Four years prior…
They lay in a kind of drunken embrace, not minding the spilt liquor on the floor. As long as they made sure Kiwi didn't slurp some of it up, they'd be fine. They had gone for a while without saying anything, just trying to keep themselves together, soak up the moment, and just enjoy each other's company for damn once.
Summer break was looming over Kadic Academy, with the gang both anticipating their vacation and fearing their senior year, which was to follow right afterwards. Jeremie and Odd had already lined up internships at a research facility and a recording studio, respectively, while Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita just kind of dragged their feet in getting their summer plans together. Of the three, Aelita was farthest along, for she was in the running to be a resident DJ at a local youth hangout. Not the best pay, but it would be exposure galore. Yumi and Ulrich, they had no concrete plans. Ulrich's parents thought it'd be healthy for him to learn to deal with the workforce, so they planned to have him move into an apartment here in town so he could get a job and have a taste of true responsibility. This turn of events secretly delighted the newfound couple, who'd been hoping to get out of using Ulrich and Odd's dorm-room as their special meetup place.
They had been lying naked together, not moving, just counting heartbeats and being lulled to near-sleep by the rising and falling of each other's bodies. It's a Saturday night, so no classes, and with nowhere to be but here, the two are taking every second together like it's their last. The others were out partying or something, but Ulrich and Yumi decided to stay back, since exams were done and it'd been a while since they'd been, well, together.
The moon set the room into a mild pale blaze. All of their clothes had been thrown aside, on to the bed across from his. The little bit of sake they had drunken earlier seemed to have taken full effect, for despite the chilled air, they both felt a great warmth emanating from the other.
"Hey-hey, Ulrich. Ulrich. Ulriiiiiiich," slurred Yumi.
"Mmmmmm," grunted the boy to her side.
"Play me a song."
"Mmm… what song?"
"Just any song."
Ulrich arose from his place in Yumi's arms, reached underneath his bed, and pulled a very dusty keyboard. It was the one he had played in Odd's old band, the Foxtrot Fanatics (the name itself a misheard bastardization of the Pop Rock Progressives, but lovingly adopted by the group in the end). Yumi snorted in laughter when she saw the thing. "Oh my god, you still have that?"
"Hell yeah! I paid for it myself."
"You did not!"
"Yeah, you're right. I actually swiped it from the music room and reported it as stolen."
Yumi laughed again as Ulrich turned on the multi-keyed instrument. "Alright, Liberace," joked the girl, "what're you going to play for me?"
"Oh, I don't know. I don't really learn songs anymore. In fact, I don't even know if I remember the song we played together."
"'Mystery Girl?'"
"We should've just called it 'Aelita.' Let's be honest, that's what it was about," chuckled Ulrich, fiddling with some of the buttons and knobs, trying to get some decent piano sound.
"Hmm…" Ulrich sat on the edge of the bed trying to think of what songs he might remember. Honestly, nothing was coming to him. Except… maybe one was still up in that head of his. He positioned his fingers accordingly and began to play.
The chords were melancholic, but not sad. They'd both heard them before so many times, and immediately Yumi joined in.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
"Ulrich?"
"Yeah, Yumi?"
"Why are you so cheesy?"
The German spun around to face her, struggling not to get distracted by her naked body. "Cheesy?"
"Of all the songs, of all the pieces you could've played, why'd you pick the goddamn New Years song?"
Ulrich shrugged, and returned to playing the keyboard, repeating the same melody. "Maybe I'm secretly a romantic? Maybe I spend all my days reading romance novels, dreaming about true love, and listening to cheesy music. Maybe the martial arts and soccer and cold-as-ice attitude is just part of a cover."
"Bullshit."
They laughed, Ulrich having been caught at his game. "Alright, I don't do any of that. But I am a romantic," he intoned.
"Hmmm… well, given how you do it with me, I could've told you that," purred the girl. Ulrich felt slender nails clawed playfully into his back, between his shoulder blades and down the small of it. "C'mere, lover. It's been too long."
Ulrich put the keyboard down next to the sake bottle, and turned around to embrace Yumi. Neither of them had to look to know that they were both more than ready, more than willing, for this. Ulrich pressed his chest against hers, letting one of his hands grab a breast so that he could play and tease with the girl for a tiny bit. Her lower lip was sucked underneath her top row of teeth, and she bit down, trying to suppress the noises trying to escape, but he knew how to get them out of her. He slid down so his mouth was level with her left breast- ALWAYS the left- and he placed his lips around the nipple, and began biting down gently upon it. Yumi's mouth forces out a long growled moan and she holds her lover's head in its place. "Ah, gentle, babe, you know how that one is," she groaned. He smirked and bite down suddenly, jolting her and letting a sharp 'ah' escape from her mouth. She inhaled quickly through gritted teeth, and began pulling his hair. "Goddamn you, Ulrich," she nearly screamed, "just put it in already, dammit."
Well, Ulrich thought to himself, the woman knows what she wants. A faint thought in his head wondered if all teenagers just become sex fiends when they turn eighteen. Well, Yumi was nineteen, but she seemed like she was on his level no differently.
"Mmm…" He groaned into her neck. He felt her reach down to his tool to help guide it inwards. He heard her purr in his ear. "Big and strong as always, mein liebhaber," she cooed. He grinned; she was getting better at her German. His hand, either by instinct or habit, slid down and, with only a finger, hooked himself onto her clit and began moving in tiny rotations. Yumi squirmed and began panting into his ear. "Gah! Fuck! FUCK!" Her legs swung around to further lock him in her embrace. Immediately, Ulrich lifted himself upwards, just by a hair, so he could see the ecstasy in her face. Yumi's eyes slowly broke open and stared him dead in his own.
Here is where he felt a little pang in his heart. His hand, down there, froze in place, and with the other hand placed it on her cheek, sending a blush roaring across her face.
The moment seemed perfect, he figured.
"Yumi…"
"Yes?"
They were frozen, embraced, naked.
"Yumi Ishiyama…"
"Ulrich, what is it?" She giggled, appreciating his attempt at trying to say something.
"I… I love you…"
"Wha… what?"
"Yumi, I love you."
Something snapped. Something was lost in the translation. Something broke apart on re-entry, lost in a sea of despair. Something was to be buried in a landfill of hormones and misunderstanding. Something painful had been speared through one of them, but whom it was, no one could tell.
"Ulrich… Ulrich, what are you saying?"
Oh shit.
"What… what do you mean what am I saying? Yumi, I'm telling you that I'm in love with you! I always have been! I know it's sudden, I know what everyone says about waiting until you're absolutely sure, but Yumi, I am sure! This isn't just me saying this to keep you around, this isn't me just spewing those three little words because you might want to hear them, I'm telling you because… because I've never been so sure of anything in my life! All those times we fought, all those times we caught each other's glances, all those times we've spent together either sparring or fighting X.A.N.A. or hanging out with the others, whatever! I've always loved you! Even when you wanted to just be friends, I didn't fight because I loved you and wanted to respect your wish, no matter how much it killed me inside to do so! Yumi… Yumi, please…"
Ulrich clasped himself around her, fearing the worst, whatever it may be.
Yumi, to his inner horror, was silent, staring blank-like to the ceiling, maybe beyond it.
"Please say something…"
Slowly, but all too surely, Yumi gently pushed Ulrich off and sat up, eyes retaining their endless stare.
Ulrich watched as she curled up, pulling her legs inward to her chest, facing her head away from him. "Yumi…" he whispered, reaching out to her slightly, carefully.
"WHY!?" She screamed, the outburst sending Ulrich back into the wall adjacent to his bed, head banging dully against it. "Why why why WHY? Dammit, Ulrich, why?" Yumi turned quickly and damn near leapt from the bed, stepping on the keyboard and sent her heel straight through one of the built-in speakers. Ulrich watched as her girlfriend went into a rage right before him, all because of his profession.
Yumi didn't say anything for a solid minute before grabbing the sake bottle and launching it straight at a space of wall mere inches away from Ulrich's head. Once the pieces began to fall behind the bed, followed by splatterings of oriental liquor, she turned to him. Eyes glaring with murder, with rage, with… something else.
"Ulrich… what do you think we have?"
"What we have?"
"Yes."
The boy had to think about this. He may've been eighteen but he still thought like a teenager. But now wasn't the time to think of obvious answers. Yumi wanted not an answer, but his answer. And he knew what his answer was.
"Yumi. I think we have something special. Something real, something deep, something that no one else has. A real connection. Now, you know damn well I'm not very good at this. But I'm going to tell you this. I love you, Yumi. And I won't apologize for how I feel."
The rage burned brighter in her eyes. Ulrich, amazingly, still saw the beauty of them, even when they rushed up to him, even when he saw the hands clamp around his neck in their reflection.
"DO YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME?" Yumi screamed as she dragged him to the floor, claws drawing red markings along his throat. "DAMN YOU, HOW CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THOSE WORDS MEAN? DO YOU THINK IF YOU SAY THEM I'LL STAY WITH YOU?"
He fought hard at first, but knew better. He loosened his neck, much to her surprise.
"I know what… urk… they mean… ack… and… I'm… not… taking… them… back…"
She let go once she realized what she had done. Ulrich sputtered and regained some semblance of airflow in his system. He staggered to his feet, as did Yumi, and they both stood in horror at each other. Yumi turned to her hands, red, almost as if they had blood on them, and they looked up to her boyfriend.
"Ulrich… I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't know… I didn't…"
"Save it," he growled. The German gathered his clothes, began redressing. Yumi rushed to him, trying to grab his head in her hands, so that she could apologize to him, but he backed away, pushing her arms away with his elbows. He finished dressing himself, then turned to the door, opened it, but stopped before he could leave down the hall.
"Ulrich, please, I don't know what came over me! I-I-I was just… I just got scared for a moment… I got so scared… I didn't realize-"
"I said what I wanted to say. And you've said enough."
And with that, he was gone. And he would be gone for the next four years.
Back to the present…
It was only now that Yumi realized that Ulrich had stopped crying. He was also downing his fourth (or fifth?) shot of sake. The moonlight kept shining down upon them, now high up in the black starred sky. There was silence, save for a light breeze rustling the leaves around them. Yumi sat back, having let him go some while ago during his recollection.
"I can't believe I did that," she whispered to no one. "And then you left. You didn't come back to school the next year. Everyone was wondering where you were. I got non-stop calls from Sissi and Milly, Aelita and Jeremie and Odd all gave me updates about where you had maybe run off to… And I was left to deal with it alone. To face… to face what I had done… to you… my darling Ulrich."
Her 'darling Ulrich' was still silent, not even turning his head to meet her gaze. Finally she stopped and decided to just face forward. Thinking he'll talk when he finds the words-
"Why?"
Yumi whipped her head to the side to find Ulrich's tear-filled eyes penetrating her soul, cracking her heart into a great many pieces.
"Why were you scared?" He asked again.
She didn't say anything, at first. Then gently took his hands into her own.
"Because…" she began, voice wavering, trilling with sadness, "well, you see… when I decided that we should just be friends, I… kinda went to William."
Ulrich felt his jaw drop slightly. "William?!"
Yumi nodded, trying to maintain eye contact through all the shame. "I was so heartbroken… it was really just to fill the void. It wasn't supposed to mean anything. But he said… he said the same thing to me. And I thought he meant it, but when I couldn't accept him as my own, he just up and left. Went straight to some other girl."
The light lit up her tears like little white flames. "I… couldn't bear that happening… with us. That's why I now understand why I acted the way I did. In my rage, you weren't you, but instead William. Those three words, they stirred up such hurt, and such pain, and I became so afraid for a split moment. And I couldn't contain myself. I… lashed out at you, instead of rejoicing. Like I had always wanted. Since we first met."
The two of them sat holding hands, words long buried now uncovered and delivered to their rightful audiences.
"Ulrich…" Yumi whispered, pulling him closer, "I'm sorry for hurting you."
He moved in closer, following her lead. "I forgive you. I just want you back, that's all." He felt himself break apart in her arms, and she in his. Foreheads came together, gently. Yumi smiled through her tears. "I want you back as well. I've always wanted you. Just you."
They kissed. This time, it wasn't forced, but desired. Ulrich felt her body push against his, knocking him onto his back. They lay upon the bench, embraced like old times, their reunion blessed by the moon above. He felt her straddle herself upon his leg, slightly grinding against it, and he slipped a hand underneath her all-too-familiar black shirt to feel her waist and small of her back.
"Mmm…" Yumi moaned, simply, before breaking away and getting up onto her feet. She took Ulrich's hand and lifted him up to his own feet. He could see the undeniable outline of her smile in the moonlight. "Come with me," she whispered. She began dragging him playfully towards one of the abandoned buildings, not minding the bottle of sake and two shot glasses on the ground. "Uh…" began Ulrich's protest, "what about those?"
"We'll get them in the morning."
Yumi pushed open the door to the old dormitory. Something smelt dusty, but more like an old ballroom rather than a school. She led him to the stairs and took him up to the second floor, where his and Odd's old room sat. Ulrich felt wave upon wave of memories flood his system, overloading him with that sense of nostalgia he got when he came by her in Odd's car. "I can't believe this place is unlocked."
"Yeah, and apparently, the beds are still here too."
They reached his old dorm to find the room unlocked. Everything except the desks, closets, and beds had been cleaned out. The tape from Ulrich's old Pencak Silat poster were even there, still stuck to the wall, threatening to break the paintjob if they were to be scratched off from their places. Before he could comment on all the times he's spent here, Yumi had turned to face him and put her arms around his neck.
"I want you to tell me what you said all those years ago. And I promise I won't hurt you again," she whispered.
"Yumi Ishiyama, I love you," Ulrich whispered in return.
Yumi smiled and kissed him, letting the words slip out before contact was made. "I've always loved you, Ulrich Stern."
The embrace welled up great old flames from a time long ago in them both, and their kissing became more hungry and enthralled in each other's taste. Like tasting something succulent from their childhoods, something they had forgotten existed. "God, I've missed this," breathed Ulrich. She just breathed back, smirking. "As did I, mein liebhaber."
Ulrich threw off his jacket and Yumi pushed him backwards onto his old bed; he somehow never forgot how it felt underneath him, this shitty old mattress. He laid before her as she straddled him, removing her shirt and bra, letting herself become a seductive shadow by the light pouring in. He did away with his shirt and let her feel his chest again; her hand rippled against abs that were far more defined that they were in their school days. He flipped her over, pinning her down with his body, and undid her pants, sliding a hand deep underneath the silk barrier between flesh and jean, placing his fingers straight to their natural place. The rotations, like all that time ago, came back and she screamed and loved it all. He knew he still had the magic touch, so to speak, when she convulsed and clamped her legs around him, entrapping him, keeping him close to her.
"Nnnn… damn you," she breathed out. Ulrich smirked and took her left breast in his mouth. "I hope you still remember what it's like. With me, I mean," he muttered through a mouthful of voluptuous flesh.
Yumi groaned and laughed. "I've never been with anyone else."
Ulrich stopped to lift his head and look her in the face. "Seriously? No one else? But… but Will-"
"Shhhh… we just kissed, that's all."
Ulrich let out a little sigh of relief as he slid her pants and underwear off, letting her kick them off to the side once they were at her feet. He felt her slender fingers pulled down on his boxers to reveal four years of pent-up frustration, throbbing and ready to burst. "Please," he heard her plead, "I've missed you too much to wait now."
The sensation that ruptured through both of them was enough to shatter the earth. Ulrich felt her convulse all over again. The movement started slow, with their arms and legs around each other tightening with each thrust. But just as a rhythm was starting to entrance the two, Ulrich stopped when a little thought in the back of his head interrupted his worshipping of his lover.
"Wait. Protection…!" He gasped, but Yumi pulled him back into the moment with a kiss.
"Whatever happens tonight," she whispered, "we can manage. Besides, I may or may not have dreamt of having a little Stern of our own."
Ulrich, admittedly, was blindsided by this revelation. Was she really on the same page he was? But now wasn't the time. He had a woman to love, and time to make up for. The rhythm came back, stronger and more impassioned that before, and he could almost taste the way she gasped and screamed his name. His hips bucked faster and harder into her, legs swinging around his waist to keep him from sliding out on accident. Yumi's breathing became sharper, her voice reaching for some higher note, all while repeatedly saying 'fuck' in response to his administrations.
"Yumi… hah hah hah… Yumi, I'm gonna…"
"Do it, please… gah, fuck! Do it, Ulrich!"
"Ah… ah… AH… GAH!"
"ULRICH!"
"YUMI!"
They froze, shaking slightly, before collapsing into each other. Breathing raggedly, they weakly moved their arms tight around each other. Ulrich pulled himself out from her, and fell to her side. Yumi turned and rested her head on his chest, counting the heartbeats and taking in his husky breathing.
"I… I can't believe…" Yumi started.
"Me… neither," concluded Ulrich.
The last four years evaporated from their minds, and a new course was set for them, reaching far into the future. Ulrich was compelled to say something, but noticed Yumi had curled up beside him and fallen asleep. He smiled at her, and through the last of his tears, watched the moon fade in the window as he too fell deeply asleep.
The next morning came, similar to that other morning, like a brick. Not just to Ulrich, but also to Yumi as well. They awoke in a dusty old dorm room, and it took them both a moment to realize where they were. They took their sweet time getting dressed and moving along out of the building.
"Are we gonna get arrested for having snuck in here?" Ulrich asked.
"Nah," replied Yumi. "We'll be fine. No one does security here."
Just as she said that, and they finally walked out to meet the morning glorious, they noticed a figure, dressed in some green outfit, in the far distance admiring the old administration building. Yumi squinted, trying to make them out. "Is that…"
"Jim?!" Ulrich finished.
Sure enough, one Jim Morales was standing in the sunlight, looking over the building where his old boss used to hold court. He turned to look at the strangers looking at him, and was surprised to see two of his former Pencak Silat students, Ishiyama and Stern.
But he didn't say anything. He just saluted them, put on a military looking hat, and began marching away.
"Goddamn. He really is a military man," intoned Ulrich.
"No kidding," responded Yumi.
Once Jim disappeared behind a corner, they looked at each other and began laughing. Maybe all those times Jim 'rather didn't want to talk about it' had some legitimacy to them after all. Yumi took Ulrich's hand and they began walking to the bench they had sat on the night before. The sake bottle had been emptied, and one of the shot glasses broken, but Yumi shrugged and kicked the bottle over, cracking it.
"No one's gonna know," she said. And they chuckled to each other and walked off towards the gate.
They began walking around downtown and all the old local buildings, the same places they used to terrorize in their youth. They even walked by the factory, but didn't cross the bridge. They chose to revere the decrepit old place from afar, too scared to step even an inch towards the place where they saved the world time and time again.
"It's still ugly," Ulrich muttered. Yumi just "mhmm'd" and they took off with that, smiles plastered on their faces, remembering all the good times.
They eventually made it all the way back to Odd's apartment, sometime around noonish. Ulrich clicked on the speaker to let his host know he was back.
"Mmm… Hello?" Odd sounded groggy, worse so through the subpar speaker.
"Hey, it's Ulrich, let me in."
"Oh… oh! Ulrich, buddy! Shit, sorry man. Yeah, I'll let ya' in."
A loud buzzer went off, and the door clicked, letting the two just enough time to slip through and get inside. They traversed the steps all the way up to the top floor, hand in hand, and finally came to Odd's door. Surprisingly, Odd didn't answer, but Jeremie did. His glasses had been bent slightly from possibly sleeping on them. But once he saw whom Ulrich was with, he straightened himself out before exclaiming, "Yumi!"
"Hey Einstein," she chuckled, waving shyly.
"Well, hey, c'mon in!" Jeremie beckoned them both inside, and they followed accordingly. Aelita and Odd were on the couch nursing headaches from another night of drinking. When they saw Yumi they lit up, Aelita with happiness, Odd with absolute surprise.
"Oh! Yumi! Uh, hey-hey! How're you? Man, it's been ages!"
"Odd, it's only been a week."
"Really? That long?" Odd replied, but soon it became apparent that the jib was up. He sighed, and eventually Ulrich asked the question: "Why'd you lie to me? You said she hadn't said anything about me."
Odd went silent, petting Samantha on his lap, before finally breaking under the collective pressure of everyone's interrogative stares. "Ok, fine, I lied because I knew you were gonna just sulk about Yumi if I even mentioned her off-handedly, and I wanted to make sure you weren't a total buzzkill while you were visiting."
Ulrich finally chuckled and kicked Odd in the shin. "You haven't changed a damn bit."
Odd blushed, embarrassed, but happy to still have his friends altogether again. Then Ulrich turned to Aelita and said, "I guess we both have you to thank for this." He lifted up his hand, still entwined with Yumi's, and the pink-haired girl just blushed and waved it off. "Oh, it was nothing. Just a little playing matchmaker, that's all."
They all laughed. Yumi gently bumped into Ulrich, face red with a smile and looking down. He kissed the top of her head, and everything felt right.
Some hours later, they had all chatted themselves into exhaustion, laughing at Odd playing with the cat, applauding Aelita's latest dance mix, poking fun at Jeremie's still-prevalent misunderstanding of social cues, and celebrating Ulrich and Yumi's reconciliation. When the festivities began to die down, Ulrich took to the balcony to watch the sun peak in the sky, and after a few moments of listening to the cars below, he noticed Aelita come sneaking up behind him.
"So," she started, "last night. You two… uh…"
Ulrich grinned. "Yeah, we did."
Aelita leaned on the railing, elbows first. "Four years, huh?"
"Yup. Four fucking years."
"How do you feel now?"
"Honestly? Content."
"Good… you know, I don't think anyone will know how much you two missed each other?"
He shook his head. "No one ever will. And you know what? It doesn't matter. Because I know this is it. This is our time. No matter the distance, no matter what follows, no matter the strife and hardship, we're gonna survive, her and I."
"Well, of course. You love her. And she loves you."
Aelita put her hand on Ulrich's shoulder, before returning inside to break up an argument between Jeremie and Odd. He could hear Yumi laughing in the distance, and he could feel her eyes quickly glance to his back.
Ulrich smiled.
He was finally doing well for himself.
FIN
A/N:
Well, here it is.
The conclusion.
I actually got teared up writing this.
No lie.
The title comes from the Patrick Watson song that I listened to a lot of while working on both parts of this story.
Well, until the next story.
Love and strychnine,
~Misery Curtains
