Bugs Isn't the Only One

Bugs isn't the Only One

The crunching sound got louder as Ketana and Angel climbed the hill to the garden. They could hear it a little way back, but were not sure what was causing it. As they reached the top of the climb, they looked around.

"MY CARROTS!!" Ketana hollered as she saw the tops strewn through the clearing. Picking one up, she sniffed the air, picking up the strong scent of rabbit, and something else, very familiar. Because the rabbit scent was so much stronger, she could not place the other. Examining the top, she blinked, it was definitely marked by rabbit teeth, but huge rabbit teeth. Whipping her head as she heard rustling in the bushes, she noticed that Angel had already headed over to the pumpkins and was looking through them. She sighed heavily, and walked over to help Angel, noticing some lettuce missing too. Growling to herself a little, she missed the rustling of the bushes getting closer.

"Ketana, come on, we need to make sure they're all right." Nodding, they went through the patch together, totally oblivious to being followed.

A few hours later, Pye stalked the grounds, restless. His roars, and the lioness's responses were echoing throughout the grounds. Ketana looked at Arania as she walked into the kitchen, where she and Angel were chopping herbs, and making a special dinner.

"Ketana, what is up with your pride out there?" Snurching a piece of carrot and munching on it.

"I don't know, they want something, but I can't tell what it is, they can't see it. Want to go out and take a look around for me? Maybe you can see it." Tossing a handful of oregano into the pot before pulling out the meat, Ketana nodded her head to the door.

"Sure lioness, just hope it's not the thetas out there trying to teach them to play Kai hand catch again." Chuckling, she opened the door and froze in her tracks, gasping. "Ummm.....girls, I think you two should come look at this."

As the others crowded around her, she opened the door wider to reveal someone sitting on the steps, clutching a bag to her chest. Her panicked eyes looked around, then landed on Ari, sniffing her.

"You....smell......familiar..." The girl before them was obviously part rabbit, her big ears flopping down behind her head, her whiskers twitching nervously. She was the same height as Arania, and had the exact same shade of blue for her shoulder length hair. Her white eyes still darting around her. At that second Pye roared out his displeasure and the girl darted between them, just as fast as any other bunny, and hid inside an amazingly small cupboard, slamming the door shut behind her.

Exchanging concerned looks, Arania walked over to the cupboard, opening the door and looking in at the bunny girl. Her big feet were curled under her, and she had her ears covering her face, crammed even tighter into the far corner of the already cramped space. Her fur was a light brown, and Ari had to look twice, it was the same color as her hair before she became what she now was. The girl peeked at her from behind her ears, trembling.

"Don't let them hurt me. They want to eat me. Please." Her big eyes filled with tears, shaking in fear at the sound of another roar from the lion.

"Shhh, don't worry, they aren't in here, you can come out. Who are you?"

"My name is Babs. I followed them here." Motioning with her head at Ketana and Angel, who stood a little back, watching. "I was living in a nice warm den near that waterfall. But, they were carrying yummy food, and I was very hungry." Her nose going a mile a minute as she took in all the scents from the house, her eyes landing on the food on the table. She darted over to the table, picking up a head of lettuce and quickly devouring it. She sniffed at the beef that Ketana had out for dinner and wrinkled her nose. "Yucky, red meat."

Ketana, Angel and Arania whispered between themselves, occasionally looking at Babs. "What do you think Angel? Can she stay here if she wants?"

"Sure, hello, Babs, my name is Angel, I'm the owner of Haven...How is it that you are part bunny and part human?"

Ketana took one look at the bunny and then grew angry as the furry ugly thing sniffed at her good side of beef, "so you don't like beef huh? Well I can always skin you and make a nice bunny stew how about that?" Baring her fangs she advanced towards the bunny girl, "hummmm carrots and a few potatoes and some boiling you won't taste so bad!"

Angel rolls her eyes at the lioness. "I admit bunny does taste good, but she is different Ketana, she is also part human."

Kitty wanders up from the clinic where she has been working, intent on a snack. Entering the kitchen, she sees the bunny girl. She is taken aback, but there is nothing hostile about her, so she smiles. "Heya," she says. "Who's this?" "She says her name is Babs," Arania tells Kitty. Having heard the lioness mention eating bunny as she came in, and then Angel's reply, Kitty can only assume she meant this girl. She shakes her head. "I wouldn't know how rabbit tastes, I don't eat it, and I'm not planning on starting. Well, it's nice to meet you!" Used to the comings and goings at Haven now, she goes back to her original mission. "Got any pastrami?"

The girl's eyes darted between them, panic lighting across her face. "You...you want to eat...me.." She looked around the kitchen, again running back into the cupboard and cowering there. Arania, giving Ketana a frown, moves to stand between them.

"You will do no such thing lioness, or we'll have fried lioness for dessert." Kneeling and holding the cupboard door open, she looks at the frightened girl. "Do you think you can tell us how you were made? I promise that she won't hurt you, I will make sure of it."

With a shaky nod, she spoke up, just barely loud enough for the others to hear her. "I was born in a laboratory, full grown. The man who created me didn't like me, he said it was because he wanted a wild animal, not a friendly housepet." Once she started talking her words ran together, only pausing for an occasional breath. "He said I wasn't as good as the person he got my jeans from. But I don't know what that means, I got my clothes on a line near the edge of the woods, not from him. He ignored me a lot, so I ran away. I wanted friends, but he wasn't nice at all. He yelled a lot too. He called me a failure, and other words, but I couldn't understand all of them."

Arania smiled a little, her excitement at talking to them all catching, and looking to kitty and Angel as the bunny girl started rambling on about the good food in the forest, how there wasn't enough of it though, and so on. Ari sat back on her heels, thinking.

"Anyone else find her coloration odd?" She mused to them, still watching the lioness.

"Does her coloration remind you of something?" Angel asked.

Frowning, kitty looked at Babs with a critical eye, scanning for anything that might seem familiar about her coloring. "She's got the same hair color," the tigress said, still searching for that elusive snack.

Angel raids the fridge and slaps down some pastrami and cheese. "Here it is kitty. Want milk?"

"Aaah, thank you, Angel! No wonder I couldn't find it, I was looking right at it. That'll ensure I never find it, every time!" Grinning, and picking up the food. "mmmmm... pastrami... "

Ari nodded a bit. "That is part of it kitty, but her fur and her eyes. Her eyes are white, and her fur is the same color my hair was before I became this. It is really weird." Slowly Babs came out from the cupboard, careful to avoid the lioness and her fangs. "He did tell me that my jeans came from someone here in KaiTown. Her name began with an A I think, but I really don't remember. When he said it my favorite TV show was on. Do any of you like Buffy, she's really cool. I like her hair." Babs began rambling on again about TV sneaking towards the veggies on the table, eyes looking again at the lioness, staying out of her reach.

Arania blinked a little. "Guys, last time I found the Master, he had a bunch of cloning tubes and test animals. I think he made her. From mixing me with a rabbit." She looked at Babs stunned a little, and also angry she couldn't have prevented the cruelty that created her.

"She does have a faint air about her that resembles you a bit Ara," giving off with a warning growl just to see the bunny girl jump a bit, "you sure you wouldn't like to see what's in the pot I've got cooking?" Then the Lioness laughs as she sits down to peel her potatoes, singing a soft song about bunny stew and carrots make for a nice meal for hungry Lions....

What is it with these guys and their DNA experiments? *kitty shakes her head, trying not to scare Babs with her raised voice* Why a bunny? Do you think that he was just trying to see if he could do it? What if he crossed you with other animals? More fierce animals, like what happened to me... This could be the start of something bad...

"A bunny Arania?? Now that is really odd! She babbles a lot too and steals food, if she wants something, she can just ask, she doesn't need to steal it. It's there for everyone."

Ari sighed a little. "Actually, a rabbit or other small animal makes sense. Think about it, a being with my abilities, but with the timidity and submissiveness of a rabbit, or mouse. A perfect servant to do his bidding. Think about it though Angel, she’s been living out in the streets, she’s probably had to do it just to survive."

Babs looked around the kitchen, grinning, her front teeth hanging over her bottom lip. She was holding a carrot in her hand, listening to the conversation. "Umm, is there somewhere I can sleep. I am like really tired."

Ari again nodded, she had begun feeling like the thetas with all the nodding she had been doing. "Sure Babs, you can have the room right next to mine. I will be able to hear if you need me."

Giving a pointed look at the lioness, she led the bunny girl up to her room, showing her where the other important places were. In the hall they passed RedemptionKai. He looked at Babs for a long moment as she passed, while she giggled and waved at him. He shook his head violently once they were out of sight and retreated to his room.

Babs settled into her room easily, quickly falling asleep on the huge bed. Ari left her there and went out on her own to think.