So, once again, this is really late. All the same, I hope its enjoyable.

The abundant light from the full moon outside was just beginning to be filtered into my room by the time I sat down on my bed, gripping my knees with my hands so roughly that I could feel my claws entering my skin. I held my breath; I didn't blink; my whole body was rigid; my mind was shut off; I was entirely numb; nothing existed anymore. Somewhere in the forgotten, unused, temporarily not working part of my brain, there seemed to be a trigger of emotion that sent something racing through my blood but the overwhelming sense of emptiness engulfed me and there was nothing inside me but the hollowness. At last, when my lungs demanded air, my eyes deserved a brake, and my knees pleaded me to stop shearing them, my body let go in one swift movement, like a candle being snuffed out.

I took in a huge breath of fresh air and I relaxed, though I still sat erect on the edge of my bed, staring at the floor. And then it came; the torrent of screaming emotions, threatening to overrun me with hopelessness.

Father had done the unthinkable; Mother had left for a good reason; I was angry; everything was a shattered lie. Quickly taming the anger in my heart so it didn't splash across my face, I stood up and made my way to the balcony just past the large glass doors with the long, dark blue curtains that billowed softly in the wind. I released a ragged breath, ashamed of these feelings, angry with Father, not willing to understand what I had seen earlier that morning. I had run all day the previous day to reach the Northern Lands and I had run most of the night to come back; I had lied to Father when I told him I would be ready when he called for me.

But I had sated my curiosity, and I almost wished I hadn't. Finding the odd scent lingering at the door to the study the other night had driven me back to the Northern Lands in pursuit of the strange smell and when I had found the owner I couldn't deny that I had been mildly shocked. I had stood at the edge of the forest comfortably pressed up against the side of a peaceful looking castle; not much out of the ordinary. Except, I had thought as I spied a few of the guards just waking up near the entrance of the courtyard, this was a human castle. I suppose I shouldn't have been that suspicious; I knew before then that the Northern Lands were a strong supporter of a human population so why should I single this place out as unusual? But as I silently surveyed the area and nosed the air once more I found Father's scent clinging like a beacon to one portion of the castle slightly cut off from the rest.

My eyes- much more advanced than the humans who were totally ignorant of my presence- scored over the little section and as I dared to inch forward, I suddenly stopped, my heart thundering nervously in my heart and my breath automatically stopping. There she was; the human with the scent. She was, in my opinion, probably one of the fairer looking female humans, with long cascading locks of rich black hair, eyes like the inky night sky, and a scent that made my nose twitch curiously; but what did I know about humans? I examined her quietly as she cleaned up around her section of the castle, the care she took to make everything so perfect and neat making me a little amused; Mother had often worked to make everything look nice for Father when he came back from his long battles.

A pang struck my heart at the thought but I ignored it; now was not the time to be sentimental. I peered closer at the woman- also keeping my eyes on the guards so that they didn't wander too close to my hiding place- and began to ponder why her scent had been so far in the Western Lands back at my home. I sniffed again at the air, just to smell the oddly appealing scent, and this time the breath caught in my throat.

A choke threatened to reveal my place and my eyes stung as I held it back. It took every ounce of self control not to spring at the woman and question her; why was Father's scent weaving its way towards me? Why was his scent here, of all places? Why was it near the woman? Why was…

My eyes widened and I crushed the limb of the tree I was holding to steady myself, the crack alerting one of the guards. For a moment I considered killing him, to take my anger out on this pathetic human, but then, just as he neared me and would have surely seen me, I jumped away and circled the end of the castle so that I still had a good view of the woman. I continuously drew in long breathes of air so that the scent rubbed over the glands on my tongue and I could taste it.

Yes, it was definitely Father, and there was definitely something beyond even that. As I crouched low in the undergrowth just inside the safety of the trees, I noted that, even though her kimono did give her enough free room to move about, there was a slight bulge just below her stomach.

Few possibilities that were feasible ran through my mind; only one, I knew, was right. Just under the woman's scent and under Father's was the most curious scent I had ever smelled; it was like mine, though very unlike mine. And the presence there that I could sense had a youkai aura, yet at the same time human, but it was powerful like Father's and like mine. After several long minutes crouched in my well concealed hiding place, I relieved my sore muscles and stood, quickly moving through the forest and following my scent back to the border of the Western Lands.

It wasn't until I was a few miles within the border that I stopped and clenched my fists, my claws scraping at the skin on my palm and digging light cuts into them. My first thought was anger- how could Father do something so absolutely unheard of? - the next was sadness- that was what had driven Mother away, I was sure of it now- and the third was a deep void forming in my heart, like the rift formed in the ground after the Wind Scar had gouged the ground with its demonic power.

I stood for an immeasurable amount of time before my knees began to lock underneath me and I found myself speeding through the forest back to home, back to Father. As I closed in on the tall, looming castle in front of me, I realized I had thought of nothing to say to him, that traitorous, disloyal bastard. No, I thought in reserved anger, Father was at the very least a bastard; there were many worse things I wished to call him. I stepped into the foyer after I had swung open the doors and slammed them behind me and I saw on the steps, there waiting for my return, was Father, his long silver hair touching the steps he was sitting on. "So you've come back," he said as he got up and offered a 'good evening' that I didn't return.

"You look terrible, son." He said as his eyes were suddenly guarded yet worried. "Where did you head off to so early; you were gone most of the day. Or is that a secret?" A smile touched his lips but it quickly vanished when I made no move to respond. Father blinked in confusion when still I remained silent but he waited until I finally spoke. "What is love, Father?" I could tell I had greatly caught him off guard; not once had I ever inquired about such a delicate subject. "Love, Sesshomaru? That's an odd question, I'll admit. Why do you ask?"

"Simply for the sake of knowing."

"Of all the things to know you wish to attain knowledge of that? Love is…your mother and I loved each other."

I let out an inaudible snort; what a poor example.

"Love, I suppose, is the emotion they describe when you feel greatly for someone, when you want to protect them, want them to be happy, want nothing but their well being. It's a complicated emotion, of that I'm sure."

"Would you ever love a human, Father?"

"A human? Are they so different from demons?"

"Yes, very much so. Would you, Father?"

"I don't see why not."

I let a short pause flow between us and for a moment I thought he would ask what I was getting at but then his eyes flooded with understanding and he let out a heavy sigh.

"Ah, I see now. You were always an inquisitive one, sometimes nosy too."

"You don't think I have the right to know?"

"You have the right, just not now."

"Did you ever plan to tell me?"

"When I knew that you'd take it well, not when you'd go sticking your nose somewhere it doesn't belong."

"I don't belong in this family?" I questioned, the anger bubbling up inside me. "It's that little half-breed brat that you've bred that doesn't belong." Father looked thoroughly taken aback but I didn't regret my words, quite the opposite actually, I felt like letting all my thoughts be free. "Half-breed? He's your brother, Sesshomaru, and he will belong in this family and you will accept him."

"Accept him?" I spat, my eyes glowing. "I could never accept such a waste of flesh like that half-breed. And do not try my patience by saying he is my brother, he is nothing to me."

"You are angry Sesshomaru, and maybe bitter, but you don't mean it."

"You have no perception of anger."

Father, his amber colored eyes unblinking and wise, stared at me with disappointment and something close to sadness; I suddenly wished I hadn't made such a fool of myself by acting so childish. "What a shame that you've tarnished our blood, Father." I said as I met his eyes once more and climbed the staircase to my room, feeling the waves of anger once again as the scent of that woman, that human woman and her little half-breed burden, still sticking to the walls in the corridor.

Father, I thought as I sat on my bed to watch the playing shafts of moonlight on the tile floor. A human, Father? And her half-breed son. You've weakened us, Father. But as I looked out to the great expanse of endless land beyond my window, I could think nothing of the human woman, or what Father had done, nor about Mother or any other part of out now thinned bloodline, my thoughts were elsewhere, somewhere pack in the past where everything was easy, like when Mother was still here and I was young and I would get in trouble with this horrible curiosity of mine, this cursed curiosity.