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

Replaced Bride – Part IX
Uncomfortable Silences

Kagome gazed innocently over his shoulder, boring her eyes into the picture of Sesshoumaru's father (at least, she assumed it was the father) as he continued to lecture.

"I told you to keep away from my father at all times…"

Not my fault Bankotsu dragged me there, she thought idly, wondering if Sesshoumaru's nose was a little thinner and longer than his parent's. Of course, it was hard to tell from painted pictures.

"Where you got such a ridiculous idea…"

Um, Nanda. Who's married to a youkai. Didn't I mention that? Hey, look, a fly on the wall. Stare at the pretty fly, Kagome. Stare at the pretty fly.

"…would appreciate it if you would look in my direction…"

No, thank you, jerk. Pretty fly was happily traipsing over the picture. Hi, pretty pretty fly.

"Kagome!"

"Yes?" She jerked her attention from the fly - who'd she'd decided to name Lily and breed with another fly, in order to have multitudes of flies to look at during Sesshoumaru's lectures. Of which there were many, this being only the latest.

"You aren't listening to a word I'm saying." He stared at her coldly, and she returned her gaze to the fly.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, oozing honey and sweetness while never looking at his face. The insincerity of her words was blatant, proving that little Kagome was well and truly pissed.

Sesshoumaru seemed disconcerted for a moment upon realizing that (being far too busy yelling to notice the tense shoulders and clenched fists, after all), and frowned. "Perhaps you should return to your room. Your temper may have cooled a bit by dinner."

"Yes, Father," she mocked, turning on her heel (regretfully leaving her dreams of a fly and a family of flies behind) and stalking to the door. Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, feeling the frustration and irritation build.

"Kagome…"

She looked over her shoulder, arching her brows pointedly. The youkai snapped his mouth shut, realizing that he had, indeed, sounding like a father lecturing an errant daughter - then simply motioned arrogantly to the door.

Kagome's eyes narrowed, and she stormed out of his study, seething. "Sango!"

No response.

"Saaaaaaango!"

Still no response. Kagome frowned, then remembered - Inuyasha was home. Mostly because Sesshoumaru had made the recklessly fast drive home when he heard that his father had decided to speak with Kikyou, and ended up talking to Kagome instead.

"Kikyou can have her life back, as far as I'm concerned," she muttered, shoving her hands into her pockets and petulantly making her way to her room. Sulking in there was sounding pretty good about now. "Would be great if she could just waltz in and kick me out. God, I miss the apartment. And I miss Souta. I can't believe I'm grounded from seeing my own brother." Disgusted, she kicked at a small nerf ball (one of Kohaku's toys). "Keeping him at the main grounds - oooh, that man is just getting worse every day!"

Her lips thinned. The nerve of Sesshoumaru and his high-handed, arrogant ways. "Serves him right if I just walked over to the main house and told Kirishima-sama that I would take him up on…"

Well, why don't I?

Kagome glanced behind her guiltily, as though expecting to see Sesshoumaru sneaking up behind her. He wasn't. I could just move into the main house, right? Kirishima-sama seems to like me well enough, and That Jerk seems to be scared of him…

She began to walk exaggeratedly slow, sneaking up the stairs with what she thought was great stealth - when anyone else would be immediately tipped off to the fact that she was trying to hide something. All I need is a few clothes and I can walk there… it's only two miles. Or five, or something like that. Or maybe I can have Bankotsu drive me - he owes me, right? Right.

She grinned, taking the steps two at a time - abandoning stealth for sheer exhilaration. That jerk is going to get his comeuppance - oh, yes he is!

- - -

"No, not exactly…" Kagome shifted uncomfortably under the elder Kirishima's gaze.

"So it wasn't a love match?" He pondered this, absently setting a white stone on the board. The girl bit her lip from pointing out that he practically sacrificed an entire cluster with that thoughtless move, and gave him a little grace. She aimed for a rather pointless stone a little farther away.

"More like an accident, really. Kikyou ran off, I guess, and since I look like her…"

"So, they were trying to trick me. Hah! Useless sons of mine, can't do a thing right." He smacked another stone onto the board, apparently not even realizing that Kagome was aiming to trap his stones. In fact, she had several unfinished 'traps' in the making, because her opponent didn't seem to even pay attention at all. "Idiots," he grunted again.

Kagome bit back a smile and placed a stone wildly.

"What move was that, girl?" A slender finger jabbed in her direction, golden eyes narrowed. "Placing such a careless stone - hah! With that sort of play, you won't last a second!"

"I'm sorry," she murmured, fighting the urge to giggle at his impromptu lecture - when he could have used the exact same one. "I'll try harder."

"Yeah, you do that! Hah! Person to lose gets to cook dinner!"

- - -

Sesshoumaru ignored the two pairs of eyes following his every movement through the kitchen.

"She left you, didn't she?" Inuyasha fairly gloated, resting his chin on Sango's head.

"You really didn't think she was just going to keep taking that attitude of yours, did you?" his wife agreed, snuggling comfortably into his lap.

"Yeah, she's a smart girl - too smart for the likes of you," he jeered.

"Really, I don't see why you couldn't treat her with a little more respect."

Sesshoumaru forced himself to ignore their words as he grabbed a carton of milk.

"It's curdled," Sango added, with almost no pause.

He put it back.

"And she's under dad's eye now, isn't she?" Inuyasha snickered. He'd finally one-upped his brother - after all, his wife was in his arms, and Sesshoumaru's fiancée… well, she'd flown the coop.

"Better to be there than here. He'll teach her how to be an appropriate Kirishima bride," the older brother forced himself to say coolly - uncaring and distant as always.

"Appropriate…?" Sango straightened suddenly, ignoring the pain from suddenly smacking into her husband's jaw. "What do you mean, appropriate?"

"Silent, meek, do the bidding of her husband, wear appropriate garb… that sort of thing," Sesshoumaru replied in a rather offhand manner, deciding that orange juice wouldn't be too bad after all.

"Inuyasha spit in that," Sango cautioned automatically, eyes wide with horror as she envisioned her best friend's horrible situation. Suddenly turning on her husband, she glared at him. "You mean you knew all of this and you just let her go!"

He blinked. "Knew - w-wait a second! I had no--"

"You just let her leave here to go into some horrible hell like that where my sweet Kagome will disappear, turning into some mindless robot with no thoughts of her own!" she half-screeched, completely shattering Inuyasha's hope for some fun time before dinner. Not that they hadn't had some before, but…

"N-Now hold on…" his ears fell back pathetically before his wife's wrath. "It's not--"

"I can't believe you two! Kirishima men!" she fumed, grabbing Sesshoumaru's glass and throwing it at him (missing by about half a centimeter) before storming out of the kitchen. "Fine! I'll just have to save her myself!"

"S-Sango…"

- - -

The three of them sat silently, staring rather uncomfortably at the Go board. That is - Sango and Kagome were staring at the board, while the head of the Kirishima household stared fixedly at his youngest son's wife.

"Mated," he grunted.

Sango colored and nearly crossed her eyes with her effort of staring at a single white stone. Where did that fly come from?

"Didn't bother inviting me," he muttered, sounding incensed.

Kagome tensed and continued staring at the last stone she'd placed. Oh dear.

"Ungrateful bastards!" he roared, slamming his fist onto the board, stones clattering to the floor. "Telling such lies about me, and hiding my daughter-in-law! See if they're ever allowed back into my house!"

Kagome cringed. I knew that was going to happen.

Sango jumped, then glanced at her best friend in worry. "Is he really going to do that?" she whispered.

"Probably," Kagome whispered back. "He hasn't been too happy with them for the past century or so."