Disclaimer: Characters and series are definitely not mine (pity...)

"Curse that damn blasted bastard of a rat!" the bespectacled man yelled as he made a lunge for Henry and missed, ending up sprawled on the hard floor as the latter scooted away out of the man's reach and stared back, almost like as if he was taunting the other.

More colourful language Fuji never thought Tezuka knew sprouted forth from the taller man as he got up with a grunt and resumed his chase of the ever elusive hamster as the animal weaved in and out of the furniture.

"This scene taking place before me is worth its weight in gold; I definitely need to remember it. I can't even begin to think how long it has been since Tezuka last used foul language, or if he ever did in the first place, for that matter. All that intense language for just one small little creature," the tensai arched an eyebrow as he looked on with none a twinge of sympathy for the other man who was in the midst of capturing their escapee pet and failing quite epically at the job.

A friend of theirs kept a family of Winter White Russian hamsters, the parents having recently given birth to their third litter of pups. Having been offered one of the offspring as a present, the two had ended up with a new addition to the family. Naming the small rodent an English name was Fuji's idea, a whim that Tezuka had simply given in to; not like it made a difference whether or not the hamster had an English or Japanese name, the man had reasoned.

Being the busy people they were, it was a good thing that the pet they kept was of the 'low maintenance' type, staying in his cage all day long, passing the time either in his small chubby hole as he snoozed on a warm self-made bed of sawdust or when he felt restless enough to tackle the wheel and try climbing the cage walls, gnawing the paint off the metal bars while he was at it.

It was a cute sight to anyone who saw the hamster as he climbed up, showing off his flurry white underside as he made his way higher and higher until he missed his footing and tumbled down to land on his rump or back with a plonk.

It's a good thing Tezuka wasn't stingy with the usage of Henry's bedding; the little fellow always had some of the soft material to cushion his falls and he got away with nary a injury or a broken bone, righting himself up within a second with a flip of his agile body before he was back on his feet and off on another adventure.

The two took turns taking care of Henry, changing the bedding, replenishing his food and water supply, bathing him and occasionally cleaning the cage. Right about this time now, Tezuka would have been giving the little furball a bath, placing him inside a small scoop filled halfway to the brim with warm soap water and scrubbing his fur, allowing the soap water to mingle in and clean his body.

Henry hated being washed with a vengeance; the first few times he had been scared to the point where he lost control over his bowels and left behind many pallets of poop floating about in the water, much to Tezuka's annoyance. Henry was pretty sure he didn't need to be washed; the constant grooming he gave himself should have been enough to keep any odour to a bare minimum.

Baths were bad for his health and sanity, if he were to sum it up as a whole; he was pretty sure that his life expectancy wasn't what it was before his oh so dear owners had introduced him to the horror that was the bath. This was the only time where he felt less than satisfied with them; he truly did love Tezuka and Fuji.

They took good care of him, making sure that his needs were always met and above all, showered him with love. Rare was it that he felt hungry or thirsty and did not have food and water to satisfy his hunger and quench his thirst. Whenever they had time, they would sit by his cage and talk or play with him, stroking his fur and tickling him at his favourite parts.

Well, reminiscences aside, he had decided it was worth incurring his owner's wrath if that bought his freedom from the bath, giving the former tennis captain the slip when the man opened the cage door, skipping out and scrambling for the nearest inlet where he could conceal himself.

Alas, Tezuka's dratted sharp eyes had spotted a tiny cherry pink leg left carelessly sticking out from behind the sofa's silvery metal legs and now the hamster was once again on the run, cursing himself mentally for being idiot enough as to choose an item whose colour was one of which he was ill-fitted to blend in with.

So busy was he with keeping track of the bespectacled man that he forgot that there was yet another person in the room until said presence made himself known as a pair of hands formed an enclosure about him and the furry hamster found himself lifted off the ground.

"Hai Tezuka, I believed you were searching for this?" the tensai smiled innocently as he held out a sulking Henry, if one could say a hamster was capable of expressing such an emotion. An exasperated sigh escaped from the other man as he reached out to take the animal, transferring the little fellow onto his palm as his other hand unconsciously started to move in a stroking motion, soothing over Henry's ruffled feathers.

The hamster latched onto one of the man's fingers and gave it a half-hearted bite before letting go to stare up at Tezuka, the latter returning the stare with one of his own. "It appears that he has made his point regarding the bathing issue I believe," Fuji commented and then shrugged as his partner shifted his glare to him.

"Care to inform me of anything else besides the obvious?" the man asked in a deadpan voice and received an owlish blink followed by the usual mysterious smile as the tensai remained silent. "You can stop giving me the look now," Tezuka said in a dry tone to the furry ball sitting on his palm as Henry let out a yawn, showing off his pearlies and blinked.

"I swear the animal is starting to pick up some of Fuji's mannerisms…" the man grumbled as he walked across the hall to Henry's cage and deposited the animal unceremoniously on his rump inside the cage before closing the door. Said animal got up with a huff, shuffling over to a corner of the cage to do his long overdue business before tunneling into his small house, curling up on the soft bed of shredded tissue paper and going to sleep.

"Why do I put up with this?" the hazel-haired man muttered to himself as he walked off to the kitchen to fix himself a cup of tea, Fuji following closely behind. "Because my man's a big softie at heart?" the azure-eyed man voiced with a chuckle. "… Less talking, more action, thank you very much," the taller man turned around abruptly and swooped in to capture the tensai's mouth in a fierce kiss, and none was said on the matter anymore.

~Owari~

Author's notes: Don't hit me! I know you are no supposed to bathe hamsters, ESPECIALLY LIKE THAT but yea...Many years ago when we still didn't know how to care of one, we had a hamster whom was subjected to the 'bathing routine', like it or not(my mum takes cleanliness very seriously)

Headaches, lack of inspiration and RL kept me from completing this until now but here it is, finally. I will get to the other plot bunnies I have eventually but don't count on me posting a new fic anytime soon. It's 2.44am in the morning on my side now and I am nursing one hell of a royal headache. Comments are love! Au revoir!