"I said come back here! You are violating a restraining order if you're an interviewer or photographer!" I yelled after the still retreating back, even though it was quite possible he wasn't an interviewer or photographer and it was rather self-centered to immediately assume that the stranger was a photographer or something. In fact he could have been a simple burglar or trespasser with his head in clouds when he accidentally wandered into the property lines.
I began to run at the speeds that had gotten me into the top placing on the high school's track team and soon I had caught up to the man that had been running this entire time.
"I'm late, I'm late, I'll be terribly late." Chanted the oddly dressed man as I came into earshot.
Great, now I've got a crazy man muttering something about being late for something when he's running for the forest…man, I'm just jumping to conclusions left and right today…
"Excuse me, can I ask what you're late for? And possibly why you're here?" I asked.
The man didn't seem to hear me or he just ignored me.
"I'll never see my romance novels again at this rate. I can't be late or I might be kicked out…and I don't even have exactly what the King asked for… I definitely won't be in his favor after this."
We had reached the forest and he didn't even slow down, I on the other hand, had to slow down to avoid hitting the trees and branches. Then the man disappeared further into the trees as I began to stop to pull back a branch I couldn't jump over or duck under.
I quickly took after him in the direction he had disappeared into, and soon burst out into a clearing that I knew from previous experiences was located near the center of the forest. I walked into the center of the clearing and then looked around hoping to find the silver haired man. As I reached the center, I narrowly avoided a rather large rabbit hole, almost tripping and breaking my leg in it.
"He couldn't have gone down this, now could he?" I wondered out loud and kneeled down to examine the hole. I considered the idea, the hole was unusually large and deep, and the entrance to it was about the size of a small manhole, it was rather possible. "But what the heck was he talking about when he was repeating something about being late?"
I got up and began to brush the dirt off my pants, silently wondering about the silver-haired man and what he was doing here.
"Kawaii!" Shouted someone from behind me, which surprised me, a second ago I swore there hadn't been anyone there. And then I was plowed over by the force of someone tackling me from behind, or rather "glomping" me.
It all happened rather quickly, from the tackle attack I had stumbled forward into the rabbit hole, and the insides of the rabbit hole were rather like a very slippery slide, it wasn't steep just slippery. As I slid forward at a rapid pace I realized I could turn around and see who my attacker was. I quickly turned around and ignored the odd sensation of sliding backward on my butt at an angle and saw that my attacker had been the silver-haired man from earlier.
How unexpected, I thought sarcastically then I realized he was motioning to something behind me. I turned around and saw the path we had been sliding down became a cliff and it dropped down. My last wishes, Tobi I leave you the house but understand if you touch the dango I will come back and haunt you. If I survive this and find out you have touched the dango I will kill you. The cliff was coming closer…
Last words, I hate you all...
Then we flew off the slide, and into the gorge below, falling quickly to land who knows where. I was still falling backwards and was silently thankful I was wearing pants.
"Ahhhh!" I screeched as I fell backwards and squinted my eyes shut in terror. I waited silently for the inevitable landing that never came. I opened my eyes to realize that we were drifting downwards but certainly not falling.
"So did you realize we're not falling?" Asked the rabbit man from above me. "Because you nearly made me deaf with that last yell."
"Sorry about that…but I think it's you should be apologizing to me for tackling me into this freaking hole anyway! So I think it's your fault for causing me to scream in your ear!"
"Then let's start over, I am Kakashi Hatake the message runner for the King and advisor to the Queen."
"I'm Sakura Haruno, doctor of general medicines and unwilling worker for parasitic bosses and famous people." I finished rather pathetically, still feeling quite a bit awkward that we were having a conversation like this while freefalling to God-knows-where. "Can I ask you something Hatake-san?"
"You just did, when you asked to ask a question Haruno-san, so go ahead."
"First of all please call me Sakura, I get enough of "Haruno-san this, and Haruno-san that" at work and the occasional "Sakura-chan please?" But I'd like to ask, where does this hole lead to exactly? I mean you acted like it was going somewhere earlier." I suddenly remembered another question I had been meaning to ask. "And why did you call me "cute" earlier?"
"This hole leads to Wonderland. This is an alternate world to yours and a king and queen rule it. Many of us live under the monarchy in various positions across the land. I was out on an errand for the king so that's why I was outside running through what I assume to be your property."
I couldn't help but notice he was avoiding the last question but that wasn't very important, it was probably just a spur of the moment thing. "So what were you sent looking for?"
"Miterashi dango."
"Dango? But there's only-"
"One shop here that sells it. I went there and asked for some of the dango and it turns out they were sold out by a wealthy doctor. The King certainly won't be very pleased by this…"
I felt really guilty.
"I'm sorry."
"There's no reason for you to apologize, it wasn't your fault. It's just that the King is very protective of his favorite food."
"Protective? How?"
"He banished his own cousin for coming near his miterashi dango."
"What do you mean he kicked out and exiled his own family member for coming near his miterashi dango? That's ridiculous!"
"Ah, but it's true...he did exactly that, then he got a restraining order for his food from then on."
"…a restraining order…I have that same problem, though I never did file for that restraining order seeing as my opponent is a part of the law and he could easily override anything I throw at him that's legal or illegal."
"Seems like you're both very similar, though you seem to have a low self esteem."
"What?" I asked shocked to why he would say that.
"You earlier asked why I would call you cute, I see the answer rather clearly and I don't see why you don't."
Feeling uncomfortable with where the conversation was going I quickly blurted out something at random. "I was the one who bought the last of the miterashi dango!"
"Yes I know that already."
Subject change: epic fail. "The ground!"
"What?"
"The ground Kakashi-san! We're about to-"
SMACK!
I landed safely on a conveniently placed bush, Kakashi on the other hand hit the ground right next to it…we hadn't been falling very fast but he still landed with a rather loud noise. I crawled off the bush to see if he was all right, "Are you okay?"
Nope. Out cold. Knocked-out. Unconscious and unaware.
As a doctor I already knew what to do but being in an alternate world I would go for the blunt approach, slapping him, I wanted to do that especially since he seemed disappointed I wasn't wearing a skirt while we were falling.
SMACK
"Who? What? Where? Oh Kami my romance novels will be in Itachi's furnace if I don't hurry up!" Yelled Kakashi, as he ran off.
"You forgot the dango!" I yelled sarcastically at his back. He ran back, grabbed the bag and disappeared in a cloud of dust. "Wow…just wow…what sort of idiot is he? He forgot me in the middle of a place I didn't even know about until this morning!"
…
"Might as well get going to find him… or better yet find a way out!" I muttered to myself as I walked along a dirt path in the direction Kakashi was heading in. I took a long look around, something I hadn't done since I had gotten here and found myself in a forest with scattered wildflowers along the road. It sounded so familiar to a tale Tobi had once told me about, it was so odd that way.
I began walking until I came across a cozy looking house, the front door was open and I saw someone who seemed to be a hired worker on the lawn in front. He seemed to be a bit taller than me and had a long scar across the bridge of his nose. His hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and it stuck out at the top, but he seemed friendly enough to approach.
"Excuse me, sir. Have you seen a rabbit-eared man with spiky silver hair and a pocketed coat run by recently? He might have had a bag of dango in his hand. I was following him," I wasn't sure if that was the word to use but considering he was likely my only ticket out of this place it seemed appropriate.
"Oh you're looking for Hatake-san, aren't you? He happens to live here you know? He ran through his house just a few minutes ago probably to hide some of his "romance novels"," he said this with a roll of his eyes, "from the King before he completes his assignment. By the way, you don't seem as if you're from around here, are you new to Wonderland?"
"Actually I am, you see Kakashi-san had been running across my property and I had never seen him before so I followed after him. He disappeared into the forest on the boundary of the property and then "accidently" pushed me into the rabbit hole I had found. When we landed he seemed to forget about me and ran off in this direction. He seems to be my way out of here so I was wondering where he went."
"Well all you need to do is go through the house and follow the road to find Hatake-san, because that's where he'll be heading."
"Why through the house? Why not around it instead? I'd actually rather not have to disturb his house without his permission."
"Well if you went around it then it would take you in a completely different direction. You just need to follow the hallway to the smallest door and go through the garden from there. But the garden door might have locked itself by now so I'd be careful if I were you."
"Thank you for your help-?"
"Umino Iruka!"
"Thank you Umino-san!"
"No problem!"
I hurried inside the house and soon found the end of the hallway.
Now to look for the smallest door…"I looked all around and all the doors seemed to be of the same height. But there was one area that seemed to be missing a door. I patted the wall and heard a hollow noise but no sign that it was a actual door. I was about to return to ask Umino-san which door he was talking about when something caught my eye. A small waist height table upon which sat a small vial labeled "drink me", now where have I heard this before I wondered. It sounded vaguely familiar.
To the right of the little vial sat a note.
Sakura,
Take the key from the floor and turn it in the door,
drink the vial, and follow the trail through the
garden. You should eventually come across the
castle and I'll find you there.
Kakashi
"He'd better not be wrong about this." I muttered to myself as I picked up the little bottle and took a gulp from it, the thought that Kakashi's lips had drank from this before me darted across my mind before being pushed aside along with the accompanying blush.
The drink burned on it's way down similar to the way alcohol seems to do, but this burn was bad enough to bring tears to my eyes that I couldn't suppress, they just rolled uncontrollably down my face like when you smell a strong onion. I found my self crying and shrinking at the same time, my clothes mysteriously following my size as I shrank. Until my dwindling size came to an abrupt stop, and I found myself treading water in what appeared to be my tears.
I heard a small squeak behind me, and turned in the deep salt-water lake I had unintentionally created to find a red head struggling to stay afloat. He seemed to be suppressing the urge to cry for help but every now and then he would gasp for breath as he was dunked underwater again by a large ripple. But the most recent squeak hadn't been accompanied by a gasp of air, this time I knew something was wrong.
I dove underwater and quickly saw the redhead struggling to make it up for another breath; he started to go limp and then seemed suspended in the water, no longer moving.
I stroked out quickly towards him and placed my arm underneath his in a position meant to keep a drowned victim's head above the water as you swam, and kicked towards the surface as hard as I could. My face broke the surface first and I quickly pulled him up beside me as I turned on my side to stroke towards the ground that seemed to be 20 feet away.
I reached the ground and pulled him up beside me as I checked his vitals.
He wasn't breathing.
I quickly tilted his head back to straighten his windpipe and opened his mouth as I pinched his nose and blew. 3 breaths. 3-5 chest compressions two fingertip lengths down from the sternum. Check vitals again. Still not breathing. 3 breaths. 5 chest compressions. Check vitals again. He still wasn't breathing. I could feel tears welling at the corners of my eyes as I began the steps again with still no response. I barely even knew this guy and he would be the first person I couldn't save. No, I can't give up! I repeated the steps again, no resp- He's breathing! I quickly rolled him onto his side to prevent him from re-swallowing the water he would likely "cough" up.
My patient suddenly started to violently remove the water from his airway as he stood on his hands and knees to balance himself.
A minute later he was able to sit up and leaned against the wall behind us, looking dazed and confused.
"Can you tell me your name, sir?"
"Akasuna no Sasori."
"Are you aware of what just happened to you?"
"Yes, I'm fully aware that I was trying to find my brother before you started tearing up all over the place because you can't handle your alcohol!" He yelled as he turned to face me with an angry twitch his mouse ears.
Mouse ears?
I suddenly felt compelled to touch them, to check if they were real. I completely ignored Akasuna-san as I leaned over the brush the tip of one of his ears.
"So cute…"
It twitched under my fingertips as I realized Akasuna-san had suddenly stopped yelling.
I looked down at him and saw his eyes were wide and his face was flushed. It didn't seem to be any symptom of shock like I would have immediately assumed but I leaned in closer to check.
His face turned even redder as he moved backwards towards the wall, away from me.
"Please hold still Akasuna-san, I have to check if you're okay."
He continued to move backwards, as I moved closer.
"Will you stop trying to check up on me already? I'm sure I'm fine!" He shouted at me, the flush quickly disappearing but still some of it remained.
I grabbed Akasuna-san by the chin and held him still. "Akasuna-san I ask that you hold still because I am a certified physician, and I'm trying to make sure you're alright. So will you please hold still and stop fretting about your personal space issues for once!" I growled out to him as he stopped.
"Will you just call me Sasori, then? Every time you say "Akasuna-san" in that irritating voice of yours is a another moment I could spend looking for my brother."
"Fine, Sasori-san. You look okay to me, you can go now." I finished coldly, insulted by his impatience and strange attitude.
He got up and quickly headed towards the door to what I assumed was the garden. He seemed to pause for a moment before turning around and gazing at me.
I cocked my head in curiosity to how his behavior had made such a sudden turnaround, one moment he's displaying impatience and attitude and the next he suddenly seems as if he's contemplating saying something.
"Thank you…for fishing me out of the water…I don't know how to swim considering where my brother and I are from. Anyway it's your fault that you cried as you shrunk anyway," he added with a huff and ran outside the door without closing it.
I stood there for a second contemplating what he had said. And my only response was a single twitch from my eye as I headed out the garden door after him.
~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~
I know, I know, in my other stories I have been making multiple promises to update this but I wasn't exactly sure how Sakura was going to meet Sasori. Now I've worked that out and have started to work on Kimimaru's part as Sakura continues on her way through Wonderland.
All I can hope is that this story lives up to Vesper-chan's expectations and all the reviewers' too.
I do not own the characters, or the original plot idea, I was inspired by Vesper-chan's oneshot "Stupid Rabbit Hole" to write this and I will continue to do so to the best of my ability and with hopefully renewed vigor.
I wrote this at 12:30am please excuse the spelling or grammatical errors that my computer or I haven't caught, I just felt the need to post this as soon as I could. I will fix mistakes later. I may have another one-shot coming out soon, a prequel to "Searching for a Girl."