Kagome watched Inuyasha each day with growing impatience. He had such beautiful hair, but he did so little to care for it. He considered plucking a few stray branches grooming. She had brought a hair brush with her amongst her things, last time she’d packed, with some shampoo and conditioner and was just waiting for the right moment to pounce.
She’d made the unfortunate decision of choosing Shippo as her first victim with scissors, and after she’d accidentally made his bangs lopsided Inuyasha wasn’t having any of it. “Hey Inuyasha, if you’re going to wash with Miroku, why don’t you try using this?” Kagome offered brightly, now seeing her chance as Miroku and Inuyasha went off to the river together. Inuyasha raised a dubious eyebrow, glancing towards the bottle with distrust. “Oh come on Inuyasha, it’s not going to make your hair fall out. My brother uses it all the time, it’s nice.” She said, unscrewing the bottle cap, letting the clean scent fill the air.
Inuyasha’s ears pricked, as he cautiously took the bottle. “Why’d you need to use something so fancy?” He said, sniffing it, he leaned back from the bottle eyeing Kagome, as he mentally catalogued scents. “This isn’t the same one you use.” He said, only realising as Kagome flushed that he’d actually said that aloud. “Yeah, well I thought you’d like a different one.” Kagome said, suddenly stuck for words, glaring towards Shippo, as he started sniggering. “Just - put it in your hair when you get it wet. It’ll make the dirt come out easier. I’ll brush it out for you afterwards.” She hair, leaning forward to hide her face with her hair, suddenly nervous. He took it from her hands as she glanced down, walking away with it without saying anything else. “Miroku can use it too.” She called after him, to which Inuyasha replied. “Yeah, I’ll let him borrow it.”
“Unfortunately I can’t use my hairdryer so I’ll hope this’ll do.” She said, proffering a towel that she’d somehow managed to squeeze into her belongings. Inuyasha scowled in reply. “It’ll dry in the sun,” he grumbled, but to her surprise, he willingly planted himself down in front of her. “I also brought scissors if you don’t mind me cutting it.” She said, hedging her bets on his seemingly complacent mood. “What you did to Shippo looks horrible.” He replied, with a shudder. Kagome blanched. “That won’t happen this time.” She said, feigning confidence, as she lightly squeezed the towel over his hair, and smoothed her fingers through it. She bit back a smile as Inuyasha made a low thrum in the back of his throat, almost as if he was enjoying the feeling. “I’m not sure if I’ve had it cut since my mother passed.” He said quietly. Kagome swallowed, unsure of what to say. She took a lock between her fingers, making a line an inch from the ends of his hair. “I won’t take much off. It’s too pretty for that.”
Inuyasha made a low disgruntled growl, but said nothing otherwise. “If you make it look bad, you’ll have to let me cut yours.”
Kagome’s fingers hesitated over the lock she held in her hands, opening and clamping her mouth together. “Fine.” She said finally, the sound of the first snip emphasising her words. “I’ve always liked getting my hair cut.” Kagome continued, as she continued to work. “I had it short when I was little, and my mom said that I would always ask my dad to style and cut it for me.”
“Hm.” Inuyasha sounded, tilting his hair forward into a nod.
“You need to keep your head still,” Kagome said, threading her fingers through another silver lock. She swallowed, suddenly realising how long it had been since they talked like this. This could’ve been from before Kikyo had passed on from this world, and made things so different. For a moment, Inuyasha didn’t seem so far out of reach. They could still talk to each other and share things like this. Kagome was almost sad, as she made the final cut, pulling the locks together to see if they were the same length, loosing them between her fingers. “Okay, now turn to face me.” Kagome said, quietly, again absorbed in her work as she examined Inuyasha’s unkempt bangs. “How do you even see?” She murmured underneath her breath, and Inuyasha lifted back his teeth into another scowl, glowering at her with his amber eyes. She shook her head, biting back a bemused smile. Inuyasha’s eyes seemed to soften as he looked at her. “Close your eyes.” She instructed.
“You better not mess this up.” Inuyasha warned lowly as he did so.
“They’re already a mess.” Kagome said flatly, as she snipped them back, and more hair fell onto the grass around them. He made another thrumming sound in the back of his throat, as Kagome combed her fingers through it. Happy with the length, she leaned back to examine her work. She snipped back a few stray hairs. “Keep your eyes closed,” She said again, softly. The ends were just starting to dry, but she it looked to be the same length as it had been when she found him bound to that tree. Inuyasha wrinkled his nose, and she smiled contentedly. He lost the hard edge that his semi-permanent scowl usually gave him, and the overconfident curl of his mouth. Without all that, he had the same face that she’d found herself enamoured by. She swept his bangs back from his face for one last time, murmuring, “Let me know if you mind,” lightly touching her lips to his forehead. Inuyasha’s eyes fluttered open, wide and questioning.
Flushing, Kagome broke from his gaze. “Sorry,” she mumbled immediately, hiding her face with her hand. Inuyasha, reached up hesitantly to finger his now cut bangs, touching his forehead. “They look awful.” Inuyasha said, frowning at Kagome. “How would you know?!” She retorted, “You haven’t even seen them yet!”
“You said, I could cut your hair if they look bad, and they do I can tell.” Inuyasha blustered. “So it’s only right I return the favour. An eye for an eye.” Inuyasha finished. Only now did Kagome notice the faint pink of his cheeks, and the playful glint in his eyes behind his brash words. “You-” she said incredulously, not sure whether to laugh or to be mad. “Unlike yours, mine doesn’t need cutting.” She continued. Suddenly, Inuyasha’s face was right in front of hers, pushing back her fringe from her forehead. “I can’t see your eyes, so I don’t know how you’re seeing through that.”
“You know what? Fine. I’m not arguing with you. You seem pretty set on it anyway. But, if you do mess up my hair, I will make sure you won’t be able to tell the difference between your boys from your sits your butt will hurt so bad.”
