Title/ chobits.~chi
Written by/ Termony
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Chobits.
-/-
"Hideaki…" said Chi timidly. "I…"
They were at the grocery store. Hideaki was looking at the expiry dates on the milk. In case he did not finish soon. He looked up, feeling shock.
"Chi… you said 'I'!"
"'I'…yes, I…" Chi said. She seemed to be fainting.
"Chi, maybe we should finish this trip sooner. We better get you to the mechanics for a checkup. This could be vital, y'know. You're always fainting nowadays. Is it because of your power source? Or is it because of your other hard wares?" Hideaki was worried.
She weakly smiled. "I don't think it's going to be a big problem."
Hideaki's firm face softened. "Don't try too hard. I think… we should buy something to celebrate. Cake?"
Chi smiled. "Yes."
As Hideaki and Chi headed to the baked good section, Hideaki laughed. "Chi, I think it's your learning software finally picking the word up!" He was grinning.
After they got home, Hideaki was humming a happy birthday song. He thought that perhaps it was because it was so accustomed with cakes.
"Chi…" He timidly smiled as he looked down at her sleeping face. She was like a child born yesterday to be his bride.
He pushed Chi on her shoulder to wake her wake, but she was still asleep.
"Chi," he said once again, but she was not waking up. "Chi."
"CHI!"
But… She's still running! What should I do?
He stood up and ran to the land lady.
"Hibiya!" Hideaki screamed at his land lady's door.
"Hideaki? Why are you here?" Chitose Hibiya said, after opening the door.
Hideaki couldn't find a word to speak.
"Chi…Chi isn't waking up!"
Hibiya could not believe her ears. "No! That can't be…" There was fear in both of her eyes.
Unless…
"Hideaki! Let's go to the hospital! She's there!" She took Hideaki by his hand and began rushing to the gate.
-/-
He was waking for her outside of the doctor's office. She said that Chi is a real person, a real girl, living in coma. Her mind was connected to the computer, the Chobits robot.
Could it be… That Chi is really a person? He asked himself. Maybe… that really is the case. The more I lived with her, the more I felt that there was something alive in her. It was as if… she's more than just a software.
As Hideaki was thinking more and more about the matter, Hibiya came out.
"Hideaki…" She said. She was smiling contently.
"Yes…?"
"Chi will be awake soon, but… as someone else," she said.
"Why?"
"Because… Chi is not a robot. Chobits, are two robots who were girls. They were in a coma, so they use robots instead," she sighed. "My little sister had a car crash, and all there were left were the two girls, but they were in a coma. That's why, my husband decided to make them my daughter, in hope for finding them a better destiny…"
"I see… so… would Chi… remember me?"
She smiled. "She should."
Hideaki, a little bit rigid, smiled as well.
The doctor came out as well, at that time, and told the two to follow him. They went.
"Is she… going to be awake soon?" He asked the doctor.
"Yes," he said. "Tomorrow."
Seeing the worry in his eyes, Hibiya asked, "What are you worried about?"
"About…" he answered silently. "Who she is…"
The girl on the bed was sleeping silently on the bed. To Hideaki, she looked like Chi, but is she… Chi?
The uncertainty.
-/-
That girl opened her eyes. She moved her eye balls. Her eyes cannot really tell who were in front of her.
"Chi…" That man said.
She looked at him.
"Hideaki…" she said.
He smiled.
"Chi."
-/-
"So… Chi, your real name is actually Charell?"
She nodded. "Yes."
She looked at him. Somehow, she felt as if Hideaki were sad.
"Hideaki… are you unhappy about this? The fact that I am actually human?"
"I…"
"If… I were not using 'chi' but 'I', would you not like it?" She said. "Hideaki…"
"Is it true that that is the case?"
He looked at her. "You… are just not what I used to know, but… it's because I am uncertainty about this change."
She grew silent.
Her blond hair was as still as she is.
"Hideaki, was I… really alive in your eyes? When I was a robot?"
He was apparently shock to know that she was asking this this.
"I… don't know. Shouldn't you be alive? You were, weren't you? You talked to me, hugged me, and you cared for me. You should be alive, right?"
"What about me now?" She said. She was sad.
"You are still."
"But… I am not alive right now, right? In a lot of ways, in your heart."
Unwillingly, he nodded.
"Yes."
Hideaki could not speak any other words. He felt foolish. Could it be that… he feared this Charell, who was Chi? Why are they different? Could it be that… he does not think he is good enough for Chi to be real, to be for him, and for him only.
Because… he loved her too much?
He could not come to grasp this idea correctly, according to him. However, it could be that he was thinking too much.
As much as he could understand himself, he was nervous, and very nervous. Very very nervous.
"Chi…" He began to say. "I brought you something. Those story books you really liked, about those two dolls, the light and the dark." He smiled. "You loved them. I think… maybe you can look at them later, when I will be attending school."
She nodded with a pleasant smile on her face, but it was faint.
She looked at him in the eyes after receiving the books.
"Thanks."
He stood up rigidly and had another look at her. He was sad, but he was not all that sad. The merge of emotions between happiness and anxiety left him hollow.
-/-
As she saw Hideaki leaving the hospital, Chi could not help but to feel a little bit of sadness.
It's only school… right? He has to go there… But somehow, time is still without him. This sadness…
"Charell," Hibiya called behind her. "It's time to go back to your room." She began to push the wheelchair that Chi was on back to the main building.
"Charell…" She asked her again. "Aren't you happy that you get these books?"
Chi smiled. "Yes… He does like me after all…"
"…You feel insecure?" She asked.
Chi frowned a little.
"…Yes. I am."
"You know, Chi… it's difficult to realize something when it is something else. You were Chi, and then you are Charell… Hoping to find happiness for you this way… it's not something we really wanted… it was your wish…"
She nodded. "I understand."
Hibiya was still concerned.
Chi continued. "But… I should still be the thing that he saw in 'Chi', right? It's just that… I have a human body now… But maybe… I should be a robot."
Hibiya replied. "Maybe… he was too happy, because now he can marry you."
Chi looked a little bit sad. "…and I can finally know the taste of sweet... after such a long time."
"Charell… Don't be too hard on yourself."
Chi nodded.
Hibiya pushed the door to Chi's room open.
-/-
"Hideaki, are you worried about something?" Asked Yumi.
"Ugh… Yumi… Don't worry. I… actually don't know how to explain this, but Chi is not feeling well."
"Really? You should buy another loaf of bread," she said, pointing to a loaf of bread.
He half smiled. "I'll be fine. No need to buy too much."
She nodded.
Hideaki waved good bye and walked away.
He walked back to the small apartment. He was trying to look for something. He found it.
He was happy.
Charell…
Later, he brought it with him to the hospital.
"Charell," he called her.
"Hideaki…" She was really happy. "Hideaki…"
He blushed a little.
"Hey Charell," he said. "This is a gift I gave you long ago. I wish… you well."
It was the ring.
He took out the other ring from his keys.
She was really happy.
End of chobits.~chi
A/N: I wrote this during my vacation at somewhere in the world cold and snowy but somewhat interesting.
