"Wow Sarge! You're so good at this!" Tamama gushed over his Sergeant as the green haired youth marched rigidly around the room.
"Of course I am, why else would I be Sergeant?" Keroro said closing his eyes pleased at Tamama's compliment.
"I think you're both idiots." Giroro said still sitting cross legged on the ground, polishing one of his guns to a frightening shine. He snorted and looked up at the pair of them. "We've got less than a day to figure out how to use these bodies work and you two are spending it joking around!" The snarl in his voice made the other two pause for a moment and look at each other.
Finally Keroro straightened and held up a hand. "You're right Corporal. We should be learning all the limits of these bodies." Giroro straightened up excitedly then slouched again as the Sergeant whipped a model box out from nowhere. "Time to practice!" Keroro sat down, folding his long legs awkwardly beneath him . "After all I don't want to get blisters or hand cramps when I enter the model contest." He muttered quietly, losing all focus on things beyond the model.
"Idiot." Giroro wincingly got his feet, the unfamiliar height throwing him off a bit. "I'm going outside. I refuse to be stuck in here all day watching that-" he pointed to Keroro.
"Okay!" Tamama waved as Giroro eased his way out the door before turning back to look over the Sarge's shoulder.
Giroro grumbled as he made his way up the stairs to the main floor of the house, watching each step with concentration; his soldier training making failure of such a simple task an embarrassment that would nearly kill him. "Leave my belt here. What was he thinking? He knows I can't fight if I take this off. I don't care if I can't take Natsumi to the dance, I am not taking this off." His mind wandered treacherously and for a moment he imagined Natsumi in her gown, sad and waiting outside of a school for her date that never came. His cheeks began to burn, eyes stinging. "I promise I won't let that happen to you Natsumi – even… even if I have to take off my belt." Sniffing once he dragged the back of his hand across his eyes clearing them. "Right, now where was I?"
The house was deserted. With Natsumi and Fuyuki at school and their mother at work the silence gave Giroro the much needed break he needed to work up his courage. Finally with a determined snort he began to move the furniture in the living room back until the floor was clear.
"Natsumi, may I have this dance?" He bowed low, holding out his hand to his imaginary love. Even with his coat on he cut a dashing figure, red locks falling into his eyes until he straightened with her imaginary answer. Once again his imagination went wild, conjuring up images of the two of them sweeping around the dance floor together, rose petals swirling on the gentle breeze that encased the couple and finally a deep loving kiss shared between the two of them.
A heavy blush crept across his cheeks, his eyes opened and the dancing stopped leaving him standing in the middle of the room arms still outstretched. Finally with a sigh his arms dropped. "Who am I kidding, Natsumi wouldn't want anything to do with me. I'm not elegant or refined. She deserves someone who can give her everything, who will be her prince." He held his closed fist against his chest as though it hurt him greatly. "She deserves Saburo." He winced, chest tightening. With a final sigh he began to put the furniture back then left by the side door disappearing into the snow.
"Giroro?" Keroro poked his head around the corner of the room, eyebrows furrowing when he realized the room was empty. "Where could he have gone?"
"Maybe he went to wait for Natsumi at school. They can't have more than half a day left." Tamama said flouncing to stand next to Keroro.
"Oh course." Keroro gave a wide grin. "I can't wait for tomorrow Tamama, it's gunna be so great! Especially since Natsumi won't be bothering me the whole day."
"Of course Sergeant Sir!" Tamama grinned from ear to ear and followed Keroro back down to the basement.
. . .
Natsumi sighed and finally closed her school books for the day, stuffing them in her backpack with a kind of half smile as her friends tried to cheer her up.
"Come on Natsumi. Just come to the dance." One of the girls said, eyes pleading.
"It's okay… I really couldn't go anyway. Fuyuki is kind of hopeless without me and someone needs to make dinner." She tilted her head to the side and smiled. "I'll see you guys on Monday okay? You can tell me all about the dance then." Without waiting for a response she shouldered her bag and left the room, leaving the group talking amongst themselves and Koyuki looking sad.
It only took a few moments for her to put on her coat and scarf, plunging into the freezing air outside. Somehow it helped quell the disappointment she felt in her chest. "It's not like I really wanted to go anyway." She said to the wind as it encircled her. With the winter in full swing the sun was nearly set by the time she walked past the playground just outside the school grounds. Without warning the wind picked up and pulled the scarf away from her.
"Oh no! Not now!" Natsumi began chasing after her scarf, always it seemed just beyond her reach. "Come back!" Still it was too fast for her and the quickly disappearing light made seeing it even harder. Finally the sun disappeared all together, leaving her for a few moments in complete darkness. Only a few seconds later the street lights came on, exposing another figure just a head of her holding her scarf. Relieved Natsumi trotted over to retrieve it. "Thank you for getting that. I thought I was going to lose it."
Giroro turned bright red, he hadn't really been paying too much attention when he had grabbed the scarf, it had nearly blown into him as he practiced handstand pushups. "Um.. sorry. Here." He handed the scarf over, feeling the soft touch of her hand as it accidently brushed against his making his body shiver in delight.
"Well. Thanks again!" Natsumi waved and smiled, turning to leave.
"Natsumi wait!" He instantly regretted his traitorous voice, wishing he had never spoken.
"How do you know my name?" Natsumi turned around slowly, wary now of the strange boy standing in the playground.
"Natsumi it's me."
"Ya that's helpful, me who?" Annoyed she rounded completely and began walking back towards him.
Giroro stayed silent as she approached, taking one step to be better in the light and raising his eyes to look at her.
"Giroro?" The audible gasp in Natsumi's voice made it all worth it and he felt himself smile without meaning to as she came closer to him again. "Is that really you?" Cautiously Natsumi raised a hand and touched him arm and then his cheek, gliding her thumb over the scar that ran all the way down to his jawline.
"It's me."
"But – how?"
"Kululu. Some kind of gun that can turn us human for a short while."
"Why?" Suddenly suspicious Natsumi stepped away from him away, leaving him to wince at the loss of heat against his body.
For a long moment he stayed quiet, mouth moving as though he were internally debating telling her. Finally the side of him that cared for her won out. "I could never lie to you Natsumi. Keroro wanted to go to the gundam convention that's being hosted his weekend. He had Kululu build the gun so he could go as a human and he used it on me because he wanted me to take you to the dance."
Natsumi's eyes narrowed. "So that's what that idiot frog thinks is it? I'll show him. I can't believe you went along with this." Spinning on her toes she began the march back home only to find her wrist caught in Giroro's hand.
"I didn't go along with it so he could go to a stupid gundam convention." His words grew softer as he gently pulled her to him and kissed her lips briefly. "I did it so I could be near you."
Natsumi blushed heavily from head to toe, holding one hand against her lips as though she could still feel him there. "Giroro I don't know…"
Quickly he released her and stepped back a pace. "If you- If you would be so kind as to allow me to take you to the dance tomorrow I would be most grateful." He bowed low, not daring to look her in the eyes. "I'll be waiting outside tomorrow night at six. If you don't want to go please don't feel pressured to." He stood then bowed again before turning and leaping away; disappearing into the dark of the night with no other sound.
Long minutes passed before Natsumi moved again. Her body tingling from the feel of him near her. Slowly she ran her thumb across the air again as though reliving the feeling of his scar beneath her skin; funny how it had seemed so insignificant when he had been a frog and so captivating when he was human. For a moment she thought of how he might have gotten it and she felt her temper flair, muscles burning with the need to hurt whomever had hurt him. Slowly she began to walk, each step landed muffled by the snow under foot as she made her way home. Her movements were dreamlike, her mind elsewhere far more pleasant.
Giroro followed her silently from the trees, forgetting to use the invisibility power from his hat. With each slow step he worried over her, how the cold was effecting her, should he have approached her. It was only reluctantly that he admitted even to himself the full extent of what he felt for her. The human body wasn't helping either, his blood pressure was harder to control and he could nearly swear that Natsumi must have been able to hear the pounding of his heart.
"It's a lot different that it was back home, that's for sure." He said to no one in particular, having to shift his leg on the branch on which he balanced to make it more comfortable for himself. "A lot different."
Natsumi arrived home just before the snow began to fall, taking of her shoes and putting down her bag while still in a daze. Dinner was made in the same way, through a haze she answered the questions Fuyuki asked her. Her anger at Keroro so diminished by the memory of how Giroro's pulse had jumped when he had touched her that she forgot to even mention the gundam convention. After dinner and without thinking she made a plate up for Giroro and walked outside, moving to kneel by his tent.
"Up here." The voice startled her and she nearly dropped the food. "Easy." Giroro dropped down from the branch where he had been sitting and walked to her, taking the plate. "Natsumi… I – I wanted to apologize for earlier. I was out of line kissing you. I -"
Natsumi leaned forward and gently kissed him, first on his right cheek, then on his left -her lips pressing against his scar, then finally on his lips, eyes closing in a moment of pure bliss. Finally when she broke the kiss she looked up at him through lowered eyelashes. "Tomorrow."
He blushed as she went back inside nearly dropping the food she had brought him. The excitement and anticipation swelling beneath his breastbone making him want to issue a triumphant yell. Instead he forced it back and clamored into his tent, wrapping himself in warm blankets and after eating trying to relax himself enough to go to sleep. Instead, every time he shut his eyes he saw her face and felt her skin against him.
Natsumi lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. She had been trying to sleep for over an hour yet the memory of Giroro's scent, something spicy almost like cinnamon, and how he had felt so strong with her in his arms kept her from completely falling asleep.
The night grew silent, snow continuing to cover the ground and muffle any noise the world below was making. Two overwhelmed lovers each turned in their beds and closed their eyes, finally able to fall asleep as the night progressed.