Author's Note:

Hello to everyone who's stumbled upon this fic. I'd like to take a moment to say that what you're about to read will certainly shock you, maybe even frighten you. If you manage to survive, and even - dare I say - seek more after this chapter, then I will be tickled with Glee.

This is a coupling fic, but I'm sure you already knew that.

So let's get this acid trip started!

A Stupid Mistake

x x x x

' There were times when I thought you had to be the most insufferable creature I'd ever met. You were rude, egotistical, mean, you never seemed to care about anyone other than yourself. You were always trying to find ways to trick or prank everyone... Generally, you were a cold hearted prick.

And then... you went and did something stupid...'

x x x x

Thoughts, like time, can be short, long and often fleeting. The fleeting kind can veer between the most innocent and the most dangerous; since fleeting thoughts are usually something people think of fleetingly and do not act upon them.

Except for this time.

It had been another normal day, as far as a normal day could be anymore, for one Natsumi Hinata. She'd gotten up and made breakfast, gone to school, chilled with her friends after classes, and came back home to a house full of guys trying, yet again, to take over the world.

Er, frogs. Frog guys. Frog guys trying to take over the world.

Though it wasn't so much taking over the world for conquest, as it was for publicity, fame, fortune and glory. Then again, Natsumi wasn't to sure. What if the whole story Fuyuki told her about the Leader of Keron agreeing not to take over Pekopon was all just some elaborate setup?

She wouldn't put it passed the Fridiot to think of something like that. Yet, she did have to stop herself and think; it had already been four years since they'd come to this planet.

Four years since the day she and Fuyuki saw the little green toad hiding against her brother's wall.

As she opened the door, giving her normal greeting to everyone, she heard light footfalls thumping towards her. She looked up only to see a mass of green flying towards her. Stunned, Natsumi couldn't dodge away in time, and was instead tackled into a gripping hug like bear hold.

"NATSUMI! HELP ME! GIRORO WANTS TO KILL ME!"

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I DO! NOW GET BACK HE-He Heeey-Hi HI Natsumi! Welcome home."

"Thanks Giroro. Fridiot, let go!"

"N-No! If I do, he'll beat me up! If I hold onto you, you can be my shield!"

Natsumi was getting irritated, and didn't like to be used in such a manner. The only problem was that she couldn't just yank the invader off of her and throw him into the other. He had her arms pinned to her sides, with his own. This normally didn't happen as he was normally a small two foot tall alien frog.

Right now, however, he was a small five foot five tall...Pekoponian male.

This might seem very odd, and strange, but it really wasn't anything new. It all went back to just about two years ago; well, two years ago for the resident genius who made this all possible; one year for the rest of them. He'd hid this new little toy of his from the others for a year, before they'd caught him on it. That had been a crazy evening.

It turned out, the item in question, were actually items. Plural. Five of them. And they were big! Giant eight foot tall machines; cylindrical in design. They'd been all hooked up to various computers; giant cables running along the ground, and small control panels in front of each one. Each had a respective symbol on them.

The function of the machine? To render the slowly becoming obsolete 'suits' needless, and to practically 'be' a Pekoponian. No more frog headed people, no more worrying about running out of battery life for the anti barriers, no more hassle. All it required was a drop of the subjects blood and one painful body morphing process later - which Kululu had 'promised' was only the first time - the chosen alien frog looked, walked, talked, and smelled like a Pekoponian version of themselves. The only thing that didn't change was their DNA.

Thus, Natsumi's slight predicament was that the human version of Keroro was clamped around her, pinning her arms to her side, and being a general nuisance.

"I don't care what he does to you, because chances are, you deserved it! Now let me go or I will smack your head into the wall!" She yelled, then in another fit of annoyance, questioned the green haired boy.

"And why exactly are you in your human form? You always switch back when you're here."

Keroro blinked, then unlocked his hold and stood back a little. Putting a hand to his chin, the boy gave a slightly creepy grin; dark green eyes flashing.

"Gero-gerogero...Simple! I and Private Tamama are going out! There's a new all you can eat buffet grand opening downtown, and we are so going! Isn't that right, Tamama?"

"You got it, Sir! I'm gonna eat so much cake and ice cream 'till I puke!" The owner of said voice popped out, revealing a younger boy than the other in front of her.

He shuffled over to the two, and latched onto Keroro's arm.

"I'm ready when you are!" The dark violet haired boy spoke in a very chipper tone; dark blue eyes gleaming with some illogical affection.

"Great, 'cause I'm starving! Stupid Kululu was being a jerk and not letting us use the kitchen this whole time, while he did! We tried to cook stuff downstairs, but..."

"But you idiots somehow managed to destroy all the equipment thanks to you wanting stupid Space Spaghetti!" Giroro growled from the floor.

Looking down at the small red frog, Natsumi could see why the Corporal was pissed. Yeah, the Fridiot totally deserved being beaten for that; but honestly this wasn't what was actually getting under her skin. It was more the fact that someone had been in her kitchen, using her things... who never cleaned anything he used; leaving her stuck with the mess.

"Whatever." Natsumi brushed passed the others, stomping a bit as she made her way to the stairs, glancing into the living room kitchen combo and eying the culprit on the couch with a heated glare as she started up the steps. Once in her room, she tossed her book bag onto her bed, and went about changing from her school uniform to a random set of everyday clothes.

The whole time she did this, she was zoned. It had taken a number of months to get use to the fact the frogs now had human forms, and when she finally had, realized it was probably that much more of a hassle to deal with a house occupied with four, sometimes five guys. Excluding her brother of course. A lot of rather embarrassing things had occurred during this whole transition; the worse having to do with the genius himself.

She'd woken up in the early morning, not entirely coherent as she made her way to the toilet. In her sleep induced haze she failed to wonder why the light was on in the bathroom; as if it was perfectly natural. Reaching for one door; the other opened. Natsumi found herself waking up very quickly at the site of a very wet, very naked six foot talk blond staring down at her.

Natsumi froze at that point; face, ears and brain reaching critical meltdown. The image burned into her mind, and her brain overloaded to the point it didn't know under which file to store this said image:

Things you can't unsee, or things you throw into a tiny chain bound metal box sunk to the bottom of the ocean you only dare peek at when everyone you love and hold dear is at least four light years away from your vicinity.

A tap to the forehead broke her of this and Hinata Natsumi learned two things that day.

One: Even without having it on hand, Natsumi could call forth her powered battle suit from the sheer amount of overloaded stress her brain could no longer handle.

Two: Bathrooms, were extremely expensive to repair.

Two weeks had gone by before she'd seen the other again. When this came about, he only smirked, and had said three words to her:

"Now, we're even."

It had taken Keroro, Tamama, Dororo, Fuyuki, Momoka, Koyuki and Paul to hold back Natsumi, and even Giroro for some odd reason, not to send Kululu on a one way trip to hell.

Even then, other things had gone on to happen with everybody, not just her. Not too long after, she started to notice something change. She began to noticed that the majority of the time the frogs were home; they were just that - frogs. They'd mostly only be human if they were leaving to go out, or planning something stupid.

Yet there was an exception to this, and that exception was Kululu. For some reason, the Sargent Major was more often in his human form than his real form. She didn't really understand why and she was pretty sure she didn't care. Maybe it was just some stupid experiment. While it didn't seem like much cause for hassle; it was in fact, quite the opposite.

For two people that never really talked or interacted much, Natsumi was a bit agitated that she was usually a constant source of amusement for him; much like Giroro. Granted, she at first attributed this to the 'fearless leader', but there were little things he did strictly out of his own volition.

Shaking her head, she huffed out a breath, and having finished changing went back downstairs. She briefly noticed the front door slightly ajar; hearing Giroro's voice either reprimanding the green dork or yelling at him.

Turing away, she somewhat stomped into the living room. Looking over to the kitchen, she couldn't see much. Curiosity got the better of her and she looked in the fridge. She frowned, grinding teeth. Used pot was in the fridge, half full, uncovered.

This could be chalked up to two things. Kululu was lazy, and was...well, Kululu. The other was, simply put, he was a guy. Guys were stupid about stuff like this.

Pulling the pot out, and finding two large containers; Natsumi went about storing them properly and washing said pot. When she was done, she exhaled deeply. Today at school had been so busy and a lot of random club members from various sports had wanted her to help them out. Not really being able to get away from a majority of them, she'd begrudgingly accepted their requests and had missed half her outing with Yayoi and Satsuki. Even after she'd met up with her friends, the rest of that outing had been just as exhausting. All she wanted to do was crash.

Drying her hands, she walked over to the couch. She was tired, worn, and rather agitated about every little thing at this point. Thus, upon seeing resident genius Kululu stretched out across the entire length of one couch; and her favorite spot for gaming, her eye twitched. Raising a foot, she kicked his knee, hard.

"MOVE."

Slightly jolted, the tall blond grabbed the laptop to keep it from falling. Giving her a mildly annoyed look, he pulled his legs towards him, but didn't move them off the couch.

"Tch...Someone's pissy..."

"Move your feet!"

"No." And he went back to typing.

At this point, Natsumi didn't care anymore, and dropped the barbed comment she was going to throw. Instead, she plopped down; feeling slightly squished between the couches armrest, and the tucked legs of the other. Grabbing up her controller, she flipped on the TV and then to her game.

Within five minutes...everything was alright in Natsumi's world.

Until the legs moved; and she suddenly felt herself being pushed forward, almost over the armrest, a somewhat high pitch laugh granting at the back of her skull.

"Actually, this works much better, ki ki..."

Shaking from a mild rage she swung around, dislodging he feet off her back and swung the game controller at his face. She missed by an inch as he leaned back to avoid it.

"I will break your legs if you don't get them off this couch!" She yelled, grabbing at one of his ankles.

"Threat or Promise; it's hard to tell with you sometimes."

God damn this guy was so infuriating! She gripped, hard, which did actually seem to be having some effect.

"How much do you like walking?"

"You'll have to do better than that..." Though the look on his face told her she wouldn't have to do too much more.

That was probably the only thing about Kululu in his human form she actually liked; his face was an open book; unlike when he was normal and wore those incredibly thick glasses that made it impossible to see his emotions.

However, with this form, he wasn't very good at hiding things, and she had to guess it was due to his eyes. While everyone else seemed to have an eye color suited to them; Keroro's dark green, Tamama's dark blue, Giroro's navy blue, Dororo's aquamarine... it was Kululu that threw her for a loop. She's expected the prick to have yellow, orange or even red eyes for what a demon he could be.

But she was entirely off.

They were sky blue mixed with light purple. He had Sectoral Heterochromia. It was...strange. And because they weren't hidden behind thick glasses, and only thin normal ones, it left him open. Whether or not he was aware of this fact could be up for debate; though Natsumi liked to think he might not truly realize it.

Moving her other hand up, she was planning on grabbing his foot and twisting against his ankle, intent on at the very least one hell of a sprain. However, as her hand brushed against said foot; she never made it that far, as suddenly he jerked back; freeing captured appendage and swinging to sit upright; feet firmly planted on the floor.

"Alright, I get it." Kululu snapped, looking annoyed...yet slightly flustered.

Natsumi at first was slightly confused as to what just happened, until her mind replayed the event in her head. Picking her game controller back up, she turned back towards the television, smirking lightly. It seemed someone was incredibly ticklish. She'd have to remember that for the next time he tried to black mail her with anything. She finally had a way to dish it right back.

For a short while, everything was quiet around the house. The exceptions were the various noises being made by various appliances; the game on the television, the tapping of computer keys, the clock ticking by the seconds, and other white noise lost to most people.

Kululu heard everything. The only reason he didn't go insane, perhaps more so than some would argue him being already, was due to the fact he could filter any noise either completely out or just change its frequency into something pleasant. It was for this useful trait in which he could hear the front door shut, and the sound of tiny feet padding across the floor in the entrance even with Natsumi's video game going off right next to him.

The genius smirked to himself. Giroro had not been happy at all with Keroro and Tamama turning the underground base into a slip-n-slide of Space Spaghetti. It was a very delicate dish, that required precision, balance, patience and a Mark 8.4 Hyper Canon Blaster. Did they serious think he was going to let the fun of watching them fail be wasted in such a tiny part of the house? He knew Keroro would get pissed enough to blast it one too many times; then even more as it grew bigger and bigger. Why not give him the extra room?

So no, he wasn't really concerned for the kitchen being damaged. Though he didn't want them messing up or bugging him for his Curry.

Turning his attention back towards the Corporal, though still typing away on his laptop, Kululu's smirk grew just a tiny more. He'd have to get in a good jibe at the warrior for this. What could he say? His thoughts raced a mile a minute as he set the laptop down; giving his fingers a moment to rest. Getting under the red keronian's skin was always rewarding fun. Yet what to say? What to do...

He glanced at the game on the screen, then the girl playing said game. Ooo, something embarrassing in front of Natsumi. Double points. A myriad of ideas crossed his mind at this; each one just as good as the last. Giroro would walk in already being stress, he'd rile him up a little more and hit him with a zing. It would send the Corporal into an embarrassed frenzy. Kululu had to hold back a chuckle.

And then he had a fleeting thought.

It was quick. It was random. It was sadistically delicious; and would probably earn him a hell of a beating. It would be so worth it.

Hearing the footfalls of the other coming up, Kululu leaned over towards the girl sitting next to him.

"Hey, Natsumi; Do me a favor."

Natsumi frowned, eyes glued to the screen. He had some nerve asking her that.

"Can it wait like, five seconds?" She replied slightly annoyed.

She was in the middle of a really tough boss battle and didn't want to be pulled away from it over something that was most likely going to be not worth her time.

"No. Come on; it'll be hilarious."

Natsumi's eyebrows furrowed. That had sounded suspicious. She was starting to think he was planning something. Pausing her game to her reluctance she turned, starring up at the other with a heated gaze.

"What is so important it can't wait-"

Her words ceased. Her breathing stopped. Her mind blanked.

The footfalls had stopped. An almost silent gasp.

A silent victory of delicious deviousness.

All of this...over a kiss.

Kululu had heard the quick and panicked retreat from the warrior. He had no doubt the other would ream into him later, but for now, he didn't care.

Without thinking, he ran his tongue across Natsumi's bottom lip. The taste of cinnamon caught him a little by surprise but he found he liked it. At this gesture, her lips had parted slightly; expectantly. He obliged before he could stop himself.

A jolt like cold electricity ran down his spine; and Kululu jerked back; eyes wide and unsure what the hell just exactly happened.

Natsumi sat frozen; mind still blank, voice still lost. Hazel eyes wide, unfocused.

Frowning, Kululu turned and slammed the laptop close with one hand before yanking it off the table, and himself up from the couch. The minute he'd walked out of the room, he'd made it three steps before collapsing against the wall next to the bathroom door. One hand clutched to the potable computer, the other covering half his face.

His face felt hot; like it was burning. He was also pretty sure the base coils in his headphones were slightly overheating as well. What had just happened? It was like... some sort of electric shock had ran down his spine and through his body. It was both unnerving and exciting; which caused him pause. Absently, he licked his lips. The taste of cinnamon was still there; though faint. Pulling his hand away from his face, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small white device. Thumbing it quickly; Kululu disappeared from the hallway.

Natsumi had snapped from her daze when Kululu had slammed his laptop closed, yet she couldn't voice any words to stop the other from leaving. Thought after thought raced through her mind; and she was still too jarred from what happen to really feel any kind of emotional outbreak. What should could feel though was her unsteady breathing, slightly faster pulse and the heat on her face and ears.

Desperate for an anchor to weigh her down, her mind latched onto the only simple solid string of fact and truth it could.

It was the taste of Mint on her tongue.

"Natsumi!"

She jerked, sitting upright, at the sudden voice freeing her from the trance like state she'd been in. Still trying to calm down she noticed her brother Fuyuki was standing next to her, looking a little concerned.

"Hey, Sis...you okay?" The younger Hinata seemed to relax a little.

"Ah...Ye...Yeah. Yeah, I'm...okay. What's up?"

"You tell me. I called out to you like three times. It's like you didn't even hear me."

"Sorry, I... was just thinking..."

Fuyuki frowned a little and bent down; looking his sister over.

"Natsumi, I think you might be coming down with something." He pondered curiously and touched his forehead to hers. After only two seconds, he pulled back, startled.

"Natsumi! You're burning up! Do you have a fever? Wait, I'll go get thermometer."

"NO! No! I'm fine! I swear! Just-" She shook her head, bringing her hands to her face.

Her eyes widened. Fuyuki was right! She was freaking burning! She closed her eyes, willing for the burning flush to go away. No, no, no...this was...not possible. She refused to believe her body! The only one who did this to her was-

"SABURO!"

She clasped her hands together, covering her mouth; a sick sinking feeling falling into the pit of her stomach as well as racing down her back.

"Oh, yeah, weren't you two suppose to go out tonight, or did you guys cancel?"

Confused at her brother's question, she turned her attention to the clock. The current time was already eight twenty-two. They were suppose to have met up at eight.

"Dammit!"

Getting up from the couch, Natsumi ran to the bathroom; splashing her face with the coldest water she could get from the faucet. She grabbed up the brush and brushed her hair as best she could, drying off with a small washcloth and then bolted upstairs for her purse, wallet, and keys. Her phone was tucked into her pocket already.

She pulled it out, and noticed it had one missed text message from Saburo. She checked it. He was asking if she was alright, and still wanted to go out. She replied hastily, telling him she just lost track of time.

It was technically true.

Obtaining her keys and purse, Natsumi frowned a little when she passed her closet. The dress she was planning on wearing tonight was hanging up, mocking her. If she tried to change now, she'd just waste more time. Leaving her room, she sprinted down the steps, telling a confused looking Fuyuki to find something to eat in the fridge if he was hungry. Slipping on her shoes, she gave a quick goodbye and was out the door.

x x x x

The cool crisp night air raced across Natsumi's skin as she ran down the sidewalk. She'd been running since she left the house, so it wasn't as chilly anymore, since her run had kept her heart racing and body warm. The agreed meeting spot was in the middle of town, near the little amusement park that had the Ferris wheel. She wasn't too far away.

A few minutes later, as she rounded a corner block, she could make out the older teen. He was leaning against a post, sporting a rather appealing ensemble. She kept her pace, not slowing down until she was just a few feet away.

Saburo had turned, seeing Natsumi rushing towards him. He gave a small amused smile to this, before suddenly being tackled into a deep lip lock. Surprised for only a moment, he returned her kiss in kind.

Natsumi exhaled slowly through her nose, hugging close to the other teen and kissing him with as much vigor as she could as that moment. Tension she didn't know she had drained away, as did the entire days events before this moment; her mind throwing up a mental barricade. She hummed from the back of her throat, and felt herself smile a little.

Apples and Peaches. This was familiar. This was right.

She broke away first, pulling back and giving the other a sheepish smile.

"Sorry I'm late."

"The greeting more than makes up for it." He smiled back, giving her a wink.

"Come on, let's head over to the restaurant first, then we can swing back by the amusement park; or we can do a movie."

"The park with be fine. It's been a while since we went."

The two teens shared small talk as they walked arms linked down the sidewalk. It ranged from anything and everything and this night, Natsumi was grateful for the amazing feat that nothing was brought up about any frog, let alone her boyfriend's best friend.

After about half an hour they'd made it to the restaurant. While it wasn't something overly fancy, it was a little more upscale than most of the sit down restaurants along the block. Over the course of their dinner, they'd talked a bit more, though the focus this time was more on Saburo and what new company or agents were trying to scout him out for their products or endorsements.

This was nothing new to Natsumi. She laughed with him about how stupid some of these people could be; and what they'd do or say to get someone under a contract. Shortly after they had starting going out, Saburo had dropped a couple hints here and there as to why he always seemed so elusive. Once Natsumi realized the truth...she'd been completely floored! Though Saburo asked her to keep the secret, which she willingly agreed to.

It wasn't until desert that Natsumi's mental barrier somehow weakened or quite possibly failed her completely. The most likely cause being the ever nagging sense of guilt and shame digging at the back of her skull; which she dutifully ignored in favor of trying to wash it away with her drink.

At this same moment, the waitress came over, and asked if they'd enjoy any desert. It wasn't so much a custom, par sey, but when a new desert came onto the menu Natsumi and Saburo usually got it to split. As the older teen asked what was new, the waitress promptly replied they had a new import Chocolate cream de Mint; dusted with Cinnamon.

Natsumi then promptly choked on her drink. Inhaling ice cubes was never fun.

Waving off both looks of concern, while grabbing up a napkin to both hide her face from some embarassment, as well as dry off, Natsumi politely asked if they could have a fruit desert instead. Saburo had no problem with it, and found the ordeal both slightly comical and somewhat odd. He had asked if she was alright and again she waved him off.

When the waitress came back, Natsumi almost let out an exasperated sigh.

The dessert was a Chocolate Fruit spaghetti like thing; the 'noodles' being made of white chocolate.

Oh how life loved irony.

x x x x

"You sure you're alright?"

"I promise I'm okay. It was just, a hiccup. It happens."

"Alright. I'll stop bugging you about it." Saburo gave her a soft grin, then sighed.

"I may have to cancel for Saturday."

Natsumi frowned slightly.

"Why, what's going on?"

"Just, all these people coming at me lately; it must be some big season somewhere for new hot celebs they want to push. It's enough to dogde them as it is, but... I'm just getting kinda stressed out. I think I'm just going to stay in and get some extra sleep."

"Sounds like a good plan, actually." She smiled.

They came to a stop outside her house. It was pushing a little passed eleven so pretty much everyone would have been asleep.

"Maybe we can do something Sunday. I'll try to get some free time." Saburo smiled.

"Yeah...sounds good."

Natsumi fidgeted, biting her lips. Saburo rose an eyebrow; knowing that look. She wanted to tell him something, but couldn't figure out how to.

"Uhm..."

"Yeah?"

Natsumi swallowed, gritting her teeth.

"E..earlier today..."

"Hmm?"

Saburo waited. Eventually after a few moments of stumbling, she'd blurt out whatever was bothering her. It was kinda cute, in a way.

'Say it! Say it! Say it! Say it!'

"Earlier... I..."

'SAY IT!'

Natsumi choked.

"I'M SO SORRY I WAS SO LATE! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

And she bowed, low, hiding her face. She couldn't look Saburo in the eyes.

Saburo just smiled, giving a slight chuckle. He'd had an idea that was why she'd been so worked up. Natsumi hated being late for anything she deemed 'important' and the boy knew their times together were just that.

Pulling her up, seeing her eyes closed tightly, he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"You know that's a silly thing to be so upset about. I don't care if you were late. We all lose track of time at some point. For all I know, it could have been something important."

That comment sent a harsh pain through her chest; but she kept as still as a statue.

"Relax. It's fine. There's nothing to forgive. No harm done."

Natsumi nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"Now, it's getting late so go ahead and get some rest. I dunno about you but I'm a bit drained. Today was one crazy day for both of us." He smiled, remembering what Natsumi had told him about what happen with her at school.

"Yeah..." She nodded.

"Until Sunday, maybe." He pulled her into a hug, which Natsumi automatically returned.

"Sunday, maybe." She repeated, softly.

They parted ways and Natsumi turned and headed inside quickly. Opening and closing the door as quietly as she could, Natsumi leaned against the door, and slowly slipped into a sitting position. She wasn't staring at any one thing, just her vision was a bit unfocused.

'What the hell is wrong with you!'

"I couldn't say it..." Natsumi said to herself... words so quiet, almost inaudible.

'Why the hell not?'

"I don't know..."

'You were afraid. You were terrified of what Saburo would say.'

She began to fiddle with her shoes, trying to take them off; while her inner thoughts continued to berate her.

'You pretty much lied to him.'

She fumbled her shoe a moment, before getting the first one off.

'So what? Are we just going to ignore this? Not tell him?'

She kicked off the other shoe, not careing where it landed.

'Lying to him is what's going to upset him the most! Not exactly what happen; though that might have him upset. We need to tell him, and tell him Sunday!'

She got up and headed towards the stairs.

'Unless... there's a reason you're so scared to tell Saburo.'

Natsumi gripped the staircase railing hard, shaking her head.

'Why are you so scared? You think he'd leave you over it? Saburo's not that petty. No.. there's something else isn't there?'

Natsumi let go of the railing, taking the steps two by two. When she made it to her door she slipped in quietly. Too worn to bother with late night routines before bed, Natsumi shed her clothes quickly in favor of her pajamas she wore to sleep.

'No. I was scared. That's all. Nothing else.'

'There's more to it.'

'No. I'll tell him Sunday. Until then... it never happened.'

She swallowed, falling unceremoniously into her bed.

'It never happened.'

She managed to make herself somewhat comfortable.

'It. Never. Happened.'

For some reason, this conviction was starting to have her ease up and relax. Slowly she began to drift into a calm lulled state. Exhaling, she closed her eyes, starting to feel a bit calmer... until she absently licked at her lips, remembering the dessert.

It was there. It was faint, but it was enough.

Gripping her pillow, Natsumi grit her teeth, eventually succumbing to all of the days stress and falling into a restless sleep.

x x x x

Quiet and Darkness settled over the Hinata house, just as it did with every other house in the city. It had settled amongst the occupants as well save one.

The only lights left on this late at night weren't so much lights as they were large screens. The dull hum from numerous computers and random clicks of keys from a keyboard were the only sounds being made in the simi-lit room.

Then the clicking stopped.

"Tch..."

Since earlier that day when he'd disappeared from the hallway, Kululu had been working away on his computers non-stop. He'd burned through multiple projects he deemed not worth his effort, even though they were requested by the Sarg. He'd also gone over dozens of reports collected all across the farther reaches of space his satellite could pull frequency from. There had also been time for a bio molecular scan, building and installing yet another computer tower system and rewriting over twenty three software programs just to keep them up to date.

Yet this all had only taken up an hour and forty five minutes. By the time he'd finished all of this it was only ten.

Leaning back in his modified chair; Kululu stared blankly at the screen before him as he propped his feet on the edge of the console.

Even during multiple calculations and crunching quantum data, Kululu had his mind on fifty other things. It was always like this; rarely did he ever focus on one thing at a time. During the times he did, however, his mind would run in overdrive with idea upon idea; thought after thought until he literally had to force himself to stop.

As he stared blankly ahead, his mind had indeed latched onto a single thought; one he'd pushed away with all the work he'd had. Now that it was done, the thought came back at full force. This time he didn't bother trying to fight it.

The kiss from earlier.

What had happened exactly?

He couldn't figure it out and it was bothering him.

During the first year after building the initial machine, Kululu had spent about two months gathering an entire terabyte worth of information about all things relating to Pekopon and Pekoponians. Most of it was all observational; the stuff you normally can't get with cameras and surveillance devices. Some of it was just expanding upon what he'd already known.

However, by the end of the third month, the trips wound up being more for fun that research. Also at this point, he'd become a DJ for a pretty swinging Pekoponian club in the downtown area. It was one of those clubs you had to either know someone who knew how to get there, or stumble upon it by sheer luck.

As it was, he still held the gig, and was regularly paid for it. This was one of the hundreds of little details he'd left out of his story he told the platoon when they caught him.

That... had not been a fun day.

Granted once everyone else found out they had each been built a machine and they could be Pekoponians too, then it was like nothing ever happen and Keroro actually praised him like no tomorrow.

He exhaled sharply.

Yeah, just forget about the fact everyone had pretty much attacked him shortly after getting in. No one listened to explanations before jumping the gun it seemed.

Kululu sighed, running a hand through his hair and resting it on the back of his neck. He pulled away from this line of thinking to return back to the original that had started it, while still thinking of the first year.

He'd spent a great deal of time at that club and met a lot of people he found to be a bit entertaining. He'd gained a bit of a popularity status and he was pretty proud of this. He went by the handle '966' and knew most of the live performers by name.

So it was of no surprise to know that with all this came a decent bit of flirting on his part with a numerous amount of Pekoponian women. At first it had been just to see if he could do it; which he'd had no doubts to. It didn't change until one night, while he was heading on stage, that a girl stopped him and asked for an autograph.

Smirking, feeling a bit cheeky, he'd taken the marker she'd had and signed the front on her shirt.

Her reaction was not what he'd been expecting so instead of being dumbfounded, or taken back by his forwardness of signing over her bust, she instead had given a scream of excitement and jumped; then proceeded to pull him into a three second lip lock before speeding off to go make her friend jealous.

That had...been extremely weird and surprising.

He found he didn't hate it.

Altering his game a bit to see what it took to get a girl to kiss him, he found it was almost embarrassingly easy. Thanks to this it was now a little known fact at the club that he was referred to as being a little bit promiscuous. He didn't bother denying it.

So yes, he'd kissed a number of Pekoponian women in these past two years.

Yet none of them ever gave him the feeling like he got today.

This is why he was getting frustrated with this.

Sure they'd felt good. Hell, this whole thing was a complete sensation trip. The differences in textures of the skin; they way it reacted, how it moved, the overall feeling. The way this body form worked compared to his real body was like some sort of addiction.

Not saying he wouldn't transform back when he needed to, or just felt like it. Though that was probably why he stayed in this form so much.

Leaning forward, he typed at some keys. All his previous work cleared off the screen to be replaced. Across the screen numerous data files, photos, research studies, video files, charts and voice records all began popping up.

All of them were of Natsumi.

He stared blankly at the screens, eyes slowly narrowing in thought.

'What makes you so damn special?'

There was nothing about Natsumi, save maybe a handful of facts, that he didn't know about.

Once he'd been brought to the platoon by Saburo, he'd made quick work of setting up his lab and gathering and compiling data about everything to do with the resident of the Hinata household. Standard procedure warranted this alone. However, as time went on, Kululu had noticed Natsumi's read outs began to change slightly almost everyday, compared to other Pekoponian read outs he'd collected. He'd brushed it off; thinking it temporary.

On top of that, there was no surprise when it came to this girl. Her moods could be tuned by a dial! It was either happy, sad, angry, hungry or sleep.

Kululu tapped at a key, and two image diagrams came up. One was of Natsumi, much older, and the other was of Aki Hinata, the two kid's mother.

He, as well as everyone else, already knew what Natsumi would look like as an adult. She was basically going to be like her mom. Granted, only he probably knew the exact slight difference between the younger Hinata and her mother would have.

Height: .4cm shorter

Bust: .9cm larger

Waist: .3cm larger

Hips: .2cm smaller

Weight: 20 lbs

Leaning back again, feet propped up and hands behind his head, Kululu just stared at everything on the screens.

Sure she was attractive but he'd never caught himself staring at her with interest... unlike someone he could name.

Was it because of the familiarity? The fact they'd all lived under the same roof for just a hair over four years. Had this created some kind of wall? Maybe, subconsciously.

He found it hilarious to tease her; it was too easy.

Unlike the others who'd flee in terror when she got upset, she didn't scare him.

At least, not all the time. There were a couple times, when she'd gotten really, really, really upset that even he had felt a stir of panic and sense of mild doom. Yet they were few and far between. Generally he didn't shy away from her anger.

Her fighting skills were impressive for a Pekoponian, and on a couple of occasions found something she managed to pull off during a fight worth taking note over.

She was easy to manipulate when she wanted something. He had gigabytes of photos proving this as well as the fan club on Keron and cash from merchandising.

Did she know how famous she was there? Most likely no.

Still, none of this explained it. Why had it worked him up so much?

Slouching slightly in the chair, Kululu crossed his arms in front of him; feet still propped up on his desk. He'd made quite a few somewhat naughty DVD's featuring the redhead. With all the material he had access to; creating a believably realistic model had been child's play. Most were like dating sims, but there were a few other ones, like the battle sim.

But he never actually looked over the final product. He had an outside source do this. No matter what anyone said, working on and piecing together a project was very different from seeing the final deal play out in full.

In fact, he had plenty of photos that put the girl in what other aliens would deem naughty, risque and even erotic. He'd taken them all himself. Yet it had business; nothing more, nothing less. In that kind of mindset, Kululu wouldn't have any other thoughts other than what the target audience wanted and how to go about it.

So was that it then? Because he never crossed a line he didn't even notice was there?

He couldn't decide if it was amazingly brilliant or completely stupid.

At the club, he'd entertained the idea of fooling around with a lot of the girls he saw there. Some ideas more devious than other. Yet he never really acted on most; only the truly promising ones.

So it appeared to him the only one who ever sat around and entertained idea about Natsumi was the hot blooded Corporal. Kululu was pretty sure if Giroro ever knew he had all of this, the old man would probably have a stroke.

Not before trying to murder him, of course.

So what the hell? He was done, and nothing else he needed to do was of that much importance to him. He'd already been focused on this agitation for the better part of an hour anyway. So why not cross the line?

Closing his eyes and going back to earlier; he let himself focus on this kiss. It wasn't too hard as he could still somewhat feel it now, and there was still a hint of cinnamon on his tongue.

Yet here, events played out differently. It went further. Of course for reality sake, Natsumi put up a bit of resistance; was a bit annoyed and tried to play off her game as more important. He did have to admit she could be a bit feisty, and that was rather hot. Though eventually she caved, yet still a bit sassy until she started getting into; much to her chagrin at first.

He pressed further. Yet the more he did, the less he became aware of his surroundings. It didn't bother him so much because there didn't seem to be anything to this; and he was very close to toeing over another line; which he did anyway. Not like he didn't have video footage anyway.

There was a sudden sensation of falling, only to be replaced by a quick sharp pain down the side of his thumb that jarred Kululu from the fantasy. He bolted upright, hands clenched tightly over the ends of his armrests; knuckles slowly turning white. He was breathing a bit heavily and felt a little sweaty. He noticed one leg had slipped across part of the keyboard; having brought up all his cameras on the left most screen.

Looking to his right hand, he saw a thin red cut on his thumb. He ignored the slight sting in favor of figuring out how the hell that happened. It didn't take more than a couple seconds once it dawned on him that his jeans were uncomfortably tight, and his zipper had been undone.

Jerking upright, and pulling his legs onto the edge of the chair, Kululu dropped his head back.

"Fucking hell..."

After a couple moments of leveled breathing, Kululu moved his feet down and began to shut down the computer systems. Normally he left them on, and even further would stay up way later than eleven twenty five, but he honestly just wanted to sleep. He was already kind of worn from the past week of projects and Keroro's ridiculous antics. This just decided to be the icing on the cake, so to speak.

As he shut them down, he noticed movement on camera three in the main hallway.

Turning to focus in on it, he found himself staring at none other than a somewhat zoned looking Natsumi, just coming home from her outing with Saburo.

Kululu grunted through grit teeth; this was bringing up a whole new paradox he didn't want to deal with right now.

Pressing a few keys, he set the camera to record audio and video and save it for later. He was mildly curious as to why the girl walked in and just collapsed against the door, but not enough at this moment in time.

Shutting it all down; he got up from the chair and began towards the door. If he was going to get to sleep anytime soon he was gonna need a quick cold shower.

Thus he made his way towards the bases overly elaborate bath.

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