A longer one this time.
Otherworldly scent
He stood behind his father, bored, and it had only been a couple of minutes. He resisted the urge to heave a sigh, here they go again, Kami, it was like this every year. No matter where they went, however they stayed for, he never liked them. He liked new places and travelling and the other palaces had resources they did not have in the East, and the West was the best, but still, he was not an idle man by nature, but days like this he just wanted to jump back into bed, he had gone to one hundred and fifty of these meets already and he still hated them.
Still, as much as he hated them he had to go because he was going to be the Eastern Lord in a couple of centuries so he had to be knowledgeable in the ways of these cardinal meets. It did not mean though that he had to enjoy them, he only had to be good at them, so he would sit there and smile cordially while he astounded them with his leadership qualities to prove to them that his father was not making a mistake by handing the kingdom over to him so young, unmated and without an heir too, no matter what his father told the others, he was not mated, or ready to be either, he was still so young, he had not even had a summer romance yet.
Truthfully, these meets were only made tolerable by the resources in the other palaces and the presence of his adorable little sister, Shiori. He did not get to see her much though, he was caught up in meetings while she got to play in the gardens with the children of the other Lords, carefree and barely even aware she had an older brother. At least they were in the West, he could study to his heart's content and probably spar Sesshoumaru, and Hiroki, he rejected it, but Hiroki was better than Touga and a good teacher, he was surprised really that Sesshoumaru was as bad as he was when they sparred last four years ago.
Then suddenly the smell of rain and lavender invaded his senses, a strange smell, it was mingled with the scent of human, a smell he usually did not like, but this time, it was pleasant, soothing, and strange indeed. It was addicting in a way, he was discreet about smelling her but it was nothing like anything he had ever smelt before. He flared his aura ever so slightly and hers reacted immediately and he smiled, miko – that would explain it, maybe, a little. His eyes went immediately to the human servant bowed to one knee behind that prick of a Lord Touga. A female, a child too, seriously, every day his disapproval of this Lord grew, and then he smelt the mark.
His eyes narrowed as he peered through her black bangs to see the mark beneath. He had claimed her, as what, it was unclear. The mark was that of possession, but it was not complete, it could develop into anything. He could see it in the way he was leant her way, edgy, he was protective of her, he did not want to appear that way but it was blindingly obvious. Just what did this Lord want with the girl? While they were on the subject, why did he even care? This was none of his business, but he couldn't help it, he was concerned, he wanted to help her because she was clearly unhappy with her simply being here.
She cast scowls and glares at Touga, and was not hiding it either, it raised questions, but everything looked ok, so no questions were allowed to be asked, not publicly anyway. Suddenly he realized she was staring back at him, too absorbed in looking at him that she did not know he was looking at her too. She was staring at him with recognition, he had never seen her before, so why? Did that explain this strange urge to look after her? He went through the motions of bowing and being introduced, he did not say a word, and for the first time, not only was he not dreading the coming month but quite looking forward to it. This year, the cardinal meeting, while it would still be blindingly boring, he had a very interesting case to look into.
She smelt like she did not belong... there was no other way to explain it, it was no surprise really that Touga had found her and decided to keep her. She smelt otherworldly, and he wanted to know why, by Kami he would find out why.