It was routine maintenance and upgrades. "The nature of the beast" as Zima would always quote. We receive them periodically to ensure peak performance. Why he acted like he'd never see me again never ceased to amaze me. He acted as if we were-what is the correct phrasing?-having surgery. Yes. We were not having major surgery like humans do. We have no blood to lose. No organs that are getting sliced apart. No bacterial or viral organisms to fret about. Our internals are meticulously structured and our technicians know exactly how and what to do every time we have "surgery".
I am not acting combative and contrary to irritate him, I simply don't understand why he doesn't have the same concerns as I do. My fears were almost realized yesterday.
Before we entered the Maintenance Bay, we were ordered to wait until the lab technicians finished preparing our respective "operating" rooms. One room for Zima and another room for me.
Zima pouted at the thought of being shut down for hours. It baffled me to a certain degree because he himself acknowledged that this was routine for us. Why is it suddenly a problem every time it happens? His maintenance took no longer than mine as we both had to be at optimal performance for our roles. What could his reluctance stem from? As far I knew, the lab technicians were the same ones as always. It couldn't be that he didn't trust their work.
I was about ask Zima to unveil the mystery so I could quit being irritated by his "sad puppy" mode when he pulled me against him. This action was made easier by the fact that we were sitting on a leather couch in the room behind the receptionist-'Com's desk. I wondered if Miko had heard me give out that quick squeak. She didn't appear to notice anything which I was grateful for.
Sudden embraces weren't out of the norm for Zima, but what he did next was. He normally did this when we were alone, but I guess he felt daring? Or perhaps he was being stupid?
He grasped the sides of my face and kissed me on my lips. I was about to protest when I heard a male's voice gasp and a few cries of "What the-?" coming from nearby.
Zima hastily broke off and I looked at the lab technicians with widened optics.
"Uh, Zima-kun, what was...what were-?" the lab tech known as Kiyomaru Takamine stuttered. He was scratching his short, jet-black hair with uncertainty. His golden brown eyes showed utter confusion.
"He's not programmed to do things like that is he?" another tech known only as Kazuto blabbered. His light blonde-hair would've stood up if it could imitate the expression on his face. His lavender eyes expressed shock.
"I can't imagine that he is, but it looked kinda cute." the tech named Eri Michishio seemed to find the situation amusing. Her brown eyes glistened with good-humored mischief.
I, however, wanted to melt. I guessed it was good that one of the lab techs wasn't too perturbed, but that couldn't be said about Kiyo and Kazuto.
Zima seemed to regret his impulsive actions for once in his ditzy life and covered up his blunder with amazing grace.
"I overheard Mrs. Mihara speak of kissing Dr. Mihara once and did not know what the action of kissing felt like. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused."
Eri, Kiyo, and Kazuto looked at one another for a short moment and then began to burst out into raucous laughter. Eri's "That's so adorable!" was intermingled Kiyo and Kazuto's guffawing laughter.
"You know, it actually does make sense. Dr. Mihara did program him to be coy and curious." Kazuto wiped the tears from his eyes as he spoke. I thought it strange because I knew that crying was supposed to happen when humans were sad. Emotions are too weird for me.
"Yes, that is right. He was only applying the 'knowledge' he obtained in real time like he always does.' Kiyo took deep breaths and finally calmed himself down.
"Don't worry you two, you're not in trouble." Eri gave us a beautiful, sweet smile. "Though I find it sweet that Zima-kun tested his theory on Dita-chan."
I felt the tension inside of me fizzle away. At least we know that these three humans are on our side. If Zima had of tested his "theories" and we were caught by the upper management, we'd not be so lucky.
I sent Zima a PM. "Keep your theories outside of headquarters next time!"
"Duly noted." came his reply.
We were yet again in the Maintenance Bay waiting area. This time we were scheduled for our "follow-up visit". Zima noticed my pensive attitude.
"Don't worry, love." He proceeded to wrap an arm around my shoulder. I responded by tensing up with the memory. He gave my shoulder a squeeze that I assumed to be reassuring. "I'll behave myself."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A/N: Cookies to those who recognize the Zatch Bell and UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie references. ;-) Thanks for reading!
I read the Chobits manga and there's blurbs about the characters on the back. Zima is indeed programmed to be coy and curious.