Death and Taxes

"Kagome what are taxes? In the story Robin Hood poor people had to pay them- what are they and why do poor people have to pay them?"

This was a question for her economics textbook but the miko took the question in stride, "It's an amount of money charged by the government on goods, property, and income to help fund the government so it can do more good things." She explained as she stroked Kilala's soft fur.

"Why?"

"I can't really explain why- it helps society function." Kagome hoped Shippo dropped it- she was not about to get into a discussion about economics right now, not while she was riding a giant fire cat in a 12 layer kimono.

"But… I don't think society functions." Shippo confided in his caretaker.

Kagome was stumped, it was true taxes in the Feudal era were terribly unjust- often leading to war and revolt.

"They work well where I'm from." was all she could say on the matter.

Thinking on his mother's words he decided to investigate.

"Do you pay taxes, Miroku?" the curious child asked as he perched easily on the man's shoulder. The monk refused to meet his eyes, let alone answer as he walked Kagome's iron horse (bike) to lean it against a tree.

Not discouraged Shippo moved on to the next adult, Sango. He stood before the warrior woman who was polishing her powerful boomerang as she walked before asking, "Do you pay taxes, Sango?"

Not expecting the question she thought a moment, "My father used to when he was alive."

"Shouldn't you be paying taxes though?" Shippo asked curiously.

Sango despaired as she thought to herself, 'He's right. But who would I pay them to? I don't even have the funds to pay them!' Shippo left Sango to her gloomy despair over the realization that she was probably in debt in terms of taxes.

"Do you pay taxes Inuyasha?" Shippo asked the hanyou curiously.

The hanyou snorted, "The hell are 'taxes'? Is that some sort of human thing?"

Well that answered his question. The kit sighed, how could all of the adults in his life be so irresponsible? But there was one final person to ask.

"Do you pay taxes Kagome?"

"I do." The woman replied simply as she fiddled with one of the many layers of her kimono.

"Really? For what?" Shippo wondered what sort of taxes his guardian paid.

Kagome thought a moment before answering, "I pay a sales tax on most things I buy- like food or clothes. I paid an income tax and a payroll tax when I had a part time job when I was 14. My family has to pay taxes on our property and shrine."

"You get taxed for working?!" Shippo asked horrified, wasn't the point of working to make money?

No wonder Kagome had always worn so little- it was probably all she could afford what with all of the taxes she had to pay! He was vey glad that Robin Hood had brought Kagome something very nice to wear!

~!~!~!~

"You just try and start anything InuYasha and I'll make sure you regret it…" Kagome warned the half-demon who swiftly removed his hand from Tessaiga's hilt.

She'd let him fight if Sesshomaru was actually doing something. But given the fact that the noble looked to be, dare she say- lounging under a shady tree she doubted he really wanted to fight.

Oh there was no doubt he'd try and rile up InuYasha should the half demon come too close. But for now the Great and Terrible Lord looked about as harmless as the flower crown upon his noble brow.

She smiled at that, it felt somehow good to know that he indulged his little human companion with some form of playing. In fact if she wasn't seeing this with her very eyes, she'd probably guess that Sesshomaru left 'play time' to his retainer, Jaken.

Lord Sesshomaru looked up as a rather unpleasant scent came to him on the wind, the half demon. Hopefully they'd simply continue on their way.

His brother's human wrench was… surprisingly well dressed on this day. But she was displeased with the finery if her face was any indication to go by. Indeed the clothes would be difficult to travel in. But still she looked at least presentable the Daiyoukai admitted.

Rin had been utterly entranced by the miko and had run up to her wanting to touch the fine kimono. One thing had lead to another and now the little group was sharing the small field for the time being. The humans had wanted a break and the fox kit wanted to play.

It wasn't long before the kitsune and his ward had made their way over near the proud Daiyoukai. The kit now sported a ring of flowers much like his own upon his head as the two children collected flowers.

After a time the lord deemed that the clearing was safe enough to close his eyes for a few moments. The barest hint of a smile crossed his lips as he heard InuYasha cry out in pain as he was subdued into the earth- the most fitting place for his brother.

"Do you pay taxes Sesshomaru-sama?" the kit implored hesitantly.

"Taxes?" The lord asked, not sure he had heard the child correctly. A child asking about taxes- not even he had asked about such things when he was the kit's age. Commendable. It was pleasing to know that despite the child's nomadic traveling he was still being informed of his civic duties.

"What are taxes?" Rin asked the kitsune.

"Umm… They are important. If you don't pay them you go to jail- a very bad place." Shippo explained in an authoritative voice.

"Does Rin have to pay taxes? Rin doesn't want to go to a bad place!" she looked up imploringly at Sesshomaru, "Rin wants to stay with Sesshomaru-sama!"

"Kagome pays taxes!" The kit stated proudly as though the fact that the human woman paid taxes was a great feat that he, Sesshomaru should take note of. Sesshomaru conceded that it was somewhat admirable that as a female she even knew what a tax was.

He was almost certain that the halfbreed didn't. Otherwise the hanyou would have paid his mother's debt alongside taxes.

Those fine kimono the human had worn hadn't come from nowhere after all- she'd been from a royal house that had fallen on hard financial times. His sire had purchased the clothing for her and when he'd died for the woman the debt had been transferred to Sesshomaru.

Love had made InuTaisho foolish it would seem because buying a human woman 15 Junihitoe was quite a large sum. Not to mention the fire rat cloth that his brother tramped around in. And the numerous jewels and combs of jade and other tokens. It would seem that financial responsibility had taken flight where Izayoi had been concerned.

Now it was true that Sesshomaru had little love for humans but he utterly loathed Izayoi. Not because the woman had been unpleasant, all humans were unpleasant to him, but because she'd incurred so much debt in an unthinkably short amount of time.

No one had seen fit to educate the woman on money so she'd been unintentionally greedy and loose with her gold, asking for finery without knowing the cost. Though some blame rested with his father for having indulged the human in her rather expensive desires.

Sesshomaru being a dutiful son had settled his father's debts (a few of the debtors had lost their heads rather than paid, but he really didn't care- the end result of being debt free had been achieved) but he still expected InuYasha to at least pay him back at least a portion of his mother's debts. But he had yet to see even a single copper coin. This did nothing in the slightest to endear the half-breed to him.

It wasn't until the miko had wandered closely that the Lord came out of his pensive revere. The little kitsune was still staring expectantly at him, "I'm the one who decrees the taxes in my domains."

"Great! I'm gonna show Rin-chan my bow! You can talk to Sesshomaru-sama about taxes!" The kit declared, deciding that since the two were both responsible adults with a shared interest, taxes, the two would surely have plenty to talk about so that he could have more time to play with Rin.

Taxes. The last thing she would ever want to speak to Sesshomaru about.

Scratch that, why did she have to talk to the Daiyoukai at all?!

The ice prick for his part looked either mildly amused or annoyed. Most likely both she decided.

"I pay a sales tax of 8% on all bought goods or services in my homeland…." Kagome offered weakly, not at all willing to have such a conversation with the youkai. Settling herself down in the most dignified way she could manage Kagome mentally prepared herself for the undoubtedly unpleasant conversation she'd been skillfully trapped into by the small fox demon.

"Hn. I tax the peasants living within my domain a tithe of their yearly income and a third of all harvest from each farmer."

As far as feudal lords went Sesshomaru wasn't the worst in his taxes, though he likely had a large domain to collect such wealth from.

Feeling a bit more bold as well as curious Kagome ventured, "So how do you go about collecting your taxes? I mean I'm sure you have magistrates or something to gather the taxes. But how do you calculate the worth of rice in relation to a monetary system? I've seen several forms of currency, do you have a set currency? What about bartering?"

That made Sesshomaru quirk up a brow, not because of the highly educated questions but rather that the woman was unused to dealing with rice as a form of tax.

Thus began a rather unusual, if not entirely painful conversation between the daiyoukai and miko.

~!~!~!

The strange human woman had some serious guts, sitting so close to such a dangerous youkai. The Lord of the West! Even Yoko Kurama was hesitant to come so close. Sure he'd stolen from Western military storehouses and a few outposts- never enough to garner the attention of the formidable lord himself.

The human made an unsettlingly, dare he say pleasant picture poised so daintily near the silver haired lord. The indigestion he'd felt weeks ago was back with a vengeance it would seem as he watched her give a small smile to the demon lord.

Hadn't the Western Sorehouse to the West just received a valuable scroll? Eyes narrowed as he glanced at the lord who languidly conversed so easily with the miko. He should steal it, he decided at that moment.

No clue where I pulled this chap from, but once I got started I couldn't stop! The idea of Sesshomaru hating Izayaoi and InuYasha for financial reasons intrigues me. How would you feel if your dad took a mistress, cheating on your mother and then proceeded to buy that mistress new cars, designer clothes and jewels? Maybe even a new large house? You'd be ticked, right? And then both of them die leaving you with outrageous debt and the funeral costs… On top of the fact that Sesshomaru was now a new leader of a territory, with his own army that needs to be supplied with food, weapons and armor….