A/N: Guess who's returned from the proverbial grave? That's right, it's me! Pardon my rust as I polish myself off, beginning with some simple, basic fluff. Nostalgia has been the monkey on my back as of late, and, watching Inu-Yasha again, inspiration hit me to start doing this again. Fandoms are magic. Sure, it's usually the smelly kind conducted by mountain trolls, but sometimes you find fairies. Pardon an old man his rambling and dust. Let the show begin!

MUQFF

"There he goes again," Kagome grumbled, glaring daggers at Inu-Yasha's back some distance away. "Fawning over Kikyo again! Kikyo, Kikyo, Kikyo! I swear she's all he thinks about sometimes!"

"She is all he thinks about sometimes, Kagome," Sango replied. She, too, glared daggers, though hers were directed at Miroku. "Your first love is never easy to forget."

"His first love is actively trying to kill him!" Kagome replied with more than a hint of exasperation. "Some girlfriend she is!"

"You still have yet to explain this 'girlfriend' concept to me, Kagome," the demon slayer grumbled, eliciting a defeated groan from the priestess from the future. It was beginning to look as though she was actually going to have to address this rather than evade the questions regarding this modern concept someday. But today was not that day, no ma'am.

"Nevermind that now! The point is it would be nice if he'd quit comparing me to her and talking about her all the time, that's all! You'd think he was disappointed to lose an old toy and get a cheaper replacement or something, the way he acts sometimes!"

Sango sighed, silently wishing her own emotional troubles were so trivial. Still, she held her tongue- Kagome was, after all, her friend, and friends should be there for one another when they are troubled. Kagome certainly did so for her, so what trouble would it be to be a shoulder to lean on? Rather than remind Kagome of her own troubles, the slayer instead chose to be supportive. "I understand. Miroku can be the same way, always sizing up and groping every woman he thinks will allow him to get away with it. Believe me, I don't think any man understands how he makes a woman feel when he does things like this."

"And we both know," replied Kagome, "that trying to explain it just hurts their heads."

"Unfortunately, that's simply the truth," Sango agreed. "At least we have one another to understand. It must have been awful dealing with the two of them alone."

"Mostly just Inu-Yasha," Kagome mused. "Miroku was at least a charming gentleman about trying to feel me up, as far as anyone can be a gentleman about that... Inu-Yasha never tried anything like that. No, he's a whole other kind of typical boy!" Kagome growled, leaning against a tree and choosing to focus on the one person who got it for the moment. "He has his moments, but all around, he's your typical dense, frustrating boy!"

Sango leaned upon her own tree, Kilala nuzzling her calves and shins in a gesture of feline affection. "They're all like this. Even the best of them. They care, but they just don't understand."

"No," Kagome replied, "some men definitely understand, but those ones usually aren't looking at women."

"What?" Sango asked.

"Nevermind," Kagome mumbled. "Maybe we'll feel better after a bath."

"That sounds wonderful," Sango sighed. "I haven't had a chance to bathe since the last battle we had. It would be nice to get the blood out of my hair."

MUQFF

It didn't take the duo long to find a hot spring. Fortunately for the hygiene-obsessed Kagome, the area seemed absolutely replete with natural ones. Nature does hot tubs so much better, she mused to herself in silence as she slipped in next to Sango, the slayer already in the process of rinsing and combing the dried, clotted blood and viscera from her otherwise lovely hair with the aid of Kagome's liquid hair soap, which she called shampoo, a borderline mystical substance to all but Kagome herself, in no small part because it smelled of lavender instead of rendered animal fat. The previous bottle of this substance, which Kagome had insisted was in no way magical, had smelled of cherry blossoms.

Cherry blossoms! What a world she must live in! Sango thought. Suddenly, she found herself tensed up in fright as something touched her hair- and then relaxed as she realized it was Kagome, brushing a stray bit of demon guts from her mane.

"You missed a little here," the woman from the future said to her, "let me help."

"Thank you, Kagome," she sighed. "Perhaps I could help wash your hair?"

Kagome giggled audibly at the offer. "I'd love that, Sango. Thank you," she said, thoroughly cleaning and rinsing Sango's locks with a care she normally reserved for her own hair, but also with a fascination once reserved for Inu-Yasha's ears. She wondered to herself how a girl whose whole life had been spent getting dirty, fighting, and training could possibly have such smooth hair, so few split ends and no fraying in spite of its length, but was reluctant to ask any questions of Sango regarding her secrets. Instead, she simply finished washing the hair of the woman she was coming to think of as her best friend and only understanding companion before turning about to allow Sango to return the favor.

Sango took a certain joy in relaxing and lathering the shampoo into Kagome's hair. The simple, repetitive motion was calming and soothing, much like sharpening and polishing a weapon could be. And just as she would when sharpening and polishing a blade, Sango took great care with Kagome's hair. Without her, her weapons were useless. Without her weapons, she was useless. However, without her companions, she would be purposeless rather than useless, the only thing worse in her mind. And so, they- especially Kagome, it seemed in the moment- were the only things more valuable to her. Every inch of them. Especially her, the one who understood and showed sympathy the most.

She spent some time with the hair of the woman she'd come to call friend in these recent times, who had leaned on her shoulder and been her shoulder to lean on, and, when she was done, decided on a rare display of affection, and hugged Kagome from behind, pressing her chest- soft, and yet firm from the layers upon layer of muscle beneath her breasts- into the priestess' back.

"Sango?"

"Kagome."

"What are you doing?"

"It's a hug. Is this gesture gone in your time?" Sango asked in a slightly mocking tone. Kagome sighed, seeing that sarcasm had hardly eluded her slayer friend.

"I just wasn't expecting it, that's all," Kagome said.

"I understand," Sango said, loosening her hold.

"I never said I didn't like it..."

Sango tightened her hold again, and spoke into Kagome's ear. "I just want you to understand how important you are to me, Kagome. You've been a friend like no other. Having you as part of my life, it's wonderful. Even though it's full of suffering, you've been my little light in the dark that helps me carry on. Forget about Naraku, I'm living for my friends now. Especially you. You listened when the others wouldn't, and you understood. You have no idea how much it means."

Kagome leaned back into it. "I do. I feel the same way about you. Well, I wouldn't say you're my light in the dark. More like... My rock when the river gets too rough. Whatever stupid things anyone else does and whatever happens, you're just... There for me in a way nobody else is. It's nice knowing someone will actually be there when I need them."

Sango squeezed a little tighter, burying her nose in Kagome's hair. "Thank you."

"Thank you," the priestess replied in turn, squirming and loosening the hold just enough to turn around and face Sango. Even without her makup, she was, undeniably, a gorgeous woman. Kagome actually found herself a little jealous but pushed it down. Don't ruin the moment, Kagome. She looked up, just a little, to stare into Sango's eyes, and felt that little butterfly in her chest that one does when they look at an incredible sculpture or painting that strikes their interest and appeals to their senses or hears a piece of music that resonates in their heart and soul. She was a little beyond gorgeous. She was just plain beautiful. Kagome, in a fit of what she would later think of as fortunate stupidity, took leave of her senses and leaned in to plant a firm, definitelty on purpose kiss on Sango's lips. At first, the slayer reacted with shock, then acceptance, and then, to the priestess' surprise, reciprocation.

After what seemed at once like seconds and like hours, their lips parted and they looked one another in the eye again, with a firm new understanding that their feelings were more than friendship. And it was lovely. Wonderful, even. Each blushed red as a beet, but they overcame their mutual embarrassment and sealed it with another kiss that briefly erased their sense of time before silently agreeing that bathtime was over and beginning to dry off and dress themselves again.

MUQFF

Around the campfire, Inu-Yasha, having grown hungry in Kagome's absence, had decided to make the instant ramen for himself rather than wait, impatient as he was.

"So," Miroku asked, "what do you suppose the ladies were talking about?"

Shippo shrugged. Inu-Yasha looked up from his ramen connundrum long enough to answer. "I dunno, Miroku," he said. "Girl stuff. Don't bother trying to understand. You'll only hurt your head."

MUQFF

A/N: There we have it. My first story in a long, long while. I hope people enjoyed. As always, review. Please. Reviews are author food, folks. Sustain me. I apologize for errors and oddities; I haven't used a real word processor on a real computer in a very long time indeed- most of my most recent work was written and uploaded via smartphone. Additionally, I am not particularly savvy with file formats and how things change or are lost in conversion. I beg you to bear with me if I need edits.