I don’t own Angelic Layer. CLAMP does. I don’t own Chobits either. CLAMP owns them too. I do own Hitomi, but who really cares?

The Shining One

Chapter Three

There was a whirring sound, as though a machine was starting up, that faded quickly to inaudibility. Hikaru’s eyes flickered, and she slowly sat up.

And then promptly fell off the pallet.

"She’s going to be clumsy for a while," said Ichigo. "And it’ll be a long time before she starts to talk; you’ll have to help her learn that."

Hikaru opened her mouth, and spoke. "Mi--" She paused, and frowned.

Icchan’s eyes widened. "That was...more than I expected."

"She tried to say my name, didn’t she?"

"That’s certainly what it sounded like," he admitted. "Her voicebox isn’t like ours; her lips are for decoration, nothing really more. Since she learned to read your lips, she’s probably trying to talk like you do."

"Mi--"

Misaki knelt down before Hikaru. "Mi-sa-ki." She enunciated each syllable clearly.

"Misaki." The Angel’s expression was one of wonder.

Misaki smiled, and looked up at Ichigo. "When can she come home?"

"You make her sound like a newborn infant," chuckled Ichigo. "Well, I’ve got a user’s manual that you need to go through, and we really should get her some clothes." He had a bit of a blush. "I took the liberty of preparing two sets for her. One matches her old fighting clothes, and the other is just a school uniform."

"Which school?"

He looked a bit abashed. "Actually, I copied the uniform from Magic Knight Rayearth, where--"

"Oh!" Misaki’s eyes lit up. "So she really is Hikaru now!"

"Not Shidou Hikaru, though," amended Ichigo. "She won’t be a swordswoman, unless you teach her that." He picked up a shopping bag, pulled out the uniform. "And I couldn’t get a sample of the voice, so I used another source for that. There was a voice actress in the last century, very prolific, and she played a lot of spinny redheads. So I used her voice for Hikaru’s voice patterns."

Misaki eyed the garments, and chuckled. "You forgot part of the uniform."

"Eh?" Icchan looked down. "What’s missing?"

"If she’s going to wear a skirt that short, underwear is a must."

He blushed beet red. "I...Uh. Didn’t really think of that."

"And here everyone thinks you’re a pervert," she chuckled. "I’ll give her a pair of mine, that I don’t wear anymore. For now, though, let’s put the battle garb on her."

- - - - -

Getting Hikaru into the outfit was, at best, difficult. She had, of course, no idea how to dress herself, and Misaki and Icchan had their hands full trying to get her to understand what they were trying to do. Her well-intentioned attempts to help only made things worse.

But eventually, she was dressed and seated in the cafeteria. Icchan and Misaki had cups of coffee, and only had to stop Hikaru once from trying to drink.

"It might be worthwhile," observed Misaki, "to include some way of eating or drinking. Just because if Hikaru is going to try it, so is another Angel."

"She’s not really an Angel anymore," said Icchan. "She’s a personal computer. She’s just more personable than most. And adding a digestive tract would also require adding an elimination tract, and I don’t think you want to potty-train a computer."

"Didn’t think of that," admitted Misaki. She turned the page on the user’s manual. "This is badly written."

"It’s a tradition."

"Power requirements...She needs to be plugged in when her power levels get low. How will I know her power levels are low?"

"She’ll get sluggish. Once she learns to talk better, she’ll be able to tell you." Icchan paused for a sip of coffee. "Her skin is a massive solar battery. She’ll absorb a lot of power just from being out in the sun. And the more of her skin that’s exposed, the more power she’ll get, so the school uniform would be a good pick, or shorts and a tee-shirt." He chuckled. "I’m not being a pervert when I say, the more of her that’s exposed, the better."

"Misaki!" added Hikaru cheerfully.

"I think your first goal should be improving her vocabulary," Icchan said wryly. "Now, it’s been a while since I was at your mothers’ home, but if I recall correctly, you have a small room - more like a large closet - done up as a guest room. Has anything been done with that?"

"No."

"Perfect. She doesn’t need a bed, but sitting down will reduce her power load. You might find her a hobby, because she won’t sleep." Icchan paused. "Well, she does sleep, for all of three seconds per day, and no warning when she does it. She’ll just pause for three or four seconds, and then resume whatever she was doing."

"So when we’re all asleep, she’ll need something to do."

"Yes. I expect the first few nights are going to be rough on you, because she is going to be very curious for the next few days."

"She’s got a hobby," said Misaki, "but it’s not going to be appropriate for night-times."

"Oh?"

"She likes to dance." She smiled weakly. "Mom might object to her dancing in the middle of the night."

- - - - -

"Come on, Hikaru. Six more blocks." Misaki guided her around one of the city’s ubiquitous elevated gardens. "Good. You’re doing well."

She was getting better, but at Misaki’s words of encouragement, she tried to rush again, and tripped. She fell face forward into the pavement, nearly smacking her head on the wall of the elevated garden, and lay there for a moment, as though uncertain how she’d gotten there.

Misaki smiled. "You are getting better, Hikaru. But don’t try to rush; speed will come later."

Hikaru sat up slowly, and smiled uncertainly. "Better." Her voice, when she wasn’t excited, was very soft and musical. Misaki had trouble believing that it was the same actress who had supplied both voices.

Misaki knelt down before Hikaru, one hand resting on the low stone wall, and smiled. "At the rate we’re going, we should be home in time for breakfast."

A shadow fell over the two of them, and a hint of a scowl crossed Hikaru’s face. Misaki turned and looked up.

Way up.

Standing before her was Wizard. He was tall, much taller than her or Hikaru, nearly a hundred and eighty centimeters. Rather than the powder-blue trenchcoat he wore on the Layer, he wore a brown leather duster, but other than that, his attire was identical to what she was used to seeing.

He knelt before Hikaru, and extended a hand to her.

Hikaru looked at him, then glanced over at Misaki.

Misaki nodded. "Go ahead."

Hikaru reached out, and took his hand. Wizard pulled her upright.

And the music began.

Misaki looked to her left, to see Ohjiro setting his portable radio on the wall. He smiled at her, and sat down on the wall. "Isn’t this where we came in?"

She grinned, and turned to see Wizard and Hikaru dancing, just as they had five years ago. And Hikaru was doing well, not missing a step. "Practise?"

"It was the first precision movements she learned, so we’re just reminding her." Ohjiro nodded towards them. "We did the same with Wizard, but because he was the first Angel upgraded, I actually had to dance with him." He chuckled. "I dance poorly. So I took him to a dance studio, and hired a dancer to work with him."

"She’s doing really well."

"She just needs to get accustomed to her new body," explained Ohjiro. "She’s a lot bigger now, and not as strong, relative to her size, than she used to be. Different center of gravity, different power outputs, makes for different balance."

"Will this help her speech as well?"

Ohjiro shook his head. "No. And I can’t think of any way that Wizard could help with that. He has a completely different speech engine."

"Different how?"

"Hikaru’s voice is made up of samples from an actress’ voice, right?"

"Yes. That’s what Mister Icchan said."

"Well, Wizard uses a full speech generation program. It took some tweaking to make it sound human, and it’s still rather...gravelly. Hikaru probably sounded human, right away...but she will need to learn, as a human learns, by hearing other people talk."

The music came to a finish, and Wizard and Hikaru came to rest, back to back. Hikaru paused, then looked down at her feet.

Misaki chuckled. "Yes, you were walking."

- - - - -

"I’m home."

Shuuko looked up from her knitting. "Welcome back." She blinked, as Hikaru followed Misaki around the corner. "Oh, my..."

"Mom, I think you’ve met Hikaru?" Misaki chuckled.

"Yes." Shuuko rolled her wheelchair forward, and extended a hand to the former Angel. "Pleased to see you again."

Hikaru grasped the woman’s hand, and promptly pulled her out of her chair. Shuuko ended up in an undignified heap on the floor.

"Ohmigod!" Misaki knelt next to her mother. "Sorry, Mom, it didn’t even occur to me; the only time she’s seen a hand up like that, was to help someone up."

Shuuko chuckled, and pulled herself back into her chair. "That’s all right. I wasn’t hurt." She chuckled. "Better demonstrate for her." She held out her hand again, and Misaki took it and shook it carefully.

She chuckled. "Feels funny, shaking hands; I’m used to bowing."

"I can’t bow very effectively from a wheelchair," observed Shuuko wryly. She turned to Hikaru again, and held out her hand. This time, Hikaru took it gently, and shook her hand.

"Mom?"

Shuuko chuckled. "I’m Misaki’s mother. You can call me Shuuko."

"Shu--" Hikaru paused. "Shu?"

"Yes, I’ve gone by that name." Shuuko smiled. "Do you remember the Layer, then?"

"A...teen?" Hikaru paused. "Where...A-teena?"

Shuuko blinked. "My God. She remembers that, too."

"She’s a computer, Mom." Misaki turned back to Hikaru. "Athena’s not here."

"A-teena no?"

"Athena."

"A...tena." Hikaru scowled. "No speech."

"No, she can’t speak."

"No." Hikaru shook her head. "Hikaru no speech yet."

"You’re getting better by the minute," said Misaki.

"Where...A-tena?"

Shuuko’s voice was somewhat broken. "Misaki...she’s on my bureau, in the bedroom. Would you go get her?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Misaki ran to the bedroom, and flipped on the light. On the bureau, enclosed within the Angel Egg, was Athena. She opened the egg, cradled the Angel within her hands, and walked back to the family room.

Hikaru looked down at the tiny Angel, and carefully picked her up. She gently stroked Athena’s long blonde hair, and looked up at Shuuko.

"Bigger?"

"No." Shuuko shook her head. "I’m sorry, but I won’t be making Athena bigger." She bit her lip. "I think she’d be happier to stay on the Layer."