The Rabbit and the Roses

Part Two

By Phantomstrata

Jun removed his glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. The headache pounding through his skull was not helping his homework situation at all. He knew he should really stop doing this, staying up into the wee hours of the morning staring at the backlit screen of his computer and trying to figure out how these little letters called "variables" had anything to do with numbers. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he silently cursed the man who'd come up with the idea in the first place.

I hate algebra, he thought to himself. To his left, Shinku sat perched on the edge of his bed, reading as usual, though no longer alone. After the most recent Alice Game Suiseiseki had begun to join her, silently reading over her younger sister's shoulder. It seemed as though she had exchanged her usually boisterous personality for her twin's more melancholy one. Kanaria had come to visit earlier that afternoon, and both of the dolls had been very quiet after her departure. The trio had tried to pretend like everything was back to normal, but the knowledge of the two boxes in his room whose occupants would not awaken had put a damper on any happiness.

It wasn't as obvious with Shinku, whose face bore her normal calm yet unreadable expression. Her posture was perfect and she was every bit the aristocrat she acted. With Suiseiseki, however, the stress was more visible as shown by the slight, sad frown and haunted eyes. She rested her chin on Shinku's shoulder and seemed to use the younger doll for support.

"Well, I'm going to bed now," Jun finally said, breaking the silence. He realized at this point that he wasn't going to make anymore progress on the math, and the dolls were probably only awake because he was. Besides, maybe the sleep would take care of his headache.

Shinku shut the book then slid gracefully off the bed, followed by Suiseiseki. "Very well." She placed the book back on her shelf, glancing quickly to Hina's small, crowded space, which had remained untouched since the start of the Alice Game. Her sigh was almost inaudible, but Jun could tell that for all the mischief Hina sometimes caused, she was missed greatly.

"Good night," Jun called to both of them as they stepped into their boxes. Only Shinku answered him; Suiseiseki gave the slightest nod in his direction before snapping closed the lid of her box. He rubbed his eyes again, then moved to the bed and turned down the blankets. It was a cold night. He couldn't remember it feeling this cold before. He shivered. I should've turned up the heat before going to bed….was the last thought in his mind as he fell asleep.

I

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Shinku lay in her box wondering what it was that was knocking on Jun's bedroom door. The sound was disturbing her sleep, and if it was one thing she hated it was having her sleep interrupted. She tried to fall back to sleep, but couldn't manage it. Finally she reached the point where she could no longer tolerate it anymore.

"Holie!"

The small spirit flew from the box to hover at Shinku's eye level. Shinku turned toward the door and with the help of her cane turned the handle. A spirit zoomed in, then flew around the room in crazy, irregular patterns. It gave off a silvery color, and its presence seemed to excite Holie to where the red spirit took to chasing the silver. Within seconds of the new spirit's entrance, Suiseiseki's spirit, Sui Dream, had leapt out and joined in the fray, leaving behind a very sleepy and disgruntled owner.

"Sui Dream, what are you doing, desu? I'm going to…." Suiseiseki's words faded as she noticed the new spirit. Cautiously she climbed out and moved to stand behind Shinku. The spirits clustered together as if holding their own conversation before the silver spirit slowly approached the dolls. No audible words were spoken, but they immediately understood the message.

"Shinku?"

"Yes, we should go," she agreed to Suiseiseki's silent question. "Jun?"

The boy was still asleep, and snoring to boot. In his sleep he had managed to roll himself near the edge of the bed, tossing one of his blankets to the floor. "Such a noisy servant," she muttered delicately. She walked up to the side of his bed and lifted her cane.

"OOF!"

Jun sat up gasping and rubbed the spot where the handle of the cane had come crashing down on his gut. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"Come, Jun. We're leaving."

"Leaving?" He took a moment to grab his glasses and glanced at the clock. His annoyance became even more evident. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to visit our aunt. And she will not appreciate it very much if we are late. Therefore, we should be going now." She turned and walked through the door, followed closely by Suiseiseki and the spirits.

"Aunt? Since when did you have an aunt?" He mumbled.

I

Holie went through the mirror followed closely by Sui Dream while Shinku and Suiseiseki waited for Jun to catch up with them. The silver spirit, Sada was the name it had given them, flitted about their heads with pent up energy. Jun finally came sauntering in, stretching his arms and yawning.

"You are late."

He gave Shinku a bored expression and yawned again.

"Not only is the chibi noisy, he's lazy as well, desu!" Suiseiseki exclaimed.

"He is, indeed." Shinku agreed.

Jun scowled. "Am not!" he retorted, the best thing he could come up with on an hour and a half of sleep.

Shinku turned back to the mirror without acknowledging his response and stepped through the glass accompanied by Sada. Suiseiseki glanced at him before she passed through, leaving Jun to stand alone in the now dark room.

"Why do I get myself mixed up in these situations?" he lamented aloud, then with a reluctant sigh he followed them. They could have at least told me WHERE we were going!

A/N: Hm, I think this part is a little shorter than the first, but oh well. I now have a picture of Hana posted; the link is on my profile. Reviews are welcomed and greatly appreciated, so thanks in advance. -