A Terrorific Halloween

Mogami Kyouko gave her boss, Takarada Lory, an "are you kidding me" look. She was not going to wear that. Not even if it meant that bastard had a heart attack and died on the spot. She had limits after all and that was one line she wasn't sure she wanted to cross. Ever.

Lory casted Kyouko-chan a stern look. "I will hear no objects. This is a Love Me task and you will do it to the best of your ability, which includes wearing the costume."

She pouted but accepted the paper bag. Tsuruga-san was not going to be happy when he saw her dressed up for the company Halloween party, especially with the costume the president had showed her that was his. Poor, poor senpai.

Kyouko's best friend, Kotonami Kanae, stared at the two outfits and turned her horrified gaze to a slightly teary eyed Kyouko. "He's kidding."

She shook her head, terror written all across her features. "Their different from the ones he showed me! Similar, President said, these aren't similar in the least!"

The third Love Me member, Amamiya Chiori, looked at the three different costumes and quirked a smirk. Oh, the boys were going to love this Halloween.

Ren glared at the paper bag sitting on the bench in his changing room and Yashiro was doing the exact same thing in the room next to his as they shared a thought. Evil. The president was evil.

Letting out a soft growl, they dumped the contents and fingered the black and brown pieces of material. "Evil sadist bastard," they muttered as Ren and Yashiro pulled on black and brown pants respectively. They were going to kill him. It was a done deal.

Kyouko looked in the mirror, trying to put on at least a cold face. Smiling was out of the question and she was more miserable than angry, unlike Moko. Why on Earth had President Takarada given them these costumes? Not that Amamiya-san minded, Kyouko thought, glancing at said girl.

The other black haired girl smiled mischievously, admiring her very short red dress accompanied by red devil horns, a red tail, and a pair of over-the-knee red stiletto boots. Yep, she looked wickedly gleeful.

Kanae was far less pleased with her faux fur, skin tight brown tank top that exposed her midsection; and even less with the brown faux fur short shorts, fake wolf ears, bushy brown tail, brown faux fur ankle boots, and the thin leather strip Kanae wore around her neck. Though, she was happy and a little pissed off that Kyouko had gotten the cat costume, if you could call it that.

Tsuruga was going to flip. Kanae just knew it.

A tall black cat leaned against the far wall next to a shorter brown dog. "Do you see Mogami-san or Kotonami-san yet?" the tom cat asked.

The dog replied dryly, eyes scanning the crowd, "No, unless they're in similar costumes, then I have no clue if I've seen them or not."

"They're still trying to decide whether or not to refuse coming out of the changing rooms and get a zero for this Love Me assignment," Chiori informed the two poor men. "Nice costumes by the way, Tsuruga-san, Yashiro-san. The president did a great job with costume coordinating."

The two turned commanding gazes on the young actress, but she only smiled innocent, turning to show little black angel wings painted on the back of her red dress. So very fitting, they thought darkly.

Ren caught sight of the two women first and immediately turned to bash his masked head against the wall, muttering, "The Gods hate me," over and over again with a few "I just knew it's" sprinkled in.

"Tsuruga-san, what are you doing?" Mogami-san asked, putting a delicate hand between his head and the wall. Ren reluctantly turned to examine the younger actress.

Black cat ears were perched on top of a long black wig; a strapless, curve hugging, cleavage-exposing, black velvet leotard of sorts wrapped around a slender body; a sleek black tail; and thigh high, black stiletto boots completed the costume, making Mogami-san dangerously sexy without a speck of make-up on.

Lord give me strength, Ren prayed, paling slightly. He knew he had a good amount of self-control, but Ren was human after all—a man at that—, he had limits and seeing Mogami-san dressed in such a manner was likely to drive him off the cliff. Correction, it would make him want to jump off the cliff.

Yashiro Yukihito could only stare dumbly at the beautiful brunette in front of him. He had barely worked up enough willpower to glance at Kyouko-chan, let alone tease Ren about her appearance. Kotonami-chan was just...wow. It was the only word Yukihito could use to describe the wolfish woman in front of him. Beautiful was too mild along with stunning, gorgeous, and all those other words his mind didn't want to supply in favor of stuttering to an abrupt halt and collapsing on itself.

Kanae shuffled awkwardly next to Yashiro. He had been unusually silent since he saw her and she wanted to know what he thought of her costume. And then again, she didn't. Kanae wanted him to be different from all the other men; for Yashiro to see her as an intelligent human being who deserved respect, not just something pretty to show off to his friends.

Kyouko felt depressed. Tsuruga-san refused to look at her, and she knew it was because of the costume. He was ashamed that she had worn such a skimpy costume—at the company Halloween party no less!—and Tsuruga-san was embarrassed to think of her as his kouhai. Kyouko knew it as she casted an almost pleading look at the older man. She hated that he couldn't just tell her to go away, that she was an eyesore, that he never wanted to see her face again. Kyouko didn't know if she could handle Tsuruga-san's icy demeanor. She would have preferred if he'd just yell at her already.

Ren had a hard time not looking at the very—ahem—interesting costume Mogami-san wore. The thoughts he was having were even worse, and about a minor no less! God damn evil president.

A vamped Hizuri Kuu wasn't happy, and it was only his wife's petite hand on his arm that kept him from marching over to Kyouko, throwing her other his shoulder and locking her in a changing room until she put on some acceptable clothes. What had Lory been thinking putting his daughter in that kind of costume!

The bewitching Julie was amused at her boys' reactions. It was hard to tell what Kuon was thinking, seeing as he was covered in a cat suit, but his body language gave him away. He was feeling awkward, and trying very hard to resist temptation. Kuu was acting like the doting father of a wonderful little girl he had become and Julie was happy that her daughter-in-law-to-be had been welcomed into their family early. Especially with the lack of love the poor girl had experienced so early on.

Now if only she could get that stupid son of hers to see that Kyouko would be as good as gone if he didn't steal her heart before her 18th birthday. Julie could see the headlines now. "Open Season has started for the Actress Kyouko's Heart" "Fuwa Shou in the Lead for Kyouko's Heart, Tsuruga Ren in Last Place?" "Tsuruga Ren Brawled with Fuwa Shou over Kyouko" Poor Kuon, he just had to fall in love with the perfect girl, just after she had sworn off love. But she wasn't impatient. Julie could wait a couple years of grandkids.