Ikkaku awoke in a tree again, a massive tree that left him high above the ground, and he was surrounded by straw and twigs, many of them poking into any exposed areas of skin. He yawned and looked out at the sky, feeling ridiculous. He was in a nest.

Yumichika perched on a branch above him, squatting there like the bird he was, but Ikkaku was sure he only did it to annoy him. Yumichika looked down at him with a little smile and flapped his wings once, sending a flurry of shedding grey feathers into his face.

This bastard.

Ikkaku just groaned and flopped back down into the big bed Yumichika had made them about a month ago. Yumichika seemed to hum silently from the way his eyes closed and his smile stretched serenely. He settled down next to Ikkaku and covered him with a wing, nuzzling his face. As much as Ikkaku appreciated the blanket, the smell was that of a butcher shop in the heat of summer.

"Oi, let go."

'No.' Yumichika held him tighter just to spite him.

Ikkaku groaned, giving the sky a dead-pan glare. Fuck his life and his bird-brained best friend. He had set him free, but Yumichika didn't seem intent on ever setting him free in return. Not that he minded. He really didn't. As long as he didn't get eaten, what was really the problem here?

Once they'd decided they'd probably made it into the neighboring country, they'd settled down at the bottom of a mountain in a large tree. Ikkaku had accepted that this pretty guy he'd fallen for was a monster and that no matter how nice he seemed at times, he still had to keep his guard up. He'd woken up to find Yumichika tasting him once or twice, but it never went farther than that. He was sure that Yumichika had eaten at least one human since they'd been together now, because sometimes he'd come back to find him feasting on bloody unrecognizable parts, but Ikkaku didn't feel like he was in any real danger of being devoured. Yumichika liked him too much to make him into food.

The only really unbearable thing about their friendship was that Ikkaku couldn't eat anywhere near Yumichika, or his food would be stolen away without fail and gobbled up, no matter what it was. Sometimes Yumichika would even be guilty or confused by it afterwards, as if it were this compulsion or some kind of kleptomania that he couldn't control. Ikkaku learned to deal with it by eating like a slob, cramming whatever he had as a meal down his throat as fast as possible. Sometimes even that didn't work. He didn't think Yumichika could share food if either of their lives depended on it, so Ikkaku had accepted the fact that he had to eat on his own in town while Yumichika was somewhere else. His friend was a man-eating monster, and he'd have to make some adjustments for it.

He'd seen Yumichika in the sun by now, of course. They'd been traveling together for a while now, so it was inevitable that Yumichika had come into a few sunbeams, even though he was pretty good at remaining in the shadows. Ikkaku didn't like looking at him at those times, because he was truly hideous and really scary, but he never said that out loud of course. Yumichika was sensitive about it.

It wasn't as if it were a transformation either. More like, he was seeing what was really there. 'The truth comes to light' and all that. It happened the moment the sun touched Yumichika's skin, almost like there were a lens change on Ikkaku's vision or something. It was seamless. Whatever was in the sun was revealed as the hideous beast he truly was. He'd only been able to look into Yumichika's warped face once, and he truly believed that he might be from hell.

If his beauteous counterpart was from heaven, it'd make sense that his extraordinary beauty was matched by his ugliness.

"Oi," Ikkaku had asked one day, wings enfolding his body as Yumichika sat behind him, chin on his shoulder, nosing around against his neck. He trusted Yumichika not to bite, but he still got suspicious when he'd hear grunts and pitiful whines, as if Yumichika wanted to bite so badly but knew he wasn't allowed to.

"Are you a harpy, or an angel gone mad?" Harpies were supposed to be female anyway. Besides that, he'd thought that harpy's wings were their arms, but Yumichika had wings and arms. This guy was a mystery.

Yumichika just smiled, not replying.

Ikkaku didn't really care what the answer was. He just leaned in and held his breath against the smell of rotten meat, kissing him on the lips. Yumichika continued smiling, not responding, but still seeming to enjoy it, as he always did. He stuck his face out further for more, and Ikkaku continued, making a sappy 'mwah' sound.

The bare body that wrapped around him no longer got a rise out of him. He was completely used to Yumichika's nakedness by now, but the sight still dazzled him. It just didn't draw his gaze there anymore. As often… All the time. No, it didn't. Ikkaku had self control. It was getting easier, that was for sure. He'd have to deal with it, because Yumichika rejected the idea of clothes and completely refused to wear anything, as if to say, 'what do I have to be ashamed of?'

Absolutely nothing.

"You like this?" he asked halfway through a kiss, and Yumichika nodded, finally making those stupid 'bird lips' that kids often do when they try to give a kiss. Ikkaku kissed him once on the nose and then moved back to his mouth, holding Yumichika's face. Yumichika's mouth moved against his uncertainly, slowly, not really like a kiss at all, but Ikkaku didn't care. He wanted to devour this man, he wanted to make love, he wanted to be enfolded in Yumichika's wings and taken away. He didn't care if it was siren song or a lure. He didn't care. A harpy's mouth was touching his body and it wasn't trying to take a chunk out of him. Yumichika had to feel something real back for him, and that meant something.

"Why do you like it if you don't know how to kiss?" A dumb question like that was gonna' get a dumb answer and he knew it.

Yumichika smiled in a purposefully creepy manner, biting his nose playfully, drawing blood on accident even though it hadn't been a hard bite. Ikkaku yelped, and held the cut, glaring. Yumichika laughed breathily, no voice escaping, just air.

'Because you taste good.'

Aw fuck. Ikkaku groaned and his head flopped onto Yumichika's shoulder. Damn it.