This chapter I dedicate to Mick. Because I think he might appreciate it.

Tangles

**

It had been a long night, and not an entirely comfortable one. Though the blanket that Inu-Yasha had draped over him had helped immensely, spending another night sleeping face down on hard ground was something Sesshoumaru planned to never do again. It wasn't only unpleasant; it was embarrassing.

But being unable to move gave Sesshoumaru a lot of time to just think about things. And at last, he decided he would accompany his brother and his annoying companions on this quest to find the twin snake demons. The irritating girl Kagome had said that whoever beat the snake demons were entitled to a wish. And who said Inu-Yasha would get to be the one to make that wish. Maybe Sesshoumaru would take that wish instead. He knew exactly what he would wish for.

That Inu-Yasha and his annoying companions were all dead.

Then again, he might not have to wait until they found the snake demons' mountain. He could kill them all himself, if he managed to get around that stay business. It was all a matter of being patient. And Sesshoumaru could be patient when he chose to be.

He figured he could make up his mind on the best way to kill them all later. From the way everyone had been talking, it may be a long trip to the snake demons' mountain. Assuming they could even find the place. So he would have time to think on it.

First things first, however. As the sun rose over the forest, Sesshoumaru could hear people moving about in Inu-Yasha's campsite. First order of business for the day was getting off the ground.

Kagome moved into the clearing a few moments later, smiling to see Sesshoumaru exactly where she'd left him. "Have a nice night?"

"Of course," Sesshoumaru replied calmly, finding himself at a disadvantage, having to strain his neck to look up at her. "Let me up, will you?"

"You going to be a good doggy?" Kagome said pleasantly.

Not if you're going to call me 'doggy' again, Sesshoumaru thought. Out loud he said, "If you wish."

"Now that's better!" Kagome said, smiling. "Heel!"

Sesshoumaru's hands came unstuck from the ground, and he sat up, stretching and wincing lightly as the joints popped. He picked up the blanket Inu-Yasha had given him, not entirely certain what to do with it now. It had been… so out of character for Inu-Yasha to care for his comfort. Then again, he didn't really know his brother, so who was he to say what was in character for him?

"So, is your answer still the same as last night?" Kagome asked.

Sesshoumaru stood up, the blanket still clenched in one hand. "I've decided I will accompany you on this… quest of yours."

"You're going to help us?" Kagome practically bounced with happiness. "Oh, I knew you'd reconsider. It's gonna be great, traveling with everyone is such fun…"

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. He didn't see what was going to be so 'fun' about it, but he'd go along with the strange human for now, until he decided on how to kill her. It would be a long trip, and accidents did happen.

He picked up Jaken's cage (in which the toadie was still sleeping) and followed Kagome back to their camp, where everyone was packing up their stuff to get ready for the trip. Sesshoumaru looked up at where Inu-Yasha was lounging on a tree branch, then glanced at Kagome.

"Ask him why he gave me the blanket," Sesshoumaru ordered her. That little detail hadn't added up, and he wanted to know why Inu-Yasha had done it.

Kagome looked up at Inu-Yasha, signing Sesshoumaru's question up to him. Inu-Yasha shrugged, jumping down from the branch, and signing something back to her and turning away.

"He says we ought to be going," Kagome murmured. "The next village might have more clues as to where to find the snake demons."

Which of course meant Inu-Yasha wanted to avoid answering the question. Well that was fine; Sesshoumaru didn't much like having to use Kagome as a translator in order to talk to his brother. Though he disliked the idea, he'd have to learn at least some of this sign language during the trip.

The trip, for the most part, was uneventful. They visited a village, which had indeed heard of these snake demons, but had no other additional information to provide. Not even a direction they should head in. By late afternoon they were off again, through sparsely wooded forest.

Kagome lead the party, with Sango and Miroku up front talking with her. Shippô was shortly behind, every so often pausing to inspect a brightly colored mushroom or leaf, then running again to catch up. Inu-Yasha walked behind them, for all the world looking just plain bored with the travels. And Sesshoumaru was last, carrying Jaken's little cage (as no one really cared enough to let him out.)

For a while Sesshoumaru was content to calmly plot the demise of the people walking ahead of him. But after a few hours, little things started to distract him. Like, Inu-Yasha's hair. Since Sesshoumaru was walking behind him, he really had a good view of it. Inu-Yasha really did have somewhat nice hair. But as he would have expected, it wasn't groomed; not brushed, and filled with little twigs and burrs picked up from a night spent sleeping in a tree.

And for some reason, this really bothered Sesshoumaru. And he didn't understand the feeling at all. But still the feeling was there, that Inu-Yasha would look really nice if he bothered to brush his hair.

A little into early evening, they set up camp, so they could still have a few hours of daylight left to gather firewood and provisions before night came upon them. Jaken, who had been blessedly quiet most of the day, started whining about being hungry and thirsty (and needing to pee). Resisting the urge to do something so undignified as rolling his eyes, Sesshoumaru let the little toadie out of his cage. Jaken made a dash for the bushes, and everyone else found something to do in the opposite direction.

The first thing Jaken did when he came back was raid Kagome's backpack. Kagome shrieked at him, chasing the toadie around the campsite for a few minutes while Jaken laughed and tossed her things about. Jaken threw her stuff about at random, and when he reached the bundle of Kagome's clothes, made a point of tossing the items- underwear in particular- with even wilder abandon. The others finished their tasks so they could watch Kagome pound the toadie into the ground.

Sesshoumaru ignored Jaken's plight, instead picking up a hairbrush that had been tossed from the bag. Though he didn't recognize the plastic substance it was made of, he did understand the item's purpose. Looking around for Inu-Yasha, Sesshoumaru spotted his brother up in a tree, having chosen a nice sturdy branch to be his perch for the night.

Odd how Inu-Yasha always chose to camp in a tree. While the others were busy with tormenting Jaken, Sesshoumaru climbed up the tree. Inu-Yasha turned to blink at him in surprise when he felt the branch's slight shifting at the additional weight. His expression carefully blank, Sesshoumaru held out the hairbrush to him. He probably seemed patronizing, and he didn't bother with trying to correct that appearance.

Inu-Yasha just stared at him, then at the brush, and with a look of distaste, he pushed Sesshoumaru's hand away. He turned his back on his brother, returning to watching the little scene on the ground.

Well if Inu-Yasha wasn't going to make himself presentable, Sesshoumaru would do it for him. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do, and he was curious now. Grabbing a handful of Inu-Yasha's hair, Sesshoumaru started to pick out the burrs, and brush the tangles out of it. Inu-Yasha turned his head to blink at his brother, but didn't object.

There was one thing useful about Inu-Yasha being deaf. It was hard to ask for explanations, or to give them. Because Sesshoumaru really wasn't in a mood to explain himself.

But it was nice like this, brushing out his brother's hair. Inu-Yasha's hair was soft and gleaming when it was all brushed out, and there was something wonderful about running one's fingers through it. Sesshoumaru watched Inu-Yasha's dog ears, the way they drooped just slightly in relaxation. Though Inu-Yasha hardly moved, it seemed he rather enjoyed having his hair brushed too.

Having suitably pounded Jaken and tossed him back in his cage, Kagome looked around for Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru. She didn't hear any sword clashing so they couldn't be off fighting somewhere…

Sango tapped Kagome on the shoulder, pointing up into the trees. "They're up there."

Kagome was surprised to find the two sitting companionably in the tree, Inu-Yasha's eyes have lidded as Sesshoumaru brushed out his hair. "That's… odd."

"It is, isn't it?" Sango said. "But maybe it's a good thing. Even if we don't find the snake demons, some good may come of the trip anyway."