Called by a Demon Whistle

Kamiko and Machiko settled down in their room. Kamiko spread out the pages she'd received from class that morning. "Okay, now let's focus on math…"

"This is ridiculous!" Machiko declared.

Kamiko rolled her eyes. And plain as day, her thoughts were transferred to Machiko. "You know why we're doing this. Our father didn't want us, so he stuck around only long enough to instruct us in our respective abilities. And frankly, I'm better at blending in with humans, so Mother had me enrolled and told the teachers that you had a condition. But we both still need to get an education, so deal with it!"

Machiko tugged at her hair, which was so vividly black-and-white striped that it was hard to say if it was black with white stripes or white with black stripes. That hair was the reason for her staying home: even in a human form, it was far too vibrant to be counted as normal among humans. In her standard form, those stripes also existed from the waist down to her claw-bearing feet and the tip of her long prehensile tail. "You're not that much better at blending in with humans! You still need work on your control!"

Kamiko shrugged. That was true; while they had the same physiques in their standard forms, Kamiko was a chameleon, and one who couldn't truly control her color changes, and it was through her skin and hair, so she could change color no matter what her form was. If something crashed into her, she instantly took on the same colors and patterns. She could blend into walls, but if something startled her, her colors rapid-fired through a rainbow. And she changed color depending on her emotions, which was what Machiko was referring to. "I've refined my ability to keep my emotions under wraps until I've gotten into a bathroom stall or a closet."

Kamiko and Machiko were half-demons. They had a human mother, which was why their demon father hadn't been all that interested in sticking around. Fortunately, they could change their physique between their standard – which was waist-up human and waist-down some strange being – human and an amazing form with their 'demon' coloration, clawed hands and large flightworthy wings. For the most part, Kamiko chose a human form. Machiko chose her standard, mostly because she didn't get out of her room much, let alone the house.

Suddenly, a piercing whistle cut through their heads! Kamiko's colors rippled violently to reflect her pain, and Machiko yelped. When the sound finally stopped, Machiko straightened up. "Math homework later, first we find out what that sound was!"

Kamiko followed her out the window and caught her tail. "Quick – plan!"

Machiko stopped short, poised on one foot. "Um…"

Kamiko glanced around carefully. "Nothing else reacted to that sound, so apparently that was a demon whistle. We find the source, but I'll be camouflaged and you…be in your human form at least until we find what made the sound."

"Fine." Machiko morphed to human and Kamiko vanished, stripping off her clothes. She'd woven a bra and underwear from her own hair and tested it out; as her hair would change colors only slightly less readily than her skin, her woven items also changed colors depending on what was happening underneath them.

As they set off again, Machiko grumbled, "I hate this form!"

Kamiko's voice whispered from the darkness. "You wouldn't have so much trouble if you practiced with that form."

Machiko didn't practice with her human form, and so had difficulty balancing without her tail. The only way she could truly stay on her feet was at a flat-out run. And…she was slower in her human form than she was standard, and this bothered her – she had a need for speed.

Still, thanks to their flat-out run, they arrived at the strangest-shaped mansion in time to hear the four standing in front of the door read out the warning.

"Not saying the word hot?" Machiko remarked. "That's the oddest warning ever!"

One of the boys – one with a pompadour-like hairstyle – jumped and spun around in a near-panic. While he was doing that, the two girls sized up the four people. Paranoid Pompadour, Shorty, a girl, and a redhead boy.

"Hello. Who might you be?" the redhead spoke.

"My name's Machiko. I heard a whistle and came to investigate. What's going on…" Machiko heard a whisper in her ear. One word. A name. "…Suichi?"

Suichi raised his eyebrows, but he gave her a paper. "Basically, a friend of ours has been kidnapped, and we're going to rescue him."

Machiko studied the paper, while Kamiko stared over her shoulder at the note. According to the note, anyone could come on this rescue mission, but if two people named Kurama and Hiei weren't along, Yusuke Urameshi would be killed.

The girl spoke up. "I'm Boton. This is Kuwabara," she pointed to Paranoid Pompadour, "and this is Hiei."

Shorty turned away in response to his name. "Whatever."

Machiko blinked. "Um…who's Kurama?"

Suichi spoke up. "Ah…" he made a decision and continued. "…Suichi's my human name."

Machiko nodded. "Ooohhh…now I get it."

"Though I must confess I'm surprised you knew my human name, since I've never seen you before. I think I'd remember your hair."

She cocked her head, returning to standard form in response to a shift in her weight.

"Whoa!" Kuwabara sounded impressed.

"Um…" Machiko cocked her head the other way. "Let's see…how did I know your name?" How to explain my knowing somebody's name when I don't get out much at all? "Can we discuss it after we save this Yusuke?"

"Very well, but I do want an answer."

We headed in, with Kamiko hard on Machiko's tail.

Machiko

The room was completely dizzying! And then we learned from a couple of humans that the room had been keyed up to prevent violence! One human had the key required to move past this room, and the other seemed content to just sit in his chair and mock us. Then Hiei decided he had to prove he was better than humans, said the word hot and got turned to stone or something!

I glanced to my left and made eye contact with Kamiko. "You know what to do, right?"

The eyes moved up and down. Then I couldn't see them anymore.

That didn't bother me, because I knew exactly what she was doing: moving slowly over to the guy with the key to retrieve it from his pocket. And she was going to, as some insurance policy, keep her tail loosely wrapped about the guy's neck. Never touching him, just surrounding it – after all, if he was to suddenly move and get that lasso pulled tight, that wasn't violence. And if she just decided not to let go…that wasn't violence either.

And so we all got chairs to sit on. I couldn't stop squirming. I couldn't help it: it was my tail. Finally I chose to sit backwards on my chair like Kuwabara was doing with his.

Then the jerk making the rules of this game – what was his name? I think it was Kaito – he started reading a book and ignoring us. I was starting to sweat under my black stripes, and it left me wondering how Kamiko was doing. Her idea of ditching her clothes was sounding better all the time.

Upon Kaito remarking that Kurama Suichi was roundabout bragging, I started snickering.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, I think I'm getting a little brain-fried." I couldn't stop giggling.

Still, at least as long as they were paying attention to me or anyone else in the room, they wouldn't notice Kamiko.

Then on the next remark…

"Eighty degrees….no wonder my stripes are sweating and my brain feels baked."

That got Kuwabara's attention. "Wha? Your…stripes?"

"Yeah. For some reason, under…high temperatures…I only start sweating under my black fur. Not my white."

Boton got drinks out of a nearby fridge – had that always been there? This weird room was messing with me. Then suddenly, Kuwabara went to stone! Then Boton blew it by saying the H word and she went stone, too!

Kaito explained the rules a little further. Evidently, it wasn't just saying "hot" that could soul-swipe us: it was saying the letters H, O and T in succession of each other!

I think Kamiko's the safest of us all – she's not saying anything!

"Souls are so pretty. I think the girls' are the prettiest."

Then I turned away. "You know what? I'm tired of this game." I glanced at Suichi. "Suichi, I have total faith in your ability to save me." Then I leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Especially since you have an ally in this room you can't see." Then I sat down on the floor and said, glaring right at Kaito, "H. O. T."

Kurama

Her faith in me is astounding, considering she'd never met me before today. But that last statement of hers tipped me off as to how she knew my human name without having met me before: this ally she mentioned must have met me, or gone to school with me!

As her soul joined those of my other friends, I cast my eyes about the room. I didn't truly expect to spot this person, but it didn't hurt to look.

Then something slipped into my hand. It was the key. I gripped the hand briefly for just a moment as a thank you, and then I displayed the key for him.

Kamiko

It was all I could do to keep my color from changing at that moment. I'd actually been fighting the temperature for a bit – my color changes from temperature, as well: blue for cold, and a warmer color for…that word I'm not supposed to say.

And when it came down to it, Suichi had a perfectly legitimate reason for why he had the key, one that didn't bring me into the picture.

He'd been growing plants over! I'd noticed…sort of…I'd just tapped one plant when it was reaching for a key that wasn't there anymore.

"Keep those souls in perfect condition, Kaito. You're in way over your head."

"You can't intimidate me. I still have the upper hand."

Kurama – yes, this current persona of his deserved that name – challenged Kaito to a new taboo game. I decided that as long as I was silent, curled up on the floor by my sister and avoiding any eyes, I would be safe. Though Kurama wagering his own soul left me chilled even in that overly warm room, because it meant if he lost, it would be up to me to save everyone.

I let my ears tell me what was going on. I won't describe what happened, because most of it was just random, and besides, the game was going to take forty-five minutes…once it got to one o'clock. One would think I could have taken a nap in that time. Nope – I was too keyed up.

After Kaito ran off to the bathroom, I took one risk. I turned, looked up and said softly, "Aaa…"

Kurama was growing plants around the room hyper-fast. He held up a hand to silence me.

I returned to my former position and watched grass grow right in front of my eyes.

Then suddenly, a vine grew thicker, wrapped gently over my head and pulled so that my jaws were firmly around its base! And then some kind of fruit grew inside my mouth, thoroughly preventing my making any further sound!

I knew what was going on. He'd sensed where I was through his plants, and he was planning on doing something that would hopefully scare Kaito. Unfortunately, since I wasn't looking around, it would startle me, too. Rather than risk an outcry, he was gagging me and protecting his sole remaining ally. Thank you, Kurama. I hope you picked some safe hothouse fruit to gag me with, so that I can just eat it once this game is over.

Then, all at once, I heard a loud "BAAAAA!"

…In Kurama's voice.

I was completely silent, staring at one hand. My colors had gone crazy – he'd startled me – but I couldn't decide which sound I wanted to make: a scream…or a laugh.

Then someone else started laughing. It sounded like Kaito. Then…the lights started flickering, and finally, returned to normal. The plants started receding, and Machiko stood up. I lay there for another second, waiting for the vine and fruit to get out of my mouth. Kuwabara started celebrating that he was back, and then started yelling at Hiei, who…I carefully peeked up…at least had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Ironic, that after all his wit, he was done in by a laugh." Then Kurama stopped next to me. "Are you all right?"

I ignored the "Huh?" from Boton and Kuwabara and answered softly. "Yeah, I'm all right."

That got a jump. Kuwabara started yelling. "Wait a minute – there was someone else here?!"

Kurama ignored him and extended a hand to me. "I'm sorry I had to gag you like that, but as so many letters had been marked taboo by our game, I couldn't risk trying to explain in a way that you would understand."

I reached up and took his hand, letting color spread from where he'd touched down to me as I was straightening up: typical skin tone, blue form-fitting top, brown pants, blonde hair…with matching fur on my claw-feet and tail. "It's okay. I understood what was up."

That sparked recognition. "Kamiko! I always thought you didn't quite smell right for a human!"

To another human, that statement would have sounded perverted. But now that I knew that he was at least partially a demon, I didn't mind. "I'm a half-demon. Like my sister."

He smiled. "I see."

"Now, if you don't mind…" I tugged my hand free, and purposely fell to the floor, letting the impact send the color over me. "…The ally one cannot see is a hidden weapon."

Hiei remarked, "I can see you perfectly well, you know."

"Nobody asked you, shorty. And frankly, as long as you don't say anything about me to our remaining hosts, I don't care." I crept off in the direction of the door, heading for the wall.

"Hey, uh…" Kuwabara spoke up. "Don't you think you should get up? Someone might step on you."

"Want to field that one, Hiei?"

"She's already out of the pathway. It's safe to walk forwards."

I rolled my eyes. But I did stand up.

This is going to be the most interesting thing that's happened all week.