I think this story is appropriately titled, because I meant to make a Christmas Story and forgot. Sorry.

I missed it on Christmas

By: Bighoggi14

(Ulrich P.O.V.)

I woke up this morning feeling sick. Not physically, but mentally. Last night we had the most awesome Christmas party. There was a dance at school, casual. You weren't supposed to bring a date. It was a lot of fun, but it ended at nine so everyone who needed to could go home. Instead, we all went to Odd's and My room, and partied until about 1:30 AM. It was awesome. Yumi didn't have to go home because her parents went out of town to visit relatives. We exchanged gifts, I got lots of great stuff. I gave Yumi a picture I had drawn, it took me a long time. It was a picture of us hanging out and smiling. I think she loved it, it was a pretty good picture. Well, at least for me. At 1:30, Yumi had to go home. I offered to walk her home, but she refused. As soon as she left I felt bad. She hadn't given me a present…. So the next morning I woke up early because I felt sick. My beloved Yumi hadn't deemed me worthy to receive a present. I took a long shower, not caring if someone else didn't get hot water. I got out, got dressed and woke up Odd. He walked half-asleep to the showers. I can't stand being in this room right now… it's making me feel depressed. So I head to my usual spot, my favorite tree in the park. Being here doesn't make me feel any better, but it's relaxing, it gives me a place to collect my thoughts. I climb up to the tallest branch and sit on it. My phone vibrates, I got a text message from Odd.

Where are you? You're missing breakfast

-O

I quickly text him back:

Don't want to talk now.

And I shut off my phone so I don't any more interruptions. After about half and hour, I feel a little better, so I decide to go and get breakfast. I hop down to the lowest branch, but stop quickly when I see Yumi walking down the path. I quickly climb over to another tree, right next to mine. I was just in time, Yumi looked up into my tree right where I was.

"Ulrich? Are you up there? I need to talk to you." Even though I don't respond, Yumi just stands there. After a moment of consideration, she climbs up into the tree. I silently jump down and walk towards the path. I hear a loud crack, and whip around to see a branch give way underneath her. She manages to grab a branch and hang there.

"Yumi!" I yell and start climbing. She looks down surprised. I hear another crack, the branch she was hanging on gave way. She starts falling, and I don't have any time to react. I jump out and catch her, trying to get clear of the tree. Unfortunately, I don't make it and crash through three branches before getting clear. I can't land on my feet, so I desperately turn myself around so I'm underneath her. I fall the rest of the ten feet and hit the ground hard, while Yumi lands on top of me. I skid about three feet and then stop. Pain lances up my back, I know I'm hurt really bad. The last thing I remember before I pass out is Yumi stirring and looking at me with those beautiful eyes, the ones that hold my gaze no matter how hard I try to break it.

I wake up in the infirmary. I'm lying on my stomach without a shirt on and it's really uncomfortable. I try to move onto my back and realize why I'm on my stomach in the first place; pain sears through my back, leaving me winded. I realize I must be really beat up. Luckily it was only my back. I look around and see Yumi asleep in a chair. I try to get a better view and hurt myself again. I swear quietly but Yumi wakes up.

"Ulrich! How are you doing?"

"I don't know, I can't see."

"Why did you do that for me?" She asks quietly. She leans over and I see a small bandage on her head, the only wound I can see.

"Because… I didn't want you to get hurt." I say and look away. Yumi stays silent, and a small tear runs down my cheek, I don't know why…

"Thank you." She says quietly.

"Can you help me to sit up? I'm getting really uncomfortable." I say pleadingly. I really am, my chest is killing me.

"Oh sure!" She holds me gently and slowly moves me into a sitting position. Surprisingly, this wasn't very painful.

"Thank you. Do you know where my shirt is?" I ask, looking around better. I'm definitely in the infirmary, from the amount of light outside, I'd say its about midnight.

"Your shirt is in the garbage, it was ripped to shreds. Would you like me to go and get you another one?"

"That depends. What time is it?"

"It's about 10:30 PM."

I've been out all day!

"Shouldn't you be at home?"

"My parents stayed out of town, they won't be home for a couple of days. I don't have a curfew."

"Okay. Anyway, Odd would probably be asleep by now, so yah you can go if you want to. Here, let me give you a key…" I reach down carefully to realize that I'm not wearing my pants, I'm sitting on a bed in just my boxers. And even more embarrassing is the fact that Yumi is in the room.

"Where are my pants?" I say blushing. I pull the covers on the bed up.

"Over on the chair. Dorothy had to take them off to see if you had any injuries on your legs."

"My room key is in the right pocket." She walks over and fishes through my pocket, producing my key and pocketing it.

"Okay, I'll be back in a couple of minutes…." She leaves. I can tell I'm still blushing, my face is hot. It hurts to breathe, and I know that's a bad sign. After Yumi leaves, Dorothy comes in to check up on me.

"Oh, you're awake! How do you feel?" She says walking over to me.

"Like I just fell ten feet out of a tree and had a girl land on me."

"Ouch, that bad? Why are you sitting up? You should be laying down!"

"It hurts to lay down on my chest, and I obviously can't lay down on my back." I say.

"Your chest hurts? Maybe that bruise is worse than I thought…." I look down at my chest and see a large purple bruise right where my chest hurts. Dorothy touches it gently, I yell out in pain.

"Yup, it looks like you've got a cracked rib or two. I'm going to warn you, this is going to hurt badly."

"I can take it." Dorothy wraps a large bandage over the bruise. I nearly yell again, it feels like my lungs are on fire.

"Dorothy, how did I get here?"

"Yumi carried you. I'm surprised she managed to. She has a mild concussion, she was half delirious when she showed up. When she showed up at the gates by the park with you unconscious and her head bleeding, she gave Jim quite a scare."

Yumi carried me all the way from the park to here?

"So she only has a concussion?" I ask as Dorothy takes my temperature and other nurse-like things.

"Yes, she was actually quite lucky. What actually happened to you? Yumi refused to give a full account."

"We were, uh, climbing trees. The branch Yumi was standing on broke and she fell. She hit me and took me down with her, I landed first. She landed on top of me and I blacked out. That's all I can remember…."

"Oh really? Yumi said you saved her. That's actually all she would say. 'Ulrich saved me.' Even the principal couldn't get her to say any more."

Why wouldn't she tell the principal?

Dorothy tells me to stand up and see how stable I am on my feet. I need a little help getting up, but once I am, I can pretty much stay standing. I slowly put my pants back on and sit down on the bed.

"How bad is my back?"

"Let's just say it looks like you got in a fight with a lawnmower and lost."

"That bad huh?"

"Yah. I already put in about 50 stitches while you were sleeping. You're definitely going to be in pain for the next couple of weeks. You can go back to your dorm tomorrow, it's a good thing we're on winter break. Here, take these, they should help with the pain." She gives me a couple of pills and a glass of water. As I take the pills, the door opens and Yumi comes in holding a new shirt. Dorothy obviously decides to leave us alone and exits.

"Thanks Yumi." I say and accept the proffered shirt. I slip it carefully over my head and down my back. I set the glass on the bedside table.

"It's a good thing I'm so soft, right Yumi? Otherwise you'd probably be hurt just as bad as I am." I laugh a little, but it hurts so I stop suddenly.

"What's wrong?"

"Dorothy says I have a broken rib or two. Nothing to worry about."

"Yes it is, because I was the one who probably gave them to you."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. I landed on top of you. If I hadn't, you would be a lot better off."

"Don't blame yourself. It was my fault; I twisted around to protect you. Besides, this whole thing is my fault in the first place."

"Can you tell me why you were in the tree in the first place?"

"Technically, I wasn't-."

"Don't be technical. Just tell me why you skipped breakfast and went off to your favorite tree."

"Well, its, its because of…" I stutter because I can't bring myself to admit it was her fault in the first place.

"You can tell me." She says looking directly at me. I avert my gaze.

"It was because of you." I say and stare at my shoes.

"…Me?" I realize how immature it sounds, that I went off to the woods sulking because Yumi didn't get me a Christmas gift.

"You… you didn't get me a Christmas present…. I feel really stupid now." Yumi doesn't say anything, and I look up at her. She just stares at me with an empty expression on her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm so immature, I went sulking because I didn't get one present."

"You are not immature." She says quietly but firmly.

"Can I ask why?"

"Well, uh…."

"You can tell me. I can take it."

"It was Christmas Eve and I couldn't find anything I wanted to give you. So I went to Jeremie asking for help. He gave me the normal stuff, you know, fatherly advice. He basically told me it was up to me. So I decided to go unorthodox and ask Odd."

"You asked Odd?"

"Yah, he's your best friend. Best friends know what you want, whether you want them too or not."

"Yah I know. But still, Odd?"

"Odd told me what you really wanted for Christmas. But yesterday, I was too nervous to give it to you. So I left…."

"What was it?" I ask, trying not to sound hopeful.

"This." She leans close and kisses me. I quickly regain control over my brain and kiss her back. We kiss for a couple minutes, breaking apart for desperately needed air.

"Wow." Is all I can say.

"Wow what?"

"Wow, that was one hell of a Christmas present."

"I'm glad you liked it. I'm sorry I missed it on Christmas."

"Don't worry, I always loved belated gifts. It makes the celebration longer."

"Ulrich, there's something I always wanted to tell you…." I put my finger to her lips.

"I love you too."

"You do?"

"With all my heart." And we kiss again. After a minute or so, I have to stop. My whole upper body feels like it's on fire. Seeing my discomfort, Yumi lays me back down on the bad.

"You need to get some rest. I will still be here in the morning."

"Okay, but only because it's you telling me to…." I lay down and close my eyes. I can still see Yumi's face…. Unfortunately for me, sleep envelops me soon.

I wake up in the middle of the night because my chest is hurting me. My back is numb because of the painkillers. I look over and see Yumi sleeping in a chair next to my bed. It looks really uncomfortable. I grab my pillow and gently place it behind her, carefully so she won't wake up. I lay back down and fall asleep again.

Please tell me if you want this story to continue. I have a possible idea for a chappy, but this story would only be maybe 3 chappys long. If you have any ideas, please tell me. R&R people, authors love it!