My first Hetalia story ever. So, what if most people would consider this pairing crack... It's still cute, not to mention my favourite pairing with both characters. It really deserves more fans.

On another note... Irina = one of Ukraine's possible names. It was the only one listed along with a surname, so I decided to use it. Belarus and Ukraine have a fairly good relationship in this story... whether or not that's accurate...

So anyway, I don't own Hetalia, which is probably a good thing - if I'd created it, there would have been a lot less yaoi, mostly because most of the countries would have ended up female... but hey, the yuri fans would have been happy.

BelLat! (& RoChu) ^^

Change of Heart

All the countries were at the world meeting, and as usual, very little was being done. Italy had started the discussion today, but the whole thing had turned out to be a poll for everyone's favourite type of pasta. ("Pasta originated in Korea, da-ze!") Several people were yelling at him irritably. England had just discovered Sealand trying to sneak into the conference room, and was now lecturing him in the corner. Cuba and America started fighting, and Canada was running around awkwardly on the sidelines, pondering on the best way to intervene without getting killed in the process.

Belarus wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to any of it. Her mind was far more preoccupied by something else. For the whole meeting, she had been watching this one person, a tiny figure sitting between his two brothers, at the other side of the table. Occasionally, he would turn and see her watching him, and a look of fear would cross his face before he quickly looked back.

Latvia. Belarus whispered his name under her breath. She didn't know why she'd never really noticed him before now. It had just been a few weeks ago when she first realised how cute he was. There was something about him she felt drawn to, something she needed to constantly watch and protect.

She remembered that day, not so long ago – the first time she'd really noticed him. Maybe the first time she'd really noticed anyone besides her beloved brother, Russia. She'd been following – well, "stalking" would have been more accurate. It was what she often did when there was nothing else around to do. Her favourite pastime. She would stalk Russia.

It was a fairly nice day, with barely a cloud in the sky, but Belarus didn't care – she would have followed her brother through a Siberian blizzard, so the weather made absolutely no difference and was barely worth noting.

Lately, however, Russia hadn't been around whenever she went to see him. It was almost like… he was avoiding her. But that couldn't be. Why would her brother do something like that?

Making as little noise as possible, because she didn't want to startle him and have him run away again, she followed Russia down several streets until she found herself in a park. There was someone already there – oh no.

Belarus froze, and felt her whole body turn cold. Standing there, next to the bench shaded by a large tree, was China. The long-haired male Asian country turned and caught sight of the Russian coming towards him, and moved forward to greet him. Belarus felt a flare of jealousy work through her as Russia grabbed China's wrists – and it worked up to an inferno when the tall, purple eyed country leaned down and –

– kissed him.

Rigid with shock and anger, Belarus found herself unable to move – a good thing too, she would think later, because she would have regretted it. After a moment, the feeling returned to her limbs, and she took a step forward. The connection of her limbs to her brain, however, clearly was not functioning yet, and she tripped and fell. When she got up again, she realised the two of them were no longer in sight.

Belarus let out a cry of rage. She was going to murder China. She was going to murder him very slowly and painfully. She would punish Russia for this later, too. She would never be able to bring herself to kill her brother, but that didn't mean she wouldn't teach him a lesson he would never forget.

She reached down to pull out her knife, only to find it was no longer there. Fearing she had dropped it when she fell, she lifted her skirt and started searching for it on the ground.

The last thing she wanted or expected was to be interrupted.

"M-Miss Belarus? Are you looking for something?"

The voice sounded familiar, but it wasn't until she looked up and saw the short, straw-blond haired boy's face that she recognised him.

Yes, she recognised him. He was one of the Baltic States. Latvia was his formal name. His expression had been curious, until he saw the look that was on her face. Now, his expression had changed to terrified.

"I dropped my knife," was all she said, and it seemed to scare Latvia even further.

"Y-You're knife?" he repeated.

"Yes. You can help me. I need to find it quickly so I can catch up to my brother and that bitch China," she explained, pulling a strand of long, platinum blond hair out of her blue eyes and continuing her search.

"You were following them too? I mean – " Latvia tried to explain as Belarus gave him a challenging look. "It's not that I usually follow Russia, I just – became curious. He's been acting different recently, and I-I wanted to see what was going on."

Belarus nodded. "So, you noticed it too," she said coldly, as Latvia got down on his hands and knees to help find her knife. Latvia shot her a glance. She couldn't decide whether or not the emotion portrayed in his expression was sympathy. Why would he look at her like that, anyway?

Her anger was no longer at its peak, but it was still dangerously high, and as she watched Latvia there, it struck her how breakable he looked. She could easily reach out, and snap his neck now – not that she planned on doing it.

"Is this it?" he asked, picking her knife out of a nearby bush and handing it to her.

"Thank you," she mumbled, taking it back and holding it firmly in her right hand. She stood up straight, and turned in the direction she could only assume Russia and China had gone.

"Miss Belarus, y-you're not really going to kill China, are you?"

Belarus turned back and looked at Latvia. Even though he was also standing up now, she still had to look down. So small and defenceless… anyone could have crushed him…

"Anyone who gets in the way of me and my beloved Russia deserves death," Belarus said in a voice that made Latvia shiver. "Do you have an objection?"

"Well, I suppose not…" Latvia said, glancing downwards. "It's just… I know you hate China for this, but isn't it kind of nice to see Russia happy for once?"

Belarus blinked. This was not the sort of answer she'd anticipated. In truth, Belarus only ever wanted Russia to be happy with one person – herself. She'd convinced herself all these years that Russia had been happy to see her; he just wasn't good at showing it. But maybe… how did Belarus feel about her brother being truly happy with another person? Maybe all that time she'd tried to love him, all she'd done was cause him pain.

If anything, these thoughts made her even more angry and frustrated than ever.

Latvia must have seen it in her eyes because he let out a small cry and started shaking again. "I'm sorry! Did I say something wrong? Please forgive me."

But Belarus didn't answer. Something else had attracted her attention. Latvia's eyes. Purple eyes. Beautiful, wide, innocent purple eyes. There was only one other person Belarus knew who had eyes similar to that…

And then what happened? Belarus had returned home – she knew there was no point in trying to follow her brother now. But on the way, she stopped by Russia's house, and waited for him to come back. Standing, hidden by the side of the house, no one noticed her. She watched Russia return, and gripped the knife in her hand. She could jump out now – just slash him a few times, maybe. Nothing to mortally wound him, just enough to remind him who he really belonged to – who loved him above anyone else.

But then Latvia's words came back to her. Isn't it nice to see Russia happy for once?

Wasn't it… a good thing? If Russia really had found true love with someone else, maybe it would be better for her not to interfere. Maybe she was just being selfish.

But – but she was the one who loved him! He was hers, hers alone and nobody else's! After all this time, after all the devotion she'd shown him, it was she who deserved his love. Anyone who gets in the way of me and my beloved Russia deserves death. She'd said so herself.

By this time, she'd lost her opportunity for ambush, and hadn't made up her mind.

Nearly a month later, Belarus still hadn't made up her mind.

"Sister?"

Though Ukraine's voice wasn't highly distinguishable over the sound of all the angry words from the other countries, it was never the less enough to draw Belarus out of her thoughts. She turned to the short silvery-blond haired woman next to her. "Yes, Irina?"

"I was only wondering, who are you looking at with that intense expression on your face?" she asked. Though the question seemed innocent enough, Belarus got the feeling Ukraine was fearing for someone's safety.

Belarus didn't answer for a moment, and then said, "It's that boy, Latvia. There's something I can't make sense of about him."

Something like, why was she watching him anyway?

Ukraine looked over at the short, blond-haired nation to, and smiled. "Latvia? Interesting…"

Belarus looked at her with some surprise. "What do you mean, "interesting"?"

"Well," her elder sister answered, "you're giving him that look I've only ever seen you use with Russia."

Belarus just stared for a moment. What? How could she be looking at him like that without even realising? And why would she look at him in that way anyway? When she looked at Ivan, it was because she loved him – and it was love, no matter what anyone tried to tell her. There was nothing wrong with the way she loved him. But that was Russia, and this was Latvia.

"I – " she started, not knowing what to say. How was she supposed to explain this? Even if her brother was with China, she still loved him. And there was no way their relationship would go on forever, it just couldn't. And when it was over, Belarus would show Russia who really loved him – and then she would give China his long overdue punishment.

She looked back at Ukraine, and then came to a decision. She was her sister, someone she could confide in. Maybe the only person she could confide in.

"What do you think it means?"

"Well," said Ukraine slowly, sounding a little shaky, like she was trying hard not to say the wrong thing, "I was more hoping, really – I mean, for your happiness – that maybe you had finally gotten over our brother…"

"So you knew." Belarus's voice was cold, and it sent a chill down her elder sister's spine.

"I n-knew? Knew what?"

"You knew that Russia was dating China, didn't you?" Belarus said in the same intimidating tone.

"Yes, I did," Ukraine admitted, glancing uneasily towards the on-arguing nations.

"And you didn't tell me."

"I-I thought it would be best for everyone – including you – if you didn't know."

Belarus felt anger boil up inside her. Her sister, her own sister –

"B-But what about Latvia!" Ukraine said, seeing the look on the ordinarily beautiful woman's face. Now, she just looked plain scary. "How do you feel about him?"

"How do I feel about – " Belarus stopped, as she felt a very slight blush spread across her cheeks. Oh no, she did not just blush thinking about Latvia. It wasn't possible. It wasn't!

But – now that she thought about it, the most she'd been thinking about Russia recently was about him and China, and how she would punish them. Normally, she would think of Russia day and night, so it surprised her when she realised she hadn't really thought about him independently from China for some time. No, she'd been thinking about someone else –

Realisation hit.

Oh god.

"Ukraine," she said slowly, looking at her sister very seriously, like she was explaining illness symptoms to a doctor, "I think I'm in love with Latvia."

To her surprise, a smile broke across Ukraine's face. "You do? Really? Natalya, that's so cute!"

Before Belarus got a chance to reply to her sister's rather embarrassing comment, something else caught her eye. Over on the other side of the table, her brother Russia was standing by – or towering over – Latvia, speaking to him with an eerie smile on his face. Belarus couldn't make out a single word they were saying over the rest of the noise, but Latvia – who was very short for a country who took on the physical appearance of a fifteen-year-old – was looking absolutely terrified of Belarus's brother. And then there was the dark aura becoming visible around the taller nation's body, his childish grin becoming more malicious. Belarus felt something bubble up inside her. How dare he terrify Latvia like that? Her Latvia! How dare he… How dare…

"STOP!"

Everything stopped. The meeting room was in absolute silence. No one spoke, no one moved, they barely even breathed. Everyone was staring, wide eyed, at the terrifyingly beautiful, stony-faced, blond haired girl who had silenced everyone with a single, ice-cold word.

As for Belarus, she was trying to remember how she'd gotten from her seat at the other end of the table to standing directly between Russia and Latvia. Pushing it out of her mind as unimportant, she continued to glare up at her brother. This was the last thing any of the on-lookers would have expected. Belarus was standing up to her brother, for one of the Baltic States? They all looked at her in shock (except for Ukraine, who was trying her very best not to laugh), most of all Russia.

Belarus didn't know what Latvia's face looked like, but she didn't glance behind her to see.

"Stay away from him," Belarus said in a cold voice.

Russia didn't need to be told twice. He hurried back to his own seat, and stayed there in silence (shaking in fear). No one spoke for quite a while.

"Bela…?" Lithuania said awkwardly, trying to break the silence. The only thing he got was another glare.

"Well, I think we've accomplished enough for the day," America said quickly. "Er… same time tomorrow, 'kay guys?"

Of course, they hadn't accomplished anything, but everyone was too anxious to get away from Belarus to say so. They all got to their feet, and made their way to the door – all besides Belarus, who was still standing there, though the threat had passed some time ago, Ukraine, who was watching the scene before her with great interest, and the Baltic States, still too over-come with shock to move.

"Um, Liet, like, everyone's leaving now," Poland said to Lithuania, who was giving Latvia a rather jealous look. He reluctantly got to his feet and followed out after the blond-haired man.

"Estonia, maybe we should leave…?" Ukraine said meaningfully, looking from Belarus to Latvia, and back to Belarus again. Estonia understood, and the two left together, talking in low voices.

And so Belarus was left alone in the conference room with Latvia. She finally turned back to look at him, and was surprised by what she saw.

Latvia stared at her, his eyes wide, but for once, it wasn't from fear – surprised without a doubt, but thankful. Somehow, this made her feel warm inside…

The two of them stood there, staring at each other in silence for a very long and awkward couple of minutes – seconds? – before Latvia coughed uncomfortably and said, "Uh… Thank you, Miss Belarus… for protecting me…"

Thanks was not something Belarus was accustomed to.

"You're welcome," Belarus said in reply.

Latvia got to his feet, and made his way towards the door. Belarus watched him go. Just before he left out the door, Belarus said, "You don't have to worry – I won't let my brother hurt you ever again."

Her tone made Latvia shiver, but he turned back and gave her a shakily grateful smile before quietly closing the door behind him.

He was so cute.

Belarus stood there for another minute or two. Then she made up her mind, and followed – that is to say, stalked – Latvia home.

... And no one ever picked on Latvia again. XD

So, thanks for reading. And please review!