a/n: Another 2000-ish word chapter!

As always, thanks for your kind reviews! I truly wouldn't be able to finish this story without you all urging me on!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairytale.

SONG OF THE WEST

an Inuyasha fanfic

viii.

The Asano ancestral shrine rested towards the rear of Asagawa, seated atop a hill that emblematically allowed it to overlook the expanse of the castle grounds. It was a considerable building of spectacular design, not too different from the ancestral shrines of the other noble houses of the land, awash with the black and silver that tinged the other towers and decorated with the wave-like shapes of the Asano karamon.

Indeed, the shrine's outward appearance had not changed much in the near decade that had passed since Toga had last visited. At that time, it had been open to him and Lady Tokudaiji, with the memorial tablet for Lady Asano front and center. The Lady was a kind woman, and Lord Asano had been inexorably affected by her death: over the years, he had grown more haughty and oversuspicious, and though he still followed orders quickly and meticulously, his despondency had made him generally irksome to be around. He ceased to make long public appearances, even going as far as to reject invitations to the annual summer festivals at Inugawa. Despite these changes of his heart and mind, the man had been healthy the last time Toga had seen him. He never expected to be back at the shrine so soon.

The visit was brief but solemn. Lord Tokudaiji had a deep respect for the dead. Unfortunately, no matter how many prayers he whispered or how much incense he lit in Lord Asano's honor, nothing would unetch the late Lord's name from the tablet that now hovered above his urn, nor could his body reform from the ashes and his spirit return from the void. The best Lord Tokudaiji could do for his long-time vassal now was find an explanation for his mysterious and sudden demise.

After he and Sesshomaru finished the pleasantries and rituals customary to visiting a shrine, the small party fractionated into the components necessary for them to complete their secret objective. Seiten would spend much of his time with the servants, attempting to glean as much information from them as possible. Sesshomaru and Rin were to keep an eye on Lady Sara's whereabouts, most importantly ensuring her safety.

His job was as it would be in any normal situation regarding the death of one of his lords—to carry out his duties as Great Lord Tokudaiji of the Western Lands. This one of the many tasks he wished he could simply pass on to his son, who admittedly had much better forbearance when it came to paperwork and formalities such as this. Instead, while Seiten and Sesshomaru—and even the newcomer Rin—were engaging in various sorts of mildly intriguing espionage, he was stuck in Lord Asano's old study, shuffling through files of taxes, trade, and salary with Lord Motozawa.

Truly unfair! But also a necessary evil. After all, the stability of a territory depended largely on the stability of its border courts.

All the more reason why it was imperative that he ditch this administrative work as quickly as he could.

Golden sunlight trickled through the thin paper of the shoji, illuminating the sterile room that Lord Toga was currently trapped in. True to Lord Asano's personality, the study was devoid of anything that could mark it as truly his, exchanging items that would be exciting or pleasing to this eye for a simple shelf of books, desks, and zabutons for receiving guests. Save for the shuffling of papers and the sound of Lord Toga's weighted seal hitting the desk, all was quiet.

"It seems as if everything is in order," Lord Toga praised, exhaling a breath of relief. "You've all certainly done well despite Lord Asano's sudden absence."

"You have our gratitude, your Honor," Motozawa stood from the zabuton where he had been waiting and bowed deeply. "Our Lord Asano was very methodical with his work; thus, it was simple to continue where he left off."

Toga nodded and began to place the documents back where they belonged. "Indeed. It's why I chose him to be border lord after the war."

A few seconds of uncertain silence went by before Motozawa spoke again. "However, your Honor, there was one matter that Lord Asano left incomplete before his death."

The official seemed to tiptoe around the topic as if he were afraid to bring it up.

Toga's eyebrow quirked slightly as he looked up from the desk. "And that is?"

"Lady Sara's betrothal," Lord Motozawa stated. "As you are well aware, your Honor, Lord Asano's only legitimate son died as a baby alongside Lord Asano. In addition, he never remarried, leaving Lady Sara as his only heir. Despite this, he never chose a suitable husband for her."

Of course he hadn't. Another facet of Lord Asano's personality that hadn't changed after his wife's death was how he doted on his dear daughter. Considering how ecstatic he had been when Sesshomaru was first born, Toga couldn't find it in himself to hold it against the border lord. Nonetheless, Lord Asano's deep affection had been a political weakness, leading him to decline multiple sensible offers of marriage in favor of holding out for a grand suitor for his daughter. The closest Asano had ever come to this was Sara's brief betrothal to Sesshomaru when they were children, something that had soon ended based on one of Lady Tokudaiji's sudden whims.

If it were that much of a problem, it was certainly within Toga's power as a Great Lord to simply assign Lady Sara a husband from the decent group of eligible bachelors in the Western Lands. Both Ryukotsusei and Lord Katsushika had done so in the past—hell, even the late emperor had been he and Sesshomaru's mother's matchmaker. Still, matters of marriage and heirs were something he preferred not to meddle with.

And, quite frankly, he was more interested in the matches Lord Motozawa had in mind.

"Of course," Lord Toga said. "The longer Sara unmarried, the greater the chance of instability. Which bachelors did the court have in mind?"

Motozawa began to list off some names. Most of them, Toga noticed, were either current officials or sons of current officials. If someone wanted to grab more power and glory for themselves and their families, now more than ever was the chance to do so.

"Lady Sara has also received a proposal from the Onigumo clan of the East," Motozawa continued. "His sole heir, young Lord Muso, is of an age to marry."

There it was.

Lord Tokudaiji peered up from the letters to glance at the official. Motozawa's expression was completely neutral. Either he was better at concealing his emotions than Toga had thought, or he truly did not know about the trouble that Onigumo had caused at Kusakabe's border.

Nevertheless, Lord Asano would have detested these matches if he were still alive. He would've never saw fit to lower his daughter's prospects to the sons of his courtiers, and, though it was almost unheard of for the sole male heir to propose marriage to a only daughter whose dowry practically included a whole territory, Lord Asano would have almost certainly rejected it on the basis that Muso was a legitimized bastard.

All this, of course, in spite of the marriage theoretically doubling their demesne by combining that of the Asano clan and the Onigumo clan under one heritor.

If Lord Onigumo were truly out to gather more territory for Ryukotsusei as Lord Kusakabe had suggested in his message, Asano's obduracy on the matter would be a great motive for murder.

Still, it all seemed too…simple.

Lord Toga nodded as if pleased with the choices before him. It was time he got out of that bare, cramped room.

"Well, if that's all that's left, I'm certain we can handle it after supper," Toga said, standing.

Motozawa nodded and bowed again.

"Of course my Lord," the court official said, watching Lord Toga move across the room. "Is there anything in particular you would like our cooks to prepare for you tonight?"

"Surprise me," Toga grinned.

Servants slid the shoji closed behind him, reducing Lord Motozawa to a mere shadow.

Despite the social conventions that barred Sesshomaru from speaking Sara without some sort of trustworthy third-party present, getting information from her about the death of her father was to be an incredibly simple task.

Grief wouldn't be an issue –- she had never truly been fond of Lord Asano and had confessed as much in secret notes passed to him in the aftermath of her mother's death back when they were children. And, though she could be incredibly short-sighted and tiresome at times, her accounts were often objective and generally accurate.

The main problem was that he had also been given the duty of watching over the poor girl that his father had so generously accepted into his care.

There was no possible way that Rin could pass as a convincing servant, especially one of the Tokudaiji household. No matter how much filth they scrubbed for her skin, how tightly they fastened her obi around her waist, or how prettily they fashioned her hair about her head, she was still the sickly common girl she had been the night of the explosion in Yobetsu.

He had told his father as much as they prepared her for the role.

Lord Toga had simply sighed and glanced unhappily at him. "You're of no help."

"Do you really think no one will question the propriety of us having a maid when there are no other women in our part?"

"You're so finicky about your appearance that it makes sense you would have a handmaid," Toga jested. "Let them wonder! It's not like they can do anything about it."

It had been simple for him to say that. If Rin's presence did end up attracting suspicions of unseemliness, it would be Sesshomaru who people associated her with, not Great Lord Tokudaiji.

And, whether as a master or as a partner, Sesshomaru did not want to be connected to her in any way.

He rolled his eyes as he walked, his black boots resounding against the smooth path that led to Asagawa's red gardens. He could hear her footfalls plodding unevenly behind him, awkward in the wooden geta they had bought to go along with her uniform.

"Stop fidgeting with your hair so much," Sesshomaru ordered without turning around. "Stand up straight, and don't take such wide steps in those shoes. I don't need you falling and injuring yourself."

Rin looked at where the sun gleamed against the long, white hair that flowed down Sesshomaru's back.

"Yes, my Lord," her response was soft and slow, the formal words awkward on her low-born tongue.

How could he critique her form when he hadn't even bothered to look at her since they left the shrine? Rin blinked in disbelief, but straightened her posture nonetheless.

Lord Toga and Seiten had given her a quick lesson before they arrived at Asagawa.

"Stand up straight and take short, quiet steps, but don't slow down," Lord Toga said. "You'll still be expected to follow orders in a timely fashion."

"Bow when you are being greeted, after receiving an order, after being dismissed, or whenever Sesshomaru bows," Seiten added.

Lord Toga nodded. "You'll have to open the shoji for Sesshomaru as well. Kneel before you open the shoji, then step inside and kneel to close it."

"When you're pouring a drink, push your sleeves back so that they don't touch the table." Seiten said.

"And most importantly," Toga stressed, "always refer to anyone who is dressed fancier than you as 'my Lord' or 'my Lady.'"

It was a lot to remember, but Rin was devoted to getting it right. She had been going over everything they had said in her mind since they set out, even when they were paying their respects at the shrine.

Still, she found herself slightly distracted by the sight of Asagawa's red gardens. They were even more beautiful in person. The golden sun burnished the bright red leaves slightly orange. A stream bubbled quietly ahead of them as it flowed under the grand wooden bridge that connected the smooth paths. Stone lanterns lined the pathway, waiting to be lit once the sky was dark. The idyllic scene was completed by the dulcet notes of a flute close by.

Suddenly, Sesshomaru stopped and held up his hand for her to be quiet. Then, he looked in the direction of music.

Through the beautiful red trees, Rin could make out a wooden structure in the midst of the garden, and the faint silhouette of a girl.

a/n: Annnnd that's the end, for now. It was really interesting to do a chapter told mostly from Toga's POV, and because of where this ~arc~ of the story is going, we might see a lot more of his perspective, ha.

Of course, that doesn't mean Rin and Sesshomaru won't get their fair share! I truly commend all of you for sticking around - as you can see, this story is pretty slow burn. We're definitely going to get a lot more interactions between Rin and Sesshomaru from here on out!

Until next time!