(Picture is mine. It's Sarafina's true form. She's in her human form in the story)
All of the countries always said that nothing could rattle Russia. Well... besides his obsessive younger sister. But other then that there seemed to be nothing to shake the enormous country.
The countries personification, Ivan Bragnski, was widely feared and avoided by the other countries. They knew that it was near impossible to scare the large nation and just as hard, if not harder, to fight him.
So that's why this was such a shock.
She was just a strange, lanky girl that Germany and Prussia had found abandoned and raised. There was nothing sinister about her dark brown hair and big, green eyes.
She seemed almost average. In fact the only thing seemingly threatening about her was her species. She was a rare type of Skinwalker that morphed into a wolf instead of a coyote.
However, she was still very young and not very strong or coordinated. She never once caused anyone meaningful harm.
Her name had nothing to do with Ivan's seeming fear either. Sarafina is pretty far from anything intimidating.
Maybe it was just her unerveing, unblinking stare that Gilbert would break her from ever so often with a poke or waving a hand in front of her face.
Her wide, green eyes had been focused almost solely on the Russian for the entire world meeting. Her face conveying curiosity.
The strangest thing was that this was far from abnormal. It was almost like a game between the two. Russia would try his best to scare her and she'd stare him down, unfazed. It had been going on for years. Ever since Germany started bringing her with him to World meetings.
The other countries adored her and got along great with her, but Russia seemed to be an outlier.
But no matter how much they interacted from afar, they never approached each other. They watched each other and got to know each other from opposite sides of the room. Eventually they learned how to read each other.
If Ivan was having a bad day Sarafina tried to keep from her staring habit unless she'd notice him staring at her, then she'd smile at him while she stared. If she was having a bad day Ivan would always give her a genuine smile whenever he caught her eyes.
The room was dead silent as it seemed like everyone was holding their breath. Ivan slowly breathed in and out as his violet orbs were locked onto the dark grey/green eyes that were only feet from him.
From this close he could see that her hair was actually a rich dark brown, rather that the black he'd previously thought it to be.
Her eyes were observing him to as she slowly and steadily inched closer.
Finally they were face to face at last.
Eyes met again in a stare. When she was close enough that he could feel her breath blow across his face her eyes seemed more sinister, but also... loving and curious and innocent. As if she was just a puppy trying to figure out the world around them.
Ivan slowly slipped off his gloves causing Sarafina to tilt her head to the side in slight confusion and everyone else to suck in a tense breath.
Slowly the Russian raised his hand towards her face. She turned her head to inspect the appendage before meeting his eyes again. She saw his fear and confusion of her, but she also saw the same curious, loving flame that she carried in her eyes.
With a small smile she leaned her face into his hand, causing the soft strands of her hair to fall and brush over his knuckles.
Ivan marveled at how soft and smooth her skin was, not quite perfect with it's faded scars, but rather perfectly imperfect.
Sarafina made a happy sound in her throat and her eyes scrunched up as her smile grew. Ivan smiled in return, lightly guiding her closer until their noses brushed.
She seemed unbothered by the closeness, actually rather enjoying it and Ivan would be lying if he said he didn't feel the same.
They both came to a comforting realization that they'd fall in love with each other from a distance. They'd never once spoken a word directly to each other or even gotten with three yards of each other. But they'd still fallen in love.
"You're so much cuter up close, Sunflower." Ivan finally whispered, causing another happy whine to escape Fina's throat.
"And you're much more handsome than appears from across the room." She whispered back.
She hesitated before softly nuzzling her nose against his.
Despite the stares from the other countries in the room being trained on them, the world faded away.
"So am I still terrifying up close?" The German asked.
"Nyet. Not when you have such a sweet smile and beautiful eyes." The Russian responded.
"Good. Then you'll answer me truthfully when I ask you to maybe be my boyfriend." She said.
"Da, I will answer you truthfully and I would like to 'maybe be your boyfriend'." He replied, quoting her.
"So it's settled then. I'll be sitting next to you next World meeting and stare at you from there." Sarafina chuckled at the amused face that Ivan made.
"Or you could stare at someone else and unnerve them?" He suggested.
The Skinwalker pretended to think over it before replying.
"Mmm. Nah. You're reactions are still too cute liebling." She chuckled before pressing a quick kiss to his nose and backing away. "I'll see you later, mein Liebe."
"You too, my sunflower." Ivan called after her, getting a wink as she walked out the door, several of the countries following after her since the meeting was over.
The reason that Russia was afraid, it turns out, wasn't because of her staring or anything like that. It's because he thought her to be a wolf in human's clothing when it turned out to be the other way.
With her expressive eyes and caring heart she was instead a human in wolf's clothing.
