I am totally not procrastinating New Game or the one-shot series with the dragon kids. I'm just conveniently getting different ideas during the only time I can write... But please. R&R! I live for reviews...I need my fix man...I NEED MY FIX XD This is based off the manga and not the game, btw. So Alice has her own bedroom. :P

-Static

/*\

As the cat had suspected, his little prank caused quite the ruckus. She was shrieking and yelling and demanding that he let her down, and though on most of these little outings her protests were more than amusing, he wasn't feeling too into it today.

During his other tricks, her voice wasn't so close to his ears, and right now she wouldn't stop screaming. Did the woman want to deafen him?

"Alice," The cat eventually spoke up, "Will you please, please, lower your voice?" He asked, strained, leaning as far away from her as he could on his respective branch. Though the girl was simultaneously annoyed and entranced by the appendages that were his ears, she never really seemed to come to terms with the fact that they were exceedingly sensitive, just like any other cat. It wouldn't be much longer until his sense of hearing dulled, and if he could, he wanted to prevent that. For a moment, his plea was acknowledged and she muted her voice, though only for a moment. However when she spoke again, she had indeed quieted her volume.

"If you want me to be quieter," she growled, "Then you must let me down from the tree."

The pink-haired man only laughed, his momentary reprieve forgotten, "But Alice," he countered, "You have to admit, the view from here is pretty cool."

The Cheshire Cat had dragged the Foreigner up a tree. The tallest he could find. It hadn't been a premeditated action. He had come across her while she walking through the forest - it looked like she was headed towards the castle - and at the spur of the moment, he had decided to sneak up on her. It had been all to easy to step lightly up to her back, and then quickly grab her waist and twirl her around. After throwing her over his shoulder, her face buried in the pink fluff of his scarf, he strutted off, thinking of all the things he could do to toy with her.

It hadn't taken him long to figure out the perfect plan. It would appease his immediate need for mischief, and she couldn't be mad at him because this particular "prank" really wasn't all that bad.

After he decided some tree-climbing would be fun, he thought of the destination, because he knew that Alice absolutely loved the view of Wonderland from the roof of the Clock Tower.

"...I suppose," she conceded, her eyes taking in every bit of the surrounding landscape, "But that does not change the fact that I am terrified to look down. Boris, couldn't you have found a slightly shorter tree?"

And it was true. Alice was not equipped to be climbing trees, in her poofy blue dress and her delicate Mary-Janes. If she were to attempt to get down by herself, she would fall, and if she fell from this height, almost one hundred feet in the air...

Game over.

Boris only laughed. "Alice, don't worry," he said, "I'm a cat. I'm one of the most agile creatures in the world. I won't let you fall." And this was spoken with the utmost pride. His back straightened, his arms crossed, his ears had perked, and he looked down at her with his eyelids half lowered and a tiny smirk adorning his face. This here was a man who was completely and utterly sure of his abilities, and Alice couldn't help but to momentarily admire his self-confidence. This definitely wasn't narcissism - she'd seen enough of that from Blood to identify it - but she still had her doubts.

She made the mistake of glancing down, and it didn't take long for the vertigo to hit her. She squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face into the end of Boris's scarf/boa thing. She would not fall, she would not fall, she would not fall...

"...I still want to be let down." She pleaded softly, and the cat sighed.

"Keep your eyes closed."

/*\

Even after Boris had set her down safe and sound on the forest floor, she was still spitting mad. She called him several insults, and lectured him about how rude it was to make people late getting home from their errands. Why she was running errands at Heart Castle, he didn't know, but nonetheless, he was quite displeased with the way things had turned out.

Sure, he always loved a good prank, but he had been hoping for a far different reaction this time.

He was prepared to leave, more than irritated, when he heard an alarmed and frightened cry.

Alice?!

Almost instantly, Ace came to mind. He had wanted to brutally murder Alice, and had nearly killed the cat before changing his mind.

Could he have done so again?

Boris raced through the woods, hoping against hope that Alice had not run into any real danger. When he arrived, gun in hand, breathing heavily, he froze at what he saw.

Alice, thankfully, was not in danger. Instead, she was kneeling in the undergrowth near a white cat. A cat with a broken leg it seemed. It was meowing it's protests as she attempted to get closer to it.

"Come on," she growled as it swiped at her, claws out and hissing, "I'm trying to help you." She implored,

Boris had backed away before he was seen and had watched the spectacle from his hiding place in a bush. Alice was there for almost an hour, and eventually the cat - a normal one from the looks of it - had finally accepted that this pesky human girl was not going to leave it alone. It resigned itself to it's fate when it at last allowed the blonde to gently scoop it up in her arms and...hug it to her chest.

Ever since Ace had pointed out that Alice had a heart and not a clock, the cat found himself wanting to hear it. He had tried several times, to press his ears to her chest to listen, but for some reason, she always shrieked and pushed him back, often committing physical violence upon his person for it. It would be quite the trick to get her to peacefully comply with such an action.

And she was bestowing this favoritism to an animal. One who could not understand the amazing privilege she had granted it.

Then Boris realized something. Alice viewed the animals - the non-humanoid ones - as innocent creatures. She always thought Boris's motives for his all-too-intimate closeness had more to do with hormones than curiosity, and though that might have been true to some degree, his primary objective was to listen to her heartbeat. Sure, the physical fight she would put up was fun on occasion, like a game he had yet to crack, but for once he wanted no opposition. He wanted to hear the thrum of her heart while she scratched him behind his ears, and to feel the warmth radiating off her skin as it slowly put him to sleep.

Watching the way she cradled the wounded creature as she walked away, Boris felt an idea creep it's way into his mind. Possibly the greatest, craziest, most magnificent idea to ever come to him in his young life.

/*\

Boris spent the next week staking out the forest, using whatever excuse he could to bail from the Amusement Park. He knew Gowland would be much more easy-going on the subject of his absence if he just told him that it had something to do with Alice, but this time...

This would be entirely between him and her. No one outside the two of them would know about this. Hell, if this went as planned, even she would be left without a clue.

That was when he heard a sound from the bushes, and a soft humming that he recognized as belonging to only one person.

He had finally managed to cross paths with her, and now it was showtime.

Quickly, the cat readjusted his fluffy pink boa, and morphed.

As much as Boris preferred his humanoid form, it would hinder his immediate endeavors. Not wanting to be too obvious, he hid under a bush, and made just a bit of noise. A little rustling to get her attention, and then a pained mew, to demonstrate safety on her part. A concerned expression decorated her face, and she knelt to the bush to inspect the sounds. Perfect, she'd fallen right into his trap.

/*\

At first, Alice felt a little afraid when she heard the sound emanating from the greenery. The fear vanished into concern when she heard the meowing. It sounded as though it was in pain, and as she knelt down to investigate the bush, she came face-to-face with, of course, a cat. Not a beast of the woods, but a normal, smaller house cat.

It was a fluffy tabby - it's features faintly reminiscent of a ragdoll - and in the strangest of colors. It wasn't the usual orange or black or even white. It was entirely pink, and it had the prettiest purple stripes. It's ears were flattened to it's head, and it's tail was curled protectively around it's body. Alice could see no blood or blemishes, but it was refusing to put weight on it's left paw. The moment she looked into it's wide amber eyes, a familiar shade of liquid gold, the pupil narrowing as it glared at her suspiciously, she fell absolutely in love.

"Here kitty, kitty," She cooed. For a moment it looked almost...disgusted? But just as quick as the expression came, it vanished. The woman wondered if she might have imagined it. The cat crept forward ever so slightly. Alice suspected that this animal - unlike last weeks patient - was tame, as it looked far too clean to be wild, and she gently coaxed it out of the bush. She called to it in a sweet and happy voice and she wiggled her fingers at it ever so slightly. She watched it limp closer to her.

Eventually, it was close enough that she could sweep it into her arms in a fleeting motion. It protested loudly initially, extending it's claws, but upon realizing that she was holding it and not hurting it, it relaxed. She held it close to her chest and it started purring, entirely contented.

Yes. If she could get away with it, she was definitely going to keep it.

"Come on," she sighed, started to walk back towards the Clock Tower. "I am so lucky Julius is oblivious. Otherwise, I would have a seriously hared time hiding you in my room."

/*\

Boris had seen Alice's room before, but never from such a perspective. He had gotten what he wanted. Alice had allowed him to hear her heartbeat with no issue, on the way back to the tower. So why did he want to continue this little trick for any longer?

"Alright kitty," she stated, gently setting him on her bed. "I need to take a look at that paw."

Wait. Which paw was supposed to be injured?

Immediately, she made to grab for the left. Since Boris was playing at a regular cat, he would have to behave suspiciously of her intentions. It was already disadvantageous enough that his fur color was so off, if he seemed too complacent...he really didn't want her to find out it was him.

So he hissed and pulled his paw away. He made it as hard as possible for her to wrap up his paw with the familiar white gauze, and eventually she gave up.

"Fine," she muttered, exasperated, "I get it, I'm a strange human and you don't know what I'm doing, but I can't fight with you any longer." She glared down at him, "If I don't get Julius his coffee soon, he's going to wonder what's taking me so long, and he highly disapproves of pets. For now, you win, but make no mistake, when I return, that paw is getting bandaged."

And with that, she stood up, and stormed out of the room, closing the door behind her.

He didn't get to listen to her heartbeat any more, but he was in her bed. Well, it was likely that she had been up for a quite a while, as three time periods had already passed just on their way back to the Tower. He decided he would take a nap, and see what happened when he awoke.

/*\

The not-wounded cat was roused from his slumber the sound of a clicking door. It was a night period, and Alice had finally returned to her room. Boris was excited. He knew how much Alice liked cats, and he was hoping that she might decide she wanted snuggles. Before that though...he froze.

Alice had turned on the lamp and locked the door. This in itself did not strike him as a strange occurrence, but he couldn't stop himself from panicking a little. He needed to stop looking, now!

Why was she taking off her clothes?!

/*\

As soon as Alice had changed into her nightdress, she checked in with her patient, still snoozing on the bed, looking up at her with bleary eyes. When she had first seen the unusual coloring of the animal's fur, her first instinct was to suspect Boris of another prank. He was the only pink cat she had ever seen. However a quick examination had proved this theory wrong. The lack of piercings on the ears and tail convinced her otherwise. There were no ornamental rings or studs on any of the appendages, and there were also no visible piercing holes. Maybe pink cats were just a semi-rare occurrence in Wonderland.

She first inspected the cat's paw. The creature was no longer protesting, and so she could see that it's limb wasn't bleeding nor did it look swollen in any way. In fact, the paw was rather soft, completely lacking in any callouses or roughness that might come with living in the wild. A tame cat that escaped home and stubbed it's toe. Hardly fatal, but still very uncomfortable. Satisfied with her diagnosis, she shut off the lamp and then lightly stepped around her latest companion on the bed, and then lastly slipped under the covers. After a moment or two, she started running her fingers through the animal's fur, as it did not seem to dislike her closeness.

"Mm..." she hummed drowsily at the cat, "Your fur is really soft..." And on an impulse, she pulled the cat closer, and to her surprise, it willingly curled up under her chin and started purring. Loudly. Then Alice noticed something.

"Wait a minute..." She trailed off, and then looked the cat in the eye, "Why do you smell like Boris's shampoo?"

The cat's ears flattened. He'd been caught, he was sure of it.

/*\

So it would appear that this ended up longer than intended. So I'm going to make it a two-shot instead of a one-shot. R&R! Please! :D

-Static