Sesshoumaru heard the sounds of Kagome moving around in the kitchen of their apartment, could smell the coffee she was making. Why on earth was she up at such an early hour? He snuck a look at the clock. 6:45 AM.

What?

Then he remembered. She started her new job today, and with the new job came the new hours. She had to be at work for 8:00 AM, and the commute was long enough as it was without morning traffic. He had no doubt it would take her at least an hour to get to work.

Satisfied, he let himself drift back to sleep, hearing the door open and close, and the lock click as Kagome let herself out and left for the day.

xxx

WHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRR

Sesshoumaru bolted upright in bed, his eyes frantically moving around the room, trying to locate the cause of the strange noise.

Finally, he found the source of the noise as it entered his bedroom. It was a beast, round in shape, and it moved seamlessly over the hardwood floor, making that God-awful whirring noise as it went along. He assumed the thing was blind, since Sesshoumaru could detect no eyes on the creature, until he saw it almost collide with the trunk at the end of the bed, and move off in another direction before it made contact.

As the white creature started to make its way towards his bed, Sesshoumaru sat back on his haunches and growled at it, hoping to deter it from coming any closer. No such luck, as it kept on coming, but made no move to attack. Maybe it simply hadn't seen him yet? Sesshoumaru eyed it distrustfully as it continued on its way, and spied the word "ROOMBA" marked on its back before it disappeared under the bed.

Seeing his opportunity, Sesshoumaru silently rose up and removed Toukijin from its place on the wall above the headboard, where he had mounted both Tensaiga and Toukijin when he and Kagome had moved into the apartment.

He crept back to the edge of the bed where the beast would emerge from at any second, poised and ready, Toukijin held in both hands and pointed downwards. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he saw it move out from under the bed. Ignoring the almost uncontrollable urge to just destroy the damn thing and be done with it, he made himself wait until it had materialized entirely, and he could see what appeared to be its weak spot, square in the middle of its back.

A deep breath, and then three, two, one —

Sesshoumaru pounced.

xxx

Kagome wearily trudged up to apartment 5-B, exhausted and thankful to be home, but pleased that her first day at her new job had been a success. As she stuck her key in the lock and turned it, she hoped Sesshoumaru would have dinner waiting for her. She was starving!

She stepped in and closed the door behind her, then set her purse and keys on the small table they kept in the entranceway. Noticing the lack of food smells coming from her kitchen, she was incredibly disappointed, until she moved further into the apartment and saw what was on her dining room table.

Her Roomba. Her Roomba was sitting on the table, impaled by Toukijin.

"Um…Sesshoumaru?"

She looked up at Sesshoumaru as he approached her, having come from the bedroom and obviously just out of the shower as he was wearing nothing but an oversized towel wrapped around his waist.

Having forgotten about dinner at this point, she pointed her finger at the Roomba, her full attention on him. "Sesshoumaru…what is this?"

Looking incredibly smug and proud of himself, he began to tell her the heroic tale of how he had vanquished the unknown beast that had dared to attack him in his own home.

"…but not to worry my love, as you can see, I effectively ended its life. It shall pose no more threat to you and I. However, this Sesshoumaru does not know how to prepare the beast for consumption, and so, I present it to you."

Kagome could only stare at Sesshoumaru in amazement, her mouth opening and closing, but no sound emerging.

Sesshoumaru stared right back, just as confused as she was.

"What?"