-rabbits-

xxxxx

After Belial, after Hakuryuu has found him again, Judal watches him with the intense stare of a predator eyeing up his next meal. They're still at least a day's journey from their destination and still at odds with each other, years of friendship and distrust clashing and trying to make something that works.

Judal's whining grates on him, arms draped across Hakuryuu's shoulders and lips grazing his ear, complaining that he's hungry, he's important; Hakuryuu needs to feed him.

Food is easy, Belial's metal vessel making the rabbits docile, and Judal coos over their corpses before Hakuryuu has a chance to prepare them. It's after Judal gives them his appropriate amount of kisses and pets that he finally hands them back, and the two of them can eat.

It's sitting in a makeshift camp, bandaged and broken but still fighting for their ideals and revenge; it's a dreadful amount of work and planning finally coming to a head. But Judal is laid across his lap licking grease from his fingers and there's magic in the air, and it's a sweet comfort before their return to bleak reality.