Welcome to Wonderland - Part 3

After much walking, talking, and singing, we came to a gate. There was some weird writing at the top of it.

Samantha: I can't read what it says... Can you read it, Clyde?

Clyde shook his head and knocked on the gate. A small furry thing looked out at us with round wide eyes.

?: Nnii?

It tilted its head in question. Suddenly small arms and legs popped out and it waved at us.

Clyde: Oops! Sorry, wrong gate... Oh no.

Clyde's fur stood on end and he stepped slowly away from the gate. Kaito seemed curious. He poked his finger through the gate at it. It let out a squeal of delight and ran away. Kaito's confused expression made me snicker.

Kaito: Did I do something wrong? Why'd it run away?

Clyde: L-let's go now... It will be back...

From the way he said that, he must think they were scary.

Samantha: Really? Then it's polite to wait for them to come back, right?

Clyde: A-are you saying that to make us stay?! There are gonna be millions of them trying to attack us!

Kaito stared after the furball longingly. I reached out and petted the nervous cat boy.

Kaito: What was that? It was so... C-cute.

Clyde: T-they are not cute! They are scary! And they are called... s-snuggle wuggles!

Samantha: I agree with Kaito, they are adorable.

The furry thing came back, a bunch more following it.

?: Nnii! Nnnii nii nni!

It pointed at us, and shoved the gate open. Clyde screamed and tried running away, but I grabbed his collar and pulled him back.

Samantha: If we suffer, you suffer with us! We are a team!

Clyde: When did we agree to that?!

Samantha: When we sang the national anthem backwards!

Clyde: Then I'll sing it forwards!

Samantha: *gasp* You would dare break our sacred oath?!

Clyde: Aaaahhhhh!

Clyde started crying. The furballs came out and observed us. One tapped Kaito's leg and looked up at him pleadingly. Kaito reached down and picked it up carefully, then placed it on his shoulder. Another ran up and promptly attached itself to his leg.

Kaito: S-so cute!

One furball fainted at my feet, another started staring at me with really wide eyes. A few started hugging Clyde, who cried uncontrolably. Kaito picked up a few more, hugging them carefully.

Clyde: Nooooooo...

Kaito: C-cute...

Samantha: Yep, I'm not surprised.

Kaito suddenly fainted. I reached out quickly and caught him; his body was heavy and almost knocked me over. I let him down gently, then the furballs crowded around him and hugged him. I leaned down next to him to make sure he was okay.

?: Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee!

?: Nnii!

One grabbed my hand and pulled on it, then laid it on Kaito's chest. I felt his heartbeat. I tried removing my hand, but the wuggle pulled its appendages in and took a nap on my hand. You wouldn't believe how heavy it was. A few wuggles made whistling sounds and 'Aww, how cute' noises at us. Clyde wasn't paying any attention.

Samantha: Well this is embarrassing... Umm... Kaito? Mind waking up for me?

Kaito didn't respond, but his heartbeat quickened.

Samantha: (Well, what did I expect? Wait... His heartbeat... It's... nice and warm... Argh!) What's that supposed to mean!?

My face felt like it was burning and I tried moving the wuggle with both hands. After a while of shouting, pulling, hugs, and such, I finally gave up. And Clyde calmed down enough to notice what the wuggles had done to me. Clyde's ears flattened, and he hissed at the furballs hugging him. All of the furballs jumped back in surprise.

Clyde: Why you got your hand on his chest?!

I let out a whimper, tried to pull my hand back with all my might, and failed. Clyde came over and hissed at the furball on my hand. It scrambled away and started crying like me.

Samantha: You didn't have to be so mean... Argh... I'm tired...

I started crying harder, and curled into a ball. Clyde tried pulling me out of the ball.

Clyde: Hey! Pull yourself together! We need to leave!

Kaito awoke and sat up; the wuggles toppled off him, all of them asleep. Kaito noticed the crying wuggle, then me, and looked confused.

Kaito: What happened?

Clyde glared at Kaito. He crawled over, grabbed Kaito's scarf and pulled him closer. Clyde hissed menacingly. Kaito pulled back in shock.

Kaito: What did I do?!

I whimpered and curled tighter. The wuggle crawled into my ball and cried with me. Clyde hissed at Kaito again. Kaito whacked Clyde's hand away and moved past the angry cat to me. I felt him sit down beside me and start to rub my back gently.

Kaito: Samantha? Are you okay?

Clyde stopped hissing and came over, confused.

Clyde: Hey! Freeze-brain! Blue-head!

Kaito turned, glaring back.

Kaito: Yeah, fuzz-head?

Samantha: I, for once in my life, want to be with my family. They are super annoying... But they don't fight over me and... I want my bed...

I muttered my words almost too quietly, but both boys heard and they stopped glaring at each other. Clyde came to my other side.

Clyde: What's wrong, Alice?

Samantha: It's Samantha.

Kaito: We should find a place to sleep, Clyde. Samantha's tired.

Clyde: Out of curiosity, how do you know that?

Kaito: She said she wanted her bed.

Clyde: Oh... Well it is getting late, I guess... If we hurry, we can get to a inn.

Kaito picked me up carefully and nodded.

Kaito: Lead the way, Sir Clyde!

Clyde smiled and started walking. Kaito turned and observed the quiet place where the furballs had been. All of them were gone and the gate was closed.

Kaito: Huh... Interesting place.

I hugged Kaito's coat and the wuggle who had snuck into my arms. Kaito seemed a little surprised, but didn't say anything. He walked beside Clyde and hummed a random song. Clyde skipped to the tune, and I fell asleep.

{KAITO}

Clyde: Really? She's asleep?

Kaito: Sorry... She wasn't relaxing... She's cute, see?

I let her slip slightly so Clyde could see. Clyde stared at her for a moment.

Clyde: You're right, bro! She's super cute.

I noticed the furball asleep in her arms and stopped. Clyde noticed it too.

Kaito: ...

Clyde: Oh... Umm... Let's just hope that it isn't a problem...

Kaito: (C-cute... So cute... ) Yeah.

We continued walking and arrived in town. Clyde located the best inn he knew, and we rented two rooms. One for Samantha, and one for us guys. We laid her in her bed and left. Then we went to our room. Clyde rolled on his bed in boredom.

Clyde: Hey, Kaito?

Kaito: (Shutting dow-) Huh?

Clyde: Do... Do you like Samantha? Because I like her a lot.

Kaito: (Samantha... Hmm...) I guess I like her... I haven't been around her long enough to know.

Clyde: She seems to like you quite a lot.

He stared at me. It looked like he was trying to read my expression.

Kaito: (Why does he argue with me so much anyway?) Really? What makes you think that?

Clyde held up his hand and lowered his fingers as he talked.

Clyde: Number one, she fell asleep in your arms. Two, she had her hand on your chest while you were unconsious.

Kaito: (...) She fell asleep because she was too tired to stay awake, and did she really?

Clyde: Well, I guess the wuggle was asleep on that hand... And those things are heavy. It might have had her hand pinned there...

Kaito: (Baka...) That doesn't mean she 'likes' me. It just means that she was tired, and a wuggle pinned her hand.

Clyde: Ah... whatever. Night, bro!

I closed my eyes, annoyed.

Kaito: Goodnight, Clyde. (Shutting down.)

(Looks like the only new character here was the furball/wuggle, which will be named next time! Look forward to it!)

ej, you kinda sound like a Japanese person.

(Do I? Good, I meant to do that.)

...You're strange.

(And you aren't? ...She appears to be rendered speechless.)