What Bunny Wants, Bunny Gets - Chapter 2

The tip of a snake’s tail slid beneath my belly.

It wound around me, loop after loop, until I was completely trapped.

I trembled. I didn’t dare speak, either. Covering my eyes with my front paws, I waited for the moment I would be eaten.

Nothing happened for a long time.

Then the tip of a tail appeared in front of my eyes, shielding them. A forked tongue hissed, and the snake asked in puzzlement, “Little bunny, is the sun too bright?”

“I’ll block it for you. Play with me, okay?”

Huh?

Wasn’t he going to eat me?

He really couldn’t tell me from my brother.

Just like that, I stopped being afraid.

He was a silly snake. I was a silly rabbit.

We understood each other perfectly.

We played on the lawn all morning. Whenever I got hungry, I ate grass.

At noon, a gentle auntie came over with a cup of water and called to the silly snake.

“Young Master, it’s time for your medicine.”

The silly snake took human form and swallowed his medicine with a pout.

The auntie patted his head. “Second Young Master is busy today. He said your rut is about to begin, so you mustn’t stay with this rabbit for too long.”

The silly snake was unhappy. He huffed, “Why not? When he has a fever, he spends every day with his rabbit!”

“And he never lets me see it. Stingy!”

The auntie glanced down at my clueless face and blushed. “The rabbit belongs to Second Young Master. You can’t let it be with both brothers…”

She trailed off.

Neither the silly snake nor I understood.

But I did understand that he had a little brother too!

Why did every animal in the whole world have a younger brother except me?

I couldn’t make sense of it. I took a mouthful of grass and sank into deep thought.

Mm. Grass tasted wonderful.

Not long after that, the auntie called the silly snake back inside for his nap. I dozed off on the lawn too.

When I woke, the silly snake was crouching in front of me with a cold expression.

My reactions were slow, so I didn’t notice. I thought he wanted to play again and leaped into his arms before he could make the first move. My head began to bob. I wanted another nap.

Instead, he tossed me to the ground.

The fall left me dazed. I stared up at him with wide, confused eyes.

He stood with the light behind him, so I couldn’t see his expression. I could only hear his gloomy voice.

“Damn it. Still not… coming.”

“You dare scheme against me? We’ll see who ends up…”

I couldn’t hear him clearly.

And I didn’t understand.

Life was so hard for a rabbit who hadn’t gained any sense.

The silly snake left again.

Confused, I ate grass and dozed.

Dozed and ate grass.

The sun went down. The moon came up.

Then the silly snake came outside again, yawning and scratching his head.

He grumbled, “That lunatic. One minute he tells me to stay away from the rabbit, the next he drives me outside.”

“I don’t want to be out here. It’s too hot. I want to take the bunny inside and hug it in the air-conditioning…”

Then he spotted a white ball of fluff in the grass.

His foolish smile returned. He lifted me into his arms and turned toward the house.

“Little bunny, are you hot too? I’ll take you inside where it’s cool.”

Heat rolled off his body.

I was roasting.

I didn’t want to stay in his arms, so I jumped down and hopped back into the grass.

The silly snake looked devastated. He lay down too, staring at me with a pair of long, damp, aggrieved eyes.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like me anymore?”

The rims of his eyes went red. He looked wet-eyed and pitiful.

So handsome.

I said nothing. I bent down and bit into the nearest patch of grass.

Munch, munch, munch.

He grew unhappy, got up, and turned his back to me in a sulk. His shoulders shook and shook.

He cried for a long time.

As he cried, the sound slowly changed into something strange. It made every hair on my body stand on end.

It felt as if I’d eaten too much. My stomach was swollen.

Something was wrong.

The air was thick with the scent of an animal in rut.

The silly snake abruptly transformed and writhed across the ground. Then he turned his head toward me.

Tears filled his beady eyes. He looked innocent and pitiful.

The next instant, his coils closed around me.

He hissed, “Bunny, I want to have snake babies. Have snake babies for me.”

???

He wanted to mate with me?

But I was a rabbit!

A male rabbit!

I couldn’t give birth to snake babies!

Brother, save me!