The Bridesmaid Blues by Eyes and Ears

Dress Shopping Equals Hell On Earth

Chapter One: Dress Shopping Equals Hell-on-Earth

Someone up there reealllyy hated her. Or was bored, and felt like making Hell-on-Earth.

Okay. So that was exaggerating just a tiny bit. But for what it counts, for Higurashi Kagome (age twenty-two), that bored individual had succeeded.

Twice over.

Really, she was happy that her best friend was getting married- and that her older sister was marrying him. But...good God, she had never, ever expected Inuyasha's dog-like devotion to his loved ones to screw her over.

She was Kikiyo's maid of honor. Inuyasha's brother, Sesshomaru, was his best man. If you've ever watched a romantic-comedy, thumbed through a dime-store romance novel, and/or played with Barbie dolls, you can see exactly where this is going.

She had to walk down the aisle with him.

Kagome flinched as if someone had taken a swing at her, earning a puzzled look from her sister.

So maybe she was being a bit oversensitive. After all, one short walk never hurt anyone (right?). But she hated him- that stupid prick Sesshomaru. He wasn't even nice to Inuyasha- she had never, in four years of friendship, seen him smile in a way that didn't make everyone around him want to run for cover. When Inuyasha had first introduced him as his brother and a doctor, she'd laughed and asked, 'No really- what is he?'

He'd probably taken offense from that, actually...

But she couldn't see him getting himself dirty for the sake of another. Wait- that was partially a lie. She could easily picture him up to the elbows in blood, chainsaw in hand and hockey mask on face for an employer's sake, as a mercenary or something. Really. Just take the guy's name for example- destruction man.

Everybody, all at once. Dun-dun-dun.

Sesshomaru Hanchiyo had the bag of tricks that people needed to be confused with romanticized assassins. The Piercing Glare. The Demeaning Blink. The, Don't-Breathe-My-Air-You-Filthy-Peasant aura with the broken 'off' button.

The dude even had facial tattoos. And he actually pulled them off.

Kagome decided it was worth the risk of Kikyo committing her and slapped her own cheek. Bad thoughts! Don't think about guys you hate like that!!

Some pathetic part of her was sniffling in a corner, b-but, he really is good looking...!

That Was An Understatement.

Kagome sighed as the chibis warred in her head.

"Mom, what about this? A really soft blue? I mean, it's better than that...beige dress..."

Higurashi Yoko tugged thoughtfully on her lip, a wince sneaking to the surface. Her eldest had terrible taste, but she preferred not to be the one to reveal that to her. She pinched a bit of the material- (polyester blend, oh god)- between her two longest fingers.

"Oh, dear...Honey, don't you think...well, blue?"

"Not that blue is that bad." Kagome, having escaped from the quicksand pit of her spiteful mind, piped up helpfully. (Kikyo was decked, head to pointed toe, in various shades of blue). "It's just, do you really think of that shade of blue when you think of yourself? Or Inuyasha, for that matter?"

Kikyo's brow wrinkled as she looked, suddenly doubtful, at the powder blue dress. Her cheeks turned pink. She put the dress back on the rack. "Good point."

Yoko flashed Kagome a thumbs-up as Kikyo moved on.

She grinned, the thought 'why stop when you're ahead?' speeding through her mind. "So on that note, what color do you think of, when you think of yourself or Yasha?"

Kikyo thought. "Oh, let's see...For myself, I suppose...foresty colors. Greens and browns. Tree bark, and...leaves and, stuff. For Inuyasha..."

She stopped, fingering the hanger of a plain grey dress. Her eyes stared down at it but, Kagome suspected, didn't quite see it.

"...red." She licked her lips, her fingers slipping on the wooden hanger. "Red. Like ripe cherries, and- and...blood, and lipstick..."

Like Sesshomaru's tattoos...Kagome thought airily.

"What about this one?"

The question broke both girls from their reveres. Yoko held out a garment for approval.

Kikyo's mahogany brown eyes rounded gently, her lips following suit. She stretched out her fingers slowly, as if moving through slime.

"Oh..."

Kagome looked the dress up and down, and decided that was the one she wanted to wear. It was a long, floor length dress with very little excess material; meaning, she wouldn't have to worry about getting footprints on her train. Straight, with just enough under skirt to cause a slight float towards the hem, the material that made up most of it was a deep autumn-leaf red with a splash of white like a starburst dripping down from the strapless top. Kagome thrust a finger out.

"I like it."

Kikyo nodded, still caught in the slime. "Yes, I...I quite agree with Kagome. I like this dress."

Yoko smiled cheerily and sought out the price tag. Her eyelids flashed into sight at the line of zeros, but she didn't say anything. Her daughter deserved it, as Kagome would when her own wedding came around.

The thought that she wouldn't have to do it a third time, for Souta's wedding, was swimming around in there somewhere too as the two girls went hunting for a sales girl.

The groom's family didn't pay for the wedding.