Chapter 3
"This is delicious" Kakashi said as he took his first bite of the risotto Jin had made. She smiled bashfully as her cheeks flushed bright red. "What is it?"
"Seafood risotto with shrimp and scallops" Jin said passionately and happily. "I started with tomatoes, celery, and Arborio rice and onions. I sweated the onions with the shrimp shells…"
"Not to be rude, but I lost you at sweating" The Ace said as he wiped his mouth. Jin shut her mouth and looked to the ground, embarrassed for herself. "Are you not going to sit down and join me?" Jin did as she was told and served herself some of her food, quietly eating and not looking up at the handsome man.
"What makes you an Ace?" Jin asked, still not looking up
"Out of the militia, I am the highest ranking member of the Spade branch, making me an Ace."
"Then who is the King, Queen, and Jack of Spades?"Jin asked, now looking up at the man, intrigued
"There are none, the ranking of the militia starts with a ten, and then whittling down until there is an Ace"
"Are there more than one Ace, or are you it?"
"In Spades I am the only one, with the other numbers there are multiples." Ace said, finished with the risotto. "And it is the same with the other branches." The Ace added as he leaned back in his chair.
"If they are in a war with someone, why would they not want you in it, since you are so high ranking?"
"Someone has to protect you"
"Why do I need protection?"
"Because you are a guest in this world, you need to be protected until it is time for you to go back to your own world" the Ace said. "Besides the Hatter is… a character"
"A character?"
"He can act like he is crazy sometimes"
"Just like in Alice in Wonderland" Jin muttered
"Did you say something?"
"I asked how so?"
"He killed his entire family, and then formed his gang with some of the fiercest criminals in our world."
"What?" Jin asked, confused on the complete difference between the Hatter in Alice in Wonderland and this world.
"The worst part is his brother, he left his younger brother alive and now he rules the Hatter's Mansion with the Hatter"
"What is he called?"
"Sasuke, the Emo Hare, and he acts with more fire and insanity than his brother."
"The Emo Hare?"
"Yes, he is emotionally unstable, he hates his brother with a passion for killing his family but decided to stay by his side, waiting to strike. He is very… disturbed" Jin felt a shiver go down her back, she did not wish to meet the boy.
The conversation was cut short with the ground shaking. Jin held onto the table with all her might as the Ace jumped the table so he was facing the door, drawing a gun, which only seemed to confirm to Jin that something was terribly wrong.
"What was that?" Jin whispered
"The Hatter most likely took down the wall to the Spade court"
"Why?"
"He heard you were here" The Ace of Spades said simply, as if this happened every day.
Which to him it probably did.
"Why?" Jin said exasperated, no one had ever taken to breaking down walls to see her, that never happened, never. Jin was getting scared when the door was kicked in and a man with a pinstripe black vest with matching blazer and pants entered the room with a pinstriped fedora and a machine gun. The Ace of Spades quickly moved Jin so she was behind him. But Jin was intrigued, for this man was quite good looking. He looked up and Jin could see his red eyes and navy hair pulled back into a ponytail. He had a tiny silver chain hanging from his breast pocket on his vest, and another chain, much larger than the first, hanging out of his left pocket of his pants. He looked like a more modern and sophisticated mobster of the past, and it really looked good on the man. He looked also to be about Jin's age, older than Naruto and Gaara at least, and he looked very cocky.
"Hand her over Ace" He said and Jin noticed that his voice was calm, but intense. He was an enigma to Jin, that someone so calm and collected and precise could be so intense, and demanding of one's attention of his presence.
"No" Kakashi said, his gun up and ready to shoot when he needed to.
"Fine" The Hatter said as he shot Kakashi in the leg. Jin stepped back and to the side in shock as she watched the man who was protecting her fall to the ground in a heap and obviously in pain. The Hatter jumped the table and grabbed Jin's wrist "Come on"
"No" Jin said, trying to rid his grip off of her
"Excuse me?" The Hatter asked, his grip on Jin's wrist tightening
"I mean…" Jin started, tears forming in her eyes from the pain of the man's grip "Let me remove the bullet from his thigh and I will go with you, with no complaint" Jin said through gritted teeth. The Hatter looked down at Jin thoughtfully before throwing her to the floor next to the bleeding injured man
"You have five minutes"
Jin ran to the kitchen to find something she could use to get the bullet out and found an emergency medical kit, she quickly went back to the Ace of Spades and began extracting the bullet, cringing whenever he yelled out in pain. Jin was nervous, she had only practiced the extraction of bullets with a cut piece of meat and high grade medical tools, and now she was doing the real thing on a live person, with no pain killers and tweezers. After fumbling a bit Jin managed to get the bullet out and wrapped the wound with gauze and dressing, the kit was completely out of anything to clean out the wound or keep infection away but at least it was covered and in a better condition than it was before. Jin's hands were shaking as she put the supplies away
"Why are you doing this? Run" Kakashi whispered but Jin shook her head slightly
"A deal is a deal"
"You look terrified"
"That's because I am"
"I will come get you" He said quietly, looking at Jin intensely to prove that he meant it with his one steel colored eye "I will not stop until you are once again safely inside the castle of the cards"
"You're done" The Hatter said, once again stopping the conversation between the Cheshire Cat and the Ace of Spades "Come" he said and Jin looked at the Ace once more, revealing how scared she was before standing and following the man out of the building and into the court. Jin gasped at the tank that had created a giant hole through the wall, and the small earthquake that Jin had felt before. Jin had to swallow her fear and at least attempt to have a tiny glimmer of courage on her face to keep herself from falling on the ground in a crying fit.
Oh how she wanted to go home.
