The sun had long set, and the night was already far in. Most of the village had already gone to sleep, but light could still be seen shining from a room in the household of Vanilla and Cream. As per usual, the little girl was having trouble getting to sleep. Her mother tried her best to keep the girl calm, but as the girl was growing up, she had lots of energy to spare, so much so sleeping was a tough thing on her. She was excited, and nothing would calm her down except if she would be entertained with something.

"Mom, do you think you can tell me another one of your stories?"

And her favorite way of calming down all that energy would be to hear a story from her mother.

"Of course, dear." Vanilla smiled.

"Yay!" The younger girl celebrated.

Vanilla loved telling her little girl stories; she would read them from a book she had gotten at the store, probably one of her best recent purchases. Calming down a healthy growing girl like her required an amount of creativity that she definitely needed some aid with, and the book could not be more useful at that. As she picked up the thick book, she realized one concerning thing: the marker was already at the end of the book, and there were no more stories she could read from it. The older rabbit stuttered for a moment as she thought about a solution for the problem. She did not want to repeat a story, and reading them from the beginning one after another probably had not been the best idea too as she was sure the girl would remember at least some, if not most of them. Her main tool was useless.

"Is something the matter, mom?" The little girl asked.

"No, nothing really, sweetie."

Vanilla noticed the girl's tone, then took a deep breath before putting the book aside. "Today we are just going to do something a little different."

"Different? How so?" Cream asked.

"You see, the book is actually finished. We have gone through all the stories. But I think after all of those, I can come up with something myself! What do you think of that?" Vanilla asked.

"An original story from mom! I can't wait want to hear it!"

And that was all the mature rabbit needed to hear. "Fine then, let's see how you like it." As she readied herself in the chair next to the girl's bed, so did the little girl get in a comfortable listening position. Vanilla took a deep breath and began.

"You see, there was once a big city, a really big city, so much so people needed to take trains to get to places, both underground and above ground trains. It was really uncommon to have any other kind of vehicle, too, though they did exist. What that city was most famous for was for huge buildings, really high towers which filled the landscape every where. Another thing which the city was known for, unfortunately, was that, at the moment, there were many people doing bad things."

"Oh, many bad guys?" Cream asked, her gaze fixed on her mother.

"Both guys, and girls, yes." Vanilla replied.

"Wow, how troublesome!"

"Really troublesome, indeed. Well, there were not just the bad guys though. There were a fair share of people who worked against those, individuals who shared the same idea of stopping them."

"Individuals?"

"People who usually fought alone."

"Oh... not like that blue hedgehog on TV everyone was talking about. He has some friends go with him, after all."

"You are right, not like him, yes." Vanilla replied. "Well, our story is about one of those individuals, you know. Though there is a group of people who fight together against the bad people, this woman prefers to fight alone."

"Oh... does she not like to have friends help her?" Cream asked.

Noticing the girl's sadder tone, Vanilla soon replied. "No, it's not that at all. You see, she prefers to fight alone because it is her style. She doesn't want to be seen often, and her true identity is also a secret.

Noticing the girl's suddenly sadder tone, Vanilla soon replied. "No, it's not because of that. She prefers to fight alone, because she has a really important treasure she wants to protect. So, like that blue hedgehog on TV, she hides her true identity, or it would put her treasure at risk and in danger."

"Oh... that sounds really interesting!"

Vanilla smiled; the girl was totally hooked in the story.

"So, what happens next?"

"Well, you see..."

-

"In the end, she managed to free herself from the trap, but the purple lynx escaped."

"Oh no! But does she manage to catch her?" Cream asked, both of her hands into fists in front of her.

Vanilla smiled. "Don't you think it is getting a little late? And you have to sleep so you make it to school in time tomorrow, hmm?"

"Aww mom, please!" The young girl pleaded.

"No, no." Vanilla refused. "It's time to get some rest." The girl said as she readied the bed for the girl and put the covers over her again.

"It was the best part though. I really hope Rabbit-In-Black manages to catch her!"

"I sure hope so too." The older rabbit replied. "Well, it's time to sleep now."

Vanilla dimmed the lights slightly, then turned to gently caress her daughter's head. The girl thoroughly enjoyed the gesture as it relaxed her a lot to sleep. Nevertheless, the girl was still interested on the story, and wanted to know more about it.

"You know mom, I really hope Rabbit-In-Black manages to keep her treasure safe, even with all her fighting against evil people." The girl said, with her eyes open, gazing at the ceiling. There were some stars glued to the ceiling which stored some light on them, but they were a lot more visible when the lights were off.

The woman smiled as she looked at her daughter. "You can be sure she will do her best." She approached the little girl and laid a kiss on her forehead. Of the things which made her relaxed the most, this was probably one of the major ones.

The woman smiled as she looked at her daughter. "Of course, you can be sure she will do her best." She said, still stroking the girl's head. The gesture greatly contributed for the girl to get relaxed and drift closer to sleep, but just as she closed her eyes, something else came to her mind, which she just could not help to ask.

"Mom, what is Rabbit-In-Black's treasure after all? Is it a thing, a place, or someone?"

"Now, aren't you asking too much." Vanilla said as she gently stop caressing her head and drew away from the girl.

"But mom! I really want to know!"

"Cream dearie, you know you have to sleep. Mom has already told you a few times already. But since you keep on insisting, you know what is going to happen, right?" Vanilla smirked as she approached her daughter again, this time with both hands as she reached for the girl's small body. The younger rabbit instantly smiled as her mother was about to tickle her and could not help but to laugh the loudest as she was tickled. Even though they lived in a village, it was not a good idea to be this noisy at night, so it did not take too long until Vanilla stopped. Cream still took a few more seconds to fully calm down, that is, to stop laughing.

"Aww mom, now I feel fully awake again!"

"Oh well, that won't do." Vanilla laughed.

The happy laughter from the two rabbits soon echoed in the room. It was great family times like this which made Vanilla the happiest, to see her precious daughter grow and have a great relationship with her. She would do anything to make sure she remained happy and smiling. But most importantly, she had to fix what she had done now.

One of the things that she used to do, was to sing her into sleep. Aside from story telling, her voice was always called soothing by other people from the village, and it certainly was most effective on her daughter. Given the need for something even faster, after fanning the girl so the heat from all the laughing would go away, she tucked her into bed properly before coming really close to her left ear and start singing really softly, as she caressed the girl's check. Cream knew that, when her mother did this, she was supposed to breathe in deep and let it out slowly, as she listened to her mother, as per her instruction. Not too long after, the girl was sound asleep. Vanilla kept singing into her ear for a little longer, just to make sure she was deep into sleep, before she stopped caressing her and pulled away.

The woman smiled as she got up quietly, and pressed the button for the lights to start dimming slowly before she left the room. She walked to her own room, and stopped before the door as she listened to the noises in the hall, her amplified rabbit hearing picking up the soft breathing of her child, before she entered the room and closed the door behind her.

-

The little girl slept peacefully as the lights in the room were off. She never liked it too dark, but since her mother had been with her to calm her down to sleep, she was out long before she could notice them turning off. Regardless, there was a lava lamp in her nightstand which would provide some warm light, if it were on.

From the darkness, a figure approached her softly, and headed with their hand for the lava lamp, turning it on. It soon started giving its warm reddish-orange glow.

Dressed up in a tight black leather suit, Vanilla approached her child, and kissed her forehead.

"Of course I will do everything to protect you, my treasure."