A/N: One character is my creation, the rest are not. This is just a short, fluffy ficlet I wrote once.
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Natsumi was putting the finishing touches, just a sprinkle of chopped hazelnuts, on the last pan of cookies to go in the oven when she felt something grasp her leg.
She looked down to see the younger "red demon" peering up at her expectantly with her large slanted eyes, obviously lured into the kitchen by the tantalizing smell of newly baked cookies. Giroro's daughter did seem to have a knack for appearing out of nowhere if there was a treat to be had.
"Probably some alien super-sense of smell", Natsumi thought to herself.
"Natsumi-chan, can I hav'a cookie?" the object in question asked and reached out a chubby red hand in her direction.
"Imomo-chan, you know you can't have treats this close to dinner time", Natsumi said in her sternest voice possible.
Imomo pouted, but didn't lower her hand.
"I promise I'll eat a lotta dinner, even broc'lli!" she insisted. "Just gimme one, tiiiny cookie!"
This was punctuated by Imomo holding her thumb and finger a fraction of an inch apart.
"No, and I'm sure your papa would agree with me", Natsumi persisted, then halted. "Where is your papa anyway?"
"Dunno", Imomo said keeping her eyes fixed on the plate of cookies that had come out of the oven five minutes ago.
"Probably up to no good with that "boke-gaeru"", Natsumi grumbled as she shoved the pan of cookies into the warm oven.
"Who'sa "boke-gaeru"?" Imomo asked, head cocked slightly sideways, turning back toward Natsumi.
"That's what I call Keroro", Natsumi replied and grinned.
"Uncle Keroro is a "boke-gaeru"?" Imomo giggled. "That sounds funny!"
The little tadpole proceeded to skip back and forth across the kitchen floor repeating "boke-gaeru" over and over in a sing-song voice.
Something inside Natsumi decided to be lenient just this once and called over Imomo.
"If you're good and can wait until this last batch is done you can have one, and only one cookie."
"Yaaay!" the tadpole exclaimed and latched onto Natsumi's legs briefly. Then she scampered over to the kitchen table and climbed the closest chair, with a bit of effort.
"I'm gonna be strong like my papa when I grow up", Imomo stated from her perch. "He don' let me use a gun yet, tho'."
"Really now", Natsumi said, silently relieved that Giroro had that much common sense. But then, she knew nothing about how they normally raised their children back on their home planet.
Natsumi was just about to remove the cookies from the oven when a familiar voice cried out:
"Cookies! Na-chi, can I have some?"
With Tamama came the rest of the platoon, emerging from whatever they'd been plotting on this particular day.
Imomo caught sight of Keroro as he entered and started giggling to herself.
"Boke-gaeru!" she cried and pointed at Keroro. "Natsumi-chan, it's the boke-gaeru!"
Keroro did a visible double-take and froze in his tracks.
Imomo seemed pleased enough with this reaction for she then proceeded to jump up and down on the chair repeating her newfound nickname for Keroro. Giroro had to run up and grab hold of her to prevent an accident from happening.
Natsumi couldn't contain herself and burst out laughing, nearly dropping the pan of cookies.
Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye she grabbed a couple of cookies from the plate.
"Here you go, Imomo." Natsumi smiled. "You've deserved them."
Imomo beamed up at Natsumi, stuffed one cookie into her mouth and another she stuffed into a surprised Giroro's mouth, nearly choking him in the process.
Humming a merry tune to herself, Natsumi returned to her cookies, carefully moving them from the pan to the plate. And trying her best to ignore Keroro's lamentations that she was teaching horrible things to young impressionable children.