Rise of the Guardians

Lucky Rabbit

Chapter Twelve: Lucky Times

Faustine was very diligent in her new role as a mother. She cleaned, ate some sustenance for producing milk, fed, and again cleaned her five babies. She gave her littlest one a little more attention, who didn't fight as much for food nor act like the kitten that he looked like.

"Names.. Names…" Faustine thought on it. "How about Thump and Hop for our bunnies?"

"Thump and Hop?"

"Yea. I LOVE that about you! And I will love them all the more!"

"Because I go thump and hop?"

"You hop when you want something and thump when you're fierce."

Bunny grinned. "All right, that'll be good."

Faustine licked the chocolate and gold bunny. "You will be Thump. Thump!" Thump squirmed under the attention of her mother's tongue, eyes barely open. She had the same bright blue eyes of her mother and the cute little nose too.

"And you, my mini-me! Will be Hop! Hop!"

Hop rolled over and rested against her mother, oblivious to her naming. She moved her leg, thwacking Thump in the face as the little bunny tried to bite.

"No! You do not bite your sister!" Faustine pushed the two apart. "No fighting!"

She then heard it, growls and rolling sounds as Bunny gave her a droll look. "No fighting, huh?"

Faustine glared at the two kittens rolling at each other, trying to fight but not quite managing the movement. It was the first born, a boy, versus the last born, a girl. They shared all the markings of their father, including the green eyes.

"You will be Axel. Axel! Stop biting!"

Bunny was snickering behind her. "And.. You will be…" She glared at the two kittens, ignoring their mother. "Bunny!"

"She will be Princessa," Bunny said affectionately. "She acts just like a Princess. And a Warrior too!" He beamed with pride. "Don't let your brother get the best of you!"

Faustine pulled the two apart with a glare to Bunny. "Don't antagonize!"

The two turned their attention to their last one. He was just sitting there, looking up at Bunny with big eyes. His eyes were more open than the others and far more expressive.

"He's so cute!" Faustine plucked him up, making him meow in surprise. He wiggled and actually reached for Bunny. "Awww, he's got a favorite parent.. Wait, why isn't it me?"

Bunny took his smallest son into his arms. "He's very docile. Aren't you, honey?"

"How come you don't call me honey?"

"I call you Kit. Vastly different." Bunny made faces. "What about him?"

"He's pretty close to you. How about Hitch?"

"Where do you get your naming?" Bunny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"From my head."

"Apparently so. All right, Hitch, I'm Papa… or Dada.. Daddy.. Dad, Pops, Poppa. You know, whatever you want to call me."

Hitch pushed his head against his father's chin, purring.

"He's adorable!"

Bunny was greeted by whimpers, all of them looking at him with big eyes, including Faustine.

"Oh, for the love of… you're all adorable!"

It would only take about eight weeks for the children to reach their toddler stage. Bunny watched and marveled at the growth of all of their children and the way Faustine fell so naturally as a mother.

However, there was a clear favorite of parents. When around and not busy, Bunny was routinely ambushed. He scuffled, rolled, stroked, tossed in the air, he did pretty much anything that they asked of him.

When Faustine started to feed the children more appropriate food, she had Bunny deal with the bunnies and she dealt with the kittens. She hunted for them and gave them the dead fish or bird she had caught and would watch them and help them out. However, each and every time, Hitch would sniff it, put his ears back and refuse to eat. Faustine tried to bring a live animal to the dinner table, of which Princessa and Axel tore to pieces.

But she couldn't get Hitch to eat the meat. She had him nurse but she was drying up and she was getting frantic.

She happened upon Bunny about to eat his large salad one night. "I need help."

"Sure, Kit." Bunny set the plate aside behind him as he focused his attention on Faustine.

"I can't get Hitch to eat. I've caught him live food, brought him dead food, all sorts of creatures, you know, for a cat to enjoy. But he won't eat anything but milk! I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong!"

"I'm sure there's some sort of reason." Bunny tried to think. "Being a vegetarian, I can't say that I know anything about meat or what your kind or those who eat like. Was it really fresh?"

"Of course! You know how well I can hunt!"

Bunny thought on it. "I can't think of anything… let me eat something and think a little bit longer on.." He turned to see the plate gone.

"Where'd my dinner go?" Bunny heard it then, eager chomping and the sound of crunches. He stretched up and looked over the rock to see Hitch licking at the plate.

"Hitch. Did you just eat my dinner?"

Hitch perked up and held up the plate. "Moe pweease."

Faustine blinked rapidly. "Seriously? But.. He's a cat!"

"Moe pweease." Hitch repeated as Bunny eyed Faustine.

"Guess he takes after his old man," Bunny hefted Hitch up to his shoulder. "Let's go to the patch and pick some fresh food."

"Yea!" Hitch patted his dad's ears with eagerness. Faustine watched, a little sad.

There was a clear favorite of parents. When around and not busy, Bunny was routinely ambushed. He scuffled, rolled, stroked, tossed in the air, he did pretty much anything that they asked of him. When he wasn't around, the children would play with each other. Faustine tried to engage them, still youthful and playful herself but they wouldn't play for long and drop everything the moment they saw Bunny.

Faustine was sitting in the distance, along her belly as her chin rested on her folded paws. She stared down at the ground, unwilling to move.

Bunny had returned home, having finished up helping Jack in making more traps. They weren't smart but the trolls were figuring out the simpler tricks so Bunny had to be very clever. With both and Jack's cleverness, Bunny was quite smug.

He grinned as the children bounded around him. "Hey, guys!"

"Hi, Papa!" Axel bounded and whapped as his dad's tail.

"Daddy!" Thump jumped onto Axel's back and bounced off her father, hopping around him with high jumps.

Hitch was rubbing between the legs, purring loudly.

"Where's your mother?" Bunny asked then.

"She's been hiding," Princessa offered. "I think she's sick."

"Really?"

"Mama is sad," Hop told him with a shake of her floppy ears. "Why?"

"Mama is sad?" Bunny walked to find her in the shadows of a large tree, very downcast.

"Hey, Faustine. You all right?"

"Oh, yea. I'm fine." She forced a smile and started for the cat bed, unable to meet his gaze. "Can you feed the children. After all, they love everything you do."

Faustine jumped nimbly into the bed, curling tightly. "And nothing about me."

His sensitive ears picked up on that last line and then he looked in on her. "They love their mama."

"They won't play with me. They don't want me touching them. They're all over you and playful and wonderful… I don't mean anything to them."

Her ears folded forward to partially cover her teary eyes. "I just want them to love them like they love you."

Bunny returned to his children. "Hey, guys, why don't you play with Mama?"

Hop blinked first. "She wants to play?"

"Of course she does!" Bunny sat back on his back legs. "She's very lonely, guys. Why don't you ever play with her? Or interact with her? What's so wrong about Mama?"

"Nothing's wrong!" Hitch protested, standing up on his back legs in surprise. "We play with each other!"

"And when I come in, you play with me."

"You're gone all the time!" Axel stood up then, indignantly. "Mama's around all the time. She gets boring."

"Axel! Do not speak of your mother like that! She has feelings too and she's hurting! Is that what you want?"

Axel slowly lowered himself, ears falling to the side. "No."

"I think you all should spend some time with her. She hasn't left you since she had you, she's very diligent in protecting you and making you happy. I think it's time you guys work to make her happy."

Hitch was the first one to move, bounding up to the cat bed. Thump beat him in the high jump, landing on the cat bed first.

Her ears drooped at the sight of her depressed mother. She put herself at her mother's bosom, nuzzling at her chin. Hitch managed to the top, climbing over his mother to rest his head then on her shoulder, nipping at her ear playfully.

Bunny kept low and hidden from sight as he helped the rest get into the bed. Axel was bounding around her, trying to get her attention.

When it didn't work, he then thought hard and came to an idea. "Watch out, guys!" He used all the force in his back legs, landing on his mother and jumping all over her with challenging meows.

"What..!" She awoke from her dreamless state finding all of them around her. She stood up into a sitting postion, Axel falling off as he then began to tug on fingers, teeth holding tightly as he growled and pulled.

"Axel, what are you doing?" Faustine rolled him into the bed, tickling him. Axel burst out laughing as suddenly, she was overcome by wiggling motion. Having all five of them turn playful made her day as she chased, pawed, and nipped lightly at them.

She was losing quickly, but she didn't mind it as she finally stopped, all five of them touching her as they laid in their various positions. She watched them with bright eyes while they fell asleep.

She climbed out carefully, landing on all fours. She found Bunny eating a snack as she rubbed against him, still on all fours. "Thank you, E."

She sat next to him, head on his shoulder.

"Think it's time you started learning to defend yourself. Can you do anything with your luck?"

"I'm not sure. I only know basic spells, making portals or Doors as we call them to get us to places. I can also make myself go fast."

"But never lifted a paw to fight?" Bunny asked.

"I'm not a fighter! I'm a defensive mechanism."

"That may play out well."

She eyed him thoughtfully. "You don't sleep in the bed anymore."

"There's no space. I'm too big."

She stood up on her tippy toes, licking at his cheek. "But I miss your warmth. You.. Miss me too, right?" She had settled back on her heels, looking up with some trepidation.

"Of course I do. It's a little hard to be with you when they're still underfoot."

"But you haven't done anything since I got pregnant. Sometimes.. Sometimes I think that's all you wanted out of me."

"No, no!" Bunny wrapped himself around her, pulling her tightly. "Our relationship isn't some physical need, it's emotional, spiritual, soulful. You healed me and I can't ever repay you for that." He nosed her gently, rubbing against her own pink nose.

"And I have missed you, very much. I've tried every way I could think of to get you and I alone but I… I'm still afraid of letting any of you out of my Warren."

"Then when you teach me to fight, you can teach the children too. And your Warren is very safe." She added. "But then, so is my Cat Haven. Our senses tell us when our children are upset or angry or hungry. No matter the distance."

"I think I know where this is going?"

"Really, thank the Maneki-Neko that I don't have to draw you a picture." She sighed heavily and then pranced around him on all fours.

"You're acting like a kitten," Bunny smirked. "It's cute but not exactly initiation.

"Oh, no, you're going to do all the work," She walked away then, on all fours, the stubby tail as erect as possible as she mooned him. "It's more fun to tease you!"

Bunny's ears twitched. "You realize you're playing with fire? I'm like twice your size! I wouldn't challenge me." He grinned, lowering himself to gather strength in his back limbs.

"I challenge you all the time!" She sat and licked at a paw. "And I always win," She added coyly then stuck her tongue out him as she made a portal and disappeared into the Cat Haven.

"See! See! That is challenging! Get back here, Kit!" He charged after her as she disappeared into the house and upwards into her bedroom.

He stared at the bed. "Is it bigger?"

"Yea, I thought it would need improvement," Faustine stuck her head out from under the blankets. "It's fun to rock and roll," She added. Despite that she was covered in a blanket, he knew when she had her butt in the air, wiggling as if she were about to jump at him.

He grinned as he climbed in.

"No breeding!" She added hurriedly. "No more until they're far more older! It's hard trying to keep their attention as is!"

"Fine, I won't. But you have to work on it, after all, it was your fault," He waited as she stuttered.

"I didn't even know what I was doing!"

"So next time you'll listen when someone explains the birds and the bees?"

"But I know all about that already!"

He pushed her into the blankets, having fully riled her up. She wiggled under him, still in an argumentative mindset.

He then proceeded to rise to her unspoken challenge, the night rising and falling as time sped on its way, leaving the two lovers to do as they wanted.

Bunny was resting against her, curled tightly as he awoke from a nightmare. He'd been seeing his past self losing everything all over again and he couldn't understand what it was that brought back those old memories.

He nuzzled Faustine who turned toward him and rested against him with a soft sigh of bliss.

His grip tightened as something nibbled on his mind but he couldn't piece together the thoughts for some reason. Something he was afraid of facing, he realized. He then found her scent filling his nose, putting him at ease as he fell back asleep, telling himself that he'd figure it all out eventually.