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The rabbit could have been eyeless. His pupils shone huge and black and the dark markings around them removed all detail. In the pale moon, the black patches also cropped his ears and back. The eyeless silver bunny loped in a slow, careful but never ceasing fashion, ears erect and listening for Inle'elil. He paused for the briefest of moments in the entrance of a small burrow. A pair of rabbits he only knew as bullies slept soundly. He didn't want to wake them up, so when he was sure the owl he had heard was nothing but singing bugs, he moved on. His tail cleared the entrance of the burrow just as Pitchweed's blue eye glanced open and closed again.

It was a time for flayrah. The plucky young buck was always trying to impress with his feats of bravery, leaping into the open when there were elil about or making long trips to the special clover patch at the bottom of the hill where there were no burrows to run into. But tonight was the ultimate test. Maybe the chief would let him join the owsla if he could bring back a few turnips from the farm. But to get there, the unseasoned buck had to get off the down without being spotted. That wasn't an easy feat, even with his darker colors.

Dogs wasn't very much bigger than Ginkgo. He was done his growing but had always been a bit runty. It was this that made him a showoff and few even mentioned his size. Well, he'd heard the does whisper but he really couldn't care less about their diddle-brained opinions.

He almost went tharn when he heard a big body bursting up behind him. He took the half second to turn and, seeing it was only a member of the owsla, took off. He was sure he could outrun an owsla. But he was also sure he could outrun a Hrududu. The confident buck darted left and right. No way was he being marched back to the warren like a newborn who'd wandered too far from its marli.

But when he turned at the bottom of the down, certain he'd outrun the little guy, escaped and was slowing to catch his breath, he was shocked that the owsla officer was almost upon him! He sprang and began to lope again, eyes wide with admiration.

Dogsbane wouldn't give up. He could outrun this guy! He knew of Ginkgo, the salty and crusty beast who was scarier than the largest buck he'd ever seen. How often he had spoken to the coot was lost in the fleeing rabbits head as he panted, starting to lose steam.

And then, a turn of bad luck. In a mad dash, he ran past the hydro tower. One of the long wires spanned from the ground to better hold it in place. While grounded, it was still in the way. In his eagerness to escape, he had no time to jump over where it met the ground and in an attempt to dodge to the side of it, he caught his head on its taught line.

He sprawled over himself, flipping the wire and landing on his back. Trying to scramble to his feet, he managed to get turned around and was now face to face with the angry officer. He lowered his body, panting.

"p-please don't tell the chief!" he begged. "please! i-i'll walk back on my own! i wasjustoutgettingaturnipandandand-" he sputtered, in full panic but finally unable to move.

Caught and defeated, Dogsbane gave a long sigh as he was shoved. Then, a rather adorable little smile crept onto his face. He shuffled his paws, tired out from running. He smiled in the face of danger because it helped relieve his nerves.

"W-well..." he began. "We were running l-low on flayrah. And uh..I knoooow how busy the owsla are and ther haven't been any raids in a while..so i thought I'd just..." his voice trailed off when he saw how angry and serious this was. "I'm sorry." He lowered his body again as he was herded up the hill.

"I-if you think this is w-worth bothering the chief over, then I'll go, Ginky." The word slipped and he corrected himself. "gheheheh!coughcough! Sorry...this night air is dry. Ginkgo." He pouted. "But please don't hurt my ears! Aren't the little spots on them just the best bu- beaux... best doe magnetizers?"

Dogsbane didn't like the procession. Even though there was no-one around to watch, he still felt ashamed and humiliated. He had always been blessed by his ability to run and now it had betrayed him. He was little more that a wet kitten that hadn't even seen its first flower.

"I thought I could help us. One rabbit is much easier to get in and out of danger. I heard some died for being foolish and another for being too noble." He stopped to groom his head when Ginko shoved him over, outside that familiar den.

"I-I'm sorry, Ginkgo! I didn't think you'd catch me...if you had let me go and I could bring the turnip back as a-"
"WOULD YOU PLEASE BE QUIET?!" A sharp voice hissed.

From the den he had hid in before came a rather large rabbit. Dark as night, save for the gold tips of his paws and ears, a scowl lit Pitchweed's face. Both his eyes shone from the shadows, but the yellow one was a scrutinizing fire, demanding fear from kittens and obedience from everyone else.
"Honestly, how am I supposed to sleep a wink with you dunderheads having a fine time outside?" He didn't look like he was being rude on purpose tonight, but it was hard to tell with the sleazebag brownoser.

Pitchweed glared darkly. "Your job is to protect this warren. Perhaps you could protect our sleeping forms from noise, too? That would be superb." He was honestly too tired to care and slipped back into his burrow. He'd deal with them both when he was rested.


At the appearance of the dark male, Dogsbane pressed unusually close to Ginkgo's side. His little heart thundered, but he slipped away as soon as they were in the clear again. "S-sorry." He uttered. "I'll try to stick to the warren, but I'm not afraid of the farm. No cat in the world can catch me." He boasted. "No elil, to be honest! I'm much too fast for that." He spoke with a quiver in his voice.


Dogsbane had a right to be full of himself. He could outrun most other kittens and had captured an impressive collection of wonders for his burrow including a snake's eggshell, a wasp and a piece of wool. He always had some feat of speed to accompany the story.

Dogsbane took a few deep breaths. "Pitchweed...he confuses me." He admitted it with a perplexed pout on his face. "I have tried to make friends with him but he is cold almost all of the time. The one time I got close to him, his sister chased me off. She scares me more than he does, but...its hard to explain. Forget it."

To be honest though, Dogs had desperately hoped one day Pitch would return the hidden feelings...but he had seen the buck with about nine does and doubted he had feelings for others as Dogs did.

Moving the procession onwards, they finally came to the main burrow. "So...I suppose this is goodnight, right?" He didn't make eye contact for some reason.

Dogsbane pouted. He had been hoping Ginkgo would forget about the punishment if he got him far enough off track. But he looked to the sky and gave a small nod. "Yes, Ginkgo. Slopes at high sun." He gave a small frown and shuffled a paw, descending into the burrow. "Goodnight.."

That night, he dreamed of Ginkgo. He dreamed of them running and laughing and playing in a beautiful field of flowers. He happily gnawed on his own paw as the dream went on. It lasted the whole night.



The sun was already at high noon and Dogsbane had only just woken. The warmth of the den had made him forget all of his troubles and he was still so sleepy. He forgot all about the meeting, helping himself to his store of watercress leaves.