A/N: "Ayase" is actually the character's last name but in the manga, he is referred to Ayase by even his boyfriend so I am doing the same. The yen amount is a quote I got from my translated copy of Volume 2 of Sex Pistols. I tried to get it as close as possible to the exchange rate. Enjoy!

PLOTS AND PAY OFFS

Creak. Creak.

Creak. Creak.

It was early fall and the noise of the small swing going back and forth was the only thing that echoed in the park as the last sliver of light kissed the sky and illuminated the empty playground. Young children had long since been led from the joys of the jungle gym, monkey bars and slide by parents and grandparents and were now probably tucked safely into their warm beds for the night.

The last remain figure, Ayase Yukiya sighed anxiously as he continued to swing his legs back and forth as he waited for his cousin Ishii Tetsuo. Small and pale with exotic coloring, Ayase resembled a young middle-school girl rather than the sophomore high school boy he was despite his clearly male school uniform which wrinkled and gathered sand with each pump of his legs. As each bit of light faded, he was growing more and more worried. A police officer had already stopped by to see if he was lost and needed an escort home until he showed the officer his ID and told him he was waiting for his cousin. Now, he was debating whether or not he had made the right choice.

Over two hours ago, on their way home from school, Tetsuo unexpectedly took Ayase to the park and told him to wait for him on the swings while Tetsuo took homework to a sick friend of his who lived nearby. Ayase had agreed, thinking it would only take a couple of minutes.

When the sky reached the tone of dark blue that threatened to collapse into the dark blue shade of night, Ayase stopped the swing and began to debate whether he should go to his aunt's home alone or continue to wait. If he was to go home without Tetsuo, he knew Tetsuo's absence would worry his aunt and uncle greatly and Tetsuo would be mad at him for snitching. But if he continued to stay on the swing, he would probably catch a cold from the chilly night air and some strange people might try to approach him.

Ayase bit his lip nervously just as he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned around to see three large males behind him. "Hey, cutie. What's a sweet thing like you doing here at this hour of the night all alone?" one man in his early twenties with hair gelled and dyed a bright red asked him as he leaned down towards him. He was wearing dark jeans and a plain black t-shirt. On his feet he wore a pair of beaten black sneakers that looked like they had seen better days.

"Uh…" Ayase stuttered worriedly as he tried to think of a way he could avoid any bad situation. "My cousin is visiting a sick classmate nearby and told me to wait for him right here. He should be back at any minute."

"Want a little company?" another man asked. His hair was in a buzz-cut fashion and he took a seat on the other swing beside him. His outfit was much like his friend's except for the faded English words on the front of his T-shirt that appeared to be a logo of some kind. "Your cousin should know better than to leave you alone in the cold."

His stomach was sinking and his blood was running cold in his terror. "Uh…. Thank you for your kindness but I think I will be fine. I'll just be on my way…" He rose from the seat only to find his way was blocked by the three men. Did they wanted to rob him? He knew he wouldn't be able to physically fend them off. His family blamed his diluted genes for his weakness.

"How about we escort you home, Sweetie?" suggested the red-head. "I got a kid sister your age and I wouldn't want her out here alone at this hour."

Ayase tapped his index finger against his lips as he debated how he could refuse without insulting them until the silent one footsteps signaled he had taken several steps towards Ayase and his breath was no tickling Ayase's neck. Ayase recoiled from the damp feeling of the man's breath and knew he needed to get out fast. "Thank you but I think I should find my cousin now."

Just as Ayase made a move to leave but something sharp suddenly pricked him in the back. Ayase did not have to turn his head to know it was a knife. "We insist," the red head said with a predatory grin.

Ayase was then seized by buzz-cut's strong hand on his arm. Instincts kicking in, he began to struggle and scream for help just as his mouth was covered by a giant hand. His eyes widened and a strange feeling suddenly erupted inside of him. Suddenly, the men touching him were no longer men but apes dressed as men. Demons. He was captured by demons.

Each step pulled him closer and closer to the ground as he moved slowly through the empty street. Every now and again sweat and… stickiness… dripped down his battered body, heavy legs and he had to fight the nausea that threatened to stop him in his tracks. But he couldn't stop. If he stopped, he wouldn't move again.

He needed to get home. He needed to get them off him. Their paws were still on his body and their breath was still on his face. Their eyes… he could still feel their eyes on him.

Acid was burning his throat and he forced it back down and held himself more firmly, sinking his nails into the bruised flesh exposed by the torn strips of his shirt to distract himself. Still, the acid kept rising and soon, he was forced to stop and vomit on the sidewalk.

At least it erased the taste of them from his mouth.

Ayase stepped over the mess and kept walking, thinking of the warm water that awaited him at his aunt's house. Then there it was- the brightly lit home beckoning him to the door. His feet gained back their spirit and sped him up the familiar winding walk and through the door.

The sound of the television in the other room was so familiar, Ayase almost cried in relief. "I'm home," he whispered to the empty entryway as he removed his shoes and socks.

As he took a step towards the bathroom, he was startled when the door to the side room was thrown back and his aunt was standing there. Ayase fell back against the wall in fear as he observed the usually emotionless and cold woman before him. Today, however, her beautiful face was lined with anger and the pupils of her eyes were slit like a reptile's.

A demon! Those animals must have killed him and now he was in a hell dimension. What had he done to deserve hell?

Ayase shut his eyes and curled into a ball, shaking with fear and began crying.

"Shut up, you worthless rabbit!" the demon in his Aunt Rikako's form shouted as it advanced on him and grabbed his tender and bruised left wrist. Ayase soon found himself pulled to standing position.

"Wife, isss the boy home?" his uncle asked entering the room in his casual house clothing . His eyes were slit as well and as Ayase watched, a forked tongue came out to taste the air. Surprise replaced the usual apathetic expression. "Oh… he'sss been cavorting with the monkeysss."

"A middle-seed rabbit whore just like his mother!" his aunt hissed, squeezing his wrist with enough force to almost brake it. "My brother's wonderful blood… tainted by rabbit filth! If only the boy was a snake or stayed dormant."

"Please… what did I do?" Ayase whimpered.

"You've brought ssshame on the houssse of the cobra," his demon uncle hissed in disgust. "Letting yourssself be usssed by thossse disssgusting apesss."

Tears bathed scraped cheeks. "I didn't want it. Please… have mercy."

"He's ruined all our plans! What are we going to do now?" his demon aunt asked. "No one wants a rabbit as a mate, especially not one who cannot defend themselves from even the monkeys. It would make for weak offspring."

"We can sssell him to the monkeysss," the demon version of his uncle said. "They do not expect a boy to yield offssspring."

His demon aunt sighed and released his wrist, letting Ayase tumble to the ground. "If anyone found out, our family would be ostracized and our son would never find a good partner."

The demonic version of his uncle sighed, "You are right dear." An idea suddenly seemed to come to him and a smirk replaced his distaste. "He may be ussseful yet. There are sssome familiesss that do not want a permanent mate for their child but are far more willing to pay for an available womb. The Grizzly Houssse, for example, have been asssking about a cheap, available mate for a ssseassson for their ssson."

"Mate? Womb?" Ayase repeated with fear and confusion. Surely even demons would not treat him as breeding stock?

Auntie sighed, "That was two years ago. The Grizzly House of Japan actually did not have to pay the American Grizzly House in the end when the two decided to become permanent mates."

"Ssstill, the boy can be usssed as a rent-a-womb. If we do thisss for even two ssseasonsss, we will get more money than the average bride priccce."

Ayase was very close to regurgitating his last meal all over the floor. He'd hated those men touching him. He was still feeling the foul evidence between his legs.

An elegantly manicured hand suddenly seized his chin and Ayase found himself forced to stare into the frightening slits. "He is slightly attractive, I suppose. Still, dominants may be afraid of their offspring carrying the boy's weakness. If the disgusting rabbit traits were able to overcome the superior genes of the cobra… we may be left with two unwanted burdens."

Tears welled in Ayase's eyes. He couldn't stand the thought of anyone's hands romantically on him… even a woman. "Please… please don't make me do such a disgusting thing! I will do anything else! I will quit school and work… please don't let them touch me…"

"Really? Can you earn ¥40,192,700 in a year at your job?" Uncle asked with a hissing laugh.

Ayase lowered his eyes in defeat. "No."

"Then it is decided," Aunt Rikako announced.

- 3

The gentle beams of the first sunlight of a morning found their familiar subject at his desk, reviewing papers. Since his father had passed away a few years ago, Kanou Somuku had taken over the company and had devoted himself to the art of the loan shark. Thus, every day, he sat at the old oak desk and indiscriminately assessed his borrower's lives and what actions to take.

The sun was disappearing behind the building clouds of a storm by the time Kanou's attention was drawn away from his stack of paper work by the click-clacking of heels in the hallway outside his office. Kanou growled in annoyance as his childhood acquaintance Someya Kaoruko entered his office, bouncing around more like a puppy rather than the cat he truly was. "What do you want, Okama?" Kanou hissed in disgust. Kanou would be the first to admit that his male friend's choice to change their gender after years of living as a boy was uncomfortable for him. It didn't help that he tried to act like a different species too.

"Someya-kun is here to pay back her debt," Someya replied as he slid an envelope out from one of the red, overly-feminine decorated sleeves of the kimono he was wearing.

Kanou snatched the envelope and quickly opened it to check. Everything was accounted for. He placed the money in a lockbox in one of the desk drawers and returned to his paperwork. "You may go now," Kanou said without looking up as he made a little note that Taka Ryo's payments were late by a week. He'd send someone to reclaim the money soon.

"Now, that's just rude, Kanou-san," Someya commented before sinking down into the nicely padded chair across from him. "I've also come to deliver some news." The ruby red lipstick made the crossdresser look like a clown the instant he grinned.

"Not interested," Kanou commented as he tried to wave the transvestite away. Since he had come out of the closet or whatever he called it, Someya had this habit of trying to set Kanou up.

"Come now," Someya pressed leaning forward with all the grace of his panther ancestors. "You are almost thirty and…"

"I'm twenty-four," Kanou corrected in an even, monotone voice. He left out that Someya was only two years younger.

"Still…," Someya continued, "You're not getting any younger and you have yet to even have a girlfriend for a week… So, I was thinking, maybe you would like to attend a breeding party."

Kanou almost choked on his own tongue. Breeding parties varied depending on who was giving them. Often, they were used by desperate madararui as a medium to either meet their soul's mate, find someone to pass a mating season with, or to sell their madararui children to powerful families. Some were tasteful get-togethers over tea, but more often now they were a gaudy mating dance complete with techno music. Then there were those parties hosted by monkeys and were usually a bondage orgy… Either way, neither was of particular interest to Kanou.

Someya sighed and slinked back into the chair. "You are the last of the Kume Coral Snakes Madararui. If you were to die suddenly there would be no more."

Kanou shrugged, not really into the whole preserve the species talk at the moment. Hatchlings for his species barely made it past one year anyway before they could assume their human form and adapt better to an environment outside of wet, damp shores. They needed constant; other snake species found that bothersome and mammals often were too afraid the young were poisonous to even bother to check on them. There was no guarantee he could preserve the species.

"Fine," Someya spat, his eyes in slits. "I guess I'll go to the party by myself and be taken advantage of."

Kanou simply continued to pour over the accounts and ignored the guilt his 'friend' attempted to inflict upon him. Someya had been at least twenty breeding parties without him on his journey to find his mate; Kanou had seen the pictures. He would be fine. When after a few minutes, Someya didn't leave Kanou asked, "Why are you still here?"

"Please come with me?" Someya pleaded, this time with a choked voice that had Kanou sighing. It wasn't very often that the cat cried, but the twenty-two year old was obviously at wits end in seeking his mate. Kanou would have to go along for support.

"Fine," Kanou agreed. "When?"

Someya immediately perked up. "Tomorrow night at seven at the Aishiteru Hotel."

Really? The I-Love-You Hotel? That was the first give away that this would probably be tacky, but Kanou would go along with it any way.

-3

Ayase shifted nervously in his tight and thin deep red knee-length cheongsam in the backseat, picking at the golden lotus embroidery. His aunt and uncle had heard there was going to be a wealthy madararui family from china and had brought him something similar to a Chinese wedding dress 'to inspire them to take interest.' His cousin had laughed that, of course, there would be no wedding but there would be a wedding night. It made Ayase shudder at the thought of that kind of invasion again. Ayase had also been forced to insert a strange cylinder with a weird pill into himself the night before. By morning, he felt strange and awkward.

His aunt slapped his hand away from the passenger seat of the car. "Stop picking at your outfit!" she hissed, her hair suddenly in the shape of the king cobra hood and Ayase instantly stopped his picking and gazed at the grey carpet and didn't look up.

"Yukiya," his uncle suddenly said, forcing the rabbit to raise his head and meet his eyes in the mirror. "You will hold yourssself ssstraight and accept anything I sssay. If we are lucky, we will have an interesssted buyer tonight."

"Yes, Uncle," Ayase replied softly as the car made a right turn into the parking lot of the three story Aishiteru Hotel. Ayase waited for the car to stop before exiting the car and following his aunt and uncle inside the hotel, his eyes on the ground but his back straight. He gave a slight shudder as the strangely chilly fall air blew through his cheongsam.

As soon as they entered the lobby after presenting the invitation to the doorman, Ayase stole a weary glance up. The room was painted a soft, soothing green color with white and brown furniture that were currently all occupied by various people. A few days ago, Ayase would have assumed he'd walked into an anime convention as everyone had their soul out on display complete with wild colors and twitching ears and tails. Ayase caught a glimpse of himself in a polished bronze mirror and saw he too had blonde ears out that were hanging down in dread especially when he realized he was the only one of his kind there.

His Uncle caught his wrist and dragged him to the reception desk where a smiling dog man greeted them with a handful of paperwork. "Hello, welcome to the Aishiteru Hotel. We have a variety of events going on at the moment so bare with me in placing you. Name of the participant?"

"Ayase Yukiya," his aunt said as she reached over to retrieve the papers.

"Age, gender, and species?"

"16, male, and rabbit," she announced as she signed an agreement form of some kind.

The dog boy chuckled as predatory brown eyes met sky blue. "Ah, a lucky one then, and such beautiful coloring. Is he dominant or submissive?"

Ayase's aunt snorted, "I would think with his fertile scent it would be obvious."

The dog boy laughed, not phased in the least by his aunt's attitude and handed them a large plastic blue snap bracelet. "I'm sure you will have no trouble matching him to a potential partner."

"We are not here for life-mates," his uncle waved off, as he gently placed the bracelet on the tiny boy, "We're interested in renting out his womb to an interested party."

"Oh," replied the dog a little sadly. He gave Ayase a sympathetic look. "In that case, you will want to go to the event in the second floor lounge; it's up the elevator and to the right at the end of the hallway. Enjoy your stay."

Ayase gave him a small smile as thanks for his concern and followed his family to the elevators. Upon entering the room, the first thing Ayase noticed was the cushions along two opposite red walls where various species were being examined. On one side were powerful looking men and women wearing red bracelets and on the other were smaller people with blue bracelets like Ayase's. In the center of the room was a small buffet table and a few tables where there seemed to be some conversations taking place. Lastly, in a corner of the room, were two of the hotel staff with keys on a board behind them.

Ayase's aunt led him reluctantly over to the people wearing blue bracelets and forced him to sit between a catatonic catboy with dark Japanese features who was currently breastfeeding a dark-colored puppy and a panting mongoose girl with brown hair and eyes while his uncle took a seat at a nearby table. Almost immediately after his aunt walked away, a hawk with his feathers out on display began to circle the catboy and Ayase. The hawk crouched down and began to play with the catboy's free nipple, trilling in delight when milk flowed freely from it. A large black dog-man immediately came up and stated a price, which the hawk accepted. After a few minutes, the silent boy was led away and another, older cat with western features and interesting red hair slinked down and claimed the seat.

"Hey, are you new?" asked the catman, tilting his red head.

"Um… yes."

The cat smiled and pet Ayase on the shoulder. "Hey, don't worry too much, okay little bunny? I've been a rent for ten years and I can tell you it's the good life. In fact, the new guy who just left is lucky to have found a partner with the hawk Ayumu, he'll probably keep the boy and the puppy for himself. And even if you don't get kept, you're treated like royalty 'til you pop out your kid." The catman suddenly leaned forward and took a deep sniff of Ayase. "Wow, you're really fertile. Any kids before now?"

"Um… no…"

"Wow… you smell exceptionally fertile for a first-timer."

"Um… okay…"

"So how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Wow… really? You fail your levels or something?"

"No… I was actually an okay student but…. my family says that…but… but I don't even like men…" Ayase's voice trailed off.

The cat was able to fill in the blanks and he laid a comforting hand on Ayase's shoulder. "I'm sorry bunny, but I promise everything is going to be okay. Your temporary mate will treat someone like you like glass. You might even like the mating and they can even ask for your hand. I've had a total of five offers over the years but I like this job."

Ayase nodded, very uncomfortable with the conversation. He noticed his aunt and uncle were in an intense conversation with a heavy blonde bearman that had earlier been watching him. "Umm… where's the bathroom?"

"Oh," the cat said. "It's out the room and a few feet down the hall. Do you need an escort?"

Ayase shook his head. "I'll be fine."

"Okay, then. Hurry back and I'll teach ya how to display if I'm still here."

"Okay," Ayase agreed and then rose from the pillow to run at breakneck speed to the bathroom while his family wasn't looking. He couldn't do this. He loved his family, but he just couldn't be a 'rent.' He had to run. Hoping to hide himself for a little in a room, he opened the first unlocked door and found a giant man with black and tan scales trailing down his neck and hands on top of the bed in a suit, seemingly asleep. Ayase froze, fearing the man would wake up and either hurt him or drag him back to the party until he realized the man's breathing was shallow and his skin was unnaturally pale.

"Mister?" he called to the figure. When he failed to get any type of response, Ayase crept cautiously forward and placed a shaky, small hand on his forehead. The man felt cold and clammy, he needed help. That wasn't good… Ayase couldn't get the man help without giving away his position, but he didn't have the heart to abandon him either. When his cousin felt like this his aunt would bury him under a mountain of blankets with a heating pad. Taking off the man's shoes and somehow managing to get off his jacket, Ayase began doing the same and even used towels when he failed to find more blankets. The man began to breathe easier but he was still pale and cold.

Ayase stood at the side of the bed, listening to the man's breathing as he debated what to do. He needed something like a heating pad… oh… Ayase blushed. It was not uncommon for people to use other's body heat for warmth but… could he do it? Then, he heard someone angrily calling his name. His uncle…

Ayase figured this would be as good a hiding spot as any and crawled under the blankets to curl up next to the man, making sure his form was not visible to anyone who might come in. He laid there in the darkness, ignoring the calls of his name and listened as the man's breath grew steadier and steadier.

To be continued…