Opening his eyes to the night the pale blue Ninja sighed heavily, it had been a terrible nightmare. One that he was sure he wouldn't forget for some time. Flashes of explosions, the sight of many dead, and the feeling that something was wrong made him decide to stay awake. Getting up he folded his bedding neatly and put it away in a secret compartment. Walking to the door he opened it and stared out into the sky for a moment before walking down a small path toward the wood pile. The air was crisp in the woods early in the morning and he reached up to rub his now shivering frame. Grabbing two logs from the wood pile, and a small bundle of tinder, he turned back toward his humble home.
'Pekoponjin, my only mission is to invade...' Those words repeated themselves in his mind over and over, echoing as if they were mocking him. Starting back toward the house he tried not to think about the dream and instead focused on the task of getting a fire started for warmth and his breakfast.
After the fire was hot enough he put a good sized pot of water on the hook and went about the task of preparing his meal. Getting up he walked over to a cupboard and fetched a bunch of vegetables. Almost as an after-thought he reached into the back of the cupboard and pulled out a small round ball of seasoning. That day would be his turn to propose an invasion plan and since he was nervous he knew that the herbs would not only calm him, but would be delicious in his soup. There was a small draw-back to them, but he was certain that it wouldn't affect that days plans.
Using a very sharp knife he sat by the fire and began cutting the vegetables into interesting shapes, his blade moving swift and his cuts sure. Looking down at the small flowers he had made he began to smile. Hearing the water begin to bubble he picked up the wooden ladle that always hung near the fire and put a few ladlefuls of water into his cast iron teapot. Placing the ladle back on it's hook he carefully moved the teapot to rest on a heat resistant pad so that it wouldn't burn into the tatami. Turning back to the pot he dumped all of the vegetables into the boiling water. Then, carefully unwrapping the ball of herbs, he dropped that in as well.
Once the soup was finished cooking the sun was just coming over the horizon. About to take the first bite he felt a presence coming toward his house and froze, hand on his blade. Identifying it as Koyuki he sighed in relief and grabbed her dish-ware from an enclave in the wall. Ladling soup into a bowl for her he walked over to the tea pot and took out a packet of tea leaves. By the time she arrived everything was set up for her to join him in eating breakfast.
"Ah, Dororo, did you set this up for me?" Turning he smiled as he saw Koyuki approach. She had been gone for the night, a sleep over with Natsumi, but he was glad she had returned.
"This one was glad to do so, Koyuki-dono. How was your sleep-over with Natsumi-dono?" Slipping off her shoes the young ninja came inside and sat near the fire. After a moments prayer she began to eat slowly as she recounted the fun she and Natsumi had the night before.
"Ne, Dororo; lets do some training today. We haven't trained together in a while, you're always busy with Keroro and I have school." She waited patiently for him to finish his last bit of soup before she spoke, not knowing whether or not the mentioning of Keroro would change him from the calm ninja he usually was, into the blubbering ball of depression he became when his Trauma Switch was flipped.
"This ones agrees with you Koyuki-dono. It has been some time since we were able to train together. Just allow This one a moment to clean up and we can go to the river to train." Rather than let him do all of the work himself the dark haired girl helped him in cleaning up and to water his plants. Once they were finished they raced off into the forest, headed to a favorite training
Sitting in the darkness of his cabin the assassin stared out the window into the vastness of space. He was certain he had been sitting there for a couple of hours but didn't mind. As usual his thoughts were centered around one thing when not on a mission; and that was Zeroro. He knew from their mission some time ago that the pale blue Keronjin preferred to be called Dororo now, but Zoruru didn't care. The cyborg would continue to use the other male's true name until he was finally acknowledged. But lately the grey male had begun to wonder why this was. It wasn't for revenge, for he could have easily killed the other a long time ago. Life on Pekopon had made him soft; softer than he used to be as an assassin in the Keron military. Now he wasn't even doing his job as an invader.
As the door to his cabin opened he focused on the window to use it as a mirror. Standing behind him was the outline of the ship's new recruit and Technician. Deciding to ignore the tadpole he turned his attention back to the glass in front of him. Watching his own reflection for a moment he felt as though he should have been disgusted at his own appearance, but he had stopped caring about what he looked like years ago.
"Garuru-chui wants us all to meet in the bridge; it looks like we have a new mission on Pekopon. You know what that means..." Hearing the dread in the tadpole's voice the grey assassin glanced back at him and stood.
"You fear your opponent that much?" Though he was considered to be quite scary to most Keronjin the salmon colored tadpole had never minded him. In fact once in a while they conversed at length while waiting for his systems to update. Tororo and Garuru were probably the two people who knew the most about him, other than Zeroro. But it seemed like the blue assassin had erased the memories of Zoruru from his mind.
"I'm not scared of him; I just hate his guts. Thinks he's So high and mighty, like he's the only genius in the whole universe. One of these days I want to smash his ugly face right into that pice of shit computer of his." Frowning slightly Zoruru strode toward the open door. Tororo knew of his dislike for tadpoles using curse words.
"Next time, if you are having trouble, just call on me. I'm sure he won't be expecting an assassin to be his opponent. For Zeroro all you have to do is find something that will trigger his Trauma Switch; then he becomes useless." Backing away, so that the grey male could come into the hall, Tororo began to nod; liking the idea already. Turning the assassin hit the button to close the door then started toward the Bridge of the ship. Tororo was only a few steps behind him when they met Pururu.
"Ah, there you are. I guess I'll have to reschedule that check-up until after our mission is complete on Pekopon. I'm sorry Zoruru." Blinking at the ship's only medical officer he turned, not saying a word, and walked onto the bridge.
Flipping through the air he landed on a tall rock and took a defensive stance. It was about an hour into their training session and they were having fun showing off their different abilities. Koyuki had just tried to use an entrapment Jutsu on him; but things like that never worked on an assassin. The training he had suffered in the assassin academy back on Keron was far more intense than the playful manner in which he and Koyuki trained together.
"Well then Koyuki-dono; how about this?" Bringing his hands together in the ninja hand sign for the ram he allowed his aura to build for a moment. Koyuki put her hand up as a powerful wind came sweeping toward her, leaves and small bits of debris falling being flung outward. She knew that Dororo was a powerful jutsu user; he had proved this many times.
"Dororo Ninja Art; Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Suddenly multiple Dororo's leapt from the rock to land around Koyuki, all of them with their arms crossed and looking a little triumphant. Though Dororo was feeling the effects of the herbs, they always made one feel a little weaker and made it harder to perform jutsu, he was a very powerful ninja and it showed in his techniques. For a moment Koyuki seemed to be looking for something, then the next she had lowered her weapon in surprise.
"They all have shadows?" Jumping back Dororo called all of his clones together and quickly re-assimilated them into himself. Sheathing her weapon Koyuki came running over, excited at such a technique from her alien companion.
"That was amazing! But how did you do that?" Leaning forward she smiled as Dororo crossed his arms and closed his eyes, allowing the memories to come back to him.
"I learned this technique back while I was in the Keron Military's assassin academy. It will be quite difficult to teach this technique to you though." As they were talking neither of them felt the presence which watched them from the trees. Soon it disappeared; a plan forming it it's mind.
After his training session with Koyuki the pale blue ninja decided that it was time to head over to the base beneath the Hinata household. On his way to the base he thought he felt a someone watching him. Stopping he threw a couple of ninja stars at the place the presence was coming from. Jumping down from the tree he had been standing on the ninja searched the ground for any evidence of the presence he had felt. Rubbing the back of his neck he realized it was probably one of the after effects from the herbs. Feeling foolish he picked up his shuriken and put them back in their place before continuing on to the base.
"Today's meeting will appoint this one as the Invasion Leader, however this one is not very comfortable with that. Perhaps I should propose a peaceful plan; like filling the world with flowers." With his mind preoccupied he never sensed the presence behind him until it was too late. Razor sharp metal wire stopped him from moving as the person behind him revealed themselves.
"Don't move." The voice from behind him made him freeze for a moment before he slowly turned his head around to see who it was.
"Y-you are..." While he was stunned his attacker hit him at the base of the neck, quickly paralyzing him. The last thing Dororo saw before he fell unconscious were cold, blue, eyes.