They should have just listened when he said that he wouldn't go inside the soul diver again. It turned out that if you went in and out of it too often, it was bad for you. This is why Giroro was still suspended in the device, out cold as he recovered from the recent ravaging of his memories. They all had to be reset to how they originally were, as too many memories had been altered. Keroro and Kururu just couldn't help themselves; they loved messing with the corporal.

Seeing as it was their fault, why was it fair that Dororo had to keep watch over Giroro and the machine? He'd done nothing wrong; he wasn't even a bystander, because they hadn't invited him. Just further proof that his platoon only wanted him for doing the dirty work, or tedious tasks like this one.

Secretly, however, Dororo didn't really find this boring at all. He found that the device looked almost beautiful in the blackened room it was kept in, emitting a warm, maroon glow as Giroro was still inside it. The bubbles that floated inside were a bit like a lava lamp, and it was a secret that he loved watching those things so much. However, the thing Dororo was most interested in… well; it wasn't the device, rather, the man inside it.

Although Giroro was essentially trapped in the glowing ball, and completely knocked unconscious, he looked surprisingly peaceful, and Dororo felt at peace just looking at him. Although he'd always wondered what his friend looked like when asleep, he never acted upon it, as it wasn't a nagging curiosity, and even if it was, it would be pretty creepy to stare at your friends while they slept. However, now that he had the chance, he was admittedly enjoying it. Seeing Giroro's features relaxed rather than gritted like usual… it caused a thick, warm feeling in his gut that he couldn't really describe.

He placed his hand upon the glowing orb for the fifth time that night. It wasn't intentional; it was the allure of the orb. Its lights gave the impression that it was warm, but it was quite the contrary. Dororo enjoyed the feel anyway, and the low, natural sound hum that emanated from it. He looked up again at the floating red frog encased within. He wondered if the corporal was dreaming, and if so, what about? He hoped that the alterations put in place by Keroro and Kururu weren't plaguing his dreams also.

Not having much else to preoccupy him, he mulled over the thought for a while, guiltily becoming aware that the temptation to switch on the screen of the machine was growing, and becoming hard to ignore. Turning his head to the control panel, he spotted the little glowing blue switch. It would be so easy to turn the screen on, it wouldn't really waste much energy, and it wouldn't affect Giroro, as he was already connected to the machine. However, it was hardly respecting his privacy, now was it? But it's not like he wanted to edit the dreams or memories… he would only have a quick peek…

To Dororo's mortification, his legs began to work on automatic, and he slowly approached the control panel of the system, before stopping just before it. His left hand twitched, itching to reach up and press the screen button. He glanced just around the control panel, at Giroro's tranquil face. His mind was made up, he had taken the bait, the temptation was just too much. Dororo apologised silently, before pushing the little button, the screen flickering to life almost instantly. Taken to a small menu, he scanned it quickly and selected to just simply view what Giroro was thinking of right now.

The screen displayed a fairly blank image, meaning that Giroro's dreams weren't too eventful. Occasional images of his platoon mates showed up, and many of Natsumi too, only all of the images of her appeared to depict a negative emotion, usually anger or fear, yet according to the bars at the side of the display, Giroro was sleeping perfectly fine. Perhaps he wasn't seeing these images, and they were just rearranging themselves correctly from where they'd been moved to during the 'tweaking'.

Dororo only started noticing significant changes in Giroro's sleep patterns when images of his youth or his family passed by. If he father or brother came across the screen at any point, Giroro would register readings consistent to a good dream, and observation of the red frog when this happen would occasionally conclude with a minute twitch of a smile flickering onto his face. Dororo was happy that his friend had such fond memories of his family, especially since Giroro so often denied it. When images of himself, Giroro and Keroro as children appeared on screen, Giroro's brain activity would increase, and actual clips of memory would appear at the bottom right corner of the screen, Dororo recognising every one, smiling at the images as they played

However, not all changes in Giroro's sleep patterns were good. One notable occurrence was a quick flash of a woman Dororo didn't really recognise, but assumed that it was Giroro's mother, who he didn't know much about, but knew enough from what he'd heard. He also recognised the occasional sea cucumber, which he knew from previous experiences that Giroro was irrationally terrified of. For the very small amount of time they were on screen, Giroro jolted and curled up slightly. On closer inspection, the corporal's eyes were squeezed shut, his brows furrowed in a very uncharacteristic way. Dororo found that he disliked this development very much.

By now, Dororo's curiosity was most definitely piqued. He glanced down at the fairly simple controls. They couldn't be that hard to master, could they? He looked back to Giroro again and swallowed thickly. He had promised that he wouldn't interfere with Giroro's memories under no circumstances… but he had never expected a circumstance like this. Giroro very much resembled himself when he went through a particularly bad trauma, and, the caring, compulsively helpful fellow he was, Dororo felt the need to fix this immediately. He wanted to somehow alter the memories in a believable way that would relieve Giroro of whatever dreadful emotions plagued him at this moment.

He knew from watching from the ceiling that you didn't actually have to be wired up to the machine to alter anything, as Kururu had managed to single-handedly ruin a lot of Giroro's memories of Natsumi from just the keyboard, the others who had entered Giroro's mind simply watching the alterations as they happened. Kururu's way looked more difficult, but as he had been observing his actions from the ceiling the entire time, Dororo was sure he could get the hang of it. The only problem was figuring out what exactly he wanted to do. He wanted to edit the memories, yes, but in a way that was subtle, and not drastically different, so as not to damage Giroro's memories like Keroro had.

He set to work pin pointing particularly painful memories and watching them through, which was a very depressing, but necessary task. Bookmarking them so that they were easier to find again once he started editing, he started brainstorming, treating the memories as if they were parts of a story that needed plot edits for them to work. He was pleasantly surprised to note that quite a few of them were fairly easy to edit, like inputting mild distractions or moving things around slightly. There was only a small handful that needed a lot of work. Luckily, he already had an idea for the first one, and promptly set to work…

Shivering slightly as he peeled the last one off, Giroro whimpered fearfully. Of all places he had to fall, it was in a rock pool full of those horrific slimy sea cucumbers. He noticed that one was still squirming grotesquely at his feet, so he gingerly nudged it away before looking for a place to climb back up.

He and his friends Keroro and Zeroro had been playing on the beach that day. When it got darker, they decided to part ways, Giroro walking back on his own as his home was in the opposite direction to his friends. This meant that they wouldn't know of his fall and couldn't help him. He whimpered helplessly as he began attempting to climb the slippery rocks with his evidently injured ankle. He wondered if he'd make it home before it got too dark to see…

-Edit Input-

Giroro paused, holding his breath. Had he just heard footsteps? Looking up, he saw to his immense surprise Zeroro's face peering over the rocks at the top of the pool.

"Giroro! I thought I heard you so I came back, are you ok?" Zeroro called, his eyes clouding with worried tears.

"I'm mostly ok" Giroro called back up, noticing a sea cucumber crawling towards him and flicking it away with a stick.

"Oh Giroro, there's so many of them!" Zeroro cried, having noticed them too "I'll help you up"

"Get help, I don't want you to fall down here too" Giroro called up, managing to be the voice of reason even while going through his ordeal.

Zeroro hesitated before nodding, sprinting away and coming back twenty minutes later with Giroro's father, who in turn had brought some rope along with him.

"Giroro, can you hear me?" He called down, peering over the side.

"Dad!" Giroro cried reaching up reflexively, forgetting his injured ankle. "Dad!"

"It's alright, Giroro, It's going to be ok" his dad called, flinging a rope over the side.

"Climb up with that a bit so I can reach you"

Giroro was so glad that his father was so calm. He felt safer already. Gripping the rope tightly, he climbed up a couple of feet before reaching out his arm, his father gripping it and pulling him out. Once on dry land again, Giroro clamped onto his dad in a hug.

"Dad!"

"Oy you, calm down, it's alright" his father chuckled, wrapping a towel around him to dry him off.

"Thank goodness you're ok, it must have been so scary" Zeroro whimpered, just thinking about it made him feel strange.

"It was, but you got help. I could have been there all night" Giroro pointed, managing a thankful grin in his friend's direction.

Dororo wrung his hands together in satisfaction. He hadn't altered the memory so it hadn't happened, but so it wasn't as bad as it was before, and it didn't seem to have any obvious adverse effects on Giroro's mind, which was a plus. He brought up the list of other memories left to alter, pouring over each one while coming up with a detailed plan of what he could do to change them. He found some harder than others, so he set them aside to do the easier ones first…

"Keroro have you lost your mind? Stand down soldier!" Giroro shouted, ducking a from few more blows delivered by the budding platoon leader

"Shut up Giroro, just shut up!" Keroro growled, whipping out a beam sword, forcing Giroro to do the same just so he could parry the blows.

"I'm sick of you belittling every little thing I do, just because you're better than me! You have no right to tell me I'm a useless soldier-" he paused to throw a few jabs at Giroro, eventually having his sword knocked out of his hand having to switch to a gun, which was one of his worst weapons. He was failing to get any shots anywhere near his target.

"I'm sick of you acting like my dream of conquering planets is too farfetched, sick of you telling me all my ideas are stupid, sick of you threatening me every time I come up with an idea you deem pathetic or stupid!"

With a well-aimed shot, Giroro was able to knock the weapon from Keroro's hand. He stopped to reload and catch his breath.

"Keroro just calm down for one seco-"

"Shut up, you bastard!" Keroro yelled, surprising Giroro with the thrust of a small knife Giroro had no idea he was hiding. It dug deep into the red frog's forehead so quickly that Giroro failed to react.

There was a pause as Keroro, Giroro, and the small crowd of fellow trainee soldiers that had amassed slowly took in exactly what just happened. Swallowing thickly, Giroro lifted an arm slowly towards where the weapon had lodged itself. As if shocked by this action, Keroro panicked and tried to pull the blade out, only to drag the blade down the red frogs, face, slicing through the skin like a hot knife would to butter.

-Edit Input-

Realising he was making it worse, Keroro was going to properly remove the knife from Giroro's face before a blue hand clamped onto his wrist, stopping him.

"If you pull it out, you'll make it worse" Zeroro said coldly, keeping his hold until Keroro relaxed his grip.

"What do I do, what do… what have I-"

Zeroro silenced the green frog with a sharp hissing sound, motioning to help carry the corporal, now out cold from the loss of blood to the med bay.

"Good work, lance corporal. You're quick thinking saved us a few blood transfusions" The nurse said pleasantly after cleaning the wound. She ushered him out as she began to stich the injured corporal's arm.

Once the anaesthetic wore off, and his blood levels were satisfactory, Giroro woke up groggily.

"Wha 'appened? Had a weird dream" He slurred, thinking back to that peculiar dream in which his best friend attacked him. The nurse sighed, pity evident in her gaze as she approached him with a mirror.

"It wasn't a dream, sweetheart" she said gently, as Giroro received the mirror and viewed his mutilated face for the first time. Giroro was silent as he stared at his stitches and eye patch, seemingly stoic as ever when al he really wanted to do was break down and cry.

He was distracted from the horrific sight when he heard a knock on the door. The nurse attended to it, bringing in the blue frog that had brought him there.

"You have a visitor" She stated uselessly before, using Zeroro's appearance as an excuse, swiftly leaving the room.

"Don't look" was the only thing Giroro could think to say, suddenly very conscious of the wound on his face.

"Giroro, I was the one who brought you here, it looks much better than when you got here" Zeroro reassured him. Giroro sighed.

"I keep forgetting Keroro has feelings, he seems so stupidly chipper all the time. It's my fault this happened" he said quietly.

"Nonsense. True, you need to consider Keroro's feeling more often, but he also shouldn't have snapped like that. He's absolutely mortified, you know" Zeroro insisted, not wanting Giroro to blame himself. The red frog did not speak, and Zeroro dropped the topic.

"Zeroro" Giroro said eventually "You don't have to stay here, there are nurses"

"I'm not going anywhere Giroro, I'm not just going to leave you alone when you're… like this"

Giroro looked up at the concerned assassin with a smile.

"You're far to kind for your own good, you know"

Editing that memory had been hard, as Dororo had to go through the horror of viewing Giroro's injury for the first time, something he found hard to deal with. He would have preferred to have stayed curious about it. Shaking the thoughts from his mind, he focussed on the next memory.

Why was this a normal part of growing up? It was the question Giroro was asking himself as he sat in his darkened bedroom, curled up on the bed. He'd heard it was common for young Keronians to feel this way, but he had no idea how bad it would feel, or that it would even happen to him.

That morning, he had woken up and not wanting to get out of bed. He felt like he never wanted to move again. It was too much. Life was too scary. The world was too big. He hated himself for being so weak. He hated himself in general.

So this was what depression felt like.

Giroro had spent the entire day in his room, crying about anything and everything, ranging from bad memories of his mother to just being upset at himself for being upset. He couldn't go out and face his family, he looked pathetic. He would have to wait this horrible phase out alone.

-Edit Input-

"Giroro, there's someone at the door for you" Giroro's dad called from down stairs, obviously oblivious to how his son was feeling. Instead of answering, he listened to see who might be at the door.

"He might have fallen asleep or something, he's in his room" he heard his father tell the guest before seemingly leaving the landing. Hearing light footsteps coming upstairs, Giroro felt more relaxed. Keroro certainly didn't walk so quietly.

"Giroro?"

Appearing in the room, struggling to see anything in the darkness, was Zeroro. Even then, no matter who it was, Giroro didn't want to see them.

"Go away" He muttered from beneath his bed sheets. He didn't hear any movement for a few moments, before he felt a change in pressure on his mattress.

"I won't leave you alone when you're feeling like this; it's the worst thing to do. I know from experience" Zeroro explained.

"Sorry"

"What are you apologising for? You're the one who forgets me the least" Zeroro chuckled. He watched the lump under the bed sheets silently, wondering if the red frog would eventually come out. He didn't.

"Giroro, sit up"

There was no movement, and it seemed that there wouldn't be any at all until Giroro slowly began to emerge from his sheets. He sat on the edge of the bed next to Zeroro, shaking with unshed tears. It was a bizarre role reversal, but neither of them seemed to notice.

Zeroro gently wrapped his arms around Giroro and brought him into a warm hug. Giroro returned it almost instantly, what was left of his walls crumbling.

"Is it really normal for adolescents to feel so utterly crap about themselves?" Giroro asked grumpily. Zeroro chuckled at his tone.

"I'm pretty sure, yes. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but it isn't nice, obviously"

Giroro nodded and was going to pull away before Zeroro tightened his grip.

"Before you reel off the old 'you don't have to do this' nonsense, I'm just letting you know that I'm going to stay and help you whether you like it or not. Understood?"

Giroro managed a weak grin at the sound of Zeroro attempting to give him an order.

"Alright, yes sir" He relented, relaxing into the no longer awkward embrace.

Dororo felt he should stop after he finished editing that memory. He seemed to really be taking his chances with what he put into them. If he kept putting himself into Giroro's memories, would it have the same effect as what happened with Kururu? No, it couldn't. He'd only edited three old ones, it's not like he'd replace all memories of Natsumi with himself…

He backed away from the panel slightly when he realised how much he wanted to try that idea and see what happened. Sighing heavily, he switched off the console, and resumed his place sat meditating in front of the machine, its warm glow making him feel just how tired he really was. But if he fell asleep, he would be shirking his duties, and although he didn't think he deserved to be doing this, he didn't want Giroro to suffer for it. So he sank into a light meditation, making sure to stay alert for any sounds the machine might make. He was able to stay that way or several hours.

…

…

The door to the room crashed open and the lights flicked on, startling Dororo out of his skin. At least he was awake now. He turned to see Keroro clumsily tumble into the room, Tamama and Kururu behind him. Spotting Dororo, Keroro titled his head.

"Were you sleeping in here?" He asked.

"No, I was meditating. You gave me a job to do and I refused to fail"

"I… gave you a job?"

Dororo took a very deep breath before walking out of Keroro's way, managing to not go into trauma mode again.

"So how does he look, Kururu? Can we let him out?" Keroro asked, actually looking a tiny bit guilty as he pressed his face against the side of the machine.

"Ku ku! Sure. He should be fine now." Kururu agreed, before pushing several buttons on the keypad.

The ball opened, and Giroro regained consciousness, though not in time to stop himself from crashing into the floor.

"Ahh…" He hissed, rubbing his head before standing up.

"Yo, you brain dead, Giroro?" Keroro asked as if he was asking what the weather might be the next day.

"Speak for yourself" Giroro replied sarcastically, dusting himself off. "I'm never going in that machine again, got it? If I wake up in that thing again I've got a grenade especially for your ass"

Keroro nodded worriedly, letting Giroro stomp past him.

"Ah, Giroro, I'm glad you're ok" Dororo said quietly, not expecting Giroro to stop and look at him with a barely there smile.

"Worrying too much, again? I'm fine" He said, giving Dororo a quick hug before leaving the room, the blue frog being left frozen, with a reddened face. Tamama and Keroro payed no mind, instead trying to move the soul diver out of the way so they could build Gundam models, but Kururu looked right at the blue frog, his glasses flashing in a way that told Dororo he knew what the blue ninja had done last night.

Quickly making some hand signals, Dororo left the building and returned to his own home to finally get some sleep.

That night, he dreamed only of Giroro.

A/N

A silly fluffy friendship/pairing/whatever you want it to be thing based on the episode where Kururu essentially rapes Giroro's memories D8 except Dororo's just trying to help in this one, like in the one where HE was having his memories fixed XD

Glad I got this done at last, I'll be off home tomorrow, (Which, at this time of writing, will be the 19th of July) back at midnight, up early the next morning to change into my Sheldon cosplay and then off to the convention I've been saving for for ages XD

So enjoy some bromance while I try to decide what the hell I should do about my TaruToro fic's next chapter XP