"And there we go...Finally!" exclaimed Charming as he freed his left leg from the hole; dirt spraying up into the air as he did.

He noticed his foot was shoved through a shoebox as it fully emerged from the hole. Using his hands, he tugged it off, leaving it on the unearthed ground. Now came the matter of walking. He wasn't used to walking upright on two legs - and if he did - it was only in small bursts to get Ame's attention from his cage.

Ame. Where was she? The last thing he remembered was seeing her run at him in the street. Then everything had gone white, soundless and senseless until now.

"Come on," he said out loud to himself. "You have to find Ame. She must be worried. Besides, everyone makes walking look easy. It can't be that hard."

From his seated position on the ground, Charming moved to put the palms of his hands down in front of him, keeping them flat against the grass. He then pushed forward against his hands so that he could tilt up enough to force his feet to be flat on the ground underneath him. This move resulted in him sticking his hind end up in the air. To anyone walking by, it looked as if Charming were in the midst of some really strange yoga pose.

"Alright, now all I have to do is push up off the ground and stand up straight," thought Charming as he took a deep breath and shoved himself upright.

Though he managed to get upright, he had shoved himself off the ground with such force that he was unsteady on his feet. He could feel himself falling backwards, turning sideways a bit to catch hold of the oak tree behind him to keep himself from falling down onto the ground.

"Okay...that's okay...It was a first attempt..." He said to himself as he leaned against the tree. "I just need to try again..."

"Umm...mister...are you okay?" asked a little girl.

Charming's face turned to look at the little girl that appeared in front of him. She was wearing a sky blue t-shirt and overalls; her dark black hair separated evenly into two ponytails. She couldn't have been more than eight-years-old.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just not used to having legs."

"Not used to having legs?" the little girl asked. "You've never walked before?"

"Well, no," said Charming with a soft chuckle. "Don't suppose you have any tips for me?"

"Here," she said as she reached out a hand to him.

Charming looked at the outstretched hand then to the little girl and then back to the hand again.

"Take my hand," said the little girl. "I'll help you walk like I did my younger brother."

He nodded, shifting his position against the tree to free one of his hands and take the girl's hand in his. He used his other hand to push up off the tree. He could feel himself wobbling and thought for certain that he was about to meet the ground, but the little girl tightened her hand about his to keep him upright. Soon Charming's wobbling evened out and he was standing on his feet. A laugh of disbelief and joy left his lips; his eyes sparkling with happiness.

"I'm standing! It's incredible!"

He looked about him as he held the little girl's hand. The world felt a bit smaller now. When he was a bunny, the world seemed so big. Charming wasn't used to being so tall, but he knew he could be with time. He couldn't wait to get to Ame and show her that he could be everything she always wanted him to be. He turned to look at the little girl beside him with a wide grin still on his face.

"Okay. Now what do I do?"

"Now you have to put one foot in front of the other."

"How?" He asked, watching as she showed him an example.

He watched her intently before nodding, trying to mimic what she had just done. He looked like he was walking along a tightrope at first, but the more slow steps he took with the girl, the better he got at walking. The little girl soon slipped her hand out of his grasp as he tried to walk on his own.

"HA! I'm doing it! I'm really doing it!"

The little girl's face glowed with happiness too as she nodded.

"Congratulations, mister."

"My name is Charming," he said. "And thank you..umm...what's your name?"

"Alice," she said in response just as a woman suddenly came rushing onto the scene.

"ALICE! What are you doing? How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers?" asked the woman as she grabbed Alice by the hand, turning to glare at Charming who looked completely confused. He didn't understand what he had done wrong.

"She was just helping me walk. Today's my first time walking," said Charming, trying to come to the little girl's defense.

The woman didn't say anything for a moment, giving Charming a full once over with her withering glare before tugging Alice close to her and walking off.

"Stay away from my little girl, creep!"

Charming stood where he was and looked after the two of them as they left. Was it customary to call strangers 'creep' then? He'd heard Ame do that before. He supposed that it was good that he was learning this stuff as he would apparently need it now. He saw Alice turn back to look at him as the woman continue to pull her away. Raising his hand, Charming gave her a small wave of thanks before debating on what to do next as she completely disappeared around the corner.

The first thing he had to do was to figure out where he was exactly. Taking in his surroundings, he realized that he was in the park. Ame had taken him here on occasion. His eyes landed on the park bench that they'd sometimes sit on together so she could overlook the water.

The bench was empty right now, so Ame obviously wasn't there. Where it was so bright out, Charming figured that Ame must be at work. Usually he wasn't with her until it was less light outside. All he had to do to find her was to find where she worked.

But where was the store? Last night when he had run out of the apartment, that had been his first time outside. He had no idea where he was going. Heck, he didn't even know what possessed him to run so fast and so far from her. He had never done anything like that before and didn't understand why he did last night.

"Aissi," he said as he ran a hand through his hair. He was starting to give himself a headache again with such thoughts. He had to focus for now if he had any sort of hope of finding Ame anytime soon.

Charming started to move his feet slowly yet surely towards the exit to the park. As he reached the sidewalk, he looked both ways. Which way could the store possibly be? He supposed he would just have to choose a direction and hope that it was right.

"Ame, I'm coming," he said out loud. "I promise."

- - -

"I need one of you to go restock the vegetable department," said the manager on duty as she stood near Ame and Freddi up front by the registers. "Traffic has died down for now, and some of the vegetables are almost gone."

"I'll do it," volunteered Ame.

Ame needed a break from the registers. She had been asked for the last three hours yet again if she was panic girl, and she really wasn't in the mood for it today of all days with the morning she had had. She couldn't even go home to the comfort of Charming after work.

"Stop thinking about him..." thought Ame.

Ame looked over at Freddi as she moved to close up her register when the manager walked off. Ame could tell something was off with Freddi. Throughout their shift, she hadn't been her usual perky self.

"You okay, Freddi?"

"Yeah...but is something going on with Ruby?" asked Freddi. "She's acting oddly."

"Doesn't she always?" asked Ame.

A small smirk worked its way onto Freddi's face as she rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean," said Freddi. "I mean she is going all V crazy on me here, and is insistent that I come over tonight to see him for myself."

"She might be talking loopy from sleep deprivation," said Ame, "But you're welcome over. It could be a good distraction so I don't have to think about what happened last night."

"Well, I plan on it - and if Ruby is lying for some reason - she will have some explaining to do."

Ame just nodded as she moved to walk off on Freddi, leaving her to deal with any customers that may come in. Ame walked out back to where the loaded vegetable cart sat waiting. Grabbing it, she wheeled it out to the produce section and began to start the process of restocking the nearly empty bins. She did fine with restocking the vegetable until it came to the carrots. That was when Ame felt the tears start to well up in her eyes again. The carrots reminded her of Charming. With the thought of Charming came the images of him lying lifeless in the street and of the burial she had, had for him that morning. Charming was gone. He was really gone.

A few tears dripped down her face as she tried to make quick work of putting the carrots away in the bin. The sooner she got this done, the sooner she could try to push thoughts of Charming aside again. If anyone asked if she was crying, she would just blame it on the onions she had finished restocking right before the carrots. As she worked, she felt like someone was standing right behind her. She could feel their presence there and figured they must be waiting to pick up some sort of vegetable.

"I'm sorry," she said without turning around, shoving the carrots in the bin as fast as she could. "I'll be done in a minute."

"Ame?..."

Not used to hearing her name now that she was renamed 'panic girl' by pretty much every patron that walked in, she turned to look at the man standing behind her. His mocha brown eyes focused in on her as the florescent lights overhead reflected off his rusty reddish brown hair. The white shirt that he wore was thin to the point of almost being see through, and the navy jeans he wore were extremely form fitting. Ame had to admit to herself that the man was quite the stud. He looked like a model, and Ame found herself wondering how many more dark eyed strangers were going to show up suddenly in her life.

"Do I know you?" she asked.

"Oh, Ame! I finally found you!" said the man in relief; joy spreading over his face as he walked forward to wrap her tightly in a hug.

"Who are you?" Ame asked as she was pressed up against the man's chest in a crushing hug

"It's me!" He said without letting go in the slightest. "Charming!"

- - -

AN: Let me proudly introduce you to Lee Min-Ho a.k.a. Charming!

As always, I don't own the pictures here.

Thanks for reading, commenting, and voting! 💜