Yin and Yang Chp. 8

With a heat index of 102* outside, there's not a lot to do except write, really ^_^' Oh I felt bad writing Tamama that mean in the last chapter, but I look at it as more of him being a jealous older sibling than anything. Well, please enjoy this chapter, as always!


Chapter 8:

"Giro-chan?" Aki Hinata entered the backyard, her backpack in one hand and her helmet in the other. It was pretty late, but Giroro's lamp was still on, and it was clear to see him sitting up through the tent material.

"What brings her here?" Giroro snapped out of his disbelief and depression long enough to poke his head out the door of his tent. "Is something the matter?"

"I picked up something for Kirere-chan," Aki answered with a grin, holding out a small stuffed cat. "I got it on my way home from work... I hope it's not too late, I'm not disturbing you two, am I?"

"No.... She's with Kururu," Giroro took the stuffed animal, and looked at it, studying the face a moment. He was looking it over as though it were some kind of bomb that needed disassembling.

"It's a nekokoneko," Aki continued, smiling. "Fuyuki and Natsumi said one of Kuru-chan's inventions was used on her, so she's big now. Must be exciting!"

"Yes, I.... I'll make sure to give this to her," Giroro answered as Aki stood, and he looked up at her. "....Thank you..."

"You must be nervous."

"Eh?! No.... I mean, with the battles I've fought, this is nothing," Giroro answered. The part about the battles was true, but the rest....

"Parenting's one of the hardest things to do, if you ask me. There's a lot of learning, on everyone's part... But it's still a lot of fun," Aki gave a laugh. "Just make sure to be there to support them and love them, no matter what. I think you'll do fine, though, Giro-chan. You seem to have a good heart, even if you're an invader," she finished this with a wink, leaving Giroro to his own thoughts.

"...Kirere," he muttered, and headed down to the lab quickly, toy cat in hand.

At this same time, Kururu was going over plans in his lab, looking over the large printout blueprints for the same watercraft that had gone down that afternoon. He'd managed to mark down some of the potential weak spots, and only had a bit more math to work out.

"Kuku, now where'd I put that...?" he muttered to himself, and reached over for a calculator, only to lay his hand upon the same set of brown gloves he had given Kirere earlier in the day. "Eh?"

"Natsumi's mother... Dropped this off for Kirere," Giroro held up the stuffed toy, looking a bit uncomfortable as he held the cute toy.

"Kuku, why are you giving it to me, then?"

"She wasn't in her room," Giroro answered. "I figured she'd...."

"So she's not with you?" Kururu now turned around to face Giroro, still holding the gloves.

"N-no," Giroro took a step back. "You don't think..."

Kururu said nothing, but headed over to his screens, Giroro following behind him.

:How many of these do you have set up?" Giroro wondered aloud as Kururu began to switch through the cameras.

"Kuku! More than you can probably count to," Kururu answered, maintaining his cool even when Kirere was nowhere to be seen in the house.



"She's missing?: Fuyuki gasped.

"Yes," Giroro nodded, looking down at the floor of the living room and daring not meet eye contact with anyone. "This is all my fault...."

"Kuku, you shouldn't have been so hard on her," Kururu answered, and Giroro growled and delivered a punch to the back of Kururu's head.

"It's just as much yours, too!" Giroro shouted to the yellow scientist, who was now face-down on the ground.

"We should split up and look for her," Aki suggested suddenly. "I'll take my bike and start looking around."

"Gero, we'll all start looking too," Keroro nodded, and looked over to Tamama. "Right, Tamama Nitohei?"

'I went too far! Shit!' Tamama's mind was now racing. 'I never meant for something like this to happen! If she's hurt then... Crap, I'm so dead!'

"We'll have to hurry, she doesn't know the area well, she could be lost or get herself hurt," Dororo stood. "I'll get Koyuki-dono."

"I'm calling Nishizawa-san now," Fuyuki rushed to the house phone, and Natsumi stood and hurried to her room.

"I'll look around the park!" she called as she hurried to her room, to change out of her pajamas.

"I really messed up big...." Tamama muttered, then he, too, went off hurrying to look for Kirere. If it were to get out that this had been caused by him, he'd have to face the wrath of both the mad scientist and the mad dog weapons expert; and they probably wouldn't be kind to him.

Giroro headed out of the house to his tent, and after coming back out with his transportation and a gun (just in case) he found Kururu readying to takeoff.

"You're going out, too?" Giroro couldn't hide the surprise in his voice.

"I spent a lot of time on that project," Kururu answered. "You really think I’m going to let it run off like that?"

"You can never admit when you care, can you?"

"Kuku! This seems interesting, that's all," Kururu answered, and after this he took off. Giroro joined soon after, using the laser wings attached to his belt to take flight and begin searching for the young Keronian.



"Kii-chi!" Tamama shouted in the dead of night. "Kii-chi!" he had decided to go farther out, into the outskirts.

"I never meant for this to happen... I just didn't want her to replace me...." he moaned as he wiped his eyes. He then saw the junkyard just under him; he'd heard something in passing how Giroro had taken her there a few days back, and how she'd enjoyed it. Maybe, just maybe there was a chance...

He floated down to get a closer look, making sure to keep his invisibility on all the while hovering through the eerie-looking mounds of dead cars and other Pekoponian appliances.

Tamama became aware of a rustling sound, and peered into the car body. Sure enough, there was the little pink Keronian, bundled up in a corner and fast asleep.

"Kii-chi?!" Tamama hopped off of his craft and ran across the seat bed to her.

"Eh?" Kirere batted her eyes open, and they grew in surprise as she noticed she wasn't alone in the cab anymore.

"Tama-chan! Wha... What're you...? How'd you get here?"

"Kii-chi! Everybody's looking for you!" Tamama exclaimed excitedly. "We were all worried! Even Momo-chi's got her security searching all over for you!"

"They were worried? I thought they'd be happy if I wasn't around... Garuru Chuii wouldn't come and make you all leave," she sat up and looked across at him.

"I... I was just being...."Tamama looked off ward. "I'm... There might've been some exaggeration on my part."

Kirere gave a scream suddenly, and Tamama jerked around at the sound of vicious barking, and all he saw at first were two rows of shiny, pearly, and sharp teeth. He took a few steps back, standing in front of Kirere, and summoned his power.

"Tamama IMPACT!"

There was a blinding light; the guard dog didn't know what hit it, but after it came to, it ran away yelping.

"That was pretty cool," Kirere whispered as Tamama stood there, panting.

"Ha ha, that was nothing! You should see when I'm angry!" Tamama placed a hand behind his head and laughed. "Now let's get you back home."

"So they're not mad at me?"

"No,"Tamama was halfway out of the car window and looked back to her. "Everyone's worried, actually. Even Kururu Soucho's out looking for you, and he doesn't do that for anyone, not even Gunso-san!"

"Then why...."

"B-because I'm the cute one, damn it!" he shouted, briefly snapping into his jealous personality. His face then turned back to his normal, cute face, and he looked away from her, a bit embarrassed.

"I.... I wasn't trying to be the cute one, I just don't want to be the screw-up," Kirere admitted quietly. "But.... If anything I guess I could be the token girl member. There... There's usually a girl member on a team, too, right?"

"The token.... Girl? Yeah.... That could work," he said with some thought.

"There's always one girl on the team!" Kirere stood and walked over to him. "And maybe you can give me some tips on how to be cuter... Might make up for the clumsiness."

"As long as you're not looking to replace me," he answered, a glint in his eye.

"We could have a friendly competition, then," she replied, followed by a yawn. Tamama climbed out of the car and then Kirere followed, struggling onto the hovercraft and then balancing herself on it.

"Competition, huh? I like that thinking," Tamama admitted with a devious grin as they took off.



"No sign of her at the train station," Giroro sighed with defeat; everyone had reported back to the Hinatas' backyard after a half hour to report their progress.

"Kuku! She was nowhere near the shops, and I scanned that Pekoponian junk pile, too," Kururu floated down next to Giroro and now joined Dororo, Keroro, Mois, Koyuki, Fuyuki, Momoka, and Natsumi.

"The park was no good,: Natsumi sighed. "And I had Koyuki-chan and Dororo helping too."

"We didn't even get a scent," Dororo added.

"We'll keep looking, she can't be far," Giroro stated sternly. "We'll start searching out farther."

"I hope she's all right...." Fuyuki added quietly, and Momoka looked over to him and gave a nod.

"Hrm?" Natsumi's phone went off, and she looked at the number, a bit confused. "Mama? You just saw Tamama and Kirere? They're coming this way."

"Could you say, a great relief?" Mois chimed in, and the relief was felt all throughout the group.

It wasn't much longer then that Tamama and Kirere landed in the backyard, and both hopped off of the small aircraft. Kirere looked at Giroro, and began to wail. She didn't stop even after she ran to him and clung onto him, all while he looked puzzled.

"Kukuku," Kururu gave a laugh, and Giroro gave a glare in Kururu's direction. It was a "say something her or watch as I pain the house in your blood" glare. "Kukuku... Well, that was quick," He was completely deadpan as a spoke.

"Good going, Tamama Nitohei!" Keroro exclaimed, patting the black tadpole on the shoulder. Part of Tamama felt guilty for taking the prais...

"Gunso-san, I.... I..."

"Tama-chan saved me from a dog!" Kirere parted just enough from Giroro to look up and tell him this. "It was gonna eat us! He did something, it looked like it was out of Dragon Ball."

This praise Tamama didn't feel so guilty about taking; she was right, afterall. He gave a small grin which grew as Keroro patted him on the shoulder.

"I'll get her to bed," Giroro lifted her up and carried her into the house, much to everyone's surprise.

"Could you say, a natural-born mother?" Mois interjected, clearly as puzzled at the rest of the group.

"Kuku!"

"I think Goucho's really changed a bit, don't you, Nee-chan?" Fuyuki looked to his sister, who nodded, then gave a small grin.

"I don't think it's for the worse, either," she added.

"This'll be a tough one, but I'm up for the challenge," Tamama said beneath his breath, and clenched his fists.

"What... What an aura...." Keroro noted, looking over to the rejuvenated Tamama.



"So what's your brother like?" Giroro nearly dropped the stuffed toy as Kirere asked this from her place, now tucked safely in military-tight sheets.

"G-Garuru? He's... Older than me. Here, Natsumi's mother brought this home for you. I think it's supposed to be a cat."

Kirere took the stuffed toy and then clung to it, and stared at Giroro, waiting for him to go into this a bit more.

"Garuru's the... Leader of a platoon," Giroro continued.

"Could he really make you leave Pekopon?" Kirere asked quickly. Giroro looked shocked; where'd she even get an idea like that in her head?

"He wouldn't be the one to give the final word," Giroro explained. "Keroro wouldn't let that happen, anyway."

"You're sure?:

"There're no Gunpla on Keron... I'm positive of it," Giroro folded his arms and nodded. "We've fought to stay before. You shouldn't even be worrying about it."

"Am I a Pekoponian?"

"I... You're a Keronian born on Pekopon," Giroro sighed. "Don't worry about it. Keroro's inept for the most part, but he's a good leader when he can manage to get his act together."

"Really?"

"Well, there's a reason I still follow him instead of killing him. Now get to bed. Everyone's exhausted."

"Would you mind staying in here until I fell asleep?"

"I, um..." Giroro hesitated a moment, then took a seat on the edge of the bed. "All right. I'm here. Now go to sleep."