As soon as the car door slammed shut Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita were immediately next to the gates. Other than the occasional hospital visits, none of them had seen Yumi in two days. In that span of time, XANA had only attacked once, but the rest of them ended up foiling his plans easily. That did not mean, however, that they had an easy time fighting on Lyoko without Yumi…all of them had her on their minds but none more so than Ulrich.

When Yumi’s mother helped her out of the car, Aelita felt dismayed. Yumi always seemed to be strong and confident even if deep inside herself she wasn’t, but Aelita could see that this wasn’t the case today. Instead of the confidence and sureness that always seemed to reside on the Japanese girl’s face, all Aelita could see was despair. She glanced around at the others and could tell that they all noticed it as well.

"Hi Yumi!" Odd greeted the girl as she extended her cane and walked toward the gates. However, his voice wasn’t full of the cheeriness that Aelita was used to.

"Hello." Yumi responded dejectedly. She turned her head in the direction of her parents. "Thanks."

"You’re welcome Sweetie." her mother replied. After giving Yumi a small kiss on the forehead, she turned and walked back to the car with her husband. Both watched their daughter carefully before slowly driving away as if to make certain that the others would take care of their treasure.

"Glad to see you back Yumi." Odd commented, then as if realizing that he used the word ‘see’, he decided to quickly rephrase the sentence. "I mean, it’s good to have you back."

Yumi angrily grunted at him for having changed the welcome but otherwise made no indication that she had heard the correction. She moved the cane she was holding and began walking forward through the gates.

"Here, Yumi, let me help you." Ulrich said, as he gently grabbed her arm in an attempt to help guide her. He was surprised was she wrenched her arm free from his grasp.

"I don’t need your help. I’m quite capable of getting along on my own!" she spat out, shocking the whole group.

"Uh…I-I’m sorry." Ulrich replied. "I just w-wanted to help."

Yumi sighed as she hung her head. "No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just that I’m sick of having people do everything for me."

Ulrich nodded his understanding, but then realized that she couldn’t see him. "Right. I understand."

"Hey Yumi!" William’s voice rang out. With a scowl Ulrich turned to him. Yumi’s head also turned toward the sound, but her eyes remained in the same position as before. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he stood next to her and grabbed her hand.

"As good as one could possibly feel under the circumstances." Yumi replied flatly.

"Uh…right." William replied, not knowing how to respond to her comment. "Do you…do you need some help getting to your classes?"
Ulrich secretly laughed inside. Definitely the wrong thing to say!

"No! I do not need help!" Yumi responded. "Why does everyone think that just because I can’t see that I’m helpless?"

"I’m sorry Yumi!" William replied hastily. "I just-"

"Wanted to help." Yumi finished. "I know. And I appreciate it. But I don’t need any extra help."

"Right." William replied with a smile. "I’ve got it. No extra help."

Ulrich mentally growled at the other boy. His hand balled into a fist unseen by any of the others with the exception of Aelita who was very perceptive when it came to her friends’ emotions. She watched as he closed his eyes momentarily to regain his composure, but Aelita knew that it wouldn’t help him very much. Not only was he jealous of William, but he was angry with the boy - as well as with himself.

"You alright Ulrich?" William asked, seeing his eyes closed. Ulrich’s eyes immediately flew open in response and he shoved his hands into his pockets to keep anyone from seeing how hard his fists were clenched.

"Just fine." he replied through clenched teeth.

"Ulrich…" Yumi started but was interrupted by the sound of the bell.

"Well come on. Let’s get to class." William said as he gently tugged on her arm.

"Wait…I need to…" she didn’t have time to say much of anything as William pulled her away. Aelita noted that he seemed relieved to be able to pull her away from Ulrich. Was he worried about what Yumi would have said had the bell not interrupted?

Ulrich folded his arms over his chest as he half-glared at the couple that was soon becoming just two more people in the sea of children that surrounded the school.

"Hey Ulrich!" Odd called out. "If you don’t get it in gear, we’re going to be late for gym class!"

Ulrich kept his gaze where it had been, but answered: "Alright. I’m coming."

*~*~*~*

Odd glanced at Ulrich who, of course, was not paying any attention whatsoever. "Hey Ulrich, wake up! If Jim sees you spacing out, he’s not going to be too happy!"

Ulrich shook his head in response and looked at his friend. "Huh?"

"I take it you were thinking about Yumi and William, right?" Odd whispered, a knowing look in his eyes.

"No, of course not!" Ulrich snapped back in a low voice. "That’s ridiculous! Yumi’s free to date whoever she chooses…why would I think about that?"

"Uh huh." Odd replied sarcastically. "Sure. If you say so."

"Odd! Ulrich!" Jim shouted at the two boys. "I’m sorry if you feel you don’t need to hear the rules!"

Both boys sheepishly turned and faced the angry gym teacher. "Sorry Jim." They both replied simultaneously. Ulrich’s voice, however, was barely heard. Jim looked at them a moment longer before turning his attention back to the entire class.

Ulrich, however, paid no attention to Jim. He tried to concentrate on what the gruff man was saying, but he found himself unable. His mind kept wandering back to Yumi, wondering how she was coping with her blindness and thinking about how he wanted to be there to help her.

But, no, she was receiving help from her boyfriend.

"Ul-rich!" Odd whispered while lightly elbowing his friend. "Pay attention!"

Annoyed, Ulrich shifted his weight from one foot to the other and tried to pay attention.

"Ulrich! You’re up next!" Jim called. Slowly Ulrich walked up to the starting line while Jim got his stopwatch ready.

"On your mark…get set…go!"

Ulrich began to run, but he felt as though he were in a fog. He remembered running off the starting line, but nothing after…that is until he felt himself fall face-first into the track. "Ugh."

"Ulrich!" Jim shouted. "What’s the matter with you?"

Ulrich sat up on the track and looked up at the P.E. teacher. "Sorry Jim. I’m not feeling good. Can I go to the infirmary?"

"Oh all right." Jim responded distastefully.

Ulrich slowly got to his feet and turned and walked in the direction of the infirmary. However, that was not his destination. Instead he turned and made a detour toward Yumi’s classroom. Sneaking up to the window he slightly raised his head over the ledge just far enough for his eyes to peak over. His eyes scanned the classroom and finally rested on Yumi’s figure. Sourly he noted that William was sitting right beside her, taking notes for her so that she could go to whoever the school hired to help teach her brail and they could work together on the homework.

Ulrich sighed as he continued to watch her. Her face remained expressionless as she "stared" straight ahead toward the teacher. Her eyes remained clouded, unfocused. He hated seeing her like this. The once confident Japanese girl now seemed dazed and depressed. As he was staring at her, Ulrich completely lost track of time. The bell tolled and students began to file out of their classrooms, glad for the freedom.

Ulrich immediately pushed himself away from the window least he be caught by anyone – especially Jim – peeking into a classroom when he was supposed to be in the infirmary. Slowly he began to walk away, wondering what their lives would be like if Yumi stayed blind the rest of her life.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jeremie liked being able to solve problems. He was excellent at it too. But this whole mess with Yumi was something he couldn't fix. Yet he couldn't help but feel a tad bit responsible for what happened to her. If he had been searching for the reason why XANA had been so quiet, then maybe his attack wouldn't have caught them by surprise.

But in all probability it would have anyway.

As the sound of the bell echoed down the long hallways, he stood and glanced at Odd and Aelita. All three were silent as they walked away from the track, looking for Ulrich. Jeremie knew that he hadn’t gone to the infirmary…none of them rarely ever did. He knew that he had gone to see Yumi.

While making his way toward the benches where they normally met Yumi at this time, Jeremie spotted a troubled Ulrich walking slowly toward them. Not only was his crush dating William, but now she could hardly do the things she used to. Jeremie shook his head and sighed.

He suddenly felt Aelita’s petite hand on his. He looked up at her and blushed as she flashed a small, innocent smile at him but otherwise said nothing.

"Hi Ulrich. How was your trip to the infirmary?" Odd asked, trying to lighten up his mood a bit.

Ulrich merely shrugged in response as he plopped down on the bench. His eyes followed Yumi and William’s figures as they made their way toward the rest of the group. "Hi guys." Yumi called.

"Hey Yumi." A chorus of voices replied back.

"How was class?" Odd asked.

"Not too bad." She replied. "But it was extremely difficult trying to listen to a math lesson and not being able to see the examples."

"How’s the tutor working out?" Aelita asked.

"Not too bad. But I never realized how hard brail was! That and going home and doing 2 more hours of schoolwork on top of the rest of the school day is far from fun…not to mention it’s cutting into other things."

Jeremie immediately knew that "other things" meant going to Lyoko. He realized that she still thought that she’d be able to be transferred there to fight XANA. He was going to have to talk to her about that.

Meanwhile, in the Forest Region, the blue haze that surrounded the tower there slowly changed to red and the ground began to tremble.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*