Hello, and welcome back! I was really looking forward to writing this chapter today. A fashion lover myself, I was very excited at the thought of giving our adorable little Akaya-kun a makeover. Not that he isn't j'adorable the way he is. J'adorable – new word invented by Feyren, meaning adorable. (J'adore means 'I adore' in French.) Enjoy!
Niou and Marui were still inside the closet, and the rest of the regulars were waiting patiently outside. All except for Akaya. He alone stood outside the room, watching anxiously and biting his fingernails. He was not looking forward to his impending doom. He just wished his seniors would hurry up and get it over with.
Finally, Marui strolled out of the closet, holding an armful of dark clothes. Niou did the same, except he also held a pair of shoes.
"Who's going first?" Niou asked evilly, the bundle of clothes in his and Marui's arms. "We've got to take turns tormenting him, you know. Sharing is caring."
"Well, my sister usually changes into her clothes first. Then comes the hair, and then comes the makeup. It takes her hours," Yukimura contemplated.
"Great!" Marui said enthusiastically. "Niou and I will go first. Akaya, go into the closet. We already decided what you're going to wear." Niou shoved a pair of shoes in Akaya's face, and Marui pushed a heap of clothing towards him.
"But Marui-senpai, Niou-senpai –" Akaya protested.
"GO!" they commanded, and Akaya sulkily entered the closet.
The group of teenagers heard some choking sounds, then a bewildered cry. Twenty minutes later, Akaya walked out in his new ensemble.
The team stared.
He wore ankle laced, leather kitten heels in leather black. The heels must have been at least an inch long. Akaya was finding it hard to balance, and wobbled around, trying to learn how to walk properly. On his head was a little Versace hat, pure black with some silver flower prints. Dressed in a silver mini-dress and a small, cropped black blazer, he was quite the looker.
The team stared some more.
Niou was the first to crack. His laughter came in gasps, ringing throughout the room. "Oh, God," he breathed, cackling hysterically. "You . . . look . . . so . . . pretty, Akaya-chan!"
Marui followed. "Oh, yes, Akaya-chan. Or should we call you Ayaka-chan?"
Yukimura stifled his chuckles, as did Jackal.
Sanada and Yagyuu could both hear the laughter from Yukimura's room, but did not dare enter Akane's room for fear of permanent scarring.
"My turn!" Jackal called out happily. "No looking."
The team scattered into various rooms.
"Jackal-senpai?" Akaya squeaked tentatively. "Please don't shave all my hair off."
"I won't," he assured. "I'm just going to give you some highlights to go with your pretty little hat. And maybe some extensions." Jackal pulled out a handful of fake hair.
Akaya gaped. Number one, how the hell did his senpai get that? And number two, that hair looked . . . wrong.
"MUAHAHAHA don't worry, Akaya. This will be a fun and enjoyable experience."
A series of whirring and clipping followed. Akaya was seriously beginning to regret attending this. He could only imagine what Niou would say to him.
"At least it's better than watching The Notebook," he'd tell the youngest regular. And Akaya would stick his tongue out.
"No, it isn't!" he'd object furiously.
Akaya buried his face into his hands and sobbed softly, knowing there was no way out. He was in a place much worse than hell: RikkaiDai's sleepover.
Soon, Jackal finished. Akaya himself had no idea what he looked like, or what he'd say to his mother when he finally got home. He reached for a mirror, but Jackal promptly swatted his hand away. "No looking," he scolded. "Not until the others see."
Hesitantly, he shouted, "Senpai-tachi! Jackal's done. You can look now. At your own risk," he added in a small, menacing whisper.
The regulars all gathered once more in Akane's room. They fixed their eyes on Akaya and burst into laughter.
"Keep the hat off," Marui told him. "You look more feminine that way."
Akaya's curly, dark hair had been accented with silver highlights. His hair was extended as well; the black locks were much longer, framing his face and reaching his shoulders. He had been given side bangs. They covered one side of his forehead and made him look very preppy and Goth. Jackal was proud.
Akaya began to wail, and collapsed on the floor. His tears dropped down one by one, like watery, crystalline pearls.
"Oh, no," Yukimura said softly, kneeling down next to him. "The carpet is damp now." Akaya glared at him and trudged into the hallway.
Yanagi took some data.
"So, am I next?" Yukimura asked.
The rest nodded eagerly.
"Make him look pretty!" Niou prompted. Jackal stayed silent.
"Okay!" he chirped. "And then, we can all go to some bar and watch drunken, twenty-one-year-old men flirt with Akaya and mistake him for a girl and –"
"You're all so mean!" Akaya cried, standing up and dropping to his knees again for the sake of the dramatic flourish, his curly dark locks bouncing and covering his face.
"Oh, Akaya, dear," Yukimura told him sweetly. "You look like such a sweet girl. A beautiful one. Why not test your talents and visit a local bar? A nice, big one. I know this really fancy, first class bar. It's larger than my house. Shrouded with shadows, the only light in it are the elegant torches that rest in their holders. Party-goers mingle and talk. You are guaranteed a fantastic –"
"Mura-buchou, you sound like an advertisement."
"Thank you!" Yukimura exclaimed, putting his hand to his heart.
"Start already!" Niou snapped impatiently. "I want to send Akaya to that bar. I know a few girls who go to that bar daily. This one girl is from America. She's named Alyssa and she used to live in New York. She goes every day from seven to midnight with her sister Alessandra, and they –"
"You go to that bar?" Yukimura asked, surprised. "I never would've thought . . . our own Niou Masaharu, attending a bar."
"I, uh . . . I . . ."
"Maybe you ought to start applying the makeup," Renji suggested.
Yukimura nodded. "You're right. Akaya, keep the hat off."
Akaya took off the hat reluctantly. He'd been hoping to pile all his hair on his head and hide it in the hat. Then again, he was wearing a mini-dress, so what was the use? Akaya sighed miserably and followed Yukimura into Akane's room.
"What are you going to do?" Akaya asked in a tiny voice.
"A lot of things, Akaya." Yukimura smiled reassuringly. "For one, we're going to apply some blush."
"How do you apply blush? When you blush, you blush."
"No, no. Blush is a term females use to describe a certain toxic powder that they smother on their faces," Yukimura explained. "It is usually pink. We will also apply some bronzer to highlight your cheekbones and darken your skin tone, as you have somewhat pale skin."
"Bronzer? Is that a type of cancer?"
"No, it is not. Bronzer is another type of toxic powder. It is also applied – usually – to the face. It is the color of copper."
"Oh."
Yukimura caked some bronzer and blush onto Akaya's face. "Next, we'll use eye shadow."
"Eyes have shadows?" Akaya inquired wonderingly.
"They do not. Eye shadow is also toxic powder. Its colors vary, and it is applied to the eyelids. We'll use . . . smoky gray eye shadow on you, because you have green eyes, and smoky gray looks nice with green eyes."
Yukimura took a thing that looked like a cotton swab and smeared some poisonous gray powder on Akaya's eyes. "Okay, that looks nice. It really highlights your eyes. Now, we'll use some black eyeliner and mascara . . ."
Akaya was growing scared. "Are those toxic powders too?"
"No, eyeliner is like a colored pencil. It traces the eyelids to sharpen the irises. In this case, black eyeliner would be best because your eyes are a light shade of green. We want them to look as striking as possible. Mascara is to darken your eyelashes. We want them to look dark and full, because sultry eyelashes are just awesome." He took the pencil and traced the eyelids. Then he took the mascara wand and brushed Akaya's eyelashes.
Akaya blinked a little. His eyes felt heavy.
"Now we'll use the eyebrow tracer."
"What the hell is that?"
"The eyebrow tracer darkens your eyebrows. Your eyebrows are considerably thin, which is a good quality in a girl. They are, however, very light, so we will use black eyebrow tracer to darken them and make them look sharper."
And so he did. Akaya felt like a coloring book.
"Last but not least, lip gloss!" Yukimura held out a little tube of pink looking goo. He pulled out the wand, dipped it in the sparkly goo, and showed it to the younger boy, who recoiled in horror.
"What is that? Pink mud?" he cried, covering his mouth.
"It's lip stain," Yukimura said innocently. "And it's not toxic! In fact, my sister likes to eat her lip gloss."
"What if I swallow it?" Akaya asked, staring at the wand with unmasked terror.
"You won't. And it's edible. Now, come on. First, I'm going to apply the pink layer, for your lips are very pale and utterly invisible."
Akaya pouted at the insult.
"There!" Yukimura admired it. "Now we will use lip gloss." He pulled out a tube of clear goo. "This is to gloss up the lips and make them look shiny and reflective."
"I don't like mud," Akaya whined quietly.
"It'll look good!" he insisted, smothering Akaya's sparkly pink lips with clear gloss. He repeated this process until Akaya's lips looked like they have been covered with saran wrap.
"And last but not least . . ." Yukimura dug around until he found another little make-up kit. He took a cotton ball, dipped it in some powder, and dabbed Akaya's nose with it. "There! Just to give you some color. You look gorgeous!" He grinned and handed Akaya a compact mirror. Akaya stared at it for a few seconds, his mouth open.
Then he screamed. Loudly.
The rest of the team gathered and stared at him again.
"Damn, brat," Niou mused. "You look hot."
Akaya found that comment very disturbing.
Yagyuu and Sanada had gathered too. Sanada stared at Akaya, as though he could not believe that the person standing before him was actually his teammate. Yagyuu just stared. Perhaps he had fainted while standing up again.
Akaya really looked like a girl. With the hair and the clothes in addition to the make-up, he actually looked like a typical, teenage girl. Yukimura's make-up had made his eyes look bigger, his lips look fuller, and his complexion tanned. He had blush on, and aside from his very flat chest, he looked like a total, feminine girl. Not even a tomboy. A girly-girl. Which was pretty freaky.
Niou tried to control his laughter. Maui didn't bother. "Please, let us take him to the bar!" Marui pleaded.
"Well . . ." Yukimura thought carefully, stroking his chin and looking up at the ceiling.
Yes or no? Do you want Akaya to go to a bar? I'm not going to put up a poll. Tell me in your reviews, or private message me. Do enjoy! (And I deeply apologize for any typos in this story. I'm afraid I'm in a rush today, and so I do not have much time to read this over.
