Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha or Kagome, only the situation. This is my first attempt at fan fiction, so let me know how I did. :P Hopefully I'll get the guts to finish this (you'll see). Here goes nothing!


Scratch

It was the fine art of InuYasha watching. The art was so much more fun than birdwatching, because he'd get SO mad if he caught her. He thought she was asleep. She could hear him muttering to himself and shifting around. Normally that didn't last long. He'd eventually settle in to think or sleep. Tonight he'd been doing it for almost an hour. She watched him rubbing his back against the bark. She'd seen it all of once, that back. It was really VERY nice, with bands of muscles and not-too-wide shoulders. Her fingers had itched to touch it. She'd managed to control herself, but she still didn't know how. That sight still lived in her dreams.

Guess he had an itch to scratch. Pardon the very intentional pun.

She sighed loudly and rolled over. He froze. She blinked her eyes open. He immediately assumed his "thinking position", staring straight ahead, Tetseiga leaning on his shoulder, legs folded in front of him. It was ruined by the twitching of the free shoulder. Yep, he had an itch.

"InuYasha?" She asked, sleep thick in her voice. Faked, but he fell for it and looked down. "Is something wrong?"

"Keh" Typical.

She would not smile. She would not! The annoyed face was what she needed. Damn his night vision. "You woke me up with all that racket. You won't stop moving. What's up?" If he believed that, he had rocks in his head. He hadn't made a sound.

She waited for the "Keh," and when it came, he also turned his face away. She couldn't stop the grin. She was screwed. Guess she really was her mother's daughter. Mrs. Higurashi said once that InuYasha reminded her a lot of her husband. The exact quote was "He was as much an arrogant, jealous, pain in the ass as your friend. You'll never have any peace and quiet, but you'll have love. I'm glad you found him." She'd sounded sad, and happy at the same time. The grin got wider. Her mom thought the world of her dad. InuYasha had gotten one hell of a complement.

Now even her thoughts sounded like him. She had it bad.

He'd started twitching again. His ears, too. Checking to see if she'd gone back to sleep. No such luck. She was as much a pain in the ass as he was. She reveled in it, too.

"Why don't you come down?"

"Why would I want to, bitch?"

Must twitch eyebrow. Kill the grin, he's looking. " 'Cause you look like you have an itch. I could take care of it for you." She would not make the "itch to scratch" comment, even if he wouldn't get it. She certainly had one he could scratch for her. The thought made her smile again, a wicked little smile she couldn't stop. He noticed.

"Keh. You're imagining things." What was that smile for? It was almost an evil smile. He'd never seen her smile like that. It made him want to jump down just to see what she was up to. Either that, or run in the opposite direction. He turned away again, instead. Why wouldn't she go back to sleep? The itch was driving him insane. He tried to control the twitch in his shoulder. No good. Checked to see if she was watching. Yep. DAMN!

"You could just come down quietly, and . . ." The threat hung in the air. Get sat from 30 feet up, or go down. Pride kept him in the tree. Barely. "SIT next to me for a minute."

SMACK. He landed face down about 3 inches from her sleeping bag. When he managed to un-plant his face and look up, she looked startled. "Keh. Bitch." This time he was close enough to catch something. A quick twitch in her lips, before she looked annoyed again. A little glitter in her eye that had nothing to do with anger. His eyes narrowed. Something was up.

The itch was still there. And it spread. Damn, he hated this. He couldn't think.

He sat up, with his back to her. Ignoring her. Playing right into her hands, not that he knew it. She sat up, putting her hands on his shoulders. They were warm. More than warm, they were burning him through his clothes. He listened to her breathing. He sniffed, covering it as a snort. She smelled like she always did, but there was something extra. Something he did NOT want to think about. Her hands moved. Just a little. He ignored it again. If he'd turned, he'd have seen her face. The wicked smile was back.

She had a grip on his shirts. Both of them. Under his hair. Before he could move, they were around his waist, pinning his arms to his sides. His hair was tossed over his shoulder. She found the red spots he had been rubbing against the tree. Hard, apparently. She started scratching.

He was done for.

She was just missing the really itchy spot, so he moved to the side. She scratched. He purred. He moved so she was scratching another, and purred louder. His last rational thought was "Thank the gods the others aren't here . . ."

She pushed at him, getting him on his stomach. His arms were free, now, curled under his head. She'd given up on spot scratching. She worked on his whole back. She sat on her knees beside him, then she shifted. InuYasha growled as she moved to sit on him, one leg on either side. She didn't think he was protesting. Not much, anyway. He sure as hell didn't move.

She got tired of scratching, eventually. His back looked cherry red. He growled again, louder. Not able to resist, she scratched behind his ears, listening to him purr, and feeling him lean into her fingers. She'd dreamed of that. But then, she'd dreamed of most of this. Dreams just didn't compare with this. She straddled his butt, running her hands through his hair and over his back, and he allowed it. Life just couldn't get better, could it? She climbed off, balancing on one arm near his head, and one leg. Her free hand tangled in his hair, rubbing his scalp. Did he get headaches like she did?

Once second she was on top of him. The next, he was on top of her. She didn't even have time to squeak, barely time to breath in, just enough to look up and meet his eyes before his mouth was on hers. Her eyes slipped closed, and her mouth slipped open. She threaded both hands into his hair, started scratching behind those adorable ears. He didn't purr this time, he groaned. His thigh was between hers, and it moved higher, pinning her, the cloth abrading her mostly bare legs. Shorts were wonderful things. One of his hands tangled in her hair, using it to pin her head to the ground. She was well and truly trapped, and enjoying every minute.

He tried to lift his weight off her, but his mouth stayed where it was. She had a tight grip on his hair, and refused to let go. He growled, and freed his hand from her hair. It took both to grab her hands and remove them from his ears. He kept her mouth occupied for another minute, taking both her wrists into one hand. She was so tiny! He sat back on his haunches, and stared at the girl on the ground. She stared right back, and sealed her fate. She smiled, wriggled a little, and said, "I've got this itch . . ."