Guarded By the Clanker

She hates me because I’m a machine. I will gladly sacrifice myself to keep her safe.

The AI-hating journalist trying to take down the largest AI corporation urgently needs a bodyguard, and it’s ironic that she can afford only me. In her words, I am a clanker. A thing worth her deepest scorn. An it.
To be fair, that is what I am when she’s forced to accept my protection. The Monster Security Agency cyborgs are equipped with smart algorithms and a large database of MSA’s knowledge. They are ruled by their programming and incapable of thought.
It is rare for an AI-powered cyborg to attain self-awareness, and even rarer—to catch feelings.
But my principal is extraordinary, and rare occurrences are her bread and butter. After we’re attacked by a virus engineered to turn me against her, I become sentient.
We are stuck together on a suicidal mission under the fluorescent lights of Neo-Tokyo as enemy cyborgs breathe down our necks. Not the best place for me to struggle with my concept of self and the precarious, forbidden feelings for my principal, who still refers to me as a clanker.

But if I am a thing, how can it be that I love and want her so much?