Greetings! After millennia of editing, crying, and lots of head-banging, the first chapter of my Keroro Gunso romance/relationship study thingy is ready to be published!
First off, something very important to note is that I am using gijinkas to write this, due to personal preference.
This story is told from Kululu's point of view.
Also, this takes place about 18 years after the show ends, so the platoon has been there for approx. 25 years now.
Anyway, I think that's all I had wanted to mention, so let me know what you think!
It won't be that long in between uploading chapters, so you don't have to worry~
If you have any questions, please PM me!
(The cover for this fanfiction was made for me by the lovely Jinxitis on deviantart)
I feel my head jerk forward and hurriedly sit back up. I had started to doze off.
And how couldn't I? We've been in and out of this same damn waiting room for two days.
I stifle a yawn and cross my legs before glancing around at my companions.
Dororo is curled up in a chair across from me with his eyes closed (though, he, unlike me, probably hasn't actually fallen asleep).
Keroro is sitting to my left and chatting to Tamama in a forcibly casual way about something. He's clearly trying to disguise the fact that he's terribly anxious.
Giroro sits quietly next to me with his eyes unfocused and a slight crease between his eyebrows. I vaguely wonder what he's thinking about.
One of the nurses we'd been speaking to earlier walks into the room and Keroro jumps up.
"Excuse me, can I ask you something...?" he says tentatively. "Is it normal for it to take this long? I mean, I know these things take time, but it's been, like, two days now!"
"Well, sir, at this point I'd say she's taking a little longer than average. It's nothing to worry about though, the length of labor is different for everyone."
"Okay... thank you."
The nurse nods and walks out of the waiting room. Keroro lingers for a moment, and then returns to his seat. He leans forward, peering around me to see Giroro.
"Giroro? Do you think she's okay?" he asks him.
It takes the corporal a moment to realize he is being spoken to. After several seconds, he turns to Keroro. "... What?"
"Do you think Natsumi's okay?" Keroro repeats.
"Uh, yeah. Yes, I'm sure she's fine."
When he speaks, I notice something on his breath that I can't place at first, then recognize as being alcohol.
Alcohol? Giroro never drinks. Why does he smell like booze?
Maybe it was someone else, someone who passed by...
I don't have time to ponder this further, however, because at that moment we hear Natsumi give a yell of pain. The others stand up when they hear it.
"She must be ready to give birth," says Dororo, speaking for the first time in hours. "Where's Saburo?"
"He left to pick up Aki; he should be here soon," Tamama says.
A few seconds later, Saburo sprints across the waiting area and into Natsumi's room. He is followed closely by Aki.
The delivery takes a negligible amount of time compared to the labor. Within fifteen minutes, we hear the cry of an infant coming from the room, followed by joyful exclaims from Natsumi and her family.
Keroro gives a shaky laugh. "... She did it...!" He looked relieved.
A few minutes later, Saburo comes out, smiling. "It's a boy! We're naming him Yasuo. He weighs six pounds, two ounces, and he's fourteen inches long. He and Natsumi are both doing great."
There's overlapped congratulatory chatter from the others, and then Saburo motions behind him. "You guys can come see her and Yasuo now if you want."
We all file into Natsumi's room and see the new mother holding her baby. She looks exhausted, but pleased.
"Hey, guys," she says softly.
Saburo walks over to her and carefully takes the infant into his arms before going to Keroro.
"Do you want to hold him?"
Keroro's face flushes excitedly. "Yes!" Saburo hands his child to the sergeant, whose features immediately flood with delight. Tamama and Dororo get closer.
"He's so cute!" Tamama exclaims.
"He looks just like you," Dororo says serenely to Natsumi.
"Giroro?" Saburo asks, gesturing to his son.
The corporal nods, and gently takes the infant into his arms.
I look at him as he holds the child. Unlike Keroro, Tamama, and Dororo, there isn't joy on his face. He doesn't look aggravated, like he usually does, but he doesn't look happy either. In fact, I can see that his expression is closer to mournful.
I suddenly remember that I've seen him look like this before. He's making the same face he did when Natsumi and Saburo first started dating... and when they got married... and when they announced the pregnancy...
Oh, for god's sake.
That's what this is about? After all these years, he's still hung up on the young Hinata?
The corporal notices me staring at him and quickly adjusts his face so that he looks happier. He moves closer to me and quietly mutters something about Yasuo that I don't care enough about to listen to.
I gaze at the child's face and see that Dororo is right: he resembles Natsumi very much. Though, of course, I'm able to pick out features of Saburo's as well.
In spite of myself, I feel the corners of my mouth twitching. I'm not one for Pekoponian children, or any children for that matter, but there's no denying that this one is kind of cute.
I glance up at Natsumi. "Very nice," I say simply.
She smiles at me and mouths the words, "Thank you."
"Hey, where's Fuyuki?" Tamama asks. "Shouldn't he be here?"
"He's abroad with Momoka in Scotland right now. They were planning on getting back before Natsumi was due, but Yasuo came early so he couldn't make it."
"Oh, that's too bad..."
"Yeah, but it's okay," says Natsumi. "He'll be back in about a week."
We stay and chat for a few minutes longer, but after Natsumi starts nodding off in the middle of talking, it's clear that we should go home and let her rest.
As we leave, I notice the corporal pull a flask from his jacket and surreptitiously take a swig from it. I guess he was the one who smelled like booze earlier.
That's weird.
Giroro is an incredibly uptight person with a stick up his arse and very specific personal rules about the things he does. And one of his specific personal rules is that he almost never drinks, even on special occasions. He says that it's pointless and does more damage than it's worth.
I make a mental note to try to pay closer attention to him now that I know that he's bothered enough to break his own rules.