Taruru didn't like being lost.

Not because it meant that he didn't know his way home, but because it reminded him of all those years spent in orphanages before he joined the platoon. It reminded him when the other kids at school laughed at him and said that he only wasn't with his parents right now because they didn't like him, or when the people who took care of them punished him for eating too many candies when they knew they had to tell him to stop. Being lost reminded if of those years. Alone. Completely lost.

He sighed and sat down on the concrete street, his back resting against a house's wall. He was exhausted, his legs hurt, his injuries burned, and he could feel his chest heavy because of the guilt that he felt. His argument with the Lieutenant kept going in replay on his mind, and every time he remembered his last words to him, he felt a shiver run through his spine. He knew that those had probably been the last words he ever said to his superior, and that thought couldn't make him feel worse.

The rain kept pouring down, and the light blue frog looked around to see if there were any signs of Pekoponian activity. It was a calm and nice street, with houses on both sides of it and a few trees in the middle, and because of the rain, there was fortunately no one out there. The frog closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately, and even though he finally was able to relax, he still had a nightmare.

o – o – o – o – o

He woke with something poking his tummy.

When his eyes adjusted to the light (or lack thereof, since it was still raining), he was able to see a girl with short brown hair and dark eyes right in front of him, who was staring at him with evident curiosity. He was expecting her to run away once he moved, but she didn't.

She did, however, keep poking him with her index finger, this time on his cheek. He blinked a few times not knowing what to do, and he seriously considered asking her to stop touching him. He didn't get the time, though.

"You're so cute!" The girl squealed, grinning from ear to ear. Taruru, momentarily forgetting all about his injuries and about the fact that he should probably be looking for his teammates, smiled and scratched the back of his head, pouting his lips as he did so.

"Eh eh eh, I know, I know."

Did you seriously think this could get depressing with Taruru involved?

"And you can talk!" Continued the girl, looking more and more excited. "And my language! How did you... Oh." She stopped talking once she saw his injuries. "You're hurt."

Hearing his cuts and bruises being mentioned, Taruru unconsciously looked down, shrugging slightly.

"Yeah… Didn't even notice how bad they looked." He scratched the back of his head, looking around. "Just when I needed Pururu…"

"Who's Pururu?" The girl asked, showing that she was still paying attention to him. "Wait, you'll tell me inside. My parents aren't home and my brother is staying at a friend's, so I guess we're good. I'm not gonna leave such a cute alien like you here in the cold, especially not with you injured." She said once the pressure on the umbrella from the rain was becoming a bit too much. (Taruru had wondered how it had stopped raining all of a sudden… The umbrella actually explained it.)

The blue frog looked gratefully at her. They both started walking towards her house, but once the girl opened the gate, she stopped.

"My dogs are out here. It's better if I hold you for a bit…"

Taruru nodded and the girl grabbed him with her arm, using the other to open the main door once they walked past her front garden. She let him go as soon as they entered her place, and Taruru looked around, dumbfound.

"Your place is super cool!" He said, jumping to the couch and looking around. "You got any food?"

She chuckled and put away the umbrella, motioning him to follow her into the kitchen.

"You're going to be a problem, aren't ya?"

"People usually say so, yeah."

The girl laughed again, grabbing a packet of biscuits. Taruru stretched his arms to try and get it, but she put it on top of the balcony where he couldn't reach it.

"Let's play a game." She said. "I'll ask you questions, and for each one that you answer, I'll give you a cookie."

The blue frog shrugged, only caring about the cookies. "Fine. But hurry up, I'm hungry!"

She laughed again, but stopped once she remembered his injuries. "Wait. We gotta take care of you first." She starting walking towards the bathroom, and after one or two grunts, Taruru ended up following her.

"Sit." She told him, grabbing Band-Aids, cotton, and a bottle with hydrogen peroxide. After he did what she told him to she sat in front of him. However, she looked at him as if she had just remembered something, got up and left the room. Taruru couldn't be more confused, but when she got back with the packet of biscuits in her hand, he finally understood.

"This way you'll have something else to think about if any of your injuries hurt a bit too much." She opened the packet and grabbed a bit of cotton, staring at Taruru. "Can we start?"

He nodded lively, but then remembered something and stopped.

"Wait! What if I also want to ask you something?"

She shrugged.

"You ask and I'll answer."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

He nodded with a smile on his freckled face, and she smiled back at him.

"Can I start?"

"Shoot." He said, but his face took on a sad expression almost immediately. He looked down at his feet, place where the girl was taking care of his wounds at the moment, and even though she was curious about what made his mood change so quickly, she knew better than to ask.

"What's your name?"

"Taruru."

He grabbed a cookie, and asked her the same question. The girl grabbed a Band-Aid and put it on two cuts, one right next to the other.

"Inês." She said, grabbing a bit of cotton and wetting it with hydrogen peroxide. "Inês Miranda."

He looked as if he was thinking about something, and then looked at her.

"Can I just call you Miranda?"

She laughed at the question, but shrugged. "If you like it, sure."

He nodded and the girl asked him the next question.

"Where are you from?"

"Keron." He grabbed another cookie, and she looked at him with surprise in her eyes. She had never heard the name of a planet out of the Solar System… Coming from an alien's mouth, at least.

"In which country am I?"

"Portugal."

She asked the next question.

"How did you end up here?"

If she knew Taruru, she would've known that he wasn't behaving like he usually does. However, she didn't, and all she had on her hands was her talent of reading people, even if Taruru wasn't exactly a person.

"It's a long story." He muttered after a while, but she just half smiled at him.

"We've got time."

o – o – o – o – o

"Taruru… I'm so sorry. I'm sure they're fine." Miranda said, sitting on her bed with her laptop in her lap. She had finally finished cleaning and "Band-aiding" every wound that the light blue frog had, and so they decided that it would be better if they continued their conversation in her room. It was much cozier, and she didn't want to risk her parents and brother coming home before they should and finding out that she was helping an alien.

Taruru was eating the last cookie that there was in the packet, but this time, not even eating was making him feel better. He knew that his teammates were intelligent and brave frogs, but the Lieutenant… He was a fantastic leader, soldier and mentor, but he didn't know if he had gotten out of the ship. His chest tightened as he thought that his last words to his superior were lies, and worse of all, that he might've believed them.

"Hey."

He looked at Miranda, and she smiled down at him.

"I'm sure he's fine. You said it yourself, he's a tough guy. I'm sure Garuru found a way out of the ship."

He sighed and looked around her room, and his expression quickly changed to a curious one once he saw the photos that she had in there.

"Who are those?"

She looked at where he was pointing and answered.

"A band. One Direction."

He looked as if he were confused, so she quickly explained him.

"They're from another country. They… don't speak Portuguese. So their name is in their language."

The alien nodded, looking pleased.

Miranda knew that Taruru was young. He had probably been on his teens for an extremely short amount of time, and she knew that he wasn't on his best at the moment. She hoped that they could find his teammates, or at least could find out what happened to them so that the blue frog could finally return to his normal state.

When she got back to reality, Taruru's face was right in front of hers. She nearly dropped her laptop as she jumped slightly on the bed.

"Show me one of their songs!"

He's probably going back to normal.

She nodded and put the laptop on her bed, motioning him to sit next to her. She went on YouTube and typed "Drag Me Down" on the search bar, and immediately a bunch of results popped up. She clicked the first one and waited for the video to start, and once it did, Taruru got extremely excited.

"This one has cool hair." He said, pointing at one of the boys. Miranda nodded, silently agreeing with him.

"It's better than yours."

Again, she couldn't disagree with him.

"They're sending them to space!" Taruru looked like Christmas had come earlier, and Miranda fought the urge to tell him that none of that was real.

"They should've left them there." She muttered, but it was loud enough for Taruru to hear. He looked at her and put his hands on his hips, pouting his lips as he looked at her with suspicion.

"You don't seem to like them that much."

The girl looked at him like he was insane.

"Oh no, I'm really far up their butts."

The song ended, and Taruru nodded his head appreciatively.

"I really like this song. It has a really cool meaning."

She half smiled at him, but then furrowed her brows in a confused expression.

"But… You don't understand English."

"I don't."

I surely can't say my life is going to be boring with him around.