Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, the plot belongs to me.

Hair

By Icka! M. Chif

"Argh!" Inuyasha let out a string of curses as the bark of the tree he'd been sitting against latched on to his long white hair. "I hate spring!"

Kagome looked up from her studying to give him an inquisitive look. "Why? The weather's getting better for traveling, we can sleep outside again and the flowers are starting to bloom, making the air smell good. I would've thought you'd be pleased."

"Whatever." He growled, pulling his hair free from the tree. He grumbled under his breath, making sure none of the other strands were stuck as well.

Kagome watched him thoughtfully for a minute, then started to grin. "Inuyasha, you aren't... shedding, are you?" She asked, a bit of mischief twinkling in her eyes.

Inuyasha glared at her. "Now what would give you that yiffin' idea?"

"That." She stifled a giggle as she pointed to the tree. It had a tuft of Inuyasha hair trapped in it's bark. Inuyasha glared at it as if he could make it vanish if he stared at it hard enough.

"Poor Inuyasha." She teased, reaching over and ruffling through her pack. It took her a second, but she found what she was looking for. Pulling it out, she rose and walked over to where the half-youkai was sulking, well out of the tree's range.

"Here." She sat down behind him. "Now hold still."

He moved away, watching her warily. "What are you planning wench?" He asked, keeping out of arm's reach.

She crossed her arms. If he was going to be stubborn, so was she. "You'll see. Just get back or I'll say 'it'."

When he didn't loose the wary edge, she smile gently at him. "It's nothing bad, I promise."

He growled softly, narrowing his eyes at her, but slowly crept back over and sat down in front of her, looking ready to jump away at any minute. "Stoopid wench. Probably would say 'sit' too if I didn't." He grumbled.

"Relax." She whispered, pulling out her hairbrush again. Now that she could get a better look at his hair, it was obvious that he was shedding, or as much as he could. Some attempt had been made to un-tangle it, probably with his claws. She snorted and started to gently work out the tangles.

"What are you doing?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously, still tense.

"I'm-" She pulled out a huge handful of loose hair "-untangling your hair."

He appeared to silently ponder this over for a minute. "Why?" He finally asked.

"Because." She answered back, pausing to clean out her brush. Just how much hair did he have?! She untangled another section and added several more handfuls to the pile that was growing beside her.

"You didn't answer my question." Inuyasha pressed.

She paused, then asked a question of her own. "Have you ever had someone brush your hair before?"

"No."

"Then call it a girl thing." She answered primly. It seemed to be the correct answer. After all, he always saw her brushing her hair, or occasionally Shippou's. Come to think of it, she'd been cleaning her brush out a bit more frequently after brushing Shippou's tail. It made sense now.

She got the ends untangled and started brushing the rest of his hair, from the base of his ears down to the tips, past his waist in blissful silence. After a while, she noticed a peculiar sound. It was almost like a... purr?

She leaned forward and glanced at Inuyasha's face. His eyes were half closed, a peaceful expression on his face. It sounded like he was the one making the sound. But... Inuyasha? Purring? She mentally shrugged and continued brushing his hair.

The motions were almost meditative and she found herself relaxing as well, almost to the point of falling asleep.

"Ka-gome!" A voice called, waking her up an indiscernible amount of time later. She looked up to see Shippou and Miroku returning from their trip to the village to get food. She motioned for them to be quiet as they approached.

Ever curious, Shippou crept up to peer in Inuyasha's face. "He's asleep." He whispered, looking fairly awed.

"Shhh." She whispered back. Miroku knelt down a few feet away, watching them.

"Is he purring?" He finally asked softly.

Shippou hid a snicker, then nodded. "He is! He is!" He quietly cheered.

She smiled gently, setting the brush down. "Let him sleep." She whispered, rising.

Shippou nodded. "Right. He's less cranky this way." He said wisely, carefully backing away.

"Did you get the supplies?" She asked, returning to the topic at hand.

Miroku nodded. "Yeah. I'll start on dinner if you want to 'study' un-interrupted Kagome-sama."

"Arigato." She smiled at him as she curled back up with her books again. It'd been a nice break from studying. And it would be interesting to see how he reacted when he woke up.

But for the moment, she had studying to do. Now if only she could get all this loose hair out of her notebooks...

Fin.

Yes, dogs do purr, it's just not normally called that. It sounds kind of funny if you're not expecting it, a deep 'uhrrrrrrr' sound. Got the idea for this watching my dad brush out the family's boarder collie's spring coat. : }

Comments, questions and the best dog fur for spinning, please send to icka_IMP@hotmail.com