AN: New story!
All throughout his life, Asami Ryuichi had never had a single failing. He had effortlessly sailed through education, the top of his class in everything. His business had rapidly budded and bloomed into an international company, with a finger in almost every pie. He even owned his own laboratories, hired his own scientists, and currently had Sion billed as a major pioneering force in modern medicine and technology. Indeed, he was a blessed being, with the whole package. The world fell at his feet, men and women alike fluttered their lashes at him and dreamed of sharing his bed.
Today, however, he knew to be his downfall. He knew the instant those dark lashes fluttered over silken cheeks. When plump pink lips, impossibly human-looking, parted in the boy's first breath. When blue eyes gazed out, blank and beautiful, in the way only angels could be. Ah, how funny, that a man rumored to be barely human, would fall in love with this very inhuman creation.
"Do you like it, Asami-sama?" The creator, Saitou Taiki hovered anxiously, looking for a reaction on the stoic man's face, knowing that this single reaction could make or break him.
"This is excellent. And it will behave perfectly human?" A rare smile lifted up the man's lips.
"Well," Taiki stammered, "Not perfectly, per se, that would make people nervous, you see. Consumers like firm boundaries between AI and human. I was planning for commercial models to look fairly human but have more monotone speech and perhaps servant-like language."
"Very good judgment," Asami nodded, "But I want this one to be programmed with fully human characteristics. In fact, if possible, could you make it unaware that it is an AI?"
"Certainly, Asami-sama, but…" The scientist looked puzzled. "Why this one?"
"I'll be taking it for my personal use." Was the only answer he offered.
"Right away, sir. I must warn you though, this is only a preliminary prototype, and I cannot promise perfection."
"This is plenty." The man's eyes softened as he reached out and touched the warm cheek. It felt no different from a human's. Blue eyes narrowed in alien confusion.
"Alright then, I'll have it reprogrammed tonight and have it sent to you tomorrow morning?"
"Yes, to my condo if you please. Kirishima will have the details." Asami nodded absentmindedly, still engrossed with the lovely machine as his assistant, looking a tad unsettled at his stoic master's newfound interest, gave Taiki the details.
"Your name is Akihito."
Blue eyes blinked at his creator. "My name is Akihito."
"Very good," Taiki nodded. "And your master is this man." He held up a photo of Asami Ryuichi. While the androids were very intelligent, baselines had to be set up first. However, with a simple prompt the machine would be able to extrapolate extraordinarily fast, becoming integrated in as little as a day.
"That is my master?" A pale finger lifted and pointed at the man.
"Yes, he is. His name is Asami Ryuichi."
Pink lips curled up in a sweet smile. "My master is Asami Ryuichi."
"Perfect." Taiki said with satisfaction. His boss would pay handsomely for this boy, he was already infatuated. "Sleep now."
Immediately the boy's eyes closed, his chest rising and falling to simulate breathing. Who would ever know that the boy was a fake?
With a final key swipe, he made sure that not even the boy would ever know. Akihito would wake a normal boy, not an android.
The instant sensation swept the world. How new, how futuristic, that they lived in the age where technological intelligence could finally be said to equal and rival that of humans! The androids were advertised as good for anything, from being a babysitter to a carer of senior citizens. They could cook, learn, converse, and were, above all, perfectly docile. They were, in fact, programmed with an underlying master command to not harm humans and to be as helpful as possible.
Soon, they began appearing in the rooms of the rich, marked by the thick bracelets that adorned their left hands, an ID chip. There, they were put to different uses, as one would expect from the perverse desires of some wealthy men. Sex bots. They promised an eternally young partner who would never tire, never argue…and never retaliate when hit or abused.
Sion grew and grew, riding on top of this wave of new wealth and interest. Their labs were now hailed as the cutting edge, programmers practically hailing Saitou Taiki as their new god.
But beneath the seemingly endless public approval, stirrings of unease began. Humanitarians once again took up their stations, beginning to campaign for the rights of these androids, if they were indeed as intelligent as the average human. It would be impossible to tell between a human and an android without the bracelet, wouldn't it? They argued.
The general populance responded dismissively. Of course you could tell, the droids were obviously subservient and used strange, formal language, and their bracelets were built in, they couldn't be removed. There was no way for a droid to lead a human life; they were dependent on humanity, their creator.
Weren't they?
"Welcome home." Pearly whites beamed at him. Akihito stood at the entryway, dressed to perfection in a ruffled apron, ladle in hand. "Dinner's almost ready."
Asami smiled slightly, the innocence of his little lover warming his soul. "I'm back."
He walked inside, shedding his jacket and carefully stowing away his holsters. It wouldn't do for ever-curious Akihito to mess with a gun and accidentally discharge it.
The large TV was on, its noise a comfortable background to the sizzling of pans in the kitchen. A woman said in clipped words, "We are live on the scene at Sion corporation's headquarters, where the Humanitarian Association of Japan Society members are picketing." A camera panned over the scene, full of citizens raising signs boldly printed with phrases like "Androids are human too" and "Equal rights for all sentient beings".
Aki's head poked out of the kitchen. "Dinner's ready! Oh," His head swiveled towards the TV as his lips pressed together in disapproval. "They've been broadcasting android stuff all day, I swear. Is this okay for your business?"
"Every new technology has support and opposition," Asami dismissed it, standing up to go to the kitchen for dinner. "Sion will be fine; the supporters for the androids far outnumber the few who oppose it."
"Alright." Aki giggled, grabbing his lover's arm, leading him into the warm kitchen were piping hot foods had already been plated. "Time to eat!" He beamed upwards.
Asami smiled back indulgently, ignoring the underlying emptiness in those beautiful angel eyes.
AN: Reviews always make me happy (#^.^#)
Also, there's a more edited/prettied up version of this on AO3, if you want to see the final draft, sorry, I had to use the next to last draft here *cringes*