Ok, time to get down to some serious story telling here. There are some *real* disclaimers for this section to mention first, however. No, I will not bitch about my personal life, talk to imaginary characters, nor do weird fan girly things. This chapter contains hot rodent sex, so let ye be warned if such things disturb you, as they very well should. No animals were hurt nor virginities lost in the production of this fic, although through great special effects we've done a great job simulating them. Please don't call PETA and no, I am *not* a fan of bestiality!! On with the show!

Ring Around the Collar, Page 4

Yuki was the first to come out of his thoughtful trance. He leapt onto the water bottle and clung for dear life as he slowly climbed his way to the top of the cage. "I have to get out of here and then I can try to find something to get this stupid ring off my neck." He pushed at the top of the cage as hard as he could, but it was sealed tight. His rodent instincts came to fore as he frantically began gnawing at the wire screen trapping him from above

"Damn it, I have to get out of here! If I don't, I'll never see Touru again and we still have yet to…" As vivid images of a naked Touru that he had never seen flooded his mind, his furry face flushed bright red, causing him to lose his grip and fall. His head banged the spout of the water bottle hard on the way down, but his landing was surprisingly soft. In fact, he found himself seated on a pleasantly silky and cushiony surface. Still a little stunned and deluded with thoughts of Touru, he looked down and saw two sweet brown eyes peering back at him. "Touru…" he whispered.

The eyes became quizzical and Ebichu tilted her head. "Touru? Hi, I'm Ebichu. What's your name?" Ebichu, although a little breathless from the weight on her chest, was elated to meet a new potential friend.

"Touru, don't you remember me? It's Yuki! Oh god, are you hurt?" he asked as he jumped off of Ebichu. Since hitting his head on the waterspout, his vision was very blurry, but he could easily make out the two innocent brown eyes staring back at him.

"No, I'm ok," she smiled. Although Yuki couldn't see her smile on her lips, he saw it in her gaze. His heart skipped a beat and he turned bright red from bottom to top, the fur in his face bristling out for a moment.

Against the contrasting bright red, Ebichu finally took notice of the collar around Yuki's neck. Suddenly, she remembered her Goshujin-sama's words, "You should take example from those that are better than you and learn something." What would Goshujin-sama do in these circumstances? This situation seemed familiar, yet it was different. Something snapped in Ebichu's pea-sized brain and she suddenly remembered what her master does when her boyfriend wears a collar. Keeping good to her word, she decided to try to emulate her master.

Ebichu flipped Yuki over on his back and pounced on him. "Let's play a game, Yuki," she announced as she stuck her face in his. For some reason, this caused Yuki to turn even redder, although Ebichu was happy it did. The lousy boyfriend often turned beat red in this situation as well so she knew she was doing something right.

"A g-g-game?" Yuki stuttered. "Touru, exactly what kind of game do you want to play?" Yuki's head was spinning with the sudden rush of blood flowing in two opposite directions in his body. Still not entirely coherent after his fall, he neglected to notice that the brown eyes inching closer and closer to his own purple ones were housed in a furry brown and white body and that he himself was not human, but already transformed into a mouse.

Around those two tantalizing amber orbs boring into his, Yuki's mind concocted an angelic vision of his love Touru. She was dressed in diaphanous white silk folds and an unfelt breeze was blowing her satiny locks of hair into a most seductive dance. She was positively breathtaking. He wanted to part those silken layers that hindered him from touching her milky white flesh beneath. His imagination supplied him with the pert pink nipples that lay hidden beneath, yearning for his gentle touch. He licked his lips in anticipation and reached for her glowing chest. "No, I mustn't. Sweet innocent Touru doesn't realize what she's doing to me. She is merely being friendly."

"Yes, a game," chirped Ebichu in her delight. "It's called the squeaky bed game. We have to make the bed squeak as loudly as possible and then try to out do the noise of the bed with our own noises." Ebichu was bobbing up and down on Yuki's firm stomach now, so happy was she that she had remembered the first game correctly. The hard lump beneath her didn't distract her from her mission in the slightest. She would become the best housecleaning hamster ever and never again would her master fling her across the room into walls, leaving Ebichu to wash her own blood from them.

"Squeaky bed? You don't mean…" Yuki gasped in shock. Surely Touru didn't have *that* in mind, did she? But the way she rhythmically bounced on his stomach and even his …, his heart nearly exploded at the thought of her near that part of him.

"Oh, but there isn't a bed here. What will we do? They always start with the squeaky bed game. Hmm." Ebichu's little rodent mind worked as hard as it could to think of what to do. Her brow furrowed in concentration and her bouncing stopped. Yuki was disappointed; it had felt so good.

Ebichu's whiskers twitched and her eyes lit up as an idea managed to make its way into her furry little skull. "Let's just skip to the best part and play charades! You be the horse and I'll be the cowboy!"

"Cha-Charades?" Yuki asked in confusion. "I've never heard it called that before." It would be just like Touru to make up a name for sex that made it sound more innocent. Perhaps she was too embarrassed to say it strait out. But surely, pretending to be a "horse and rider" could mean only sex, right? "Are you sure you're ready to do this Touru? I mean, I don't want to push you or anything." In his mind, though, he was thinking, "oh god, yes! Even if you say no now, I won't be able to stop!"

"Of course I'm ready. At least I think I am. It never looked really hard at least." Ebichu suddenly became very nervous. What if she was wrong about the basics of charades? Hopefully her new friend wouldn't make fun of her for it or fling her against the wall like Goshujin-sama. No, Yuki was too nice. He would never do that, even if did seem a little weird and couldn't remember her name.

Yuki didn't spare a moment. As soon as Touru gave her consent, they occupied themselves by playing "charades."

~*~

"Gure, this collar would look great on you. Oo! Or maybe we should get this spiked one to show off your wild side," Ayame exclaimed as he fingered through the dog collar section of the pet store.

"Ayame, puleeze. You know I only wear studded black leather collars," Shigure smirked. "Besides, we're not here to satisfy my kinks. We're here to get dog food for all the strays that insist on coming by," he said as he dragged Ayame by the sleeve to the pet food section.

"Aww, you're no fun," Ayame pouted as he spun on his heels away from Shigure in mock anger. Suddenly, a movement in the corner of his vision attracted his attention. "Now *they* know how to have fun!" he exclaimed, pointing to two rodents having hot steamy sex in a cage in the back.

Being the horndogs … er … snakes or whatever that they were, they both scuttled to the cage for a closer look at the action. "Wow, look at them go at it. I don't think I've seen a happier mouse in my life! Even when Yuki…" Ayame's voice trailed as it suddenly dawned on him. "Uh, Gure, doesn't that mouse look an awful lot like Yuki?"

Shigure peered closely at the mouse who was too occupied with his "charades" to notice him and rubbed his chin. "Hmm, now that you say so, yes it does!"

~*~

TBC I think. Of course, that all depends on how much you bribe me to finish. Or at least, that is what I would say if I were a feedback grubbing whore. Whether there is more or not will depend on my mood and whim. Please post comments, good or bad (although flames are subject to public stoning and possibly tar and feathering) and constructive criticisms if this fic tantalizes your entertainment nerves in any way.