Authors Note: Balance. Compromise. Not only applicable to combat equipment, but to every human endeavor, from relationships and personal interactions, to the data and quantity-driven world of engineering and technology. I truly hope Hideki was insightful enough to see that Hibiya wasn't just reciting dry history of technology.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read Chapter 1, and special thanks to those who reviewed. Your feedback is definitely appreciated.


Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul Chapter 2


Hibiya looked very serious now. "To impress upon you the need for your undivided attention when you are learning the technical skills you need from myself and Minoru-san. Chii is a wonderful, loving person, who has given you her heart and soul. And I am satisfied that she could have made no better choice. But...you must always remember that she is here with you in the physical form of a machine. A machine that is entrusted to your care, both by Chii and myself. She's your responsibility now; heart, soul, and body. I have no fears for her heart and soul with you, Hideki. Just promise me you'll be as gentle and attentive to her physical requirements."

Hideki, now blushing furiously with his nose tingling, simply nodded.

"More tea?", Hibiya asked innocently.

---

Hideki grabbed the teacup and moved it furtively to his lips, as if hoping it was large enough to hide the embarrassed flush on his features.

Hibiya sighed inwardly. Kami, why me? She fixed Hideki with an unreadable stare, "Young man, it's time you stopped this nonsense and started to grow up! It was endearing in it's own way while Chii was unaware of her effect on you, but enough is enough! She may not yet appreciate why teenage boys bleed from the nose in certain situations, but she is fully aware that the flow of blood from a human is a sign of injury and pain! Would you have her believe that she's hurting you as she learns (and she will) more about physical expressions of love?"

Oh, that was a little little harsher than I intended... thought Hibiya.

Hideki, stunned into sensibility by the outburst, bowed until his chin touched his chest, "Gomen nesai, Hibiya-sensei. I never thought...I never considered...I..."

"It's alright, Hideki. I didn't mean to be quite so short with you, but you need to understand that you and Chii's journey is not yet complete, but only just now beginning. Her love has just now awakened for you, and like any of us in early morning, is rubbing the sleep from its eyes, and starting to become aware of it's existence and surroundings. It will grow according to how it's fed and nurtured...by you. It's time for you to put childish things aside, and become a man, while you teach her to become a woman."

"But...does that mean I have to... that I should...", Hideki was unsure of how to ask what he really needed to, but Hibiya broke in.

"If you're asking about physical intimacy, not yet. Neither of you are ready for that, ne?", Hibiyi interrupted. "Even I am unsure of the road ahead for the two of you, so my only advice for now is that you take small steps, and pause often to evaluate both your emotional and physical relationship. While I can't predict for sure what happens beyond this point, it may help you a little to know how you got here, and why."

"When Ichiro and I first undertook the steps to develop the Chobits project, it was our intent from the beginning that they would have the potential to be emotionally aware. This, of course, introduced a complication from the outset. All you have to do is walk through the park and observe the couples you see there to understand what it is: we humans communicate much of our affection and emotion to other humans by way of touch. The sense of touch itself is the most comprehensive and complicated of our senses. Different types of nerve endings pick up the different types of stimulus and transmit the signals to our nervous system to be interpreted by the brain. Krause's ends detect cold, while Ruffini endings pick up heat. Pacinian corpuscles respond to pressure, and Meissner's corpuscles are sensitive to light and touch. Keratin, found on the surface of our skin, produces detectable electrical charges when the dermis is bent or folded, passing more signals to the nerve endings found there. And of all of our senses, the interpretation of touch is most directly impacted and filtered by our emotions and experiences. Even our judgement of "hot" and "cold" is dictated by which stimulus we last received.

"No persocon yet developed ever needed such a complicated network of sensors and processing support. Most of what was done prior was simply dedicated to diagnostics, and avoidance of physical damage, both to themselves and their surroundings. Persocons cannot feel "burn", per se, but are able to recognize and react when they are in contact with a source of heat sufficient to cause them damage. Most of the sense of "touch" that they have is a rudimentary sense of pressure, most sensitive in their hands and fingers, to allow them to handle delicate objects without breaking them. We had to design, from scratch, an artificial analogue of skin that could respond in much the same way as a human's, including the variations in sensitivity that are common to the human body."

"But..." Hideki took advantage of her pause to interject, "she seems to know about affectionate touching, and hugging. She knows what it means to touch and be touched, it seems. Still like a small child gives and receives affection, but she is aware of the meaning, isn't she?"

Hibiya paused, pursing her lips in thought, before continuing.

"Let's just say, she's learning. Programming a fully developed emotional framework for her sense of touch was a task quite beyond both Ichan's abilities and mine. And, as Freya and Elda were to be like daughters to us, we wanted them to learn and grow as children do. The only way to approach the problem was to incorporate the interpretation of touch directly into the learning framework of her emotional development. What we gave them from the outset was a set of "instinctive" drives, much the same as an infant's. A desire to explore the world around them through the sense of touch, and a sense of safety and security that could be triggered by certain types of touch, like holding a hand, receiving or giving a hug. When you first activated her, her sense of touch was a tool for her alone to experience the world, and to seek solace from an unfamiliar environment.

"But as the two of you grew closer, I could see she was using her sense of touch differently. She was learning the importance of touch to not only herself, but to the human in her life. She started to touch you, not for her comfort, but for yours. She started to interpret your reactions to her touch, and learned to be comforting, supportive, and affectionate, even though she could not articulate those to you. I have to admit that I was skeptical about this at first, believing that perhaps she was simply imitating affectionate gestures she had seen and respond to a perceived need of her master.

"All my disbelief vanished when Chii tried to learn how to cook for you. You had refused to accept the money she offered you, from her bakery job, even when you were going hungry. You told her that the money was for her to make herself happy, remember? I was both joyful and terribly frightened for her that day. She made the leap, emotionally, to empathy and compassion, and translated it into action from self-sacrifice. She connected her own happiness to your well-being, and acted upon it. She was already wondering if you were her "only one", and taking steps. It also made her terribly vulnerable, at that point."

Hideki goggled at her. "You mean she would have...gone that far..?"

"Possibly", was Hibiya's answer. "She does have some built-in defences against that, but remember, she now understands, and is capable of, subordinating her own happiness to yours. I am happy to see that you are able to reciprocate."

"Well, isn't that what true love is?" Hideki's face was suddenly a maelstrom of conflicting emotion. He had another question, obviously. Hibiya waited patiently. "Is there...um...any way she can...um...", Hideki wound up his nerves and continued, "...experience anything like physical pleasure? For herself?"

Again, Hibiya needed to pause and think for a moment, before she answered. "I cannot be certain, but there is a relatively safe way to find out. Finish your tea while I get something." She rose from the table, disappearing into her bedroom, while Hideki finished the last of his tea, and rose to stretch his legs.

When she returned, she was carrying a brown paper bag, bearing the stamp of the bookstore that Hideki and Chii frequently visited. "Take this, read it, and then allow Chii to do the same. And remember what I said about small steps."

Back in his apartment, Hideki allowed Chii to move the table and retrieve the futon from its closet while he extracted the contents of the bag. His nose threatened to gush as he read the cover:

The Book Of Massage: The Complete Step-by-step Guide To Eastern And Western Technique