Disclaimer: All but the plot to this particular story rightfully belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
Words: 263
Essence
Kagome blanched as the silence returned full-force. And then, quick as it came, it passed. She laughed.
Sesshoumaru tilted his head, affronted.
As her laughter faded to a quiet chuckle, Kagome peered at him through her lashes. "Sesshoumaru-sama, with all due respect, I don't think Rin-chan's in heat."
"Are you implying that my senses fail me?"
Her hands shot up in gentle protest. "No, of course not! You're getting the gist of it, I guess, but humans don't go into heat." She giggled again, finding it hard to keep a straight face at the idea.
Sesshoumaru was inexperienced with humans, even more so with the females of the species, but he did smell it. Among the mixture of fear, worry, and shame that clouded Rin's scent, he detected her essence.
Human as she may be, the female youkai he had known all emitted an essence- a pheromone of sorts. One that signaled a ripening into age and a desire to mate. Even though Rin was young, Sesshoumaru knew the scent of a female in heat, and this was Rin's first. He scowled at Kagome. "There is blood. There are changes in her scent. It is spring."
Kagome sympathetically took in his accusatory tone. She folded her hands in her lap, disappointedly eyeing the bloody heap of a rabbit that had rolled onto the dirt moments ago. "I'm not trying to insult you. There are similarities, but... it's, um," she blushed lightly before continuing, "different- a monthly cycle."
A small pang of a headache hit him. This occurred monthly in humans?