Disclaimer- see first chapter, nothing has changed. I haven't won the lottery even once yet. :)

CHAPTER 2: Worries of the heart…

Later that night, while Hideki was changing into his pajamas, Chii reflected on what Hideki had told her as she stared out into the still angry and sad sky. It had stopped raining, but the dark ominous clouds still remained. She could tell that Hideki was still hurting, even though he'd stopped crying long ago. And the way he had explained death seemed so… wrong.

"It means someone is dead. When someone is dead they no longer can talk, move, or breathe. It's… it's like when a Persocon stops working and breaks down. But unlike a Persocon, a human can not be repaired and is 'broken' forever."

'How could something be broken forever?' Chii mused. 'If something happens to a person that breaks them, why can they not be fixed?'

Hideki came back from the bedroom, dragging the futon over towards her while carrying the sheets and blanket. Setting it down by her he quickly made the bed. Usually by this point, Chii would have offered to help, but she continued to stare out the window at the sky in deep contemplation. Hideki looked at her worriedly. She hadn't spoken much since their conversation about his mother's death and what death was. Thinking back on it, he wondered if it had been a good idea to tell her. But he'd been so caught up in the sudden grief of it that had blocked out all thoughts of sheltering and protecting her from the more depressing side of the world.

With a sigh he stood and walked over to her, knowing that what had been done was done; there was no way to take it back. Slowly, as so not to startle her, he reached out and gently laid his hand on her shoulder.

Chii turned her head around and looked up at him. She smiled, but the smile seemed to be unable to reach her usually bright eyes. She looked momentarily distracted, but then she spoke up.

"Is Hideki ready for bed?" she asked him curiously.

"Yes Chii, you can go change now, I'm done," he told her. She stood and made her way to the bedroom and shut the sliding door behind her as she entered.

'She didn't have her usual smile on her face', Hideki noted, frowning slightly as he turned away. A heavy sigh escaped him as he lay down, resting his head on the pillow. He'd been so distraught since his father had phoned him about his mother not feeling well a week earlier and going into the hospital, but he'd refused to let it get in the way of work and his studies. But when the phone call at work had come from him, he knew that something had been terribly wrong.

FLASHBACK

"Motosuwa! You have a phone call!" his manager called to him. Hideki looked up from the dishes, startled. His heart started to pound with worry. Had something happened to Chii or someone else he cared about? The next words sent his heart stuttering to a halt.

"It's your father!"

He froze. Why was his father calling him, and at work of all places? Could something have happened to his mother? Something was seriously wrong, he could feel it. Wiping his hands off on a nearby towel, he slowly moved towards the phone in the next room. His manager handed the phone to him with a quick look of sorrow in his eyes. At that, he knew something had happened. He lifted the phone to his ear and whispered,

"Is she alive?"

"Oh God… I'm sorry son, but she just died 10 minutes ago."

END OF FLASHBACK

He'd half been expecting it, but still, it was his mother. Someone who loved them no matter what he did; someone who had always been there to dry his tears and cheer him up when he was sad or hurt. But now it seemed that as bad it was to lose someone, it meant nothing when you knew that they were no longer in pain, and somewhere of perpetual bliss.

Chii came back changed into her night shirt that Hideki had given her, and switched off the light. She laid herself down next to him as they prepared to sleep, and Hideki closed his eyes after telling her good night and receiving the same back. But rather than shutting her eyes and shutting herself down for the night, she stared at the ceiling in though. After about ten minutes she broke the silence.

"Hideki?"

"Uhhhhhhh… what is it Chii?" he groaned, struggling to open his eyes to look at her.

"Does everything die?" Chii asked quietly.

"Everything that is born dies eventually, that's the way the world works," he replied, then closed his eyes again, desiring sleep. He was almost on the verge of sleep when she asked another question.

"Will Hideki die? Will Hideki die and leave like Hideki's mother?"

"Yes Chii, I will eventually die, but I won't any time soon and not necessarily the same way either. Don't worry Chii, I still have a long time to live before that happens."

Hideki turned over onto his side to face her. She still continued to stare at the ceiling in thought, though she still seemed sad. He yawned, just about to get ready to go back to sleep, more tired than before when she posed the last question.

"Hideki… do Persocon's go to Heaven?"

He stopped and tried to think about it. He had heard someone say that they thought that they did, but he'd also heard arguments that a Persocon was just a machine, a creation of humans, so they therefore had no soul and could not go to Heaven. Unsure, he spoke with hesitation.

"I'm not sure Chii, I've heard people say both yes and no. And I don't know that much about Persocons." With that, he closed his eyes and was sleeping within minutes, snoring slightly. But had he been awake, he would have seen Chii get up and move to the window to look outside again.

"Chii doesn't want Hideki to die," she whispered softly. "Not if Hideki goes somewhere Chii can't go with him."

Ok, that's the end of Chapter 2, and if I don't get any reviews, I won't put up the next chapter, ok?

M & M Forever