Sesshomaru stopped halfway across the clearing. His breath caught in his throat. He'd intended the lunch to be an information gathering opportunity. But instead he was stunned by how lovely his guest looked sitting there. The grey spring kimono looked very appropriate on her. Some efficient servant even put her hair up with ornaments and combs. He shook himself out of that thought and continued.

When he finally got to the spot under the tree the servants had set up she practically beamed at him. "My Lord." She greeted as he sank down gracefully across from her.

"I hope you don't mind eating out of doors. You do eat, don't you?" It never occurred to him that she might not eat regular food. "No, I don't mind at all. And I'm not quite what you think I am." That earned a raised eyebrow from Sehsshomaru "Oh?"

Mia looked down at her folded hands in her lap. "We haven't had much chance to converse since I've been here. I'm not a full vampire." Not a full one? What did that mean?

"You see I'm half human." She said as she raised her eyes to meet his. There was shame in her expression. As if this was an undesirable thing.

That earned her a slight smile in return. "I'm quite familiar with half humans. Though not the vampiric type."

Mia smiled tentatively at Sesshomaru. "Really my Lord?"

"My brother Inuyasha is a hanyou. Half demon, half human. May I ask your age then?" He was curious how long her kind lived.

"I have been alive for 40 years. But by vampire standards I'm quite young." She certainly didn't look 40. In fact she looked no older than her early 20's.

He poured them both some tea and paused a moment before drinking his. "So you do eat food, and live a long time?"

After taking a sip of hers "Yes. I'll live forever. Unless I meet with some kind of accident."

Sesshomaru stared at her. She would live forever? What he asked next was quite rude and out of character for him. "Can you bear children?"

Mia choked on her tea when she heard the words 'bear children'. That was certainly a bizarre thing to ask! Once she was done choking she said "The court doctor said I'm physically able to. But no man is interested in me. I would also need to find a replacement before I could even think about that."

"Forgive me. I don't know why I asked that."

She smiled sadly at him "It's all right. For some reason I don't mind telling you things."

"You said 'replacement' before. What did you mean by that?"

"Well I'm a hunter. My kind always are. Dhampirs execute vampires that have broken our laws. If I wanted to stop I'd first have to get permission and a replacement hunter would need to be found. Only then could I marry, or have children."

This was excellent. She was giving up information without a fight. The more the Lord of the Western Lands learned about his guest the more he liked her. She understood duty and honor well. Something that was ever important to a demon lord. Not to mention she was immortal just like Sesshomaru. For the first time since Rin passed he began to feel something stirring inside.

Oh there'd been women here and there. Alliance marriages proposed. Turned down of course. A few short lived relationships. But nothing lasting. No demon woman could hold his attention and he was afraid to love a human again. Losing Rin had been too difficult. His heart could not take a second time.

They sat in silence a moment. "Please eat. You must be hungry." He gestured to the food spread out on the blanket.

"This brother of yours, will I meet him?" Asked Mia as she took some food.

"Hai. On Saturday at the party. What of your family?"

"I'm somewhat of an orphan. My mother was a human and died in childbirth. Father wants nothing to do with me because of that. He blames me for her death."

So far Mia hadn't noticed the information being carefully extracted from her. "Where do you live then?"

"At court. I'm officially a member of the King's household as his hunter. So I have rooms there."

Sesshomaru at least had his brother and retainers, along with some distant cousins. Her life sounded lonely indeed.