AN: I think that the last time I posted this story, I was so wrapped up in what I wanted to do that I just rushed through what could have been four chapters in the space of one thousand words. Someone kindly suggested that I slow down the events of the story so thought that I'd like to rewrite it.

Live Forever As a Machine

Chapter One

So, this was supposed to be what happiness resulted in or at least it seemed happiness to her. Chi Motusawa had changed a lot in the six years since she had met with Hideki. Due to her – and of course Plum – keeping him motivated and helping him study for his entrance examination, Hideki had managed to get into university. He had then realized that he had no idea what he wanted to do and he didn't think that Chi would want to remain in the countryside.

He had eventually chosen to become a social worker who focused on helping orphaned and abandoned kids. Most of the classes that he had to take were about people's emotions and childhood development and those were much easier for him to tackle than knowing everything about a computer's system. What he had been relieved about was that Chitose was educating herself further to be able to continue on her husbands work.

That was where he was supposed to be right now and Chi looked to her wedding ring and smiled.

There had been so much that had happened since she had met Hideki, since he had found her and she had realized that he was the person just for her. They had dated for a while despite being a Chobit and a human and then he had proposed to her about a year after that and she had of course said yes.

There was a lot that they couldn't do, even things that they couldn't do which other persocoms could do with humans but Chi made sure Hideki had plenty of magazines and plenty of time by himself so that he could relieve himself. Even though she wanted to be with him in these ways, she was glad that they had found a way of him remaining faithful to her without her being in fear of rebooting.

Chi looked out the window of their apartment and then heard the keys in the door. She smiled before coming over and greeting the twenty-five-year-old, "Welcome home," she smiled to him and Hideki laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Did you manage to help her?"

"Yeah, well I'm hoping she doesn't do anything with that data," he coughed before wrapping her up in his arms. It didn't matter to him what people said or how his family had looked at him strangely for falling in love with someone who they didn't perceive of as real. He loved his wife. He loved his life. He never thought that he would actually become this lucky. "I've got an early morning session with a little girl," he said and Chi nodded before skipping into the kitchen.

"Here," she said as she picked up a plate with a cake on it, "Manager showed me how to do this," she grinned and Hideki laughed.

"That's amazing," he said as he kissed her on the top of her head, she smiled as she closed her eyes, enjoying the affectionate action from the man who had married her, her person just for her. Over the last six years, both of them had formed an even greater relationship with Hiroyasu Ueda who had promoted Chi to being a part of the kitchen help, he had taught her how to make and decorate cakes and whenever she learned something new she would always want to make something for Hideki.

He had chosen her. Out of all the people that he could have possibly chosen, he had picked her.

"It looks really delicious," Hideki said before grinning and laughing in his usual carefree manner. Chi threw her arms around him, delighting that she was able to make him smile once again. "You mind if I eat it now."

"You will eat dinner, right?" Chi asked as she tilted her head to the side and he nodded. Chi smiled. There was no greater joy to her than being with the person just for her, her soulmate even though he was a human.

…

…

There were so many new and modern versions of persocoms these days and though Hideki had made it a conscious effort to work with Chitose to keep Chi at the very top performance, he knew that it was getting harder to tell who were human who were persocoms. It didn't matter as much as it used to before he entered his relationship with Chi but he was surprised at the high tech that they had these days.

Chi looked around before pointing to a sign, "Look," she smiled and Hideki paused before laughing.

The flyer was of a festival that the city was participating in and Chiroru was listed as one of the businesses. Usually these were Chi's favorite times to work, it meant that everyone could have fun together and it reminded Hideki of the innocent world he wanted to keep her in. He felt guilty for that. She had already faced a different side of reality but he was protective of her. It might be one of his faults.

"Ah, a cultural festival," he smiled, "You love those," he said as he gently caressed her cheek. "I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun. I can't wait to hear all about it."

"You want to ask Manager Ueda about it?" Chi asked with a tilt of her head and Hideki looked to her before turning back to the flyer, he shook his head before making direct eye contact with Chi and smiled one of his goofy smiles.

"I'd rather hear about it from you. Now, I'm going to drop you off and then I really have to run. Working in the morning isn't so much fun but at least I'll be able to walk you home," he said as they arrived in front of the bakery. Chi nodded before kissing his cheek and then ran off with a wave. He smiled as he took a couple of steps back just watching her.

So what if love between a robot and a human was weird. It wasn't like Chi was some kind of machine or appliance. She was her own unique being and despite the fact that they couldn't have kids, he was happy that he got to see her and take care of her and grow along with her. She had even been able to teach him some things that he might never have known otherwise.

What mattered most was that he loved the woman he had married and he never wanted to do anything to be apart from her. Maybe it would end in heartbreak but it would be more painful to not be with her. He smiled as he walked away from the bakery and looked at his wedding ring. He had to do well at his job to impress her. He wanted her to be proud of him because he was extremely proud to be her husband.

…..

…..

As Chi managed to restock the cookies that they had baked that morning, she felt something sharp jab her inside her chest. She looked down. Her body seemed fine and her programming was still working. It must not have been a physical jab in that case. She frowned before shaking her head and started to neatly fold the napkins.

She closed her eyes before feeling as if some data transfer was happening inside of her. Was she receiving a message? Sometimes Hideki sent her messages if he felt that she wanted to hear about how special she was and how much he loved her but that didn't seem to be that kind of a message. She looked around as if she could see a scene in front of her despite being in Chiroru.

She could see Hideki's body on the ground and a taxi swerved to the side with the driver checking for a pulse. She could see people surrounding him but none of them were helping him. Chi saw a reporter there with a number on the camera bag.

"Chi-chan," Ueda said as he noticed her looking off into space, "Is something…"

"Manager," Chi said in a formal manner. "Can I take a break to use the TV?" she asked and Ueda opened his mouth a little before nodding, usually Chi didn't ask for things like this. For her to request the use of the TV wasn't normal so he felt that he had to. Chi kept her mind on the number and went to the TV before turning it on.

It was the same scene that she had seen in her head but from a different angle.

"We are now getting verification that the deceased is actually Motosuwa Hideki, a social service worker and counselor for one of the Japanese government programs. Motosuwa was the one who married his famous Chobit years ago. We have information that he was struck by the taxi whilst crossing the ro-"

Hideyuki stood behind Chi as his eyes widened and he looked at the TV. Hideki was dead? "Chi," he said as he reached out to her but Chi hummed, looking dazed for a moment before skipping out to the front to help with then next customer. Ueda watched after her, wanting to stop her.

Didn't she understand what the reporter had just announced? Did he have to tell her slowly and send her home, send her to a home where the person just for her didn't live any longer.

End of Chapter One

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated