Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea behind it.

Unbound Romance

Making the Bets

The whole office was abuzz about it. A Halloween Masquerade ball! Sugishita had gotten an invitation to one addressed to the whole office. It was agreed earlier that no one would tell who they would be dressed as and the invitation required that they make up fake names to match their costumes. Basically, become the character. The ball was to be on the next Sunday night, Halloween. The work week went on as usual, no mention of anyone's plans for the ball.

Unusual for the girls, they all went shopping alone, not daring to let the others so much as see the fabric they planned on using. Kusanagi figured he'd be able to tell who was who, solely on the sound of their voices, though everyone disagreed. There were going to be a lot of other people at the ball so there was a chance that the co workers wouldn't even meet up. A thought that Momiji didn't like too much. She'd make sure to find Kusinagi.

Costume sketches were shoved in the back of desk drawers for safe keeping, simulations ran amuck on the computers, and certain members of the team spent their entire lunch breaks daydreaming about the event. Assumptions were made that Kome, Kunikida, Yaegashi, and Kusangi would be easiest to identify. Kome's outfit would more than likely involve some sort of fire arm, thus giving her away. It was also discussed that Kunikida's sometimes dry personality, and possibly his recognizable beard would give him away. He'd have to work had at hiding it under a mask. Not to mention he'd have to work hard at not making any puns. Yegashi, well chances were his would be very detail oriented and computerized in some way. And poor Kusanagi had to hide green hair and cat eyes, something that didn't run very common in most people. Bets were made on who'd be recognized, and who would slip under the radar. It was also agreed that they'd meet on the front steps of the ballroom at midnight to figure out who was who.

Such a pity!

Sunday. Last minute adjustments are made, cars rented, and accents are tried on. Everyone's prepared to point out the others, but stay hidden themselves.

Takeuchi decided to go bold this time. She carefully put on her makeup. She had chosen a concealer makeup a few shades lighter than her own skin tone, blended in across her face and neck. Yes this was a masked ball but the same old Takeuchi under the mask wouldn't fit in this dress. She had always had a dark side and tonight was just the night to show it. Dark red lipstick she painted her lips with, pinkish purple makeup to ring her violet colored eyes. She had picked a solid white half mask to disguise her eyes, the eyes of the mask lined in pink and a pair of Raven's silhouettes near the corner of one eye. She had put on mascara and her long eyelashes framed her eyes even with the mask on, completing the look. She doubted that anyone would recognize her just by her lips. She fastened the mask on under her hair with a black ribbon. Her bluish black hair now reached past her shoulder blades now that she had let it grow. It was to fall down in soft dark waves across her back tonight and cover her left eye, just to play with anyone who tried to identify her.

She had Matsudaira on hand who had decided not to go to the ball, so she helped Takeuchi into the dress she had picked. A solid black corset with the dress itself black lace over dark red fabric that reached the floor. Lucky, the corset wasn't too tight. Now for the issue of her name and voice. She could soften her voice just a bit, it wasn't too overly hard to change the way she pronounced certain words and such. Her name, she had found one online last Thursday. Misericordia. It was Latin and meant pity. A pity that a young maiden such as herself had died so young. God, she was starting to sound more and more like Kunikida every day. With that thought she put on a pair of dainty black strappy heals and headed out to the car she had rented, a hearse.