“Ulrich, please don’t go into Lyoko, I’m begging you” she sobbed uncontrollably. As she watched him walk into the factory she saw him go to his death, then she felt herself falling…falling….falling. She began to cry, not for herself, but for foolish Ulrich. “Why couldn’t he listen to me” she thought, “I thought he loved me.”

Then she heard a faint voice, it seemed to come from everywhere…..up, down…left and right. “Yumi, wake up, please wake up” she heard. It sounded like Ulrich, but it couldn’t be, she watched him die, she saw it. “Wake up Yumi,” he was yelling now.

“NODON’TGOULRICHPLEASEDON’TLEAVEME” she yelled all at once. She felt disoriented and weak, her eyes hurt and her stomach ached. “Wha…..where am I” she said weakly, all at the same time it sounded as if she was scared out of her mind.

“You’re in your room,” he said in a whisper, seeing her distress, “you missed breakfast and I was worried.” As he said this he pulled her into a tight hug, he knew she needed it. “You get dressed alright, I’ll be in the woods when you’re ready” he said in a comforting voice.

“Wait, can you wait outside my door, please” she whispered, barely audible. Ulrich saw the fear in her eyes and he didn’t want to see that in her. Yumi, the strongest one of them all, breaking down and pleading for comfort, to many that would mean that the end of the world was coming, but for Ulrich it was nothing new. She always appeared so in control and calm, but when she was with Ulrich she poured her heart out. He knew her fears and her goals, he knew her heart and her mind and all he wanted to do was be there for her.

“Sure, anything for you” he whispered as he kissed her lightly, he knew she couldn’t get enough of those. He walked out of the room to give her privacy and let her change. A huge blush formed on her face when she realized she had slept in only her bra and panties.

As Ulrich walked out of the room his blush formed as well. He was good at hiding embarrassment, but not that good. They’ve been together for a year now and this was the first time he ever saw her in her underwear. A bikini is similar, but not really. “God I love her” he thought out loud as he waited. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, “Yumi, what’s taking you so long” he asked through the door, no answer. “Yumi” he said a little louder, no answer. Gathering his courage he opened the door, only to see the little window on her wall open. He laughed at himself and ran off to the usual spot.

“For all that running you do in your spare time you still can’t catch me” she laughed as they wrestled. She pinned him and he repeatedly hit his hand on the ground to signify ‘YOU WIN, YOU WIN’.

“Well I was being a gentleman and waited outside for you to change, but NOOOOO, you had to run off and leave me there by myself”, he said playfully. They had what some people would call it “Kindergarten love”, they loved to poke fun at each other and playfully fight, but people knew that they had there “intimate time” in which no one dared intrude or interrupt.

“Well, Gentlemen are usually smart” she said as she pinned him yet again. She was always better at wrestling then he was.

“You guys talking about me” asked Odd, wiping the egg off his face, “and why don’t you guys get a room, you know that makes me sick” he said as he stuck his tongue out and made gagging noises.

“Hey, we’ve got a room if you’d rather us go there, then you can think about all the things we’d be doing and you can try and sleep at night with that thought in your head. How’s that” asked Ulrich triumphantly, a sly smile playing across his lips. Odd just stared wide eyed at him, he knew when he lost.

“Ok Ok Ok, enough, I don’t need that image in my head, man now it’s in there. You suck Ulrich” he yelled as he hit his head on the tree, playfully trying to get the images out of his head.

“Hi, how is everyone this morning” said Aelita as she suddenly appeared out of nowhere, glued to Jeremy’s arm. “I hope you all slept well” she said, not realizing the joke that the rest of them seemed to get out of it……well, almost everyone……well, just Odd. He still had his childish sense of humor.

“I’ll bet Ulrich slept well” he said with a huge, toothy smile. Everyone made jokes about them since they shared a room, but the gang knew they never did anything. The rest of the school, however, did not. The students were smart enough, though, not to let it leak to any authority figures. They knew it meant the world for them to have a private place to hang out, and Sissie wouldn’t dare do a thing about it, she knew it would ruin her chances with Ulrich forever, if she even had a chance to begin with. So the teachers let them stay together, and the teachers were none the wiser on the relationship.

“Come on man, why do you insist on making those jokes” he said, obviously tired of the repeated comment.

“Ulrich, you know he’s just kidding” said Yumi, still pinning him to the ground, “besides” she whispered so only he could hear, “you know we’ve been planning on it for a while” she said as she placed a teasing kiss on his forehead.

“I know” he said with a content smile, not a hungry smile, but a plainly happy smile. Happy to be with the girl he loved and happy that she was happy, he wasn’t in this just to sleep with her, he was in this because he loved her. This didn’t seem like typical teen love to them or to the people who were closest to them. This seemed like something more. “We’ll talk about this later, ok” he whispered as he kissed her back.

“Aw” sighed Aelita as she clung to Jeremy even tighter. She couldn’t hear a word, but she knew they were having a moment.

“GAG” yelled Odd, trying to get under there skin. It worked. He loved messing with them, and everyone knew it.

“Come on guys” said Yumi, finally getting off Ulrich, “it’s probably around lunch now.”

“I just thought of something, why are we still here, it’s summer and we shouldn’t be in school” Odd thought out loud.

“Because, we agreed that we would stay here and be on the watch for anything Xana related, if we leave then we’re screwed” whispered Jeremy. Children could stay during the summer with parent’s permission. That was no problem for them. Ulrich’s parents were always away and Yumi’s were really close. Jeremy said he was staying to “further his studies” and they just forged a signature for Aelita. So here they were, slightly for each others company, and slightly for a Xana attack which were few if any nowadays.

“Hey, I’ll race you guys to the mess hall” said Odd getting his game face on.

“You’re on” yelled Ulrich as they both shot off, leaving the others far behind.