;.; Thank you for reading this big ol' thing. Bear with me, there'llbe SOMEsemblance of a plot... it'll appear obvious... eventually. Plus, action! By the, er, next chapter...()


"Go…shop-ping?" strangled out Licoris, who was currently being yanked behind a furious Ichigo as if on a leash.
"Yeah, we'll show that brat who he is, ordering me around! He'll (muttergrowl)pay for this(snarlhiss) crap he gives me…" The pink princess was too busy being both enraged for herself and embarrassed for her tagalong. Honestly, was she just going to TAKE being harassed like that!
Ichigo stopped in her tracks. Which'she' was she talking about?
Licoris' head hung low, taking the lack of positive response she had chosen wrong. Cogs of response and reaction were only just beginning to whir to life, something about Ichigo telling her that she must try her hardest to learn…something. "Anata wa… Ichigo-chan, desune?"

"Huh?" Ichigo blinked, forgetting all about the poor girl she'd been dragging about as if she were Corina.
"Ichigo…happy. Bright. Easily..ditzy?" She tilted her head, looking for confirmation of her accumulated information.

"Heyy, what do you mean by--"

"Warm…personality."

Blinkblink. Pause. Ichigo was at a loss for words- not an uncommon event in everyday life, but especially today. "Err…" Her glassy stare unnerved her. Bits of her hair fell right in the middle of her vision- she shouldn't be able to see a thing. Yetthe girljust kept staring forwards, right at her, wide-eyed. It was definitely unnatural. "…we're… going to see Zakuro," she muttered under her breath, changing her walking direction. Licoris glided after her noiselessly. Ichigo looked behind her, smiling confusedly. "What, no cookie-cutter profile for the superstar model?"

"No. He never mentioned Zakuro."

Ichigo's own eyes widened. "Who do you mean by- oof!" In standard Ichigo fashion, the girl ended up running directly into who she least wanted to meet, right in the way of the place she wanted to go. Things usually worked out that way. This time, instead of being an alien or mutated animal(or human, as the case may be), right into the same bodyguard she'd met months ago. He didn't look happy to see her.
"Eheh… Hiiii again. You wouldn't happen to remember me, wouldja?" The man clicked his pen on the list of visitors, leering down. Obviously, he did.
"Do you have your name on the list this time?" Ichigo blinked.
"Aren't we permanently on it?"
"'We?'"
She looked over at her china-doll tagalong. Drat."Eheheheh… I mean, LETTUCE here is just trying out a new style," she one-arm glomped Licoris, who stared blankly at Ichigo's hand on her arm. She was getting lots of physical interaction today. "And we need to talk to Zakuro about… important stuff. Wasn't her shoot done yesterday?"
"There were some… complications," the guard sighed, shaking his head exasperatingly. He looked as if he'd said something he shouldn't have. "W-with the chosen wardrobe, I mean," he added, stumbling over his own words. "The company's designer would have nothing to do with it. He's gone on a twelve-hour shopping spree, INSIDE THE STUDIO."

"Perfect!"
"Not quite. WE don't leave until THEY finish."
"Oh, sorry…"

"Shopping?" asked Licoris, quietly. However, she seemed to have ignored the existence of the bodyguard, staring straight at Ichigo's face again. The kitty-Mew found herself gradually getting used to her mannerisms. What was that jerk talking about? She was conversing just fine…sort of.
Ichigo nodded to her, then turned back to her conversation. "Maybe we can help her? After all, we are her friends. I'm sure there's some way we could move it along…"
The man looked frazzled. "Kid, if you did that for me, you and that weirdo would be on the list for LIFE if I had a say." Poor guy. Working for a needy woman like Zakuro with needier employees was harder than it looked! Not to mention when her supposed friends showed up with bubblegum pink hair and the other looking like a dead gothic marionette.

"Hold on…" He scanned the list again, brow knitting. "'Lettuce' is already here."
"Oh. Hee. Really, now?"

"Yeeah."
"I'll just be… going now… baibai!" Hoping to scram before the man changed his mind, Ichigo nabbed Licoris by the collar and scattled down the hallway towards Zakuro's dressing room. Or, at least, she hoped it was.()

.--x--

"Nnnononono, see, this will not DO!" Lettuce's legs wobbled as another three hangers were tossedto her. She tried her best to keep the pile in her arms upright, but when it's higher than your head it gets a bit difficult to maintain balance. "We need something fresh, something new… something that screams adorably mature!"

Zakuro rolled her eyes, filing her nails as she watched the tiny man with a French accent as thick as his skull scamper about the room, tossing his hands up n the air at regular intervals. "Honestly, I can't see what's wrong with the outfits you pre-chose yesterday."
"zat whas ze then, zis ich ze now!" The man waggled his hand about, as if that had been so obvious it was an insult. Zakuro rolled her eyes.
"Unless you pick an outfit soon, Francois, I'm sorry to say that we'll have to cancel this photoshoot."
"NHONONONONONO!" This sent the poor guy into a frenzied panic, rushing over to grab the arms of her chair (touch ze Zakuro? Ach, madness, ah zay!), topping it off with the most pathetic puppy-dog face ever imaginable. The model tried her hardest not to cringe. "You muuust, you muuust stay, my dear. We achr counting on zyou to skyrocket our Primp in Pumps shoe line to ze staaaaaaaars wif our latescht ad!"
"Then why is the OUTFIT the problem!"
"Bechauuuse, zese regular Jappa-neesey folk, zey haff no sense of styyyyle." Once again he made that annoying swivel-motion with his hand beneath a coiffered nose. He tossed another shit behind him, sending Lettuce stumbling after it. "And besides, with Al gone my karma is completely thrown off! He usually doez all zee hard work..."
"I-I'll get it!" Slowly,Retasu bent down to pick it up. The clothes wobbled.
Zakuro, still caged in her chair by Francois ze Freaki, watched on with curious interest. Francois began to, er, well, Freakagain. "Z'do NOT drop zose clozeses! Zey cannae be meexed wif ze potential outfeets!"

Seeing as the potential outfits consisted of half a square mile of racks upon racks of clothes, there was little to worry about in that regard. A pair of lacy 'unmentionables' (now how did THAT get in there, I wonder?) slipped off the top. Lettuce made a grab for it, temporarily forgetting in her scatterbrained-ness that she was holding up the REST of the clothes with that hand. Cue a topple backwards. "Whoa!"
Ever-conveniently placed in Masaya fashion (and had he had half a reason to be there besides Ichigo breathing in the same room, Aoyama would have appeared there himself without even knowing it, I'll bet you), a panting Ichigo burst through the door right there. Unfortunately, any view of her surroundings was blocked by a mountain of clothes that seemed to be avalanching…right… towards… her… "What the-!"
Lettuce roughly knocked into Ichigo, sending them both to the ground had the cat-girl not had good enough reflexes to catch her before they could collide. Clothes fluttered all around them in a shower as they both regained their senses. Licoris popped her head in then, blinking as she looked about the room.
"This is… not the café." As if confirming her observant statement, a flowered violet-blue sock flopped atop her head.

Francois stared for a moment at the wreckage; the dizzied girl with askew glasses flopped in a poor pink-haired girl's arms, the distinctly purple-and-mandarin-colored clothes splayed centrifugally about them, the gaudy sunflower knitting on the toes of the funky sock draped delicately over the equally strange girl's nose and right eye, and how she didn't seem to giveadamn.
Something clicked.
"AH'VE GOT EET!"

(No idea? Neither have I.XD;; )

o--

Zakuro turned, looking at herself in all directions of the mirror. Mainly, her butt. "Are you SURE this is your brilliant breakthrough?" she asked dryly. Surely she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, but…

Francois nodded eagerly. "yes, yes, ze schoolchild oufteets ees tre magnifique, and quite popoolar weef ze Jappyneese. Yes?"
"SchoolGIRLS, yes. I've never heard of school BOY outfits, though, let alone gym shorts…" The Wolf-teen fingered the black strap sneaking from her waist to mid-thigh, where it was secured with an odd band of black leather about each thigh. "I feel like I'm Tifa cosplaying again." Francois upturned her ruffled white blouse's collar, tut-tutting.
"Do noght compare zees to zat sloot, zyou shall see BRILLIANCE! BRILLIANCE! Hohoho, zee how Francois can survive even weethout Amelia."
Zakuro smiled sweetly, getting in-character for the camera. "Well, I do feel pretty silly with half my hair in a ponytail…" she placed a second hair-tye in her mouth and adjusted one of the stiletto heels to be perfectly halfway off her foot. Francois squealed in excitement, rushing to the front to get some floor-level pictures of cute ickel Zakuro in schoolboy shorts.

"You wanna go, you wanna see, what lies could set you free…"

"Shh! Licoris!"
Francois looked over to the three girls, Pink Princess clamping her hand nervously about Creepy Girl's mouth.
"Ah, s-so she's talking better today?" Lettuce caught the French-man's look, giving a little yelp and covering her own mouth. "Oop! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm- eep!" She clamped her hands about her mouth tighter as he gave an irritable grunt. Ichigo giggled. That was so like Lettuce.

Flash.
"So… her name is Licoris?" Ichigo turned to look at Zakuro, who was boredly rolling her head to the side for the first pose. She looked awfully mature, even in such a bratty pose sitting on the floor. She nodded.
Flash.

"Uhn. She sort of… appeared yesterday. Ryou, for some reason or another thought she was special or something and took her inside and spent all day with her doing some weird experiments to see if she was all there or something…" Her voice lowered to a mutter after the fourth or fifth word, looking belligerent as she pouted in rememberance. Licoris, who had been in deep thought since Lettuce had last spoken, looked sideways at Ichigo and gently yet firmly removed the hand from over her mouth.
"I'm sorry?" she tried. Blink.
"Err…"

Flash.
"That still begs the question…" Zakuro interrupted the silence easily, laying on her back as she man hovered above her in a dolly. "Why did you visit me? Is the café's plumming leaking again? More importantly, why did you bring 'her' along? Ryou already sent Lettuce to tell me I wasn't being paid for missing work days." The green mew blushed slightly at this comment, hurriedly apologizing several times to Zakuro. "No, we've already been through this, it isn't your fault you follow your orders so literally." She waved a single hand around comically, and Lettuce couldn't help but giggle at the imitation of a certain short Frenchman. Licoris failed to see the humor. She looked at her own hand, practicing the swiveling motion of her wrist in the same manner of Zakuro's movement. Ichigo crept away slightly.
"Oh! We're here because of that jerk, actually. He said I had to /clothe/ her. /Clothe! It's not like she's an utter invalid- well, maybe a little, but we're not…er… sure of that.. and…" she broke off, confused on what she was originally trying to say. Licoris wasn't offended. "Well, er, the point is, Licoris needs clothes."
"Why can't she buy her own?"
"As far as we know, she doesn't have any money or even a home. Really, she only started speaking in sentences today."

"Well, goodness."

Licoris blinked, computing the sarcasm. "Sentences… speaking is good." She nodded to herself, falling silent again. Zakuro was nonplussed.
"Ryou sure knows how to pick his women."
"What's THAT supposed to mean!"

"Nothing, nothing…" Zakuro chuckled lightly. She stood up, picking a dainty lace washcloth off her head as the shoot ended. "Francois, since these girls helped find your 'smash-hit idea', and since these clothes are all subpar for your work as well, why not let them pick out a few outfits for themselves? They'll clean up all of the clothing they dropped in return."
The Frenchman rubbed his bony chin, pondering this thought. "Do ah geet to give mah opinyons?"
"As many as you wish."
"Free cleaning… helping ze youth of today… smash-heet adeahs zat are going to zend my new line zoaring… and charity credeet to boot! At least ah know ze outfeets weel haff good homes. You have yourself a deal, mademoiselle."
Zakuro looked at his outstretched hand, giving in and shaking it politely. "The pleasure is all mine- as long as you promise me that next time, you STICK with the outfit you've chosen." She smirked at the small man. He nodded his head eagerly, zipping off already through the clothes to find outfits.
"Yes, yes, won't happen again. Now, gels, lez go shopping!"

x--

Ichigo squealed as she looked through the racks and racks of clothes. "So beautiful! These are some definitely funky clothes, Mr., uh…Francois?" She pulled out a ruffled, 3-layered pink miniskirt, holding it to her hips.

"Yis, yis… ah choose all ze clothez. Ah searched all over ze world to find such beauties, from Japan to England to lovely France…" sigh. The man was actually a French Canadian, but who's keeping count? He adjusted his outrageous beret, twitching his nose. "Mees Zakuro, what iss ze names off your… 'friends'? How do you know zem?" He seemed to only be entertaining them because she had asked so politely, yet he attempted to show some semblance of interest.
"I wouldn't exactly call them all friends…" she shot a meaningful look towards Licoris, who remained oblivious to what she meant. She was still looking about, bewildered, as if she ended up here by accident on her way to somewhere special. "That one is Ichigo. The shy one with the glasses is Lettuce. They are my colleagues in a part-time job of mine." Best to keep things simple and bland as possible.

"Ohohoh, I get your meaning." He wiggled his sharp mustache, winking. "Ze press ees around every corner, yes? But… vhat names are zose?" Ichigo was already yards away, drooling over an adorable cami with a 6-inch diameter sunflower pinned on the front with her kitten tail waggling excitedly. Lettuce bowed her head down, stammering. "Zyuu look nosink like ze lettuce! Izeberg lettuce, yis, but ve shall not name zyuu after a snackfood! Peh! Zuu arhe more like ze cabbage. Or ze broccoli. Mon Chou, ah weel call zyuu. Ze pink airhead, ah can see being a straw berry, but Fraise is such ah pretty vord. Ant weef ze cloze here, ve shall make you a pretty girl! Not so pretty as madame Zakuro, but of course, but ztill beyootiful. Chou, darlink, haff you ever zought of having a perm? You'd look older, and it would zuit you vell."
"Ah-I—eh—" Poor Lettuce-slash-Chou sought for words, failing miserably. Having chatted long enough, Francois withdrew his face to look at the last girl, who inspected a canary yellow hat with some longing. He turned back to Zakuro, staring blankly.

"And ze spacey child?"

"No relation."

Licoris stretched out a hand, hesitantly reaching for the hat. It was snapped up from under her. "Nonono! Zyoo cannae haff zees. It is mon Al's favvoreet Accessoree for ze wimmen." For a brief moment, the girl looked almost as if she were going to cry. Her expression emptied once again, and she turned her head away, empty again. Francois stared for a moment, then squealed with glee. "Ooch, vhat a picturesque child! Zhe vaguely reminds me of you, Zakuro, weef her hair down…" He picked up a stray lock of hair, inspecting it. She didn't register the man's existence, still staring away, looking plaintive. "Ach, how refined. How Noir! Zhe reminds me of zose American models, except not sou bony. Zees one's ze one who needs clothing, yes?"
Zakuro shrugged. Ichigo popped her head up from a lump of clothes. "Y-yes, she lost all of her clothes except for that outfit in a, er,… earthquake."

"Ooh, a Harajuku mistress. Eet ees just like one of ze old Gothic tales!" he clapped his hands together, trying to get Licoris to look at him straight in the eye. "And ze outfit- so dirty now, but utterly byootiful. May ah keep ze preety maid cosplay outfeet? Zoo may take as much cloze as zyoo vant." He looked at her expectantly. Licoris stared off into space, eyes empty.
"…" One of the words seemed to have elicited some reaction. Slowly, she turned her head, hair pooling about her. "I miss… the café."

Francois trembled in excitement. "She even playz ze ROLE! Ach, what finesse!"
Ichigo just stood by, looking confused. That didn't sound quite right, but if it stopped them from throwing her into the Asylum and having Ryou scream at her, she wasn't about to correct him. "Eto…"

"Wonderful! I haff ze perfect idea for you!" Away she was whisked, yanked once again after a funny person. "TO ZE DRESSING ROOMS! NOIR AWAY!"

o--