Dedicated to my cat and kitten that just died today...I'm sorry I can't do anything to save you. :'(

Welcome to Dodo Academy for the Gifted!

Cats and Cookie Dough!

Alice groaned and turned in her bed, hiding under her blanket. Lorina sighed and pulled her blanket down again.

"Alice, listen to me—no, listen. You're not going to school today. Your fever is high." She said, frowning in worry. "Stay at home with Grandma. Anyways, I have to go before she's back from shopping...she hates us." She laughed and stood from her little sister's bed.

"But...what about school?" Alice whined, finally staring at her older sister.

"I'll stop by to your school and tell your teacher that you're sick."

"Wait, then..." Alice crawled across her bed and reached for a paper and a pen on her study desk, then quickly wrote something, before handing it to Lorina. "Give this to him, too."

Dear Mr. Gowland and Rainbow-Puking Unicorns.

DON'T VISIT ME, OR I'LL KILL YOU ALL.

Lorina chuckled sing-songly after reading the short letter, then hugged her little sister, kissing her hair. "Aw, Alice...why not?"

"I don't want them to mess up the house...and I don't want them to worry." Alice looked down, flushing a little. "They're treating me as a little sister, so they'd be hysterical if they know I'm sick..."

Lorina smiled sadly and stroke her head softly. "You don't want them to know about it...why?"

Alice pressed her lips and flinched a little, remembered that it was still hurt because of last night, when she bumped with Black. Her lip was covered with a band-aid.

"They're...my friends. I don't want them to...worry."

~.X.~

"I'm worried!" Boris announced to the class, waving the letter in his hand.

"Let's just visit her! Please! Please! Please!" Ace whined to Mr. Gowland, who shook his head firmly.

"No, no, we're not going to visit her. She needs to rest, not a racket." The teacher said, and then pushed the students, herding them to their desks. "Plus, we have a class to—"

"Hello! I come to visit! Alice, I wanna thank you—wait, where's she!?" Vivaldi stormed into the class as if she owned it, and with her hands on hips, she glared around. "Yo, dudes! Where the heck is Alice!?" she slammed her hands onto Gray's desk.

Gray, who was just asleep seconds ago, jumped as he saw Vivaldi. He blushed with wide eyes.

"Dude, yo!? Ringmarc, right? Where's Alice?"

"She's...got a fever..." Gray breathed out and stared at Vivaldi with soft eyes, still blushing a little. "Your hair..."

"Oh yeah, I decided to keep my hair curled—which is why! I'm here to show her my new hairstyle!" Vivaldi almost shrieked and then stormed to the other side of the class, Boris' desk for exact.

"She's got a fever!? How come! Why the heck are you shrimps doing sitting on here!? We gotta visit her!" she yelled.

Gray sighed and melted onto his desk, smiling. 'Vivaldi...looks prettier than ever...'

"We agree with you, but why the heck are you acting like our boss!?" Nightmare twitched, irritated.

"You're not even a student here!" Boris twitched also, pointing an accusing finger to the girl.

"No, we should let her rest." Julius finally told Vivaldi, scowling. "You guys are too noisy. She won't get well soon if you come and pestering her."

"W-W-We s-should...l-let her b-b-be..." Pierce nodding to Julius' words, and then Vivaldi glared at the boy, clutching his collar.

"How dare you! You're saying I'm a freaking annoyance, then!?" she shook Pierce's collar frantically.

"N-No—NO! MERCY!" Pierce started to cry and ran to hide under a table as she let him go.

"Alright, alright, Vivaldi...we're going to start the lesson. Please leave the class, or you can stay to study with us today." Mr. Gowland laughed nervously.

"I'm staying! I'm gonna take notes for my daughter!" Vivaldi nodded firmly. "Where's her desk? Here?" she then sit down on the chair behind Gray's. "I won't let her fail!" she cheered, pumping a fist to the air.

"Does that means you're skipping your own school!?" Nightmare grimaced.

"Of course, numbskull!" Vivaldi rolled her eyes.

"Ha! That's cool!" Ace laughed, and high-fived with the purplette. "I'd skip school too if I were in RPS." He grinned.

Julius facepalmed and sighed. "Why the heck did it turned out like this..."

~.X.~

Alice sighed and dropped her spoon in her cheerio, then watched her grandma was bustling in the kitchen, mixing cookie dough with chocochips. Einstein was peeking near the counter, eyeing the dough like a hawk.

"Grandma, what do you usually do when I'm at school?"

"Cleaning the house, gardening...watching some YouTube cat videos...and at noon, a little gentleman comes to visit me and read me some books." Grandma smiled as she stirred the dough more. "A little gentleman?" Alice asked, then glanced at the clock. Almost noon. "How long has he been visiting you?"

"Oh, he had been visiting me for quite some time, even before you come here, Alice." The old woman chuckled. "He visits after school. He goes to Richford, so his school is over before noon. He's a sweetheart too, you know, Jellybean..."

"Huh...?" Alice frowned in confuse, and then as if on cue, the doorbell rang.

"Oh, that must be him." Grandma hastened to the front door while bringing her dipper. "Come in, Blood."

...

Alice gaped and froze like an idiot as she saw Blood was entering her grandma's house, smiling softly to the old woman. As he noticed she was staring, his smile was gone, he looked very shocked to see the girl.

"Y-You...!?" the two stuttered out.

"Hm...? Do you know each other, dears?" Grandma asked as she went back to the kitchen to check her dough.

"N-No!" Blood and Alice yelled at the same time, and then glared at each other.

'She's supposed to be at school until 3 PM!' Blood pondered in his mind.

'He's the little gentleman!? Seriously!?' Alice twitched in disbelief, glancing at the boy.

"Come here, taste the cookie dough!" Grandma called for them to come closer. Blood boldly dipped his finger into the dough and tasted it. Alice gave him a look, but Grandma just laughed.

"Needs more sugar." Blood said, and Grandma smiled as she drop some more sugar. Alice twitched again.

So while she's away at school, Grandma and Blood were baking cookies at home? She wondered why she hadn't been poisoned yet, Grandma baked cookies everyday!

"Eeep! Ooo! Ooo!" Einstein whined, protesting at Blood who was enjoying the dough first. Blood laughed and took a spoonful of the cookie dough, before handing it to the monkey.

"Ha, you're always impatient, huh?" Blood smirked as Einstein jumped into his arms, licking the spoon.

"It's been a while since Einstein sees you, huh? Usually he follows Alice to school." Grandma chuckled while cutting the dough into shapes. "Oh, yes, this is my grand-daughter, Alice Liddell. Last night, she went to your school's Hallowe'en Party."

'I know...' Blood mentally said.

"And Alice, this is Blood Dupre, the 'little gentleman' I told you just before."

'I know...!' Alice laughed nervously.

"Alright, who wants to lick the spoon?" Grandma offered as she put the cookie doughs into the oven and set it.

"Me!" Blood and Alice froze as they realized they spoke at the same time again.

Grandma laughed. "Aww, you two will make a very sweet couple!" she cooed as she handed two spoons to the kids.

Blood blushed and awkwardly stared at his spoon, while Alice just sighed nonchalantly.

"You said that too after I went for a date with Ace. And you said that too whenever Boris came to play." She said. Boris' house was just across her Grandma's house, so he came to play quite often, but they went to school in different time, because Alice always woke up late.

"Alright, alright...now what do you want to do? Oh, let's play Nyan Cat Lost in Space, then you can read some books for me, Blood."

"Okay..."

So Grandma first started to play the game, but she lost quickly and laughed. Blood's turn came, he lasted quite a while, and Grandma cheered for him. Alice just watched him in disbelief—he looked like he had known this house and her Grandma for so long! He knew she lived here, but he always came when she's at school.

Alice of course, finished the game, because she's a fan of Nyan Cat. Then, Grandma gave Blood her old books, and Blood started to read out 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn'.

Alice wanted to go and play the game, but Grandma told her to listen to him. Blood was a good reader, his eyebrows raised and furrowed along with the story's mood. His voice was clear and deep, but he expressed the dialogue clearly, which sometimes made her and Grandma laughed.

After a while, Grandma fell asleep, with Einstein, who slept on her lap, leaving Blood and Alice alone in the house.

"Alright, barfhead—you, sick? I can't believe it." Blood rolled his eyes at her.

"I don't need you to believe me, Scarecrow." Alice pouted.

"Stop calling me Scarecrow, I have a name, you know."

"I can't help it, because of that hairstyle, I can only think of a scarecrow."

"Weirdo."

"Spoiled-prat."

"Ugly."

"Stuck-up."

"..." the two fell silent after searching another mockery in their mind, and they ran out of them. Alice realized she didn't know much about Blood, except that he's rich, kind of stuck-up, and he's the older brother of Vivaldi. The same goes for Blood, he didn't really know about the girl, despite Elliot and Vivaldi talked a lot about her most of the time.

"Elliot likes you." Blood suddenly told her, glancing away.

"H-Huh?" Alice was startled. "What do you mean by that?"

"He really likes you, that Elliot." Blood grumbled. "He talks a lot about you with Vivy. Vivy too, she tells Father and Mother a lot about you whenever we have dinner and breakfast together."

Alice hummed with a frown. "...I don't know what to say." She shook her head.

"It's kind of annoying." Blood snorted, closing and opening the book in his hand. "You're not that pretty, you're not very rich, you're not very smart like Monrey or anything...what's so special?"

"Hmm...it's not important to you, right?" Alice honestly spoke, and Blood was mentally hurt at this. "...Anyways...did you smell that?"

Blood fell silent, and sniffed a little, then his eyes widened.

"The cookies!" they said at the same time, and rushed to the kitchen.

Black smoke filled the kitchen as they opened the oven. The cookies were burnt and hard. Alice tried to eat one, and coughed. Blood sighed as he dropped them on the counter.

"What do we do...? Grandma will be sad..." Alice pouted, tossing the burnt cookie to the counter.

She had no idea—today she got a fever and she never expected to end up with Blood and burnt cookies in the kitchen!

"Let's make another batch." Blood finally said.

"But we don't have another cookie dough..." Alice scowled at him.

Blood turned to stare at her. "Madam Anne always keep another batch in her storage room."

"Madam Anne?" Alice stared at him in surprise. He just shrugged. Alice was rather curious on how long he had known her Grandma, how and why.

"The storage is in the basement..." Blood pointed out, and Alice nodded, sweating from nervous.

The two opened the door of the basement and wind blew their faces, darkness welcomed them. Cold, dark, scary...Alice had never entered her Grandma's basement. Grandma kept her husband's stuff there, and maybe there would be a ghost of her Grandpa...

"Ladies first?" Alice stared to Blood, who rolled his eyes and shoved her into the basement. They slowly walked into the darkness of Grandma's basement.

Gosh, who knows what's in there? But they had to get the cookie dough no matter what...

~.X.~

After tumbling and groaning in the dark, Blood braced himself and took the girl's hand.

"Stop, stop walking, prat!" he hissed to her and squeezed her hand.

"Dude, I don't wanna hold hands with you! Cooties!"

"Oh man, how old are you again? We've got no choice, okay? It's not like I want to hold your hand or anything..." Blood scowled, glad that it was so dark, he was worried if he blushed.

"Ugh, where's the switch?" Alice turned desperate to get the lampswitch. It was too annoying and awkward to hold hands with the Scarecrow. She gasped when she felt the switch, and sighed in relief as the light was on.

The girl got more awkward as she noticed that Blood's cheeks were red.

"Alright, let's start!" she said, trying to lift the awkward tense, and they started to flip on boxes, cabinets and everything.

They searched and looked, flipping boxes in every corners, even opening a scary, rusty fridge. It was all dusty, and wasn't good for Blood—he sneezed everytime a box or a cabinet was opened. Alice laughed when Blood sneezed ten times in five seconds. But then, they stopped searching and almost gave up.

"Oh, we can make cookies using cake-mix." Blood suggested. Alice snorted and laughed mockingly. Yeah right, making cookies using cake-mix...she knew how that'd end, and it won't end well. Blood agreed to forget that stupid idea.

"This is hopeless..." Blood sighed and sat down near the old cabinets. "I'm sick of this place, Alice. Let's just get out of here."

"No, not yet..." Alice pouted and searched even more desperately.

She finally gave up and glared at Blood. "This is all your fault!"

"My fault!?" Blood glared back.

"Yeah! It's because of your boring book and your reading that made Grandma fell asleep, then the cookies got burnt, that's why we're here!"

Blood looked hurt, and Alice shut her mouth as she realized this. He scowled and looked away.

"You're such a jerk, Alice. I can't believe Elliot likes you!"

Alice frowned and looked away as well, feeling guilty. She was dizzy and upset because of her fever, and the fact that Blood forgot that irritated her. But she was too harsh, she realized this. The girl then slowly approached Blood who had been walking away from her.

"Hey, Bloo—"

POP

The froze in their spots when the lamp was suddenly off. They heard a popping sound, and they could faintly smell something was burnt. The lamp was broken.

"Aww, man..." the two groaned. Alice didn't move from her spot, and started to feel around with her hands.

"Scarecrow, where are you...? Can you come here?"

"Why don't you do that instead of me?"

"I don't wanna trip on something and hurt my knees..."

No answer.

"Blood?"

"Alice, listen."

They fell silent and heard something. Something crashed into the basement. Alice shrieked as she felt something ran past her, and Blood fell and hit the boxes.

"E-Einstein?" Alice called.

"That's not him..." Blood panted.

They heard something was roaring angrily, and the two flinched, desperately finding each other.

"Alice, we gotta get out of here!"

"I-I can't see anything!" Alice almost cry as she waved her hands in the dark.

Finally, Blood caught her hand and held it tight. "Let's go!"

The two carefully ran through the dark basement. Suddenly, Blood let go of her hand.

"H-hey! Don't leave me! Scarecrow!" Alice called in the dark, stopped running.

No answer.

"HIIISS!"

"Scarecrow!?" her voice pitched, trembling. She felt entirely blind. Suddenly she heard more crashes and clanks. Did Grandpa's ghost ate Blood!?

"B-Blood!?"

"BOOO!"

"AAACK! YOU FILTHY IDIOT! I FREAKIN' HATE YOU!" Alice yelled on top of her lungs while hitting the hell out of Blood, who laughed loudly while holding a torch.

"Oh, come on, Alice...I can't believe you fell for that...do you really think I'm a monster?"

"Jerk..."

"You're welcome. Let's go, I know what's the monster is." Blood waved to her as he led the way out. "It's your neighbor's cat, Accio."

"Really? Where did she go?" Alice asked, already forgetting that she's mad at him.

"I dunno...let's find out. She jumped out through the ventilation. That cat is awesome." Blood chuckled and they went out of Grandma's house and went to the backyard.

Near the bushes, they found Boris' cat, Accio, who tend to play at Grandma's house. She was lying there with kittens, and a tomcat was licking her.

"Oh my goodness!" Alice squealed and squatted down in front of the cat family. Blood squatted next to her with a smile.

"That's why she's so mean today. Accio is having a baby."

"They're so cute!" Alice cooed, petting one of the three kittens with black fur. "Congratulations, Accio, you're a mommy!" she gave Accio a soft kiss, and the cat meows.

"What should we name them?" Blood asked, picking a white cat. "I wanna name this one Teeth."

Alice laughed at his choice of name. "Just because it's white?"

"Nah, I'm just a fan of Madness Returns...Alright, I'm calling it Teeth." Blood said. The kitten licked his face, and Alice giggled. He put it back near Accio, and Teeth cuddles next to its mom.

"If you call that Teeth, I'm going to name this Eyepot." Alice grinned widely, carefully holding the black kitten with some orange spots like an eye on its head.

"Eyepot...huh. Okay, I get to name the gray one." Blood stared at the last kitten.

"No, I do!"

"I do."

"I do."

They started to bicker at each other, over who got to name the cute gray kitten. It was too cute, they wanted to keep it.

The tomcat hissed at them, ending their argue. It didn't have a collar, so they wondered who owned him.

"Maybe he's a street cat." Blood nodded.

"He has beautiful green eyes, though. Ha! Like you do." Alice snickered at Blood, who flushed, realizing she had been praising his eyes as 'beautiful'.

"Alice! Blood!" the two were surprised when Grandma Anne called. She came with Einstein on her shoulder. When she saw the kittens, she gasped. "Oh my gosh...that's Accio, right? I have no idea that she's pregnant!"

"What do we do to them, Madam?" Blood asked.

"They're Boris' cats, so we have to return them to his house..." Alice pointed out, frowning. Blood's happiness faltered a little, petting the tomcat with a sullen stare.

"Yes, you should tell Mrs. Airay. I'll come with you..."

They took the kittens—Einstein took the tomcat—and went to the mansion across the street. After knocking sometimes, Mrs. Airay came out and gasped.

"Accio—ooohh, I was looking for her! Thank you, Mrs. Liddell!" the woman squealed as she received the basket full of her cats. "I just prepared the box for her to give birth, but she ran away...Aww, the kittens are cute..."

"Yeah, Blood name the white one Teeth, and I named the black-orange one Eyepot." Alice pointed out.

"Ohh, that's cute..." Mrs. Airay giggled with Grandma, and then noticed that Blood was looking away silently.

"Hey, listen," Mrs. Airay suddenly said. The kids turned at the woman.

"I've got a lot of cats, here. What if, when they're at least two months old, you take one of the kittens?" she offered.

"Really? Can I, Grandma?" Alice tugged her Grandma's sweater. "I want the gray one! I'll name it Chess!"

"Fine, fine, but take care of it, OK?" Grandma chuckled.

"Eeep!" Einstein cheered and jumped to hug Grandma, and started kissing her.

"Can I...really...take one?" Blood was shocked.

"Of course! You're Blood Dupre, right? Well, come and take Teeth when it's two months old, alright?"

"Yes." Blood nodded and smiled. "What about the tomcat?" he asked, nodding at the male cat which Einstein held earlier.

"Oh, so you're the lucky father...! So cute..." the woman bowed down to pat the male cat, who then snuggled around her feet. "I think I'll adopt him and keep Eyepot. What should I name him?"

"Hatter!" Alice and Blood claimed at the same time, and gaped when they realized they suggested the same name.

They laughed at this. After saying goodbyes to Mrs. Airay, they went back to Grandma's place. In the end, they told Grandma about the burnt cookies. She wasn't mad at all. In fact, they used cake-mix to make the cookies. They were delicious, and Blood rubbed that fact to Alice's face as they ate.

After that, Grandma went into her room when they were playing with Einstein. He suddenly stopped teasing Einstein and gave him the banana.

"This doesn't change anything between us, okay?" he deadpanned.

"What...? I thought we're friends..." Alice shrugged and played with Einstein's tail, not noticing how Blood was blushing.

"Friends, huh..." he smiled a little. "But you're still ugly even if you're my friend."

"You're still a Scarecrow no matter what." Alice deadpanned.

"Oh yeah...here," Blood took out a box of fruit juice. "It's a mango juice. I heard from your Grandma that you're sick...I planned to leave it because I thought you'd still go to school..." he blushed a little.

"Gee, thanks!" Alice excitedly plopped the mango juice with the straw and started to suck.

Blood was observing her while she was busy playing with Einstein's tail.

"What's with your lip?"

"Oh, I crashed with Black Joker last night..." she laughed nervously.

"But...it looks red...is it still bleeding?" Blood cringed a little.

"N-No, of course not." Alice pressed her lips quickly. "I just bit it..." she muttered, but secretly wiping her lips with her sleeve. Blood noticed the red liquid around the straw she just used, but decided to keep shut about it.

Then, Blood's chaffeur came to pick him up. He took his school bag and said goodbye to Grandma. As he started to walk towards the door, Alice unconsciously followed him.

"Actually, I had fun with you today, Alice." Blood said while chuckling. "Maybe I like you?"

"Ha-ha, right." Alice rolled her eyes and waited for Blood to get out, so she held the door. Blood's driver got down and opened the passenger's door.

He turned at her with a smirk and waved. "Vivaldi's going to be so jealous of me." He chuckled, and then took out a chocolate candy from his pocket. "Oh yeah, this is for your Hallowe'en treat. Get well soon, Alice." He threw it and Alice caught it.

"Thanks...Scarecrow." Alice smirked and waved as he sat down in his car.

"Bye, Ugly." He slammed close his door and off he went.

Alice sighed and stared at her sleeve, red from blood. "The wound opened again..." she sighed, rolling her eyes and went to take an ice cube to freeze her wound, but then, on the dining table, she found a cookie on a platter, with a small letter on it.

She took and ate the cookie first before reading the letter. It said;

This cookie is for an Ugly girl. I accidentally dropped it on the floor and Einstein sat on it. Enjoy.

(P.S.: I think I heard him farted when he sat on it)

—Blood

Alice choked.

Alright, here's the promised interview too! Enjoy!

Extra:

Interview of the Circus Members (part 3)

Alice: Hello, hello, short-lives! Today I'm in the Circus again, accompanied with White and Black Jokers! Say hello, Jokers!

Black: Daf—

Alice: Please refrain from cussing in this interview!

Black: Since when we're Jokers!?

White: Uh, Black, if you don't notice, Grell had been calling us Jokers.

Black: Huh!?

Alice: Anyways, where do you come from? Are you originally born in this Circus?

White: Well, we were from a village. We didn't have any home to stay, and our parents died from hunger. Grell came across us and seeing our talents, he took us.

Alice: Oh, really? Else than swinging and taming lions, what are your talents?

Jokers: Magic.

Black: I do the magics that includes weapons, swords and fire. White is sissy. He likes cards and bunnies and gayish handkerchief with roses. *rolls eyes*

White: Ouch...my pride. *twitches* Other than that, Grell trained us how to tame lions and using swings.

Alice: Oooh! So dangerous...alright, let's go to Deredere stuff! First off, Black, do you know that some said you're a Deredere, and some said you're Tsundere?

Black: WTF!? I-I'm...I'm normal, damn it! *blushes furiously* I mean, what the heck, girls! The hell is wrong with you?

White: the Deredere part might be because you're such a kid that you can't stand to hear BOOBS.

Black: *blushes pricelessly*

Alice: Oh...White, will you tell me what's with Black and the word 'boobs'?

White: Haha, it was started because he thought that Grell is—

Black: Dude—DUDE, SHUT THE F—

White: -a woman. He thinks Grell is a very kind woman to adopt us, and one day—

Black: I said shut up! *slaps White across his head* I'll kill you!

Alice: ...Whatever. Okay, White. You seem like a Kuudere, but you're actually a Yandere, aren't you?

White: *smiles vaguely* Oh, really...who told you that...? Or...rather, what makes you think so?

Alice: *narrows eyes* My hunch. Are you, like, being a yandere over your brother?

Black: *froze in his spot*

White: *circles an arm around Black's waist* Oh no...she lets the cat out of the bag...Black, you won't leave me just because of my feelings...right...? *smiles coldly*

Black: *cringes* ...Oh God. Help me.

White: *cracks up loudly* Hahaha! Of course not! I love 'em boobies! *does a knee-slap* Well, no, I mean, I like girls...especially the unique ones. I can't help being possessive... *smiles vaguely*

Alice: Okay...please stop staring at me. I'm a bit shocked. Next, what are your blood-types?

Jokers: AB.

White: Black is the A in B type, while I'm B in A type. Basically, Black looks like a badass, but he's actually a soft sweetie.

Alice: *covers mouth to hide laughter*

Black: I swear I'll kill you one day. *deathglares White*

Alice: Okay, okay, chill down...*giggles* Birthdate?

Black: April 1st. So fitting, huh?

Alice: Yeah! April Fool's Day! So awesome—

White: Let's just take aside the fact that you're interviewing us. What do you both think when you kissed in the last chapter? *smiles dangerously*

Black: *flinches*

Alice: *is dense* Uhh, it wasn't a kiss. His teeth crashed my lip. Or, you can say it was a kiss with teeth. I think it hurts.

Black: That's all you think!? You effing idiot! It was my first kiss!

Alice: Why are you acting like a sissy!? Hey, I should be saying that! I'm not taking that crap as a kiss! It was teeth on lips, idiot!

Black: You're such an insensitive prat!

Alice: You're acting like a pregnant woman!

White: *chuckles* Alright, let's just leave the husband and wife alone, shall we? This interview has ended! See you next time~!

So, I made a Collaboration Fic with BrokenBlackCat! Our account is BlackN'Bee (my name is Bee, in case you don't get it), and our first fic is Alice in the Castle of Otaku.

Basically, the fic is about Alice got kidnapped by Julius to work as a maid for a family. The other characters were part of this family, and each of them are obsessed with different things. The plot is kind of based from the Game, where here, Alice has to know more/get close to the family members so they'll tell her how to get out of the castle where she works.

If you're interested, check it out! ^^ Alice in the Castle of Otaku!