Title: WONDERLAND

Author: Sohei NICHA

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Genre: Action / Suspense / Sci-fi/Fantasy

Rate: M

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Notes: This is a sort of (a very screwed up) "Alice in Wonderland"/ "Through the Looking-Glass" thing.

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One boy stumbles through the Looking-Glass while another is pushed down the Rabbit Hole...

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WARNING:

Torture lies ahead and behind.

Character deaths lay ahead and behind.

It is very, very, very important that you heed this warning.

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Part One

First Move . . . Blood-Red Hair (of the Innocent Voice)

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And so the pawn sat in square one, waiting to move across the board…

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The man's cell phone rang and he reached for it. "Yeah?" he asked, voice scratching through the calm soundtrack of a park on a weekend's afternoon. He stood beside a large fountain in a clearing; crowds of cheerful but quiet people littered the area, meandering to their next destination.

A beam of sunlight peeked out from behind a feathery cumulus cloud and rebounded off the surface of the coin fountain, sending a glare over his tanned face.

"Humor me: has anything happened where you are, Naruto?" asked the voice on the other end.

For the past five years, Naruto had (just barely) gotten through school, and had begun to train even more in earnest once he had graduated. After demanding from his dad that he "look for Sasuke Uchiha at least with a group" for well over four years had his father finally allowed him to investigate— but only if Minato would lead them, and that Naruto would report any information on the case back to him.

Today, however…

"Nothing, dad," Naruto grunted unhappily, "I haven't seen anything."

Minato nodded on his side of the line, "…Don't worry, we'll find something out about Sasuke, but until then, please focus on this mission."

"… Not that I want to anyways…"

"Remember to watch out for and report anything suspicious, Naruto," the man murmured to his son before hanging up.

Naruto shut his cellphone and then frowned as he held it up and stared at it with a flicker of resentment in his eyes. Then, he looked up, only to see that the orange sweatshirt he was wearing made some people glare at him fiercely, for in the sunlight it was near blinding. His sunglasses clouded a bit and he cleaned them with the sleeve of his shirt. A girl with pink hair caught his eye and he put the orange-tinted eye appliance back on to wink at her with a slight smile. She smiled and came over, hips swinging with each step. Her green eyes looked at him and she wrapped one of her arms around his waist, asking:

"What have you seen?"

"Nothing— yet," Naruto answered, "Just like normal." The two began to walk down the pathway, "That may be a good thing though. It's frustrating, but…"

Sakura's eyebrows narrowed. "We'll find him," she said concretely, "I know we will."

Her companion nodded. "I know," he responded, blue eyes wandering around. The blonde saw the trees' many shades of green, the rough browns of the bark, blurs of color as people passed by the couple, and the chrome of vendors' carts. He could hear cars' horns in the distance, chatters and conversations, and young children laughing. His eyes closed for a moment and he inhaled the scent of algae and grass deeply, trying to clear his racing mind.

There was only one thing that he wanted right now, and that was to figure out what had happened to the young boy in that video tape he had seen five years ago. The suspense was killing him and he didn't know if the expression was real or fake anymore— whether it was still an expression or what was really happening to him.

Naruto frowned and then opened his eyes only to see two burly men tailing a much more slender-looking male. His eyes narrowed, "Hey, Sakura," he pulled her forward, "What do you think of those guys?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," she smirked, "Let's tail 'em— but if they go into that stinking pee-shack that you guys call a bathroom, then you're on your own."

He nodded good-humoredly and then, the two followed the men, chattering light-heartedly with eyes still focused on their targets.

The imposing men followed the pale, green-haired man silently. The man would occasionally look over his shoulder before quickening his pace slightly; he never once stopped until he made it to the restrooms, where the men entered soon after him.

Naruto cracked his neck and then grinned at the pink-haired girl at his side, "Watch out for anything bad happening here, alright?"

She nodded, "Well, then you better keep your guard up and then I won't bust your ass afterwards."

The blond placed his hands in his pockets, fingering a box-cutter as he walked in through the cold, dim passageway to the moldy toilets and urinals of the men's restroom. Naruto reached a leaking water fountain, stepping into the shallow puddle at its base; he rounded the corner of the passage before bumping into a red-head.

"Sorry," the red-head muttered, running a sickly-pale hand through his fiery hair before his slate-colored eyes flickered up to look at the blond quickly.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly and his lips parted slightly.

Something about that gaze seemed… familiar…

The red-head then looked and stepped away from him, walking purposefully over to the exit. Blue eyes followed the man's figure before zoning in on a single strand of ebony hair in the mess of red. The blond quickly took out his cellphone, "Sakura," he said quickly, "Follow the ginger-guy that just walked out of the restrooms."

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"There wasn't any red-head of any sort walking out of there!" Sakura huffed, "However, a brown-haired, blue-eyed guy and a blonde guy did when you called!"

Naruto had found his companion still at the entrance by the time he had returned, a look of pure concentration upon her face at the time. They were now hissing at each other under their breaths, faces in the expression of feigned bliss.

"Well, what the Hell was going on with those other guys then, Big Brother?" the woman snarled.

At this the blond flushed, "well— ah— uhm…" he stuttered, "well, I got in there and I couldn't find him, but I did see those…" Naruto looked up at the sky, anywhere but at Sakura, "… Bears…" he muttered.

Pink eyebrows shot up and the female softly "oh"-ed.

"Uhm, mister?"

Naruto turned around at the soft voice; behind him stood an adolescent girl with pigtailed orange hair. He smiled, "Yeah?"

"That man over there asked me to give this to you." In her hand was a small disk.

The blond looked past her with a sudden surge of alertness, "What man?" he gasped.

She blinked at his unexpected excitement and looked around, "W-well, that…" her eyebrows furrowed, "Ah— he's gone!"

As she tried to apologize to him, he observed the disk, muttering "it's okay" to her every once in a while. Sakura placed a hand on Naruto's arm and led him away, reassuring the girl as the two walked away from her. However, even as he was lead down the path, walking, the man's eyes were still locked in on the case and all of what it may have contained for him.

"We'll look at it," Sakura reassured him.

He nodded once. "Do you think it's from him?" the blond asked after a moment.

A smile played on the woman's lips, "At the way you're going about it, Naruto, everything is from him."

He didn't answer back. After all…

He didn't know if she was right anymore.

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The pawn, now in the Looking Glass world knew his calling: defeat the Red Queen and find their King…

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Naruto placed the disk into the computer drive and the two watched the screen in rapture as a window containing multiple files popped up. He looked at Sakura.

He swallowed. "Sakura, maybe we should test the fingerprints?" the man asked.

She shook her head, "We've got the girl and our fingerprints all over it already." She bit her thumb nail, "Besides, we shouldn't even be doing this right now anyways… we're totally slacking and we'd get kicked off of this case anyways…"

The blonde grinned then, "My dad's gonna kill me…" he chuckled nervously, and with shaking hands, clicked on the first audio file.

The speakers then filled with a rich voice very much similar than that of the red-head Naruto had seen at the park.

"Hello," the disk played, the voice crackled slightly and the two could hear voices and laughter in the background. "Who are you really and why are you following me, Naruto Uzumaki?"

The blond's breath caught and Sakura's eyes widened as she turned to look at him in surprise. He opened his mouth but remained speechless as to how the man on the recording knew who he was.

"You really haven't changed a bit since middle school," the voice said with a quiet snicker.

Naruto then bolted up out of his seat, causing the chair to crash down on the floor behind him. "Sasuke!" he shouted. Sakura's eyes narrowed and she firmly grasped his arm to restrain the man before he did anything brash and harmful.

"Get your men off of my case. You're not worth the trouble it takes to clean up your dead body from my floors anyways."

And with that, the message ended.

Sakura exited from the file and then clicked another one in the window, "You're sure it's him?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. "It has to be him, Sakura," the man said. "It's his case— he knows how I looked like in middle school— he has black hair— I saw some…!" Eagerness possessed him, "It's him, Sakura! It has to be!"

She shook her head slowly, "But then why would he be in public?" the woman mused, "Wouldn't he try to escape the man who took him? Why would he try to escape us?" She bit her lip, "It just doesn't make sense…" Sakura clenched her fists, "What if you're just putting the facts together the way you want them to be, Naruto? Optimism is great, but—"

"You're not worth the trouble it takes to clean up your dead body from my floors anyways…" the voice said, interrupting Sakura's questioning, "After all…

"They'll always be my floors."

"His house…" Sakura murmured, green eyes narrowing as images of blood-stained tile and grout flooded her vision.

"You know, Naruto," the file continued, "you actually used to be one of the more intriguing people to watch at school… I never really talked to anyone, obviously; however, you always seemed to somehow catch my attention… I don't think I ever really hated you back then, but you never really liked me all too much for some reason… I may have actually resented you for that…"

Naruto reached out to shut off the speakers, but then Sakura stopped him before he made contact with the electronic.

"Wait," she said to him.

"… But, then I saw you today and I had an epiphany. Oh, sorry, silly me," the voice said blandly, "If you haven't changed, then I'm sure you still don't know what that means, you Dead-Last."

The blond felt a surge of anger and then reached out to take the computer screen and throw it at a wall. Sakura once again grasped his arm.

"This is my computer, Naruto," she growled. Then she looked back at the screen with eyes full of angst, "Don't you dare break it before we find out what he says next…"

"I realized…" the voice paused, "that even though you're trying to find me, it's best if you stay away…"

"Not true…" Naruto breathed, "THAT'S NOT TRUE!" he yelled louder, as if the recording could send his message over to the source of the voice.

"So I want you to stop trying to look for clues—"

The blond furiously clicked on the next file after the recording hit its end while Sakura spoke at his side, trying to get through to him, "Sasuke's house— the old Uchiha district! Naruto—! That's where we should start looking—"

"Stop trying to look for clues—"

And the next…

"Trying to look for clues—"

And the next…

"Look for clues—"

And the next…

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And so the game began: White Pawn to D-4.

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"It's really eerie here," Sakura murmured, "Being in a place where a family died…" she trailed off. "I'm looking around," she swallowed, "and I can see everything that happened…" the pink-haired woman smiled slightly, "The tape…" Sakura remembered the tape— watching it on the first day of the mission so that she could get background on whatever the Hell was going on.

But when she saw it, she remembered her stomach churning as she watched a family's father tortured and then brutally murdered by his youngest child; a mother, mutilated and then killed by her own child; a family's elder son, just waiting to die if somebody was foolish enough to let him move free; and a young boy who watched it all happen, only to wind up forced to behead his mother and father with a kitchen knife.

She remembered vomiting afterwards…

A hand on the small of her back jolted her out of her thoughts. She looked up at the man beside her.

"Are you okay, Sakura?"

The pink-haired woman smiled again, about to answer…

They heard a noise and then instinctively moved their hands to their holsters where their guns rested. Their eyes scanned the dimly-lit hallway, alert. Sakura felt her heart quicken as she sped over to and pressed herself against the wall. Naruto stood boldly beside her, gun at the ready. He looked at her and she looked back, "Are you ready?" she whispered.

He nodded.

"You two… you're close?" asked a voice from the stairs.

They turned and pointed their guns at the voice before lowering them at the sight they saw: a small beam of light filtered in through dusty windows; it fell upon a short, young man with blood-red hair. He looked upon the two with half-hooded eyes, "My, my…" he murmured, "What wonderful art you would make."

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End . Blood-Red Hair

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Review.

Sohei NICHA