Chapter Nine

Dark Chi

"Let Yumi go. I'll..." Hideki said in a broken whisper, "I'll give you what you want."

Fugami stared at Hideki with a curious expression on his face, a look of disappointment, like a kid deprived of his favorite toy. Hideki shivered and wondered which was stronger, Fugami's loyalty to the Syndicate, or his desire to continue hurting Yumi. After a moment, Fugami's face went blank and then he smiled a broad, plastic smile. "Good, I'm glad we could come to an agreement," he said with false warmth.

Fugami walked over to the black case on the dresser and fished around for a few seconds before pulling out a small key. Whistling to himself, he began to turn back towards Hideki. He froze mid-movement, the whistling stopping in mid-note, and he turned his head sharply and stared out the window. His gaze fixed on something outside, he walked slowly towards the window, muttering almost inaudible curses.

At first Hideki could not understand what Fugami was staring at so intently. Then he saw it too: a bright light hovering well off the ground, a light that was growing larger and larger. With no warning the light flashed incredibly, searingly, bright, like a bolt of lightning. Hideki turned his head away and squeezed his eyes shut, wishing his hands were free so he could put them over his face. Simultaneously there came the sound of breaking glass, a bellow of pain and anger from Fugami, and a scream of fright from Yumi.

With spots swimming in front of his eyes, Hideki began blinking rapidly, trying to clear his vision so he could see what had happened. Slowly the room came back into focus and Hideki could only stare in astonishment and what he was seeing. Standing – no, not standing, floating – just inside the window was a persocom, her long blond hair and flowing black dress billowing in the breeze from the broken window. Hideki recognized her immediately, but wasn't sure if he could trust his eyes. For the second time he wished his hands were free, this time so he could rub his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was real. "Chi?" he called out softly, hesitantly.

The persocom turned to Hideki and shook her head. With a voice that was – and yet was not – Chi's voice she said, "I'm sorry Mr. Motosuwa, I am not Chi."

Hiudeki felt a hammer blow of emotion flow through him. Not Chi? But she looked exactly like her, sounded like her. If she wasn't Chi, who was she? Suddenly, and with an almost physical jolt, Hideki finally put the pieces together. The voice wasn't Chi's, not quite, but he had heard it before, on the rooftop of the Gub Jogasaki last fall. He had even seen that dress before, in a picture of Chi... and her sister. "Freya!" Hideki called out, "But how? You're... dead?"

Freya floated down gently and landed on the carpet, with the sound of broken glass crunching under her feet. "That is a somewhat long story, Mr. Motosuwa, and one we do not have time for at the moment."

"No, you do not." a voice interrupted. Fugami climbed to his feet, brushing shattered glass from his clothing. He touched his face and looked at the blood on his fingers; he had gotten several nasty cuts when the window had broken. Fugami continued calmly, "You made a mistake. I am not one of your father's clockwork automatons that you can turn off and on at will." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a flat, black, plastic rectangle with two metal tips at one end. He squeezed a button on the side and electricity arced between the two metal tips. His face contorted in an ugly smile as he continued, "This little device is quite useful. I was going to use it on the girl, but I've found that it works just as good on persocoms as it does on people. I imagine the Syndicate will be quite pleased when I bring them the bodies of both Chobits." With no further warning he stabbed the device at Freya.

Once again there was an explosion of white light. Hideki flinched away from the painful brilliance, screwing his eyes shut. It took a few seconds that felt like an eternity, but eventually Hideki's eyes cleared and he looked back towards the window. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he saw Freya stretched out, unmoving, on the floor. However, right beside her, and just as unmoving, was Fugami, the taser, now burnt and melted, on the floor next to him.

Not knowing who would recover first, Hideki began trying to free his left arm, still duct taped to the chair. After a moment of violent struggle, the tape gave way with a loud ripping noise. Hideki sagged back in the chair, completely out of breath and feeling bruised all over. After resting a moment, he bent his head to study the duct tape still wrapped around his chest. Before he could begin to peel himself loose, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He straightened, a feeling of dread in his stomach. If Fugami got up first, the Syndicate would have won. Almost immediately the dread was replaced with a feeling of relief; it was Freya stirring, not Fugami.

Freya pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, and from there stood up slowly. She looked over at Hideki and gave him a triumphant smile. She then bent over Fugami and placed a hand on his neck. After a moment she straightened with a frown on her face.

"Is he...is he dead?" Hideki asked.

Freya shook her head, "No, unconscious. He'll probably wake up with quite the headache, though." She looked around for a moment and then scooped something off the floor, the scalpel that Fugami had been holding. She then walked over to Hideki and looked over the restraints that bound him to the chair. "Do you know where the key to these hand cuffs is?" she asked.

Hideki shook his head. "Fugami had it shortly before you showed up, but I don't know where it is now."

Freya looked over at the window and the debris scattered under it. She shrugged, "No time to look for it. Relax your right arm, otherwise this might hurt." She grabbed the manacle around Hideki's right wrist and pulled the chain between it and the other manacle tight. Then, with a quick jerk, she snapped the chain. Hideki's right arm was now free of the chair, although one manacle was still attached to his wrist. "Can you free yourself from the duct tape?" she asked. When Hideki nodded yes, she turned away and walked over to the black case on the dresser.

Hideki stared after her for a moment, and then down at the hand cuff manacle on his wrist. Freya had snapped the chain so easily, almost casually. He knew that persocoms were stronger than they looked, but he was still caught off guard. He shook his head, despite having many questions about the whole situation, this simply was not the time to speculate about any of them. He bent over and began tearing the duct tape off of his chest.

Freya rooted around inside the black case for a second, looking for something to secure Fugami with. She hadn't told Hideki this, but defending herself from the taser had put a critical drain on her energy reserves. If Fugami woke up before she could bind him, it was unlikely if she could defeat him again. Dismissing her worries, she turned over the items in the case. Most of them were surgical instruments of one kind or another, but at the bottom there was a roll of duct tape. Under that were several long plastic ties. She plucked them free and stalked over to Fugami and knelt beside him. In a matter of seconds she had bound his wrists behind him with one of the plastic ties. Another tie secured his ankles. She then bent his wrists down and his ankles up and duct taped them together. She stood and contemplated her handiwork. After a moment she nodded, satisfied that Fugami would not be able to free himself easily, if he could do so at all. The fact that the position he was in would be extremely uncomfortable was, in her opinion, merely a bonus.

Freya turned her back on Fugami, dismissing him from her mind and, instead, turning her thoughts to her next challenge. She walked up to the bed and looked down at Yumi, studying the ropes that bound her. Yumi had her eyes squeezed shut and she was shivering and crying uncontrollably. "Ms. Oomura," Freya said gently, "You are safe now. Fugami can't hurt you."

Yumi relaxed a little bit and opened one eye. When she saw Freya above her she relaxed even further and opened the other eye. "Chi?" she began, "No, wait, you're not Chi, are you? But then who...?"

Freya shook her head, "Indeed, I am not Chi. I am Freya, her sister."

"Chi's sister? I thought Ms. Hibiya said that you had died," Yumi said confusedly.

"Yes, I did," Freya began. "However, now isn't the time to explain. Let me free you first." She pulled gently at the rope binding Yumi's left arm. As she had expected, the rope had too much give to be snapped as easily as she had snapped the chain on Hideki's handcuffs. Instead, she took the scalpel she had picked up off the floor and pressed down where the rope wound around the bed post. A quick slash and the rope parted, freeing Yumi's left arm. Three more quick cuts to the other ropes and Yumi was loose.

Yumi sat up slowly, hissing in pain as blood began to flow to her hands and feet again after being constricted by the ropes for so long. After a few seconds, and with Freya's help, she stood; she wobbled for a moment, then regained her balance. Freya looked at her critically and then bent and tore a piece off the bed sheet. When Yumi gave her a puzzled look, Freya pointed at Yumi's uniform. Fugami had succeeded in cutting through one of the sleeves, causing the uniform to sag and expose quite a bit more of Yumi's chest than could be considered decent. Freya bent over and used the strip of bed sheet to roughly tie the sleeve back into place. While not a perfect solution, it did the job well enough to preserve Yumi's modesty.

Yumi smiled her thanks, then took a look around the room. Her eyes alighted on Fugami and her face set in a hard, angry expression. She marched over to him, planted one foot and kicked hard with the other, catching him under the ribs and causing him to roll over onto his side with a groan. Nodding with satisfaction, she turned away and stalked over to the chair where Hideki was till busy trying to free himself.

Working together, Yumi and Hideki finally managed to peel the last of the duct tape from his chest and legs. Hideki sat in the chair for moment, trying to gather his energy. He was exhausted, he still had a wicked headache, and every square inch of his body hurt. He looked at Yumi for a moment, then hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this," he started to say.

Yumi shook her head firmly, "Senpai, don't blame yourself. You didn't get me involved, that horrid man did. Now, you should stand up if you can. I don't think this is a good place to linger."

Freya spoke up, "No, it is not. The Syndicate is aware of my presence here. They will send more agents and none of us is in any shape to fight."

Hideki nodded. With a sigh, he placed his hands on the arm rests of the chair and tried to lever himself to a standing position. He made it half way up when his legs collapsed underneath him. Before he could hit the ground Freya and Yumi caught him. With an arm around each of their shoulders Hideki somehow kept his feet and began to slowly shuffle towards the door.

By the time they made it down to the ground floor and out through the lobby, Hideki was walking on his own, albeit somewhat shakily. He shaded his eyes against the sun and looked around trying to figure out where he was.

Freya watched him for a moment then pointed to the left, "The apartment complex is in that direction. Keep walking up the street, I've already contacted Dita to guide you home. I'll make sure Yumi gets back to her father safely and then join you afterward."

Hideki looked at Freya for a moment. "Shouldn't Dita and I go with you, just in case?"

Freya shook her head, "I don't think it would be a good idea. Ms. Oomura has been kidnapped and assaulted. Even though she doesn't blame you, her father might not be as reasonable."

Hideki thought for a moment and nodded agreement. While he didn't think Mr. Oomura would hold a grudge over the long term, his immediate reaction was likely to be explosive.

Mind made up, he wished Freya and Yumi goodbye and turned towards home. He had hardly taken a step when he heard running footsteps. Hideki spun around, not sure what to expect. Yumi finished running up to him and hugged him tightly, then stepped back. "Take care of yourself senpai!" She then turned away, rejoined Freya, and began walking away.

(***)

Hideki leaned against the inside of the wall that surrounded the Gub Jogasaki. Dita had set a punishing pace on the way back to the apartment complex, one that had nearly caused him to collapse from exhaustion. Now that they were home, Dita had returned to the roof and Hideki was taking a much needed breather before heading inside, trying to put his thoughts in order and catch his breath.

After a few minutes Hideki decided it was time to head inside. He still had no idea how he was going to explain this mess to Ms. Hibiya and Minoru, but there was no point in delaying any longer. As he straightened up he heard a soft noise above him. He whirled around and crouched down. Was it the Syndicate making a retaliatory strike? But shouldn't Dita have reacted if it was?

A quiet giggle came from the top of the wall. Freya waved down at Hideki and leaped lightly to the ground. "My apologies Mr. Motosuwa. I didn't mean to startle you."

Hideki came out of his crouch and shrugged, "Not your fault. I guess I am still wound up after everything that has happened." He frowned before continuing, "I feel so helpless. I've had to rely on everyone else. I've been unable to do anything to keep my friends from being hurt." Hideki took a deep breath before continuing, "In the end, I even betrayed Chi. I was willing to give her to the Syndicate to stop the pain, to stop Fugami from hurting Yumi. I should have been able to do something, anything, and instead I ended up cowering like a beaten dog."

Freya shook her head, "Do not blame yourself. You found yourself in an impossible situation, and you made the only choice you could, the only choice the Syndicate allowed you to make. Chi is gone, Mr. Motosuwa. Sacrificing Ms. Oomura's life in exchange for nothing but a memory would not have been brave, it would have been foolish."

Hideki shrugged and touched his head, "I know that here," he moved his hand and touched his chest over his heart, "But it still feel like an act of cowardice here."

Freya nodded, "I understand. If it helps, my sister would have gladly sacrificed her life to save another." She paused for a moment before continuing, "After all she has already done so once." She sighed, "No, if anyone has failed her, it is me. Do you know that on the night of the accident, she called out to me to save her? When that car came hurtling towards her, she reached out to me for help. I was too slow, too late. My sister needed me, and I couldn't help her."

Hideki stared at Freya then reached out and gathered her in his arms and hugged her. Freya stiffened momentarily, then relaxed. After a few seconds Hideki let her go and stepped back, wiping a tear from his eye. "Well, we'll both just have to do better from here on out, won't we?"

Freya nodded, "Yes. Thank you Mr. Motosuwa."

Hideki shook his head, "Call me Hideki, please. We're family, aren't we?"

"Alright then, thank you Hideki," Freya said with a smile. She stared at the apartment complex for a moment, her face becoming more somber. "Speaking of family, I hope I haven't upset Mother too badly. I wanted to talk to her, to explain before she learned that my grave was empty. Events just moved too rapidly."

Hideki looked at Freya, struck anew by her resemblance to her sister, his beloved. He shook himself, trying to rid himself of the feeling that he was talking with a ghost. "Freya, Ms. Hibiya is your mother. She'll understand. She'll be glad to have you home again."

Softly, almost too softly to hear, Freya murmured, "That is what I'm afraid of."

Before Hideki could ask for clarification, he heard the front door of the apartment complex open. Ms. Hibiya stood in the doorway, a stunned, unbelieving expression on her face. After a moment, that expression changed to one of sheer joy. She slowly began walking towards Freya, then faster, and faster still. By the time she reached her daughter, she was running. Crying tears of happiness, Ms, Hibiya hugged Freya to her tightly.