A.N. – I have excuses; you don't want to hear them. So I keep making long-ish drabbles in hopes that it'll appease you readers out there. I'm just glad you check up on this infrequently-updated collection. As for the prompt, it is the newest one from the Xana's Lair forum.

Prompt: Shout

Characters: Yumi, Ulrich, William

Words: 400

Rating: K+

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Yumi sees:

She cracks a joke and tried to break the tension. William's new, and he just hasn't jelled with anyone at Kadic. Ulrich's no different. He's hanging around right now because of her, and Yumi could care less – except that it's driving Ulrich around the bend. She changes tactics, tries overtly to get William to go. He rises and glares, prompting Ulrich to do the same. She's taken aback; what's with this guy? The set of William's shoulder shifts, and next thing she knows Ulrich is bleeding from the mouth on the ground. She screams at it all, hoping somewhere inside that this is all pretend.

Ulrich sees:

His time alone with Yumi always got ruined. William was just the latest perpetrator. Butting into their private conversation like he was there from the start was uncalled for. Yumi, he could tell, thought the same, trying to defuse the situation. Ulrich stews quietly, hoping William will take the easy way. Predictably, he doesn't. Yumi backtracks as William gets up from the bench he'd plopped himself down on. Ulrich wont' take this sitting down, and gets up so he can prove this point to William. He's no sooner opened his mouth than he finds a fist lodged there, very real and painful. His head swims, and somewhere he hears a plaintive noise.

William sees:

There they are, sitting under their usual tree, blatantly ignoring him as usual. William's tired of it, and feels like airing grievances. He strides over and sets himself, and two pairs of eyes turn, annoyed, to the newcomer. He tosses out a greeting and gets a joke rebuttal from Yumi. William's peeved; he thought Yumi would take the high road. He gets up, countenance tense, and prepares to go. He whispers a parting shot and Ulrich is suddenly in his face. Williams' had enough, and before Ulrich can even retort, William laid him out. He stalks away, Yumi's broken cry still reverberating in his ears.

Onlookers see:

Crap, the bench under the tree is always taken. Dang it!

Aw, look at those two, always together. They need to just spit it out already, and then get a room.

Oh, that new guy, he's hot - especially when he's angry.

When will it be lunch already?

Hey, did you hear something over there?

There's a shout that echoes across the courtyard at Kadic, and the students come running.