A/N: Hi, guys ~_~. I'm glad that you liked the first chapter ^-^. I'm happy with your reviews. Keep em' comin'! And put out word >:Dv! Anyway, here's the second chapter, without further ado. ^-^

Disclaimer: Nee~~…this story idea isn't mine, it's MizuCrystal's. Dare I say that I own it, I fear what sort of thrashings I would receive from her XD. Go read her stuff! She's an awsome writer ^-^.

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Silent Echoes

~

"I prefer not to!" she said rather happily, her voice scratchy and deeper than normal.

Silence ensued.

"A—Areh!!" Jaken screamed in displeasure, his eyes wide and nearly foaming at the mouth.

Her hand was against her mouth and her eyes were widened in shock and horror. 'What did I just say?!' she thought.

Sesshoumaru had a deep glare set in her direction. There were times when she had defied him slyly, even to the point where he didn't notice until some time later, at which point he no longer cared. But this…she had never so blatantly defied him to the point where she spoke back at him. It angered him.

-

Anyone inexperienced…
puts faith in every word,
but the shrewd one
considers his steps.
(Proverbs 14: 15)

-

Chapter 1: Silence

~

"You…you dare speak back to Sesshoumaru-sama, baka Rin?!" Jaken asked as he calmed, still staring wide-eyed at the girl. Then again…she looked rather shocked from her blunt statement as well. She remained silent. "You see, Sesshoumaru-sama!" he said as he turned to his lord. "I told you that you would need to rid her from yourself as soon as she hit puberty! Her insolence deserves proper punishment!"

'What?! Punishment?!' She was about to protest, but turned to look at her lord. She paused and remained quiet as she stared at his angered glare. 'What do I do?' she thought. 'I didn't even mean to say that!' The wind lightly tousling her wet hair and cold body alerted her, and she gave a light shiver. She looked down at herself, once again realizing that she had nothing on.

It hit her suddenly, and she paled. She turned to the side, where the decapitated body laid, blood still pouring from the nape of the neck. A sickened feeling welled within her. Anything could have happened while she lay unconscious before. Her eyes suddenly stung her and her hand raised to her cheek in near horror. 'What if…what if he ravaged me before Sesshoumaru-sama came?' she thought. The thought sent her cradling at her yukata tightly, tears falling from her glossed eyes.

"And now you cry to make yourself seem more innocent?!" Jaken asked angrily.

"I prefer not to!" she shrieked with passion, her voice sounding of scratching metal. Her eyes widened again, the tears halting. She had meant to say no…Why couldn't she say no? She put her hand at the nape of her neck where her voice box was.

The two youkai stared at her again. Sesshoumaru, though, was slightly…confused. She was repeating herself? She really didn't want to bathe in the onsen that much? Maa…

'Why am I doing this?!' she thought. She didn't understand! Her eyes sullied in deep sadness. She didn't want to object to Sesshoumaru's words. She never intended to…so why was this happening? 'Sesshoumaru-sama…' she thought. She tried to voice his name. "I prefer no—"

Realization set in, making her eyes widen in horror once again. The youkai! This was his fault, wasn't it?! It had to be! It could be nothing else! She opened her mouth, concentrating on saying something very slowly. Jolts of pain settled in her head from the strain, making her lean over and whimper in pain, a short gasp coming from her mouth.

"Rin," Sesshoumaru started firmly. "Enough games," he ordered. Something seemed strange about her, especially the way she had just voiced pain. He grew tired of her defiance, though. He made sure that when they were back at the castle, he would give her the right punishment. Except for the fact that he didn't know what sort of punishment she would receive…

"Rin?" Jaken asked, taking a step forward to the girl. The two youkai were slightly taken aback when she looked back up at them, their eyes focused on the thin line of blood that dribbled down her chin from her mouth. "Rin!" he screamed shortly. He took a few steps toward her as her eyes spun upward, as if she were to faint.

Rin caught herself from the wave of dizziness that struck her. A sound secreted from her lips, a moan of pain. She whimpered again when Jaken laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Rin, are you more hurt than you appear?" Jaken then asked in concern as he saw her eyebrows turn inward from what seemed to be pain.

Sesshoumaru was becoming put off by Rin's actions. Her blood did alert him, though. "Rin," he began again. She and Jaken turned to look at him, a look of pure pain on the girl's face. "Speak to this Sesshoumaru with respect before pain is brought upon you." It was an order that he expected to be followed. Another idle threat, though.

She paused at his tone of voice, knowing that he was fully angered. He was probably even serious about bringing her pain. She dared not object. 'I can't!' she thought in frustrastraiton. She voiced her thought. "I prefer not to!" she said in frustration, her eyebrows drawling forward as if she was angry.

Things just got worse. Sesshoumaru took a step forward, his hand glowing dangerously and his eyebrows drawn inward. Rin crawled back a little. Jaken quickly scuttled away from her. 'No, it's not what you think, Sesshoumaru-sama!' she thought desperately. If only she could voice her thoughts! But she couldn't…

Him taking another step closer made her eyes wet again. He was going to hurt her… 'Sesshoumaru is really going to hurt me…' she thought, her eyebrows curling in fright. She opened her mouth and fought with herself to say the words she wanted to. Instead, she faultered, blood caking her lips again. It was as if…anytime she forced herself to say the words other than what she was speaking right now, something held her back…She leaned forward in pain again, letting out a moan.

The youkai…he must have put some sort of curse on her! That's what it had to be! 'That can be the only explanation!' she thought. She put her hand at her voice box again. Her eyes widened as a sound emitted from her throat, guttural. That light…that she saw before she became unconcious…what was it?

She had to test this curse out, just one more time. But how? She couldn't just say 'I prefer not to…' without reason. Something needed to provoke her to make the statement. She had to make Sesshoumaru and Jaken realize that she had no further vocabulary than 'I prefer not to…' How, though?

She blushed madly as a thought came to her. She looked up at Sesshoumaru innocently, less than shocked when she saw him just standing there.

'What is wrong with that whelp?' Sesshoumaru thought irately. She had never defied him before! Something had to be wrong. He would not accept any other explanation. He stared at her strangely from her next actions.

Rin then looked at Sesshoumaru innocently. She stood up rather shakily and took a step toward him. But she didn't know what to do. 'Kami-sama! What to do? What to do?!'

"Rin, are you ill at mind?" Jaken asked her as her raised an eye.

Rin turned to him and glared at him angrily. "I prefer not to!" she answered, her voice a few octaves lower. It wasn't what she wanted to tell him, but at least it answered the question that burned through her mind.

"Stop saying that, you insolent brat!" he screamed angrily at her.

"I prefer not to!" she screamed back at him. 'Ugh…that was not what I wanted to say…'

She was annoying him, now. "Baka Rin!" Jaken said in frustration. "The world should be rid of you!"

"I…prefer…not to…" she said angrily.

Sesshoumaru stared at the two angrily. How dare they quarrel in front of him. He hated it when they bickered in his presence. He demanded respect from the both of them, so how dare they grace his presence with yelling? Ending the bickering quickly, he threw a rock at Jaken's head.

"Gnh!" Jaken grabbed his head as he fell to the ground.

Rin stared at him, then at Sesshoumaru. 'Sesshoumaru-sama…' she thought, 'how is Rin going to tell you that the youkai cast a spell on Rin?'

Even worse, the youkai was dead, and there would be no way possible for her to restore her speech.

Everything went quiet as Rin burst into tears and backed off (so that they weren't able to see her backside) before she ran in the direction of the onsen.

"It didn't do it!" Jaken said quickly so as to stay out of trouble.

Yes…something strange trinspired before the two had arrived, but neither of them knew what. One thing was for sure, neither of them liked Rin's new 'personality'…

Sesshoumaru couldn't be angered with Rin until he found out what was going on. Repeating those words at times didn't make any sense, as if she had no control over what she was saying. Or…as if she couldn't say anything else…

–

A/N: A rather short chapter, I know, but I just wanted to get that settled. It's REALLY short, though >_>. It answers most of your answers, anyway. Some other questions still haven't been answered by the chapter, but you'll find out soon. Thank you for the revieeeews, once again. Please give me more :D. Spread word! And please read my other stories! Review responses:

MizuCrystal: Yep, you were the first :D. Thanks ~_~. I hope I get a good amount of reviews too ~_~. *sigh* I try…

anhimals: Thank you ^-^. Yah, Sess and Rin really seem to hit it off, eh? ~_~ Spread word, dude~~!

yamitamashii: yami-chan…ha—have you recently put me on your favourites list? @_@!!! My god, that made my day, really it did XDXD! I'm so happy that you put me on your favourites list! Wah, I could just die! *melts* Spread word!

Shijitsu no Yasha: Hmm…your name means…Demon (or however you see the meaning of Yasha. Sometimes I think of it as forest spirit :D) of Truth? That's so pretty ~_~. Thanks! Of course I'll update! Why wouldn't I?? >:D

Oneiropolos: Nee~~thanks SO much for reviewing my story! That was so nice of you ^-^. Of course that wasn't the end. I realized, after your review, that I wrote that it was the end in my author's note (-)_(-), so I fixed it XD. Yah, Sess/Rin is the best pairing in the whole world >:Dv!

bearmoon: And you've read more! Hehe~ ~_~. You reviewed cuz Tsume-chan mentioned you?? *goes off to talk to Tsume-chan* Oh Tsuuume~~ >:D. Her story's so good, isn't it @_@. Ugh, I love it! ^-^. And yah, you found out what the orb of light was that came from Rin's mouth and returned. More details of it will come later, actually ^-~. The other two questions…hmm…I'll think about it >:D.

Chisuto: Thanks! Don't stop, mwahaha~. No, I'm joking. I'm just glad that I have your support :D.

Naoko2: Yeah, that's what it was called before, but I changed things around a bit just to give it a better appeal, ya know ~_~, and also because some plans for the story came to me? Well, without the ideas of Rin's voice, the first chapter probably wouldn't have been posted yet x_x, so her voice thing was like a saviour XD. Yah…well it was uh, part of the rules that the onsen thing be part of the story, so yah, just followin' the orders. Well…the story's probably gonna have a…surprise at the end, whether good or bad is what I don't know yet ~_~. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

Welp…that's it. *depressed sigh* I wish I had more reviews XD. I love reading people's reviews, even when they're not for my own story o_O. Anyway…please go read my other stories, as I mentioned before. Oh yah, that and I'm advertising for some authors, six authors per chapter, but only three links!!

No More Words by Tsume Yamagata — Go read that story if you have the chance! So many people enjoy it, and if you're a Sess/Rin fan, you'll love it just as much! It's very cute, and it's got the romance thing going on! (http:// www .fanfiction.net / read.php ? storyid = 1598217)

The Past's Vengeance by Oneiropolos — It's so funny, and not OOC at all! The kind of Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha bonding that you'd probably get if they were in the predicament that they're in, which just the right dose of Rin's cuteness. (http:// www .fanfiction.net / read.php ? storyid = 1294872)

Captive Soul by Rasberries— This is a must read. As in seriously. If you're looking for a good Sess/Rin romance, here it is! It's a very popular story about our lovely Sesshoumaru as a broken slave, finding his solace through Rin. Read it! (http:// www .fanfiction.net / read.php ? storyid = 1308711)

Go read the stories by Aurora-chan, Naoko2, and Aamelie as well! It is demanded of you that you read all of these stories >:D More suggestions with links to come (of Aurora-chan, Naoko2, and Aamalie)! Ja matta, minna!