Prompt: Dog form/original form

Summary: In which Rin finally learns the truth.

Chapter Seven: To Love a Beast

The most Rin did was doze. When she'd had enough, she tore off the blindfold and winced at the blinding rice paper on the outside doors. It took a her moment to adjust, and as she kept her eyes closed, she focused her senses on the rest of her body.

Her loins tingled with a pleasant soreness, though the phantom stretch of that squash left her feeling cavernous and hollowed out. Hopefully Sesshoumaru would stay true to his word today and tell her why he had done that. Didn't men prefer their women to be tight around them? Had she been too tight? He'd felt snug enough to her.

When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find his swords lying next to her pillow. Did he leave these as a sign that he would return? She ran her fingers over the hilts and spied the detached little bell with its string puddled on the floor. She nudged it, and it tinkled.

She was still clad in her bra, but her panties were crumpled on the floor. She crinkled her nose as she pulled on the day-old underwear, resolving to tell Sesshoumaru that she had to go home and at least get a change of clothes.

Would he even let her? She supposed today would decide everything.

She forewent the kimono for another tank top and shorts and then strode outside. The mid-morning sun warmed the planks of the engawa beneath her feet, and a faint breeze tickled her sticky skin. She reached towards the sky in a sun salutation, closing her eyes and stretching all the kinks out of her body as she absorbed the rays.

When she opened her eyes, she shrieked.

The giant wolf-like creature stood not three meters from her on the lawn. It winced as her scream pierced the air, but then it advanced towards her.

"No, no!" she gasped, backing into the room. She fumbled with the doors, and the wolf rushed forward. She had nearly closed them when the creature's claws thrust through, scraping at the wooden frames.

"Sesshoumaru! Sesshoumaru!" she called out, her heart pounding as she struggled to keep the doors shut. She would have kicked at the paw, but her feet were bare and those claws would take her toes off.

The creature shoved its snout into the gap and shouldered the doors open.

Rin fell backwards as the monster forced its way in. She spun around and grappled for one of Sesshoumaru's swords. She snagged the closest one, sporting a red guard beneath the hilt, and yanked it out of its sheath. Without aiming, she swung at the creature's head with all of her strength.

The sword sliced across the monster's eyes and snout—she felt it—but it did not cut.

Rin stared at the sword in horror and the red-eyed wolf that regarded her with…patience?

Its head moved towards her, jaws filled with rows of jagged teeth, and Rin dropped the useless sword, curling in on herself.

"Sesshoumaru, please save me," she whispered, her body tense and waiting for the agony of being torn apart.

Fur brushed over her skin as the creature walked over her and further into the room. The floor creaked under its massive weight, and its claws clacked against the wood.

A moment later, it dropped something near Rin's head.

Ding ding ding.

She opened her eyes as the little bell rolled to a stop in front of her nose. Pulse pounding in her neck, she craned her head to peer up at the massive creature looming over her. Then she glanced at the bell and returned to the monster's gaze. Its eyes bored into her, but despite its frightening countenance, it showed no sign of aggression.

It just waited.

Rin's eyes widened. How hadn't she realized it before? "Are you…Sesshoumaru?"

It bobbed its head.

She blinked. "That's…really you?" She sat up slowly and held out her hand as she would to a dog to sniff. He bopped his nose against her palm, growling contentedly, and Rin ran her finger down his snout and along the silken fur. She traced the markings near his jaws in awe. He closed his baleful red eyes and leaned into her palm. She used her other hand to trace the crescent moon on his forehead.

"I don't believe it," she murmured. But as she tangled her fingers in the giant fur ruff around his neck, she recognized the texture of the fur that had been wrapped around her just hours ago. "It really is you." He ruffed in agreement.

She didn't know why she was so shocked. Over the past three days, she had been hoisted into the air by a fur, chased by flying imps, and waited on by a faceless woman. Was it really a stretch that Sesshoumaru could turn into an animal?

"Why didn't you just tell me from the start, Sesshoumaru? Why make me think you were something else? Something that wanted to eat me?" He didn't acknowledge the question in any way. She frowned. "You can't talk? Can't you turn back into a human—er, demon—and speak to me?"

In reply, he removed his head from her grasp and nudged her back with his snout. She grunted, falling forward onto her hands, though by his whimper, she realized he didn't mean to push her so hard. As she twisted onto her knees, she frowned. "I don't understand."

This time, he opened those massive jaws and grabbed the hem of her tank top, tugging it upwards. "Stop, stop!" she cried out as it almost slipped off her boobs. She batted him away, and he let go. "You've already torn apart nearly all the clothes I brought. Don't ruin these too!"

But he ignored her and went for her shorts this time, yanking hard enough that they slid down her butt.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, trying to yank her shorts back up, but he put a paw on her back, knocking her off balance and almost flattening her against the ground. "Sesshoumaru, wha—? T-This is ridiculous!"

He tugged at her shorts again, snagging her underwear with them, and pulled them down to her knees.

Her mouth dropped open. "You want me to take my clothes off?" He barked and nodded in the affirmative. She peered at him. "You really are a pervert, aren't you?" He growled, and she sighed. "Fine." If only to save my last pair of clothes…. Because she had no doubt that if she didn't acquiesce, he would rip them off her body anyway.

She undressed and tossed her clothes back towards her backpack. The morning breeze swept in through the doorway, causing goosebumps to break out across her skin. Her nipples puckered. She put her hands on her hips, staring at him almost eye-to-eye at her short height. "There, happy now? It's nothing you haven't seen before."

Even so, his scarlet eyes were riveted to her body. A giant, ragged tongue rolled out of his mouth; he stepped forward and licked up from the gap in her legs to her neck.

"Gah!" Rin cried out in shock, falling onto her backside once more. "Sesshoumaru!" She rubbed her bottom, positive it was going to bruise after all this abuse.

But he just bent his head and continued to lick her body all over, getting the bottoms of her feet, which made her squeal, and over her breasts, which made her moan, especially as he kept licking those. His rough, jagged tongue brought blushes to every part of her body, and when he nudged her to roll over, she obliged and spread her legs, delighted to think about how that tongue would feel on her back and ass.

She was not disappointed. He licked a line up her sex, then over one cheek and repeating with the other; finally, he laved up the dip of her spine, causing her to arch like a cat. Her pussy tingled so much that Rin grew bold and crawled onto her hands and knees, thrusting her backside into the air.

"Keep licking me, Sesshoumaru. Right there," she moaned.

He obliged, and Rin couldn't believe that the small human tongue that had tasted her last night was this same, giant one bringing her to orgasm now. She was just about to reach her peak when Sesshoumaru pulled his snout away and caged her with his body, licking the side of her face.

"Eww, Sesshoumaru!" she whined. "I don't need my gunk all over my face." And I nearly climaxed too! "Don't stop," she huffed in frustration.

Then Sesshoumaru humped her.

She shot up to stand on her knees but bumped into his ribcage, crashing right back down to the floor. "Sesshoumaru, what—?" Her question broke off as he placed his paws atop her back, his dagger-like claws pricking her skin, and humped her again.

She realized then what he was doing. What he was preparing to do.

"No! Sesshoumaru, we can't—not like this!"

But he didn't listen to her. With his weight on her back keeping her pinned, Rin could only look down between her legs. She watched his pink penis peek out from its white sheath, nudging towards her backside.

It was humongous. There was no way it would fit inside her. He was the size of a pony, and his penis looked similar.

Well, that might have been an exaggeration, but as far as Rin was concerned, it was still too big for her to take.

She wanted to crawl away, but the claws digging into her skin were a tense reminder of how he would tear her back open if she did.

Then his cock prodded at her entrance.

"Sesshoumaru, no, wait!"

To her surprise, he did. But his whine was absolutely pitiful as he booped her side with his nose.

"I know you're horny, but we can't," she repeated. "Not like this."

He humped her again in disagreement, a growl rumbling in his chest and against her spine. She could almost hear his question: Why not?

"Because it's wrong. I'm a human and you're an animal."

He humped her again as if to say, You've taken my cock every other way. Why is this any different?

That was harder to argue.

And yet, to mate with a creature…. Bestiality was a sin, wasn't it?

…But even if he's a beast…it's still him, isn't it?

Honestly, she had a bigger worry. A much bigger worry.

"You're not going to fit," she protested in a weak voice.

He barked, poking her again with his tip. Rin clenched, keeping herself shut. He snarled in her ear in frustration, and his prods grew harder and harder.

Rin's knees ached and her arms shook from all the weight upon them. She couldn't keep this up much longer. Eventually, she would have to accept him, whether she liked it or not.

The woman would accept the monster for everything that he is.

Sesshoumaru's words from the night before suddenly rang through her head, and they took on an entirely new meaning.

Do as I command without question.

So this was the price she would have to pay for taking the risk. He had known she would object—and with good reason.

But…she had promised.

He'd better have some damn good answers after this.

With a sigh, she lowered her arms, keeping her posterior held high and relaxing her clenched lips. She tried to think "open" thoughts.

"Alright, Sesshoumaru. I accept you. All of you."

Please don't hurt, please don't hurt, please don't hurt….

He humped her again, and this time, he managed to get the tip past her gate. Rin's pulse thrummed as he thrust more and more, pushing his thick, pink dick further in.

"Oh gods," she whimpered. It stings. It really, really stings. And it's just beginning.

At the same time, the stretch felt…familiar. Just like it had last night when Sesshoumaru first shoved the squash inside her.

She gasped and looked up in shock. "You're the squash!"

Sesshoumaru huffed, the little wheeze at the end sounding close to a laugh, and pushed one last time, sheathing his long cock inside her. Rin bellowed.

She felt so incredibly full again.

She panted hard, trying to breathe through the pain, and when she opened her eyes and peered through her legs, she gasped. He was so big, there was a slight bump along her lower belly where he rested within her.

He started to pump in and out of her, and Rin grunted as her body strived to accommodate him. But he was so large, that mere seconds later, he managed to hit that spot, pleasure spiking to counteract some of the pain.

I can do this. As long as he hits my G-spot, I can do this.

Then he stopped, fully inside her, and the walls near her opening stretched even wider.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Rin screeched, tears prickling her eyes. "Sesshoumaru, w-what's happening?"

He gave her a reassuring lick as his dick somehow grew.

Oh shit. He's a canine. He has a freakin' knot!

Rin put a hand to her belly. "No, Sesshoumaru, it's too much!" She tried to pull away from him, but it just yanked the knot inside her, and she yelped as she was pulled back into his hips.

Rin curled in on herself as much as she could to lessen the pain, but it only highlighted the impression of the massive invader rooted in her gut. Sesshoumaru whined, nuzzling her.

She massaged the outside of her core, rubbing against the cock inside, and Sesshoumaru growled, bucking against her hips, especially when she palmed the knot beneath her mound. She reached back further to feel their conjoined areas and trace where his smooth, pink flesh turned into furred sheath. Anything to distract her from the eggplant-like heaviness in her womb.

Suddenly, a hot jet of semen gushed into her, and Sesshoumaru shuddered.

A moment later, the feeling in her womb loosened, and she looked over to find claws retracting from the paw beside her and fur receding into his skin, revealing two magenta stripes that curled around his wrist.

A kiss at the crook of her neck over her most prominent bite mark startled her, and she jerked away.

And that's when she finally saw Sesshoumaru's face, glimmering in the morning sun.

Warm, golden eyes gazed upon her with a tenderness she had never seen before. An infinitesimal smile dimpled the corners of his lips. The V-marks on his jowls had become twin stripes caressing his cheeks, and that same blue crescent moon still hung in the milky sky of his brow.

Was he a devil, seducing her with his looks to soothe away her anger at what he had done to her?

Sesshoumaru held her gaze and murmured, "You did it, Rin. You broke the curse."

"Curse?" she echoed, not quite listening. He was so beautiful. She couldn't look away from that ethereal face.

They shifted, and Sesshoumaru slipped out of her. Rin ignored the throbbing in her core as she turned around on her knees, studying him and trying to make sense of his words. She tilted her head and cupped his jaw.

"Is that why you hid your face from me?" she asked, brushing the markings near his ears.

"Yes. It was a condition of the curse cast upon me."

Her eyes squinted with worry. "Why were you cursed?"

He grabbed her hands and pulled them down to rest over his heart. "There was a demoness who made herself into my enemy. Her name was Zero, and she was determined to end my father's line after he spurned her love. …You got caught up in my battle."

"Strangely, I don't remember any of this happening," Rin muttered with a tinge of sarcasm.

Sesshoumaru's eyes darkened, and he pulled her into his embrace, carding his fingers through her hair. "She killed you, Rin. And I wasn't there to prevent it."

Rin frowned. "Then that wasn't me, Sesshoumaru. That was…." That was the woman in the painting. "No matter how much I look like her, I'm not her."

"You are, Rin. That is why you were able to break my curse."

"I don't understand."

"You have been reincarnated, body and soul. But it took five hundred years for it to happen."

"F-Five hundred years?" she sputtered, pushing away from his chest and gaping up at him. "Wait. Have you been waiting for me for that long?" He nodded.

Suddenly, his intensity and overbearing passion made sense. If she had had to wait five hundred years for her murdered lover to return, she would have gone mad long before now. "I-I have so many questions. Like…why come after, uh…me?"

"Zero knew how much I love you. She knew that your death was the only thing that could weaken me. I felt it when she killed you. I cannot explain it, but somehow I knew. Tenseiga knew."

"Tenseiga?"

"My sword. You are familiar with it." He turned around and grabbed the blade Rin had discarded after it failed to cut him.

Rin sucked in a breath, just now realizing what she had done. "Oh gods, I could have killed you with that!"

He huffed. "No, you could not have. As you saw, this sword cannot cut. But it can bring back the dead."

"Yet…you didn't use it on…me." The pronoun still felt strange on her tongue, for without the memory of these events, she felt like she was speaking about someone else.

"I had already used it on you as a child." Rin's eyes widened in shock. "Tenseiga is not omnipotent. It works once per person. Of course, Zero did not know I had already brought you back, and the one she had sent to fight me—to distract me—made sure to snap it in two. But from its broken blade, I was able to create…this."

Ding.

He held up the bell in front of her. "You were the first person I used the Tenseiga on. Thus, you have always had a special relationship with it. This bell would not ring for just anyone. It remained silent…until it was in the proximity of your soul."

Rin placed a hand over her heart. "My soul?"

He nodded. "That day you came to the forest as a child, it rang for the first time in half a millennium." He closed his eyes then and grit his teeth, as if the memory pained him. "Yet when you fell and hit your head, I feared history was happening all over again. I was so sure I would have to use Tenseiga on your young body once more." He opened his eyes and brushed some stray hair behind her ear. "Luckily, I did not."

"I see…." Her whole perspective on their relationship changed in that instant. No wonder he seemed so obsessed. He knew. "But I thought reincarnation was random. I mean…what if I had been reborn looking different? Or even reborn as a man?"

"I have…contacts who oversee the world beyond the living. I contrived a deal to make sure that when you returned, you would do so looking as you once did. Fortunately, all humans on this island look the same, so though I was warned your rebirth would take longer, it was not as long as I feared."

Rin's brows shot up. Five hundred years is a long damn time.

"And the curse?" she asked, realizing they had gotten sidetracked.

"Once I dispatched my foe, I returned to your side—but it was too late. Zero delighted in seeing me so distraught. And she took advantage of my weakened state to cast a curse upon me: one of tortuous hope.

"It is no secret that souls reincarnate. She cursed me to live out my days in my demonic form and my nights in my human form. But the only one who could break the curse would be the one who possessed your soul. And even then…." He trailed off.

Rin had read enough fairy tales to know there was something more needed to end a curse. Usually a kiss of true love. But he had kissed her plenty of times, and nothing had happened. "How did I break the curse, Sesshoumaru?"

He looked away from her, his features troubled. "You had to accept me into your body…as I truly am."

Rin thought about it. If the curse hadn't been broken the night he had taken her while she slept, then…. "That bestial form is your true form?" He nodded. "Oh."

I guess there really was a monster living in the woods.

"Now you see. In actuality, I am of a greater size. The curse compensated for that, shrinking me, since there was no way a human could take me as I was into her body. But to think that any woman, even the one who loved me most, would let a strange dog mount her? It was a wild hope."

I'll say. "Maybe if I had known from the start who you were—"

He shook his head. "I could not tell you who I was or our relationship, lest it sway you toward me."

"And you couldn't tell me the conditions of the curse," she surmised. He nodded. That was standard among curses, as she recalled. "Nor could you let me see your face, you said?"

"Zero claimed my beauty would convince any woman to fall for me. It was an added challenge." His nose curled. "Zero was…thorough."

She nodded. It's true. If I had seen his face from the start, I probably wouldn't have been half as angry as I have been. Gosh, beautiful people can get away with anything. She swallowed. "You could have forced me," Rin murmured, hating the words even as she said them.

He shook his head. "That too was key to the curse. You had to accept me. I could not force it. It is why I tried to prepare you." His hand slid down and clasped hers on her lap. He brought it up and kissed her knuckles. "Besides, I could never force myself upon you, knowing you truly didn't want it."

"But that night in the tent—!"

"I gave you the choice the night before," he stressed. "When you stayed, I thought you understood. Though I admit I was…overeager. It had been five hundred years since I last held you in my arms. The bespelled flowers were meant to open the memories to your soul. I hoped that some of the feelings from your past life would filter through and soothe your hesitance. They did. You clutched me and called my name. I thought you wanted me."

Rin thought back to that night. While much of it was still a blur between dreaming and waking, now it all made sense—why part of her had wanted him so badly and felt so familiar with him and yet why her rational mind balked at it all. He had unearthed some ancient memories.

Talk about giving him mixed signals.

While all she had were impressions of feelings from times long past, there was one thing she remembered: something they all seemed to be tied to.

A name spoken with deep devotion.

Tears prickled in her eyes as she pressed her hands against his chest, looked up at him, and tried out the words. "Sesshoumaru-sama?"

He stiffened and then lunged forward, capturing her lips in a blistering kiss. Rin surrendered to it, letting free all the repressed desires she had contained for him. He leaned her back against the futon, kissing her face, her neck, her breasts.

"I love you, Rin," he murmured against her pounding heart. "I will never let anything happen to you ever again."

Tears burned at her eyes. "Sesshoumaru…you know I'm going to die in this life too though, don't you? One way or another."

She hated thinking of it. Still in her twenties, she felt immortal: she had her whole life ahead of her! But trying to compare the next eighty years to the five hundred he had waited made that life seem so small.

He shook his head against her belly. "I told you I made a deal with the guardians of the afterlife, Rin. I have found a way. This time, you will stay by my side forever."

AN: And so your favorite villainess makes her (cameo) appearance once again! XD Anyway, I know Sesshoumaru was pretty talkative this chapter, but hopefully that answered your most burning questions, though I know there are still a few left. We only have one chapter to go, so if you have questions you want answered, let me know in the comments!