hay guys. :) not my first fanfiction, but my first post. oh, my teachers thought that this story was so cute... shrug

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Yumi set her elbow on the corner of her open textbook, not wanting to learn geography. She rested her cheek in her hand as she looked off into the deepest of space, dreaming about the incident that happened early that morning. A faint blushline appeared on her face as the event played over in her head for the thousandth time.

Ulrich stepped into the sunlit courtyard, soaking in the brilliant rays that danced across the green blades of grass. He took in a deep breath, savoring the wonderful sensation of the sun's heat, and walked over to join his friends. Everyone was already there except for Yumi, whom still had yet to walk through the gates.

"Morning, Ulrich," Aelita greeted him softly with a smile, a hint of sleepiness in her voice. Ulrich responded rather cheerfully, giving a great aura of happiness around him.

"Hi Aelita. Still sleepy?"

Aelita's smile grew wider and she yawned, leaning against a bench.

"I think I'm alright, although I must've gotten less sleep than Jeremy last night." The pink-haired girl replied, sitting down next to the very boy whom she compared her sleeping hours to. Jeremy smirked, and fixed his glasses so they could hide the faint red circles which had suddenly appeared. The offcial clown of the group stalked up and rested his elbow on Ulrich's shoulder--which was no easy task since Ulrich was almost six inches taller than him--and cracked a joke as Aelita yawned again.

"Wow, that must've been hard since good ol' Jeremy over here only sleeps less than ten minutes a night!"

Ulrich burst out laughing, and Aelita did too despite her sleepiness. Jeremy's face flushed, and he calmly explained to truth to him, struggling not to stutter.

"Aw, shut up Odd. Besides, I get at least three hours of sleep a night!"

Odd rolled his eyes, his voice clearly revealing deep sarcasm.

"Sure, Jer, and my feet smell like roses." He retorted, nudging Ulrich. Ulrich couldn't contain himself, and slapped his good buddy on the back.

"Odd, your feet could kill roses within a second of being around them!" he exclaimed. Everybody but Odd began to laugh while he kicked dust, a scowl on his face.

Little did Ulrich know that Odd was plotting for a come back to happen within the next five minutes. His twisted frown hid his sadistic laughter as he gazed over to where a trap was set. It was nothing but a mere tripwire, almost invisible to the untrained eye. He giggled silently to himself, calculating the results if everything turned out perfectly. All he needed now was for Yumi to arrive, and for Ulrich to do exactly what Odd would tell him to do.

The entire idea behind the prank was to finally get his two close friends--Ulrich and Yumi--to spending more time with each other. Everyone and their dog know that they liked each other, but for some reason they would never admit it in one another's presence. Jeremy, Odd, and Aelita had probed them to find out why, and shook their heads when they gave them their answers.

Ulrich was too shy to admit it. There were many times where he almost did--he'd confront her, make small talk, and got so close to saying those exact three words that would shatter the rest of the last of the ice; but always at the last second he would stumble over his words, laugh nervously, then turn and run away.

Yumi's story was slightly different. She confessed to Aelita that many nights she would be kept awake by the thought of love, tangled in her sheets and unable to get Ulrich's face out of her mind. The reason why she wouldn't tell was that she was afraid of rejection wrenching at her heart, and also because she didn't want to be trapped within a boy's cold arms and ice kisses. Her fierce wandering spirit would not allow that.

Odd watched the gatehouse intently, needing Yumi to appear right then before he went insane from the heavyweight of pressure over his head. She needed to be here before some other sap tripped over the near-invisible wire, ruining the surprise meant for them.

He felt the weight lighten from his chest as his Japanese friend appeared at the gateway, smiling as brightly as the sun itself. Immediately he grabbed Ulrich's arm and lowered him so he was level with his head. Ulrich's green eyes flashed with annoyance, but gave way to questioning to see what his best friend wanted.

"Go say hi to her!" Odd loudly whispered.

"I'll say that when she gets here!" protested Ulrich. A sense of urgency arose in Odd's voice as he spoke.

"Ulrich, she'll love it! Just go up and say hi and walk her the rest of the way here! No worries, man! Just do it!"

Ulrich looked unsure, and shifted his feet nervously. His voice was soft and shaking from the thought of her perfect chocolate eyes riveted on him.

"You...You're sure she'll like it?" he asked. Odd rolled his eyes again and began to push Ulrich forward.

"I'm not sure--I know she'll love it. Just go!" he pestered.

Ulrich broke free from Odd's hands and slowly but surely creeped up to the girl that he had developed deep feelings for.

Raven hair blew like fine silk in the gentle wind, caressing across a soft, perfect beige face. Genuine chocolate eyes gleamed with affectionate emotion as they saw him advance forward. Thin lips curved upward in a wider smile, and slender legs began to walk just a smidgen faster than before. Ulrich's heart skipped a few beats as the sun played on her features, making her all the more beautiful. How could he be so attracted to her?

What's more, how in the world could she be attracted to him? He was sloppy, hot-headed, secretive, had a bad sense of humor, and had a low self-esteem. He definately didn't see much when he looked in the mirror. Just jade eyes and untamed brown hair, your typical German boy. What would make him so incredibly special enough to even slightly deserve Yumi?

Frantic thoughts pranced through Ulrich's head, most of them doubts about Yumi's true feelings. Each step he took that closed the space between them also closed the space between the equivalent between Heaven and Hell. What should he do and say as they walked? What could work? He certainly didn't want to start a squabble between them. That would be much more disastrous than he would like. A sweat drop rolled down the back of his neck, even though it was ridiculous to be that nervous. All he had to do was say 'Hi' and walk her over to the bench. Yet still, why was some sixth sense shooting an alarm throughout his body and tensing his muscles?

Heaving a sigh to prepare himself, he opened his mouth and tried to sound as cheerful as possible.

"Hi, Yu--"

The first thought that emerged in Ulrich's head was Oh...Crap...He knew that at times he could be clumsy, but never like this. He assumed that he tripped over his own shoelaces, but it didn't matter, because he still tripped. Another thought raced through his mind as he sailed through the air in what seemed like slow motion.

Ulrich...you idiot...

Could it possibly get worse than this?

Odd hoped so. It seemed like Ulrich had tripped at the right time, but from his distance he couldn't be exactly sure. At this moment, it all depended on where Yumi was. Odd was drastically horrible at math, so it was all he could do just to hope that the measurements were calculated right, so all chaos would break loose when Ulrich would land.

There was a millisecond of pure silence, then the brilliant sunlight of the courtyard transformed to a deep cherry red.

It was a messy kiss, but a kiss all the same. For one short moment in time, Ulrich and Yumi's lips locked tightly together. Both their faces exploded in a firework of blush red, their eyes as wide and as white as the very moon itself. Ulrich felt like a total idiot as what was left of his green irises gazed in shock into Yumi's chocolate dots. What Odd thought was the best about the kiss, though, was the fact that Ulrich never knew that the whole with was a pranked set-up.

Jeremy lowered his glasses and stared up at Odd as the spectacle played out. He noticed that Odd couldn't hold back a wide grin as Ulrich seemingly tripped on air. Jeremy chuckled and pushed the rim back up.

"You set the whole thing up, didn't you, Odd?" Jeremy asked, winking at Aelita. Aelita giggled softly and Odd blinked.

"Huh? Well, yeah, of course!" he exclaimed, dropping his voice so he wouldn't be heard by others, "But don't tell them, otherwise it would ruin the moment." he winked.

Aelita giggled again and nodded, pressing a delicate finger to her lips. Jeremy laughed in rouch agreement, and turned back to the scene in front of them.

Ulrich pulled away as quickly as he could, trying to mumble a quick apology but finding himself blushing so hard that he couldn't speak; except for a high-pitched inhuman grunt that accidentally slipped past his tightened lips. It was just another embarrassing moment that decided to pile up on the other. How many more would there be?

Yumi stood frozen still like a statue throughout the entire event. The only moving about her was her irregular breathing and sonic speed heartbeats that she was sure Ulrich could hear. Her face was painted fire-red as she stood there, staring just past Ulrich into the nothingness of dreamworld. Had her dream come true like she hoped it would; or had her nightmare come true like she feared it would? There was only one way to tell.

She opened her mouth to ask something, but as she found it, the attempt to speak was futile. A mouse-like squeak was produced, and she turned even more red if that was possible.

Besides, she told herself, he looks just as embarrassed--if not more--than I am...Maybe even scared? Yumi opened her mouth again, forcing past the hollow choking sensation, and asked him very quietly and tentatively.

"Did...Did you just trip...accidentally?"

Ulrich opened his mouth to respond, but still found that his voice refused to cooperate with his mind, and all that came out were unsteady and nervous mumbles that didn't form any type of human language. Sweat dribbled down the back of his neck and side of his head. After a few moments of unchanged feverish silence, Ulrich nodded as quickly as his racing heart. Yumi blinked twice to try and understand both their situations, and looked down at the ground as she realized what must have been the correct conclusion.

Ulrich was scared to death. He had always wondered what would happen if he had told Yumi too early, and shuddered at the very though of what Yumi would say to him should she not love him in return. When he saw her bow her head a warning flare shot up from his feet and streaked to his brain, causing his heart to sink and settle below his stomach. He heaved a shaky, but sad sigh. At least he knew the truth.

He turned and was just about to walk away when a small but firm hand stopped him and turned him around.

Yumi's gaze was still fastened on the packed ground, still just a little too embarrassed to meet stares with his swirling deep green eyes. Ulrich stood, staring down at her for a minute more until the unbroken silence became too much of a burden for him to stand, and he was about to walk away again when Yumi looked up.

Ulrich would've normally just contiued on without a second thought about Yumi would do, until he saw her lips out of the corner of his eye. He paused, confused, then turned his green eyes over.

She was smiling.

It wasn't as wide as before, but it was a definate smile. The red on her face wasn't exactly as potent; it had faded to a soft cherry blushline that traveled from cheek to cheek. She avoided direct eye contact with him, but stared up at the bridge of his nose as if she were. Ulrich hgulped, and through all his searching finally found enough squeak of his voice to choke out a few words.

"F-Forgiven and forgotten?" he stuttered. Yumi's smile did grow wider, and she turned, calling over her shoulder.

"Forgiven...," she agreed, pulling a stray lock of hair back to reveal more of her chocolate eyes. They twinkled in the bright light as she continued, "but not forgotten."

She flashed a full smile, then turned and bustled off to class. It took Ulrich a moment to recover, then he too ran off to join Odd in the classroom. What a way to start the day!

Yumi's geography teacher rapped sharply on her desk, rattling her briskly to harsh reality. She smiled sheepishly at him and turned to the correct page. He glared at her, and turned back to the lesson, keeping a sharp watch of her out of the corner of his eye. She made a point not to drift off again.

The crisp ring of the lunch bell released Yumi from the prison-like classrooms, and she pushed her way through the crowd, eager to reach the courtyard.

When she did she scanned the landscape, her chocolate eyes moving back and forth until they locked with a pair of brilliant green ones. She blushed, and smiled as she quickly advanced to meet them.

Ulrich was waiting for her.

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R&R, plzkthnx.