Marchen Wonderland

"Hatter-san, you don't seem like yourself..." the cat-eared girl stated, as a worried look took over her face.

"Yeah, you seem a little different. Less.... Hatter-san.. and more like some other human." The rabbit-eared Keiyuu stated bluntly.

"...Keiyuu, Maiccho... Karen..." he started to say. "Where are we...?"

"Those aren't our names! Hatter-san, you really forgot them???" tears started to well up in the feline-like woman's eyes. "I'm Renka!!" she said, pointing to herself. "That's Mai-Mai!" she said, pointing to the likeness of Maiccho. "And that's-"

"I'm Keisagi." the rabbit-eared Keiyuu stated. "This isn't funny, how could you forget?!"

"I'm.. not sure.. but I'm not "Hatter-san" I'm Y-" he started to say, when his audience covered their ears all at once.

"You're not supposed to tell us your real name, you know that, Hatter-san!" cried Mai-Mai.

"You said yourself that it was a hatter's most well-guarded secret!!" Keisagi yelled out, pulling his ears down in an attempt not to hear the man's words.

"...What are you three supposed to be..?" he asked. The three let go of their ears and looked at each other again.

"Well I am, of course, a Märchen Hare." Keisagi replied. "These two are your helpers... Renka is a Nyan-- I mean, a Neko-chang.. and Mai-Mai is a Inu-chang.... " he stated, pointing to the collars around their necks. Both Renka and Mai-Mai bowed their heads lowly to the now even-more confused man.

"A..." Yura blinked. "What now? They belong to... me...?"

"Well... Yeah, something like that." the rabbit-eared man shrugged. "They have to belong to someone."

"They have to..?"

"Yeah, or they'd be captured and sold." Keisagi stated, looking back at Renka and Mai-Mai. Both nodded in unison.

"Okay, I think I understand why they're here, then..." Yura said, still confused with where he was and how he got there. "So what are you doing here?"

"Mu-tanjoubi Party." Keisagi stated, holding an invitation up. "Remember? You invited me."

"Ah..." the bassist murmured, confusedly. "Where is here?"

"Your home in Meruhen, of course." Keisagi stated matter-of-factly and crossed his arms.

"Hatter-san, I'll go ahead and start setting the table in the garden.." Renka spoke softly, and left the living room. "I'll help!!" Mai-Mai called after the girl, running out of the room as well. Keisagi watched both as they left. "Look..." he said, lowly. "I know you're still upset that Arisu left, but you need to snap out of it and come back to the real world." he patted the human's shoulder.

"Ah, of course..." he spoke, trying his best to smile. "I guess... go see if they need any help..?" he said, waving off the rabbit-eared man.

"... I'll go supervise..." he said as he turned around and left the living room as well. Yura took that opportunity to learn that what he had felt on his head was none other than a red felted top hat with a black band and a sign that was written in marker and stated "2/1" or maybe it was "1/2" upside down? He placed the top hat back on his head and glanced down at his mismatched attire: A pair of red pants with a blue plaid jacket and a purple dress shirt underneath it, his dress shoes were the same shade of purple as the shirt. Yura made a face.

'This can't be the real world...' he thought to himself.

*~*~*~*~*

"Where the hell am I??" Liza asked, finally coming to. The scenery around her was that of an open field: A large oak tree loomed overhead, and the grass, though a little on the blue side, was lush and spread out as far as the eye could see. She looked around, wide-eyed. "What the hell happened..?" the ground moved beneath her and she sprang up to her feet.

"Sheesh, I didn't know you were that heavy, Lii-chan..." Liza looked at where she had been before and saw Takeru getting to his feet. "The landing could have been a little softer..." he said, rubbing his backside.

"Landing..?" the blonde woman asked, quizzically.

"Yeah, landing." Takeru stated, pointing toward an entrance in the tree. "we flew out of that thing, I think you probably fainted, because you've been lying on me for about ten minutes..."

"Oh.." she mumbled, looking around a bit more. "Where are we..?"

"Hell if I know..." The dark blond man spoke slowly, finally able to take in the scenery as well. "Maybe they know?" he asked, pointing to a hill not too far away. A figure was standing there, taking in the sight of the setting sun.

"Hello..?" she started to say, but was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

"Who.... are... you...?"

*~*~*~*~*

"Have you seen Takeru? You know, the short one with blond hair and a funky haircut?" Shinpei asked one of the other residents of the apartment building. Once again, no leads. 'Damn it...' he thought to himself. 'It's like he disappeared into thin air..'

"Well, who saw him last?" asked Chiyu. "I have a lead!!" Masato called from down the hallway and quickening his steps. "Someone saw him talking to Liza, but she was yelling at him.." he explained, coming closer to the group.

"Well, that's helpful, isn't it..?" Yuji muttered sarcastically. "No one's seen Liza either."

"Maybe they ran off together?" Shinpei asked. The other three looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Are you kidding?? She's like a big sister to him!" Chiyu chuckled.

"Quite literally!" Yuji added, joining in the laughter.

"Well, that doesn't really change the fact that both of them are missing, does it?" asked Masato, bringing their mission back to the others' attention. "Let's go, he has to be around here somewhere!" he shouted, striding down the hallway. Yuji and Chiyu followed quickly after him, but Shinpei stood and looked at the blank space in front of Liza's door. He could have sworn there was a door there a couple of days ago...

*~*~*~*~*

"What I should say is 'Who the hell are you??'" Liza shot back at the unfamiliar voice and looked around. There was no one in sight, but the voice seemed to be coming from the tree itself.

"Nyaa... That's not a very nice thing to say to someone that might be willing to help you..." The voice stated. On one of the branches a green kigurumi-wearing figure appeared slowly. Liza and Takeru looke at each other, then back to the figure.

"I know who he is!" Takeru cried. "That's Emiru from Ai... ... Ai... kuru imasu...!" he cried out. Liza didn't know who that was, but if it was a familiar face to Takeru, it couldn't be all that bad.

"Incorrect, nyaa..." the person said. "I am Cheshaa." he stated, turning around and swishing a long striped tail. The ears on top of his head twitched.

"Cheshire? Like a Cheshire Cat?" Liza asked.

"No, Cheshaa is my name. Once more, who are you? You don't smell like Arisu..." he said, sniffing the air around him, then looked to Takeru. "You don't smell like Arisu either..." he stated, wrinkling his nose.

"Who is this Arisu?? Yuu kept calling me that..." the blond girl questioned. Cheshaa's cat ears twitched once again.

"Can you at least tell us where we are? And why we're here?? And who the hell is 'Arisu'?!?!" she asked all at once.

"You're here because it's where you are... That's the answer to the second question also." he replied, carefully examining his kigurumi and dusting it off. "It's odd... You look just like Arisu-" he said, then looked up. "My lunch is late..."

"Lunch?!? Nevermind your lunch... I asked a question, damn it!" the girl stamped her foot in protest.

"Maybe he doesn't know..?" Takeru offered. Liza rolled her eyes at the comment.

"AH!! MOTHERF-" yet another voice called out, tripping over his own feet. "SON OF A- DAMMIT!! I'M LATE!!" the unmistakeably male voice yelled out and scurried to his feet.

"Who is..?" Takeru started to say, turning around to look at the person. "Ruki?? You're here too??"

"Who the hell is 'Ruki'?? I'm Luki!!" the rabbit-eared version of Ruki snapped. Liza noted that he carried with him a package with a small note on it. "Cheshaa, your lunch." he grumbled. "Why you have to trouble me with bringing your lunch is beyond me..."

"Because you deliver it so quickly, of course~" Cheshaa said, sliding down the tree trunk to fetch the box from the disgruntled rabbit.

"White... rabbit... Cheshire... " Liza thought out loud. "And a rabbit hole... Are we in.. Wonderland..?" she questioned with wide eyes. She had to be dreaming this up, there was no other explanation.

"Nyaa.. What's 'Wonderland'?" the green-clad Emiru look-alike asked whilst opening the box. "Yakisoba, my favorite~" he sang out as he began eating.

"Then if this isn't Wonderland.. Where are we??" Takeru whispered.

*~*~*~*~*

"Renka!" a voice rang out from the next room and cut through Yura's thoughts. "Be more careful!!"

Yura shook his head. Of course... Keiyuu was the same in this dream world as he was in the real world. Of course he'd never change. He heard the crash of a stack of plates hitting the floor and winced.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to!!" Renka's voice sounded distressed, then he heard her sniffling. Not really an odd sound to hear, but startling nonetheless.

"I'm trying my best, honest!!" she wailed. "I didn't know that I couldn't carry a huge stack of plates like Mai-Mai!!" she continued. Yura couldn't help but get a closer look. Sure enough, all the dishes were in pieces on the floor and Renka was hurriedly sweeping up the mess the best she could. The Märchen Hare just looked on from his seat on the cabinet. "Shouldn't be too much longer to wait. Mai-Mai has almost everything else ready." he spoke as the cat-eared girl swept the last broken plate into the dustpan and emptied it into a trash bin.

"I'm really sorry!!" she cried, lowering her ears. "I'll do better next time, I promise!!" her light green eyes watered once more.

"You say that every time..." Keisagi chuckled. The girl looked completely confused and the dam was ready to burst once again.

"I think that was a joke..." Yura muttered. "A stupid and kind of mean joke, but still..."

Keisagi shook his head. "As many times as you've tried to explain that to her, she never understands it. She's a lost cause, Hatter-san."

Renka gave a blank look. Yura sighed and opened his mouth to reiterate, but was cut off by "Maiccho"'s voice.

"Everything is ready!!"

*~*~*~*~*