What good is a GiroNatsu story without the Natsu? Well, the Natsu is here now, so enjoy!
Natsumi was on her way back home, she'd decided to spend the day with her friends from school to get her mind off of the chaos from the other day. As much as she hated to admit it, she was worried about the stupid frogs; although they weren't very froggish now. As weird as her life had become over these last two years since the frogs had been here, she'd never have expected anything like this to happen. She couldn't help but wonder if the transformation was going to be permanent? And if it were, just how they were going to adjust to being humans? She sighed with mental exhaustion as she stepped up to the door of the house, but no sooner had she opened it that a loud commotion from the room below greeted her ears. In a split second, Natsumi's feelings of concern turned into explosive rage as she imagined some stupid Keronian based scheme in the works. She slammed the front door and immediately kicked off her shoes before dashing to the open hatch which led to the hallway below. Not bothering to use the stairs, she jumped directly down onto the tiled floor. As soon as she landed, Natsumi made an immediate sprint for the door to Keroro's room and proceeded to slam it open.
"What's going on here?!" She demanded. What she found was the furthest thing from an invasion plan in the works.
"YOU LYING SON OF A BITCH!" Giroro had Kururu by the collar of his lab coat, shaking him violently as Mois and the other three members of the platoon struggled to loosen his grip. Finally, with one final group tug, they managed to pull off and subdue the crimson haired hot head to the floor.
Natsumi wasn't pleased with being ignored, and she was even less pleased at the idea of being left out of the loop, "I SAID…" Natsumi yelled out loud, her voice caught the attention of everyone and quickly silenced their commotion, "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"
"N-Natsumi…" Giroro suddenly stopped his struggle against the resistance of the others, his burning rage softened as it was replaced by the awkward embarrassment that always overwhelmed him in her presence.
"Well?!" She demanded again, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at the others with suspicious eyes. They all gulped, they knew her rage was building.
Fuyuki attempted to calm his sister's temper, "Calm down, Sis. There's just been a... er development and they're taking it a little… um…"
Dororo spoke up, his eyes reflecting regret, "According to Kururu... it seems we are to be stuck in these new forms."
"Then the Red Daruma got mad and went gorilla mode on Kururu-san." Tamama chimed in.
"You could say, not taking it well?" Mois nodded.
Giroro's rage once again peaked at his teammates' words, "I refuse to believe anything that creep says! Now let me go!" He made a motion to lunge towards Kururu again, but the restraining grip of the others prevented him from doing so.
Kururu stood up as he dusted himself off, "Kukuku~" He chuckled as he adjusted his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose before giving a small shrug, "You know, you really shouldn't shoot the messenger. After all, I'm just passing along the information I received." Kururu paused momentarily as he slipped his hand into the pocket of his lab coat and removed a small remote control, "Just take a look at this if you don't believe me." Without bothering to turn around, he aimed it over his shoulder at the wall directly behind him, "I press." As soon as he pressed the button, the wall panels slid away to reveal an enormous hidden video screen.
"Gero?! I could've used that to watch TV!" (Oi! You're supposed to be paying attention here, you idiot!)
The video screen fanned out with color as it turned on, revealing an image of Garuru sitting at a desk in the center. Kururu spoke again, "When I woke up, I decided to do a little 'research' on our situation and find out what exactly was going on. I was able to establish a traceless sync with Garuru and found out something very interesting, kuku." He pressed another button on his remote which caused the image of Garuru to spring to life as the recording played.
"An order was passed down by the high council," He began, "to assassinate the A.R.M.P.I.T. platoon for repeated failure to complete their invasion. This task was assigned to me. As a soldier I could not refuse, but as a brother I could not comply. Knowing the council would use a Keronian energy scanner to verify the eradication of the platoon, I took the only course of action I could under the circumstances. As Pekoponians, you will no longer release Keronian energy waves, and as such will be able to avoid detection. A cover up devised by the council is in the works to mark the manner of your presumed deaths as 'enemy fire,' this will be the official report released to the Keronian masses. I am sorry… this was all I could do." He bowed his head sadly as the last words came out of his mouth, followed shortly by the screen going blank. (Well that's a real buzz kill.) Kururu smirked, flipping the remote back into his pocket as the wall panels closed back up, once again concealing the video screen. Everyone else stared at the now smooth wall, their eyes opened wide in shock at what they had just learned.
Later, in the back yard.
Natsumi's mind was abuzz; the events in Keroro's room were still fresh on her mind. It seemed so unreal. But then again, the idea of living with froglike aliens once seemed like a farfetched reality as well. The message from Garuru weighed heavily on her mind; each frog had reacted differently to the news. Keroro seemed elated at the newly obtained freedom and wasted no time in running off to the nearest model shop. Dororo was shocked and saddened by the news, however he was very appreciative of the fact that he was no longer tasked with conquering and enslaving his beloved Pekopon. Tamama was ultimately just pleased that the Sergeant was happy. Giroro, on the other hand, took it extremely hard. He was proud to be a soldier in the Keronian army, proud to be one of its two best sharpshooters, and now… that was gone. Natsumi quietly opened the door as she stepped outside onto the back porch. The yard was still a landscaper's nightmare with craters and jagged crags everywhere, but despite this, Giroro had somehow managed to recover his tent and had set it up in a small, relatively undamaged section of the yard. (Wait. How's he going to fit inside of that now?) He was sitting next to a fire he'd built with his back to the house, roasting sweet potatoes as he always did. It seemed so strange to see a man's body sitting in the place of the little red frog she'd grown so accustomed to sharing her evenings with. She wondered what he was thinking. As she neared the makeshift camp site, she was startled when he suddenly whipped his head around to look at her.
"O-oh Natsumi, it's you." He relaxed slightly.
Natsumi smiled awkwardly, "I smelled the sweet potatoes and I, um… mind if I join you?"
He gave a silent nod as he turned his attention back to the fire.
Giroro handed Natsumi a freshly roasted sweet potato as she sat down, she stopped to breathe in its delicious aroma before breaking it open and taking a bite. As she ate, she watched Giroro as he stared into the fire, lost in thought. Natsumi felt bad, she knew it had to be hard for him. After all, he'd just lost everything; his home, his family, and even his own species. She wondered what she could possibly say; she didn't want to ask him how he was doing because she knew the answer. She tried to focus her attention on her sweet potato, but her eyes kept wandering back to the man seated next to her. She didn't know why, but there was something about his human form that drew her eyes back every time she tried to look away. Her eyes traced the profile of his face as the flickering of the fire exposed the contours of his features. Despite his previously deceptive youth, she could see the masculine features of adulthood in his face, interrupted here and there by bits and pieces of youthful detailing which his newly humanized body had not yet grown out of. His face was really quite handsome. She froze. Wait. Did she really just think what she thought she thought? Handsome? HE'S AN ALIEN FROG! OH CRAP WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER?!
As she tensed up with the sudden surge of panic over her observation, sensing her tension Giroro looked up from the fire, looking toward her with a perplexed look. Embarrassed, Natsumi immediately whipped her head back to face forward, hurriedly returning her attention to her sweet potato as beads of sweat poured down her beet red face. She prayed the fire wasn't bright enough that he could see how red she was. It seemed like an eternity before he looked away, but after a while he finally turned his gaze back to the fire in front of him. Natsumi let out a small sigh of relief, doing her best to make sure that he couldn't hear it. (Nailed it!)
"I'm sorry I'm making you uncomfortable." Giroro offered dejectedly as he stoked the flames with the stick he used as a makeshift poker. (Okay… didn't nail it.)
Natsumi frantically waved her hands in embarrassment, "W-what? You're not making me uncomfortable! It's just…" She paused thoughtfully, "…it's going to take a little getting used to. I mean it did take me a little while to get used to the idea of living with alien frogs, but I did. I'm sure I'll get accustomed to this change too."
She watched Giroro hopefully, he'd paused his stoking as he listened and he did seem to be a little less tense at her words. It took him a while before he said anything, but finally in an unsure voice he asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Natsumi chatted with Giroro for awhile longer, doing her best to avoid bringing up the recent events, however the lateness of the night was starting to catch up to her and she began to yawn. After about the third yawn Giroro sighed, "You know, if you're tired, you should just go to bed. It's getting late anyway."
Natsumi frowned, "And what about you?"
"What about me?" Giroro grunted back as he prodded back to life a piece of wood that had begun to lose its flame.
"You're not planning on staying up all night, are you? You said it yourself, it IS getting late."
"I'll sleep when I'm done," he pointed at his tent as he growled, trying his best to disguise how touched he was that Natsumi was concerned about him.
Natsumi turned with a blank stare over towards the tiny tent, before turning back, "You're kidding me right?"
"What?"
Natsumi rolled her eyes as she rose to her feet, "If you say so. G'night." After entering the house, she began to prepare for bed. She brushed her teeth, brushed out her hair, put on her pajamas, and crawled under the covers of her bed. As she lay there she thought about what had happened over the past few days. She thought about how her Keronian friends were human now, about how they were stuck on earth, and about Giroro. She felt terrible about how everything had turned out for him. Then his face flashed into her head. She felt her own face grow warm as she thought about his new one and how nervous she'd gotten while she sat with him. This was impossible, wasn't it? She couldn't think he was handsome. She had to have been over thinking things and just overreacted. After all, he was just her friend. Her alien friend. (Only, as we all know, dear readers, he wasn't an alien anymore.)