A/N: Dedicated to the woman who brought one of my best friends into the world. I wish I could have met her.
After another few days, during which she grew all four of her fangs as well as her claws, Rin was once again sleeping late as Sesshomaru had to rise early to deal with paperwork. He heard her shiver slightly behind him as he sat at his desk, then a mumbled word.
"what?"
"moko," Rin mumbled, tugging lightly at the tail of his pelt. He removed it and allowed her to take it from him, not turning around. The past two days had been bitingly cold, enough that even he felt the chill, so he'd allowed her to use his fur along with extra layers for warmth, not much worried about his own discomfort. He heard her snuggle it and went back to writing the response to a missive from the Mori clan in the northwest, not far from the wolf tribe territory. He was distracted by more shuffling as Rin sat up abruptly, pushing the pelt away from her and letting out a huff, apparently now too hot, despite the chill in the room.
"huh? What's this?" she seemed to ask no one in particular. Her fingers brushed her chest, feeling a fine layer of downy fuzz hiding under her untidy black morning hair. Fur? But Sesshomaru's fur was sitting in her lap, and was much larger and coarser than the pup-down she could feel. She had woken several times last night, every time a load of snow crashed from the roof to the garden below, and was very tired and not quite awake yet.
"is something the matter, Rin?" Sesshomaru asked, signing the response and setting stones on it to let it dry. He turned to look at her, surprised to find her nude to the waist, apparently having shed her sleeping yukata at some point without him noticing. She moved her hair all behind her shoulders, revealing a thin band of fluffy black down running down both sides of her chest, between her breasts, and ending at her navel. He assumed it was one solid band that went around the back of her neck as well. "I'm hot," she informed him, arms crossed over her chest and a tired and confused look on her face.
Sesshomaru couldn't help but chuckle softly at his oblivious young mate. "I believe it's the fur on your chest," he informed her. Her look became even more puzzled. "Fur?" she repeated blankly, looking down at her chest. "huh." She petted herself a couple times, then her eyes went wide as she finally realized what was going on. He smiled softly as she stared at herself in awe. "it's your own Mokomoko, starting to grow at last," he told her gently. "remember, it is a part of you, just as mine is really a part of me. Once it's done growing you'll be able to wear it over your clothes, and take it off at will, but for now it's very attached." She petted it again and winced, finding that the skin, and thus the fur, was very sensitive to pressure.
Sesshomaru shifted to get back to his work, picking up a missive from the white-yama clan, and heard Rin stretch and stand, then cough in embarrassment, realizing she couldn't put her clothes back on due to her overly-sensitive fur. He glanced up again to see her with her arms still crossed to cover her breasts, blushing brightly. "I want breakfast…but I can't wear clothes…"
He hummed thoughtfully, setting the paper down once again and standing also, considering. He stepped to a wardrobe in the corner of the room and grabbed his lightest summer underlayer, hoping it would be light enough, and an under-tie to hold it shut. He carefully wrapped her in it and made sure to tie it shut just below her navel, away from the growing fur. It wasn't ideal, since her most-definitely-not flat chest was going to pull the upper part too open to be modest, but it was the best he could manage. She giggled and flapped the sleeves of the underlayer, which was big enough on her to reach the lower part of her calves. He kissed her head and sent her downstairs to breakfast, hearing chieko making her way up the stairs as Rin went down. The midwife chuckled and Rin growled.
"Chieko, don't be rude."
"I can't help it!" the cheerful woman said with a bright smile, setting down the tray of tea on the table and settling herself with a contented sigh. "so she's finally growing her mokomoko, then?"
"that's correct. And since I know she won't stay in one place willingly, better she wears some of my clothing rather than being indecent completely." He turned fully to face the midwife, ignoring the messages as long as he could, though he'd already been doing that too much, and they were starting to pile up a bit.
Chieko nodded, pouring herself a cup of tea and adding a few drops of concentrated herbs to it before taking a sip, nodding at his words rather thoughtfully. "it's already been about 11 days, altogether…just a few more, and she'll be complete." She took another sip and added, "it must be a shock to you, how much Rin-sama has changed."
He nodded after a brief hesitation. "she is still so much the same…still the woman I knew I could not live without the moment I lost her…for the chance to keep her soul intact, I will always be grateful." Chieko nodded and opened her mouth to say something else when she was interrupted by a sneeze. Rin pushed the door open and scratched her nose, a breakfast bowl and chopsticks in her other hand.
"quit talking about me, I can't finish eating," she teased, settling on a cushion beside the tea table to keep eating her breakfast. The midwife poured her a cup of tea and added a few drops of the herb blend to her cup as well, then poured a final cup for Sesshomaru, not adding the herbs this time.
Once Rin was finally finished with her rather sizable breakfast and her tea, chieko had her strip back to nothing so she could examine her, as she did every morning. As she stroked the young woman's lower back, she paused and let out a happy hum. She motioned Sesshomaru over and had him place his hand where hers had been. "do you feel how her spine is just the slightest bit more curved here?" she asked. Not everyone could detect a change so subtle, of course, but a mate should know every inch of his woman. After a moment, he nodded, and she smiled widely. "not only is she transforming into an InuYōkai, Sesshomaru-sama, but her body is beginning to change for your pup." He returned her smile with a very small one of his own, and Rin tried to look over her shoulder to see what they were so awed by.
"I wish I could see…"
"don't worry, Rin-sama. In another moon you'll start to see your bump. June isn't as far away as you may think now." Chieko helped her back into her oversized shirt and hefted herself to her feet with a grunt of effort, heading off to leave the pair of them alone.
Rin stared down inside the oversized underlayer at the band of black fuzz she was growing, clearly a bit awed at the thought of having her own pelt. She stroked it very carefully, delighted at how soft it was. Sesshomaru noticed her looking and carefully pulled his own pelt, abandoned on the futon, out of her reach and put it back on his shoulder where it belonged. She looked up sharply as she felt it slide past her. "hey!" she whined, trying to reach for it, but he scooted slightly away to maintain himself out of reach. She giggled and scooted closer, watching him move again. She then got up to move faster, only for him to flee the room with a soft chuckle. She giggled again, pursuing him down the hallway and leaping to pounce on him, completely forgetting her sensitivity to touch on her chest. He quickly tossed the tail of his moko to cushion her fall, but it still gave a shocking burst of pain when she hit, leaving her gasping and whimpering. He turned and gently scooped her into his arms, letting her curl slightly into his chest for comfort, hiding her watery eyes.
Sesshomaru kissed Rin's forehead lightly. "you need to be more careful, Rin. Don't worry, the pain won't last for long." She nodded understandingly, sighing softly. She turned as he did, hearing jaken pattering and stumbling around downstairs, possibly carrying something heavy. He gave her another gentle kiss and set her back on her feet. "why don't you lay down for a little while? I should go see what's wrong with Jaken."
When Sesshomaru arrived, Jaken grunted with effort and held the large, ornate scroll over his head so his master could reach it. "this…just came in…milord, from…your mother," he grunted, holding it aloft and sighing in relief as Sesshomaru took it from him, unfurling it with a small frown.
The scroll was a copy of the announcement sent to all the Daimyō to gather at the palace in three more days, at the new year, which explained how fancy and heavy it was. At the bottom, Sesshomaru's mother had added a note to him personally.
"My Son,
"As you can see, I have sent the traditional invitations to the clans for them to arrive at the new year. By that time, the spell to transform your young mate should be complete. I expect you to arrive as soon as she can take true form, in no more than three days' time."
"what's true form?" Rin asked, having followed him curiously down the stairs, not wanting to lay down when she'd barely gotten up for the day. He stiffened very slightly in surprise, having been so focused on the scroll and unused to her newly soft tread he hadn't noticed her arrival beside him. He glanced to her.
"you will have a form like mine." Rin frowned in puzzlement at his words. "I thought I already did?" she wondered aloud, feeling the point of one of her ears, then gesturing to her facial markings and her chest. Surely once her fluff was finished growing, she would be as complete as he was?
"no, Rin. This is a human-like form. By true form, We mean the form of a dog, that which gives us the name of InuYōkai." She gave him a look of awe as his words sank in, and couldn't help but ask if he was serious as she pictured that. She was going to be able to turn into a dog?!
When he nodded, she asked him, "will you have to teach me how to do it? Or will I just know?"
"you will know. It is an instinctual change every young pup must go through, and though you are physically much more mature, I shouldn't expect it to be any different." He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear gently. "we must hope you change quickly- the transformation will be the final act to seal the spell and complete your change into an InuYōkai, and it is also necessary by tradition for you to arrive at the palace in your true form beside me." She looked worried about the ceremony, knowing the problem clans he'd mentioned a few days ago would, of course, be there along with the others. He gently tilted her face up toward him with one curled finger under her chin. "do not worry, Rin. Everything will be safe for you. You, and our child, are the utmost priority now. I care not what happens in this, so long as you are safe." Close as he was, he couldn't possibly miss her quickly stifled yawn, and kissed the top of her head lightly. "the sun has barely cleared the horizon. You should rest a bit longer. Nothing requires your attention today, and sleep makes the spell progress fastest." She sighed and nodded reluctantly, heading back to their room, knowing he would return himself soon enough, so she could rest. As Rin neared the end of her ordeal, she found herself able to sleep easier, her body knowing by instinct she was much less vulnerable than she had previously been. But it was still much easier to rest with her beloved watching over her.
It was nearly midday when Rin woke again, and this time she felt noticeably different. She sat up and stroked her chest again, remembering the fuzz, which had formed into a thin band and sloughed off her, completely numb and separate from her body now. She hummed contentedly and got up to get dressed as Sesshomaru was distracted by a treaty with the Ka clan on his desk. She made a noise to catch his attention once she was changed, placing the thin band on her favorite jacket's collar, where it attached itself just as Sesshomaru's moko once did, feeling like it belonged perfectly. He turned to her and his eyes widened with slight shock and appreciation at her beauty. She grinned. "I'm going to go show Chieko!" she told him, hurrying downstairs and out into the garden, where the midwife was resting under a tree, enjoying the fitful winter sunshine of the warmer than usual day. He turned back to his treaty, starting to write a response to their herb request, when he dropped the brush and splattered ink at a cry of alarm from Chieko.
"SESSHOMARU-SAMA!"
Without even bothering with propriety, he leaped directly out the half-open second-story window into the garden, worried about Rin. What he saw stopped his heart, not with fear, but excitement nonetheless. Rin was standing clear of the garden's trees, shaking and trembling, and small wisps of blue and lilac smoke seemed to come from her feet and arms. He could see from her face she was terrified and fighting the change, not knowing what was happening. "RIN!" he shouted to get her attention, and she turned to face him, her eyes a frightening, glowing red. "Don't fight it, this must happen! It's all right!" he wasn't sure if she quite understood his words, but she understood his tone, and stopped fighting, allowing the smoke to engulf her as her face seemed to start stretching and contorting…
Within seconds, she was nearly as tall as the trees, and she opened her eyes to look down at Sesshomaru, who seemed tiny now. She could see a massive black paw on either side of him, and her arms and legs—no, just legs now—trembled, unstable and unsure. Her nose could easily reach the roof of the second level, making her four and a half meters high. She turned her red-sclera eyes back to her mate, who beheld her frightened face. Her small, floppy ears hung low on either side of her head, proving her worry. What captivated him most was the way her markings had changed as she did. As her fur was jet-black, her markings, both the ivy on her cheeks and the moon he had gifted her, had become as pure white as his own fur to stand out against her body. There were large white tufts at each of her four ankles as well, where her ivy markings wrapped around her wrists and ankles. She was beyond beautiful, and at last complete, and Sesshomaru stood for a moment in complete awe of his precious Rin.
A/N: I want to say here that I will be taking another roughly 2-week hiatus, as I want the next set of chapters to come out all at once for better continuity. in addition I have a few other projects that need wrapped up and/or begun. and I will be at an anime convention this coming weekend. more details about that can be found on my page on that social media site. you know which. :)