A/N: A continuation of the Bunnicula idea for To Zing or Not To Zing
Bodyguard Part 2
xxXxx
Haru couldn't feel taller or prouder when she walked back into her school room with Bunnicula balanced on her shoulder. She wasn't even bothered when her fellow students stopped in mid-conversation to stare at her and the black and white fluff ball on her shoulder.
"Wait. That's your new bodyguard?" Hiromi asked with a sneer.
Haru was busy getting to her seat, so she was facing the wrong direction to see what kind of face the vampire rabbit made to make her entire class scream. She swiftly looked up to see what was going on, but all she saw were her classmates falling over themselves to get away from her, even tripping over desks to make it happen.
She gave a suspicious look at Bunnicula, who was giggling wickedly. "Did you do something cool when I wasn't looking?"
"Uh huh," he admitted with a cheeky grin.
"You evil furball," she cooed before rubbing her face into his soft belly fur and making him laugh. "Bunnicula's fine; just be respectful to me and he'll leave you alone."
"H-Haru," Juno-sensei stammered. "I really don't-" he cut himself off when Bunnicula gave him a glare.
"Next is gym, right?" Haru asked cheerfully, even though she wasn't sure she had the strength to play volleyball right now. She'd been going on short sleep since last week.
"… I think you need to talk to the principal about having a bodyguard," he managed to squeak, now frantically texting on his phone.
Haru cocked an eyebrow. "Would you appreciate me just heading to his office right now?"
"Please do," Juno-sensei agreed with relief.
Haru shrugged and smiled at the bunny still on her shoulder. "Looks like I'm introducing you to my principal. Don't worry, I'm sure he'd rather have you around the school over the werecats."
"I'm not so sure," Machida muttered under his breath, making Bunnicula growl at him enough to make the boy plaster himself to the wall in fear.
"Later, I guess," Haru sighed while leaving the school room.
Thankfully it was a few minutes before lunch hour ended, so she was able to both keep her protector away from the windows and get to her principal's office in record time.
The secretary just waved her in, giving the bunny a speculative expression.
Haru slid the door open and let herself in. "Sorry about this, Principal Yami, but this is the tail end of my werecat problem."
The principal looked annoyed, though he was staring at the rabbit. "Really?" he asked in a flat tone.
"Count Dracula sent his own familiar to keep watch on me, so if the werecats see him, they'll know that Dracula knows what they're up to, and they need to start running."
The principal was still staring at the rabbit. "So instead of dealing with werecats that could pop up anywhere, I'm supposed to be okay with a monster rabbit being on campus?"
Haru blinked. "I thought you would be delighted. Bunnicula isn't out to disrupt the school, he just wants to keep me safe."
"Uh huh!" the rabbit confirmed with a glare.
"Isn't there an option that doesn't involve monsters?" he asked plaintively.
'Not until I either graduate or transfer elsewhere, at the bare minimum.' "Well, Bunnicula isn't going anywhere until the werecats are no longer a problem," Haru more or less repeated herself instead. "I promise he'll be easier to handle than the werecats."
He gave her a long look, not saying anything for an uncomfortably long time.
"… So… I guess I better get going," Haru eventually said a bit nervously while reaching behind her for the door. "I don't want to be late for gym."
"Actually, Haru," the principal stopped her while keeping his eyes on her. "Why don't you go home instead?"
Haru blinked. "You sure?" she asked just to be sure her fatigue wasn't telling her what she really wanted to hear.
"Yes. I need to… think over what to do from here."
Haru blinked. "All right, I'll grab my things and be gone. Have a nice day, Principal Yami."
He nodded, still staring at her. Haru let herself out, unable to stop a feeling of dread from climbing up her spine.
Bunnicula clearly felt the same way, grumbling to himself suspiciously.
"If they can't handle you, they don't deserve you," she assured him with a gentle kiss to the forehead.
He gave her a wistful smile before purring and rubbing his head into her neck.
"Are you sure that you want a monster bunny that close to your neck?" the secretary asked while wincing in dread.
Bunnicula turned his head and made some odd growls over Haru's shoulder. He must have made a scary face as well, because the woman screamed.
"Hey, why don't you let me see it when you do something cool?" Haru asked, turning enough to see the secretary had fallen out of her chair.
The principal immediately slammed his door opened. "What happened?!" he nearly screamed.
"That rabbit!" his secretary screamed while pointing at Bunnicula, who was glaring at her even with Haru watching.
"He didn't appreciate that she thought he'd-" the schoolgirl tried to explain but the principal had no interest in listening.
"Yoshioka! Just get him out of my school!" he bellowed at her.
Haru flinched back from the tone even as Bunnicula turned enough in her arms to roar right back in his face, making the man nearly fall to the ground in fright.
"Okay, that's a nice roar," she couldn't resist complimenting. But she turned around to head back to class for her things. "Maybe just growling at people that offend you for a while?" she suggested, making the rabbit grumble under his breath. "I am sorry about this, but humans are a lot touchier when it comes to jump scares. At this rate, everyone will be begging to deal with werecats instead of you since they're not the ones suffering from the werecats."
Bunnicula's eyes literally glowed red, but he muttered other intangible things while cuddling against her neck.
By then other students were in the hallways, and Haru had to do a bit of dancing and apologizing to keep those who didn't know Bunnicula's true nature yet from giving him pats and intentionally walking where the sunlight from the windows wouldn't be able to touch him.
'Well, at least I won't lose any time after school getting food and cape supplies for him. Maybe I should just delay calling Mom until after getting those so she doesn't worry.'
But now Haru was worried. It wasn't exactly a secret that her principal was proud of his position and was willing to do nearly anything to better the school's image. It was clear that he at least sympathized with the hate groups if he wasn't a member.
What would he do about Bunnicula? Call her mother and say that the tiny monster can't follow Haru to school? That would negate the point of having him for a bodyguard, even if in school was where she was harassed the least.
Haru mused whether it was worth bringing up to her mother that it might be a better idea to do all her schoolwork online until this mess was resolved.
But how long would that be?
Before the schoolgirl realized it, she was approaching the front entrance. She looked between the sunlight streaming through the doorway and at the bunny on her shoulder a few times before setting him on a nearby bench. "I guess I shouldn't have thrown your box away, huh?" she asked a little sheepishly before unbuttoning her vest.
"Yoshioka-san! You're right where everyone can see you!" a teacher scolded in horror, but the teenager didn't care all that much. "And what is the meaning of trying to leave the school early?!"
"It's just a vest, and Principal Yami told me to go home," Haru answered as she peeled off the vest and started wrapping Bunnicula up like a baby. "This will have to do for now, are you comfortable?"
"Uh-huh!" he affirmed while snuggling happily into the crook of her arm.
"Yoshioka-san, I really can't allow you to-" the ancient woman tried again to demand, but Haru responded by specifically holding Bunnicula against her shoulder in a way that only he could see the teacher when she turned her back on the woman.
Again, Haru didn't see the facial expression, but was just fine with it this time as he again made a low ominous sound, and the teacher began screaming in fright. "Have a nice day!" she called over her shoulder while exiting the school.
She supposed she should be grateful that circumstances had forced them out before Haru needed to make a makeshift tent so that Bunnicula wouldn't burn during gym. She was, don't get her wrong, but…
There was no telling how long it would take for Dracula's help to fully work. Haru tucked her vest a little higher up to shield Bunnicula's face as she tried to think. Her mouth opened a few times but she had to force down the questions she was dying to ask her little bodyguard.
"Haru-" Neko suddenly called out to her, making the teenager wheel around with an enormous smirk.
"Hello, Neko. Have you met my new friend?" Haru asked while intentionally holding up her schoolbag so that her wrapped bundle was in its shadow.
Bunnicula pulled his head loose from the blue fabric and snarled angrily.
Neko immediately screamed, backing up into the street and just narrowly avoiding getting run over.
"Yeah, not jumping after you," Haru informed him flatly, even if she did stick around long enough to see that he made it to the other side of the street without more damage then some hastily stopped cars and angry drivers. "And you, good sir, happen to be the best bunny I'll ever cross paths with," she cooed with a silly grin as Bunnicula covered himself again.
He happily chattered at her before purring and nuzzling her the best he could in his restraints.
Haru was three stores away from the craft shop when Mephistopheles's car stopped next to her and the door opened. She instinctively jumped back to keep him or one of his minions from grabbing her. "The jig is up, Mephy!" Haru informed him, remembering from the other night how much he hated the nickname.
The tall werecat was infuriated enough to stomp out of his limo and raise one hand as if to inform her that she was never to call him that again.
Bunnicula didn't even uncover his face. He just started growling and snarling in his own language.
If it weren't for the thick fur covering every inch of skin, she could have sworn that he went pale at the mere sound of her protector. His eyes certainly went huge with fear, and she could almost see his knees shaking as he stared at her bundle.
"…Is… is that…" he tried to ask, making the teenager smirk evilly.
"Count Dracula's familiar? Yep. His master's not happy, you know. Can't imagine what measures he was talking about taking against-"
Mephistopheles must have had a pretty good idea of what measures were coming for him. He just about threw himself back into the limo. "To the airport, and step on it!" was clearly audible before the car's tires squealed with the exertion of speeding away from her.
Haru gave a satisfied moan. "This is even better than a massage. Sure hope Thiris tries next; he's the one that's been making sure I couldn't contact Dracula for help."
Bunnicula growled again, and Haru could feel him shifting around a bit before a soft tapping was heard from his cell phone.
It wasn't long until Haru was inside the craft store and setting both her book bag and rabbit in one of the carts now that they were away from the sunlight. "It'll be easier to pick out what we need for your cape first than lugging groceries through here."
He nodded from the child's seat, but he was still furiously tapping on his phone while Haru took the familiar route through the shop.
"Hey, Haru!" the familiar shopkeeper called out to her with a warm grin. "It's been a while, how's your mom?"
"A bit stressed out, but that should fix itself soon," Haru answered honestly, since the dear woman wasn't acting like she'd seen what was going on in the news. "I want to make Bunnicula here an awesome cape, so I'm going to rifle through your silks a bit."
"Be my guest, dearie," she crooned, making Haru nod thankfully at her.
This was nice. Such a tiny slice of normalcy after her world's turned upside down.
"Here's what I think would look good," Haru offered while holding a black satin against a red that closely matched his eyes. "Counter offers?"
Bunnicula finally pocketed his phone to look at it. He laughed with delight before giving her a double thumbs up.
It took a little longer to find a clasp he liked, but it wasn't long until they were leaving the shop with everything Haru would need that her mother didn't already have at home.
Though she did at least wrap Bunnicula up in the blackout fabric since that gave him more breathing room than her vest for the interim period between the craft store and getting him food.
ooOoo
"Ah, Ha-Augh!" Si and Am tried to greet her later while she was roaming the grocery store closest to her home.
The reason for their sudden scream was Haru intentionally stepping to the side enough for them to see Bunnicula glaring at them with folded arms from inside her cart.
"And they're off," Haru whispered in the same attitude as a race announcer as the two werecats about fought each other for the right to get out of the store first. "Seriously, Bunnic. I can't thank you enough for staying with me."
His glare softened as he looked up at her, and he made some jabbering sounds that she didn't understand, but somehow felt like 'I'm happy to be with you.'
She rubbed his cheek affectionately before pushing him closer to the cucumbers. "What about these?"
He nodded happily and started hauling them into the cart himself.
"Just so you know, we're already getting close to how much my fridge can hold," she warned him as her phone went off. She looked at the caller I.D. before brightening and answering it. "Hey, Mom! I'll be home in ten minutes," Haru started out.
"Haru. The principal called. What is this about a monster bunny, and why didn't you call me immediately?"
Haru decided not to take issue with how short her mother was with her since she'd been operating on short sleep too. "It's like I said, Mom. Monsters have more to lose than us if things get out of control. Once they found out what the werecats were up to, I got assigned a vegan bodyguard while they talk or beat sense into my stalkers. He's scared off four idiots already."
Bunnicula grumbled under his breath like he was leaning more towards 'beating'.
"Haru, this is getting out of hand. I don't know where you are, but come home this minute. We need to make some decisions."
"Just let me pay for Bunnicula's food and we'll be right there," Haru promised, pushing the cart over to the fruit and trying to bite back a laugh when Bunnicula didn't hesitate to pick out a melon. "That's about all we have room for, Bunnic. We can pick up more later."
He saluted her with a laugh.
"Wait, Bunnicula?!"
"Don't worry, Mom, he sucks produce. See you soon!" Haru bade farewell a bit hastily before ending the call and slipping the phone into her book bag. 'Right. Mom might be the biggest problem with the plan.' She looked at the tiny rabbit who was wearing a deformed carrot like a captain's hat.
"Hee-ho!" he commanded from on top of the melon and pointing at the registers before laughing at his own joke.
"Aye aye, Captain," she laughed, finding it hard not to smile even with the looming problem ahead of them.
It didn't take long for them to run the vegetables through the checkout line, even if the cashier could tell something was off about a rabbit that could help load the produce onto the conveyer belt while chattering happily at Haru.
"Um, we don't really encourage pets to run loose in the store," she tried to remind the high schooler politely.
"I really think Bunnicula wouldn't appreciate it if I tried to put him on a leash," Haru responded before setting him on her shoulder so she could pay.
She froze up at the name, staring at the rabbit like she was just now catching on that he might not be an ordinary rabbit.
"The faster we check out, the faster we leave?" Haru prompted in a gentle tone, making the woman hurriedly swipe the card and hand over a receipt. "Thanks, have a nice day!" Haru greeted in faux-obliviousness in an attempt to show the cashier that there was nothing to be afraid of as she wheeled her cart close to the entrance. She stopped just out of where the sun was hitting the floor tiles. "This could be tricky," she fretted while eyeing all their purchases.
Bunnicula waved a consoling hand at her while chattering in a soothing tone before his rabbit ears suddenly turned into bat wings.
Two customers that were about to enter the store saw that, and immediately turned around to go somewhere else.
He then hovered over the cart, gathering every bag other than her school one like each one weighed about a feather.
"Dang, you must work out!" Haru told him teasingly, fishing around one of the bags to pull out the umbrella he had picked out before heading to the produce. "Too bad I forgot mine at home, but at least you'll be safe."
"Uh-huh!" he agreed in a heartbeat, waiting until Haru had the opened umbrella over his head and her schoolbag in the other hand before they left the store.
Although Haru was hoping for a drama-free walk to her home, it's a little hard to be discreet when walking next to a flying rabbit holding a ton of grocery bags. She did what she could to ignore them as she and Bunnicula made their way down the sidewalk.
It should have disturbed her, but the path the other walkers cleared for the pair made it easier for them to get by without bumping into anyone, even if she held the umbrella behind her out of courtesy to the other walkers.
"I thought you hated monsters!" one man in a business suit blurted at the sight of them.
"You were misinformed; I hate entitled idiots," Haru corrected him with a polite smile, even though she wanted to scream, 'You don't know me!'
Frankly at this point, not even her mother really knew her.
"Bunnic," Haru called over her shoulder about a minute after passing the man. "I hate to ask more of you when you're already doing so much, but I could use your help with something."
He jabbered something willing and optimistic.
"My mom hates monsters, and she's really got a thing against Dracula and other vampires. I know she and her boyfriend are going to say some hurtful things to you, but I want you to do everything you can to win her over. I'll explain that if she can't handle having you in the house, I might have to ask Dracula if I can live at his hotel until-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Bunnicula cheered, flying slightly higher until his ears bumped against the umbrella's stretched fabric.
"He'd be okay with going that far?" Haru asked in surprise while holding the umbrella up a little higher to accommodate him.
"Uh huh!" Bunnicula agreed enthusiastically, almost dropping the groceries as if to pull out his cell phone to elaborate before remembering he was carrying his own food. Then he started grumbling like he really wanted to tell her everything he could.
"Thank heaven that's an option," she couldn't resist sighing in relief. "Are there also monster high schools I could transfer to in case Principal Yami tries to say you can't come on school grounds again?"
Bunnicula nodded again, grinning widely and toothily at the thought of bringing her into his world.
"Phew!" she breathed happily. Right in public wasn't the place to show him that she qualified for monster schooling, but at least her education wasn't going to suffer. "Thank you, Bunnic. I was starting to feel like a cornered animal, and we all know what happens at that point."
He nodded darkly, flying against the edge of the shadow closest to her. Out of curiosity she pulled the umbrella partially over her, and he actually pressed a fuzzy kiss to her forehead before jabbering again.
Haru couldn't resist smiling and feeling relaxed. Just having this little bunny by her side was making her feel like it wasn't really her versus the world. "Plus having you around is probably good counter P.R. for monsters," she noted cheerfully, glad that he didn't bother hiding his agreement. "Good. I really do want things to settle down soon, because people need to grow up."
He rolled his eyes wildly in a way that a mortal could never imitate while grinning widely.
"In a manner of speaking, of course," she added while giggling.