Russia drew his coat closer around his shoulders. Although it was only early autumn, the air was already bitterly cold and there was frost on the ground beneath his feet. He wondered what the Romanov children were up to. They would be nice and warm in their lovely big palace, by the fireside. Or maybe running around and playing games. He smiled.

He always smiled when he thought about them. He loved the Romanov children like they were his own siblings, although he though that their parents lacked

good judgement sometimes. He didn't think the Tsar looked after his people well enough sometimes though, but of course he never mentioned anything.

Unaware of Russia slowly approaching the palace, Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the Romanovs lay on her eldest sister's bed, complaining loudly.

"Olga, I'm so bored!" She rolled onto her stomach "When will it stop raining?" She looked sadly at the rain pattering heavily on the window.

Her sister gave her little attention and was pre-occupied with her piano.

Everybody in the palace had been in a bad state since Alexei had scraped himself again. The bleeding stopped after two days, but since everybody has been on high alert. She hadn't even seen her properly for days now.

She played idly with her hair and swung her legs over the side of the bed, praying the rain would stop.

Russia finally arrived at the huge palace, and nodded at the guards as they let him in. He went to a small side door, and stepped inside, sighing happily as the warmth hit him. He took his coat off and hung it up on a coat stand, but left his scarf on as usual. He wondered where Anastasia was- although he tried to not pick favourites, Anastasia always made him smile the most. He decided to go and ask one of the many servants that were standing around. There was no use looking for them himself, the place was so huge.

He walked up the servant, and saw the young man snap to attention as he noticed him approaching. "What can I do for you sir?" he asked. Russia smiled.

"Have you seen Anastasia anywhere~?" he asked. The servant thought for a second. "I think he is in Princess Olga's room, sir." Russia smiled again and walked off down the vast corridor, humming to himself as he did so.

Unsatisfied with pestering her sister, Anastasia went for a stroll around the palace. Seeing as it was so large, this could take up some time and it was better then lying around staring at the window. She had been walking around for no more than five minutes when down the hallway she could make out a familiar figure. It was tall; broad shouldered and hosted a man with a sweet smile on his face. "Russia!" She cried, and hurried towards him.

Russia was surprised to see the princess, and smiled at her as she ran towards him. "Hello Anastasia~!" he said, bending down to give her a hug. He smiled as she nestled into his arms, glad to see her again. He let go again and stood up after a second, smiling down at her. "How have you been?" he asked.

"Ok, I guess. The rain is disrupting my play" she pouted and folded her arms, then caught his eye and began to smile again "Well, you being here has improved it!"

Russia laughed. "It is a shame when you can't play outside." he said sympathetically. "But you know Ana~" he stopped to look around.

"I'm sure there are lots of fun things to do inside a swell. How about you hide somewhere? Anywhere in the palace. Then I'll come and find you~"

She thought about this for a while, trying to think of a good spot. "Sure!" she beamed, and grabbed him by the arm and made him turn around. "Count to twenty!" she said and made her way to her hiding place, then she stopped "No, wait, make that sixty!" and he hurried off again.

Russia chuckled to himself before covering his eyes with his large gloved hands and counting loudly so the princess would hear him. When she was out of earshot he stopped counting and sat down for a minute. When he thought enough time had passed, he stood up and looked around, sighting to himself, but smiling as he did so. This could take a while.

Anastasia rushed to her sister bedroom and wrapped herself up in the curtains, but unfortunately, Maria protested to this loudly.

"Anastasia, stop it, I'm busy!" She sighed and ran to her own bedroom, where nobody could complain. She spent some time under her bed sheets until she realised the shape of her body would be visible.

This gave her an idea, so she placed some pillows under the covers in the shape of a body, and then curled up under the bed. This way, Russia would think that she was in the bed, not under it. She chuckled to herself at her own plan, and waited eagerly for Russia to arrive.

Russia wasn't sure where to start. He didn't want to leave Anastasia waiting too long, she would get bored waiting. He tried to think which way he had heard her footsteps going. He started heading off in one direction, but jumped slightly when he heard a voice from the corner of the room. "She went towards the left wing, sir..." said the servant, sheepishly. Russia gave a small laugh, and nodded at the man before heading off.

Russia ducked his head in all of the rooms. He didn't need to check most of them thoroughly- there weren't many places to hide. He knocked on the children's doors (except Alexi's, he didn't want to disturb him) asking if they had seen the princess. Eventually he came to Anastasia's room. As he opened the door, he saw her figure under the bedcovers and smiled. But as he lifted the covers back, he saw that it was just a pile of pillows.

Below the bed, Anastasia was biting her fingers to stifle her laughter as she imagined the dumb look on his face when he saw there was nothing there. She turned her head and looked at his boots by the bed, and had a wicked idea. Slowly, she stretched out her hand and grabbed his foot, and made a ghoulish wailing sound. 'Ruuuuussiaaaaaa!' she moaned, and pulled herself from below the bed, and stuck her tongue out at him.

Russia jumped in fright, but relaxed and laughed in relief as he saw the princess crawl out from under the bed. "Don't do that!" he said, but couldn't stop himself from smiling. He sat on the bed and smiled as she sat next to him. "That was mean!" he laughed.

She giggled loudly and apologised "Sorry Russia! But you have to admit that was funny!" and smiled childishly up at him.

"I suppose it would be, looking back on it." he smiled. He looked up at the clock in the corner of the Princess' room, and suddenly stood up. "We're nearly late for dinner!" he exclaimed. "Come on, I'll give you a ride~!" he said, kneeling down so Ana could climb onto his shoulders.

She gasped, and quickly clambered onto the older man's back. As he rose, she felt briefly dizzy as he was so much taller than her. Wrapping her arms around neck she giggled "giddy up!"

Russia laughed as he trotted down the corridor and down the stairs, towards the main dining room. As they arrived at the door, Russia crouched down so she could climb off, then stood up and smiled at her before holding the door open for her. "Ladies first." he said.

"Thank you good sir" she said elegantly, and headed inside. The whole family where present, but she noticed one chair was empty. Alexei's. He must still be sick she thought to herself and sat down at her place. "Sorry I'm late." she said quietly.

"It's my fault." said Russia, sitting down on the far end of the table. He watched as the servants dished out everyone's food- his last of course. He ate gratefully- he had been very hungry recently, for some reason. As the conversation carried on throughout the meal, he debated whether or not he should bring up the issue of no one having enough food in the city.

Despite usually being energetic and loud, the princess still had manners and an understanding of when her childishness was acceptable. Anastasia ate quietly, contributing little to the conversation, as it generally consisted of things she didn't quite understand.

After Russia had finished, eating, he found that he was still hungry. Eventually, he decided he ought to talk to the Tsar. "Sir?" he said politely. He felt nervous as the Tsar looked at him. "Yes Russia?" said the great man. "I was out walking today sir." began Russia. "And I noticed that many people are struggling to feed themselves... They are complaining that... that you aren't doing enough to help." Russia looked down, not wanting to meet the Tsar's gaze. There was silence for a moment, until the Tsar spoke. "You are all excused." he said curtly, before standing up and leaving.

Anastasia exchanged a glance with Russia before finishing off her plate. She daintily wiped her mouth with a cloth and watched as her siblings and mother left. "You ready?" she asked and slowly got up. She understood how Russia felt about his people, being a country and all and often imagined how tough it must be for him. The young princess knew well enough the state if their country, but had often put it out of her mind.

Russia nodded wearily and lifted Anastasia back up onto his shoulders, carrying her up to her room. He sat next to her on her bed, and smiled again.

"You know, I'm sure it'll be fine." he said, sensing that Ana was thinking about the conversation over dinner. "It's just a harsh winter, that's all. And your father is just worried about Alexi- we all are."

He stood up and glanced at the clock. "It's getting late." he said. "You need you beauty sleep~" he said, before smiling cheekily at her and leaving, closing the door behind him.

Anastasia lay back in her bed, smiling to herself. She liked it when he called her 'Ana'. It was something only he got to call her, mostly because her sisters didn't really have nicknames for each other, but that made it all the more special.

After a few minutes of restlessly moving around, the eventually got comfortable and fell asleep.

Russia went and said goodnight to each of the children- except for Alexi, who was already asleep when he opened the door. He went to the other side of the palace, where his room was, and went into his own room.

He sat in the chair in the corner, and reflected on things for a while. He was still starving, and he felt a read kind of anger at the Tsar brewing in the back of his mind. He really hoped the Tsar would decide to do something, as he had a feeling the people were getting restless.

A/N: I should probably give you some background on the Russian royal family, but I don't want to bore you so I'll keep it simple.

The Tsar and his family were dislikes by the people of Russia because of his poor decisions in ruling country. There are other factors, but that's the short story.

Their only son, Alexei, had a disease of the blood which meant that once he cut himself, the blood would not stop. Being the only male next in line to the throne, you can guess that everybody was pretty overprotective of him.