Weary eyes fluttered open behind thick glasses, the cracks and fractures in the swirl-oriented disks were the indication of physical damage, and the grumble and grunt that followed confirmed a state of pain and agony.

Sergeant Major Kururu lolled his head from one direction to the other to look around and survey his surroundings.

His lab was buffeted with billows of dark gray smoke, popping sparks of electricity emit from multiple severed wires, and the massive screens of his monster-sized computer devices were all shattered and blank, some dangling by a mere cord or two from their previous hoisted location, while others had fallen out of place altogether to shatter against the keyboard panel and floor. The chair had been knocked down and the keyboard was crinkled, damaged with a few keys missing from the board.

His small sounding 'tch!' was a clear indication that he was very displeased with the outcome of his recent experiment, and the pain only added insult to injury.

He tried to push up to his feet and found that he couldn't, the large humanoid suit he was experimenting on had fallen off its rack and piled on top of him in a heap of arms and legs, lacking a head made moving it harder since he had to do so in person. He freed his hands from the large cluster of wires he could not remember why he was holding onto so tight, and then placed them on the side of the suit and began to push it away.

He wriggled a bit to push the heavy object away from his lower body with a curse and mutter. He needed to make these things lighter for a multitude of reasons, including situations such as this. How many times had things been blowing up in his face the past month? He had lost count out of sheer aggravation of how many they were. He disliked having them backfire figuratively or literally, or fall out of place, more so when they do so right on top of him, it was maddening to say the least.

"Oy, Kururu! Are you all right in there?" was the sudden voice of his leader through the interior's speakers. Since his gate entrance was locked the others were not able to come in to check on him in person, which he considered a good thing to at least save face. Still, the yellow Keronian sighed. This experiment backfired so bad that it attracted the leader's scatter-brained attention? Gracious, he must really be slipping with this one…

"Oy, Kururu! Can you hear us? Answer me!" "Sergeant Major Kururu?" two other voices followed when he gave no reply, which he recognized as the devil Corporal and the ever-forgotten assassin.

Reaching for his headset, he knew he was too far to use the actual speaker, so he opted to redirect the conversation through the headphone communicator, "Just a little setback, people; you act as if you've never seen an explosion before." He laughed with the usual string of 'kuu's through the connection, "Seriously, go away, I'm busy."

For the next few seconds there was silence, but he could detect mild and subtle, hushed and unconvinced whispers between the three, before they agreed to do as told and moved away, leaving the genius keronian to his own device.

And to his own device he was left. Kururu closed the headset connection, and then managed to free himself from underneath the heavy suit and then gave it a swift kick to display his displeasure, disregarding how it made his toe ache, before turning his attention to his now disheveled laboratory. It will take him some time to clean and sort through the damage, which might stagger his next plan for a few hours, if not another day or two.

Then again the leader of his platoon was a slacker at best so he really didn't need to rush unless it was serious.

Frustrated at the lack of proper results with his current project the yellow frog went about gathering the shambled pieces, sorting them by type and availability, then went about organizing the other less important parts of his lab to see if he had spares to use and replace them. He kept mental notes on what pieces were not good and needed to be replaced with something better, from the pieces that he was confused why they did not work as he expected them to, then to the pieces that he did not remember why he had added them to the main blueprint schematics to begin with.

Sergeant Major Kururu sighed, perhaps a bit more heavy-heart then he intended to. He had been feeling a little under the weather and he had no idea why, it was infuriating because he just could not shake off this feeling no matter what he tried!

Taunting the Corporal had done very little to keep him entertained. Their leader was too listless to pay enough attention to any actual planning to invade, far too preoccupied with procrastinating with the figure models he loves to build, and keeping track of the animated series of Captain Gerlock and his motley crew of misfits. The Hinata have been rather void of anything interesting as well; Fuyuki was absorbed in trying to improve his grades and Natsumi indulged in far too many school sports to spend any time home anymore.

Even Saburo had been away for a while because of a tour he was doing with his radio interviews, which left the yellow invader lacking someone to mess with.

A little part of him thought he might just need some friendly company, but he refused to give in to that feeling. He was alone like he always have been, and he was doing just fine!

Feeling listless and tired the yellow invader did a rather sloppy job in getting his workstation tidied up, before abandoning everything altogether and heading to his private quarters. He had a homey little corner under the belly of his lab, providing a secluded royal bedroom, spa and a kitchen.

His rank gave him leeway to spoil himself to the fullest if he chose to, but he never bothered getting more than what he really needed. The Sergeant who was his leader did more than enough damage to cut his salary with his mindless shenanigans, thus forcing the higher ranked member of the platoon to watch his wages if only for the sake of not over-budgeting his own needs and requirements.

Throwing himself onto the bed with a thump and a muffled groan of aggravation, Sergeant Major Kururu remained motionless for a long moment, before he gave a curt grunt and then shifted his body to push to his hands and knees. He crawled his slow way to the pillows and then let his body drop down again to bury his face into their cool softness, his arms snaked around them in a smothering hug to savor the soothing sensation for as long as it lasted.

He wasn't tired and he wasn't even sleepy, but he really felt like lying around and doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the day, he just didn't have the heart or the energy to bother with any of this. Heck! Even the thought of swamping himself in a tub full of curry didn't do much to brighten his mood; he wasn't hungry thus the idea wasn't too appealing at the moment which infuriated him even more.

If the mere thought of curry didn't do much to make him feel better, then there was something wrong with him…

He just wished he had a clue to what it was! This heavy-heart feeling and listlessness left him feeling uninspired and apathetic to the point of driving him up the wall!

Too bad he was too apathetic to give a damn…

He rolled over and lay to his back with a soft sigh and picked up his glasses with one hand to drape an arm over his eyes. A minute later he shifted his arm away to stare at the bright lit ceiling lights, but only for a minute because the yellow Keronian grumbled at their piercing glow and clapped his hands twice. The lights died down in an instant and were replaced with one little night light, showering the room in a soft glow. Kururu let his body slump over the cool mattress for a little longer then rolled over, flat on his belly again.

He was so bored! And yet he had nothing to do; or rather, he couldn't be arsed to do anything.

Maybe if he just laid there for a while something interesting would happen…

. o 0 o 0 o .

Sergeant Major Kururu did not mean to doze off, and yet when he woke three hours later he found that he felt a little better. Rolling over from his belly to his back, the bed sheets and blanket wrinkled from where he had twisted and turned in his slumber, he released a long exhale and thought that perhaps a little rest was all he needed.

He had woken up at the beeping sound of his communicator, and continued to lie in bed for several minutes after it had went silent. The phone rang again a minute later and he turned his head to stare at it, he made no action to get up or answer; his mind was somewhat a blank. After it had fallen silent a second time the yellow frog listened to the subtle ticking of his alarm clock a few seconds more, expecting the device to ring a third time.

Five whole minutes later he realized it wasn't going to ring, and whoever was trying to give him a call had quit.

Neutral and curious to whom would be calling him on his personal line, calculating the possibilities and percentage of the platoon trying to get in touch with him, the yellow alien pushed to his hands and knees while still on the cushy king sized bed, and then crawled his way towards the night stand where he had placed his yellow mobile device. He picked it up and flipped it open expecting the green and loud Sergeant, or perhaps the red angry Corporal.

He was taken by surprise when he found that it was neither. In fact, it was not someone from the platoon at all.

It was a call from family… not just any family, it was a missed call from his older sister, Rinono.

Confused and perhaps a bit alarmed the yellow invader sat upright on his bedding and fingered the device, debating if it was a good idea to call her back or not and inquire what she wanted. He had not been in touch with his family in a very long time, maybe even going back as far as joining the platoon. He had called, seen and visited them on occasion every so often, but they were very few and far between to the point the gap between visits would be anywhere between four months and a year if not longer.

Last he had seen his sister was a short lived moment at the train station, a shy two weeks before being recruited into the Keroro Platoon upon request. He had finished up a heavy project for the Keron Army and was on his way back to his dormitory located in another town, to rest and recuperate as well as work on smaller things and projects.

Rinono had taken the time to make him a large lunch box and wished him luck, while somewhat complaining how she would have liked it more if he could have stayed the night at her place, or at least stayed in town a little longer. She had been a little cross at him for not even passing by the house to say hello and had taken a bee-line to the train station; despite his shenanigans she had missed him dearly and wanted to have him back in the house again, if only for a little while.

At the time he had been too preoccupied with getting personal things sorted out, and preparing the copy robots for the parade before heading to the Grand Star. The idea of visiting a foreign planet to conquer was enthralling and he was very excited to set foot into his new provable playground, more so since he was enlisted within the same platoon Giroro had been a part of… no one knew at the time, he had his eyes on the Corporal for a very long time.

At first it was revenge and spite for having stuck him in that monstrous plate of curry; going home yellow and twitchy had left his family in alarm and swamped him with undesired attention. After he had gotten over the initial shock and got used to the fact he was no longer blue skinned, the emotions had changed into thoughtful and contemplative. Had the change in skin color really been a bad thing? It had caused a metamorphosis of sorts that as someone with his acute sensitivity and intellect found hard to ignore, it was subtle yet noticeable even at his young, delicate age.

The feelings grew into some sort of epiphany and caused a mental escalation of maturity that heightened his mind in ways he was not quite aware of, and it served as a drive for him to develop his experiments further earning the unintentional favor of his superiors, therefore recruiting him into the army.

Of course being a child at the time he wanted to test things out without relying on artificial intelligence, if only for the sake of collecting actual dependable and more realistic results instead of inaccurate automated ones, and thus always triggered his toys in the laboratory, sending everything into panicked disarray and distorting the people, and perhaps destroying property if the bite was bigger than what he could chew.

He was one to develop a sort of fondness to gambling with luck, even if it meant intolerable pain or even pushing him to the brink of death; he was never afraid when things backfired for they were what drove him to try harder. Sometimes his experiments earned him positive points in the seat of being a high ranked member of the militia, and the praise given soared his pride with flying colors, while other times backfired failures earned his seat as well as his pride a different kind of colored soreness.

Nevertheless, as time went by gambling with his luck became a personal habit and lost its connection to Giroro. After receiving the commendation to join an invasion platoon however, seeing the Corporal's name in the manifest sparked that old flame and a myriad of thoughts coursed through the yellow demon's mind. He wanted to get back to the red Keronian for what had happened, not out of spite any longer but out of sheer playfulness.

He had done a lot of research regarding the red Keronian and learned much of his personality and background, which of course led him into researching his friendship with Keroro and Zeroro who had later changed his name into Dororo. Kururu had no interest in Pururu but kept tabs on her whenever she was brought up nonetheless. Garuru was no exception as well, more so because Kururu had encountered him throughout his growing up years, too.

With a subtle shake of the head, Kururu cleared his mind and focused on the device in his hands, reminded of what he was doing before he started daydreaming and reminiscing with the past. It had been so long since he had last talked to his sister, and he knew for a fact she would not call him unless it was important to some level; she was never one for small talk after all.

She was efficient even if she had nothing to do with the military nor had she taken any training from what he knew. The yellow invader's lips twitched with a small and subtle smile, he knew for a fact that if his sister decided to join the army then his rear was in for a beating if he crossed the line; Rinono might be one of the few people he would not really want to cross on a bad day no matter how much he liked to gamble with death.

In a sense, he guessed that might explain his fascination with aggravating and harassing the redhead of the Hinata family; Natsumi can be so much fun to anger.

Daring the odds as curiosity got the better of him, he decided to avoid a voice call and texted a message asking what she wanted, hit send and then pushed off the bed, he will freshen up and go back to what he was doing in the lab while he waited for a response. Kururu had expected an hour or two before he got a reply, so while in the restroom he was in the process of dapping his face with a towel to dry his skin, the phone rang and alerted him that a reply had been received.

Picking up the device he flicked it open again to read the text message, 'I'm on Pekopon, if you have time meet me at the space parking area.' was her reply.

Kururu stared, pinched the bridge of his nose and then shook his head, he stared at the text message again in an expression of disbelief.

Rinono was on Pekopon! When did she-… how did-… why…?

Boggled and needing an answer, Sergeant Major Kururu wasted no time to hurry out of the bathroom and toss the towel to the bed, pull a leather jacket from his wardrobe, shoved his phone into the pocket along with his wallet and keys, strapped on fingerless gloves and some thick boots, and then hurried towards the exit in order to go to the hanger where he had parked his space bike. Although formal or casual wear were not something he'd even consider in normal situations, he very well knew his sister would prefer if he had something on and not walk around bare for any given number of reasons.

On Keron nakedness was a mundane thing that not many gave a second thought about, clothes and fashion were more an acquired taste to those who enjoyed the hobby of playing dress up, rather than a requirement for decency. Knowing his luck, his sister might be here on a very important mission and needed to clue him in on whatever she was up to; either it be a necessity for her own safety or because it had something to do with him he would never know until he got there.

One thing he loved and hated about Rinono, she would be more than willing to go out of her way to support him in some shape or form, even if it got her in trouble. He wasn't the quiet and timid little tadpole anymore, damnit! She didn't need to pamper or protect him…

Once decked in his outfit the yellow invader hurried out of his private chamber, up to the upper level of his laboratory, made sure to put all systems on autopilot and locked all entrances into his lab for security measures, and then marched towards the hanger for his transportation vehicle got on his bike and with the engine ignited, he opened the hatch leading out of the building. Watching the garage door open in an agonizing and slow motion, giving his bike a minute to rev Kururu took off with a blast and not a single look back.

He darted away from the Hinata residence in a swift dash across the sky and leaving a faint line in his wake; the message from his sister plagued his mind.

Unaware however, navy blue eyes saw his departure from where they were looking up at the sky, the person they belonged to frowned in mild confusion where he was seated in the backyard of the house, a gun in one hand and a rag in the other, the campfire just a few inches away from him had been smothered in order to let the sweet potatoes cook under the hot earth. .

Corporal Giroro frowned; where was the Sergeant Major headed in such a hurry and at this early hour in the morning?

. o 0 o 0 o .

It had been about forty minutes at decent speed for Kururu to cross the distance from the Hinata residence and out to the streets, then past the main road towards the Space Parking Area. He did not know what to expect or even what or how to greet his sister, if greet her at all. There was something about the curtness of her message left a bad taste in his mouth, a taste he did not crave for the lack of a proper flavor, to say the least.

Nevertheless, he parked his bike and turned the engine off, pocketed his keys and then marched into the shopping mall. He contemplated giving her a text message to let her know he was there, but thought it might be more interesting to lurk and see if he could spot her before she spotted him.

With his hands in his pockets the yellow invader entered the shopping area and began a slow process of window shopping, making sure to make his way through the building and crossing each and every tailor and accessory shops he could find. Rinono had a thing for fashion and customizing clothes, it was a hobby that she was skilled at. She had always wanted to be a seamstress and yet seemed to be content with her job as a desk attendant or a part-time librarian instead.

When it came down to being organized and efficient, she was a first choice selection, he would vouch for her with no strings attached if it came down to it, too.

It was about an hour later that he sensed a familiar presence when he arrived near the center of the shopping center. He stood before the fountains to sift through the noises surrounding him when one voice pierced through the racket like a silver thread, reaching his ears unhindered.

"Kururu!" came the crystal clear and familiar voice, soon followed by the sound of dainty shoes on smooth marble tiles.

The yellow alien in mention looked around to try and figure out where the voice had come from, only to notice something fluttering at the corner of his vision, it was approaching him fast. Turning to look he was met with a happy smiling face and half-squinted eyes of joy, catching glimpse of those eyes for only a few seconds before the face had thumped against the side of his head, arms slinked under his arms to pull him into an embrace.

Kururu had reached out with his arms to usher her into his arms and accept her hold without thinking, his reaction to her greeting did not register in his mind until after he had placed his hands on the back of her shoulders. Feeling her arms wrapped around him so tight, bringing back long forgotten childhood memories to boot, had sent a strange tingle across his face and he bit back a curse; it was unlike him to be this happy to see her, it was a little embarrassing.

Rinono was wearing a nice-fitted sundress of peach and white with a matching hat, and he would make a wild guess that perhaps she had tailored it herself because he was sure he had not seen this design anywhere before. She had wasted no time to rush towards him in a tight, loving embrace that he returned rather reluctantly, and it didn't look like she was going to let go just yet, either. The flustered invader averted his gaze from the crowed, noting they had earned a few amused stares.

A few seconds later however, he could not help but notice that she seemed a little different, and the lack of a certain something surprised him. He noticed that she had lost her tail, the symbol of her youth. Had he been away from home for so long that his sister had gotten this old already?

Could this have something to do with why she was here?

"Oh, Kururu, it is so good to see you again," she exclaimed with a broad and happy grin. She pulled away from the hug and let her hands slide from his back to rest on his shoulders, "how have you been? I hope you've been taking good care of yourself?" she inquired with a smile.

Kururu did not reply at first, musing to himself how his sister was disgustingly kind and loving she was.

A moment later he took note how… old she looked. Rinono had matured into a lady, and he could already note the faintest crinkled wrinkles at the corners of her mouth and under her eyes. Unlike Chief Medic Pururu he was not surprised his older sister did not take much effort to hide them, either. From what he could tell they seemed to be from either lack of sleep or stress, if not both; then again he was a superior technician and not quite a certified doctor, so his diagnosis could be faulty at best.

Disregarding that since he didn't want to jab her with a taunt just yet, he smiled and replied with a subtle shrug to brush her hands off his shoulders, and then shoved his fists into his pockets again to take a more relaxed and casual standing position, "Oh you know me, health is something I take quite seriously. Ku ku…"

"So says the guy with an obsession with spice," she teased and pinned her fists to her hip, still with an amused smile, "but honestly, Kuru, how have you been? I hadn't been in touch with you in over a year," she said in a somewhat admonishing tone, "I know how married to your work you could get, but the least you could do is send a text or reply when I text you," she added with a pout, and then huffed and then crossed her arms over her chest.

"And since when were you my mother?" he taunted, not spiteful.

"Don't try that sass with me, mister; you know as well as I do who wears the belt in this family," she replied with an arched brow and a challenge in her tone, and yet looking not at all offended. In fact she smiled wider and lowered her arms with a pleased smile, "But really, you really need to stay in touch, we do worry about you, you know." She said in a softer tone, "In fact, considering your current social skills then at this rate you'll never get a girlfriend," she added with a tiny, cheeky grin.

Kururu almost snorted as he gave a twitching grin of amusement; oh if only she knew…

The Corporal was not just his unrequited 'girl' friend per say, but he sure as hell fit the role. Not that he was going to tell his sister that, though. He knew for a fact she had nothing against same-gender relationships and would not be against the thought of him pursuing - or rather stalking- another man, it was just that he did not feel comfortable telling her that tidbit just yet.

Without warning she had pulled him towards her into another embrace, leaving him feeling awkward and with a visible fluster. He complained at her overzealous display of affection in a hushed tone, she laughed and apologized before letting go to take his hands into her own to give them a loving squeeze, then greeting him with another wide, pleased smile.

Kururu would never tell this to anyone, but he had missed being genuinely and unconditionally loved, and the small rebelling sense of pride was smothered out when it tried to complain that this fluffy moment was ruining his image.

He had spent so much time being a trolling sadist and chased everyone away, including potential love interests. However he did not regret any of that, it was in his nature and he loved himself just the way he was, and if others were not willing to look past his dark personality then he had no interest in wasting his time with them.

A part of him would argue over his fascination with aggravating the red skinned Corporal, that Giroro did not like him very much and yet in the same time did not seem to hate him either; Kururu would explain to himself that he is taunting the red invader for the sheer fun and entertainment of seeing the reactions on Giroro's face; nothing more and nothing less. Giroro was a toy he liked to mess with, and though he did harbor a bit of interest in the other he knew better than to let it affect him or his choices.

It would be nice if Giroro did show some sort of reaction he could exploit further, though. The Corporal had been off easy for some time now, the yellow invader thought it was about time he started picking on the red dharma again.

On a whim he took her hand and going arm in arm, Kururu decided to find a suitable place to talk where no passerby or onlookers would eavesdrop on their conversation; he did not need to turn around to notice the stooges hiding behind a large vending machine a fair few feet behind them, either.

In the back of his mind, Sergeant Major Kururu figured this outing could get interesting if his sister was willing to play along. Maybe even give the ones tailing him something to freak about, and perhaps ruffle their feathers in the provable sense of the word.

Pulling her a little closer he slipped his arm from hers to wrap it behind her back and place it on her hip, it came off looking like a rather intimate motion. Rinono was a bit confused and startled at the change in pace and was about to ask what he was doing, when he scooted closer to nuzzle her cheek and silencing her in an instant. He whispered something into her ear with a cheeky grin, well aware her hat might have veiled his face from the ones following him, the position he was holding might have been confused to the gesture of kissing her as well.

After a moment she turned to him with a perplexed expression first before giggling. She nodded with a playful twinkle in her eyes, and then allowed him to guide her towards the nearest shop. The instant she noticed it was a curry shop however, she could not help rolling her eyes and nudging him with her elbow.

This man and his obsessions; he really needed to find another hobby…

. o 0 o 0 o .

Keroro grumbled; when he had gone looking for Kururu earlier he had found the entrance to the laboratory locked shut and tight, he had asked the others if they knew what the yellow one was up to, only to encounter Giroro in the shooting range who had confessed to seeing their superior leave in a hurry a good ten to twenty minutes before.

Sergeant Keroro knew the instant Giroro mentioned how Kururu was decked in an outfit, that the yellow Sergeant was heading towards the Space Parking Area instead of the Underground Market. Kururu had always impressed him as the kind of guy who would dress appropriately depending on the errand or task he was taking, so dressing in the fashion Giroro had mentioned meant whatever he was dealing with was some hot stuff, and Keroro wanted in on whatever it was Kururu was planning!

How did he know? He could not explain it in words; he just did…

Either it be something to do with his person being the most friendly and closest in comradeship to the yellow demon, or that Kururu favored him over the others he would never know. It took a prankster to understand and appreciate another prankster, after all.

It had taken him some time to reach the Parking area and even longer to locate and recognize Kururu's bike in the parking lot, thus he hid his own bike elsewhere nearby for convenience's sake.

Keroro loved his bike; maintaining and upgrading motorbikes of either Keronian or Pekoponian origin was one of the interests he shared with Kururu, and perhaps a reason they were on good terms with one another, or at least that's what he liked to think.

Tamama had come along only because he was on his way to HQ when Keroro was just about to depart, and then insisted on helping the green Sergeant on his endeavor by keeping him company. With Corporal Giroro still back at base tending to his own tasks, and Lance Corporal Dororo nowhere in sight, the dark tadpole was excited to spend a not-quite-a-date with his beloved leader.

Now, oblivious to the younger one's thoughts, the green one peered past the vending machine to see the yellow demon escort this new lady away looking all lovey-dovey to boot. They had been tailing him for less than ten minutes when the Keronian lady tackled Kururu into a hug, shocking the Sergeant and Second Class Private into a standstill at her brave approach. She was pretty and mature with a charming smile, perhaps a little older than Kururu but an attractive female nonetheless.

"I can't believe it… Kururu has a girlfriend!" Keroro mumbled and sat on the floor with a huff, an elbow on one knee he propped his fist under his chin while he mulled over this shocking discovery.

This was not what he had expected, not even close to the assumption that Kururu was planning some sort of amazing prank on his own, but it was a very interesting development nonetheless.

Keroro could not help but muse over what kind of women Kururu would date; being a creep and a stalker marked him as the unhealthy side of a relationship, and the green invader wondered if the lady knew what she was getting herself into. On one hand it might explain the recent lack of pressure on Giroro who was the constant target of Kururu's harassment attempts, but on another it meant someone else was involved in this.

"But how can anyone find Sergeant Major Kururu attractive!" Tamama argued as he looked quite distressed at the mere thought, disbelieving what he had seen before his very eyes as well. Kururu was a diabolical monstrosity waiting to happen, that demon was incapable of loving someone without some sort of physical or mental harm befalling them; Tamama felt very sorry for the nice lady, and yet felt that since she seemed to happy to see the yellow monster, then perhaps Kururu was treating her well? Or at least, treating as well as he could offer.

"I hadn't the foggiest," Keroro confessed to his companion's question, looking just as distraught as the dark tadpole. "and for that, this requires further investigation!" he blurted.

Standing poised, tall and proud with his arms crossed over his chest, Keroro thought that all they could do for now was tail after the yellow invader and his lady, and hope some sort of explanation would present itself to unravel this mystery.

It was time to play undercover detectives, and for that they needed the perfect disguises so Kururu would not recognize them!

But Kururu was very perceptive, what could they possibly wear to elude the yellow demon from knowing it was them?

Hmm…