"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?

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...