Unnatural Instinct: Android

12.

The hallway and living room are dark. I pause as I pass your mother's room. I can hear her long slow breaths from behind her closed door.

She is asleep. Good. I know you worry what she might think, though I do not understand why. A mother should be grateful that I bring her daughter happiness, should she not?

I stand at your door. Your light is off and it is quiet within. Like your mother, I can hear your breathing. And just like her, you are asleep.

I should not wake you. It is just as important for you to recharge as it is for me. I rest my hand on your door, listening, calculating.

Just this once.

Designated parameters breached%

Quietly, I open the door. Just as quietly, I step inside and close it behind me. You do not wake. You are lying on your back in the middle of your bed. As usual, your right arm is stiff and bunched hard against your torso. The physiotherapy I did has only lasted a short while. Your blinds are drawn open and moonlight gleams against your skin.

I feel a strange sensation somewhere deep in the middle of my chest as I study your burned face. It is like someone is pressing their fist hard into my sternum. What did you look like before your injuries? There are no photos up on your walls and the information your mother downloaded into my system are only documents.

The pressure in my chest deepens as I approach the side of your bed. I stare down at you, watching as you breathe. Your eyelids flicker, as though you are dreaming. Your lips are slightly parted. For the first time I can see you properly without your hair falling in front of your face and without your need to turn away.

And I can see that you have nothing to fear. Not with me, at least.

Carefully, I sit on the edge of your bed as I continue to watch you. I do not know how long I sit for before you suddenly stir. With a groan, you roll away from me. You take a shuddering breath before you fall back into your usual breathing pattern.

I have a sudden, unexpectedly overwhelming urge to touch you. Where it has come from—I do not know. It is not part of any program or command I am aware of. My master processor is still functioning but at minimal capacity.

Whatever it is or wherever it has come from, it is not from my software.

Lifting my arm, I reach out, hesitating just before I touch you. You do not waken and the house remains quiet.

Error ...%

Sensors 1 to 5686323—breached%Malfunction in 432652 sensors%Command: system shutdown required%

I lower my hand onto your shoulder. Still, you do not stir, so I move my hand to your face, to brush your hair away from your eyes. Then I begin stroking your head. It makes me feel good. It relieves that pressure in my chest.

After a short while, you begin to wake. Your breathing changes. You stiffen beneath my touch. 'Mum?'

'No.'

You suck in a breath and roll over. Your eyes are wide and gleam against the moonlight. 'Hiro!What are you doing here?'

'I do not know.'

Error ...%

'You should't be here. Mum might find out.'

'She is asleep.'

You stare at me.

'Do you want me to go?' The thought that you might tell me to leave builds that pressure back in my chest.

'N-no. It's just ...' You bite your lip.

I continue to stroke your head. You like it. I can see by how your face relaxes and how your eyelids droop over your eyes. Moving on from your head, I start stroking your cheek—your scarred cheek.

Your eyes snap open and you jerk back. 'Don't.'

But I do not stop. You grab at my wrist, as though intent on thrusting me away. But you do not. Instead, you simply hold it loosely as you gaze up at me, your eyes shining with an emotion I cannot put a word to.

Then I touch your lips, brushing the tip of my thumb against them. When you still do not tell me to leave, I slide into bed next to you. You stiffen.

'Do not fear,' I say, taking your good hand and pressing it against my chest. 'I will not hurt you.'

'No. No you won't.'

I kiss each of your knuckles before sliding further into bed so that our fronts are almost touching. Resting my hand against your lower back, I push you close until our hips touch.

Then I kiss you on the mouth. First I just use my lips before sliding in my tongue. You kiss back, hesitant at first, before you slide your arm around my waist and kiss me harder.

We kiss for a while before somewhere in my programming I am compelled to move on. You are wearing a loose pair of pyjamas and it is an easy thing to slide my hand beneath your top. You gasp, pulling back from my lips as I touch your breast.

'Do you want me to stop?' I ask.

You shake your head.

So I stroke you, watching your face as I feel your nipple go hard. Closing your eyes, you part your lips. I roll you onto your back as I lift up your shirt to your chin, exposing your breasts. Panting, you gaze up at me. The tears in the corners of your eyes are shining in the moonlight.

'Do you want me to continue?' I say.

You nod.

Slinging my leg over your hips, I straddle you. As I do, I strip off my shirt. Your eyes widen further as you stare up at me. My skin is so white it glows against the moonlight. What do you think of me? You look satisfied. Lifting your hand, you press it to my chest.

'You look so real,' you say, releasing a breath. 'And yet so unreal.'

'I am designed in the image of the perfect man.'

You chuckle, then bite your lip as you stroke the muscles in my abdomen. 'The perfect man.'

'Do I please you?'

'You please me. Without a doubt, you please me.'