need for some sleep after last night. The brunette just hoped the dream wouldn't repeat itself. Slipping on a pair of pajama pants, the Chinese man threw himself onto his bed, suddenly very tired and heavy. He grabbed onto the pillow at the head of his bed and tried to sleep.

***_~Playing-With-Fire~_***

The next morning, Yao rose early, making himself a cup of tea before walking out to his backyard. There were few trees or plants out back, so it was easy to see his destination; a small poorly built shrine on the other end of the space. Picking up a knife by a wooden table the brunette cut off part of the newly-blooming sakura tree besides the shrine, placing it on a mantel built into the building. He knelt in front of it, looking over at the name engraved on the panel.

_Kiku Honda_

Yao sat there like that for a bit before standing straight, wiping a tear off his cheek before walking back inside to prepare for work. He placed his teacup by the kitchen sink and started to his bedroom to get dressed properly.

***_~Playing-With-Fire~_***

Yao hurried through the streets to the work building, not wanting to be late again. He hadn't even pulled his hair into it's usual ponytail he was so desperate to get there on time. Why? The reason was beyond him. Maybe he inwardly wanted to see someone? But who? Shaking off the thought, the man made his was to the tall building.

Pushing open the doors, Yao stepped inside right as it began to rain outside. Wow, lucky break. There was someone coming this was from outside...someone really tall and now very wet...

When Yao looked closer, he could see it was Ivan.

For what he thought was only being polite, the male stepped outside to open the door for the Russian. This only really got himself soaked, long brown hair sticking to his face and clothing soon becoming heavier then before. His dark amber eyes watched as the other man neared the building, taking longer then he had anticipated. All the while Yao only became wetter and wetter, soon shivering slightly in the cold spring air. Finally, the taller man reached the door and smiled down at the Chinese.

"You didn't have to do that you know." he smiled, grabbing the door and allowing the other inside. Yao only sneezed in response, covering his mouth swiftly.

"B-but it was o-o-only polite to d-do so, aru." Yao shivered, feeling a possible cold coming on. He covered his mouth to sneeze again and felt a heavy bit of clothing being wrapped around his shoulders. Looking up the other saw Ivan had placed his large coat over him. "Xièxiè..."

"Net problem."

The two then walked in silence up to the meeting room to find Arthur and Tino the only ones there so far. Soon enough the Greek representative, Heracules, arrived, and the few that were there started a conversation while waiting for the final man to arrive.

"So...what is everyone's worst fear?"

The few males in the room looked up at Arthur as he asked and the Englishman simply shrugged at their stares. "What? I think we should get to know each other better. I'll go first then. I'm scared of dying from this stupid American food."

The others in the room could tell from his face that that wasn't just a joke.

"Well...I'm really scared of losing Berwald or Peter..." Tino murmured, a sad look glazing over his eyes at only the thought of losing his husband or adopted son. Yao nodded at this; he knew of losing someone close to him.

"I'm scared of...losing to Sadik..." Heracules said slowly after thinking of a bit. Everyone in the room (spare Ivan) knew of the Greek's Turkish rival. It was then everyone turned to look at Ivan, wondering what he would say.

"I am scared of own sister." the Russian answered, shuddering at the thought of Natalia. The others didn't really understand, but then they all turned to Yao.

"M-me? I-I-I...uh...I'mscaredoffire..." the man blurted out quickly. This gained a few surprised looks from the others, for only Ivan knew of his unfortunate past so far.

"Huh? Why would that be?"

As soon as the question was asked the final person, Alfred burst through the door soaking wet.

"Sorry I'm late! Let's get this started!"

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**A/N: Sorry for not updating this in a while, I was kinda an inspirational blob :P I'm not even at my own house right now and I'm writing this, you guys who read this should be grateful .  
**

**~Prussia**


	4. Author's note!

**A/N: Sorry that this isn't another chapter, I just have been brain dead...I'm in serious need of some help. I have no idea how to continue this at all...**

**If anyone has any ideas, please review or PM me!**

**~Pride**


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Hetalia - Axis Powers, Hurt-Comfort, Tragedy