Chapter 25: Love Sickness
When Kaito woke up he was surprised to see that it was bright outside. Upon looking at Roberto's bed, he saw that it was empty. I slept late, he thought, scratching his back. "Ow…" he muttered when he felt a sting. There was a very small cut on his lower back. "Must've sat on a sharp piece of wood shavings."
Kaito yawned as he stood up. "Guess I'll go now." Before jumping to the window sill he checked on the dog, who, to his surprise, was staring at him on the bed. Kaito hadn't forgotten the dog's "attempt" to eat him the night before.
When Samba stood up, Kaito leapt to the window sill and squeezed under the window just as he reached him. He turned around when he heard the dog whining and tapping at the window with a paw. "Hmph… sucks to be big, huh?" Kaito teased.
Instead of going straight to the clubhouse, Kaito took a stroll around the city. Hamtaro had said that he and some other Ham-Hams would be by the "pet shop" he was shown yesterday. Kaito stopped when he saw another hamster.
She was wearing a mask over her face usually worn by people with a Cold, but Kaito recognized her as the snobby diva. But, for some reason, "snobby" didn't seem to fit her in his mind anymore as he looked at her.
Kaito was suddenly overcome by a feeling he had never felt before. He had a terrible urge to just run over to Sparkle and hug her… and that's just what he did.
"Sparkle-chaaan!!" Sparkle looked over at her name being called just in time to dodge Kaito's arms. "What the…?! Who are you?! Oh, you're that rag doll," she grunted. "Your nicknames flatter me, Sparkle-chan!" Kaito said with a big smile, hugging Sparkle.
"Hey! Leggo! What if someone sees?!" Sparkle yelled, trying to push Kaito away as she looked around quickly. "That's good. Everyone should see our love," Kaito purred. "Love?! No, no, no! I have enough freaky fans like you already," Sparkle growled, finally pushing Kaito away from her.
"But I love you, Sparkle-chan," Kaito insisted. "And I don't care! And that's Sparkle-sama!"
"Sparkle-sama."
Sparkle seemed slightly surprised that Kaito actually listened to her. She then made a sly smile. "If you really love me, then why don't you go fetch me some nice acorns, I'm famished," she said.
Kaito hugged her again. "We should go together!" Sparkle quickly pushed him off again. "I've got other things to do. Now fetch!" She demanded, pointing down the sidewalk. Kaito obeyed and ran off toward the direction she was pointing. "They're all the same," Sparkle chuckled, swiping her paws together.
Kaito was walking down the sidewalk with a big smile and a dazed look. Only when someone called his name did he stop. "Kaito-kun! Are you okay?" Hamtaro asked as he and a few other Ham-Hams ran over to him. "I'm fine!" Kaito answered happily.
"You sure? You were acting awfully strange with Sparkle," Oxnard commented. "Yeah, like, what's up with you hugging her so much?" Sandy asked. "Hugging…?" Kaito had a distracted look for a moment, before quickly shaking his head.
"That was weird…" Kaito muttered, putting a paw to his head. "What was?" Hamtaro asked. Kaito stared at the others for a moment, before shyly inquiring, "Did I do something really strange just now?"
The Ham-Hams nodded. "You were all over Sparkle as if she were a juicy sunflower seed," Oxnard said. Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for the simile, Oxnard, but I think more specifically you were all over her like you were in love," Maxwell explained.
Kaito was taken aback. "L-love?!" He stammered. "It's really weird you'd be interested in Sparkle-chan, especially after what you were saying yesterday," Sandy commented, cocking her head. "I'm not!" Kaito snapped, surprising the four.
"Then, why…?" Hamtaro hesitated. "I don't know… It was like… as soon as I saw her I couldn't control myself," Kaito explained awkwardly, looking down. "Sounds like love sickness to me," Maxwell said.
"Love sickness?" Everyone except Kaito and Maxwell echoed. Maxwell opened his book and flipped to a certain page. "It says here that when you suffer from love sickness, you are overcome by a deep love for a person, any certain person, and can no longer control your actions when around them."
Whoever wrote that book has a bee hive in their brain, Kaito thought irritably. "That's, like, got to be what Kaito-kun has!" Sandy exclaimed. "Yeah, poor Kaito-kun his suffering from love sickness," Hamtaro said sympathetically. Kaito was twitching with irritation.
"You should go home and rest!" Oxnard said to him. "Yes. It says here that love sickness eventually goes away on its own. The best cure is to stay away from the person that your 'in love' with," Maxwell agreed. "Let's go!" Hamtaro demanded before Kaito could object, grabbing his paw.
The four brought Kaito to Roberto's house. He showed them how to climb up the wire and get to the window. "It's kinda like how I get in and out of my house," Hamtaro commented when they were in the gutter.
Kaito stopped the four when they got to the window. "Hold on, that dog was awake when I left. We should be quiet," he whispered. "Why?" Hamtaro asked loudly. "Because it'll eat us!" Kaito tried to whisper.
"Like, Samba would never eat us," Sandy said, surprising Kaito. She squeezed under the window and called the dog's name. "What are you doing?!" Kaito yelled. Before she could answer, Samba jumped onto the bed and hopped over to Sandy, tail wagging.
Kaito watched with surprise when Samba licked Sandy and she laughed, petting his nose. "C'mon, he's not going to eat you," Maxwell said when everyone but Kaito entered the house. Kaito obeyed after a moment of hesitation. Samba was too busy greeting everyone else to notice him right away.
"Hey, didn't you say Samba tried to eat you before?" Hamtaro asked. Kaito nodded quickly. "It chased me around the house and was about to bite my head off when it caught me until… it stopped and started licking me…" Kaito's voice trailed off.
"Maybe he was just playing," Oxnard guessed. Awfully rough for 'just playing,' Kaito thought bitterly. "Or maybe he smelt us on you," Maxwell said. "Yeah! Samba knows us. Though I can't imagine why he was chasing you before," Hamtaro agreed, crossing his arms in thought.
"Yeah…" Kaito muttered. He decided to leave out the fact that Samba was angry because Kaito bit him.
"Samba, make sure you let Kaito-kun rest, okay?" Sandy ordered when the five leapt to the table Kaito's cage was on. Samba only cocked his head, still wagging his tail.
"Ah! Sunflower seeds! I'm starving!" Oxnard squeaked, jumping into the cage and headed straight for Kaito's bowl. "Oxnard-kun, c'mon," Hamtaro called, jumping in, too. "Guys, what if Roberto comes?" Maxwell asked, following them, Sandy right behind him.
Kaito slowly followed them, giving Samba a cautious glance. The puppy simply sat there, staring at them curiously. "Though I am hungry," Kaito heard Maxwell say when he closed the cage door.
Kaito watched them as they scarfed down his food. He didn't really mind. He knew Roberto would just give him more when he came home. Though, in his kingdom, civilians dared to ever ask a knight for something. In a kingdom or not, though, eating someone's food without permission was rude.
Kaito twitched his ears at a sound by the door. Looking over, he saw the doorknob turning. "Guys! The man—Roberto's back!" he yelled, still not used to calling Roberto by name. The Ham-Hams froze. "Quickly, in the house!" Kaito ordered, pointing to his small toy house.
Three forced themselves inside while one, Hamtaro, hide underneath it. Kaito looked back at the door as Roberto walk in, sighing. "Haruna drives me crazy sometimes… hmm?" He looked surprised to see Kaito staring up at him. "Weird. I don't usually see you out when I come home. Oh well, I guess it's better that you're up. We gotta go to the vet soon, anyway," he shrugged.
Kaito cocked his head. "Eke?" Roberto dropped his book bag to his bed and greeted the puppy that was literally going wild with excitement. "Hey there, Samba, let's get you outside," he said, following the puppy as he ran through the door.
"What luck!" Maxwell said when it was quiet for a few seconds. He poked his head out of the house. "A vet will surely be able to cure you of your sickness."
"Listen, guys…" Kaito began irritably, and then asked, "wait, what's a vet?" Hamtaro poked his head out from under the house. "Didn't you hear him? He's taking you to a vet soon. Vets can cure any sickness!"
"Though they're scary all the same," Oxnard muttered, shivering. They all hid when Roberto came back it with a calmer Samba. "All right, let's go. I'll bring Samba, too, for a checkup," he said, putting a leash on the puppy's collar.
Kaito stiffened when Roberto reached for his cage, but, instead of grabbing only Kaito, he grabbed the whole cage and lifted it. "I guess I'll bring the whole thing."
Kaito and the Ham-Hams were then carried out of the house and down the street, to the vet's.
Hmm… I think this fanfic is finally starting to feel more… Hamtaro-like… Not exactly what I was going for, but it's fun, all the same! Kaito acting all out of character around Sparkle was hard to type… a "together" guy completely losing it… Anyway, the next chapter will be from Roberto's point of view, going back to that morning. So, look forward to Chapter 26: Bad Idea!