"E-execution?!" Natsumi repeated in surprise. She took a step back as if the shock had physical force.

"Are you absolutely certain sirs? Is there really no other option?" Giroro asked trying to prompt a different decision from them.

"This Pekoponian is a threat and because she cannot be tamed she must be eliminated!" one of the commanding officers shouted.

"This is the decision we have come to." another of the commanders said, raising his hand to silence the noisy one.

"The execution will take place in a few hours, once the paper work has gone through we shall return. I assume you are more than prepared to perform your duty?" The commander asked Giroro, his back turned but he looked at him from the corner of his eye. The look Giroro saw sent a chill down his spine and froze him where he stood. Stiffly he nodded his head and gave a salute.

"Yes… Sir." Giroro managed to speak out. The commanders all turned and headed back the way they came, leaving Giroro and Natsumi standing alone in the hallway still shocked.

A while after they had gone Natsumi couldn't help but look at Giroro in confusion. She walked up next to him and ever so slowly leaned in to look at his face.

"You know they've been gone for a while now right? You can lower your arm." Giroro looked at her in shock, he hadn't even realized he remained saluting the commanders well after they had already left.

"Uhh…. well... I.. uhhh…." Giroro couldn't seem to speak properly, he was in complete disarray.

"Come on. Let's go sit down for a bit." Natsumi offered him her hand, he blushed lightly and slowly took it, they walked back to the room in a bitter-sweet silence.

When they returned to the room Natsumi made some tea, they sat there sipping it in silence. Natsumi was ok with it at first, but the more time ticked by the more irritated she became. Seriously? They're coming back to execute me in a few hours and this is how we're spending our time? Is he gonna say ANYTHING to try and comfort me? Not that I'm bothered by it or anything… I knew that I was going to die by the hands of these Keronians, but….. I never imagined I'd fall in love with one either… Natsumi thought to herself.

She peeked up from her cup of tea to look at him sitting across from her. His facial expression was a mix of pain, fear, sorrow, but also a hint of melancholy. She could tell he was fighting with himself over the situation, but what about she was unsure of. She had already accepted her fate the moment the Keronians murdered her father, granted she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Giroro…" she spoke, drawing his attention and breaking the awkward silence. "I think you should know, I was prepared to die the moment the Keronians invaded my planet. So their decision doesn't really bother me." She smiled lightly and half heartedly trying to comfort him.

"How could you say that?!" he yelled standing up suddenly and almost spilling his tea across the table. "How can you say something like that to me? Don't you understand, how much I love you?" he asked quietly, sitting back down. She lightly place her hand atop his, reassuring him with a gentle smile.

"I do know Giroro. That's why I don't want you to feel sad about this. I've accepted it, as a prisoner of the Keronians and you should accept it too; as a soldier of the Keronians." She smiled at him once more, a half hearted smile not of joy, but of sympathetic compassion that seemed to leave an aftertaste of sadness in the air. They sat in silence once more, but this time the dreary feeling in the air was short lived.

"Hey Giroro?" Natsumi began, drawing his attention once more. "When we were talking earlier, you mentioned you had quite an extensive gun collection, am I right?"

Giroro remained silent and didn't respond for a moment. Natsumi scooched over and nudged his arm with her elbow.

"Come on, show me. It's not like we don't have time to kill, and there's nothing i'd rather do with my last few hours to live than spend it with you." She spoke softly with a small smile. He blushed and averted his eyes, staring at a borderline between the table and the ground for a few moments before looking back at her once more, a look on his face that resembled a pout.

"You're just trying to distract me." he huffed as he looked at her with half lidded eyes. Behind his eyes he had begun to fight an unseen battle.

"Exactly, so show me some of your guns. I want to see the things you're most passionate about." Natsumi gave a tiny giggle.

How can I deny her wish? Giroro thought and heard his voice continue even though he hated what it meant. Her dying wish at that. He did his best to ignore the fact and sighed. He pressed the skull insignia on his hat. Soon a pixel wave swarmed the area around him and Natsumi, materializing guns of all shapes, sizes, and metals. Natsumi's eyes widened with curiosity and wonder.

"Wait, so you can summon guns whenever you want?" She looked around at the walls and floor covered in weaponry. "That's so cool. I wish I could do that. It would definitely help in any conflict I come up against."

"You do very well by striking before your target even gets the chance to shoot." Giroro complimented her and recalled their first encounter.

"Still it wouldn't hurt to have something that won't run out of stamina." She looked down at a gun in front of her on the table. "I've never actually seen guns in person before you aliens showed up. It's forbidden for Japanese citizens to own them."

"I don't think I could live long without a gun. I do have some skills in hand to hand combat but ranged is my specialty as well as my prefered fighting style." Giroro picked up a gun, inspected the sights, and checked the ammo.

"You do have a lot of guns. It must cost a lot of money to get ammo and polish for all of them." Natsumi was still in awe at the idea that in mere seconds he filled the room with such an abundant amount of weapons.

"It helps to have support from the army to keep them in top performance. I also have a small knife collection; but I only use them when I really want to get personal." Giroro set the gun he had back down and picked up another giving it the same inspection and care he gave the last.

"So you just maintain and polish them in your free time?" Natsumi asked curious to learn more about her red companion.

"That's not all I do. I regularly practice at the shooting range to see if they need tweaking. I also like to peruse catalogues and shops for new models." Giroro blushed slightly as he shared his hobbies.

"I'm going to take a wild guess that you know a lot about guns?" Natsumi spoke with an almost sarcastic tone. "I didn't think there was much to guns but now to see all the variety in them changes that real quick. Why don't you teach me about 'em?"

"Let's see." Giroro scanned the room and picked up a small gun just a little bigger than his hand. It was a soft light silver and almost sparkled. "This is a W-21, a woman's gun made to fit in bags or purses. It's one of the weakest in modern guns even though it uses metal bullets."

"I know I shouldn't judge but why do you have woman's gun?" Natsumi chuckled lightly.

"It was a family member's before she had an accident and her license to own it was removed." Giroro quickly placed it back down and picked up another, larger gun. It was a regular plain gray with a rounded nozzle.

"I'm sorry." Natsumi blushed, embarrassed by her statement.

"It's alright you didn't know." Giroro easily dismissed the comment and focused more on the gun. "This one is a traditional Army A-6-55 clunker. It was nicknamed the clunker because it's bulky and unnecessarily heavy. It has some power but not much since it fires a simple laser bullet. It's a cheap gun the army can mass produce for their soldiers. This is the second gun I ever got."

"Which one is your favorite?" Natsumi loved watching him relax around the guns. He didn't seem so worked up and worried over her when he was focused on them.

"My favorite? Let's see where is it?" He looked around the room for a few moments before his eyes settled on one that lay on the bed. "There."

Giroro stood and walked over to pick up a long gun. He rested to buttplate against the ground and let the gun lean on his shoulder. The metal was almost pitch black with red accents on some of the pieces.

"Woah, that thing is huge!" Natsumi became intimidated by the weapon. "It's almost twice your height."

"Yeah but she's beautiful." Giroro closed his eyes and gave a toothy grin that bore his fangs as he pointed out the gun's attributes. "She has a 1600 RPM in rapid fire with 350 average kills per minute. Her mag has a capacity of 30 rounds and a three second reload time which I even reduced to two seconds. Her scope can change the display and can zoom up to five levels of magnification, each one five times closer than the last. She has highly advanced barrel with a complex inner structure that amplifies the accuracy. All of this power in a light and slim figure. This beauty is a hard find and I was lucky to win her over just a few months ago."

"Won as in like a game or lottery?" Natsumi asked.

"Neither. She was last in stock at a shop and I had to fight against another buyer. The merchant thought I was the better choice and sold her to me when the other guy was gasping for air. I didn't actually fight him either, he was just yelling so loud and hard." Giroro chuckled lightly at the memory.

When he stopped, he went very quiet. Lowering his head to look at the floor he stayed that way for a few moments before looking up at Natsumi. He spoke in a strained voice.

"I don't want to let you go." he said quietly. There was no way he could have ever known the weight that those words carried in his own heart.

-To Be Continued…