Oh, you guys caught on pretty quick to my scheme, though I'm not giving answers just yet! Thank you all who reviewed and said such nice things! It has come to my attention that in the anime and manga, Plum is Sumomo and vis versa, and some of you asked me about that, too. I'm sorry for any confusion, but I prefer Plum over Sumomo. Well, here we go!

Disclaimer: I don't own Chobits or the characters. That honor belongs to CLAMP. Also, I don't own the story this fic is partially based upon. XP!

Chapter 2: The Deal

That night Chi lay alone in the futon, the room dark spare the streetlight from outside the window. She had been deep in thought ever since the morning, unable to rid herself of the message sent to her. She had never heard of the "Blue Fairy Mechanical Agency"; there was no proof it actually existed. She had looked it up herself on the net and found no results except images of a blue fairy from a children's story.

Even through this, the light of hope radiated from her non-existent heart. If it were really possible, if she could truly become real, would Hideki still love her? Would Chi still be Chi?

The front door slid open, Hideki tiredly entering his dorm. The light in the hall brightened everything for a few seconds until he closed it, his eyes quickly adjusting to the welcome darkness. Chi lost sight of him temporarily, hearing his bag hit the floor. There was the distinctive ruffle of clothing and Chi felt him climb into bed next to her.

"Hideki?"

"Hmm?" he grunted sleepily. She saw a faint outline of his sleeping clothes: his undershirt and his boxers. He must have been tired if he didn't even change into real pajamas.

"Chi was wondering...if I was real, would I still be your 'someone just for you'?"

"Yeah, 'course..." he slurred his words together and scratched the side of his face.

She felt her hopes grow some. "Chi had somewhere to go tomorrow. Is it okay with you if I go?"

He grunted again and she smiled, laying down to wrap her arms around his neck.

xXx

After Hideki left for school, Chi had Plum recite the address for her so she could record it herself. Plum had some difficulty and her first try resulted in a short crash. The cute laptop succeeded in replaying the message the second time and bounced up and down on the persocom's knee as Chi finished recording. Kotoko watched from the folds of the unmade futon and groaned as Plum tried to engage her in her hyper bouncing.

Chi changed into one of her dresses, surprisingly plain despite the frilly selection in the closet. She looked to the laptops, "Chi will go alone. Please wait here for Hideki."

Twenty minutes later on the street she was lost. She recited the address over and over as she passed down each and every street, finally asking for directions. She was pointed in the right direction by an old man with a curled beard and power-walked down the slim street.

An old building came into view over the horizon. Some sort of warehouse with a blue roof. A vacant alley sat behind it with several dumpsters and shards of glass around. There was graffiti on the walls in bright colors. Chi almost turned back when she noticed the number of the house: 375.

"This is the right house, Chi. Come on inside. I've been expecting you," the cool voice of the woman on the recording stated calmly in her head.

Chi actually jumped, 'How did you do that?'

'I hacked into you. So sorry to intrude, but I thought you'd gotten lost.'

Chi was stuck on the fact that she had been hacked. How was that possible? When Hideki first found her, no one could figure out how to open any files containing information about her, let alone hack into her! Not even the small boy of a computer genius could do much.

'Is everything well?'

'Chi...' she sighed.

The small persocom walked to the door, opening it with a loud screech of rust. Chi stopped to look around, her thoughts straying to Hideki.

'Don't worry. He'll be fine.'

Chi nodded, coming inside the warehouse. It was almost pitch black after closing the door. The only light was the soft blue glow of computer monitors in the center of the large warehouse. The computers themselves were hung by large wires in a circle around a woman in a seat. There were strange glasses that lit up in an assortment of colors on her eyes and part of her head. Her hair was long and silvery-blue, trailing past her knees, and her skin-tight jumpsuit held tools on clips along with the small jacket on her shoulders. Her gloved fingers typed on a large keyboard before her, the pattering of keys stopping when she realized her visitor had arrived.

"Welcome, Chi. It is a pleasure to finally meet you," she stood, pushing the keyboard to her right. Her heeled boots clicked as they met the cement floor. "I am Blue."

"Chi?" she said, slowly making her way to the tall woman. "Miss Blue said you are expecting Chi. What do you mean?"

Blue moved her glasses up to the top of her head, her blue eyes crinkling with a soft smile. "You are very special, Chi. I've been sent here to help you. My...Agency thinks that you and- Hideki, is it?- are very deserving."

"You are going to turn me real?"

"That was your wish, was it not?"

Chi shrank back some and gasped. How did she know? The persocom had indeed wished to be real, and besides Hideki, that was the one thing she wanted the most.

Blue nodded, pointing to another, only this one was in the fashion of a dentist's chair. "It will be a long process, possibly taking a day. You are sure that you want to do this?"

Chi opened her mouth only to close it, going over everything. She felt Blue going through her head. looking up to see the hacker's goggles aglow. Her face was calm, complete with a smile.

'Being real comes with prices, you know.'

'You mean, Chi needs money?'

Chi could almost hear Blue laugh, 'Not quite. I meant that there are things that humans can do that you can't and vis versa.'

'I understand. The other Chi told me the same thing.'

'I see. Have you talked this over with over with Hideki?'

'No. Chi wanted this to be a surprise.'

'Hmm...So you're sure you want to do this?'

'Yes.'

Chi looked around to see that she was already laying on the long chair. Blue took one of Chi's wires from her ear and hooked it into her goggles now pulled over her eyes. Almost immediately the lenses turned red and the hacker's face scrunched up as though in pain. A few seconds later she relaxed.

'It's all right. I had to hack into your systems again. You're not like other Persocoms where I can get in and stay in. Your system kicks me out after a few minutes. I've heard of a few other cases such as yourself. The Chobits series, correct?'

'Yes,' Chi thought, her eyelids drooping.

'Oh, that reminds me. I need you to sleep for a while, okay? When you wake up, you'll be real.'

'Will Hideki be here to take me home?'

'I promise, child.'

Chi smiled sleepily and allowed the growing darkness to take over.

xXx

When Hideki came home to see the room dark, Plum and Kotoko on the futon, and no sign of Chi, he began to panic. Plum simply stated that Chi had gone out, but Kotoko glumly told him she had been gone since the morning. He then took Plum and placed her on his shoulders, leaving Kotoko, and stumbled out onto the dark street. The streetlights illuminated his fearful features as he ran down the streets with Plum's instructions, the little laptop pointing and calling out which direction after reciting the address. He thought the street name to be odd, sure that he had heard it somewhere: 375 Collodi Street.

"Left! Continue 30 meters until reaching the street! Please look both ways, Master! Right! Continue for 50 meters until reaching a fork, then turn left again...!"

He was lost after ten minutes, trying his best to follow her instructions. Finally, she signaled for him to come to a halt, and he gaped up at the worn down warehouse. He was about to turn around when he saw the soft blue light coming from the dusty windows. He walked up the dirty path and just before he reached the door, a woman's voice spoke softly in his head.

'Hideki Motosuwa, I presume.'

'Whoa! How'd you...? Never mind. How do you know my name?'

'Chi told me.'

'You mean she's here? So this is the right place?'

"You should see for yourself," she said loudly from in front of him.

He realized he was inside, her voice breaking his thoughts. There he saw was the woman, standing well over him by at least a foot. She smiled, waving for him to approach. As he obeyed, he looked for Chi but did not find her.

"She's here, don't worry. I said so, didn't I?" Blue said, bowing angelically. Her long hair fell over her shoulders and fell back neatly into place when she stood. "Blue never lies."

He swallowed, his mouth cotton dry. "Um, what's going on? Why or how do you know Chi?"

"She wished, and I answered. Though I cannot tell you what wished, since she asked me not to, I can assure you it will be worth your time," the hacker replied, stepping from in front of the long chair; he did not understand why he hadn't seen it when she bowed.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw her. There lay Chi, but at the same time, it wasn't her. Her long hair hung over the sides of the chair and where her metallic ears had been were small fleshy ones- Blue had even pierced and placed earring in them. Her cheeks were rosy and she had a charming tan that matched her matured body. It appeared that Blue had aged her at least two years younger then Hideki now, and her arms were folded over her breathing chest.

Hideki's jaw dropped and no matter how many times he swallowed, his throat remained dry. He stepped past Blue to place a hand in his love's hair, feeling slightly happy to feel warmth underneath his fingers.

"How...did this happen? She's really...alive?"

"She was alive before, wasn't she? I simply changed a few things here and there. While the operation was underway, I 'taught' her how to function as regular young women, so she will know how to eat, breath, and so on," Blue explained with a smile.

"But this... this is a miracle!"

"Miracles come in short supply, Mr. Motosuwa," the hacker answered, her smile fading. "There is but one thing. Chi won this in a contest, even wishing it. You are her partner, correct? I ask for one thing from you as a sort of test if you are truly worthy"

He felt the color drain from his cheeks; why did no one think he could have Chi without testing him first?

She continued with stern eyes, "I am asking for something of yours that is precious to you. Something you consider as precious as this woman before you. If you cannot, she'll turn back and remain a Persocom."

His breath caught in his throat. "Okay, so how long can I get back to you?"

She considered, "One week."

He nodded and she picked up Chi carefully to place her in his arms. Chi cooed softly like a small child, making a smile come and take Hideki by surprise. With a nudge from the hacker, he took Chi home.

A/N: Ah...This is really fun, being my first and only Chobits fic so far. I was tickled at all the reviews, especially since I received some by readers I've never heard from before. I guess it's a good idea not to get too tangled up in one category, huh? XD! Anyway, the tempo's going to pick up some more in the next few chapters, but it might take a little longer than usual because I'm still writing this fic in my notebook. Heheh...I'm working on it though!! Review please, and see you in the next chapter!