Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or Batman. Or . . . the Runaway Bunny.
A/N: Okay, so first off I want to thank anyone who is reading this story for reading it. I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter!
The ten puppies lay on the wooden porch, their flopped over ears twitching just slightly as they dozed, their eyes watching their brother as he ran across the yard. The chocolate lab chased the butterfly around the yard, outlasting all of his brothers and sisters in determination and energy. He was going to catch this invader! Then probably let it go and play with it some more! He watched as the orange wings flapped just a foot from his nose, and leapt high into the air from the grassy ground of the yard, snapping his jaws to get the insect. The thing dove just outside of his reach, higher into the air, and turning, fluttered on over the high wooden fence of the yard and out of sight. The pup barked in frustration and leapt up, putting his front paws on the plank of wood nearest him, wagging his tail. Why did it leave?! Didn't it want to play? Perhaps it didn't know the pup couldn't go any further. The pup's barking filled the air for the next few minutes, as it strove to tell its playmate it wasn't able to follow. When the insect didn't come back, the pup gave a sigh of resignation, turned, and with a motionless, drooping tail, returned to where the rest of its mother's litter lay dozing on the porch. Hopping up the stairs leading to the small porch of the small white wooden house, he flopped down between his eldest brother and sister and laid his head down with a sigh.
The pup was just about asleep, when something new whisked across its path. A shining yellow thing! It wasn't like his previous playmate, but it sure was pretty! He watched as it swirled and flipped in the air, him now standing up beside his sound asleep siblings, and watched as it moved through the air across his yard. Towards the fence at the other end of the yard . . . the pup darted across the grass, his barking waking his brothers and sisters up once more, chasing his new friend across the yard. Sadly, this friend too went over the fence, and he once more stood at the fence and barked for it to come back. When yet again there was no return of his playmate, he sighed, and turned to return to the porch. And stared, as yet another breeze swept in with even more friends! Browns, reds, oranges, yellows! Even greens! All of them swirled and danced in the air before him. His tail wagged once more, and the pup rushed into the leaves, leaping up into the air, barking at his new friends. Until once again, the breeze carried them up over the fence and away.
The cool autumn breeze swept through the rather small town of homes and shops, and then into the forest just beyond. With the grace of a swan, the breeze began to move up and under branches and around thick trunks. It continued along its trek until it finally came out into a large clearing. Seeing the woods on the other side of the open space and deciding to continue its journey there, the breeze sped across the large field until . . . the arrow's point shattered the breeze into millions of tiny tatters of what it once was. The arrow sang through the air, to end up sticking inside the yellow ring of the target just outside of the central target circle, its blue and silver feathers fluttering slightly in the air.
Slashera frowned hard at the arrow as she lowered her bow, parts of the large breeze now swooping back to move some strands of hair out of her long braid, her jumpsuit insulated just enough to keep her warm against the cool fall weather. Slade frowned, blinking, off to the side in his own jumpsuit. The man had his arms folded before him as he looked at the target. But before he said anything, she spoke. "I missed." she muttered, glaring hard at it. At that moment, Slade moved forward, and so did she. They marched over to the target bale. Upon reaching it, he replied, "Yes, but it wasn't your fault, Little Slash. Over the past few days you have gotten better and better at making your shot hit the appropriate target. And up until now, today you have not gotten outside of the prescribed circle. . ." he fingered the many holes on the center circle, emphasizing his point. She frowned hard up at him, "But I didn't hit the target this time. . ." "And that was not your fault. You've perfected your form and are able to hit your target square on. It was the breeze that unsettled it just a little bit . . . Besides, it's still close to the circle. Only about an inch away. . ." he murmured, and gripping the arrow in question, yanked it out. And turned to her, "But there is one way to make sure that doesn't happen again. . ." She frowned up at him. "How?"
"Little breezes like that may be hard to monitor, but you can kind of tell what the wind's doing that day by simply keeping an eye on it. . . here, look. . ." he took a strand of her bangs, and let it fall in front of her face. "Watch it," he ordered. She blinked, and cross-eyed, did so. And saw it faintly moving to the left. "You see? You can tell where the wind's most likely to blow today this way. Okay Slashera? After that, you can modify where you aim your arrow. In this case, you would need to just aim a bit more to the right. That way, if it blows you'll be ready. And if it doesn't, you'll still be in the target area. Okay?" She blinked, slowly taking it in, then, "It's like before with gravity then . . . where you aim a bit higher, so that the gravity pulls it down to the right height . . . only this time we aim to the right so that the wind'll pull it to the left. . . and be at the right point. . ." "Precisely!" he said with a smile, "And if the wind is blowing to the right?" She frowned up at him, thinking for a minute, then, "We aim to the left." He smiled, "And let's see if you know what to do if it's a stronger wind?" She blinked, "You put it more to the left? Or to the right?" she quickly added. "That's correct. Of course, knowing how much more you need to point it in either direction will come with time, just like aiming for the target. Ready to continue?" he asked, and she smiled, nodding, and the two jogged back over to the starting position. And, keeping an eye on her one strand of hair, Slashera settled the arrow against the bow string, pulled back, and released. And singing through the air once more, it hit the target. She smiled. Square on.
Slade blinked and watched as the girl reached to the quiver sticking up from the ground in its holder and reloaded another arrow. She frowned, pulled back quickly, and released. For the past three weeks, they'd been out here, practicing. And for the past three weeks, she'd been getting better and better. After the first week and a half, she'd been able to load and fire the arrows without any help, and over the last week and a half, she'd been working hard to perfect her shot. After archery in the morning, each afternoon they would do one of three things: a bit of training, tracking, or fishing.
Through the training, he'd been sure to continue with the hurdles, the tree exercises, and now even lunges and jogging through the woods. Through that, he'd made sure that her arms and legs were constantly built up. Just because he was focusing on archery, and therefore her arms, that did not mean he'd let her training slip up in other areas. He knew very well the law of "Use it or Lose it", and he simply had no time for Slashera to lose any muscle she'd gained.
After training for one afternoon, the next afternoon would be spent tracking. Slashera was the main one who tracked down the animals now, using her own fish gutting knives to check the feces. Recently, Slade had also gotten her to where she would watch the animal she had tracked for minutes, focusing on the muscles. The man would then ask her to predict when it was about to walk, leap, or run away, and which direction it was about to go. He'd found that she had a lot of fun guessing what the animal would do. It was a challenge, a game, and she constantly strove harder and harder to guess correctly. That would be useful later on.
On each third day, he'd take her fishing. The process she had to perform in order to clean the fish was more or less done involuntarily now. To Slade, that was definitely some good news. Lately, she'd been killing and cleaning them so fast that he sometimes wondered if she lost track of all the fish she'd caught. However, whenever he'd ask her how many she'd cleaned, she'd give him an answer, the right answer, without even having to look at the dead bodies chilling in the cooler. However, he was still finding that he enjoyed the entire process far more than she did, and that was somewhat of a concern. He'd thought for sure she'd learn to like it by now. Still, she'd made excellent progress in all other areas of her training he decided, and watching as she continued to fire arrow after arrow, blinking with each release, her eyes still on her single strand of hair, he smiled. I can afford for a little setback . . . for now.
As soon as the entire quiver was empty, the two walked over to the target again. Even though they were not all in the same spot, all of the arrows were within the same center ring. He smiled, "Excellent work, Little Slash. You've gotten good. How many breezes were there?" "Six, Father Slade," she replied quickly. He smiled, "Good girl." He pulled out all twelve arrows and turned to her, "And you got them all on the target. You adapted to aiming despite the wind. And you were able to do that a lot faster than I expected." She smiled at him as the sense of pride rushed through her. Oh how she loved it when he complimented her! He smiled at her for a moment longer, then glanced up at the sun, which was now almost in the center of the sky. "I suppose we have time for one speed drill, and then we may need to eat." Her grin grew even wider.
She flexed her fingers, blinking at the target. It was so quiet in the clearing now that one could hear a small bird moving through the grass at the edge of the forest. "Alright, Little Slash . . . remember, three at a time. . ." Slade murmured, and held up a stop watch, blinking at the device. He glanced at her, "Are you ready? Do you feel confident with your aiming?" She nodded, her eyes fixed on the center circle. Her hand clenched harder around the bow. "Okay . . . one. . ." she blinked, and lowered her hand slightly, to feel the feathers only centimeters from her fingertips. She curled her fingers back a bit . . . she couldn't pick the arrows up yet. . . "Two. . ." she put one foot back, resting some of her weight on it, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out as she felt the energy rushing through her as it always did. . . "THREE!" he said, and hit the button.
As fast as lightning, Slashera grabbed the arrow nearest her fingertips and quickly set it, setting it loose to fly right at the target. Not even pausing to see if it had made it to the desired circle, the girl let her hand swoop down again and grab the next arrow, releasing that one as well. It had barely left her bow before she grabbed the next and shot it. And then, she stopped, freezing up, holding her breath. He smiled as he pressed the button when the last arrow hit the target. "Twelve seconds. Impressive," he remarked, blinking, "And all on the target?" She blinked, and her eyes focused on the circle, "Yes, Father Slade." "Good job. Ready four round 2?" he asked, already knowing her answer. Tensing slightly in anticipation, the girl nodded.
Over the next minute and a half, she continued to shoot the last three sets of three arrows. Her fastest time had been 11.5 seconds, and her other times were 15 seconds and 12.5 seconds. The quickest had been the final round. She gazed at the twelve arrows sticking in the target circle, then turned to him, and gave him a smile, "Your turn?" he smiled, nodded, and handing her the stop watch, picked up his own quiver of twelve arrows and his bow from the ground nearby. Slinging the quiver over his shoulder, the older man moved to stand where she had been, setting up his quiver in the small cup shaped stand attached via a stake to the ground, right where her quiver had been seconds before. "Ready?" he asked, blinking. She nodded. "Alright. . . count me off then, Little Slash," he breathed, hunching slightly, his fingers flexing, his eye only on the target. She readied her finger over the highly sensitive start/stop button of the stopwatch, "One. . ." He smiled, and leaned forward. He didn't care if anyone called him a narcissist. He was proud to show off his skills every now and again. . . "Two. . ." And as long as I set a high goal for Slashera to strive for, it isn't all that bad . . . is it? "Three!"
GO! He smirked as the word reverberated in his mind, and wrenching up the first arrow, fired it. In a flash, the next was sailing through the air as the man moved as quick as the speed of light, launching the last at the target. "TIME!" he gasped. Slashera quickly pressed the button. He turned to her, and blinked down at her, "Read off my time, Little Slash." She blinked down at it, "9.5. . ." He nodded, eye closing and opening, "It took you about a quarter of a second to press it after I said 'time'. . . that's half of .5 . . . Do you remember what decimal that is?" She blinked, ".25?" he nodded, eye opening, "So what's my time really?" She blinked, and thought for a moment, "9.25 seconds?" He smiled, "Good girl. I'm proud of you. . ." he turned and faced the target again. She gritted her teeth, and put her finger just millimeters above the button. She had to be quicker next time! He blinked, "Ready?" This part of the speed drills was just as much about her reflexes as it was about how fast he could shoot the arrows. "One. . ." she began, nodding.
Ten minutes later, they were both halfway through their ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayonnaise sandwiches, the two occasionally drinking some water from the gallon jug they'd brought with them. Slade's time had slightly deviated from 9.25 seconds, to 9 seconds, to 9.5 seconds, and finally, to 9.30 seconds. All the while, Slashera had become quicker and quicker about pressing the button. Slade frowned, studying her with his calculating blue eye for a moment, munching silently on his sandwich. Then the man decided to ask her a question, "Slashera what do you think about when you're doing a speed drill?" She lifted her head and gazed at him before turning and frowning down at her sandwich. . . "I guess . . . to be faster every time?" "Hmmm, but do you think of actually shooting the arrow? Of aiming it?" he asked, blinking. She frowned down at her sandwich, and shook her head, "No, Father Slade." "And yet you hit the target every time. Why do you think that is?" he asked quickly. The question caused the child to ponder quite a bit, before she turned back to him, "I . . . I guess I've practiced aiming it so much, I don't really have to. . . think . . . about it . . ." she said slowly, clearly unsure as to the real reason. He smiled, "That's precisely what's going on. And I couldn't be prouder. You've worked really hard to learn how to aim properly. Now you're at the point where you don't really have to think about it anymore. That is why you're able to fire quickly without having to focus on aiming and are still able to make your target." She smiled back, "Then I'm happy I can make you proud, Father Slade!" He grinned, "Then let's finish up here and get to tracking some animals!" Quickly finishing the last of his sandwich he stood up and grabbed the two quivers and bows. She frowned, blinking up at him, and he smiled back, "I just figured that if we don't have to come back by here on our way home, we can spend more time tracking." She smiled, finished her sandwich as well, and in no time the two marched into the forest.
Slashera blinked, searching the ground as she walked slowly in front of Slade. Her eyes moved over the dirt, looking for fresh tracks. She loved finding the tracks. It was the beginning of the game of hide and seek, and the most exciting part to her, besides finding the animal. She had no idea what tracks she'd find, and trying to guess which animal it would be was half the fun for her. She hoped for a deer, but knew better. She had wanted to find one so bad the first few times. They were no doubt her favorite animal in the forest . . . unfortunately, they were few and far between, and she'd later settled for rabbits and raccoons as well . . . besides, Father Slade got a bit mad when she purposely overlooked one of the rabbit or raccoon tracks for a deer one, the man knowing fully well she'd seen the smaller animals' paw prints. . . She blinked as she walked on, searching the ground. And Slade frowned, following her, half watching her, half thinking ahead.
Was it time? Truly? He was beginning to doubt. The child'd certainly gotten tons better at archery. In that respect, it was time to move further in her training . . . but there was not a doubt in his mind that she got attached to the creatures she tracked down, and that was of slight concern. He partly regretted ever allowing her to name them . . . but still, he'd allowed her . . . and there was no changing that now. . . "Found some!" she gasped, crouching down, and he blinked, leaning down, looking over her shoulder. "And what are those?" "A rabbit," she remarked, blinking. "Very good Little Slash. Now begin," he murmured. She nodded, and began to move through the woods, using her silver gutting knife to push back limbs and leaves, which now covered the forest floor in areas. He gritted his teeth and clutched the straps of the quivers even tighter. And forced himself to push any doubt out of his mind. No matter how long he waited, the child would have a negative reaction, and in a certain light, sooner was far better than later . . . he'd do it today. The time was right. He had to. It was simple as that. . .
Slashera blinked through the leaves of the bush, "There it is. . ." she whispered, blinking. And her mind began to move through potential names for the rabbit chewing on the grass. Luckily, she hadn't had to check its feces. That was her least favorite part . . . Slade nodded, "Good. . ." and placed a hand on her shoulder. And waited. She blinked and watched. Then saw his muscles move. . . "He's about to move right ahead of him. . ." she whispered. "When?" He asked, blinking. She bit her lip, and waited. Then, just as his paw left the ground. . . "Now!" she gasped. And as the rabbit leapt, the arrow sang through the air, and with a shriek, the animal fell, writhing and shaking all over, to the ground, the arrow with the orange and black feathers square in its left shoulder.
Slashera stared in shock at it for a moment, and as the thing continued to shriek, terror gripped her. "NO!" she shrieked, and rushed through the bushes towards it. Just as she reached the rabbit, however, Slade's hand grabbed her shoulder, his firm hold keeping her back. "Stay away, Little Slash." "NO! IT. . . IT'S DYING! IT NEEDS HELP!" she screamed, her hands swinging around and trying to grab at the animal. She was unsuccessful, and a sob broke from her body as the rabbit continued to cry out. "Slashera, I am telling you to stay away. Do you hear me?!" he growled out. Letting her know he meant business. She paused slightly, and he leaned down, and gripping his arrow, wrenched it out. The creature screamed once more and began to writhe. And Slashera stared with tears streaming down at it, as Slade's other large hand moved to its back leg, and the man lifted the writhing thing off the ground. Slashera jumped out of the way as blood flew back at her, shaking, gazing at its beady black eyes . . . suddenly, the thing swung about, and its teeth sank deep into Slade's wrist, blood spewing from the man immediately upon contact. Growling, Slade grabbed its head and body . . . she knew what was coming . . . As the snap filled the air, the girl turned and ran.
Slade found her curled up beside a large tree, shaking and sobbing her eyes out. He frowned, the rabbit now hog tied and dangling at his side, tied to a loop on his jumpsuit near his waist. And taking a deep breath, the man knelt down before her, his blue eye focused on her, "Little Slash, look at me. . ." She whimpered and turned to him, shaking, tears streaming, "You . . . you killed it . . . you killed him . . . how . . . how could you. . ." "Slashera, when we are out here tracking animals, you are NEVER to disobey me again. . ." he muttered firmly, and held up his injured wrist. She gazed at the bite mark there. He turned to her, "Slashera, you may not have known this, but certain rabbits carry an illness. And they can give humans that illness by biting them. We have no idea how to tell which rabbit has that illness. And Slashera, that is why it is IMPERATIVE that you do not touch a rabbit we kill out here. Ever. Until it is dead. Do you understand me?" he muttered. She shook, staring at him, then shook her head, eyes shut tight, "N-no . . . not 'we' . . . because I'm not going to kill them." Before he could say anything, she continued, frowning at him, her onyx eyes locked onto his blue one. "It's not right . . . you broke your promise," she whispered.
He blinked, frowning at her, "How did I break my promise?" he muttered. "Y-you said we'd never use archery to kill something," she whispered, tears streaming down, onyx eyes filled with sadness as they gazed at his calmer blue. He shook his head, "No, I said we'd never use it to FISH. That did not rule out killing other animals." She gazed at him, shaking, then shut her eyes tight, and shook her head, "I-I can't do it. . . I can't hurt them. . . Father Slade, I just CAN'T." she whispered.
He frowned hard at her for minutes, and she gazed, silently weeping, right back at him. Then he finally chose to speak, "Slashera, why is killing fish okay?" She darted her eyes down and sighed, "B-because they're not as smart as we are . . . we're better . . . so it's their job to make us stronger. . ." "And you want to get stronger, don't you?" he asked, blinking. She turned to him, shaking, and nodded. "The same rules apply to rabbits and raccoons, Slashera," the man replied calmly. She shook her head, eyes shut tight, "N-no . . . this was supposed to be a game! Hide-and-seek!" she choked out, new sobs bursting from her, shaking all the more against the tree. "It still is . . . only this time, the winner gets something more than just finding their hider. . ." he assured her. She turned to him, gritting her teeth, "B-but . . . they're just . . . they're just little anim. . ." "Slashera, don't tell me you feel sorry for them. . ." he replied quickly, "Think about it. They have the WHOLE forest to hide from you in! They have plenty of a chance to win the game. Don't they?" She frowned, and nodded slowly, sniffing. "I . . . I guess so. . ."
"And as if that's not enough reason why we have to kill them, we need the meat . . . just like fish," he assured her, blinking. She frowned, and nodded again, "I . . . I guess. . ." "Slashera, I know it's hard," he whispered, and she turned to him, blinking. He paused, considering his next words carefully before continuing, "But it's the same as with the fish in another way: the only way it's going to get any better, is if you keep doing it. . . you've already done the important parts: you've learned how to track. You've learned how to know where the animal's about to go. And now, you've learned how to shoot your arrow. I even know the target for you. Their shoulder. Now it's time to pull it all together. Okay?" She let tears race down, "Father Slade, I really don't want to. . ." she whispered, shaking. He gazed at her for a moment, considering letting her just go back to the cabin right then and there. But he couldn't. He knew he couldn't. Instead, he cupped her cheek, rubbing the tears still coming down, whisking them away with his thumb, "I know, Little Slash, I know. . . but trust me, it'll be okay. . . tell you what. . . you only have to do it once today, okay? Then we can go back to the cabin."
Slashera bit her lip, gazing out over the trail, walking slowly through the woods, her quiver now strapped via a leather strap to her back, her in her arm braces again. They'd wrapped the rabbit up in a cloth Slade'd brought, and it was now dangling from his waist again by a rope. She glanced back at the bloody cloth . . . she knew it should be simple. It was just like Slade had said: she was just putting all she'd learned together and now they needed the meat. . . But deep down, it was so much more than that . . . what if that rabbit, or the one she might find, was one of the ones she'd already found? One of the ones she'd already given a name to? What if they had a family? What if. . . "Little Slash, are you sure there aren't any tracks nearby?" Slade said with a frown, tilting his head a bit. And she blushed, and turned to the trail around them. Knowing that when he said that, she'd missed some. Quickly finding them, she bit back her sigh. Rabbit tracks . . . she could only hope it took her a while to find him. . .
Unfortunately, it took a shorter time than the one previous, and soon, she gazed into a small area where the rabbit was. As she gazed at it, it sat just as comfortably as could be, its little nose twitching. Oblivious to her and her arrows. "Get ready," Slade muttered, blinking. She bit her lip, and reached back for an arrow. "Quiet now. Don't let it hear you. Remember . . . you want to get this over with . . . you want to go home. You don't want to scare it off." he murmured, as she took it the weapon in her hands. She blinked, and slowly set it in her bow, gazing at the rabbit, her hands shaking, causing the arrow to shake itself. "Take a deep breath," he whispered, resting two hands on her shoulders, rubbing her shoulder blades gently with his thumbs. She took in perhaps the deepest, hardest breath she'd ever had, gazing with sad eyes at the rabbit, as it lifted its head up, and turned to gaze right at the section of woods they were in . . . it knew where they were now . . . she gritted her teeth. "Let it out," he whispered. At that time, the rabbit tensed. It was about to run . . . this was it. Her heart pounded in her ears. Her breathing began to quicken a bit in her anticipation. All she could see was that black beady eye . . . she wished it'd close. . . "Focus . . . you'll do just fine," he whispered in her ear. The rabbit leapt for it. "Release," he murmured at the same time.
She stared, as the rabbit twisted and writhed on the ground, the arrow deep in its shoulder, its cries something she wouldn't forget for a long time as it rolled in the dirt. Walking over to it, she gazed down at it, her Father behind her, watching as its wide, fearful eyes stared up at her, as if knowing she was the one who'd killed it. "Good girl . . . pull out your arrow," Slade murmured. She did so, blinking. And heard a nasty sucking sound . . . her stomach turned at the sound. She felt tears spill down from her eyes. "Now, I know that you can't pick him up, but just fire that arrow again at its neck. . . that'll help him bleed out and die quicker," Slade assured her. Tears streaming, she did so. And watched as even more blood flew, until finally, the blood soaked creature lay motionless on the ground.
"Now you may pick it up," Slade whispered, "Just remove your arrow first." She nodded, did so, and in no time held the limp rabbit in her palms. "Now snap his neck. . ." she closed her eyes, and did as asked, feeling his warm breath on her ear. "Yeah, there we go. . . Alright, now we'll use a towel I brought to wrap him up," Slade whispered, and in no time, the two had wrapped the rabbit up entirely in the white cloth, and using a rope Slade also had, had bundled him up nice and tight. Turning to her quiver of arrows, Slade tied the animal to the strap between the quiver and her back, "Alright, let's go."
Slashera was silent the whole way back to the cabin. Her silence continued as she sat on a stump outside with Slade sitting directly across from her, teaching her how to skin the rabbit. Once Slade instructed her to go wash up while he cooked, she walked slowly to the bathroom, her eyes on the floor. As if in a trance, she pulled off her jumpsuit and entered the shower. Reaching back, she blinked, and turned on the water. And as the hot water ran over her, she blinked at the white tile in front of her. . . " 'If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air,' said the bunny," Eleanor read to little Mary as the rain poured down outside the child's bedroom window, the two snuggled up in a big blanket, " 'I will become a little boy and run into a house.' 'If you become a little boy and run into a house,' said the mother bunny, 'I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you.' 'Shucks,' said the bunny, 'I might as well stay where I am and be your little bunny.' And so he did. 'Have a carrot,' said the mother bunny. The End." Slashera blinked, and a crystal tear raced down her cheek.
Apart from Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny had been her favorite story for her mother to read with her as a child . . . she'd loved to look at the pictures of the bunnies. And had always thought they were so cute. Even in tracking them in the woods, despite them not looking the same, she had known they were bunnies too, and had come to think of them as that runaway bunny, and her as the mother rabbit who would come looking for them . . . .And to shoot that little bunny. . . she let a tear race down. . . she wasn't that mother bunny any more. . . that mother bunny would never do that. . .she choked out a sob and sat on the floor, arms wrapped around her drawn up knees, gazing at the blood running down her toes and onto the white tub floor, her hot tears running along with the water down her face.
As the last bit of the blood from the killing and skinning ran down the drain, she suddenly recalled how after one night of Eleanor reading the story with her, she'd asked if she could get a bunny someday. The woman had smiled and agreed. Slashera blinked. She'd never gotten that bunny. . . Maybe I could never really have one, she suddenly thought. Eleanor had lied to her about caring for her. Wasn't it possible she could have lied about Slashera being able to have a bunny too? If so, Father Slade had once again provided for her something her mother had been unable to . . . in a way, he provided a way for her to have a rabbit of her own, even if it was dead. She had killed it, and soon would be eating it. She blinked and slowly stood. It'd be with her . . . taking up her washcloth, she quickly bathed herself off, and then worked shampoo and conditioner in her hair, blinking. And if that is the way it is done, then who am I to question it?
Slade frowned hard as he cooked the rabbit meat on the stove. He knew Slashera hadn't been over the killing when she'd been sent to take a shower. He'd been tempted to say something more to the child. To apologize for making her kill it. But as he gazed at the meat, he knew it had had to be done. Letting her only seek the animals for a longer period of time would have only made it that much harder on her in the long run. This was truly the best way . . . if only he hadn't lost his cool when she'd run for the rabbit . . . hadn't grabbed her . . . hadn't shouted . . . but he couldn't let her get hurt . . . he frowned down at the pan. Well, what was done was done. And he had an idea to make her feel a bit better . . . suddenly, her footsteps behind him caught his attention. He turned, expecting a sad, morose child. And blinked at the girl standing there in his gray muscle shirt. She wasn't overjoyed, but she certainly wasn't sad either. She gave him a small smile, "Hey, Father Slade . . ." she walked over, and smelled the rabbit, standing just beside him, "That smells good!" she said, a hand resting on his arm. A gentle, small hand. But a calm hand. He blinked. He certainly hadn't expected her to rebound this fast . . . it bothered him.
Clearly the girl had done some of her own reasoning regarding killing the rabbits. And while he was satisfied with the end result, he had to worry about the means of getting there. . . He smiled at her, "It's going to be just as good as it smells. I promise you," he assured her, and moving away, put a glass lid over the pan, and turned to the refrigerator. As he did every night, the man pulled out some milk. Getting a glass out of the cabinet, he poured her some and smiled, handing it to her, "Go outside on the porch and wait a bit while it finishes cooking, okay?" he said with a smile. She nodded and turning, bounded off to sit in one of the rocking chairs. As she began to rock, gazing out at the woods, he frowned. I don't know what's going on in your head regarding those rabbits, little Slash . . . but I promise you, I WILL know before the last fall leave breaks free of its branch. And I have a good idea of how to start. Turning to the rabbit meat, he blinked, and after using a wooden spoon to taste the meat's flavor, added another spice. He lifted it to his mouth just again, and as the juices ran over his tongue, smirked. Just like everything else he did: Perfect.
A/N: I simply love writing about how puppies play! So cute! But. . . Slashera's first kill . . . not so cute . . .especially not her reaction to it. So what was your reaction to her reaction? Or to the whole chapter? Please Review!