Last time
Half an hour later Will paid Bryce the ten bucks he owed him, having out eaten Odd by a good five minutes. He grinned at the purple spotted blond. "No one can out eat me, remember that, Odd." Odd just stuck his tongue at the older blonde. They spent the rest of the day enjoying the fact XANA couldn't ruin their day.
Now
Yumi sighed as she got dressed, looking out her window in her room she looked at the house Ulrich had moved into a week and a half ago. The answer from Odd's and Jeremy's parents had come, Ulrich had just sighed and said that you couldn't have everything, the more observant, i.e. Will and Velma, noticed Ulrich's eyes were looking directly at Yumi when he said that. Since Will's arrival, Yumi had seen a different side of Ulrich; hell they've all seen a different side of the boy. Since Will had arrived, he had been happier; he smiled more often, and had become a bit more open.
The Japanese girl had yet to find just out why Will's presence in Ulrich's life had made such a thing happen, but she was glad for it. Ulrich was the happiest she had ever seen him in the time they had known each other, especially those last few weeks before Wills sudden appearance… Yumi shook her head 'Velma must be getting to me; I'm starting to regret my decision…'
Unbidden, the memory of Ulrich's hurt expression when she had told him her decision flashed across her mind. Yumi shook her head again. 'No! It was for the best…' Even in her own head, the words were starting to sound stupid; the decision of an emotionally unsure girl who had made the wrong choice.
Sighing again, she pulled her black mid drift turtleneck sweater. Walking down to the kitchen, she sat down to breakfast with her family, and told them of her plans for the day, though her parent knew that their daughter could almost always be found at the 'Getsu residence' across the street these days.
After some teasing from her little brother, Iori (A/N, Is that right? I can't remember his name…), she left her house. Quickly crossing the street, she walked up to the door and knocked.
A minute later, Heather opened the door. "Hi, Yumi, here for practice?" Yumi nodded as she walked in.
"Hi, Heather. Yeah I'm here for practice, but where is every one?" There was normally at least one person, normally Will, in the kitchen, but she saw no one on the entire first floor.
Heather grinned a little mischievously at the Japanese girl. "Follow me; I think you'll like this." Heather giggled, leading Yumi to a door in the staircase. When she opened the door, the first thing Yumi heard was the sound of banging wood and the sound of a gun going off. Raising an eyebrow at Heather, Yumi walked down the stairs. She entered a large room, roughly the size of the floor above it; only it was totally empty so it seemed larger.
In one corner there was the reason for the gun bangs; Kyle stood on one side of the room, an oversized white handgun in his right hand, his left in his pocket, firing at targets on the other side of the room, and hitting the bulls eye almost every time. The scary part? He had his eyes closed, and he moved to one of five targets randomly, so he hadn't just found a good spot and kept going.
On the other side of the room, Velma was doing the same, eyes closed and all, only with throwing knives.
In the row between the two projectile practices, the shirtless Bryce Will and Ulrich were sparing. Bryce was using a Bo staff that reached just under his chin, the other two were using bokens. Will used a full-length katana boken in his right hand, and a shorter wakisashi length one in his left hand. Ulrich wielded a single full-length boken with both hands. All three were sweating heavily.
Yumi blushed a bit at seeing Ulrich's sweaty torso. Heather grinned. "I told you, you'd like it." Though she narrowed her eyes at Heather, Yumi didn't even try to deny that she liked it.
"Hey, ladies." Yumi jumped as Stroka's voice spoke behind her, she hadn't even noticed the loud bangs from the pale blonds gun stop. "She here yet, Heather?"
Heather shook her head. "Sorry, Kyle, but she's not here yet." The 'tech man' of Will's group shrugged.
"It's fine. I'll be in my room..." He muttered, walking up the stairs.
Yumi raised an eyebrow at heather. "His girlfriend is coming to stay with us today, he's kind of anxious to see her." Heather answered the unasked question. Yumi blinked as a weight pulled her backwards a bit as arms wrapped around her neck.
"Hey, Yumi." Velma greeted. "Here to watch Ulrich, hmm?" The brunette purred into Yumi ear, making the Japanese girl blush a bit.
"N-no! I came for band practice!" Yumi stuttered. Velma gave a cat like smirk.
"Oh really? I do believe that we canceled todays practice, didn't we, Heather?"
Heather also gave the cat like smirk, kinda ironic since her last name means 'rabbit'. "I do believe we did, Birdi." Her eyes widened a bit, looking behind the other two girls. "Ooh, they're finishing up." Yumi and Velma turned their heads to face the the spar that still hadn't ended.
Apparently Bryce and Ulrich decided to team up on Will. The two shorter boys stood back to back in ready stances, a few yards away Will stood in a low stance. At the same moment, the Bryce and Ulrich charged Will. Dodging to one side, Will disarmed Bryce, flinging the bo staff across the room, the dirty blond slashed at Bryce's gut. Grunting Bryce was shoved a few feet away from the force, having been disarmed; Bryce walked over to the girls after he picked up his staff.
Bryce blinked at Yumi as he wrapped his arms around Heather's waist. "When did you get here, Yumi?"
"A few minutes ago. How long were you three at that?"
"Hmm... what time is it?"
"10:40."
"'Bout an hour and a half." Bryce's gentle white ringed blues eyes looked at Ulrich. "He's good, but it's over; he can't beat Will one-on-one."
Yumi snorted. "Don't go underestimating Ulrich, he's our strongest fighter."
Bryce gave a wry grin. "Well, Will's our strongest fighter, Ulrich can't beat him." A loud clang interrupted Yumi's retort. Looking over to the sparring friends, Will had his bokens crossed against Ulrich's throat; pinned to the wall and his own boken tossed several feet away, Ulrich had plainly lost.
"Damn it all. Ten years and I still can't beat you, Klingedämon." Though he sounded pissed, the tired smile on his face said otherwise.
Will returned the smile. "You've come a long way since the day we met, when I saved your sorry ass..."
Flashback
"Vati, wo du bist? Ich werde erschrocken…" A five year old Ulrich, dressed in high class clothes, sniffled as he walked through the crowded streets of Kyoto during new years. The young German boy felt very out of place in his western style clothes, being surrounded by crowds of people wearing traditional kimonos. He had came with his father and mother for a business trip to Japan, but had been seperated by the thick crowds.
Some how he he had managed to dislodge himself from the crowd, but now found himself in a dark alley. The little boy spun around as he heard none to friendly voices, in Japanese, behind him. Ulrich stepped back in fear as two thugs loomed over him. He didn't understand what they were saying, not knowing much Japanese at the time, but Ulrich didn't feel like it would be good for him.
The two thugs nodded at each other, apparently coming to an agreement, and approached the little boy. Ulrich crouched in a corner in the fetal position, shivering. Suddenly a voice spoke, in a language Ulrich could neither understand or name.
"Ganzi." It was a proud, yet quite, male voice that held an untold depth of power in it, and it sounded absolutely disgusted, coming from behind the two thugs. The thugs upscured Ulrich's view of his rescuer, he hoped that who ever it was he'd be OK. They exchanged a few words in Japanese; well, the thugs yelled at who ever it was, and the man, Ulrich guessed by the voices deepness, said only a little. After a minute, the two charged who ever it was.
Ulrich was shocked as the two simply flew backwards into the wall on top of each other. Ripping his eyes from his attackers, Ulrich looked to his hero, and was shocked. Instead of the twenty something year old man he had expected, there was a young boy, not even more the two years older then himself, with a katana many time his hight resting on his shoulders. The boys demonic green eyes were staring at the two pinned to the wall.
"Chantil." Klingedämon, as Ulrich had mentally labeled the person in front of him, told the slightly younger boy.
"I-I n-kein SP-sprechen diese Sprache." Ulrich stuttered.
'Klingedämon' rubbed his chin with the hand not resting on his katana handle. "Amperestunde, deutsch. Was ist dein Name?" Though startled by the switch to his native language, German, Ulrich answered.
"Ulrich Heck, Klingedämon." The boys eyes widened at the nickname a bit, before he burst out laughing.
"Wir erhalten entlang gerechter geldstrafe, Ulrich, gerade geldstrafe." He said through his laughter.
End flashback
The two were broke out of their memories as Velma jumped onto Will's back, due to his tired state the tallest guy in the room fell face first into the ground, causing everyone to laugh. Ulrich blushed as he caught Yumi's eyes, if he had not looked away so soon, he would have seen her blush back as she tucked her behind her ears.
'Maybe...' Yumi thought. 'Just maybe, I still have a chance to fix that stupid decision...'
(A/N)Yo. Well there you go, chapter four. How Ulrich and Will met, and a little thought into Yumi's dumb ass decision...
Vati, wo du bist?-Daddy where are you?
Ich werde erschrocken…-I'm scared...
Klingedämon-sword demon
I-I n-kein SP-sprechen diese Sprache - I-i n-no sp-speak that language
Amperestunde, deutsch. Was ist dein Name?-Ah, German. What is your name?
Ulrich Heck-Ulrich Stern
Wir erhalten entlang gerechter geldstrafe, Ulrich, gerade geldstrafe-We'll get along just fine, Ulrich, just fine.
Laters