A/N: really, really hoping I get this done by the time it's supposed to be uploaded… EDIT: ha! I did it! barely!
This is the only Sunday chapter this week!
When the allotted hour was up, Sesshomaru and Rin both descended to the half-level just above the dungeons of the palace. The room was isolated and quiet, and Rin shivered slightly at the seeming feeling of a graveyard she got. He took her hand gently to comfort her, opening the sliding door with his free hand.
The woman had the handle of a knife with no blade, seemingly carved from human bone, and some interesting markings on her face, with the scroll weighted with stones in front of her. There was a futon laid out in the middle of the somewhat small room, and on the other side, the man was tied securely. He was awake, now, and seemed somewhere between terrified and furious. The Mori woman smiled warmly at Rin and motioned the woman to sit down on the futon. Rin did so rather nervously, scooting back against the wall and curling up.
"don't be afraid, milady. Though it will hurt, it will be over soon, I promise." She helped Rin relax and settle flat on her back on the soft futon, patting her arm reassuringly. "now then," she looked up at Sesshomaru, "get out."
A pair of guards seemed to appear from nowhere and took one arm each to escort Sesshomaru out. He quickly pulled his arms free, snarling softly. "I can see myself out, thank you." They followed him out and shut the door, blocking it from him. "no matter what you hear, you are not to enter until the woman says it is safe," the guard informed him. He nodded grimly.
Sesshomaru had to fight the instinct to make sure Rin was safe as the woman started to chant strangely behind the closed door. He could hear Rin whimper nervously, as she was able to see things he could not. The chanting continued for several long minutes, then he heard the man he'd captured start whimpering around the gag they'd tied on him. With a sharp exclamation that sounded like nonsense, there was a sharp, wet slash and an awful gurgling sound.
Sesshomaru started pacing back and forth, the guards watching him nervously as the spell progressed. The scent of the man's blood was thick on the air and actually made him slightly hungry from his nervousness. The woman continued to chant more fervently, and there seemed to be a source of white-blue light behind the door screen. Rin whimpered nervously again, fighting the urge to curl in on herself.
The chanting grew suddenly loud as the source of light concentrated into a knife blade in the woman's hand, casting the shadows of both her and Rin on the door. With a sharp exclamation, she plunged the shining blade into Rin's chest.
Sesshomaru barely registered his mate's piercing scream of agony. Every fiber of his body seemed to be on fire, and the two guards caught him to stop him from collapsing to the floor in anguish. He gripped his clothes and clenched his teeth to keep from scratching himself or biting his tongue. He couldn't tell if his ears were ringing from the pain or if it was Rin's screaming he could hear. The pain remained over a minute, then faded slowly, leaving him panting and sweating, hanging loosely from the arms of the concerned guards.
A few moments later, when he managed to regain his feet, the door to the room slid open, and the Mori clan woman poked her head out. The markings she'd painted on herself were all gone, and the knife handle in her hand once again had no blade. She was sweating and panting slightly as well, as clearly the spell was taxing for all involved. "you may enter, Milord. It is done."
He stepped forward shakily, partly nervous and partly from how drained he was from the pain. He slid the door farther open, seeing Rin laying still, her bangs sticky with sweat. She was clearly unconscious, and the woman had rearranged her from where she had landed with her thrashing, making her look peacefully sleeping. He spared a glance to the other side of the room, where he was shocked to find nothing but a mummified skeleton-like corpse. All the blood, energy, and the soul of the man had been consumed to fuel the spell. He turned back to his beloved, kneeling down beside her. He noticed, now, the faintest scent of youki, demonic energy, coming from her. He gently smoothed her wet hair from her forehead, exposing the moon he'd placed there.
"milord, I must explain a few things to you now." The woman knelt opposite him beside the prone woman. "the spell is active. She will change gradually, a bit each day. As her youki builds, it will likely trigger instincts she never had as a human. They will be intense, and may overpower her until she is farther progressed and able to control them. You will have to protect her from herself, Milord."
He nodded solemnly in understanding, bending to gently kiss her forehead, concern clear in his eyes. "I can do that easily."
"good." Rin twitched slightly and she sighed. "for the time being, the pup may still be in danger, Sesshomaru-sama. She needs to remain in bed for the next 3 days, to minimize the chances of miscarriage. She should only get up to relieve herself, not for anything else. See to it that she is fed and cared for in bed."
He nodded once more, rubbing his thumb across Rin's cheek as she stirred more, finally blinking awake. She smiled weakly as his face was the first thing she saw. "…did it work, my love?"
He offered a tiny smile and a very small nod. "yes, it seems so. But you must stay in bed for a few days, to be sure you and the baby are safe."
Her brows furrowed in confusion. "you mean…I could still lose them?" she asked timidly, her eyes starting to water in worry.
"you must rest, Rin, and everything will be well, I swear it." She relaxed at his reassurance, settling back into the futon with a soft sigh.
The woman rose to her feet and bowed at the waist. "Sesshomaru-sama…Rin-Sama. I shall bring food for you." She moved to leave them alone for a while.
"Thank you, for everything."
She turned back at his words with a tiny smile. "shall I inform your mother of our success?"
He nodded and she left. He turned back to Rin as she tugged lightly at his sleeve. "can…can I at least sit up a little? I could lean on you…"
"just be careful, all right?" he shifted so he was sitting behind her, and helped her sit upright, gently pulling her lightly into his lap so she could lean back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her small frame and held her gently to him, tilting his head to kiss her cheek lightly. He enjoyed the seeming note of spice that was added to her scent by the youki. This suited her far better than the foul sour odor she'd once had when she was forced to go berserk as a hanyou. He took in a deep whiff and smiled a little wider. Rin's sweet scent, warm with pregnancy and spicy with her slowly shifting blood, seemed to calm and reassure him more than ever.
The woman returned with a tray piled high with food and tea, and Rin eyed it distastefully. "that's an awful lot of meat…where's the noodles? The vegetables?" they'd been feeding her fairly rare red meat since she'd arrived a couple of days ago, but they'd always made sure she got human food, and a balanced meal each time she ate. This was nothing more than a plate of meat, and it looked even more rare than usual. It didn't look edible, let alone appetizing, to Rin, but her stomach rumbled all the same.
"meat is good for you, Rin…sama. It can repair your body and give you good energy. And it's certainly very good for the pup." The woman nudged the plate a little closer to Rin after laying the tray in her lap, offering her chopsticks. Rin sighed and picked them up, taking a piece of meat and starting to chew it, then spitting it out in disgust. "eugh! It's barely cooked!"
"it wouldn't hurt anything to cook it more, would it?" Sesshomaru asked, noting the pieces of beef seemed to be barely more than raw. He preferred his own meat cooked no further than that, but knew Rin hardly ate meat to begin with, and when she did it was practically indistinguishable from old leather, to his disgust. The woman didn't answer him, just smiled slightly as Rin took another piece of the meat and started to chew it, no longer complaining. "instincts," she told Sesshomaru as Rin started to stuff her mouth with the meat as quickly as she could chew it, apparently ignoring how raw it was now. She only stopped when her own plate was empty and she grabbed a piece of his, only to find it was colored with flavouring and was actually raw.
Sesshomaru snuggled Rin close to him as he finished his own food, keeping the teapot and cups as the woman took the dishes away. She relaxed against him, blinking sleepily. After the woman left the room, there was a small knock at the door, and Sesshomaru raised one silver brow. "who is it?"
The door slid slightly open and the Lady Mother peeked in, a tiny frown on her delicate face. "May I enter, my son?"
Sesshomaru frowned. His mother was a cause of much of the mess he'd been through the last three days, and he was still cross at her for kidnapping his mate in the first place. Finally, he nodded, curious as to her visit.
The white-haired woman swept gracefully into the small room and knelt with a flourish before the two of them. Then, after a moment's hesitation, she kowtowed, her forehead touching the floor between her hands. "why are you bowing to me, mother?" he asked in a deadpan voice, making his face a carefully neutral mask.
"I wish to apologize, my son, for everything I have done." She spoke to the floor, not looking up. Rin stared at the woman in disbelief. Sesshomaru's mother was almost a force of nature to Rin, and she never thought she'd see the woman bow to anyone. The blow to her pride should have killed her.
"sit up." She did as she was told, looking her son in the eye to prove her sincerity. "my servant came and told me the spell was a success. I can smell the youki for myself now." She took a few more delicate sniffs in Rin's direction and the girl shrank back into Sesshomaru's chest self-consciously, thinking perhaps she stunk. He held her hand, squeezing her fingers gently in reassurance.
The Lady Mother sighed in slight annoyance, looking away for a moment. "two weeks at least until I can announce the two of you," she mused. "yet here you must stay, under my roof, for 3 days, basically a secret." She met Rin's eye at the last sentence, and Rin suddenly took the look as a challenge, bristling up and leaning forward suddenly.
"we can go home!" Rin spat, then felt a gentle arm restraining her. "Rin," Sesshomaru said gently, "lay back down." She relaxed again at his words and leaned back against him. The Lady Mother watched this behaviour curiously. "We will be leaving tonight, Mother."
She nodded and stood. "as you will, my son. I will expect you once the transformation is complete."
