Welcome to the "where-on-Earth-do-I-put-this?" spinoff I've had a lot of requests for since this character premiered. Well, here it is It began as a chapter, then blossomed into this quickly, heh. So I WILL be back to my normal routine, let me just... Get through this, first :D
I don't know why I've been writing a lot of Fujuju stories lately, maybe because his voice is so much like mine and summer's made me lazy, or I just think there's a lot to this character that's worth writing about… Eh, I just have fun with him, but I don't want the little guy to overstay his welcome and become a Pururu character. So enjoy this, this is the probably the last I'll use him for a while. As a main character, at least.
I quickly knew this was going to turn into something too long to be a chapter, so I said, "Hey, I'm just going to type this up as something separate, then". I also knew I had to get this off of my chest while I still felt like writing it ^_^'
It's a lot more than length that makes this different from other chapters, though. I try to stick with a Keroro Gunso tone, that goes along with the show, and make the "episodes" something you could nod and say, "Yeah, that could be in an episode". This definitely would never be an episode… I mean, it's World War II. I didn't want to make another Titanic: The Animated Musical Adventure. So yeah, this is darker. And there's a lot less sci-fi or shtick. That's some of the reasons I had reservations about posting this story at all.
And it's a lot more… I'm not sure how to put it exactly. I think there's a little more of my personal thumbprint on this than I've had in other stories, I think the closest I've come otherwise is a chapter I just finished up, with Kirere and Haruki's friendship. I let loose the reigns there a bit, too. Maybe I should do that more, I don't know.
Well, if you're not familiar with the story so far, let me fill you in with everything. The rest of the class can leave for recess and whatnot. It is a Keroro Gunso fanfic, or told in that universe at least. Fujuju Soucho is one of the members of the first platoon sent to Pekopon millions of years ago, only to crash then wake up in another time period, the universe completely changed around them. He was a scientist on Keron, but his strong pyromania quickly quelled any hopes of him becoming a successful scientist. He befriends the platoon, and they are the ones who draw him out of his shell; when he's first found, he's been a shut-in on Pekopon for fifteen years, his only friends his books.
He is the tutor of two children, a set of twins, Maggie and Oliver Martin, who are about Fuyuki's age. Currently his roommate is Botan, the last of a race of "Time Benders", ancient alien time police whose job it was to make sure there were no "hiccups" in the Time-Space continuum.
I think that about puts you up to speed, if not, the rest will probably be answered along the way. Thanks for reading!
Fujuju, Maggie, and Oliver, image link:
art/ ... -126332786
Botan, image link:
art/ ... -128685831
PART 1:
In the middle of a once-cluttered bachelor pad, there were signs of life. Signs of cleaning. Botan, now a month as Fujuju's houseguest, was continuing her obsessive cleaning. It didn't take long for anyone to realize she liked her home like she liked her work—Perfect, orderly, and neat.
This resulted in Fujuju's work being put off for cleaning, and while he suffered through this good-humoredly, even he escaped the house one afternoon to get out of the tidying up. As kind as he was to Maggie and Oliver, he was nowhere to be seen when it came time to do a weekend cleaning.
"UGH! How's he manage to get so much junk?!" Oliver grunted, and fell flat on his back, the large cardboard falling on his chest. "Mags… Help… This box has it out for me!"
Maggie gave a sigh of disgust and lifted up the same cardboard box with ease, "You're hopeless."
"Why are we doing all of this on our weekend, anyhow? I don't get it…"
"Because he does for us all of the time, it's the least we could do!" she snapped, and Oliver gave a small heave of a sigh as he stood back up, and pulled another heavy box out of the closet. He set this down, but couldn't help but notice it was full of old, black disks.
"Hey, Mags, lookit! He had other records in here!" Oliver chuckled, and picked one out of the box. "Eh? Awful heavy…"
"That's because they're old…" she pulled out another one. "Printed in 1931?"
"Bloody… Gram wasn't even a thought then!" he chuckled. "Hey, let's put one on! What do ya say!?"
"They were probably up here so they wouldn't get damaged, Ollie," Maggie muttered worriedly. "He wouldn't like us going through his things like this, we're just supposed to be cleaning up for him…"
"Ah, he'd probably love it! He's probably forgotten all about these! Lookit all of the dust!" Oliver chuckled, and rushed out to the record player in the living room. Botan turned her head from her dusting, and quietly watched as he opened the turntable and switched it on, then laid the record on it. He had to set the switch twice, to the 78 RPM mode, to get it to play correctly.
"Hey, I think I've heard this one!" Maggie laughed. "Life is just a bowl of cherries… I remember! Gram sang this sometimes!" she nodded and sang along to it, even though the vocal part had yet to start up. "I'm gonna see if there's any others in there!"
"Right," Oliver nodded, and Botan only walked closer to the turntable, taking a seat and listening to the music curiously.
"This song was made in the middle of a really bad Depression, our Gram told us all about it," Oliver explained to the curious Time Bender. "Not bad for a bunch of people who dressed funny, huh?"
While they listened to this, Maggie had returned to the box. She opened the flaps, and noticed that there were more than 78's in the box; there was also another photo. She pulled it out, and studied it. There was that Professor Grant again, with an adult woman standing next to him on a railed deck, behind them, large snowy mountains. The woman also looked familiar…
She was drawn out of her meditating on the picture when she heard a sound scratch, followed by a smashing noise. She rushed back out, and saw Fujuju front of the record player, bits of the record everywhere on the ground. He looked disturbed, and as though he were going to go into an asthma attack from panic.
"Fujuju…" Maggie knelt down next to him; he was shaking, horribly.
"I… I'm sorry… I just… Hadn't wanted to hear that song again," he said quietly to them. "It's too painful still."
"More of that Eliza bird, right?" Oliver asked; Maggie shot him a glare and he flinched. "What?! I didn't even say anything bad!"
"No, you didn't, Oliver," Fujuju shook his head, and took a seat on the couch next to Botan. "I just…"
"Will you tell us about her?" Maggie asked gently, taking a seat on the other side of him. Oliver took a seat next to his sister on the couch, and all eyes were on Fujuju.
"That would involve going into so much…" he muttered, and shut his eyes. "I… I never even got to say goodbye to her."
"I can show them, if you want," Botan spoke up, and he looked at her, surprised. "It would mean reliving it, though. And it may take a little trying; my powers are still unstable without my staff."
"No. I don't want that, not just yet," he hopped off of the couch, and ventured into his bedroom. "I'm sorry, children. I… I need to get my rest in. I know you were all helping me, but…. Please. I've had enough help. For the weekend."
He disappeared into his bedroom, closing the door behind himself, and Maggie and Oliver stood there, stunned.
"Aw, he didn't mean it!" Oliver patted his sister on the back and smiled. "You know how he is when he gets to talkin' about his past and that!"
"Hrm?" Botan glanced over at them, and Maggie gave her a bittersweet smile.
"He was on Earth before, but whenever we try to talk to him about it, he gets all… Tight-lipped and moody," Maggie explained.
"Did it involve a woman?" asked Botan.
"Bloody… Yeah! You're good!" Oliver gasped. "What, did you see his past for yourself?! That's not very fair!"
"No, she just knows how men work," Maggie answered. "We'll be off, but… We'll be back in a bit to check on him. I know you don't like getting involved in things, but… Could you make sure he's all right?"
Botan simply answered with a nod, and watched as the two walked out of the home. She then stood, and brushed back a bit of her white hair, and walked towards the closed bedroom door. She knocked on the wood, then slowly opened it.
Fujuju had undone his scarf, and had both pictures in hand while the red and yellow knitted clothing laid beside him on the floor, beside the box of records.
"The Martins were concerned about your well-being," Botan explained, and he turned around to face her briefly, then looked away, embarrassed.
"I can barely believe my own actions just now. I'll have to make them something nice, a real treat for dinner," he said with an affirming nod. She took a seat next to him on the floor, uninvited, and this surprised him. She glanced at the photos, and tilted her head to one side.
"Who are those people?" she asked quietly.
"Myself, in another time, as well as… A good, good friend of mine," Fujuju answered.
"You loved her?"
"That was part of my problem," he admitted with a small smile. "I'm selfish. I love to call them my children, yet… They aren't mine. And I ask them to share their life with me, yet… I can't do the same. I still keep them at arm's length. Could… Could you really show them everything that happened?"
"Yes," she nodded. "It would be the same as playing a recording."
"Nothing could be changed, but I could still revisit that time?" he continued.
"Nothing could be changed," she repeated with a nod. "And it would be from Time's point of view, not yours."
"Could we try it? I hate to put you on the spot with this, but… I don't see how a glimpse would hurt, since my own mind fails me on some facts still… Now how do we—"
Botan placed a hand on his forehead, and his eyes began to feel heavy, then he laid back on the floor slowly, as if he were planning on taking a nap there. And soon he was snoring and doing just this. And while this happened, Botan's eyes closed, and through his memories she was back into a different time.
"Miss!" the maid, an older woman dressed in a classic black and white ensemble, knocked on the library door once more, to get the attention of the teenage girl laid out on the heavy carpet, heavy books laid out in front of her. She shook her head and walked in, closing the book on the girl and sighing, finding this was how to get her attention. "Miss. Your father's home."
"What?" she sat up, her blue eyes wide. "How long has it been he's been home?! And why didn't you tell me!?" she bolted up from her spot on the floor, leaving her pile of books abandoned. The maid heaved a sigh and shook her head once more as she went to cleaning up the books.
"Really, that child is impossible!" she mumbled, and began to lift up the heavy leather-bound novels.
"Father!" she called out, and ran down the tile hall. "Father!" her black shoes clicked along the floor all the way, and she stopped at the middle of the hall, where the front entrance to the home was located. Also there was her father, his bags surrounding his feet, as well as another square object, this with a heavy green blanket over it. She could have sworn she saw it move as she moved closer to her father and embraced him. He returned this and laughed, spinning her around once and setting her back firmly on the ground.
"Eliza!" he laughed cheerfully, grinning through the heavy brown mustache and then leaning in to kiss her on the forehead. "My dear, just when I thought I'd never see that smile again!"
"How was it? How was your trip? How was Denmark?" she asked excited, and he sighed.
"Going through the same times we are. Worse, actually," he answered, giving a brief frown and returning to his smile quickly afterward. "No matter! I have something for you! A few G.I.'s found it, weren't quite sure what to make of him! I mentioned I had a daughter who loved animals, so they allowed me to bring him home! He's a feisty little thing, though."
"A dog? Father, you finally got me a dog!" Eliza clasped her hands together happily.
"Not quite. Actually I think he's some sort of lizard, but you're not one to discriminate," he answered, and pulled off the green blanket.
Eliza gasped at what she saw before her. A tiny body, large, dull, green eyes, that looked up at her for a moment, then back down at the floor of the cage. He looked exhausted, and there was a mark of where there had been a wound on his neck.
"They were fishing when they caught him… They think that's where that came from," her father explained, bending down and making a motion across his neck with his finger. "He's a little bit of a sorry sight now, my dear, but I think with time he'll prove a fine pet for you! Well, what do you think?"
"I'm speechless," she answered. She could have sworn the creature laughed wryly a bit at this.
"I hope you like this," she said to the still-caged creature as he now sat in her bedroom, looking out at her. She turned on the record player and the music started; the greenish-yellow frog looked at the record player and the sounds coming from it with interest, even scooting closer to the side of the cage that was closest to the record player. "Hehe, looks like you do! I'm going to let you out, all right? But don't go leaving, it's not safe for anyone to be out now! They've been dropping more and more bombs, lately, it seems. I won't harm you, I promise."
She crawled over to the cage on the floor, and removed the key from around her neck, and slowly undid the lock. He took a few steps out, and went to fall. She quickly caught him and lifted him up like a ragdoll. "It looks like you couldn't leave if you wanted to, anyway, Elijah."
He looked up at her curiously, and she chuckled. "That's what I'm going to call you, Elijah! You have that mark on your stomach that looks like an 'E', so I thought it befitting! Do you like it?"
He only looked ahead, indifferent. She couldn't help but notice he shook a little bit as he held her, "…That's right! You're probably cold-blooded, being a reptile. Here…" she moved over to her bed, and pulled off a blanket, wrapping him in it and sitting back, getting back to her work, "I was going to make this a sweater, but I think it's going to have a better purpose now," she said, lifting up the knitting she'd been working on; yellow and red stripes, so far only a little work in progress. "You'll love it! Hrm?" she tilted her head up as she heard the familiar sirens, and she immediately dropped her work, and lifted him up, blanket and all.
"Eliza!" her father rushed out of the hallway, as did the maid, both dressed in their nightclothes.
"I know!" she called out, and headed downstairs and then down another level, into a dark room.
The rumbling started soon afterward; as soon as the scent of soot wafted down into the cellar, the blanket began to stir. He fought harder and harder in the dark, but Eliza only held him tighter, until the rumbling stopped, and she gave a little yelp in the dark.
"Are you all right?" her father asked in a panic.
"Yes, I am. Don't worry, he just kicked," she answered. "Father?... Do you think it's all right to go up now?"
"…." he listened for a bit, then nodded. "…We were lucky again this time…" he said quietly as they walked back upstairs, their home still intact.
There were orange and yellow lights visible in the distance from Eliza's room, but she kept her head turned away from all of this, and set the bundled, exhausted blanket down on the bed. He looked at her with disdain until she pulled the blanket away, and he noticed all of the blood.
He felt his blood chill as he realized it was from a bite he'd delivered her.
"Oh, this? I must've gotten it during the rush," she shrugged it off and walked out to the bathroom, coming back with a box of bandages and alcohol. "No matter! Fortunately I'm used to scrapes like these!"
He said nothing, only looked down at the fresh wound, ashamed.
The next morning, he was awoken by the sensation of something draped over him; he opened one eye and held up the red and yellow scarf, a small "E" symbol stitched onto one of the ends.
Eliza gave a yawn and smiled proudly at her handiwork; he rolled over and bolted up as he realized he'd fallen asleep on the bed from exhaustion. She looked tired; he glanced down at the scarf, and realized she'd been up most of the night working on this.
"…Thank you…" Eliza stopped heading toward her dresser suddenly, and turned around to him slowly.
"Did you just… Thank me?" she asked in a whisper.
"Thank you," Fujuju again said, evenly.
She fell to her knees and quickly scooted over to the bed, her eyes wide, "You're some sort of a parrot! That settles it, Darwin was right! Birds ARE related to reptiles! This… This is astounding!"
"…I'm more closely related to an amphibian, if anything," he replied, uneasy at the look she gave him. "I'm not even certain what a parrot is."
"W-Wait, so… You're thinking this, and you're talking just as I am!?" she balked, and reached out, poking the Keronian to make sure he was real. She then pinched herself, giving a yelp as she did so.
"Are you mad!?" he asked with a frown, and she shook her head.
"I just wanted to make sure I'd woken up at all!" she admitted.
"Another planet?" her eyes were wide as they sat out on a blanket in the back yard. He took a sip from the tea cup, just as an Englishman would, and nodded.
"And I've only recently awoken, in what I was told was the "Seine". From the looks of things, however, my escape pod had been touring your oceans for some time," he answered. "There had to have been some sort of malfunction."
"Well, where is it? I could look it over for you!" she said excitedly. "But you'll have to tell me all about your technology in exchange!"
"Destroyed," he answered regretfully, and finished his tea. He then took a bite of his sandwich, and studied it. "…Could use some more kick."
"Things are tight right now, even people well off can't afford a lot of luxuries," she admitted.
"Well, if I'm to be here, I may as well learn about your kind for the time being. Until the search party comes, of course," he said while taking a bite of the sandwich.
"But it's 1940; it's been millions of years since you left," Fujuju started choking on his sandwich at this news.
"I was out for that long?!" he exclaimed in disbelief, and she only nodded. "Dear, dear… I think I need to pinch myself, now."
She reached out and pinched his arm, and he yelped, then looked up at her, annoyed, "Well, I thought I'd take care of it for you!"
"Now don't get into any trouble while I'm gone, all right?" she said as she led him to the library. "Just… Try to entertain yourself. Look at the pictures if you want."
"I can read your language without any difficulty," he answered with a weary sigh. "Where will you be during all of this?"
"Sneaking out to see my boyfriend. Don't tell my father, all right?" she winked and chuckled, and closed the door behind him.
"Millions and millions of years…" Fujuju graced the shelves with his fingers, looking over the book titles. "And they managed all of this? Not bad for a fairly primitive country… Hrm? Eliot? This looks promising…" he muttered, and pulled the book from the shelf, looked over the cover, and cracked it open. "My…That's a beautiful sound…"
"The library?" the young, blonde boy moaned. "But that place is so boring! And not exactly romantic, either…"
"Don't be so crude!" Eliza chided him. "It's my favorite part of the house! And we'll have one just like it when we have our own place!"
"….Whatever you say, but I still don't see the point of you spending all of your time in that dingy place…" he muttered. "You'll get old before your time! Plus all of the time you spend there is time you could be spending on more important things!"
"You among them, I suppose," she said with a smile, and he looked at her, serious and a bit hurt by her laughing.
"That's exactly what I was thinking!" he answered with a pout. "You're going to be seventeen, Eliza, you should really start thinking about more important things."
"I will, Thomas, I just… Oh?" she blinked and opened the wooden doors; books were spread out everywhere, half opened. Fujuju sat laid out on the floor, just as she had been the day before, and looked up from his reading as he noticed he wasn't alone.
"What's this hideous thing?!" Thomas gaped at the sight of Fujuju, and lifted up the Keronian by the back of the neck.
"Don't do that to him!" Eliza gasped, and took him from Thomas's hands protectively.
"Wonderful, another distraction. What is it, anyway?" he asked with a sigh. "And why's it in a scarf?"
"He gets cold easily! And he's a…. He's from the Galapagos! " she exclaimed.
"The what-now?"
"They're islands in there… Never mind it… I think you hurt him when you lifted him up like that, Thomas!" she sighed. "Wait for me outside, all right?"
"Right. But if your father happens to show up, I'm out of here as quickly as possible…" he muttered, and closed the door again. Eliza rushed to lock the door, and set Fujuju down on the floor.
"That twit was your boyfriend?"
"He means well, honest," she answered, and sat cross-legged on the floor, and undid the scarf. "Are you all right? I don't want you to get—"
"I appreciate it, but you're incredibly invasive!" he took a step back from her, and shooed away her hands. "I'm fine, I've suffered worse through the military training."
"You're a soldier?!" she gasped.
"A sergeant major," Fujuju answered.
"Thomas is looking to go into the military, just as soon as he becomes old enough!" Eliza exclaimed.
"Wonderful. He'd do well on a front line," Fujuju said beneath his breath, then lifted up a book. "This here… Do you have any more by this author? He's…. Incredibly talented. One of the best I've read yet!"
"You're asking if there's more Shakespeare books… In London," she laughed. "I think you landed in the right place at the right time after all, Elijah!"
Fujuju yawned as he flipped a page in the large book; Eliza looked up from her sewing and smiled a bit in amusement, tweed scraps littering her light blue dress. She looked about, taken aback as the lights flickered then went out, "Dear… Power outage… I'll get a candle."
"No! Don't! Please, I… I beg of you…" Fujuju leapt from his spot on the bed and hurried over to her, tugging on the hem of her skirt. "Don't… No flames…"
"Hrm?" she blinked, and lifted him up, able to make out his expression in the light available from the moon outside her window. "You're afraid of fire?"
"No, it's… Something else…" Fujuju explained quietly. "I… It's a condition I have… It's one that's haunted me, and… Fire agitates it."
"You're a pyromaniac? Blimey, you're a troubled one all right! Explains why you were so upset during that bomb raid, though," she sighed, and took a seat on the bed, him on her lap. "I suppose I'm not much different then. From you, that is."
"I doubt you've caused half of a city to go up in flames, my dear," Fujuju said with a scoff.
"No, but… I don't feel like I'm in the right place. You feel that, right?"
"Ever since I awoke to find I was someone's catch of the day. But… Even on Keron, I suppose that's an accurate way to describe my feelings," he answered.
"At least you have an excuse, you really are from out of this world," she laid down on the bed and yawned, and let go of her grip of him. "…My tutors treat me like a little fool. They make things too easy for me because they know I won't accomplish anything."
"Now don't say that! You're just as able bodied enough to become a soldier, or—" he was surprised as she cut him off with a laugh.
"Women don't become soldiers, Elijah," she chuckled. "Well, not the type that fight, as far as I know… Sometimes secretaries, or nurses! Occasionally, if they're lucky, they become actresses! On rare occasion they've become pilots, or chemists, but it's nothing someone like I could become."
"Well, what about with the right tutor?"
"I suppose anything's possible," she answered. "Mm, what am I saying? I'm talking to a creature from out of this world, and yet I still think anything other than a good wife and mother is out of my reach."
"Well… What would you like to be?"
"If I could be anything?... A physicist, like my father is," she answered after a pause. She was asleep soon after.
"…You'll be the best one, Eliza. I promise it," he said quietly.