Disclaimer: I don't own No. 6.
"Forgive me, My Liege. It appears that the bathing chambers needs cleaning. May I volunteer his Majesty to scrub the royal bathtub?" Nezumi drawled from the bathroom door. He was getting ready to take a well-deserved bath but the bathroom reeked with dirty clothes, not to mention the dismal state of their clogged bathtub.
"I'm sorry, Nezumi, but I need to get going now. Inukashi asked me to trim the long-haired ones. Remember?" Shion said while donning his coat. Hamlet seemed to sense Nezumi's annoyance and chirped at the leaving boy. "Pick a book you want. I'll read it to you later." Shion negotiated. After a moment, Hamlet squeaked and hurried his way amongst the books, already picking a potential title. Traitor,Nezumi thought. He'll probably pick Hamlet again. He noticed that Shion's impression of the lovely Ophelia was getting better after numerous reading sessions.
Nezumi always hated cleaning the bathroom, particularly the bath tub. This is not how I imagined spending my free day. He gathered the dirty clothes and relocated them to an empty box. Shion can battle those later. Sweet revenge,Nezumi thought wryly.
In retrospect, he is lucky that they found this place. That goes for the airhead, too. Not everyone can get a decent source of liquid life let alone a working plumbing system. His research told him that they're connected to an old but still functioning pipe line inside No.6. He deemed it safe and useful. After all, the damn city sucked enough vitality from its surroundings already. He might as well get what he can use from the gluttonous parasite of a city. Too bad the heating system is broken. Maybe he could ask Shion if he can fix it.
He scrubbed the walls of the tub, exerting more efforts on the dirt in the corners. They can't afford cleaning materials so he had to rely on brute force. After resorting to using his pocket knife on a particularly stubborn grime, he decided that it was a good fate that he was the one on cleaning duty. His Majesty's smooth hands will have no effect on this damn filth.
The rest of the dirt were easier to remove. He was on Act II, Scene 1 of Othello when he noticed the stagnant water under his feet. "Damn tub," cursed Nezumi. The tub is more prone to clogging now two men are using it. I bet it's clogged with Shion's hair. Too bad, he always liked Shion's hair, always soft to touch and easy on the eyes.
But instead of white strands like he was expecting, he was surprised to find dark hair, very similar to his, tangled in his fingers. "Wha…" He never suffered from hair fall before. Not only this will affect his acting career but it is also not a pretty sight. He doesn't want to be bald! Granted he may be exaggerating but the amount of hair in the tub was more than enough to block the water flow. It's that airhead! He stresses me to the point of baldness!
His agitation subsided when he realized that the majority of the hair ball was actually his leg hairs. His last part in a production demanded smooth legs of a woman so he was forced to shave his hair. He took a mental note not to leave his shaving mess in the tub next time.
When he deemed his work done, he started to strip, anticipating a good bath. With a deep exhale, this is not a sigh, just deep breath; he slipped into the rising water. He needed relaxation time, he decided. I'll never let you get filthy again, dear bath.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Nezumi? Please hurry up. I'm covered with mud. I want to take a bath too!"
I wrote this for my tumblr senpai (●´∀`●)