Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden! Nope! Not happening! But if I did, this would be the ending…Plus more, but that'll only come if people want a sequel, which I doubt.
This is for you, Eryk! Merry Christmas! I love my Kurama plushie! A cute little JunxShinku fic. This is one of the few exceptions where they AREN'T like us. lol Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
Along with you, fellow reader!
I never really thought about what would happen after the Alice Game. I never really thought about what would happen to me.
More importantly, and more surprising to even myself, I never really thought about what would happen to her.
"Well done, Shinku. My beloved fifth daughter...You are truly deserving of the title of Alice. You are lovely and without the slightest hint of impurity. Tell your father what it is you wish."
For so long she had waited for this moment. I knew that very well. I also knew what she would wish for. She would wish for what every other Rozen Maiden wanted; to stay by Rozen's side forever, completely forgetting about her medium in the process.
She always had a knack for surprising me.
"Any wish I want?"
Rozen merely smiled at the petite blond with gentle, sky blue eyes.
"Your heart's deepest desire. Tell me, Alice."
"That..." she whispered and her eyes widened with surprise.
Alice.
She was Alice.
Her features darkened and she spoke in her sharp, demanding voice, "That is not my name."
My eyes snapped up and I couldn't help but stare at the doll that had become my very life. For the previous part of the conversation, I was transfixed upon the ground, trying to count the cracks in the Earth.
Trying not to think about the fact that I was going to lose her.
"Oh?"
"My name," she held her head high and proudly went on, "is Shinku. And my wish—my heart's deepest desire—is for my sister's and I to stop fighting. We will not play the Alice Game ever again."
"Are you sure that's what you want? You'll all turn into ordinary, lifeless dolls, Alice."
"Shinku." she corrected him with the slightest hint of annoyance. "My heart's deepest desire is for us to be human. All of the Rozen Maidens will be truly alive."
Rozen frowned. This was obviously not what he had expected.
It wasn't what I had expected either.
"Is that what you really want."
She glanced back at me for the first time.
The ground had quite a few cracks in it. I counted seventeen before, but I better double check...
"...Yes. That is what I want most."
After that, all I can remember is bright light. Blinding is actually a better way to describe it. The next thing I know, I'm in a patch of forest, all alone.
Or so I thought.
Rozen really could create life. He finally had the chance to become God.
I'd worship him for the rest of my life considering the angel he had sent me.
"Jun."
I turn to her and find the doll kneeling next to me, staring in a way that makes my blood run cold, yet warms the heart in my hollow chest. There's something different about her. She's taller. Her limbs are attached by bones and muscle and her hand, which is reaching up to my face, radiates with warmth.
She slaps me.
"GAH! YOU LITTLE--!"
"Bring me clothes."
She is naked.
"HAVE SOME DECENCY AND COVER YOURSELF UP!"
"With what, may I ask?"
"YOUR HANDS, AT LEAST!"
"Such a noisy servant...Really, I hope other humans are much more pleasing to be around," she complains as I hand over my blue sweatshirt. It comes down to her thighs and I notice how adorable she looks...Among other things...
"Annoying little..."
She is exactly the same, but with one minor difference.
"I no longer fit into any of my clothes. You will make them for me."
She is no longer a doll.
"Nori will just buy some for you. There's no reason for me to make them."
She is human.
"I want to watch you create my outfits. Your fingers...They are like magic. Watching you makes me happy."
She is free.
"W-what?"
"Your fingers make me happy."
The images that plague my mind...They were suppressed before because she was just a doll and I was much younger, but now...
"Y-you! Don't say things like that!"
"Oh? Why? Before you used to take that as a compliment."
"Now it's different! You're human! We're both human--! Human and--! And--!"
"Your cheeks have gone red...Perhaps that phrase now holds a romantic meaning?"
"Yeah...S-sort of..."
She seems to ponder this for a moment before repeating herself, with a bit of rephrasing.
"Your fingers make me happy. No. No, it's not just that...Jun...You make me happy..."
"M-me?"
She leans a bit closer and I'm hardly aware of the maple tree I've backed into it.
"You..." she whispers. I can feel her breath, warm and inviting, on my lips now. "Only you..."
I gulp, waiting for her next move, but then I realize she's just staring at me through lidded eyes.
"Jun..."
That's all it takes to set me off.
We don't have sex. We don't even make out. There's just one, simple kiss.
Two.
A third that lasts the longest and finally I understand what she's trying to tell me.
'I'm still yours.'
She's mine.
Shinku.
My Shinku.
We stand and begin to take the back roads home, avoiding people so that they don't question the beautiful girl wearing only a sweatshirt.
"Didn't you want to become Alice?" I ask her, curious despite my lightheadedness.
"I am selfish. I wanted to be with you forever. Isn't that obvious? I'm no better than Hinaichigo, it seems. But I can understand her. When you finally meet someone who knows you inside and out so easily...It's natural to want to be with them..."
Again, I go red to the tips of my ears. Reaching out to take her hand, I'm slapped again.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"I'm a lady. I refuse to be handled in such a rough way."
"Rough? I'm showing you love!"
She blinks and questions, "You wish to show me love?"
Slowly and tentatively, she slips her dainty hand into mine.
"Is it now okay to say that your fingers make me happy?"
As a human girl, I feel she might give me even more Hell. Along with the other dolls, whom I assume are with their own mediums and will feel the need to drop by and break something.
Suiseiseki...Just thinking about her as a human makes me shudder...
"In a few years," I respond to her earlier question before adding, "When we're married."
She blushes and I know that she finally understands.
Especially when she throws a glare in my direction.
"My virtue is not cheap."
"Which is why I'll play by your rules."
She gives a small smile, as if we've just exchanged a small joke.
"Yes...My rules..."
Shinku is still Shinku.
She's still mine.