Disclaimer: Don't own InuYasha...yaddah yaddah yaddah...
"Why, Rin?"
"Why what, my lord?"
"Why is this so important to you?"
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If he had to ask then Lord Sesshomaru could never understand. Demons were solitary creatures. Caring nothing for having someone to call their own. How unlike humans who searched for years to find someone to make them feel complete. Rin's shoulders slumped. She couldn't keep up this fight forever. She was fighting not years of demon thinking. She was railing against centuries of beliefs that humans were useless, that daring to love wasn't a sign of weakness and loving a human was a folly.
Sesshomaru wanted her to fight him. He wanted her screaming and shouting and beating against his beliefs and tearing them down for him. She had to give him something to believe in. Then he saw the look on her face and his mind froze. No...no she couldn't give up on him! Dammit, he was powerless against his instincts to reject a human's love.
'By the gods, Rin, don't you dare to give up on this Sesshomaru! No one has forced me against my will in my entire existance!' his conscience snarled as his eyes narrowed.
"I cannot give you an answer suitable enough that you won't find an arguement against it, my lord. Perhaps I am looking for the sign that you fully accept me despite my being human. It could also be I wish to be more important to you than your hollow pride. Whatever my reasons, it hardly matters now. I understand how it is to be. I just wish I understood why it has to be this way and what it is you want from me, my lord."
With that Rin slipped quietly from the room and never looked back. Maybe if she had, it could have changed everything.
"I want you to fight for me, Rin." the inuyoukai lord murmured, his voice shaking slightly as the ice in his eyes melted and a glimmer of tenderness appeared. "Tear apart my reasons for pushing you away and expose them for the hollow excuses they trully are. Make me face reality, Rin."
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A week later
Sesshomaru saw precious little of Rin in the days before the arrival of the lords of the Eastern, Northern and Southern lands. She even refused to see Jaken but rather remained isolated in her rooms. Much to Sesshomaru's displeasure the first lord to arrived was the human lord of the North. He often wondered how many more of the decade meetings this lord would make. Already twenty years had passed and the bastard was still as arrogant as he been at his first gathering. Sesshomaru made no secret of his hatred towards the man. Each time the lords met, the other lords would give into the human's demands. Not Lord Sesshomaru. His lands were his and no one else would have them.
From across the great table the human sat, smirking at Sesshomaru over his steepled fingers. Just how far would he push the dog demon this decade? He knew the squat little toad vassil would be easily riled. One slur against the Lord of the Western Lands and Jaken would go on one of his little tirades. Quite comical, in fact. Blowing a lock of wheat blonde hair from his eyes, Bassarious of the Northern Lands leaned back in his seat and rested his boot heels on the table's edge. His keen blue eyes all but daring Sesshomaru to make the first move.
"So what will your ridiculous demands be this time, human? A quarter of the holdings of each lord? Or will you be completely unreasonable and demand total supremacy?" Sesshomaru quirked an eyebrow, using his familiar tactic of provocation.
"Now now, lets not be so harsh here, Sesshomaru. The Northern and Western lands have always had peaceful relations. So where is Jaken? Keeping him locked away this time so he doesn't start another war?" Bassarious replied dryly, checking his nails as he spoke.
"You could only wish he would start your war for you."
Bassarious chuckled. And they said the inuyoukai lord had no sense of humor. Both men glanced over as the doors to the great hall swung open and admitted Ishikawa, the dragon demon lord of the Eastern Lands, and Kaito, the tiger demon lord of the Southern Lands. Bassarious rose to his feet out of respect to these men and began to bow when another figure caught his eye. Stepping into the room behind the powerful lords was a slender human female! The soft peach color of her kimono giving her pale skin a gentle glow. What was a human doing with demon lords? Like a silent wraith the girl seemed to float across the floor, not stopping to stand behind either Kaito or Ishikawa. Bassarious could not take his eyes from her. Only when the girl came to stand two paces behind Lord Sesshomaru's seat and lift her hollow eyes did he seem to breath again.
"Seeing that Jaken has been more hinderance than help in the past with these talks, I thought it best this time to have a calmer and more rational mediator. Rin will be standing in his place." Sesshomaru said smoothly, catching the questioning looks from Kaito and Ishikawa. Only when his eyes saw Bassarious' heated looks towards Rin did he feel some degree of his control start to slip.
"Just how much of our lands will the young upstart be wanting this time, Lord Sesshomaru? As our lands dwindle so, too, does our patience. When these lands were divided it was with the understanding that each lord of the lands would hold equal shares. Our lords in the regions seem unsure of whom they answer to anymore. Already we have battles errupting in lands that were formerly ours, costing us man power and revenue. What good is it to be lords to wastelands?" Ishikawa demanded, his jade green eyes flashing as he snorted.
"Perhaps if you had had better control over those occupying your lands I would not have these troubles when I took them over." Bassarious responded in a voice laced thick with sarcasm.
In a flash Kaito was on his feet and slamming a thick fist onto the table before jabbing a finger at the human lord.
"And perhaps if they had a strong leader and not weakminded fool they would have some sense of direction! You amass all these lands and do what with them, human? Nothing! You leave the soil to become barren and dry, your land is falling into rot! Land that was once mine and Ishikawa's and was prosperous. We are to remain silent and watch it be destroyed because some manchild wishes to prove his manhood to the world by owning all of it!"
Already Rin could see the negotiations falling apart. Bassarious was clearly all about ownership and power. Ishikawa and Katio seemed more fixated on making their lands and regions valuable not only to themselves but to others as well. Owernship of even a few small acres in such lands could make a person wealthy. What this all boiled down to was pride, plain and simple. Slowly Rin shook her head. What these lords lacked in land they made up for with sheer male pride and arrogance. Sesshomaru sat in silence, his eyes watching the drama unfold before him. Bassarious had yet to tear his eyes from Rin for more than a few heartbeats.
"My lords, if I may speak."
Rin's voice cut through the thick tension and Kaito's golden eyes went to the girl. Another greedy human. She would without a doubt side with the Northern Lord in this matter and strip Kaito and Ishikawa further of their domains. Not this time. Kaito refused to give up one more blade of grass to a spoiled, grasping human! What possible logic could she hope to bring to this chaos? Ishikawa looked to Rin as well. If she dared to take Bassarious' side in this matter he would demand a new mediator be appointed.
"Change brings about confusion, discord...malcontent. Truth be told, it also stirs fear in even the strongest of hearts. Sometimes change is for the better and sometimes it is not. Clearly, in this case, change has plummeted the lands into war. There is no profit in war. For each acre of land gained, many men are lost and without men, what good is the land? Who will tend it, nurture it? Lord Ishikawa, your lands are known for producing some of the finest and strongest metals, am I right?"
The dragon lord was taken aback by the human girl's knowledge of his region. He nodded slowly, wondering where the girl was going with this line of questioning. Had Sesshomaru been schooling her? Not likely. He would never accuse the dog demon lord of caring overly much for the intelligence of humans.
"Lord Kaito, your lands in the south have a reputation for fertile soil and growing bountiful harvests. Now..." Rin took a deep breath, knowing she was about to purpose something unheard of in these times but it was something Kagome had said occuried in her time on a daily basis, "I have a proposal that would be mutually beneficial to you both and could increase your wealth as well as your power."
This had the lords' attention, Sesshomaru's included. What could metals and crops have to do with peace! He could hardly understand Rin's logic. Against his better judgement he held his tongue and listened.
"In order to bring in such an abundance of crops, tools will be needed. Strong and reliable metal tools of good quality. Perhaps, if you both are willing to agree to a trade of sorts? In exchange for tools made by the dragon demons, the tiger demons would be willing to trade a certain amount of crops? Living in such a mountainous terrain the dragon people are sometimes lacking in enough crops to survive and so find it necessary to loot their neighboring lands. Both lands will benefit. The tiger demons will have the tools needed and the dragon demons will have the food necessary to thrive and make more tools and weapons. In doing so, the value of the crops and the tools will grow and so, too, will the wealth and value of the lands. Other regions will wish to trade for such items and---"
"And we humans are left to starve and grow poor, is that what you are suggesting, milady?" Bassarious interrupted, "What you are telling to do is to cut out a greater amount of wealth and power for themselves. The scales of equality will be horribly out of balance."
"No more so than they are now, would you not agree, Lord Bassarious?" Rin replied, drawing quick smiles from Kaito and Ishikawa.
As clever as she was beautiful, Bassarious mused.
"And what would the people of the North have to offer, Lord Bassarious? In fact, I am rather curious as to how a human was able to attain such a level of power over the demons of the Northern lands."
Bassarious chuckled, "That is an easy curiousity to put to rest, dear lady. When I see something I want? I take it. No demon wanted to rule the barren wastelands of the North. Their eyes have always settled on these Western Lands. The borders of these lands have never changed since their creation. As you said yourself, change brings about chaos. These lands are well established and highly coveted for their reach. Were you to combine the lands of us lords of the North, East and South, we would hold a share equal to that of the Lord Sesshomaru's Western Lands."
"If your lands are barren why did you not work to improve them? Are you incapable of such?" Rin asked, her head tilting to one side as she peered at Bassarious with unwavering eyes.
"My lands are now prosperous, dear lady--
"Rich on warfare, you mean!" Kaito growled.
"...and those who have saught to launch a revolt against me have been swiftly silenced. Human though I may be, I am as ruthless as any demon in my pursuit of what I feel to be mine. If I were to trade with the neighboring regions, I'm afraid my price would be too high for them to meet."
"Then your people will starve, die and you will be lord of a land of nothing. Hardly a mark of nobility. It would be in your best interest, Lord Bassarious, to be more reasonable in your demands. What, exactly, is it you have that would be suitable for trade?"
Slowly Bassarious rose to his feet, placing his hands flat on the table and leaning across its great expanse. This girl was practically talking down to him! HIM! Lord of the Northern Lands and a human like herself! She was seemingly daring him to think of something he would have that would be worthy enough to trade with this rabble! Kaito and Ishikawa watched the exchange closely, their eyes darting to Lord Sesshomaru when Bassarious stance seemed to become threatening.
"The lands of the North would be willing to offer the horses and manpower necessary to conduct the trades...for a share of the profits." Bassarious replied boldly.
Kaito and Ishikawa immediately rejected the offer. Even Lord Sesshomaru shook his head. Rin was handling the situation far better than he had expected. Despite the human lord's attempts to needle her, Rin had remained calm, cool and impassive. She was putting the power in Bassarious' hands to decide what his people would give instead of choosing something for him and possibly putting him in the awkward position of refusing and appearing even more greedy.
"Very well. In the Northern Lands we have medicinal herbs that are far stronger than those found in any of the other regions. However, we are sorely lacking in the complete knowledge of their uses," Bassarious looked to Ishikawa, "Your people are reputed healers as well as unequalled weaponsmiths. They could make use of the herbs. We would be willing to trade those herbs in exchange for weapons to defend our borders."
It was a win/win trade. Ishikawa nodded in silence.
"And for trade to the South?" Rin asked.
"We offer to the South a share of the medicial herbs as well...in exchange for an agreed upon number of horses. The beasts in the North haven't the stamina as those found in Lord Kaito's lands. In order for us to travel the paths up the mountains to get the medicines we will need stronger animals."
No more of his lands would be taken and the herbs would be greatly needed should any further skirmishes erupt. Kaito nodded his ascent. For the first time in decades he would leave the table without surrendering. Now the lords looked to Sesshomaru. Rin dared to look to him as well. That expressionless mask, his face set in stone.
"I offer what I have offered to you through the centuries of these meetings. You do not attack that which is mine and I leave you in peace. Your lands remain your own and my lands remain mine as well."
"Agreed." Kaito and Ishikawa replied in unison while Bassarious nodded.
The lords of the East and South rose, believing these negotiations over and a great success when Bassarious spoke up.
"I would ask one other thing of you, Lord Sesshomaru."
Sesshomaru had risen and was preparing to depart the room when Bassarious' words stopped him. He should have known better. The human had to be a least a tiny bit greedy or he wouldn't be Bassarious. Slowly Sesshomaru looked to the human and nodding, waiting to hear what bit of foolishness the man would spout.
"I would have your mediator as my own."