A/N:Okay then, I guess I'm able to write another chapter before college comes along. Aren't you all excited? This in only chapter 8 and I've got a hellavu lot o' reviews. It inspires me greatly! Be looking forward to more updates!
CHAPTER 8: Sweet Treat
Tohma sat diligently at his desk deep in thought, his paperwork forgotten. His hands were folded underneath his chin and he looked every bit of a business man as he was. His aqua eyes studied the data he'd pulled out from his drawer of special cases. It was a profile on what little information they had about the missing Chobit.
The only thing written on the page was the year it was made, the type of mechanical media it was, and its licence number. The square box next to the stats was filled with a grey silhouette of a person since no one had a proper picture of this creature. It was lost within the files of their main computer when that energy surge swept the city. Tohma knew, before any assumptions were made, that it must've have been the Chobit.
Something had triggered the machine's hard drive to cause such a powerful wave to damage their equipment. Tohma went with the theory that someone must have turned on the Chobit with or without knowing it. And since he had the knowledge of how any kind of persocon was switched on, he could only hope that the people knew what they were doing. Thinking about a stranger doing something so criminal to a persocon… well, he'd rather not think of that. They would obviously be some kind of sicko. But he couldn't presume anything yet. They still hadn't found a trace of their experiment anywhere.
'Hopefully Fujisaki is having more luck than we are.' Tohma squeezed his interlaced hands together and got back to the paperwork pushed to the side of his desk.
-----------------------------
"Here it is!" Yuji presented the cute little shop to his new found friend while smiling a goofy smile. Shuichi's eyes sparkled at the small store and noticed some decorated cakes in the window. Too bad he couldn't eat food, otherwise he'd be drooling right about now.
"What do you think? I mean, there still needs to be a few renovations done on the paint and the door, but overall I think I lucked out when I got this baby, am I right?" He nudged the persocon playfully.
"Shu!" The pink-haired android nodded.
"Well, come on in! I'll show you what you'll be doing here." Yuji lead the persocon into his shop and closed the paint-chipped, wooden door, a tiny bell sounding after the jolt.
"I love that part!" Yuji squealed and poked the bell a couple times. Shuichi smiled warmly at the man. He seemed like such a nice guy!
"Ahem!" The retired chef regained his composure. "Now, this is where you'll be working most of the time." He gestured to a counter where the cash register was. "Basically, you'll be the one handling all the people's money. Think you're up to the job?" He asked half jokingly.
Shuichi turned back to him and gave an agreeing, "Mm!"
"Awesome! Well, you're hired. Welcome to Café Huzi Sachi!" He then tied an apron around Shuichi's form. The persocon squeaked with delight. He finally got a job! Wouldn't Yuki be so proud of him!
-----------------------------
Yuki nearly missed hitting a car on the left side of him while he was trying to change lanes.
"Shit! Dumbass, watch it!" Yuki cursed but slowly cooled down after coming to a red light.
The only thing that kept running through his head was "Where's Shuichi, where's Shuichi, where's Shuichi?"
"Geez, that little idiot! How could he just go out on his own like this?" Then Yuki thought of another possibility. What if someone had taken him? Maybe a stranger came in around midnight and Shuichi, being the naïve dolt that he was, didn't think him a threat. Or maybe the stranger had knocked him out somehow and took the boy with him. Of course not many people are able to knock out a 190 lb android. Well, whatever trouble the baka had gotten into, it was nearly giving his owner a heart attack.
The worried novelist had pushed the petal to the metal as soon as he saw the first hint of green at the stop light, but unfortunately read it wrong as it happened to be the green arrow for the people turning next to him.
A few more seconds had passed until Yuki heard a siren behind him. In his rear view mirror, he spotted a policeman on a moped.
"Great!" His brow furrowed in frustration, but pulled over nonetheless. He didn't want to make this day worse by disobeying a cop's order to halt.
Was it just he who thought this, or did every single police officer in the whole damn world have to take fifteen minutes before getting out of their car to give you the stupid ticket?! And then they took another twenty minutes to go back to their car with your insurance and license to write the ticket! Sometimes he thought they did this on purpose…
-----------------------------
Yuji showed Shuichi to the back of the store where his small, cramped office was. The retired chef dug through the old closet behind his desk and got out some form of clothing.
"I was thinking, once I get a few more employees, that they'd all where uniforms." He held it up in front of him to inspect if there were any dust bunnies or tears on it. "So this is what I came up with!" He twirled around and presented it to Shuichi.
"Well? Isn't it cute?" He chimed while holding up a maid looking outfit with an apron attached and some stockings slung over the shoulder of the hanger.
The persocon didn't know much about the difference between boy clothes and girl clothes, but he did know what was pretty and what wasn't. His eyes twinkled at the gorgeous gown as his head nodded in agreement.
"I knew you would! Maybe you could try it on for me? See how it would fit?" Yuji pleaded.
Shuichi kept on nodding.
After being in the changing room for a couple of minutes, the persocon came out with the light blue and white poofy dress on and glanced down at himself.
Yuji almost died from happiness. "Wow! It looks awesome on you! Oh, I can't wait until this business is up and running!" Yuji hopped out to the entrance of the store as did Shuichi (due to his habit of copying people's strange movements.)
"But first, we need to promote this place. I don't have enough money to make posters or even homemade flyers. It's all going to this shop, you know?" Yuji rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So how can I get people to haul in the money?" The persocon stood next to him in front of the doors and let out a small "Shu".
Yuji looked at his new companion and smiled all knowingly.
-----------------------
Hiroshi Nakano woke up early to go help his brother out with the pastry shop after Yuji phoned him, crying about how he got fired and that he was short of hands. It wasn't a pleasant wake up call, but Hiro was in an oddly good mood today, so he relented.
After changing, doing his morning duties and grabbing his small backpack, the red head went out the door of his apartment complex and made a course for his brothers shop.
"Hm… Yuji mentioned over the phone about getting a new employee. And a cute one at that. I wonder who he picked up along the way?" Hiro contemplated to himself while waiting for a crosswalk light to change. In under ten minutes he arrived at the Huzi Sachi Café and let himself in.
The place was kept up pretty nice, with a light yellow and baby blue plaid wallpaper, white tables and chairs, and a few pink decorations here and there. But nothing that took away from the exquisite and colorful designs on each individual cake. He saw no sign of Yuji or anyone else, so he made his way behind the counter, opened the glass slide door, took out a truffle filled brownie and…
"We have cameras in here you know." A sly voice said from behind him. Hiro stopped in his tracks and turned around to face his one and only older brother standing in the doorway of his office.
"Well, hey there Yu. Didn't know anyone was in here." Hiro shrugged, still holding the chocolate delight in between his greedy fingers.
"I am the store manager, Hiroshi. I see everything that goes on here. Nothing can get passed my super senses of hearing and sigh- HEY!!"
Hiro had popped the desert into his mouth from boredom.
"Okay then, you called me because you needed some help? What's the deal?" He asked while licking his fingers.
Yuji, still in shock over what his brother just did, stood there with his mouth hanging open and finger pointing accusingly at him.
"Uh, alright…" Hiro rolled his eyes and sat down at one of the tables. "Oh come on. It was just one little chocolate."
"Oh yeah? Well that's one little chocolate that's coming out of your paycheck!" Yuji yelled, acting as if Hiro worked here. "Now I'm one short from the display! I needed twelve of those to be shown in this window!"
"Well then make another one."
"I don't have an chefs!"
"Then how did you get all these?"
"They came with the shop by default! Whenever you go into the pastry making business, they give you a starting amount of deserts, then after that you have to find your own cooks to do the job!" Yuji cried.
"Sigh, I swear. You are such a baby." Hiro looked away and crossed a leg over the other.
"How can you be so laid back when I just lost my second job today?" Yuji said wearily while sinking to the floor.
"Ain't no skin off my back." The red head shrugged for the second time.
"Why you little sh-"
"-Shu?"
Both siblings turned their attention towards the noise that came from the open office door.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…Wow… I know you said you got a new employee… I didn't think you meant employee…"
"SHUT UP! It's not that way you sick pervert!" Yuji shouted at him.
"Tch. Who's the pervert?" Hiro teased and stood to go meet the new worker bee.
"Be polite in front of my friend! This is Shuichi. Shuichi, this is my asshole little brother, Hiroshi."
"Nice to meet you, Shuichi." Hiro smiled kindly. What an interesting little kid… oh wait… those ears. So, it's a persocon.
"Konnichiwa!" Shuichi learned that from a game show he watched everyday.
Hiro's heart fluttered. 'I guess Yuji was right. He is a cutie! Too bad I'm straight." Hiro thought jokingly.
"Jealous?" Yuji wiggled an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"…"
Awkward silence passed between everyone.
"So, is that the new uniform you wanted for the store?" Hiro quickly got onto a subject.
"Why yes it is. Do you like it?" The retired chef smiled smugly.
"Well, yeah, but why did you put it on him?"
"What do you mean? I needed a model to see how the new outfi-……."
A light bulb went off in Yuji's head.
"………………Did you say… 'him'?"
"Uh, yeah? Why'd you put it on a guy?" He repeated.
Yuji slowly turned toward the persocon and looked it up and down. Had he really missed something so important?
"Shu!" The boy chirped with random energy.
"Oops…"
--------------------------
Yuki shoved his ticket into his glove department and sped off after the cop had turned off somewhere else. That police officer had wasted thirty minutes of his time which should have only been fifteen in all! What was with societies law enforcers today?! He had to find that brat!
Shuichi…
With the ticket forgotten, Yuki's eyes scanned the sidewalks and store windows for any sign of the pink-haired persocon, hoping to God that nothing happened to him.
"Geez, when did I become like this?" The man asked himself helplessly.
After a few more minutes of driving, Yuki wondered if it'd be better to look for the persocon on foot. So he parallel parked his car, and headed off in one direction or the other.
'How am I supposed to find him in this big a city? Seriously, it's like trying to find an STD carrier… well, actually that's not too hard.'
He kept walking around aimlessly, looking in windows and even turned some people around to see their face, mistaking their flaming dyed pink hair as Shuichi. Crazy teens…
At this rate, Yuki's hopes were fading away and he was just about to take a visit to the police station on a missing persons report, but he encountered something much worse instead.
Either he was delusional from not getting enough sleep, or that was his little baka of a persocon wearing a maids outfit in the middle of the sidewalk.
--------------------------
Shuichi was busy holding up a sign on a post with hastily scribbled words on there (courtesy of Yuji) that said, "Opening Day! Won't you come in?", on it. The persocon was directing it towards people as they walked by, emitting a small "shu?" as in "will you read this?"
Some people stopped by just to look at Shuichi and his cute exterior, others were genuinely interested in the shop and headed inside, and there were those that had fun in harassing the poor persocon… sexually.
One teenage boy was in front of the pink-haired android and was talking sweet to it while his friend went around behind him to lift up his dress for a panty peek. Yuki saw this and shooed the rascals off the only way he knew how.
Glare.
They were running like a couple of foxes being chased by a hunting party.
The novelist stomped up to the boy, cringed at what he was wearing, then addressed him.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Shuichi turned around swiftly to see the man that was yelling a him in a familiar tone, and brightened up.
"Yuki!" He dropped the sign and attached himself to the blonde. The said blonde was much to pissed to return the hug and pried the overly excited Shuichi off him.
"Where in the seven hells have you been?! I woke up this morning to find that you had left the building and wandered out on your own. Without even telling me!" He shouted angrily at his strange pet.
Shuichi knew when he was being scolded, so he simply drooped his head and shame and meekly lifted his lavender pools to look at Yuki. Was he made because he got a job? Or maybe the job wasn't good enough to "pay the bill". But somewhere in his owner's eyes there was a hint of concern.
Maybe he was worried about him?
He'd seen that look before. Whenever Shuichi cut himself on sharp objects (even if there was no blood), the author would check him to make sure he was okay, and stare at him with those exact same eyes...
He hadn't been paying attention to Yuki's rant and only managed to hear the last line.
"Well? Are you gonna say anything about it?! Perhaps tell me why you left? And why you're prancing around in a maid's outfit in the middle of the sidewalk?!"
Shuichi gasped lightly, remembering his job, and picked the sign back up to display to the public. The older man had a "wtf" look on his face and grabbed the sign from his persocon.
"Did you write this? And grand opening for what?" He puzzled over the message.
"Mm!" Shuichi pointed to the pastry shop right behind him.
"This place?" Yuki thought for a moment, trying to fit the pieces together. "Did someone tell you to hold this?"
A nod.
"Who?"
"That would be me." The one and only Yuji said from the shop's entrance.
Yuki studied the man in white and noticed the badge on his breast pocket. It said his name, Nakano Yuji, and the word "Manager". So that's who this guy was.
"I've been watching you for a while now and frankly I don't like the way you're treating my employee." He said stepping up to the blonde stranger.
"Employee? Him?" Yuki raised an eyebrow.
"That's right. He works for me, and I suggest you stop harassing him before I call the cops on your ass." He threatened.
Yuki glared. He did NOT want another run in with some cops today. "Oh really? Forcing this poor kid to where a girl's dress? Wouldn't those police men find this particular act a little more offensive?"
"Hey, the guy wanted to keep it on! I tried to tell him he didn't have to wear it, but he insisted! It was of his own free will, got it?" Yuji said defensively.
"Uh huh. Right." Yuki's face deadpanned.
"I'm serious!" Yuji roared.
"Hey Yuj! What's going on? We got customers waiting inside." Hiro stuck his head out of the store and noticed scene. A chill ran up his spine at the hostile aura emitting from the area. "Um, is this a bad time?"
"Hi-ro!" Shuichi ran over to the red head and glomped him.
"Woah! Hey there, nice to see you too… but it's only been ten minutes." Hiro smiled at the boy and rubbed his head.
A twinge of something burst inside Yuki.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked.
"Huh. Not too friendly with first impressions, are you?" Hiro let go of Shuichi and walked up to them. The persocon followed.
"This guy was bothering Shu-chan! I saw him yelling at him from the window!" Yuji pointed at the big scary blonde man with his rage-shaken finger. Sometimes Hiro wondered if he was the younger one of the family…
"Well, did you ever think that maybe they know each other?"
"B-but, he was being mean!" Yuji cried.
"Maybe this is his owner. Though the attitude could use a little adjustment."
"This guy? HA HA HA HA HA!! Yeah right! This cold-hearted bastard?! You've got to be kidding me!" The retired chef almost fell to the ground laughing.
But no one objected to this assumption.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"… You can't be serious…" Yuji squinted his eyes at the blonde.
Yuki had gotten out a cigarette during the moment of silence and blew out a puff of smoke in the manager's face.
"Guilty."
Yuji's jaw dropped to the floor.
"And I want to know why you have Shu-chan in a maid's outfit."
"I-it's advertising! I needed some customers for the grand opening, so I sent him out here to reel them in."
"In a dress? You do realize he's a boy right?"
"Yeah… a got that a while ago…" Hiro smirked.
"Look, this is how it goes…"
------15 minutes later of Yuji explaining the whole job thing to Yuki------
"And that's what happened."
Yuki had fallen asleep standing up.
"ARE YOU SLEEPING?!"
"Hm?" The novelist woke with a start, but narrowed his eyes again. "Well, whatever the case, he's coming back home with me." Yuki took Shuichi by the arm. "Let's go." The persocon obediently followed.
"Wait! I need him! He's employed here!" Yuji stopped them by grabbing onto the boy's other arm.
"I don't think so. You've already proven to me that you're a complete idiot with that whole story of yours." The author tugged.
"Yeah but he came to me! He wants this job!" Yuji tugged harder.
"Well you'd have to get permission from his owner, and that's me!" Pull.
"Can I borrow him then?" Yuji asked. Tug.
"No!" Yuki shouted. Pull.
Shuichi, being in the middle of all this, didn't like the way he was being handled and started to tear up.
"Oh no…"
"Uh oh…"
"WAAAAHHHHH!!!" Shuichi fell to the ground on his knees and brought his hands up to his eyes to shield the tears, failing miserably. People who passed by stared in disbelief and contempt at the two men supposedly causing the young boy to cry.
"Ahhh! No, no, Shuichi don't cry! That's bad for business! They're going to think I'm some kind of pervy child molester and lock me up for the rest of my young life!" Hiro placed a hand on his brothers shoulder.
"Yo! Calm down Yuji! See?" He gestured toward the sight in front of them. All of a sudden, it had gotten quiet.
"Oh…"
Yuki had bent down to Shuichi's level and wrapped his arms around him in a comforting hug. The persocon immediately stopped crying and only let out a few sniffles here and there. It was like watching a mother care for her child… except with two men…
Yuji couldn't say anything. The moment was just too touching to interrupt. He knew when he'd been defeated.
Yuki made Shuichi look up at his face and wiped the rest of the tears off his cheek and nose. The boy giggled all the while when Yuki gave him a smile of reassurance.
Maybe this rude guy really did have a heart for his little pink employee.
After everything settled down, Hiro motioned for everyone to come inside and have a seat to relax. The customers that were waiting in line before had left because of the disturbance they were making, so it was break time to say the least.
Yuki soon found out why Shuichi had left that morning after getting to talk a little more with the group.
"Is that why you were gone all of a sudden?" He asked sincerely.
Shuichi nodded. "Yuki has to… 'pay the bills' for Shu to live with him… so Shu wanted to help…" The persocon replied in a small voice.
"See? Now is that such a bad thing?" Yuji added in. "You jumped to conclusions too early Mr. Yuki. Maybe if you had taken the time to listen you would hav-" The novelist stuffed a strawberry cupcake into the chatter box's mouth.
Hiro was trying to contain his laughter. His brother should have seen that coming…
Yuki then turned his attention back to Shuichi and examined the boys troubled features. Was he afraid that Yuki was mad at what he did?
"Shuichi… I'm not mad at you for getting a job. I was just angry that you didn't tell me where you were going. I thought that someone had broken in and kidnapped you or something."
The persocon's shining eyes gazed at his owner in adoration.
The author couldn't help but look away from that precious face for a minute, then continue, "Just… leave a note when you head out. Or better yet… let me come with you, kay?"
"Kay!" Shuichi smiled and copied his master's word for "alright". Yuki gave a small smile in return.
"You really are a handful…" He rubbed a hand through his hair.
"Okay then, if we're all done with the warm and gooey centered moment here, mind if we get back to work? I think there are some people looking through our window." Hiro stood to go take off the "At lunch" sign outside.
"Oh right!" Yuji had spit the cupcake out of his mouth and went straight to business.
Yuki and Shuichi sat for a while longer, but the persocon got up and gave his owner a reassuring smile.
"Yuki doesn't have to worry. Shuich has friends!" He then hopped off to the counter for his orders from Yuji, which was for him to take that outfit off asap.
Yuki gazed at the scene playing out, and whispered under his breath.
"Yeah… that's what I'm afraid of."
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A/N: Awwww, Yuki's getting jealous of Shuichi having other friends to hang out with! Ahem… well, as you can see, Shuichi is advancing in the vocabulary department. Did everyone like Yuji's character? I can imagine him being kind of whiny and childish at times, which makes Hiro seem like the older brother. He acts that way in the manga, right? I don't remember him very well…
But anyway, like I said, here's my responses to your reviews!
DEAR REVIEWERS
swinth- Well, I don't want you to die anytime soon, so I'll keep updating no matter what!
anna- Aw, thanks so mu- wait… what about sex?! O.O;
DarkMetalAngel of Destruction- Hey der! I remember you! Thanks for following along with my story after a YEAR of not updating.
EarnestInBerlin- Yup! Hard to believe, but I updated! And now that I've got my creativity back, nothing shall stop me!!
sayuri-girl- Cherries? Cakes? O.O MINE!! Jk. Thanks for saying so! Glad you think it's funny.
hokage- I remember you too!! And this chapter's your answer to that hoping of yours!
Anon- No problem! As long as college doesn't conflict too much with my free time (which it shouldn't), then I'll be like Yuki with an oncoming deadline (simile). Awwwand it's SUPER AWESOME that you think this is one of the best Gravi fics you've read in a while. What a scrumptulescent feeling!!
eh.sure.whatever.- I know what you mean! I like to bring back the golden oldies sometimes. Yuji is such a cutie, I just couldn't resist not putting him in here!
Determined- I know. Doesn't it just tickle you:3