A Bunny's Day [Ranmaru, or Invite]

Screaming. It was a thing. It was a rather loud thing, filled with pleas and cries along the lines of ”Please, stop! Please! NO! OH GOD NO! Let me go! Please! I'll do anything! AHHHH NOOOO!” Of course, underneath of all of the shouting and the crying were giggles: insane little giggles from a rather insane little bunny who was in the mood to torture, to hurt, to kill.

Now, she hadn't been in this mood five minutes ago. No, because five minutes ago she had been minding her own business, sitting in the snow a good thirty or so yards away from the cabin she called home on top of a particularly thick fur blanket as to keep her backside from freezing. She had been in the middle of drawing the leafless trees around her – drawing was a hobby she rather liked – when three men had approached her from the direction of Umigakure. She had been fine to allow these men to pass by in their drunken stupors, but that hadn't been the case: they had spotted the bunny girl and had had to come over and start messing with her. The little snide comments about her ears, and her being an adorable bunny, she was willing to let slide: but then those comments had turned rather sexual and one of them had attempted to touch her, that was when things had gone downhill. That was when she had snapped, that was when the mood to draw had been abandoned and the need to kill had been taken up.

One of the three men were already lying dead in the snow: he had been the one to try and react violently towards Kaia-Mai after she had broken his touchy friends hand: the one lying dead had a kunai through the gut which had caused him a quick and painful death.

Another had been nailed to one of the nearby trees with another kunai; this one having gone through a sliver of his shoulder and his jacket before imbedding into the tree. He was attempting desperately to get loose but didn't seem quite able to get a proper grip on the kunai with his hands covered in his own blood.

The one who had tried to touch her? Well, he was currently on his back, scrambling backwards to get away from Kaia-Mai who was advancing on him with a very wicked grin on her face. ”The bunny doesn't like to be touched... but you had to do it. You had to touch the bunny.. Now your friend is dead, your other friend is stuck to a tree, and you're pissing on yourself... Hm, what's a bunny to do? Bunny needs to teach you a lesson...” She was purposely not calling herself by her proper name: there were few people left alive in this world who knew it, and she wouldn't give these individuals the pleasure.

”No! No stay back! Don't hurt me! I didn't mean anything by it! I wasn't going to do nothing! Please don't hurt me! I won't touch you again!”

Blood... fear... rage.

Smelled like a party to him, really. He was only in the area on a whim, the disjointed thoughts of checking up on his favorite cub kept sneaking into his mind in his moments of lucidity; and that had been enough to bring him down from the high mountains and deep forests, if only for a few hours. Now, he was rather glad he had, there was bloodshed ahead, and while he wasn't sure how he felt about this being so close to his cabin, and therefore to his little cub; well, she could take care of herself, and if she couldn't, then she didn't deserve to survive. The wilds were a dangerous place, and to survive in his world you had to be tough and strong and smart like an animal, not soft like the humans in the towns and cities.

He was covered in layers of furs so thick you'd think he was an animal; some sort of bear or other large predatory beast; but it was an illusion, he wore so many because it was the only way not to freeze in the far north where he normally wandered this time of year. Given he didn't bathe or clean his body regularly; he smelled of damp animal and dirt; there was nothing human about him outside of his species anymore, really. It was a good thing, too; no one would ever sense him via normal means because of it; outside of his chakra signature, which was almost nonexistent given how little chakra he ever used, there was nothing to track him by but the smell of animal; and animal in the forest wasn't something you could track.

So him standing in the shadows and watching the scene unfold wasn't going to be noticed by anyone but maybe the young cub; she'd know how to sense him, so she would know he was there. Watching. Amused highly by what he saw. These humans must have fucked up royally to have her snapping this hard. Delightful. He saw no reason to spend ling waiting, deciding to make himself seen after only a few moments. Walking out of the shadows hunched in a position that would appear as if he was walking on all fours; he ambled his way over to the female and essentially sat down beside her; only offering a grunt of approval over her work, and allowing her to finish what she had planned for the remaining male. He was... curious, to see what she was plotting. That, and he'd recently eaten, so while a fresh set of eyeballs would be nice; he'd let her have the honor of the choice to take them or give them to him. A choice he only allowed to beings he liked; which she fit the bill of.

Kaia-Mai tilted her head a bit to the left, much like a curious animal would, as she watched the fallen man with the broken hand continue to try and scramble away. Of course, this attempt to flee wasn't what had caught her attention and caused the head tilt; no, what had caught her attention was the knowledge that Ranmaru was close by – likely watching this scene unfold even now. Of course, the tilting of her head served the purpose of making the man attempting to flee actually piss on himself which caused the snow beneath him to turn yellow: apparently she looked just a little too psychotic like that.

Kaia-Mai wrinkled her nose and straightened her head after that: disgusted. She was far smaller than this male; and at least two hundred pounds lighter than him, yet here he was pissing himself in fear over her instead of attempting to defend himself or fighting back. It was... pathetic really. Pathetic enough to have her not wanting to continue this game any longer. Her red colored gaze darted sideways as a fiur covered Ranmaru made himself known and came to a stop nearby her, and then shifted over to the man still nailed to the tree who was nearly dead from blood loss at this point, before finally resting back onto the man with the broken hand laying in his own urine.

This man let out a fresh scream as he took in Ranmaru's appearance which only caused Kaia-Mai to giggle again. Still, instead of trying to fight the man started to scramble backwards again which caused Kaia-Mai to tilt her head once more. ”Why are you running? Why don't you fight?”, she asked with child-like curiosity: it was a concept she didn't understand. Kaia-Mai from the time she was a toddler had been taught to fight to survive: if you didn't fight, if you didn't win, you would die. Yet, here this man was still trying to run away instead of trying to fight her.

Instead of answering her, like she was expecting, the man continued to scramble backwards: ignoring her questions completely. This, of course, only angered Kaia-Mai. It angered her so much that as the man flipped over onto all fours and attempted to flee – stumbling in the snow as he did so – Kaia-Mai launched herself suddenly across the distance and landed hard on the man's back. Her actions brought him down to his belly and he screamed again. Kaia-Mai dug her hands into the man's hair hard and wrenched his head back. Kaia-Mai bent herself low so that the man could hear her above his own terrified screams, ”Answer my questions.. why do you keep trying to run away? Why don't you fight back?”

”GET OFF ME! GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!!!”, the man screamed.

Suddenly beyond pissed off Kaia-Mai began to bash the man's face into the snow; which given how hard it was and how unprotected his skin was caused it to be a sensation akin to razors being run over his face: it also provided an excellent method to momentarily play keep-away with his oxygen since the snow was so compacted after the first three hits that it was impossible for him to breath when his face was in it.

”Answer... my... questions...”, Kaia-Mai responded between each bash of his face into the snow. Of course; she was a bit too over-zealous in her attempt to get an answer, and the last hit caused a audible snap. The man's body went limp beneath her, his neck having been snapped. Nearly pouting she climbed off the man, grabbed him by his arm, and dragged him back to Ranmaru. ”Do you want his eyes?”, she would ask curiously.

Well, mistakes where made. Not by him, of course; but by the one alive human. He was counting the eviscerated human as dead already, as those were very much mortal wounds, so it was a moot point. If he was hungry, it would be a nice meal, but if anything, he'd pickle the eyes into new dice and leave the useless meat to the scavengers. The other was just a toy for the cub now; her rage and animalistic fury made him content; she had learned well from her sire, and she was nearly ready to leave this comfortable sedentary lifestyle and travel with him properly. He was pleased by this.

A grunt was her answer, signaling that he was passing up on the offer. He wouldn't enjoy them as much since he hadn't taken down the prey; but she would, and she had earned it. He merely reached into the layers of furs so that he could scratch at an itch and retrieve a dagger made of bone ad leather, offering it to her if she wished to use it.

The grunt she received as answer indicated to her that he wasn't interested in them. She glanced down at the body and flipped it over so that it was facing upright in the snow. She sat down on the dead man's chest – it was better and warmer than sitting directly on the snow after all – and stared at his face for a moment. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ranmaru move and therefore shifted her attention back on to him; bunny ears twitching and swiveling towards the last remaining man alive who was still 'nailed' to the tree. She shook her head at his offer of the dagger and simply turned her head back to staring at the man's face; head cocked to the side in the usual child-like fashion she always did.

”Please.. please let me go...”, the man nailed to the tree hoarsely spoke.

Kaia-Mai lifted her gaze onto the man and giggled; a rather happy smile forming across her face. ”Please won't get you any further than no, stop, don't, will...”, she paused, giggling again. ”Besides, there's no point now. Even if you were to pull that knife free now you would bleed out and die before you made it anywhere near the village. So shut up and have a little dignity for your last few moments of life...” It was legit medical information – and given she was a medical nin she knew all too well what would happen to that man the moment that kunai came out of him: it was the only thing keeping him from bleeding like a stuck pig – well, that and the cold air.

Kaia-Mai shifted her attention down onto the man she was sitting on and very carefully she peeled back his right eyelids with her fingertips of her left hand. She then carefully and skillfully worked his eyeball out with her long and sharp fingernails; careful not to damage the eye in the process. The man with the kunai in him watched, nearly paralyzed in fear. This was nothing, however, to how he reacted when she ate the prize in front of him: his terrified shrill screams echoed in the air.

Whiny, pathetic little bitch. No, not bitch; a true bitch had some use; this was just sad. Be more of a whiny, pathetic, non-creature. Only humans could be this pathetic; at least animals and plants had dignity; even screaming in pain they still fought back, still made some action to confirm that they had some care for their own life. This fuck was just begging to be released so that he could run off and die like a bitch; or on the off chance that he did survive; summon a whole herd of 'hunters' to come and cause problems, while spinning what was likely a tale of supremely stupidity into a harrowing tale of his own bravery and skill.

Yep.

While Kaia was off enjoying her little treat; he shuffled his way over to the nearly gutted human, staring at him through the holes where the eyes of the bear that made up the top layer of fur pelts used to be. If not for the sunken effect, and the fact that his eyes where a bit too small overall, and far too bright (both in color and intelligence; you could see the whites of his eyes like you would any other humans, his eyes where silver and purple, which was impossible for a bear, and while feral, he was extremely intelligent), he would have passed for a curious bear at that moment.

But then he was speaking and the effect was ruined.

"Pitiful human. Weak. You don't deserve life. You cower and cry. You strut and flaunt. You have no understanding of this world. Accept this fate. Or don't. I don't really care."

He flicked his head much like a horse shooing a buzzing fly would; this caused the pelts to shift and the 'hood' of the bear to fall backward off his head; revealing the matted mess of his silver hair, and the deep tan of his pale skin. Now it was obvious that he was human under all that fur; but the expression on his face, and in his eyes, was anything but.

He lifted an arm and grabbed for the hilt of the knife in the other male's gut; pulling it back just enough to release it from the tree, but not enough to take it from his body; turning the blade so that the sharp edge faced upward, and he began to lift it with enough strength to cut clear through until he hit ribs; leaving the man split open from just above his naval to the base of the rib cage. This would allow the contents of his gut to spill outward when the knife was wrenched free, hissing and causing a puff of steam when they hit the snow. Ranmaru grabbed at a loop of intestine and began to tug, coaxing more of the meters of organ out of the man's body; until all that would freely come had been removed. He had a few moments before the man died of pure shock, and he was going to make use of them. With his free hand, he reached for the male's jaw; pressing fingers into pressure points around the teeth and jaw joint that would force it open painfully, before shoving a fair handful into the oral cavity and forcing the jaw closed once more.

"Eat. Eat or I feed you your own testicles."

Oh, he really didn't care what the male did, this was just amusing at this point; and he'd likely end up ripping off said organs in a moment anyway, especially if the male survived more than another minute or so; which given how Ranmaru had cut and manipulated his organs, was a distinct possibility; as the male was not bleeding that much for the severity of the would. Ranmaru was a highly skilled trapper and tanner; he knew how to gut a beast with the least amount of damage. A simple evisceration was nothing for him.

Her treat was... well, just that. A lovely treat that had her momentarily distracted. At least until she realized that Ranmaru had moved and was now in front of the gutted man begging to be freed. Ranmaru looked like a bear; in fact if she didn't know better that's likely what she herself would have though the was, so the terrified reaction of the human was to be expected and a bit amusing. Fear was a common emotion – Kaia knew that – and yet humans reacted to their own fear in such odd ways.

Kaia then shifted her attention back onto the body beneath her. She focused her attention on the other eye, pulling apart the eyelid and holding it open with her left hand. She fished the next eye out with her right hand, using her fingernails as skillfully as she could use a scalpel. She fished the eye out in tact and then turned in time to see the man being gutted after Ranmaru had finished speaking to him.

Kaia popped the remaining eyeball into her mouth while watching Ranmaru shove a bit of the man's own intestines into his mouth and force it shut again, demanding that he eat it. She watched as the man struggled, attempting to shake his head no, and attempting to force his mouth open so he could spit it out again. He would die soon enough, but he wasn't dead yet. Kaia simply tilted her head at all of this, watching with great amusement.

After several seconds she would stand up and wander over; keeping enough distance not to bother Ranmaru, but close enough to watch curiously enough. ”See, the funny part is you all could have avoided this. But, you and your friends wanted to mate with me and wouldn't accept no as an answer... now they're dead and you soon will be.”, she ended on a giggle, practically bouncing in place excitedly.

... Oh, so that's what caused this?

"They wanted to mate with you." It was pure statement, he heard her perfectly clearly, but he had a habit, an odd quirk, of repeating things like that sometimes. Yep, now was the time to be that dick. He allowed the man to spit out his own intestines, granting him a moment of air and gibbering begging before Ranmaru's hand shot into the male's crotch and closed tightly around the (not surprisingly) tiny orbs that where his testicles. He gave them a firm squeeze, just for the effect; then dug his claws through cloth like they where daggers, ripping through everything and into flesh like it was warm butter. With a firm, powerful tug, he ripped the man's sack clean off, lifting his gory prize up so that it could be seen before shoving it deep into the male's throat; taking a few of his teeth with him for good measure.

"No one attempts to mate with my cub. No one attempts to harm my cub. Nothing survives violating these rules."

So what if she wasn't his actual kid; he'd been taking care of her (in his own way) for year now, and was very, very fond of her. Her actual sire was long dead, so even if someone cared to correct him, he'd just feed them their own teeth. He'd claimed her as his cub, and that was that. She had never once corrected him, and he took that as her approving of it.

He smirked as the male attempted to scream and choke around his own balls, the pool of blood below him growing into a thick, almost paste consistency as it began to freeze in the frigid air. "So much for dignity. You didn't deserve it."

Kaia at that moment actually did begin to bounce in place; a hyper and rather excited rabbit with too much energy and no clue on how to disperse of any of it. She was quite happy to watch the fate of the dying man unfold before her: and in her mind if anyone had the right to deal such a fate besides herself it was Ranmaru. Her sire had been dead about eight or so years now and Ranmaru had been taking care of her since then – in his own way of course. She was far stronger than she likely would have been otherwise, and had him to thank for it: it was precisely why she didn't mind it when he called her his cub, since she was for all intents and purposes.

Another little giggle escaped her and she actually clapped her hands together softly, quickly, and excitedly. ”Dead, dead, dead.”, she said with yet another giggle.

She turned then, still bouncing in place, to look to the other two bodies laying dead mere yards away. One was missing his eyes but still mostly in tact, and the other had died from a single stab wound. That left the one that Ranmaru had gutted and then punished further. Since they were all dead the blood lust she had been feeling fully subsided – at least as much as it ever did – and her usual happy demeanor was back again.

”Are you staying for a visit?”, she suddenly would ask Ranmaru, head cocking to the side and her long white ears twitching as they so often did.

He was already completely oblivious to the dead and nearly dead humans around them; even though he was standing in the same place as he had been when he shoved the one's testicles down his throat. He began moving toward Kaia, reaching to pull the top layer of his furs off; revealing a far more human appearance. The top bear pelt was nearly intact, and expertly preserved to make sure that it would be able to be used as camouflage; hence why he liked it so much. However, there was no reason to be wearing it right now, and it was getting to be time to 'clean' it/ Given he was technically 'home', well; might as well do it now.

"Visit? Maybe. I don't feel like leaving just yet, anyway. It's been a while since I hunted the low lands... it would be good to see what I can find here."

That was as close to saying 'Yes, I missed you and wanted to see you' as he ever got. He didn't actually have the ability to convey normal human emotions; even less so those of affection. The closest he could get was the odd way he vocalized his claim on the girl; which she understood well, and therefore worked for them both.

"Come, the scavengers will clean up this mess." He stopped for a moment to kick the body of one of the humans out of the way, and passed by Kaia and continued toward the cabin.

So, things were now dead. No more screaming, no more begging for the pitiful existence these men called life, and no more pissing themselves terrified. That was alright, though, because at least for the time being Kaia had Ranmaru to keep her occupied: he was always interesting to watch after all.

His words confirmed that he was here for a visit; as good as a 'I missed you and wanted to see you' as she got which was perfectly fine and normal for her by now. She was all too used to Ranmaru disappearing for long periods of time and then showing up at random; she had gotten pretty good at assuming when he would or wouldn't actually show back up.

Kaia followed after Ranmaru like the loyal and faithful bunny that she was: hell she would follow him through burning fire if he wanted to, all without a sliver of hesitation. Kaia kept her attention focused onto Ranmaru, all but forgetting about the dead bodies behind them: it was true enough that something would come along and make a nice meal out of the flesh – or it would freeze and be buried under the snow which was beginning to fall and thickly at that.

Like any child would – despite her not technically being one any longer – she tilted her head back as she walked and stuck out her tongue. It was an effective method of catching several snowflakes on her tongue at once which caused her to giggle – especially as several landed on her nose and tickled it. Even with her silly antics she kept pace; catching snowflakes on her tongue and following Ranmaru at the same time.

He didn't dally, there was no reason to stand out in the building snowfall. He did get a bit of enjoyment from watching her play around; part of why he kept her around was her innocent, almost childish nature; a juxtaposition that he needed, and that would make the long days more... hospitable.

Oh yes, he'd long since decided that he'd bring her with him eventually, once she was old enough, and that time was, well, whenever he got around to it now. He took himself right into the cabin and began shedding layers of furs beside the door; there where pegs and bars and other objects protruding from the wall that where meant to hold furs and cloaks, this was the cabin of a trapper after all.

Looking around, he noted the well stocked fire wood stores, plenty of food in the small kitchen area, the furs he left her in good condition... excellent. She was comfortable enough, and doing well. This pleased him. "Have any other humans bothered you, cub? "

Kaia would have enjoyed standing outside a bit longer and continuing to catch snowflakes with her tongue, but following Ranmaru was the much more interesting option. So, she went inside with him, glancing around to see everything as excellent as she had left it. She liked to keep things well stocked and prepared: the weather had a habit of turning quite nasty every so often – and would sometimes remain like that for days at a time. So, being prepared for such an occasion was a must, at least if she wanted to survive anyway.

Kaia reached up absently and ran her hands along her ears; freeing them of snow before it had a chance to melt: wet ears were unhappy ears in her opinion. Plus, that was how you got yourself sick.

At Ranmaru's question she tilted her head a bit, thinking. ”Hmm... no. Well, there was one guy I ran into while I was out looking for something new to draw but he didn't bother me like those three had done; he had gotten himself lost in a snowstorm and had been in the woods for a few weeks. He didn't realize that Umigakure was so close. He was amusing... “, she didn't add why of course because she felt it was obvious: most humans didn't know how to survive and yet this man had gone weeks doing it on his own. It was the reason Kaia hadn't killed him.

"Hnnn." He had little to no care about anything related to humans, outside of reasons to hunt them; however he was fond enough of her to listen to any story she had without complaints. A grunt was a pretty common response from him in any circumstance, so it wasn't that odd. Free of his furs, he began dumping the few bits of gear he actually carried; mostly his knives and trapper tools, as well as his cloth bolts. It was a testament to how strong his belief in her loyalty was; he was never without his cloth bolts, especially the one he kept wrapped around his chest, around anyone or anything. In fact, he basically never took that specific one off unless he absolutely had to.

He moved to the old couch, it was well kept, and had been in the cabin longer than he'd been alive; it had belonged to his human family when they used this place; however no one outside of himself, Kaia, and random hikers and hunters ever came here anymore; not after what happened all those years ago; so he'd basically inherited all the stuff. Not that he cared for it; but it was useful that he'd had it when he took in the female. Flopping down, he stretched out much like a dog would, settling in to rest and relax a bit. "Tell me, cub; do you think you could survive in the wilds."

Questions, what are they? He rarely used an inflection that would signal a question; therefore you really needed to know his speaking cadence and style, so that you'd know when he was asking for information; at least in cases when the statement wasn't obviously a question.

As Ranmaru removed his gear Kaia-Mai simply wandered herself over to the nearby table and picked up the little project she had been working on, on and off, for the past few days: a special hat she had been sewing together for herself with specific holes for her ears so that they were quite comfortable; with an extra added layer she could put over her ears were they to actually get cold and which wouldn't restrain them in uncomfortable ways. It was mostly together, it just needed to be reinforced a bit more before she could actually use it; it probably wouldn't even have taken that long but she had wanted the fur to be white like the snow.

With her project in hand she went and sat down, curling herself into a little ball as she often did. She made quick work with the bone needle she had made herself, working to finish the last details on the hat with fast and nimble fingers.

At Ranmaru's statement-like-question to her, though, she would pause, tilting her head. Anyone else likely would have answered yes immediately and been dead wrong, but Kaia actually thought about it. Surviving out in the wild wasn't something to be taken lightly: you had to deal with some of the harshest conditions, go days without food – something she was used to, since she was never a big eater anyway – and risk injury among many other things. Kaia, of course, had been dealing with those sorts of situations for quite a while now, and felt confident in her ability. So, she would nod her head yes in response before saying, ”Yupyup.”

Back to her sewing she would go, fingers working fast and nimbly once more.

Well, he would agree with that, if he was the type to actually do that. He knew better, no one was ever truly prepared to handle living in the wilds; they where a dangerous place even for those that had never known any different. It was always one step away from disaster, and nothing you could do about it beyond get lucky with whatever preparations you could make. However, he did know that she had the spirit for it; and by now, she had the strength as well. He'd left her here in the grey area between wild and not because she was so young, and she was the only creature alive that he cared enough for to give the chance to survive.

"Come with me when I leave, cub. There's nothing left for those like us in the human world; you've proven that you can handle this life. My final gift to you is one of choice; you may decide if you do or don't."

His tone was bored, uninterested; or would be to anyone that didn't know him. His tone was always that; unless he was... aroused, in whatever way. Angry, excited, etc; that was the only time his inflection changed. Otherwise, flat; almost monotone. Only the barest traces of anything. That was his human speech. His animal speech was far better; it was full of the tonal accents and such that where needed to use them properly; since animals relied on things like tones and not as much 'words', in any sense of what humans understood. Another sign of how far he was removed from humanity by now; it not for her he would have given up using the human language he knew long ago. It soured his mouth, normally; but for her it was tolerable; even slightly pleasant, to speak.

Kaia's hands stilled at his words: he was giving her the chance to come with him when he left. In truth she knew there was nothing left for her in the human world. She had stopped even venturing into the village over a year ago: everything she wanted or needed she simply made by hand. If she didn't know how then she learned through simple trial and error. She was no longer comfortable in the village, nor around all of those people, because she saw herself as different from them, as something foreign and strange. She had never fully been like them given she was not fully human, true, but in the beginning she could at least pretend: now she couldn't even do that.

Kaia's ears, responding to her sudden burst of happiness, perked up straight into the air and a sound akin to purring escaped her. She had never truly vocalized her loyalty to him, her willingness to follow him anywhere, because she was the type of person to do rather than to tell. An actions spoke louder than words kind of person. However, at this moment she chose to vocalize how she felt, ”I'll follow you to the ends of the earth.” It was as much of a yes as she could convey at the moment without running around the room in circles.

As it was she kept right where she was, curled up into the same little ball, and her hands returned to moving the needle and thread through the hat as she finished the last of what needed reinforced. Her busy hands kept her from wanting to launch herself across the couch and hug him: she wasn't quite sure how he'd take that. She had always given him his space; allowing him to simply come into hers if he wanted to.

Oh that was cute; she was trying not to explode for joy. He might be an animal and an asshole, but he could read emotions like a pro. That minute pause was the tell; and it was strong. At least for anyone that knew her. He'd always liked that she never rushed into his space; he had... issues with things rushing into his space, it usually led to massacres really; but he could tolerate her in small doses. He wasn't about to get up when he was comfortable though; so she'd have to be happy with his grunting. It was actually a bit... happy sounding; sort of. He actually did want her to come with him; he didn't really get lonely; but having her around made things... better. Simpler. A companion wasn't an abhorrent thought to him; especially one that was loyal and well matched to his lifestyle. It helped that she wasn't fully human, he had less reasons to be worried that she'd just... snap or die instantly. Rabbits were no apex predators; but they where very adept at surviving, so that helped too.

"A storm approaches. I saw the signs in the mountains. We will wait it out here. Make sure your gear is ready. Gather what supplies you will need. I will seal them for you; no bags, nothing but a canteen, if you wish. If you cannot wear it, it must be sealed. If it cannot be sealed, you do not need it."

A last stitch, and she finished off her sewing while ensuring it was completely locked in place and wouldn't unravel later on or come apart. Once that was done the thread and needle was put aside and she turned the hat right-side-in. She then made quick work on slipping it onto her head, her ears slipping easily and freely through the specified holes so that they stuck out the other side and remained unblocked. She shifted her ears around, finding that there was no issues there, before reaching up and slipping the ear portion actually up and onto her ears; this too was loose enough to work perfectly while being very warm and comfortable. The entire hat was, oddly enough, made out of white rabbit fur: the rabbit was wearing another rabbit. Weeeeeeeeee, mind fuckery~

She nodded to Ranmaru's words: she could hear the storm in the distance with her enhanced perception and had heard it drawing closer and closer. ”Most of it is ready..”, she would respond with a nod towards the bag near the door. She had come to being prepared lately; too many humans were coming nearer and nearer and she had wondered that one day they might set the whole cabin on fire or something similar, so she had taken to being prepared. Most of what she would need was there, she had always been taught not to bring things she wouldn't need – plus most things could be made while out in the wild and it saved on weight when having to carry things.

She went to open her mouth to speak again when suddenly she hiccuped. Her hand flew over her mouth and she all but giggled and hiccuped at the same time. Another hiccup escaped her and she all but toppled over with another giggle. ”Eyeballs give me hiccups..”, she said before hiccuping for the forth time.

Most? Well, he couldn't fault her for that; he'd appeared entirely at random and she had no reason, or way, to store things the way he liked them to be. She was smart to say mostly versus claiming to be perfectly ready; you always take that extra minute to triple check your camp before you moved on, extenuating circumstances not withstanding. Had she claimed she was instantly ready, he would have tested that by dragging her into the oncoming blizzard and leaving her in the worst possible spot; left her to fend for herself for a bit. He didn't need to however, as she'd learned well over the years, and had long ago checked her ego.

"Rabbit fur. Clean preservation. Your work. "

Kaia-Mai kept her mouth covered for several seconds while holding her breath; an attempt to get the sudden assault of hiccups to stop. It worked after nearly ten seconds and a very red face. "The bunny is wearing another bunny.", she said with a giggle that was rather on the sadistically amused side of things. She knew she wasn't a pure blooded rabbit, obviously, but she was bunny enough for almost anyone else to see something wrong with this picture. Not Kaia, though, she simply saw it as funny.

"It was quite fun tracking down all of the bunnies needed to make my hat; I wanted to make sure it was nice and warm, and --" she paused suddenly, ears swiveling as she heard something: someone was out in the snow. They were nowhere near the cabin – at least not within a mile – but she could hear them all the same: they'd be frozen to death by morning, she was sure of it. She tracked them for several seconds, not even bothering with her chakra radar and simply relying on her ears – evident by the fact that her eyes were opened instead of closed like they needed to be.

"-- Hm. Someone is a mile and a quarter north east of here. Their footsteps aren't heavy..." Which in her mind translated to the fact that they had no gear on them, or warm enough clothing. "… Human popsicles... yum." Kaia didn't even bother to try and finish her previous statement – her mind had wandered too far to realize anymore where it had been without the topic being brought up again. No, she was far too interested in keeping tabs on this human: it was in a way part of her usefulness, her perception went above and beyond what any pure blooded human could hope to imagine even with years of training. She could hear things others couldn't, and with the right amount of training she could use it to her advantage.

Oh, those glorius ears; those wonderful, beautiful ears. Such perfect utility, the enhanced sensory that made her a perfect tool to her father. They made her a perfect partner to him; using her or not, he did treat her better, sort of,  and he gave her a freedom she'd never had. He could have just skinned her alive and sold her for a curio; but he'd yet to regret that moment of humanity that made him keep her.  This was just another example of why he'd made the best decision. He'd not noticed anyone around on his way in, but given the distance they'd only just come into range of her, so she was giving him early warning.

Glorious.

Simple pleasures in life, eh.

"Hikers. Stupid humans. Wandered off the trail. Dead men walking." Her tracking them was enough, he'd let her judge when and if they would need to act. He was testing her in a way, seeing how well she was able to use her skills after so long. She was a sensor, and a sensor was useless without a brain and good judgement. So far he held a mostly positive opinion of her, and so far she'd proven he was right in that.

"Where the hell are these drunken morons?", Kaia heard the individual say in a tone of voice that sounded male and very annoyed: yet it held no traces of fear that would indicate that this individual was lost. "Sending me out ahead of the search party like this... If I find them first I might just string them up to a tree and beat the hell out of them..."

Giggling. Kaia-Mai was giggling. She had gone from completely still and totally quiet to giggling like a little bitty psycho. Kaia reached up, putting her hand over her own mouth as she attempted to hold in the giggles that were still threatening to burst out of her. It was just too funny that this man was making empty threads about tying the men to a tree and beating them when something rather similar had already happened.

With her giggling subsided she heard the individual talking to himself – or at least that's what it sounded like at first. "I found their trail. I'm going to follow it."

Had Kaia been making any noise at all she likely would have missed the response over the wireless communicator that the man was using to keep in touch with the rest of the search party: "Got it, we're following your trail. We'll meet up with you soon enough."

Kaia's smile slipped off of her face and she lowered her hand as she listened to the footsteps change directions; heading towards them. "They're not hikers. It's part of a search team from the village. Apparently someone noticed the drunks who were messing with me and sent someone to come look for them. It's one individual for now, but I could hear a conversation over his wireless communicator: he's got people tracking him. Their trail's been found, and it's being followed..."

Jooooy. Well, there went his rest. Even with the snow falling, it'd be painfully obvious where the bodies were. That would bring them to the cabin, as they'd both trailed blood with them, so it was a neon sign to come fuck with them. Weeeeee.~

"Let them come. Even if they try to burn the cabin, they can't hurt us." He wasn't wrong, either; not even ninja from the village could bother them, much; so he wasn't all that concerned. Smart humans would realize where they where and leave. Idiots would confront them. Suicidal would attack them. He was banking for the latter; as he was growing more and more interested in eating the fuckers that dared to bother him and his cub.

"If they bother us, we eat them. Simple as that. Mount heads on a pike. Leave a message for the humans."

The human ahead of the rest of the team was moving fast now, easily following the trail that the stumbling drunken idiots had left. Kaia-Mai kept tracking the noise, and soon enough she could hear additional movement further out meaning that the search team was closing in on their buddy and would soon meet up with him. This also meant that they were all getting closer to the cabin since the dead bodies weren't all that far away. Kaia focused harder; her ears swiveling and shifting as she did so.

"Mmm... food."

She easily separated the individual who was alone from the group following him. It was on the group she focused, picking up on three separate sets of footsteps within the group. Four in total, if she included their buddy who was ahead of them. Her focus shifted again, then, as she heard and exclamation of shock: he had found their bodies. "You guys need to get here, now! This... fuck me. I've never seen something like this before."

"We're hurrying. What's wrong?"

"I found them, the drunks. But, they're just... god damn. I can't even describe it. Just get here. I don't want to meet whatever did this alone."

"The human whose alone has discovered the bodies. He's freaking out; says he doesn't want to meet whatever did that to them alone." She paused to giggle at this a bit. "He has three others following him; they're close and moving faster now. They'll be there in about one minute and forty three seconds at their current pace." She was good at this, and excited: this was like a game for her. It wasn't every day she got to use her abilities like this, and she enjoyed every moment of it.