Character

The Beginning

[Age 0 - Age 5]

Tatsumi was an illegitimate son between a human couple , both of whom were carriers of the recessive rabbit gene. Little Tatsumi was born a human, no rabbit ears or tail in sight and was abandoned by his father immediately after birth. His mother, a lowly prostitute that lived close to the slums in District B, struggled to take care of him but she did her best with whatever resources she could salvage and whatever money she earned from her unsavory job was used to buy diapers and milk for Tatsumi. Life was difficult for the poor woman, but Tatsumi brought in light and laughter with his babbles and toothless smile.

As Tatsumi grew older, his concern over his human mother grew deeper especially when one of her clients had infected her with a sexual-transmitted disease. Money became a problem as now most of it were used to purchase medication to suppress his mother’s illness. Thus, at tender age of 4, Tatsumi began the treacherous life of a thief. Due to his naturally small frame and quick legs, Tatsumi had no problems breaking into clinics to steal medication. Hiding behind counters to avoid being caught was the norm, with his heart pounding in his chest and his little fingers clutching a bottle. When Tatsumi was not stealing from a medical establishment, he was scouring through bakeries and grocers, his tiny fingers quick to snatch food items such as bread and fruit. His mother disapproved of such a life, but what could she say… There was no way she could afford the medication that Tatsumi brings to her and when she could, there was no way she could afford food for the two of them. It was a necessary evil for their survival.

The Delinquents

[Age 5 - Age 11]

Misfortune struck when Tatsumi’s Mother’s condition worsened and she now required a proper prescription to stabilise her life. An expensive check-up at the doctors told Tatsumi of all the medication his mother needed, his hungry eyes memorizing the look of the bottle and its contents as the doctor prattled on to his mother. Tatsumi did not like his mother’s expression when the doctor told her the costs of the pills. With no insurance and no stable income , it was a huge blow to them when his mother agreed to purchase the prescription. After all, having such a life is infinitely better than having to leave Tatsumi motherless at such a young age. However Young Tatsumi did not understand as to why his mother was ever so willing to waste her money on something that he could easily steal for her but she merely smiled and told him to just focus on getting them food. That much was enough. . . After all, Clinics are much harder to break in now after years of medicine being stolen, and some even went as far as installing guard dogs at the entrance as a last resort to deter thieves. Tatsumi personally knew how vicious those dogs were, having almost being attacked during one of his clinic raids.

Resigning, Tatsumi agreed to not steal from the clinics, and instead target the grocers for food from now on.

It was much harder now for Tatsumi to steal, especially when he started to mature. His body was still small from the constant lack of food, but it was still difficult for him to fit into cracks between furniture and shrink his presence from the wary-eyed grocers. Some started to become suspicious of him because on the days they caught sight of his light purple hair, produce ended up missing. Due to all this, eyes were constantly on him, and the food he steals gets lesser and lesser, and incidents where he nearly gets caught only increased in frequency.

Frustration was a constant in his life when he reached 10 years of age. Hunger, coupled with the intense worry for his ailing mother, was the most prominent part of his childhood and it turned Tatsumi into a bitter child, cursing the unfairness of life and the selfishness of others that were unwilling to help the less-fortunate. He had wondered several times if he should just move over to the slightly wealthier part of District B to beg for money, anywhere but the slums where only the damned lived, but he doubted it would do any good. Not to mention, he would have to leave his mother unattended, who was now far too weak to leave the house and had to resort to “house visits” from her clients. It didn’t help that his mother isn’t getting as many clients now that her condition went from bad to worse, and her features weren't as beguiling as a few years ago.

One fateful day when he was casually snatching a warm piece of bread under a careless baker’s nose, he noticed a small brawl going on in the alleys between two houses. Such occurrences were a regular sight around the slum edges, even more so in the slums, and most of the time, Tatsumi ignored them with a heavy heart. But today, the meek cries from the person being beaten was enough to pull his attention, his hands clutching the bread under his jacket. That voice sounded so broken, begging for their thugs to stop and for someone to help. That voice was definitely one of a child… and a female one at that.

Gritting his teeth, Tatsumi jogged over to the brawl, his free hand picking a large, sharp-looking rock from the streets. Gripping the rock tightly, Tatsumi swung his arm and threw the rock, not staying to see if it hit its mark. Yells erupted from the thugs as the rock hit one of them on the head, angered eyes scanning the opening of the alley to see no one. It was not enough to deter them from the young girl, and so Tatsumi scanned the streets for another rock. Pulling the hood of his jacket over his recognizable purple hair, Tatsumi grabbed another sizable rock and threw it towards the thugs, purposely hitting the trash cans with his feet to make a commotion as he ran. The thugs were quick to react, having got hit by the second rock as well, and gave chase. But they were dealing with someone who knew the routes like it’s second nature, and Tatsumi easily juked the thugs, doing a large roundabout so he could reach the young girl who was left behind. Tatsumi managed to lose the thugs somewhere in the maze that were the slums and walked over to the girl who laid on the ground, hurt and breathing shakily.

“ Hey. . . are you okay. . .”

He asked, cautiously kneeling beside the girl. Backstabbers are aplenty in this neighbourhood, and as much as Tatsumi wanted to touch and aid the girl, he knew better than to give the girl an opening to attack him. The young girl cracked an eye open to look at him, hurt swimming in her grey eyes. Seeing as she wasn’t about to attack him, Tatsumi tucked the piece of bread deeper into his jacket before he reached forward to lend a hand to the wounded girl. Before he could even land a single finger on her russet coloured hair, a yell echoed through the alley and before he knew it, a sudden impact hit him to the side of the face and threw him to his side, his body sliding painfully on the ground.

“ DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH MY SISTER, YOU ASSHOLE!”

The impact, as it turned out, was the foot of a boy that was slightly older than he was, with the same russet coloured hair as the girl and blazing green eyes that glared at Tatsumi like he was scum. The boy stomped over to Tatsumi and proceeded to kick him in the stomach, causing the poor boy to curl on himself. The girl, only now regaining her full senses, scrambled onto her feet and grabbed the older boy by the shoulder in an attempt to stop the rampaging youth.

“Brother! Stop! He was the one who saved me!”

That instantly stopped the assault on Tatsumi, the boy now staring at the fallen one with wide eyes filled with disbelief. The pain, as well as already having a weak body due to hunger, caused Tatsumi to lose unconsciousness, but before he did, his ears managed to catch the other boy’s voice.

“Shit-”

Shit, indeed.

When he came to, the first thing Tatsumi noticed was the kneeling boy by the side of the mattress he was laid in. His assailant immediately burst into a stream of apologies, going so far as to press his forehead on the ground to show how deeply he regretted attacking Tatsumi. Moving his eyes from the kowtowing boy, Tatsumi scanned the room. It was mostly empty, and there were several teenagers gathered at various spots of the room, all giving the two of them a look of amusement. Judging by the clothes and the way they rested in an aggressive pose, Tatsumi knew he was with one of the many groups of delinquents that made this dilapidated part of town their home. Quickly diverting his gaze back to the boy beside him, to avoid any chances of invoking ire for staring, he regarded the boy with a cool look, a look that was mastered to dispel suspicion of theft.

“It’s fine.”

Tatsumi thought that was enough for him to stop apologising and let him go back home, but apparently it only fueled the other boy’s curiosity of him. The boy supplied him with his name, Ikeda Sanosuke, as well as the name of his sister of whom Tatsumi had saved earlier, Ikeda Naomi. Tatsumi’s face stayed blank as Sanosuke prattled on about being sorry for kicking Tatsumi in the face and being thankful that Tatsumi had decided to help Naomi. From that topic, Sanosuke moved onto the fact that Tatsumi is currently in one of the safe houses of their delinquent group, not really big enough to be called a mafia but not insignificant enough to be called street thugs. That caused Tatsumi’s eyebrow to twitch for a split second. Great just great, he had managed to tangle himself even deeper into the life of crime. Now that his face was pretty much seen by nearly everyone from Sanosuke’s group, it’s going to be harder to avoid being recognized in the streets now which would ultimately make people suspect him even more, especially now that he’s going to be recognized by gang members. Sanosuke had moved on to a tangent, now blabbering about things that Tatsumi could barely care to listen to.

”You’re the quiet type, huh.”

It was a different voice, one that was deeper than Sanosuke’s, that finally caught Tatsumi’s attention. Looking up, Tatsumi warily eyed the third party who had decided to wedge himself into the one-sided conversation. Tatsumi could only blink when his eyes landed on large rabbit ears perched on the teen’s head. A rabbit hybrid. Those were rather rare in this part of town. Don’t get Tatsumi wrong, there are quite a few of those damned rabbits who always use their advanced genetics to get the upper hand in everything in this struggling life, but even then they are just a handful in this predominantly human neighbourhood. A spark of recognition seemed to light in the rabbit’s eyes after a few moments of staring at Tatsumi’s face.

“Huh… you’re that boy that used to lurk around Morrison’s Pharmacy, aren’t you? The one with the purple hair and funny coloured eye”

Tatsumi flinched at the name of the pharmacy he used to steal medicine from. Granted, he had stopped doing so for 4 years now, but the fact that medicine stopped disappearing after he stopped lurking had cemented the fact that he was actually a thief and it was no surprise that people knew of the little thief with purple hair. No one ever caught him in the act thus not warranting them a real reason to beat him up but it still made Tatsumi rather defensive knowing that people knew of his illegal acts. Tatsumi narrowed his eyes and stared at the rabbit, unwavering. A smirk stretched the rabbit’s lips as he crouched beside Tatsumi. Sanosuke had made himself scarce the moment the rabbit spoke up.

“I like that look on your face. No worries, I am not going to judge you for stealing, that would be hella hypocritical of me. You’re really quick with your hands, so I don’t get why you don’t just steal their money rather than mediocre things like medicine bottles and fruit. Eh. Guess everyone has their own reason to steal.”

“ Is there a point to this conversation. . . ?”

Tatsumi’s voice stopped the rabbit’s monologue, whose eyes narrowed at the display of deviance from Tatsumi. All Tatsumi wanted was to go back home and feed his mother, the bread was already crumbling under his jacket after being caught in the kick that Sanosuke had sent to his stomach. The smile returned back onto the rabbit’s face who simply reached forward and gripped a lock of Tatsumi’s purple hair, forcing the younger boy to look up at him as he moved from his crouched position to semi-standing one.

“ Yes, in fact, there is. I know of your mother and the pathetic state she is in. I also know for a fact that you aren’t getting enough food to feed her, what’s with your bad reputation and all. So, I’m here to offer you a deal. Join our group and steal for us when we ask you to, and we’ll keep our mouths shut about where your mother lives.”

He paused to look at Tatsumi’s reaction. Tatsumi’s eyes were wide and filled with fear for his mother’s well-being. Not many knew of his mother’s condition, making sure that he is hardly seen with his mother unless it’s during trips to the clinic for her checkup. Narrowing his eyes, he merely kept quiet, offering no rejection or acceptance, but the slump of his shoulder was enough indication that he was unwillingly accepting the offer. The smile on the rabbit’s face widened to the point it was positively feline.

” Welcome to the club, boy,”

Medic Training

[Age 11 - Age 12 ]

Contrary to his first thoughts, the rabbit who recruited him, Tatsumi later found out his name was Tatsumi as well which caused massive confusion in the first few days until the rabbit bestowed Tatsumi with the nickname ‘Mimi’, was actually a very decent man. Only 4 years older than Tatsumi himself, the rabbit sat at the top of the gang’s hierarchy but he was a kind ‘ruler’. The Older Tatsumi (Tatsumi calls him Tsumi) was strict when he needed to be, but most of the time he is very relaxed and is often seen with a smile on his face. When Tsumi found out that Tatsumi shared the same name, the 11-year old instantly became his favourite. While it was obvious that Tatsumi was the ‘boss’s’ favourite, the rabbit was still strict when he gave orders. Blinded by the kind treatment, the kindest treatment he’s had from someone besides his mother, Tatsumi followed orders obediently.

His job in the gang was simple, be the snatcher. He would trail someone quietly, his obnoxiously purple hair hidden under a beanie, and at the signal from his other gang mates, he would tackle the person and with his deft hands, he would pick the pockets of the unfortunate soul. He would then bolt away as quickly as he could, while his other gang members act as decoy by ‘accidentally’ stumbling on the victim who had started to give chase. All this time, Tatsumi made sure his eyes were averted elsewhere, to ensure no one notices his unique eye colour.

With every successful theft, Tsumi would praise him with a ruffle to the hair and a large grin that warmed Tatsumi’s heart. The rabbit gives him some pocket change right after and tells him to go get a snack for either himself or his mother. With the money, Tatsumi would often purchase fruits and bread for his mother from the very grocers he used to steal from. The change in his behaviour did not ease anyone’s suspicions of him, but money was still money, and they accepted his patronage to their shops, despite disliking him. His mother had often questioned what Tatsumi spent his days on nowadays, to be able to get change to buy food with proper money. Tatsumi merely smiled and said that he got a part time job of sorts, one that would accept a 11 year old like him. No more questions were asked as his mother accepted the answer.

Since Tatsumi’s job in the gang is pretty much that of an errand boy with the occasional pickpocketing outing, Tatsumi spent most of his time in the dilapidated warehouse, the same one he was brought to after Sanosuke knocked him out. He spent his time watching the ‘medic’, it’s hard to call them a medic when they did not get professional training and only learned from suffering the wounds themselves, treating the injured. Once in a while, the rabbit Tatsumi walked into the medic room to get treated. Most of his wounds were knife wounds but there were occasional gun wounds that made Tatsumi cringe while averting his eyes. When Tsumi saw this, he merely chuckled and ran a hand through Tatsumi’s hair.

“This is nothing, in this line of work.”

With those words being said, Tatsumi resolved to be slightly more useful. When he was out and about pickpocketing unfortunate strangers with his partners ( pretty much Sanosuke, Naomi and another meek boy named Noah ), Tatsumi visited the library. While the selection of books in the library wasn’t all too many, it still held a few books dictating medical procedures and first aid. Thus, Tatsumi is often seen sitting in one corner of the deserted library, with his nose in the books. Sometimes he would borrow the books, and bring them home to test on his mother. Mostly just wrapping bandages made out of shred cloth and treating the common bug bites. His mother would always smile at his antics, glad that her son is finally showing interest in something other than stealing.

He also practised in the medic room of the run-down warehouse, often aiding the sole medic of the gang with cleaning wounds and bandaging when he had the time. Tsumi had great delights making Tatsumi play nurse on his wounds, always encouraging him to dress his wounds rather than the official medic. When Tatsumi is finished, the rabbit would always plant a kiss on the younger boy’s forehead as a reward, a reward that flustered the now 12 year old.

At Age 12 and ½, Tatsumi witness his first murder scene. A member had betrayed the gang, stealing all the money from Tsumi’s private safe to give to his ailing girlfriend. Everyone had discouraged him from going to the third floor where Tsumi’s room was situated when he returned to the dilapidated from his daily pickpocketing outing. Tatsumi merely thought that the rabbit was having one of his tantrums and shrugged the words, moving over to the climb the rusty stairs to the third floor. After all, Tatsumi was the rabbit’s favourite, and a tantrum wasn’t really a big deal for the younger one. However, a noise made Tatsumi stop midway to the semi-open door of his boss’s room. It sounded like a gurgle of sorts. Steeling his nerves, Tatsumi walked over to the door and silently pushed it open.

The sight that greeted him made him freeze, all colour draining from his face as the purse in his hand slipped through slack fingers. Tsumi was looming over someone who looked as though they were resting in a sitting position by the wall if it was not for the giant splatter of blood behind him. The soft thump of the heavy purse hitting the floor alerted the rabbit who immediately snapped towards the entrance where Tatsumi was standing there, frozen. Sensing that the child was going to scream from the slow but deep inhale he took, the rabbit sprinted forward and immediately slapped a bloodied hand over Tatsumi’s mouth, snuffling the scream that barely erupted from the boy’s throat.

“Shh-- Shhhh--- Be quiet, Mimi-chan…”

Tatsumi shook in the rabbit’s arm, his nose filled with the putrid stench of blood as the older Tatsumi kept the bloody hand on his mouth. Tears started filling the boy’s eyes, eyes that were still locked on the dead body that laid slumped against the wall. He knew that man. Tatsumi was close to him, he was a kind man- he was a nice man- why did he have to die? The tears escaped his eyes, burning hot streaks down his cheeks as the rabbit made shushing noises, moving Tatsumi so that the boy was pressed against his chest, the bloodied hand now resided in Tatsumi’s purple hair and staining it red.

“ Shh shh- I know I know. We all knew him, we all liked him but he betrayed us, Mimi-chan. We can’t have that in this place. You understand, right…?”

Tatsumi could only sob quietly and nodded his head against the teen’s shirt. The rabbit made him promise to not tell anyone outside of the gang of what happened. A few of the higher ranked members walked towards the rabbit, and he nodded his head towards the room as a silent indicator to clean up the mess while he dealt with the sobbing boy. Gathering Tatsumi in his arms, the rabbit carried him over to the medic room, waving the medic away when he tried to take the boy from his arms. Tatsumi did not know how long he sat there on the rabbit’s lap listening to him whisper words of reassurance, one of which stuck in his brain ever since then.

“ It will never happen to you if you are loyal and keep your secrets, Mimi-chan… remember that.”

Bunny Transformation

[Age 12 - Age 16 ]

The recessive bunny gene in Tatsumi only started to manifest when he turned 13. At first it started with a dull throbbing at the top of his head that he merely disregarded as a minor headache. His human ears also started to feel warm to touch, the skin felt as though it was burning, not bad enough to hurt but enough to be uncomfortable. It didn’t help that it was coupled with aching bones and him feeling lethargic. Thinking that he was falling ill when Tatsumi voiced his concerns to Tsumi, the rabbit gave him a large grey hoodie that draped loosely on Tatsumi’s small body.

“You’re probably just going through puberty, I had terrible pains in my bones too when I had my growth spurt. Just in case, wear that and keep warm so you don’t fall sick.”

That reasoning was valid enough, and Tatsumi merely regarded these changes as ‘puberty’. But the throbbing did not fade after months and as Tatsumi neared his 14th birthday, it only grew more and more intense. His ears felt as if it’s going to burn off from the side of his head, the burning now warm like a raging fever and more than just uncomfortable. One day, a month after his birthday, the throbbing evolved to a full blown piercing pain, that caused Tatsumi to crumple onto the floor of the medic room screaming in pain. His screams alerted Tsumi who just arrived home from another tryst. The rabbit almost tripped on his two legs trying to get to the infirmary as quickly as he could. There he found Tatsumi doubled over on the floor, screaming in pain while clutching his head. The medic hovered uselessly around Tatsumi, unsure what was ailing the younger boy.

Tatsumi’s screams turned more and more frantic as he felt the pain engulfing his entire head. It felt as though a million needles were being forced into two specific points of his head and it was coupled with the burning of his ears that had started to throb. Tatsumi had started crying from the intensity of the pain and the screams that wrecked his throat. The rabbit could only gather the boy into his arms and move him to his own chambers, to pull Tatsumi away from the worried eyes of the other members. Tatsumi’s screams echoed through the warehouse, and the rabbit could only thank the heavens that they were in a horrible neighbourhood where screams like this were pretty much the norm to the point that people barely blink twice at it.

After a few hours of screaming, Tatsumi’s voice had grown hoarse from the abuse, the 14-year old lay unconscious on the bewildered 18-year old’s bed. Tatsumi had finally passed out from the pain and fell into a fitful sleep. The rabbit was utterly clueless as to what was wrong with Tatsumi. He touched the boy’s face, and felt no fever besides his ears which felt off-puttingly warm. Sighing, the rabbit sat on the bed beside the unconscious boy and closed his eyes.

When the rabbit woke up from his impromptu nap, it was due to the fact that Tatsumi had started to thrash in bed. The boy’s face was twisted into an expression of extreme pain as he bit his lip to stifle the screams that threatened to spill from his mouth. Tsumi immediately sat up straight, clutching Tatsumi’s shoulders and causing the boy to snap his eyes open. Those green eyes were filled with tears and pain and they just screamed for Tsumi to end it.

“You’ll be fine, Mimi-chan. You’ll be fine-- I’ll find out what’s wrong with you …”

Tsumi promised, letting Tatsumi clutch painfully onto his hands as another bout of screams spilled from those bleeding lips. This went on for several months. Sometimes, Tatsumi resorted to clawing his own arms and legs to direct the pain elsewhere, resulting in multiple scarring on pale skin. Tsumi always made sure to grip the boy’s arms tightly whenever Tatsumi started to have his episodes.

Some days were spent without screams and instead, Tatsumi would lay in bed, looking haggard and resigned as he twitched from the jolts of pain that stabbed his head. Those days were the worst to Tsumi, who had gone beyond the worried stage for his young recruit. Tatsumi would lay in Tsumi’s bed, eyes open but not seeing, hands gripping the sheets after Tsumi had bound the boy’s limbs onto the bed to avoid more scratching. Tatsumi’s arms and legs were completely covered with bandages to hide the gruesome scratches on his skin. Of course, being the boss to a bunch of delinquents meant he still needed to go out and do his job, and Sanosuke would be the one to look after Tatsumi when Tsumi went out for his daily outings which also included sending food to Tatsumi’s mother. At night, Tsumi would fall asleep beside Tatsumi who had passed out from the pain, arms clutching the boy as though he was going to run while he’s asleep.

In the 11th month since the beginning of the screams, Tatsumi lost all hearing. He woke up to silence, no chirping in the sky. The pain had subsided slightly, but it was still a constant in his life. The silence irked Tatsumi greatly, who turned to look at Tsumi who was speaking to him. But all he could see was Tsumi’s mouth moving but no voice could be heard from the rabbit. Opening his own mouth, he whispered…

“I can’t hear you…”

Tsumi’s eyes widened at the hoarse voice, rushing forward to card his hands through the boy’s hair, watching helplessly as tears once more fell from Tatsumi’s eyes, that was when Tsumi found something wrong. His hands were carding through the hair on the sides of Tatsumi’s head without any resistance that ears would put up. He started to frantically move strands and strands of the boy’s messy hair, trying to find those appendages that enabled one to hear.

But he found nothing. Just a small lump on each side where Tatsumi’s ears were supposed to be.

With trembling hands, he moved his hands on the top of the boy’s hair, unconsciously soothing the crying teen. There, on the top of the boy’s head, he felt two lumps, similar to that to the side of the boy’s head, but … furrier, completely hidden in the hair. Tsumi pulled his hands away from Tatsumi like he had burnt him. There was no way. There was just no freaking way. Tatsumi looked at him quizzically, utterly confused as to why the older teen had pulled away so suddenly. Tsumi uttered an excuse, one that fell on literal deaf ears and bolted out of the room. He had some researching to do.

Night fell and Tsumi finally returned home with a headache. He had gone around scouring the slums as well as the middle class portion of the District for answers and he finally got it after he stumbled upon a few who gave him the information he needed. It was similar to all the recounts he had gotten from humans whom rabbit genes started manifesting during puberty. Extreme pain around the area where the new rabbit ears will grow out from, humans ears retracting back into their heads, lethargy and then suddenly clarity where all senses seemed to have been enhanced. Deafness wasn’t really that common apparently, the switch between the human ears and the rabbit ears would have been instant if the rabbit ears had fully grown before the human ears disappeared… but in Tatsumi’s case it hasn’t fully grown out yet. So no wonder he can’t hear a single thing.

Tsumi walked into his room and he sighed when his eyes fell on the slumbering teen in his bed. Tatsumi’s bandages were ripped and fresh wounds littered the already scarred skin. The scratching episodes are far and rare, which is why Tsumi no longer tied Tatsumi to the bed, but it does happen at times. Shaking his head, he proceeded to re-bandage those wounds for Tatsumi, not unlike the many times the boy had wrapped the rabbit’s wounds for him.

When Tatsumi woke up the next day, still deaf to the world, Tsumi explained to him what he found out using words written on pieces of paper. At first Tatsumi seemed incredulous at such a notion, but soon enough the doubt cleared from his eyes when Tatsumi felt those furry lumps on his head for himself. His face turned to one of horror as he gaped at Tsumi in complete disbelief. But the now 15 year old did not voice his thoughts of it and instead just averted his gaze to an empty spot in the room. Tsumi saw the same slump on his shoulders as that day he recruited Tatsumi. The boy had resigned to his fate, unwillingly. Tatsumi’s hearing eventually returned after 4 weeks.

The pain slowly ebbed back to a persistent throb after a few more months, Tsumi would always come into the room to check on Tatsumi to see him staring at a corner with a blank face. It was still a hard thing to accept, that he had turned from a normal human 13 year old to a 15 year old rabbit hybrid. Tatsumi’s ears grew steadily, upright like Tsumi’s but slightly shorter in length. At first the appendages were pink and bare, with just specks of purple fur on it but the fur steadily grew throughout the following months. By the 22nd month, a year and a half since the pain began, Tatsumi now sported two furry rabbit ears on his head, and no sign of human ears besides the uneven skin on the side of his head hidden under his hair. The pain was but a memory and was now a dull throb that came and went.

The throbbing completely disappeared by the 23rd month.

Conclusion

[Age 16 - Age 19 ]

To say that he was disorientated was understatement. Due to the new appendages on his head, his sense of hearing had increased exponentially. Not much could be said about him strength-wise, but Tatsumi was definitely slightly quicker than previously. When he emerged from Tsumi’s room with a new pair of ears, the whole gang was in an uproar, but not of the bad kind. Most of them joked that Tsumi had taken Tatsumi into bed and ended up turning him into one of the rabbits instead of breeding some but such jokes were kept to a minimum when Tsumi was around. All of them noticed the change in Tatsumi’s demeanour, no longer looking curious and cheerful but resigned and gloomy, almost dour. None of them could blame him after hearing the screams that plagued the warehouse for the past months and none of them commented on the bandages that were now a part of Tatsumi’s outfit, covering the scars he inflicted on himself.

Tatsumi resumed work after his recovery as the medic of the gang, only leaving in the mornings to check up on his mother who had accepted the fact her son had turned into a rabbit. She could only shed tears and give words of comfort when Tatsumi told her of the 2 years that he spent writhing in a bed, in utter pain and after he was done re-telling the story, his mother had him cradled to her chest, kissing his ears in apology for not being able to help. Tatsumi did not shed any tears, despite the distraught voice of his mother breaking his heart, for he had no more tears to shed after crying for far too much.

Things in the gang started to get strained when the civil war started, and riots started to flare up in the streets, demanding banishment of the rabbits, some going so far as to yell for their heads. More often than not, the infirmary would be filled to the brim with members injured from the riots and Tatsumi had more than enough work to keep him busy. But he did not miss the flinches he got when he treated some of them, especially the newly recruited. Their eyes would not stray from the two furry ears on his head, and Tatsumi would often see distrust flash in their eyes. He kept his face free of emotions as he worked, not bothering to banter with his patients like he used to do. Everything in the gang became strictly professional for Tatsumi. What used to be warm and comfortable like a home to Tatsumi was now cold and dreary like an office. The only people he conversed with were Sanosuke and Naomi as well as the handful of people who were there when he was still human.

Tatsumi had taken to sleeping on the floor of Tsumi’s room, sometimes even with the other bunny in his bed, due to the fact that the boss was paranoid that someone might attack the weaker rabbit when he was defenceless. Tsumi had moved Tatsumi’s mother to another house, further away from the slum edges, saying that it’s for her safety especially when everyone in the gang used to know where she lived.

Things got from strained to hostile when a fight broke out in the infirmary, when several of the recruits decided to lash out at Tatsumi mid procedure.

“Get your freakish hands off of me, you filthy rabbit, and get me another medic!!”

A tray of supplies were thrown into the air, a scalpel narrowly missing Tatsumi’s cheek. But he didn’t react as they wanted, and merely stared at them like they were a bunch of children throwing a tantrum. That provoked the three men to start to throwing punches at the 17 year old who merely dodged what he could. Some of the others members joined in the fight, in defence of Tatsumi and all out brawl broke out in the infirmary. Weapons, such as knives and bats, ended up being drawn and Tatsumi received more than a handful of slashes. It was only when Tsumi came to break the fight that it finally stopped.

“ The fuck is wrong with you people?!?!! In case you forgot, your fucking boss is a rabbit! Get the hell out of my sight and don’t come back!”

Needless to say that that caused a lot of unhappiness, especially when more than a third of the group got kicked out due to that one single fight. Eyes now followed Tatsumi for another reason. There used to be suspicion of him stealing… to him being the Boss’s toy and now it was the cause of the conflict in the gang. Tatsumi got more and more paranoid, to the point he refused to treat anyone alone, and would only do so if Tsumi or Sanosuke was there to supervise. Tatsumi had never really gotten proper training to wield a weapon, and mostly used his fist, so he was basically the most powerless of them all. At least Sanosuke had a gun that he could use if he needed to.

The end of the gang came in the form of a blazing warehouse. One of the recruits who were dismissed by Tsumi had form a riot which started the fire. He had leaked the fact that the gang carried two rabbits under their wings and it was probably the reason why this part of the city were targeted at times. The fire was lit at night when the two rabbits were slumbering in the same room. Tsumi was the first one to smell the fire, and instantly woke Tatsumi up, whom needed no explanation from the smoke rising from the lower floors. Tatsumi had tried to check on the others on the lower floors, just in case there were people who got stuck, but Tsumi stopped him and told him to get the hell out of the warehouse as fast as he could. Tsumi will be the one to check, after all it’s his responsibility as the head.

Tatsumi managed to escape through the back, avoiding the large group of people surrounding the warehouse. It was a bad sense of nostalgia as he ran through the streets, ducking behind dumpsters to avoid being recognized by thugs that were sure to know his relations with the other gang. Once it was clear, Tatsumi pulled the hoodie of his head, and conspicuously moved to the house that held his mother. He soothed her worries down before collapsing on the sofa, a hand running down his face. The exhaustion finally caught up and he ended up falling asleep. Tatsumi was woken an hour later by an exhausted Tsumi who entered the house with hair full of soot and several cuts that were definitely from those people that surrounded the building. Tsumi stopped Tatsumi from scrambling off the sofa to aid him and instead just collapsed on the other boy.

“... No one else survived.”

Tatsumi froze, as Tsumi mumbled on about how they had done the deed of killing the other slumbering members before setting the warehouse on fire. They knew that Tsumi and Tatsumi’s enhanced hearing would be able to hear them if they tried to sneak into the room. Closing his eyes, Tatsumi allowed a single tear to escape his eye at the reality that his friends, Sanosuke and Naomi, had perished in such a brutal way.

The conflict outside started getting worse, as more and more people were apprehended for being the slightest bit suspicious. Tatsumi was almost thankful for his life of petty crimes, making it easier for him to scavenge for food and supplies from non-operating businesses. There were close brushes with the direct conflict between BJBB and POSCRA, but Tatsumi was smart enough to not linger around and just duck away when he could. Tsumi ended up living with Tatsumi and his mother in the same rundown apartment he had gotten for them, often going out to get supplies and making Tatsumi stay at home. His excuse?

“ I’m still your boss, Mimi-chan. At least let me provide for you.”

Tatsumi stayed home, like a locked up housewife, taking care of his mother and making meals for Tsumi whenever they had an extra bit of food to spare. Tsumi became the only beacon of information he gets from the outside for several months. He made sure to never leave the house without his beanie and a pair of sunglasses that Tsumi had found in the trash for him. The sunglasses were round and gaudy but at least it did its job of hiding his eyes. Most of his runs consisted of rummaging through abandoned pharmacies for any supplies that could be salvaged, like bandages and medicine. His mother was thankfully doing well due to the antiretroviral treatment she underwent through the years but that didn’t mean he could slack in trying to get the medicine she needed.

This went on till the conflict between BJBB and POSCRA ended. How it ended, Tatsumi couldn’t really care less, after all, it didn't change the fact that the discrimination isn’t going to disappear in a snap. While the riots were now long gone, people were still hostile to rabbits and many turned their nose away from Tatsumi despite him having money to make his purchases. He sometimes even had to go out of his way to a pharmacy far from his home to get his mother’s medicines. Of course he was dressed in his trusty jacket and beanie, but he forgo his sunglasses, figuring that there was no need to hide his eyes anymore now that everyone pretty much knows he’s a rabbit in his neighbourhood and there was no way anyone would recognize his eyes if he went far enough.

Tatsumi only learnt about BJBB’s new status of a refugee camp for bunnies by Tsumi who told him about the news he overheard during one of his outings.

” You could go, you know. The situation here is probably isn’t going to be get better until god knows when. Now that business are back up and people are more wary, it’s going to hard to get food and money. At least this way one of us could at least have a higher chance of survivability.”

Tatsumi was quiet as he stared at the piece of stale bread in his hand. It was true. He glanced at the open door of his mother’s room. Tsumi noticed it and just reached forward touched his hand.

“ I’ll take care of your mom for you. I’ll find a job somehow, at least I got the chance to go to school and get some sort of qualifications, ya know, despite running a whole gang at age 15. You on the other hand, I worry for you.”

Tsumi didn’t need to say anymore. After all, Tatsumi didn’t manage to get a proper education and everything medical that he learnt was self-taught. No proper establishment would take in a self-taught medic, especially in a field that juggles life and death. Sighing, he took a bite of his.

“ Just tell me one thing… is this an order?”

Green eyes looked up from the bread, and stared Tsumi in the face. The smirk that graced Tsumi’s lips was the same as the one he had gave Tatsumi when he recruited him.

“ Yes.”

“... Very well.”

Tatsumi nodded his understanding, biting into the stale bread and let his thoughts run. Tsumi gripped Tatsumi’s free hand, making him return his gaze onto the other man’s face.

“ I’ll escort you to the officials that will bring you to BJBB tomorrow … oh and… Don’t forget about me, alright?”

Trivia

• He has segmental heterochromia, as seen from his right eye having two eye colours.
• His hair is lopsided, yes. Tsumi cut his hair for him with a knife and it wasn’t the best job done.
• He actually reuse his bandages if they aren’t too dirty or if it isn’t bloodstained. He would wash them a bit and just rewrap his arms and legs with them.
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