AN: Oh I love writing this, it's so exciting even though I know what's going to happen ^.^ you guys are lucky this is an easy week for me. Anyway I hope I've got you as hooked as I am right now! Enjoy!

I'll protect you…

It was morning yet again as Hideki started to stir in his futon. He had pulled the alarm clock out of the wall a few days ago. Everyone was stilled snowed in from the blizzard, so there was no use trying to go to work. And with his ankle the way it was, there was no way he could even walk there. The manager had even told him it was closed until they could get the roads cleared; the report said approximately three feet of snow. It was a record setting amount, and even though it had been three days since the storm, there was still a good bit on the ground.

He had been bed ridden the entire time; Mrs. Hibiya mad sure of that, Not that he wasn't grateful for her help, but she could be a little scary at some times. That was something he had to get used to. He couldn't answer the phone without her breathing down his neck. It was all for a good cause, but man did it seem like a bit much. None the less, he would have been lost without her, she even taught Chi how to cook…

Flashback

"Why don't you give it a try Mr. Motosuwa." Mrs. Hibiya suggested nicely. "Chi made it just for you and I think she did a great job."

"Chii." Chi said happily as she held out the plate of fish, or at least that's what he was told it was. It looked like something out of a horror flick, like a monster about to pounce on him, while Chi and Mrs Hibiya held him down!

"No no that's alright! I'm not hungry." He said quickly, laughing nervously, only to be betrayed a moment later as his stomach growled. 'Just my luck…' he thought as he hung his head embarrassment.

"That's not what your stomach is telling us." Mrs Hibiya chimed in with a smile. Nudging Chi and her culinary creation, closer to him.

"I… I… I have to use the bathroom!" Hideki shouted as he jumped to his feet and headed for the door, only to be greeted by his twisted ankle. He fell on the floor only moving a few feet and rolled onto his back.

"Chii?" Chi walked over to him, confused at what he was doing.

Hideki pushed himself across the floor to try and get away, but his back hit the wall. Mrs. Hibiya walked over to Chi and whispered something in her ear. Hideki didn't like the feeling he just got, he knew she was plotting something.

"Chii!" was her happy agreement to whatever Mrs. Hibiya told her. Panic filled Hideki's face as Chi walked over to where he sat. He couldn't get away from her, the wall was stopping him and the door was too far. She walked over to him with the plate and she now was holding a fork. Hideki turned pale as a ghost as the blood drained from his face at sight of that fork. She was standing beside him now, smiling, then she turns around and sits right on his legs, effectively pinning him down.

"Say 'Ahhhh'" Chi said as she picked up a piece of fish with the fork and tried to feed him. She moved it towards his mouth but he moved out of the way. "Chii?" she puzzled. So she tried again, but Hideki moved his head away again. She tried a few more times before a frown appeared on her face and sadness filled her eyes. "Did Chi do something wrong?"

He looked at her, and was instantly filled with guilt. 'Oh, I didn't mean to hurt her feelings… I hate seeing her sad like this.' He sighed 'I guess I'll just have to suck it up and try her cooking.' He looked at the plate again 'I must be insane…'

"No Chi. I'm sorry, I'll try your food." Hideki smiled at her.

"Chii!" her expression lit up with his acceptance.

'Here goes nothing.' he opened up his mouth and said "Ahhh"

'Lord help me…'

End Flashback

In all reality it wasn't so bad. The fish tasted like pork, but it was palatable. Either way, she was getting better at cooking.

Hideki sat up slowly and stretched, still half asleep. He looked over at Chi sleeping peacefully next to him. She looked so gentle when she slept. 'I wonder why I always let her sleep with me?' Hideki pondered as he watched her. 'I guess it's not such a bad thing...' he placed his hand onn her cheek and gently stroked it. 'Soft… Wait! What am I doing? She's just a computer, so is this such a bad thing? It's not like I love her or anything right?... but still I shouldn't do stuff like this to her, it's not right.' He came to the conclusion as Chi opened her eyes. "Huh?" his hand was still on her cheek.

"Hi...de…ki…" Chi cued softly. He blushed and quickly moved his hand off of her. "Good morning Hideki" Chi said as she slide closer and hugged him. Hideki wasn't used to her acting like this, in fact, this is the first time she wasn't hyper in the morning. 'Then again this is the first time I've woken her up this way too…' he sighed. Chi let go as he got up out of bed. His ankle wasn't feeling so bad anymore and he was able to move around a little bit now. 'That bandage really worked wonders' he thought to himself as he hobbled over to the window and opened it up. He took a deep breath of fresh air and looked around outside.

There was still snow everywhere, and not a single road he could see had been plowed yet. Chi had walked up next to him to join him at the window. He heard a scraping noise and looked down to see what it was. He saw Shinbo shoveling off the walkway and the entryway of the building.

"Hey Shinbo!" Hideki shouted from his window. Shinbo looked up and wand waved at Hideki.

"Well if it isn't Motosuwa?" Shinbo shouted back

"Ohai-yo!" Sumomo greeted him from Shinbo's shoulder.

"Why don't you get your sleepy little head down here and give us a hand with this snow?" Shinbo called up to him. Hideki looked at his bandage foot for a moment and sighed.

"I wish I could but I hurt my ankle and can hardly walk." Hideki shouted back feeling guilty.

"Then what use are ya, huh?"

"I'm sorry Shinbo" Hideki bowed his head down asking for forgiveness.

"Hey, I'm only joking Hideki. Why do you always have to take things so seriously?" Shinbo complained. "You're such a virgin."

"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING!" Hideki shot up, yelling at Shinbo when a snowball connected with his face, giving him a mask of snow. Hideki stood there for a moment, stunned by the sudden chill. He shook the snow off his face and shouted back, "What was that for? I thought you were joking?"

"I was, but you deserved that for getting yourself hurt. You're such a klutz." Shinbo was laughing while Hideki was fuming.

"Cut that out, Shinbo!"

Chi was watching the too argue back and forth, listening to them and wondering why they were shouting.

"Or what? You'll crawl at me? Hey you're a klutz, face the facts man."

"I am not!"

"Oh yeah? So why don't you come down here and prove me wrong? Oh that's right you can't. You're a klutz." Shinbo was still laughing.

"Grrrrr. Just wait till my ankle gets better, then you're gonna get it Shinbo." You could almost see the steam shooting out of Hideki's ears.

"Alright, you're on Motosuwa. And you're going down." Shinbo pointed the shovel at Hideki with a gleam in his eye.

"Not a chance." Hideki yelled back, looking away from Shinbo with a smirk on his face. Then all of a sudden another snowball slammed into his head, almost knocking him over. Hideki glared out the window to see Shinbo laughing hysterically.

"You're just too easy! Ha-ha" Shinbo shouted up to him. Hideki face turned red with rage, so much so that the snow melted right off. He slammed the window shut and turned around, clenching his fists in anger with a vein pulsing on his forehead.

"Oh I'm gonna get that Shinbo..." he said as he punched his palm. Chi looked at him and smiled her innocent smile as she pointed at Hideki.

"Virgin! Hideki is a Virgin! Virgin!" She happily chanted.

"Don't rub it in Chi…" Hideki said as he hung his head. He looked back up and over at his bed. He hasn't really been moving around a lot, so it would be nice to finally get out of the apartment. He looked over at the table and saw Chi's library book sitting on top. 'That book almost got me killed…' Hideki closed his eyes, '…and ended up saving me in the end.' He sighed 'I hope my ankle is better by the time we have to return it. Which reminds me, didn't Chi get me a book too?' He looked over at his backpack. 'It must still be in there.'

"I completely forgot you got me a book Chi" Hideki smiled at her and patted her head. She just smiled back at him. Hideki tried to walk over to the bag but ended up hobbling around like a penguin. Chi must have liked it because she was hobbling right along with him. He finally made it to the bag, picked it up and opened it. "I wonder what you picked out for me Chi?" He smiled as he reached inside the bag, he always enjoyed surprises.

"Chii!" She remarked in a cheerful tone.

"Here we are!" Hideki said as his he pulled out the book and read the title out loud. "The Beauty of the Female Anat…o..my…" His face turned bright red, 'Chi must of thought this was a porn magazine… It's no wonder that librarian was giving me such dirty looks at check out.' His head sunk. 'This is so embarrassing! It's just one thing after another this morning!'

"Did Chi do good?" She looked at him, eager for his answer. He stopped fretting and looked at her, she was so innocent…

"Well…" he sighed and patted Chi on the head. "Yeah Chi, you did good."

"Hideki!" Chi said with her voice filled with joy as she tackled the surprised Hideki to the floor in a hug.

'She gets so excited over the smallest things…' Hideki thought to himself before he burst out into a happy laughter.

'Chi you never change…'

The next two days went by quickly. Hideki's ankle was recovering in bounds, and Mrs. Hibiya even said he could take his bandage off now. On the other hand Chi's cooking was improving with baby steps. She had made him a salad yesterday that she somehow managed to burn. Hideki shill hasn't been able to replace his broken cell phone, so he was raring to go when he was given the okay by Mrs. Hibiya.

"It feels great to finally be able to walk again!" Hideki said with a huge smile. "All thanks to your help Chi!"

"Chii" She smiled back, happy to of been of some assistance.

They were on their way into the city so Hideki could find a new phone. The old one shorted out when he fell in a puddle that night. 'I hope I can afford this.' Hideki thought as they walked out the front door of the building.

"Trying to escape are we?"

Hideki looked just in time to move as a snowball shot past his head. Shinbo was standing there with a smug look on his face.

"You said you were gonna get me, remember?"

"Oh I'm gonna get you alright!" Hideki shouted as he scooped up some snow into a ball and hurled it at Shino, hitting him in the stomach. "Gotcha!"

"That was a lucky shot" he crossed his arms and closed his eyes, "I'd like to see you hit me aga…" Shinbo was cut off when a snowball connected with his mouth. He spat out the snow and shouted "You cheeky little… Take this!"

And thus a snowball fight erupted. There was still about a foot of snow left, so there was no shortage of ammunition; snow was flying everywhere. Sumomo had fled from Shinbo's shoulder and ran to Chi. Chi was watching then throwing the snow back and forth, as Sumomo remarked, "Such reckless behavior! Throwing snow at each other is something children… mmmm! Mmmm!" Chi had picked up some snow while Sumomo was talking, and dropped it on her head trying to copy them. The snow pile completely covered Sumomo, until she managed to pop her head out of the top. She shouted frantically, "Master, Help! I am unable to move! Master! Waaaaaahhh!"

They stopped the fight to see what Sumomo was yelling about and started to laugh when they saw Sumomo's head sticking out of a pile of snow.

"This is not funny, Master!" Sumomo shouted before Chi dropped more snow on her head.

"I think Chi won that one." Shinbo said still laughing as we went to get Sumomo.

"Chii?" Chi asked, a little confused. Hideki just started laughing again because of how innocent she looked. Chi smiled as he laughed, she was still confused, but happy none the less. Shinbo reached down into the snow pile and pulled Sumomo out by her hand. She started crying, "Master, she was being so mean to me! Waaaahh!" He sat her down on his palm, patted her head to calm her down, then put her back in his top pocket.

"We better get going, Shinbo. I need to find a phone store. " Hideki said.

"Alright, I got some things to take care of here. See ya later."

And with that they set off to the city. Traveling was a lot easier now that the roads had been cleared, so they made it to the city in no time at all.

"Now let's see if we can find a cell phone store." Hideki said, determined to succeed.

"Chi." She agreed with equal determination.

So they started walking up and down the streets of the city, looking for a cell phone store. Since persocoms became so popular, it's been harder to find just a regular phone store. They turned onto another street, one a little less busy than the rest. Hideki was leading and Chi was following close behind. As they passed an alley Chi heard someone calling out.

"Hey, I need some help back here."

She stopped and looked into the alley and didn't see anyone.

"You there, little girl, can you help me?"

It was a man's voice coming from behind a dumpster, so Chi walked over to see who it was that needed her help. It was a scruffy man; he had messy hair, and had a very large build. He wore a long brown coat and had his hands in his pockets.

"Do you need Chi's help?" She asked wondering what it was this man needed.

"You could say that…" The man said as he walked over to her. "You sure are a cute little thing aren't you?" He rubbed her cheek with his large dirty hand. "It's such a shame I have to spoil someone as sweet as you, but somehow, I think I'll sleep soundly tonight." He cracked his knuckles and looked at Chi's face, noticing her ears. "What? A persocom! Damn it!" He looked her up and down, "But I guess I can still have some fun with you…" He sneered, eyeing her dress.

"What do you mean, Chi does not understand." She replied , unaware of the danger before her.

He laughed, "I'll show you… lift up your dress." Chi, not knowing any better, complied and lifted up the front of her dress exposing her underwear to the man.

"He he, now take off your panties." Chi reaches for her underwear, but she remembered what happened that night she tried to get a job. After she took them off, that man tried to touch Chi in her most special place. She can't let that happen again, only her one and only can touch her there…

"No." Chi said coldly.

"What did you just say? I told you to take them off you electric whore!" He yelled angrily at her.

"No, Chi will not. Only Chi's one and only can choose to touch Chi there!" She shouted back at him.

"Well ain't that sweet? But it looks like that's me right now, because you're mine bitch!" He started to advance toward her.

"No! Chi belongs to Hideki!" She shouted in response.

"Like I care?" He grabbed her arm with one hand, and reached down for her underwear with his other hand. Chi felt him grab her panties, and she let out a scream.

"HIDEKI!"

Just a moment ago…

Hideki was walking up the sidewalk looking around at all the stores, looking for the word 'phone' anywhere. 'Why does it have to be so hard just to find a store?' He complained to himself. It was then that he became aware of the silence.

'Chi!'

It pierced its way into his mind and panic set in. He spun around only to find that she wasn't there. That's when he heard the scream, shattering the silence.

"HIDEKI!"

"No! Chi!" He broke out in a sprint, running as fast as he could to where he heard her scream. He made it to the alleyway and saw the man grabbing Chi. He rushed at the man shouting "Get your filthy hands of her, you fucking bastard!" The man looked up in surprise to see someone charging at him. Hideki lunged at the man, only to receive a fist to his face.

"Hideki!" Chi shouted as he stumbled backwards holding his face from the blow, blood dripping down through his fingers.

"I don't have time for games kid, so why don't you just run along and go home." He looked back at Chi ,"Now where was I?"

Hideki stood up hands at his sides, with a broken nose. "I said take your hands off of her!" Hideki shouted.

The man looked back at Hideki, ticked off. "So that's how you want to play it, huh kid? It's a shame your persocom has to see this. And she's so cute too. I think I'll enjoy having my way with her."

"You son of a bitch!"

Hideki charged at the man again who still had a grip on Chi's arm. 'If I can just get him to let go, Chi can get away from him.' The man threw another punch, Hideki managed to duck out of the way just to receive a knee to his stomach. Hideki stumbled backwards and fell to his knees, keeled over in pain, holding his stomach.

"Hideki!" Chi shouts out seeing him get hurt. She has to help him…

"I can fight you off with one hand! How pathetic." The man laughed at Hideki. That laugh echoed through Hideki's head. 'I have to save Chi! I can't let this bastard violate her! I can't give up. No… I won't give up' He clenched his hands and stood up again, glaring at the laughing man. The man stopped laughing as he saw Hideki stand back up.

"So you want some more eh?"

Hideki rushes him one more time, 'I won't let Chi down!' The man starts to throw another punch at Hideki. Chi knows what could happen next, so she hits the man in the side. The man flinched from the surprise attack and missed Hideki. Hideki saw an opening and grabbed the man's arm and pulled him towards himself as he head-butted the man's face. This time it was the man who stumbled back holding his face. He had let go of Chi, now was their time to escape.

"Chi! We have to go now!" Hideki shouted at her.

The man threw his arms at his sides and shouted in anger as blood ran down from his broken nose, "You son of a… I'm tired of these games!" He ran up and punched Hideki across his face. Blood and saliva flew out of Hideki's mouth as he was thrown back by the punch. Hideki feel down at the foot of the building behind him. Then the man reached into his pocket and pulled out something.

"It's time to die you little rat!"

The glint of a blade…

Chi heard the man; she heard what he wanted to do to Hideki. She didn't know what to do, but she couldn't let that happen. Chi ran out between the man and Hideki and spread her arms out trying to protect him.

"Hideki will not die! Chi will not let Hideki die!" Chi shouted at the man.

"No Chi, get out of here while you still can!" Hideki pleaded, he couldn't let her get hurt.

"No. Chi will protect Hideki."

"Aww how sweet, too bad I couldn't have my fun with the pretty little persocom. I'll just have to kill both of you now!" He started toward Chi, knife in hand.

Chi's body starts to glow…

"What the hell?" the man stopped, confused at what was happening.

Chi's eye's faded to black, and her head dropped as she was standing.

In computer lab far away…

"We got a hit!" The man with the brown hair said, standing up in his chair.

Back to the alleyway…

Chi is standing motionless between Hideki and the mugger. 'Chi? No she can't be… He didn't do anything to her… did he?' thought Hideki, worrying that something may be seriously wrong with Chi.

"Can you get a fix on it?" The older man demanded.

"I'm working on it" the brown haired man replied as he typed furiously at a large computer.

Chi lifted her head with her eyes closed. Then she opened them and looked at their attacker. Her eyes seemed different somehow, almost a deeper orange.

"Damn it we lost her!" The brown haired man said.

"Did you manage to find her before she severed the transmission?"

Chi looked back at Hideki. And with a voice full of strength she told him, "Don't worry Hideki…

"I'll protect you."

AN: oh the suspense, did those people in the office manage to find a location? And will Chi and Hideki make it out of this mess? Stay tuned to find out!