Thanks to all who reviewed chapter one! I wasn't sure how much people would like this fic, but the reviews I got were very inspiring! Thanks again to all of you, I love you guys, and I promise I will work on getting the next chapter of "The Untold Hamtaro" up soon!

"You remember me!" The knife was drawn away and a figure appeared in front of Boss. It was a dark gray hamster, a mite shorter than Boss, with a pronounced scar running straight down the middle of his face. Most of his left ear was missing, and his eyes were dark and mean. At his waist hung a small sheath, concealing his blade. "I'm so touched," he added, a smirk crossing his face.

"Why are you here?" Boss demanded. "Why now?"

"I gave you quite a generous head start," Scuzz sniggered, "but I've been on your trail for the past few months, and now I've got you where I want you. And you know very well why I'm here: to take what's rightfully mine."

"You're full of it," Boss growled, trying to conceal his fear. "She was never yours; and besides, we were separated those two years ago. I haven't seen her since. So leave me in peace." He said the words boldly, although he knew Scuzz was not that easily persuaded.

Scuzz laughed. "Leave you in peace, you say? After all the work I put towards finding you? Oh, ho ho, no. No." He snapped his fingers, and five other figures emerged from the shadows.

"I'd like you to meet the other CATS," Scuzz continued. "I'm their leader, now, you see. This is Rock," - he motioned to a tall, broad-shouldered gray hamster with white stripes below his ears - "Chez," - a short but mean-looking yellow-and-orange hamster - "Mitch," - a dark brown hamster of medium stature with a shock of black hair at the top of his head - "and Ralph," - a white hamster with red eyes.

"Oh yes," Scuzz rambled on, "and let us not forget Rei." Rei was a short, timid-looking, tan-colored hamster, obviously younger than the others, with soft, innocent features. "He's our newest member, still learning our ways." Scuzz ruffled Rei's short brown hair. Rei winced.

Something clicked in Boss' mind when he saw Rei. Something about him was familiar, although he was sure he had never seen the youngster before. Something about his eyes. They reminded him of someone he once knew.

"Now, on to business," Scuzz continued. "I'll tell you exactly why I'm here. I want Bijou."

All of the color left in Boss' face drained away. His heart and his mind were racing; Scuzz had hit him straight in his weak spot.

"B-Bijou," Boss stammered. "No! Your quarrel is with me, Scuzz! What do you want with her? And - and how do you know about her anyway?"

Scuzz chuckled. "Do you really think I'd go into this without first arming myself with knowledge? I've been spying on you these past three days, studying your habits. And, frankly, you make it quite obvious that you're in love with this girl."

Boss took a deep breath. Three days. That was why he'd been having those nightmares. Although he hadn't realized Scuzz was there, something in his subconscious must have felt his presence, somehow...

"What's it to you?" Boss managed to say, then cringed at the way his voice had betrayed his weakness.

"Doesn't it make sense?" Scuzz asked. "It's called revenge. You took my love away from me. So I shall do the same to you."

"She was not your love!" Boss shouted. "She didn't love you! She saw you for what you were, you son of a bitch!"

Scuzz snapped his fingers again. Ralph and Mitch leapt forward, each taking one of Boss' arms; then Rock cracked his knuckles and delivered a hard punch straight to Boss' stomach.

Boss clenched his teeth, but endured the searing pain without a sound.

"No one," Scuzz muttered, anger now presenting itself in his voice, "but no one talks to the leader of the CATS that way. No one."

Despite the pain in his gut, Boss chuckled and repeated, "You son of a bitch."

Rock delivered another blow; Boss grunted this time, feeling the sting course through his body.

"You're stubborn," Scuzz growled. "When will you learn? You can't best me. So here's my proposal. You will take me to Bijou. She will become mine. And I shall then leave you in peace."

"You won't come within ten miles of Bijou as long as I'm around," Boss snarled, the rage boiling inside him slowly replacing the fear in his heart.

"I can kill you now, you know," was Scuzz's reply, and to demonstrate he unsheathed his knife, tossed it into the air and skillfully caught it by the handle with his other paw.

"Go ahead," Boss growled. "Of course you wouldn't understand the concept of sacrificing oneself for a loved one, seeing as you have no loved ones."

"You do realize," Scuzz said, his eyes narrowing, "that even if I do kill you now, I can still get to Bijou?"

"I've spent enough time with you to know how your mind works," Boss scoffed, "and that you won't kill me, at least not now, because you want me to be the one who delivers Bijou to you. Well, forget it. There's nothing you can do to convince me."

"Don't push your luck," Scuzz snarled, pointing the blade directly between Boss' eyes. "I know you're afraid, and I am well-versed in manipulating fear."

"I'm not afraid of you!" Boss shouted, and he meant it. He wasn't scared anymore; all he could think about was losing Bijou, and he wasn't going to let that happen.

Scuzz grunted and sheathed his blade.

"I can see you're not going to cooperate," he murmured, "but I have my ways, so don't think this is the end of it. Chez, would you do the honors, please?"

Before he knew what was happening, Boss felt a sudden, intense pain in the back of his head, delivered by some large, blunt object, and everything around him faded into nothing.

The morning sunlight streaming through the trees awoke Boss the next morning. He was lying on his back in the middle of the woods; he imagined he had been sleepwalking until he remembered what had happened that night. For a while, he couldn't decide if it had been another nightmare, or if it had actually happened, until he sat up and rubbed the back of his head. It still hurt like hell.

"Damn," Boss muttered. "Scuzz...Damn it, I need to warn Bijou. And everyone else, for that matter! No...I can't let them know about all of this...How will I...uurrrghhh!" He stood up and rubbed his eyes with his paws, then opened them and looked towards the sky. The sun was making its way slowly up through the trees; it looked to be about ten o' clock. By this time, Bijou would most likely already be at the clubhouse; Boss turned and, ignoring the pain in his head, ran in the direction of his home.

The door of the clubhouse burst open. Eleven warm faces looked up expectantly.

"Boss!" Hamtaro greeted affectionately, a smile spreading across his face, "where've you been? We were all wondering why you weren't here."

"It's...uh..." Boss started, but before he could finish, Maxwell was at his side with a paw to his forehead.

"Hmmm," Maxwell murmured, "you do feel a tad warm. I was thinking you didn't look so good, like maybe you were coming down with something...You're a little pale as well. How do you feel?"

Boss shook his head, somewhat annoyed with this sudden onslaught of attention. The only attention he wanted right now was from Bijou, and what he needed to tell her was something he wanted no one else to hear. However, as he looked around the room, he could find no trace of her anywhere. But he took advantage of Maxwell's doctoring to make an excuse for running all the others out of the clubhouse.

"I...don't feel well, you're right, Max," Boss replied, and it was the truth, although it definitely wasn't a simple fever that had Boss feeling down. "I think I should get some rest...I'd appreciate it if you'd all go home...In fact, why don't you just stay home for a few days, give me some time to recuperate and then come back..." He was somewhat surprised when the others agreed without question, and one by one left him to himself. This was, without a doubt in Boss' mind, the best thing to do right now, as they would all be safer in their own homes. He didn't know what Scuzz might be planning next; all he knew was that Scuzz would use any and all available resources to bring him to his knees, and that however sordid it seemed, his friends were among those resources. Though Boss hated to give him credit for such things, he knew that Scuzz was the type of guy who could read one's weaknesses easily, and for a long while Scuzz had mocked him for having such a soft spot for his fellow hamsters - a "weak point," as Scuzz called it, but ultimately it was one of Boss' greatest strengths as well.

Bijou had awoken late that morning and was now rushing off to the clubhouse, eager to discover what was in store for her that day. But her jublilant expression was replaced with a concerned one when she saw Hamtaro coming towards her, a frown on his face. She slowed to a walk as he continued forward; once he reached her, he sighed and began to explain the situation.

"Boss doesn't want us around right now," Hamtaro muttered. "He says he doesn't feel well, and we're best leaving him alone for the next few days, at least." He watched the concerned look on Bijou's face intensify.

"But...we can still have fun, if you want," Hamtaro continued. "We could...I don't know...play a game or something. Maybe collect nuts for Boss. That would cheer him up, right?"

Bijou nodded, and agreed. "Oui, that is a good idea," she said. "I'm sure he would appreciate it."

"Great!" Hamtaro said. "Let's go!"

"No."

The two of them looked around and saw none other than Boss himself only a few feet away. His face was still pale, but his expression empty of emotion.

"Boss?" Hamtaro asked. "I thought you were staying home. You said you didn't feel well."

Boss grunted and replied, "There's something important I need to talk to Bijou about. Go home, Hamtaro. It's for your own good."

Hamtaro and Bijou both looked utterly surprised. Neither moved, not quite sure of what was going on.

"Bijou," Boss said, taking her paws, "go back inside. I'll speak to you there, in private." He turned to Hamtaro. "Didn't you hear me? Go home."

Hamtaro frowned. This wasn't like Boss at all. However, he slowly turned and began walking in the direction of his house, while Bijou did as she was told and scampered inside, closely followed by Boss.

Once they were inside, Boss sighed and looked straight into Bijou's eyes.

"Bijou, I'm so sorry," he told her. She blinked, confused.

"Sorry?" she asked. "For...what?"

"I...can't explain right now," he answered. "But whatever you do, you cannot leave this house. Stay in your cage. Don't even go to the window. You must stay hidden."

Bijou gasped. "But Boss...why? Whatever for?"

Boss put a paw to his face and sighed. "I'll explain it all later, once things have settled down," he replied. "But I will tell you this: you are in danger."

Bijou put her paws to her face and began to tremble. She could see the seriousness in Boss' expression, a grave seriousness that she had never seen before. It scared her more than anything she had ever witnessed.

Boss took her paws and tried to comfort her.

"Just do as I say," he told her, "and everything will be alright, I promise." This was the first time Boss had made a promise he knew he very well might not be able to keep.

She looked back at him with those deep blue eyes of hers, and he did something he knew he would not regret.

"In case," he began, "just in case I never have the chance again..." and without another word he leaned down and kissed her.

Just a quick note to my readers, I know so far this is heading in the direction of Boss+Bijou but actually I'm not sure how it's going to turn out at this point…I can't decide whether to make it Hamtaro+Bijou or Boss+Bijou, because…well, I don't want to give anything away so just review and we'll see how it goes!