Sanzo sat up and stretched for his carton of cigarettes which was lying on the bedside table. He was in a much better mood than an hour ago. As he flicked his lighter he stiffened for a moment when warm fingers crept to the back of his neck. He paused in his cigarette lighting ritual for a moment, wondering if it was worth the effort to bat the idle fingers away from his personal space. He decided to let it continue when the hand started to knead his scalp lightly. He lit his smoke.

"Oi..." A lazy drawl from the owner of the hand.

"...What?" Sanzo was in a good enough mood to answer a question...if it wasn't too stupid.

"Your hair's gettin' pretty long."

Sanzo exhaled a plume of smoke. The kappa had some sort of fascination with his hair tonight.

"So?"

"You ever think of growing it out?"

Sanzo thought on this for a moment. It had never occurred to him to do that. Wait, hadn't they talked about long hair before...?

"Ch. No thanks. I'm not a pervert like you," he said taking another draw from his cigarette.

"Hey, I never said long hair made you perverted, just that it grows back faster if you do perverted things."

Sanzo paused at this proclamation.

"...Wait. Didn't you have your hair grown almost down to your shoulders the next month?"

"Yep" Gojyo grinned lecherously and (a little to his bedmate's disappointment) removed his hand from Sanzo's hair to cross his arms behind his head on the pillow.

"I don't even want to ask. You are a nymphomaniac" Sanzo rolled his eyes at him.

Gojyo chuckled and sat up to reach for his own carton of smoke; his unoccupied hand "accidentally" brushing against Sanzo's thigh. This time Sanzo did slap the offending hand away while he leaned forward to light Gojyo's cigarette with the cherry of his own.

Gojyo inhaled the smoke deeply, almost in a sigh, and then exhaled a light cloud toward the ceiling.

"Seriously though. You should grow it out."

"Hn."

"Really. Long hair is fun" Gojyo finished that sentence with a waggled eyebrow as he glanced at the monk from the corner of his eye.

"I mean, look at me. I have long hair. And I have loooots of fun" This time he punctuated his sentence with a smoldering look designed to distract.

Sanzo paused while pinching the hand Gojyo had been sneaking towards "certain areas". He'd really never thought about it. He'd always had it short; the only reason it had been allowed to grow out so much was that he had pretty much forgot about cutting it. He'd never been big on personal appearance and as long as it didn't get in his way there was no reason to bother.

Hn.

"It'd just get in the way in some battle" he murmured to Gojyo.

"Aw, c'mon. I'll braid it for you."

"I know how to braid"

Gojyo had heard the little bit of stiffness in that last answer and, despite what Sanzo usually said, he knew when to stop pushing. Not that he ever stopped usually. Tonight, though, he wanted to sleep in a warm bed instead of on the cold, hard floor. Stretching (and flexing a bit to catch Sanzo's appreciative eye) he laid back on the covers of their shared bed.

"Oh"

"Hn." Of course Sanzo knew how to braid. He'd done it thousands of times. It had been one of his favorite...er most annoying chores. Hn, now that he thought of it, both of the people he could say he had actually cared for back then had had long hair. He paused when a certain thought crossed his mind; almost choking on smoke in shock. Gojyo raised an eyebrow at his coughing form. The monk shook his head at the kappa's slightly concerned look and stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray on the nightstand. Surely he wasn't here with Gojyo now because the kappa had long hair?

No. That would imply a fetish...Sanzo didn't have fetishes. No matter how many times the kappa claimed he had an oral fixation for his banishing gun.

The ero-kappa had gotten swatted with the idiot fan ten separate occasions for that repeated remark. Maybe it was Gojyo with the fetish: for violence. That'd explain a lot...but hinted at implications he didn't want to think about tonight. Sanzo lay down next to the kappa and had a fleeting thought of what it'd be like to have long hair and was suddenly he was gripped with a vision-like mental image.

If Sanzo had long hair...Goku would pull it. Hard.

He didn't know why he could envision this with such clarity. He could even feel a bit of shadow pain from what that would feel if that happened. Maybe it was because one of the first things Goku had done when he had first met Gojyo was to tug it hard enough to get accused of attempting to snatch the redhead bald. Yes, it was best to get rid of the threat now. He'd ask Hakkai tomorrow. The smiling demon slayer was probably capable of giving him a decent hair cut.

All thoughts on hair started to fade away when the half-youkai next to him put out his own cigarette reaching over the priest to get to the ashtray. This time the accidental brushing was allowed without punishment. Sighing softly as Gojyo's hands once again found their way into his hair and started to caress and knead his scalp Sanzo had one last fleeting thought:

Maybe he'd let it grow out for a little while longer.