Chasing Shadows
Notes: I don not own Chobits and you know the drill by now.
Chapter Two Bitterness

It wasn't long before Japan and the rest of the world was overrun with Personcoms both the small childlike lap and palm tops and now the very realistic life-size models.

Pedestrians trample across Tokyo sidewalk on, men and women dressed in bussniess suits talking or yelling into cell phones, children dressed in school uniforms walk through the sea of adults giggling and chattering with their friends and classmates, mothers wheeling baby strollers maneuver through the street only to pause briefly to glance at storefronts. Among this hodgepodge of people it is hard to tell where one person begins and one end because of the extremely close proximity; everyone seems to be coming and going at a rapid pace, always running late for something.

And before anyone knew it, the Personcoms had become a "need" in our society. "They" were no longer a status symbol among the rich and posh, for now even the average Joe owned at least one Personcom.

Standing in the middle of this hasty mass of population stands a young girl with short brown hair that curls around her oddly pointed ears and deep chocolate eyes that stare at the world around her as if she is seeing it for the first time in her life. Her skin is surreally smooth and pale, her face belonged in movies, her body clothed in a bright yellow sundress was meant to be own. She looked so real so perfect, but her eyes simply stared out into space, no emotion or depth beyond the pretty face. "Kira- chan," a male voice called from the entrance of a small street corner restaurant.

"Hm? Yes Mr. Hawk?" "Come back inside and clean off some of these tables." "Yes sir." "Kira-chan" replied as she obediently ducked back inside the building leaving the hectic world of glass and concrete.

Now don't get me wrong, progress is a good thing but when you can barely tell the difference between machine and man, computer and person, creation and creator; then the world begins to become a slightly smaller and scarier place. But ladies and gentlemen please keep this in mind; this is just the beginning.

Inside a laboratory men and women were working around the clock on a project that would send Soya Inc. to its' knees. It was a Personcom but of a different breed, it could do any and everything a computer could do, it was life-sized like the newest models but this one would be set apart from the rest, it would be in a class all of own. It would have emotions, equipped with a state of the art self-teaching program and the memory capabilities would be off the charts. It was perfection, it was a god; this was the Chobit project. The smartest, sleekest, most realistic looking, and of course the most efficient piece of technology that would ever be placed on the market.

Now if only they could get "it" to work.

Many attempts and experiments were made, the most recognizable one was of course Chi, the female counterpart that "disappeared" half a decade ago, but there were others, many others in fact; somewhere successful others were trashed. So it as this point in time where "I" come in.

Small teams of scientists are placing the finish touches on a male looking Personcom. As with the female counterparts "his" skin is a very beautiful milky pale, sharp almost geometric features slightly disguises "him" from the females. Soft white hair tinted with mint blue streaks brush against "his" bare shoulders. Sculpted chest and torso and legs of a track star, wide-open eyes of ice blue that occasional followed the movement of the "creators" while at another counter another model is being worked on, only this one was a female model. Long white hair and amber eyes stared out following the people move about as well.

"We" were given the name Chobits. Designed to be the most realistic and advanced Personcom that would ever grace the market. We were equipped with a learning program, the most memory storage that could be created, realistic skin, hair, and eyes. Created to think outside our programs, to be able to explore our world like curious human children then learn lessons from our experiences be they good or bad. So much had to be learned before we were declared passable. We were the "sharpest tools in the shed" walk and talk like humans and could easily pass for humans too if it wasn't for our ridiculous large and pointed ears.

We were perfection, a god and goddess created by man for man, servants unto the masters that made us omnipotent for one of the first thinks we learned was devotion.

Other emotions we "learned" almost automatically after that, we learned to have a fear/respect for our creators for if we didn't obey their orders we were promised pain, we learned joy when we were rewarded for when we did good, shame and guilt when we did something wrong. But out of all these emotions.love was our chosen poison. I learned very early not to "love' but poor "Chi", as she was later called, was. not foolish; but certainly more childlike and innocent than yours truly so she saw nothing wrong with feeling, with loving but in the end it lead to her discharge from the project.

The leader of the project gently strokes the female's face as she leans into the touch. A soft female voice speaks, "Your so beautiful little one, did you know that?" The Chobit shakes her head and a smirk is heard rather than seen on the speaker's face as soft lips descend on the top of a milky pale brow. Meanwhile in the shadows the male counterpart watches, ice blue eyes pretending not to notice or care about the very tender and familiar scene unfolding before him; but underneath their cold exterior there is a secret longing.

Sometimes I wonder if maybe "Chi" was the smarter one, the luckiest one. Many adored her, and I could see why; she was beautiful, soft-spoken, intelligent, sweet, and most of all unconditionally loving. And for those reasons I envied, despised and loved her all at once. It is kind of funny yet sad too that my fist "love" was considered my sister project, but in all honesty she was my first love. She was so close, yet so unattainable at the same time for she fell hard for humans. At first I couldn't see why, they were clumsy, insignificant creatures, capable of many cruelties to us and of many crimes even against their own kind. And when they took my "beloved" away I hated humans all the more.

A loud growl, almost like a roar echoes through the white lab halls as the "beast", also known as Rue-sama, is all but dragged him into a programming room by a large team of men. Bright blue eyes hardened from years of punishment and quelled rebellions. Rue-sama restlessly struggles against his bonds, sending various lab equipment and a few humans crashing to the floor. Rue stared at the locked doorway and even with several humans trying to restrain him he races toward the door only to meet up with an electrical shock as the shield is activated. Backing away Rue easily shakes off the humans and begins to franticly search for the hidden switch. Finding it underneath a floor title Rue punches his fist inside the cerulean marble pulling out live wires releasing and deactivating them.

The electrical shields fall and the door is swung open, not missing a beat, Rue-sama reaches the door then turns to key in the locking passwords locking his would be masters inside the programming lab; causally walking away as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. By the time he reached the fifth corridor the alarms sounded shrilly announcing his escape, Rue- sama smirked; knowing that this time he wouldn't get caught. It was so easy to find all the right circuits and wires to disconnect to deactivate cameras and motion sensors, these handicaps would give him at least a twenty minute head start which wouldn't be needed since he could see the front doorway only ten feet away. He almost chuckled, this was too easy, and fate being the humorous being she is agreed with him and deiced to make it a bit more challenging. Out of the shadows came Personcoms of all shapes and sizes but they all shared one thing in common, they were all females.

Rue-sama sneered, foolish creatures, blindly following orders and programming; if he wasn't so degusted he would have pitied them but escape was more important than sympathy. They blocked his way to the door, cutting off his chance at freedom but this shield of microchips and wires were nothing against seer cunning and an independent mind. Rue-sama raced right into the center of the blockade, ripping, clawing, and dismantling any and everything that got in his way and in a matter of minutes the floor was littered with Personcom parts and the path to the front door was free and cleared. Rue-sama walked across the piles of computer parts calmly exiting the company that he had been created in out into the wide and open freedom of the concert jungle.

Once I left the laboratory, I swore that I would never look back, that I would function without a human, without the emotions that I was blessed/cursed with from "birth". Promising myself that I would take revenge on the "masters" that had created my beloved, and myself but Fate is very fickle. My strong hatred for humans grew daily to the point that I began to think that this hatred for my "creators" and "masters" was all that I had to live for; but one day came when I found something different, something living and more tangible to exist for. I found this "new lease on life" in the most unlikely place, the bright and forgiving light in a child's eyes.