Finally Raki reached his destination, as the Nurse had said. It was a nice, remote wooden cottage in a clearing, definitely not the place where a Duchess would live, but as long as he found the Rabbit, he didn't care.

His knock at the door was answered by the person he had been looking for, though she still seemed in a hurry.

"What do you want? Hurry up! I must find my sword… then I must train…" she rambled, looking ready to bolt again.

"Actually I have your sword." Raki supplied. "Sorry about the blood stains though, I had to kill a big nasty caterpillar and – mmpphhh!" Raki's sentence was interrupted by the rabbit-like woman tackling and kissing him. Not a 'thank you' peck mind you, but a full tonsil examination with her tongue which lasted five good minutes.

This had to be the best way to be asphyxiated to death, ever.

Finally she broke the lip lock and smiled, a smile so beautiful it made all his misadventures worth it. "Oh thank you! Now I can train again… then I'll be able to kill…"

"Right… now, would you finally tell me your name?" Raki asked.

"Why? You will forget it soon anyway." she said, returning to her cold persona.

"Look, I've fallen down a hole, nearly broken my tailbone, almost drowned, been flashed, asked questions by a creepy caterpillar with an obsession with little girls and corpses, and eaten by a rabid beaver… after that, do you think I'll ever forget your name?" the young man deadpanned.

Now would have been a good moment for the Rabbit to turn on her heel and leave into the sunset while dropping her name in a dramatic and incredibly cool manner. Except there was no sunset, and turning around would bring her back into the house. So instead she settled for a meek :

"Oh. Well, my name is Clare."

Definitely not as cool, well, actually kind of lame, but Raki was happy with it. The bright smile he gave her was proof and drew a cute blush from her pale face.

"Nice to meet you Clare. I'm Raki."

"You're welcome." she hesitated. "We were about to have lunch… would you join us?" Clare offered.

"I'd like that, but I wouldn't want to intrude. I was told this is the Duchess' house. Won't she be mad?"

Now past her bashful moment, Clare quickly dragged Raki inside. "Oh, she won't mind. And don't worry, she's armless anyway."

"Harmless?"

"No, ARMless. Well, it does make her harmless too I guess."

Raki blinked, but before he could question further, a woman with her hair in a long braid, pointy ears, and a slightly insane gleam in her eyes poked her head through a door. On her head rested a chef's hat.

"Finally! The fresh supply of guts has arrived" she cheered.

()()()()

Author note : Finally Raki found Clare the White Rabbit. But his misadventures are far from over *evil laugh*