Disclaimer: I do not own these characters nor do I make money from them, Rumiko Takahashi does.

A/N: Just a silly idea I had concerning the relationship between males and females...

They sat in companionable silence on that slate-grey Sunday. A light spring rain pattered outside. Kagome watched as the raindrops hit the glass. The drops would sit quietly until they were joined by others, then they would slide slowly down the window in a lazy race to the sill.

She was sitting on the floor at the feet of her mate, absently toying with a lock of his long silver hair. The silkiness of it slid through her fingers as she wove into her hand over and over again, thinking.

Sesshoumaru sat on the couch, pencil in hand. He was concentrating heavily on the Kakuro puzzle from today's paper. Saduku had become too easy, and he enjoyed the math challenge this puzzle offered. He absent-mindedly combed his claws lightly through the thick black mane of his little female.

"Sesshoumaru," Her voice was distant, thoughtful.

"Hn." His reply was distracted.

"When I die, will you ever take another mate?"

His heart stopped.

His mind froze.

Time stood still.

He quickly shook himself out of the stupor brought on by the innocently voiced atomic bomb he now had scant seconds to diffuse. The Kakuro puzzle now forgotten, he discreetly sniffed her scent for any hint to the answer he needed to solve the puzzle that was his mate.

Terror gripped his soul and his hackles rose up in alarm. He nearly groaned aloud as the scent of her cycle-before-her-cycle hit his sensitive nose.

P. M. S.

He needed to escape the room with his skin and eardrums intact. His mind raced for the right response. The wrong response would result in a bitter argument at best, lots of tears and apologies at worst.

Swallowing hard to try and moisten his dry throat, he leaned forward, over the top of her head. He placed one deadly claw gently under her chin to tip her head up so she could meet his gaze. Her eyes now locked onto his, he responded to her question.

"Kagome," he said gently, "I would never have another mate after you. You have ruined me for all others."

With that, he kissed her forehead, stood up, and took his newspaper down the hall to his private bathroom.

Kagome sat there blinking, stunned by his achingly beautiful reply. Tears began to well and she choked up as emotion flooded over her.

'He'll never have another mate after me.' Wait a minute…

"SESSHOUMARU! What did you mean?"

He could hear her coming down the hall. Safe behind the bathroom door, he smirked.

"Miko, take it as you please."

A/N: Thanks for reading! :)