Because of you I can't even listen to a simple song without my heart shattering. Because of you I am lost and afraid. Because of you I have lost who I am. Because of you, I have found you and me again.
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"Okay, so we add a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, a little more of this, oh can't forget that!"
Natsuki watched Kushina with a disgusted look of concern as Kushina dropped the most bizarre ingredients to a pot. "Uuuh... What exactly is 'this' and 'that'?" She asked, gulping as the smell protruding from the pot wavered deathly towards her.
The castle cook noticed the look on Natsuki's face and frowned. "Are you insulting my wonderful piece of art!?"
Natsuki took affirmative action and waved her hands in front of her in a panic. "Of course not!" Taking note in the red head's largely growing hair, tried to explain herself. "I was just curious if your art would kill- I mean help me?"
Thankfully her quick recovery went unnoticed and Kushina smiled and her long hair returned to normal. "Of course it will dear! It will return you to your normal size!" She exclaimed, preparing a small bowl for the younger girl. "Okay now! Drink up!"
Natsuki took the bowl and stared before cringing away. "There's no other way is there?" She asked. Kushina shook her head with a smile. She gulped and took a sip of the repulsive soup like dish and tried to keep from gagging on the poison. But as soon as it slid down her throat, her clothing seemed to get a little too tight.
"Oops!" Kushina through a blanket over her just as her dress ripped as she began to grow.
Natsuki sat up and brought the blankets to her body and looked around. Kushina's smile didn't look so big anymore, Kushina herself didn't look so big. She looked at her hands and grinned. She was back to normal again! But she looked at the tattered scraps of green on the ground and pouted. "I quite fancied that dress too."
Kushina laughed and helped the girl up. "Well, we'll just have to fix you a new one. Let us introduce you to our seamstress, Amaru-Chan."
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The Hatter drummed his fingers on the glass table, growing more and more impatient. Where were they? They were taking too long! He pulled out his pocket watch and frowned, mentally slapping himself. It had only been a minute since he last checked the stupid thing.
Ten agonizing minutes had actually pasted since the redheads had left. Said girls were trying to find a new attire for Natsuki's next journey. The White Queen had finally caved and was giving Natsuki "advice" on how to return home.
Flashback
"Natsuki-San. I'm not one for battle, but in order to get what we want back. We have to do this." The Queen managed to explain without a single stutter, regardless of how uneasy she felt. "Thus I believe we should introduce you to Kushina-San's Oka-San and my closest adviser." "Oka-San?" Natsuki glanced up in curiosity. "Mito-Dono." Sasuke said, bowing his head. Still confused, Natsuki looked to the door. Minato opened the door and in walked an elder woman with long red hair pulled back in an elegant bun, adorn in a beautiful blue dress. Natsuki's jaw dropped as she stumbled to curtsy. The woman chuckled softly, bringing her sleeve covered hand up to cover her mouth. "You don't have to be so modest, dear." "B-but ma'am?" "Dear, call me Mito." She smiled softly. "Alright, Mito-San." The younger red head blushed, in which she heard a muffled chuckle behind her. She swirled around to glare at the culprit and found the Hatter trying to recover and looking away. In response to that, Naruto decided to go on a laughing fit at Sasuke, getting oversized needles thrown at him, ducking right before they hit his head, reducing it to a muffled laugh. Hinata stood petrified as Kushina face palmed. "Oka-San... I would like you to meet Natsuki-Chan. She is here to help us defeat Mito's face lit up. "How wonderful deary." Then her face turned scarily serious. "However you must know the road ahead of you will not be easy." "Wow wow wow! What?" Natsuki asked, completely confused. "That's why you're here right?" Kushina questioned. "Were you listening to a thing Hinata-Sama was saying?" Natsuki replied. "Not really to be honest." Kushina sweatdropped and scratched her temple, sticking her tongue out. "Naruto wouldn't shut up then Minato came in the room." Blushing at the last part. "You've gotta be kidding." "Oka-San, you never told her how your Oka-San used to be a duchess!" Naruto announced. "What?! You never told us you were royalty?" Natsuki exclaimed. "If you get technical, dukes aren't royalty. Simply high ranking amongst the usual kingdom setting." Sasuke stated in a matter-a-factly, until he realized he was being ignored. Kushina rubbed the back of her head, bashfully. "Well in technicality, I'm not, anymore at least. She isn't either. Hinata-Sama hired her as her adviser. She's a duchess from before the kingdom collapsed, though. After "Kushina and Minato-Kun were actually held captive as servants in "I don't mean to be rude but can we return to the topic at hand? You know the one where I RETURN HOME!" Natsuki finally snapped. "What do you mean return home?" Mito asked. "I'm not from Wonderland. I came here by mistake." Natsuki explained, not noticing Sasuke's fallen expression. "I just want to go home where I belong." "Weren't you here to find yourself as well?" She heard Sasuke ask, softly, off to her side. "Didn't you lose something out here?" Natsuki took note of Sasuke's sudden change in tone and whirled around to him. "You're right Hatter, I feel like I have lost something out here and for some reason, I feel I have it once again. But now I have to return home." "Where everything is prescheduled? Where you can't even decide what you want to do or where? Where you can't even smile properly?" He replied, sympathetically but firmly. The small red head didn't know how to reply and was set agape. "Well, if you want to go home there's only way back." Mito interjects, trying to recover the tension filled room. "You know?" Natsuki asked. "However you must help us defeat "A-after the d-death of her j-jabberwocky, my my Onee-San had already placed our p-parents in j-jail. B-but upon hearing it was a g-girl of r-red hair that killed her j-jabberwocky, she k-killed our Oka-San, who was adorn in red hair. In our Oka-San's d-defense, Otō-San tried to convince her that Oka-San was in-innocent, but she took it as tr-treason, thinking he was defending the c-culprit. Killing both of them, s-screaming..." Hinata explained, stuttering until she was choked by tears. "'Off with their heads.'" The Chesire whispered looking down in a daze. "'Off with their heads.'" Sasuke followed, in the same manner. "'Off with their heads.'" Minato and Kushina followed, putting their hands to their neck. Natsuki sat in shock of the story, how could she kill her own parents? "But enough depressing tales, let's get you home." Kushina smiled, weakly. "Mustn't we get her to normal size though, especially if she's going to "Why of course! I'll make the serum and take you to our finest seamstress in the castle!" Kushina said, excitedly. "Then what does that make me?!" Sasuke asked, appalled. "Excuse me are you a seamstress?" She replied. "Well n-not exactly... But..." "That's right, you are a tailor. There is a difference young man learn to differentiate my friend." Kushina scolded as she scooped Natsuki off to the kitchen, leaving a depressed Hatter behind. "Don't take it to harshly, Hatter! If she were calling you a seamstress, she'd be calling you a lady, Sasugay!" Naruto chuckled, having more oversized needle thrust at him. Pouting he replied, "Where do you keep those things hidden?"
End Flashback
Hatter placed his chin down in his palm and starred into space as he waited with Naruto and Minato for the girls to return. He'd long since blocked out the loud mouth Cheshire Cat who was blabbering on to his "Otō-San".
"Naruto-San-"
"Just Naruto!" Naruto corrected Minato.
"-Will you please stop calling me Otō-San." Minato facepalmed. "Unless Kushina isn't telling me something, we have no children."
The blonde and purple haired cat pouted. "But is it so wrong to find someone to think of as a father-figure?"
The elder man rubbed his temples, caving in. "I guess it's fine..."
"Splendid!" The Chesire Cat pounced at Minato.
"Idiots." Sasuke muttered.
"I'd appreciate you not call my husband an 'idiot'." Kushina said in the threshold, glaring at Sasuke, causing him to sweatdrop.
"Amaru-Chan! Is she ready?" She called behind her, disregarding the insult toward her husband.
"Why of course!" A young girl, adorn in red hair and a pink and orange dress, walked into the room. Small mouse ears peaked out of her hair and a tail streamed out from her lower back.
Sasuke gapped. "This is my replacement in the kingdom?!"
"Replacement?" Amaru asked.
"You idiot!" Kushina snapped. "We would never replace you! No matter how annoying you are. You just disappeared off the map and we needed to find someone to be our seamstress, so we found little Amaru." She said gesturing toward the small red head, who waved in response.
The Hatter crossed his arms and grumbled.
"Say! Where is our dear, Natsuki-San?" Naruto said floating on an invisible table in a laying position with his arms propped up to rest his chin on his hands.
"Oh right!" Kushina recalled. "Hinata-Sama, Oka-San! Will you please bring in Natsuki-Chan?"
"Dear, must you always procrastinate?" Mito chided with a smile.
"I'm sorry, Oka-San."
Hinata walked in holding a delicate hand, gaining Sasuke's attention once more. Natsuki followed the White Queen through the grand door. She was clad in a light silver strapless dress that slit at each hip and met her mid-thigh, trimmed in pale green lining, black spandex shorts underneath. Her fingerless elbow length gloves were silver with pale green spiral design at the end. She wore silver Greek like sandals that stripped around the calf of her legs. A silver spiral band wrapped around her upper right arm. Her red hair pulled back in a high pony tail, the same green headband placed in her hair as before. To top off her look, a belt strapped across her waist held a royal dagger.
Natsuki's eyes met Sasuke's and she blushed.
Naruto smirked and floated toward Sasuke and whispered into his ear like a cold wind. "Pervert."
The cat found himself nailed to the wall with the oversized needles he'd avoided thus far, with tears in his eyes but a continuous smirk.
"Natsuki-San..." The Hatter returned the blush.
"Now it's time to face my Onee-San." Hinata said with slight hesitance.
Natsuki clenched her fist. "Let's get started then." She smirked.
