8. Day 1

The first day of the week that would change Miss Chloe Burgeois's life forever started off quite low-key. She emerged from her beauty slumber with an elongated yawn, before stretching out her arms and reaching for her fluffy bunny slippers.

Zzubo, who'd been sitting on her duvet when she'd last been conscious, was nowhere to be seen, but she paid that little mind to take care of her number one priority: To go and look in the mirror. After all, to be seen at the breakfast table by the waiters with stuff in her eyes and puffy hair, would be nothing short of a disgrace.

Arriving at the bathroom, she examined her reflection thoroughly, before reaching for the brush to straighten out her bangs.

Strangely, it wasn't where she'd left it last night. In it's place was a yellowish comb... The same one that had mysteriously appeared in a hexagonal box on her bed yesterday, and now apparently the only means of getting rid of her bedhair.

Huh, that's weird. It must be Zzubo's idea of a joke. I shall be having words about this with her later on. A lady's personal items are not to be toyed with...

Chloe did the best she could at making herself look decent with such an ineffective appliance, before turning to leave. She was just thinking about her sliced grapefruit with a cherry on top when something made her stop.

In her peripheral vision, she noticed a large empty space in the corner... Where there shouldn't be one.

This was where she usually kept all of her cosmetics, and they'd just plain vanished. Not even one bottle of nail varnish or tube of exfoliant remained.

Chloe felt the sudden urge to start hyperventilating , her eyes nearly coming out on their stalks in complete shock at their disappearence.

Entering panic mode, she flew out of the bathroom at record speed, frantically tipping drawers and opening cupboards to locate beauty items in reserve she knew she'd kept hidden for emergencies just like this.

And what did she discover, during her little search?

Nothing. Nil. Nada.

She was absolutely beside herself, her usually flawless appearence a picture of someone on the verge of cracking up. With little choice, she sat down for a moment to digest the situation.

What could have happened? Did one of my maids get jealous of my attractiveness and enter my room last night to swipe my stuff? No, as a very light sleeper I'd have heard her, and anyway, I'm the only one with a key to the lock.

Could I have run out of everything, and just not have noticed... Yeah right! Good one, Chloe! You make sure you have enough cream to smear on your face in the morning, before you see if you've enough to eat! Not very likely that's the cause...

Then what could..

The realisation hit Chloe like a ton of bricks. Quickly standing upright again, her expression turned to a harsh snarl, as she put her hands to her mouth to yell:

"ZZUBO! I KNOW YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS, SO GET YOUR YELLOW AND BLACK BUTT OUT HERE NOW! IF THIS IS SOME KIND OF JOKE, I'M NOT LAUGHING..."

"It is indeed not a 'joke', Miss Chloe Bourgeois, but an important part of your future development. There was no need for you to shout either, as I was behind you all the time..."

An increasingly frustrated Chloe turn swiftly round to face the kwami, who had the nougats that her new user had left out in her hand, slowly unwrapping one while talking. She had obviously just started eating them, judging by how full the bag still was.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" Chloe was not in the mood for small talk, and glowered at Zzubo with bared teeth. "YOU EVEN MANAGED TO GET AT ALL OF THE SUPPLIES I HAD HIDDEN AWAY! HOW DOES A CREATURE AS SMALL EVEN DO SUCH A THING?!"

"Who knows..." Zzubo was remarkedly unphased by the apoplectic girl in front of her, as the bug-type popped a delicacy into her mouth. "Us kwami are a small, but powerful race. You'd do well not to underestimate us. As for where they are, what can I say? Maybe they're where you left them, maybe not. Perhaps they're in the garbage bin outside, perhaps not. In fact, come to think of it, there's a chance I may have deposited them in an alternate dimension, to be returned to you when your training is over. What do you think?"

"I'll tell what I 'think'... " There was an unmistakable fire in Chloe's eyes, as she prepared to charge foward. "Despite my dislike of any kind of work, I'm seriously thinking about a new career, as a pest controller. And guess who my first client will be? Myself. You see, I'm having serious trouble with this foreign invader that's come crawling into my hotel. She frightened me half to death when she first appeared, spies on me in the shower and just won't shut up about me being a goodie-goodie. Now that she's taken all my beauty products, I'm officially in 'last straw' territory..."

Chloe's delirium reached a peak of lunacy at that precise moment, as under the bemused watch of Zzubo, the heiress switched to an accent that she thought sounded professional and authorative. To everyone else, it would've been unintentionally hilarious.

"Yes, Miss Burgeois. I'll take care it straightaway. Come here my lickle kwami-wami. Mama only wants to punch you in the face..."

She lunged like a cobra, grabbing at the bee creature at light speed. Surely, there's no way that tiny nuisance can dodge me now...

Actually, there was. Zzubo simply blinked out of existence, to reappear seated on Chloe's shoulder.

"That was actually kind of funny, when you did that voice..." Zzubo smiled slightly at her wielder's antics. "Maybe this assignment won't be such a chore, after all..."

"Hey! I didn't know you could do that! That wasn't fair. Stay still, you little..." Chloe went to snatch at the kwami again, but failed. This time the kwami appeared on her other shoulder, nuzzling against her face in the process.

"Nope, sorry can't do that. I told you before: I'm not going anywhere for a very long time. This is something the two of us are going to see out together, but seeing as how you're unwilling to take the first step, I've decided it's up to me to grab the initative. Allow me to explain..."

Another attempt at a grab. Another failure. This time Zzubo appeared on her head, messing up the one part of her that she was able to attend to properly that day. Irritated beyond measure, Chloe was about to try yet again to seize the obnoxious creature, literally tearing her hair out in the process, before she was stopped by the bee creature rapidly buzzing her wings.

"Stop it, Chloe. Do you really think you have a chance of capturing me? You may as well try and grab at air. I'm immaterial, which means I can flit from place to place on a whim, wherever it is. The wings are purely there for show, though I must admit, they do go nicely with my thorax. By the way, how did you like using my comb this morning? It's not bad, is it? It also has other functions besides the obvious, but we'll get to them at a later stage..."

"NEVER MIND ALL THAT!" Chloe wailed, realising finally that getting rough with the kwami wasn't going to work, and the only way to get her precious cosmetics back was through old-fashioned negotiation. "Please return my things to me. I feel practically naked without them. Have you any ideas how many people will laugh at me if I go out, looking like this?! I'll never be able to show my ugly face at the local hot-spots ever again. I've been applying myself with make-up for years, I have no idea how to cope without..."

"Well, maybe it's about time you started, then..." Zzubo started off her sentence harshly, but then adopted a softer tone. "Chloe, you look absolutely fine as you are. You're a beautiful girl, even if you don't act like it, and you don't have to cover yourself with layer upon layer of that stuff to prove it. I want you to walk over to the mirror again now, and I'll show you what I mean..."

Almost as if in a trance, Chloe found herself returning to the bathroom, with Zzubo still firmly perched on her head.

At first glance, all she saw was a hot mess. There was no soothing cream spread over her cheeks. No purple eyeshadow around her lashes. Most jarringly of all, no pink lipstick covering her mouth. She was truly unrecognisable, a stranger in her own boudoir...

She was just about to tell Zzubo so, until a solemnly whispered "Look closer" from the kwami made her pause for a moment. She returned to staring back at herself, this time really taking note of every pore and crinkle, attempting to find something good as opposed to trying to be critical.

On this occasion, the final conclusion wasn't nearly as bad. Sure, she had a few lumps and bumps in places that she'd rather not, and some blemishes she wished she could pop there and then. But for the most part... She didn't think she looked half bad. Certainly not as terrible as she'd originally visualised. After habitually applying make-up every morning for years, she'd plain forgotten what just wearing natural, clean skin felt like.

"You like what you see, don't you?" Zzubo hummed in her hair, ruffling a few strands while doing so.

"It's... Adequate, I suppose..." Chloe admitted, not wanted to give the kwami too much of a big head. "But that doesn't mean I prefer it this way, or that it excuses what you did. I could have you arrested for stealing, you know..."

"Oh, where are they going to hold me..." Zzubo responded, in a mirthful way. "In that special prison they set aside for mystical kwamis, who can teleport themselves wherever they want in the blink of an eye? I'd like to see that... I could do with a giggle." Zzubo's strange laugh echoed around the bathroom.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Now, would you please get out of my hair, Zzubo? You're getting nougat pieces all over my scalp..." Chloe asked, in an annoyed but at least half-civil tone.

"Of course, of course. But it's a shame, since I was starting to feel quite comfortable up here. Must be all that expensive shampoo you use. Not all personal care items are bad I suppose , as long as you don't overdo it..." Zzubo flew up once more, still hovering above her new charge. "Oh, that reminds me... Another thing I want you to try today. Let your hair down, if you please. Leave those sunglasses at home , too. You never really use them, do you? And besides... It's Autumn..."

"B-but... They're part of my image!" Chloe stammered, unable to believe how far the kwami was pushing it. "When I'm wearing them people know it's me! I haven't been seen without them for ages! I couldn't possibly..."

"You mean, the same way you thought you looked like a hideous monster without any make-up on, but in actual fact, it wasn't half-bad?" Zzubo reminded her with a smirk. " Listen, if you have any worries, just look in the mirror again, and picture yourself without them. I think you'll find the reality is a lot less terrible than the delusion..."

Chloe fell silently in thought again, before trying the same thing as before: Picturing herself without her usual hairstyle, and minus her trademark lenses. Again she reached the same conclusion: It would take some getting used to, but in practice, it wasn't completely awful. Heck, I'm so gorgeous I could pull virtually anything off.

"You're not going to leave me alone ever again, until I try this, are you?"

"No, Chloe, I am not."

"Well, congratulations, Zzubo. Under the absolute mountain of pressure you've put me under, I reluctantly agree to try going au naturale, with a new look, for ONE day only. I hope you realise the gravity of what you've done, manipulating a sweet little girl like me for your own ends. If anyone asks me why I look this way at school today, I'll simply tell them there's been a death in the family."

"If I were you, I'd come up with a better excuse, but do what you must."

" I will. And if all my stuff isn't returned by tonight, I'll, I'll..."

"You'll do what, Chloe?" (smiling)

"I'll kick every hive I see on my way home! ...Oh no I won't, because then I'll get stung. AARGH! I don't know what I'll do... You're turning me into a nervous wreck... I'll get wrinkles by the time I'm twenty at this rate... The things I do to be a superhero..." 'GRUMBLE'

Unbeknownst to Chloe, while she was ranting and raving away, Zzubo had produced a little checklist from an unknown location that she'd made out the day before. It was hard to read such small handwriting, but if one really squinted, you could just about make out a scribbled graph with every day of the week written on it, and words in big, bold letters which said:

OPERATION FOR A BETTER CHLOE DAY PLAN. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.

Zzubo ticked one box, before hiding it away again, to resume pretending to listen to her latest project and of course, stuff her face with nougat.