My father and I were on good terms again a few days after my mother's death, although there was a certain tension between us that had never been there before. It was unspoken and unnoticeable to most, but he and I knew full well it would be there forever. I began spending more time by myself, sometimes wandering the land aimlessly as if controlled by some strange force in the cosmos. That aside, I did still fight battles along side my father; most of which were unimportant skirmishes. They did, however, sharpen my combat skills and agility. I spared nothing in the pursuit of perfection and spent much of my time fostering my natural fighting abilities

My father, on the other hand, spent much of his time with the mortal woman he had so carelessly fallen for. I say this is salt in my wounds, but in order to not further complicate matters between he and I, I said nothing about it. Besides, as my father he did know me well enough to comprehend the majority of my behavior. Nothing needed saying when he returned from that Godforsaken sea port city. He already knew my stance on his actions so nothing of the sort needed discussion. He spoke nothing of his mortal love interest to me until he discovered that he was going to be a father again. When he told me, I let out a brief, quiet laugh and told him, "That is your own problem. I will have nothing to do with it."

"Sesshomaru," he said, slightly irritated. "It is not a problem at all from where I am standing and I don't expect you'll make it one."

"You will change your stance one day, Father. Trust me. Half-demons are scorned on this earth. They don't belong anywhere. They are a simply a disgraceful symbol of cross-breeding," I told him contemptuously.

"And to think you will have one as a sibling," he said in a successful attempt to smite me.

After a brief silence, he said, "You will not harm my child. I know you well and I know what you do to things that you see as troublesome or annoying."

I said nothing to this. My father, when he needed to be, was terribly intimidating; even I was cautious. I hate to say I was jealous, but it was indeed true. I had always been my father's only child. I must say, however, I could have dealt with it a bit better were my sibling not a half-demon byproduct of my father's betrayal.

A few years went by uneventfully until my father had the audaciousness to bring his new family to our village. His wife or whatever he considered that woman was in fact extremely beautiful, however I resented he and her fluid, luminous voice. I resented even more the young child who looked strikingly similar to my father and I in terms of basic features such as hair and eye color. My brother was so innocent and naïve. I almost pitied him, but instead loathed him. I could not help but feel this animosity towards him, for what was he but the reason my mother had died? A half-demon travesty, a garnishment on my name and my fathers. A living icon of the biggest rift in my life; a life I need to have control of in order to be content. I scorned him so that even the sight of him was enough to infuriate me.

"Father. I must take leave," I told him, glaring at the others in his company.

"Yes. I actually thought you were elsewhere anyway," he said, not meaning to be offensive. It made sense that he would not want confrontation. For the time being I, would keep my distance from them. Patience, I thought, would find me my vengeance eventually.