Author's Note: I don't know what compelled me to write another story for this set. I guess I was really bored, and probably also because I want to stall the ending of Hanging on the Edge just a little bit longer to keep you all on your toes. I actually started this part a long time ago, but I probably forgot about it or something because for some reason, I never decided to finish it until now. Anyway, here's Cindershiro, so enjoy! And remember...these stories are purely crack.

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, off in the countryside, there lived a man, his wife, and his lovely young son, Hitsugaya Toshiro.

They were a very happy family, until the wife became ill from a mysterious illness and suddenly died. Heartbroken, but not wanting his son to be deprived of a mother for the rest of his life, the man remarried.

Little Hitsugaya Toshiro's new step mother was a lovely but cruel person named Aizen. Aizen had two daughters - I mean sons, that were named Ichimaru Gin and Tosen Kaname. These two became Hitsugaya's stepbrothers. They were very lovely, like their mother - or father, or whatever - but they, also like Aizen, were very vain and selfish.

The father grew sick of seeing Aizen in the bedroom everyday - not a pretty sight - so one day he comitted suicide, leaving poor Hitsugaya all alone with this cruel family.

His stepbrothers mocked him and forced him to do all the chores because they were too busy doing each other's hair and nails. Because poor little Hitsugaya had to sweep the chimney so much, they called him Cindershiro.

Everyday, it was "Cindershiro, do this," and "Cindershiro, do that," and soon, the name stuck.

Henceforth, he officially became known as Cindershiro.

One day, the stepmother Aizen was checking the mail, looking through the pile, spotting community newsletters, advertisements, and a notice from the local video store that the DVD for Hotel for Dogs was overdue. Aizen frowned, not wanting to admit that he secretly like watching cheesy children's movies, so he discarded the late notice.

As he continued to go through the stack, he found an invitation.

Curious, the cruel stepmother opened it and read it aloud to himself.

Citizens of the Kingdom -
Tonight, at six o'clock sharp, the King will be hosting a royal ball in honor of the Prince's birthday. Everyone in the kingdom is invited, including you. And yes, that includes your opressed and abused stepchildren. Yes, I am talking to you, Aizen. Anyway, the Prince will also select his future bride at tomorrow's ball so you'd better make sure you look sexy. That is all.

Aizen squealed in delight. There was nothing he loved better than a good, old-fashioned royal ball. And he just loved doing a make-over with his ugly little sons, Ichimaru and Tosen. Delighted, the evil stepmother ran to inform them of the good news.

So Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tosen spent the whole afternoon trying on fancy ballgowns and shiny jewelry.

Wondering what the commotion was all about, Cindershiro kindly and politely asked, "Why the hell are you guys wearing dresses?"

"Because," Ichimaru replied haughtily while seeing if a pink or purple flower would look better in his hair, "Because there's going to be a ball at the palace tonight and everyone is invited. We have to look good for the prince."

"Can I come?" Cindershiro asked hopefully.

"No," Aizen snapped.

"But Ichimaru said that everyone was invited. That includes me."

"You have chores to do," Aizen insisted, "So go do them and don't bother us. You're not allowed to go to the ball."

"Screw you guys," Cindershiro sniffled sweetly as the cruel stepmother and his ugly sons left for the palace, before fleeing to the safety of his bedroom. There, he threw himself dramatically onto his bed and proceeded to throw a hissy fit. He wanted to go the ball, and he wanted to go now.

As he whined, all of a sudden, he heard a voice from behind him.

"Ahem."

"Who're you!?" Cindershiro demanded angrily, turning around. There, he saw a large dragon of ice with a frilly pink tutu around its tail and a shiny pink tiara on its head, with sparkly pink fairy wings on its back.

"I'm your fairy zanpaku-to," the dragon explained, "My name is Hyorinmaru."

"I don't know you," Cindershiro snapped, "Get out of my room."

"I don't get paid to get yelled at by a little brat," Hyorinmaru answered sweetly, "I only get my paycheck when I grant the wish of the punk I get the misfortune of being stuck with. So hurry up and tell me your damn wish already."

Cindershiro instantly said, "I want to go to the royal ball."

"Then go," Hyorinmaru snorted in disgust, "It's not like your dumb stepmother locked the door or anything."

"But I don't have any pretty clothes," Cindershiro whined, "I can't go to see the prince in these rags!"

"Fine, fine, whatever," Hyorinmaru grumbled, and with a wave of the magic wand, Cindershiro's tattered apron and tattered kimono transformed into a lovely, sparkly blue dress with poofy sleeves and a poofy bottom. There was also a sparkly blue tiara in his hair now, and two shimmering glass slippers were on his dainty little feet.

"Ooh, Gucci," Cindershiro observed, admiring the sparkly fabric of the ballgown, "Nice."

"Get on my damn back already," Hyorinmaru snapped in an annoyed voice, "I'll have to carry you there myself."

"What a rip-off!" the sweet and lovely Cindershiro retorted, "I thought the package included like, a coach, and pretty ponies, so on and so forth..."

"You don't have any sweet, cute little animal friends to turn into horses," Hyorinmaru explained, "And you don't have a bigass pumpkin, either, so whatever, just get on my back and let's go. But remember, when the clock strikes twelve, the transformation will end and you'll get your rags back, so you'd better get home by then."

"Not fair!" Cindershiro protested, "I don't have a curfew!"

"That's just how it works!" Hyorinmaru roared, "Are you gonna get on my damn back or not!?"

"Fine," muttered Cindershiro as he climbed on the magical fairy zanpaku-to dragon's back, and off they went. Because the dragon was very magical, they were able to reach the ball in no time.

Meanwhile, inside the palace, the Prince was getting pissed off.

Now, the prince was a handsome, noble, and gracious fellow named Kurosaki Ichigo. It was his birthday today, so in celebration, the royal ball had been proposed, and he was to pick a suitable bride there. Unfortunately, so far, he was having no luck because most of the people who turned up where pretty damn ugly. Not to mention that someone had mixed up the party arrangements, and instead of an elegant orchestra, their music was being provided by a club DJ who was happily blasting away gangster rap, to which many of the sullen prince's party guests were now freak-dancing to.

"There's no hope," the prince wailed in despair, "My birthday ball has been ruined and I will never find the right bride!"

At that moment, right on cue, the noble prince Ichigo saw a lovely boy walking down the steps, dressed in a beautiful blue gown and with the most beautiful face he had ever seen.

Prince Ichigo's mouth was agape as the boy made his way through the crowds.

"He is the most fairest maiden I have ever seen in my entire life!" Prince Ichigo enthused, ignoring the grammatical inaccuracy of his sentence, "I must meet him! And I must have him for my bride!"

He ran to the boy, elated as he took one of his dainty, gloved hands.

"What is your name, fair maiden?" the prince inquired, kissing the back of his hand in what he hoped was a noble and chivalrous gesture.

"Cindershiro," the boy answered.

"Lovely Cindershiro, may I have this dance?" Prince Ichigo asked hopefully.

Cindershiro stared at him.

"No."

"Why not!?"

"Fuck off, pervert," Cindershiro snapped, snatching his hand out of the prince's hold, "Stop trying to hit on me."

"No, no, no!" Prince Ichigo whined, stomping his very noble foot on the ground in a very noble gesture, "You've got it all wrong! You're supposed to fall in love with me, and we dance, and then after the ball is over, I search the whole kingdom for you until I find you! Then, we're supposed to get married and ride off into the sunset with cute little birds holding a 'happily ever after' sign...you know, the whole happy ending thing?"

"Screw you!" the fair and kind Cindershiro retorted, taking off one of his lovely glass slippers and throwing it at Prince Ichigo's head. "I'm leaving. This ball sucks and the music blows."

With that, he stormed off, leaving Prince Ichigo to stare longingly at his back, clutching the glass slipper.

The next day, Cindershiro awoke to the squeals of his stepmother and stepsisters - or stepbrothers, whatever you want to call them.

"The prince is coming!" Aizen announced, "He is searching the kingdom for the maiden that left behind a glass slipper at yesterday night's ball...and if the slipper fits, he will make the owner of the slipper his bride!"

Aizen pointed at Ichimaru and Tosen. "The two of you will try on the slipper!"

"Hell no," Ichimaru protested, "What if it actually fits me?"

"Yeah," Tosen agreed, "You see, I'm not really into all that yaoi stuff..."

"Try on the damn slipper, you hear me!?" Aizen screamed.

Fearfully, the two stepbrothers nodded.

At that moment, the doorbell rang, and delighted, Aizen ran to the door, pulling it open. Prince Ichigo was there, holding a glass slipper in his hand, looking at them hopefully. "Uh...try on the shoe?" he asked hopefully.

Muttering something about how his allowance better be increased, Ichimaru shuffled forward. He snatched the slipper from Prince Ichigo's grip, placing it on the floor and trying to stuff his foot into it. Needless to say his foot was way too huge, so with a scoff, he threw it to Tosen. Tosen frowned unhappily, but when he saw Aizen glaring at him, quickly also tried his best to jam his bigass foot into the slipper as well. Also needless to say, it didn't fit very well at all and he could hardly get anything past his big toe in.

"Good thing it doesn't fit either of you," Prince Ichigo announced, "Because you're both freaking ugly anyway."

Dejected that he still had not found the fair maiden from the previous night, the Prince turned to leave.

At that moment, Cindershiro ran into the room. That glass slipper had been Prada, and he'd be damned if he let the Prince get away with his Prada shoe. After all, nowadays, designer stuff is very expensive, and he had gotten it for free from his fairy zanpaku-to.

"That's mine!" he screeched, "Give it back to me!"

"Not until you try it on," Prince Ichigo retorted, who, for some reason, was too stupid to recognize Cindershiro as the fair maiden from the previous night that he had attempted to ask to dance.

With an annoyed huff of breath, Cindershiro grabbed the glass slipper and put it on, his foot slipping easily into it.

"Happy?" he snapped, "Now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking my slipper back now-"

"My lovely, fair Cindershiro, is that you!?" Prince Ichigo asked in amazement, his memory coming back to him now, "I have finally found you after hours of searching!" The truth was, he had actually only been searching for around ten minutes now. "Come, my beautiful Cindershiro! We will return to the palace and I shall arrange for us to be married at once!"

"Wait, no, I don't want to-"

But poor Cindershiro did not get to finish his sentence as Prince Ichigo happily tossed him into his carriage and they rode off into the sunset, to live happily ever after.

THE END.