[R. Kawai/Shogakukan disclaimer]




Laura slumped exhaustedly into the chair at her desk, flipping open her
treasured diary to the next blank page. "I sure am tired, Hamtaro," she
said. "I had so much to do today...and all that homework!" Yawning, she
wrote down the day's events. "But still, it was a pretty good day."

*Yeah,* Hamtaro thought to himself. *We found a whole bag of sunflower seeds
someone just dropped in the grass, and then we all did watercolor drawings
of our owners! Well, except for Boss and Snoozer, anyway.*
"Kushikushikushi," he said aloud, as he scrubbed his face with his paws.

The fifth-grader giggled, and leaned down to look her hamster friend in the
eyes. "Yeah, it was a pretty good day, Hamtaro. And you know what? I bet
tomorrow'll be even better!"

Laura put her pet back in his carrier, then turned off the lights and
crawled into bed. As she snuggled into the blankets to get comfortable, she
gazed across the darkened room at the cage and its small occupant. "Mm, I
wonder what it's like to be a hamster," she murmured sleepily. "Probably
pretty boring...not much to do but eat, sleep, run on the exercise wheel,
shred newspaper..." A yawn interrupted her musings. "Must be nice not to
have anything to worry about, though," she said drowzily as she began to
drift off to sleep.

"Might be nice to be a hamster..."


            ******


The morning sun shone in through the bedroom window, rousing Hamtaro from
his slumber. Rubbing at his eyes, he padded away from his bedding, pressing
up against the front of his personal ham-home. "Ahh, morning! Time for a new
day full of fun! ...heke?"

Something was amiss.

It took him a moment to realize what it was; Laura wasn't in her bed. That
was odd; usually he was awake before she was. The alarm hadn't gone off yet,
and Laura's mom hadn't come in either. "That's odd..."

Deciding not to worry too much about it until after breakfast, Hamtaro
grabbed a sunflower seed and began munching. He'd just finished his
breakfast when the alarm went off.

A moment later, the voice of Laura's mother called from the hallway. "Laura!
Time to get up, sweetie! It's time to get ready for school!" Her head poked
in the door, and she blinked. "Laura?"

The covers lay flat enough against the bed to convey the message that there
couldn't be anyone underneath them. "Hmm, that'd funny. Did she get up
early? Maybe she already left?" Her voice trailed off as she headed back
down the hall.

She didn't notice the bedsheets shifting slightly as something moved
underneath them. Hamtaro did, however; the golden hamster raised his nose to
the air. "Hif-hif...hif..." His whiskers twitched, and his eyes widened. "I
smell a ham-ham!"

Quickly, he pushed open the carrier door and climbed out, scampering across
the floor and over to the bed.


            ******


The air was warm and heavy as she woke up; the kind of thick, stifling
warmth that comes with pulling the blankets up over your head. Yawning, she
moved to push the covers off and get out of bed.

The heavy warmth continued to press on her. She blinked. Wriggling around a
bit, she discovered she wasn't confined like she should have been if she was
covered in blankets. In fact, she could move around fairly freely. She just
had a pile of bedcovers on top of her.

Something was not adding up here.

Laura wriggled a bit more, and pushed her way through one layer of cover.
Her senses told her it was thin flannel, with a familiar smell...her
favorite pajamas, she realized a moment later.

This caused her to stop short. *Pajamas? Familiar smell? Wait...what...?*

Panic setting in, she began to scramble more frantically toward the thin
slivers of light that could be seen now among the soft, comfortable warmth
surrounding her. As she approached, she began to hear a faint sound from
somewhere above: "Diggi-duggi, diggi-duggi..."

"Hello? Is anyone there?" she called out. Her voice sounded a bit odd, but
she couldn't tell why for the life of her.

The narrow points of light widened suddenly, revealing her pillows, and a
familiar furry head poked into the light. "Hamha!"

Laura blinked. "Hamtaro!?"

The golden hamster hopped down from the pillow, sliding across the sheets.
"Hmm...do I know you? I don't think I've ever seen you before. Whatcha doin'
in Laura's bed?"

"Hamtaro, you can *talk*!?"

"Well yeah, duh," he replied, tilting his head and sniffing at her. "You
sure you're okay there? I don't mean to be rude, but you seem a little
weird."

Laura edged backward away from him, eyes widening. "I...this must be some
kind of crazy dream...this is just a dream..."

Hamtaro looked at her with concern. "Are you alright? I'm sorry, I didn't
mean to be mean to you. I'm sorry I said you're weird. Hey, are you hungry?
I've got lots of sunflower seeds!"

"Sunflower seeds...?"

"Yeah, come on out, they're over by my carrier. Then you can tell me how you
got in Laura's bed. What's your name, by the way? Mine's Hamtaro...wait, you
already know that." He blinked. "How *did* you know that anyway?"

"Hamtaro..." Laura said, fear edging into her voice. "Don't you know me?
It's me...it's Laura..."

The golden hamster froze, and looked back. "HEKE!? What did you say!?"

"I'm...Laura...oh Hamtaro, I don't think I like this dream. What's wrong,
why don't you recognize me?"

The golden hamster crept closer, sniffing at her curiously.
"Hif-hif...hif-hif..." His eyes widened. "ATATA!"

"What? What is it?"

"You..." Hamtaro paused. "You do smell like...but you were in her pajamas,
so...but..." He sniffed again. "No, you definitely smell like Laura! Or
rather...what Laura would smell like if she were..."

"What? If I were what, Hamtaro?"

"A hamster."








Just a little diversion I'll be working on along as I plot out and write the
next chapter(s) of SMC. I figure someone has to do Hamtaro eventually, so I
might as well get the jump on it since I'm thoroughly hooked on the little
ham-ham. ^_^

...don't look at me like that. I'll have to kick your ass if you look at me
like that.

-------------------------------------------

Studio ELL: Back in Crack!
http://www.lurkerdrome.com
The Eternal Lost Lurker
lurker@lurkerdrome.com
http://www.livejournal.com/users/lurkerdrome



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