“Jeez, when was the last time brush entered your vocabulary?” Anka asked as she cautiously poked Nagi’s muddled hair.

“Last night when I brushed Nami’s hair,” Nagi said as he proudly crossed his arms over his chest, nodding.

“I’m fixing your rat’s nest,” Anka said as she yanked Nagi to his feet. “For Pete’s sake, you have more dead ends than a horror movie!” she hissed as
she stopped him in front of the bathroom sink.

“Thanks, now what are you gonna do to me?” Nagi asked as he turned to
Anka who grabbed a shampoo bottle.

“Shirt off and lean under the spigot,” Anka instructed as she turned on the water.

“Good explanation,” Nagi uttered as he slipped his shirt off, tossing it on the towel rack. He bent down as Anka had instructed, letting her muddle his hair with conditioner and her fingers. She lathered another fair amount of conditioner in Nagi’s hair, turning off the water this time. “What now?”

“Give it a few minutes,” Anka said calmly as she draped a towel on Nagi’s shoulders. “And you seriously have some thick hair…” Anka remarked.

“Take a pick on which nationality contributes that,” Nagi commented.

“You are like a little of everything, huh?” she asked thoughtfully.

“French, Egyptian, English, German, Irish, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Polish, Swedish, Welsh, Cherokee, Inuit…” Nagi tapered off. “I’m sure there are more that my family forgot about.”

“Okay, back under water,” Anka said enthusiastically as she took the towel again, draping it over her shoulder and turning the water back on, thoroughly rinsing Nagi’s conditioner.

“May I ask why you’re doing this?” he asked between spitting out water.

“So Nami thinks you’re a handsome prince,” Anka teased.

Nagi blushed, “Any other reasons?”

“Boredom,” she shrugged before turning off the water, ruffling Nagi’s hair with the towel to dry it.

“I could have done that,” he said flatly.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Anka admitted as she grabbed a pair of scissors, opening and closing them twice quickly. “And I’m now going to snip away your dead and split ends,” she said as she began doing so.

“Not like my hair was even anyway,” he shrugged, accepting his fate.

---

“Now, for the ultimate adjustment!” Anka said enthusiastically.

“Ow…ow...ow…” Nagi repeated as Anka slowly ran her brush through his still knotted hair.

“If you did this more it would hurt less,” she said calmly as she made some progress with the strokes.

“If you didn’t do this it wouldn’t hurt,” he retorted through gritted teeth.
“Hush and trust,” Anka said confidently as she continued easily running her brush through his hair.

~After several long, painful moments~

“See?” she asked. “Your hair is almost as long as mine when it isn’t knotted around itself.”

“How’s this supposed to help me?” he asked as he pulled down a few of the longer strands of his bangs.

“Nami will like it,” Anka said with encouragement.

“Girls love boys who take longer in the bathroom than they do,” Nagi said wryly.

“If you groomed regularly you wouldn’t take but ten minutes in the shower, twenty if you ever get facial hair,” she said with a smile.

“Funny…” Nagi sighed as he ruffled his hair.

“Hey! I took the time to do that!” Anka growled as she fixed his hair again.

“Hello,” Nami said softly as she walked into the room.

“Nami,” Anka ran to her best friend giving her a tight hug.

“Hi…” Nagi said softly.

“Nagi…” Nami smiled and gave him a tight hug. “I see you got the Anka treatment…” she whispered.

“Huh?” he asked, still hugging Nami.

“You look good either way though,” she said softly.

“Anka treatment?” Nagi asked.

“She’s been planning this for a good while,” Nami whispered. "And..." she ruffled his hair, "and you look good..."

"Erm...really?" Nagi blushed.