Title: The Wonderland of Judai Yuki

Genre: humor, romance

Rating: T for language

Pairings: JohanXJudai (hinted others)

Summary: While watching the stars one evening, young Judai Yuki sees a young man with bunny ears rushing away. Upon following him, Judai stumbles down a rabbit hole into a mythical place called Wonderland. With a young man named Johan Andersen as his guide, and the strange people that he meets along the way, Judai must find his way back home. But will he be willing to leave Johan and his friends after getting attached to them?

Me: Chapter twelve of "The Wonderland of Judai Yuki"!

Lucy: Ruby has arrived and rescued Judai from the Jabberwock's poison, and I believe that we have all figured out that Johan is the former Oyster who came into Wonderland!

Me: But will Johan ever remember it? And will he confess his love to Judai?

Lucy: Please enjoy this chapter, guys!

Chapter Twelve: The Croquet Game

After a while, Judai's eyelids fluttered open.

He was embarrassed to find himself laying in Johan's arms, and his embarrassment was expressed by his crimson face when Johan shouted his name and wrapped him in a tight embrace.

"Judai," Johan whispered, tightening his hold on the boy. "I was so afraid I would lose you."

Judai blushed deeper and wrapped his arms around Johan's, holding him as close as he could. He breathed the guide's name and just clutched him in a warm and reassuring embrace. Moments of silence passed by, and it seemed as though the whole world was holding its breath and waiting for them.

The loving moment was ruined when Ruby started giggling like a fangirl, rolling on her back in mid-air and flashing the two boys a wickedly wide, toothy grin.

Johan turned and glared at her. "You mind calming down a little, Cheshire Cat? You killed the mood," he scolded.

Ruby giggled again. "Oh, please. Killing the mood is nothing," she said, thumping her tail on the ground, where she was now laying before the both of them.

Johan rolled his eyes and gently sat Judai up. Judai wobbled a little in his seated position, but managed to stay up long enough to let Johan know that he was going to be all right.

"Anyway, Judai," Ruby said with a thump of the tail. "Let me see your wound. We wouldn't want it to get infected again."

Judai hesitantly stuck his arm forward and let Ruby examine it. She ran her claw up and down it, noticing that the red color started to almost immediately die down.

Ruby gave him a smile. "Nothing to worry about," she said.

"Oh, thank goodness," Johan breathed, running a hand through his mess of aqua hair.

Judai turned to Johan and gave him a reassuring smile. "Thanks for taking care of me, Johan. I'm all right now," he said. Johan blushed and said that it was no trouble, leaning down and taking Judai's hand in his own.

Ruby cleared her throat and caught their attention.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but we need to go somewhere," she told the two of them.

Johan and Judai looked at her with a confused look. "Huh?" Johan asked. Ruby gave him a grin and pointed her tail in the opposite direction of where they were sitting.

"We're going to visit the Queen of Hearts."

Johan carefully led Judai through the winding maze of rose bushes that belonged to the Queen of Hearts. They were all bright red, surrounding her giant red and white castle almost from sight of those who wandered around the gardens.

Judai gripped Johan's hand tightly whenever he was afraid of something.

Johan would smile and reassure him that it was going to be all right, and Judai would instantly calm down when he said it. He snuggled up close to Johan and winced, his wound still hurting him just a bit.

When they got deeper in, they found themselves in a huge field before the castle courtyard.

Several Cards were surrounding the area, setting up what looked like croquet. Judai and Johan exchanged looks, and moved forward to watch the game progress.

"Hold it!"

Judai tensed with Johan and twirled around, coming face to face with a young woman who seemed to have appeared out of the thin air of the castle area.

Her hair was long and brown-red, surrounding the edges of her regally shaped, young face. Her eyes were a pale striking blue, rimmed with what looked like silver. Her lips were plump and bright primrose colored. Her cheeks were colored with pale pink blush, adding color to her face. Her eyes were rimmed with eyeliner; black under the right eye, red under the left.

She wore a strapless white dress that exposed the top of her breasts, but not too much. She wore long red gloves with a harlequin, sort of checkered pattern that reminded Judai of a playing Card. The dress was long and slightly fluffy, and she looked really regal and attractive. Her feet were covered by the hem of the long red and black and white dress. On her head was a lopsided, sharp golden crown. The crown was littered with jewels of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

"The Queen of Hearts(1)!" one of the Cards shouted.

Judai swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. The Queen of Hearts cast a blue-silver eye over him and clenched her lips into a tight line, saying nothing for a few minutes.

She admired the Oyster marking on his arm in silence, while the Cards standing behind her murmured about it. Johan clenched Judai tightly in his arms and said nothing, but Judai could tell by his actions that he seemed nervous.

Finally, the Queen turned and looked to Judai with a semi-serious look.

"Do you play croquet?"

Judai blinked innocently at the question. "P-pardon?" he asked. The Queen turned and made sure that her eyes were locked with the eleven-year-old's brown orbs.

"Do. You. Play. Croquet?" she asked again, slower.

Judai nodded slowly and made sure that his head was held up high, his eyes locked with hers, his back straight, his knees and feet together, and his hands behind his back. "Y-yes, Your Majesty," he said.

"Speak proudly, Oyster!" the Queen of Hearts barked.

Judai straightened even more. "Yes, Your Majesty!" he nearly shouted to match the tone she had used with him. The Queen smiled and clapped her hands together, long nails clicking together as they touched.

"Wonderful!" she said. "Then let the game begin."

Judai nodded slightly, but Johan grabbed his arm. He had known the Queen of a long time, Judai was in trouble. The Queen did not like to lose any game that she played with people.

"Judai, no!" he whispered, trying to yank the brunette away.

Before Judai could ask Johan what was wrong, the Queen pushed the brunette out of Johan's grip and wagged her long acrylic crimson nail in the bluenette's shocked face.

Her look was stern. "Listen, Andersen!" she warned, wagging her finger once more. "If he doesn't play croquet with me, then you lose your head, understand?"

Johan gulped, and the Queen tore her face and nail away from his.

"I'm still a bit upset about what you did to my precious Jabberwock, you know?" she said, her silver-rimmed blue eyes flashing. Johan felt as if those eyes were staring right through him and into the very depths of his soul.

Once she saw that Johan wasn't going to argue, the Queen took Judai by the arm, locked his with hers, and walked towards the croquet field. The brunette stole one last desperate look at Johan, who reached out for him, but was stopped by the crossing of two spears from the Cards that surrounded him.

Judai watched as the Queen grabbed what looked like a flamingo. Upon looking at it more closely, Judai realized that it was indeed a flamingo with bright green feathers that she was holding.

When the Queen saw that Judai wasn't doing as she was, she whistled and demanded that he be brought a croquet mallet as well. She also added the threat: "Or it's off with your head!" to make sure that they did it.

Moments later, Judai was handed a live pink flamingo to use for a croquet mallet.

Judai was a little worried about using it, but after seeing the Queen crack the flamingo's head against the ball; which was a little hedgehog; he felt like it would be all right.

The game progressed rather slow, in Judai's opinion.

The Queen of Hearts was winning by a long shot because everyone was cheating and helping her win; knocking Judai's ball, the hedgehog, out of the way, moving the targets so that the Queen of Heart's ball went through, stuff like that. It was enough to piss Judai off, but he didn't say anything about it.

Halfway through the game, the Queen turned to Johan.

Judai turned and spotted the bluenette, who seemed to be glaring a death glare at the Queen of Hearts.

The Queens painted lips twitched at the ends, and she walked over to Johan, hips swaying. She reached out and ran her finger under his chin, tilting his head so that his eyes locked with her blue-silver ones.

"You made that face last time," she murmured, running her tongue over her lips.

Johan frowned at her words, like he was totally confused for the first time ever. "What last time? I never came to watch one of your croquet games this close before."

The Queen smiled as if she had a little secret that she wasn't going to share. "You don't remember, do you?" she asked, her tone a litle more interested.

Johan growled in his throat. "Remember what?"

"Nothing, boy, nothing," the Queen shook her head and turned to Judai. "Anyway, my dear, it's time for the trial to begin. I'd advise you to go and say farewell to the Dutchess. She did speak fondly of you."

Judai gave her a shocked look. "Say good bye? Why?"

The Queen waved her hand. "She's going to lose her head! What else?"

Judai's eyes widened in horror. "W-what?" he shouted, reaching out to the Queen, who stepped slightly back, fixing her hair. "O-on what charges?" He paused and bowed slightly. "Your Majesty?"

The Queen scoffed. "For stealing tarts, of course! Silly boy," she giggled and tapped Judai's nose with her nail. "I think you are going to be my favorite, little one."

With that, she shouted that the trial would begin soon, and walked off. Judai and Johan exchanged nervous glances, and Johan nodded to Judai in approval. Judai silently thanked him and ran off towards the jails, where the Dutchess, Rei Saotome, was held.

Me: Oh no! Rei is in trouble for supposedly stealing the Queen's tarts! But did she really? (1) She looks almost exactly like Bloody Mary does from my fic "Mary's Play House", without the blood, of course.

Lucy: And Johan didn't lose his head! Thank God!

Me: Yeah, the Queen was pretty pissed about what Johan did to her Jabberwock.

Lucy: Please review and we shall update!