Natsumi is alone with her thoughts, finally, but it gets out of hand, and so do her feelings. But luckily, she has Giroro for comfort, whether it'll help or not.
Disclaimer: I do not own SGT Frog or any of the characters in this story.
It was as normal as any other day in the Hinata household, except, Fuyuki, Friddiot, and his squad of two foot tall frog-turds were gone. I mean, besides Giroro, who had stayed behind because apparently, 'he didn't feel like dealing with Keroro's shit today.' I glanced out the backyard window, when I was hit by a sudden wave of emotions that I wasn't used to feeling. It all came too quickly, like, this feeling of dread and loneliness was something that I had never felt before. I stumbled to the couch to keep myself from falling to my knees. I hunched over and put my hands on my head.
I was practically wallowing in my own self-pity at this point, and it only took me a few minutes for these thoughts to spiral out of control. I pulled at my hair to get these thoughts out of my head, to wake myself up from feelings that I wasn't used to feeling. These were thoughts I thought of briefly sometimes, but they always went away. But these thoughts wouldn't leave me alone. I tried to think of something else, but it always brought me back to the same exact point I was at before. It was all so frustrating. I was going to drive myself insane with these thoughts, but it didn't really matter to me at this moment. I was analyzing everything now, my entire situation.
I felt like I was drowning, not like drowning, drowning. But there was a pressure in my chest that pushed and my stomach hurt from sadness. I remember getting like this as a child. But, why now? Out of all times, why, now? I was alone, the frogs weren't around, I should be happy or relieved at this, that I finally had time to myself. I could feel myself start to cry and my back hunched more. I was done for. Tears bit at my eyes and I stood up and went to the base. My eyes burned from tears as I rushed to the shooting range. I really, seriously needed to calm myself down.
Giroro's POV
Most, if not all of my guns were squeaky clean by now. I set down the cloth I used to polish my gun and stared through the glass doors. Natsumi's back was facing me, but her head was obviously in her hands. Was she tired? Did her head hurt? Was she not feeling good? She couldn't be coming down with another illness. She had sat there for a good amount of time before getting up and heading to the base.
She's headed to the base? For what though? The shooting range? When she disappeared from my sight, I got up and opened up the back door to the house. I stepped inside and shut the door behind myself. I headed towards where Natsumi was going, as fast as my feet could carry me. I followed her quietly and carefully, making sure she would never notice me as I followed her into the base and through the doors and hallways to exactly where I thought she was going, the shooting range. I stood by the door, watching her put the goggles over her eyes and her pick up a gun. Her aim was always impeccable, but today, she was a bit off. There certainly was something wrong, but I couldn't point it out.
I was mesmerized by the sounds of gunshots, and the way Natsumi stood and held the gun like she was born to do just that.
It was weird because the shot went through the same hole every time, making holes in the back wall. There certainly was something on her mind. Hopefully this helped.
It was quite a long time before she stopped, the gun fell from her hand with a loud clatter, and she pulled the goggles from her face. I stared at her with dismay and shock as tears spilled down her cheeks. She fell to her knees. I had never seen someone so strong become so weak. My feet controlled themselves and I ran right to her. By her side, like always. I stood near her, a hand on her back.
"Natsumi! Are you okay?" I asked, trying to get her to look at me. She rubbed her face with her arm, and looked up at me with wide brown eyes that were practically spelling out the word 'no'. My eyes filled with tears at the sight of her looking so distraught.
"I'll hurt whoever made you feel this way, I swea-"
"No, Giroro, it isn't anyone, it's just myself." She said. She hiccuped slightly and wiped the tears that spilled from her eyes and down her cheeks.
"Natsumi, don't run off like that! It makes me think you're hurt!" I cried, looking at her in the face. I made a mistake, yelling at her didn't help at all. Her eyes softened, and she started to cry more. She didn't let out a noise though, the amount of tears just kind of increased. I took her shoulders in my hands,
"Natsumi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice." I said. I heard my voice soften, I can't believe I would fall so out of character for a crying, Pekoponian girl.
"Please talk to me Natsumi, you don't need to hide it anymore." I said, turning her face so she could look at me. Her lips trembled as she spoke,
"I-I've just been lonely and sad...And..you and Friddiot, and everyone else...you guys just don't seem to care." She whispered hoarsely, as if she were embarrassed to be saying these things.
"Natsumi, you're a strong warrior, you shouldn't be feeling these things. We don't say these things a lot, but, the Platoon and I, we've grown fond of you and your brother and the other Pekoponians. I've grown so fond of you, I can't go a day without thinking about you. Everyone cares for you so much, you don't have to think these things." I wiped her eyes. It was like watching someone take off a mask that they had been hiding behind for years. I saw something in Natsumi's eyes, the side of her that just wanted to be loved. The side of her that was the weak, sixteen year old Pekoponian girl she was.
She whimpered, and her silence turned to sobs.
"I-I feel so selfish!" She covered her face, but I took her hands away.
"You're not selfish! You're a strong woman, who's saved the world multiple times. You're anything but selfish."
"I care so much about you, don't push me away."
This is so much better than my regretful one. (which i took down) This was just a little one shot I talked about with my friend. I just kind of wanted to write the softer, weaker side of Natsumi that we don't tend to see. I didn't want to put too much romance into this, because it's supposed to be more sad than fluff.
Bye, for now! Please tell me how this made you feel!