It was a bright and sunny day-not that it mattered to Hideki, who had been spending the last few months cooped up in his apartment. Ever since his parents sent him a computer, the joy of internet addiction was infectious to him. He spent hours in his room, discovering many MMORPGS and chatting online with people, along with watching many videos on YouTube, reading fanfictions and . His latest discovery was MySpace. Yes, MySpace, a site that became popular over the years. Everybody thought it was great, regardless of the constant spammers and one of their friends being hacked every other week.
Chii was happy for him. Instead of them having to spend their money on his magazine "collection", it was all free on many sites. Whenever Hideki needed to use the bathroom or wanted something to eat and drink, or-rarely-bathed, his cheerful, dedicated persocom downloaded all his pornography into many USB sticks that Shinbo had gave him. Kotoko rolled her eyes at this ridiculous new style of living for Hideki. Sumomo didn't seem to mind, she was used to her former Master acting like this. She still served as an alarm clock and made sure they all still their morning exercises, so at least Hideki had not gained that much weight. However, he was still pale from the lack of sunlight.

Since the computer was so convenient, he took all his college classes online, and his tests as well, which made it easy for his friends to send him the answers and with the online textbooks, he never had to spend another penny again. Hideki still had work, being a waiter at Club Pleasure during the week for a few hours and then rushing back home where he sat comfortably in his revolving chair.

He was so deep into his online life, that everytime he had to spend a day or more without a computer near him, he went crazy with boredom and his body ached, longing for a monitor, keyboard, etc...None of his friends tried very hard to cure him of this addiction. Soon, everyone knew that if they wanted to contact him, they'd have better luck sending him an email, IM, or PM rather than a letter or a phone call. It was like the internet was taking over his world, sucking the life out of him, for he seemed like a zombie when he was in the "real world".

One day he got a PM on MySpace. The default pic was of an attractive and voluptuous woman. He eagerly clicked the message and tried not to have a nosebleed. The message was introducing herself as a 20 year old college student and inviting him to go to a party in a popular bar. Hideki replied back and accepted the invitation, not thinking twice about whether or not the 20 year old was really a 40 year old man or a transexual who could possibly traumatize him for life or maybe even turn out to be a serial killer who eats the organs of his victims. He decided to bathe with plenty of soap and got dressed up in a nice outfit. Kotoko, Sumomo, and Chii said goodbye to him, neither Sumomo nor Kotoko told him about the many broadcasts on TV about Japanese Dateline and the many, many online-related crimes committed.

Hideki headed towards the bar, many people that knew him were surprised to see him out and about. It took him longer than it usually did for him to get used to the rays of the sun. He heard a strange noise nearby. The curiosity overwhelmed his common sense as he went into the dark alley way that nobody else had noticed. An arm grabbed him and he let out a yell that was muffled by other hands. He thrashed around, the adrenaline rushed through his body.

"This is for your own good!" A couple of familiar voices yelled at him

"What the-? Shinbo, Ueda?!"

They dragged him into an empty apartment. Using the rope they had in there, they tied him up and stared at him. They brought in some computers. Shinbo grabbed a blunt object and started to demolish one of the PC's.

"Nooooo!"

Ueda filled a cup in a sink and then splashed his former employee.

"Calm down." Hideki spit out the water and struggled to get free. Watching all those computers being smashed made him feel terrible. He couldn't bear it.

"Sorry about this," Shinbo began "but you've got a serious problem. I'm going to have to ask Chitose to cut off your electricity."

"And, just as a precaution, I've blocked you from all your favorite sites." Minoru stepped in.

Hideki was flabbergasted. He tried to think of something to say but couldn't. The three started to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"Don't worry, we'll be back to give you water and food. But keeping you trapped in here will be the best way to make sure you don't get online. It's time for a long break." Shinbo stated.

The tied up male was silent as they left. He just stared at the wall in a dazed state, knowing he would become insane if they had left him here. Hours seemed like an eternity...Days dragged on and a whole month passed and he seemed like an empty shell. Shinbo, Ueda and Minoru came back filled with pity and other mixed feelings at the sight of Hideki.

"Was the really the best way to do this?" Ueda asked, concerned.

"He'll be back to his old, normal self in a while, we've got to get him back to society and make him work more shifts at Club Pleasure." Minoru said.

"Yo, Hideki, ready to leave?" Shinbo untied him.

"Uh..." Hideki had a lifeless tone, and was slightly drooling.

"We probably should've just used a therapist..."

"Hideki's been pawned. Pawned good"

I can never understand these emotions I have; it doesn’t make it any easier when you can constantly ask, ‘do you love me?’ I wanna say yes but something always grips my chest…some kind of force that mixes all of these emotions up. What does all of this mean?

Dita woke up from her slumber; she had once again fallen asleep with her head in Zima’s lap. Dita had always fallen asleep in his lap; she was programmed to stay by his side and fought any of the hackers that got into his data bank.

“You know, it would be nice if you wake me up!” She replied, firmly.

Zima looked down at the small persocom, “I couldn’t possibly wake up my Dita when she lays on me sleeping. You look so adorable when you sleep!”

It’s that feeling again… Dita had felt a strange warmness inside her heart.

“Is something wrong, love?” Zima asked her.

“Of course nothing is wrong,” she lied.

What are these emotions?

“Did anything happen while I was sleeping?” Dita looked up at the tall persocom.

“Nothing out of the ordinary happened, love.” Zima rubbed her back.

Dita looked at him blankly, “How would you know? You don’t even pay attention!”

“I do too,”

Dita got up and stood over the roof; she started surveying for anything that didn’t seem right.

“I told you, nothing out of the ordinary.” He smiled.

“It never hurts to make sure.” She replied.

Zima watched her check every persocom on the street; she was always cautious and took the mission seriously.

Sometimes he wondered if they needed to have a break from all the hard work; he wanted to have a little fun.

“Dita, you need to relax!” Zima told her.

Dita looked angrily at him, “You never take this seriously! One of these days, you won’t even be aware that something is wrong!”

“Don’t you think its time we gave it a rest?”

Dita didn’t understand why he had to be so laid back; she couldn’t even tell if he was interested in what they were doing.

“We can’t give it a rest. If we do that then something bad will happen before we even realize it!” She explained.

“Exactly! Looking around won’t solve anything.”

Dita stared at him; she still had the angry look in her eyes, “Why don’t you do something useful for once and try seeing anything out of the ordinary.”

“Dita, we have been at this all day! Can’t we have just a little bit of fun?” Zima wrapped his arms around her.

Dita pulled his arms off her, “We’re on a mission! We don’t have time for stupid games!”

“Why do you have to be so uptight?” Zima asked her.

Dita returned her angry look towards him, “Why do you have to be so laid back?”

“I just don’t think watching for anything out of the ordinary all the time will do us any good! This is so boring!” Zima rested against the thick skyscraper pole on the roof of where they stood.

“You wouldn’t be bored if you took your job seriously,” Dita had been grabbed around her waist again; he had kissed her lips when she hadn’t been aware.

Zima jumped off the building; she grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

“Don’t do that,” she replied, angrily.

Zima smiled, “At least I got your attention!”

“You idiot…you could have gotten yourself killed!”

“Oh, so now you’re all caring!” He smirked.

Zima only felt the sharp stinging pain across his cheek; he hated seeing her mad and sometimes it seemed as if he got carried away.

Dita looked angrily at the sky; she had her back turned towards him and her arms folded.

Zima knew better than to make her even more mad; he was so hurt by the pain he felt on his cheek. Zima felt the tears fill his eyes; he rushed off to another building where she would have to find him.

Zima had thought of how cute she looked when she was mad; he cried himself into hibernation mode because of the lingering pain on his cheek.

Dita tracked him down; she hadn’t meant to hurt him and she felt bad enough that she had. Dita didn’t want him to be mad at her; she got as carried away with getting mad at him as he did teasing her.

Dita pulled his arm off his stomach and took her favorite place on his chest; he put his arm around her, that’s when she asked, “Can you forgive me?”

Zima opened his eyes; he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Zima loved her so much that he wanted to see her happy; he didn’t want her to slap him like that. Zima decided to play the silent treatment; he wanted her to do something that would make him forgive her.

Maybe if I play silent she’ll kiss my cheek. He thought.

Dita knew he gave her the silent treatment; she knew he was mad at her for slapping him. Dita gently patted the red cheek that she hit; she felt the tear of pain touch her fingertips.

Dita frowned; she gave his cheek a kiss.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you and…” Dita had to hold her own tears back, “…I don’t want you mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at you, love. I’m just hurt.” He told her.

“Yeah I know…” Dita still felt as if he was mad; she pulled away from him and sat away from him.

Tears rolled down her cheeks; she felt a pair of long arms pull her back to a comforting spot, “I never said you could leave your spot,”

Dita rested her head against the usual spot against his chest; she didn’t understand why she felt so upset. Dita felt like she wanted him to say something sweet to her; she hated it when they got into a fight.

Zima felt the tears soak his clothing; he smiled and gently kissed her forehead.

“I love you,” He replied, softly.

Dita smiled; she didn’t feel like crying anymore.

“I love you too,”

I understand all of these feelings father. You wanted me to love Zima and stay by his side. Isn’t that right? I will never let go of him.

It was night fall, the sky was covered in a dark blue blanket with dotted stars over the horizon; the moon had been the center of attention while being surrounded by the stars. It’s golden yellow light gave a perfect light source for watching anything that wasn’t ordinary in the area.

Dita couldn’t get to sleep; she still seemed a bit confused about her feelings. Even though Dita knew that the love she felt with Zima was special to her; she felt as if something had kept her from being with him. Maybe because they were both persocoms it had made a bigger difference upon her but wasn’t it what her father wanted her to feel?

Zima had woken up from his slumber mode; he noticed Dita was sitting on the end of the flat rooftop gazing at the dark horizon. Zima knew something was on her mind; he was very curious about this and crawled over to her.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Dita asked him, knowing he was behind her.

Zima smiled, “Not until you come back and cuddle with me,”

“I’m not tired right now,”

Zima looked into her eyes; he could tell she couldn’t stay awake any second.

“Don’t lie. I can tell you’re about to fall asleep, love.”

Dita had been really serious about their mission; she seemed a little too serious about that she lacked the sleep she needed.

“Someone has to watch the area,”

Zima pulled her off the spot she was in; she didn’t want to be held.

This bothered Zima, “You’re not worried about watching the area, are you?”

“It’s not your concern what I am worried over,”

“Yes it is; I don’t like this feeling that you have. It is bothering me love! Tell me what’s wrong.”

Dita looked away from him, “Don’t worry about me, kay?”

“I will worry about you! You know how much I care about you!” Zima told her.

Dita cared about Zima too; she loved being with him. Dita wanted to figure out the meaning of what love really was; she wanted to share that love with Zima.

Zima pulled Dita over to the thick skyscraper; he rested his body against it. Zima pulled his over coat off and covered Dita’s body with it; she had fallen sound asleep with her head on the usual spot on his lap.

Dita had woken up from her slumber a few hours later; she could tell the sky was still dark. Dita snuggled under the warmness of his black over coat; she pushed her arms through the long baggy sleeves and rested her head on his chest.

Zima smiled; he rested his head on hers.

Dita had woken up; she realized Zima had gone somewhere.

Where could he have gone? She wondered.

Dita realized his jacket was still on her; he would probably back soon. Dita waited for hours; she decided to go out looking for him.

It had seemed as if he disappeared; she felt tears fill her eyes.

Dita heard Zima calling her name; he seemed to be really worried.

This worried her more; she woke up and realized it was just a dream.

“Are you okay?”

Dita started to cry, “I just had a dream,” A small pout formed on her lips.

“It couldn’t have been just any dream if you cried,”

Dita looked at him, “It was a dream that…I…uh….” She started to cry.

Zima pulled her close to him; he rubbed her back, comforting her so she could tell him about it.

“I dreamed that when I had woken up and…y-you were gone…I thought that you went out for a while but the more I waited the more worried I got so I went looking for you but…I couldn’t…I couldn’t find you! All I could hear was you calling my name…I got so scared that I started to cry…” She rested her head in his lap.

“You know I would never leave without you, love.” He smiled.

Dita started to sobbed, “I was really scared though! It seemed as if you had left me!”

“Shhh, it was only a dream, kay? Everything will be alright. I’m right here.”

Dita felt comforted by his soft voice and his warm hand rubbing her back; she stopped crying but felt too scared to sleep.

“I can’t sleep,” she told him.

Zima smiled, “It’s okay. Morning should be coming soon.”

“Zima…”

“Yes, love?”

Dita’s cheeks turned red, “Do you promise to always stay by my side?”

“Of course, I’ll always be here. You know I would never leave you behind.” He told her.

Dita smiled; she had a feeling of comfort while she was with Zima.

This feeling had felt warm and soothing; she wanted to keep it that way.

It was finally morning, Dita had her head resting in Zima’s lap; she hadn’t realized she fell asleep.

Zima woke up from his slumber mode; he noticed the small persocom sleeping in his lap. Zima hesitated to move his leg; he never liked walking her up even though she got mad every time he let her over sleep.

Dita finally woke up; she felt the hot sun beating over her. It had made her feel really hot; Dita gave Zima his overcoat back; she wasn’t fond of long overcoats or capes.

Zima smiled; he put it back on.

Dita watched some of the persocoms and their humans out for an early walk; she kept her eyes on everyone.

Zima had gotten back to sleep; he must have been tired from staying up with her last night.

“Zima, wake up!”

Zima opened his eyes, “Come on! Can’t I sleep just a little longer?”

“Maybe later,” she smiled.

Zima started to massage her shoulders a little bit; she hadn’t minded at all. In fact she thought it was sweet; she seemed too busy with watching persocoms for anything suspicious.

“I still think we need a break,”

“Zima, don’t start that, okay? I don’t want to get mad at you.” Dita was already starting to get angered.

“Fine,” he frowned.

“I’m not trying to sound mean. I just don’t wanna take chances. I mean it’s not that I don’t mind taking a break but we weren’t programmed for that sort of thing. We were programmed to watch every possible interference with persocoms.”

Zima had only remembered the chobits girl that would have deactivated every other persocom, “Dita, we haven’t had a single lead since that girl would have deactivated her program. What makes you think it will happen again?”

“Well, it never hurts to be sure, okay?”

Dita didn’t know what else she could do; she knew there had to be something wrong out there and maybe it was something they hadn’t discovered.

“Have you found anything yet?” She looked up at the tall persocom.

“Nope, not a single disturbance.” Zima was getting really bored.

Dita always took the mission too seriously; she wasn’t programmed to act laid back like Zima tended to do. Dita was committed into doing her job right; she wouldn’t stop at anything to make sure things were right again.

“Maybe we should move to another roof?” Zima asked her.

“You can, it might be easier if we split up.” Dita suggested.

“Uh-huh! I am not going anywhere without you! We were programmed to stay together and you know that as well as I do.” Zima wasn’t trying to sound as if didn’t want to go alone, “Besides, what if some hacker tries to hack into my data bank? You won’t even know I’m in trouble unless you were there with me.”

Dita had forgotten about the fact that Zima hadn’t been protected like she was; she had also been programmed with the best anti-virus software and firewall there was. Zima didn’t have any protection; she was programmed to destroy any hackers that tried to work their way into his national data bank.

Zima started to wrap his arms around her; he had never wondered that sometimes he was too touchy. Dita didn’t mind because she was the same way; she didn’t touch him but she always laid on him and even snuggled wit him.

“What do you think humans call themselves when they are in love?” Zima smiled.

“Be serious, Zima! We’re persocoms!” Dita couldn’t answer that question.

“Well, what makes you think two persocoms can’t fall in love?”

Dita had heard this question too many times, “They can’t.”

“Do you love me?”

Dita smiled, “Of course I love you, idiot!”

“Well, there you have it! You can’t say persocoms can’t fall in love when you say that you love me,”

Dita looked at the grassy ground, “I’ve been thinking a lot about though. Maybe father had programmed us to fall in love. I mean its possible that he might of wanted us to experience something know other persocom could.”

Zima kissed the side of her forehead, “We belong together,”

“Keep dreaming, Zima!”

Zima wanted to prove her wrong; he just needed to find away to get her to understand it would work between them.

“Wouldn’t you agree that we are really happy together?” He had to ask.

Dita blushed, “I-I don’t know,”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Zima frowned.

Dita wanted to answer his question; she felt the same fuzzy feeling inside of her heart telling her to say she does feel that way.

“We are happy together, aren’t we?” She smiled.

Zima looked into her brownish black eyes; he noticed her cheeks turn pink. Zima smiled and started to frenchkiss her lips; he had seen the humans doing it.

“What are you doing?”

Zima nuzzled her nose, “Kissing you,”

“That wasn’t a kiss…”

Zima smiled, “It was a special kiss. The humans call it a frenchkiss.”

That felt so…comforting. The way his fake tongue curled mine…it was like… Dita couldn’t explain what it actually felt like in her mind.

“Did you like it?”

Dita’s cheeks turned red, “Uh…”

“You’re blushing again,”

Dita looked away; her face was beat red, “This isn’t the time for playing games,”

“I like playing games. It beats boredom!”

“You idiot, sometimes I wonder if you’ll ever grow up.” She smiled.

Zima laughed, “I was programmed this way,”

“That’s the disappointing part,” she looked at him strangely.

Dita snuggled in his arms; she rested her head on the usual spot on his chest as he rested against the same thick skyscraper.

“Can you imagine us being together if we were humans?” Zima asked her.

Dita started blankly at him, “Where do you get all of these crazy ideas?”

“I’m just curious,”

“Zima, you’re always curious!” she rested her head back into her usual spot.

Zima smiled, “I just can’t see me loving anyone but you,”

“Even if it was someone that was human?” Dita asked.

“Even if they were human,”

Dita thought about that; she smiled every time she thought of him saying that.

“In my mind, my adorable Dita always comes first.”