Author's Beginning Note Thingy: Okay, I've been sitting on this chapter, quite literally, for years... always thinking that someday I might come back and edit it and make it better, and continue this story as I'd planned... but I've been kidding myself, and that's just not going to happen. For the few of you who read this story and wanted to see more, I'm posting this now... it's old and crappy compared to the quality of my writing now, but it's going up because I'm sick of looking at it. Also, this will be this fic's last update, there won't be anymore. Sorry, but I'm lazy and unmotivated... hope you enjoyed what little you got. If, by chance, anyone wants to continue it on their own or something, please get in touch with me, I can send you my notes and stuff for what I had in mind to happen.

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“Mavu?” the girl asked, “A little laptop ‘com.”

“Hey! Not so little…” she said, waggling a finger dangerously, as she proceeded in, still dragging the bag toward Rurumi. He watched in wonder, blinking cluelessly.

“Fine.” She rolled her eyes, “What do you want? Why are you in here?”

“I’m here for Shikiri.”

The male ‘com looked up, a brief change in his expression, just a flash over his face that no-one noticed.

“Then you’re at the wrong place.” Said the human girl, hands on her hips. “Go on!” she pointed at the open door.

“Nuh-uh, I’m not leaving… I know my compatriot when I see him!” she beamed proudly at the blonde man sitting on the ground. “Right, Shikiri?”

The same odd flash came over him once again, before he shook his head slowly, and closed his eyes, “I’m sorry, you must be mistaken… my name is…” he looked up at his new owner, “Rurumi… or so she says.”

Mavu glared over her shoulder, and past the bag, which she then dropped, at the human, “So she calls him, eh? Well, I don’t care what you call him, his name is…” she stopped, then looked over at him. She stared a moment in silence, while the frustrated girl merely watched, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground.

“Ohhh…” the little laptop breathed, “…I understand now.” she nodded.

“Understand what?” demanded the girl, throwing her arms up in confusion.

Mavu walked over to the man, standing next to his hand on the ground, and looking up at his face closely. “They erased his memories…” she said cryptically.

“Who?!”

“I can’t tell you. It’s against my protocol.”

“Japanese, please…”

The laptop eyed her angrily, “I’m not allowed! My programming won’t let me release that information!”

“To hell with your programming! I’ll program you differently!”

She laughed, “I’d like to see you try! This stuff, baby, is untouchable.” She grinned, and knocked on the side of her own head gently. “Now! On to more important business…” she murmured, turning to Rurumi again, and pulling at his sleeve, “What is this you’re wearing? Why, this is still from… forever ago! Tsk, tsk…” she shook her head, and began tugging at it, trying to pull the garment off.

“What are you doing?” he, and his owner said simultaneously. Mavu ignored the persocom, and turned instead to the girl.

“First thing’s first, lady… you got scammed. I hope you know that. That is, if you didn’t pull him out of a dumpster. I can’t believe you didn’t notice the way he smells when you bought him from whatever con-artist sold him to you.”

“Excuse me…!” Rurumi said, slightly offended. Yet again, he was ignored.

“He was cheap!” the girl pouted. Rurumi glared. Mavu sighed.

“Still, we have to get him into something more presentable…” she grabbed the bag she’d carried by the bottom, and pulled, causing a huge pile of assorted clothing to come tumbling out.

“Wow. How many stores did you raid to get that stuff?” the human asked sarcastically, an eyebrow raised.

Mavu glared, “They’re mine.”

“Then I don’t think he’ll fit them.”

She sighed, and turned with her hands on her little hips, “Do I have to explain everything to you, lady? They’re his too, I’m just keeping them!”

“How do you two knoweachother?!” she asked.

“I don’t.” Rurumi mentioned.

“He’s…” she looked at him, “Shi-, I mean, Rurumi… it’s going to be hard to get used to calling you that,” she said, head hung a little, “We’re old… you could say acquaintances. He just doesn’t remember. It’s a wonder he’s here, I thought he was destroyed…”

“Destroyed!” the girl echoed, amazed.

“Yeah. Only reason I found him’s ‘cause I was in the area… and I followed the tracking signal.”

“So, great… you followed the signal, now what? Now I have two annoying ‘coms to take care of…”

“Hey!” they both said.

“And neither of them can do any useful, normal stuff that I need them to do! Apparently this guy’s got no programs!” she gestured angrily towards Rurumi.

Mavu smirked, “No programs? Girl, did you even ask him what programs he has?”

She glared, a pout on her lips… no, she hadn’t. She’d just found out which ones he didn’t have, she didn’t realize that there were any useful others.

“Okay, fine, Rurumi, what programs do you have?” she looked at him pointedly.

The persocom’s eyes glazed over slightly, as if searching within himself. He was. In a moment, he answered: “Night Vision, Heat Vision, LASER Sight, Enhanced Balance, Enhanced Strength, Enhanced Speed, Hover, Stealth, and Skills Download.” He said, as if reading off a list.

“Holy shit, what the hell do you need all those for?” asked the girl, amazed, “What are you, some kind of freakin’ assassin?!”

Another flash, like electric befell his eyes, his lips curving into a frown, and his eyebrows furrowing slightly. Still, though, no-one noticed it. Mavu spoke:

“Hit the nail on the head lady.”

Her eyes widened, “You… you’re kidding… he can’t be…”

“He was.” she said, “Was before he was decommissioned. I can play you the tape…”

“You can play… wait, what other things can you do?” she asked.

Mavu’s eyes glazed over in the same way Rurumi’s had, but for a shorter time, before she said, “Phone Access, Internet Access, GPS, Calculator, Audio and Visual Recorders, Hacking, Tracking System, RADAR, SONAR, and Self-Teaching Software.”

“Aw, perfect! You’re everything I need in a persocom!” the girl said joyfully.

Mavu eyed her, “I only accept orders from Shi-, Rurumi.”

Rurumi stared at her, “Listen to what she says, uhm… Mavu.”

“God damnit!”

“Now, about that tape you were going to show me…” the girl bent over, smirking.

Mavu sighed, “Yes, yes…” She walked up to the TV, pressing the button to turn it on, and reaching up into one of the little purple ribbons situated on top of her head. She pulled out a long, thin cord, and stuck it into the appropriate plug on the television set.

Out of static, an image suddenly came, replaying the images of Shikiri’s last exchange with his boss. The female replacement in black came out, the men in the suits appeared… and all of a sudden, the video stopped.

“Hey, what the hell?!” the girl asked, looking to Mavu. The little laptop shrugged,

“Sorry, as he said, they were after me too. I had to get away, or else I wouldn’t be here.”

The girl sighed, “Yeah, okay… so…” she looked at Rurumi. “Hey…” she waved her hand in front of his face, in seeing that he was sitting there, back stiff, gaze straight and forward, blank of any emotion, “Hey, you in there?” she asked, reaching out to touch him.

“Wait, wait! Look at his eyes!” Mavu called, jumping up, and slapping her hand away before it reached his shoulder.

“What…?” the girl leaned in closer, to discover a word, written out in tiny letters within the center of his pupils. “What does it say.”

-

Rurumi’s joints locked up tight. He felt a sensation like his eyes rolling back into his head, though he knew they couldn’t do that, being just cameras.

He felt a pulling sensation on his arms, and the cutting of tight metal vices around them. He grit his teeth together. He couldn’t move his lower body at all. He suddenly was not in the apartment he barely recognized before. He was in the room from on the TV screen, the room in the video Mavu had played. He saw the gray-haired man before him, and the black-clothed girl walking over to the fire. He felt many hands holding him off the ground as he tried in vain to struggle.

A scraping noise alerted his attention back to the girl at the fire. She returned with something smoking behind her back. She lifted it up, and all he saw was a red-hot blur of a piece of metal, as it stabbed forward into his left eye.

He screamed. After a hissing, and numerous electric shocks sent through his pain receptors, god only knows why his creators gave him them, it was pulled out. The motion was repeated with his right eye, as well as another scream. His vision was temporarily gone, he felt someone touch him on his ear, and all went black.

-

He gave a start, making the two people looking at him jump.

“Rurumi?” the girl asked.

He was breathing heavily, a hand raised to his face, “My eyes…”

Mavu bounced slightly, “What do they say?”

The girl looked down, taking a deep breath, before slowly reporting: “Obsolete.”