Chapter 243: As Usual
Little Black stood there as he watched everyone bid them farewell. He didn’t say anything but stood there quietly as if he didn’t care about anything at all.
And just then, as soon as Zukka stared down at him, Little Black couldn’t hold back the tears running down his eyes anymore. He was embarrassed by his tears as he quickly turned and ran off to hide.
Zukka stood there watching him leave. He hesitated before he finally decided to go after him.
---
Little Black was sitting alone by the streamside, throwing rocks into the water. He couldn’t help but think about Zukka leaving, and no matter how much he denied it, he was sad about it.
"Why am I even bothered about it? If he wants to leave, then he can leave. It’s not like it’s my business or anything," he told himself as he kept throwing stones into the water.
"Are you sure?" Zukka asked as he walked into the scene.
Little Black panicked as he turned and stared up at him. "You... what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you already be heading back? It’s going to be late, and your dad will probably be angry if you’re late and all..." He turned to continue tossing rocks into the water.
But Zukka smiled as he came to sit down beside Little Black. "And why would I leave when my Little Black is not happy?"
Little Black stared at him. "And who are you calling your Little Black? I don’t know what you’re talking..." He muttered, looking ahead.
Zukka smiled as he stared into the water too. For a while, they said nothing. The two of them sat there staring for a while.
"Don’t worry, I’ll certainly come and visit." He stared at Little Black. "It’s not that I wanted to leave..."
Little Black nodded. "Don’t worry at all. It’s okay. I certainly understand, so you don’t really have to explain."
He smiled as he said, "How can I not explain when you’re all sad?"
"I’m not sad... you’re just saying," Little Black muttered.
Zukka stared at him with a smile as he gently ran a hand through his hair, feeling his rabbit ears before he got out a bracelet made of blue gemstones. "Here..." He didn’t ask; he took Little Black’s hand and put the bracelet around his wrist.
"What... what’s this? What are you doing?" Little Black stared at him, surprised.
"Take it. It’s a gift from me. So you have to always keep it close. I know you’re careless and all, but make sure you don’t lose it. Okay? And don’t let Luna take it as well."
Little Black was quiet as he stared at the bracelet on his wrist while he struggled to hold back the tears running down his eyes. "It’s not like I care about any of it at all... so why even bother?"
Zukka stared at him with a smile and nodded. "Yeah, sure. I know that you don’t care. But at least hold it for now, okay?"
Little Black looked away, hiding his tears. "Whatever."
Zukka smiled as he stared into the water again. "Make sure you don’t cry too much, okay? I promise I’ll come back to see you. No matter what, I’ll come back."
Little Black was still looking away as Zukka stared at him from behind. Then he stretched his hands and brushed his claws through his hair, soothing his hair and ears with a smile on his face.
And so they stayed like that for a while without saying anything, quietly staying there as Zukka kept Little Black company for the meantime.
---
Soon, they made their preparations and left. Sunnie had made some preparations of some gifts they’d send back to the tribe. At first they refused to accept, but Sunnie insisted.
"They had helped us back then too, so they should have it," Sunnie insisted before they finally accepted it.
Sunnie’s beast husbands had also volunteered to accompany them off to a certain distance. And so they followed the three of them to send them off.
Little Black didn’t come out to bid them goodbye. No one questioned why he didn’t come out at all. They could already tell that he was sad and couldn’t bear the parting. So the rest of them allowed him to be alone in the cave room.
With them gone, everyone sat there quietly, already missing the two of them while chatting about their different experiences with them. They ended up talking and chatting about the twins until it was already evening.
They guessed they’d miss them a lot more than they thought. And they would have to learn to cope without the two of them around in the meantime, at least. Or maybe for a longer time.
---
A few days had gone by, and everything had continued moving as smoothly as it always did. They were getting used to Zukka and Zuna’s absence while coping with it.
Even Little Black was already out and moving around as though nothing had happened. He refused to acknowledge that he was sad about Zukka’s leaving but rather acted as if nothing was wrong. But pretending and acting like everything was okay even though Sunnie could see through his sadness.
She could even see through moments when he’d accidentally call out to Zukka’s name and miss his constant bickering. Sunnie would sigh with a smile, shaking her head.
She guessed the little one did miss Zukka, who always teased him endlessly.
One morning, Sunnie had come out to meet Eris and Luka attempting to cook with Elza there monitoring them.
"What’s happening?" She asked, surprised as she stared at them. Maren and Ronan were there as well, watching their dads prepare food while wondering if it was going to be good or bad.
The two little ones had made a bet. Maren had concluded that it would be bad, but Ronan had hope that they’d at least make something edible—he trusted his father.
So the two stood and anticipated the meal that was being prepared by Luka and Eris.