Since I wrote it in an awkward way, I should forewarn you. This chapter is backwards. That means that beginning scene is actually the last scene. You can read it normally, and watch the story unfold backwards, or you can read it from the bottom up if you prefer. Either way, enjoy.

She had been here before. This sort of high voltage emotion that transformed everything and everyone in the space of heartbeats; don't you remember this? Yumi thought she did, that she should, but couldn't quite place it. The distraction of Ulrich standing in front of her, arms outstretched, guarding her, was burned into her eyes. Idly, her hands ran over her dress, soaked, red fabric that smelled of wine and sugar. It wasn't difficult, except it was, and Yumi wondered what Ulrich was protecting her from, when she had her own worst enemy settled into her ribcage, strained underneath flesh and through vein.

Garbled insults and high, high voices. That girl, from across the room, was screaming and demanding, throwing around words that were sour to the ears, words she had no business saying. And still, Ulrich stood in front of her, and though she couldn't see his face, Yumi might imagine the righteous lines carved deep into his face. He was implacable. Odd stood behind Aelita, Jeremie awkwardly and haphazardly at her side.

"Enough," Ulrich hissed. The girl ruminated for a moment, fingers weaving through black hair. Her tinted lips pressed into a line, and all her hauteur bloomed. "Ulrich, dear," she began in that condescending voice of hers. It almost had a didactic feeling to it, but more patronizing than anything else. Annoying enough, it mirrored William's to an extent. "You don't mean this, do you? That nobody over me? Really, you never were one for jokes, but this has to be one."

Aelita was wrong. She was beautiful, if in a mismatched way. Her facial features were neatly arranged; dark eyes, dark hair, pale skin and pink, thin lips. There wasn't symmetry involved, but an abstract concept that made it impossible to classify her as unattractive.

"Elisabeth," every syllable sounded like a curse. "How lovely to see you again." Jeremie's voice was ice. Odd chimed in, "Though not seeing you again would have been much better."

"Be quiet," she -- Elisabeth, snarled. Her face twisted into a very ugly expression and Yumi though to retract her preconception of potential prettiness. But no, as she smoothed face out the spark of aesthetic ingenuity reappeared. It was very much like a mask and Ulrich looked as if he wanted to tear it off.

"I won't let you do this to me," Elisabeth went on.

"It's already been done," Aelita interjected cheerfully. "Face it, Sissi dear, you might as well go back into whatever hole you crawled out of." There was a viciousness in her voice that Yumi was startled to hear.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you, orphan," Sissi matched Aelita's tone. "I'm here to stay."

Ulrich's voice was unrecognizable, almost monstrous, and decidedly crude. The sound was so inherently wrong that Yumi jerked at it, her thoughts no longer in disarray as a result of the annoying stage like quality of the scenario. Ulrich spoke and Yumi shivered.

"Wrong answer."

Yumi did not notice the girl's entrance, mainly because she was being entertained by a seeing dog of one of the elderly gentlemen. Whether this was the dog that Aelita had spoken about before, Yumi didn't know, but she couldn't pinpoint was Aelita was complaining about. The dog was much more interesting that the people that were there.

"Yumi Ishiyama," the tone was categorized by authority. Yumi looked up, disdain written on her face.

The time lapse between the instance that she met the girls cold, black eyes and when the girl flung the champagne glass in her direction, successfully depositing all of its contents on Yumi's dress, was mercifully brief. And that was when Yumi knew she was face to face with the "dreamgirl."

It also occurred to her that Ulrich was going to pay for this.

The entrance was ridiculously dramatic.

Aelita had persuaded (see: forced), Yumi into arriving early to the so-called reunion. The reunion turned out to be a party of a hundred odd socialites who were especially interested in knowing who was the strange, unknown Asian girl with the oh-so coveted Aelita Stones. Apparently not only was Aelita was a model, she also handled a company that mass produced computers for small businesses.

"A regular genius," a woman had exclaimed as Aelita passed her by, smile conspicuously dazzling.

Yumi felt excruciatingly out of place.

When she thought it couldn't get worse, she spied Ulrich in the corner, drinking something that was apt to be alcoholic. He nearly choked when he saw her, settling for launching into a hysterics of coughing. Though, and Yumi found this to be the highlight of her day thus far, his reaction was far more pleasing when Jeremie and Odd entered the room.

Aelita promptly hid behind Yumi. Which, considering how short and small Yumi was, resulted a terrible decision.

"Princess," Odd greeted her and Yumi analyzed the pains he took to kiss her hand with scrutiny. She wasn't the only one -- Jeremie was glaring holes into them both. He gave Aelita a curt greeting, and Yumi wondered what exactly she had missed.

There was a certain gravity, a destructive spark between Aelita, Jeremie, and Odd. It occurred to Yumi that she had never seen the trio in the same room. This would certainly explain why. If Jeremie didn't claw out Odd's eyes, Odd would seize the opportunity and politely return the favor.

The conclusion was obvious, and yet, Yumi couldn't bring herself to believe it.

Realizing that her plan had failed, Aelita meekly made her way in front of Yumi. "Odd," she flashed a very small smile at Odd who returned it with a brilliant one of his own. Aelita then turned to Jeremie, but this particular smile was pinched, "Jeremie."

Wisely, Ulrich took her by the arm and leaned in. His breath smelled of alcohol as she suspected, but he was obviously not intoxicated. "Would you like to dance?"

"I don't think this is a good time," Yumi whispered as she watched Aelita pointedly direct her gave to the floor.

"Trust me," Ulrich began as he pulled her closer to him. "This is an excellent time."

"And why is that," Yumi asked, feeling out of context.

"Because," Ulrich said, "I don't want you to get caught in the crossfire."

"Yumi, you can't abandon me in this time of need! I refuse to mingle with the old people again. I swear, if I have to hear one more conversation about teeth, I'll grab on to a curtain and escape through the window."

"In one of those," Yumi questioned as she pointed to a highly suspicious pair of shoes. They were, as Aelita later informed her, her certified hooker heels. Yumi didn't ask. "I highly doubt you'll be able to walk, much less climb, anything."

"Jeremie will be busy with boring, stiff representatives and --"

"-- don't forget the occasional gold digger," Yumi interjected with mock cheer.

Aelita ignored her commentary, "-- last time the only company I had was the seeing dog of one of the men there."

"I'm sure it was a very nice dog," Yumi replied as she eyed the numerous bags on the floor. They were white paper, decorated with abstract shapes and sleek black lettering. "You can bring Kiwi along, right? Odd can come, too."

"Odd can't come," Aelita's mouth twitched slightly. Yumi couldn't tell if it was because of annoyance or something altogether. "He hates these sort of parties."

"I thought you said it was a small gathering," Yumi looked at Aelita accusingly.

"Um," Aelita hedged. "About that..."

Soft, slightly moist fingertips across the back, others pressing into skin; a languid, temperamental smile, breath catching by the ear. "See," he asks as he guides her right to left. "Not so hard, is it?"

"No," she manages, holding on to holding her breath. "I just don't understand why you're teaching me to dance. Ulrich, no one waltzes anymore."

Charming smile, and Ulrich spins her for a bit, "Aelita invited me to a party and I'm coercing you into coming along." His words seem awkward because it certainly doesn't feel like coercion. It feels a bit like happiness.

"I don't want to go," Yumi turns her head away as she feels her shoe pressing on his feet. "I'm not --"

"You are," Ulrich interrupts as he gingerly pulls her closer. "-- a pessimist. I'm an optimist --"

"Ulrich, I'm really not--"

"Well," and so close that Yumi trembles. "I believe in you."

Aelita hadn't been satisfied with buying eight pair of shoes, she simply had to buy Yumi a pair, "Or two," Aelita had said as she pulled Yumi into the store. Yumi tried to dig her heels in, but her shoes squeaked and slid across the floor. "Look at these, aren't they divine? Yumi, you have to try them out." Insert puppy dog look here.

Which was the gist of the rest of her afternoon. After suffering for hours, Aelita took pity on her and hailed a cab. It had taken two consecutive cabs to fit in all of Aelita's bags; the cab drivers did not complain, and when Yumi saw exactly how much Aelita paid them for their efforts, she understood why.

Don't look away, Aelita's hands were smooth and firm, heavy weight on her shoulders. I want you to see what he sees.

The mirror was traitorous; her mouth was down turned in a frown, her eyes bright from un-shed tears. Her flesh was deceptively pale beneath fluorescent light, utterly outdone by dark, rebellious hair. Her lips were unraveling into a grimace, and annoyed with herself, Yumi turned away from the mirror.

"I should be doing laundry," she muttered as she wiggled out of Aelita's grip. Persistent and oh so defiantly, Aelita hung on, a pressing smile on her lips. They were so different; Aelita's aristocratic nose complemented her lips, and her hair and long, loose limbs copied the example to the point of imitation. Here, Yumi was out of water, out of atmosphere. She felt like going home and curling into the corner of the couch, to watch the bright, exaggerated screen of the television lull her to sleep.

Yumi calculated the chances of them going into another store. The chances were depressingly high.

A hour later --

"Don't you think I've thought this over," a quick, irrelevant quirk to the lips. "A thousand times over. There is no other way -- I'm going to have to sacrifice myself."

Aelita's face fell as she continued her monologue. "I mean," she paused. A heavy sigh, lower lip caught by teeth, eyebrows drawn in misery. "I guess the manolo blahniks will have to do."

Aelita primly knocked on Yumi's door at approximately eight in the morning, dressed and suited in clothes that were meant to be seen and not worn. Sunglasses clipped in one hand, she extended her arms and greeted Yumi with the same adulation as before, only somewhat more business like. Which, more or less, was what she had come for -- business. She nearly broke down the door and said,

"You and I have appointments at the salon, then we go to pick out dresses, and then --"

Yumi tried to imagine a worse fate and failed. There simply had to be a way for her to get out of this. Think, Yumi urged herself. Sadly, nothing to came to mind. Apparently, her college education was worthless.

A vague, tickling feeling beat in the back of her head. Yumi thought for a moment that something bad was going to happen. Then, she chalked it up to silliness on her part and closed the door behind her.

What did you think? How was Sissi's entrance for you? Tell me :)