Inu Kaiba: This is a really old Chobits fic I wrote for Alice. It's also AU-ish because certain events haven't happened. For example Hideki learned to love Chii but without the whole mess involved finding out who Chii's mother was and the Chobits thing.
Minoru knew it was going to be one of those days where something bad happens. He could just feel it. It gave him a queasy feeling in a sense, almost the kind that made him want to puke. Extra caution would have to be taken today to make sure nothing went wrong.
The queasy feeling might also have something to do with the fact that he hadn't eaten a proper meal at a proper table with some lights on in twenty four hours. For the past day, he'd been sitting in front of his computer screen with the lights off.
It was giving his complexion an incredibly pale tone, but he didn't seem to care. He was much too absorbed in trying to find out how on earth one could make a persocom, or rather, one like Chii.
One who could learn to feel. He wished Yuzuki could feel, yes, having her own feelings would have helped Minoru get over the fact that he indeed felt something different towards her than that of anyone he knew.
It was then that an almost silent knocking was heard at the door. "Minoru-sama?" asked the quiet voice, almost not making a sound.
"Come in Yuzuki." He answered, giving a curt nod despite the fact that she was on the other side of the door, and the door was not see-through.
Yuzuki also nodded, for she was much too polite. Then again weren't all persocoms overly polite; not just to their master, but to everyone?
"Minoru-sama." Yuzuki repeated bowing slightly, this time speaking his name as more of a statement.
"Is there something wrong Yuzuki?" Minoru asked, never once looking up and tapping a few computer keys before glancing up to take a long hard look at the computer screen.
Yuzuki sighed, not just out of frustration but more than likely out of pain and hurt. Minoru consistently ignored her, brushing aside the fact that it was impossible for her to be able to love without the right programs, but yet she could. And she did, she loved him, even without a real heart. She loved him with her heart made out of expensive wires.
He kept trying to find a program for her to feel things, but Yuzuki could feel all that and more. She had been given a gift she supposed, since she knew it was impossible for most, if not all persocoms that were unlike Chii to feel, well, anything. Chii was the exception the most complex computer program in history. The only mystery Minoru couldn't solve. The only mystery that kept him stumbling over his feet.
The only mystery but his heart that is.
"Mi…Minoru-Sama." Yuzuki said, repeating her previous statement and fumbling a bit unsure what to say.
"I...I think maybe you should take a break." She finished, swallowing out of the natural impulse. She feared his response, not knowing what it would be.
Minoru slowly rose, and Yuzuki felt her stomach sink knowing her fears were true. He walked over to the door of the office and pointed out the door, an indication that he wanted her to leave, and he wanted her to leave right now.
"No matter how much you may think I need a break Yuzuki, I think I as my own person can judge when to take one." He said.
Each word felt like a bitter poison to Yuzuki, as she slowly made her way to the door hoping if she took as much time as she could, Minoru might realize his error and come after her. But Minoru didn't come of his own will. Just as he was closing the door, he fell to the floor with a thud exhaustion finally taking its toll.
Yuzuki heaved a sigh, wishing Minoru had chosen himself instead of having to take him up to his room. She wished he would learn when to take his own breaks, instead of her choosing when he should.
She picked him up gently, knowing if she awoke him he would simply head back to the dreadful machinery he spent all his days with. He was spending less and less time with her, she noticed; and more and more time with what he wanted her to become.
Deep in thought, Yuzuki realized she had passed right by the staircase and so she walked backwards to continue her trek to Minoru's bedroom.
After taking at least ten minutes to get there, Yuzuki pulled the covers back and gently lay Minoru down on the bedspread. 'It shouldn't have taken ten minutes to get him here of all places. This house is such a maze sometimes…" Yuzuki thought.
Then she carefully pulled the covers as close to Minoru's chin as she could trying her hardest not to wake him. Taking one last look at him before heading to the door; she silently dared herself to go back over to him and kiss him on the forehead and so she did.
"I wish you loved me too Minoru-kun…" She whispered as low as possible so as not to disturb his sleep and so he wouldn't hear the improper term she had referred to him with when it was so blatantly obvious he didn't love her that way.
The next morning, sometime around 1 o' clock Minoru awoke to the smell of some special breakfast food being cooked and the strange feeling that he'd fainted out of the overload he'd put himself through yesterday.
He trekked down to the breakfast table, in his sleep rumpled clothes from yesterday and rubbing a sleep filled eye while stifling a yawn.
"Good morning sleepy head." Yuzuki said with a slight grin, pressing her spatula down on the egg lightly.
"Yuzuki, I told you not to…"
"Now listen here Minoru-Sama." Yuzuki said, turning around and glaring her hardest at him; tone as stern as she could make it. "I came to tell you to take a break and sleep. You decided to faint right as I was leaving the room as you ordered. My job as your persocom is to keep you safe and I couldn't leave you laying half in and half out of a room. So out of goodwill I brought you up to your bedroom and tucked you in. And if you're not satisfied with me doing my job, then I might as well pack up and leave, Mr. I'm-so-grouchy-because-I-never-take-a-break-to sleep!"
Minoru sighed running a finger through his sleep tousled bangs. "Can I just have my food so we can get the day going?"
Yuzuki tossed the plate of food on the table with a bang and a slight 'hmph', and turned and left the room.
Ten minutes later when Minoru was nearly half finished his entire breakfast, Yuzuki returned wearing her favourite and only coat.
"What the hell are you doing?" Minoru snapped, spewing eggs all over the place since he'd been chewing when he came in.
"Even if your schedule is all messed up, mine is not. It's Thursday. We always go grocery shopping on Thursday!" Yuzuki snapped, throwing his coat at him and not noticing the sleeve dip into the fried tomato juices. "Now finish your food, put that on and let's go."
Yuzuki tapped her foot impatiently as she waited at the door for Minoru. Minoru slowly chewed his food, wondering what on earth had gotten into Yuzuki.
Several minutes later, he heard the door slam just as he was finishing off his breakfast. He stood up in a flash, and the plate clattered to the floor from the rush at which he'd pulled his jacket off the table where it previously lay.
"Oh shit." He said, staring at it for a good thirty seconds before rushing off and trying to put his arm through his jacket sleeve while sliding his feet into his sneakers.
Meanwhile Yuzuki, who by now was about good block away; was seething as silently as possible to herself. "That insufferable prick!" She cried waving her hands around in frustration, to emphasize her anger.
"Yuzuki!" Minoru cried, rushing up the sleeve with one shoe half on his foot and his jacket half on.
She turned around, and Minoru ran right past her almost unable to put the breaks on. And that's when she saw it. He'd run right out into the flow of traffic and was slowing down, when the truck turned the corner out of nowhere… and was headed straight for him.
Yuzuki did the only thing that came to mind. She ran as fast as she could, and flying through the air pushed Minoru as far away from the past of the monster sized truck as she could. Her eyes widened with shock as the truck slammed into her.
Minoru turned to see what had pushed him to the ground so suddenly, only to see Yuzuki's still hovering body slammed into by the truck. She fell to the ground and rolled and Minoru heard himself scream her name as loud as he could when the huge wheels crushed her body.
As the truck turned the corner, driver at a complete lack of understanding for what was going on, Minoru rushed over to Yuzuki.
"I-m-s-o-r-r-y." She said smiling up at Minoru for one last time. And then she closed her eyes, never to return to life again.
"YUUUUUZUKI!" Minoru choked out. In her last dying moment, she'd told him she was sorry. She'd saved his life; that was supposed to be him. She'd be alive right now if he hadn't screwed up as badly as he did.
"Yuzuki!" He cried, choking out the words between his sobs and the tears flowing in a steady stream down his pale cheeks. "Yuzuki, wake up. Please wake up Yuzuki. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Just please wake up."
But she was gone.
Minoru stopped crying then, and his sniffles changed into silence as he inspected her. With a slight gasp and a shudder, he sobbed. Reduced to nothing but sobs, he took a closer look at her body. But it was true. The back of her body was pushed into the front, destroying her, her mental capacity and the only person Minoru had left to love.
Minoru's perseverance was strong, and in the unknown promise to himself, he sought onward. Despite the fact that she was a persocom, he felt the need for a funeral for his dedicated blue-haired love.
When he got one last look at her face, her body in the most expensive, exquisite dress money could buy, Minoru did not cry. As they closed the coffin, he did not cry. As they stood for the prayers at the service, Minoru never cried. When the service ended, and they marched her out to the graveyard Minoru did not cry. When they lowered the closed casket into the ground, and began shoveling dirt on the hole, Minoru did not cry.
When Hideki came up to comfort him with Chii; that was when Minoru cried. One look at him sent his mind spiraling back down memory lane. And it wasn't just a few tears, it was heart wrenching sobs. Chii leaned down and gave Minoru a hug. "Minoru-sama, Chii asked Ms. Hibiya and Ms. Hibiya said she could help you."
"I know you're just trying to help Chii."
"No Minoru." Said a voice from behind him that could only have been that of Ms. Hibiya. "Chii has a 'special' gift. She can restore one life to that of it's original body, be it machinery or a human in the flesh."
"You mean she could revive Yuzuki… Or Kaede? Could she revive Kaede?" Minoru cried, rising to his feet.
"Yes, Minoru. But I want you to think long and hard on this. I know from what your friend's have said, and how much you long to see Kaede, but do not make a hasty decision." Ms. Hibiya said.
"I'm going to give you a week to think over it. Next Saturday, come see me and Chii. We will revive whoever your decision shall be. And do a lot of thinking Minoru, you cannot revive both or change your decision, because once you've made up your mind, there's no going back."
