Dedications: For Kuro-neko in the season of giving. Merry Christmas, everyone.

--

The morning Sunday sunshine flitted flirtingly through the gap between the drawn curtains. A bright new day at 7am. Birds whistled about the day's surprises. And at a sturdy house in the district of Kanagawa, Japan.

A queen-sized bed stood in the middle of the fairly large room. It was ruffled and slept in. No figure in deep slumber was on it right now, but the sheets were still tinged with human scent and comfortable warmth. The walls of the room was covered with basketball posters and photos.

The door to the connecting bathroom was shut. From it emitted soft sounds of falling water, the gentle splashing as the droplets hit the tiled floor lightly and speedily.

Outside the window, some suspicious activity was going on. An occasional grunt and "Yeowch! Arrggh...ow ow ow..." could be heard before being stifled hurriedly.

The window was abruptly pushed open and someone started climbing in slowly, to be found on the bedroom floor in a split second later after a muffled thump as he hit the surface. He turned and directed his grouchy glare at something. A loud rustling and hissing prompted him to remember his mission.

He trod carefully across the room before stopping in front of a set of photos stuck with tape onto the wall. A small grin was exhibited as he cocked his head to enjoy the evidence of his growing intimacy with the occupant of this room.

Just then, a loud attempt to damage his eardrums sent him hurtling through the air and colliding against the wall behind him. Cussing under his breath, he gingerly went forward towards the bathroom door where the source of the blasting volume came from.

He cautiously slid open the door to come face on with a mad onslaught of flying water. Fighting to keep his eyes open, they lit up as he caught sight of the target of his objective. Producing a video-camera and a camera in each palm with a magical twist of his wrist, he tried to strike a balance as he pressed 'record' and aimed to take some pictures of the person standing, back facing, in front of him.

Amidst the carefree roaring of "Ore wa Tensai!" and dancing water, a flash of blinding light startled both present in the bathroom.

"Oops." Rukawa muttered as he realized that he mist have forgotten to switch off the flash of the waterproof camera. He stumbled backwards back into the bedroom as his target swung around and stared at him in shock.

Sakuragi stormed out of the bathroom after turning off the water quickly. He spluttered madly while dripping water onto the panelled flooring, "Kae...Kits...Kitsune!! What the heck are you doing here!?"

Rukawa blinked a little, not denying his crime, he took a couple more clear pictures of Sakuragi still in his birthday suit.

Sakuragi blushed furiously as he look down to observe his nakedness and scrambled to get a towel. In the meantime, Rukawa happily clicked away.

Sakuragi finally emerged again face-to-face with Rukawa in his after-shower garb, which was well, a towel hanging around his waist.

"You haven't answered my question! Rukawa!" Sakuragi argued as he tried to shoot his infamous killer glare in his current state.

"You saw. To take photos and record a short show of you in the shower." Rukawa answered calmly as he eyed Sakuragi's lower body with interest.

"The Tensai was not performing a striptease!" Sakuragi raised his hands to try and grab both cameras.

Rukawa's eyes glinted further as the towel dropped again, enabling a few more seconds of rapid photo-taking as Sakuragi fought to tie it securely this time.

"You're be so dead, Rukawa Kaede." Sakuragi's face was a boiling red and a stark match with his flaming hair.

"I'm gonna see it all soon anyway." Rukawa said in a sultry tone.

"Arrrggghhh!!!! Bake Kitsune! Who are you doing this for anyway?!" Sakuragi accused.

Rukawa gestured at the window. Sakuragi stormed over and pushed aside the flowing curtains to revealed Keax crouching apprehensively in the tree outside.

She beamed and exclaimed, "Hanamichi-kun!"

"I KNOW! You must be from that Bubble club!" Sakuragi nodded at his own intelligence.

"Er, it's Babble with an 'a', heh heh..." Keax acknowledged.

"Oh...wahahaha! I knew it! I was just saying it!" Sakuragi waved madly.

"Whatever. Just admit your ignorance, do'aho." Rukawa said before throwing the cameras to Keax who caught it deftly before they went crashing down 2 storeys.

"WAIT!!! What was that for?!" Sakuragi made a wild grab at the cameras.

"It's for Kuro-neko's Christmas gift!" Keax grinned as she kept those precious stuff in her backpack.

"Who's Kuro-Neko?" Sakuragi scratched his head, an image of a black kitten popping into his mind.

Keax sweatdropped before replying in all gladness, "she's my imouto and a great fan of you!"

Sakuragi's jaw dropped. "My fan...my fan...WAHAHAHAHA!!! The Tensai has a fan club too!!! WOOHOOO!!"

Keax took the chance to sneak back down the tree in hasty relief as the branches creaked threateningly.

"Hey wait! No!" Sakuragi hollered as Keax took off.

Rukawa pulled Sakuragi back into the dim room. "You are not gonna need this anymore, are you?"

Sakuragi did not resist as Rukawa gripped the towel and flung it aside.

--

Whew...well, it is different than the original one I wrote before my
computor crashed and all my stuff were gone.

^_______________^ Merry Xmas again!

Started: In my room--11:27am, Tuesday, 24 December 2002, Xmas Eve.
Finished: In my room-- 12:38pm, Tuesday, 24 December 2002, Xmas Eve