Carnivorous Birds
Summary: (One-shot; drabble-ish) Sensui, Itsuki, and a carnivorous bird. Obviously.
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah.
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"Kouryuu. Who do you suppose decided that birds are free? They can fly wherever they choose… but if there's no branch for them to return to… they might regret having wings, don't you think?"
--Koumyou Sanzo, Saiyuki Vol. 3, Kazuya Minekura
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The bird snaps out suddenly and Shinobu Sensui withdraws his finger from between the bars quickly, not quite willing to have his blood spilled by this temperamental creature.
He bought it for himself. An indulgence, he supposes, or maybe an experiment, or maybe the fact that it's pretty, with its bright green feathers and shiny black eyes. It's relatively small, however, and the feathers don't look like they've been taken care of properly by that human who runs the pet store.
He doesn't particularly condone humans taking animals as pets. Why keep Nature's children locked up in cages or by leashes? They weren't endowed with the ability to choose right from wrong or wrong from right. Does that give humans the right to enslave them because they think they're amusing?
And yet, here Shinobu has this bird glaring at him and getting ready to snap out again.
He proffers a seed to it and it sidles over cautiously before snatching it from between his fingers.
As it is distracted, his fingers skim over thin metal bars and open the cage, letting the door swing down.
And then he walks away.
Itsuki watches Sensui curiously, intently, from his position in the boat beneath the steadily expanding tunnel.
"It's a pretty bird, Shinobu," he says softly. "But it appears to be slightly… difficult."
The other man shrugs and Itsuki returns to his business after giving him an appraising look up and down.
Perhaps he is used to Shinobu Sensui's whims.
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When Sensui returns to the cage, he is fully expecting to see that it has flown away or something.
Free as a bird… Isn't that the old and clichéd line?
It sits in there, still glaring at Shinobu as it preens its feathers.
Why won't it leave? he wonders.
And no matter what he tries, it won't fly out or even poke its head beyond the confines of the cage.
Naturally, its wings have been clipped, but even with clipped wings a bird is not entirely devoid of the gift of flight. At the very least, it can flutter and fall to the ground and waddle away, but this one… it refuses to do so.
Why won't it leave? Doesn't it know what's best for it? Anything is better than a cage.
"I believe it likes you, Shinobu," Itsuki calls out, drawing Sensui's attention away from the bird, who takes this opportunity to take a bite of the finger so carelessly placed between two bars.
He gives a short snort before tending to his newly acquired wound.
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Author's SpaceI'm insane. Deal with it. I suffer, so does my fanfiction.
Unrealistic, short, and pointless unless you equate the bird with… well, I don't know, actually.
If you find out, will you tell me?
The Saiyuki quote is at the top merely because… I remembered it. The bird is modeled after my own, though I feed it bread and lacy curtains to keep it from biting me.
Review or something, please. Flames are acceptable, plagiarism is not. Please tell me if you use it in a C2. Please.