Giroro sat on his chair dangling one leg over the edge while the other balanced both his arms on his knees. He had just finished catching his breath after a very uncharacteristic laughing fit. Now that he had calmed down he tried to focus and remember his original purpose. Thinking long and hard he was unable to draw any useable thoughts. He decided to retrace his mental steps. He had just been laughing because of Natsumi's strange behaviour, prior to that he remembers a throbbing pain in his head, and before that he remembers seeing…. Giroro's red face instantly turned a deeper red as he recalled the brief flash he had seen when he entered the washroom. Natsumi had been standing, completely unclothed, her skin shining in the light from her having freshly washed herself. Steam seeped out of his ears as he quickly erased the image from his thoughts before his nose would start bleeding.
Giroro decided that the thought would return to him eventually, he wouldn't try to remember it for fear of endangering his own life and well being. Returning from his thoughts he noticed Natsumi entering the room. Natsumi wore a simple loose white dress with black frills around the straps and hems. She paused momentarily when she saw what he had done. The controls to the room were all designated by a simple control system, so Giroro had utilized it to comprise the room to look like the bedroom in the photos that had been scavenged by the Keronians from her home planet of Pekopon.
"I-it's my room. How, how did you do this? This room was so small before." She stared wide eyed in surprise. Giroro watched as she looked around, recognition and happiness glowed in her eyes as she observed each and every familiar item. He felt a warmness in his chest as he looked upon her smile. He waited a while before speaking to her.
"I created it from a database of images we collected from your planet. I…. I hope it meets your approval." Giroro kept his face turned away from her when she looked at him in awe. He didn't want her to see his face contorted into what he considered to be an expression of weakness; he was smiling.
"Does this mean I don't have to be chained up anymore?" Natsumi asked him, her voice anxious to be freed from the physical and mental ache that came with being restrained.
"There's no point, so I figured I may as well make it so you are comfortable while I guard you….. Hearing you complain would be irritating and distracting." He made himself seem distant and uncaring. With a thump Natsumi flopped onto her replica bed and heaved a heavy sigh.
"It almost feels just like home." she mused aloud. Giroro looked up at her slightly in interest.
"Will you….. Tell me about it?" he asked tentatively.
"About what?" She looked over to where he was sitting, confused by his question.
"Your home planet, Pekopon. What was it like? What kind of things did you do there? How did you live?" He tried to hide the interest in his voice but it was beginning to show.
Natsumi sat up in her bed, her back was to him and hugged a pillow to her chest. She remained silent for a long time before she began to speak again.
"First of all, it's not called Pekopon, it's called Earth. I'm sure you've seen the basics, the blue sky, the green grass, the various wildlife, beautiful beaches with rolling waves. However seeing is only part of its beauty. You can't listen to sound recordings and imagine yourself there, you have to be able to actually FEEL it. The warmth of the sun, and sand between your toes, the wind in your face as it wraps around and embraces your body playfully." Giroro could hear a highly audible wistful tone in her voice.
He imagined some of the things she had said, compensating the feeling with what little he had experienced on the planet along with his own. From what he saw he knew he was missing more than a few key details but he hoped to find them later. Natsumi had lain back down again and was quiet, she would say no more about it for the time being. Giroro hopped down from his chair and exited the room. He traveled down the hall and stopped at one of the food drop panels. He pressed the keypad and typed in the code for his request.
Shortly after he was greeted by a hot plate of a particular Pekoponian….. EARTH food that he had gained a particular liking to. He carried the plate back to the room, he set it on the small table and sat down. Natsumi looked up to see what he was doing, he waved her over to join him. He reached towards the plate and removed some of the food, he handed one to her and he himself began to eat one. Natsumi looked at it in surprise.
"Sweet potatoes?" She asked him.
"I have aquired a, particular taste for them." he mumbled and bit into his again.
She bit in to hers, pausing because it was still quite hot. She blew on it, making the rising steam whirl around rapidly in the air. They sat still and ate in silence, enjoying the sweet taste of the earth vegetable. Natsumi began to giggle, Giroro looked at her in confusion.
"You know it's funny, because on Earth, the term for 'potato' in the French language is Pomme de terre, meaning "apple of the earth". It's pretty interesting really." She giggled at the silly little fact.
"So wait, they thought that this vegetable was a version of the fruit you call an apple that grows in the ground? They're completely different, how would they possibly make that mistake?" Giroro asked in confusion. Natsumi stared at his confused face before she burst out laughing at how literal he was taking it. Realizing how silly he had sounded Giroro began to laugh as well, that was twice in one day she had coaxed a reaction from him he hadn't willingly given in a long time.
They went quiet again only this time the silence was filled with an air of pleasantness. The warm feeling in the room made the next few hours go by very quickly. When Natsumi began to grow tired she stretched her back and yawned through her clenched teeth. Giroro stood up and walked over to his chair, he sat down and nodded to Natsumi in silence. She took the nod as a signal she could sleep if she wanted. She smiled at him, enjoying their silent conversation. He flipped a switch turning off the lights, Natsumi curled in under her blankets and quickly went to sleep.
She wasn't sure when she awoke but the lights were still out so it had maybe been a few hours tops. Giroro had fallen asleep on his chair; he sat there with his head hung and his arms crossed. His breathing was steady as his tiny chest puffed in and out. Natsumi got out of bed and felt the chilly air against her skin. she pulled one of the many blankets off her bed and walked over to Giroro, she slipped the blanket around his shoulders and stepped back to look at him. He shifted slightly making himself more comfortable his mouth hung open slightly to let more air into his lungs letting out a slight sigh. When she was satisfied with his current condition she went back to her bed, crawled in and fell back to sleep smiling.
Giroro watched her fall back asleep with one eye open. He clutched the blanket she had wrapped him in with his hands. Inside he struggled with his instincts as a soldier and the strange feelings that were growing inside him. He knew what his duty was but at the same time she had made it impossible for him to do so, and these new feelings were just something that he didn't know how to combat. While Natsumi slept peacefully Giroro was engaged in emotional warfare within himself. Does he behave like the soldier he's always been, or explore these strange new feelings?
-To Be Continued…