Molehill to Mountain

Prompt: The Silent Treatment

Universe: AU

Genre: Humour, Drama

1,000 Words

Sesshoumaru was silent as they drove from his father's back to their apartment. That in itself was no surprise; she was the talkative one in their relationship. Usually the silences were satisfied, relaxed or comfortable, but not this time. The silence in the car right now had a dark and moody – dare she say, mopey – feel to it.

She did not know what exactly she had done to deserve this silent treatment from Mr. Grumpy. After all, the dinner had been going nicely. He hadn't seemed the least bit disgruntled during his long and invested conversation with his father that had been going for most of the evening.

Kagome glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and had to bite her lip not to laugh. This pouting was rather adorable, actually. He was always so confident, indifferent, and aloof. This was the first times she had ever seen him so affected. Hiding her smile, she turned to look out of the window. She would let him brood.

Two hours later, they were getting ready to go to bed. Kagome had not received even the monosyllabic answers she usually managed to get out of him when he was busy or concentrating on something other than their conversation. No, he had not spoken a single word to her, ever since they had left his father's. The cuteness of his sulking had long since vanished, and Kagome's temper was slowly getting the best of her. It was so frustrating, like endlessly butting into a wall. She would try to talk to him, ask him questions, make a conversation, but he kept completely ignoring her. But Kagome held onto the shreds of her patience and bit her tongue – until Sesshoumaru started pulling off the covers of their bed.

He was planning to go to bed.

He was planning to go to bed without saying a word to her.

And then all hell broke loose.

"What the hell is your problem?" Kagome screamed at her boyfriend, all the earlier cheeriness gone.

Sesshoumaru didn't reply, but he did turn to level her with his golden glare.

"You have been ignoring me all night and now you're just going to go to sleep without as much as a good night?"

Still nothing.

"You're unbelievable!" she screeched. "Just what did I do to you, huh? What cardinal sin have I committed to make me so unworthy of your attention?"

The silence rang in her ears.

Then –

"… you know what you did."

Finally! A response! Still –

"If I did, why would I be asking you about it?" she huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"You were talking with Inuyasha."

Oh god. Was that what all this was about? Their stupid, insane sibling rivalry?

Kagome had known Inuyasha for a long time. Longer than she had known her boyfriend, in fact, because it had been through Inuyasha that she had met Sesshoumaru. And for all this time, the two brothers had never got along too well. As far as Kagome could tell, it all boiled down to how their father had treated his eldest as his heir, making Inuyasha envy the attention Sesshoumaru got. Sesshoumaru, in turn, envied Inuyasha for the freedom he had since he was not expected to carry out the responsibilities of the heir.

Kagome snorted.

"So? Who was I supposed to be talking with, then? You spent all evening talking business with your father. Work talk, on a Friday evening!"

Sesshoumaru's glare darkened.

"I overheard your conversation," Sesshoumaru grumbled.

"Oh? And did you also spy on the lengthy discussion I had with Izayoi-san about her garden and what flowers she is planning to plant there next spring?"

"I did not spy on your conversation, I said I overheard – "

"Ah, right, because your demon ears are just so magnificent and powerful that you could not help to catch what we were talking about."

"Exactly," he snapped coldly. "And I heard the plans you and Inuyasha were making. About meeting times and locations." Now, finally, his anger reached the boiling point and he raised his voice. "I heard all about the date you were planning with Inuyasha!"

Kagome stared at him, and the corner of her lip twitched slightly.

"Obviously you didn't," she countered, amusement bubbling in her voice.

"I am not stupid, Kagome. I drew my conclusions and you were clearly planning a date."

"Yes," she said easily. "We were planning a date."

Sesshoumaru's lips curled in a snarl.

"I knew it! So you can stop acting all innocent now, going out behind my back – "

"We were planning a date," Kagome cut into his tirade, her voice raised, "and I hope that Inuyasha and Kikyo will have a wonderful time together."

Sesshoumaru fell silent.

"…Kikyo?"

"Yes, Kikyo."

Sesshoumaru blinked, caught off guard.

"Who is Kikyo?"

And Kagome smirked, looking smug, her blue eyes sparkling as she answered his question in a calm, slow, deliberate tone.

"Inuyasha's girlfriend."

And then silence reigned over them again, and Sesshoumaru stared at her blankly.

Kagome continued to explain, showing no mercy for him.

"Inuyasha met her a few weeks ago, online. She lives in Tokyo, but she's coming over to Osaka next week and they've made plans to meet up. This is the first time they'll be seeing each other face to face, so Inuyasha is adamant about impressing her so he ended up asking my help."

Sesshoumaru still stayed silent.

"You know, like what are good places to go on a date, what kinds of things they should do, what sights he could show her, all the like. He was obviously very nervous about the whole thing, it was absolutely adorable. Almost as adorable as you going all moody and mopey on me, getting angry over a silly misunderstanding."

Sesshoumaru had averted his eyes, and he shifted uncomfortably.

"Look," Kagome said. "It's sweet that you're jealous, but please, instead of jumping to conclusions, just trust me next time."

"I will," he promised sheepishly.