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Mischief Maker's Mask

By Zatarra L. Vulpe

_ _

Come to me.

Itazuramono was calling again. He could feel her tugging at his belly. He had to reach down to feel if she'd actually managed to grab hold of it somehow. Her claws were blunt, but they were the hair touch of a razor. He kept seeing his shirt staining, abdomen flowering open in long, red lines like a rising sun.

Zack kept biting his cheek to distract himself. The groceries felt like weights, more than when he'd carried them to the car. It was as though her hands were pulling them down. He tried not to see the paper whiteness of her fingers, the fluff of her fur trying to tickle his palms. He just did his best not to shiver. He bit down on his lip and made it to the front door.

The house was more like a dorm, crème siding and tiny front windows all. It sat at the top of a hill like an afterthought. His car was just kind of at a slant, always seeming at risk of careening into the street and the neighbor's yard. He rather hated it but it was cheap, and private, usually.

He fumbled the door open and staggered inside. It banged shut and he glanced at the windows. There were no eyes, especially not through the curtains. It was all he could do to shove things into the fridge: the sushi he'd been eating with more regularity, the spiced tofu recepies that kept gathering his interest. The strangest part is he really, actually liked them, enjoyed every bit of the rice and sauces. Before... her... he couldn't even look at sushi without making some kind of crude joke about raw fish.

Come to me, you know where I am, come to me.

Zack made a sound like an injured dog. He practically slid down against the refrigerator and tried not to listen to her voice. Her slender arms kept pinching at the sides of his belly, splaying like spider legs and dancing under his arms.

"N-no!"

You know you want to, come to me, come and touch me!

_ _ He shivered a little and stood, his arms kind of wagging and flapping to draw the cobwebs off of him. They seemed to blow and tug at his skin in little spots.

Come to me boy, come and touch me, come and wear me.

_ _ "Y-you keep ch-changing me! You can't-"

All of the changes I have made were thanks to you. You like the changes I make to you, you just won't admit it. You want to wear me. You want to be me.

_ "_Y-you're wr-wrong!"

Zack blinked and noticed that the harsh, florescent lighting of his kitchen had given way to the dim lighting in his room. Somehow he'd lit the tea lights without noticing. There she lay, at the foot of his bed.

Her smooth, white surface reflected the candle's glow. She had bright red lips, a thin smile, her eyes drawn into small slits. The eye holes themselves were rimmed in a yellow-golden shade that seemed to shine with their own glow. The little ears framing the top of her face were smooth, triangular. She felt slightly warm to the touch, as though he were touching someone's hand.

You're so close. So close. Just put me on, just give in.

_ _ His hands shook as he held her. He shook his head even as he turned her around to see the little impressions on the inside of her surface, ones that seemed less like his face and more like hers. His breathing hissed in and out through his teeth and then he pushed the mask up and onto his face.

In an instant his fingers were touching the surface. His whimpering little moans behind her face were muffled. Only once did his fingers find the seam between his flesh and her and did not try to pull her away.

His hands came away for just a second as he moved to the full length mirror she'd purchased some time ago. He saw his hands rubbing under the little muzzle of her face and whined. He was sure the mirror wasn't supposed to be taller than he was.

There we go, there's a good little fool.

He shuddered and tried to find the seam of the mask again. His fingers only found smooth flesh. He turned his head in the mirror and moaned as he noted what he'd already felt: the white had smoothed over onto his flesh, spreading slowly into his neck.

Oh my, and we're going along a little faster this time. Soon you might not even have to take me off ever again.

_ _ He groaned and tried to pull away. He could see his pant legs curling up over his feet and the waist sliding down his hips.

"N-nuuhnn!"

Yeeess, oh yeeess, feel yourself changing silly boy, feel yourself becoming me.

_ _ He turned and staggered out into the hall, nearly tripping on his pants as they slid straight off. He looked down to find his thighs milk-white, little tufts of similarly shaded fur bristling along the carpet as he shuffled and shivered.

Just touch the mask boy, just give in.

_ _ Her voice was so loud, every time she spoke he felt his thoughts rolling around like dice in his cranium, like they'd spill straight out of his mouth. He fell forward, a little higher sounding grunt as he hit the carpet. His nails were digging into the carpet, longer and pointed.

"Oh, I suppose boy isn't so accurate now is it?"

He froze.

"Perfect, there's my beautiful voice again!"

He could feel the way her speech seemed to purr off of his tongue. He couldn't control his mouth anymore. It would have been terrible if it didn't feel so good, like sitting in a blanket from the drier, like feeling the rain drops with finger tips. His hands came up and the fingers slowly caressed the underside of the muzzle, sliding back from the tip to the jawline, down to the throat, now very sans adam's apple.

"Ooohhhh do you like that? My voice does just sound sooo much better than yours doesn't it?"

Her words poured into his ears like honey, ears that were slowly moving upward to meet with those of the former mask. She ran her hands down her body, feeling the chest starting to slowly push the now-far-too-large shirt upward and leave her waist hardly concealed. Soon she would practically fall out of her clothes if she didn't find some better suited to her rapidly fluffing form.

"Now where are those- aaaahhh, there we are."

She feels the soft wiggle and squirm at her tailbone, just about her soft glutes. She felt six, seven points writhing and stretching little by little.

"Oh gosh all of my tails are coming in this time, I think you might be in trou-ble!"

She cackled to herself as she felt her hips and her blunt claws ran through the fur. In this way she was gently skritching herself as she found the little red marks that were blossoming out amongst the otherwise pure white. They formed little swirls centering along the breasts, the abdomen, near the hips and thighs. Her feet had stretched softly, not-quite digitigrade but longer, with four grasping claws each and giving her heel a slight 'pop' into the air.

"Oh my favorite part!"

Her hands reached up as the mask seemed to push, to stretch softly as she made little groans of her own, the lips seeming to wiggle and curl and the nostrils flaring. The eyes squinted into a thin line and then opened again, blinking more easily as her teeth stretched apart, pulled like taffy until they separated with a sharp gasp, her bright red tongue hanging out to one side. This time her mouth moved as she spoke:

"Yes! Oh there's my lovely face, like birthday morning."

She slipped up onto her paws, standing at her full height, easily a foot or two shorter than the boy had been. She lapped at her red lips and sniffed softly.

"And you got my sushi, good boy, or well, good me I guess."

She giggled just as she felt her tails fluffing out behind her, their length impressive enough to fan around behind her and nearly double her apparent size. Despite how large and fluffy and weighty they seemed, she had no apparent difficulty standing or even batting them around on the furniture and nearly knocking over a table lamp. She grabbed a pair of them with either paw and softly rubbed them against her muzzle.

"Oh hello babies, did you miss me? I missed you too."

Her voice trilled with the sound of her happiness as she brought out the sushi rolls and drew her special, black with sakura blossoms chopsticks out to eat them. She hummed a soft tune as she plopped into what she supposed was now her couch, tapping the remote to the TV and gently nibbling.

"-reports of trick or treating taking place sooner across the state. Many counties and neighborhoods suggest that the move is a practical one: weekends so kids aren't distracted from school work, increased presence for neighborhood watch groups, a general-"

She flicked off the TV, noted a calendar on the left. Under the picture of a Tokyo skyline there was the date: the 31st. Halloween. Her muzzle turned up at the corners into a grin.

Itazuramono had adapted to western life a long time ago, probably within the first year of being Zack's 'gift,' a mask from a well-meaning friend that just so happened to come from an old shrine. She knew of their holidays, and Halloween was her favorite by far. She remembered so many years of walking the streets as herself, no disguises or powers to hide her, entertaining the children and causing such havoc for the often jaded or irksome adults.

All seven of her tails had come in too. The timing seemed perfect. This year would be her big thing, her claim to the world that would make her more than just a spirit in a mask and part of her adopted homeland in a more permanent sense. Not that it wasn't a long time coming: Zach's had her nearly five years and has only become less Zach and more her. Even if she did let him come back now, he'd probably only beg to be her again.

She sat up and padded into the kitchen. He'd just come from the grocers. Bento, sushi, the rice she liked, golden curry, not even a bar of candy! She sighed as her tails brushed up to her paws and along her middle to console her. She could try driving back out but who knows how many places would even have any left. Not to mention most was unhealthy, and who knows how much money was at her disposal. The walls echoed a little with her frustrated churring even as she gently stroked her rather affectionate appendages.

Then, oddly enough, there was a rather quick tap-tap-tap at the front door. She glanced to the window but the curtains were drawn, as usual, dour thing that Zack was sometimes. Her tails flickered with a little glow and she was soon clad in a kimono with long, zigzagging patterns of sakura, black as ink and nearly matching her chopsticks. With barely a flutter of her new garment she neatly hopped from the couch to the front door and had it open in a second. The man on the other side's smile evaporated when he saw her.

"I, uh, wow, very good costume."

"Oh this old thing? Thanks so much, you can complement me all day if that's what you're here for."

"Uh, no, I was wondering if Zack was around, we were, uh, going to play some games."

She paused at that, an eyebrow slowly raising. In a second he produced a little rental box with some three-letter-acronym title, a number to one side, and several guns on the disk.

"I see, I suppose you were both going to play this, Mister...?"

"Tom is fine, and yeah, sure, whatever."

It took her all of a few seconds to probe Zack's memories: Tom used to be a sort of fair-weather friend with Zack, a general interest in her country's animations and video games, but now that Zack had his own place Tom was less of a friend and more of a squatter. He would eat the food in his fridge and play games for hours, sometimes he'd _allow_Zack to join in, sometimes he wouldn't. Zack seemed to let him get away with it because he was lonely.

She didn't frown, she actually smiled, just a bit too widely as she pulled the door back a bit further.

"Oh well feel free to come in then, I'm sure Zack will be around soon enough."

"Oh, well, yeah, awesome, thanks."

Without another word he walked in and went straight to the kitchen, pulling open the fridge and making a sour face.

"Everything alright?"

"What's with all this sushi and stuff? Jeeze it's like he's gone vegan or something."

She rolled her eyes as she shut the front door and Tom slammed the fridge door closed in disgust. She locked the door as he popped the game in and Zack's console booted up. She then seemed to stand behind him, the length of her tails framing him from behind. Rather than turning to acknowledge her, he just pressed a few buttons and jumped straight into the some kind of explosions and gunfire. She rolled her eyes as she watched.

She would have to make better use of this silly boy, but at the same time she needed candy somehow. She supposed she could simply get him to go purchase some or, more likely, take some from his own home, but where would the fun in that be? All of her magic is at her disposal, she's creative, why not do something a little more fun?

The kitsune's tails gave a soft red glow as she reached out to touch the adult boy's back, he almost turned his head to protest but then stopped, turning back toward the game as he blinks a little more rapidly.

For some reason the game didn't seem to hold as much interest for Tom. It was ingrained into his head, sure, and he could play it, but something about it was losing its edge, the little charge and brimming, skin tingling feeling of fun that comes from a good game. He kept trying though, the habit still clutching at the controller more than he was with its dark and resolute fingers.

Dark fingers?

He glanced down at the controller and noticed it was smudging all over the buttons. It looked like his hands were coated in tar or his mom's facial mud. The controller dropped out of his hand with a slick squelch that traveled through his fingers like a wet feather.

"What the heck?"

She smiled as she kept holding onto his back. He turned his head and looked at her.

"Wh-what's that look about? Where did this crap come from? Did you do this?"

"No, you did. Look closer."

He blinked and turned around, picking up the controller again only to have it slide out of his palm, a palm that was similarly darkened in chocolate. When he stared at it he noticed the lines were strange, the chocolate dried. Instantly. It was an even coating that seemed bonded straight to his skin. He turned his hand over and noticed deep furrows near the knuckles and how his fingers seemed to have small lines in the chocolate, bunched together, parallel.

"What's happening to me? How did this even-"

"I think it has something to do with the season, do you have allergies?"

"What kind of allergy would even cause this?"

"Well, when one is allergic to manners..."

She trailed off with a giggle and took a step back, the glow of her palm still on his T-shirt. He turned to stare at her, for a moment his face in a scowl. Then he saw her smile, and for some reason he couldn't hold the anger, instead he just crossed his chocolate arms and smeared them over his shirt softly and gave a little pouty 'hmph!' The kitsune gave almost hiccupping little laughs at that, sharp and high and a very foxy sound that flowed off of the tongue. Tom found himself smiling in spite of himself.

"I-it's not that funny!"

"Oh it really is!"

"Sh-shut up, you're just being mean."

"You're just being cute."

Tom's cheeks grew bright red at that, along with his shirt. The chocolate smears were disappearing from the fabric and the white tee pulled sharply, drawing in his stomach in a moment. He even felt his hands coming up to his mouth as she said it, little chocolate smudges on the ends of his fingers ending up on his nose. His hands were thin, shoulders slimming to match the similarly stick-esque arms.

Itazuramono leaned forward and gave the 'man' a little poke in the tummy, which bounced slightly under the red dress. He squirmed and squealed in a tone higher pitched than any man either of them had heard, his hands rubbing the front of the stiff pants that were sliding together and puffing out into a set of long, somewhat stiff layers, not quite a kimono and not quite a western styled skirt.

"That's much better, a little more and you'll be just about perfect for what I want you to do."

"Wh-why would I do things for you?"

"Because you'd love them, of course, silly girl."

For a moment the rather confused, chocolate coated being thought about it, fingers moving to it's hair and feeling it sort of flow outward, darkening from dirty blonde to something a little more reminiscent of a brunette, curling softly in both the fingers and the general length.

"Well, depends on what they are."

"How about giving lovely sweets to children?"

The creature's face brightened. "Yeah."

"And making silly faces at them to entertain them?"

She leaned forward, her now thin form draped over the couch as something small and brown poked out of the back of her shiny red dress. "Yeah!"

"And turning other silly boys into much better behaved and more delicious girls?"

She grinned as the little dark spot on her nose seemed to blossom out slightly, protruding forward with a slight glisten as it too seemed to take the shade of milk chocolate. "Oh that would be awesome!"

"And that is just what I thought, how about it Karikari?"

She blinked a few times before she smiled brightly. Karikari was her name! It was the very best name she'd ever heard and gosh she was so happy she got to have it of all the people in all the places ever! She wanted to tell it to everyone so they could ask silly questions about it long enough for her to...

Karikari tilted her head a little.

"Long enough to what?"

"Feed them lovely pocky sticks?"

Karikari nearly jumped up and down, her bare, pocky-stick paws making small hollow noises as she bonked her knees against coffee table.

"Oh man that would be the best! I wanna do that all the time! How do I do it?"

She slid up and her legs draped over the back of the couch. It barely registered her weight, her slightly boxy red dress was probably the thing that weighed the most about her. She grinned and her plump, loaf-like cheeks seemed to gain a bit of paunch.

"Well, that's very simple Karikari, you can do this,"

She grasped the girl's rather chocolate paw and took a small bite that took off her index finger, crunching a little to make the sound that gave the new girl her name. Before the Itazuramono even had time to swallow the finger had already grown back.

"or this,"

She raised up one of the girl's bare foot paws and took a gentle bite out of the ankle, another little 'kari-kari' to accompany the action. The girl giggled and wiggled her leg until the kitsune released it.

"or even this!"

She reached toward the skirt, near one of the frilly layers and tugged gently, pulling part of it off to reveal a little packet, bright red with 'karikari' where a brand name should be. She pulled it open and inside was a set of pocky sticks, unmelted as of yet.

Karikari jumped and giggled, her legs making the same hollow clunky sounds as she did.

"I thought you would like."

"I do Miss Itazuramono! Thank you so much!"

She wrapped her arms around the kitsune and pulled her close, giving off the fragrant scent of chocolate, her eyes blinking from aa 'mask' of milky brown, ears wiggling out of her hair. A tanuki if Itazuramono had ever seen one. She pet the little raccoon dog between the ears.

"Now Karikari, I want you to think reeeally hard for me right now, okay?"

Karikari's head tilted up and down, another little hollow sound of rattling pocky sticks accompanying the gesture. The pale kitsune couldn't suppress a giggle.

"Okay, now I want you to think of any other silly boys you used to know when you were one yourself, we just need three, okaaay?"

"Oh yeah, I know plenty of silly boys! I can call all of them over right now if you-"

"Okay okay, shhh, good girl, I want you to call ooone right now, just one okay? And one who could reeeally use learning a lesson, okay?"

"Okay! Hmm.... I think... Maybe... Riley?"

Itazuramono scratched the underside of her muzzle for a moment. Then the memory came to her unbidden: drinks on the floor, a sulfurous smell from the restroom, the most uncouth remarks about females and sexuality vibrating off of the walls. Riley.

"Yes, yes I believe Riley will do quite well."

"Yaaaay! Okay, I'll call him over right now!"

And she did. A few moments fumbling with a phone that wasn't responding as well to big, squishy, chocolate coated fingers and Riley along with some trashy club music were in the room. While confused by the feminine voices and the address, Riley was there before an hour had passed on the clock. Where Tom needed to be allowed in, Riley simply opened the front door and walked straight in.

"Hey man, I heard you've got some fine girls over here!"

He glanced to the left and the right. The console was still going, this time instead of the shooter there was a series of hearts on the screen, characters he didn't recognize other than 'doki-doki' and 'girls.'

"Weeeelll then, my man has been working on his 'foreign relations,' 'bout time man!"

He vaults the couch and takes a seat. The controller gives a little rumble when he presses start. A screen for name, astrological sign, date of birth and even favorite food. Name was filled in though: Kamukamu. He shrugged and went with it as he pressed the button again.

He was focused on the recolored picture back grounds and the pictures of women, rather cute, in one of the many styles often present in Japanese animation. Their large, shiny eyes and their features kept making his eyes roam the screen. Though he did note the first girl had a rather nice skirt on. Not the way it complemented her form, just the skirt itself.

"I see you're enjoying our game."

Riley glanced back at the kitsune. "Yeah, it's not bad, kinda like your costume, you a friend of Zack's?"

"Something like that, what do you like about this game?"

Riley stared at her for a moment, then looked back to the game, his eyebrows furrowing slightly before a soft palm touched his head. The fingers tingled with his palms and the soft residue of chocolate he'd failed to notice on the controller.

"I like the pictures."

"Which pictures?"

"The pictures of... uh... the girls."

"Oh, the women here?"

"Yeah, the women."

He kept pressing the buttons, his eyes sort of scanning the text and then back to their clothes. His fingers seemed to need a little more force as he pushed, the controller sort of wiggling in his hands as they seemed to blossom into a translucent green. Itazuramono's fingers pushed softly into his head, the center gently pushing down without any sort of discomfort on his part.

"So then what about the women make you want to look at them?"

"Their clothes."

"What about them?"

"They look pretty."

"How pretty?"

"Very pretty."

"Do you want to wear them?"

"Y-y... What?"

"Come on, answer honestly, do you want to wear them?"

She keeps gently rubbing the little dip in his head, the slightly growing bowl shape in the very center. Her rubbing was making it harder to think, not because he lost any capacity to think, but because it felt so nice. He bit his lower lip as he fidget a little on legs that were following the path of his arms: feet growing squishier, translucent green, the toes webbed and slipping out of his shoes.

"Okay I want to wear them."

"There, isn't it much better to tell the truth?"

"Yeah."

"Yes miss."

"Yes miss."

"Very good, now try sitting up a little straighter okay?"

"Yes miss."

"Mmmhmm, girls that want to wear pretty clothing have to be proper you know."

"They do?"

"They very much do, so much of being pretty is just acting pretty."

The controller was set aside as the boy turned toward her, blinking softly as his legs were arranged to the side on the couch. His knees squished together gently as his pant legs were drawn up further. His eyes were wide, the irises now a translucent blue that kind of shown with their own little glow as he looked to her.

"D-do you think you could...Umm..."

Itazuramono smiled gently as she kept rubbing the small bowl shape in his head, feeling the stringy hair as it grew greener and spongier. "Could what dear?"

"D-do you think you could... t-teach me to be p-pr-pretty?"

Itazuramono leaned down and wrapped her arms around the changing boy, drawing him into a tight hug that made his chest squish out against hers slightly. "I think I could do that."

"Oh thank you miss! Thank you so much miss! Oh please teach me miss!"

Itazuramono giggled and let the girl sit back onto the couch, her aqua-blue skirt and top a little fluffy over her translucent, gel like form. She wiggled slightly, but then smoothed her skirt out. Itazuramono's fingers pinched her cheeks, pulling them softly as the gel girl's face pushed into what looked like a little yellow beak.

"Uh... M-miss, I f-feel weird."

Itazuramono giggled. "Well of course you do, your dish is empty."

The gummy girl's eyes crossed neatly in her head as she watched the kitsune pour a little dish of water into the bowl shape in her head, the open spot. As it flowed into the little dish the rubbery girl gave a little sigh and smiled brightly.

"Thank you miss, that's so much better."

"Just keep good posture or it'll spill."

"Yes miss, would you like a taste miss?"

The gummy kappa held her webbed hand out to the kitsune, who smiled, leaned in and took a little bite out of her palm, the shape bouncing back in a moment. The kappa giggled and then clasped her palms together.

"Very good Kamukamu."

"Kamu...?"

"It's your name."

"Oh, of course miss, it's lovely miss."

"I thought you'd think so, you and Karikari will-"

The tanuki seemed to spring out of the bathroom, attaching to Kamukamu and seeming to squeeze her waist almost in half. "Willhavesomuchfunohmigoshyoursooooocuuuuuute!"

Itazuramono giggled as Kamukamu did her best to politely dislodge herself from Karikari, but her slippery, gummy hands were essentially useless for the task. The tanuki laughed and giggled and handed her boxes and packets of pocky as the kappa tried to hand back neat handfuls of her own little gummies, produced from her palms. Itazuramono's high pitched cackle started up again.

"You silly girls, the candy isn't for you two, it's for the children and other costumed sweet-seekers, and sometimes me when I should feel a taste for it."

"Oh, well why didn't you say so?!"

"You didn't give the chance you silly thing. I'd been hoping for at least one other silly boy, but the sun grows low in the sky and I fear we'll have to start without them. That and I'm sure we'll have someone coming along who might need a bit of re-adjusting."

Itazuramono used a bit of her magic to summon up a few paper lanterns with little happy jack-o-lantern faces on them. She arranged a ghoulish, waving, smiling onryo, her long black hair and pale skin framed by the curtains in the window. Kamukamu was in a dress that exposed her gummy shell and placed a bowl in her bowl full of little multi-colored gummy kappas while she practiced balancing it, curtsies and all. Karikari was making ghostly 'Ooooohh!'s and 'Aaaaah!'s which was about as menacing as the lanterns. Itazuramono had broken down and driven out and back quickly to get some western candy bars, half for the children and half for whatever left overs she could have hoped for. She sat with the bowl wearing a pointed black hat and her kimono, cherry blossoms tinged with orange to match the lantern light.

A few children had come, greeted with generous helpings of pocky packets, gummies and at least two bars each. Other than a bit of adoration from the three 'costumed' women and the inquisitive wonder and joy of actually costumed children and adolescents, their parents seeming to humor them. The absurd, candy based creatures and their seven tailed handler fawned over them and gave them the least terrifying Halloween in the neighborhood.

Of course, then Simon showed up.

"I'm sorry are you three serious?"

Itazuramono stared at the rather puffy chested man, she then glanced left and right of him.

"What are you looking for?"

"Your children."

"I don't have any, I'm just amazed anyone visits your place at all, look at this dump, you can afford a crappy 'The Grudge' knock off but you can't make your lawn one color? Terrible."

"I'm sorry are you serious?"

"I am Simon and I am most serious, this must be the worst in the neighborhood."

The kappa stood at attention and trotted over, her legs a little springy and her bowl remaining quite stable somehow.

"Sir, perhaps you simply require a bit of lovely Halloween spirit! Please enjoy some of my own gummy kappas."

She curtsied as low as she could, the rather large bowl barely tipping.

"Uh, I think not, that looks disgusting and so do you."

As Kamukamu turned, wilted slightly, the bowl nearly toppled over, Itazuramono's muzzle tightened just so. Karikari almost stopped her fake, ghostly sounds at the comment, glancing between the kitsune and the man.

"You know what's disgusting?"

The man tilted his head up to the black clad fox, his eyes open a little wider, honestly shocked by the woman's tone.

"Someone who can't let others have a little fun."

"Fun? Really? Fun? That's what you call this?"

"I do, I bet you don't even know what you think is fun."

His mouth opened to give a response, but then immediately shut again.

"Come on, name one thing you _actually_enjoy, I bet you can't."

The man frowned at her for a moment but then turned around for a moment, looking as though he might walk away. She could tell already though, from the way his hand was at his chin, the slight shiver seeming to run up and down his spine. Her tails glowed gently, but it was washed out by the orange lanterns.

"Fun? I... Uh..."

"There has to be at least one thing."

"Well... I uh.. I like... umm..."

His hand kept scratching his head as he seemed to kind of crouch down a little, not noticing as his posture and fancy clothes not only wrinkled, but seemed to tighten on him. He didn't notice as it grew a little tighter and thinner, his tighter belly exposed.

"I'll bet you like music right?"

The man tilted his head a little, his ear perking up as it seemed to grow a little longer. "Well, uh, yeah."

"And lights and good food?"

He turned and nodded, his face turning into a bit of a smirk as his skin seemed to tan, the hair on his body gone. He stood up, nearly six inches taller than he used to be, his belly button exposed and his wide hips covered, the pants drawn up past his knees.

"And being with friends?"

"Oh yeah! Of course I do!"

Itazuramono giggled as she saw the pair of smooth bumps rising out of his hair, the close cropped browns seeming to blossom out into a mop of blonde with pink streaks. He laughed a little, his chest pushing out with a distinct 'slosh' as the tank top he was now wearing seemed emblazoned like a bottle wrapper, shiny and sparkly.

"But that's not the best thing."

"Oh, what is Zuzu?"

The huge oni lept from the street to the lawn to the front door in just a few short bounds, her arms wrapping around the three of them with a sound like a wet rag wiping a window. Her body swished gently and her head seemed to froth a little from within her transparent skin, the bubbles rising and popping in her head and framing her cherry red eyes.

"Cutting loose!"

Each giggled as they struggled out of the tall soda-oni's grasp, squeaking and squeezing away from her just to hug back into her grip anyway. The giant woman guffawed and handed each a little glass bottle of similarly shaded liquid. To the kitsune, it had a little bite, but it was sweet while subtly reminding her of green tea.

"Lovely Zuzu, I think we can all agree to enjoy that."

The Oni gave a little frothy burp and smiled, the glass of her cheeks tinted red. "'Scuse me."

Karikari giggled. "It's okay! You're just cutting loose! Don't worry about it too much, just have fun!"

Zuzu laughed herself and nodded. "Yer right, let's spook some kids and have a good time!"

The pair of them were busy making ghost noises and dancing to spooky music from a few speakers they'd procured. Kamukamu would call them over when the children were nearby and along with the pocky packets and gummy Kappas they would have some of zuzu's tasty soda. Despite their intention to 'spook' them, they tended to simply coo at the children's costumes, wave and wish them a happy holiday. The evening was progressing gently into the night, the orange lanterns behind them drifting and buzzing gently, lighting the fake ghost's smile.

While the other three were busy amongst their own enjoyment, Itazuramono felt an odd mood strike her. She curled her fingers in a way that had the other three at her heels.

"Miss, where are you going?"

"Well," Itazuramono stretched slightly, "I do enjoy tradition at times, certainly, but as much as I enjoy those ways, I also feel sometimes it's better to go about it our own way, don't you think girls?"

"Well yeah! Gotta do whatever you feel like sometimes."

"No kidding! We'll help all kinds of people by thinking outside the box!"

She giggled, her tails gingerly brushing the three as they started down the street. The ghost seemed to stretch slightly in the window pane after them before she shrugged and took her own place at the doorway. She crossed her legs around the discarded candy bowl as the other four wandered off, resuming her stiff waving as children approached.

Itazuramono found her way through a myriad of little roads, more like a maze or the webs of spiders in the house when she was just a mask. The trees along the road side were nice, some kind of inclusion of nature, nothing like the shrine she used to reside in though. She did feel just a little homesick, some day she would have to return.

"What are you looking for miss?"

Itazuramono smiled at Kamukamu. "Nothing, just somewhere to spread a great deal of this holiday spirit."

"I think I might have found somewhere for us then miss."

"Oh really? Where my lovely Kamukamu?"

She held up a small flier, orange paper with black, block letters, 'Halloween Block Party' and a list of the address. Itazuramono smiled as she read, pulling out 'her' smart phone to find it. A few minutes and a pleasant voice told her exactly where to go.

The outside of the building had a wonderful display of lights, bright orange and neon green, laced over costumes and patterns and people talking and eating and shouting excitedly. There we even candy bowls and floating decorations and people shouting happy Halloween toward her ears. There was one thing she noticed right away though: no children.

"Well this simply won't do."

"What do you mean miss?"

"Halloween is a celebration for adults too, but children are important. Surely adults can have their own fun, but I'm sure several parents here have left their own children at home while they enjoy the 'festivities.' It doesn't quite sit right with me."

"So whaddaya wanna do?"

"Hmmm... I have an idea, come with me girls."

The kitsune quietly squeezed past some rather drunken sets of partiers, her tails kept out of the way of some rather nauseous smells and flailing limbs. The beat of the music kept pounding in their ears as she found several candy bowls and a bar for drinks.

She carefully signaled to them, the kappa looking especially ridiculous as she nodded with her bowl of gummies. Karikari was grinning as far as her cookies would allow, Kamukamu even allowing herself a slight smile on her face, the pair of them producing packets of pocky and handfuls of squishy kappa. The candy bowl nearly glowed as they were deposited. Meanwhile Zuzu was subtly pouring a bit of her own endless substance into some of the taps while she appeared to be talking to the barkeep. She smiled and asked him what he did during the day while he managed not to see his own little nozzle for various drinks gain a slight shimmer that hadn't been there a moment ago. They returned to Itazuramono at the door, each looking very pleased with themselves.

"Okay! We did it! Now what do we do?"

"Now we wait, outside should be fine; we'll give some children candy and watch the chaos."

She absolutely cackled as they did, standing near a coffee shop and handing out their trademarked candies to a white sheet of a ghost and a pair of little princesses, waving to their parents as they passed. A second later it started. The doors burst open. A man was ripping off his devil costume, throwing his trident to the side as he started to swell, his body growing larger and splitting into segments that looked like large, interconnected malt balls that howled at the moon. Following him was a man, or former man, who's toga was getting caught in her developing, licorice stick snake coils in her hair. Some vaporous cotton candy ghost puffs flew harmlessly through the windows as a long spearmint serpent gave a yawn and a delicious spray of his trademarked hard candies onto excited children. Itazuramono grinned brightly.

"Perfect, everything seems much more spirited already."

"It's pretty great! Way to make things wild!"

"It is certainly a lovely sight miss."

The dancing lights of a new caramel kitsune's fox fire met with delicious smell of gumball gremlins, each in a different color. Every one of them seemed happy, caught up in the gleeful spirit of generosity. They swept the streets like a plague. The peppermint vampire was doing his best Bela Lugosi to the small children at a playground, some sort of candy bar sentai ranger was mock-battling a scaled down cookie kaiju, each non-fatal blow scattering wrappers and excited children, even when they stopped fighting to hug each other. Dancing amidst them were the kitsune, the pocky tanuki, the gummy kappa and the soda oni, even handing out handfuls to children whose bags were already stuffed. Some were already trading amongst each other and others were just caught up in the wonder of so many adults acting like real monsters.

The sight reminded Itazuramono of festivals she'd missed so many centuries ago, the jubilation of the local villages as they came to her shrine. She couldn't help but sigh as she watched the children wave to her, and for once she could finally wave back. The other three seemed like children themselves, handing things out and enjoying their reinvented selves. Even as the clock struck later and later, she couldn't help but feel the freshness of each smiling face, delight with little twitching ears at the sounds of joyful screams and those simple words one says in the holidays.

Itazuramono seemed to bathe in it for as long as she could, but soon Zuzu's fizz seemed to die down, the Kamukamu's posture sagging, and Karikari's even seemed to grow sluggish despite her boundless energy. When she'd blinked too many times, she supposed it was time for the holiday to be over. She would awake in the morning, just a mask again, put away as Zack struggled to come to terms with his memories as her.

Itazuramono didn't mind this. Zack had his own life, his own dreams to pursue, she supposed, she didn't pry. Even as sad as it was to be limited by the bounds of a prop, she didn't want him to go. He was her only option, the only inheritor of her form. He wouldn't let her go for reasons she didn't fully understand, perhaps to keep her from spreading to some other unfortunate soul. She wanted to find some way she could sustain herself, live without attaching to him, but there never seemed to be time. She only had nights like this, though they became more frequent, in which to truly live, and though she'd tried many times to explain herself to the human, he never seemed to understand anything but adversity toward her.

The thoughts left her mind as they spied the ghost, who seemed surprised at their quick return. She dispelled the lanterns, then gave a bit of a frown to the ghost. Then she pointed to the window, the plastic, smiling thing giving a bit of a shrug as it returned to slowly waving. The three of them promptly found spots in the living room to lay and the kitsune returned to Zack's room, as some sort of apology to the state of his former friends. At least he would wake up where he belonged. She said this as she blew out the last candle, laid down in his bed, and drifted shortly to sleep.

The next morning, Itazuramono opened her eyes. She glanced around and saw herself in the mirror, still coated in her bright red markings and fur. Her eyes widened as she saw an eighth tail on her form, moving obediently with the rest. She practically jumped out of bed as she glanced around the room. She saw a note on the dresser:

Dear Ita,

_ I tried to spell out your name, sorry, I just don't know how, even having been in your head. I was last night. I saw everything, of course, but not in the weird fog that usually happens when I'm 'unconscious' and you're... you. I saw everything you did last night. To my friends, to those adults that I know are fine by now, and to the children about the spirit of a holiday. I'm not the best with words, but I think you've done something very important, that you have a power that I don't. You're not evil or trying to get rid of me, you're helping people, you're helping me. I wish I'd have known so many years ago._

_ You see, you may have just been saying all of that stuff when I changed into you yesterday, but you were right: I do want to be you. All of those changes I made, the desire to wear you, all of that was me. If anything, you were trying to seem evil to make me resist more. Now I see I don't want to._

_ Don't worry about me. I did have my own life, but it wasn't what I'd hoped. I was more lost than anything. I wasn't really going anywhere, as sad as it is to say. What I've realized is, maybe I can help the world by being you._

_ I'll be there with you. I'll give you what you need to live in these times. You'll have the magic and the creativity to help others. Together I think we can do more than either of us could have separately, and I really do believe this. We'll be together, truly together like this._

_ When your mask comes off, I'll put it back on. I know now that that will be the final time it comes off my face. I'm okay with that. I'm glad for it. We can go help the world now, and I hope you understand and honor what I've done. I'm going to be with you now, after all._

_ My mind and memories are yours, as yours are now mine. Let's start again, both of us._

_ Love,_

_ Zack._

When Itazuramono reached the end of the letter she was hugging herself gently. She didn't know if it was exactly right, she'd never seen this before. Her heart throbbed in her chest without breath for a few moments as she felt both a strange relief and an even stranger fear.

She felt such a warmth in herself, her fur. Her tails shot up again into a fan as she placed the note in the spot where her mask used to lay, on a little cushion in the open closet near a small shrine. She kneeled before it as the sadness and joy and the strange mix of the two washed over her, as she rest low before it in supplication, as though she were too small for what had happened here. She... They... She owed it her life. It was her life resting on that paper. Her new beginning. Her birthday morning.

Just as she stood, the sun framed her in the standing mirror, her tails fanning out to touch the corona. The blue of the curtains gave way to the powerful orange and strong yellow that bathed, turning her white fur to a shining gold for a moment. She smiled at the image of herself. It felt like the first of many times.