A/N: I'm going to a costume party/concert tonight! Yay! I'm going to be Wednesday from the Addams Family. (Everyone says I look just like her with the costume on...is that good or bad?) So here's the first half of the Halloween party. (No, this chapter doesn't cover all of it.) Sorry I took a...er...break from this fic, but I'm back, so rejoice! Rejoice? Eh, Choir has influenced my vocabulary again.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Tick or Arthur. I don't own Gir or Invader Zim. I don't own Alka Seltzer. Uh...just don't ask.

Halloween Moon

"I can't find my ears! Has anyone seen my ears?"

Daisuke grabbed clothes and tossed them back over his shoulder, sorting through the stuff in his closet. His mother poked her head into the room.

"You screamed?"

"Yeah. I can't find my ears."

"I believe they're located on your head, which is above your shoulders, in case that helps-"

"No, Mom. The ears to my costume."

"Oh, yes, your costume. Eh..." she trailed off, looking over his costume. "Isn't that what you wore the past two Halloweens? Who is the costume of, again? Oscar, was it?"

"Gee, that's really observant of you. And his name is Arthur, mom, the rabbit guy from that show The Tick." He popped out of the closet. His mother looked him over and raised her eyebrow.

"I thought it got stained after what happened with the ketchup."

Daisuke narrowed his eyes. "Don't remind me about that..."

The doorbell rang and he raced to answer it. He loved to give out candies to the little trick-or-treaters, especially because he could sneak a few into his pocket while he was over there. He opened the door and grabbed a handful of candies.

"Trick-or-treat!"

Daisuke took one look at the boy standing before him and doubled over in laughter. Before him stood what could only be described as...a stuffed olive.

"You're dressed as-as-as an olive!"

"I'm aware of that."

Daisuke stood up again, wiping his eyes and still laughing. He looked up and his mouth dropped open. "And you've even dyed your hair bright red to look like the pimento!"

Takeru tried to step into the apartment, having to hold his costume down at the sides and walk in sideways. Once inside, he let go, and his costume became a huge round green thing around his thin body again.

"Now that you're here, you can help me find my ears."

Takeru gave his boyfriend an odd look.

"The ears to my costume."

"Oh."

Takeru shrugged and followed Daisuke through the house as best as he could without getting stuck anywhere.

"I can't believe you're wearing that costume for the third year in a row."

"Hey, my grandma made it for me."

"Didn't you get ketchup all over it after last year?"

Daisuke grumbled to himself something about "stupid ketchup" and then shouted, "Aha!" He grabbed his bunny rabbit ears out from under his bed and slipped them onto his head.

"Ready," he said enthusiastically.

"You look stupid."

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, olive boy."

~ ~ ~ ~

"Welcome to the party!" Taichi shrieked, leading them into the house. Takeru and Daisuke were shoved into the living room and they stared around at their costumed friends.

Everyone stared at Takeru's costume.

"You're an olive...that is what it is, isn't it?" Yamato asked uncertainly.

"Yes, it is."

"Uh...why?"

"Because I didn't want to have the same costume as anyone else. I figured, this costume is unique, nobody will think of being an olive. Why not?"

"It was just an excuse to get your mom to let you dye your hair red, wasn't it?" Ken asked, smirking.

"Why, Ken, I'd do no such thing," Takeru said in a voice that said differently.

"And you're bunny-boy again. Where's the ketchup, Daisuke?" Yamato burst out laughing and high-fived Taichi, and Daisuke glared death at him.

"Does everyone remember the ketchup thing?"

The previous year, Daisuke had drank a little too much spiked punch (courtesy of the Yagami-Ishida Get Plastered Foundation), and had been dared by Ken (who was in a very devious mood that Halloween night) to chug ketchup. He'd promptly thrown up all the ketchup and punch down the front of his costume. It had taken tons of washing to get the stain off of his white costume.

"I won't be drinking so much punch tonight," Daisuke muttered.

Takeru dipped a cup into the punch and sipped it, then smiled, recognizing the taste. "Ah, good idea, Dais."

Takeru took some time to check out what everyone was wearing.

Yamato was dressed as what could best be described as a "gothic scarecrow." His hair had been made stringy with gel, giving it a straw-like appearance, sticking out under a straw hat. He had dark circles under his eyes, a frightening lopsided grin, and a brown shirt and brown pants with more orange, yellow, or red patches than he could count. What made it "gothic" was the black streaks in his hair, the spiked dog collar around his neck, and the cuffs on his wrists. Strangely enough, it only made the costume even cooler.

Ken was dressed as Gir from Invader Zim (the dog costume, not the robot). He didn't have the head of the costume on at the moment, but Takeru saw it lying on the couch.

Taichi was dressed, unoriginally, like the Grim Reaper. His scythe was lying propped against the wall. It was at least more than the previous year, when he had dressed as a soccer player, merely wearing his uniform. Yamato had hit him over the head with a candy bag when he'd seen that he hadn't really dressed up. Yamato had been a playboy bunny, though, so Taichi had hit him back with his own bag of candy, then hit him again when he found he'd broken a lollipop.

Sora had on a cat suit, with cat ears and a tail attached to the back. She'd painted her face with black whiskers and a black nose. She'd even grown her nails long and painted them black to resemble cat claws.

Mimi wore a long purple and black dress with long sleeves that overlapped her fingers. She claimed she was a witch, though it looked more like a vampiress's dress. Takeru guessed she could be both.

Now Koushirou - there was one costume that Takeru couldn't figure out. He looked like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to be a Monarch butterfly or a Bengal tiger...he had wings, sure, but what was with the tiger ears and tail? Did butterflies normally have tails? Takeru tried to think back to the last time he'd seen one. Maybe they'd evolved lately.

Koushirou greeted them with a Hi! and went to sit next to the green dog on the couch.

Takeru and Daisuke exchanged looks, shrugged, and walked towards where the CDs were playing.

"Don't touch the machinery, Daisuke!" they heard Koushirou yell at them.

Daisuke held his hands up. "Okay, okay! Geez, no one trusts me anymore." He knew that if he so much as poked at any of the machinery Koushirou used to DJ, which was set up in a corner of the room, playing music loudly, Koushirou would gladly pour chemical burner down his throat.

"There may be a reason for that," Takeru said, smirking.

Daisuke gave him a look. "I'm not that bad."

"Right."

Just then Jyou and Iori burst into the house, Jyou with egg sliding down his arm.

"We got egged," he said, laughing.

Iori didn't look as happy. He had eggshell in his hair.

"It was a drive-by," Jyou went on.

Sora and Mimi rushed forth with towels, grabbed them, and dragged them into the kitchen to wash them off.

Taichi and Yamato followed them in to make fun of their friends and ask them who egged them and how and where and when. Daisuke looked around the party and felt something was not quite right. He furrowed his brow and took a sip of his water - Taichi had let him take a bottle of water out of the fridge to drink, so he didn't have to drink the alcohol in the punch.

Suddenly Daisuke realized what was wrong. They were in Taichi's house. Where was Kari?

~ ~ ~ ~

"And then all of a sudden I got smacked with this egg, and it was slimy and yucky and I think I'm allergic to it..."

"You are not allergic to eggs."

"How do you know?"

"Remember that one time in the digital world when we were talking about how we liked our eggs cooked? You said you liked them plain."

"Oh. Yeah."

Sora smiled and pulled the towel away, finished with cleaning the gunk off of Jyou's arm and shoulder.

"Done."

"It still smells."

"Well, ask Taichi if he has any cologne lying around or something."

Jyou sighed and grumbled as he got up to find Taichi. Somewhere in the middle of explaining the egging, the brunette had grabbed Yamato and wandered off back to the party. He had such a short attention span.

Sora cleaned Iori off as she watched her bluenette friend go. She smiled. It was nice to have him visiting on Halloween.

Jyou finally found Taichi and shouted to him over the music about his situation. Taichi led him to the bathroom, where he began to search for cologne. Taichi had brought nearly everything out from under the sink, without luck, before smacking his forehead and saying he'd left it in his gym locker. Jyou sighed and Taichi suggested he ask Kari for perfume.

"Where is Kari?"

"Hiding in her room."

"From who?" Jyou asked, confused.

"From everybody," Taichi replied, smiled slightly, and walked away. Jyou stared after him, confused, and then made his way to Kari's room.

~ ~ ~ ~

"I'm so going to kill you!" Mimi chased Koushirou around the room. Ken laughed in between asking Mimi to please not kill him, and Koushirou screamed as he tripped over a chair leg and fell onto the floor. Mimi pounced on him and pulled on his hair and Koushirou winced and tried to get his hair free from her hands.

"You're going to mess up my wings! And careful with the ears!"

"Well, you've messed up my dress, so it would be fair!"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going. It's just a small stain - it should come out in the wash, anyways. I don't see why you're so worked up about it."

"This was an expensive dress, Koushirou!"

"You can get off him now," Ken told her, slightly annoyed.

Mimi leapt up and stormed off to get some more punch, and Ken helped Koushirou up.

"I'm glad she didn't kill you," Ken told the older boy.

Koushirou grinned. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. She's scary."

"Yes, she is, isn't she? Only when she's angry."

They plopped down together onto the couch. Ken grabbed a pillow and hugged it, resting his chin on it. Koushirou smiled at him.

"You look super cute in that costume, Ken."

"Thanks. You look...uh...Koushirou, what are you supposed to be?"

"I don't know. I wanted to wear orange and black, so I found as many orange-and-black things I could in a costume store and threw them together."

"Oh. Okay. It looks cool. Very...original. It goes with your hair."

"Thanks!" Koushirou grinned and Ken smiled gently, blushing slightly.

Suddenly the music changed from a dance song to "Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie, also known as the "official song to strip by", which Daisuke had so wonderfully named it. Koushirou's head snapped to the side to look at his machines set up in the corner and his vision went slightly red when he saw Daisuke was standing there, smiling. He realized what he was smiling at and looked up at the blonde boy dancing on the table.

Ken stared up at Takeru, who was dancing on a table not quite in front of him, but close enough to give Ken a nice view of Takeru's lean, smooth stomach when he raised his arms above his head. The olive suit was discarded on the floor, and he was dressed in his normal baggy jeans and green long-sleeved shirt. Takeru continued to dance, slowly, sensually, and totally aimed towards the grinning redhead in the corner. Ken felt his head grow a bit light and he felt a deep, dark emotion swirling inside of him as he watched Takeru slowly point his finger at Daisuke and then trail down the blonde's chest.

The only one that noticed him stand and leave, practically running, was the confused Tiger-butterfly staring after him from his seat on the couch.

~ ~ ~ ~

"Let's go pour Alka Seltzer into a bird and watch it explode."

"Okay. Where are we going to find a bird, though?"

"I thought that was obvious. We'll just have to build a bird trap!"

"Oh, right."

Yamato followed Taichi outside.

~ ~ ~ ~

Jyou stood in front of the door. He felt like he was treading enemy lines. He half-expected a flashing red light to pop out of the ceiling and an automated voice to yell "Danger! Danger!", but he always did get carried away with things.

He hadn't been around to watch things happen the past year, but he'd heard from his friends about the whole Kari-Miyako ordeal, and wondered if maybe smelling like egg for the remainder of the party was really such a horrible thing.

Just then, the door opened, and Kari poked her head out slowly, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Yes?"

"How'd you know I was out here?"

He expected her to say, "You were disturbing my aura", or something like that, but instead she simply said, "I heard your footsteps stop in front of my door and wondered why you never knocked."

"Oh. I smell like eggs and Taichi told me to ask you if you have any perfume."

She laughed and smiled slightly, then opened her door further. "Come on in."

Jyou stepped into her room and she closed the door behind him and walked to her dresser. He took a look around her room. It hadn't changed since the last time he'd been there. At least he knew she hadn't really changed from before she started giving the others trouble.

"Why are you hiding in here? You do know there's a party going on outside your door, right?"

She smiled to herself and pulled her perfume from out of a drawer, shutting it and walking back towards him.

"I," she said, handing it to him, "am not invited. Well, at least they wouldn't want me there."

"Why not? What happened?"

"Didn't they tell you?"

"Sort of, but I don't really know the details. You still seem nice."

She smiled slightly again and sat on her bed, patting the spot beside her. He sat next to her and turned towards her to listen as he sprayed perfume onto himself.

"You know I was in love with Takeru, right?"

He hesitated in his actions and set the perfume down on the light blue and white bedsheets.

"I suspected you did," he replied, "but I wasn't sure."

She nodded slowly, staring down at her hands. "You know he's gay?"

"Yes. He told me a while back."

"I was the first person he told, back when we were best friends."

Jyou cringed slightly. "Oh. That must have been painful for you to hear."

Hikari smiled slightly and looked away. "When he told me he had something important to tell me, I honestly thought he was going to tell me he loved me back. I didn't expect for him to tell me he was gay and in love with the boy that was supposed to be his rival for my affections. After he told me, I stared at him for a while until it sunk in, and then, I did something that probably started this whole mess...I blew up at him. I yelled at him things like, 'How could you be gay?' and 'No, that is so wrong!' I meant that it was wrong that he was supposed to love me, the way I'd thought all along it was supposed to be. I couldn't care less if he were gay and I didn't have feelings for him, but for the guy I was in love with, it had to be wrong in my head. He told his brother about my reaction, and Yamato told my brother, and that's when they started hating me."

"They don't hate you..."

"Yes, they do."

Jyou rubbed her shoulder and smiled. "I don't hate you."

She smiled back slightly and looked down at the floor. "Thanks, Jyou."

He looked around her room for awhile, rubbing her arm, letting her lean her head on his shoulder, and then cleared his throat.

"You want to go out to the party with me?"

Kari pulled away from him, looking slightly scared. She shook her head but he took her hands in his and pulled her to her feet.

"It's going to be fine, don't worry. I'll take care of you," he assured her.

She sighed and lowered her head, then said in a low voice, "Okay, I'll go. I really miss you guys."

Jyou smiled and gently pulled her to the door and pulled it open, leading her out into the music-filled hall. They walked back to the party, hand-in-hand after a hard separation they were both glad might finally end that night.

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: That's it, I've got to post it. I've been writing this for three days and I need to get something posted or I'll go nuts. So I'm cutting the Halloween party into two chapters...sorry. I really, really felt the need to wrap up the Kari-Miyako insaneness in this fic. I had Kari's side of the story in my head for so long and I couldn't read any more reviews asking me to give Kari what she's got coming to her. I was the only one that knew it wasn't really her fault. -_-' Sorry to those of you who wanted Daisuke to kick Kari's ass or something, that's not going to happen. (He might get mad at her or something but things aren't going to get physical...) And yes, I realize I hinted at Jyoukari, which is a little weird, but I felt bad for not having Jyou in this fic so far and I wanted someone to comfort Kari and help her get out there to the party and apologize.

Scarecrow!Yamato and Gir!Ken had been in my head for so long it's not even funny. Olive!Takeru is a new addition, and I happen to think it's funny as hell. As for Koushirou's costume...I wrote that without thinking, stared at what I wrote, and shrugged and figured I'd keep it like that. I don't know, it was weird.

The Alka Seltzer part is true. If you put some in a bird, it will explode, because it can't burp or fart or something like that. And no I don't know if I spelled Alka Seltzer right, I just guessed. It doesn't matter, though. You know what I'm talking about, right? Me and my friends were talking about this and how gross it would be if a bird exploded above your head and I thought, 'Hey, why don't I put it in my fic just for fun?'

One last thing. The Takeru-olive-costume came from two different things: A book I own called Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging, in which the main character goes to a costume party dressed up as a stuffed olive, and two: I just wanted an excuse to give Takeru bright red hair.