Shara placed her finger to her lips and nodded to Ashton. The blond business fox mimicked her movements then grinned. They were going to sneak into the house, not that Scott was likely to be awake at the moment. He had been asleep for days.

In a way it was sort of thrilling for the store team leader as they slipped into his odd little home. If she did not know it was his house, she would have thought it to be an old storage building. Yet, he lived there. On the inside it was in dire need of wallpaper or at least a paint job. Still, it was a house.

The ninja girl held up one hand in the shape of a fist to halt their progression. It was an agreed upon hand signal that they settled on before their invasion began. While she had gone into the house several times to feed and dust her childhood friend, it was always important to keep stealth in mind.

Several precarious seconds passed while Shara listened intently for any sound that the master of the house might be astir. Their game plan would change if he awakened, or proved to be already awake. At the moment they were to be as quiet as possible to avoid causing problems, though what those problems might be was anyone's guess.

Assured that he was still asleep, and with no sign of Sonja, Shara led Ashton to the bedroom. Scott slept peacefully under his covers. His hair was surprisingly well brushed and combed, and one glance at his finger nails gave off the impression of a recent manicure.

Ashton looked up as saw a little mobile, something meant for a small child, dangling overhead. It contained various pictures and figurines of Shara, Sonja, and herself. There were even a few cutesy miniature black dragons in the mix.

The fox girl glanced to the mobile then back over to Shara. Something told her that Scott had not made such a thing. Seriously, how much free time did this girl even have?

Shara fussed over him for a moment then sat down atop a chair that looked to belong in the living room by the computer, and then gazed softly at Scott. She did not move for quite some time, as every rise and fall of Scott's chest seemed to keep her enraptured.

Ashton drew back slightly. Did she intend to sit there and just stare softly at him? She wanted to ask her what she planned to do, since they came in for a reason, but Shara seemed pretty content at the moment.

After a while, it became a bit too disturbing for her. Ashton slowly left the room and then began to search through the house. She had already broken and entered, she might as well snoop around.

The bathroom came into view, and she quickly turned from that horrific place of nightmares. She shuddered softly then turned back toward the living room. Briefly, she stopped in the kitchen in search of a snack. Shara had not come flying out to murder, death, kill her or whatever it was she planned to do in case of any noticeable noise. So, she assumed she was safe for the moment.

A slight squeaking sound caught her ear, something akin to a rusty hinge, but she dismissed it after a moment. Her ear flicked, however, at the almost imperceptible sound of gently running water. Was Shara in the den of horrors?

It occurred to the curious fox that Shara did say that Scott would need to be fed and cleaned, so she assumed that was what she was doing. Concerns assuaged, she returned to her food options.

There were a ton of vegetables, and more rice than any one man could ever possibly need. Surprisingly, Scott ate pretty healthily. There were no signs of snack foods anywhere in the cabinets of the refrigerator. She mouthed the words, "Then why was he so fat?" without speaking them. It made no sense for a man to eat wholesome and organic all the time, but to look like he weighed three hundred pounds.

It occurred to her that he had lost a good bit of weight recently. The racial transformation probably counted for most of that, but it was possible that he had been working on his weight issues for a while.

She smiled a little at the thought of him trying to better himself. It was good to see him making an effort to live his best life and all that.

Ashton located a banana, the quietest of edible fruits, and had a little light snack. She meandered her way through the living room and eventually ended up across from his computer. The chair was missing. Mystery solved.

However, as she lightly ruffled through his belongings and considered checking his browser history for various reasons, she happened to notice something odd behind his desk. It was on wheels, so she quietly pulled the desk away to reveal a wall panel.

"Nothing of importance," she mouthed curiously. There was a little wall panel with a sign on it that proved most curious.

She acquired a mischievous expression and her tail lashed in a way more befitting a cat than a fox. Ashton gently removed the panel from the wall while trying to avoid making any noise. Inside, she found a small cubby hole with a single box nestled within. She took out the box and mouthed the words, "Secret stash."

Underneath the box, however, was another sign atop the cubby-hole interior. It informed her that there was no need to continue forward. Obviously, she took that as a sign that she could continue. Scott was proving to be a stranger guy than even she knew.

After she fiddled with the interior of the cubby hole for a minute, the back of it popped open and a single small box was revealed. He had written atop that box as well, 'My darkest secret.'

It seemed that Shara was not the only one with too much free time on her hands. Ashton tried not to laugh as she opened the first box. Inside she found a few baseball cards, along with a picture of three little kids and two adults.

Ashton looked at the photo for a moment, having dismissed the baseball cards as something that would only be of interest to Scott. The picture, however, seemed unmistakably to include Shara. That bright red pony tail was impossible to mistake.

She smiled a little as she looked at the photo then glanced to the other girl in the picture. Her eyes dropped a bit. She should really not be looking at this stuff. That was clearly a picture of his family. His secret stash was stuff from his childhood.

Self-chastised for looking at his private memories without his permission, she was a bit upset with herself. She would hate it if someone did this sort of thing to her. Yet, after a quiet moment passed her eyes turned to the super secret stash. If his treasured childhood was in the first box, what would be in the second?

She wanted to leave it. She had to leave it. Clearly, it would not be something she should look at... and yet her hands were already moving to unlock the box! She chastised herself mentally, but did not stop as she looked inside at his darkest secret.

There was a small CD case, atop it he had written, "No one must ever know..."

If it were anyone else's house she would be getting a serious serial killer vibe at the moment. It was Scott, however, so she assumed it was some weird joke he was playing with himself.

Inside the case she found an unlabeled CD. She took it to his computer and set up the headphones so they would keep the noise to a minimum, then chose to discover his darkest secret.

Ashton's eyes opened wide as a familiar song began to play. She glanced to the monitor and noticed that a playlist had formed. She mouthed part of the lyrics, "They call me cra-zy..."

Scott's darkest secret that he would never allow to be known was that he had made a Britney Spears mix CD at some point in his life! She tried not to laugh but she found it nearly impossible.

Ashton put her hands over her mouth and did her best to hold it in as Britney kept being Britney. Eventually she noticed that the play list had a second page. Just how many songs did he add to this CD? She nearly choked on her growing laughter when she realized that the other half of the playlist was not Britney.

"Britney Spears and Nickelback... Oh Scott..." she whispered. Unable to stop herself, she released the tiniest whisper of a giggle.

Shara's head shot out of the bed room, her ponytail flying dangerously in the wind. She eyed Ashton for a moment then placed a finger to her lips. Ashton saluted her from her seat then placed her finger to her lips as well.

Eyes narrowed, Shara slowly withdrew her head back into the room. She would have silence! There would be order.

"What are you doing here?" asked a familiar voice, and loud as shit.

Ashton flailed around and nearly fell over due to her surprise. She turned to see Sonja standing in the room, her arms crossed over her chest.

Before Ashton could say anything a surprised outcry came from the bedroom. "The hell?"

"Hey! You're awake! Tee! Hee!" cried Shara.

"Tee hee my ass, Shara! The hell are you doing?" asked Scott belligerently, and with great volume.

"I have to keep my pets clean and well fed!" exclaimed Shara.

Sonja and Ashton turned toward the sound of the argument as it continued. The next words spoken were quite intriguing indeed.

"Well I'm awake now!" exclaimed Scott, "and why is that sponge so cold!"

"Sponge baths have to be cold, or the nipples won't get hard!" countered Shara enthusiastically.

"Why is that a concern, you weirdo?" asked Scott.

"How else am I going to wash underneath them?" she asked him in a sincere manner. She actually seemed insulted when she huffed out the word, "Really, Scott!"

"This conversation is really happening." Ashton looked to Sonja. "Isn't it?"

Sonja nodded her head. The other world was proving to hold as many mysteries as she had previously believed.