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The Eye

Part 2 - Hindsight

Ponchos.

She didn't necessarily like them, but, as a flying squirrel, Reiko wasn't exactly afforded the luxury of dis liking them, either. It wasn't an issue of preference, after all; it was an issue of necessity.

Shirts, as one might imagine, were uncomfortably restrictive on her membranes at best, and ponchos were the only viable alternative. She'd heard of more custom garments, specifically made for sugar gliders and flying squirrels, but they were tailored and quite expensive to buy...on top of the fact that she lived nowhere near any businesses that offered them.

That, though, didn't mean she couldn't make the best of the situation. Material, color, design, cut, and brand were still hers to choose. She may have been stuck with ponchos, but she could at least make sure they were the right ponchos.

Especially today.

Today she had seen something that was, to say the least, difficult to process. Today she had found herself in a situation she had no idea how to confront. And nothing could calm her, focus her, and help her to collect her thoughts like a day at the mall.

This morning she saw something she very much wished she hadn't, but now she stood in front of a changing room mirror admiring what would be her newest poncho. Soon, she would return to her little red sports car, and back from whence she had fled...

Waiting there would be precisely the kind of awkward situation she would normally rather avoid...but that, today, she was compelled to confront. But, at least she would confront it in a brand new poncho.

~

Ignorant of the flying squirrel's impending arrival, though, Kei had made plans of his own...and as she sped back toward his apartment, he stood in front of a mirror as well, adjusting his finest clothes.

Today was a day for celebration.

Everything had gone perfectly. Jun's memories of Minori were gone, and every missing moment had been filled in with memories of Kei. Jun was finally happy. And Kei lied, as convincingly as one can lie to themselves, that that was why he was happy, too.

But, at his core, Kei was as selfish as anyone, and while his friend's happiness did make him smile, it was his own more tangible rewards which made that smile last. His own love life had been only marginally better than Jun's...but as of the previous night, that had all changed. Jun was his. He was loved, he was happy...

...and having had the best sex he could ever remember was no small bonus.

The spell had gone off without a hitch. Every memory fell in line...Jun completely accepted his new world...and Kei had met the surprise of each and every newly invented memory swiftly and deftly enough to avoid any undue complications.

Everything was perfect: though not so perfect as to save Kei from his worries...worries that this was all waiting to crash down around him at any minute.

But in the meantime, at least...today was a day for celebration!

As the Shiba Inu stood before the small apartment's largest mirror - fretting at least half as much over his clothes as over his thoughts - his red panda, Jun, strode into the living room, clad in nothing but his silk boxers, and paused near his preening dog.

"I really don't know what's up with you all of the sudden."

Kei turned from the mirror to face his boyfriend...and paused to assure himself, yet again, that that description was correct, "What do you mean?"

"Well..." Jun counted out on his fingers, "First there was the gift, last night...and then all that cuddling...and now you're taking me out to Fogo, even though we really don't have the money..."

"We have plenty of money."

"That's not the point."

With a smile, Kei turned again to the mirror, "Then why complain?"

"I wasn't. I just can't help but wonder what's causing this big romantic streak, out of the blue."

"Does there have to be a reason?"

"Yes." The red panda crossed his arms, tapping his foot as he eyed the dog, "I feel like I'm forgetting an anniversary or something."

"Well, you're not."

"I know I'm not." Jun confirmed, "Even if it wasn't months away, you've never been big on celebrating that kind of thing, anyway."

"All very true."

"So, then..." A half playful tone colored but did not completely overtake the panda's voice, "...did you cheat on me?"

"What?" Kei turned back around, eyes darkened by the accusation.

"I won't be mad if you slipped up." Jun offered a calming smile, "I'd just like to know."

The Shiba's eyes, though, remained concerned; this was the last thing he wanted on his panda's newly rearranged mind, "Do you seriously think I could only be romantic if it was out of guilt?"

"No." Jun held up his paws submissively, "And I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, either, Pup. I'm just trying to parse..." he waved those paws at his boyfriend, "...all of this."

"Well no, I haven't cheated." Not that he'd even had a chance in the sixteen hours they'd been together, but his new lover, of course, didn't realize that was the case.

"Good." The red panda smiled a wide and wicked grin, "'Cause you know you're supposed to share!"

Caught off guard by that twist in his lover's thought process, Kei's concern broke and he laughed aloud. Apparently, it was less of an issue than he'd assumed...and, again, he'd let his paranoia and his worries run away with him, "Yes sir!"

Behind his laughter, he wondered shamelessly if that was some sort of rule that they'd made in Jun's invented memories: a provision about how to include others in their 'fun.' And if it was, were there also memories of those rules being enacted? Swimming around in Jun's newly invented past...were there memories of threesomes? Foursomes? More? And if so...with who?

He shrugged it off for the moment, though...calming himself instead of risking confusing his new lover with questions he shouldn't ask.

But, as Kei turned back to the mirror, Jun halted him, this time in mid-turn, "So you're planning to propose, then?"

"No!" The dog jerked back around again, "Don't you think it's a little too soon for that?" Only once it had left his muzzle did he realize what he'd said: another knee jerk reaction that made perfect sense to him...but wouldn't to his panda.

"Too soon?" Jun scoffed dismissively, just as Kei had expected, "Four years isn't 'too soon' for anything."

Kei stammered back with his best defense, weak as it was, "It's not quite four years, yet..."

" Three years isn't too soon, either. And you're avoiding the question."

"No." Kei shook his head through a steadying breath, "No proposal. That's not even legal here yet, anyway. Remember?"

The red panda narrowed his eyes as he scanned the Shiba, "So you're seriously being romantic... just to be romantic?"

"Is that really so hard to believe?"

"Is it hard to believe that you don't have some ulterior motive? Yes." Jun closed the gap between them in a single stride, and kissed his dog on the nose, "But that's just part of why I love you."

Kei's golden muzzle split in a smile as he returned the quick kiss, "I love you too."

"MmHmm..." Jun raised an eyebrow, "I'm still keeping an eye on you, though."

Before the Shiba could continue their banter, his and his panda's ears were assaulted by the sudden and repetitive tap of furred knuckles on wood. Someone was knocking at their door.

With a sigh, Jun stepped away from his dog, "I'll get it."

"Like that?" Kei pointed at his boyfriend's solitary boxers.

The red panda, though, just shrugged and continued on, "Whoever it is has seen me a lot less dressed than this, when I was drunk."

"And what makes you think it's a friend at the door?" Finally, Kei turned back to the mirror to finish adjusting his clothes.

"Who else would it be?"

The dog shrugged, "Family?"

His paw on the doorknob, Jun glanced back with a smirk, "And what makes you think my family has escaped my drunken nudity?"

Kei chuckled softly, but not so much at Jun's joke as at its implications that the spell hadn't changed his friend. Gay or straight, he was still the same drunken, shameless attention whore he'd always been...and Kei didn't want it any other way.

Behind the dog, the doorknob turned...the door swung open...and two voices greeted one another in rapid, chipper succession.

First Jun's, "Reiko!"

...and then hers, "Jun!"

Kei froze: his clothes still short of perfect and his eyes unblinking, "Reiko?"

Despite everything else he'd worried over and accounted for, every other bit of his paranoid fretting...he'd somehow completely forgotten the most disastrous potential hazard: other people.

And all at once his mind was flooded with scenario layered upon scenario. How would they explain this to their friends, both mutual and personal? What would happen the next time Jun spoke to his family? Or Minori! What if Minori called or saw them on the street?

And what of Kei's exes? Jun believed they had been together for four years, but in reality, Kei had spent that time in at least five beds that weren't his own. If such facts came to light - that Kei had had sex with others during the four years he was supposed to be with Jun - what conclusion could he expect his panda to draw other than infidelity?

Left alone, Kei and Jun would be fine...but every new person added to the equation only deepened the risk. Family, friends, and exes...Reiko was only the beginning.

Reiko!

There was no time for this, now. All the other worries and roadblocks could wait. Reiko was here now, and she was his first concern. He hadn't planned for this yet, and he couldn't afford having her here until he had. He needed her gone.

In a rush, he turned and zipped toward his door, muzzle wide in a smile faker than he'd ever dreamed he could muster, "Reiko!"

Reiko returned the smile, no more genuine, in kind, "And how are my two favorite boys doing this fine, fine morning?"

The flying squirrel was a kind of bubbly Kei had never seen from her: cheery to the point of cartoonishness. Her eyes were bright, and her smile seemed to only grow wider by the moment: so wide, Kei imagined it hurt. This wasn't like her at all. Something was wrong; Kei was certain of it...

...and Jun could tell as well, "We're...good?" The red panda leaned away from Reiko, visibly unnerved by the squirrel's cheerfulness.

"It's uhm...kind of a bad time, though..." Kei wasted no time. He had to get rid of her, "We're getting ready to head out."

"Oh?" Reiko's head tilted with an exaggerated and playful sway of her tiny frame.

"Yeah. We're going out to see a movie and...stuff." Kei tried to maintain a friendly smile, but was nothing short of frantic, inside, "It might be better if you dropped by another time."

"Don't be rude." Jun interjected.

"I'm not!" Kei shot back, perhaps too vehemently, "It's true!"

"Yes, it is." Jun agreed, "But I haven't even started getting ready, yet. I've still gotta' shower, pick out clothes, get dressed, and all that shit. Since she came all this way, she can at least hang out with you until I'm done."

Kei looked from Jun back to Reiko, only to find her eyes already on him, and her smile twisting...growing more earnest, more genuine. It was real now, no longer the cartoonish exaggeration it had been, but it was dark and victorious...almost as if mocking the dog in his failure to be rid of her.

Eyeing the girl suspiciously, Kei reluctantly agreed with his panda, "...true."

"Good then!" Jun turned on his heels, "You two have fun. I'll be back soon."

The red panda left the room, but neither Kei nor Reiko watched him go. Reiko's smile -mocking, sharp, and deliberate - never faded, and her eyes and Kei's never parted. The silence grew tense, Kei's breaths struggled unsteadily, and as his paranoia ran too wild, even, for coherent fear...

The dog studied her face and her smile. She knew something. He didn't know what or how, or have any idea to where this would lead...but she knew something, and he was certain this was not his paranoia talking.

At length, they separated and the door was closed. Without a word, the two broke their gaze and padded deeper into the small living room, she to the couch and he to his mirror. There, he finished the last few adjustments, perfecting his outfit for the day. His eyes, though, were seldom on his clothes; they were on Reiko in the mirror, and on her eyes reflecting back at him.

In time, he left the safety of his mirror and sat down across from her in the rolling chair at his desk...silent and waiting. What could she know? How could she know? Would she say anything? What explanations and what defenses could he have? On the outside he was stoic, but inside he was, again...nothing short of frantic.

"So..." Reiko was the first to speak...

...and Kei only responded in kind, "So..."

"How long has it been going on?"

The dog was reminded of his childhood, and of a wolf pup named Seta.

Kei had always been a curious cub, and Seta, his best friend, was more than receptive. It started in a pool in the wolf's back yard: friendly paws and muted laughter. It continued at sleepovers, and even at school. Thanks to sitting at long tables, and not yet desks at that age, the activities of their paws beneath were easily obscured. But, as it continued, they grew ever bolder, until the day they were caught in the boys' room...by a red-panda.

Years later, Jun would apologize for running to the principal.

Nothing should have come of it, of course. It was, after all, only Jun's word against theirs. Kei, though, was young and gullible, and his principal was not against lying to manipulate him: 'Seta already told us what happened, Kei. You'll be in a lot less trouble if you tell us the truth, too.'

Kei knew exactly what Reiko was asking, but he'd learned long ago how to recognize when he was being baited...and to know when to play dumb. "How long has what been going on?"

"How long has..." Eyes narrowed, Reiko waved her paw, motioning vaguely around her friend's living room, "... this been going on?"

Kei simply shrugged, "I don't know what you mean, Rei."

"Of course you do. You're just hoping that I don't mean what you already know I do."

"Was that supposed to make more sense? 'Cause..."

"Oh, stop it." The squirrel cut him off.

Despite his best efforts to feign ignorance...Kei averted his eyes.

"You know, at first I was pissed off at you two!" Reiko continued, undeterred, "Well...no. First I was so shocked I almost peed myself. But after I went somewhere to calm down, then I was pissed."

The Shiba continued the fight, though it was quickly becoming clear it was futile. "Pissed about what?"

"The fact that you didn't tell me. I mean: me of all people!" Reiko put a paw to her breast in simulated shock. "It's not like I'd disapprove or anything. We've been friends forever!" She calmed herself, and nodded apologetically, "But, like I said: that was just at first. But then I thought about it for a bit, and I realized that all of this had to be recent, right? Like since Minori, at least. So it probably just hasn't been going on long enough for you two to be ready to share it with me yet, right? I mean, especially Jun! I'd imagine it would take him quite a while before he'd be comfortable broadcasting something like this. Especially considering-"

"Take a breath, Reiko." Kei cut off his chattering friend.

And the squirrel smiled back another wicked, victorious grin, "You first..."

Kei turned his eyes on his paws, one gripping the arm of his chair, and the other tremoring near-uncontrollably in his lap. Only then did it occur to him how tense he'd become. As Reiko's speech had dragged on, he'd held his breath in rigid anxiety, and now, was nearly panting as he'd finally begun to breathe again. Any attempts to remain calm and collected were pointless...

"And then, on top of that," Reiko began again, "I realized that - y'know, to be fair - it wouldn't have exactly been easy to tell me, anyway, right? You two have always loved trying to fuck with me about one damn thing or another! I mean, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have probably just thought you were pulling another prank on me. You know, like back when Jun tried to convince me you were dead...?"

"Wait..." The dog's shoulders dropped, only one part of her second monologue catching his ears, "...seen?"

"Hmm?"

"What exactly did you...see with your own eyes?"

"Well..." Reiko's wicked smile returned, sharper and more mischievous than before, "I came by this morning...and decided to take a quick peek in through the glass door, to see if you were awake."

Kei's eyes snapped open wide as he sunk into his chair.

"Yeah..." the squirrel held back a laugh. "You might wanna' make sure those blinds are closed tighter next time. Otherwise who knows who might be able to see you two in here...feeling up on one another...kissing...sucking-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kei stopped her again, "Nobody was sucking anyone's dick this morning!"

"Nobody was sucking any dick...this morning?" Reiko's smile widened as she leaned forward on her paws, "Well, now, that implies..."

The Shiba Inu could only whimper in defeat.

"...and I don't hear you arguing about the kissing and the roaming paws, either."

Kei closed his eyes and steadied his breaths. Getting rid of her had failed, feigning ignorance had failed, hiding his anxiety had failed, and there was no point in fighting it any longer, "...no. You don't."

Now, all that was left was damage control.

"So again I ask: how long?" The squirrel asked, but stopped him before he could answer, "Oh! I ask that, and: does this mean you two are like a couple, now? Or are you just fucking?"

"We're, uhm..." Kei sighed and relented, "...we're a couple."

"Whoa...I was really expecting the second option..."

As Reiko, too, deflated and sunk into her chair, processing the unexpected answer, silence crept around her and Kei. Inside the dog's head, though, things were far from silent. Yet again, his mind raced, speeding through each and every way this could all go horribly wrong - far worse than it already had - and any and all solutions to the problem...

Almost immediately, he considered the Eye. If he could just find some way to cast the spell on Reiko too, he could fix all of this immediately. But how would he keep her eating the herbs? And even if he could figure that out...how many other people would he have to brainwash, before this was over? Co-workers? Family? Friends?

No. That wasn't an option. It couldn't be. He would have to figure out another way, and soon. But in the meantime, until he could come up with a real solution, maybe he would be able to at least mitigate the situation at paw...to ease the squirrel's bruised ego, and calm her curiosity.

"Look, Reiko, I'm really sorry we didn't tell you, okay? It's just...well, it was what Jun wanted. This is all really new and weird to him, you know? And, couple or not, neither of us are really sure where all of this is headed." Kei paused, his eyes darting about in their sockets, and betraying his likewise frantic and racing thoughts. He had to make this believable; he had to convince her to back off, at least for now, "I'm not even sure if he knows what he is right now, you know? Like, does this mean he's turned gay? Or maybe he's just bi?" He smiled as warmly as he could, "It's nothing against you specifically. He's just not ready to...how did you put it: 'Broadcast it,' yet? And he just wanted to keep it under wraps from...well, from everyone for a little longer. You know?"

Reiko nodded, returning Kei's cordial smile, "That's just about what I figured."

"So you...you can just keep it to yourself, for now?" Kei's ears perked up as he sat forward, almost holding his breath in anticipation that it had actually worked, "You won't say anything to Jun?"

"Of course! But," the squirrel leaned forward expectantly, "you still haven't answered my question."

"Hmm?"

"How long?" She asked Kei again...

...but it was Jun who answered, "How long what?"

Startled, Kei spun in his chair to greet the red panda as he entered the room damp, still drying himself off, and in a brand new pair of boxers. Surprising even himself, Kei proved quick enough on his feet to avert extra complication, "She was asking how long it is until we have to leave...."

Jun tilted his head curiously, "Yeah...how long is it 'til we leave?"

"Well..." Kei scratched his neck, "The movie starts in less than an hour. So we're gonna' need to leave pretty quick if we want to get there in time."

Reiko chimed in, "What're you gonna' go see?"

"Come to think of it...Kei hasn't told me." Drying his ears, Jun looked from Reiko to Kei, "Hun?"

Kei jumped and his body tensed at the word. One word. One word and everything he had managed to accomplish was destroyed. On reflex, the dog's eyes turned to Reiko...whose own eyes left no doubt. She had heard it too.

Timidly, Kei answered his panda, but his eyes stayed glued to the squirrel, "Y-yeah?"

"I know we're headed to Fogo later for our little date, but what movie are you taking me to?"

"Date?" Reiko interjected, stoic, cold, and hushed.

"Hmm?" Jun turned his attention back to her.

"He's...taking you on a date?"

"I know, right!" Jun smiled near-ecstatically back at her, as he dropped the towel around his shoulders, "That's not like him, at all, is it? And he's been like this since last night, too!"

Kei fought to restrain a stutter as he spoke up, "W-we don't need to talk about all that, Jun..."

"Why not?" The red panda just laughed dismissively, "She'll think it's sweet!"

Kei barely contained a whimper as his eyes turned to the ground. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't make a scene of trying to shut his panda up, or of intentionally derailing the conversation. The harder he tried to fight it, the worse it would be. Not only would it confuse Jun, but it would prove to Reiko, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it was him and not Jun who'd wanted to hide this. But, at the same time, he couldn't just let it go on...

"So last night," Jun went on, ignoring his boyfriend's hanging head and the squirrel's shocked stare, "he comes home with this present for me. No special occasion, no real reason, just being...unsolicitedly sweet. And that was weird enough for him, right? But then later in the night he gets like crazy cuddly and affectionate, too! And now he tells me that he has this big date planned: a movie and Fogo!" He repeated himself for emphasis, " Fogo!"

Kei couldn't just let it go on. But what was the point in stopping it now? How could he repair the damage already done? How could he explain this away? He was frozen in indecision, and wishing more and more that the Eye was an option...

And while dog tried his best to convince himself that he wasn't on the verge of hyperventilating or having a heart attack...Reiko could only stare, wide eyed and jaw agape, at Jun.

"Right? That's how I felt, too!" The red panda threw his paws up in excitement, "I'm still not sure if he's planning a proposal, or trying to make up for cheating on me, or God knows what else. But I'm not turning down Fogo!"

"Wait..." Reiko finally managed to speak, "I don't get it. Kei said that...that you wanted to keep this a secret."

Jun, of course, misunderstood, assuming the squirrel just meant the present and the date, "Did he? Ha! No, I didn't say anything like that at all. That must all be him." He looked back at his dog with a smile, "He's just embarrassed! That's cute."

"So, then..." Though it took her a moment to steady herself, Reiko found her composure, shaking her head and leaning forward as her confusion gave way to excitement, "...how long have you two been together?"

"Let's see..." Jun's face scrunched up in thought, "Uhm...I don't remember the exact day..."

"I don't need it to be exact."

"Well..." The red panda shrugged, "in about two or three months it'll be four years."

Reiko recoiled violently, coughing and fighting to catch her breath...and over the noise of it all, neither she nor Jun noticed the audible whimper from Kei.

"Four years!?" the squirrel nearly yelped.

Jun laughed, taking his friend's exaggerated response as a joke, "Yeah! I can hardly believe it, myself."

Reiko's voice dwindled to a mutter, "I can't believe the two of you've managed to keep this a secret for four years."

"What?" Jun narrowed his eyes, confused at first before he drew his own conclusions as to what she meant, "Oh! We didn't tell you?"

Reiko could only shrug, speechlessly.

"We aren't keeping it a secret anymore! We told my parents this past summer."

She stammered breathlessly, "This is a lot to process."

"My parents?" The panda nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah. They freaked out a little bit, but they took it okay. Then again...that's mainly because it was Kei. You know how they've always loved him.

"Actually, I meant...the whole four year thing."

Jun arched an eyebrow, "Seriously? That's bugging you? Four years is a long time, sure...but you should have already had a vague idea how long it had been. After all, you were with us for our three year anniversary last year." He paused and softly corrected himself, "Approximate anniversary, anyway..."

Reiko might have recoiled, yet again, was she not so numbed by all of this, already, "I was?"

Finally, Kei managed to speak, "She was? She was! You were." Before allowing this to go on any longer, before Reiko finally snapped and turned this conversation in a direction he couldn't hope to explain to Jun, the dog needed put a stop to it. "Hey! It's about time to go, hun." He stood up and grabbed a hold of his panda's shoulder, "You should go finish getting dressed."

Jun looked at the clock, "Oh, shit! You're right."

Genuinely surprised at his own ability to remain calm in front of Jun, Kei patted his shoulder, gently pushing him back in the direction of their bedroom, "You get that taken care of, and I'll see Reiko off."

Jun flashed a quick thumbs-up over his shoulder as he disappeared into the other room, and Kei turned his attention back to Reiko. He was right to stop it. A minute later and things would have been much worse. Her eyes were locked on the dog, and her shoulders rocked. Her numbness had faded, her confusion giving way to anger and frustration, and any minute now she was certain to boil over.

His first and only thought was to get her away from Jun before she did, but before he could open his muzzle to speak, or even make the slightest of motions for the front door, the squirrel stood on her own and stormed toward it. Kei had no intention of arguing the means so long as she was leaving, and simply followed her out through the door, away from the breezeway, and to the side of her little red car...

...where she spun back around, in a fury, to face him, "Okay! What the fuck is going on!?"

"Listen." Kei held up his paws defensively, "I can explain."

"You can explain? You can explain four years of lying!?"

"Well...I..."

" Four years!" Reiko stopped him, a finger in his chest, "Four years!? You two have been together for four years and never bothered to tell me!? And what the fuck is up with him? Why is he acting so...so...nonchalant about it? He's acting like I already knew!"

Luckily, Kei had been afforded some time - the majority of Reiko and Jun's disastrous conversation, and the walk here that followed - to come up with a lie. It wasn't a great lie, but it was something. "Look...it's...it's Minori, y'know?"

"Minori? What does this have to do with Minori?"

"He's uhm...you know how hard that break up was, right? With Shin and everything? He's just trying to put that all behind himself and forget about them. It...it makes him feel better if he pretends like they were never even together." The Shiba shrugged through a wry smile, hoping to sell the lie by acting like even he didn't completely understand what Jun was thinking, "And...he's like super committed to the act, too. He even keeps it up when we're alone."

"That is the stupidest fucking lie I have ever heard!" Reiko's voice escalated to a scream, but she caught herself, preferring not to draw the attention of the entire apartment complex, "If any of that were true, then why, not five minutes ago, were you telling me that he didn't want anyone to know, yet? What happened to that story?"

Kei stammered for an answer, for any explanation to back himself up and explain the change...but to no avail. He knew this wasn't a good enough story...

"Oh my God. Minori." The squirrel gasped, a paw to her muzzle, "You and Jun have been together for four years! You two were fucking around behind Minori's back, weren't you!? That's why they broke up, and that's why you're coming up with all these lies!"

"No! Of course not! If that were the case, don't you think Jun would be trying to keep this a secret from you, too? You think he would have just told you we'd been together for four years if we had been having an affair?"

Reiko raised a clenched paw, single finger extended. But she froze there, her anger halting at least momentarily, "No...I suppose not."

"I'm telling you, Reiko. I know it's weird and everything, but this is just...it makes Jun more comfortable to keep up this act and-"

"No." The squirrel cut him off, "It's bullshit and you know it. Something's going on here." She pointed at their apartment building, "First I nearly catch you two fucking, and then you tell me that he doesn't want anybody to know. But then, the next thing I know, he's acting as casual as can be about it! He tells me you've been together for four years, and even starts making up shit that didn't happen! Some...some anniversary thing that I was supposedly here for, last year?"

"And I'm telling you, that-"

"No, Kei!" Reiko stopped him again, "I mean, I was expecting some crazy ass story. I half expected you to drag me out here to tell me you brainwashed him or something." She snapped her fingers, "Or better yet: maybe he saw me through the window earlier and decided to fuck with me, and you were gonna' take me out here to back up his prank. You'd try and convince me that you two really had been together for four years...and that I did know...and that you'd never even heard of Minori! But this? This is just pathetic! Nothing about this adds up, and I wanna' know what's going on."

Again, Kei's every attempt at speech failed him, sputtering out in a stammering and unintelligible string of half-words and grunts. He had tried his best; he had tried everything he could think of. He couldn't avoid the situation. He'd managed a lie - a delay until he could form a better plan - but was helpless to keep Jun from shattering it. And now, the only feeble attempt at a new lie he could muster couldn't even make it off the ground. What next? What could he do to keep this all from falling apart?

"That's it." Reiko threw her paws up in the air, "I'm tired of this, already. I'm gonna' go talk to Jun."

"NO!" The Shiba acted on reflex, reaching out and physically grabbing his friend to stop her as she tried to pass.

Silently, Reiko looked down at the paws on her arms, blinking before turning her gaze slowly back up to the dog's face. "You're scared," her voice was soft, but sure. "You don't want me to talk to him. I knew it! What's going on, Kei? You're hiding something from me, and I want to know what it is right now , or I'm going inside and talking to Jun."

"Okay! Okay..." What choice did he have? His every lie had failed him. His every plan had blown up in his face, or, at best, fallen apart before it began. But no matter what, he could not let her talk to Jun. He seriously doubted she'd believe him, but the only option he had left was the truth. "Look...he's been really upset about Minori, right?"

"Damn-it, Kei!"

"No! Just listen to me." Kei took a breath and tried again, "He's been sad, and I've been trying to help him through it. So yesterday, I decided to get him a gift."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"Well...you know that store he likes? The weird place downtown that I thought was a smoke shop?" The dog snapped his fingers repeatedly as he tried to remember its name, "It, uhm...sells weird pagan and hippy shit..."

Blinking, Reiko took a step back, "Wait...the gharial's shop?"

"Yeah..."

"Kei..." Her breaths heavy and unsteady, the squirrel's voice shot back to a scream, "What did you do!?"

"I wasn't planning on doing anything!" Kei barked back. "I just wanted to get him a present, and I knew that he liked that place. But then there was this weird purple kitsune behind the counter and-"

"A kitsune!?" Reiko stopped him, "Are you insane? You went to a magic shop and bought something from a kitsune!?"

The Shiba opened his muzzle to defend himself, to explain that he didn't understand it was a kitsune at the time, but before he could, Reiko's response actually sunk in. She wasn't calling him a liar, she wasn't laughing him off or dismissing him. She believed him.

"You...you believe in this sort of stuff?"

Reiko didn't answer. Instead she just looked, eyes set and sharp, at the apartment, where Jun was still inside, and then back at Kei, before angrily crossing her arms.

"Point taken."

Tapping her foot, the squirrel moved along, "The kitsune: did it have a name?"

"He didn't say."

"You didn't ask him his name." Reiko put her forehead in her palm, "Did you even bother finding out whether he was a zenko or a yako?"

"I don't even know what that means!"

"Of course you don't," she looked up again with an exasperated sigh. "What did he give you?"

Kei wrung his paws together, "He told me he could give me something to take away Jun's pain. But...but that to do so, it would have to take away his memories."

"Memories?" Reiko's eyes widened, "Of Minori..."

"...and Shin."

Everything fell into place. It all finally made sense to her: why Jun said they were together for four years, why he thought she already knew, and why Kei was so adamant to keep her from talking to him... "You replaced them!"

Kei could only hang his head in defeat.

"You replaced his memories of Minori...with memories of you!" The squirrel ran both of her paws through her headfur, shaking her head in disbelief, "I thought I was joking earlier, but you really did it! You brainwashed him!"

"It's not like that, Reiko."

"Isn't it?"

"No! You weren't here!" Kei snapped, finally, "He was hurting! He was heartbroken! And I helped him!"

"You helped him into your bed."

"And so what if I did? He's happy now! Isn't that what matters?"

"Not more than his own free will!" Reiko leaned toward him, "He didn't choose this. He didn't choose you! You chose this for him. You weaseled into his brain and violated him. You took away his freedom. You took away his identity!"

"Don't you think you're being a little melodramatic?"

"Am I? We're discussing a magic brainwashing spell...and I'm being melodramatic!?" she laughed weakly at the absurdity of the situation. "How...how would you feel if your free will was taken away from you? This should have been his choice to make, but you robbed him of that. You made the decision for him; you took away his freedom to choose, and you had no right!"

"His choice? His choice!?" The Shiba Inu shot back angrily, "His choice was to sleep with a picture of Shin beside the bed. His choice was to wallow in the past and never let it go. He was forcing himself to stay depressed! He wouldn't move on...so I did it for him."

"That's not what this is about."

"Of course it is!"

"No!" Reiko pointed at him again, "If that was all this was about, we would be having an entirely different conversation right now. The moral implications of taking away someone's free will for their own good... that is a debate we could have for the rest of our lives. But that's not what you did. The moment that you used this to your advantage...the moment you used this so you could get laid ; you crossed a line, Kei!"

"This isn't about sex, Reiko."

"So you haven't fucked him, yet?"

Kei hesitated. He couldn't honestly say no. "It's not like he's a toy! We're together, and he loves me."

"Because you mad e him love you!"

"No!" The dog pointed his finger at her , finally, "We've always loved one another. He's always loved me. The only thing that's kept us apart all these years was the sex. And all I did was make sure that that wasn't a problem anymore."

"And you think that's okay?"

"He's happy...he's with someone he loves...and all those feelings of pain and loss over Shin and Minori are gone. What could be wrong with that?"

"I can't believe you think any of that excuses rape!"

"Rape?" Kei laughed aloud, "Weird. I never heard him say no."

"Because you took away his ability to! And..." Reiko stopped and huffed in frustration, paws dropping to her sides and eyes on the ground as she shook her head, "...and this isn't doing me a damn bit of good, is it? I'm never gonna' get through to you on this."

"Probably not."

The squirrel looked back up, "Then I guess I'll just have to go talk to Jun."

Kei smiled the same dark, victorious grin that Reiko had earlier, "And tell him what? That I cast a spell on him? Why don't I expect him to believe you?" It was a bluff. That was, in fact, the last thing he wanted her to do. But all his hopes, now, rode on the chance that he could convince her it was fruitless. " Face it Reiko: there is nothing you can do. It's done. It's over. Let it go."

Reiko's mouth opened to respond, to fight back, but before she could, her eyes shifted ever so slightly to the side, and she stopped. Kei watched her shoulders drop and her aggressive stance relax, and he followed her eyes to where he saw Jun exiting the breezeway, in clothes even nicer than his own.

Despite everything else, the squirrel still managed to take note of how out of place it was, seeing Jun so dressed up. She was used to it with Kei, but seeing the red panda in even dress shirt was disconcerting...let alone a tie.

Kei smiled affectionately, leaving the side of Reiko's little red car, and meeting Jun at the nose of his sedan...with Reiko close behind.

Jun scanned the two curiously, "You two okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." The Shiba Inu shrugged, "You know how we get when we start talking politics."

Jun laughed, "Haven't you learned, yet, not to talk politics with anyone but me?"

"When was the last time I learned anything?"

"College?"

"I mean anything useful."

"Maybe last night?" Reiko interjected.

Jun blinked and turned to look at her, "Hmm?"

And again, Kei had to be quick on his feet, "Jun! We're gonna' be late."

"Oh, yeah!" The red panda shook his head and then nodded to their squirrel friend with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry we couldn't hang out longer! Later Reiko."

Again, Kei flashed that wicked, mocking, and victorious smile at Reiko as Jun circled and hopped into the car. He didn't say a word, though, and neither did she. The two simply stared at one another as Kei followed suit, slipping in behind the wheel of the car, and drove away...

~

Somewhere, Kei and Jun were leaving a movie theatre, en route for Fogo De Chao. They were still in their nicest clothes and enjoying their day on the town, spending money that only one of them believed they actually had to spare.

Elsewhere, though, a flying squirrel was pushing open the door to a small, ornate shop.

She'd been here before, both on her own and with various pairings of her friends...including Jun. She had always known, though, that she was the only one among them who believed. She felt that she was simply showing the appropriate fearful respect for this place and for the potential hazards of its merchandise. Her friends, though, treated her as if she were delusional...or childish at best.

She would be lying if she didn't admit to herself that today's revelation made her feel quite vindicated...

And that revelation, of course, was why she was here. A friend was in trouble, a spell cast on him to rob him of his freedom and his independence, and if the means to cast that spell found their origins here, then so, too, should the means to end it.

And only feet through the door, Reiko saw exactly who she'd come for: a bright green fox, smile stretched from ear to ear...

...and he saw her as well, "The squirrelbat has come! The squirrelbat has come!" The clerk clapped his paws together, and then extended his arms to welcome her into his store.

Reiko narrowed her eyes with a huff as she approached, "We're called flying squirrels..."

"Yes, yes." The fox nodded, "Flying squirrel, squirrelbat, Reiko, many, many names."

"And you're the kitsune?"

"Is the fox?" He tilted his head.

Reiko looked him over silently, before tilting hers as well, "I was told you were purple."

"Some days the fox is. Today is not one."

"Are you zenko or yako?" Reiko crossed her arms, intent in getting right to business.

"Many names the fox has, now!" The clerk's ears twitched as he stood straighter, counting off on his fingers, "Kitsune, Zenko, Yako...he thought he was a fox!"

Reiko simply sighed, "You just want to play games with me, then?"

"The squirrelbat expects different..." The fox leaned forward onto the counter, and his smile softened, "...from the kitsune?"

"I suppose not," Reiko admitted reluctantly. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"Of course! Mischief!" The kitsune stood back up with an exaggerated flare of his paws.

"No. I'm here to fix your mischief!"

"Apologies. The squirrelbat can clarify?" The clerk twirled his paw, "The kitsune does many things. Which of these was mischief?"

The girl clicked her tongue, "Probably all of them."

"But the squirrelbat refers to...?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Reiko shrugged sarcastically, "Maybe you helping Kei brainwash his friend?"

"No, no: cure." The shopkeeper held up a finger, "The kitsune helped the dog cure the bearcat."

"You call this a cure?"

"Of course!" He nodded happily, "Cure of broken heart."

"What you offered wasn't a cure."

"The squirrelbat offers better?"

"Better than rape?" Reiko snapped, "Plenty!"

The kitsune thought for a moment, "Hmm...perhaps she is right. Perhaps it was not 'cure,' per se. But how knows the squirrelbat..." he dropped a cloth pouch on the counter, "... this was not the kitsune's plan to start?"

Reiko stared at the pouch, taking note that she never saw him retrieve it. It seemed it simply dropped from his paw as if from nowhere. She forced herself to ignore it, though, and pressed on, "What's that?"

"The squirrelbat's mischief...or she would say: end to the kitsune's."

"How?" she looked back up at him.

"The dog also has pouch: herbs inside. The bearcat must have continued exposure...or cure fades."

"Exposure? You mean, like...eating them?"

"Yes!" The kitsune lifted the new pouch from the counter, "The squirrelbat will replace the dog's pouch with this one."

"And what is...'this one'?" Reiko narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"The medical word...placebo?" The clerk held the pouch up, looking at it as he tilted his paw side to side, "The dog will believe the pouch to be his herbs. He will be wrong."

"And why would you help me?"

"The kitsune never said he was..."

"Then what are you doing?"

The kitsune turned his eyes back on Reiko, "Does not the squirrelbat approve of mystery?"

"The squirrelbat doesn't want to make things worse with your...placebo."

"The squirrelbat has other option?"

She smiled proudly as if she had, indeed, determined one, "I could just steal his pouch..."

"...and the dog would simply buy more," the kitsune returned the smile in kind.

"So I'm just supposed to trust that you're a zenko, and that this is..." Reiko paused to correct herself, "...or even has been all toward some noble purpose?"

" Or yako...with mischief yet to do," the clerk shrugged. "No matter: the pouch will do as the kitsune says. Trade pouches; cure will fade."

"And how do I know that's the truth?"

"The kitsune cannot lie. Refuse to answer...yes. Answer falsely...no." He held the pouch out to her, "The squirrelbat's question: not if the kitsune is lying...but to what end the kitsune's truth will lead."

Reiko eyed the pouch silently for a moment, before looking back at him again, "But these will turn Jun back?"

"Yes."

She snatched them away, and pointed at him threateningly, "I'll be back if this doesn't work."

"This the kitsune knows...and he shall never see the squirrelbat, again." The fox nodded to her, "Good day, Reiko," and turned, disappearing into the back.

~

Kei wanted it...

The movie was over, their meal at Fogo - and Jun's copious helping of wine - had come and gone, and they were home, alone, in the privacy of their bedroom. The day had been everything Kei hoped it would be. The movie could have been better, but the company, and the soft black paw he held throughout, more than overshadowed it. And their meal afterward - especially the smile that it and the bottle of port brought to Jun's face - was more than worth Fogo's hefty price.

Kei, of course, drove them home, and before they were even to the front door of their apartment, Jun's drunken paws had found their way to places they ought to have waited for more privacy to be.

The dog, though, did not stop his panda. He wanted it.

The door was unlocked only seconds before his pants were unzipped. And even before Kei could drag his exploratory boyfriend to the bedroom, friendly paws had already lit upon the bare fur of his swelling sheath.

The Shiba Inu leaned against the wall just inside their bedroom door and watched silently as his slick, growing, marbled-red shaft was fished from its confinements. Through his fly, free of its sheath and of two layers of cloth, it emerged...only to disappear just as quickly past the black lips and white muzzle of a now kneeling red panda.

Kei wanted it.

He wanted to feel his cock swell in his lover's maw. He wanted to push forward, inching its tip for the first time into Jun's throat, to test his boyfriend's reflexes and resolve. He wanted to stare down and watch himself slipping between the lips of his formerly straight best friend, while his knot swelled in the panda's kneading paw. He wanted to cum...and he wanted to watch Jun drink every last drop...

He wanted to buck against Jun's willing muzzle for the very first time, his tip buried in his friend's throat as he let loose his seed. But just as badly, he wanted to be right back where he was the night before: holding the red panda's tail, and hearing him beg to be fucked...to be tied.

What better end could there possibly be to this day?

But something stopped him. Something nagged at the back of his mind...

'...rape.'

It was a conversation replayed. It was the words of a friend accusing him of using this situation, of using the Eye, to his advantage - to 'get laid' - and his own words in argument, assuring her that that wasn't the case. Yet here he was, mind near-completely consumed with nothing but images of pumping himself into his friend: of using him for release.

Was she right? Was this really all he wanted: a warm and willing place to bury his bone?

Jun's tongue wrapped around the dog's shaft, his paw squeezed the growing knot, and pre leaked out into his muzzle, as Kei's knees grew weak...

Of course not. Of course he cared about his friend. He only went to the shop, only did what he did in the first place, to help Jun. So what was the harm if he got something out of the deal too? Who was he hurting? The hungry mouth at his groin reassured him that it certainly wasn't Jun.

Jun groped him in the breezeway...Jun unzipped his pants...Jun pulled out his dick...and Jun, quite voluntarily, wrapped his own muzzle around the dog's throbbing, dripping, swollen dick. Kei hadn't forced a bit of this on him.

So then, why had he stopped? Why hadn't he forced his cock down the panda's throat? Why hadn't he lifted him up, thrown him on the bed, stripped him, and mounted him? Kei wanted it. So if he knew he wasn't doing anything wrong, what was stopping him?

...it was the date.

Of course, it was the date.

Today had been for Jun, not for him. He'd picked the movie Jun would most enjoy seeing, picked Jun's favorite restaurant, ordered Jun's favorite wine, and even played designated driver for the drunken red panda. So shouldn't this, too, be for his new lover?

Certainly, he wasn't hesitant because he'd put any stake in Reiko's accusations, but simply because he had other plans. That had to be it. Besides, he hadn't gotten his muzzle nearly familiar enough with Jun the night before...and had promised himself he'd be fixing that today...

"Now, now..." Kei reached down - though, through some effort internally - and pulled Jun's head away from his aching staff, gently bidding him to stand, "...you're all wobbly, Mr. Panda."

Jun grinned sleepily, "Am I?

The dog nodded, "I think we should get you to bed."

"...but I'm still dressed."

"I bet I can do something about that."

His paws on Jun's hips, steadying his steps, Kei walked them toward the bed and, as the backs of the panda's knees hit its edge, he effortlessly pushed Jun down onto it.

Eagerly, impatiently, Jun's paws shot to his collar as he landed on the bed, hastily loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top button on his shirt...but were stopped immediately by Kei...

"No, no," he pulled his friend's paws away from his collar and set them aside. "You just sit still. Let your Pup take care of you..."

Jun smiled and complied, putting his paws behind his head as he watched Kei's trail down his chest and stomach, "...hard to argue with that."

Kei showed no sense of urgency.

He didn't intentionally drag out the process...but why rush when a bit of waiting would only lengthen his panda's anticipation? When his paws finally met Jun's waist, he went about his task methodically - unbuckling his lover's belt, untucking his shirt, and unbuttoning and unzipping his pants - but kept his eyes on the red panda's face.

Only once Jun's boxers were exposed, did the dog finally turn his eyes down to the welcomed sight of tented, twitching silk. Kei's mouth watered...

Gently, he tugged at Jun's pants, the panda lifting his hips to help, until he'd pulled them down, along with his boxers...exposing the rigid, waiting prize, and the soft, black furred sack beneath. He wanted to dive his head down immediately, even feeling his neck twitch in momentary reflex to do so, but he restrained himself and continued the task at hand. Slowly, he inched Jun's pants and boxers down his thighs and calves until they bunched at his ankles, leaving his panda exposed from the waist down...

Kneeling at the foot of their bed, he looked up across the black furred legs before him and the sagging balls they framed...and directly into Jun's eyes. With a smile, he bunched the pants tighter around his friend's ankles, "...that way you can't run away."

Jun dropped his head back, eyes drifting closed, "Wasn't plannin' on it..."

Kei slid forward, hungry eyes locked on their waiting target. He slid his paws - a feather caress - up his lover's thighs, as his muzzle thread the gap between his legs. His cheeks brushed against the fur of Jun's inner thighs, and the red panda's scent grew stronger with every inch.

His paws found their goal first, his right wrapping around Jun's waiting member as his left slipped under his shirt. At the touch, Jun's cock stiffened and twitched, standing taller in the dog's gentle grasp, and the panda hummed out the softest of moans.

Inches from its intended destination, Kei's muzzle turned, tongue out and licking through the fur of his boyfriend's thigh, while his paw stroked Jun's leaking shaft. The Shiba wanted to move farther. He wanted to run his tongue along Jun's balls. He wanted to wedge his snout behind them and feel their weight on his nose. But he had all the time in the world. There was no reason he couldn't start here, working his way ever northward and feeling his panda shiver...teased and tortured with even those few seconds of anticipation.

But seconds were all it was. Kei's sincerest attempts and all his resolve could only hold him back for so long. And before he even realized he'd broken, his nose was buried firmly in Jun's groin. As his paw continued its slow, teasing strokes, his muzzle nosed in, rooting its way back and under his panda's heavy sack.

The warmth on his nose surprised him; he told himself that, surely, it was the same as any other time his muzzle had been in a similar position, but the heat engulfing him tonight was searing, suffocating...dizzying.

His tongue slipped out, exploring every hair, and every fur covered ridge and wrinkle of flesh around, behind, and on his friend's heavy, hanging sack. The smell and the taste were everything he'd hoped. He had caught whiffs here and there in passing over the years - one of the many perks of such an open and shameless friendship - and he'd always known that a more close and personal appraisal would be beyond compare, and hoped the taste would be no different. He was right. In fact, even the light coating of the panda's sweat, dampening his muzzle's fur and cooling his nose, was welcomed...was wonderful.

It was everything he'd dreamed and more. He was light headed to the point of dizziness, his muzzle was wet from sweat and drool, and he was overcome by his every sense...so much so that he made no notice, even of the convulsions and moans from the panda held at his mercy.

...but it was time.

As one final show of restraint, of a conscious effort to tease and torture, he ran his tongue down his lover's thigh, up across his hip, and into the fur of the lowest reaches of his stomach. But it was only the final vestige of his self control, before his hungry muzzle opened and his panda's dick disappeared behind his lips.

Its dribbling pre teased his tongue: a salty-sweet hint of what would come next. And it would come soon. The dog's licking, his nuzzling, and the slow but unbroken attention of his paw had already set his panda on edge...but luckily for Kei, the dog wouldn't be far behind.

As his head bobbed - lips numb from the friction of sliding flesh - his paw found his own neglected member...still hard, still dripping, and still hanging from his open pants. Feverishly, his fist raced along his own glistening, marbled length, as he felt his friend's throbbing like a ticking time bomb in his maw.

And blow it did, stream after stream of the panda's cum filling his mouth and firing down his throat as Jun reflexively thrust, punctuating his loudest, bellowing moan. And Kei drank what he could, what gravity didn't let slip through his lips. The bittersweet taste coated his tongue, the perfectly pungent scent filled his nose...and his whines struggled out, muffled and muted by the throbbing meat in his throat, as his own swelled, twitched and emptied itself onto the floor at his knees...

~

The scent lingered...

The taste was long gone - burned away by the sharp bite of carbonated cola - but the scent lingered, clinging to the fur beneath Kei's nose. He inhaled from time to time, muzzle closed, to bask in the scent: the scent of Jun's sweat, Jun's balls...and Jun's spilled seed.

It was all he could do to focus on the television...to keep up with the DVR'd show that Jun had so desperately wanted them to see. It took all of his restraint to not burrow his nose back into his friend's pants, even if not to repeat earlier events, and simply to catch a stronger scent. But he couldn't appear too eager, too entranced by something Jun believed he'd been sharing with the dog for years. And neither could he appear too submissive - rooting around like a hungry pup willing to please - after he'd made so certain to assign that role to his panda.

So for now he sat and waited, arm around his slowly sobering lover, and making do with the lingering scent on his muzzle's fur...

...when there came a knock at the door.

Kei was roused from his thoughts, clumsily grasping for the remote and pausing their show, "A little late for unannounced company..."

Jun sleepily sat up off of his dog, and stretched, before his eyes shot open, when it dawned on him who was at the door, "Oh! Shit. Yeah..." he smiled guiltily at his boyfriend, "...Hun?"

"Yeah?"

"I uhm...I kind of forgot to tell you that Reiko was coming back over."

"What?" the Shiba jumped, sitting straighter. "Since when?"

"She texted me while you were in the restroom at Fogo."

"Damn it..."

"Whoa. What's that about?" Jun squinted curiously at his dog. "I thought you two were friends."

"No. I mean, yeah, we are ," Kei stumbled over his words, trying to explain. "I just...I just don't like surprises is all."

"Bullshit! Since when? If you wanted predictability, you damn sure wouldn't be with me." The red panda stood and padded slowly for the door, "Remember our road trip? Remember the buffalo in Buffalo?"

Kei, of course, remembered nothing of the sort. He did remember a road trip they once took with a tiger friend of theirs, and he remembered the city of Buffalo...but he didn't remember a buffalo. Was his panda talking about a threesome? Did Jun's mind invent a memory of a ménage à trois with a buffalo in Buffalo?

Luckily for Kei, though, Jun made it to the door before the dog had to feign understanding...

"Reiko!" Jun met her with open arms...

...and she happily complied with the hug, "Jun!" Reiko stepped back and looked him over, "Don't you ever wear pants?"

The panda looked down at himself, as well, "If you'd like, I can take the boxers off too."

Reiko shrugged and smiled, "Wouldn't see anything new!" She turned her attention to Kei as she dropped her bag near the door, "Hey, Kei! You two have fun on your date?"

"Yeah..." Kei eyed the girl suspiciously, "...you can't go wrong with Fogo."

This was not the Reiko he had expected. Following their conversation earlier in the day, he was prepared for many things: an angry Reiko, fuming and indignant as he'd last seen her...a bubbly Reiko, disingenuous and exaggerated as she'd been when she'd first arrived that afternoon...or even a brooding Reiko, quiet and cold in the wake of her defeat. What he wasn't prepared for was this. She seemed happy - genuinely so - and it was as if their altercation that afternoon had never occurred. She was the same friendly, playful Reiko he'd known for years...and he was quite certain that that was not a good sign.

The dog flashed an uneasy smile, hoping beyond hope that he could convince her to leave, "But, you know...if you wanted to hang out, you should have probably come over a little earlier-"

"Really?" Jun interrupted him through a laugh. " Too much earlier and she might've interrupted something!"

"True..." Kei kept his eyes on the squirrel, gauging her reaction to even the passing mention of their sex life...but her gentle grin remained, unfazed. This definitely wasn't a good sign. "But my point was that we won't be up for too much longer, to entertain her."

"Oh, no worries: I know!" Reiko waved him off dismissively. "Jun already told me the same thing. But it's still better than me driving all the way home! Besides, we still have all day tomorrow to hang out, yeah?"

"...barring catastrophe!" Jun agreed.

"So," Reiko jumped over the back of the couch, landing right beside Kei, "what're we watchin'?"

Kei was forced to concede. He couldn't kick the squirrel out, or even let on how badly he wanted her gone, without raising too many questions with Jun. And she must have known that. Certainly, she was well aware that she had, yet again, backed him into a corner.

But where was her triumphant smile? Where was the mocking, victorious mood she'd displayed so glaringly only a few hours before? Never had Kei known such an arrogant winner, so bold and boastful in their victories...not even Jun. And seeing her, now, so nonchalant and carefree, neither troubled by earlier revelations, nor pleased by currently getting her way...it was disconcerting to say the least.

But Kei was left with no choice for the night, but to leave it be. Jun rejoined him on the couch, back in his Shiba Inu's arm, and the three friends settled into an evening of the boys' continued pursuit to clear out their DVR. It was a relaxed and easy Saturday night - quiet save for periodic explanations of the show's earlier plot to Reiko - which ended, in time, when Kei and Jun retreated to bed...

...Leaving Reiko, finally, alone.

This was her chance, but if she wasn't careful, it could end up being her only one. One wrong move, one mistake, and she could be caught. And if she was, there was no guarantee that she would ever get this opportunity again.

So she waited. She laid back on the couch, flipping through Kei's movie channels, volume too low to disturb her sleeping hosts...and she waited. Only once satisfied that they were fast asleep, and that they - particularly Kei - wouldn't wake to find her, did she finally go about her task. But she did so, still, with the utmost care and trepidation.

The squirrel retrieved the duplicate pouch from her bag and made her way to the kitchen. She had known Kei for years...well enough, she hoped, to be right about where he would keep the herbs. He'd told no one about them - even she was only told of the hypnosis, not of the how - so why would anyone be looking for the pouch? Plus, hiding it away in a drawer in his room or in the corner of a closet would appear too suspicious. If found there, it would likely just look like drugs, and would only serve to raise questions. So, certainly, it was hidden in plain sight...likely even close to where they were needed. And since the kitsune told her that the herbs were to be eaten...

She searched the kitchen cabinets door-by-door, careful with those whose hinges were in need of oil. At the first hint of a squeak, she would quickly swing open the door, having learned long ago that trying to open them slowly would only lengthen and heighten the creak. And soon enough, she chanced upon her goal...

...and her assumptions were proven correct. There it was, tucked away behind a few spice bottles, which the cooking impaired Jun would never have reason to move...far enough back to not be readily seen, but not so far back as to provoke suspicion if it were.

She took the pouch, replaced it with her own, stowed his away in her bag, and returned to the couch: to her bed for the night. All that was left now was to wait...to see if the kitsune had indeed told her the truth. Though it only occurred to her, now - moments from sleep - that she should have probably thought to ask the kitsune exactly how long she would be waiting...

~

Sometimes, change comes quickly.

Sometimes, magic and fortune, be they good or bad, intervene...and one's life can change in the span of days, hours, or even moments. Kei had experienced such a change...and Jun as well, though he remained unaware.

Other times, though, it is a far slower process. Other times, change drags out: a stagnant and frustrating battle of inches...and often, that change doesn't come at all.

Reiko woke the next morning to Jun jerking away her borrowed blankets, and demanding she keep him company while Kei showered. Luckily for her, she had gone to bed dressed...even though the boxer-clad panda had obviously not.

The day swept along almost as if nothing was amiss. Reiko's mood from the previous night remained unchanged, and she and her friends talked, joked, ate, watched more DVR'd television, and even played a few 'party games' on the Wii and Kinect - systems Kei had only bought for company. To the casual observer - or, more to the point, to Jun - it was simply that: three friends enjoying their Sunday off.

Within Kei and Reiko's minds, however - behind the smiles and camaraderie - was a different scene altogether. He was watching her every move, silently dissecting her attitude and looking for any clue as to what exactly she was up to...and she was watching Jun. But no change came. Reiko never dropped her façade, Jun showed no signs of recollecting, and soon enough, night had fallen, and Kei and his red panda retreated, again, to their bedroom.

Just beyond their door, Reiko, again, slept on their couch, having assured them that her first class started late enough in the day for her to stay, and that she would rather save her drive for the morning. And inside the room, no matter how hard Jun tried to keep his dog's attention...Kei's mind was only on Reiko.

Jun, since the Eye, it seemed, had become insatiable. He could barely keep his paws to himself, and, under any sensible circumstance, Kei wouldn't have dreamed of complaining. But tonight was different. Tonight was not sensible. The dog was so uncomfortable, in fact, that it was everything he could do to not push Jun away...and it was entirely because of the squirrel asleep in their living room.

There was no denying it any longer. She, and her accusations...had gotten to him...

But, come Monday at least, she was gone. She returned home and to school, while Kei returned to work. And for the next four days, Kei and Jun's new life was theirs to live alone, free of the scrutiny of others. Every day, the dog came home to his red panda, and every day it felt more natural...more right. Soon, even the act of preparing Jun's nightly dose of perpetuating herbs no longer marred the illusion.

And every night, Jun's 'appetite' returned. Kei was surprised, but he was more surprised with himself than he was with Jun. He was surprised that it even surprised him. After all, Jun was just as voracious with females. Why would magically induced homosexuality have done anything to curtail his needs?

And each night, too, was easier than the one before. Each night Reiko spent away from them, Kei felt farther and farther from her influence, her accusations, and her disapproval. Each night, his guilt faded. And each night, his mind weighed upon him less, as he sunk more and more easily into his lover's willing muzzle and hole.

Come Friday, Reiko would return but by then, Kei had long overcome the ill effects of her proximity...

She arrived in the evening, lies on her lips. A movie debuted that day. It was one she had no interest in seeing, but that she knew they did, and she was more than willing to pay and accompany them to the Saturday matinee so long as it gave her reason to stay the weekend. But this weekend, unlike the Sunday prior...the tension between her and Kei had returned.

The previous Sunday, she had been hopeful and sure - more easily able to hide her feelings - but now that a week had passed, and Jun remained as discouragingly entranced as ever...her hopes and her guise were fading. For the better part of three full days, she and Kei didn't speak a word of the issues between them, but their every glance - every sharp smile and hidden glare - said more than enough...

Come Monday, she was gone again, and four more days came and went, of the perfect life that Kei had built for himself. A routine was settling in: a simple enough one to adjust to, as well, as it was one which Jun had had four years of practice with. And without the squirrel to worry him, Kei's life was as it should be. It was, every night, exactly as it had been on their first Friday evening together...

...except that, in time, Jun was forced to grow accustomed to a more affectionate Kei than his mind had invented.

But on the second Friday, Reiko returned again. This time, there were no lies and excuses, only the hope that it would not seem odd if a friend wanted to visit three weekends in a row. Jun, though, welcomed her without question.

And her mood deteriorated steadily. So much so...that even Jun could see.

Two weeks. Two weeks, and the kitsune's false herbs had done nothing.

Her plans were failing. Her friend was held ever trapped within the Shiba Inu's mystical manipulations, and there was nothing she could do. And within mere hours of her arrival, she was sprawled out, sleepless, on the couch...while behind their bedroom door, Kei and Jun were each buried firmly within one another's muzzles...

~

Neither one had found their way completely out of their clothes before making it to the bed. Kei's shirt, though twisted and bunched around his chest, was still on, and Jun's boxers hung from a footpaw. The dog, lying on his back, was measured and deliberate, suckling and teasing the shaft hanging before of his face...while his own was assaulted by Jun, on his hands and knees above him, and bobbing his head feverishly along its length.

They had been at this for a while; both knew it would be over soon, and they had little interest in prolonging it...especially the Shiba Inu. His right paw, early on, had weaseled its way under his red panda's tail, freshly licked fingers probing the hole. The digits - twisting, turning, and slipping in and out of him - were, in fact, what had driven Jun on so: fueling the pace of his pistoning head.

And now, Kei's muzzle inched back to meet that paw. He let his lover slip from his mouth and licked along the tightening black sack behind it, as he forcefully wedged his shoulders and left arm through the legs barring his advance. Wasting little time, he licked farther and farther back, finally removing his fingers when his tongue found its target...Jun's waiting hole.

Jun whimpered and squirmed, no longer able to bend his neck enough to keep his dog's flesh between his lips, and watched helplessly as it slapped back onto Kei's tan stomach. The Shiba, though, didn't mind. He had no intention of ending his night there to begin with, and simply continued shimmying his way through his lover's knees, as his muzzle and tongue pressed harder and harder against the panda's slickening hole...

Other nights, he might have lingered there, his muzzle buried beneath that fluffy stripped tail until his panda could no longer control himself. Other nights, he would have licked, nuzzled, and pressed until his tongue was inside his lover, if only barely...while Jun's resolve broke and he finished in his own paw. Other nights, he would have reveled in the power he had to drive his friend over the edge...

...but tonight, he only required lubrication.

His nose never moving, soon, his entire body had slipped through Jun's legs, and Kei was on his knees behind him. Finally, he removed his head from its furry, striped veil, but only then so he could quickly shift himself into position.

Other nights he would have made the panda beg...but tonight...

Jun threw his head back, stifling a moan as Kei thrust in. The panda's paw shot immediately to his cock - still slick from his boyfriend's teasing - and he stroked himself with careless abandon. Both he and his dog had been teetering on the brink; it wouldn't be long, and there was no point in fighting it...

With Kei's every thrust, Jun bit his lip, yelping through clenched teeth to hold back his moans and his screams. And with every thrust, Kei slammed against him just a little harder...determined to make the panda fail.

"Come on," the Shiba grunted between his thrusts. "Don't hold back, baby. Let your Puppy hear you..." On any normal night, he yearned to hear Jun screaming his name, but tonight was special. Tonight, Reiko was just outside the door, and he knew she could hear it all, "Don't be shy. You know you just wanna' let it out." And he wanted her to hear. He wanted her to know that he'd won...

"But-"

"Scream for your Puppy!" Kei cut him off, as forceful as he'd ever been, and hammered into his friend his hardest yet...already nearly stretching him open with his knot.

And Jun complied. Muzzle agape, he let go: guttural, unintelligible moans interspersed between screaming his dog's name, and shamelessly begging to be knotted, tied, and bred. Kei, of course, obeyed without argument, forcing his knot into his friend and letting out a bellowing cry of his own, as they both finished in tandem...Kei filling his panda, and Jun staining the bed.

In time - past long silent minutes of cuddling, kissing, and panting in the afterglow - Kei shrunk and they separated, breathless and weak. The dog struggled to his feet, and stumbled feebly toward the shower - a shower he'd been overdue for, even before tonight's activities - and Jun gingerly slipped himself back into his boxers.

As the sounds of the starting shower echoed from the bathroom, the Panda, sticky and wobbling following his recent assault, padded out of the bedroom with a yawn. He could probably have used a shower of his own, but first, he could use a drink. And so, with a few short steps through the living room, he strode into the moonlit kitchen...

...where he came face-to-face with a scowling flying squirrel.

She held out a paw, bottle of water in palm. This wasn't her first night catching the show, and she'd come to learn how often Jun needed refreshment afterward. So tonight, since she was already in the kitchen to get her own, she was prepared for him, "It sounded like you two were enjoying yourselves in there..."

"Did it?" Jun took the water, laughing without even the smallest hint of shame. "Sorry. I didn't mean to keep you up. We're not used to having to keep it quiet."

"No. It's okay." Reiko shrugged noncommittally, "It didn't bother me, any."

The red panda hummed softly to himself, eyes squinted as he took a long, slow gulp of his water, and then pointed vaguely in the squirrel's direction, "Your mood says otherwise." He took another drink before setting the water aside.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

Arms crossed, Jun leaned against the counter opposite his friend. "I mean you seem upset."

"Oh." Reiko shook her head, "Well that has..." but she stopped. She was going to say that it had nothing to do with hearing their little exhibition, but that would be a lie. It was entirely because of that. Because it was yet more evidence that her attempts to help her friend were failing, and that he was still hopelessly under Kei's thrall. "...it's not because you were keeping me up."

"What's up, then? Any way I could help?"

The squirrel just averted her eyes, "Shouldn't you be getting back to Kei?"

"Nah...he's showering." Jun flashed a warm, friendly smile, "And he's all weak-kneed and shit, too, so he'll be a bit. So come on; let Daddy help!" He hopped up, sitting on the edge of the counter, "Depressed? Mad at somebody?"

At the word 'mad,' Reiko's eyes turned on him, only to quickly dart away.

"Ah! Mad it is, then. Who with?"

She simply wrung her paws together in silence...with no intent to answer.

"So it's Kei!" The panda smiled triumphantly.

Reiko blinked, her head snapping its gaze back to her friend, "How'd you know?"

"If it were anybody else, you wouldn't be too shy to tell me."

The squirrel shrugged stubbornly, "I might be if it was you."

"Please! Like you've ever been scared to give me a piece of your mind." Jun clapped his paws together and intertwined his fingers, "So! What did he do?"

"Don't worry about it."

"No, seriously! Tell me about it. Whatever it is, I'm sure I can clear it up. He might not pay any attention to anybody else, but he listens to me."

Reiko scoffed, "I doubt you'd believe me if I told you."

"You think so?" The red panda leaned back with a half-smirk, entwined paws between his knees, "You'd be surprised what I'd believe that boy is capable of."

"You're right about that. I would be surprised if you believed this..."

"Surprise yourself, then."

Reiko assured herself that it would be a waste of her breath - a waste of her time - to even try and explain this to him. There was no way he would believe her. Talk of magical brainwashing, and of the last four years of his life all being a lie invented by his own boyfriend? Who in their right mind would even consider such a claim?

But it had been two weeks. For two weeks, Jun hadn't had a single bite, or even a whiff, of the herbs supposedly needed to maintain this spell. So how long was this supposed to take? For all she knew, the kitsune had been lying to her.

She replayed his assurances in her mind: 'the kitsune cannot lie.' Bullshit. She knew enough about kitsunes to know that there was no such rule.

She had to do something. She had to say something. She couldn't just sit around waiting for a cure that might never work. It was up to her to do whatever she could to make him remember, to make him recall the truth. Maybe it was even what she was supposed to do. Perhaps the kitsune actually had told the truth, and the fake herbs were doing their job...but maybe it was up to her to spark the memory.

Reiko sighed and steeled herself for the conversation ahead; she had a friend to save. "You and Kei...you aren't really a couple."

"Sure we are," Jun didn't miss a beat. "Didn't you just say you caught the show?"

"Well...you are now. But you haven't been together for as long as you think."

"Oh? How long have we been together, then?"

The squirrel narrowed her eyes at her friend, noticing how receptive and nonchalant he was being about this, "Like...two weeks?"

"Hmm..." And Jun continued, ever cool and collected, "Funny. I seem to remember us getting together after all that bullshit with Kaori."

"That's because that's what he made you believe happened."

"Oh? So...he hypnotized me or something?"

Reluctantly Reiko corrected him, "...more like a spell?"

"So, I'm dating a wizard, then." The red panda smirked, "Who knew?"

Reiko sighed again, her paws gripping the edge of the counter in frustration, "I knew you'd just make fun of me."

"Is that what I'm doing?"

"Look! I know I sound like a crazy person, but he cast a spell on you: a real, honest to God magic spell." The squirrel continued unabated, despite her certainty that she would fail. She'd already come this far, after all: no reason to stop now. "Remember that shop downtown that you like? The one with the gharial?"

"Yeah!" Jun smiled a wide, happy grin, "Kei got me a gift from there week before last, remember?"

"Well that's not all he got. There's this kitsune there, right? And...and I don't know all the details, but he sold Kei everything he needed to...to erase your memories. And then he replaced them with this whole big lie about you two being a couple."

The panda crossed his arms again, his voice taking on a serious tone for the first time in the conversation, "And why, in the world, shouldn't this just make me think you're crazy?"

"I don't know. I..." Reiko hung her head, "I hadn't planned on telling you any of this."

"So you were just gonna' let me keep believing the lie?" And just as quickly, he shifted back to his mocking sarcasm, "What a great friend you are!"

"No! I was trying to break the spell," Reiko jumped to her defense, despite the obvious jocular tone to her friend's voice. "I found out about this like...the day after it happened. And so I went to talk to the kitsune myself, and he gave me these fake herbs that..." She jumped, standing up straight, " OH! The herbs! Kei's spell: it only works if he keeps feeding you these herbs. So the kitsune gave me fake ones to replace Kei's with..."

"Herbs?"

"Yes!" She turned sharply and swung open the cabinet to look for her pouch, hoping that a bit of physical evidence would help her case, "It was supposed to make the spell wear off after a while..."

"...and make me remember Shin and Minori?"

The squirrel froze.

'Shin and Minori.' He said their names. He shouldn't even remember they exist...unless...

Slowly, she turned back around, abandoning her search for the pouch, and found Jun smiling back at her: the smuggest most self satisfied smile she'd ever seen.

Though it took her a moment, she did eventually manage to speak. A full thought, however, was beyond her, "You...?"

The red panda shrugged, paws up and smile unfading, "I told you you'd be surprised!"

Reiko threw her own paws up, "Well, why didn't you just say something, instead of letting me blather on like an idiot?"

"Because that wouldn't have been as much fun!" Jun laughed. His voice, though, softened and calmed: a more serious - though not at all somber - tone taking over, "Plus, I wanted to see if you could fill in some gaps, for me."

"Well, did I?"

"A few, yeah."

"So..." Reiko shook her head to calm and focus herself, and then smiled thankfully, "The fake herbs worked, then?"

The panda was silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts before he began. He felt it best, after stringing her along, to at least offer her the best explanation he could muster...

"It was hazy at first..." he began slowly, "...kind of like I was remembering a dream. Then I started to remember...events with no faces, shapes with no names. And, at first, I thought I was just remembering things that me and Kei did, or flashbacks from some long lost drunken blackout. But then...then there was this little kid...a kid who felt like he was my son." He smiled and paused, looking down at his paws thoughtfully, "Soon enough, I remembered his name...I remembered his mother...and I remembered the whole three years we were together. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't how all of my memories of them had gotten traded out for memories of Kei...or why it just suddenly stopped. But...well, now I guess I do."

Reiko waited, making sure he was done before pressing on, "How long?"

"Uhm...the first hazy memories...? They started about a week ago, I think. But it's just been a couple of days, now, since everything's been back."

"Well why haven't you said anything?" the squirrel leaned forward emphatically. "Especially to Kei! I know I would have had a word or two for him, if I were you..."

"Aside from the fact that I was worried I was going crazy?"

"Sure," she chuckled. "Aside from that."

"I didn't know what was going on," Jun shrugged. "I mean...once I was finally able to parse out which memories were real and which ones weren't...I had a pretty good idea where they came from, but I still didn't know why all the memories of Shin and Minori just suddenly flooded back into my head like that..." He stopped, smiling at his friend and nodding a silent thank you, "...but now I do."

"So that's why you kept up the charade? You were waiting for answers?"

He held up a paw to stop her, as he dropped down from the counter, "Uhm...that's not quite right."

"Then why'd you do it?"

"No...I meant it's not right to call it a charade. 'Cause...that's not exactly what it is."

Reiko turned her head slightly, as if pointing her ear in the panda's direction to better hear him, "I don't think I understand."

"Need I remind you of the show you were just listening to?" the red panda pointed over his shoulder in the general direction of the bedroom. "I'm guessing that that was why you were upset when I first came in here, right? You could, uhm...tell how much I was enjoying myself? And that made you think your plans weren't going very well, yeah?"

Reiko nodded slowly, "Yeah...?"

"Well...what you heard: did it sound like a charade?"

Her brow furrowed, "...you're telling me that you really were enjoying yourself?"

"That I am," Jun nodded.

"So, wait...I don't understand." The squirrel looked away, eyes darting about, searching her surroundings for some way to make sense of what she was hearing, "The herbs worked. Your memories are back. B-but you two are still...?"

"We are."

"And you want to be? It's not some ploy, or game, or....I mean, you really want it?"

"Listen, Reiko," Jun stepped forward, resting his paws softly on her shoulders. "You need to understand...that I remember everything."

She looked back up, "Yeah, I know, and-"

"Nono. Just listen." The panda stepped back, but made sure to keep eye contact, "I remember meeting Minori over three years ago. It was a Sunday, and I was at the mall...but I actually met Shin first." He donned a nostalgic grin, "He was crying and lost. They'd got separated somehow, so I decided to help...and God , was she mad! See? She found us before we found her, and when she did , we were walking away from her...and Shin was crying. So she thought I was kidnapping him!"

"I remember that story."

"...but, see? I also remember a different...version of that Sunday." As he continued, his nostalgic grin never faded, "I remember that being the day me and Kei officially got together. We'd been, uhm, fucking for a year - exclusively even - but I was really just doing it for the thrill...for the fun...and because it was so much easier than what I'd had with the girls that came before him. But that was the weekend it became something more. That was when I finally admitted that I loved him...that he was my boyfriend...and that he had been for a year."

"Wait..." Reiko held up a paw to stop him. "This fake memory of you two making it official...it takes place on the same day you met Minori? Really?"

"Uhm...that happens a lot, up here, actually," Jun tapped his temple. "I think my brain...I think it picked dates that were already important to it - important to me - when it was inventing my new milestones. Easier to remember I guess? Or maybe they were just the easiest dates for it to latch onto." He shook his head and got back on track, "But the point is...when I say I remember everything, I mean everything. I remember meeting Minori and Shin, I remember the three years we spent together, and I remember her breaking my heart. But I also remember spending the last four years with Kei...and never having to go through that heartbreak at all."

"But that's...none of that's real, Jun."

"It feels real."

"But that'll fade. I mean: it has to." The squirrel smiled a wide and hopeful smile, "The herbs are working! The spell is wearing off, and just like your old memories came back, the fake ones will go away, soon enough. And then everything will be back to normal."

"You say that like you think I want it to happen."

Reiko jumped, surprised at his response, "Don't you?"

Jun paused and held up a finger, veering the subject, "You know what else I remember, Reiko?"

"...no?"

"The night Kei cast the spell." The panda leaned against the counter again, eyes on the ceiling, "I don't remember any...images or any real context. But I remember, word for word, exactly what Kei said to me. That little speech playing through my head: that's the only reason I know which memories are real and which ones aren't. Because I can hear Kei taking the real ones - the ones of Minori - away from me."

"That must be horrible."

"Actually, it's exactly the opposite." He looked back down, his near-unbroken smile wide and sure as ever, "It's...uplifting."

"It's uplifting?" Reiko repeated in astonished disbelief. "Hearing your best friend violate you like that?"

"That's not what I hear," Jun argued. "What I hear is...is a kind of love in his voice that I've never heard from anyone before: no family member, no friend, and definitely no girlfriend. I hear him telling me again and again that all he wants is for me to be happy, to be content, and to have the life he feels I deserve." He stood up straight, muzzle bent into a smile on the verge of laughter, "And that's what he did for me, Reiko! He took away all the horrible things that happened in the last four years, and he made my life...he made it perfect." And, indeed, the slightest hint of a chuckle escaped, "I...I have more than a few fake memories swimming around in my head that are very, very happy, but I know which ones are real and which ones aren't. And in reality, these last two weeks are the happiest I've ever been."

"But...but it's not real, Jun," the squirrel refused to back down. "These two weeks, they were all built on a lie!"

"No. It's perfectly real, Rei. It's real, because it wasn't the invented memories or the - admittedly induced - homosexuality that made me happy..." Jun paused for emphasis, "...it was being with Kei. It was being truly and completely loved for the first time in my life. And that's real enough for me."

"But...now that your memories are back...?"

"They won't change a thing. With or without them...that's not a feeling I've lost. Kei loves me, Kei takes care of me, and when we're together, I'm happy." The red panda shook his head and amended himself, "But, actually...you know what? More important than any of that: Kei is happy! And I want him to stay that way."

"Wait," Reiko held up her paws, almost angrily. "You're saying you're doing this for KEI!?"

"Of course I am! Kei...Kei made me happy, Reiko." He stopped and stuttered; his words were failing him. Just that simple phrase - that Kei had made him happy - it meant more to him than he could possibly convey. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a way how to make Reiko understand. "I...I can't overstate what that means to me, Reiko. You've just gotta' trust me, here. Kei made me happy - really, finally happy - and I want to return the favor. I really do intend to stay with him...and to make sure he stays happy, too."

"But he used you, Jun!" the squirrel shot back with conviction. "He didn't even hesitate to use this to his advantage - to use you - to get himself laid!"

Jun laughed aloud at his friend, "Oh! I'm under no delusions here, Reiko. I know that Kei had some less than pure motives in all of this. But at the heart of what he did, where it mattered, there were good intentions...and there was love."

"Good intentions? Love!?" Reiko couldn't believe what she was hearing, "He raped you!"

"I hate to sound clichéd, but...you can't rape the willing, sweetheart."

"But you weren't willing."

"Sure I was! I mean, yeah, maybe it was the...herbs or whatever...but I remember our first night together." The panda stopped and corrected himself, "Well...I remember both of our first nights, but I'm talking about the real one, two weeks ago. And I remember every night since then, too, and it has never felt like I was forced to do anything I didn't want to do."

"So...you're seriously telling me that he just gets away with this?"

"Oh! Oh, hell no!" He laughed again, "I fully intend to let him keep wasting his money on these...herbs. That is, of course, after I've had a little talk with this 'kitsune' about exactly which herbs he'll be selling him." He reached out and patted Reiko on the shoulder, "Which, by the way...thanks for the information on that."

"You're...welcome?" Reiko's face contorted in confusion, but before she could offer more argument, a noise caught their ears...

Across the apartment, a door squeaked opened and the dull muted base of paw pads on carpet thumped across the floor. Reiko's muzzle immediately closed and her head hung as she rested back against the counter...while Jun removed his paw from her shoulder and stepped away.

"Hun?" Kei stepped into the kitchen, covered only in a towel.

"Hey! All done?" Jun smiled a welcoming grin at the dog.

"I am," Kei turned his eyes on Reiko, noting how uncomfortable and withdrawn she was. "You, uhm..." he turned his head back to the red panda, "You ready for bed?"

"That I am!"

"Well come on then!" Kei glanced at Reiko again, cautiously, and then backed out and turned to leave, "You know that I can't get to sleep without you."

"That I do!" Jun chuckled as he watched his dog disappear, before lowering his voice and looking back at Reiko, "Sorry..."

She looked up, "For?"

"...I know this didn't go quite how you wanted."

The squirrel opened her mouth to speak twice, but thought better of it both times and shook her head. Her every argument was now moot. Licking her lips, though, she finally managed to say something, "...are you ever gonna' tell Kei the truth?"

"Maybe..." Jun shrugged, but just as quickly sparked a devious grin. "But maybe I'll cast the spell on him first! Let him believe that he's the one who wants to be on bottom for a while..."

~

There we go! The rest of The Eye!

Special thanks to Hammerfist and Dono for editing both parts of this for me.

I hope you enjoyed it! And wish me luck in the contest ^.^

I welcome any feedback! Comment or PM me here, or email me at frostborealis[at]gmail.com I'll also be getting myself a twitter and a facebook dedicated to Borealis soon.