Chapter 2

The thing about the four animal costumes was that they were designed in such a way that one could only wear undergarments over them. In fact, one needed to. They were designed to be able to allow one to do their dailies without shimmying out of the costume each time. Very thoughtful. One would almost forget that they were actually wearing the costume. It felt as comfortable as one's own skin, if one was actually inclined to think about it. Which Kyoko or the others did not. Not a single thought was given to the costumes by the wearers. All four just went about their day, until it was time for the annual Halloween Party, as if wearing this type of thing happened to them every day. Well, when you work for Lory Takarada, it's not really that far-fetched of an idea.

Kyoko glanced into the full-length mirror in the downstairs bathroom of the Takarada Villa. Turning this way and that, admiring the quality of her costume. If one were to actually think about it, they would think that she was a human-lioness or manimal. The suit and makeup were perfection. The suit didn't move or slide on the skin and the makeup didn't run or smudge. It felt natural, as if it were a part of her and always had been. As if she had been born to it. It gave her a small degree of confidence in her own body and made her feel very predatory. She imagined that she felt the same as what a true wild lioness would feel.

"Mo, there you are." Kanae groused and the fox tail behind her gently twitched without her notice. She wasn't really annoyed and she honestly would be doing the same as she had caught Kyoko doing, but she just didn't wish for her best friend to witness her loosing her dignified state over a well-made costume. She would wait until she got home later and removed it to admire the craftsmanship. She absolutely would not go silly over it in public or where anyone could just walk in and see her.

Kyoko smiled widely and Kanae marveled at the realistic makeup. "You look so amazing Mōko-san." She giggled and her long, slender, black, tufted tail swished back and forth, lazily, behind her. She still couldn't get over how real the costumes looked.

The fox ears on her head, twitched slightly and the motion caught Kyoko's attention. Kanae's brows furrowed a little when she noticed Kyoko staring at her in concentration with her own costume ears flattened closely to her head. Wow… I didn't know that they were capable of doing that. Kanae thought, wondering if her own did the same. She shook the thoughts off. "Are you finished here? The LoveMon wants us to see us." She told her remembering the message from Ruto earlier. Apparently Lory had not been able to see their realistic costumes up close earlier in the day. She honestly didn't know why he wanted to see them. Wasn't he the one that ordered them?

Kyoko's eyes narrowed a little, her tail, whiskers, and ears twitched and she gave Kanae a toothy grin. "I suppose we should go then." She told her, prowling sexily out the door with a feline gait.

Kanae nodded then shivered a bit as she watched her best friend leave the room. She couldn't help but feel as though she had narrowly escaped a fate worse than one of Kyoko's bone-crushing hugs.

~xoxo~

Ren groaned inwardly as he glanced into the rear-view mirror of his car. Granted that the costume was quite amazing, but it irritated him that Yukihito had to basically cancel everything for him that had been scheduled after 5pm. There was absolutely no way he would ever show up to an interview or anything else looking like this. His tail and ears twitched unnoticeably at the thoughts.

Honestly, it wasn't the lion costume that irritated him the most, it had been the fact that he was a pale blond lion with green eyes. At first, it didn't bother him so much, but the more he thought about it, the more nervous he got about Kyoko putting two and two together and coming up with four instead of fairy. He didn't wish for her to see him in any kind of blond hair and picturing his Ren persona with it. With her innate skills and active imagination, she would see right through him in an instant. He was brave for everything else in his current life at the moment, but when it came to her… he was an absolute coward.

He chuckled wryly at the thought. Kuon, the cowardly lion. He sighed. I suppose it's now or never. He groaned inwardly and prepared to join the festivities of the costume party inside the Takarada Villa before Lory decided to send Ruto out to drag him in. Not that he would, but he really wouldn't put something like that past him, all things considered.

~xoxo~

Lory was absolutely amazed at the craftsmanship of the two costumes of his LoveME Lovelies. He could hardly wait to see their counterparts. Ten had gone on and on about them and he was excited to witness the impact that his four little love projects had on each other when everything was revealed.

If these costumes revealed the little secrets that LoveME Zero and One shared, he would post a reward to whomever that had ordered them.

Those two had been dancing around each other since the end of May, and it was infuriating. Of course he'd heard about the little dust-up between the two of them at TBM. How could he not? It had the tabloids and talk shows digging around him for months. It also had them avoiding each other for said months, and lying to him and everyone else through their teeth about it.

Alright, alright… he had to admit, in the beginning, before all of the hubbub about Sacred Lotus, and all of her career advancements thereafter, that Ren's fans would have eaten her alive and not even spit out her bones, but now it was an entirely different story. Just as Kana Kusunoki had come out of the closet with her girlfriend, Kyoko was rapidly ascending to the top five actresses. People were starting to take notice, thanks to her talent and her brilliant manager that she shared secretly, but not secretly, with Ren. At this point, there were not that many that would have any objections to those two being together.

"Haaahhh…" Lory sighed out. "A strawberry cocktail would be really nice right now." It was one of his favorite Valentine's Day drinks, but all they were serving at the moment were related to Halloween. He turned to set his glass of scotch on the bar and noticed the exact drink he desired. He nodded to the hired bartender with a big smile. "Thank you." Said bartender gave him a puzzled look and went about his business as Lory indulged in his guilty little pleasure.

During this particular affair, a certain little party-goer was rife with anticipation. The fruits of her labors would soon be revealed. LoveME One and Two weren't only her grandfather's projects, she had taken it upon herself months ago to join in on this little matchmaking fest when she had seen the two couples interact. Honestly, she really didn't know how her grandfather could tolerate them dancing around each other like that. She was getting very impatient and wanted results. Especially when she discovered that this had been going on for almost two whole years. It was intolerable, in her opinion. So, she had decided that at this party, she would match their costumes and create opportunities for them to spend some real time together.

She had spent weeks searching for the high quality costumes that matched perfectly, and she had finally found them on a website that suited her tastes. Whiskers, Wings, and Spells… Not only did they have the perfect costumes, they also carried a wide variety of other things that caught her interests. Candles, oils, herbs, spell books, cauldrons, ceremonial items, and the list went on. Her little mind exploded in ecstasy at all of the wonderful things she had been able to purchase that evening. Of course when the credit card bill came next month, Grandfather would know that she had been the one to purchase those costumes, but honestly he really wouldn't scold her for something like that. She had been studying magic for a very long time, so it really wasn't an out of the ordinary purchase.