It wasn't an ordinary day, that was certain.

Every time Russia and Kalda had talked to each other, Kalda had always gotten a weird, tingling feeling inside of her.

She could tell that it was the same way for Russia as well because he would always say something in a really quiet voice before he walked away.

Kalda had tried asking the Baltics if they had any ideas, but they came up short of an explanation like she had.

Russia's behavior only got weirder and weirder, with him becoming more and more defensive every time Kalda had tried to ask him what was up.

He's beginning to act a lot like Britain, Kalda told herself. There's no explanation besides that. Maybe Britain is telling Russia about all of the fun things that I've been doing with him....?

Kalda suddenly began to freak out at the thought.

That would be horrible! Kalda continued. I haven't done anything wrong except maybe cross the "Maid Loving Her Master" line a few times!

Kalda sighed, putting her head in her hands as she stared out of the window and into the endless forest.

Russia and I played there a while ago, she smiled. He had fun then, but now he's just acting different.

Kalda wanted to know what was going on, but she just ignored the matter.

No use asking Russia about his weird behavior twenty-four seven, Kalda calmly reasoned with herself. No one likes such repetitive talk.

She heard a knock on her door, so she turned to see Russia standing in her doorway.

"Hey," Kalda smiled, awkwardly tucking some loose strands of her brown hair behind her right ear. "Is there something that you need, Mister Russia?"

"Hello," Russia smiled back. "Yes, there is. I'm going to Meeting in America. Don't know when I will be back, so watch Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania while I'm gone, da?"

Kalda widened her eyes.

"What?" she gasped, shocked. "Are you....?"

"Putting you in charge?" Russia finished with a grin. "Yes, yes I am."

Kalda stayed silent, not quite sure what to think.

Why is he trusting me with such a huge responsibility? she wondered. I'm not as strict as he thinks I am at all!

"U-uh yes, sir!" Kalda said, answering him quickly.

"Thank you, Kalda," Russia replied. "I knew that I could count on you."

He walked away, and she could hear the faint sound of a door closing.

Kalda sighed, knowing that she should try her best to be a good example to her three friends.

Kalda walked into the library, remembering that the Baltics had told her that they would be there in case she needed them.

"Hello, boys," she grinned, holding up a broom. "Guess who's in charge of you while Mr. Creepy is gone."

"No way!" Latvia cheered. "How did he let you do this?"

"Basically he just told me to keep an eye on you three while he's gone," Kalda frowned seriously before grinning again, "but let's have some fun, shall we?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Russia arrived at the Meeting place, hearing everyone's voices arguing in the room as usual.

He walked in, all arguing becoming silenced by his presence.

"What took you so long to get here?" Britain asked him, obviously annoyed.

"Had to make sure helpers were notified of Meeting," Russia answered with a grin, sitting down in his assigned seat. "Couldn't just walk away."

"I suppose so," Britain replied with a smile, sitting down across from Russia.

America, China, and France were still arguing, so there was silence between Britain and Russia for a few moments.

"Did you put Kalda in charge?" Britain whispered to the other man.

Russia nodded, his grin growing.

"Like you told me," he said. "You sure she is ready for such responsibility?"

Britain sighed a little, pushing some of his blonde bangs out of his green eyes.

"That's what I asked myself the first time as well," he admitted. "She's a smart girl, though. I'm sure she'll figure something out."

"She always does," Russia laughed.

Britain chuckled.

"Yes," he agreed. "She always does. Did I mention that she almost attacked France with a broom two weeks ago?"

Russia laughed harder, not caring if anyone thought that he was crazy.

"Would love to see sometime," Russia told him.

"I laughed, of course," Britain smirked. "It was actually quite funny."

"Can imagine," Russia replied.

Suddenly, a loud bang brought Russia's attention to China.

China had his forehead on top of the table, his hands over his ears.

Russia calmly knocked on the tabletop, hoping to bring the Meeting to order.

It worked, and soon everyone was looking at Russia.

"Please sit down so we can have Meeting in peace," he calmly ordered his friends.

They obeyed him, sitting down to listen to what he had to say.

"Where's that weird girl?" America suddenly asked. "I thought that she would try to sneak in again."

"Kalda has broken that habit," Britain answered calmly. "I made sure that she did."

"And I suppose that you taught her to be zhe control freak of a cleaner zhat she is now too, hm?" France retorted. "If she were in my custody, she wouldn't have to clean a zhing."

"She'll be a great housewife once she gets married, thank you very much!" Britain snapped back.

"What is going on now?" China asked Russia.

Russia just shrugged, not really having an answer for his friend.

"Leave outside lives out of Meeting, please," Russia told them politely. "Would be very pleasant."

The two blondes sighed, becoming quiet again.

As much as Russia wanted to defend Kalda like Britain, he stayed quiet to be a good example to the others.

Hopefully Meeting will still go smoothly once I get it going, he promised himself, bringing the Meeting to order.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since the Meeting had ended earlier than the five men had thought, thanks to Russia's amazing leadership, the five of them just started to talk like the Meeting was a normal get-together.

"Are you okay, Britain dude?" America asked Britain. "You seemed distant the whole Meeting."

"Hm?" Britain hummed as he looking at America, his blonde bangs falling in front of his face.

He quickly moved his bangs out of his eyes, replying with, "Oh! Sorry. I guess I'm just a little tired. I didn't sleep well last night."

"Or perhaps you are zhinking of a special someone?" France smirked, nudging Britain with his elbow.

Britain sighed in annoyance, glaring at the man beside him.

"I don't like your niece, France," he lied casually. "She's as bratty as they come."

"Oh, come on," France insisted. "She wouldn't have defended you zhe other day when I came to your house if somezhing wasn't going on between you two."

"If I recall correctly, she was defending me from you," Britain retorted with a grimace. "She would have given you a good whack on the head if you hadn't retreated like a scared little girl."

"You lost to a girl?" America laughed. "I'd pay to see that!"

"She had me right where she wanted me," France whined dramatically, his blonde hair swishing about, "and zhat's not zhe point zhat I was trying to make!"

"Oh, please," Britain scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "You know that you couldn't beat her in hand-to-hand combat even if you tried!"

"I could so!" France argued. "She is my niece after all! She would be easy to take down!"

"Kalda is not as weak as you think she is," Britain told him harshly, his eyebrows furrowing in anger. "She would beat the hell out of you, and you know it!"

"I would like to see her try!" France challenged, banging his fists on the table. "You couldn't even protect yourself from me! You had to have a little girl save you!"

"Ouch," China cringed.

"You lost to France?" America gasped.

Britain tried to ignore Russia's silent eyes on him, so he answered with the truth.

"That's because you held my arms behind my back!" he said. "How was I supposed fight back if I couldn't even do anything?"

"That's actually a valid point," America agreed.

"Oh, shut it, America!" Britain snapped. "This doesn't involve you!"

"Zhis seems to be a pretty heated argument," France grinned, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief. "You wouldn't be so angry if you didn't like zhe girl."

"I don't," Britain told him. "That's final."

"How can you deny zhis over and over again?" France asked seriously. "You can't tell me zhat you've watched her work for you a few weeks now and not zhought about having her being in your bed with you at least once!"

Britain felt his cheeks burn, and he suddenly felt really warm.

He knew that he had spilled it, but he denied it once again.

"I don't have a bloody crush on your niece, France!" he yelled defensively. "And even if I did, that still wouldn't affect anything!"

With that, Britain stood up to leave the room to get some air outside.

Ha sat on the steps of the White House, watching people walk by him without even giving him a second glance.

I must look like a total idiot, he thought to himself. Kalda has been on my mind too much lately, and I haven't felt this way since she died.

He shook his head to clear it, not daring to go back inside the huge building behind him.

How can I face them now, after everything that I said? he asked himself with a sigh.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" America asked softly as he sat beside Britain.

Britain knew that America wasn't talking about Kalda, so he just nodded without verbally responding to the question.

"Kalda looks a lot like her," America added, cleaning his glasses with the bottom of his shirt. "I guess that's why you blew up in there, right?"

"I'm actually not so sure," Britain told him honestly. "This is all so confusing. I haven't been thinking straight these days ever since Kalda has started working for me."

"Then why did you let her?" America questioned, becoming serious as his eyebrows furrowed together. "Why didn't you tell her "no" like you did the first time?"

"Because she insisted that I let her work for me," Britain replied. "She said that she owed me, and how could I tell her "no" straight to her face like that? She's so innocent, naive, and...young. I...couldn't crush her like that."

He sighed as he hesitated to go on.

"I did that once to her. I'm not going to hurt Kalda in that way anymore, either," Britain concluded.

"Yeah, you did call her a "brat" straight to her face," America smirked, moving some of his dirty blonde bangs out of his face.

"And I meant it at the time, and I still do now," Britain said.

"Why?"

"Because I don't put up with people like that. You and France are enough. I don't need another person like that in my life."

"What happened to you in the past isn't going to happen again," America calmly assured his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You know that, right?"

Britain sighed as he put his hand on his forehead, his elbow resting on his thigh.

"But all of that started the same way," Britain told America. "I don't want Veneziano, Seborga, and Romano, or even France my goodness, to lose Kalda in the same way that I lost her."

"Now you're just worrying over nothing," America stated.

Britain thought that maybe America was right, but he would still hate to be responsible for such a wonderful girl's death.

I let one woman die once before, Britain thought to himself. I don't want Kalda to die as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two months had passed since Kalda had started working for Britain and Russia, so it was around the time school had already started.

It was the first week of October, and Kalda had finally managed to pressure her older brothers not to send her to college.

Even though school and learning all sorts of wonderful things fascinated Kalda, she knew that it wouldn't be fair to Russia and Britain if she suddenly dropped her work for them and ran off to college without any further explanation.

That would just cause problems, Kalda told herself, and I don't want to cause them any more problems than I already have.

So Kalda secretly set off once again to Britain's house, hoping that he was not in a frenzy to already plan Halloween, Thanksgiving, and all of the other important holidays that were coming up.

When she arrived at Britain's house, Kalda saw that the scene before her was just as she had expected on the plane ride there.

Britain was in a full on "Holiday Frenzy" as Kalda liked to call it, and so she chuckled a little to herself.

Kalda's first master was literally running around, telephone in hand as he practically screamed to the other caller in answer.

Kalda shook her head with a smile and an eye roll, setting her suitcase down and by the door.

She snuck up behind him, standing on her tip-toes to tap him on his shoulder.

Britain saw Kalda and gave her a half-smile before going back to his call.

"I'm sorry," he said with a smile. "I'm afraid that I'll have to call you back, America."

He hung up, sighing as he put the phone down.

"What was that for?" Kalda asked with a grin, putting her hair in a braid right in front of Britain.

"Just America being his usual self," Britain replied, grabbing a broom.

Kalda knew that it was for her, but then Britain twisted Fate by sweeping the floor himself.

"I can do that," Kalda said as she looked into his beautiful green eyes, grabbing onto the broom handle as she did so.

"I'll be fine on my own," he replied, pushing some of his blonde bangs out of his eyes. "Why don't you go and see how the roses are doing?"

"Haven't you been watering them and checking up on them like I had instructed you to do two weeks ago?" Kalda questioned, glaring at him.

His green eyes widened and closed as he sighed.

"That's not really the point," he told her, his green eyes meeting her brown ones again. "I gave you an order, Lady Kalda, and I expect you to follow it, all right?"

Kalda groaned, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Fine, you jerk," she muttered as she opened up the door and walked outside, slamming the door shut in the process.

Kalda walked into the garden, seriously expecting someone to be there like the last few times that she had been there, but there was no one there but her.

She gasped once she saw some animal prints and chewed up roses.

She fell to her hands and knees to inspect the scene some more, and she instantly knew who the culprit was.

Rabbits, she sighed. Of course.

Kalda gathered up some of the evidence to show Britain, upset that they hadn't prepared for rabbit attacks.

"Those blasted critters," Britain sighed. "I'm terribly sorry, Kalda."

"It's fine," Kalda tried to smile. "You can't really prevent it. Rabbits have to eat, too."

She threw away the chewed up flowers, well, what was left of them, washing her hands after she had done so.

"So," she said casually as she started to dust off the living room bookshelf, "got any plans for the holidays yet?"

"Not yet," Britain answered, "but I'm probably going to be bombed with invitations to America's lousy holiday parties."

"I'm sure they can't be that bad," Kalda told him honestly. "Parties are supposed to be fun. Well, as far as I know. I've never been to one for anything, really. Even when it's my birthday, my brothers just give me a present from each of them and that's it."

"You've never had a party for your birthday?" Britain asked, quite shocked.

"I guess not," Kalda answered, her brown eyes meeting his green ones. "It's always been a subtle thing in my family. Nothing big or extravagant."

"And I suppose that you didn't have one when you were younger, either?" Britain said softly.

"Well, when you're six years old and alone, you can make anything happen and think that anything is possible," Kalda replied with a smile. "I celebrated every day like it was my birthday. Just ask anyone."

Britain smiled as he looked away from hher, hiding his red face. 

Kalda blushed a little as well, looking out of the window and into the sunny countryside.

Perhaps a party would be fun to go to, she started to think, but I'd rather stay home like Britain. People can be quite a burden sometimes.