AN: I've decided to start my own Rozen Maiden story because I basically love the show more than any other and have now become utterly and totally addicted and obsessed about it / with it. I've gone and read through everything I can find so this is now the best way to stop myself going insane heh.

AN 10th November 2013: I have since starting this story been able to read through all 95 chapters of the manga that have been translated. Unfortunately that is all there is to the manga as it is currently discontinued. It will be interesting to see how Rozen Maiden 2013 goes as an Anime. Due to the fact that there is not really many 100K+ word stories for this show and it really deserves them given the way the way the manga cut off I have decided to start writing again to finish this story.

Spoilers: This story has information related to series one and two of Rozen Maiden and most likely the OVA as well Overture, if you haven't seen these all yet then you need to, though Overture isn't all that relevant at the moment and wont likely be for some time.

Disclaimer: Cats cant taste sugar.

Anfänge Und Enden

Beginnings and Endings

Prologue

Jun Sakurada looked around the room that he had been staying in one last time making sure that everything was ready for the trip back home from the field in which Enju's doll had defeated the Rozen Maidens and in turn had been destroyed by the combined Rosa Mystica's that it had absorbed. It had probably been the longest day of his relatively short life in more ways than one. But the dolls that he had come to treasure as part of his life were now all restored to life and working order, all bar two at least. So at least some of them had been able to see their father once again before they were to return to reality.

Leaving the room and closing the door behind him Jun rested his palm against the door for a moment, trying to embed the memories of the day into his mind as permanently as possible before walking down the hallway to the sun room where the dolls were now resting and waiting. The conscious ones all had their eyes open and slight smiles on their faces. There was a sorrow in their eyes however that even Jun could pick up as the maidens looked at their un-moving sisters that were with them. Everyone gathered together and moved out of the building in the center of the gardens heading towards the rose arch, which Shinku in his arms Jun lead the way stopping just in front of the arch so that Shinku could hold her hand out in front of her and open up the doorway through the N-field. The other dolls moved out ahead of them until only they remained in the deserted garden with its semi-destroyed mansion. Taking one final look around Jun moved through the archway.

The light that shone from the exit between the N-Field and the real world faded from around him and the doll he held in the crook of his arm. As they stepped out of the glass door and into the interior of the Sakurada living room Shinku was sitting comfortably on Jun's arm and they paused for a moment to take in the sight before them with both happiness and sadness. On the couch sat Suiseiseki next to her twin Souseiseki who seemed almost asleep oblivious to the world around her without her Rosa Mystica. Beside Souseiseki sat Hina Ichigo sleeping like her sister and for the same reason.

Shinku was happier then she had been for a while, she had seen her father and now she knew that there was another way to become Alice for him. Father had also charged her with restoring Souseiseki and Hina Ichigo back to their former selves, each enjoying life in their own ways. She was saddened by the events that had led to the need for such a search and the fact that her two sisters had no had the opportunity to see their father, though such a sight had come at great cost to them all. Shinku's thoughts continued on though various branches as Jun started walking over to the couch in front of the television.

Her thoughts where slightly distracted however when she found herself moved from Jun's arm to his lap as he sat down on the couch. Putting aside her thoughts she tuned in to the show ahead, no doubt filled with more amazing exploits of that amazingly intelligent detective Kun Kun. Shinku's was still slightly distracted even though her haze of Kun Kun idolization as she felt Jun put his arms around her while she sat on his lap. Turning her head she looked back at Jun raising an eyebrow in silent inquiry and got a small smile and a shrug of the shoulders in response. Feeling somewhat happy for an undefinable reason she settled herself back against him deciding the make the most of the situation. Feeling Jun's arms encircle her Shinku concentrated on the television ignoring the light blush on her cheeks that had no real reason to be there as far as she was concerned.

The human and 2 currently living dolls stayed as they were while the show was on, Shinku sitting comfortably on Jun's lap while Suiseiseki sat with her twin fussing over the still doll and Hina Ichigo sat between Souseiseki and Jun in their usual fashion of the past days. The end of the show had come and it would be time for them to move, thoughts of moving had a tinge of reluctance that Shinku had not experienced often in her life as it were. She was after all fairly comfortable in her present location so she dismissed the feeling believing she had found its source. She turned herself sideways so she could look at Jun and waited as he looked down at her movement.

"Jun I'd like you to take me upstairs while we wait for Nori to finish dinner," she said in her usual tone of voice and was a little surprised when Jun just nodded and after moving her from his lap to his arm he stood up and started to walk over to the stairs. Shinku remained silent for a moment a little surprised that Jun had not objected as was his usual way, as they went up the stairs she continued, "Additionally when you're done with this you will need to make me a cup of tea, the usual kind of course," she announced looking at him from her place on the crook of his arm. She expected some kind of resistance of course, Jun always put up a fight and she would have to teach him the error of his ways in her attempts to mold him into a proper obedient medium.

She tried not to let the surprise show on her face when all she got was a small smile and a "Yes Shinku," in response, she glared at him suspiciously and was surprised again when he just laughed and entered his room. Shinku waited while, without being asked Jun walked over to his bed and set her down on it before he left the room again, presumably to get her tea. Letting herself down from the bed onto the floor she went over to her shelf and pulled out the book she had been reading lately, as she gazed down the line of the shelf she was hit by sudden nostalgia as her eyes rested upon Hina Ichigo's possessions at the Sakurada residence.

Shinku allowed herself to remember the time spent with her sisters and medium over the past months and reaffirmed her desire to restore both her and Souseiseki to their former selves as their Father had tasked her. They would have to spend a large amount of time investigating the events around the fight with Barasuishou and the disappearence of Laplace and the two Rosa Mystica, not to mention the condition of the real seventh Rozen Maiden and her possible motives. Moving back to the bed she arranged herself comfortably and began reading while she waited for her medium to return with her tea.

The long day had moved on and the sun had set well past the horizon with only a dark purple visible as dusk gave way to true nightfall. They had all finished dinner and Jun had spent the rest of the time afterwards on his computer, his bedroom light providing illumination. Not that this was significant as far as Jun's usual activities went as that was where he always was when he wasn't at the library dealing with his schoolwork. The significant part was what Jun was doing on his computer. He had been on it for most of the day which had caused a faint tinge of regret in his heart as that was not what he wanted to be doing after he had made Shinku her tea. Since bringing her the cup which she had deemed acceptable he had sat in front of his computer breaking only for dinner. Continuously scrolling through pages of text and information he searched for information on what defined a medium and what they did or could do.

The general definition was one that didn't apply to him in the sense of the word. For most people a medium was someone who could channel spirits and talk to those who were no longer part of this world, for him however his existence as a medium consisted of supplying energy to the doll to which he was bonded and following through on the promise to protect her Rosa Mystica that he had made what seemed years ago when he kissed Shinku's rose ring.

He felt an uncommon swelling of anger and shame at the last thought. He had failed to uphold that promise today and if not for the appearance of Rozen would have lost Shinku and the other dolls as well. As annoying as Suiseiseki could be he had a fondness for her much as he did for Hina Ichigo and the other dolls who fought by Shinku's side. He was not happy with his performance today, if he had to put it in familiar terms he had taken a test today and failed miserably in his duties as a medium.

Poring over the information presented to him via the monitor he spent the hours sifting through useless information to find the few small gems that might prove useful when used with the training he had received today. Wading past the useless comments, old sayings and myths in place of real information he waded deeper into areas of mysticism and spiritualism. Moving through the semi-familiar areas of occultism and voodoo he moved on into theosophy, weeding out information on Atlantians, the Aryan race and five thousand year old societies. It was heavy going with a large part of the information irrelevant to what he was looking for and large slabs of text that were more suited to a university scholar than a middle school student. As the day progressed Jun thought to himself There really is a lot of information on the net, but so much of it is useless for me.

The day had passed faster then usual, but even with that said it was still a long day. Making Shinku another cup of tea and handing it over to her without a slap of hair to his face, he returned to his information gathering not noticing the odd look his doll cast his way. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he rubbed his eyes, leaning back in his desk chair Jun stretched and looked at the clock on his PC. It was close to nine at night and almost time for Shinku to go to bed and tired as he was from the days events he was considering an early night as well.

Looking over at the doll on his bed Jun had several thoughts run through his mind as he watched her read peacefully, he continued to watch her for a few moments before he turned to his right and opened one of the desk draws removing an item from it holding it in his right hand. Turning back towards Shinku he walked over to the bed, he wanted to surprise her a little for once instead of the other way around.

He smiled slightly as he conducted his plan, sitting down behind the doll on the bed he picked her up and sat her between his legs in a quick motion so she would not drop her book, he grinned inside when Shinku let out a surprised "Jun!" before he continued undaunted and undid the bow underneath her chin that held her bonnet on and carefully removed it. He looked at her innocently as she threw a piercing gaze at him over her shoulder before he asked "Would you like to mark your place in the book before I continue?"

He felt a little nervous inside while she continued to look at him but kept it hidden and managed not to sigh in relief as she marked her page and set the book down on the outside of his left leg. Waiting for her nod of readiness he undid the two ribbons that held up Shinku's hair and placing them beside him he took the brush that he had kept in his hand and began to run it through the dolls golden hair. Her hair always amazed him, it was soft to the touch and smooth like silk and yet it was used to hit him around so viciously, the last part with thought of with a bit of self depreciation.

There was a happy silence between the two of them as Jun continued working on the hair, carefully brushing through the strands as he gathered them into his hand. Regardless of anything else this was something that he could do properly for her and he made sure he did it properly, he was concentrating on it so much that he was surprised when Shinku broke the silence to ask him her question.

"Jun, is there a particular reason you're doing this now? You've been acting quite odd all day, not with your usual behavior at all," he paused for a moment with his work as he thought about her question before he resumed brushing her hair.

"Well, its an apology of sorts, I wasn't very happy with what happened today and what happened was by no means your fault, it was mine. I didn't do what I should have and I failed to uphold the promise I made when I first accepted your contract, I also failed Suiseiseki as well for that matter." Jun paused to take a breath and continued while Shinku listened attentively turning around to look at him "I promised to protect your Rosa Mystica and I failed that, I would have lost you and the others today if it wasn't for your Father fixing everyone that fought against Barasuishou. So, all and all I'm not happy with myself and I'm doing this to try and make it up to you, though I would like to make it a regular thing regardless of that, I'm looking into ways to increase my power as a medium so you can draw more from me," he grinned at her "So if you have any suggestions in that area as opposed to suggestions on how I should behave I'd be appreciative."

He watched as Shinku cocked her head to one side slightly as was her habit when she was thinking about something, and waited patiently for her response, he didn't have to wait too long at least. "Well...I'm not sure what I can suggest right now for you to increase the power you have, though I know that as our bond grows stronger so will your power and the amount that I can safely draw from you," she paused again thinking something through it seemed "Today was not your fault, you stopped me for the right reasons, even though the way I responded wasn't correct. I should never have taken my eyes off her so its not your fault, though I can understand your feelings on this matter," he watched as she turned her back to him clearly signaling that he should continue with her hair.

He took up the brush again and continued with his work while she continued talking "I supposed you're right in a way, if it wasn't for father who knows how things would be now," Jun nodded rather then respond verbally knowing that she would catch the response without looking at him. "But as I said," she continued on "I do not think you are to blame for what transpired, in fact there may have been nothing you could have done considering the involvement of Laplace's Demon and his powers of prescience."

Thinking for a moment Jun responded "That might be true, but I'm still not happy with how things went, not to mention there's still the fact that Laplace could be working with the real seventh Rozen Maiden and no one knows anything about her or where she is or what she might want. There's also Suigintou as well, though I don't know what she'll do. She could choose to restart the Alice Game regardless of what your father has said, or she could choose another path." He continued brushing Shinku's hair while they both fell silent thinking about different things.

Eventually and feeling some regret at it he finished brushing her long golden hair and re-tied it back up in its two black satin ribbons, picking up the bonnet he waited for her to turn around before he placed on her head and secured it under her chin. He looked over the dress for a few moments and touching a few parts that he new were particularly delicate he was happy to see that his suspicions had proved correct and that everything had been fully restored with both the dolls and the outfits that their creator had put them in long ago.

He nodded to Shinku indicating that he was done and watched her as she stood up and inspected her hair and nodded in appreciation. Jun smiled slightly in reply and gave her a curios glance as she fidgeted a little before taking the few steps separated them. His eyes widened slightly when he realized what she intended to do but he didn't feel the need to protest as she kissed him on the cheek and stepped back again blushing slightly. His curiosity got the better of him "Was that for anything in particular?" he asked slightly joking and still marveling a little at the sensations that had been stirred up by that small action.

Shinku couldn't seem to stay still afterwards and she fidgeted before looking at him still blushing slightly "That was in thanks for what you did today, and for what you did now," was the response to his question. He nodded solemnly in reply then smiled a little at her embarrassment, though he himself was blushing slightly. Scooting over to the edge of the bed using his hands he got up carefully so as not to knock Shinku off and then walked over to his shelves one of which he had seemingly lost to the dolls that had entered his life. Sadness crept up on him as he looked at Hina Ichigo's disorganized pile of possessions on the other side of the material that hung over the edge of the shelf, separating the two dolls possessions. He reached out and touched one of her plush toys remembering her before and shook off the feelings of sadness with a renewed determination to put back the missing Rosa Mystica's and restore them to life when the time was right.

Placing the brush on Shinku's side of the shelf he turned back to his computer and walked over to the chair, looking at her and pointing at the brush he said across the room "Whenever you want me to do that again just grab your brush and come and get me, OK?" After she had nodded in understanding he sat back down in the chair and began reading from where he had left off while Shinku picked up her own book and did the same. Though he didn't realize it he and Shinku's minds were running much along the same path that it was the first time they'd even had a moment to themselves and continued on down that path to the unhappy reason why it was so. Jun cleared his mind of the unhappy thoughts that came upon him unbidden with determination to make things the way they were before and settled himself more comfortably on the chair.

His mind went over the last time he had helped a daughter of Rozen before today, when he had tapped into what he thought were his powers as a medium to repair Shinku's arm. She had told him later that day when he had done something similar "Only the one that she has let into her heart is allowed to touch a ladies hair." The memory further convinced him that he was walking down the correct path but only time would tell if what Rozen had told him was correct. It was something that he was going to have to discover for himself once he found his own way back to his N-field.

The evening wore on moving closer to the next day as Jun filtered through the useless mass of information in front of him looking for the small pieces that were like tiny crystals of helpful data. He looked up when the bedroom light was turned off suddenly and then looked behind him to see Shinku standing at the light switch turning it off in the usual fashion with her cane, Jun watched her as she made her way over to her case and set it down to sleep in, climbing into it. Holding the case open he heard her call out "Good night Jun," and replied in kind with "Good night Shinku, sleep well," he watched the lid close and heard its solid clink as the two half's met. He nodded satisfied with how the day had gone so far except for one particular doll. He hadn't seen Suiseiseki for most of the evening and while it was possible that she had been helping Nori though considering the days events she could even be asleep on the couch.

Trying to justify the reason to himeself for doing so as something else Jun placed Suiseiseki's case on the floor next to Shinku's and lifted the lid over to its opposite side and walked over to the bedroom door and went downstairs to see what was what. Making his way as quietly as possible over to the lounge room door Jun slowly opened the door open and went inside. Looking to prove his suspicions he carefully walked over to the couch in front of the television and lo and behold there was Suiseiseki asleep on the couch. It seemed that Nori had wrapped a blanket around her before heading to bed herself, not wanting to disturb the doll from her slumber, but it had half fallen off during the evening.

Removing the blanket entirely he carefully picked Suiseiseki up much the same way as he would carry Shinku but spread across both arms in a cradle. He was slightly worried about what would happen if Suiseiseki woke up while he was carrying her but it probably wouldn't matter either way. Walking up the stairs and almost at the top he had his misgivings as the doll in his arms started to stir and then opened her distinctive eyes, taking in the situation she began to look irate. He spoke before she said anything, hoping to avert any arguing "You fell asleep on the couch downstairs I was pretty sure that you'd rather be in your case," was all he offered by way of explanation.

Not sure what to expect from her in reaction he let out an internal sigh of relief when all Suiseiseki did was nod and remain still where she was her face clearing somewhat. Setting her down in front of the door he opened it ahead of her and followed her in and shut the door behind them. Jun walked back over to his computer intent on continuing his research and sat down in his chair facing towards the cases of the dolls.

Suiseiseki had already climbed into her case and had the lid propped up in its usual fashion with by one arm while she rested on the elbow of the other and she had an unidentifiable look on her face as she looked across the room, it was kind of freaking him out a little. Her voice called out quietly "Good night puny human, desu," and he watched an evil grin spread across her face before the closing case lid hid it. He let out an annoyed sound and smiled slightly to himself before turning back to the monitor. He had a lot of information to go through and he suspected a few late nights over the coming days or weeks, it would just depend on how long it took him to find what he needed to help Shinku and the others.

He was going to have to set aside some time and money to buy clothes as well soon given his unintended growth which had started today thanks to Rozen. Jun still wasn't sure what to feel about that man given what he had witnessed. What he was sure about though was that his life was going to get even more complicated and he was going to have to start taking things seriously when it came to the dolls. They had a penchant for going off in the middle of the night exploring the N-fields and getting in trouble.

AN: I wanted some emotion and fluff between various characters, but I didn't want to go too far over the top with it. Basically throughout the scenes on the couch and when Jun's brushing Shinku's hair think of the last episode in season one of Rozen Maiden when he does that for her before they leave the landscape of his inner self after defeating Suigintou. Shinku says to him there "Only the one that she has let into her heart is allowed to touch a ladies hair," to me this shows an emotional connection and attachment on both sides which is most likely fairly deep though uniquely expressed and from expressed emotion at the end of the first season and the end of the second there's clearly something there.

Basically my impression of the second season was that throughout a lot of it Shinku was worried about the other dolls with her, about Suigintou and about what was going on in general as well as the second season showing a lot of interaction between mostly the dolls with occasional parts by Jun and Megu. So the connections between Shinku and Jun and Jun and the other dolls weren't explored or expanded on all that much, in fact Jun was pretty much out of the action most of the time and didn't really help sway the conflict either way until the end of Traumend when he convinces Shinku to stop, which is quite different to how things go in the first season.

Traumend to me also seemed to occur over a very short period of time, Jun's school is now on summer holidays but school is clearly some time away for both him and Tomoe. Essentially in their world the events that occur during Traumend happen over a matter of weeks, most likely two to three which means that a lot happens in a very small period of time.

Anyway these are just my impressions of feelings between our two main characters as well as the time span of the different series and so on. Please review this story because I'm not 100 percent on the writing style I'm using for this story or the way I've characterized the dolls and Jun as well as various other things within it. Any feedback you guys can give me will be greatly appreciated.