A/N: Yay! The next chapter is here. I personally think that this fic is going pretty well. I'm glad a majority of you think the same! Oh, and thanks for all that have helped me with the conflict between persocon and persocom. Though… I've gotten a lot of different answer! I've asked my close friend (who knows about every single freaking anime in the entire universe) what the correct form of it was, and she said "persocom" because the "com" at the end stands for "computer". I thought it made sense, so I started to believe it was that. But then two other people told me that the Japanese say "persocon" and only the Americans say "persocom". So, in other words, I still don't know what is right! But, I have to make a decision sooner or later, so I'm making it now. I shall, from now on, call them… persocon. Besides, I looked up the word "Chobits- persocons" on google, and the anime reviews kept saying "persocon", so I'm pretty sure that's right! In fact, I guess you can call them either one, but I'd like to stay as tradition and true to the word as possible, so I'm using the "n" at the end.
ANYWAY! With all of that taken care of, I shall now present to you… the fourth chapter of My Chobit-chan! Enjoy!
CHAPTER 4: "Shu" is for Shuichi
Yuki was temporarily blinded by the persistent morning light seeping through the blinds of his window. He squinted aggravatingly at the intruding sun, trying to roll over to his left… but finding that he couldn't.
Something was holding him back.
Yuki sat up on his elbows and glared down at the heavy object attached to his right arm, sleeping soundly as if not having a care in the world. Of course, persocons didn't usually have anything to worry about except short circuiting, which he heard rarely occurred with them.
Somehow, the blonde novelist had been convinced into keeping the brat in his home… but ONLY for a little while.
'Now how did I come to that ridiculous decision again? Oh yeah…' He scowled bitterly as the memory of yesterday afternoon with his brother came back to him.
O.O O.O O.O O.O O.O O.O O.O O.O à(Shu?)
Flashback
-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.- à (snore…)
"Shu?"
"What the hell is he saying then?" Yuki growled.
"How should I know!" The monk defended himself. Both sighed in exasperation at the persocon, not knowing what to do with it next, as the boy gave his first smile of the day and yet again tilted his head, chirped out…
"Shu!"
The latter sat in a heavy atmosphere of silence for the moment, until Yuki stood up and stretched.
"Well, now that we've got him up and running, it's time to return him to wherever he came from." The novelist said without care.
"What?" Tatsuha asked incredulously. "You're not going to keep him? After he was offered to you for such a good deal? Why not?" The monk stood as well.
"Tatsuha… I, as you might not know, don't have time to take care of mechanically dysfunctional robots, given my career and all. Or maybe you don't understand that I have a deadline for a new book almost every freakn' month!" He rose his voice on that last part.
"They're not robots!" The monk yelled defensively.
"Androids, whatever!" The older sibling marched off into the kitchen to empty out his now cold coffee.
"Hmph! And they're hardly so low to be called androids either!" Tatsuha put his hands on his hips while correcting his brother.
"You know, that would be so much more interesting to me if I actually cared." Yuki said bluntly as he cleaned the mug in the sink.
"Oh, aniki! Why do you have to be so heartless all the time? Even to a cute boy like this one? I swear, you really do have a heart of ice sometimes." The teenager scolded.
The author finished his task, walked out to the den, stood face to face with his younger brother, and said in a low, cold voice. "Frankly Tatsuha… I don't give a damn." The blonde then headed over toward the persocon, and stood over him darkly.
"Okay. Fun time's over. Time to go home."
"Oh, yeah, like he's gonna understand you."
"Shut-up, I'll make him understand." He then muttered under his breath. "He isn't wanted here…"
The boy just sat there like he had been doing and blinked curiously up at the strange golden-haired human, having a hard time comprehending his words. So, he responded with the only phrase he knew. "Shu?"
"Ugh! Why do you keep saying that!" The writer asked angrily.
"Maybe he trying to annoy you aniki. I wouldn't be surprised, with your bad attitude. Can't you lighten up at all?" Tatsuha walked over to where they were and held out a hand to the persocon.
"And you think he'll understand that?" Yuki asked quizzically.
"Well, at least it's better than saying 'okay, get up and leave my house'." The younger sibling argued.
Now the pink-haired boy was really confused. One guy was saying something completely inaudible to his ears, and another was sticking a lim out… though he had no idea why. What were they trying to communicate? Well, since the darker-haired guy seemed to like it when he jumped on him and smiled a lot, he decided to do just that.
Without hesitation, the persocon smiled, and leaped onto the monk once again, and down they went, crashing to the ground.
Tatsuha let out a disgruntled "oof" and patted the boy on the head nervously. "Uh, yeah… nice to meet you too."
Yuki just sighed and shook his head.
The younger brother sat up properly, setting down their companion gently, and cleared his throat. "Ahem… since we're getting so friendly, I guess it'd be a good time for introductions, huh?" He smiled at the boy. "My name is Tatsuha. Tat- su- ha." You can call me Tat-kun if it'll make it easier for you."
The persocon just stared at him blankly.
"Tch. It can't even understand you. And why are you telling it our names anyway? He'll never see us again after this."
"Oh yeah." Tatsuha went on, ignoring his brother. "This here is my grouchy brother, Yuki. HE will be taking care of you for the time being. Right Yuki?" The monk eyed him expectantly.
"Wrong. He's getting out of here as soon as I can find what store he belongs to. That jacked-up sales guy probably stole him from somewhere for all we know…" The blonde shrugged and leaned all his weight on one hip.
The persocon looked on, puzzled at the two men's actions.
"Oh come on Yuki. It wouldn't be that bad! They don't eat, don't go to the bathroom, they don't even have real emotions, so he won't be able to bother you while working!" Tatsuha happily informed.
"Yeah, but just being around is a distraction. What if it decides to throw it's 200 lb. Weight onto my glass coffee table, thinking it was a cute, cuddly animal? Or what if it destroys the whole house with it's strange powers we saw before."
"Oh, whatever. He won't do something that drastic. The only thing you have to do is bathe them each month so their skin won't become all spotted or dirty. Even though a persocon's skin feels like a real humans, it's actually a certain soft, rubbery material that takes on the characteristics of flesh."
"Will you quit telling me stuff I don't need to know. I'm taking him back to the robot shop or whatever…"
"Well will you quit being so stingy and be responsible for once?" The younger sibling argued back.
As the two brothers kept bickering with each other about to keep or not to keep, the young persocon suddenly noticed how different the blonde one was acting apart from the other guy. Hmm… maybe he needed a hug too? Well, that's what he planned to do during all the commotion.
And so, as Yuki was about to spat a nasty remark to his brother, the boy stood up on his own, and glomped the unprepared writer.
"Ahh!" He let out a yell of surprise and nearly missed catching his balance.
"Shu!"
Yuki glared down at the persocon and scowled. "Get off me you damn brat!" And he harshly pushed the boy away.
Not ready for this, the pink-haired teen stumbled and fell roughly onto the couch… with Yuki's lap top on it.
A shuttering crunch could be heard beneath the persocon's weight.
Both human men looked on in horror, but the author's face was the only one as white as a sheet.
"My… my computer… my work…" The blonde babbled senselessly to himself. He reached out his hands as if to try and bring the machine back to life.
Tatsuha winced at the sight before him. He knew that his brother was going to explode any now. Great… he'll NEVER be able to convince Yuki to keep the boy now. That's when he noticed the kid was silent, and trembling. He stepped closer to realized that the persocon was staring at Yuki with large watery eyes, tears gathering up in the corners. He was about to… cry?
Oh man…
"Sniffle… sniffle… Shu?… hic…" Obviously, the shove from Yuki had upset the boy and was now sending him into hysterics.
"Uh, look little one, don't worry about my brother. He's just a big jerk who never thinks before he…"
Too late.
"WAAAAAHHHHH!"
For being so quiet the whole time, it was amazing that the kid had such powerful vocal chords at the moment. And who knew that persocons could cry? Tatsuha didn't…
Yuki was still in utter disbelief that his newest novel, with one more chapter left to do on it, was crushed helplessly under a 2 ton weight. The boy had moved off the lap top a little bit just enough to see the condition it was in… it was like an elephant stepped on it. After the shock, anger began finding it's way into the novelist's features.
Meanwhile, the pink-haired boy was still sobbing loudly and Tatsuha was doing everything he could to shut him up.
"Oh come on, don't be like that. It was an accident, okay? He didn't mean to push you, he was just playing! Come on kid, just please stop crying…" He hung his head hopelessly as he saw that the persocon wasn't relenting in his crying.
"Grrr… Eiri! You started this, make it stop already before your neighbours come in and start complaining or something! They'll think we're holding the kid hostage!" He shouted through the screaming.
Yuki leered heavily at his younger sibling and yelled back, "That damn kid just broke my lap top. The last thing I need right now is comfort him!"
"But it's your fault, if you hadn't pushed him, he wouldn't have sat on your computer and he wouldn't be crying!"
"WELL HE'S NOT MY PROBLEM RIGHT NOW!" Yuki was slowly growing from angry, to furious. All this excitement was really getting to him, and he definitely felt a headache coming on. That's when he felt a sharp pulsing in his temples and this ceased his continuous shouting. He held the side of his forehead and closed his eyes in pain.
"Ah, shit…" He cursed and half looked away. God, he hoped he wouldn't cough up anything again…
"Uh… aniki?" The monk's face was replaced with concern as he slowly stood up, ready to help his brother if anything happened again. Maybe all this commotion wasn't good for Yuki's health. It had been a pretty rough morning so far.
No one noticed, but the persocon had mysteriously stopped his wailing to have gotten up and walked over to the hurting novelist. Tatsuha had seen this and he raised an eyebrow in confusion. 'Uh… is he sure that he wants to be that close to Yuki when the guy is that mad?' Thought he didn't interfere.
The persocon looked up blankly at the man and hesitantly raised a hand up to touch his left cheek.
The writer's head was still throbbing and he thought that at any moment he would become sick, but right then Yuki felt this small action and opened his eyes to see the boy standing in front of him and laying a hand on his face.
'What the-?'
The pink-haired creature stared at him curiously, as if he was fascinated just by the mere sight of him. Yuki felt similar to a goldfish at the moment, but he was too busy noticing the boy's almost enticing eyes burning intensely into his own. It was like… he knew that the author was in pain, and that he wanted to try and sooth it. The novelist was about to let out a chuckle, but thought it better to hold it back.
The boy uttered a small word, one they had already heard too many times.
"Shu?"
It was like he was asking if Yuki was okay, though he didn't say it directly.
The blonde's eyes widened in realization of the kind gesture and softened. The boy seemed so… human.
Yuki smiled lightly, and whispered, "Thanks. I'll be fine."
Even if the persocon had trouble understanding his words as well, he smiled gleefully, somehow knowing what the man with golden hair had said.
Tatsuha was oblivious to the gestures the two were giving one another, and blinked.
Yuki and the boy heard these groaning noises coming from the other side of the den and looked to see what it was.
"Ohhhh…." The monk moaned. "My head… I think I'm getting a headache too… oh, it hurts… that pain…" The teen whined and put the back of his hand to his forehead, feigning pain.
The novelist glared aggravatingly at his brother while the persocon just took his hand off the warm cheek and tilted his head, baffled by the sounds coming from the golden-haired man's look-a-like.
Shut-up Tatsuha. You don't get headaches." Yuki sneered in a partly envious voice (since Yuki is the only one in his family that received migraine symptoms) and walked over to his brother. He then began effortlessly pushing the monk toward the entrance/exit.
"Uh, aniki? What are you-?"
"I think you've overstayed your visit, dear Tatsuha. Now it's time for you to go." The blonde opened the door and shoved his younger sibling onto the outside mat.
"B-but what about the-" Before he could finish his question, Yuki had slammed the door in his face.
"Aniki?… ANIKI!" Tatsuha desperately banged on the door, yelling through the wood. "Please let me back in! We need to figure out where the persocon is gonna go!"
"Shut-up! Go home already! Mika visiting me every day is more than enough for me!"
"But Yuuukiiiiii! What about that kid!" He refused to leave until he knew that his short tempered brother wouldn't kill the boy for ruining his lap top.
"I've already decided! Now go away!"
"Huh? You have? Well, where is he going? I wanna know so I could visit him!"
"………" Long pause. "He's staying here… for a while." The novelist said almost shyly.
This left Tatsuha in a stupor. "… I thought you said that you didn't want to keep the kid here. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Well, I figured since the brat doesn't have a receipt attached along with him, that we won'd be able to return him anyway. So, he'll stay here for the time being until I can find someplace that will take him. Who knows, maybe he was originally stolen and somebody's looking for him." Even though the answer was logical, it still seemed unusually kind of Yuki… enough that his little brother could tease him for it.
"Awww, so you DO have a soft spot in your heart for the kid. I knew you'd come around sooner or later. He is a little cutie, isn't he? Wait… does that mean you're only keeping him to… YUKI YOU PERVERT!"
"That's only YOU Tatsuha!" The author yelled back, a pulse forming at his head once more.
"Oh, I'm up to your dirty little tricks now Yuki. Don't you ONCE think I'm gonna let you do anything nasty to that innocent bundle of cuteness Yuki! I'll be keeping my eye on you…"
Yuki opened the door, a pair of weights in his hands.
Tatsuha gulped.
"I should be saying that to YOU!" The novelist didn't hesitate to then throw the exercise equipment at the monk and drive him off his property. The darker-haired man began screaming 'RAPE!' while running down his long driveway and into the streets, nearly getting hit my an eighteen wheeler.
Yuki looked on until his sibling was nowhere in sight, and mumbled, "Psychopath…"
He closed the door, and turned around to find a head of pink hair blocking his vision. The kid was kind of close… a little too close for comfort. All he was doing though was staring up at the blonde without any certain expression on his face.
The writer backed away a bit, scooted up against the wall, and slipped into the living room once clear of the glomping bomb.
He then laid eyes on his newly broken computer and sighed. Great… how was he supposed to work now? His whole story was in there, as well as his ideas and inspirations. No way in HELLS was he writing it all down on paper by memory. And it was all because of that stupid, mechanically challenged, brat…
Maybe it wasn't a good idea to keep him for a while after all…
The persocon walked past the blonde, and examined the cracked computer.
"Don't touch it anymore brat. You've already ruined it enough." Yuki warned, but the kid either didn't hear him, didn't understand him, or simply wasn't listening to him.
The boy picked up what was left of the machine and held it for a while, as if was seeing how the contraption was feeling at the moment. Yuki chuckled at this idea.
'Maybe he can feel other machines emotions. Yeah right…'
The persocon then laid his hand upon the front of the lap top, and waited until a soft blue light began emitting from his fingers. Immediately, the wires and chords that were snapped in the process of sitting on the computer began fixing themselves like magic. The lap top looked brand new afterwards!
The boy looked up at the man and smiled and said, "Shu!" as if he was telling Yuki "Look! I fixed it!"
The author didn't know what to do. He was amazed at what this kid could do. He, the one who broke the expensive piece of equipment in the first place, had repaired it like no big deal! What else could this creature do!
Maybe there was an advantage for keeping the brat around for a while…
--------------------------
End Flashback
--------------------------
Well, at least the brat had fixed his lap top. He had also checked earlier to see if his story was still there, and indeed it was. In fact, the thing was running better than it ever had before!
'Guess that's the power of these things… these… persocons? Yeah… I'm pretty sure that's what that salesman said he was. Hm… whatever.' The blonde proceeded to wake the boy up, and received of what would be one of the many glomps to come.
"Ugh… yes I know. You're an affectionate guy aren't you?" He said rhetorically. The kid just smiled up at him like always. How did he manage to be that happy in the morning anyway?
'Hm… I guess I should stop calling him 'guy' and 'kid', huh? Well… brat is an exception.' He turned to look down at the boy and thought hard about a name for him. There wasn't any mention about a name in the manual, so it seemed like the naming process was up to him.
"Hmm… what should I call you. I guess 'brat' won't work when we're out in public… if I ever let you out in public."
"Shu?" The persocon tilted his head.
"Why do you always say that? I don't get you. Is that what you want to be called? 'Shu'? That's a pretty weird name." He wondered to himself.
……
"How about Shu… ichi?" He presented to the boy. The younger man just smiled and repeated the phrase.
"Okay then. Shu and ichi. Shuichi. How's that? I don't feel like coming up with anything fancy right now, so you'll just have to deal with it."
"Shu!" The persocon kept showing his pearly whites at the blonde and nodded firmly. Even though he didn't quite understand what was going on, it make sense to him a little bit… maybe he'd learn more later on.
"Good. So whenever anybody asks for your name, all you have to say is 'Shu' and they'll know. Okay, we've got that all settled." Yuki stood up and headed for the kitchen. Time for some breakfast.
Shuichi just sat there, not moving an inch until Yuki glanced back at him.
"You coming brat? I know you can't actually eat, but I don't think you'd wanna just sit in here all alone and stuff."
The boy blinked, smiled, then skipped over to his new caretaker to join him for whatever he wanted him to do.
This was going to be quite an adventure for the both of them.
A/N: YAY! Chapter done! Hope you all like it. Sorry I hadn't put up the previews for the other chapters before! I forgot since I had never done it in my other stories.
Preview for the next chapter: Yuki and his persocon (now formally known as Shuichi!) adjust to the life of having another person to live with around the house. And Shu gets some new clothes!
How's that? It doesn't sound very exciting, but I asure you, it WILL be. Look forward to it! And thank you for all of your reviews. More of them for this next chapter would be just fabulous!