Author's Note: Yeah so this is the product of 3 a.m. and chocolate chip cookies. Arisu is, according to Google, Japanese for Alice. It felt wrong to use Alice, or to translate Kakashi, since Kakashi means scarecrow. So yeah Alice is now Arisu, besides ultimately this is set more so in the Naruto universe with Alice in Wonderland inspired characters rather than the opposite. Reviews if you please?
A very blonde young woman sat beneath a very old willow tree, with a leather bound book open, resting on her lap. The wind did as it does, and willow branches shuddered around her. Autumn was unfolding; the forest was a watercolour of red, yellow, with still a bit of green. Amongst all the vibrancy, a fluff of white caught her eye. She quickly forgot the character of her book and the conflict completely, instead squinting rudely at the extrinsic object.
"A Rabbit"? She thought. No, it was not in the shape of a rabbit. It was too spiky at the one end, rabbits are after all known for their very smooth, very round shape.
The white thing rustled then rotated, revealing its other side to show it was nothing else besides a pale human face. She wondered briefly if perhaps the head was not attached to a body, but reasoned that since there was no blood in its hair the head must be where nature intended.
Curiosity bubble inside the young girl, followed by a dousing of cool shame, see her mother had always warned her not to indulge curiosity, because of the misfortune it would bring.
"But the poor fool has fallen asleep in the woods", she justified aloud. She had also been raised with better manners than to let someone carelessly sleep in the woods and get eaten by a bear, you know.
She had on cotton white stockings embossed with dozens of roses. Her contrasting ebony shoes neatly sat by her side along with a yellow book bag. She had been reclined, back against the willow tree with her legs stretched out before her, and when she stood she realized the dewy floor of the forest had tinged the back of her thighs a yellow-green.
"This would not do", she thought, for she knew it was rude to introduce herself to a stranger in dirty clothes, especially when saving their life. She peeled then off one leg at a time, revealing two very white legs. She revelled in the feeling of bareness, wiggling her toes and catching long blades of grass between them.
Her shoulders ached a bit, she had after all been sitting for quite a long time- to be completely accurate it had been exactly six chapters of Tom Sawyer. She stretched her arms behind her head. The left one first, then the right. She bent down to touch her toes. Her back cracked by the provocation, and she waited a while before straightening up. Dusting the sides of her fairy blue dress, she began moving forward.
She stopped five steps short of the sleeping face, of which she noticed was male. His face was slim, nearly gaunt, although it could just be the evening light. The male's most prominent feature, she decided, was the long vertical scar running over his left eye. Arisu found herself wishing she could be the barer of such a thing; how fantastic the story must be that accompanied the marking. She thought he must be a warrior, maybe even a knight. If she had found him on the beach she'd have thought him a pirate.
Her own breath caught in her throat when she realized that her previous assessment, the one regarding the lack of blood, was upsettingly incorrect. There was blood, quite a bit actually, and the scene reminded her brazenly of the time she had spilt Mother's "Crabby Apple" acrylic paint across the living room floor. Due to the blood, she knew this stranger wasn't sleeping at all, but that he was probably unconscious.
It was unfortunate that she of all people had to have found him, Arisu imagined it was better her than many other people, at the very least she wasn't apathetic or psychotic. Ideally, of course, it would have been someone with medical training, for his sake he would most likely agree.
She knelt down, peering at his face again briefly, then down the rest of him. She noticed the blood, despite being very messy seemed to be coming from a single location. To ensure her efforts would not be in vain she placed her left index finger beneath the man's nose. His breath, feeble but still there encouraged Arisu, so she trained her attention on his naval. A single gash extending horizontally from the middle, five fingertips to the right. She pressed on the edge of it and watched his face for a reaction. His face twisted a bit and his eyes flicked open only a single breath later.
He looked down to where he had felt the pressure. She, remembering her manners, stood and bowed looking forward with clear blue eyes. "How do you do?" she inquired with an empty happiness. He closed his eyes. Blushing a light pink she realized the inappropriateness of her statement, perhaps it would have been better to introduce herself first, and so she did: "My name is Arisu Ito, it is very nice to meet you", she faltered, but couldn't stop herself from adding, "even if it was on complete accident, you see at first I thought you might be a rabbit".
The man's eyes remained closed but his unmarred eyebrow rose a hair or two, but since he gave no verbal reply Arisu felt it might be right to try and kindle a conversation, after all when you meet someone it is polite to learn and remember their name.
"What is your name?" she asked. He turned his head to look at her, she noticed it seemed to take a lot of effort, "Water", he rasped.
"I'm sorry", she said placing a hand on her hip and leaning, almost not noticeably, closer to him, "but that is a very strange name." She was about to try and continue a conversation by asking where he was from, when the meaning of what he said hit her.
"Right", she whispered, shaking her head. That was not his name at all. No one was named water, not anybody in the world. He wanted water, and coincidentally she knew where to get it.
There was a creek, she remembered, a little that way. She smiled at him before spinning on one bare foot to march off to where memory directed her.
Kakashi turned his head back, once he had watched her walk away, so that he was looking at the canopy of trees, and prepared himself for death. It was impossible for him to stand lest his guts decorate the forest floor- more than they already had. He was only moderately irritated that a child had found him, and one lacking a sense of reality at that. He closed his eyes.
As Arisu had begun heading toward the creek she noticed she had no bucket, nor anything that could serve as such, but before she got too far she remembered her tights she had left beneath the willow tree. They could hold water. She knew they could, because last summer she had worn them into a lake and they didn't dry until the sun had risen the next morning.
The barefoot girl carried, in both hands, one pair of water logged tights as she whistled her way back to the bleeding man. The man heard the whistling, and of course whistling sounds the same no matter who does it; so, he didn't realize it was the girl returning with his requested comfort until she plopped down, crossing her legs as she sat and brought a bunched white fabric to his lips. He drank, and all things considered, was impressed both by her ability to whistle and her resourcefulness.
He looked into her eyes then, he was feeling more like himself at the moment, enough so his interest sparked. He realized as he looked into her pale blue eyes, that perhaps he had misjudged her age. She looked late teens, early twenties. His age. She was also very pretty he noticed, her features a hypnotizing combination of sharp and soft. She noticed him watching her, as people do.
"What is your name?" she asked him again, this time her voice an octave deeper, her lips unsmiling.
Clearing his throat he answered, "Kakashi Hatake". She merely nodded, because on her way back from the creek she decided that she did not care where he came from because she thought he would lie if she asked. His face fit someone accustomed to altering the truth, maybe not outright lying, like her son did, but a more effective, less intrusive, twist of the truth. Those lies, she knew, always led to the most interesting consequences.
"Mr. Hatake, do you want me to help move you somewhere besides the forest, it gets quite unbearable in the night"
"I don't mind the dark", he assured, immediately scolding his pride as the effort of the phrase ripped a pain through him.
"Or", she started, interjecting his thoughts. "I could get my sewing kit from under the willow tree and see if I can stitch you back together."
He had before experienced haphazard first aid, and this familiarity was in no way reassuring, but the idea of this small girl lugging though the forest, or leaving him for the vultures was nausea inducing. He slowly lowered his head, a nod.
"I do not have anything to clean your cut, or my needle", she mentioned returning moments after she left, "but I've yet to use the kit, so it shouldn't be too dirty". Kakashi cringed.
"I have alcohol in my back pocket, my right", he stated slowly as to not have to repeat it. Without hesitation Arisu reached into his pocket, despite the fact he was lying on his back, and pulled out a silver flask. She untwisted the cap quickly and placed it under her nose, keeping her eyes forward. She could not recognize the smell. It was not wine, but she wasn't about to let him in on her naiveté, so she nodded in pretend approval. Kakashi remained stoic through the entire display. She hadn't asked him how his injury had come about.
"What colour?" she asked, looking into the travel sewing kit resting on her lap and then looking up at him, her face expectant of a response.
Kakashi was bewildered, but managed a well-tempered "Just white will do fine."
"All the colours work the same, they will all do fine"
Kakashi looked at her, resignation in his eyes, he just wanted to be fit and ready to go. He was running late, even on his time. "I choose blue." He answered playing into her little game or genuine curiosity, Kakashi didn't have the energy to tell.
"That is not a choice", she reported after digging briefly around in her tin. Kakashi exhaled in annoyance, although this seemed to go unnoticed by Arisu as she lifted a spool of dark thread holding it close to her face, squinting at it.
"I think maybe this is blue, but I can't be sure, as daylight seems to be fading", she announced.
"Looks blue to me" Kakashi murmured, his eyes closed.
"You have to open your eyes to look at it", Arisu retorted.
"No I don't", he responded. Impatience got the better of him, "That is the one you will use to sew me up".
"Okay", she acquiesced, "don't be upset if tomorrow you wake up with olive green string stuck in your stomach".
"I love olive green", Kakashi stated in a matter of fact tone causing Arisu to laugh, nodding her head forward. She had a light laugh, the kind you would miss in a group setting.
"I suppose I'll get started" she said more to herself than him.
She shuffled closer to the wound. He felt the zipper of his flak jacket being tugged, she was the kind of person whose jaw slacked when they were concentrating rather than tightening and it accentuated her femininity, which took him off guard for just the smallest of moments.
Her hands were cold when she peeled his black shirt of his red and white skin, as tacky blood caused fabric to cling to his skin. She examined the wound. Solitary, as she thought, but it was deeper than she once assumed. She would probably have to get him to a medic tomorrow.
She looked at his face. He had his forearm draped over his eyes so she couldn't tell much of anything by watching his expression, so she turned away and began her work.
Kakashi had been watching her from beneath his arm, sharingan activated. He was monitoring her chakra, nothing special, just the standard untapped spindles of shining blue belonging to a civilian. He had thought that maybe she was like him. Her innocence seemed deliberately enhanced, he did not believe it was of malicious intent, but still he wondered why. All the women in his life seemed to always try and shed their innocence as soon as possible, like it was a piece of ruined clothing. "She must be using it to buy people's trust", he his practiced analytical mind though, "or perhaps she's merely frightened," he concluded.
The stitches, at first, only triggered minor discomfort, but as she drew nearer to the very centre of the wound it actually hurt. Kakashi closed his eyes and he felt his jaw tighten. He had experienced worse, which he repeated over and over in his mind. It will be over in ten minutes time. In nine minutes time. In eight, he counted.
Something rustled to the left of Arisu, she maintained her state of mind and shifted her eyes to where she thought she heard the noise. "It could be a wolf" she thought, "except wolves would be noisier, as they hunt in packs". She wondered how a five foot tall girl would deal with a pack of wolves, she imagined not well. If only the roles had been reversed, she brought her gaze back to supervise her hands, he could have carried her away like nothing. After a few moments she realized he might not have, after all she had noticed a porcelain mask, lit up orange be the sunset, when she had gone to retrieve the sewing kit. It had been thrown beneath a tree branch and she couldn't tell if intentionally, but she did know, good people have no need for a mask.
When she had finished she leant near to his stomach and tousled blonde hair brushed on his naval, his eyes opened beneath his arm. She bit the string, sat up and tied it in a very un-professional bow. Kakashi thanked her when she made it know she had finished. She seemed to brush his words off until he felt her tense up.
She blurted, "You're welcome", pausing before adding smoothly, "I'm glad I could help". She spoke in her politest tone, because she knew it was very rude to respond negligently to someone, and she felt she had to compensate somehow.
Awkward silence followed in the next few minutes, at least Arisu thought it such. Kakashi basked in the quiet, death was now at a comfortable distance, watching him from the trees rather than looming within arm's reach.
Arisu laid next to Kakashi without looking at him or asking permission, because of course, she thought nothing of it. Before Kakashi could say something she told him, "It's alright you can sleep, I won't, I'll keep my eyes on the tree lines. You don't have to worry about a thing". He made no indication of comfort or gratitude, simply slipping asleep. Arisu entertained for a small moment that actions might have more value than words, of course she knew this as false, but still it was interesting and without such entertainment she was afraid she might die of boredom.
Arisu lay there and turned her head toward him. She studied his face noticing the occasional indentation of an inflamed pore, a side effect of being human, and the slight hairs along his chin, a side effect of being male. She turned back to face the canopy and wished she could see the sky clearly, but she could only see the moon, divided in a perfect half like someone had folded it over in a first step to an origami. She closed her eyes.