No, I stopped writing fanfiction. Yes, this is a fanfic. No, I don't update my fanfictions anymore. Thank you. Have a nice day.
When this will be updated, I don't know. It just happens.
Hollow Countenance
Chapter One
"Chi... Open your eyes, Chi..." There was silence, the room filled with the light patter of rain on the windows. The morning sun could still be seen, but now tried in vain to see through the sudden downpour. Hunched over inside the small, cramped Tokyo apartment was a student of nineteen. He was so enveloped in his attendance that he had failed to turn on the lights when the rainfall blotted out most of the natural light which had previously lit the room.
Hideki ran one hand through Chi's long, white hair, caressing the soft, silky strands between his fingers. Lifting one thumb, he tenderly rubbed her cheek. The persocom's eyelash fluttered, and she let out a small sound.
"Hideki...?" she asked quietly, opening her wide, brown eyes. As soon as she beheld the man before her, her expression of curiosity quickly changed to happiness. "Hideki!" Chi hugged him, as she repeated, "Hideki!"
Hideki smiled, letting his eyes drift closed as he put one hand on her head, and wrapped the other around her shoulders. "How are you, Chi?" he asked, lightly drawing her away so he could get a good look at her face. Chi smiled brightly, her eyebrows perking and her metal ears reflecting the light, which had only just found its way through the passing storm clouds.
"Chi is happy, because Chi is with Hideki now," she replied, her voice soft and swelling with happiness. Hideki let himself smile as he sat down on the futon beside her. "Where is Hibiya-san?"
Hideki glanced at the door, then back at Chi. "I'm pretty sure she went back to her room. I don't plan to leave here unless it's with you, though," he told her. Chi's face lit up like a lamp.
"Hideki and Chi? Just Hideki and Chi?" Hideki nodded, and was instantaneously sprung on by a joyful Chi. "Chi is happy!" she cried. Hideki grinned, wrapping his arms around her.
"Me too."
***
Hideki adjusted his jacket, taking a sponge off the counter and making his way back across the empty tavern towards one of the larger tables. He made absent wax-on, wax-off movements, his thoughts wandering far away from his work at Yorokonde.
"What is Hideki doing?" Chi asked, just as Hideki was moments away from kissing her for the first time. A rapid blush spread across his face, and he quickly jumped back three feet.
"Uh... I was... um... inspecting! Right. I was inspecting for problems," he replied nervously, his entire face a bright shade of tomato as he scratched the back of his head. Chi tilted her head, giving him a confused expression. Hideki sighed, dropping his head.
"Chi?" Hideki bit his lip, getting up the nerve to close the gap between them. He sat beside Chi, putting one arm around her shoulder. She glanced up at him with childlike innocence, challenging what he was about to tell her.
"Chi, it's like this. When two people love each other, they do things that people who love each other do... like... kissing." Chi blinked at him.
"Chi doesn't understand," she admitted. Hideki sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Chi loves Hideki." He smiled.
"And I love you too, Chi."
"So Chi and Hideki 'kiss'?" Hideki nodded, his face rapidly rising to blush mode again. "How do you kiss?"
"Well," Hideki said, his voice dropping, "it goes something like this." He leaned forward, closing his eyes. Chi watched him for a moment, before following his example. Their lips met, and there was a moment where time seemed to disappear.
Hideki sighed, remembering the moment with fondness. He briefly cleaned out a beer mug, hanging it up on the racks above the bar. But was it right? He asked himself the same question every day, whenever Chi would peck him on the cheek before going to work, or when she hugged him tightly every night when he returned from his part-time job.
Hideki sat down at the bar, having finished his work early. As much as he loved Chi--which was very much, much more than was normal for any boy his age--he was a boy, after all. He was "the person only for Chi," but was it also the other way around? He had assumed so, until he had realized it would be impossible to have a real and normal relationship with the cute persocom that only legally lived with him. Could he really kiss her, like he would to a real human girl? Could he kiss her all over, like he wanted to? Could he marry her, make her the happiest girl--human or not--ever?
He wanted to. Hideki closed his eyes, letting his face rest in his palm. He didn't care what people thought about him, although it wasn't much of an issue. Hibiya, the landlady, knew everything about them. Shimbo had already moved to live with their prep school teacher, and Minoru and Yuzuki only visited once every month or so. That ruled out people disapproving of their relationship, but with a persocom, how far could it go?
Or was it even right to ask?
