A/N: chapter bomb 21/05/2017 part 2/4
Rin woke the next morning thinking it was awfully warm in her small bed. She tried to squirm out from under her blankets, thinking it must be that, only to freeze, her eyes flying open, to realize she was trapped by a strong set of arms. She glanced down, seeing the pair of pink stripes on his wrist and the claws on his nearer hand. She was definitely in her bed in her room, but why was he?! She couldn't remember anything from after she'd drunk whatever was in that vial. Had they-? But no, not only was she clothed, she was still fully clothed- apparently, they'd both simply passed out sometime in the middle of the night. She breathed a sigh of relief at that, then wondered what to do, as she could tell she was thoroughly trapped until he woke…
Sesshomaru started to wake with something heavy wrapped securely in his arms, a little confused. He took a deep sniff of the thing nearest to him and put a name to whoever was in his arms, still mostly asleep.
The 'thing nearest to him' was Rin's neck, and she tried not to squeak in surprise when he nuzzled her and mumbled "Rin…" softly in a slightly dreamy tone she'd never heard from him before. She then heard him suck in a sharp breath and did squeak as his arms momentarily tightened as he woke up fully with a shock of realization and some horror. His mind was suddenly whirling with fear, as he couldn't remember what, if anything, had happened last night either. He relaxed a bit in relief to realize they were both still fully clothed, and obviously nothing had happened. "Rin?" he repeated, now questioning as he let her go.
Rather than sitting up right away as she normally would have, Rin decided to wriggle around until she was facing him, and gave a gentle, reassuring smile. "yes, Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked softly. His face was so close to hers now…she could just reach out and kiss him if she wanted to…but she knew it wasn't worth the trouble she'd get in. she saw his eyes widen with surprise as soon as he saw her face and she felt her smile slip away. "what's wrong?"
"ah…n-nothing," he mumbled quickly, reaching to brush her black bangs away from her forehead to be sure of what he saw. His eyes did not deceive him- on Rin's brow sat a purple crescent nearly identical to his own. How had it gotten there? He hadn't done it! Perhaps the mixture had a side effect? "…you just have a new mark on your forehead, that's all."
"a mark?" Rin turned her eyes upward as if she would somehow be able to see her own forehead if she tried hard enough. "but I didn't hurt myself…"
The concern in her tone startled a tiny laugh from him before he could stop it. "No, Rin- it looks like this." He pointed a claw to his own crescent moon and saw her eyes light up with excitement.
"really?" she squeaked eagerly, reaching to rub at her forehead to make sure it wasn't makeup someone had put on as a joke. But her fingers stayed clean. "do…do you think it might be permanent?" she asked eagerly, and saw him frown slightly at her eagerness. Clearly the young woman had no idea of what the mark could have meant…if he had chosen to do what needed to be done to cause that mark to be permanent—if he had taken her, not just to wife, but as his one true mate, an irreversible decision—he didn't even want to consider the consequences. The entire kingdom he was supposed to be heir to would fall, probably. The thought did not disturb him as much as it should have. And after the initial shock of seeing the similar mark, he couldn't deny the faint thought of that was actually a happy one. If Rin was going to fade in mere decades while he lived on for centuries untold- well, didn't he deserve to be as happy as she always seemed to be? After years of watching her and letting her follow him, the only times he'd seen her unhappy were when he had to leave her for whatever reason. When she was younger he'd dismissed it as childlike hero worship, and he grudgingly supposed it was a long-distance friendship when she was in the village. But now there was no excuse to hide behind that would explain why she was so happy to see him all the time, or especially why she trusted him so completely as to still be partly wrapped in his arms, mere inches from being pressed against his body at that very moment-
Kami above! He was a fool. He'd seen it for a full year now- she'd admitted how she felt toward him and he'd written it off on being in heat. She had said she'd desired him, only she didn't have the right words to explain! It made perfect sense, now, why she had only pitied him for his lapse in control and not been angry or scared- she truly had wanted something like that to happen. And she had most likely only pitied him because he had been so upset with himself! She must have been worried that he did not feel the same—but did he? That was a whole other nest of rats he wasn't prepared to deal with now. And maybe not ever. His feelings were one thing, but the law was another, and he didn't want to become or end up like his father-
"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin's concerned voice broke him out of his reverie with a start, and he looked down slightly at her. "are you all right?"
Sesshomaru swallowed thickly and pushed himself to a sitting position. "just fine." She had asked a question- what was it? "that mark- it probably isn't permanent. But I can ask about it." Rin sat up too, and nodded, still looking concerned. She didn't believe him, still seeing the distant look in his golden eyes. She suddenly turned a little pink and ran off to start the day- she wanted to stay and help whatever was wrong, but her body had needs!
By the time Rin had come back, Sesshomaru was in his study, so engrossed in a scroll his nose was almost touching the paper. He had mistakenly left the sliding door between their two rooms wide open so Rin saw him and started to giggle, making him sit up sharply. "are you trying to read that or eat it?" she teased, saying one of the things her tutor said when she held the scrolls she practiced reading with too close to her face. He offered a slight distracted smirk and set the scroll on the table, letting it roll up again. "neither." He noticed she had gotten a hair pin and tied back the middle of her bangs, rather like his mother did, to expose the new marking. He was confused by the faint stir of pride he felt at the sight. "I think we both need a proper break, Rin," he said, getting to his feet quickly. "why don't we go to a market town? You can have a little fun and I'll keep an eye on you."
Rin's eyes lit up with excitement and she actually bounced a little. "that sounds wonderful!" she exclaimed. "should we bring jaken along too, or?" Sesshomaru shook his head immediately.
"no, I don't wish for him to accompany us. It will be just the two of us for today. Would you like that?" he felt his bemused smirk widen a little as she now seemed a little too eager to be going. How did I never see this before? "go and put a jacket on, and maybe another layer or two- the day is going to be cold." He watched her hurry from the room and moved to put his armor on so they could prepare to leave.
They took Ah-Un to get to another trading village a bit farther away than the earlier one. It wasn't as big but had almost as much variety. Leaving the dragon tethered outside in the forest a ways, Sesshomaru followed along behind Rin as she wandered eagerly ahead of him to examine the wares. He noticed her slow slightly as they reached the thick crowd of people, and she reached a hand slightly back toward him. He regarded it for a moment until she let it drop once more, distracted by a booth with very fine hair pins.
Rin zeroed in on a particularly nice hair pin, reaching for it to look closer, and was shocked when the merchant hissed at her and waved her away. She recoiled in surprise and offense and Sesshomaru was beside her in an instant, glaring. "is something wrong, man? Are you to deny service to a paying customer?" he demanded of the merchant, who scowled darkly.
"I make it a point not to serve youkai. Go away."
Rin looked bewildered as Sesshomaru turned her away toward another booth. "but…I'm not one…" she murmured softly. She had already forgotten about the mark on her forehead and had no idea why the man had mistaken her for a youkai. There were more hairpins across the street, guarded by a kindly older gentleman. As they moved across toward the booth, a mother pulled her young child away from Rin, looking scared and distrustful. Why is everyone looking at me like that?! Rin wondered, growing upset. She was used to humans often giving such looks to Sesshomaru, but the women had deliberately met eyes with Rin, not him.
Sesshomaru spotted the same hairpin that Rin had been eyeing at the other booth, and picked it up to examine it more closely. He glanced to Rin and finally noticed her distracted glance as she watched the crowd around her with a small frown. "do not pay attention to the closed-minded fools," he told her, carefully putting the pin in her hair to check how it contrasted with her raven locks. He offered a tiny smile, hoping to cheer her up. She returned the small smile with a distracted one of her own, then sighed. "why do they look at me like that? I'm not scary-" she frowned again as a small boy smiled up at her, saw her face, then ran off to his mother down the street, scared.
She turned back to him as she felt a finger under her chin, and he tipped her head up gently. "it is because of the mark you now bear. The humans know that a youkai that can take a human-like form is very powerful indeed, and they fear that." Rin sighed softly again, and the merchant smiled cheerfully at her.
"my, my, my, what a lovely mark you have young lady. I hope you use that new pin to keep your bangs up and show it off." Rin smiled more genuinely and nodded.
"if you wish, Rin, we can leave, or go elsewhere—"
"no, thank you, Sesshomaru-sama. This is very educational for me." Rin moved off down the street to examine more of the wares for sale, her stride becoming more fluid and regal with each successive step. She smirked a little as the crowd of people parted in front of her, and was slightly surprised to hear some of the people whispering that she was a lady. Sesshomaru followed a little ways behind her, keeping watch for any threats. He was slightly shocked at the sight when Rin turned to look back over her shoulder at him, eyes bright with happiness and the moon prominent on her brow. With her ears covered by her black hair it was easy to pretend they were pointed instead of round…she was beautiful to him, almost beyond words, and she looked every inch the lady the humans said she was, as those rudimentary etiquette lessons had paid off. He felt a smile tug once again at the corners of his mouth and this time he let it show, watching her whole face light up in response as she grinned.
"come on; I smell dumplings nearby!"