[Insert author's note here]

-Scissors

(Rainbowkittyblossomwings here. Apparently they're getting materials even though they should have been smart enough to have materials before they left, so...Idk. Tell me in the review if you think they got materials at another town or were smart enough to get them at home. To prove something to my sister.

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, tell me they already had materials and it was pointless for them to get more.)

First and foremost, the group headed toward a nearby town to do some shopping for the essentials, such as food, sleeping bags, tents, jackets, hats, and various hygiene materials like toothbrushes and whatnot. "But we're not going to stop for any machine parts or whatever," Fuyuki had specified, more for Kululu than anyone else. He knew that Kululu would likely get sidetracked and buy a bunch of things he didn't need, and they needed to travel light. Inventing was a luxury when you were on the road. They only had so much money on them.

When they exited the forest, the group came upon a large clearing that led into the edge of a town. "Wow," Fuyuki breathed. He had never been to another town before; he'd seen other towns in pictures, certainly, but being there was an entirely different experience on his own.

"So. Where to, Fuyuki?" asked Saburo with a smile.

Fuyuki pointed to himself. "You're asking me?" He didn't know that he was their designated group leader.

"Yeah. You decide where we go from here. What are we getting first?"

Fuyuki thought. "I guess we'll need to grab some travel backpacks first, so we can put all our stuff in them."

Saburo nodded. "Good idea." He let Fuyuki lead the way.

As they walked along, Keroro took control of him and leaned closer to Dororo. "Hey, Dororo," he whispered. "Who's the ghosty guy that's following us? Do you see him too?"

"Yes…" Dororo spoke. He hadn't realized Keroro could see him, too. "I think he's a demon, Keroro."

"But what's he doing here? Is he dead? Is he a spirit?"

"You could always ask," he suggested.

Keroro took a deep breath and turned around. "Hi. I'm Keroro. Who and what are you?"

The demon following them, Tamama, promptly paled. "Wha? You can see me?" He put his hands to his face. "How can you see me? I thought only Momocchi could do that!"

"Uh…" Keroro gave him a strange look as he continued walking backward.

"Oh, noooo! This is going so badly! This is not how I ever imagine it would go at all!" Tamama clutched his head and groaned. "Arrrg! Well, so much for first impressions…." He sighed. "My name is Tamama. I was Momocchi's demon."

"But… then how can you—"

"I came back to the human plane to stick with Momocchi," he continued explaining. "I mean, yeah, she totally trounced me in the Demon Fight, but she's a good pal, you know? Really understood me. I couldn't leave our friendship behind."

Keroro wasn't saying anything, so Tamama decided that this was his chance to finally pounce.

"So, um, look. Anyway, I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Keroro, and I think you're a really cool guy! I've always wanted the chance to meet you in person." He quietly added, "As myself, at least."

"Huh." Keroro nodded his head. "That's neat. Never seen you in the demon realm."

Tamama's shoulders slumped. "I'm… not very popular in the demon realm." He perked up again. "But anyway, I'm so excited to be traveling with you! I bet we're going to learn so much about each other on this trip." Giddily, he attempted to loop his arm around Keroro's elbow, but it went straight through. "Arg. I keep forgetting that I'm projecting myself here."

Keroro scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. "Oh, and this is Dororo, my friend I think," he introduced.

"You think?" Dororo repeated. He sighed. "It's nice to meet you, Tamama. I—"

"You'll like him. He's a brave guy," Keroro interrupted. "He played the Messenger of Death in a play once!"

"Yeah, I remember. It was pretty brave," said Tamama, making an Excalibur face.

"Well, I was intending for one of my students to play the part," said Dororo. "But nobody seemed to want to do it, so as a teacher, it was my duty to—"

"So anyway, Mr. Keroro, where will we be traveling on this trip?" Tamama interrupted, completely uninterested in whatever Dororo had to say. A vein popped in Dororo's forehead.

"Oh. I have no idea. Ask Fuyuki." He looked around. "Fuyuki! Where are you?" Since he was still walking backward, he found him by crashing into him.

"Ah!" Fuyuki yelped. "Saburo, you walked right into me! Um… who were you talking to?"

"I'm Keroro," Keroro clarified. "And I was talking to Tamama." He gestured to the red-haired demon, but Fuyuki didn't see anything there.

"There's nothing there," he said.

Dororo pointed a finger at Tamama. "Ha! Now you know how I feel!"

"Wait," Fuyuki figured out, "you mean you two can see Momoka's demon?"

"Um… yeah," said Keroro. "You can't?"

"No," he admitted. "Saburo, can you see him?"

Saburo took control of his body momentarily to tell him, "Nope. I have no clue what Keroro and Dororo are even talking to. I'm on your side, Fuyuki. There's nothing there."

"Maybe only demons can see him," said Dororo.

Fuyuki decided this was a possibility. He asked Kululu in his head, "Can you see him too?"

Kululu did not respond.

That's odd, thought Fuyuki. Usually he's more talkative. A lot more laughter and stuff. Well, the quieter Kululu was, the better. It meant that they would get into a lot less trouble when they were on the run from his sister, because that way they could remain inconspicuous about who they were… however inconspicuous a group of people talking to themselves and hiding horns under their cloaks could possibly appear to begin with.

"Well, wherever you are, Tamama," Fuyuki told the air, "we're all very glad to have you in the group. But we can't have you talking very much when we're in town, because people will start to act suspicious when they see Keroro and Dororo responding to you."

Of course, at the moment, it was Fuyuki that all the strangers were gawking at. Fuyuki did not seem to notice.

"Now off to the store we go!" He swiveled around and began to lead the way to the nearest store.

In the store, everyone pooled together all their money to buy three backpacks and a bunch of extra clothes. The nice thing about having a demon possessing you was that you didn't have to buy extra accommodations for them, because they could just mooch off of your own things. Unfortunately, that also meant they had no extra money.

"Okay. I think we've got everything," Fuyuki decided. "Now, we have to save the rest of this money to buy food for the journey and—Hey, Keroro! Where are you going?"

"I'm sorry I'll be right back!" Keroro shouted over his shoulder. In about half a minute, he had returned with a hat in his hands. "Look at this thing! Isn't it cool?" He put it on and struck a pose. "Do I look nice in this or what?"

Tamama clapped his hands excitedly. "Oh, yes, you do, Mr. Keroro! You look very nice in that hat, if I must say so myself!"

"Keroro. We can't buy that hat," Fuyuki told him. "We won't have enough money to buy food if we get it."

"But look how inexpensive it is!" Keroro insisted, showing him the price tag. Fuyuki's eyebrows raised. It was a pretty good deal… and a really nice hat, at that. "When am I ever going to find a hat as nice as this?"

"If anyone here needed a hat, it would be Dororo," said Fuyuki.

"Already got one." Dororo pulled out his large top hat from before and stuck it on his head.

Fuyuki just frowned at him. "Why didn't you just do that before?"

"I have a cloak."

He sighed. "You can get the hat, Keroro."

"Yay!"

"But you have to pay for it."

"Oh…."

Keroro was sad, but he went ahead and bought the hat anyway. The rest of their money they spent on water canteens and food, all mostly canned goods and things that didn't need to be cooked, thawed, or refrigerated. But, like all shopping trips usually go, the group left the store weighed down with giant bags filled with more stuff than they intended on buying.

Fuyuki turned his wallet upside-down. A piece of lint fell out. "Well, there goes all my money."

"Same here," said Keroro. "Saburo's money, I mean."

"I'm broke now, as well," Dororo added. "It's been a few weeks since I last taught."

Fuyuki let out a sigh. "We really didn't think this through, did we?" He ran a hand through his bangs and adjusted his new backpack along his shoulders. "Where are we even going to stay?"

Dororo thought a moment. Then he perked up. "We could visit my friend Koyuki! And then I could tell her I'm not dead—Oh, wait, no." On second thought, he realized this would be a bad idea. He didn't know how an angel worshipper like her would fare against two to three more demons (one of them being the Demon King himself), and vise-versa.

"Maybe we could live in the woods!" said Keroro, a touch of adventure in his eyes.

"Yeah!" Fuyuki agreed that this was a great idea. "And we could research monsters along the way!"

"Cool!" Keroro smiled.

They high-fived.

"Woods it is, then!"

The woods? We're going to camp out in the woods? Kululu thought as Fuyuki and the others started walking. Are they for real? We'll be eaten alive! I'm going to have to keep watch the entire night. I don't want to do that! And if we're trying to hide from Miss Demon Exorcist, the woods are pointless anyway because it'll be so easy to track us down with tracking technology that I made. He looked around frantically at the group. They all seemed to be fine with Fuyuki and Keroro's decision. Somebody had better snap them out of this! But it sure as hell ain't gonna be me!

Luckily for him, a miracle arrived. Keroro stopped walking suddenly—Saburo had taken control.

"Hey, Fuyuki…" he said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Not to knock your idea, but are you sure camping in the woods is the best way to go? We don't even really have any camping gear."

"Oh." Fuyuki stopped walking, as well, when he realized Saburo had a point. Then he smiled. "We could make a hut out of sticks and mud!"

Saburo shook his head. "Are you willing to do all that work just to hide from your sister?"

Fuyuki's smile fell. "Drat. Then… you don't suppose we could just find a friendly stranger who will let us stay a couple months at their place?"

Saburo nodded firmly. "I suppose that will have to do."

They began to make their way across town, but were stopped in their tracks as a large crowd of people blocked their walking path.

"Hey! Excuse us!" Saburo shouted. "We need to get through! It's urgent!"

"Ssh, the leader of the H.A.D. movement is speaking!" someone shushed him.

Saburo gave him a strange look. " 'Had?' "

"Yes, H.A.D.," the person said. "Humans Against Demons. Haven't you heard? Or have you been living under a rock for the past few days?"

The past few days? thought Fuyuki. But in the past few days…. Wait a second! Don't tell me…. He rushed to the front of the crowd.

"Fuyuki!" Saburo called. He grabbed Dororo's hand and rushed after him.

Sure enough, when Fuyuki broke to the front of the crowd, all his fears were confirmed. Hanging over the side of a building like a large billboard was an enormous video screen that displayed his sister.

"People of the world, if you have received this message," Natsumi spoke on the screen, "I am asking for your assistance. There are three demons I am after." She held up a photo of Saburo. "This is Saburo, a close friend of my brother's, and an important person to our town. Right now, the demon hosting him is Keroro. I need someone to deliver him to me, alive, so that I can exorcise his demon."

Keroro, in Saburo's body, began to shiver.

Natsumi held up the next picture, Dororo. "This one's name is Dororo, and although he looks very forgettable, I assure you that his antlers will give him away at once. He has been pretending to be a teacher at my old secondary school and spreading lies to the students in his history lessons."

"I was not," Dororo protested. Thankfully, no suspicious faces turned to him as he said this, because Dororo was just that invisible.

"I need him delivered to me, as well." She didn't specify whether she needed him dead or alive. Then she took a breath and continued. "And now for my last request. The Demon King has kidnapped my brother." She held up a picture of Fuyuki. "Well, he didn't really kidnap him. He ran away with him. Because he's my brother's demon. I need him delivered to me alive. Whoever does so will be rewarded generously."

Gasps were heard in the crowd. Everyone turned to Fuyuki.

"It's him," they whispered. "He's the one with the Demon King!"

"Uh…" As people pushed him, Fuyuki stumbled away from the crowd, his back against the video screen of his sister. "No, I'm not really Fuyuki Hinata, I just look like him!"

"Dude, she never said his name!" Keroro shouted to him.

"Oh." Fuyuki puffed out his cheeks in exasperation. "Oops."

The crowd charged at him.

Fuyuki let out a yelp of surprise. "Kululu, quick! Do something!"

"What? What do you expect me to do?" he asked.

"I don't know! Use your Demon King powers to electrocute them or something?"

Kululu faked a gasp. "I can't do that! That would be sooo mean."

"Well, just do something!" he sobbed.

It was too late. He already felt a pair of arms wrap around him. So this was it, he realized. This was the end. This crowd was going to tear him apart for sure. But instead of tearing him apart, the pair of arms lifted him up bridal-style, and before he knew it, Fuyuki was carried off out of the crowd.

As they escaped the hoard of people, Fuyuki looked up into the face of his rescuer. He smiled. "Saburo!" he shouted in joy. He wrapped his arms around Saburo's neck so that he wouldn't fall.

Saburo tossed him a smirk. "I told you I would protect you, Fuyuki, didn't I?"

"Groooooss! He should have left us back in the crowd," said Kululu. Fuyuki tried to ignore the comment. Kululu became quiet, anyway, once Saburo broke out of the crowd and put Fuyuki back on his feet.

"Thanks for helping me out again," said Fuyuki, genuinely this time. Last time it had been Kululu who thanked him.

"No problem." Saburo gave him a pretend-salute.

Behind him, Dororo broke out of the crowd, huffing and panting, and Tamama floated up to them from a little ways away.

"What's going on?" he asked Dororo, since apparently Saburo and Fuyuki couldn't see him.

"We have to get out of here!" Dororo told him. "Or else they're going to kill us for sure!"

"There's nowhere we can go right now!" said Fuyuki.

"We could start by running away from the crowd," Saburo put in.

He was right. They needed to get out of there. People from the crowd were already beginning to realize where Fuyuki and the others had escaped to.

"F-fine! Then let's go!" said Fuyuki. He grabbed Dororo and Saburo's hands and frantically started running away with them.

The group had no idea where they were going. Fuyuki led them to the edge of town, where they hopped over a fence and escaped into the woods. However, all the people crowding around the video screen spotted this and started seeping toward Fuyuki and the others. Fuyuki's heart pounded in his chest. He had no idea what to do to lose this determined group.

"We're just going to have to run through the forest and hope for the best," he told Saburo, Dororo, and presumably Tamama. "Maybe we'll find someplace to stay if we're lucky."

"Good thinking, Fuyuki," Saburo complimented, even though it was horrible thinking. They didn't really have any other options at that point. He glanced over his shoulder. "Umm… you can lead the way!"

"Okay." With Fuyuki's keen intellect and curious tendencies, he knew he wouldn't disappoint.

He started running and the others quickly followed. They ran for a full fifteen minutes until they felt that they had lost the hoard of people. Fuyuki stopped at a small clearing and collapsed on the ground to let himself catch his breath. He didn't think he had ever run so far, or so fast, in his life.

"You… all right, Fuyuki?" asked Saburo, also panting from the long run.

Fuyuki could just barely nod in response.

Tamama snickered at them, for once prideful of his transdimensional existence, because he never exerted himself.

"Think we lost them?" Dororo asked.

"I sure hope so." Fuyuki forced himself to sit up. "But just in case, we should find a place to hide ourselves. And not just for the night…. I don't want to do this much running ever again!"

"That's a fantastic idea, Fuyuki, but where do you suggest we're going to find a place like that?" Dororo asked him.

Fuyuki shrugged. He hadn't thought that part through yet. "I guess we'll just keep walking until we find something."

I'm going to have to do it, aren't I? Kululu realized with a sinking feeling, hiding away in the depths of Fuyuki's mind. There's only one place I can think of that's hidden from the humans…. But no one else has been inside for ten thousand years. He didn't know what to do. Even so… Fuyuki had a point. If Natsumi really had started up some civil war-like movement, and people were chasing after them constantly, then they needed a permanent place to stay, well-guarded enough that no one would be able to find or get inside. He mentally sighed. He'd have to do it Right now, it seemed going there was their only option.

After a minute or so of walking, Fuyuki's feet started walking on their own, and in a different direction. He realized that Kululu must have been leading them somewhere.

"Kululu, where are you taking us?" he asked.

"Nowhere in particular," he mentally responded. "Look, if you want to get in good with the rest of the group, you're gonna have to stop asking questions, all right?" When Fuyuki didn't seem satisfied by that response, he gave in. "You can thank me later. But in return I'll need you not to mention my name, even once, while we're on this trip."

Fuyuki decided that made enough sense. If they went to town and started talking about the Demon King, people would try to kidnap Fuyuki again. "It's a deal. I won't talk about you while we're in town."

"No. I meant… to the group," he clarified.

"Um… why?"

Kululu was silent. Then he told him, "No reason. I just… think it would be better not to stir up resentful feelings, that's all. Because your teacher wanted to kill me at some point. And I electrocuted Keroro. I'm sure I've done something to anger that Tamama fellow, too. Wouldn't be surprised. I've pissed off a lot of demons throughout the years. So it's just better that you don't remind them that I exist, and then they won't try to kill us."

Fuyuki supposed that, too, made enough sense, but it still sounded aaaawfully suspicious. He was going to have a talk to Kululu later about withholding important information from him. Maybe he could address this, as well.

After about another hour or so of walking and electrocuting passing monsters that tried to attack them, Fuyuki could feel his legs getting horribly tired, even though he wasn't the one using them to walk. He hoped that wherever they were going, they would get there soon. But it wasn't soon—in fact, it was another hour until they finally reached the edge of the forest. As the group peeked out from the trees, they were greeted with the sight of distant mountains and a lake. Cushioned within overgrown bushes, ivy, and alder saplings seemed to be some sort of concrete structure.

"I bet we can stay in there," Fuyuki heard himself saying. He knew it was Kululu who said it.

"Wow." Saburo just gaped at the view. "Fuyuki, you have got some great eyes."

"And luck!" Keroro added, taking control for a moment.

Dororo marveled at the scenery, as well. "I must agree. This is a gorgeous place we stumbled upon. Good work, Fuyuki. As your teacher, I'm proud of you."

Kululu smiled. "Thanks, guys."

He's… pretending to be me? Fuyuki wondered. But why?

"Well, without further ado," said Keroro, cracking his knuckles, "let's check this place out." He started walking forward.

"Wait!" Kululu stopped him from going any further. "Let me…. Uh… I want to check in there to see if there are any monsters first. So that I can research them. You guys might scare them off."

"Oh, yeah, I probably would." Keroro waited there. "You can go on ahead, then, Fuyuki. Good luck! Don't get eaten!" he called to him as Kululu walked toward the concrete structure.

Dororo turned to him. "Don't you think we should go with him and make sure any monsters don't eat him?"

Keroro thought a moment. "Nah," he finally said. "I'm sure he'll do fine on his own."

When Kululu approached the large structure, he glanced over his shoulder, pulled away a bit of ivy, and input a code into a pad on the wall of the concrete. Then he pushed open the door and stepped inside the building.

Fuyuki was amazed. The floor of the place was littered with metal workings and various materials, as well as piles and piles silverfish-eaten parchments that resembled what could have only once been blueprints. All the furniture looked like petrified wood, and aged dishes were strewn all over the countertops and tables.

"Ku ku ku… god, this place is a mess," Kululu muttered as he scooped up all the litter from the floor. "Is that a dead squirrel? Disgusting…. Ugh." He carried over all the things from the floor into a large closet, where he tossed them inside. He brushed the dust off his hands and wiped them all over Fuyuki's cloak. "Let's see… no monsters over here. Nope." He went back into the first room and gathered up some bedding and clothes from the sofa. Several mice poked their heads out, and Kululu dropped the bundle to the floor. "I'll burn that later," he said to himself.

"Um… Kululu?" Fuyuki asked. "Where are we?"

"A place," Kululu answered with tremendous explicitness. He opened up a drawer by one of the counters and took out a key ring, then went to several doors in the "place" and locked them. He was about to lock the last door, as well, but his hand hovered over the handle, as if he was frightened to open it. Finally, he turned the handle, and pushed the door opened. Fuyuki's eyes were greeted with the sight of a bathroom that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a thousand years. Kululu closed the door. "I'll keep that one unlocked," he decided, just to be mean.

Kululu went back to the front door and opened it up. "All's clear!" he shouted.

"Any monsters?" Keroro asked as he, Dororo, and Tamama rushed up to the house.

"Just one," he lied, "but I scared it off before I could take any pictures."

"Oh. Too bad," said Keroro. He poked his head inside the house and walked in. "What is this place? It's hideous!"

"I know," Kululu agreed.

Keroro was much more nosy than Dororo, so he poked around a bit, while Dororo attempted to sit down on one of the sofas. It was sittable, at least, but not very comfortable.

Fuyuki heard the sound of a door opening and closing, and then Keroro came back into the room. "Um… guys? I think I know why this house looks like it hasn't been cleaned," he said. He led them over to one of the doors that Kululu hadn't locked. "Look in there," he instructed.

Fuyuki, under Kululu's command, turned the handle and popped the door open.

There was a skeleton in the room.

"AAH!" Fuyuki mentally screamed. "Kululu! Shut the door! Quick!"

"Relax," Kululu told him in his head. "It's my skeleton."

"Why do you have a skeleton?"

"Everyone has a skeleton," Kululu said jokingly. "If we didn't, then…. Well, we'd all be in major trouble! Ku ku ku!"

"Wait…. What do you mean?" Fuyuki asked slowly.

Mentally, Kululu sighed. "I suppose you ought to know. After your sister went and told you about the Demon Fight…. Whatever. It's my skeleton, and the rest of its body decomposed after my previous host life ran out."

"…What?" Fuyuki didn't understand.

"I'll explain things later. Just be quiet for now," he told him. Kululu went back to talking regularly. "Cool! A skeleton!" he shouted, pretending to be Fuyuki. "I bet it belonged to a monster of some sort. Here, open that window and let's dump it out."

"Um… okay?" said Keroro, a bit confused. He and Dororo smashed open a window with a rock, since it was too old to open on its own, and Kululu lifted the skeleton through the window. It fell and landed on top of nine other skeletons just like it. After Kululu brushed off Fuyuki's hands, Keroro and Dororo now looked at the boy with newfound respect for hauling a skeleton across a room with his bare hands.

Kululu faked a yawn. "Wow, all this walking has made me tired. Why don't we call it a day?"

"In this place?" Keroro made a face. "Wasn't somebody living here at some point?"

"It should be all right," said Dororo. "The last person who was living here is dead now. I'm sure its previous owner wouldn't mind if we borrowed their house in a drastic time such as now."

"I dunno," said Tamama as he floated through the wall and into the room. "This house kind of gives me the chills."

Kululu's eyes widened and he paled. Shit! Tamama! I forgot that he was here!

"Like, for example," Tamama told them all, "in that bedroom down the hall, there's a pile of really old feathers—"

"WHO WANTS FOOD!" Kululu lifted up the food bag for all to see.

"Ooh! I do!" Keroro snagged the bag and together with Dororo, they ate to their hearts' content.

Kululu released his breath. Then he glared at Tamama. What could he do with that brat? Clearly, locking the doors hadn't kept him from wandering places he shouldn't have been able to see. Maybe it was time for another update on the place. Electrocute some transdimensional demons while he was at it. Yes, that would do nicely.

At the moment, Tamama had no choice but to rest with the others, since nobody was going to listen to what he had to say.

As Keroro stuffed his mouth with food, he beamed at Fuyuki. "Thanks, Fuyuki!" he told him. "You really are the best."

Kululu let Fuyuki take control of the body at last, but Fuyuki didn't know what to say in response. "Um… you're welcome, I guess?" He shrugged. "It was really nothing. At least we should be safe here, even if there are skeletons and dead squirrels."

"Dead squirrels?" Keroro swallowed his food. Suddenly he didn't feel so hungry anymore. "Yeah… I think I'm going to hand the body over to Saburo now."

Saburo groaned. "He always eats too fast! Augh. I don't get it. He's a demon! He doesn't even need to eat."

Fuyuki laughed. "Be sure to drink lots of water."

He supposed maybe this house wasn't perfect, but at least it was a place to stay for them. He left him and went to look for Dororo, who he found outside the house, staring at the lake. Fuyuki looked up at the sky. It was already becoming dark, and the stars were coming out. He took a seat by Dororo.

"Hey… thanks for not killing me anymore," he said to him.

"Oh. No problem," Dororo said. He let out a sigh and looked out toward the lake.

"You thinking about something?" Fuyuki asked.

"Just… a friend." His eyes looked rather sad. "I thought for sure that Kululu had killed me… so I sent her a letter saying that I was dead. I hope she's doing all right."

"She's probably worried about you," Fuyuki told him. Dororo looked frightened. "But…! That's a good thing," he quickly told him. "It means she cares for you. And I bet she did. A lot."

Dororo twiddled his thumbs. "I don't know. Maybe it's better if she didn't."

"Don't say that," he pleaded. "Everyone deserves a friend. Even you, although you tried to kill me. I mean, I guess you had your reasons." He was about to mention Kululu, but decided otherwise, after promising Kululu that he wouldn't talk about him to the group.

"Yes. Now you have someone else to worry about," Dororo said, narrowing his eyes. "You sister isn't trying to kill you, but she is starting a war. What will you do about it, Fuyuki?"

"I—I'm not quite sure yet." He looked at the ground. "I don't know if talking sense into her is going to help at all, because sis is pretty, well, stubborn. She thinks that was she's doing is right. Don't you hate it when people are like that? When they're so blindly following something they believe in that they completely disregard all the people they're hurting?"

Dororo thought about Koyuki and how she worshipped the angels, a species that had committed horrid atrocities during the war. "Yes, it is difficult to see eye-to-eye with people like that. Sometimes you have to ignore that aspect of a person in order to appreciate them for who they truly are, not just what they grew up believing."

"Oh. That's not what I meant at all," said Fuyuki. Dororo shut his mouth. "Did you…. Is your friend like that?"

Quietly, Dororo nodded.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But it's good that you two are friends, anyway." He gave him a pat on the back and walked off, back into the house where it was slightly warmer.

In the living room, he found Saburo sitting on the sofa with a really old, moth-torn book in his hands. "Wow. Whoever was the owner of this house must have really adored quantum physics and bioengineering," he commented. He took a look at the author of the book: THE DEMON KING. "Oh." He put the book down and cleared his throat. Then he scooted over to give Fuyuki room.

Fuyuki plopped down next to him and leaned his head against the back of the sofa. "What a day," he breathed. "I might fall asleep right here."

"Yeah," Saburo agreed. "You know… it was really brave of you, to run away from your sister."

"You think so?" he asked, a tiny bit flattered. "What about you? Did you want to leave?"

"Well, I've gotten to know Keroro a bit, and I would feel kind of bad to have him die inside of me," he admitted.

"I see." Fuyuki considered this.

"However…" Saburo smiled a bit and bashfully scratched the back of his neck. "I don't particularly mind being on the run. It wasn't like life back in town was very promising for me, anyway. Besides… at least I'm here with you! Right?"

"Right!" Fuyuki smiled back. But he was getting soooo sleepy. He yawned and let his head fall wherever. It happened to fall onto Saburo's shoulder. Saburo gave a startled look, but let Fuyuki rest there, knowing that he was tired after a long day of travel, emotional stress, and carrying skeletons. He rested his hand around Fuyuki's shoulder, testing the waters, and then put his arms around him like a blanket.

Fuyuki welcomed the feeling of warmth around him. Thinking back on the events of the day, he lightly touched his cheek.

Noticing this, Saburo smiled softly. "What's on your mind, Fuyuki?"

"Oh. I was just thinking…." Fuyuki blushed a little. "Right before we left, I visited Momoka and… well… she sort of kissed me on the cheek." He looked to the cracking ceiling. "I hope she's doing all right."

Saburo did not comment. Instead he unhooked his arms from around Fuyuki and went a ways off to sleep by himself, most likely to have Keroro take over and chat with Tamama.

"Huh. That was strange," Fuyuki decided. "Guess I'll stay here to sleep, then." He laid himself completely over the sofa like a greedy hog, and then the snores took over.

After about a minute, he propped himself upright and walked over to the closet, which he unlocked with the key in his pocket. Kululu was in control again. He stepped into the small room and lit a candle, since the lights didn't work anymore. Kululu began to put materials and machine parts together, inventing something to update the house with that would keep demons like Tamama out.

"So… Kululu."

Kululu jolted. He hadn't realized that Fuyuki was still conscious.

"You were going to explain some things?"

"Um… about what?"

"About this house." Fuyuki sounded angry. "And about the Demon Fight."

Kululu sighed. "We're going to fight when your two years are up, all right?" he told him. "We were going to fight in the mind realm, I was going to win, and then I would continue living the rest of your life here on the human plane, until your body grew old and died, and then I would return back to the demon realm and wait another thousand years till I got to clean my house again."

Fuyuki honestly wasn't sure he understood any of that.

"So… this is your house?" he asked.

"Yes. That's correct."

"How long has it been here?"

Kululu tried to remember. "A little over ten thousand years, I'd say."

Fuyuki couldn't believe it. Ten thousand years? And it hadn't been destroyed by any monsters yet, or demolished by any humans? That was practically unbelievable!

"I usually go back here after killing my hosts, but… I guess Christmas came a little early," he joked.

"What would…" Fuyuki swallowed. "Assuming you WOULD win the Demon Fight, what would else would you do with my body?"

"Eh." Kululu shrugged. "Probably just invent junk and give it to the humans so they can satisfy themselves. Then I would just wait to return to the demon realm."

Fuyuki realized in horror that by "waiting," Kululu meant "waiting to die." How many times had he died, he wondered? Was it painful each time?

With a sigh, Kululu confessed, "It's not that thrilling of a life. Things expire much too quickly in the human realm."

"Ah." He pondered this.

"Honestly, I'm a bit surprised," Kululu said with a light chuckle. "Thought you would have let your sister exorcise me for sure. Everyone else wants to kill me. So why not you? Even after learning that I was going to kill you after these two years are up, you still were against killing me. You claim it was to prevent a war, but I can't help feeling flattered." His eyes slipped into a glare. "Either that, or you're a complete moron. And knowing you, it's definitely the second one."

"All right. So maybe I'm a bit of a moron," Fuyuki agreed, "but I can't just let someone die. Not anyone." He added, "Not even you."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Natsumi's just killing demons blindly because she thinks they're pure evil. Besides Giroro, I mean." His tone turned tender. "And if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you're not pure evil."

"Ku ku ku! Of course I am. Everyone knows that."

"Yes, you say that, and you try your hardest to believe it," Fuyuki went on, "but you know deep down that it's not completely true." Memories flashed in his head of the somewhat innocent Kululu he'd seen in Kululu's memories, his sensitivity during the Victory Festival that caused him to lash out, his remorse regarding the deaths of all the angel children, his joy of inventing for the sake of inventing. Yes, he did flirt with Fuyuki's sister, which was totally weird, but Fuyuki could put that thought aside for the time being.

Kululu didn't respond. He might have been contemplating Fuyuki's words; then again, he might have started ignoring them altogether.

"So I can't let Natsumi kill you," Fuyuki finished. "I don't want you to kill me in the Demon Fight, of course, but that won't be for two years. I can think of some way to survive until then, or maybe even find some way out of it."

After a long period of silence, Kululu finally spoke. "Two years ain't nearly as long as you think they are, kid."

As if Kululu had been intentionally trying to prove Fuyuki wrong about the whole "you're not pure evil" thing, Fuyuki awoke the next day to a screaming Saburo. Well, Keroro.

"THAT DOES IT! WHO SWITCHED MY TOOTHBRUSH WITH DORORO'S?!"

"What?" Dororo pressed a hand to his lips. "Who would do such a cruel act?"

"I don't know, I don't know!" Keroro clutched his hair in devastation. "After I used it last night, it was right here on the counter, in the green cup! But suddenly it's in the blue one? Why? Why does the universe hate me?" He fell to his knees, weeping loudly and dramatically.

Dororo shed tears, as well. This was just too mean.

"I'm… confused," Tamama told them. "What happened? Why is this such a bad thing?"

"And look at this!" Keroro held up Saburo's clothes. "Why are there white stains on these shorts? We got these yesterday! So WHO POURED BLEACH ON THEM?! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

Kululu just let out a small "ku ku ku," only loud enough for Fuyuki to hear.

"Kululu!" he scolded him. "That wasn't very nice!"

"Whatever," said Kululu.

But when Fuyuki was about to put on his own clothes, he noticed that they had been splattered with bleach, as well.

"My clothes are ruined, too!" Dororo cried.

"And these food boxes are filled with silica gels! And my shoes are filled with sand! And the aglets were removed from the shoelaces! And my bedding is riddled with metal springs!" Keroro ranted.

"Me, too! Me, too!" Dororo complained.

"But the worst thing of all…." He gulped. "SOMEONE DOODLED A FACE ON MY NEW HAT!"

He held it up for all to see. Everyone was silent, however, because this was the least harmful thing that had happened.

"Something's going on in this house and I'd like to know what," said Tamama. "Last night, I couldn't go through some of the locked doors! I think this place may be haunted, you guys."

Yesss… so my update worked, Kululu cheered.

"I can't take this. I can't go on in the human realm on without a cool hat." Tears streamed down Saburo's face under Keroro's command. "I'll have to go to town to get a new one."

"What?" Fuyuki asked him. "You can't do that! What if someone sees you?"

"I'll wear a cloak!" Keroro tosses a cloak over himself. It had white spots on it, too. "Ohgoddamnit," he muttered. "I'll get some food and some new cloaks while I'm there."

"Wait!" Tamama floated over by his side. "I'm coming with you."

"Um… okay?" said Keroro. "See you guys later. And whoever did all the pranks, I'll be watching you!" He made the two finger sign to emphasize this.

After Keroro left, Fuyuki asked Kululu, "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Not my fault," Kululu denied. "They were asking for it. Whoever they are."

Fuyuki sighed. "What did they do?"

"It's nothing," he dismissed. But he knew Fuyuki wouldn't take this as an answer. "Someone opened one of the doors that I locked. I don't even know how they got my keys. I had them the whole night." He would have grimaced if he was in control of Fuyuki's facial features just then. "It was a disrespectful invasion of privacy, and whoever they are, I will thoroughly make them pay."

Okay then, Fuyuki thought. "Did you remember to lock the room after it was unlocked?"

Kululu thought a moment. "Shoot! I didn't. I'd better go do that, then."

He took control of the body and walked over to one of the door at the hall. It was open just enough for Fuyuki to catch a glimpse of what was inside. He didn't see much, but he could tell that the paint on the walls was chipping severely. The room and all its contents were coated in dust and plant debris, as if it hadn't been touched in several millennia. Even creepier, for a second there, he almost thought he saw the shape of a crib. Before he saw anything else, however, Kululu quickly shut the door and locked it.

When Keroro and Tamama headed into the nearest town, they were not surprised in the least bit when yet another video screen displaying Natsumi, Exorcist and Symbol of the H.A.D. Movement, greeted their eyes.

"Not again," Keroro groaned. "I just wanted to get a hat! Oh, and also food."

"I thought you had no money," Tamama reminded him.

"Not a problem." Keroro gave a thumbs-up. "I found a bunch of money in that dead guy's house. He won't mind that I robbed him, you see, because he's dead. That money wasn't going anywhere else." He pat the bulge in his side pocket. "There's a lot of weird stuff in that place. It almost is like a haunted house!"

"I sure hope it isn't," Tamama muttered.

"Well, we might as well see what Natsumi Hinata is up to today while we're here," said Keroro. He and Tamama went up to the video screen.

"Natsumi the Exorcist has done it again!" a reporter was saying as they played a video of Natsumi interacting with a couple of kids at a primary school. "Just a few days ago she was merely exterminating demons from the bodies of young teens. Now she has taken her mission as far as to educate children on the secrets that society has been hiding from them! And nobody can do anything because she'll just suck out their soul!" said the reporter. "Why are we breaking the law to tell you these things? I have no idea! It's a new era! Yeah, just TRY to come and arrest me, authorities! Natsumi will protect me! Natsumi will—" The program was cut off.

"Dang, this is a lot worse than I thought," Keroro reflected. "She's going against the Nishizawa contract itself! How stupid can a person be?"

"Pretty stupid," Tamama guessed.

"If kids start learning what's in store for them during demon possession, they'll never let us possess them!" Keroro began to totally freak out. "And we'll all starve if we aren't able to eat human souls!"

"Well, unless you wanted to become mortal," Tamama laughed.

Keroro smiled. "Very funny, Tamama."

Tamama grinned. He laughed at one of my jokes! I can't believe this. Is this really happening? Ooh, if I had a heart, it would be thump-thumping all over the place!

"But seriously. What are we going to do?" Keroro went back to trembling. "The demons will die out for sure. Augh, nothing nearly this bad has happened since the Ancient War! This is so seriously—Oh hey, look, they have hats on sale." He walked over to the display window of one of the stores.

Tamama sweatdropped, but followed him anyway. "Mr. Keroro, you're so silly."

"Hey, where'd all the camera people go?" Natsumi stood up momentarily from her lesson to the group of kids circled around her.

"They were all arrested," Giroro said. He lifted down a child who he had been letting climb on his shoulders and play with his horns. For some reason all the kids here all wanted to touch his horns, but he told them they had to take turns. "I've been saying this for the past five minutes. You're breaking the Nishizawa contract. They won't allow that kind of stuff on TV."

"They'll allow douche bag commercials on TV," she retorted. "Aren't those worse?"

Giroro opened his mouth, about to challenge her, but then he closed it.

"Natsumi, you still can't just be telling people these things," he tried to explain to her. "They—They're just children. Maybe they're too young to understand."

"Of course they can understand, Giroro!" she said. "Demons will take over your body and kill you, end of story. It's not that complicated."

"Yes, but—"

"They need to be prepared for what awaits them," the argued. "You guys were prepared. And you have the advantage of age. And cool powers. These guys—" She gestured to all the young kids playing with glue bottles and braiding each other's hair, sometimes at the same time. "—they have nothing."

Giroro huffed and crossed his arms. Unfortunately, there was another good point that Natsumi made. He didn't like to admit it, but he had to. He just wished that, if even for a tiny bit, Natsumi could stop focusing so much time and energy on this unrealistic mission and just enjoy their relationship together. It wasn't like she'd ever be able to eliminate every single demon, anyway. He kept telling himself this. And it wasn't like this movement of hers was going to last very long, either. People were going to cover it up sooner or later, and then everyone would forget about it in about a month.

He had no perspective on just how serious things had become in the outside world.

Seeing his expression, Natsumi leaned up and stroked his cheek. "I know you're worried, Giroro."

"Mr. Giro, can you lift me up?" a little girl asked him.

"No, not right now!" he said to her.

"But—But I haven't had a turn on your shoulders yet!"

"Natsumi, go on," he urged her.

She sighed. "I'm worried too. After I'm done talking with these kids, we're going to look for my brother."

Giroro's shoulders slumped. "So you can let the Demon King flirt with you some more?"

She took her hand off of him. "Giroro, there are more important things to worry about right now than your weird fixation with this love triangle you've made up!"

"He was flirting with you, Natsumi! You guys clearly had a fling together!"

"A fling? A fling? How is that even possible, Giroro? I've never met him before this week! And anyway, if he's resurrected once every thousand years, how could I have possibly met him before you?"

Giroro became quiet. She was absolutely right! Now this was a point he could agree with.

"Miss Natchi, what's a fling?" one of the children asked her.

"Oh geez." Natsumi put her hand to her forehead. "Let's get back to talking about demons, shall we?"

After Keroro and Tamama had gotten all their necessary items, they headed back to house, a couple of bags flung over Keroro's shoulders. Truth be told, they hadn't gotten everything they needed. Half the money Keroro had was out of date, so between new cloaks and a cool new hat, he went with a cool new hat for himself. They would just have to live with the bleach-stained cloaks they had now.

"Why would you even put bleach on a black cloak, anyway…" Keroro grumbled to himself. "What a stupid thing to do! No, you know what, I think I know who did it. It was him. Yeah, it had to be him."

"Had to be who?" Tamama asked sweetly.

"We've been walking on eggshells this whole trip!" said Keroro. "But he was quiet. Oh, he was good. He made us all forget that he was even there, living in that poor kid Fuyuki." He smacked his fist into his palm. "And you know what, I bet he was even the one who put the skeleton in that room, the jerk! He went into the house first, after all. What an awful prank to pull!"

"Um… I'm confused?" Tamama told him, although it was more of a question than a comment.

"Electrocuting me is one thing, but ruining my favorite hat as of yesterday is just going too far!" He wiped some tears from his face. "Tamama, when we get back to that house, I'm going to chew out Kululu like he's never been chewed out before! Maybe I'll ruin HIS favorite hat, too!"

Tamama fell silent. He stopped floating alongside Keroro.

"Um… Tamama?"

He watched in horror as Tamama transformed—pupils shrunk, his face getting dark, his fists balling angrily.

"KULULU?! THE DEMON KING? HE WAS HERE ALL ALONG IN THE GROUP AND NO ONE EVER TOLD ME?!" he shrieked.

"Um…" Keroro pointed timidly at him. "…don't tell me you want to kill him too?"

"HE'S BEEN IN FUKKI ALL THIS TIME! MOMOCCHI NEVER SAID A SINGLE WORD! GAAAH, I BET SHE'S IN CAHOOTS WITH HIM!"

"Uh…." Keroro didn't know what else to say.

Tamama broke down into sobs. "Everyone lied to me! All of my friends! I gave them my trust and they abused it."

"There, there," Keroro tried to comfort. He was still a bit frightened of Tamama's transformation, but at least he wasn't talking in caps lock any longer.

"No! Not even you can make this better, Mr. Keroro!" Tamama brushed him off.

"Oh, come on," he told him. "Everyone hates Kululu here. We're not denying that. You're just part of the group now!"

"You don't understand!" Tamama shouted. "He took my in, he talked big and made me think I was special…. He promised me fame, fortune, sweets. He took me under his wing and made me think I could be the next Demon King! He made me think I had a chance up there with the big guys!" Tears were streaming from his eyes. "He gave me responsibilities only to ditch out on them himself. And then, when all was said and done during the war, you know what he did? He ruined me! Took everything from me. My family, my house, my money…. I was just a demon pup! I had to live on my own and the worst part was that nobody ever believes a word I say anymore! THIS. FURY. IS. PERSONAL!"

Keroro was speechless. He had heard the stories of Kululu doing awful things to people, but this? This was just too much!

"I—I believe you," he said. "It's not actually that surprising that he would do something like that."

"He's here!" Tamama said. "He's in my grasp! But—But wait. What can I do?" He felt around himself. "I'm just projecting myself into this realm! I can't do anything! No, wait." His expression snapped into a menacing grin. "I can talk. I can expose all his dirty little secrets! MUA HA HA HA HA!"

"Um… okay," said Keroro. He started walking again.

"But… wait." Tamama seemed to remember something. "Momocchi lied to me! And… you lied… to me too?"

"Me?" Keroro looked around. "I didn't lie. Dude, I didn't want to talk about him. None of us do. Not my fault for knowing you have a personal vendetta against the Demon King and want revenge."

"I can't believe this!" Tamama wailed. He had a sudden change of mind. "I can't go back there right now! He'll laugh at me when he sees me! He'll laugh and make me feel insecure about myself and he'll pretend like I'm lyyyying!"

"Yeah, probably," said Keroro. Tamama ran off into a nearby cave. "Wait, Tamama!" Keroro ran in after him.

The cave was dark and damp. He couldn't tell where Tamama was, since he was translucent. Keroro tried to listen to the sound of him weeping. Eventually he picked up some breathing and walked toward it.

"Look, Tamama, if you stay in here forever, you'll never expose the Demon King's dirty secrets like you said you would," Keroro told him. He reached forward, trying to find the edge of the cave to grab hold of, but instead his hand met with something scaly and cold. "Um… Tamama?" He paled. "That's… not you, is it?"

The yellow eyes of a giant reptile opened and locked with his own.

"Eep!" A chill ran through him. He immediately snapped his hand off of the giant reptile's snout. "Tamama, I'm going to leave the cave now!" he called. No response. Well, there was a response from the reptile after Keroro had yelled this. It growled at him and snorted out a huff of air onto his face. "Oh dear." Keroro slowly peered upward at the creature.

When it charged at him, he let out a scream.

Tamama was still busy crying his eyes out when he heard Keroro's scream.

"What's that?" he said. "Mr. Keroro's in trouble?" He dashed into the cave. The giant reptile had Keroro cornered, and looked as if it was ready to gobble him up in one bite.

"Ah! This is all my fault!" he started crying. "If I hadn't been making such a fuss, Mr. Keroro wouldn't have gone into the monster's den and gotten eaten!"

"Actually, I'm still alive right now!" Keroro reminded him. "Now can you please do something to help me?"

"I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! I'M NOT EVEN IN THIS PLANE!" Tamama reminded him.

He wished dearly that there was something that he could do. Some way to get on the same plane as Keroro.

Then he realized it.

It would be reckless, and irreversible, but he had to do it in order to save Keroro.

"TAKE THAT, YOU NASTY LIZARD!"

Tamama soared in and delivered a kick directly into the giant lizard's eyeball. It let out a scream of pain and, in its moment of distraction, Tamama grabbed Keroro's hand and ran.

"Later, sucker!" Over his shoulder, he blew a raspberry at the lizard.

When they were a safe enough distance away from the monster, Tamama let go of Keroro's hand and they stood there a second, both catching their breath.

After a big gulp of air, Keroro stood up straight and looked Tamama in the eye. "Tamama… you're…? No… you couldn't really have…"

He looked the young demon over. He had! There he was, standing before him, flesh and blood. Keroro wanted to bash his head against a wall. Why? Why would Tamama do that?

"Um…." Tamama awkwardly avoided eye contact.

Keroro reached out his hand, as if to caress Tamama's cheek in forgiveness or gratitude for saving him. Tamama's face turned pink and he leaned forward to accept the contact. But instead Keroro's hand moved to the top of Tamama's head, where he started feeling his stubby little horns.

"Look at these things!" he laughed. "They're so tiny and cute!"

Tamama swatted his hand away. "HEY! DON'T MAKE FUN OF MY HORNS, ALL RIGHT?" Then he paused and grinned. "Wait, you think they're cute? Aw!~" He threw his arms around Keroro in a hug. It had been so long since he could do that.

Keroro felt weird, but he just sighed. "So you're a mortal now, too, huh…" he said. He couldn't believe Tamama's thoughtless decision. Who would be next to go?

Ack I don't mean to put in any SabuFuyu scenes but they happen anyway? Why? Somebody send help SOS

-Scissors