Chobits Fan Fiction ❯ Gone But Not Forgotten ❯ One-Shot

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chii had gone missing some time earlier, and Hideki had been searching for her. Unfortunately, he hadn't found any leads, and was becoming discouraged. Just then he ran into Chii's employer, Ueda.

"You can see I'm not having much luck," Hideki said. He then noticed the look on Ueda's face. "It seems you know what I'm going through."

"I suppose I may as well tell you my story," Ueda said. "Years ago, when I was first setting up my shop, I needed help running the register, since I have trouble with math."

"A man after my own heart!"

"Do you mind? Well, anyway. I finally had to go and get a Persocom, and that's where I found an old model. She was in the back, on sale. The implication was that the store would've thrown her out within a year. I didn't have a lot of money, so I went ahead and took her. In any case, she had all the features I was going to need."

"But then," Hideki remarked, "she became something more to you, didn't she?"

Ueda nodded. "I suppose it really does take one to know one. Indeed, as time went on I began to develop feeling for Yumi -"

"Yumi?"

"That's what I named her. Funny, isn't it? So, one day, I asked her to marry me. Well, obviously, I couldn't legally marry her, but I still felt we should have a wedding. I helped her find a dress, and then I got someone who would perform the ceremony."

Just then, a somber expresssion formed on Ueda's face. "If this story involved something too painful for you to share..." Hideki said.

"No, it's fine," Ueda said. "Now that I'm this far into it, I may as well finish." He drew a deep breath. "Finally, there came the day of our wedding. The ceremony went great, and Yumi was so beautiful in her dress. We went outside to begin our married life, when a Persocom collector and his pals came at us without warning."

"No, he didn't!" Hideki could hardly believe it.

"Like I said earlier, she was an older model. There weren't many left, and he no doubt wanted to get his hands on one no matter what." Ueda buried his face in his hands. "I tried to stop them, but they shoved me aside like I was nothing. In the end I could only watch as Yumi was dragged into their car. People say Persocoms don't have feelings, but as they drove off, she looked back at me. I could tell she was scared."

"I had no idea."

"I spent two years searching for her, with no luck. In the end, the police called it quits and told me to 'move on'. They never really were all that motivated, since she's 'merely' a Persocom. Finally, I took their advice, and did my best to get on with my life." Ueda faced Hideki again. "Still, I would give just about anything to know where Yumi is or what he's done with her. Sometimes, I even dream of one day having her back home with me."

"So," Hideki concluded, "all this was just your way of saying I shouldn't give up on finding Chii."

"I suppose that's a good a moral as any to take from my story," Ueda replied.

The following night, Hideki finally found Chii, although in reality she hardly needed his help to get free. Her captor, known online as Dragonfly, found himself regretting his actions.

Meanwhile, Ueda was at his home, where for the first time in a long while he put his wife's picture on display.