You Can Run, But You Can't Hide

Chapter 1

Ulrich watched Yumi from afar as she sat silently with William at lunch. Her now long hair was covering her face, and she hadn't touched her food. Ulrich had been watching her for the past year, ever since she had left the group, and she had gotten much thinner. She no longer took fighting lessons, as a way to avoid communication with the group, especially Ulrich. She only talked with William, as if he owned her or something.

Yumi brushed back her hair, and, although he was seated quite far away, he noticed a purple mark on her forehead, before her hair fell back in front of her face. Ulrich clenched his fists, looking menacingly at William. Ulrich had figured out not so long ago that William was abusing Yumi, but he didn't know what he should do about it. People might not believe him, and Yumi didn't seem to willing to share.

Ulrich suddenly heard pearls of laughter, as Minnie dived into one of her completely unrelated laughing fits. Jeremie, Aelita and Odd groaned, wondering who had set her off this time. None of them had changed dramatically over the last year, except both Minnie and Aelita had grown a bit curvier. Odd was just as scrawny, but Jeremie had grown a little less nerdy, but not much.

Minnie tried suppressing a giggle by covering her mouth with her hand, but it didn't help much. The fact that she had had a fizzy drink at break wouldn't have help either. Fizzy drinks were the worst thing to give Minnie, as they resulted in a sugar overload, and she became very happy for a few hours, but she started coming down around bedtime, usually.

Only Aelita knew that Minnie cried at night. Most nights she cried, but some night she was too tired to work up a weep. Aelita never tried to comfort her, as the group had learnt earlier that she didn't like to be touched. Aelita's only clue to why Minnie cried was the same words that she whispered over and over again; I wish I didn't exist, I wish I didn't exist. Aelita figured that she blamed herself for the Yumi situation.

As much as Aelita might have liked to dwell on the mystery's of Minnie, she had her own problems. Jeremie had stopped going on is computer so much, now that Aelita was disconnected from the super computer and X.A.N.A. was defeated, and he was spending a lot more time with her, only Odd kept bringing up her relationship with him whenever they were alone. It had been over a year since they had kissed and Odd had admitted that he loved her, but he couldn't seem to get over it. She had told him clearly that they should remain just friends, but Odd kept insisting that they were more. After all, she considered Jeremie more than a friend, and he hadn't even kissed her. And, as much as Aelita tried to deny it, to herself and to Odd, she did have strong feelings for him.

Odd draped his arm lazily over Aelita's sholder, only to have her shrug it off and grab Jeremie's hand, as he was sitting the other side of her. Minnie and Ulrich shared the other end of the table, keeping their distance for Minnie's sake. Odd was studying them like a project, trying to see if there were any sparks, but even he could plainly see that Ulrich was fixated on Yumi.

Minnie excused herself between outbursts, and tried to walk calmly out of the Lunch room. As soon as she was outside, a very loud outburst was heard from the other side of the doors that made everyone in the room look at the door in surprise, even Yumi. Ulrich caught a glimpse of her sad, lonely eyes, before she turned them to the ground, and her hair fell back over her face.

Ulrich stared at Yumi, slowly chewing his food. Odd watched him, or rather, watched his food. Finally, Odd asked "Are you going to eat that?" Ulrich pushed his food over to Odd, and continued to stare at Yumi, though he could only see the top of her head. Odd, who was shovelling Ulrich's food into his moth, stopped for a moment.

"Why don't you talk to her?" Odd asked, as if it was the most casual thing in the world. Ulrich looked at Odd as if he was crazy.

"You know I can't just talk to her," he breathed out quietly. "We have history, and it would be too awkward." And I don't know what William will do to her if I do. He added silently, watching sadly as William escorted Yumi outside. He wouldn't be gruff to her in front of all these people, but she was walking with a slight limp, which wasn't a good sign.

"Well, nothing will happen if you don't do something," Aelita said. "She doesn't seem all that happy with William, anyway," she added, trying to be persuasive. Ulrich glanced at Aelita, and she looked innocently back. He still hadn't told his friends that he suspected William of hurting Yumi, and maybe they wouldn't believe him. After all, Yumi usually looked after herself, and stood up for herself. It was as though she was desperate to belong to somebody, just so she wouldn't be alone.

"Yumi doesn't belong with William, Ulrich, and you know it," Odd said, glaring at Ulrich. "So why won't you do anything? What's stopping you?" All three of his friends gave him questioning looks. Ulrich took a deep breath. He was glad that Minnie wasn't here to hear his explanation. Yumi and Minnie weren't really the best of friends, and Ulrich didn't know how she would react if she was asked to help the person she was most afraid of.

"I think Yumi is being hurt," Ulrich said quietly. "And I think William is the one hurting her." Odd nearly chocked on his food.

"But she can fight," Aelita said quickly. "She wouldn't stand for it."

"She hasn't been to fighting classes for the past year," Ulrich told them. "And, in case you guys didn't notice, she's gotten much skinnier, and probably frailer."

"But why would William hurt Yumi?" Jeremie asked. "He doesn't seem like the sort of person to do that sort of thing."

"We don't know him at all," Ulrich explained. "We don't know what he's capable of."

"We should tell someone," Odd said. "We should tell someone that William is doing this to Yumi. We have to do something. She's our friend."

Ulrich felt a pang as he heard the word friend. He was glad that Odd was so willing to help, but it had been a long time since they had considered Yumi a friend. And even when she was, that was all. Just a friend, nothing else.

"We don't know for sure it's William," Aelita said, although even she thought it was him.

"So, we'll need to get some evidence," Ulrich said, not knowing that he would get his evidence sooner than he expected.