Talking to a rabbit?

"Alina probably has. She is smarter than both of us combined, and she obviously knows what taking my place means. Not for the next four years, but the rest of her life." Alex sighed.

He closed his mouth the next instant as they both heard some rustling from the nearby bushes. Max stood up and reached for a gun when Alina slowly walked out, cradling something fluffy and white in her hands. As she came closer, the two men saw that it was a little rabbit, with his front paw injured.

"I found this little guy by the river. Looks like he's separated from his family." Alina spoke as she sat down on the ground in front of Alex. Neither Alex nor Max had any idea what to say, so they watched in silence as Alina cleaned the rabbit's wound and bound it with a handkerchief.

"There. This should do it for now." she said, getting up. "Now go on. Do you know which way your family went?" she asked the rabbit once more. Both Max and Alex stared at each other. Was this girl really talking to a rabbit?

They were both still dumbfounded and hadn't noticed Alina stand up and dust herself. "Seems like he wants to stay. Now come on, let's practice shooting." she said, bringing the two of them back to reality. Max nodded and handed one of the guns to Alina, who started to turn it in her hand, testing it's weight and wondering how it worked.

"Do you want to use this once?" Max asked, handing the second gun to Alex, who took it after some deliberations. Alex sighed, stroking it, "Maybe just a shot or two. To show Alina what she is aiming for." Alina rolled her eyes as Max quickly set up a make-shift target and Alex took aim. He closed one of his eyes, and Alina noticed his posture, imagining what he would have exactly looked like is he was standing up, with the handle of the gun pressed to his chest and legs apart to maintain balance.

BANG! BANG! BANG!! Three loud shots echoed through the quiet forest, leading to all the birds in the surrounding area flying here and there. Alina noticed with a pout that the rabbit that had refused to leave just a few moments ago was nowhere to be seen now.

"Perfect. As always." The admiration and love in Max's voice as he said this made Alina look at the target after throwing a quick glance at the couple. The target had looked like a dart-board, with circles marking the precision with which you shot. Now, there were three overlapping bullet holes in the inner-most circle.

Alina rolled her eyes as she looked at Alex's smug expression. "Anyone can do that with enough practice." she said, knowing full well that it was not true. Alex had always been really good at aiming and shooting, even when the two of them had been kids. Alina was really hard to beat at fist-fights and hand to hand combat, even by boys bigger than her, but Alex had always been impossible to beat with a ranged weapon in his hands.

Alex chuckled seeing Alina's sour expression. "Why don't you give it a try then?" he challenged.