The Start of Something...Crazy

My name's Lorinda. My life was perfectly normal up until I hit high school. Everyone calls me Lori, but I didn't mind. My only friend was Kagome. She was cool, especially since when we were seen by boys, they paid quicker attention to her than to me.

Then one night, something came into my room. I didn't see it very well…all I remember is, I woke up, saw red eyes and started screaming. Then almost-skeletal, clawed hands closed around my neck.

I…don't remember much after that, other than pain so intense that I passed out. In the morning, I looked into the mirror and saw that my attacker had left red handprints on my neck.

Oh yeah: and I couldn't speak – at all. If it was a sound from my throat, I couldn't make it. I could still whistle – boys teased me for that, but I never stopped – but that was the only sound I could really make.

Everyone after that thought I'd run off and committed suicide. I just couldn't fit in with the rest of the world after that.

Kagome knew the truth, though; the simple truth was, I'd run away. I still see her, sometimes, though…she doesn't appear that much. She keeps disappearing somewhere.

We'd worked up a kind of system so that I could speak to her. It was a little like charades, and I sometimes had to over-act. Who cares?

Those marks hadn't disappeared, by the way; I was stuck wearing a scarf, even when it wasn't the weather for it, and the marks were still sensitive.

Finally, several months after my voice disappeared, I saw her again. She was walking around the stores, leading somebody with long white hair and a black hat. Was that a boy?

I reached for my whistle - my own whistle isn't loud enough to be heard across traffic - and blew it hard. (I was on the other side of the street from her.)

The boy reacted first – he looked across the street at me.

Kagome

"Kagome? Who's that?"

"Hm?" I tried to find who Inuyasha was pointing at. Then I suddenly heard it: a loud whistle. Staring across the street, I saw her: a brown-haired girl wearing a green scarf. As soon as she saw I was looking at her, she started waving crazily.

"Lori!" I yelled, waving back. "Come over here!" She ran all the way over, dodging through traffic, and all but jumped me in a big hug. "Hey, watch it! I get it, you missed me!"

Then she bounced back and gave me a glare that was so over-the-top that it had to be a put-on. She was saying something. Let's see…

"Um…where have I been?"

She nodded, still giving me this accusatory look.

"Long story, Lori, very long. Lori, this is Inuyasha; Inuyasha, Lori. She can't speak, so be nice."

She turned and held out her hand.

"Whatever."

Lori stayed like that for a little bit. Then she just lowered her hand and looked at me. Her big eyes were screaming that whatever she did next, it would be a question. It wasn't quite charades what she did next: she pointed with her thumb at Inuyasha, and then turned away from him with her nose in the air, brushing imaginary dust off her sleeve.

I just started laughing. "Yeah, he's always brushing people off like that. Sometimes he's worse."

The stare I got had me laughing harder. Her stare was just announcing, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Suddenly, I noticed Inuyasha leaning a little closer to her, sniffing with a look of concentration on his face. "Um…Inuyasha? What is it?"

"Something doesn't smell right about her. How long have you known her?"

"Several years now," I answered, glancing at Lori's nervous face. "Why?"

"And how long was she unable to speak?"

"Only since...just after I started going down the well." I thought I could see where this was going, but I wasn't sure.

Lori started giving me this look; this "What's going on that you're not telling me?" look.

Suddenly, Inuyasha grabbed hold of her scarf! "How long has she had this for a fashion statement?"

"I don't know! I don't see her that much anymore!"

She grabbed hold of his wrist, getting him to look at her. The look on her face was something like…maybe "If you pull on this, I'm going to kill you." Either that, or "I'm right here, stop talking around me."

If that was what she was trying to say, I was sorry, too. "How long have you been wearing that scarf, anyway, Lori?"

She pointed at me.

"Um…something I said just now?"

She nodded.

I went over what I'd said so far. "Since…I started jumping down the well?"

She nodded again.

"Thought so," and Inuyasha reached up with his other hand and tugged her scarf away from her neck.

I was going to protest at his treatment of my friend, but my protest died on my lips: there were two red marks on her neck that looked like handprints!

Lori just looked like she was in extreme discomfort from the scarf pushing on the edges of the handprints, and also had an expression that seemed to say "My secret's out."

"Those marks haven't disappeared in months?" I asked, trying to grasp this. She just shook her head. I almost felt insulted. "Why didn't you tell me about this? Or sign to me, or whatever?" Lori held up two fingers. "Two reasons?" She nodded. Then, after holding up only one finger, she started an exaggerated staring around, her way of pretending to have trouble seeing something. "Um…reason one, you – no, I haven't been around." Lori nodded again.

That was enough to make me feel guilty. But Inuyasha suddenly asked, "So what's the second reason, anyway?" I think he just wanted to see how she showed this one.

She just looked at me, cocking an eyebrow. Then she set one hand against her chest and her other hand just brushed against her temple – her typical sign when she was trying to imply "belief." "Um…you couldn't believe it happened?" She shook her head, pointed at me, and then repeated the move. "You – you thought I wouldn't believe you?" All she did was drop the gesture and stare at her shoes.

I just looked at her in silence for a minute. Finally, I said truthfully, "If you'd found a way to tell me back when this first happened, I probably wouldn't have believed you. But now, I've seen too much crazy stuff to not believe whatever you say."

"Huh."

I turned to snap, "Don't give me that!"

Lori

I just cocked my head. Inuyasha and Kagome were arguing like my parents used to.

And Inuyasha was still holding my scarf. It was still kind of on my neck, but he still had it in his hand. I think he forgot he was holding it. I cleared my throat, glad that it was a sound I could still make.

Well, both of them looked at me, anyway. I tugged the scarf, and Inuyasha let go. Then I pointed to him, tapped my forehead, and then pointed at the marks on my neck, cocking an eyebrow.

Kagome translated, looking at me for confirmation. "Inuyasha, do you recognize the marks?"

After I nodded, Inuyasha shook his head. "Sango would know more about these things than I would."

Somehow, I suspected that cost him a lot to say.

When we got to Kagome's house, I found some paper and wrote out a message to Kagome. "Is there a way to ask this Sango if she knows what attacked me?"

"Well…she'd have to see your marks. That would involve her coming here…"

"Which she can't do," Inuyasha added almost snidely.

"…Or you going there."

"There?"

"Across the well, to feudal Japan."

This wouldn't have made any sense to me, if she hadn't told me what was going on, up to and including that Inuyasha was half dog-demon.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" As soon as I gave that note to her, I grabbed my pencil and paper and started walking for the shrine in the back.

"Are you nuts?" Kagome yelled after me. "It's dangerous over there!"

Then I did something I wouldn't have done if I had my voice: I flashed an "f*ck that!" sign back at them as I walked.

Kagome sounded shocked. "Was that…what I thought it was?"

And Inuyasha…laughed! Then he suddenly was in front of me! "I think I like you, Lori!" He grabbed my scarf and spun me around behind him, making me crash into his back. I only barely managed to grab hold of his shoulders before he grabbed Kagome, ran into the shrine, and leaped into the well.

The first thing I noticed when we hit bottom was that when I looked up, I could see sunlight.

Kagome looked back at us. "I'll go up first, to warn the others that we have a visitor. Inuyasha, you tell her about who's up there." Then she started climbing up a vine.

For about two seconds, all we could do was look at each other. Then he finally started talking. "Well…Sango's a demon-hunter. Besides Kagome, she's the only other female."

Before he could really go on, Kagome looked down at us. "Okay, we're ready up here!"

"Hold tight!"

Inuyasha barely gave me time to do that before he bounded up out of the well in one jump!

I was so busy staring at all the trees that I almost didn't notice the people standing around. Then Kagome reminded me. "Everyone, this is Lori. Lori, these are Sango, Kirara, Shippo, and Miroku."

Glancing around at each person as she named them, I saw a tough girl with a gigantic boomerang on her back and a cat with two tails on her shoulder, a little fox-boy with a fluffy tail, and a…monk with a staff. At least, I think he was a monk; he was giving me a strange look.

A strange enough look for me to be hiding behind Inuyasha. I recognized the look, after all; it was a stronger version of what most guys give Kagome when they don't notice I'm there.

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at me and laughed. "What? Come on, get out here!"

You really like seeing people squirm, don't you?

Suddenly, he just leaped from in front of me and landed closer to Kagome, leaving me standing in front of the well…wishing I could just jump back in. I glared at him, wishing I had a voice so I could give him a piece of my mind!

Then Sango walked over. "Well, let's see these marks."

Thank God, a distraction. I pulled my scarf down and lifted my chin.

After studying them, Sango looked at the others and said, "She got attacked by a silence-demon. The only real sign of what they look like normally are the marks they leave on their victims. They steal the voices of singers and use their victim's appearance and voice to lure people to their deaths."

So some creepy demon is using my face and voice to kill people? That didn't make me feel very good.

Shippo spoke from his vantage point of Miroku's shoulder. "So Lori's a good singer?"

"That's the only reason a silence-demon would come after her."

I stared at my shoes. I was a good singer, before my voice was stolen.

Suddenly, someone with long sleeves and a covered right hand came over and caught up both my hands. "Don't despair, we will find the beast that stole your voice."

I glanced up at Miroku. He was trying to look earnest, or at least sympathetic to my state. But he wasn't succeeding very well.

Kagome asked Sango, "There…is a way to get her voice back to her, right?"

"The…short answer is yes."

I turned away from Miroku, pulling one hand away to hold out a long trailing end of my scarf, staring at Kagome.

She noticed, anyway. After studying what I was doing, she asked, "So what's the long answer?"

"It's…complicated."

That figures.

"Basically, the only way to get the voice back is to kill the demon."

"That sounds simple," Inuyasha remarked. What, did he kill things as a matter of course?

...Probably.

"What's not simple is returning the voice. In order for it to get from the demon to the victim…the simplest method is just to have the victim be the one to kill the demon, because the voice goes to whoever kills it."

"And…if it isn't the victim?" Miroku asked. He sounded a little too eager to find out, if you ask me.

"Well, they have to avoid making a sound until they've returned the voice to the victim; otherwise, they're stuck with the victim's voice. And…" She looked sidelong at me. "And returning the voice…whoever killed the demon has to…"

She's hesitating. She must be pretty sure I won't like it. I waved my hand at her, in the "go on" signal.

So she just plowed ahead and finished the sentence. "Whoever kills the demon has to kiss the victim before making any sound of their own."

I stared at her. So did everyone else. She's right; I don't like this. I don't have a boyfriend, but that's because handsome guys make me nervous! And I'm not about to kiss a girl!

Oh, this will be fun.