An Itch

It happened suddenly. One minute Kouga was sitting in the circle of wolf tribe leaders annual meeting, the next he was crouching behind a nearby fallen log, scratching all over himself, praying that other wouldn't come over to check up on him.

It would be terrible, he knew about it. Being called a flea bag by the Western mutt was one thing, being proven to be a flea bag in front of all the other tribe leaders...

He'd rather shave his tail.

So he went and scratched himself and then ran off, on the way sending Ginta as a stand in for him. There wasn't going to be anything important going on during the rest of the meeting anyway.

Kouga found the special herbs and a pool of water. He stripped of his clothes and rubbed his whole body with crushed leaves and twigs, growling in anger and embarrassment. When his skin was red from the rubbing he jumped in the water and hissed as it touched his sensitive - of course only because of the weeds - body. He bit his lip and ducked his head under the surface of the pool, reaching for the clear sand on the bottom and rubbing himself some more.

Half an hour later he emerged from his bath, clean and pleased with his fast thinking and even faster actions. He, mighty Kouga, wouldn't be seen having fl-

"Aaah, damn!" he howled up to the moon when he realized that the pest somehow managed to survive. It surely was a youkai!

Well, maybe a youkai flea wasn't a disgrace as a mortal one, but Kouga didn't want that either!

Then he paused. His keen ears picked up a silent sob from the area of his manly, hairy chest.

Standing in the forest butt naked in the middle of the night, the leader of a wolf pack carefully reached to his torso and brushed aside his thick fur - his pride and sign of virility. There, over his sternum, was the flea.

He looked rather pathetic, tiny and old, his hands tied to Kouga's chest hair so he couldn't move. His big eyes were full of tears.

"Please, have mercy!" he yelled on top of his voice, struggling in his bonds. "Free me at once, before it's too late!"

"Huh?" Kouga blinked down at the little youkai.

"I'm Myouga. My fiance Shouga caught me and tied me here," the flea explained. "She's off, calling the guests."

"Guests?"

"She wants our wedding and honeymoon to take place on you," Myouga whined. "Please, please, I won't survive the wedding night! I'm too young to get married!"

Kouga thought about it for a second and then quickly sliced through Myouga's bonds with his claws. A flea youkai wedding on his person sounded bad enough, but having flea youkai wedding night on your chest... He wouldn't wish such a fate even on Inuyasha, who didn't even have proper chest hair. Myouga didn't waste any time, jumping away and calling up a crow to carry him far away.

"Go, friend," Kouga waved his hand. "Go and be free."