This is the next installment in my collection of mini-fics about the under done coupling of Bankotsu and Kagome. As said in previous chapters, I sadly don't own Inuyasha, although, I would probably be tempted to sell things that were precious to me, not people too messy, if she was willing to sell it to me.

Hair

Kagome looked around the campsite, wondering if she would be caught if she left right now. As she scanned the mixed up group, she smiled, Sango was polishing her infamous boomerang, glaring at Miroku, who just seemed to keep scooting closer and closer every time she turned her head. Shippou was coloring, drawing a picture of Inuyasha getting his head smashed in by a rock after the inu-hanyou had stolen his candy, but every time said boy looked, he flipped over the paper, coloring a picture of himself and Kagome in a meadow, picking flowers. Kagome giggled at the sight, Inuyasha sat quietly, his back comfortably pressed against a tree. Whenever they would get low on firewood, he would simply toss his sword directly above, severing at least an armful of branches to add to the pile.

She smiled and walked off, going to the specific spot that they'd agreed on. Looking up, she saw the moonlight making itself known through the trees as if to say that she could always depend on it to be there on time, even if she couldn't for her companion. She sighed and sat down on a rock, excited to find it was next to a tree, like a chair. Happy that he had chosen a river's edge, she skipped rocks while she waited for him. Just as she was trying her fourth attempt to make it across the water, Kagome heard a twig being broken and she readied her arrow, just in case it wasn't her friend. Glaring at him, she lowered her arrow, watching him. He had his customary smirk on, walking towards her, one hand above his head in a sign of peace, the other holding his halberd, resting it comfortably on his shoulder.

Bankotsu smirked as he saw Kagome, "You were gonna shoot me, Kag? After all we've been through?" He clutched his heart in a dramatic death and stumbled towards her, dropping his sword nearby and crumpling at her feet. Looking up, he smirked, as if to say what he'd said so many times, 'You wouldn't be able to. I'm too good for that.' Sitting up, he sat cross-legged in front of her, his back towards her, so that his head was near her lap. She took his braid in her hands, undoing it and watching his shoulders slump as he relaxed his back into her shins.

She shook her head, amused, and yet, annoyed at his antics, "If you weren't late all the time, Bankotsu, I wouldn't have to be so nervous about who was coming. If you were actually here, Bankotsu, you would be the one on alert." He shook his head and turned to look at her with a smirk, only to have his head jerked back, letting out an indignant yelp as she ignored him completely. As they sat together, he closed his eyes in bliss as she rubbed her fingers through his hair. She rolled her eyes, hearing him sigh in relief, and wondered, as she had on many of their meetings, how he had softer hair than she did. She had the modern advances in technology, and cosmetic products, but his smelled better, and moved better.

For the whole meeting, they said nothing, simply enjoyed each other's presence. After Kagome had finished playing with and rebraiding his hair, she patted him on the shoulder and they wordlessly switched spots, him dipping his hands in the water to moisten her hair as he braided it in pigtails. He smiled, maybe Jakotsu teaching him how to braid when they met wasn't so bad after all. Remembering their first meeting, he relaxed a little more, leaning back onto the tree. She had been coming out of her bath, the demon slayer having walked back to give the younger girl some time alone. Inuyasha had been a pain, and she had sighed, putting her towel out on the ground and lying on it, closing her eyes in a sad attempt to relieve the pain between here eyes.

Bankotsu walked up, saying nothing but watching her, his sword in the trees around, just in case. Silently, the mercenary had come up behind her and sat, just being in her presence made him feel odd, but the spell was broken when she had opened her eyes to see him staring down at her. Covering her mouth with his hand to hide the scream, he told her he wasn't there to hurt her, and had chuckled at her look of pure disbelief. He'd smirked and just held her, telling her that if he thought she would scream, he wouldn't let go, and that he had nowhere else to go, so they could sit there all night. She'd calmed down quickly after that and he'd let her go.

Once the fear of getting killed had left her, she seemed to be overwhelmed by curiosity about him. She walked around him, making him dizzy and asking question after question. After answering a few, he got bored, but rather then having her get upset at him for not being able to word things politely, he got an idea. He settled for pulling her down to his level, and started doing the only thing he knew wouldn't get him slapped. He started running his fingers through her hair.

Ever since then, they'd both found it calming, and had left their groups often to meet and just sit together. After he finished her pigtails, he tapped her back. She turned around with a smile, and he smiled back, each of them thinking how well the braiding suited the other. As usual, Kagome hugged him and they walked silently to the edge of Inuyasha's smelling range around their campsite.

"Goodnight, Ban."

"Goodnight, Kag."