My eyes opened, vision blured. I was in a complete daze. That shock must have fried a few too many brain cells. I groaned and sat up while holding my head. "Wew, the world is still spinning." I groaned closing my eyes again. "Take it easy Alice. One thing at a time." I told myself before opening my eyes again.
"Oh look, the power is back on and Yatty-kun is on. They must be doing a double episode feature tonight." I smile dreamily and go to pat the glass of the tv. "Good tv." I yawn, patting it a few times. Wait. That's not my tv. That's not glass. That's cloth. I turn back around and see Yato staring down at me with a confused expression. Then his attention turns to my hand still patting his stomach. I snatch my hand back and look down at it.
"Oh my god. I'm still asleep. And I'm dreaming of Yato. I touched his stomach. It felt so real. This must be one of those livid dreams I read about." I push myself up on to my knees and place my hands on Yato's cheeks. "His skin feels real too. Just like my skin." I comment, then pull his jaw down and look in his mouth. Yato continues to watch me inspect him, not saying a word, but clearly unsure about me. "He's awfully quiet for being in my dream. I always imagined he'd talk more." I climb off the bed I was on and tug on his clothes a little, giving him a slight pat down. He takes a few steps back away from me until his back is against the wall. He sighs down at me and crosses his arms annoyed. Then my eyes lock on to his.
"Would you plea-" He begins but I cut him off, completely and utterly absorbed in the colors of his eyes.
"They are even more beautiful then I imagined." I whisper looking deep into his eyes, our noses just inches away from each other. "The blue, its nothing like a Sapphire. It's more like they are small pools of the purest blue I have ever seen. Like ... Like a celestial phenomenon: nebulae as seen through telescopes, the light of unnamed stars diffused through dusts and...and elements and endlessness. Layers of light. His blue eyes are are no where near the sapphires that I have been so long obsessed with. They are starlight. They are magical." I rambled holding his cheeks between my hands again as I lost my self in his gaze.
A pinkish color crept across his face as I continued to study his eyes. Then he finally spoke. "Do you mind?" He asked nervously, trying not to sound as embarrassed as he was.
"No." I said shaking my head, still just inches away from him. I closed my eyes and puckered my lips. Hey, this is my dream. If I want to kiss him I damn well will. When his lips didn't meet mine, I peeked out one eye. He was still looking a me like I was some kind of weirdo. "Oh." I said pulling my hands away from him. "Well that was awkward. To think, you can get this embarrassed in dreams too." I began to wander around the room a little more, just noseying around when another voice came.
"What is she doing?" I turned around to see the guy named Rabo standing with his arms crossed over his chest, right next to Yato. Yato just shrugged and shook his head.
"I have no idea. One minute she was sleeping, the next she was sexually harassing me and now she's doing this." Yato said gesturing to me, rummaging through the room.
I gasped and grabbed Yato, pulling him away from the man that gave me the heebee jeebees. "Don't go near him." I said protectively standing in between them. "He is a bad guy. That's right, I saw the show." I nod.
"What in the world..." Kazuma says, joining the scene.
"Ah! Kazuma-san! Quick, mask our pressence so we go invisible. We need to get away. Yato is in trouble." I say pointing to Rabo. "That guy is going to try and hurt Yatty-kun."
The room goes silent for a few moments as they all stare at me. Then, all three of them bust out in laughter.
"Sire, did you hear that?" Rabo laughed. "She think's that I'm going to try and hurt you."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard." Kazuma chuckled. "She must have it her head harder than I thought." The young man walked over to me and lightly patted me on the head feeling for bumps, then set an ice pack on it.
"What a weird dream." I said, now even confused myself.
"Dream? You're highness, you haven't told her yet?" Kazuma asked guiding me back over to the bed and having me sit on it.
"I haven't really had the chance. As soon as she woke up she began talking to herself and fondling me." He said defensively. Both Rabo and Kazuma looked at me in shock.
"She tried to fondle you?" Rabo asked.
"Yeah, then she tried to kiss me and going on about phenomenons and starlight. I don't remember everything she said, but I think it was a complement." Yato explained.
Kazuma turned back to me from listening to Yato. "Miss..." He paused looking for what he should call me.
"Alice." I finished for him.
"Miss Alice." He repeated, turning to Yato with a shocked look on his face. "Do you know where you are?" He asked, calmly waiting for my answer.
"I'm dreaming of course." I tell him. He shoots a glance toward Yato and Rabo.
"Not exactly. You're in Anima. And I'm afraid you're not dreaming. What is the last thing you remember?" He asks.
I look up at the ceiling as I think abou it. "I was at home and the power was out. So I was going around unplugging things so they didn't get fried by a power surge when it would come back on. But when I grabbed the chord to the tv, I got zapped." I explained.
"I see." Kazuma says, nodding. "There is something I need to explain to you." He said slowly, as I pulled my long dark hair over my shoulder. "It's been a long time since anyone from your world has come here. Very rarely do our worlds connect."
"What do you mean?" I asked confused.
"Our worlds haven't connected in almost a thousand years. And for you to be here, our worlds had to have connected. We've studied this...event in old scriptures and documents. But now that I have heard your name. I'm pretty sure I know why you're here." Kazuma explained.
"And...Why is that?" I ask.
"Every time our worlds have connected, a girl had appeared." He slowly begins to explain.
"Okay. I'm a girl. I'm 'here'." I say using finger quotes.
"Everytime it's been a girl named Alice." He blurts cautiously. "And she has always come here for the kings to compete for her heart."
"Wait. So you mean to tell me... I'm not dreaming. I totally just felt up Yatokami-sama... I tried to kiss him... AND Just let my thoughts fall out of my mouth with out even thinking clearly?" I counted the things off on my fingers, not even paying attention to the second thing he had said. Rabo and Kazuma both nodded while Yato leaned against he door frame with his arms crossed, paying a whopping total of zero percent of attention to us. I felt my cheeks heat up. How embarassing. I'm such a doof. I grab the blanket and pull it over my head. Then something they said only moments ago catches my, better late than never, attention. "Hold on a minute. You both called Yato 'Sire' and 'Your Highness', did he finally get his own shrine and become king of gods?" I ask looking over at him, still not paying any attention.
"Not exactly." Rabo says.
"Yato is the King of Diamonds." Kazuma says.
"King of Diamonds? What? Like playing cards?" I ask looking to him like he lost it.
"Rabo is the Knave of Diamonds. I am the Ace." He explains, unbuttoning his white shirt and pulling the collar away from his neck. There, something caught my eyes. A mark. A red captial letter 'A' with calligraphy scrolls around it.
"Okay, I get that Rabo is he Knave. Which means he is a knight. That would be the jack card. But what is an Ace?" I ask.
"An Ace is the royal advisor. I'm the brains. Rabo is the Brawn." He says.
"If you're the brains and He is the brawn, then what does that leave Yato?"
"His highness is..." He begins looking over my shoulder at him. "Our boss. He decideds whether or not to use my brain or his brawn."
I nod looking back and Yato, who is now looking at me with his glorious blue eyes again. "I can see that." I say, as I begin to drown in them once more. That blank stare he looks at me with is incredibly captivating.
"Should we notify the others, your Highness?" Kazuma asks. Yato yawns and shoves off the wall he was leaning on.
"May as well. They probably already know she's here. It's not every day something her size just falls from the sky. It's night time at Izaya's right now, so you'll probably have a better chance at getting him now than you would if you waited till it was night time here. You have to remember, he is the thing that goes bump in the night." Yato says, leaving the room.
"I'll call Rin and Izaya. We'll have to send a wolf to Itachi." Kazuma says, thinking out loud. "I really wish he'd just let me install a phone for him." He mumbles gettng to his feet.
"Itachi? Rin? Izaya?" I ask surprised to hear their names. "They are here too? What are they doing here?" I ask following Kazuma out of the room and down the hall.
"They live in the other kingdoms." Kazuma says, glacing at me out of the corner of his eye. "Izaya is the King of Spades."
"I bet that did wonders for his ego." I comment.
"Rin is the King of clovers."
"Clovers..." I repeat trying to picture it.
"And Itachi is the King of Hearts." He finished. I let out a giggle. Picturing Itachi has a ladies man King of hearts just made laughter come bubbling up out of me. "Do all of the kings have an Ace and Knave?" I ask, curiosity filling up inside.
"Yes." He answers with a single word.
"Well who are they?" I ask excitedy.
"Rin's Ace is his twin brother Yukio. His Knave is his half-brother Amaimon. Itachi's Ace is Shisui and his Knave is Naruto."
"And Izaya? Who? Who is his Ace and Knave?"
"His Ace is a quiet girl named Namie. His Knave is an angry man named Shizuo." He finished. Upon hearing that Shizuo and Izaya were stuck together like that made me die. It started as a giggle but I was soon rolling on the floor in pain from laughing so hard.
"That's a peach." I say wiping a tear from my eye.
"And look who's here." Kazuma said sarcastically. I looked in the same direction he was and saw Grell happily following Sebastian from black butler. "The Cheshire cat and the Hatter. Where's the White Rabbit?" Kazuma asked, not seeming in the least bit thrilled.
"Oh, I'm here." Toshiro Hitsugaya from Bleach says stepping out from behind them. "Is that a problem?" He asks with a smirk. Kazuma's expression remains blank.
"Not at all. I do trust that you will all behave while you're here." He says, narrowing his eyes, giving the look to Grell.
"Is that her?" Sebastian asks looking at me. For such a handsome face his gaze was kind of scary. I slowly scoot behind Kazuma.
"It is. She has confirmed that her name is, in fact, Alice." Kazuma replies.
"She's not dressed very well." Sebastian comments, looking me over.
"And just what is wrong with my clothes?" I ask, slightly angered as I march right up to him, holding out my fist.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Alice." He smirks and grabs my hand, lightly planting a kiss against the back of it. Heat rushes to my cheeks as I'm completely turning into a puddle before him.
"T-the pleasure is mine." I stammer looking into his eyes.
"That suits you much better." He says with a smile.
"Huh?" I ask, then look down at my clothing. They had changed into a warm winter dress thats hem was lined with fur, thick tights and cute matching pair of winter boots. "Ehh?!" I squeak. "Where did my clothes go?" I asked covering my body with my arms.
"I changed them into something more suitable for the weather here." Sebastian says, gesturing to the window. I turn and look towards te window and saw nothing but white.
"Ah yes, I forgot to tell you. Yato is the King of the land of snow and ice. It's always cold here. Be sure to dress warmly while you stay here." Kazuma says as I press my now gloved hands against the window and watch the ice sparkle in the light.
"It's looks like...Diamonds." I whisper, now realizing why the was designated as the Kingdom of Diamonds.