Disclaimer: InuYasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I have nothing.

Using one arm, InuYasha swung his ax with practiced ease, quickly splitting the thick log braced under his opposite hand into more manageable pieces. He and Miroku had become so proficient at the art of chopping and stacking firewood, they now performed the task for practically the entire village (with the exception of a few men who felt hiring out their wood splitting would somehow damage their masculinity).

Taking a break from his work, InuYasha wedged the ax into the large stump he used as a chopping block before untucking his undershirt from his hakama, and pulling the ends up to wipe the sweat from his brow. He considered just removing the shirt altogether in an attempt to get some relief from the sweltering heat of late summer.

Glancing over at Miroku, he found that the monk was currently removing his own undershirt, leaving him dressed in nothing but the thin green pants he wore under his robes that were barely more than a second skin.

Well, if the monk is shameless enough to be seen in broad daylight wearing that…

InuYasha shrugged off his own undershirt and tossed it into the quickly growing pile of clothing, before re-tying and tightening his obi. If he were working for a villager he wouldn't have even considered stripping down to just his hakama, but today, he was restocking his own wood supply.

He shot a look over to his hut, where his wife and her closest friend sat on the porch, kicking their dangling legs as they giggled, whispered, and nudged each other like two schoolgirls. When Kagome's eyes met his, she sent him a little wave, accompanied by a wink.

InuYasha answered her wink with a half smile before yanking the ax from the stump and setting back to work. He was never quite sure what the hell it meant when she closed one eye at him like that. There was a time when he considered just asking her what it meant, but decided it best to try and interpret it on his own.

It seemed that most of the time when she did it, it was immediately following something she had said to deliberately tease him. Or sometimes she would do it when jokingly saying the opposite of what she meant (which was another thing he had yet to understand). She called it tongue-in-cheek, which didn't help explain anything at all, and to be quite honest, sounded a little dirty. What did an eye have to do with a cheek or a tongue anyway, other than being in close proximity on the body...?

There had even been a couple of occasions where she had done it while telling a lie. After some trial and error, he had realized that in this particular situation, it meant that she wanted him to join in on the lie with her. That was his least favorite use of the 'one eye blink', as he was a terrible liar, and more often than not, would unintentionally blow her cover.

He'd been certain that he had the thing figured out, but now he wasn't so sure...

Since Kagome had returned to him after her three year absence, she would sometimes do it for no discernible reason at all. Like she had done just now. And other times…

Other times she does it when she's trying to...when she's trying to be…

He was suddenly stricken with the mental image of Kagome in the nighttime firelight of their hut, turning her head to bat an eye at him seductively as she allowed her sleep kosode to slip down off of her shoulders and onto the floor...

He shook his head of that thought before it created an embarrassing situation. It was all very confusing indeed. He wondered if blinking one eye was something that all humans from Kagome's time did, or just a little habit that she had picked up for herself.

He looked back over his shoulder to the hut. The women were still smiling and giggling, ogling them like pieces of meat. Miroku was thoroughly enjoying the attention, strutting around in his tight little pants and flexing his muscles.

InuYasha furrowed his brow in disgust. "Oi!" he called out to his wife. "Don't look at him!"

The two women burst into a round of cackling laughter and InuYasha rolled his eyes in response.

They don't take me seriously at all...

"Why, InuYasha. Surely you wouldn't deprive your lovely bride of such a pleasurable view." Miroku teased.

"Can it, Bouzu."

"Come on, InuYasha. If they want a show we should give it to them. Trust me on this. It will pay off later I promise you."

InuYasha considered it. The idea of what the payoff might be was intriguing, if not enticing…

He quickly whipped around and stomped his way over to Miroku. "WHAT WAS THAT MONK?!" InuYasha yelled in his friend's face.

Miroku threw his hands up in surrender. "I-I assure you I meant nothing by it InuYasha."

"WHY DON'T YOU SAY IT AGAIN TO MY FACE?!" the hanyou growled, giving the monk an antagonizing shove against his chest.

"InuYasha! I don't even know what I said to offend you. What's gotten into you?" Miroku asked, his eyes wide as saucers.

"You said to give them a show, now just play along you stupid ass." InuYasha whispered, through gritted teeth.

Miroku nodded slowly as understanding dawned on him. Without another word, he returned InuYasha's shove a little more forcefully, catching the hanyou off-guard and causing him to stumble backward.

"WHY YOU!" InuYasha said before charging his friend and tackling him to the ground as they rolled around in their false struggle for dominance; the dry dust clinging to their sweaty backs and arms.

InuYasha glanced at the girls, who were now both sporting a look of concern. "I'm gonna pretend to hit you." InuYasha whispered and he pinned Miroku to the ground.

Miroku nodded.

"Take this!" InuYasha yelled, drawing his fist back and throwing a punch that missed the monk's face by a millimeter.

Miroku threw his head to the side in perfect timing with InuYasha's swinging fist.

"Don't hurt him, InuYasha!" Kagome cried out.

"It's working!" Miroku whispered excitedly.

InuYasha smirked as he stood and pulled Miroku to his feet. "You had enough yet, bouzu?" he asked, taking a few steps back and dropping into a fighting stance.

"I'm just getting started." Miroku shot back, before darting toward InuYasha and delivering a swift kick to the hanyou's chest.

InuYasha theatrically launched himself backwards and slid across the grass on his back.

"WOOO! YEAH! GET HIM, BABY!" he heard Sango yell.

InuYasha peeped over to the girls, and saw from their demeanor that they had clearly caught onto the act. They appeared to be enjoying it, too.

"YEAH!" Kagome cheered, cupping one hand around her mouth while pumping a fist in the air with the other.

InuYasha suppressed a chuckle as he hopped back onto his feet and stormed back over to monk. The two of them throwing punches and jabs, ducking and dodging, wrestling and pinning one other on the ground. For several minutes the mock-fight carried on, ultimately ending with both men panting and sweating, Miroku on his belly, pinned beneath InuYasha's chest in a headlock.

It may have been a fake fight, but that didn't mean InuYasha was about to let Miroku win…

The girls took this as their cue to rush towards their respective husbands.

"Are you alright?!" Sango called to Miroku with a over exaggerated tone of concern.

"I think I'll be okay, now that you are here to care for me my love!" Miroku said as the two men broke apart and he crawled to his wife, collapsing dramatically into her waiting arms.

"Are you injured?!" Kagome asked InuYasha as she fell to her knees before him.

"Keh!" he scoffed. "As if that scrawny monk could injure me."

"Ahem!" Miroku cleared his throat to gain his friends attention. "InuYasha, you don't have any injuries that need tended to?" he asked pointedly.

"Oh…" InuYasha said. "Uh...I mean, yeah…" he corrected, hissing through his teeth and clutching his chest with a grimace of pain.

"Aww...my poor baby." Kagome cried out, wrapping him in her arms and cradling his head against her breast. "Let's get you home so I can take care of you." she said as she slipped an arm around him and helped him to his feet.

"Yes," Sango agreed as she helped Miroku up off the ground. "I'm sure Kaede and Rin won't mind babysitting a little longer while I nurse you back to health."

As Kagome and InuYasha made their way to their hut, InuYasha spared a glance back to his friend, who shot him a grin and a 'one eye blink'.

Well...maybe he understood that stupid eye thing after all; because in this particular blink he could clearly hear Miroku's voice saying, "This is the best idea you've ever had."