Disclaimer: I own none of them.

Author's note: I don't think perfumers would blithely let anyone outside their employment circle smell and critique their drafts. However, I beg you to suspend disbelief and enjoy, ja? Sesshoumaru might be a little OOC here. Just a little. But you will like him like this, I wager.

As per usual, any and all inaccuracies pertaining to the spectacular world of chemistry and chemicals are entirely due to my own ignorance. Science has never been my strongest suit.

Summary: (A/U) She wants to create a perfume that would charm the olfactory senses of all males, but he likes her individual scent just fine.

Keenest Nose

The sight that greeted Sesshoumaru when he padded silently into the kitchen was an odd one. There was a strange woman huddling against Miroku, and Miroku's nose was hovering too closely to her neck. It would not be so odd had he stumbled on this scene before Miroku met Sango and became enamoured with her. Miroku can be quite charming and popular with the ladies, after all; and he still is, though he conducts himself with restraint now. It was bizarre because not three feet away was Sango, fussing over the stove, as if the damning tableau wasn't happening within the same parameter as herself. It was bizarre because, despite the rather compromising postures of the pair, he could not smell any incriminating odours. The fragrance of food simmering over fire, mingling with individual scents and perfumes, layered over household smells, traces of the outdoors... that's all. Nothing wanton was happening there.

He sidled past the couple and snuck a glance at them as he passed. The young woman had tilted her head to the side, her wavy hair tumbling over one shoulder. She was offering her neck to Miroku, who wore a look of concentration on his face as he took deep, measured breaths.

"You permit such behaviour?" Sesshoumaru asked Sango quietly, cocking his head at the other male, as he leaned against the cabinet. Sango would drop by occasionally to make them dinner, something Sesshoumaru appreciated greatly for she was an excellent cook.

"Oh, hi, Sesshoumaru," Sango greeted with a smile. "That happens from time to time. He is Kagome's consultant, sort of."

"Hnn." Interesting.

Noting Sesshoumaru's suspicious scrutiny, Sango giggled. "Kagome's my good friend from high school. It's nothing to worry about."

The pair pulled away from one another just then and began conferring.

"Floral and flirty. I'd say it's too girly to tout itself as 'woman'. Perhaps you need something to balance it out... you know, give it some impression of sultry depth?" Miroku said thoughtfully as the young woman scribbled onto the notepad that laid on the kitchen table before her. "It is pleasant enough by itself, but it's not quite sexy yet."

"I think you might be right, Miroku," Kagome concurred slowly. "That was my initial thought on it. But I do appreciate your opinion, always." She continued writing in the little notebook. "Perhaps I can work on variations of this theme."

Miroku caught Sesshoumaru's eye.

"Sesshoumaru, this is Kagome. Kagome, this is Sesshoumaru, my friend and tenant."

"Hello," Kagome looked up and extended a hand. Her smile was sweet, guileless, and whatever unsavoury opinion he had been forming about her at the outset was gently displaced. Sesshoumaru crossed the kitchen and took her proffered hand. He wrapped his large clawed hand carefully around her smaller appendage and shook it gently. Noting his perplexity, she declared with a laugh, "It's not what it looks like, Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru held up his hands and shook his head as she began to elucidate.

"Only if you feel that you need to explain yourself, Kagome."

"I work for a perfumer," Kagome clarified. "Whenever we get a brief to compose a perfume, I would let Miroku, among others, test my drafts. Call them my guinea pigs, if you will. They would tell me if there was anything lacking. You know our mutual friend here is an expert on what makes a woman alluring."

"I see. Though... don't you think you need someone a little more discriminating? Miroku thinks almost all women are alluring."

A knowing light crept into Kagome's eyes.

"Why do you think Miroku singled out Sango from the rest, then?"

Sesshoumaru offered the first thing that came to his head, "Her extraordinary culinary skills?"

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru," Sango chimed in wryly.

"That," Kagome said in a conspiring tone, "came later. I let Sango wear one of my final drafts as an experiment. Miroku complimented her on it and the rest is..." she gestured at her friends. "That composition became quite popular once it was manufactured and sold."

"Hnn. Fair enough."

"She wants to be a shamaness of scent," Miroku chortled.

"Oh yeah," Kagome enthused, perching herself on her chair. "It would be the ultimate mayhem, you know - to create a perfume that would make any woman utterly irresistible. I would love to turn all the wallflowers into Ono no Komachi. A sniff is all it takes to bewitch the male olfactory senses. Wouldn't that be wicked?" She leaned forward and bared the side of her neck to him. "Not to seem too brazen or anything, but would you care to take a whiff? Tell me what you think?"

Sesshoumaru obliged gamely. Leaning on his elbows, he inhaled. Then he sat back and exhaled gently through slightly parted lips. Kagome watched with interest as his amber eyes sharpened, then grew distant, his mind turning inwards as he dissected the information carried on the breath he had drawn in. He could smell a myriad of aromas on her. Hmm.. shampoo, soap, mouthwash, miso... is that temple incense I smell? He tuned out the rest and focused on the recently applied perfume.

"I'm afraid I have to disagree with Miroku, but this is merely my personal preference," Sesshoumaru said.

"Go ahead," Kagome prodded encouragingly.

"He may like it sultry, but I find light or mild fragrances agreeable on the fairer sex. I am partial to fragrances that give the impression of freshness and purity. I could accept the fragrance as it is now." Then, to Kagome's enormous astonishment, he grinned and proceeded to name the chemical compounds that went into the fragrance bases, fixatives, modifiers and the mind-boggling array of blenders she had used to draft this composition.

"Oh, my goodness!" Kagome gasped, slapping her palms against both her cheeks. "You are amazing. No, you're beyond amazing!"

"I am youkai. Inuyoukai, to be exact."

Her eyes narrowed. "You're not working with a rival perfumer, are you?"

"Most definitely not."

Kagome threw up her hands dramatically. "You canines have the keenest noses in creation! Oh man, if my employers know of you, I am so jobless. And that is why you prefer milder scents, isn't it?" What he didn't tell her was, that beneath the delightful artificial bouquet she had asked him to smell, her personal scent was far, far more bewitching - it was healthy, vibrant and as unsullied as it could be for a person living in these polluted times - and he rather not to have it masked by interfering smells.

Sesshoumaru couldn't help chuckling at her mock distress. "I'm not interested in creating artificial scents, so you need not worry about me taking your job away from you."

"Doesn't it get overwhelming out there?" Kagome asked, tapping her nose significantly.

"I learned to tune out everyday smells."

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a lecturer at the university."

"Let me guess - chemistry related?"

A smirk and a nod was her answer. "Forensic toxicology, to be exact. Keeping abreast of the subdisciplines in chemistry is a hobby."

"I cannot be more impressed that I already am," Kagome exclaimed laughingly. Extreme good looks and brains, some creatures have it all.

"Don't hate me because I'm perfect," Sesshoumaru deadpanned, netting himself another bright laugh from her. Her scent shifted and fluctuated tellingly, causing him to blink. On top of that, something primeval inside himself was stirring in response. Oh my, that was... unexpected.

One more thing he did not divulge was the fact that he was sometimes consulted in police investigations, especially in cases which seemed to have reached dead-ends. With his background, expertise and, as Kagome described it, the keenest nose in creation, he was a walking laboratory. Fortunately, such instances were few and far between. Humans are proud of their technology; unless they had no other alternative, they preferred to use it instead of an expensive, anonymous youkai consultant. He was not about to disclose that aspect of his life to a virtual stranger, albeit an engaging one.

Miroku left his seat and began setting the table, brushing aside Kagome's offer to help. Sango nudged Kagome over to the chair next to Sesshoumaru, claiming her seat beside Miroku. Dinner was served and conversations moved to common grounds. Sesshoumaru found his new acquaintance good dinner company, with her quirky sense of humour and wit. Not to mention she was pleasant to look at and that her scent stayed warm and inviting all evening.

"Pardon me, guys... Say, Sesshoumaru," Kagome turned to him suddenly, disrupting the flow of conversation, "the next time I draft a new scent, would you like to sniff me and tell me your opinion?"

Did she say what she just did?

"Hey, that's my privilege," Miroku interjected, eyes wide with contrived hurt.

Sesshoumaru did not answer immediately. In the expectant silence that descended over the quartet, he continued chewing the current mouthful of Sango's delicious lasagna before swallowing with some difficulty. His throat had gone dry the moment her question and all its illicit implications registered, so he reached for his water glass and took a sip. Across the table, Miroku was watching him with a cunning glint in his violet eyes.

To be able to bury his nose in her neck and immerse himself in that scintillating scent again and again? He was being offered a sensuist's heaven on a platter. Carpe diem, and why not?

"It would be an honour to assist you in any way, Kagome," Sesshoumaru answered at last.