A/N: hopefully I'll get this done to put up by Sunday! This will be the only Sunday chapter this week.

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By sunrise, Sesshomaru was completely fed up with the unreasonable demands of one of the treaties he'd been trying to write a civil response to. There were several sheets of shredded paper from his repeated attempts to be polite—rather, his repeated failures to be polite. He growled in frustration as he read over his latest attempt before shredding it as well, and standing. It was dawn, and he knew Rin would be stirring any minute now, as her breathing pattern had shifted as she started to wake. He went back into his room and settled himself beside her, hoping perhaps she would think he'd passed the night beside her.

Rin blinked slowly awake as the sun finally made its way into the sky. She blinked some more in discomfort at how bright it was to her now. Her new eyes would take some getting used to. She sat slowly upright and stretched a little, looking over beside her to find Sesshomaru stirring. She smiled softly. "did you sleep well, my love?" she asked him gently, watching his golden eyes open as he pretended to wake.

He nodded, sitting up and stretching for himself. "are you hungry? Want anything specific for breakfast?" Rin shook her head and got up, grabbing a couple of layers, intending to get dressed and go to breakfast like normal. A gentle, warm hand stopped her as she started to slide on the first of the layers. "you can't leave the room yet. Give it at least another day, Rin."

"but—" she sighed, looking down. He helped her finish putting on the layer she'd started to add, tying on a thin but decorative obi in as nice a bow as he knew how, centering it on her back for her. If she wanted to look nice, he wasn't going to deny her. But she wasn't leaving this room, for her own safety. She smoothed the front of the obi and smiled at the colors. She turned to him as he put a couple fingers under her chin to tilt her face up. He smiled softly as her cheeks were noticeably more green now, the marks beginning to come in. it would take several more days before they finalized into their proper shapes. She couldn't help but smile back at his happy expression, stealing a kiss while she could. She squeaked when he scooped her up once again and laid her back in bed, kissing her forehead. "behave yourself. I'll fetch breakfast for us both."

She sat up and gave him a grumpy, rebellious look as he went to fetch them a morning meal. She was delighted when he returned within moments with a tray loaded with two bowls of rice and beans and a platter of medium-rare meat to share. Rin went straight for the rice and beans, grabbing the bigger of the two helpings and her chopsticks, digging in. she finished eating before Sesshomaru was even halfway through with his own bowl. He blinked at her as she went for the plate of meat as if she hadn't just eaten all that food. If he hadn't already spoken to InuYasha and others at the palace he wouldn't have believed Rin could possibly eat so much.

Once she was through with the plate of meat, not even leaving the slightest morsel for him, she sat back, rubbing one eye and shaking her head slightly in surprise. He glanced over at her, noticing her pupils widen from near slits. "that was strange," she noted softly, blinking a few times and looking at him.

"what was?" he asked, wanting to make sure of what he saw.

"I-I don't know…all I could think about was hunting and eating…" she shivered slightly. "I really wanted blood there for a moment…" she added with a slight note of alarm. Sesshomaru frowned softly at her words, his concerns confirmed. Her instincts were beginning to come out, and she was nowhere near mentally strong enough to handle them. In fact, she really had no idea, yet, what was even going on. He hesitated for a second.

"things will be like that for a while, Rin." His frown remained at her momentary look of fright at that news.

"a while?!" she squeaked in panic. "that's awful! What if it happens again around people? I wanted to hunt, Sesshomaru—I could hurt someone!" she couldn't help but picture poor Jaken running desperately from her long, terrible claws—once she grew them, that is. She looked down at her fingernails, wondering when that was going to happen. She could feel something different than yesterday, already, but nothing too different. Two weeks was all it would take to make her an InuYoukai just like her beloved and his family. It was all so odd to her.

"that's why I'm not going to leave you alone," he told her gently, taking her hand to get her attention. "the magic-maker said you will be experiencing instinct changes, and that they will be too powerful for you to control at first. So, until you can govern your own urges, I will ensure you are protected from yourself." He squeezed her hand lightly. "Rin, you are a good woman. But these instincts, and urges, they are powerful things. You aren't in your right mind when they take over, and you won't be able to control them until the transformation is completed."

She sighed softly, deciding to push the whole matter out of mind for now. It would do her no good to dwell on something she obviously couldn't control. "hmm…am I allowed to have a bath?"

The change of subject startled a soft chuckle from him. "of course you are, my dear."

"…at the hot springs?" that would get her out of the house and grounds, though of course their own bath house was perfectly adequate. He immediately shook his head, seeing through her ruse. "but there's a spring that's warm instead of hot—I know you're not supposed to go in hot springs once you're pregnant, I'm not stupid—" but he shook his head more firmly.

"Rin, you must stay as still as possible. Remember why you're doing this." He deliberately moved one of her hands down to her stomach and she looked down, sighing. Of course he was right. It didn't matter what she wanted right now, even if she was bored of staying in one spot. She was doing this for the pup, and she had to keep that in mind. "how about this—if you are good about staying in bed as long as you need to, then once your restriction is over we'll plan a trip to the warm spring?" he suggested warmly. "I can pack a lunch and spare clothes and we'll both enjoy it." Rin brightened considerably at his suggestion and hugged him tightly, surprising him a little. "for now, though, rest, my dear. I can get you some scrolls to read if you'd like."

She nodded and as he moved to stand once more she started to rub vigorously at her cheekbones. "my face itches," she complained, rubbing at the green-tinted skin across her face. He offered a small smile and informed her, "it's probably the markings. They are starting to form."

"really?" she looked straight down, trying to see her cheeks and just barely able to make out some difference in her skin tone from the bad angle she had available. "I wonder what they'll look like—like yours?" she didn't know how many different colors and patterns there were to choose from, each set tied to a different clan of the remaining 8. He smiled and knelt again to look closer at her face, tilting her chin up carefully so one cheek caught the morning light better. "hmm…they seem to be a bit wider than mine, and you should have only one mark per cheek." He rubbed across her cheekbone with his thumb. "it's a beautiful shade of green." Which was odd, he thought…to his knowledge, none of the 8 clans of InuYoukai had green markings at all. Where had the color come from? Perhaps Rin would be unique in that way.

"green is a good color," she hummed more cheerfully. "like springtime." He hummed softly and kissed her forehead, finally getting to his feet and going back to his treaties with a slightly concerned look once she couldn't see his face. He didn't see her look of disappointment that he couldn't stay with her.

Jaken arrived with a stack of fresh scrolls for Sesshomaru to pore over. He set the pile down with a proud sound and picked up the top one, brandishing it. "Sesshomaru-sama!" he squawked, "the Dou clan has sent another missive demanding a more lenient treaty!"

He glared at the imp's volume, eyeing the door that was left open between his study and his room. Rin had laid back down, he could see, and seemed to be trying to sleep, but he couldn't be sure. But Jaken's voice was sure to wake her again if he wasn't quiet. "and what is it they want?" he asked in a mellow, soft tone, taking the scroll and breaking the seal to unroll it. His eyes widened in slight surprise at the first characters on the page. Jaken saw them too, and went a little pale.

"er…well, milord…it looks as if they want you to step down as heir…" he muttered in a much more subdued, nervous tone.

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A/N: here on chapter 31, I want to take a few moments to thank my followers: AnimeWoman76, Avalonhighgirl, Cercel, Eclipse1, Fiona222, Fleur Lilas, Gray Suede, Ildik0, Izuna FoxFlames, LadyCumberBunny, Madam3Mayh3m, PAMILA DE CASTRO, Rae016, RinSesslover, Serria Spell23, Shivax23, SkullFire2004, . , angeldancer93, belle'sdarkangel, beve, blackacess, ebeth20, eveelima, inuyasha-fan17, jessie150, kaelag, kagomeLove2, mystlight, ora1168, pinkwhaletail, polkea, rizarda15 , shawnam93, , sllmidnight, thegirlwholostherway, and yumeyumi1986! You guys make writing this story worthwhile, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support!