Ikkaku finally got the gall to tell Yumichika that they had to get moving. They couldn't stick around near this town any longer without people noticing the absence of their larger stock – more than they already had noticed their large animals being killed and carried off, that is.
Yumichika agreed. He wanted to track down his kidnappers and drink their blood. Ikkaku supposed that their goals were different, but the means were the same. Either way, they'd begun to travel, having continued on through the woods away from town, on to the next, and then the next.
Needless to say, Yumichika was displeased when it took more than a few days of walking. Even if the creature had waited years in a cell, it wasn't very patient, especially when it came to food and violence. It had taken quite a bit of effort to appease Yumichika, and Ikkaku had even had to give up a few of his own meals to keep him under control. Nevertheless, they continued wandering the woods at a sluggish pace.
Yumichika would fold his massive wings back and walk on his own two legs, his wingtips dragging heavily on the ground, far too large to be practical. Sometimes Yumichika liked to fly at night to bypass walking, but luckily he was smart enough to know that he couldn't do so during the day without causing severe alarm to anyone who might be around. He didn't want anything to see him coming, and on top of it, Yumichika liked to linger in the shadows.
Ikkaku gave a long sigh when light began to penetrate the trees, moving through the brambles and emerging into the sun. Not hearing any more rustling from behind him, he called back, "C'mon, Yumichika, this way. We can probably make it to Portside by tomorrow." There was sage grass as far as the eye can see, the plains stretching to the horizon and beyond. Ikkaku wondered why the forest just ended like that. Maybe there'd been a fire.
Turning when Yumichika didn't respond verbally or otherwise, Ikkaku saw him standing there in a half crouch at the edge of the protective shade of the woods. Ikkaku beckoned him to follow and Yumichika held out a hand to him, keeping eye-contact, but when Ikkaku reached out a hand in return, Yumichika drew back, just short of moving into the sun.
He paced wildly for a moment at the edge of the shadow and when Ikkaku called him again, he took a step back, seeming to lose confidence, turning to retreat back into the comforting darkness of the woods. Yumichika wouldn't come into the sun, even at the cost of losing his new human. Yumichika was going to flee.
"Wait!" Ikkaku cried in panic, seeing that it was a serious thing for Yumichika to keep his appearance hidden, that he really didn't want to come into the sunlight. For the first time, Ikkaku wondered if the sun actually hurt Yumichika's skin or something or if he just really really hated his appearance in the light. Yumichika ignored him and made to turn back, but Ikkaku cried out for him again. "No, wait!" Yumichika paused for a moment, retreating more slowly.
"We can- we can stay here," Ikkaku promised, coming back into the dark with him. "It's fine, we can wait until nightfall to leave the woods. It's fine," he repeated. "Let's stay here until it's dark." Yumichika looked back in his eyes, expression unreadable. He couldn't tell what Yumichika was thinking, his thoughts silent, but his eyes were a confusing mix of color, some of everything in there, bubbling and mixing like melting candy.
Yumichika huffed in satisfaction and turned back, Ikkaku following until they were a safe distance within the woods. It was all Ikkaku could do to ignore Yumichika tearing a bird to bits, piece by piece over the next few hours. Feathers were everywhere, that of the crow mixing in with the ones Yumichika kept shedding. Ikkaku ignored him and wandered off, actually getting himself thoroughly lost in thought, and consequently, the woods. It was sundown before he knew it, and the terrain had changed, the forest having grown around many large rocks that protruded from the ground. Had he really walked for that long?
It all happened so fast. He'd been looking out at the sunset, eyes shielded by his hand, wondering when Yumichika would catch up to him. He thought he could hear the grass being blown by the wind, expect he couldn't feel even the slightest breeze. Suddenly, the air was knocked out of his lungs, and his face hit the dirt, a tremendous weight having slammed into his shoulder. Sharp points dug into his back and curled, drawing blood and holding him still, but Ikkaku flipped with all his might and rolled away, staggering to his feet, turning to face his assailant.
While he'd fully expected a starved Yumichika to be on the other end of the clearing, what was lunging at him again was a sleek panther, having come down from the mountain at dusk to hunt, and he'd been deemed better than a deer, it seemed. She was starving and wounded, obviously, as no panther goes after humans unprovoked, but that just made her all the more dangerous.
It moved so fast that Ikkaku had no option of turning to run, and his instinct was it throw up his arm to protect his face, which was a mistake. Teeth immediately sunk into his forearm and dragged him forward, puncturing his flesh. Ikkaku panicked, screaming and trying to tug away, but all he accomplished was to get those jaws to tighten on his arm until his bones groaned in protest. It shook him around violently, as if to tear his arm from his torso, but he'd regained his senses at that point and in a fit of adrenaline, punched it directly in the head.
It let go in surprise, yowling, and Ikkaku scrambled back, turning to run, but it gave chase, quickly overtaking him and pinning him on the ground. Ikkaku covered his head with his arms, screaming his lungs out and swearing like a sailor, but suddenly the cat's weight left him and an eardrum-perforating shriek ripped through the air. Ikkaku actually clapped his hands over his ears in pain, looking around for the source, only to see Yumichika fighting and baring his teeth at the furious panther. He didn't know which one looked more fearsome.
Ikkaku didn't dare run from the scene, not wanting to attract their attention onto him, particularly that of Yumichika. He just held his wounds and stayed as still as he could, watching them fight, howling and clawing at each other. He was gasping and his heart was pounding, and he winced, screwing his eyes shut as Yumichika's jaws closed onto the animal's neck, forcing its head to the ground. It struggled for a few moments, and eventually went slack, but Yumichika did not let go.
They both stayed motionless for probably a full two minutes, Ikkaku's heart still beating wildly as he stared at those horrible red eyes and their cruelty. Yumichika finally moved, releasing his bite, and flapped his wings hard, folding them. Ikkaku hurriedly turned away when Yumichika began eating, unable to stomach it, but that little movement was enough.
He could hear Yumichika go still, and inwardly swore. The air had caught the blood, the human blood on his hands. Shit. Shit.
Ikkaku watched as Yumichika's red eyes turned onto him. Ikkaku fought down every animalistic urge to survive within him that told him to run, and just stayed motionless, watching Yumichika raise his nose to the wind. Yumichika smelled him, he smelled his blood, the fresh blood that was still running down his arm in warm streams. Ikkaku's heart stopped when Yumichika's eyes honed in on him again; human's blood was much more appealing than that of just any animal. He was dead meat.
Ikkaku shouted as with a jolted movement, Yumichika was suddenly pinning him to the ground, his wings blocking out the moonlight. Ikkaku remained still, hyperventilating. This was it. It's over. It was all over. He'd fucked around with the wrong creature and he hadn't left when he'd had the chance. He was finished. Yumichika was going to eat him.
Yumichika's body shuddered, and Ikkaku made a very unmanly noise as the harpy leaned down suddenly, shoving his nose against his neck. Not the… not the blood? Ikkaku blinked, but didn't dare move even a micron as Yumichika inhaled deeply, sniffing and smelling around against the crook of his shoulder, finally remaining still and just pressing his nose hard against him. Ikkaku couldn't feel whether Yumichika's mouth was open or poised to bite, but he could definitely feel the fingers digging into his biceps.
He couldn't hear anything from Yumichika. His mind seemed silent, but the message was clear. Ikkaku was Yumichika's meal, his prey, and he wouldn't be shared with other predators.
Ikkaku eeped again when Yumichika finally moved, snaking his skinny arms around him and drawing him into his embrace. Ikkaku thought he was being hugged for a moment and almost moved to hug back, but his arms were knocked away when Yumichika flapped his wings. Ikkaku clung on tight with both arms and legs, yelping in surprise at the violent lurch. He screwed his eyes shut tight, but the wind only whipped past him for a moment or so. He cautiously opened one eye, only to see that Yumichika had placed him in a tree, like a deer killed by a mountain lion so that it would be safe from other predators. Fuck.
Rather than going back for all the fresh panther meat on the ground, Yumichika perched on a high branch and hunched his wings up like a vulture, staring out into the night. He seemed to be waiting for Ikkaku to sleep, but Ikkaku lay awake for hours, just staring up at the night sky. What the fuck was he doing? What the fuck was he doing with his life?
When other predators came into range, Yumichika would take off and defend his territory, but he still just left his kill laying there on the ground, returning to a high branch to remain a sentinel of the night. Fuck, Ikkaku was falling for a creature that was clawing tree trunks and standing guard to keep the wolves away.
Strangely enough, he suddenly felt wetness on his cheek, but he was laughing, the high finally wearing off and the near-death experience pouring out of him. He'd been scared shitless, hell, he didn't know which had scared him more, but fuck, he'd been scared. It was funny though, he didn't feel like running away, and that was what was so crazy.
Yumichika was looking down at him then. 'Why are you crying?'
Ikkaku loved the thrill. He loved the fear. He loved the pain enough to stay. If he ran, he'd die, but he didn't want to run. If he stayed, he'd surely die as well, but he didn't want to go. He was such a fucking idiot, and he knew so, and to stay anyways and willingly be an idiot made him an even bigger idiot.
'Why are you laughing?' Yumichika noted with alarm, but did not leave his post.
They say love makes the greatest fools, and Ikkaku knew it was true. That made him a fool, and if ignorance is a fool's greatest asset, and if ignorance is bliss, then Ikkaku had nothing to worry about.
"I'm okay," Ikkaku promised, his laughter ceasing, tears fading as he smiled up at Yumichika, whose entire form was dark due to the back-lighting of the moon. All he could see were his eyes and the light sheen of moonlight just visible at the tops of his wings. His whole body was black, his face invisible. He looked like a bat out of hell, but Ikkaku just smiled.
Yumichika's glowing eyes bled golden for a moment, swirling and eventually turning purple, finally turning away from him again in satisfaction.
Ikkaku would be fine. There were worse things to be eaten alive by.