Between the elvish and draconem was a hatred all could see,
A love between their people was a love that could not be,
The oddest of the odd, against their very natures,
Opposite upbringings, always-warring creatures.
. 4 .~Amor Caecus est~. 4 .
Yumichika had gotten a little better, still frail after drinking from his magic mirror. He sat in Ikkaku's lap, making a daisy chain, at ease with the draconem's presence, as it was bound by elven nature to love what had first taken it despite any sticky circumstances.
Yumichika had been sour and sarcastic towards him for days, still in the dregs of his illness and on the edge of death, but eventually he'd warmed up to him, getting back some of his color, and had started sleeping at night instead of staring at him as if he was waiting for him to try to eat him up.
"Why do you not take me again?" Yumichika asked cautiously, sitting there next to him like a beautiful flower, so beautiful that sometimes Ikkaku expected the wind to just blow him away with it, to take away his beautiful, ethereal, fragile elf and leave him empty.
"I… When I… did that to you… I… I thought maybe we'd have… You know, a child… because it is the dracuni way to cast our children out. I thought our child would be… wonderful," he sighed. "Our parents do not love us and we revile our children… I thought maybe… that things would be different."
Yumichika hummed in interest, weaving the flowers with his delicate fingers. "You are kinder than I expected. I know you didn't really mean to harm me." Ikkaku cringed, knowing that he'd harmed Yumichika to the point that he'd wanted to die.
"I won't ever… I mean… I won't… I won't do that again... I... I won't hurt you, you know that, right?" Yumichika nodded sagely, not looking at him, hair blowing in the wind as his graceful slender fingers slipped the daisy stems close to one another. Ikkaku sincerely hoped that he wasn't going to try to make him wear it, because he didn't like refusing such a beautiful creature when it was so fragile and ill - but all the same, he didn't want to wear the thing, as the smell was intoxicating to the point of lightheadedness to his sensitive nose.
Ikkaku held up the reflective piece of glass in a big clawed hand, staring at it distrustfully - magical items always baffled him and perhaps creeped him out a little, and he didn't like them near him when he slept. Besides that, he'd never seen something like this before. It seemed to be a perfectly crafted, parallel world through the surface of a strange shiny gem. He stuck out his pointed tongue and bared his fangs, hissing and making different faces.
"Elf… Is that… That's really me?"
"Yes," Yumichika said softly, sitting close to him in his lap, occasionally batting at the long spiny tail that was coiling around them. It absently wrapped around his wrist and flicked his side, but then settled down, spiraling around them twice like a large anaconda. "I can't believe your people don't have mirrors…"
Ikkaku continued to look at the glass, golden eyes greedy and gleaming with adoration. He began to turn it different directions, fascinated by his reflection.
"I thought the dracuni loved treasure and things that gleam."
"Yes…" Ikkaku growled resentfully, glaring at his own reflection, picking at his scaly cheek. "I admit that I've never seen this kind of jewel before." Yumichika rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the daisy chain he was working on, enjoying the soft breeze through his thin pieces of clothing. "It's like your people have learned to trap the surface of the water… but it's so clear..." Ikkaku said slowly in wonder. "It's like a window to… another world... That's really me," He frowned, turning the glass to reflect both his face and Yumichika's. "This is… frightening."
He then scowled, pupils turning into reptilian slits. "I must look monstrous to your fragile elven eyes. What did you think of me when we met?"
Yumichika smiled a little. "I found you ugly out of predisposition. But I've changed my mind." Ikkaku 'mm'ed.
"Yes, but did I frighten you?"
"I was intimidated, I must admit. I was more frightened by the situation than you. Taken into slavery, surrounded by brutes who thrive on violence and greed, and then taking a deal that would likely kill me… I thought that... it would be just one instead of..." Ikkaku winced. Yumichika had really thought they were going to gang rape him and then eat him or something, and so had chosen the lesser of two evils. He hadn't meant to corner him into making a deal, he really hadn't.
Yumichika took an airy little breath, sighing sweetly, settling closer still as he neared the completion of his flower crown. "But I have lived a very long time, and I have seen many things… A draconem is far from the worst."
Ikkaku gently ran his claws through Yumichika's long silky hair, and pressed his mouth onto Yumichika's cheek again. Yumichika sighed, lifting a hand to his face, before resisting the urge to wipe it off. He kept expecting Ikkaku's saliva to burn him or something, or for his teeth to puncture his skin, but Ikkaku was extremely careful, more so than Yumichika remembered. His brush with death must've scared Ikkaku very badly.
Perhaps it was a dracuni thing, because these kisses were very strange; at least Yumichika assumed that they were kisses. He wouldn't actually kiss his skin, Ikkaku would just keep his mouth open and touch his lips onto him without moving them, similar to how a baby gave a kiss, just less wet. He kept doing it, so Yumichika assumed that was how dracuni kissed each other.
Yumichika sighed when Ikkaku did it again to his head, rumbling an apology for harming him so. The elf put the daisy crown on his own head and leaned up to kiss Ikkaku's lips.
Ikkaku scrambled back in alarm, staring at him with wide eyes. He lifted his hand to his mouth, looking down at it and then back at Yumichika, still looking traumatized.
It was like Yumichika's lips had just pinched him or squeezed him or something, what was that? Was he putting a curse on him or something? Yumichika didn't usually initiate touching willingly, and either allowed contact or shied away from it. "What is… What-" Ikkaku stuttered breathlessly as Yumichika stared at him incredulously.
"It's a kiss," he said calmly, as if that were obvious. Ikkaku looked at him for a little while, before asking how he had done that, like it was some magic trick that he wanted to see repeated.
"Like this," Yumichika then kissed the air, and Ikkaku looked at his mouth intently before asking him to do it again.
Yumichika leaned forward and kissed Ikkaku's open mouth, hand coming up to make him close it. Yumichika crawled onto his big, scaly body, kissing him some more, until Ikkaku's lips started to move awkwardly, still feeling more than kissing, not seeming to understand how Yumichika made that little 'chu' noise.
Yumichika sighed, withdrawing, singing a little to himself, knowing Ikkaku liked his voice no matter how much he complained about 'elvish' racket.
Ikkaku was still feeling his mouth with his hand for a little while, looking curious and confused. "Yumichika? Uh… if you want… I mean, you don't have to, but… you can… you can share my cave… and… And you can even look at my treasure if you want,"
Yumichika just looked at him, before laughing a little, supposing that that was as generous as a dragonling could become with its treasure, "I thought I told you that we can't produce offspring, Ikkaku. We are an abomination of nature. An anomaly."
"No, no, no, I meant you, I want you to come be with me, and I can take care of you," Ikkaku bared his teeth and raised his spines to prove that he was worthy enough to protect Yumichika from harm. "I can protect you, see? I can take care of you," he swiped his tail behind him eagerly, getting too close to Yumichika's face, searching for approval.
Yumichika stared at him with raised eyebrows, before smiling. "You are very strange. I didn't expect my exile to go on this way."
"Ex cinere surgemus," Ikkaku lay in the grass next to him, flicking him with his tail, peeking over his arm at the beautiful creature. He was pleased when Yumichika crawled closer to him, and he let Yumichika lay on top of him and bask in the sun.
Yumichika's skin was still pale and milky, but it had lost some of its sick grey pallor, and was almost sparkling a pale gold color. Beautiful.
And when Ikkaku tried to return that thing Yumichika had called a kiss, he saw another world in Yumichika's eyes, and in it, he was smiling.
~ Omnia Vincit Amor ~
Between the elvish and draconem was a hatred all could see,
a love between their people was a love that could not be.
These two souls however, from their first forbidden kiss,
couldn't think of anything that could possibly be amiss.
Blackened souls in nature's eyes through a mutual respect,
the hate of warring races changed to something to protect
Despite all this, what each they felt, became akin to carnal,
Knowing it would end in tears, but still Hope springs eternal
~Fin~