Yuki hid inside the shrub, quiet as a rabbit, listening for the sounds of her next prey. By the rustling of leaves, it was a small one. Or, in this case, bigger than her, but still a small animal.

  Milliseconds passed in tense anticipation. She held onto the spell, ready to summon her [Wrack] bunny.

  Her prey entered Yuki’s sight from behind the leaves of the underbrush. She sighed. There, taking short hops and looking rather spooked, was a small squirrel. Its long fluffy tail was up in the air, and its cute little ears were perked up and swirling. That tail fluff looked inviting. Yuki debated if she should try to approach.

  She hopped out of the shrub. She wasn’t going to hunt small, cute animals. She had been trying to attack only those who threatened her or the other rabbits. Yuki wasn’t about to go killing all the animals for experience. Only those that could kill her first. Turnabout is fair play, after all.

  The squirrel bolted like Yuki was the plague, that she was bent on skinning it alive, or that she was some horrid amalgamation of the two. Why had it fled? What was it afraid of? There were no predators in this area. Yuki made sure of that.

  With her plans of cuddling with cute fluff foiled, Yuki decided it was time to return to the burrow. [Wrack] was about to expire. Her mana levels were low, and she was still sore from the regeneration. That fox had been a damn pain to kill.

  It was best not to push her luck anymore than she already had. It was time to relax for a few days, enjoy the sweet burrow life, and regenerate her lost mana.

  Yuki hopped from shrub to shrub, often sneaking beneath fallen foliage or anything else that could hide her from the open sky. Yes, she still had trouble with instincts, a lot of trouble, but mostly she wanted to avoid the many birds of prey that were keen on making a snack out of her. This didn’t happen a lot in the burrow, mostly; Yuki guessed because the rabbits there were bigger and better armed. Yuki wasn’t. Given the size of the last humans she saw, she guessed she was no bigger than a dwarf rabbit, which was small, even by rabbit standards.

  It didn’t take long until she was back in the now familiar patch of barren and smelly land. The reincarnated rabbit took a deep breath, and without singing, another thing she learned the hard way, she crossed the area and back into the warm safety of the nest.

  Or that was what she thought.

  Yuki heard thumping. Urgent, frantic. One that meant danger.

  Immediately, she discarded any thoughts of relaxing or saving mana. From the confines of the shrub, Yuki refreshed [Wrack]. Protecting the burrow was the whole reason she’d been putting herself at risk outside. She wasn’t about to let anything threaten the other rabbits. Yuki peeked from inside the brush, looking for the enemy.

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  Yuki screeched and jumped out of the way more in startled panic than conscious effort. One of the burrow sentries had just charged her and tried to impale her with its horn.

  The bigger rabbit looked at a still-frozen Yuki like it was trying to decide what to do. Its ears swirled, its nose rose, and it sniffed the air. The bigger rabbit ground its teeth, thumped in frustration, and lowered its head but didn’t charge.

  Yuki blinked, turned her head around, and looked at herself.

  Her pristine white fur was no more. Yuki was covered in blood and gore and guts. Some hers, most from the fox. She hadn’t wanted to lick her fur clean then because it was gross. She was hoping to take a dunk at the underground pool to clear most of the gore, but now… Yuki sighed and walked back into the bushes and away from the sentry.

  The next half hour was something Yuki definitively didn’t want to remember. Licking blood out of her fur was not something she ever wanted to repeat.

  With timid hops, Yuki approached the burrow again. This time, there was no thumping alarm. Although the sentry eyed her approach, it let her pass without a fuss. Lesson learned, Yuki guessed. Don’t bring the muck back to the nest.

  With renewed enthusiasm, Yuki hopped inside, following the familiar winding underground corridors that led to home. Maybe it was something in her hopping posture, or some scent still lingered, but the rabbits gave Yuki a wide berth when crossing paths with her in the tunnels. She noticed the oddity but ignored it soon after arriving at the nest.

  Yuki dove toward her favorite pillow. Flopsy was sleeping in his corner like usual, and tired from the hunting done for the past two weeks, she didn’t pass the chance. Yuki snuggled closer, closed her eyes, and before she counted to ten bunnies, she was fast asleep.

  Exp + 1.

  Yuki woke to the soft movement she’d become familiar with for the past few days. Ever since Whisker stopped following Nutjob around, this had become a routine. Whenever Yuki slept, Whisker would come and groom Yuki’s fur. Yuki, after she woke up, would return the favor.

  This was never something Yuki had ever imagined doing, but it was soothing and even therapeutic. Her rabbit-addled-mind insisted that staying clean was for the best. Yuki wouldn’t complain. Her silky white fur deserved all the grooming in the world.

  Not that Whisker’s fur was any worse. Her bigger sister’s fur was grey and coarse but still excellent in its own way. Even more so after days of Yuki doing her best to groom the bigger rabbit. She guessed that the sneering Nutjob never bothered returning the favor. That deserved another promise, another nip just for that one cardinal sin. She couldn’t fathom how he brought himself to commit such heresy.

  Yuki cast a glance at her status, and the gains she had earned over the past several days. Yes, it was hard, dangerous and often painful; but she was getting stronger.

  With one last look at her increasing numbers, she turned back to the more important task of making sure Whisker’s fur was the best it could be. Then she’d sleep and grind a few more levels of her non combat related skills.

  The killing, she’d leave for when her mana was back over half.