Author's note: Sorry this took so long to upload. I've been very busy; I had my first week of high school during the week, social events on Friday and Saturday night, and I was fixing my iTunes all Sunday. So gomenasai that you had to wait. .

β

2: Revival

"Is she okay?!"

"I don't know!"

"Quick! CPR!"

"Wait a minute… she's breathing fine…"

I opened my eyes to see worried faces crowding around me. "What's going on?"

"How are you already talking?" Satsuki questioned.

"Can you breathe okay?" Yayoi added.

"Of course," I replied. And I could.

"How?" Tamama asked.

"What do you mean, how?" I replied, confused.

"You were underwater for two and a half minutes, Natsumi," Giroro said gently.

"Not possible," I replied. "I'm fine. You must have miscounted."

"Kururu timed," Keroro said. Kururu held up his watch. Sure enough, it said 02:28.56.

"How…?" I forced out.

"That's what we're wondering," Fuyuki replied.

"What even happened?" I asked.

"Ayame jumped off the diving board before you could get out of the way," Satsuki explained, referring to one of Momoka's classmates, "And she accidentally kicked you in the head."

"I'm so sorry, Natsumi-san!" Ayame apologized.

"We thought you were going to die!" Yayoi wailed.

"Hey, I'm fine," I reassured her. "I'm just a little confused on how."

"We all are," Fuyuki's classmate Chiruyo replied.

I tried to shake off the feeling of unease I was experiencing, and said, "Let's not worry about that for now. Let's get back in the water!"

ΩΩΩ

Once we got home for the day, I dwelled over the fact that, while I was confused by the day's events, I wasn't actually disturbed that I almost died. In fact, a part of me had been saying that it was fine and there was no possible way I would even be permanently hurt, much less dead. But I had no idea where that voice came from.

"Nee-chan! Is dinner almost ready?"

I looked up from the sausage I was cooking. "Almost, Fuyu-" And then my speech was interrupted by a loud crash.

I sighed. Weird noises and even the occasional house destruction were part of my daily routine, what with having alien invaders living with us. I went right back to cooking. But then the screaming ensued.

"KEROOOOOO!"

I groaned. "Shut UP, bokegaeru!"

"There's some weird monster in the base, de arimasu!"

"Sure there is."

Keroro (now back in Keronian form) ran into the living room, covered in scratches… and then the strangest thing I'd ever seen plowed into the living room. And I've seen a lot of strange things. This monster had the body of a lion, with two heads: one lion and one goat. Its tail was a snake. And it was heading straight at me.

I screamed.

Fuyuki came darting downstairs, and at the same time Giroro crashed into the living room with an extremely concerned and battle-ready face- as usual. "Natsumi, what's wrong?"

"NO WAY!" Fuyuki shrieked as I started to fend off the weird lion/goat/snake thing. "We have a CHIMERA in our house! They actually exist!"

"What the heck is a chimera?!" I screeched as Giroro began firing at the thing.

"A Greek monster," Fuyuki explained, stars in his eyes.

"Lovely," I said, grabbing the frying pan from the stove (spilling the sausages out in the process) and using it to fend off the chimera, getting a brief sense of déjà vu from watching Tangled. "And what exactly is-" I sucked in a breath as the chimera clawed at my arm, leaving three shallow- but long- gashes.

At that moment, I heard another crash from the entryway, and two kids that were probably two or three years older than me dashed into the room- one was a boy with brown hair and sea-green eyes, while the other one was a girl with grey eyes and blonde hair pulled into a ponytail.

"Who are you?" I screeched as I hit the chimera with the frying pan, which only succeeded in getting it mad.

"Never mind that," the boy said. He pulled out a pen from his pocket and uncapped it. The pen grew into a bronze sword. Okay. I could deal with that. Whatever got us out of this situation. "It's no use using that frying pan."

"Or the gun," the girl added to Giroro. "Unless you have celestial bronze bullets."

"Celestial bronze?!"

"It's a long story!"

And at that moment, the boy slashed his sword into the chimera, which promptly dissolved into dust. I slumped to the floor, overwhelmed by what had just happened.

"Maybe you should sit down," the girl said. "We need to explain some things."

ΩΩΩ

Once Keroro, Fuyuki, Giroro, the two strange kids, and I sat down, the girl took a deep breath. "First of all, introductions. I'm Annabeth Chase, and this is my boyfriend Percy Jackson."

"This is Keroro, Tamama, Giroro, Kururu, Dororo, and my brother Fuyuki," I said, gesturing to each in turn. Suddenly, it occurred to me that neither of the newcomers were freaking out by the aliens sitting in our living room. Then again, they didn't seem too startled by the chimera either. "And I'm-"

"Natsumi Hinata," the boy- Percy- interrupted.

I froze. "How…?"

"We've been watching you for several weeks now. It's amazing you've made it this long without being noticed," Annabeth added.

"Wait. Waiting for me? And what do you mean, made it this long? Noticed by who?"

"Let's break this to you lightly," Annabeth said. "Your father hasn't been around since you were very young." She said it like a statement, not a question.

"How did you know…?"

"The satyrs found you."

"Satyrs?"

"Mythological Greek goat-human hybrids," Fuyuki explained.

"Not mythological, though. They're real," Percy said.

"They're… wait a minute. You can't possibly mean…" Fuyuki trailed off.

"You've got it. See, this guy's smart," Annabeth said. "Fuyuki, maybe you can explain."

Fuyuki suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Um, Nee-chan… I'm actually not your brother. I'm your half-brother."

"WHAT?!" I screeched.

"Yeah. Mama is our shared parent, but Papa is actually only my father. Mama told me a few years ago, but she didn't want me to tell you. Now I understand why."

"And what reason is that?!"

Percy sucked in a breath. "Natsumi… your father is a Greek god."

I stared. Then, suddenly, I started to laugh. And laugh and laugh and laugh.

"Okay, this is hysterical. Bokegaeru, you hired these guys, right? They're probably some alien friends of yours. Whoever they are, this was actually a pretty good joke!"

"We're not joking," Annabeth said. "You're a demigod, Natsumi. Half human and half god. We are, too. I'm a daughter of Athena, and Percy is Poseidon's son."

"Wait. You're dating. Aren't Athena and Poseidon enemies?" Fuyuki queried.

"More like rivals, technically," Percy corrected.

"Can we get over the small talk and start showing me some PROOF that what you say is true?!"

"Jeez, what's all this yelling about?" Kururu said, coming into the room with Dororo and Tamama in tow.

"These maniacs are claiming that I'm half Greek god," I said, practically hysterical by this point.

"Kukuku… I always wondered how you had so much strength."

"YOU BELIEVE THEM?!"

"Natsumi," Annabeth said gently, "How else can you explain the chimera, or it dissolving into dust? All the Greek myths, they aren't really myths. They exist. They've happened."

"The bokegaerus could have created it. They can do things like that."

Percy sighed. "So you really won't believe us?"

"Heck no!"

"Well then, we'll have to show you something that will make you believe us," Annabeth said.

"Sure, sure," I said sarcastically.

"You might want to call your mom. We're going to a camp in Long Island where you'll learn to fight."

"WHAT?! NO WAY AM I GOING! I already know how to fight! And it's not like Mama will agree to it either."

"She will. She knows that where we're taking you is the only safe place in the world for you," Annabeth sighed.

So I sighed as well and proceeded to take out my phone. I was sure Mama would confirm that this was all one big, sorry joke.

ΩΩΩ

"You're kidding."

"I'm sorry, Natsumi, but Annabeth and Percy are right. Your father is a god."

"Which god?"

"Honey, that's for you to find out."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"I couldn't. I can't explain everything to you; it's Chiron's job, not mine."

"Who the heck is Chiron?"

"You'll meet him when you go to Camp Half-Blood."

"Oh yeah, this weird 'camp' Annabeth and Percy are talking about."

"Natsumi, I know you're upset, but I had to keep this from you."

"Why?"

Mama sighed. "That I can explain. Monsters are naturally attracted to your demigod 'scent'. When you find out who you really are, that scent becomes much stronger. I didn't tell you so I could keep you safe."

"Well, what about Fuyuki?"

"He's fully human, honey. He must have told you that."

Sigh. "So he was telling the truth about being my half-brother?"

"Yes. He didn't know the details, though. It's unfortunate that he had to find out as well, though. The whole reason we've lived in Tokyo is that it's a busy city and far away from the U.S, where the gods- and therefore, the monsters- live."

"The gods live in the U.S?!"

"Over it, actually. Look, darling, I don't know all the details myself. Your father didn't tell me much."

I gave a groan. "So I'm going to have to learn all about this mess from complete strangers?!"

"Fuyuki knows the background information on Greek myths. But yes, all the current-day stuff you will have to learn from Annabeth, Percy, and Chiron."

"Uuuugh."

"I know this is hard on you, but you've got to accept it. I'm leaving the office right now and will be home in about half an hour to wish you goodbye. I love you, Natsumi."

I sighed. "Love you too, Mama."

ΩΩΩ

Sure enough, after half an hour of awkward silence (Percy had said that it was best if I learned the rest of 'the story' at camp, so we didn't have much else to talk about) Mama arrived at home. I ran into her arms and hugged her tightly.

"We'll all miss you, Natsumi," Mama comforted.

"Wait. You mean you aren't coming with me?"

"I already said that," she replied.

"Only half-bloods can get into Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said gently, as if I was a small child. That annoyed the heck out of me. "And you're the only half-blood here besides Percy and me."

That I couldn't tolerate. "I'm not leaving my brother to fend for himself with these idiots!" I said, gesturing to the Keronians as panic grew inside me. "And you said we might be doing fighting there. I've always battled with Giroro there to watch my back!" It was then that I began to realize how much I actually needed my friends- and the stupid frogs- whether I wanted to believe it or not. "I need these guys!"

"They can't come," Percy said. "It's bad enough that mortals know about us."

I sighed, ignoring the lump forming in my throat, and slowly nodded.

"Hang on, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth interjected. "We couldn't take everyone, but it's not like the Keronians would go telling everyone- they have their own secret. And Fuyuki- well, he has that same secret to keep."

Giroro spoke up. "If it's at all possible, I'd really like to come with Natsumi."

"Please," I almost begged. "He's my partner- my best alien friend. We have this… connection. I can't really explain it, but all of the stupid frogs have a connection like that with one of my friends. Please. Let him come." I hated sounding so pitiful, but it was true. I needed Giroro.

After a long pause, Percy said, "Chiron might send him back. But we can try."

End note: Natsumi seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown. XD