#maidrinweek

The redheaded android glanced back at him, a frown on her face.  “Yes.  Sousuke and Kisumi won’t need to overcompensate.  They have each other.  But I’m alone.”  Adjusting her shorts and tank top to make sure nothing fell out of place, she took the kusarigama from Haru’s hands.  “I’m going to bring Makoto back.”  Strapping the weapon into a special holster on her back, she pulled on a loose maid dress.

Inspecting herself in the mirror, Rin’s frown deepened.  It would have to do.  She picked up the USB that had been left on Makoto’s pillow and handed it to Haru.  “I already downloaded the map data.  It’s where they took Makoto.  If I’m not back tonight, then…  Well, I’m sure you can figure out what to do with that.”  

Her smile was forced as she turned to leave, only to be stopped by a hand around her wrist. Glancing back at Haru, she waited a moment as he fidgeted.  She moved her hand to hold his gently and she gave it a squeeze.  “I’m bringing Makoto back.  I promise.”

~~

Rin shot open the door to the warehouse, an annoyed look on her face.  This place was stupidly cliché.  Waving the smoke out of her arm, she transformed it back into its normal state as she stepped inside.  She flexed her fingers, hoping that the months of keeping her limbs in their “off” state wouldn’t affect the speed of their transformation.  Going up against the other parts of her unit would almost certainly call for her to bring out the big guns.

Stopping just inside the doors, Rin scanned the building, her eyes darting around in an attempt to find Makoto as quickly as possible.  From her location, she picked up nothing, so she began to move slowly and carefully through the building.

It had been abandoned several months ago and the city was still determining what to do with it. Secluded and fairly open, apart from a few old shipping containers, it was an ideal place for the three of them to face off.  That fact confused her more than anything else.  If they had been altered so badly, why would they have chosen a location where collateral damage wouldn’t be an issue?

The sound of something whizzing through the air snapped her to attention and she tilted her head to the side, narrowly avoiding getting a ballistic knife to the eye.

“Aw, I missed. I told Sousuke I’m not as good with knives as he is!”  Kisumi moved out from behind another container, giving Rin a wave.  “I missed you, RinRin!”

Anger burned through her systems and Rin ripped off the dress, unholstering one of her pistols. She turned on her backup cooling systems, knowing that she couldn’t risk overheating during the fight.

Kisumi must have spotted the kusarigama on her back because he instantly brightened up.  “I knew you would keep it!  There was no way you’d forget about us.”

“Shut up.” She squeezed the trigger in rapid succession, emptying the entire clip in the process.

Every single shot missed.

Cursing herself, she tossed the gun aside and moved to grab the other one.  That brief moment had been enough for Kisumi to run at her, slamming her into the side of a container.

“Rin!  Just come back with us!  We’ll let the prince go if you do!”

Rin growled and slammed her head into Kisumi’s, startling him enough that she could slip out of his grasp.  Putting distance between herself and her old friend, she gave each container a scan, hoping to find a heat signature.

She got lucky when she picked up Makoto’s body heat and even luckier when she opened the doors to the container and nothing blew up.  “Makoto…”  Despite the fear on her prince’s face, relief flooded through her processors.

Only to vanish in the next moment as she was slammed to the ground.

Sousuke was much larger than both her and Kisumi, so they had always been at a disadvantage in close combat.  Which was unfortunately Sousuke’s specialty.  He grabbed one of the knives off her legs and slammed it into her right shoulder, pinning her to the ground.

Rin’s sensors when haywire as her body tried to repair the synthetic muscle, only to be stopped by the steel blade.  Fear spiked through her, because if she failed, Makoto would die.  And she had promised the no matter what, she would bring him home.

So, when Sousuke moved to pin her left shoulder, she popped the hinges off her fingers, the tips swinging down at the first knuckle to reveal four gun barrels.  Jamming them into Sousuke’s right shoulder and fired.

Watching him jerk and tense as she nearly blew his arm off, Rin bit down a wave of remorse. There was no time for that now. She could repair her unit after they were incapacitated and Makoto was safe.

Clutching his shoulder, Sousuke looked down at her before slamming the fist of his functioning arm into Rin’s face.  The impact was jarring and she struggled to focus.

The fear returned when she heard Kisumi’s footsteps.  He crouched down next to her head, sighing softly.  “Don’t worry, Rin.  We’ll fix you.”  With that, he bent down, putting his mouth against her ear, and whistled.

~~

Rin’s next conscious moment found her in the strange headspace the three of them had created during linkups.  They had liked it, because they were able to project themselves into the space, giving the illusion of being able to move freely.  In reality, she knew that the three of them were most likely lying on the floor of an abandoned warehouse, linked up and appearing catatonic to outside observers.

With a grunt, Rin sat up, glaring at the two androids sitting in front of her.  Her eyes shifted to Kisumi as she felt him probing around in her programming.  “There’s nothing wrong with me.  Though the same can’t be said about you two.”

Instantly, she felt his presence retract and he had the decency to look embarrassed.  “We just…  We thought maybe you had been programmed to love him…”

Anger flared inside of her again and she fought back the urge to ram her fist into Kisumi’s face. “Why would you think something like that?  Makoto would never tamper with my programming!”

“Because he’s a human.”  Sousuke finally spoke, though his gaze was on the false ground they were sitting on.  “We were so sure you’d been tampered with and we couldn’t forgive anyone who would do that to you.”

“I don’t get it. We all knew we were programmed to fall in love, so why are you acting like this?  You went as far as to forcibly shut me down again just to go through my programming!  Why is this bothering you so much?”  Shouldn’t her unit mates be happy for her?

“Humans like to hurt us, Rin.  We just had to make sure you hadn’t been altered.”  Kisumi frowned a bit, finally looking up at her again.  “It’s probably our fault, really.  We weren’t there for you.  But we’re together now.  We can be a team again, like it was supposed to be!”

Rin started at Kisumi in confusion for a moment.  “Well, half of my mission was to bring you both home with me.  The Emperor wants to repair you!  We can be a complete unit again!”

Sousuke’s eyes widened and he turned to glare at her.  “No.”

“What do you mean no?!”  Hadn’t Kisumi just told her that they wanted to be a team again?

The pink haired android sighed softly before speaking.  “We’re not letting humans back inside our heads.  It’s bad enough that they changed our basic function but they couldn’t bring themselves to stop there.  They weren’t very good at what they were doing, either.  Sou’s navigation system is shot to hell.”

“Well, at least my entire music library is various different symphony recordings of Beethoven’s Ninth interspersed with Singing in the Rain,” Sousuke snapped.

“Don’t remind me,” Kisumi grumbled, before turning his attention back to Rin.  “We’re not going back with you, Rin.  Even if you think the Emperor wants to help you, how can you know that for sure?  How do you know he won’t scrap us as soon as we get to the palace?”

“Because he’s a nice man!”  How many times would she have to tell them that the royal family was kind before they believed her?

“How do you know they’re not using you, Rin?  Testing your AI?”  Looking over at Rin, Sousuke continued to frown.  “Did you even look for us, Rin?  Or did you obey them senselessly when they told you we were dead?”

His words hurt and Rin covered up the hurt with more anger. “I wanted to!  But they shut me down and kept me locked up!  They thought I would malfunction without you!”

Sousuke finally moved from where he was sitting, going over to Rin and grabbing her shoulders. “See?  They’ve always been using you, Rin.  They never cared about us individually.  Our adaptive AIs are probably just a fun toy for them to observe. Makoto will leave you once he’s bored of you.  That’s what humans do to technology.  Something newer and flashier comes out and we get trashed.  Well, that’s if you’re lucky.  Sometimes they use you to test virus protection or they take you apart to see how long you can keep functioning before breaking.”

Rin covered her ears, even though she knew that wouldn’t do any good in their shared space. “Shut up!  Makoto would never do that to me!”

There was movement to her right and she felt Kisumi place a hand on her back gently.  “You don’t know that, Rin.  He’s human.  Unpredictable.  We would never leave you because we’re a unit.”  He hesitated for a moment before trying to pull her into a hug.  “We love you, Rin.”

It took Rin a moment to process what Kisumi had just said and when she did, she shoved at them both, trying to get away from them.  “Why would you tell me that?  I love Makoto!  He would never hurt me, unlike you two!  All you’ve done today is hurt me!”  She slapped away Sousuke’s hand when he tried to reach for her again.  “Don’t touch me!”  Standing up, he backed away from both of them.

“Rin, wait!” Kisumi tried to grab for her as well and she kicked his hand.

“No!  I can’t go with you.  I love both of you but not in the way you want me to!  We’re a unit but I love Makoto.”  Hesitating, she reached for the back of her neck, feeling for the USB cables she knew were there in reality.  “I choose to stay with him.”  Ripping out the cords, she severed the connection with her partners.

~~

As soon as Rin was awake in the real world, she ripped the knife out of her shoulder before running back over to the shipping container.  Makoto was still there and he looked at her with wide eyes.  The fear she saw in his eyes, along with the dried tears on his cheeks, made her metaphorical heart ache.  She hurried over to him, pulling the cloth gag out of his mouth.

“Rin!  Are you alright?  Your arm is broken!”  He turned his head, trying to watch her as she untied his hands.  Once the rope fell away, he jumped up from the chair he had been bound to, pulling Rin into a tight hug.

Rin felt her shoulder grow wet as Makoto started to cry again.  “I should be asking you that, silly.  My arm can be repaired easily.  But you’re fragile!  You’re not hurt, right?”

Makoto shook his head, tightening his hold on Rin.  “Just rope burns.  I was so scared, especially when they hurt you…”

“I’ll be alright. I could never leave you, Makoto.” She smiled softly and pulled back slightly so she could look him in the face.  “It’s because I love you.”

The small smile Makoto gave her sent happiness coursing through her systems and she pulled him into a kiss.  Makoto kissed her back, holding her close against his chest.

“Rin.”

Sousuke’s low voice had Makoto jumping away from Rin, green eyes filling with fear again.  Rin put herself between the two of them, glaring at the other two SANO members.  Kisumi hung back behind Sousuke, holding his good hand loosely.

“Get out of here. You and the prince,” Sousuke said softly, avoiding eye contact with either Rin or Makoto.

Rin reached behind her, grabbing one of Makoto’s hands and holding it gently.  “You’re letting us go?  Why?”

This time, Kisumi spoke up.  “You were right, Rin.  We hurt you.” He finally looked up at her, smiling sadly.  “I don’t expect you to forgive us, so we’re letting you and Makoto leave.  I hope he makes you happy.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?  We can help you!”  Rin begged. She didn’t want to lose the rest of her unit again if she could avoid it.

“I can’t bear to watch him touch you”  Sousuke’s eyes narrowed at Makoto before flicking away.

“Besides, we hurt the prince and his companion android.  And you.  I don’t think we’d be welcome.”  Kisumi glanced at Sousuke as he spoke, looking for affirmation.

Sousuke nodded in agreement, giving Rin a quick glance, frowning.  “Goodbye, Rin.”  His gaze switched to Makoto, his frown deepening.  “Don’t hurt her.”  With that, he started to walk away, pulling Kisumi along behind him.

They left before either Rin or Makoto could say anything to prove them wrong.

~~

“We failed our mission,” Sousuke said softly, glancing at Kisumi.  The other android sat beside him, still holding Sousuke’s good hand.  “This is twice we’ve been unable to kill the prince.  We’re not going to get out of this, you know.”

Kisumi shrugged before leaning on Sousuke, lacing their fingers together as he did so.  “I know.”  With a sad smile, he pressed a soft kiss to Sousuke’s cheek.  “At least we’re together.”

“Yeah.” Turning his head, Sousuke pressed his lips to Kisumi’s, gripping his hand tightly.

~~

After the incident, Makoto and Rin became extremely clingy with each other.  Rin went weaponless most of the time for the express purpose of cuddling Makoto whenever she could.  Despite this, she never let down her guard.  Even though she believed that Sousuke and Kisumi wouldn’t hurt Makoto again, that didn’t mean other people wouldn’t try.

Makoto had insisted she get repaired as soon as they got home.  Rin had been hesitant at first, remembering what had happened to the other two SANO androids but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to protect Makoto with a bad arm.  The technicians at the palace seemed to have the same mindset as the royal family, because she came out of repairs better than ever and with none of her programs malfunctioning.

~~

A week after Makoto’s kidnapping, he and Rin were approached by the Emperor.  The man held out a small tablet to Rin, a sorrowful look on his face.  “We couldn’t find them in time.  I’m very sorry.”

His words made her panic and she took the tablet, swiping between photos.  The damage done to her other parts caused her to drop the tablet in favor of wrapping her arms around herself.

The Emperor picked the tablet up and turned it off.  “I thought you should know.”

Rin felt Makoto’s arms wrap around her, simply holding her tightly as she shook with dry sobs.

The Emperor motioned for her to stand up straight and she did, wondering why the leader of Japan would be so interested in a bodyguard unit that was set to be decommissioned.  Anger sparked through her systems at the memory of being told that she was useless without the rest of her unit.

“I’ll take her.” The Emperor turned away from her, speaking to the human that had escorted him here.  Rin had never bothered to learn his name.  It was pointless learning about those that wanted to hurt her.

“Are you sure, sir? This unit has been set to be decommissioned.  It lost the rest of its unit, so we do not believe it’ll function well alone.”

Typical human behavior, Rin thought.  Scrap the machines the moment you believe something might go wrong.

“I said I’ll take her.”  The Emperor stressed the last word as he turned back to Rin. “Besides, we don’t decommission humans who have suffered a loss.  Why should we do that to her kind?”  With a smile at Rin, he glanced back at the human.  “Please make sure her things are ready.  I believe she’ll be the perfect bodyguard for my son.”

~~

The Imperial Palace was large but Rin had been given a USB drive with map and blueprint data during the car ride.  She copied the files and stored them safely, knowing that in a place of this size, she would be referencing them often.

As she was lead through the palace, by the Emperor himself, she combined visuals with the map in her head.  If she did everything really well, maybe things really would be alright for her.

Rin had been so busy mapping things out in her head that it took her a moment to process that the Emperor had stopped walking.  Jerking to a halt, she glanced back at him, embarrassment heating up her processors and kicking her cooling system into overdrive.  “I’m very sorry!”

The Emperor just laughed softly before opening the door he had stopped in front of. “Please, go in.  I told Makoto you were coming, so he’s ready to see you.”

Right, she was going to be the Crown Prince’s bodyguard.  It only made sense that the Emperor would take her to meet his son right away.  Straightening out her dress, she entered the room.

Rin’s eyes zoomed in on the prince, confirming his identity before shifting to the android beside him.  A quick scan told her that he was a companion android, though his model seemed a bit outdated.  But if Makoto was anything like this father, she doubted that the prince would scrap a friend simply for being outdated.

Glancing back at the prince, Rin had to quickly zoom back out as he was suddenly in front of her, a bright smile on his face.

“It’s nice to meet you!”  Makoto’s voice was tinged with excitement, which stumped Rin.  She only became more confused when he grabbed her hand and actually shook it.  What on earth was he doing?  He was the Crown Prince of Japan and she was just a service android.

“You don’t have to do that!  I should be bowing to you!  You’re the prince!”  Flustered, Rin felt her cooling system kick into overdrive once again.  Was the entire royal family this painfully kind to their AI?

Makoto seemed to light up at her protests and he turned to his companion android. “Haru!  She really is like you!”

Haru glanced up from the portable game system in his hands, giving Rin a once over before turning back to the game.  “That’s what your father said.”

It took Rin a moment to process what Makoto was talking about before making the connection. “Your previous bodyguards were mass produced ones, huh?  Well, I’m special because like companion androids, I’ve got an adaptive AI as well!”

“Is that why you like to wear that weird maid dress?”  Haru spoke again, though he didn’t look up from his game.  His voice was neutral, almost bored sounding, as though the Crown Prince getting a special bodyguard unit was a common thing.

“Oi!”  Was Haru trying to pick a fight with her?

Makoto let out a weak laugh, telling Haru to “Be nice,” before turning back to Rin.  “It’s true, though.  All my other bodyguards were mass produced.  I guess my dad realized I had a hard time connecting to them.” He sighed a bit, looking at his feet. “They threw their lives away too easily.”

Rin wanted to tell him that that was the job of was bodyguard unit but she kept her mouth shut. There was something about the prince that made her want to protect him and not just in the way she was programmed to. She didn’t want to see him upset, though she couldn’t figure out why.  “Don’t worry,” she said softly, giving him a smile, “I promise to stay with you.”

~~

A month passed and Rin found herself getting along with her charge very well.  Makoto was sweet and kind, just like his father, and any fears of being decommissioned no longer bothered her.

However, as much as Rin and Makoto got along, she clashed with Haru constantly.  It had even gone as far as issuing challenges to each other in an attempt to one up the other android.

Makoto had insisted that his two androids get to know each other, which was how Rin and Haru found themselves sitting alone together by the indoor swimming pool. Haru’s feet were dangling in the water and he was ignoring any of Rin’s attempts to have a conversation.

“You’re impossible. Do you really dislike having another AI like you around?”  Rin frowned as Haru shook his head.  “Then how come you won’t talk to me?”

“You’re loud.” Haru finally turned to look at her, frowning slightly.  “And you backed out of my swimming challenge.”

“Of course I did. I’m literally made of guns.  I can’t swim.”  Rin would never admit that she was envious of Haru’s ability to swim with the prince.  Being around Makoto had caused her to feel a wide range of emotions and she still hadn’t been able to process them all very well.

Haru sighed before reaching for the back of his neck and popping open his USB panel.  Pulling out a cable, he held the plug end out to Rin.

Rin stared at the cable for a moment before taking it from Haru.  Scooting closer to him, she popped open her own USB panel and plugged it in.  It only took a few moments for Haru to connect with her and she glanced at him, curious as to what he wanted.

“It’s easier for me to talk this way.”

“Why?”

“Reasons.”

Rin frowned at him, wondering why a companion bot was so secretive and withdrawn.  “Whatever. I don’t mind talking like this, I guess.”

“Good.  You’re too loud otherwise.”  Haru’s mouth quirked up into a small smile.

“Oi!  You are so rude.”  Rin laughed despite this, enjoying the feeling of communicating like this.  It had been a long time since she had done this and it felt nice.

The two lapsed into comfortable silence, watching the ripples that the movement of Haru’s feet made across the water.

Haru was the first to break the silence, glancing at Rin as he asked, “So, are you really made of guns?”

~~

“Rin?  Why do you like maid uniforms, anyway?  We have proper uniforms.  Isn’t a dress like that impractical?”  Makoto glanced over at his bodyguard, feeling his face grow warm as she stared at him in confusion.  Oh no, he’d been rude, hadn’t he?  “N-Not that there’s anything wrong with it!  I think you look very good in them!  Er, I mean, um, you should wear what you want.  I’m sorry!”

For some reason, Rin felt herself grow warm and she turned her cooling system on its highest setting. There was no way Makoto was human. He was just so… so cute!  “It’s very practical, actually.  I’ll show you!”

Standing from her chair, Rin grabbed the edge of her long skirts and pulled them up.

Makoto let out a startled shriek and covered his eyes, leaving Rin to stare at him in confusion. Hearing Haru get out of the pool behind her, she turned to her friend, confused.

“The fact that your legs are covered in knives doesn’t change the fact that you just flashed him.”  Haru tilted his head a bit as he stared at Makoto.

“Shit.  And get out of my head!”

Haru simply shrugged, saying, “You’re the one that connected to me through Bluetooth,” before going over to pat Makoto on the head.

Dropping her skirts, Rin hesitantly sat back down on her chair next to Makoto.  “I’m sorry.  I forget that humans are strange when it comes to things like this.”

All she got in response was an embarrassed groan.

~~

The first time Rin heard Makoto make weird, squeaking noises, she panicked.  He waved her off, telling her that everything was fine and that this happened to humans all the time.  Confused, she had gone over to sit by Haru, and connected herself to him through the USB cable.

“What do you want now?  I’m trying to play my game.”  Annoyance tinged his voice as he paused his game and set down the hand held system.

“Makoto is squeaking.  Why is he squeaking?”

Haru stared at her for a moment before starting to laugh, the sound filling Rin’s head.  On the outside, the only indicator of his amusement was a small twitch of the lips.  He was much more open when he didn’t have to communicate verbally.

“You’re no help.”  Sulking a bit, Rin turned her attention back to Makoto. He continued to read his book, acting like the full body jerks and squeaks were not an issue.  “It’s cute, though…”

“You do remember I can hear your thoughts when we’re connected, right?”  Haru had picked up his game again, ignoring the way Rin started to overheat next to him. “They’re just hiccups.  They’re weird but humans don’t seem to find them a problem.”  Reaching over, he pressed the button to manually turn on her extra cooling systems before going back to his game.

Embarrassed, Rin stayed quiet as she watched Makoto, noticing that the hiccups eventually just vanished.  Humans really were strange creatures.

~~

The first time Haru suffered an unexpected shutdown around Rin was when they had been connected. The sudden severance in their link was jarring and Rin was left reeling with the sensation of being shutdown despite still being awake.

Ripping out the cable, she grabbed Haru’s shoulders and shook him.  “Haru!”  No matter how much she shook him or yelled at him, Haru refused to turn back on.

Makoto must have heard her shouting, because he was suddenly beside her, pulling her away from Haru.  “It’s okay, Rin.  It happens, sometimes.  He’ll be okay…”

Rin frowned at the words.  “Why hasn’t he gotten fixed?  Something like this isn’t normal!”

“Ah, I don’t… really know.  Haru said he was fine and I’m not going to make him get repairs done if he doesn’t want them.”  Makoto gave her a sad smile.

About to protest, Rin was stopped when she saw Haru move out of the corner of her eye. Dropping down next to her friend, she hugged him tightly.  “You’re an idiot.”

If Haru had been startled by the sudden hug, he didn’t show it.  Instead, he simply patted her on the back and sent Makoto an apologetic glance.

~~

After Rin witnessed a few more shutdowns, she pulled Haru aside, demanding to know what was wrong with him.

Haru sighed and took out his USB cable, plugging it into Rin.  Since this was their preferred form of communication, they barely noticed linkups anymore.

“When Makoto’s last bodyguard was destroyed, my cooling systems were damaged.  So I just overheat sometimes.”  He shrugged, as though none of this was a big deal.

“But why don’t you get fixed?”

Haru stayed quiet for a few minutes, looking down at the floor.  Finally, he said, “I don’t want to lose myself during any upgrades.”  With that, he pulled the cord out of Rin’s port and walked away.

~~

Rin’s eyes glowed as she poured over online news reports, skimming through them for information on Makoto’s attackers.  All she was able to find, though, was that there had been two assailants.  With Haru reluctant to speak about what had happened, she was at a loss on how to discover their identities.

“Rin?”

Makoto’s voice drew her back to the present.  Closing the articles, she switched her eyes from the internet back to the real world. Makoto stood in front of her, smiling softly as he held up something small, fluffy, and black.

“I got us a kitten, Rin!  I wanted to show you first.”  Makoto looked almost nervous as he spoke, which confused Rin.

Why would Makoto be nervous around her?  Especially about just showing her the new cat he got.  “It’s cute.”

“Ah!  Do you want to name it with me?”  

The smile on Makoto’s face made Rin heat up a bit, which only confused her even more.  Why did she keep reacting this way to Makoto?

“Kuro.  Since she’s black.”  Rin reached out to pet the cat, only to get a nasty scratch across her hand from the small creature.  Her synthetic skin tore, exposing the metal of her fingers.

Both Makoto and Rin stared at the metal for a moment, before Makoto started spouting out apologies.  “Rin, I’m so sorry!  I didn’t know she’d react like that!”  Setting down the kitten, he took Rin’s hand gently, inspecting the damage.

“She’s smart. She’s knows I’m dangerous.”  Rin kept her voice steady, though her thoughts were in turmoil.  Why was she upset about a kitten disliking her? She knew she was a living weapon, so none of this should have bothered her.

Makoto didn’t respond, though he looked hurt by her words.  “I’m sorry,” he said again, before pressing a soft kiss to Rin’s fingers.

“It’s not like it hurts.”  Rin mumbled.  Feeling herself start to overheat,she pulled her hand away quickly. “I’ll…  I’ll go fix this.”  Embarrassment thrumming through all her systems, she ran out of the room.  Why did the prince always make her feel so strange?

~~

“Why do I always feel like that around Makoto?”

Haru sighed softly as Rin linked up with him.  He had been expecting a question like this, especially after Makoto had asked him the same thing earlier that day.  “Adaptive AI are programmed to feel emotions in a way similar to humans.”

“I know that!”  Rin huffed a bit, fiddling with the hem of her maid dress.

“That includes love.”  Haru didn’t look up from his game as he felt Rin’s mind run wild at his words.  These two were amusing.

~~

Slowly, Rin came to accept that maybe she was in love with her charge.  There was so much about Makoto to love.  He was gentle and kind, treating everyone, even his androids, as his equals.  The way he smiled made Rin’s insides heat up and Haru was constantly threatening to push her into the pool if she didn’t cool off.

Rin came to accept these emotions, though she never acted on them.  It was better this way, she told herself.  After all, Makoto was the Crown Prince and she was a service android.  Content with the way things were, she never mentioned a thing.

Which was why she was so completely caught off guard when Makoto confessed to her.

He stood in front of her, his face a bright red as the words “I’m in love with you!” spilled from his lips.

That was the first time Rin overheated badly enough that she shutdown.  

It wasn’t until she was awake again (and covered in cooling packs, courtesy of Haru), that she managed to fumble a confession of her own.

~~

“Rin, um, do you think we could maybe cuddle…?”  Makoto was fidgeting next to her on the couch, his cheeks tinged pink.  It was something that Rin found adorable, though she never mentioned it, because the prince would always get too flustered to speak.

“Of course.”  Rin held up a hand when Makoto tried to hug her, smiling slightly.  “Hold on. I’m not exactly safe for cuddling at the moment.”

She stood and lifted her skirts, making sure not to flash Makoto this time.  Carefully, she began to unstrap the knives from her legs, along with the twin pistols holstered to her thighs.  Once her legs were bare of any weaponry, she rolled up her sleeves to remove the knives there.  

Thankfully, she was used to this, so the process only took five minutes.  Makoto stared at her the entire time, a look of complete disbelief on his face.

Once all the knives had been set down on the floor, Rin moved back to the couch.  For a moment, she worried that Makoto was disgusted by her but her fears melted when he began to laugh.

“Are you sure you have enough weapons, Rin?”  Still laughing, he pulled her into a hug, only to be gently pushed away again.

“Wait!” Reaching down the front of her dress, to which Makoto squeaked and covered his eyes, she pulled out a short dagger from between her breasts.  “Forgot the boob blade!”

Makoto burst into laughter as he uncovered his eyes and was finally able to pull her into a proper hug.  “You’re ridiculous.  I can’t believe you call it that.”

Dropping the knife onto the floor, Rin smiled as she rested her head on Makoto’s shoulder.  “I knew it would make you laugh.”

~~

When the Emperor called to see her, Rin was sure it was because he had found out, and subsequently disapproved of, her relationship with his son.  But when she arrived in the small meeting room, her confusion only grew when she saw Haru sitting at the large table.  The other android slid a large photo over to her, watching her as she picked it up.

Rin stared at it, trying to process what she was seeing.  The photo itself seemed to be a close up from a street camera, with the focus on two men.  “They’re alive?”  

The Emperor gave her a strained smile before he nodded.  “Yes.  It seems that the other members of the SANO unit are, in fact, alive.  It was suspected that, during the attack on your previous charge, the actual goal was for the three of you to be taken away.  The agency that created you believed that, without you, the androids Sousuke and Kisumi would be decommissioned.”  He sighed softly before looking at his own copy of the photo.  “As you can see, this wasn’t the case.  They were altered, Rin.  We didn’t have proof but Haru finally gave us his video files.”

Confused was a mild way of describing how she felt.  Finding out that her two missing pieces were alive made her happy, but the way the Emperor continued to talk scared her.  She sat down and looked over at Haru, hoping that he would be able to help her out.

Sensing her distress, Haru scooted his chair closer to her before linking them together.  “You love Makoto, so I decided that you should know what happened.”

“What are you talking about?  What does any of this have to do with Sousuke and Kisumi? What does he mean by ‘altered’?”

Haru looked at her, frowning slightly.  “They tried to kill Makoto.”

~~

That night, Rin lay in bed with Makoto, curled up in his arms.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He sighed softly and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.  “I didn’t want to worry you.  And I didn’t know about your connection to them.  My father never told me.”

“How am I supposed to save them?”  Her voice was quiet and she refused to look at him.  The frustration and anger of knowing someone had altered her unit mates, turning them into killers instead of protectors, was boiling under the surface without an outlet.

“I don’t know. But I’m sure we’ll think of something. I won’t let you deal with this alone.” Makoto smiled softly, lifting her face and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. 

Rin relaxed slightly a bit as she returned the kiss.  The tingling in the touch receptors whenever they kissed was something she had come to enjoy very much.

Breaking the kiss, she mumbled a soft “Thank you,” before settling down so Makoto could sleep. She stayed awake, listening to the sounds of his heartbeat grow steady and his breathing become slow and even.  Watching Makoto fall asleep was fascinating and she always made sure to put herself into sleep mode after making sure he was asleep.

As she was about to switch herself to sleep mode, a hand clamped over her mouth and a short, four-note tune was whistled into her ear.

~~

When Rin was booted up from her forced shutdown, it was to find Haru hovering over her with wide eyes.  He didn’t need to say anything for Rin to know what had happened.

“I don’t want you doing anything stupid.  I know you, Kisumi.  You broke your damn ankle, so while I’m gone for competitions, you are going to use the maid service.  Sometimes, you have to accept help.”  Sousuke sighed softly before gently shoving Kisumi’s shoulder.  “Besides, this maid service is for people who injured themselves and need extra help.”

Kisumi sighed, knowing that Sousuke would refuse the budge on this issue.  “Fine.  It’s just meals and clean up, right?”

“Yeah.  You just have to spend a week with some middle aged lady cleaning up and making you food.  I think you can handle that for a week.”  Hoisting his travel bag over his shoulder, Sousuke’s frown twitched into a small smile as he looked at his friend.  “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I never do anything stupid, Sou!”

A bark of laughter left Sousuke as he headed out the door.  “Yeah, that’s why you broke your ankle showing off for cheerleaders.”

Kisumi felt his face heat up a bit and he frowned at the door Sousuke had just left through.  “They were really hot, though…”

~~

When Kisumi answered the door later that day, he had been expecting someone middle aged and up. Like the nice nurses that reminded him of his mom.  He was not expecting a redheaded bombshell to walk into his apartment and set up shop in the kitchen.  Open-mouthed, he stared at her before remembering to close the door and that standing around imitating a fish was the opposite of polite.

“I…  You’re from the maid service?”

She looked over at him, frowning slightly.  “Yes.  Is there something wrong?”

Only that you’re really smoking hot and I’m not sure how I’ll be able to focus on anything, Kisumi thought. Out loud, he said, “Well, I was kind of expecting someone my mom’s age…  Aren’t you too young to be doing something like this?”

“That’s none of your business, really.”  The young woman shrugged a bit.  “Your roommate hired me to cook and clean while he’s gone, right?  So, just let me know what you want to eat.”

Food was the last thing on Kisumi’s mind when he blurted out, “What’s your name?”

“Rin.”  The small smile she gave him made his heart hammer in his chest and he hobbled off on his crutches to flop down on the couch. He would have to thank Sousuke profusely when his friend returned.

~~

To: Sousuke

this maid is on fire!!

From: Sousuke

what

why is she on fire

kisumi what did you do

To: Sousuke

what

sousuke no she’s not literally on fire calm down

add some slang to your vocab you’re embarrassing

From: Sousuke

sorry

what did you mean then

To: Sousuke

[picture file attached]

she’s a total babe

i owe u

From: Sousuke

don’t flirt with the maid

flirting is what broke your ankle in the first place

(i approve though)

~~

On the second day, Kisumi asked something he had been wondering since he’d met Rin.

“How come you don’t wear a maid uniform?”

The look Rin gave him almost made Kisumi regret his question.  Almost.  His curiosity had always been stronger than his survival instincts, especially when it came to people he found attractive.

“This isn’t an anime, you idiot.”  Rin side eyed him from her spot on one end of the couch.  She had finished cleaning for the day and Kisumi had insisted that she take a break before making dinner.  

“But you’d look really cute in one!”  Kisumi grinned, leaning backwards in case Rin made a grab for his head.  She had a bit of a temper and squeezing the head of whoever was annoying her seemed to be her favorite form of anger management.  He’d found that out the hard way the day before, when he had complained about her cooking.

“Oi!  Do you want to die?”

“I wouldn’t mind, if you were the one to do it.”  Kisumi winked at her, though he was internally cursing himself.  Why did he always say shit like this?  

Rin made a face before getting off the couch.  “Idiot. I’m going to go make dinner.”

~~

The more Kisumi and Rin talked, the more Kisumi felt comfortable talking to her without constant flirting.  Sousuke had probably been one of the few people to ever see behind the flirtatious façade.  Kisumi had worn it like armor, using it to hide how lonely he was, pretending that all he needed were screaming fans at his basketball games.

Talking to Rin was so easy.  She knew nothing about him, so she expected nothing of him.  Whenever she was finished cleaning, she would spend time talking to him, chatting about anything and everything.  Rin listened to him, smiling and actually laughing at some of the things he said.

Kisumi came to love that laugh.

~~

“How long have you known Sousuke?”

It was the fifth day and the two of them had gotten to know each other fairly well in the short time they’d spent together.  They had talked about everything they could think of, but Rin had always closed off a bit whenever Kisumi mentioned Sousuke.  So, her question surprised had him.

“Sousuke and I have known each other since elementary school.  He’s my best friend.  I feel like he worries about me a bit too much, though.”  Laughing softly, Kisumi leaned back into the couch before glancing over at Rin.  “Why do you ask?”

Rin simply shrugged, though her face was tinted pink.  “Oh.  I just wondered.  I mean, he did buy a week long maid service for you while he was gone.”

“Like I said, he worries about me a lot.  But we’re just friends, if that’s what you were wondering.”  Kisumi’s grin widened when Rin turned bright red.

“I was not.” With a huff, Rin crossed her arms and refused to look at him until she got up to make dinner.

~~

To: Sousuke

i want to ask her out

From: Sousuke

so do it

To: Sousuke

no way.  one of the first things i asked her was why she wasn’t wearing a maid dress she probably thinks i’m a pervert or something

From: Sousuke

oh my god

wow and i thought i was bad at talking to cute people

To: Sousuke

you’re not helping

~~

During the last two days, Kisumi frequently caught Rin staring but whenever he went to ask her what was wrong, she would look away and busy herself with work.  As much as he wanted to know what was wrong with her, he didn’t want to push it.

~~

When Sousuke came back, Kisumi still hadn’t asked her out, much to his friend’s annoyance.  “Thanks for looking after this idiot for me.” Smiling softly at her, Sousuke held out his hand.  “I know you got paid for this but thank you.  I mean it.”  Leaning in close, he whispered, “I wish you both luck.”

Rin gave him a confused look before turning red and hurrying to gather her things.  Before she left, she went over to Kisumi, though she didn’t look him in the eyes.  “I… You were probably one of my more interesting clients.  I mostly get elderly people.  It was nice talking to someone my own age.”

“Yeah, um, it was nice talking to you.”  Fidgeting a bit, Kisumi knew that this was probably his only chance to ask her out but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

After a few moments of awkward silence between the two of them, Rin nodded and turned to leave. “Take care of yourself.”

~~

Two days later, there was a knock on the apartment door.  Sousuke went to answer it and Kisumi could hear the sound of laughter from where he was sitting on the couch.  Without a word, Sousuke slipped off into his bedroom.  Kisumi was left to wonder what could have made his normally stoic friend laugh like that.

The door closed and he heard footsteps approaching him.  Perking up a bit, his eyes widened at what he saw.

Rin stood in front of him, wearing a very frilly, very short maid dress.  “I don’t do this for anyone else, do you understand me? But I figured I’d give us a chance. If you want, that is.”

Kisumi continued to stare at her, trying to find his voice.  After a few moments of stunned silence, he finally managed to squeak out, “I want that!  I definitely want that.”

A bright smile broke on Rin’s face and she sat down beside him, leaving no space between them. “Your expression was definitely worth dressing up like this.  Though I don’t think your roommate will ever let us live this down.”