"I don't know how you managed to talk us into this, Osabu."

The manager of the Three Lights grinned, his beady little brown eyes twinkling mischievously. "Oh, come on, Seiya-kun. Be a good sport. Besides," he waved at the trio dismissively, "this is all the rage now. You look cool."

"We look *stupid*," Yaten snapped peevishly, then winced as his hairdresser twisted his hair into another loop. "Careful!" he growled at her. His hair was his pride and joy, after all.

"You do *not*," Osabu snapped back, completely used to his stars' temperaments. "You're an artist," he continued, trying to placate the temperamental Yaten. "You surely see the artistic value in this."

"I can't *see* anything," Taiki grumbled, trying to resist the urge to blow his hair out of his eyes.

"Well, if you let me give you bangs," the stylist who was brushing out his long, brown hair said, "you would be able to see."

Taiki's violet eyes narrowed dangerously. "I have bangs," he stated flatly.

"You do?" Seiya asked, laughing. He instantly stilled as his stylist gave him a sharp reprimand. "Sorry."

"I have bangs, see?" Taiki reached up and grabbed some hair between his fingers, pulling it out in front of him to show Seiya. The fact that they almost reached his collarbone phased him not at all. Yaten snorted at him and Seiya laughed.

"You know," Seiya said thoughtfully, "if you let your bangs down and curl them under, you'd look like him!" At the end of this statement, he pointed at the silver-haired boy, who frowned. The smile disappeared from Seiya's face, however, when he got a whiff of the chemicals in his hair. "I want my hair back to normal when this is all over with," he reminded Osabu, his blue eyes hard.

Osabu shrugged. "If you really want to, but this really is the rage. Are you sure we can't streak your tail?"

"The blonde highlights are really becoming on you," Seiya's stylist agreed then blanched at the glacial look he gave her.

"That's quite all right. I happen to *like* my hair black."

Osabu sighed then leaned against the wall and lit a cigarette. As he smoked, he saw the stylist working Yaten whip the plastic cover off of him and pronounce him finished. The petite idol stood carefully in his wooden, platform geta. Osabu let out a low whistle of appreciation as his makeup artist said, "You make a very beautiful woman, Yaten-kun!"

Taiki snickered and Seiya almost choked on his tongue. "Yeah, Yaten," Seiya crooned, batting his eyelashes, "you make such a pretty girl!"

"Shut UP!" the silver-haired boy roared, folding his arms across his chest. "We look STUPID," he shot at Osabu again, gesturing at the multilayer cyber-kimono he'd been forced to wear.

"You do NOT," Osabu shot back. "I'm telling you, all the bands are doing it now. It's a visual artistry. Look at Mana, for example. It's all the rage."

Seiya snickered again. "You could always try the Gothic Lolita look, Pipsqueak."

The look Yaten shot him could have melted steel. "How come they don't have to dress like women?" the smaller boy pouted as he walked in front of a mirror to examine himself. His long, silvery hair was coiled about an elaborate headdress. His soft skin was painted white; not the harsh, geisha-white, but something that made his skin shimmer like alabaster. The black, vinyl collar of the cyber-kimono set this off and made his slender neck appear even longer. The makeup artist had done a fantastic job on his eyes, making them appear larger and even more jewel-like than usual. The iridescent silver-green of the kimono itself helped bring out his eyes, and a deep blue obi completed the effect. The kimono itself only came to his knees, which under normal circumstances would not have bothered him. In this boy's form, however, he felt quite a bit self-conscious. They'd even done up his nails, for crying out loud!

No wonder people thought he was gay!

"There's a fine line between visual artistry and cross dressing," Osabu was saying. Exhaling a cloud of smoke, he added, "And the last thing I want is to have you boys stuck with that label. No, one of you dressing feminine is fine. But not all three. We're trying the androgyny thing with Seiya and Taiki."

"Is that what you call this?" Seiya asked, waving a black gloved hand at his overpainted face. "I'm afraid to see what I look like."

"A raccoon," Yaten supplied helpfully, turning from the mirror.

Seiya made a face and stood now that the beautician was done. He wobbled slightly in his black, platform combat boots. As soon as he caught sight of himself in the mirror, his jaw dropped open. Yaten covered his mouth with his hand. Even Taiki snickered.

They had straightened Seiya's curly hair and faded the last inch or so of it to platinum blonde. As if that wasn't bad enough, they had then commenced to make a bat's nest out of it, spiking it up and then artfully twirling it around in various directions. His black hair cascaded, unopposed, down his back. His eyes, as Yaten had so tactfully said, were done up in extreme black makeup. Seiya couldn't decide if it was feminine or just fiendish. A tight-fitting white shirt lay over skin-tight black vinyl pants. The black gloves were offset by a set of silver rings he wore over them. All in all, he looked just as stupid as Yaten.

"Trust me," Osabu was saying. "The kids eat this stuff up!"

"We've sold out, haven't we?" Taiki asked as he stood up from his chair. His friends nodded solemnly. With a grimace, the tall brunette headed to the mirror. His eyebrow arched, then twitched.

His transformation had been less dramatic. His makeup was more in kind to Yaten's; subtle, feminine, enhancing his violet eyes and smooth complexion. His long, brown hair fell free, and was swept back on the sides to be held in a claw, giving him a Renaissance-y look. He wore a white ruffled blouse covered by an ornate violet waistcoat of 18th century French design. Tight fitting, off white riding pants were tucked into knee-high black riding boots. "Gods! I look like something off of the cover of one of those trashy romance novels!" he breathed, half-fascinated, half-disgusted. The three of them looked at one another and sighed. "Let's get this over with," Taiki grumbled.

"Oh, come on," Osabu said as he walked over to the freestanding ashtray. He buried the butt in the sand and said, "It's not that bad."

"Yes it is," the trio grumbled in unison, heading out of the make up trailer into the studio for the photo shoot.