Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Naruto.
A/N: This was a really random idea that sprung to my mind, and I had to get it down to shake away the reality of busy school stuff.. haha. Too lazy to edit, of course, and I hope it's not too confusing.
In Wonderland
"I want answers, Itachi." The raven-haired took his eyes off of Kabuto's fallen form and focused on the man to his left.
"No questions, yet you still desire answers… Foolish brother." Itachi's lip cornered up slightly before he fell to the ground.
'What?' Sasuke stood frozen to this sudden surprise and eyed incredulously as Itachi's body slowly turned into a large, black crow.
Was it due to the fall of Kabuto? But the crow… maybe it had been an illusion all along… Before Sasuke could debate further, the flapping wings of the black crow slowly molded to two white ears. Its final shape was that of a white rabbit.
The rabbit slowly cocked his head towards Sasuke, its red eye lighting to a Sharingan for a split second. Startled, Sasuke stood his ground before the bunny turned to a white blur with a light hop.
The memory of Mikoto reading a childish story as Sasuke fell asleep flashed in his mind. At the time, Itachi had passed them with a queer smile, as if to mock Sasuke for his bedtime story, Alice in Wonderland.
"If that's how you'll play, Itachi…" Sasuke spoke aloud, and with no further ado, he took off silently after the White Rabbit.
The white fluffy tail plopped into a black hole. Letting out an irritated sigh, Sasuke took a step into the darkness. His body plunged deeper as he experienced the great fall. When the falling stopped, cloud-like comfy ground greeted him.
In the distance stood a tiny dot of light. Without needing to adjust his eyes, however, Sasuke made out a long hallway with endless door on both sides.
'I don't have time for this.' Impatience took hold of Sasuke quickly as he passed by different coloured bottles and cakes. Ignoring them as he remembered his bed-time story, the raven-haired disappeared into a forest at the end of the hallway.
As he stepped deeper into the black forest, a huge shadow of a snake stopped his path. On closer look, the lights that barely reached the trees outlined none other than Orochimaru, who held a water-pipe in one hand.
"Sasuke," His tongue hissed out the raven's name. "How was it to feel Itachi's blood on your hands?"
"Don't say his name!" Sasuke spat out with instant reflex, his eyes threatening to bleed.
The snake sanin frowned repulsively. "Whatever you say, Sasuke. But I've kept my part of the bargain, haven't I? now pay me back with your death-!"
The red-shot eyes returned to a cold black as Sasuke replied, "I've already killed you off. Get away from my sight – you're worth nothing now."
Orochimaru's face distorted to a snake and slithered away in disgust. Before it reached under a rock, Sasuke saw the snake cut open to reveal a small black bird flapping away.
Sasuke eyed the giant mushroom where the snake had once stood beside. 'Is this some kind of a joke?' He thought as his pale hands gripped into a fist and his legs paced on quicker.
The tall trees were gone and Sasuke stepped out into an open field. A small trail led him to a house.
"And then, Alice came across the house of the Duchess." Mikoto's warm voice told him.
Indeed, there stood the Duchess – more precisely, a black cloaked man with a twisted orange mask. In his arms carefully held something wrapped in blankets.
A strong presence then suddenly appeared behind Sasuke.
"The Chesire Cat," Mikoto read aloud in a playful voice, "Grinned as he appeared and disappeared like a ghost."
The Chesire Cat appeared to Sasuke's right this time, holding the wide grin to expose its sharp teeth. Smirking, Sasuke remarked haughtily, "Since when did Chesire Cats have nine tails?"
'Getting very original, Itachi,' Sasuke thought sarcastically as he stepped towards the Duchess.
"Let me guess: you need to get to some game with the Queen." Sasuke recited his memory of the story all-knowingly.
"It's good that you remember, Sasuke." The red eye behind the orange mask seemed to be amused. "Then you'll know I'd be handing this to you." With that, the wrapped blanket was gently pushed into Sasuke's hands.
Frowning, but even before Sasuke could ask, Tobi took off the blanket to reveal two red-glowing orbs. A cold shiver ran through his body as Sasuke realized what it was.
"Itachi's eyes." Tobi voiced Sasuke's apprehension aloud, then continued after a timed pause. "You'll be meeting the March Hare soon, Sasuke."
The mention of the March Hare broke Sasuke from his trance as his thoughts delved into his memories once again.
Little Sasuke ran enthusiastically toward the tall figure before he was met with a gentle poke in the head. "Brother!" Itachi eyed the storybook Sasuke was embracing tightly. "Why didn't Alice stay at the tea party?"
The childish question startled Itachi, for he could not think of a plausible reason. Sasuke quickly continued, a bright smile placed on his happy face. "I would stay with the March Hare!"
Frowning lightly from confusion, Itachi patiently played along. "The March Hare? But you'd be stuck in Time forever too."
"Mhm." Sasuke's smiles widened further, the warm sunlight playing vibrantly in his eyes. "That's why, I'll be there forever so the March Hare won't ever get lonely."
"Forever?" Itachi smirked, but Sasuke took no notice. The bright innocence shook Itachi's heart. "That's a big commitment… Are you sure?"
"Yeah! Forever!"
Presently, Sasuke's once bright smile was twisted upside down from the memory. 'How far will your jokes go, Itachi?' His question suddenly broke from the appearance of the Chesire Cat right before his eyes.
Grinning sickly, the fox-cat questioned tauntingly, "Where's your smile, Sasuke?"
Sasuke replied back with a sharp glare.
"Hahaha! In this world, everyone's mad!" The Chesire Cat exclaimed, then leaned closer to Sasuke, their faces barely inches away. "You're mad." In a heartbeat, Sasuke sliced through with his sword.
"Here, Sasuke." The Chesire Cat appeared to his right, its claw pointing to a small path. "Time to meet your March Hare?"
Irritated, the sharp crack of Chidori uselessly attacked the space that once held the teasing cat.
"Hn." Sasuke turned away with fury, but walked toward the path anyway.
Unlike the dark, gloomy forest or the dimly lit atmosphere of the house of the Duchess, the sky brightened in colour the further Sasuke walked on. In actuality, it was almost too bright – Sasuke had not felt such light in a long, long time.
Finally, his dark eyes outlined the tea table with three figures.
"The March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse were having a tea party when Alice arrived." Mikoto's voice was still as alive as it had, and it was playing melodically in Sasuke's mind.
A clang of a sword caught the three's attention, while Sasuke abruptly stopped frozen in his tracks. They were none other than Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura. And, there was no need to ask which character was who: Kakashi had a top hat out of place with his spiky white hair, Naruto had a pair of tiny round ears, and Sakura had a pair of creamy brown ears of a bunny.
No one made motion to move nor talk, and the silence clung onto the air thickly.
The March Hare was Sakura.
The escape of a barely audible bitter laughter sliced the silence, followed by a muttering under his breath. "This is a sick joke, Itachi."
However, it seemed as if those were the key to break the spell of silence, for the three brightened up, as if finally seeing Sasuke.
"Hey, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto cheerfully waved a hand as Kakashi took off his hat to show off his hair. "Sasuke," He said in acknowledgement.
Only the March Hare remained silent, giving a warm smile that sent daggers to Sasuke's heart.
His dark eyes, once met, fixated onto the March Hare's light green eyes. Only, they weren't so bright – they were filled with loneliness and pain. Sasuke felt her suffering rattle his body from head to toe.
'Che. Now I remember why I left them.' A brief thought passed, and as soon as Sakura broke the forever eye contact for the briefest of seconds, Sasuke took off.
As his legs took him away from the tea party to darkness ahead, Sasuke tried to uncover the purpose from the haze. 'Why did I come here? Why am I here…?' Within several seconds, Sasuke remembered his pursuit, which he firmly voiced aloud.
"Itachi. I need answers now, damn it. No more games."
Remembering the story, Sasuke hurried towards the castle and found the tall figures of the King and the Queen. They were holding a trial for the Knave of Hearts.
Stopping in his tracks out of curiosity, Sasuke went closer to see the face of the Knave of Hearts.
"That wasn't fair!" The child Sasuke pouted slightly as he frowned at the injustice. Mikoto laughed lightly as her hands stroked his soft, raven hair. "Now now, Sasuke. It's only a story."
Only a story…
The Knave of Hearts turned to Sasuke. It was Itachi. Everything went in slow motion. Suddenly, the King and the Queen grew into a giant darkness that Sasuke saw as Konoha.
Before the execution sword lifted to behead the Knave of Hearts, Itachi turned to whisper, "Is the darkness really Konoha, Sasuke?"
Sasuke felt a stinging slap leave his cheek as he realized Itachi had just given him his answer – in the form of a question.
His vision became blurred, but Sasuke could not feel any presence. "Damn!"
The tears disappeared away as Sasuke quickly took off to the direction he had come: the tea party. The path seemed eternal, and his lungs screamed for air but he continued.
The light was no longer there – Sasuke barely took note – as he saw the outline of the party once again.
No one was there.
The March Hare and the Dormouse and the Mad Hatter had somehow defied Time and had disappeared, leaving no evidence of their once-held presence save for the tea table with its three cups, plates, and forks.
Sasuke felt the darkness closing in to swallow this world of Wonderland. Desperately, the raven-haired frantically retraced his steps and found nobody.
"Hah." His breathing was shaking and heavy. "Hah… Hah…"
The dark eyes widened with despair, threatened with a splash of red. "No…"
"NOOOO!"
The black form had swallowed everything that had previously existed, and it was now swallowing Sasuke. His head pounded wildly, and his legs gave out and let himself be taken away, until he saw a white dot on the distance.
Frantically, Sasuke got up and made chase once again. The white dot was a small rabbit, and it disappeared into a hole of light. Sasuke's outstretched hand caught the light and he, too, fell into the rabbit hole.
. . .
Slowly, the closed eyes opened, blind to the new world he was in. There were bright lights everywhere, and to this right stood the white rabbit. Its eyes were neither black nor red like the Sharingan, and instead stared at him with a bland brown.
"Sasuke-kun!"
His attention quickly shifted towards the voice. Warm hands reached out for him and a comforting hug – although it squeezed the breath out of him – embraced his whole, driving all doubts and fear away.
"Sasuke-kun! You suddenly fainted like that, and I just – I just –" Her sparkling green eyes let the tap of tears run as they muffled her from talking.
"Oi, Sasuke! You're alright!" Behind the dazzling pink hair, Sasuke made out a grinning idiot. "Have some ramen with us?"
The blonde pointed to his back, where a white table set with four ramens lay awaited. Kakashi was already sitting down, the orange book in his hand.
Defeated, Sasuke let out light and genuine laugh. He joined the three for their "Ramen Party".
. . .
The only things Sasuke failed to notice were the bunny ears of Sakura, the round ears of Naruto, and the awkward top hat of Kakashi.
Fin.