Thanks to all my reviewers as usual: 21han, Piacine-Jadeymay, pielovingchick, and flamingbunnies. Love you guys. You're the only reason I haven't given up and just posted the ending so I can move on.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except this. Kind of wish I didn't own this half the time. But what else is new?

Ren carried Cinders onto the set, looking around with interest at the backdrops and props made for the television program. The crew had really gone overboard creating computer consoles, windows that looked out into space and a few that looked like different planets. He chuckled and shook his head, glancing around and looking for Kyoko. It looked like the object of his affections wasn't around, though she might be already getting her costume on in the fitting room. The president hadn't provided them with any idea of what the costume design looked like, so Ren didn't know what it would be.

"Morning Ren," Matt called to the older man, smiling and looking around behind Ren for Yashiro. One might interpret his subtle glances as nervous fidgeting, but Ren knew better.

"Morning Matt," Ren replied, "Yashiro didn't come with me. He had to take his sister to the hospital." The manager had called him early in the morning to inform Ren that he would be taking his sister to get her cast replaced on her arm.

"Oh?" Matt said, his voice barely betraying his disappointment. "I hope she's not too hurt. That would just be terrible."

Ren chuckled softly at the younger boy, smiling and shaking his head. Matt was obviously so head over heels for Yashiro Ren wondered how he had ever missed the signs before. It was rather ridiculous how much the teen paid attention to Ren's manager.

The chuckle had drawn a quizzical look from Matt which only made Ren chuckle more. Cinders lightly batted at Ren's hand, making him stop and smile down at her.

"Yes, I suppose we should be going. We need to find out what they want to do first and maybe we'll find out what costumes they've created for us," Ren said, looking up at Matt. "If they look anything nearly as ridiculous as what Lori wears you in for helping me burn them?"

Matt laughed and shook his head. "Maybe I'd help you bury them, but if we burn them I can just imagine the look on the President's face. I don't think I could stand that look of utter misery and disappointment." Ren laughed and nodded, patting Matt heartily on the back as they walked toward the changing rooms.

~Shift~

Cinders sat with her ears pressed back against her head, growling softly as the woman approached her. The obscenely sparkly thing was not going anywhere near her tail, which was currently thrashing back and forth in irritation.

"Aw little sweety, you won't even feel it," the woman cooed, trying to coerce the black cat into putting the piece on. It was meant to be decoration, matching the collar that Cinders had calmly accepted. "Come on kitty. It's not that bad."

Cinders snorted, turning her back on the woman and licking her tail. Like the woman knew anything about what it felt like to have a sparkly, dangle thing handing on your tail. If the woman knew anything about Cinders' precious tail she'd know it was for balance and was perfectly formed just for her. The addition of the dangle would make her feel out of balance and twitchy.

As the woman continued to coo at her, Cinders jumped off the chair she had been sitting on and stalked off to find Kyoko or Ren. They didn't have to put up with anything this demeaning.

~Shift~

Ren groaned inwardly as the women swooped down upon him with the fuzzy headband. He was pretty sure that there was nothing in his character description that mentioned he had what looked like fox ears that sat atop his head. Did they want to make him look cute or something. The women all jabbered about how adorable he looked with the ears on and it made Ren wince. He wasn't adorable. Cinders was adorable. Babies were adorable. Grown men weren't meant to be adorable. Particularly not famous actors.

When the women finished with his costume and makeup Ren went to the mirror to survey the damage. He had a fox tail and ears with little hash marks across his cheeks like whiskers. In this outfit he looked more like he was going trick-or-treating with little kids rather than making a television show.

"They got you too huh?" Matt commented from behind him. Ren turned around and fought not to laugh. The poor teen looked like a dejected dog, literally. There were dog ears perched among Matt's blond hair and a matching tail protruding from the back of the costume.

"Yeah, haha. Laugh all you want foxy man," the younger man said, pointing at Ren with his hand and snickering. "At least the actual uniform isn't that bad," he commented, looking at the relatively normal looking police uniform. Sure it was a silvery blue, but it still looked normal.

"They'll probably make us do something else with it later," Ren said, grimacing slightly. Matt nodded, wrinkling his nose at the idea. He noticed Cinders approaching them and smiled down at her.

"You escape the crazy lady?" Matt asked the cat, picking her up. Cinders sniffed before purring as Matt pet her. The boy chuckled, looking around and spotting Kyoko. "Kyoko! Over here!" he shouted, calling her over.

Ren blushed, seeing that Kyoko was wearing cat ears and a tail that matched her black hair. It made her look cute, in an odd way.

"Ren, Matt, you look so cute," Kyoko said, blushing lightly and looking at the two men. They both winced slightly at the use of 'cute', but didn't say anything about it.

"Do you know why we're all dressed up as creature-human mixes?" Matt asked, pulling out his copy of the script which he had rolled up and put in his pocket.

Kyoko nodded and smiled. "Yeah, the ladies who were helping me were talking about it. We're supposed to be aliens from different planets. I'm from the planet Mao." Cinders meowed and jumped into the girl's arms, startling her slightly. Kyoko dutifully pet Cinders though, letting the cat curl up slightly in her arms.

"Looks like Cinders thinks you're her big sister or something," Ren teased, reaching out and gently touching the tips of one of Kyoko's cat ears. The girl blushed, looking down at the cat.

"I guess so. Or she could just think that it's my turn to pet her," Kyoko said, looking up at Ren, still blushing lightly.

Matt chuckled and shrugged. "Well why don't we go find out what we're doing now. These ears are going to be so annoying. And I don't even want to think about trying to sit down with the tail."

Kyoko nodded and Ren groaned. He hadn't even thought about that. The fluffy appendage would probably get pulled off if he wasn't careful about sitting. As they walked toward the director, Ren shifted closer to Matt and whispered in his ear.

"What do you think Yashiro will say when he sees you dressed up like this?"

Matt blushed darkly, ducking his head and looking up at Ren in embarrassment.

"Well at least I wasn't ogling Kyoko in her cat ears," the teen hissed back making Ren blush slightly. The taller man turned away, wondering how Matt had noticed. Or maybe he should be wondering how Kyoko didn't notice.

Muahahah. I degraded Ren! It's funny. Well, to me it is. It's probably really stupid, but hey I had fun. Now if only I can find a good excuse to put Sho in a dress...

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