MINX (The Hobbit fanfic)

Three ~ Down by the Lake

four years later

"Ugh! Kili get off!" Fili pointed and laughed as his menace of a little brother clung onto my back for a piggyback ride.

"Please, Minx. Pleeease!!!" Kili put on a whiny childish voice to beg me for a ride. We were in the woods by our settlement meant to be hunting.

I've stayed with them for four years since they found me. We've grown up to be best friends and excellent training buddies. Fili and Kili always complain when I get my claws out and say I'm cheating. I say that they count as my weapons, so I should be allowed to use them. We go out every day to hunt for food for our market. Of course, I always get the most and Kili gets a bunch of smaller animals with his bow. Fili is excellent at setting traps and sneaking up on things. Me usually. We have quite a reputation for tricks so we are the 'Troublesome Trio' in our settlement. We get told off a lot but it's never anything serious, just a lot of fun!

Thorin has become like a father figure to me. He does his research with me to try to find out more about what happened to me. He always cares for me and the boys. We've become a small family. Thorin sometimes trains the boys while I do girls stuff. I have to sew up their clothes every time they get ripped. I get to cook which is fine with me because I like it. And I always get compliments. I have to wash their clothes which is sometimes less than okay (They stink).

"Pwease Minxy?" Kili is still sitting on my back begging.

I scoff and push up to be on my hands and knees. "Alright. Fili, you can lead if you want."

"Why don't we go to the lake again?" He points in a general direction and I know exactly where to head.

I put my head down, close my eyes and feel my body growing. I grow fur, big paws and claws, huge teeth and my limbs and joints all change. I let out a little bark and look back at Kili who is sitting proudly on my back.

I can skin-change into a wolf. I can range in sizes from cat sized to horse sized and bigger. This time, I'm big enough for Kili to ride so, pony sized. My fur is sleek and dark brown. My ears and tail don't change because I have them anyway. They just grow or shrink. Being part-wolf has many advantages. My hearing is amazing. I have a tail which in it's own right, is awesome, and it's good for use as a clumsy third arm. It doesn't really help me balance because I'm on two legs most of the time. Whenever I change to be a full formed wolf, its the weirdest thing to adapt to but still has millions of adbantages, I can't even list them.

I grin inside my head and push my balance back, as if ready to pounce.

"Uhm... Minx...?" Kili says, uncertain. "What are you doing?" And just like that, I'm off. Running as fast as I can through the trees making sure Kili doesn't get hit. I leap over fallen trees and weave around the standing ones. I move elegantly and without fault. Kili holds onto handfuls of my fur for dear life. It hurts a little but he needs to do it. I hear Fili laughing and running to catch up behind us. I slow down and do a happy kind of walk to the edge of the tree line and look down the grass and sand into the still lake. I let Kili slide down my side and he rubs my fluffy head between the ears. He walks along the tree line to find our little stick shelter we made a while ago. A little way along he finds it and Fili runs to join me. He is very out of breath and pants in my face while holding onto me for balance. I chuckle a little in my head and lay down in the sun. Fili sits down to lean against my side.

"How long does it take for you to strip, Ki?" Fili shouts facing forwards, to Kili in the shelter behind us.

"Not long!" I look up and see Kili running along a tree branch, fully naked, before jumping into the water making a huge splash. Fili stands up and runs back to the hut for himself to get undressed.

"Minx! Are you coming in this time?" Kili shouts from the water. I just shake my head and lay it down on my paws. He makes a pouty face and swims closer. "Please! You haven't come in for the last week or so!" Again I shake my head, just wanting to sit in the warm sun on the hot, soft sand.

Moments later Fili runs along the same branch as Kili did before and does a beautiful swan dive, nearly landing on his brother. I laugh a little and watch as they splash each other and mess around in the cool water.

I get a moments peace before two pairs of hands grab my front paws and start pulling me into the water. I pull back as hard as I can making the two miscreants fall into the water. They both emerge laughing and I run back into the hut to change back and take off my clothes. The brothers cheer as they see me go inside.

I scoff as I see the mess the boys left so I very quickly change back and arrange their own clothes into piles before taking mine off. We are all very comfortable around each other so all of this is completely normal.

I watch the boys for a moment before skipping sideways to climb up to the branch they had both run from. I pull myself up and sprint along the branch before leaping right over the brothers heads and diving into the cold water behind them. I emerge breathless as the water is colder than I expected and the boys cheer and splash my face.

We continue messing around and swimming until it starts getting colder as the sun goes down. Fili and Kili both dove underwater for some contest so I took the opportunity to run back to the hut and grab a towel. We always leave towels here just in case it's a nice day and we fancy a dip. I rub myself dry, leaving my hair damp and get myself dressed again. I pull on my tunic and corset which I do up at the front, I pull on my leggings and hunting boots as well as my light cloak. (The leggings have a hole in them for my tail).

Once I walk out I nearly scream and cover my eyes as Fi and Ki sprint past me into the hut together. I just roll my eyes and squeeze out my dripping wet tail. I wring out the water and shake it a little to get it fluffy again when someone shouts far away. I twist my ears to the source of the noise.

"Minx! Fíli! Kíli! We have a visitor!" Thorin's deep voice rumbled through the air and I turn to get the boys. Before I even open my mouth, two half-dressed princes dash past me and run into the tree line, carrying most of their clothes with tunics hanging off of their shoulders.

"Race you, Minx!" Kíli shouts behind him, as if it was even a contest. Quickly I looked to see if we had forgotten anything before sprinting, changing to wolf-form and dashing off, following their trail.

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A/N:

I'm so so so so so sorry this is taking me so long to do any updates!! School is freaking crazy at the moment and I have a bunch of assignments and essays to do before my end of year exams, and it's parents evening next week soooo yeah. Wish me luck much...

Sorry guys, hope this chapter makes something up to you. Thanks for all the votes and reads so far, love you all!
Sonja xox