Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
All right! New story! So this fic is going to be based on the idea that was running around the fandom a while back, 'what if Saburo was a man in black just like Fuyuki originally thought?'
In the past I've had a lot of negative Saburo in my fics, because well, I do not hide my dislike for him as a character, so I decided that If I really wanted an 'evil Saburo' fic, I'd do it for plot and an actual reason this time.
And so this fic was born. If you are a Saburo fan, I had to take a lot of liberties with his character to make this fic work, so bare with me.
Also, this is primarily a Kurumois story because, I am rainbowkittyblossomwings, a giant Kurumois fan. Besides that...? What else can you expect from this story? Torture and character death will be in this fic so be prepared.
I hope you all enjoy it.
When the purple gas filled Kululu's lungs, the last thing he saw as he fell was Saburo in front of him, the boy's face covered by a gas mask.
S-Saburo... Wh-what...Why? Kululu wanted to ask, but he could not. Saburo's gaze rested on Fuyuki instead, as if paying attention to his best friend wasn't something worth his time.
How did it come to this? Kululu wondered. He was greeted by his memories of what had brought him to Saburo's house with the rest of the platoon.
It was three days before the incident. Saburo knocked on the door of the Hinata house, smiling as he carried the bag of vegetables and other ingredients Natsumi had requested.
"Come on in!" Natsumi smiled, calling from the kitchen. Saburo casually opened the door letting himself in.
He was quite happy with how things were progressing between him and the Hinata siblings. Ever since the Keronians had come to the planet, he had found that he was growing closer to them, almost to the point that they were irreplaceable friends. He would have never befriended the siblings so deeply if they hadn't both been friends with aliens, and he was honestly happy that he had gotten the chance to get to know them.
He had happily accepted Natsumi's request for him to have dinner with them that night, satisfied for another chance to see them.
"You brought the ingredients I needed! Thank you! You're the best, Saburo!" Natsumi said with a grin, accepting the bag he handed to her. She blushed a bit as his fingers grazed across hers.
"I hope Fuyuki likes them just as much as you do." For a moment Saburo chuckled a bit at Natsumi's enthusiastiasm, but quickly recovered.
"I'm sure he will. He's excited to have dinner with you, too. I mean, you've rarely ever had dinner with us, and, uhh... I'm super excited to see you." Natsumi blushed a bit, messing up the point that she was trying to get across, that she was extremely happy that Saburo had come for dinner. Saburo didn't seem to notice her blushing.
In the background behind the kitchen door, Giroro grinded his teeth. He wasn't as enthusiastic about Saburo having dinner at the Hinata house. In fact, he had a gun in his arms, ready for Saburo to make a wrong move, to give him a reason to shoot. He seemed absorbed in his jealousy at how Natsumi was acting toward the boy. But that was normal for him.
He had noticed how much closer Saburo and Natsumi had gotten and wasn't as pleased as Natsumi was. In fact, he was downright jealous. But there was nothing he could do about their dinner plans that wouldn't hurt Natsumi and get him beaten up.
"Do you need any help finishing preparations?" Saburo offered politely. Natsumi shook her head.
"It should be good. I just need to cook these vegetables and I should be done," she said. "It'll be just a minute!" She spent a few more minutes than necessary in a blissful daze, imagining a domestic life with Saburo and what would happen if she made dinner for Saburo every night. Saburo waited at the table for her.
Soon enough, Fuyuki and Keroro joined Saburo at the table and happily accepted Natsumi's food. Keroro complimented the cooking polietly and pigged out on it so he could go play video games with Tamama.
Natsumi, Fuyuki, and Saburo, however, did not have much idle chit-chat to talk about, Saburo being polite about the food and Natsumi gazing at him more than actually eating. Fuyuki glanced between the two, wondering if he should speak or if it would interrupt his sister's fantasizing.
He noticed how awkward Saburo looked at the silence and finally spoke, trying to make chit-chat with the only thing that went through his mind. "So... Saburo... I know this might sound odd, but even though we've grown a lot closer over the past years, I'm still pretty sure that Natsumi and I know very little about you. Where do you live? What's your family like?" He dared to ask Saburo about his life - the one thing most of them were in the dark about.
"Oh, Fuyuki... Are you asking because you're interested in my life? Are you curious about how I live?" Saburo gave a mischievously teasing smirk.
"Of course I'm curious! I'm sure everybody is!" Fuyuki remarked. Saburo paused for a moment, considering this statement. He then nodded, as if deciding something.
"Do you want the chance to learn more about me, then?" Saburo asked. "I mean... sometimes ignorance is a bliss. Some secrets are meant to stay buried, after all." The way he spoke, so grimly and mysteriously, made everybody even more curious.
"Yes. I want to know," Natsumi agreed, as if she was taking a sacred oath. She would learn more about the boy she had a crush on, and face whatever secrets he was hiding. Saburo's finally opening up to us! This is a great chance to learn more about him.
Saburo smiled. "Then how about I throw a party, to celebrate our newer, deeper relationship, at my house? You did express an interest in learning about it."
Natsumi smiled widely, trying to hide her excitement. "I would love that!" She had never visited Saburo's house, and she immediately imagined just the two of them at his house as the atmosphere grew more and more romantic.
"Am I invited too, Master Saburo?" Keroro asked, speaking up over his food. He immediately destroyed Natsumi's fantasies.
"Of course you are! It wouldn't be a true party without you aliens. And believe me, it will be a great party!" Saburo said. "And... I will tell you about me, and about my secrets. You'll finally learn all about the true me."
Keroro was just excited to go to a party. Natsumi and Fuyuki glanced at each other, both excited for different reasons.
Saburo left earlier than expected to personally invite each of the Keronians to his party to ensure that they would come, the way he left in a hurry. Promising to personally make sure every Keronian attended his party made it seem like he had something weighing on his shoulders that he wanted to tell them all. Something dark and grim.
Honestly it just made Natsumi find him even more hot.
"So, that's the story... So you want to come to my party?" Saburo asked, interrupting Keroro's and Tamama's video game fest. At first, Tamama was annoyed to be interrupted during his and Keroro's alone time, but as soon as Saburo mentioned a party he perked up. Drooling onto his controller, he imagined a giant cake.
"As long as you have snacks there I'll come!" Tamama chirped. He didn't really care about Saburo much, but he was happy to be invited to a party.
"Of course, I'll have snacks!" Saburo smiled.
"Good," Tamama smiled. "I'll eat them all." He imagined himself like godzilla eating all the cake buildings below him, and civilians like Angol Mois crying from having no cake.
He would live the dream at this party.
Dororo just cried a lot when Saburo invited him. "Y-you... remembered me?" he asked
"Of course I did. You're a good friend of mine as well." Saburo smiled at him as Dororo cried some more.
"Nothing will stop me from attending. I would be honored to go," Dororo smiled, knowing Saburo was a good person. Someone who remembered him immediately got his respect.
"So, Giroro, it would really mean a lot to me if you would come to - " Saburo finally told the red Keronian in Natsumi's backyard.
"Tch. I don't want to go to your stupid Pekoponian party. But... I suppose I'll have to be there to ensure nothing goes wrong." Giroro accepted Saburo's invitation reluctantly, only going to make sure Natsumi and Saburo didn't become closer. He didn't need Saburo to know that, though. Letting the enemy know that he was an enemy was a big mistake. He continued polishing his guns, worried about how much closer Natsumi and Saburo would grow.
"Well, what about you? You'll attend too, right? I'm sure Tamama and Keroro would love it if you came." Saburo said to Angol Mois.
"Sounds like a lot of fun!" Mois said after getting her personal invitation. She didn't know why she was invited but she was excited to go to a party nevertheless.
Saburo smiled as everybody accepted his invitation. He headed down to Kululu's lab. There was only one more person who he wanted to attend the party, and he had saved that invitation for last.
"Ku, ku, ku. Come in." Kululu let Saburo walk into the lab as soon as Saburo approached the door.
"Hey buddy, so I'm having this party - " Saburo was cut off as Kululu raised his hand up with a swift swipe.
"Already know." Kululu dismissed Saburo's statement. Kululu pointed to the security cameras in front of him. He had seen everything already happen.
"Figured that. Anyway you're coming, right?" Saburo laughed.
"Ku, ku, ku. Sure. I have nothing better to do." Kululu paused for a moment, swiveling his chair to face Saburo, "But... are you sure that you want to do this? I mean... telling them about Mutsumi..."
Kululu was the only one who knew about Saburo's secret and he had helped his friend hide it until that day. He was surprised, honestly, in Saburo's readiness to finally reveal his true identity as the famed DJ Mutsumi. Perhaps the Hinatas were more important to Saburo than Kululu had originally thought. "I mean, it's your choice, dude, but you do realize that Natsumi will be all over you even more than she normally is. You ready for that?" he asked.
Saburo gave a calm smile. "I think I'm ready for that. It's time to stop keeping secrets." He paused before adding, "But thanks for your concern."
Kululu turned around to continue his work. He didn't think it was a very smart decision to tell everybody about DJ Mutsumi, but he couldn't force his opinions on his friend.
It would be interesting to see how things turned out, though. And for that, Kululu was excited.
"It'll be in three days. I need time to prepare after all. My house is kind of a pigsty," Saburo laughed.
"I know," Kululu responded. It was one of the reasons he didn't stay there. Saburo gave another good, long, laugh before leaving.
At that, Kululu could only hope for the best.
It was an hour before Saburo's party, and Kululu was just finishing up work with Angol Mois. He didn't have high expectations for the party, nor the fact that he was going to lose the privilege of being the only one to know about Saburo's secret life.
He didn't particularly think it would be a good day, but he didn't expect it to be as terrible as it was. And it all started with a fight with Angol Mois, something that was extremely rare, due to Angol Mois's forgiving nature.
His fingers began to twitch as he felt a familiar feeling greet him - fear. He turned and noticed Mois was looking at him - well, glancing at him... or possibly the clock behind him; he didn't know. But he knew she was looking at him.
"Stop looking at me," he ordered.
Mois frowned. "I was just glancing at you."
"Whatever, just don't stare at me. I can't stand you looking at me with those eyes."
She shrugged, pretty used to his outbursts. It happened often.
"All right." She turned back to her work, typing a few things as Kululu watched her before pausing. For once, she opened her mouth to speak out against his outbursts. "That doesn't make much sense, though."
Kululu perked up. "Why not?" he asked.
"Well, I mean... You're allowed to look at me. Just yesterday, for example, I caught you staring at me, but decided to say nothing. Why am I not allowed to look at you?" she asked in that horrifically curious and honest tone that she always used. It was not an accusational tone, just a confused one. In fact, even at that exact moment, Kululu was staring at her.
Kululu felt his face heat up at her accusation, knowing it was true. "That never happened. Get those delusions out of your head," he told her.
"B-but... you totally were staring at me. Oh, and what about all those times that I try on costumes for you and let you take pictures?" she brought up sweetly. "Why am I not allowed to look at you even a little bit? You could say, double standard?" She she tilted her chin and rested a finger on it.
"I do not have a double standard. You just want to think that because you want me to stare at you." Kululu crossed his arms and turned away from her so she wouldn't see him blushing.
"I do not!" Mois insisted, standing up flustered and embarrassed. Kululu would have almost found it cute, if the point of the conversation wasn't that he was staring at her and not that she wanted him to look at her. He supposed that issue was something he would bring up at another time, when she wasn't accusing him of something that was sort of true. "You just don't want to admit that you've stared at me!" Now she was even raising her voice a little.
"I wouldn't ever stare at you. And you're not allowed to look at me because your eyes are freaky," Kululu told her, trying to defend his point. It wasn't a very good one, but it was a hurtful one. She would get blinded by the insults and forget that there was no logic in them.
She covered her mouth, hurt by Kululu's accusations and taking a step back. "M-my eyes aren't freaky... Well, at least I don't wear weird swirly glasses!" She wasn't very good at insulting people, but she made an attempt.
"My glasses are cool!" Kululu defended looking at her with a frown, pretending to be hurt.
"Well, I've seen a lot of them since you look at me so often." She crossed her arms as she glared at Kululu.
"I told you. I. Do. Not. Stare. At. You. Ever," he reiterated. "And if I did stare at you, it'd only be because I was wondering how a being can be as scary as you. If I had to stare at anyone, you'd be the last on the list, because you are by far the least appealing person ever to me. Ku, ku, ku."
"Least appealing? D-do you mean I'm ugly?" Mois asked, her eyes sparkling with tiny little tears.
"...Sure." Kululu lied, he shook his head realizing that his words weren't that convincing. "I don't go for the terrifying type. I mean... I suppose some people have a kink for having their life flash before their eyes... B-but I'm not one of them. I'd only look at you out of curiosity of how something could be as unappealing as you. The most I'd imagine between us is me having a nice knife in my hand learning all the secrets your Angolian body possesses." Kululu gave an evil smirk at Angol Mois's shock at the insults.
"Wait, are you staring at me because you're sizing me up for some experiment?" She stepped back in shock for a moment.
"Yes," Kululu responded, realizing that she had fallen for it. He felt calmer as she turned away and began walking toward the door.
"I have to go," she decided, wiping a few tears away from her eyes. She no longer had that atmosphere around her like she was fighting his words. She seemed just done with his insults. He would have counted that as a victory, finally having her leave on her own, but something felt a little bit odd.
"Ku, you haven't finished your work, though," he pointed out.
"I'm done with this. If you really want to be alone, you can be alone for all I care." Her voice squeaked. She seemed really hurt. "Sometimes I don't even know why we're friends."
Kululu paused, about to open his mouth. He blushed as he let it sink in that she had refereed to him as a friend. He wasn't used to people expressing that they cared for him. He didn't hear it from Mois often, or ever that she honestly thought of him as a friend. He was caught off-guard that even when she was angry at him, she could think of him as a friend.
It made his heartbeat quicken, and that warm squishy feeling that he hated return to him. Some of his anger evaporated for a moment. He almost forgot that he had insulted her and that they had been fighting.
"Um... well, see you at Saburo's party, then?" he asked, trying to be causal. He didn't have many people skills and he didn't know how to smooth things over with her. Apparently "sorry" wasn't in his vocabulary.
"I thought you didn't want me seeing you at all, Kululu. Or vise-versa," she pointed out, turning toward him with a cold look.
"I don't. Of course I don't," he denied.
"Good, because I don't want to see you, either. Right now, I need some time alone, because at the moment I really hate you," she off-handily remarked.
The warm squishy feeling in Kululu vanished when he registered those words. He prickled up in anger - not toward being told he was hated; no, he was used to that - but being hurt by someone he trusted so greatly, someone he thought could never hate him. He needed the last line in this conversation. He wouldn't let anyone hurt him. "Good, because I hate you too! You already knew that though, I'm sure." He would not be the one to go down in a fight of insults.
He expected Mois to retort something back, but she ran out of the room crying.
Instead of a feeling of superiority, he just felt terrible. An immediate wave of guilt rushing over him. I forgot that Mois is delicate... Crud, I made her cry... He put his hand on his forehead, wondering what to do. I guess I'll try to make it right after the party with Saburo. I have to deal with him first. Ku. Maybe I'll offer her a present to make her feel better. Yeah, if I give her enough cool planetary-destruction-related inventions, I'm sure she'll be all better. Anything over actually apologizing. He knew he was the one in the wrong. He had been staring at her yesterday, and more than yesterday. Sometimes he himself hadn't even realized he was staring at her, but he really didn't want to address that with Mois. He didn't want her questioning why he was staring at her.
He really hoped that he'd be a better friend to Saburo that day than he was to Mois. He had really screwed up.
Kululu entered Saburo's house a little later than the others, surprised at how the place had been cleaned up. He looked around, but didn't see Mois anywhere. Ku. Guess she really didn't come. I hope she's not at home crying. He wouldn't be able to enjoy himself knowing she was back at the Hinata house crying because she thought he hated her.
"Hey, Kululu!" Saburo waved and smiled. He looked around for a moment, "Mois's not with you?" Kululu frowned at the fact that Saburo assumed that Mois would be with him. Just because they worked together didn't mean that they were inseparable. Did Saburo think that Mois and him were a thing or something? Saburo didn't really see the two of them interact much.
Kululu was sure his friend would probably tease him about his fear or friendship with her if he did.
Oh wait. He probably just thought we'd arrive together because we were finishing up work, Kululu realized. It wasn't something on Saburo's part implying that they were together or anything. It was just common sense that they'd arrive together.
"No." Kululu tried to keep the anger out of his voice, the anger at himself for how he had handled the situation with Mois. He failed.
"You sound angry... What happened?" Saburo asked, picking up on the irritation.
"...Mois and I got in a fight," he admitted grudgingly. Even though Saburo was his best friend, he still didn't really want to talk to him about his relationship with Mois.
"What? Really?" Saburo was a bit surprised that Mois could even get in a fight. She seemed so innocent and forgiving, the least likely to ever get angry at Kululu "And you're still angry with her?"
"...Yes," Kululu lied, making it seem like he was angry with Mois instead of himself.
"What did you get in a fight about?" Saburo asked, a tiny bit curious. It must have been big if both of them were so mad.
"Nothing much. Just tech stuff," Kululu lied. He really didn't want to get into the details with Saburo. It wasn't that he didn't trust the guy, it was just that he didn't really want to talk about his relationship with Angol Mois with anyone. "She insulted the laptop I gave her thought it should have a higher processor. I said, 'it's already got the best processor' and then we got in a fight over which technology was better, Keronian or Angolian," he made up.
Saburo nodded as he listened. "That's kind of petty to get in a fight about. But I guess you both were pretty passionate about your various technology," he laughed, but his laugh was interrupted.
"Saburo! Come over here!" Natsumi called over to get his attention. Saburo smiled.
"Got to go, have to attend to other guests. Great you could make it, though," Saburo smiled. Kululu nodded as Saburo left to serve Natsumi some more cake before it was all devoured by Tamama.
Kululu was mildly disappointed at not being more of a priority than Natsumi. He assumed Saburo wanted to impress her and was concerned with what her reaction would be to the truth. After all, her life would be shaken up the most from learning the truth.
I guess I really didn't see what was happening between Natsumi and Saburo... Maybe they are actually getting close. He seems to care for her, Kululu noticed. He had always joked about their relationship and never actually believed it would be a thing. But it seemed like it had an actual chance now. Keroro interrupted his thoughts.
"You got in a fight with Lady Mois and the planet's still intact?" Keroro had overheard Kululu and Saburo's conversation and seemed flabbergasted.
"Yeah. She mostly just yelled," Kululu admitted. Honestly, he was surprised, too, that she hadn't taken it as an opportunity to destroy everything in her path.
"You are a lucky guy," Keroro shrugged.
"Oh, Sarge, I'm sure you're exaggerating," Fuyuki laughed. Keroro looked absolutely serious for once, though.
"I have seen stars disappear just so she could have fun. I am very surprised that her being angry didn't destroy this whole planet. Usually, she at least makes an attempt on its life," Keroro pointed out. Fuyuki faltered in his laughter. He knew this was also true. Fuyuki gave a look at Kululu that seemed to read, Why did you try to tick off the planet-destroyer? We could have all died. He seemed to be experiencing mortal fear at the near-death experience.
Kululu avoided his gaze, feeling worse at the fact that she had been so hurt that she hadn't even attempted to kill him. That must have meant that at some point she had honestly cared about his life. He had probably screwed that up.
He moped around for a bit at the party as Natsumi flirted with Saburo, much to Giroro's displeasure. He was so miserable he couldn't even make fun of Giroro's failed attempts at getting Natsumi's attention.
Tamama ate all the cake, although he, too, was disappointed that Angol Mois wasn't around, having planned to rub it in her face that he would eat all her cake.
Finally, Saburo sat everyone down on his couch. "I think it's time to get to the point, why I threw this entire party... To tell you about my life and what I've been hiding from you. I know you only asked to learn more about me, but the truth is, I've been hiding something from you." Saburo glanced to Kululu and gave him a smile. Kululu almost thought for a moment that it was a smirk, but he was sure that it was a smile, as if Saburo was asking for his support.
"You've been hiding something from us?" Natsumi asked. It was as if she fell even more in love with him for being mysterious.
"Things have been really fun these past few years. Knowing all of you is something I'll never regret. I'm glad this happened," Saburo smiled. "Before meeting you aliens... Before I encountered Kululu... everything was so boring. I'm so glad I encountered him."
Kululu felt some his anger fade as he heard Saburo's words. At least he still had one friend, and Saburo would always stand by him.
"Natsumi... Fuyuki... You both have become very important friends to me. I honestly care for both of you." Now Saburo's speech was getting sappy. Kululu begin to gag.
Natsumi and Fuyuki both smiled from it, though.
"The truth of the matter is, my real name isn't Saburo. It's Mutsumi Hojo," he confessed. Natsumi gasped a little bit.
"Not... Mutsumi as in DJ Mutsumi by any chance?" she asked, almost hopefully. Her eyes glowed, hearts seeming to appear in them. Giroro bit his lip, hoping that it was not true. He didn't stand a chance if Saburo was DJ Mutsumi, too.
"The very Mutsumi," Saburo smiled. "I started a radio station, hoping to get letters from young viewers about their encounters with aliens. Imagine my surprise when Kululu flew down one day to attack my school! Instead of having to search for something, it came to me."
This was news.
Kululu frowned for a moment. I didn't know Saburo became DJ Mutsumi to look for aliens. Ku. Is he an alien nerd like Fuyuki? He was ticked off at himself for not knowing this. Things about Saburo shouldn't have surprised him; he should have already known it.
"Wait, so you're interested in the occult, too?" Fuyuki's eyes were now glowing like his sister's, and he was suddenly more interested in Saburo.
"A little bit," Saburo said. "Truth be told, Kululu's not the first alien I've encountered."
Knew it. This time, Kululu wasn't surprised. There was no way Saburo was any average Pekoponian, and he hadn't seemed surprised at all about aliens when they had first met.
"What do you mean?" Fuyuki asked, confused.
"There's a reason why I was able to deal with Kululu so easily and was so unsurprised when I saw him," Saburo explained. He stood up straight and look and waited for no more than a milisecond.
Suddenly the windows around them broke, the glass shattering around them. Everybody covered their ears, mostly hurt by the sounds.
Men in black uniforms jumped through the windows, wearing gas masks and carrying tanks. They sprayed a thick purple gas, causing the shortest in the room to begin to collapse.
The cheesy party music in the background from the party faltered into a dim tune and glitched.
"I'm done observing things. I'll be taking the aliens now." These were the only words he said before putting on his own gas mask.
Kululu fell to the ground, confusion hitting him just as hard as everybody else. The words Saburo was saying and the new people in the house didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.
Everybody was trying to get up, but even stronger Keronians like Giroro, Tamama, and Dororo could do nothing when confronted by the gas.
Fuyuki fell to the floor and coughed. "Y-you're here... for the aliens?" Fuyuki asked, remembering his original theory about Saburo. "A-are... Are you a Man in Black?" He tried to grab something to get up, but could not.
Natsumi and the rest of Keroro's platoon just coughed desperately, some already knocked out.
"Yes," Saburo admitted. "And none of you saw it. Sorry for knocking you out, Fuyuki. Good night."
And with that, everybody fell unconscious.
S-Saburo... What? Kululu, for once, couldn't even think. Darkness greeted him and he was unable to process the quick change in atmosphere.
And he blacked out.
