The Funniest Bunny

Shinobu was a bit flustered by Cassie's deduction. "W-well... you're not wrong, Cassie-chan." He began. "Shinobu isn't short for anything, really." He began. "It means "to recall" in English, though that seems a bit peculiar, I think." He said, taking her lighthearted nicknaming seriously. "It's also the word that you might know as "Shinobi" or ninja." He said, brightening up a bit. "Though, I was never one to take on that moniker."

Shinobu suddenly stopped and lowered his head, smiling. "Cassie-chan, if you think Shinobunny works best, then that is the one I like most." He said a bit shyly.

Shinobu then looked up and grinned. "But, Cassie-chan?" he asked. 'How are you like a bear?" He asked. "You aren't large like a bear." He put his hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "And you are perhaps lacking in fur, though what you have, I like." He said, feeling her short, soft red hair in his hand.

Shinobu raised his finger in the air. "It is because you catch fish upstream!" He said with his own serious face. "There could be no other reason." He deduced coyly.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Cassie said, holding up a finger.

"I'm a baby bear. Not a big bear. For a lot of reasons! Such as... I'm both snuggly like a baby bear, and ferocious like a mama bear. I'm actually a good climber. When I grapple, especially in AFW against people who aren't as prepared to defend against what I do, Taylor says that it's like watching someone get mauled by a bear. And my brother Bucky claims that I stole food out of a picnic basket that he took for a date he had with a girl, but how could I steal it? It was just sitting in the fridge!"

She lifted her hands, palms up, in a shrug. "Why else would I be a bear?" She said, as if it was totally obvious. "Taylor called me Foxy Cassie Elliot for a while, I don't know if she still does. She introduced me for my match when I came back from Canada."

Shinobu listened carefully to Cassie's explanation of why she was a bear. "Hmmm." He said when she was finished. "I've never tried to snuggle with a baby bear before." He smiled. "I think those are perfectly good reasons, Cassie-chan." He then grinned. "Foxy... hmmm... may not suit you as well." He said. "Though, ahh..." Shinobu turned away and stood up, grabbing their containers and hastily pitching them.

"Tanuki doesn't have quite the same connotations..." He said as he thought about it. "If you did not say bear first, then that would have been my guess for you. Tanuki-chan sounds much better to me than Kuma-chan." he said before shaking his head. "But Cassie-chan is the best." He said finally.

He held out his hand for Cassie and smiled at her. "I may be ready to try goats." He said. "But I will guarantee nothing!" He added with an air of teasing seriousness.

"But I like Kuma-chan!" Cassie exclaimed. "Though Cassiebear is much better. My dad calls me Babybear. Only my dad."

She patted her thighs with her palms and then clapped her hands. "Yay goats!" She hugged Shinobu and jumped up, and began to skip off toward the goat pen. "Did you know some goats can climb trees? And they were the first domesticated animal, and they can be over three hundred pounds! Goats are awesome."

"You do?" Shinobu blinked. For some reason that was a lot more surprising than he had thought it might be. He shook it off as they approached the goat pen. His eyes narrowed as they entered and Shinobu began to carefully eye one of them down.

<I'm watching you.> He said to them in Japanese "That sounds right..." He said. "The first two. I didn't know about the large goat..." He shuffled away fromt he goats as they barked at him and curiously trotted near. A baby goat was the friendliest one, wanting attention as it looked at Cassie and Shinobu with its weird eyes.

"Mraaahhh!"

<I know what you want! You can't have it!>

Shinobu said, pointing a finger at the tiny mammal. "I'm sorry, Cassie-chan. I absolutely will not kneel down to pet it! I'm not falling for its trap!" He said and turned away as a male goat started to approach from behind. <I see you too! My eyes are everywhere!> He pointed at it dramatically.

Cassie giggled some more. She couldn't help it. Shinobu was just too ridiculous with how serious he acted while being silly.

"Don't worry! I'll protect you!" She declared, and hurried in front of him, between him and the kid. She squatted down lot with one hand on her knees and reached out her other hand to the curious, bleating baby goat. Her lowered stature attracted the attention of the other goats, and a few at a time they all found there was to her until she was surrounded. The baby jumped up onto her back, and she went down on all fours, getting her hands and knees muddy.

"Ack!" She giggled delightedly. The goats nosed at her and bleated and one hoofed at her as if testing her for a foothold. "Don't worry about me, Shinobunny! Save yourself! I'll hold them off!"

Shinobu's eyes widened as Cassie stepped in to save him, only to be mauled by the goats. One was even using her as a table. Shinobu wanted to save Cassie but she insisted she was fine, even with her being surrounded.

Goats were beginning to look his way too. Shinobu stepped back. He whipped off his scarf and held it in the air. "The scarf!" He said. "If we go, we'll go together! Just save the scarf!"

A goat nudged him in the leg. Shinobu stumbled back, only to be nudged in the butt from behind. The actor held up his hand and continued to hold his scarf above him.

"Save the scarf!"

Cassie began to crawl on her hands and knees, carefully, so as not to disturb the footing of the small goat standing on her back. The other goats curiously crowded around her while she made the short trek to Shinobu.

"I've got your six!" She declared, and with a little hop she wrapped her arms around the goat behind Shinobu and playfully tackled him to the dirt. The goat bleated and wriggled free and began to run around and jump, eager to play.

The petting zoo staff, however, were not as keen, and Cassie had managed to attract their attention with her takedown.

Shinobu's eyes widened as Cassie tackled a goat. She was getting pretty rough with the furniture and he could notice that the staff was not very keen on having their attractions rough housed with. He knew that goats were a bad idea.

Shinobu decided he needed to take a gamble. With a practiced flourish, he whipped his scarf around his neck and swooped in to grab Cassie by the hand and pull her away from the goatherd.

"I think, that they may have learned their lesson!" He said with a grin as he began to kowtow to the staff with a rhythmic bowing of his head. His humility was not received well, however, as he had a smile on his face and began to laugh as he urged Cassie out of the pen.

"Ahhh... Cassie-chan!" He beamed. "You're amazing" He said, smiling at her. He then pulled off his scarf once more and stood in front of her. He wrapped it around the back of her neck and held onto each end. "You understand the importance of a fine scarf.' He said with a twinkle in his eye. "If there is any article of clothing that is the most important, truly it is the scarf." He said. he wrapped the wool purple length around her neck and and grasped her shoulders.

"You should have this one since you went to such lengths to protect it." He said and grinned. "However, I think we may have overstayed our welcome a bit. Today was quite enjoyable, perhaps we can continue the evening even if it's somewhere else?" He said with a smile.

Cassie was grinning ear to ear, despite her embarrassment, as the two were all but run out of the petting zoo. "Oh my goodness," she said in a hushed voice. "Do you think they're really mad? I've always played with animals like that, I didn't think..."

She didn't have much time to be embarrassed, as she was quickly scooped up in Shinobu's sincere eyes and confident charm. She giggled, and pulled the scarf tighter around her neck. She liked the feel of it.

"Really? You won't miss it?" She asked, with big, hopeful eyes. "Y-yeah... I don't really know what else is here. We could always just take the train back... What did Fujiko want?"