The Hat
By Sarga

Summary: Kagome has a strange dream and Inuyasha has to bear the humiliation...

A/N: Written for the LJ community iycaptions prompt: "Indiana Jones".


Inuyasha's ear flicked in annoyance as he crouched near the fire, ramen cup in one hand, flicking a stray noodle from the other. Kagome was looking at him weird... again. And she was making those funny strangled noises... again.

Annoyed, Inuyasha finally had enough of Kagome's stifled laughter.

"What?!" Inuyasha barked, causing the girl to lose her already tenuous grasp on those treacherous giggles.

Holding her stomach as she tried to keep her breath while letting it all out, Kagome was hard pressed to find that control at the sight of Inuyasha pouting like a wayward puppy. Trying her best anyway to quell the tittering sounds, Kagome's eyes sparkled in mirth, her ear-to-ear grin and watery eyes the only clues that she was still fighting of whatever wave of humour had overwhelmed her the first time.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha," Kagome spoke breathlessly, still on the edge of no control. "It's just... I had this dream about you last night, and with you sitting there, whipping your hand around..."

Kagome lost it again.

Sullen, Inuyasha scowled. She had dreamt about him and she was laughing. She had idreamt/i about him! And she was ilaughing/i? A man's pride could only take so much and Inuyasha had never had a high tolerance for humiliation.

"Feh, I'm going to patrol. I need to kill something," Inuyasha grunted, trying to ignore the pang of hurt. Kagome was still laughing, although not as hard.

"Oh, come on, Inuyasha..." Kagome didn't miss the look of pain that had flashed across his eyes. She hadn't meant anything by it, after all. "How about I tell you about my dream. I'm pretty sure you'd find it funny too."

Hesitating for a moment, Inuyasha turned back and sat down next to the priestess, thanking every kami in existence that the others weren't around to see his humiliation.

"Well, you know those movies that come on tv back home?"

Inuyasha nodded.

"Well, there's this movie... about a guy who goes searching for treasures, and he has this trademark whip and hat. Well, I dreamed you were him and when you flicked your hand like that, with that wet noodle flinging everywhere," Kagome's voice was rich with mirth once more. "I couldn't help it..."

Inuyasha did not find that amusing. Not one. Single. Bit.

Inuyasha growled deep in his throat, his eyes narrowing in rage as he leaned in toward the girl who had caused the slight.

"So your saying," Inuyasha's voice was low, but there was suddenly nothing more important than paying attention to those dangerous words. "That I had a hat?"

Kagome nodded.

"And you're saying," Inuyasha paused again, his voice rasping. "That I had a whip?"

Kagome didn't know why, but alarm bells were going off in her head. Knowing that answering would be dangerous, but that not answering would be even imore/i dangerous, Kagome swallowed convulsively, her mouth suddenly rivalling the sahara.

"Uh... yeah?"

The spark of her voice ignited Inuyasha's fury, the half-demon jumping away and pointing an accusing finger at the girl.

"I'm not some pansy 'lord-of-the-west-wannabe', wench!" Inuyasha stomped back to the girl who had scrambled to her feet, her amusement returning full force at the sight of his defensive denial. "You have got to have the most messed up dreams I've ever heard of!"

The pair were nose to nose and Kagome was growing just a little miffed at being yelled at for a idream/i she had had while she was iasleep/i!

"Oh yeah! Well what do iyou/i dream about, if you're so sure mine's that weird?" Kagome demanded, arms akimbo. She could feel the puff of breath that escaped his lips before he was just... gone.

"Eh...?" Kagome was left stranded, her anger suddenly overwhelmed by curiosity. What had just happened?

Inuyasha watched from the tree branch above, his red face betraying his embarrassment . "Tricky wench," he grumbled as the sights of his own dream flashed before his eyes once more.

Strange thing about that hat she mentioned was...

It was all ihe/i had been wearing...


-FIN-


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