So here's a new story (yes, multichapter- the plot bunny would not leave me alone!) and it's basically a Prince of Tennis Alice in Wonderland twisted AU... So... Yeah, school's murdering me and my mom's all like, RAWR at me- but enough of my complaints (you'll get them in a form of another story eventually- I like writing oneshots based off of my own life, usually depressing ones, but whatever). Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or Alice in Wonderland.
Note: The things in parenthesis are sort of like, little thoughts that supposedly pop into Fuji's head... Not too sure, I added them because it sounded... Alice-in-Wonderland-y.
Fuji yawned, his attention wavering between his calculus teacher's lesson and the little doodle he was drawing in his notebook. It was a sketch of a cat with an enormous grin (did cats even grin?) and if that wasn't unusual enough, the car seemed to be disappearing (or maybe it was just the pencil?) into thin air. He distinctly registered the teacher calling his name and he looked up. The teacher was pointing at a problem on the board and he had an expectant, almost gleeful, look on his face, as if he was getting ready to scold Fuji or give him detention for not paying attention. Glancing quickly at it, the student correctly solved it and looked back down to his notebook. The teacher's face had gone slack, stunned at the display of intellect. The other students ignored this, used to these displays and the reactions of new teachers, who more often than not were stunned into silence. Fuji was frowning quite hard at his notebook now. The cat drawing had completely disappeared (so it wasn't a figment of his imagination- he was afraid he was going insane, after all, many genii did), leaving behind a beaming smile.
"Is everything okay?" The girl sitting next to him was looking at him, concern written all over her face.
Fuji gave her a reassuring smile, "I'm fine, thanks." She nodded, her concern disappearing, to be replaced by a self-satisfied smirk. He hastily erased the crescent shaped row of teeth as the bell rang, signaling the end of that class and the beginning of lunch. Standing up, he began to pack all of his belongings into a messenger back.
"Fuji-kun?" His classmate began, her voice tentative. "I was wondering if you could, uhm…" She looked down shyly. "Help me in calculus? I'm not doing too well, right now."
"Of course, Miyuki-san." He replied. She thanked him and walked away, where she was bombarded by her friends, all squealing. Fuji's smile faded. He knew the only reason she asked him to tutor her was because she was trying to claim him as her boyfriend. She was too blatantly obvious and besides, Fuji had no interest in any of the girls that threw themselves at him, even if some of them were the prettiest girls in the school. He was sure she wasn't going to be the last and she sure wasn't the first. He just felt as if there was someone else out there for him.
Fuji decided to eat lunch outside, where he could find a quiet, isolated area and read. He was currently absorbed in The Inferno by Dante for a research paper in his world literature class. It was an interesting book, really, but at some parts Fuji wished he knew Italian so that he could read the original. He knew one phrase from the novel- Lascaite ogni speranza, voi che entrate- abandon all hope, ye who enter- the phrase that was engraved above the gateway to hell. The tensai walked towards the border of a nearby forest. He was now a junior attending an elite senior high boarding school that had offered him a full scholarship, but the school was secluded, the expansive campus surrounded by a forest, much like the school from the manga the Dreaming by Queenie Chan. Taking advantage of the fact that it was a beautiful day, the boy decided to sit at the foot of a tree just on the border of the forest. Students rarely came over here, fearing the forest and preferring the rambunctious lifestyle of the dormitories, but Fuji was different. He actually liked the quiet and the peaceful nature of the forest.
He pulled out the novel he was working on- writing was just one of his many hobbies- and began to read over it, editing it with a red pen. Lunch could wait. He was working on one of his best masterpieces yet. A few minutes later, he heard a sharp squeal coming from behind him. He leapt up and whirled around, but stopped short when he saw a small boy, no more than 15, hopping up and down, a green headband covering his eyes. But what made Fuji stop and stare were the pure white rabbit ears emerging from the mussed dark blue hair. The boy was clawing at the green headband, squeaking, "Oh no, oh no! I'm late, desu, I'm late!" The high school student approached the rabbit boy cautiously.
"Do you need help?" Fuji asked gently. The young boy had yanked the band back up and was now gazing at Fuji in awe. "Hello?" The boy jumped when a nearby church bell rang, signaling the new hour.
"Oh no, desu! I'm late, I'm late!" He dashed off, much to Fuji's chagrin.
"Wait!" Fuji dropped his notebook and ran after the boy. Damn, he was fast. He kept running, following the cries of, "I'm late, I'm late!" Suddenly, he was rabbit-boy jumping into an extremely large hole in the ground. Fuji was confused. What in the world was happening? He neared the hole and glanced in. He was met by infinite darkness.
The dirt below his feet came loose. He panicked and twisted backwards, trying to grasp onto a branch of something to anchor him, but too late- he was falling.
The first thing that the boy realized was that he was completely defying the laws of physics. Instead of falling and gaining speed, as par gravity, he seemed to be slowing down. Looking around, the tensai could make out obscure shadows of objects around him. He reached out and grasped one of those indeterminable objects. Lo and behold, it was a lamp. Long, pale fingers felt around for a string and he pulled it, hoping that the lamp would work and illuminate the inky darkness surrounding him. The light flickered on and Fuji gasped at the assortment of objects around him. There were books, furniture and, to the boy's utter delight, a tennis racket. He reached out to snap the racket by the handle and he admired the equipment. The handle was his ideal size and the grip tape was perfectly wrapped, void of any tears or rips. The head of the racket was smooth and finished and the strings were of perfect tension. But there was something missing. Glancing further downwards and adjusting his grip on the lamp to illuminate the maximum distance down, he saw that there was a tennis bag up ahead. He tucked the racket under his arm and prepared himself to grab it, lamp balanced in the same arm cradling the racket. He grabbed the bag and was thrilled when he found several new, unopened cans of tennis balls. Shifting through the bag, he found sweatbands, a bag of individually wrapped pastries, a full water bottle, a new set of grip tape and two white towels.
Fuji felt his feet touch study ground. He steadied himself and stood straight, tennis bag in one hand, lamp in the other. There was a long hallway with candles illuminating the path. However, before he moved, he slung the bag onto his shoulders and put the lamp on the ground, not needing it anymore.
In the distance, he heard the familiar sound of, "I'm late, desu, I'm late!" He followed the voice down the long hallway, walking at a fast pace while admiring some of the paintings on the side. Suddenly, he heard a door slam and he picked up his pace, his powerwalk now a light jog. There was a dead end, the hallway flared out to reveal a more open space. An array of different doors lined the walls, each with a keyhole. In the middle of the space was a glass table with a single golden key sitting on the surface. The tensai picked up the key thoughtfully. He began to try the key on every door, checking each door before he inserted the key to make sure they were all already locked- they were, but the key did not work on any of them. Fuji became more desperate and agitated with every door that refused to open. Dismayed, he looked backwards to the hallway he had come from.
"If I go back, there's no way for me to go back up… But it's better than just idly sitting here, I suppose." He pulled out his cell phone to check if he had service. There was nothing. "Of course… I must be at least 4 kilometers under the surface of the ground." He let out a sigh. A breeze (how was that possible?- he was underneath the ground…) swept through the room and Fuji saw a curtain flutter with the wind. He frowned. Somehow, he could have sworn that the curtains weren't there before (or maybe he just missed them in his panic?).
A flash of red caught his eye and he stalked over to yank the cloth back. There. An impossibly small door, about half of a meter tall and a quarter of a meter wide. By no means was the door beautiful- the rotting wood was painted a bland red, flakes of the color missing to reveal the hole-speckled wood underneath. Fuji inserted the key into the dull gold keyhole and held his breath. The door swung open and the boy cheered internally, but that happiness quickly dissipated when he realized that there was no way he would be able to get through the door. Dejected, Fuji turned around and looked around, desperate for a way out.
A plain glass bottle of clear liquid sat on the glass table. Striding over to the middle of the room, he picked up the bottle and a piece of paper tied to the neck of the bottle rustled with the movement. Fuji was also positive that the bottle hadn't been there before (was he going insane?). Deftly, he caught the piece of paper between two long fingers and read the two simple words on it.
"Drink me." Fuji's eyebrows furrowed. This was way too suspicious. First the curtains magically appearing and then the bottle. This must be a dream (it felt like an awfully realistic dream though). "Oh well- it's worth a shot." He shrugged. If the drink did poison him, he would rather die that way instead of slowly dying of dehydration and boredom (but if this was a dream, then would he die in his own dream?). He unstoppered the bottle and drank some of the liquid, surprised when it tasted like blueberries. All of a sudden, as soon as he swallowed the liquid down, he felt a jolt and he looked up in surprise. The ceiling seemed to be moving further away from him… no… looking around, Fuji saw that HE was shrinking.
"This is just a dream, this is just a dream…" He muttered, clenching his eyes shut. He pinched himself, trying to wake up from this nightmare. The trademark pain came from his sharp nails digging into his skin. He opened his eyes slowly. It wasn't a dream. There was, however, one minor improvement- everything was no longer moving (he had to look on the bright side…). Fuji looked down and saw that he was about twenty centimeters tall compared to the door. He tried to open the door, but it would not move. It was locked again and the tensai looked around for the key. "Oh. Shit." He cursed. The key was on the table, which loomed above him. There was no way that he would be getting that key at his current height. "Okay, I've always been short for my age, but this is ridiculous." He complained, eye twitching slightly at the irony of the situation.
Fuji shifted the tennis bag and a brilliant idea came to his head. Dropping the tennis bag to the ground, he took out a canister of balls and the tennis racket. He opened the canister and was relieved when he heard the hiss that signified that the balls were still pressurized- what he wanted to do wouldn't have worked with flat tennis balls. Pulling his arm back, he dropped the tennis ball and then slammed it upwards into the glass table. The ball bounded back to the floor and bounced a few times before coming to a rest. Fuji dropped another ball and hit it upwards, hitting the same spot with amazing precision. Another one. Another one. There was now a small crack in the glass when he caught the final tennis ball. The tensai looked at the glass thoughtfully. A few more times. He took out another ball and began to hit again. A grimace adorned his beautiful face as he rolled his shoulder backwards to stretch it out a bit. If this were Momoshiro or Kawamura in his position, they wouldn't have had this much difficulty breaking the fragile glass. Actually, they would probably have just thrown the tennis racket at the glass. Fuji released another ball and gave a small sound of victory when he heard the satisfying crack of the glass, but what happened next completely caught him off-guard.
The glass splintered and came crashing down. Fuji was right underneath the glass, but as soon as he heard the glass falling, he had sprinted to the side, but he wasn't fast enough. A sliver of glass embedded itself into his arm and he winced in pain. As soon as he got far enough, he looked at his injury. The piece had pierced the skin near the crook of his elbow. Mouth set in a grim line, Fuji held the piece of glass firmly and pulled it out, all the while slightly whimpering in pain. The gash began to bleed and he let out an irritated sigh. With his clean hand, he rummaged through the bag for a towel, which he used to stop the bleed and then used a sweatband to bind the towel to his arm in a makeshift bandage. After that was done, he stalked angrily to the key, which shone amidst the glittering pieces of glass. He snatched it up, walked over to the door, shoved the key into the keyhole and the door swung open. His movements were violent as he slammed the door open, but that anger quickly disappeared when he looked at the world around him. He marveled at the uniqueness of the place. Suddenly, a horse neigh came from next to him right in his head and he whipped around, the tennis racket that he had held in his right hand now up. He was ready to use the racket as a weapon to defend himself, although he wasn't sure to what extent he could truly defend himself with it. There, in the air, was a miniature horse with dragonfly wings.
"A horsefly…" He said in amusement. Then he saw the other man. There was a brown-haired man kneeling on the ground, head bowed.
"Welcome to Wonderland, Alice." The other man spoke, his voice a deep baritone. "My name is Tezuka Kunimitsu." Fuji felt his heart leap at the sight of this man. "We are honored to have you back again."
TEZUKAAAA~ Haha, I will try to work on this as much as possible over the next few... not sure how long. Anyways. REVIEW PLEASE!