What if Kururu actually did a simple task Aki asked of him? She is the interesting dynamite-woman of the Hinata household, the big boss, after all.
Basically this is a series of one-shots (not related in plot to each other, each one is a different scenario) portraying relationships, friendships or potential relationships forming from canon or alternate pairings. My first goal is ten one-shots on this theme (all posted as chapters in this story, like a collection) so wish me luck!
Kururu turned the contraption around in his hands, feeling each nut and bolt with his fingers. He looked up from his lap into the glowing computer-screen, the only source of light in the dank laboratory, which suited the yellow Keronian fine.
Or rather, he had been a yellow Keronian. It was not usual Kururu tested his inventions out on himself first - Giroro was usually the first guinea pig - but the Sergeant Major couldn't help it.
Seeing his reflection in the screen, Kururu sneered as he registered dark skin, grey eyes glaring over the rims of his glasses, spiked blonde hair covering those strange Pekoponian ears. He didn't even look creepy anymore; he looked stupidly infantile - only a couple of years over Mutsumi's age, he reckoned - and was quite wiry. That was to be expected, as Kururu preferred obscure contraptions over beefy exercise machines any day.
He returned his attention to the screen and smirked. Aki Hinata was jiggling a saucepan by its handle as if the Pekoponian food inside it would cook better, from the looks of things. The rice and mushrooms inside sizzled as she tossed the mixture cheerfully, occasionally getting a grain or two on the tiled kitchen floor.
"Mama! What are you doing?" the tinny voice of Fuyuki Hinata rang out, and sure enough the boy ran into view of the camera, grabbing his mother's arm. "You'll get it everywhere!"
Kururu watched as Aki placed the saucepan back onto the hob and turned to her teenage son. "Fuyuki, it's not often Mama gets to cook now - in the offices it's always grabbing a WacDonalds or some rice-balls. Let her have a chance, huh?"
Fuyuki sighed. "Okay, Mama ... shall I call Gunsou down as it's nearly dinner-time?"
Aki winked. "Go right ahead. Get Kuru-chan too, he hasn't come out of his room for weeks."
His eyes widening, Kururu flung himself away from the desk and turned his back on the screen, biting his lip and frowning. To eat with them? It wasn't the fact they were the enemy that he felt a pang; it was the notion of sitting at a table - looking like one of them - and eating home-cooked food. That had never happened to Kururu, ever - not even back on Keron. And it wasn't curry, either. Damn.
Grunting, he picked up the "Humanizing Gun 3000" and ran a finger over its tip, thinking that the excuse to slip out of the lab may run him into Keroro or maybe even Giroro. The thought of aiming the gun straight at the back of an oblivious Giroro's head while sitting at the table with the family, shooting the beam of bright light - the naked human Giroro would be humiliated in front of Natsumi.
Kururu gave a small laugh, picturing the maroon-cheeked, spluttering Giroro and the screaming, hysterical Natsumi. The sound shocked him - it was lower, more rumbling, not at all his high-pitched chuckle.
He stood up, stumbling slightly due to the whole ... newness of having a living, feeling human body. He picked up the pair of trousers and a jumper he had taken from Fuyuki's room before he tried the gun out; the trousers were a little short and the jumper's sleeves a little too frayed, but they would do. Pulling the strange items onto his body, Kururu heard the clothes-owner's voice shout.
"Kururu! Mama wants you downstairs!"
Opening the door of the laboratory laboriously, Kururu slouched into the Pekoponian boy's view.
Fuyuki turned around, glancing below his waist - expecting to see Keronian Kururu, no doubt - and slowly followed the new human figure up to meet the dark grey eyes and haphazard glasses. The smaller, younger human opened his mouth, his voice faltering.
"K-Kururu?"
- - - -
"Good job, Souchou!" the leader greeted Kururu's invention, impressed. He gazed back up at the transformed Keronian. "This will do extremely well for our invasion! Those Pokopenians won't suspect a single thing, we'll look JUST like them, de arimasu!"
Kururu let out that unfamiliar, low titter as he took the gun from Keroro's hands, and leant it against the table leg near his chair. Sitting on the wooden chair, he glanced at the head of the household, waiting for her reaction.
"Well, Kuru-chan, you look pretty good!" Aki chirped as she set a bowl of rice in front of Kururu. He grunted in thanks, averting her eyes, and picked up the set of chopsticks lying beside his dinner mat. He observed Fuyuki, Keroro and Aki take their seats, and heard a clatter as the older child returned home from a sports practice of some kind.
"I'm back, Mama, Fuyuki! Mm, something smells good, Mama ..."
She stepped into the kitchen, dropping her sports kit in the doorway, and laid eyes on the former malevolent frog. "Saburo-senpai?!"
"Try again," Kururu spoke, and felt a burst of pleasure that he hadn't lost his familiar voice. As expected, Natsumi took a step back from the kitchen and let out a strangled yelp. "Not K-Kururu?!"
"Yes, me," replied Kururu, his bored drawl back in place. "I take it you are surprised, Natsumi Hinata? I could turn Giroro into -"
"Don't try anything, you ... you ..." Natsumi said shakily, walking tentatively over to the dinner table - choosing to sit as far away from the gun as she possibly could.
"Well," Aki butted in, "let's start, shall we?"
Kururu had not eaten anything other than curry in years. He prodded at a large mushroom slice with a chopstick, then suspiciously picked it up in his fingers and started to eat. Despite the lack of spices and familiar tastes, this wasn't half bad.
"Kuru-chan, can you not use chopsticks properly?" Aki asked kindly. Kururu looked up, meeting her eyes over the rim of his spectacles, and watched her lean over the table. "Here, I'll show you."
She bent his fingers around the two thin strips of wood, showing him how to manoeuvre each one. Kururu knew perfectly well how to use chopsticks (although, admittedly, he was not used to using them with human fingers) but still watched with mild interest. From across the table, Natsumi closed her eyes as she chewed, as if she were crunching any poisonous words as opposed to the rice. Keroro and Fuyuki seemed to take no notice at all - they had got into yet another debate (as they called it) over the Kero Ball.
"I told you, Gunsou, you can't have it!"
"Nonsense, de arimasu! You think an adult Keronian like me is incapable of controlling it? Hah! The cheek, de arimasu! My Kero Ball is in the hands of two human -"
"I mean it, Gunsou, you'd do something dangerous with it. Nee-chan doesn't trust you."
After ten minutes of the bickering - in which Aki had returned to her own food and Kururu started eating lazily with the chopsticks - Natsumi silenced Keroro with a single, venomous look, and muttered to Fuyuki: "Drop it. Just drop it and eat your dinner."
- - - -
After the family had finished eating, Fuyuki journeyed back upstairs - but Natsumi blocked Kururu's path from the kitchen.
"I suggest you help Mama with the washing up as you've eaten here, Kururu, and to make up for all the times you've wrecked the house," she snapped, nose-to-nose with the Keronian. "I don't care if you're human for ten minutes or ten years, if you start taking part in this family more you're going to have to do the share of the chores ... just like your leader. Right, stupid frog?"
Kururu brazenly stared her out, mirth evident on his face, picking his teeth with a human fingernail. So they did have a use, he mused.
"It couldn't hurt to have more help around here, de arimasu." Keroro yawned. "You work me like a dog, Natsumi-dono. I almost have barely any time to complete my 5-a-day rule."
"What's that?" Natsumi's eyes flashed dangerously.
"My five-a-day Gunpla, of course!" Keroro exclaimed, running in between Natsumi's legs. "And Admiral Geroro is on -"
"Get back here! You haven't done the ironing like you said you would!" Natsumi sprinted after the cackling green frog, abandoning all lectures she planned to give Kururu - and leaving him alone with Aki.
"Well, Kuru-chan? It would be nice to have help, after all, Natsumi and Fuyuki are still schoolkids and it can't all be left to Kero-chan ..." Aki sighed, leaning on her elbows on the kitchen counter.
"If it will keep your daughter off my back." Kururu said, expressionless.
"Natsumi just cares, that's all." Aki smiled warmly. She filled a large bowl with warm, soapy water, and jokingly flicked a drop at Kururu. The spray of water landed on his glasses and he wrinkled his nose, turning away from her.
"So - you can wash the table for me."
Kururu rolled his eyes, but made sure his back was turned so Aki didn't notice. What an interesting Pokopenian female.
It didn't take long for Kururu to wipe down the table, and it was with an exasperated groan that he returned the sponge to its bowl and turned to face Aki. "I did the task you asked of me, Aki Hinata."
"Very good, Kuru-chan." Aki laughed. "You may go now - ah, wait ..."
Kururu turned from the doorway to feel a strange tickle on his right cheek. Aki stepped back from him and giggled as he continued on his way upstairs, shaking his head.
It was only in the confines of the laboratory that he allowed a blush to spread over his cheeks and for one of his spectacle-lenses to crack.