Ikkaku began to suspect that his friends were in serious danger, as Yumichika had been very quiet and secretive lately, not to mention that he'd been hunting constantly, bringing back dead animals like a cat, laying them at Ikkaku's feet. That wasn't to say that he ever let Ikkaku have anything, always snatching it back if he reached out to touch it, which he didn't. He didn't want dead owls or dead piglets, or fuck, a dead horse. He still didn't know how Yumichika had dragged that thing so far on his own.
Yumichika wanted revenge, Ikkaku knew it. A grudge that great is not easily forgotten. He'd heard that his traveling group had left the country. No doubt that tool, Urahara, had freaked out when that cage had turned up empty, and had vacated the premises, fearing for his life. Ikkaku was glad that Renji and Hisagi and his other friends were gone from the immediate area, not wanting them to get eaten, but Ikkaku had no doubt that if Yumichika saw that group again, he'd go rabid.
'They will pay for my humiliation,' Yumichika said, when Ikkaku brought up the fact that he was kind of quiet. Ikkaku couldn't hear Yumichika's thoughts or anything that he didn't deliberately send to his mind. 'Humiliation, that of which can only be reconciled through revenge. Revenge paid by way of blood.'
Ikkaku hoped to God that Renji's stupid loyal heart didn't make him feel like he had to come rescue him or something. He hoped Renji thought he was dead and wasn't sticking around to try to find him, because Ikkaku truly didn't want Renji to be eaten.
'I've always hated humans,' Yumichika said, red eyes widening, his mouth opening slightly in a snarl, teeth held apart.
"It might make you feel better to just let things go?" Ikkaku suggested hopefully. Yumichika simply brooded, as hell creatures often do.
'I will not forgive what they've done. They locked me away like a pet, like any animal, and they treated me wrongly.' Yumichika glared, eyes wide, but intense. 'I am not above bitterness by any means. I can live for eons, and my grudges last with me.'
Ikkaku nodded after a moment, supposing it was hopeless. "That can't feel good to keep on your shoulders, though."
Yumichika suddenly jerked, discomfort coming over his features at the word 'shoulders'. He immediately writhed around, trying to twist his arm back to scratch at the joint of his large wings. Unable to get a good reach, he whined and flopped onto the ground, squirming on top of his wings to grind them into the dirt, in an attempt to scratch them.
After ten minutes of scratching vigorously with his chipped nails and biting himself to stop the itching, Yumichika rested in his typical squatting position, chest heaving.
His wings were spread out on the grass, the grey mangy feathers shedding off, already being replaced by new quills, a few of them having sprouted from their husks to reveal shiny black new growth. The pink areas of his wings were rigid where new feathers were sure to come in soon.
Ikkaku hadn't been able to convince him to get in the water, but Yumichika had conceded to have a sand bath in a patch of dirt, preening and pulling out feathers that were particularly bothering him, gnawing at his raw patches of flesh and picking off bugs. Ikkaku wasn't permitted to touch, but that was fine – he wasn't sure if he wanted to touch. Although Yumichika's wings were looking better, they still seemed disease-ridden.
'I hunger,' Yumichika complained, drawing his gaze away from his grey mangy wings. As always when he said this, he began eyeballing Ikkaku, who was quick to suggest something else.
"How about mountain lion? Or goat? There's probably somea' that around here, go look around. You feel like meat?" Yumichika pulled his lower jaw open with his own fingers, baring his sharp teeth, eyes large and reddish, saliva gathering on his tongue. Now that Ikkaku thought about it, Yumichika teeth were much too large to be normal, not long like a wolf's, but large like… a shark.
'I hunger, I want it, I want it,' Yumichika said enthusiastically, humming aloud and doing a little sway of his shoulders, letting his head roll lightly as he merrily fantasized about meat. 'Right now, all the time, in my mouth. Meat, meat, I want to eat,' Yumichika sang, eyes closed serenely.
Ikkaku tried really hard not to smile at his little song. Yumichika blinked then, looking up at him with a mild expression, eyes innocent.
'I like biting the heads. I like the crunching sound of skulls in my teeth,' Yumichika informed him. 'Especially fish heads.'
"That's nice," Ikkaku said uncomfortably, clearing his throat. He wondered if his skull could fit in Yumichika's big mouth. He'd seen him gulp down things that should've been impossible in one bite.
"I can fish," Ikkaku mentioned. That seemed to make Yumichika think about what he really wanted to eat, which wasn't fish, but human meat. Ikkaku supposed that trying to get him to eat all this other stuff was like telling someone to eat candle wax instead of cheese, perhaps not to that extreme – either way, it was clear that Yumichika was meant to be eating human flesh.
Yumichika made a low exhalation, mouth still open, teeth still on full display. Then he closed his mouth, saliva on his chin as he licked his lips really slow, not breaking eye contact. Ikkaku shuddered. Yumichika then put on an innocent expression that wasn't entirely an act. 'Are you quite sure you don't want to offer yourself up to me? You should be grateful to be eaten by one such as I.'
"Uh…" Ikkaku sweat nervously. "I think I'll pass," he said, averting his gaze. Yumichika's eyes were far too intense for him at times. He'd begun to try to color-code his mood-ring eyes. They were purple at a normal, homeostatic, flat mood, red in anger or when Yumichika was hunting, and they went golden when he was gorging himself or was particularly content. That gold one was kind of iffy, because it happened at odd times.
Like right now, it was almost like Yumichika was imagining him as a roast with an apple in its mouth, because his eyes were a hazy mix between purple and gold, cloudy and longing. Ikkaku wanted to grant his every desire, but he wasn't going to put his arm on a lance and call it yakiniku or something. He wasn't that much of a martyr for love.
Giving someone what they want on a silver platter was just an expression, after all.
'I would only take a few bites,' Yumichika informed him with a hopeful pout, fluttering his eyelashes and licking his lips real slow. Ikkaku almost felt tempted to give in, but no.
"No. Don't eat me. No biting, no scratching, no eating. I am not food." Yumichika's shoulders slumped, but he nodded, lip sticking out with a pout. Ikkaku seemed to have to remind him of that a lot, but Yumichika seemed to accept it, although he kept trying, hoping Ikkaku would change his mind.
'Perhaps I'll ration you,' Yumichika teased, smiling, eyes twinkling with mirth, entirely joking… entirely. Ikkaku gulped, but smiled back, sitting down on the ground and letting Yumichika crawl towards him and rub his cheek against his arm like a cat, as if the animalistic part of him was trying to exchange their scents or something. 'So that you last as long as possible.'
The smell wasn't great, and it certainly didn't feel too nice to have a wing draped around his shoulder – it was itchy – but Ikkaku smiled like crazy. Yumichika liked him, even if just a little, for his personality. Yumichika did feel gratitude and wanted him around, even though he wanted to eat him really badly. Yumichika could easily tear into him right now, but he didn't.
Ikkaku swiftly pecked Yumichika on the cheek – no, not in the bird way.