Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
REVISED: format - 10/15/2006

Replaced Bride – Part II
Found You

"Sango, I can't see a thing!" Kagome rocked back onto her heels, glaring at the bush in front of her. They'd been searching for Kirara for the better part of an hour now, with no luck. And Bankotsu wasn't answering his cell phone, which was somewhat unusual. He was a fanatic about answering, especially when it dealt with work or his girlfriend.

"I can't either. Where could she have gone? She's not a normal cat; she doesn't just run off." The other girl ran her fingers through her hair in agitation, loosening it from its high ponytail. Both women were still dressed in their uniforms from the Western Lands, which was probably why they were being given odd looks by various passers-by, on their way home from work.

Where they had been until all of this happened… Kagome groaned and found a likely looking place at the bottom of a tree and settled there. Her roommate followed suit, collapsing next to her with a loud sigh. "She knew I'd be worried about her, so where did she go?"

"Maybe someone took her," came the unfriendly help. Sango rolled her eyes.

"Kagome-chan, Kirara can take care of herself. No one took her anywhere without a major struggle that Kohaku and Souta would have noticed."

"True." She looked up, smiling as leaves fell from the tree. She loved winter—it was a beautiful season. "Hey, Sango-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"Is that your cell?"

The other girl blinked, automatically reaching for her purse. Then she shook her head. "No… I don't use that ringer anymore." But still, she took out the small object, checking quickly for any missed calls.

"Hmm." Kagome glanced around—they were alone. Then why was she hearing…

Eh?

Her fingers encountered a cool object. Glancing down, she saw a small black flip-phone, hidden in the bushes. It was still ringing. She picked it up.

"Ah—hello?"

"Where are you? You haven't answered any of your calls in days and no one can find you! Why aren't you at your apartment?"

"I—wait, that is—"

"Well?" The barely concealed impatience in the very rough, very masculine voice caused her to stutter something she probably shouldn't have.

"At the park in the center of town but—"

"What? You're still here? All right, hold on and I'll have a driver come around for you. Don't move," he ordered authoritatively. "You've given us enough trouble tonight!"

"No—oh no, you don't understand, I'm not—" The connection clicked off.

She stared at the phone in bemusement as Sango snapped her fingers in her friend's field of vision. "Kagome? Kagome? What's going on? Whose phone is it?"

She shook her head suddenly, shaking herself out of her reverie. "Uh—um." She bit down on her lower lip as she began pressing various buttons. Somehow she made it to the phone book. "Not really sure—it's not saying anywhere, but I did find the number storage."

"Well, who was it on the other line?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think I recognize the voice—but that's not the problem. They're sending a car over to pick 'me' up!" She traced quotations in the air. "They're going to be furious when they can't find her, and he didn't exactly stop to listen to my explanation…"

"Well, why not call him back?" Sango asked reasonably, already reaching for the phone.

It rang again, a cheerful, light-hearted dance of sound. Kagome blinked, automatically answering as she brought the phone up to her ear, "Yes?"

"…Who are you?" The voice was soft, lilting and feminine.

"I don't own this phone," she admitted. "I found it in the park—do you have any way to contact whoever it belongs to? I'll gladly give it back, it's just that—"

Click.

The line went dead again. She glared at the little mobile unit in annoyance. "Well honestly," she breathed. Her friend's brow furrowed in annoyance.

"Here, let me see that."

Kagome handed it over with a half pout. "Both of them just hung up on me!" she pointed out angrily. "That's just not right!"

"Hmm," Sango agreed, fiddling with the tiny buttons. She groaned suddenly. "Well, there goes that idea."

"What?" She scooted closer to her roommate, peering over a white-clad shoulder.

"The last two incoming calls were restricted! That means we can't call them back." She sighed loudly, glancing around. "Okay, so, there's a car coming?"

"Yeah—He must be rich. Sounded rich." Kagome stood, brushing dirt off her thigh-length skirt. She'd have to wash it. How many clean ones are there in my closet? … Eeuck, when was the last time we did laundry?

"…so it's going to be a nice car, probably slowing down to hunt someone down," Sango concluded.

"Eh?" Wide blue eyes blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"The car? Hello? We can tell the driver what happened!" The older girl looked up from her spot on the ground, faint irritation in her voice. "You can really zone out at the oddest times, Kagome-chan."

"Yeah…" she smiled sheepishly, before taking a long look around. "We're looking for a car?"

"A nice one, probably black. They don't show as much dirt and bug guts in between washings and waxings." Sango frowned at the phone before slipping it into her pocket. "And we still need to find Kirara, too."

"I think that's the car." Kagome lifted a hand to shade her eyes as she squinted. The car was definitely slowing… yep, and stopping. Well, the limo, anyway. It was definitely not just a 'car'. She whistled. "Richer than simply rich, I think."

"I agree. Come on, let's—" Sango's voice trailed off as a uniformed male escaped the interior of the vehicle and came striding to them purposely. Two pairs of eyes widened and stared in blank shock as he stopped in front of Kagome, bowing politely.

"Madame, if you will come this way please."

- - -

Sesshoumaru sat calmly in the sitting room, sunglasses discarded and placed meticulously on the lamp table. He was flipping through a financial journal as his younger brother paced impatiently, tugging at his tie in annoyance. "Well, where is she?" he snapped.

"They'll be here soon. Be patient." The older youkai didn't glance up as he spoke.

Inuyasha growled softly, ready to rip off the bloody neckpiece. He hated the stupid human contraptions. "How do you know?"

His brother gave him a flat look. "The driver called me."

"Oh."

- - -

She rapped on the tinted glass, trying to gather the attention of their escorts. "Hello? Really, you have the wrong woman! Look, you don't understand, I just picked up the phone… can you even hear me?"

Kagome sighed and flopped back into her seat, pinching the bridge of her nose. They're either really good at ignoring, or they really can't hear me at all. How do I talk to them?

The exciting prospect of riding in a limo was overridden with all her worries and her desperate need to go back home to her little brother sometime in the future. She had the nasty feeling of being abducted, though that was, of course, silly—it was simply a case of mistaken identity.

"I really want to go back to Souta tonight," she whispered. Sango reached over to squeeze her hand reassuringly.

"Don't worry. Once we get to this guy's house, we'll explain everything," she soothed, hiding her own worry. Neither the bodyguard or the driver had seemed very surprised at their protestations of mixed identity. That was worrying her.

"I hope he's in the mood to listen."

Sango frowned slightly. Her normally exuberant friend seemed so down. "Everything will work out fine!" she chirped in a deliberately happy tone. Kagome groaned and fell against the older girl, shaking her head.

"No, you're going to see. He's going to be rich and snobby and supremely arrogant and throw us out on our butts," she predicted gloomily.

"Now why would you say that?"

"Because that's what 'Kirishima-sama' of Shikon no Tama, Inc. would say, and I met that jerk today!"

Oh. Well, that explained it. Kirishima Sesshoumaru certainly had that air about him. "Well—not all rich people are like him?"

"Hah!" Kagome snorted her disbelief. "His brother was just like him—but at least he had cute dog ears." She sighed. "I wanted to touch them."

"I did too." Sango grinned, recalling the adorable ears twitching when she'd come to bring their drinks. "Both of them were pretty handsome, too…"

"And arrogant."

"Well-mannered…"

"And arrogant."

"Very nice, cultured voices…"

"And arrogant."

"Great suits, if they can afford a Jaken…"

"And arrogant."

"Kagome Higurashi! Stop being so cynical!" Sango shoved her friend into a sitting position and gave her a mock glare. "We're in a limo for the first and possibly only time in our lives, and there's champagne right there." She pointed. "Let's have some fun before we walk into the proverbial lion's den."

- - -

The door opened to emit two giggling girls, who were whispering excitedly to each other. He caught their words but couldn't quite understand them, as slurred and quick as they were. Somehow, he wasn't quite surprised to recognize them from Western Lands, and felt vaguely satisfied that the woman he was in the process of hunting down—just in case—had stumbled into his domain.

"…think we shoulda stopped… while we still could." Unusually-colored eyes suddenly rose to lock on his face. Her expression turned from laughing to surprised. "Well… hello, Kiri… Kirshimo-sama."

He fought a wince at his butchered family name, before pinning the man behind them with an unfriendly stare. "Leave."

"Yes, Kirishima-san," the bodyguard muttered in relief, closing the doors behind him. The second woman's eyes fell from him to land on his half-brother, who was standing in a state of complete shock.

"Kagome… look! The ears!" She squealed, suddenly rushing over and catapulting herself into Inuyasha's arms. Her fingers latched onto his ears to rub. "Ohhh… they're so soft!"

"Ears?" The woman who had served him earlier in his restaurant looked interested, though she didn't glance her friend's way. Instead she tottered unsteadily toward him, a bright smile on her face. "Your ears are cute… pointy." She lifted a hand to touch them—a far reach, considering that she fell beneath his shoulders in height, even in her heels.

He wasn't sure whether to push her away or not. There was a chance that she would cry if he did, as drunk as she was (obvious by the smell of champagne lingering around her), and he couldn't abide weeping females. Normally he would simply walk away from one, but he needed this one. Even if he'd been expecting someone else when Kikyou's phone had been answered earlier—even if she hadn't spoken as Kikyou did. And some part of his mind clicked everything together.

It was perfect. If he could just get the plan past his father…

Inuyasha yelped. "Get off me, wench!" He was struggling to pull the dark-eyed girl off him, and she was just as determined to stay latched onto his ears.

Kagome burst into a sudden fit of giggles as she collapsed against Sesshoumaru, smiling up at him brightly. "Did you know that you smell good?"

"Is that so?" He peeled her off him and pushed her into one of the various chairs littering the private conference room. She nodded enthusiastically, sprawling over the plush leather.

"Kind of like… cinnamon apples and green tea."

"Get… OFF… of… ME!" Inuyasha grunted. He was duly ignored by the other three in the room, though Sango wrapped her legs around his hips, the better able to give attention to his hair as well.

Kagome smiled brightly up at him, peeking out from under thick, long lashes. "I really didn't like you earlier," she confided, suddenly leaning forward with a hushed air. "You are too arrogant for your own good!" She poked his chest, and he realized that he was leaning over her to sniff at her hair.

There was an odd scent there. Why was it so familiar? As though it were… Kikyou's…?

"Too confident and bullying," she added with a firm nod that connected with his chin. "Ow." Rubbing the top of her head, she hiccupped. "Oops. I had a teensy little bit of champagne in the limo." She held up two fingers with a minimal amount of space between them.

They'd probably had two full bottles.

"Don't know why I'm… ohyeah!" She hit her fisted hand into her palm. "Your driver wouldn't listen to me… you've got the wrong woman!"

He stepped back. I am not going to deal with drunk women. Perhaps I should simply lock her into a room until she's once again sober…

"I found the phone on the ground and someone called. I tried to explain but he wouldn't listen!" she lamented. "So rude. A little like you." Her eyes turned thoughtful for a moment. "Arrogant."

She hiccupped again. He turned away, ignoring her, only to find that Inuyasha and the other girl were rolling around the floor. She was laughing happily, and his brother was redder than the clothes he so loved to wear.

He could have easily pushed the weak human off him, but held a soft spot in his heart, much to the dismay of his older brother.

Sesshoumaru reached down to pull her off him.

"OW—FUCKING HELL—SHIT THAT FUCKING HURTS!"

The woman was finally peeled off, triumphantly holding up a few strands of silver hair. So that had been the cause of his pain? Amusing.

"Shit… thanks a lot, Sesshoumaru," he groused, pushing himself into a sitting position and gingerly rubbing sore spots on his head.

The woman writhed in his arms, reaching plaintively for the ears that so captivated her. "They're so smooth!" she whimpered. "I want to… touch them…"

Kagome seemed to perk up at her words, and crawled over on the floor to attack Inuyasha. She clamped firmly onto his ears, rubbing them. "Oooh… they are soft!" she exclaimed, her eyes zoned in and fascinated. She didn't notice the arm that came around her waist, though she instinctively settled into it as though she were an old girlfriend.

Inuyasha pulled her close as he stood, giving his brother a nasty Don't-Say-A-Word look. Sesshoumaru shrugged as he threw Sango over his shoulder, seemingly bored. "The hell are we going to do?"

"Dinner is out of the question." Cool, flat golden eyes looked Kagome over. "I believe they could use a room while they get rid of the alcohol in their blood. Call Bankotsu and get all the information from him on them both. I don't want to deal with charges of kidnapping right now."

"Bankotsu!" the woman on his shoulder suddenly snapped. She went rigid against him. "Why that—he lost me cat! And he went off for work again without telling me…" Tears filled her voice. "I think he cares more about his stupid job than about me!"

Kagome looked around, still rubbing Inuyasha's ears. Amazingly, her eyes began to flood as well. "It's okay, Sango-chan… I'm sure he really does care… Look at how good he is with the kids!"

"He left them! His job was more important than making sure they were looked after…" she hiccupped and burst into loud tears. "Bankotsu you IDIOT!"

Full lips trembled as her friend empathized—a little too much. Inuyasha began to look panicked as the salty scent of the women's distress filled the room. Sesshoumaru growled in very real irritation.

"Everything will b-be okay, Sango-chan," she sniffled. Through her hazy vision, she suddenly glared at Sesshoumaru. It seemed she'd only just realized that he had her friend hooked over his shoulder.

"Get your hands off her!" she shrieked. Inuyasha clamped his hands over his ears with a moan of pain as she clenched them tightly. Suddenly she moved from his little brother to attack him.

He, Sesshoumaru, was having his chest pummeled by a drunk woman dressed as a waitress from his restaurant, who seemed to believe he was in the act of ravishing another drunk woman wailing incoherently on his shoulder.

Really, there was only one thing to do.