The wind was bitter cold and crisp as the snow fell slowly. It landed ever so gently on the layers of earlier snow draping the land in white silk. Inside the Hinata house everyone was gathered in the living room watching TV and keeping warm. They watched as Christmas specials controlled their screen. Giroro sat on the floor in front of Natsumi, who was on the couch, and ignored the TV polishing his guns. When it got too cold outside for his health Natsumi would force Giroro to stay inside at least until the snow was gone for the year. They had an argument about it last year and it resulted in Giroro becoming a frog-sicle. All of the keronians except for Kururu were present for the pekoponian traditions. Even Koyuki and Dororo were there enjoying the presence of their friends.
"Huh. I don't understand your pekoponian traditions. What exactly is the point of watching these shows anyway?" He stopped the repetitive motion of polishing and looked up to the pekoponian on the couch awaiting an answer. Natsumi looked down upon the demon frog and smiled.
"It's just a way for us to spend time together during the holidays. Christmas is a time of love and caring towards others and in the modern day world it's just nice enough to do things together like watch TV." Giroro turned back down to his gun and continued the polishing.
"TCH, such a pathetic holiday. You pekoponians and your emotions." Natsumi crossed her arms in front of her chest and forced herself not to kick him into the wall. Stubborn toad!
"You have emotions too!" Giroro quickly looked up at her and attempted to defend himself worried that she knew something she shouldn't. She couldn't know. There's no way she could find out. Did she?!
"I DO NOT!" Natsumi smiled slightly and giggled before presenting her evidence.
"Then why do you take care of your cat? Also you cling to your guns and belt like a child would to his favorite toys. And last time I checked anger was an emotion." She sat up proud and smiled watching the TV again. Giroro looked stunned and looked to Keroro or Dororo for help but they only gave him a look that said 'she has a point.' "Now just sit down and watch the show with us. No fighting allowed."
Giroro was proud of his pekoponian for her miniature success but also relieved that she didn't catch on to his secret. He sat down and placed one hand gently upon the belt thinking about his love for the hundredth time today. If she found out … I wouldn't know what to do. She would kill me.
When the shows had finished, only to show them all again, Natsumi stretched up and looked at the clock.
"Time to eat. I'll go make sandwiches and then we can play some games." She walked into the kitchen and left the rest to decide what she would beat them at.
"I vote for monopoly!" Keroro jumped up and down balancing the game on his head hoping that since it was already out everyone would give in and play it. Shortly after Keroro's dance Giroro and Dororo went into the corner of the room and started setting up a round table and separating black and white stones. "Where are you guys going?"
"We're tired of you using us to get the best places and stealing our money. So we're gonna play GO instead of letting you cheat for the billionth time." Giroro sat down opposite to Dororo and began the game.
"Fine then; You'll play with me won't you master Fuyuki?" Keroro looked up to the blue haired pekoponian with sparkling eyes.
"Alright but be warned I am pretty good at games like monopoly." Keroro, Fuyuki, Tamama, and Koyuki began to play monopoly when Natsumi came back with a plate of ham sandwiches. She placed the plate down on the side table making sure it wasn't too close to the game.
"You guys started without me?" She placed her hands on her hips and waited for a response. Giroro looked at her and felt bad for excluding the most important person in his life.
"Would you like to play GO I'm nearly done beating Dororo." She looked at the red frog who offered and remembered that she had other important things to do anyway.
"I'm the one winning Giroro- Are you listening?" Dororo gave up on getting his attention knowing that he wasn't going to just ignore Natsumi.
"No its ok I have to finish up some presents anyway." She grabbed one sandwich for herself and made her way upstairs. She quickly changed into something suitable to wear outside and packed all of her saved money into her pocket. After making sure none of it would fall out accidentally she went downstairs and sat down to tie on her boots. Fuyuki heard the noises in the hall and went to see his sister sitting down on the little front step with half a sandwich hanging from her mouth.
"Where are you going sis?" He walked over to her and waited for a response. She stood up and removed the sandwich from her mouth.
"I'm going to do some Christmas shopping. I won't be gone long." She wrapped her scarf around her neck and walked out the door making sure not to let too much frosted air into the house. Fuyuki waked back to the living room to find Keroro demanding the Tamama give him Park Place. Giroro was the first to wonder where Natsumi was going.
"Why is she going out shopping for the Christmas?" Giroro looked away from his game, curious as to Natsumi's intentions.
"She went to buy some gifts for the family. It's something that we do every Christmas to show that we care about each other." Giroro sat and thought about what Fuyuki had said and an idea struck him. She's buying presents. I should get her one as well! He stood up and rushed down to his room in the base.
Keroro saw him rush out and knew exactly what was going on through his mind, but decided that wining monopoly was much more fun. He planned on talking to Kururu later.
Giroro darted into his ammunition room looking through all of his weapons. He searched but couldn't find one he felt was good enough to give as a gift. Come on there has to be something I can get her! He continued to rummage through his things and still found nothing. He sat against the wall holding his head in his hands carefully running through ideas. He wanted to get her the best present.
Natsumi exited the fifth store she went to and looked over the things she bought hoping she hadn't forgotten anyone. Gunpla for Fridiot, candy for Tamama, tea for Dororo, a dress for Koyuki, a bracelet for Moa, paranormal books for Fuyuki, and a spa coupon for mom. I've nearly got everyone. She walked around looking through the windows. I know he loves weapons but I can't just buy a gun, let alone give it to an invader.
After a few more buildings she spotted something silver glint through the corner of a window. Upon further inspection and blocking the glare of sunlight she saw that the light was reflecting off of a small knife. The 3 in blade connected to a 2 in black wood handle capped with a silver skull. I know it's small but it looks deadly enough. It's perfect! She rushed inside the small pawn shop and spoke to the man at the front desk about the tiny blade. Now I can go home and wrap these up for tomorrow.
Many hours after the game Koyuki and Dororo went home. Moa and Tamama snuck away downstairs for some reason unknown to the others (fighting for Keroro's love of course what else?) and Keroro sat on the couch with Fuyuki, watching the Christmas specials to his favorite paranormal show.
"Fuyuki, why did Natsumi wait till the day before Christmas to do her shopping?" The paranormal nerd chuckled before responding.
"Who knows, People tend to go crazy during this time of the year; all of the shopping and pleasing their friends and families and making sure everyone has a good holiday. It gets stressful sometimes although that defeats the point of having a break at the end of the year and enjoying yourself." Keroro leapt up off the couch and walked towards the door to the basement.
"Well anyways I have something important to attend to so I'll see you later." He left the boy to watch the show by himself and went to meet with Kururu. He walked by the busy Moa and Tamama who were startled by his appearance and tried their best to hide their projects behind their backs so he couldn't see. Normally he would demand to see what it was but he was too focused on his plan. "This will be perfect."
Giroro decided to go upstairs and upon exiting the tiny door for the basement he saw Natsumi walk in holding opaque bags. No doubt full of presents. He realized he still had no idea what to get her so he settled on asking her.
"Welcome back Natsumi. I was wondering if you could uh… tell me what your Christmas wish is?" He did his best to calm the blood rushing through his face. Natsumi was caught off guard.
"You want to know? I thought you wouldn't care." She paused and thought for a moment. "To be truthful I just want you guys to forget about the invasion and enjoy yourselves. It's the holidays; you shouldn't be focused on hatred and enslavement."
Giroro tried thinking about how to turn that into a gift. Natsumi knelt down before asking her next question.
"What's yours?" Giroro nearly fell over and began to blush even deeper. GAH! I can't tell her that! And I can't avoid it with 'dominate the world'. He stuttered and blurted out the first thing in his head that avoided both enslavement and confession.
"Uh… Eat more sweet potatoes!" Natsumi stood up and smiled at him. She giggled and before heading upstairs she muttered one word.
"Done." Giroro watched her walk upstairs confused. What does she mean 'Done'? Never mind that I need to find out how to make her wish come true. He walked back to his room in the basement where he had placed his tent for the winter. After carefully placing a pen and pad of paper in front of him he sat down and thought for hours about how to make her feel that he wasn't going to invade her home during the holidays. He had an idea and began to scribble on the paper. I know it's not the best thing but it's what I can do for her.
He wrote and scratched out lines every now and then until he was pleased with his final product. At the very bottom of the page he scribbled something that was very difficult to read to anyone but himself. When he was ready to go give it to Natsumi his attention was driven to a small pile of DVDs right beside his tent. When did that get there? He pulled them into his tent and noticed a small note on top.
Merry Christmas old man,
I hope these shorts are enjoyable to you.
Try not to tire yourself out kuku.
Looking down on the first disc he saw that it was labeled 'Shopping'. What is this about? Knowing Kururu I should either avoid it 'cause it's bad or view it and beat him 'cause it's bad. Might as well watch them at least then I'll know what I'm killing him for. He popped the first one into a DVD player in the back of his tent.
The screen blurred for a moment before it showed the outside of a store. Then Natsumi walks in front of the camera facing the store and continues inside. The scene changes to show Natsumi looking through a pile of something hidden by the pile of shirts. Again the scene alters to show the inside of one of the changing stalls with Natsumi holding a deep red lace bra and matching underwear. Giroro's face beamed red and deepened in color when she began to unbutton her shirt. He quickly looked at the other disks to see what they were titled.
'Sleeping'
'Changing'
'Bathroom'
The last one sent him falling back with blood flowing from his nose. When he was able to sit up again he stopped the film and turned off the TV. YEAH he's DEAD! He was ready to not only kill Kururu but completely incinerate his remains beyond the molecular level. Although he was beyond angry he realized that Natsumi should know what Kururu had captured on his cameras.
Natsumi had just finished wrapping the final present and looked at the clock realizing that it was 9:30. She silently crept out of her room and downstairs to the kitchen holding a little present in her hands. Once two sweet potatoes were set in the oven she sat at the table and waited till they were done. She turned the little box over and over. She couldn't wait to give it to him. I really hope he likes it. What am I saying? It's sharp and dangerous of course he'll like it.
Suddenly Giroro crept around the corner carrying a small stack of DVDS. He was about to start up the stairs when he saw Natsumi sitting at the table. Once at the table he placed the stack of DVDS onto the table and took the seat next to her.
"Natsumi… I'm glad to see you're still awake. I- I want you to know that I haven't watched any of these. Uh- except for the very beginning of the 'Shopping' disc bu-but that was just to see what they were. I believe it's some sort of present that Kururu wanted to give me. I found them outside of my tent."
Natsumi looked at the titles of each one and became pinker and pinker, turning red when she read the last one. She shoved them aside ad took in a deep breath and held it for what seemed like 10 minutes to a half hour. When she released the trapped air her face returned to a nearly normal shade.
"I'll deal with it after Christmas." A small timer began to ring behind her and she jumped up suddenly remembering about the potatoes. She placed two plates on the table and put one potato on each plate. "I made you a sweet potato. I wanted to grant your first Christmas wish."
She blushed as she sat back down next to the beaming Giroro. He was about to start eating the delicious treat when he noticed that Natsumi was fiddling with a small gift. Probably for that pervert she likes so much. He decided to forget about it since she took the time to cook something for him and his favorite treat at that.
"Thank you." He took a bite out of the steamed vegetable and beamed even brighter with the seasoned flavor. It wasn't too sweet or sour. It was perfect. He remembered the little paper he stashed in his belt so he wouldn't lose it. "Oh I uh… have a gift for you as well."
He handed her the paper which she unfolded to find "Peace treaty" written in bold on the top. She read through and giggled at the little skull next to his signature at the bottom. She hugged Giroro tightly before letting him breathe again. Giroro's face blushed even brighter but he focused when he saw her holding out the little box to him.
"Here; I couldn't wait till the morning." He took the box and noticed the little tag with his name written on it. Tearing off the wrapper and lifting the lid of a white box he saw a small blade with black handle and silver skull. He pulled out the blade and looked at the details carefully. Smiling, he looked up to Natsumi.
"Thank you."
"I know it's not a gun but I thought you would like it." He took his chance and hugged Natsumi.
"It's perfect. Thank you Natsumi." She returned his gesture and gave him a small peck on the cheek.
"Merry Christmas Giroro."
Down in the depths of the base a small green keronian could be found huddled over a table with cloth scraps littered all over the floor. He was in the process of the type of gift that could probably get Natsumi in a good mood to let him off of doing chores.
"No! It doesn't even look like him... How am I gonna get it to work if it doesn't resemble him and where is Kururu with that device so it smells like him. Oh frog!" in his hands was a small crude looking red keronian who was currently embracing the love of his life.
Happy Holidays my fellow Pekoponians!