Rukia in Wonderland

Chapter 2 – Doorknob Shouten

"AAHHHH!" And like that, Rukia found herself falling down the rabbit hole. The hole had almost looked too small a fit for her at first, but apparently it was not or she wouldn't be in her current situation. A voice in the back of her mind rebutted, "Che, nothing could be too small for you to fit into, midget." It sounded vaguely like the rabbit, which only reminded her that he had gotten away.

As she was falling, Rukia begin to notice distinct shapes taking form in the darkness surrounding her. It was hard to discern what they were, but eventually she could make out – boxes? All types of cardboard boxes were floating around her, different shapes and sizes, some with labels and warnings.

Rukia wondered what was in them, overlooking the fact that they were floating while she was falling. But as she was focusing on these mysterious boxes all around her, Rukia failed to notice that the end of the tunnel was quickly approaching. She only had time to notice the darkness fading around her before she landed hard, and quite ungracefully, on the bottom.

Aching and embarrassed to say the least, she noted to herself how those stupid frills and laces had provided somewhat of a cushion for her fall. Rukia took another second to recover before examining her new surroundings.

Apparently, she had landed in what seemed to be an old mercantile shop. The numerous shelves around the small room were filled with various kinds of knick-knacks. While Rukia was looking around, she noticed an urgent and hushed voice, "I swear, this damn girl was insane! Here I am, seriously late, and she's trying to cuddle me!" The rabbit! Rukia must not have been too far behind him after all. She began to make her way to the back of the store where the rabbit's voice had come from, in order to ambush him.

"There have truly been some strange things happening on the surface these days, so I hear. Well, best be going on your way if you're truly as late as you say." Apparently, Mr. Rabbit was not alone and Rukia stopped in her tracks to listen to this second voice. Proceeding with more caution than before, not wanting to be detected by either the rabbit or his friend, she peered around the corner of a shelf to see what was going on.

There was Mr. Rabbit, still looking as agitated and impatient as before, standing before a small door that was just big enough for him. Before Rukia could come out from behind the shelf and capture him, the door swung open and Mr. Rabbit hopped through. Rukia let out a quiet gasp and a silent string of curses as she jumped out from behind her hiding place and lunged for the door. Unfortunately, the door closed and locked right after the rabbit went through. Despite her best efforts, she could not get the door to budge. "Damn door! Let me through," Rukia muttered, as she pulled on the handle harder. If only she had Shirayuki, she could slice through the door, but no, she had frills instead.

"Ma'am, I'd beg you to please be a little gentler with my nose." Rukia snapped her head up in surprise. It was the same voice that had been talking to the rabbit just before it fled through the door. When she looked around, though, it was apparent that she was by herself. Did this person have some sort of cloaking ability?

"Who's there?" Rukia figured that since the voice had already addressed her, she did not need to worry about being discreet any more.

"Down here," Rukia released her grasp on the doorknob and looked down at it. To her surprise, it looked up at her and gave her a crooked grin (could doorknobs make facial expressions?). "Hello, miss. Welcome to our humble shop," said the brass knob, "May I help you?"

Taking a step back from a door, Rukia lowered herself until her eyes were level with the doorknob. "Well, Mr. Doorknob…"

"Please call me Urahara, there's no need to be so formal here."

Her eye twitched and her voice became strained as Rukia thought about how much time she was wasting on this small talk. "Okay, then Mr. Urahara, is there anyway that you could unlock yourself so I could pass through?" The door being as small as it was, though, she would probably have to crawl through it, but Rukia would worry about that once she got it open.

"Ah, my dear, it seems that I cannot be opened without a key." Disappointed, though not all together discouraged, by the news, Rukia sat back and tried to devise her next course of action. Obviously prying the door open wouldn't work. She was already so deep in thought that she almost didn't hear Urahara say, "But I do believe that I may be able to help you."

At this Rukia perked up and turned her attention back to the doorknob. "Behind you, I believe on the table there is a…" She turned around before Urahara could finish his sentence to find a table which had most certainly not been there beforehand. What did it matter now? God knows how far the bunny must have gotten away and Rukia couldn't afford to waste anymore time.

The first thing Rukia noticed on the table was a small bottle with a labeled which read, "Drink Me". So obviously, that's what she did. As she felt the bluish liquid slide down her throat, a strange sensation came over her. Opening her eyes, Rukia found that everything in the room had grown larger and now loomed over her.

"Not that object, miss. I was referring to the spare key that one of my assistants left on the table. I'll have to charge you for the Shrinking Potion as well. Shall I open up a tab or do you have cash on you?" In her haste, Rukia had merely guessed at what Urahara was going to say and didn't bother to listen to him finish his sentence. Now her pursuit was only further delayed. Also, she was even shorter, which was frustrating in and of itself without her hurry.

"If you would like to reach the key on the table, I would suggest trying out one of our newest items." Rukia hung onto each word Urahara said in order to get his orders right this time. "There should be a box besides the table which reads, 'Eat Me'. Do precisely that and you should grow once more." Turning around again, she opened the box to find it full of cookies. Taking one, Rukia bit into and felt a similar sensation as before. She stopped eating once she figured she was back to her normal height, but why stop there? An extra nibble couldn't hurt and she wouldn't mind being a few inches taller.

Before she knew it, though, Rukia was growing uncontrollably until the shop became too cramped for her. "Dammit, Urahara! Do you sell busted goods to all of your customers?" She wanted to kick something for extra measure, but in her current state, there was practically no room to move at all. "Ugh! I'll never catch that stupid, adorable rabbit!" Her frustration was becoming uncontainable, and as much as she tried to repress them, Rukia could feel the tears starting to built up. Though somewhere in the back of her mind, she'd have liked for the voice from when she was falling down the rabbit hole to see her now. An odd and misplaced sense of pride filled Rukia in that the room was now in fact too small for her.

Stupid Rukia, she thought to herself, getting so worked up over something so stupid. Get a hold of yourself! She kept crying, though, despite her best efforts to cease. Soon the room was flooded from her enlarged tears. Urahara tried to offer relief to the gigantic girl and save his merchandise from water damage, "There, there. Tell you what, the cookie will be free of charge! Oh, look! There is a drop left in the Shrinking Potion!" Sure enough, when the bottle floated by Rukia, she picked it up and forced the last drop out and swallowed.

The same sensation came, then she found herself falling and landed right inside the bottle. Floating on the sea of tears, she was headed straight for Urahara and the door. "Well, this is one way this all could've worked out. I wish you well on your journeys. Oh, and may I be the first to officially welcome you to Wonderland!" With that final send off, Urahara opened his mouth (Everything in this place was so strange that Rukia had stopped questioning the logic behind it, which was a very hard thing for her to do) and through Rukia went, off to who knew where…

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This was three pages long on Micro Word. That makes me insanely happy (I have shortitis, where everything I write is 1.5 pages or less).

I had to twist some of the original plot details, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. So let me know your honest opinions! My apologies, also, for taking this long to update. School/Basketball/Being a devoted Bleach fan has made me insanely busy and tired.

VERY IMPORTANT: I'm not sure whether I should use the characters names or not. I'm not going to use Ichigo's name and just keep him "Mr. Rabbit" at most, but I decided to go ahead and have Urahara introduce himself. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for future characters. Any input would be great.

Cherry Emi