Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Synthetic Emotions ❯ Phase 02: To Teach ( Chapter 2 )

XIXIX

Synthetic Emotions

Phase 02: To Teach

By: Melissa Norvell

XIXIX

The black-haired girl sat on the ground intently looking at the robot, who seemed to be examining himself in awe. It was as if the boy had never seen his own body before. She stayed quiet, not knowing what to say or really if she should say anything at all. After an awkward moment of silence she finally uttered a small 'hi' from her pink lips. The blue-eyed robot looked to her in response.

"Greetings," he told her in a monotone voice.

"I guess since I found you, you belong to me now," Aroura told him.

"Belong to you?" The robot was confused by her sentence.

"Yeah, you're a robot," she said simply.

"Robot?" He looked back to his hands. Although his eyes weren't those of a human, Aroura could see that it was obviously hard for him to grasp the concept that he was a machine.

"Yes…Um…" She glanced at him, then arose grabbing his hand. "Follow me. We can't let anyone see you in that."

"O…kay," he replied unsurely as they walked off down the alley.

XI.

The two ended up in Aroura's bedroom at the end of their journey. They both sat in the middle of the room on their knees a few feet apart from each other. The male looked at her blankly, as if he were awaiting some sort of command or something. After all, she was his new master.

"I'm Aroura," she had both hands on her chest, as if giving a formal introduction.

"Aroura."

"Yes."

The dark-headed male pointed to the girl, "Aroura."

"Yes," she assured, "I'm Aroura."

Then his finger moved to a stuffed dog sitting on her bed, "Aroura."

"Huh?" Confusion crossed her features.

His finger then moved to the bed, table, rug and door. He named each of them 'Aroura'. After the confusion wore off, the girl finally got frustrated with his constant naming of inanimate objects.

"Hey! Stop!" she flailed her arms like crazy. "That's not me!"

"Aroura," he looked at her and smiled simply.

"Is that the only word you know? I thought you were speaking before," Aroura stated.

"I was," he replied. "I still have data of speaking in this language. Other than that, no memory can be detected."

"Are you serious?" The girl exasperated.

"Affirmative."

"Okay. I'm Aroura. Just me," she corrected him, gesturing to herself.

"You are Aroura," he repeated.

"Yes."

"Not that," he pointed to her bedroom door.

"No, that's a door." She dead panned.

"Door."

"Yes," she replied. 'Just my luck! I finally get a Syntacom and he has no memory. Some advanced machinery…'

"Do you have a name?" She was curious as to what he called himself.

"I don't remember."

"Hmm…" Aroura looked around the room. Then she turned her crimson gaze upon the robot, finally spying the tattoo on his arm. Under the '07' symbol the word Eros was printed. This gave her an idea. "I've got it!" She exclaimed. "Your name will be Eros."

The robot pointed to himself. "Eros?"

"Yes you…And nothing else. Don't start pointing like crazy. Just watch the finger, okay?" She warned.

Eros responded by pointing his finger up in the air and sitting his hand in his lap. Ashy blue eyes stared intently on his pointed finger, as if he were a hawk watching a defenseless field mouse before the kill. Aroura arched an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?"

"Watching the finger," he said as if he were performing a task of great importance.

"I didn't mean literally," she huffed. 'This guy's gonna drive me crazy! I wonder if Chacha ever has these problems…Who knew that having a Syntacom could be so frustrating!'

Eros continued to watch his finger.

"Okay!" She fumed. "Would you quit looking at your finger already?"

"But you said-"

"Never mind what I said. Let's get you dressed. People don't wear hospital gowns all of the time around here."

"They don't?" He cocked his head to the side.

"No. they don't. Go through my closet and see if you can find something to wear. I know I don't have many guy clothes but…" Her voice became muffled as the robot walked inside of her closet and began to search for something to wear. After a few moments, he came back out wearing a pink summer dress with high-heels and jewelry.

"This?" He earned a look of shock on the girl's face.

"What the hell are you wearing!?" Aroura couldn't believe that he just cross-dressed like that.

"You said find clothes," he responded.

"Take it off!" She screamed angrily.

Eros sweat dropped. "Alright," he slowly walked back inside of the closet to change his clothes again.

Twin rivers poured down the school girl's face. Her mind was now scarred with the image presented before her only a few moments ago. 'My poor wardrobe will never be the same.'

Just as her thoughts were completed within the confines of her mind, Eros emerged again. He had a white T-shirt on, but his pants were around the top of his head and socks adorned each ear, leaving his nude bottom half exposed.

"Does this work?" He asked.

"That's worse!" Aroura felt as if she were going to bust a vessel in her head. "You look like a dork!"

"Dork?" He asked.

"Take them off," she shoved him back into the closet.

"I'll never get this." Eros said from behind the door.

"Those things on your ears, they are called socks and they go on your feet. That piece of clothing on your head…It goes around your hips. You put your feet in the holes and pull them up around you," she explained.

"Clothes?"

"The things you put on your body," she replied. 'What is he? Defective or something? This is worse than raising a child!'

The boy walked back out of the closet, wearing the same clothes that he previously came out in. It was a pair of dark washed flares with a white T-shirt with wording on it. Aroura had to admit that his clothes looked pretty feminine, but they would have to do for now. She didn't have any clothes that would fit him and looked male.

"You look so gay," she said lowly upon examining him.

"I did it wrong again didn't I?" He asked in the same monotone voice.

"No you did it right. I just don't have the right clothes for you," she replied.

"Right clothes?"

"Yeah…You know what? Since you speak my language you can read it, right?"

"Read?"

"Yeah, do you know what your shirt says?" She made sure he could read.

Eros pulled the shirt straight so he could get a better look at the kanji symbols. "Hiyabashi," he read.

"Great!" Aroura smiled and sat a large stack of books before him. "I want you to read these. They'll teach you about the basics. Its input for your mind…er, circuits. While you do that, I'm going to go out for a while. Don't move from this spot. My parents don't know about you, so stay up here and stay quiet."

"Affirmative," he nodded.

"Just say okay. People usually don't use the word affirmative."

"Okay."

"Good-bye. See you around."

"Farewell."

XI

Aroura walked through the now quiet streets of town. Red eyes transfixed on the ground, soon to be treaded upon by her feet. The sky was orange and illuminated her form in a bath of orange light, causing her to look much like a figure in a sepia photograph.

She held a serious look on her face. 'I swear…What am I going to do? I don't know anything about Syntacoms. Out of all of the ones I could have found, I got the defective one. Still…' Her thoughts were cut short as she observed a high school student walking by with a female Syntacom. 'It's really cool to have my own Syntacom since few people do. It's amazing how realistic they are. Even Akemi and Tomiko looked like real girls. They're too cool! And for a robot, I have to admit, Eros is pretty cute.'

"Hey Chick-o-dee, what's shakin'?" A tough sounding female voice intoned.

Red eyes lit up with happiness. "Mariko! What are you doing here?"

"Stuff," the short haired girl replied.

Mariko had always been hanging around town. She was very pretty with an athletic body and short hair that was cut extremely short in the back and curled under. Mariko also had tendrils that curled in, resting on her cheekbones and accenting her eyes which were the color of a nice lush field.

"Meeting another date?" Aroura asked with a smile.

"Nah, that'll come later," Mariko winked playfully.

The other girl sighed in exasperation. "Who this time?"

"You don't know him," Mariko replied simply, trying to lure her away from the subject.

"I never do. I really wish you could find a decent guy and stick with him."

"I have commitment issues," the blonde told her friend, and then changed the subject. "So, what are you doing here?"

Aroura glared momentarily. She knew Mariko all too well. The tomboy liked to change the subject about her love life often. "Buying some rice for onigiri."

"Want to hang out?"

"Sorry…I can't. I have to hurry," the raven-haired girl felt badly for rejecting her friend like that, but she knew that she couldn't leave Eros alone for too long. He'd be sure to get in trouble then.

"Why? What's the rush?" Mariko found it odd that her friend had to go so fast.

"Can't talk now!" Aroura yelled, running off through the street.

"Uh…Okay,,,Bye then…" Mariko said unsurely.

"Hey Mariko!" She could hear a masculine voice intone from behind her. She turned to see that it was the boy who was talking to her earlier. The look on her face twisted into a somewhat saddened expression as she gazed upon him.

"Oh…Kunabashi…" She replied in a somewhat monotone voice.

XI.

'I've got to hurry. Who knows what kind of trouble Eros will get himself into while I'm not around!' Aroura thought as she raced through the few people who were in the market area, carrying her bag of rice. "Gotta hurry! Gotta hurry, gotta hurry!" She said repetitively in a hurried voice.

On the sidewalk a few feet away two males and a curly-haired female stood. The group was formed into a small triangle. Himemari was in the middle. There was a boy with brown hair on her right. He had hair that was short in the back and long in the front, cut into something that an EMO would possess; only he wasn't EMO at all. On her left was a red-head with sly, cat-like eyes and a shirt haircut that was flipped up in the back many times, until the entire back of his head was a series of curls whose ends pointed upward.

"Hey, that was Aroura," the red-head gladn over his shoulder as the girl power walked past them.

"I wonder where she's going so fast," the brown-haired male wondered.

"That's why I couldn't call her," Himamari though out loud.

The door to Aroura's room opened and the girl called out that she was back home. The robot had a blank look on his features and he was staring at the wall. Aroura let out a small 'eh' in question and anime fell. Her leg sticking up in the air and twitching.

Upon hearing the girl fall in the doorway, Eros turned his head. "Welcome back," he told her as the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" She called out, running over and picking up the phone.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hello Aroura!" Himamari's kind and happy voice chimed on the other end of the phone line. "I saw you running through town. Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I just…I was in a hurry."

"Oh. Can you do something with me?" She asked.

A crimson gaze fell upon Eros. 'Crap! What should I do? I can't tell her about Eros now…Um, I'll make something up.'

She thought in a hurry, scrambling for an answer. "I can't. Sorry Hima-Hima. My parents are in a major bad mood and won't let me go anywhere this weekend," she lied.

"Oh…Well, I guess I'll just have to make plans for next weekend then."

"Sure!" Aroura put on a false happiness.

"Well, I'll see you around."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"Whew!" The girl sighed, hanging up the phone. "That's one down."

"One what?" Eros asked.

"Nothing. I just have to dodge my friends because I have to keep you a secret," Aroura told him, hoping that he would somehow understand.

"Why?"

"Because I have to think of a way to explain you to them."

"Why not tell the truth? The book says lying is sinful and wrong," Eros gestured to one of the many books that Aroua had given him to read while she stepped out.

"No everyone lives by the book," she muttered.

"Do you go to school?" Eros asked. It seemed out of nowhere.

"Yes…and crap!" She exclaimed, thinking of yet another problem that she had to face.

"You crap at school?" The robot cocked his head at her statement. "But don't you crap in the bathroom?"

"No! Don't take everything so literally! I meant that I have to go back to school Monday and I don't know what to do with you."

"Um…I could stay here and not move," Eros replied.

"But still…" Aroura said slowly. When she thought about it, leaving him all alone in her room with nothing to do sounded a bit cruel, "I can't just not have anyone over because I have a robot in my room."

"Tell them."

"Not that easy. Do you know what you are?"

"A robot."

"Not just any robot! You are a Syntacom."

"Syntacom? Like this?" Eros held up a Robotics magazine and pointed to a picture of a female Syntacom on the front page.

"Yes. Like that," Aroura confirmed.

The male turned the magazine around and read the small article on the front. "Hottest new breakthrough in technology."

"Yes and only the rich and famous can afford you," Aroura added.

"You're not rich?"

"No! I'm normal. If I had to buy you, I wouldn't be able to. To be truthful, I don't know why anyone would want to throw you out in an ally."

"Aroura! Dinner!" She could hear her mother's voice carry up the stairs to her room.

"Okay! Hold on!" Aroura yelled out of the door, and then shut it again.

Crestfallen eyes that held a hint of hollow and void looked to the magazine, studying the picture of the Syntacom on the front. A deep set frown graced his features. "I'm trash?" He said, a hint of sadness clinging to his voice. It was almost as if he had emotion of some type.

Aroura could feel her heart fall when she looked at him. She knew that he must have some way of feeling bad. If she were a robot, she thought, it would make her feel down to know she'd been thrown out. "To someone, but not me," she defended him.

"Oh…"

Her voice turned sympathetic. "Don't be so hard on yourself. I think you're cool! I've always wanted to have a Syntacom!"

Eros flipped through the magazine and found the article about Sytacoms. "Syntacoms aren't just for the rich."

"They aren't?" Aroura asked, confused.

He held out the magazine to her. "You can get small ones for a decent, affordable price…Well, that's what it says anyway."

"What?" The girl took the magazine from Eros and looking at it, reading the article through. "Hey, you're right. They have small Syntacoms that look like animals. They are called Simucoms. They simulate the Syntacoms in many ways, but are more affordable to the public. "

"I'm coming upstairs!" Her mother called from down below.

"Crap!" Aroura threw down the magazine. "Hide!"

Eros scrambled underneath of her bed, looking much like a cat that just had water thrown upon it. Aroura called out with an 'okay' in response to her mother as the door opened. Her mother explained that she just wanted to bring her food up to her before it got cold. Aroura thanked her mother and took the food. Her mother instructed her to bring down the plate and chopsticks when she was finished and she agreed as her mother stepped out of her room and began to descend that stairs. The girl let out a sigh and told Eros to come out.

He scooted out from the bed, dragging himself with his hands and sitting up, the light from the window causing his hair to sparkle in the orange glow.

"You've got to be careful about her," she warned, trying to ignore the way the light made him look. "Sometimes, she comes up unannounced." She stuck a piece of egg roll in her mouth. It had been dipped in soy sauce and some of it clung stubbornly to the side to her mouth. Eros stared, transfixed on the small spot of sauce.

Upon feeling the intense gaze upon her, she looked to him in question. "What?"

Eros moved slowly closer to her, until they were nearly nose-to-nose. The girl could feel her heart pounding and she anticipated what he was going to do to her. She could feel to masculine hands on either side of her face as his presence seemed to invade her personal space.

"Wh-What…" She trailed off, becoming speechless. 'is her doing? Is he one of those robots that Akemi and Tomiko were talking about?' She thought, remembering the sexual Syntacoms that the two robots reminded her of. The girl was blushing now, and staring into his ash-blue eyes, more nervous then she had ever been. 'It would be my luck that I get the sexual one! What do I do? I've never even kissed a boy before…' She clenched her eyes shut, awaiting her version of certain doom. 'Well, better now than never…Here goes.'

She could feel a tongue gently licking the edge of her mouth as her thoughts began to run away with her. 'Whoa! He's using his tongue! Doesn't he think it's going a little too fast!?!' Feeling uncomfortable without being able to see what the male was doing, she cracked open her eyes. 'But he is so cute…No one at school will ever believe this! It tickles.'

"I'm done," Eros drew back from the blushing girl.

"Huh?" Aroura opened her eyes fully.

"You had sauce on your mouth," the robot replied.

Now it hit her. He was licking the sauce from her mouth to clean her off. He wasn't trying to get fresh with her at all.

"Oh…" She felt stupid. 'For some reason, I feel like a major dumbass…'

"Are you alright? You look flushed?" Eros asked with a look of question on his face.

"I'm fine," Aroura replied, the blush going away bit by bit. 'Man, tomorrow's Sunday…I have to think of something to help my problems. My life is definitely complicate. Who knew a Syntacom could be so troublesome! I wonder why he doesn't know anything about himself. I thought they were supposed to be automatically programmed. I should tell Chacha! But I'd feel bad I mean, she's supposed to be showing off Tetsumaru Monday. What do I do?'

To Be Continued…