"...Heeeh."

Eruka sighed for the fifth, maybe sixth time in the past several minutes. She stared balefully into her iced coffee, cheek leaned on the palm of her half-closed fist; occasionally, she shot a glare at the large man sitting across the table from her. However, she never said one thing about her intense frustration with him.

Truthfully, she was smart enough to know something was up when Free said he'd be taking her to his favorite restaurant for her birthday. But just once, she wanted him to prove her wrong; to show some maturity that lay hidden below his rough, but slightly rounded, childish exterior. To show that it was just a façade - How, oh how she hoped that this man had some intelligence and reason below that silliness!

...However, judging from the fact that she was sitting in Mc-Fuckin'-Donalds on her birthday, the unveiling of Free's 'true self' would have to wait a while. Finally, Eruka took a dainty sip of her coffee, taking a while to taste the sweetness and definite charm in flavor that defined all coffee-based drinks; or for her it did, at least, she couldn't say as much for others. Glaring at Free, she said with an incensed tone, "So...Quite the birthday bash you planned for me, geko." She narrowed her eyes at him; if she didn't think Medusa would kill her for it, she'd shove a tadpole bomb down Free's throat and blow him to smithereens in a heartbeat.

Turning to her, Free smiled; it was admittedly adorable, with the little smudge of sweet and sour sauce in the corner of his mouth. He said, "You just wait! The party's just gotten started for your birthday!" Unbeknownst to the werewolf, his words failed to compute in Eruka's mind. The Frog Witch turned them over again, and again, and once again in her mind. Just...Getting...Started...?

Eruka whispered despairingly under her breath; "Oh hell no!" She quickly downed as much of the iced coffee as she dared - Those McCafés are delightful, but that is neither here nor there geko, she thought to herself - And moved for the door, throwing the rest away in a trashcan on her way out. To her dismay, she could hear Free's heavy-footed steps following her. Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed herself; well, short of getting dragged to an amusement park and onto those screaming metal deathtraps, what was the worst that could happen?

...Gulping at the thought of 'the worst that could happen', Eruka listened to nary a word Free said as the large werewolf took the witch's smallish hand in his own warm, rough grasp and led her towards a large building. At that, she tried to ignore an alien warmth creeping into her cheeks.

...

"Well it wasn't the worst that could happen, by far," Eruka muttered to herself. Admittedly, getting to see One Piece: Strong World wasn't too bad...And Free had actually had some comments to make that merited a chuckle once or twice. Or three times...But now, he was leading her a bit down the street. "My my. It'd be easier to have a leash for walking this lummox, geko," Eruka said dryly.

Free turned into a door suddenly, pulling Eruka into the building with him. He said with a big smile, "Here's our next stop!" Eruka blinked. Off to one side, past a glass wall with a similar door, was what looked like an arcade; but Free had put his hands on Eruka's shoulders and was steering her for a massive, whitewood desk.

The woman behind the desk said in a nasally, petulant voice, "Hyello, do you hyave an appointmyent?" She looked down at them from over her beaklike nose, through a pair of spectacles with a pearl chain. Seeming to recognize Free, she continued. "I gyuess this is the gyirl you myade resyervations fyor," she said in her increasingly irritating voice. At Free's nodding, the woman tapped away at a keyboard.

Free said to Eruka, "While you have your fun, I'll have mine!" And before Eruka could turn around, Free was gone. As she finally turned anyway, she saw him in the arcade, practically glued to a Street Fighter machine. Twitching, Eruka looked back to the woman. The woman, who merely hooked her thumb towards a door to the left of the desk, away from the door. Eruka nodded and, nervous though she was, walked through the door.

About two hours later, after Eruka had been massaged so thoroughly at the spa that even Free's chattering about all of his games couldn't ruin her bad mood, they finally wound up back at the small apartment they were sharing while waiting for Medusa to call them up again for a mission. Eruka said in a decidedly kinder voice than usual, "Thank you, Free...This has been a very nice birthday, geko!" She smiled at him as they sat across from eachother at a table.

However, Free grinned. "Well," he said, "I've still got a gift or two I haven't given ya...Medusa actually paid for the spa reservation (And gave me all those quarters, heh!), and Mizune got the tickets for the movie...But these are from me!" He quickly opened a nearby drawer with his impressive reach, removing a couple of packages and setting them down on the table.

Although normally the hasty wrappings of yellow paper and twine would get her pissed off, this time Eruka merely gave it a giggle. Thoroughly curious as to what Free had gotten her, she opened the first package; a flattish, rectangular one. What she found inside made her gave a little gasp: A familar box, with a little frog-character on the front. On a note in big bold letters:

Keroro Gunso!

The Entire Series On DVD!

This made Eruka give a little sniff, eyes getting moist. Her favorite show, since she was a kid...She was about to say something to Free, but he nudged the other package closer to her. Eruka had little idea what could be better, but nonetheless, she opened the larger package up - And gave an even louder gasp than before.

What she found inside was a rather box-shaped Buddhist shrine, containing a little carved waterfall and two trees. However, the statue was replaced by something that got Eruka absolutely choked up: A little Buddish monk frog, carved of unmelting ice and sitting in a meditative position. Eruka bit her lower lip, sniffling and whining.

Free said, "Uh...Are you...Okay...?" However, he was stopped as Eruka stood up so fast that she toppled the chair she was sitting in. Eruka immediately circled the table, throwing her arms around Free's shoulders; just able to touch her fingertips on his opposite bicep. She lay her head against the werewolf's neck, softly crying tears of joy.

The Frog Witch said, "Free...Sometimes..." A sniff, and then she finished. "Sometimes, you're a really, really great guy." She smiled, as both fell silent. Eruka didn't care about the presents, for now; knowing that Free had done something so nice...

"This is the best birthday ever," Eruka whispered.