Kurogane thought this had to be the lowliest job out there. Really there was nothing more humiliating than this. Not even having to ask Souma if she could please halt their marching because he needed to go, really bad. And boy had that been humiliating. It all started out relatively normal. But then again the worst things always start out normal it's the stuff that follows which determines its path to doom. They had landed in a new world. nothing surprising so far. He had landed in a pool of mud. Not surprising either since it was the little manjuu bun that transported them. He always had the surprising insight to be able to let Kurogane land in the most uncomfortable position or place. The manjuu bun had to be getting perverted joy from seeing Kurogane land on a bee hive, on the bottom with everybody else on top or like today, face down in the mud. Not strange at all.

What they then discovered was that they needed money to buy or rent a temporary place of shelter and get food. After all they still had to eat. That's where it had all gotten wrong.

For once the luck of the princess had not helped them any. They had gone by several stores and cafes but nobody seemed to need more help. As they sat down across from an iron gate, Sakura's luck had turned. Or so they thought. On the iron fence hung a sign which said help was wanted. This marked the beginning of a very humiliating day.

...

Fai believed this was one of the funniest worlds he had been to. He got to see kurogangan in all kinds of strange situations. Not only Kurogane had to pay with his pride in this world but that made it all the more funny. He would never forget the look on kuro-pon's face when he saw what their new part time jobs entailed. It was really priceless. Of course with kuropippi's luck it could not have gone any differently.

As they approached the fence and read the sign they decided that since it was the only thing they had found in this world, they should not let it go to waste. They had come to find out that the iron fence marked the territory of a zoo. Unfortunately due to a series of setbacks the zoo did not receive many visitors lately and the manager had wanted to change that. Why the zoo suffered setback and what those setbacks were had been inconspicuously hidden with small talk and compliments on breeding such a cute bunny. Where Mokona had deemed it necessary to reply that Mokona was not a bunny but that Mokona was Mokona. In any case the setbacks were not explained. As they were desperate by now they accepted without further incident and then according to Fai their fun began.

...

Syaoran had said to himself that he would do anything to protect the princess, at all costs, yet he hoped that they never had to do this kind of thing again…

After accepting the job the group was suddenly surrounded by five people who began to drag each of them to a separate direction. Syaoran found himself behind a curtain which was obviously supposed to resemble a private place where one could get dressed. Then the person that had dragged him toward the curtain and behind it handed him something furry that was quite heavy and big. He pondered on what to do with the thing until he heard a loud voice that could only belong to Kurogane. "We are supposed to do what?! I'm not going to wear anything like this stupid costume!"

Ah he supposed it did look a little like an animal costume now that he looked at it closer, Syaoran thought. As he tried to find out how exactly he was supposed to wear this and ignored the cheery voice of Fai that said he would help Kurogane with his costume if he liked, he wondered what purpose wearing this costume would serve. As he finished with the last zipper Syaoran once again ignored the screaming and the yelling that had occurred after Fai attempted to help and stepped out.

...

Sakura really hoped that her luck would be back by the time they reached the next world. She looked at Syaoran as he stepped out of the curtain and did a double take. He wore a strange suit that was hairy and gloves that seemed to be way to big for his hands with matching shoes. Furthermore he had gotten a big hat with more hair that was longer and a darker shade of brown than the rest of his costume.

As soon as he stepped out the curtain he was attacked by a person who had been standing next to him and a paintbrush. Just as she had been earlier. The drying paint still tickled a bit.

She wasn't sure what the thing she was wearing was supposed to be. She had gotten pink tights and a shirt that had sleeves that were attached to her sides also pink. The shirt was designed so that she could only move her arms to shoulder height as the attached sleeves prevented further movement of her arms.

She had gotten a strange pink hat that had a plume on top of it, again bright pink. As the person who had applied the paint finished she was decorated with a mask that looked like a beak of a very large bird.

Though the strangest she found her shoes. They had a small heel and looked like feet of a bird, very large feet.

As the fighting behind the other two curtains died down she saw Fai and Kurogane's costumes for the first time. Fai looked like a dog only slightly orange and with a very big fluffy tail. Pointy ears stood atop his head and his face was painted just like Syaoran.

Kurogane looked like a toy she had seen in one of the previous worlds. It was if she remembered correctly, called a teddy bear. The difference was that Kurogane didn't look half as cute as the teddy bear in that other world as he had mustered up a glare that could even make soldiers run screaming. Fai didn't seem to notice the glare though and continued to tie ribbons on Kurogane's costume. After their costumes were finished they were led back into the managers office and instructed on their jobs.

...

Mokona found this world very interesting, he saw all kinds of creatures in one place though he felt sorry they weren't allowed to leave their cages. His companions had gone to do their jobs, which entailed as far as Mokona had remembered that they had to be bait. It was something about luring people into this place so that they could pay money to see these creatures. Mokona was happy that he didn't have to wear those strange clothes that his companions were wearing. He had taken a few pictures of Kurogane and quickly hid before the big bully could take his camera away. Mokona was sure that Yuuko would be very interested in these pictures, for a price. So far Mokona had only seen the creatures that looked like Fai and Sakura's costumes so he guessed that the creatures resembling Syaoran and Kurogane had to be here too. Mokona saw Kurogane and Syaoran looking at a cage a little down the road so he bounced up to them. They were staring at the creature that resembled Syaoran.

"Why did you get a costume that looks like a dangerous creature and I got stuck with a fluffy costume and ribbons in my fur." Kurogane grumbled under his breath as he watched the lions eat the freshly laid out meat.

"I really don't know Kurogane but I'm glad that there is a cage between those creatures and me, that one over there is staring at me funnily" Syaoran continued to stare and the creature past the spikes while she looked back at him. As Mokona saw the look on that creatures face he had an idea. Instead of letting these creatures stay in their cages he would free them! And maybe they could play together.

Mokona used one of his 108 secret techniques, large scale lock smacking magic, to simultaneously open all the cages in the zoo and consequently set free a rampage.

Syaoran running from the lioness that had been eying him. Kurogane serving as a strong bear to hide behind for several frightened female teenage visitors of the zoo. Fai and Sakura climbing a tree in one of the cages so that the creatures couldn't get to them. And Mokona finally seeing the creature Kurogane looked like, though he found Kurogane to be a whole lot less scary then the bear.

It's safe to say none of them kept their jobs.

...

I have to say that I had a very hard time finding out what costumes they were supposed to wear and I'm still not entirely sure about the ending, aw well. Took me long enough to finish this idea so I'll take it.