Assumptions

Dong never knew she could feel incredible amounts of pain and loud screeching so early in the morning. She pulled the covers over her head, groaning when she felt the little sets of hands and feet launching themselves all over the shared bed.

“I’m up! I’m up!” Minji complained, sitting up finally to look at the little kits. “Is it really the first day already?” The bunny yawned.

“Yeah! You aren’t competing but can you keep my score?” One of the littler kits asked. “I’m not good with counting…” He pouted.

“Okay… How about… I’ll keep everyone’s score… Just so no one feels left out,” Minji smiled at them, watching them all light up at the idea of their favorite auntie participating.

It was beyond early. The sun was barely rising when Dong peeked out the window, frowning when she saw most of the house already up. A few other bunnies snickered at how tired she looked but were more than understanding.

“Didn’t Minji tell you this weekend was the start of the festival?” Minji’s mother chuckled.

“It slipped my mind,” Minji smiled before walking closer to Dong. “You can go back to bed… None of the other humans are even participating… And there’s nothing to watch since I’m not competing,” She shrugged.

“No… I can stay up… I want to learn,” Dong smiled. “And be with you of course,” She chuckled.

Dong was in shock at how many bunnies gathered in the open fields. Definitely more than Minji’s family. She held onto the bunny’s hand, hoping that it was okay for her to be there, but the further they walked, the more humans she saw scattered through it all.

“Minji!” A voice cut through nearby, causing the couple to look over, and see a small bunny hybrid running toward her. “It’s been ages!”

“Joohyun unnie!” Minji gasped before hugging her.

Dong admired the bunny, seeing her pure white ears sticking up in contrast to Minji’s near-black ones. Part of her wondered if this Joohyun bunny was one of her cousins, but she didn’t know if it was bad to ask that question.

“Oh, this is Dong, my girlfriend,” Minji introduced. “Dongie, this is Joohyun, my best friend from hybrid school,” She smiled.

“Nice to see you got over your human hatred,” Joohyun whispered while nudging the taller hybrid’s ribs with her elbow.

“It’s still there…” Minji grumbled. “Just… Not with her,” She muttered.

“You know you can’t hold onto those grudges forever Minji…” Joohyun frowned, ears dropping as she spoke. “It ages you faster than you think,” She pointed.

Dong raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend, curious as to what she meant. It was something the human had started to think about just a little further.

Minji’s predisposition wasn’t from her family. It seemed as if her family was quite loving and kind to anyone who walked through the door. Her parents were very approving of the few humans that were already in their family, and didn’t treat them any differently…

But Minji had such a strong hatred that really hadn’t started a home. She wasn’t raised to hate them. It was something else. An outside force that sparked the hatred.

And according to Joohyun… It must’ve started in a hybrid school.

The rest of the day was rather exciting, watching every single bunny participate in all of the different games. It was interesting to watch and Minji did keep her promise. She kept all of the scores of the little kits in her family and didn’t miss a single one.

“How do you keep so many numbers in your head?” Dong whispered when she wasn’t entirely focused on the game in front of her.

“Easy,” Minji chuckled. “It’s just… Just my thing… Not even a bunny thing…” She laughed. “My brain works really well with the numbers and matching them to the kits,” She chuckled.

By the end of the day, everyone was still buzzing from the fun and excitement of the first day, and Dong couldn’t help but laugh when she saw some of the younger kits already being carried by their parents.

“Auntie…” One of the younger kits whined while running up to Minji. “My legs hurt!” She cried.

“And what am I supposed to do with that information?” Minji chuckled while looking down at the young kit.

Dong couldn’t help but laugh at her remark, watching the little bunny pout before raising her arms up.

“Fine… You twisted my arm,” Minji sighed while lifting her up. “You’re getting big Jihanie…” Minji pouted. “Almost too big to be carried,” She gasped.

Dong couldn’t help but laugh, knowing the kid was barely anything to Minji. She watched her carry the young kit and noticed that there were so many similarities between Jihan and her. The long dark ears, the white spot, but Jihan’s was on the right ear while Minji’s was on the left.

“You know… I don’t think I’ve ever seen another bunny with black ears like yours… Except for her and your dad…” Dong whispered.

“Yeah… Mom has the whole speckled variety in her, and her ears are light brown, so me having the black ears really made my dad super happy…” Minji explained. “She’s the only other kit in the entire family that has the black ears,” She smiled before petting them gently.

Minji watched as Jihan nuzzled into Minji, clinging to her tighter as they walked.

“Does… she… Nevermind…” Dong muttered, turning away from the two.

“Hm?” Minji looked at her, watching the human wave her hand to dismiss the question she had.

It wasn’t as surprising to see the same little kit clinging to Minji all the way up until bedtime. Dong walked out of the bathroom, seeing Minji still holding the little kit while sitting on their bed. The kit was already dressed for bed and was just fighting sleep at this point.

“Once she falls asleep… I’ll take her to her room,” Minji whispered.

“Don’t worry about it,” Dong waved her hand, climbing into the bed carefully.

“That question you had earlier…” Minji frowned. “You were going to ask if she liked her ears being pet… Weren’t you?” She asked.

“I was thinking about it… And I didn’t think it would be appropriate to ask,” She frowned.

“She does,” Minji answered quietly. “All bunnies do… But it’s… It’s more of an intimate thing. Close family…” She frowned.

“I get it,” Dong whispered. “Is that why you don’t like your ears touched?” She asked.

“I don’t even touch my ears Dong-ah…” Minji sighed. “I touch them if I need to… No one in my family touches my ears… I don’t like it,” She frowned.

“Did something happen?” Dong asked, sitting up just a bit more before placing a hand on Minji’s arm.

“We… We go to hybrid-only schools…” Minji frowned. “They’re… Clearly marked… Easily found…” She whispered. “Some human kids… Waited outside the gates and… They would torment the hybrids that would walk out… It made us fear certain exits…” She let out a sigh. “And it was before the laws were put in place…”

“The recent ones?” Dong questioned.

“The first hybrid equality laws…” Minji whispered. “The ones that were the first attempts of trying to stop the bias…” She explained. “So none of the hybrid teachers could even help us because if those human kids went home and said they were told to stop tormenting… The police would’ve stormed the school and hurt everyone… They… They were horrible… They would dump buckets of water on the kitten hybrids… Throw leashes and collars on the dog hybrids and drag them down the road and make them bleed…” She held onto Jihan tighter, shaking her head.

“That… That’s horrible…” Dong frowned.

“Humans… Were just horrible… And… They would grab bunnies by their ears…” Minji looked back at Dong, watching her with teary eyes. “I was a little older than Jihan… One of the older boys grabbed my ears… and yanked me up… Then dragged me to the end of the street before…” She whispered. “Before Bora jumped in and clawed him in the face,” She frowned.

“Bora… You’re best friend,” Dong whispered.

“Yeah… She was already drenched because of another boy dumping an entire bucket of water on her… But I never let anyone touch my ears ever again after that… Why I keep them down… And hide myself just to appear human at first glance…” She sighed. “I don’t want that for any of the younger kits… As progressive as people are… It’s hard to think humans can change… Especially since there are more people in the world that want us dead than people who are willing to live peacefully with us,” She muttered.

The bunny let out a small sigh, running her fingers through the young kit’s hair before checking that she was fully asleep. The air was heavy, but Minji felt the tiniest bit better after telling Dong what happened.

“I’m going to take her to bed,” Minji whispered. “Don’t fall asleep yet…”

Dong watched her for a few moments, and she couldn’t help but feel the rage building in her. Humans harming hybrids for fun didn’t sit right with her and it was just horrible. Horrible that there were still people around that would harm hybrids any chance they got.

“Sorry… She kind of woke up… So I stayed until she fell asleep again,” Minji whispered.

“I want you to meet my parents,” Dong quickly stated, catching the bunny by surprise. “I just… We…”

“You don’t have to explain it,” Minji whispered. “You don’t ever have to explain it.” She pressed her forehead against Dong’s, enjoying the warm feeling it gave her.