06/07/13

Edited 08/30/13 Took out all the places I accidentally put down Barnaby.

Chapter 4

As it turned out the merman, or Bunny as Kotetsu had taken to calling him, despite the disapproval of Karina, liked all sorts of fish. It was the dead, frozen presentation of it that had Bunny turning up his nose at it. They discovered this when Kotetsu thought it would be nice to put a goldfish into the tank to keep Bunny company and Bunny all but immediately ate it.

The fish they had been storing went to the other animals of the zoo and much of the refrigerators were replaced by smaller tanks of live fish for Bunny's meals. Typically they would put in two fish at a time and Bunny would eat one, saving the other to hunt down later. And soon enough they learned if Bunny didn't eat any of the fish at breakfast or lunch that he was silently demanding sushi.

Kotetsu got sushi making tips from Anju and though his rolls were never as well put together as his mother's it didn't seem to stop Bunny from enjoying them. So far salmon still seemed to be his favorite but he also ate the crab, shrimp and squid that Kotetsu presented him. The only one Bunny had rejected so far was eel, which Bunny had thrown at Kotetsu's head.

With regular meals Bunny gained the appropriate amount of weight and his trail shimmered; mostly blue with little flecks of pink when the light hit it just right. Though with improved health a better attitude didn't come as a result.

Outside of meal time Bunny would mostly stay at the bottom of the tank and ignore them. But that changed when Dr. Saito, Karina and a few other researchers tried to bring some equipment out of their observation room into the "pool room" to try and monitor Bunny more closely. Something about the equipment blocked some of Bunny's electrical interference so while they didn't work well they still worked for their purposes.

Peeking out of the water, just eyes up, Bunny watched them set up the equipment, perfectly still until they finished. He then swam back and forth, almost as if pacing, slowly at first but then more rapidly. Mid pace he dived into the water, only to spring up into the air like a dolphin near the edge by the equipment, and splash the equipment with a wave of water caused by a flicker of his tail.

The equipment was ruined and one of the researchers had nearly been electrocuted. Kotetsu yelled at Bunny for being "bad" and said he wasn't going to make sushi for him anymore but caved after a day. It wasn't like the merman understood what Kotetsu had said and he understood not wanting to be watched all the time, though he wasn't sure if Bunny even understood what any of the equipment did or if he just hated whatever the scientists brought out on pure principle.

After that splashing became Bunny's "go away" move when he was annoyed with them, which was almost every day. He splashed Karina the most, only seeming content to leave her alone when she would sing while she worked. The rest of the researchers and Dr. Saito were splashed about the same amount while Kotetsu was splashed the least even though he was around the most. Still the first time it happened Kotetsu had been too close to the side of the pool and fell in when he had been hit.

One of the scientists, Ivan, had managed to pull him out before Bunny could swim over, more than likely to try to drown him like he had previous people who had, in one way or another, fallen into the pool. Ivan, though rather shy, loved Japanese culture and, at Kotetsu's encouragement, began talking with him while they had free time, asking Kotetsu lots of questions and struggling with half learned Japanese at which Kotetsu tutored him.

For his first day off from this job, Kotetsu went home to spend the day with Kaede, going out for drinks with his old partner at the police station, Antonio, to catch up. Or rather listen to Antonio talk about the police station as Kotetsu couldn't really tell Antonio about his new job other then he worked security at the zoo. Their friend Keith was still the shining star of the force and Antonio still hadn't manage to ask out to the reporter Agnes Joubert that he had a crush on since he caught her tailing police squads for a scoop.

Even though it was a day off Kotetsu still had to return to the zoo for "night shift" so the scientists could go home. Instead of dropping by his room first, he went straight to the pool room to relieve them only to find the entire floor was wet and slippery. He look toward the pool to see Bunny was diving in and out of the water, splashing in every direction even though the scientists were hiding behind the glass.

"Kaburagi-san," Ivan's voice came over the speaker, "Get out before he hits you; he's been riled up pretty much all day."

"Why doesn't Karina sing," Kotetsu shouted over the splashing.

"I tried that you idiot," Karina took over the microphone. "He didn't care."

Kotetsu wanted to ask why they didn't try some of the sushi he left as a peace offering but as he started to shout he realized he didn't need to; the splashing had stopped. He turned back to the pool to see Bunny was looking at him.

At first Kotetsu wasn't sure if he should run out or go closer to the pool to try to smooth things out; even if Bunny didn't understand the calm tone of his voice usually had a calming effect on animals. But Bunny wasn't just an animal, his frustration that he was still in unfamiliar territory held against his will may have just reached its breaking point and it was just a coincidence that it was on the day that Kotetsu was gone.

Figuring as long as he stayed away from the side of the pool he would be safe, Kotetsu slowly walked a little closer, speaking softly.

"Hey Bunny, did you have a bad day? I'm sorry you're cooped up here; I'm sorry you have to be here at all but we're doing the best we can. Do you want some sushi?"

As Kotetsu spoke, Bunny just watched him, lowering himself a little more in the water as he got closer. He waited until Kotetsu stopped walking to dive under the surface.

"Bunny," Kotetsu called after him but shouted when Bunny sprung back up and splashed him with his tail. It was harder than the previous splashes, it knocking Kotetsu back into the wall, most of the impact taken by his right shoulder.

Kotetsu cursed under his breath, grasping his shoulder tightly as he panted and curled into himself a little. It just had to be right shoulder.

There was a sound, a smaller splash rather close to him that caught Kotetsu's attention. He looked up and saw Bunny at the side of the pool across from him, actually holding onto the top of the tank wall and peeking up at him, reminding Kotetsu again of a bunny peeking out from the bushes. This was the closest the merman had ever gotten to any of them outside of drowning attempts, having stuck toward the center of the water whenever he surfaced.

It took a lot of effort but Kotetsu managed to smile, "I'm okay Bunny, don't worry."

Bunny's eyes twitched bigger, then narrowed and he rose more out of the water to stick his tongue out at him, something he had seen Karina do at Kotetsu on occasion when she called him stupid before diving back into the water and swimming away.

A few minutes passed but no more splashes occurred and Kotetsu sighed as the scientists came out and rushed toward him. He kept it to himself that Bunny definitely understood more than they thought.