Hat Retrieval by KitsunenoTama

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

It wasn't the wind that made her lose her hat this time, it was the river.

They were stopping for the day, much to Inuyasha's displeasure. Kagome had gone to the river to bring back some water to boil the ramen in. As she was kneeling down to get the water, her hat had fallen off of her head and into the river.

Kagome had then put down the pot and hurriedly stood up to go after her hat. It wasn't that she had to have her hat back, but she wanted it back because of what it stood for.

It was silly, but despite the hat's frayed appearance, she kept it because it reminded her of the moment Sesshomaru had done something nice for her. Her hat had been flying away in the wind until Sesshomaru had caught it. It was the expression on his face when he placed the hat on her head that stayed with her though.

Her hat was now floating away at a much faster rate.

She watched in horror as the river quickly changed to rapids then a waterfall. Her hat was doomed, and so was the memoir of Sesshomaru's kindness.

Walking back to camp slowly, Kagome sighed as she carried the full pot of water back to camp that she had rounded back to get. It seemed sort of pathetic for her to get all mopey over the loss of a simple hat, but sentimental feelings and all that.

"Oi, what's the matter?"

Kagome looked up as she was stirring the pot and blinked at Inuyasha. "Oh, nothing," she muttered turning back to pay attention to the pot, or at least half attention since her other half was on the possible whereabouts of her hat.

"Yeah right," Inuyasha retorted. He scowled at her and sat down beside her. "You came back and you're suddenly all weird. Did you lose that stupid hat of yours again?"

"It wasn't stupid!" Kagome protested. She blushed slightly as she continued stirring. "It was my favorite hat..."

"Why? Cause it had my brother's scent on it?" he asked glaring.

She went silent at that before she cautiously looked at him wondering what his reaction was. She stared in confusion at what she saw. He didn't look angry despite the fact that he was glaring at the ground beside her. Why though? "Inuyasha... if I said yes, what would you think?"

"That you're an idiot for falling for that guy," he told her gruffly.

"Wait, when did I ever say anything about love? It's just a hat!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Inuyasha said with a roll of his eyes as he stood back up. "Hey, if you're lucky, my brother will fetch your hat again for you."

"Inuyasha!" she yelled as she watched him leave. She then sighed and looked back down at the pot. Why couldn't her life be simple? And by simple she meant not falling for a guy who once tried to kill her... though she hated to admit that Inuyasha was right.

Kagome looked around the camp and noticed that everyone was asleep. Well, Inuyasha appeared to be, but for all she knew, he could be awake.

She sighed softly before she got out of her bed roll and put on her shoes. She looked at Inuyasha once before she walked into the forest. While going anywhere at night was often dangerous and a bad idea, she wasn't planning on going anywhere outside of Inuyasha's range anytime soon.

Though she changed her mind when she saw an approaching white figure in the distance.

Making her way quietly over to the taiyoukai, Kagome stared at the hat in his hand and her eyes widened. He'd done it again...

"Miko, must you insist on having this Sesshomaru retrieve your hat for you once more?" he asked quietly staring at her as he held out her hat.

"... Thank you," she told him quietly back as she took it.

Sesshomaru continued staring at her before he silently left, but not before telling her one last thing. "Lose that hat again, and this Sesshomaru will take it upon himself to teach you that some things are not to be lost."

Kagome wasn't sure how to interpret that. Was he threatening her or what? This second meeting involving her hat confused her more than the first one did. She should just chuck the thing away and tell herself to stay away from it. Though, that might just bring Sesshomaru back.

She shivered at the thought before she hurried back to camp. She had enough to think about now to put her to sleep for a good while!

At least she would if Inuyasha would care to stop snickering each time she was about to fall asleep.

"Sit," Kagome said quietly before she tucked herself in with a smile. She could sleep now, and dream of a white haired demon returning her hat to her.