Early August

Parents

It was Friday afternoon again and Yumi was just walking out of the building where her last class was held. Taking a deep breath to try to calm herself about the events to come later that evening, she began to walk quickly home.

"Hey Yumi, wait!" She turned to see Sissi jogging trying to catch up. Yumi waited in confusion. Sissi's last class would have finished over an hour ago, which would mean that she had been waiting since.

"Hi, Sissi." Yumi greeted when the taller girl caught up. "What are you still doing here?"

"I figured you'd want some company to help with any nerves you might have about tonight. After all, it's not every day your boyfriend meets your parents." Yumi grinned slightly at her friend's thoughtfulness but couldn't help wondering if there was another hidden agenda. Ever since she started seeing Xavier, Yumi noticed that Sissi had been acting strange and a little suspicious for some reason when either him or Ulrich came up. "Speaking of which, how are things going between you two?"

"It's going pretty well." Yumi replied.

Sissi cocked an eyebrow. "Just 'pretty well...'?"

Yumi narrowed her eyes in return. "Yes, pretty well. We're still just getting to know each other, It's not as if I've known him for years like with Ulrich."

"That's true." Sissi conceded before snorting. "Speaking of Ulrich, I still can't believe you told him, your best friend, with a message!"

Yumi stopped walking suddenly and stared at Sissi with her mouth hanging slightly open. "What did you say?"

Sissi snorted again. "I said I can't believe you told Ulrich about you and Xavier with a message."

"No... the other part..."

"Oh, you mean the part about Ulrich being your best friend." Since the breakup, Yumi had been considering Sissi her best friend, but with how much phone time her and Ulrich spent with each other she wondered if that could be changing. If he could indeed become her best friend again from just that, she briefly considered what other implications could that have.

"Yeah... that part."

Sissi chuckled. "What? You two are best friends and always have been!" Yumi started walking again without saying anything. Sissi continued, undeterred, "when you started talking to him again, I stopped being the person you vented to. That tells me that while I'm your good friend, he's your best friend." Yumi looked at Sissi almost apologetically. "Oh, don't worry about me, I actually kinda prefer it this way! It just feels more… right," Sissi reassured. Yumi still said nothing while they walked. "Anyway, I still can't believe you told him in a message!" That managed to jar Yumi out of her silence.

"It was getting late and I wanted to make sure he found out sooner rather than... later." It was a cop-out and they both knew it. Sissi had commented about the message a few times in the last couple weeks, but Yumi was thankful that Sissi hadn't further called her out on it yet. Telling Ulrich she was going on a date was one thing, but she was ashamed that she hadn't been able to bring herself to verbally tell him she was officially seeing someone else. As expected, Ulrich's message in response had been very supportive, but neither of them had brought it up in any of their conversations despite having spoken several times since then.

Sissi sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration for a moment. "If you say so, Yumi." After that she let it drop, partially because she was getting irritated at the topic, and partially because Yumi changed the subject.

"I've been meaning to tell you that with finals coming up next week I'm not going to make sparring tomorrow morning."

Both of them grateful for diversion, Sissi replied, "I've been meaning to say the same."

"And I'm pleased to announce that the final project in my pedagogy class is completed as of yesterday!" Yumi exclaimed.

"Good for you! I'm just looking forward to having a few week's break!"

"And seeing Odd again for the Lyoko Warrior's reunion next month," Yumi teased.

"Of course I'm looking forward to spending time with Odd Darling!" Sissi retorted, "and just friends or not, if you tell me you're not looking forward to seeing Ulrich again I'm calling you a liar!" She teased back.

Yumi snorted before answering. "Ok fine, I am." She was quite nervous about it too, but she wasn't going to tell Sissi that! It was at this point that they arrived at Sissi's apartment complex and the two girls hugged then parted ways.

Finishing the trip home, Yumi opened the door into her house and smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen. She walked in and found her mother hard at work preparing dinner. Hearing Yumi enter the kitchen, Akiko greeted her daughter.

"Hello, Yumi."

"Hi, mom. It smells good in here! miso soup?"

"Uh huh, and shrimp tempura soba*." She replied cheerfully smiled as Yumi moaned slightly, looking forward to the meal. It was one of her favorites. Hiroki walked in the room just as Yumi was leaving. Akiko normally used pre-made noodles, so when he spied the flour on the counter for making them from scratch he asked, "is something special going on tonight?"

"Xavier is coming over for dinner." Her mother's answer made Yumi stop just on the other side of the door to listen.

"Oh..." Hiroki grunted, clearly not very enthusiastic about it. Yumi heard her mother sigh.

"I know you looked used to look up to Ulrich. Your father and I liked him a lot too, but he's gone now..." Yumi could picture her little brother rolling her eyes while at the same time her stomach clenched into knots. Please don't say anything, please don't say anything! She repeated in her head. "It's good that Yumi's feeling up to moving on."

"I guess." He replied with a groan. A very relieved Yumi heard him walk toward the door. He passed Yumi on the way to the stairs to go to his room and she followed. When they were in the upstairs hallway and out of earshot of the kitchen Yumi quietly said, "thanks for not saying anything."

He looked at her in confusion. "About what?"

Yumi rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "That Ulrich and I have been talking again."

The confusion on Hiroki's face melted away and a look of derision took its place. "It's not my place to talk to mom about your personal life," he said shortly, and without another word he turned around, walked in his room and shut the door in her face. Yumi groaned and assumed it was his old hero complex flaring up again. Shaking her head, she felt that it was time to clear the air with him, so she knocked on his door. "Come in," she heard from inside. She walked in and closed the door behind her. He was sitting at his desk with his back to her

"Hey." She greeted.

"Hey..." he responded without turning around.

"You know, Xavier really is a nice guy." He finally turned around.

"I believe that. If he wasn't, you'd have already kicked his butt and sent him packing." That got a small chuckle out of Yumi and reminded her of how things ended up for Jacques. After a she stopped laughing, she tried a different approach.

"Ulrich knows about Xavier too, and he's actually been really supportive. You should give him a chance."

"I believe that too, you two talk about everything. I'm sure he just wants you to be happy."

"I know he does. He's a good friend." Hiroki sighed.

"I just want you to be happy too, you know." He stated sincerely. The two looked at each other intently for a few seconds. Yumi wasn't sure if there was a hidden meaning in her brother's words or not but didn't ask either. "I promise I'll give him a fair chance but be warned that I'm not going to hold back what I think about him when he's not around!" He shot Yumi a snarky grin that she returned.

"Deal!" The two shook hands, then she headed to her own room to try to get a little bit of homework done before Xavier arrived.

About an hour later Yumi heard the hum of a motor scooter pulling up to the fence and she started heading for the door. There was a knock that sounded muffled from her room upstairs.

"Yumi, the door! It's probably Xavier." Called her mother as Yumi barreled down the stairway toward the front entrance. She opened the door to see Xavier looking the most nervous she'd ever seen him.

"Hi, come on in!" She greeted cheerfully, trying to ease his nerves.

"Umm, hi..." he stepped inside and removed his riding jacket, which Yumi took from him and hung up in the closet.

"Hello, you must be Xavier." Yumi turned around to see Hiroki walking down the stairs. Though she could tell it was forced, his smile was pretty convincing and Yumi appreciated that he was at least making an effort. Reaching the blond man, he held out his hand for Xavier to shake, which he did.

"Yes, and you must be Hiroki."

"Uh huh. I just came down to say hi, but I've got a lot of homework to do so I'll see you again at dinner!" He replied with a cheerfulness that was as forced as his smile before going back up to his room. Yumi shook her head behind Xavier's back, hoping he wouldn't notice her brother's insincerity before diverting her attention back to doing introductions.

"Let's go to the kitchen, I'd like you to meet my mom." Putting her hand on his shoulder, Yumi guided him to the kitchen.

"Hello, you must be Xavier. I'm Yumi's mother." She greeted while drying her hands on a dish towel.

"It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Ishiyama." He held out his hand after Akiko put down the dish towel, and she gently took it while nodding toward him slightly.

"And you as well, but I'm going to have to kick you both out of the kitchen while I finish dinner."

Yumi and Xavier left the kitchen and sat on the couch in the front room. "My dad should be home from work soon."

"Ok, I'm looking forward to meeting him." Yumi thought that he actually didn't but decided not to say anything. It didn't look like the only thing he was nervous about either… "Umm, can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"I've never had Japanese food…"

Yumi let out a chuckle. "Don't worry about it. We're having miso soup and tempura shrimp soba. It's really good… one of my favorites actually." And Ulrich's too. She forced the unwanted thought to the back of her head. Lately it felt like she was doing that constantly, and the irritation must have shown on her face.

"Is something wrong?" Xavier asked, snapping Yumi back to the present. Yumi put a smile on her face.

"No, it's nothing." He seemed unconvinced, but it looked like he had other things on his mind, and he let it go.

"Ok then, can I tell you something else?"

"Sure."

"I don't know how to use chopsticks…" Yumi laughed out loud.

"I guess I'm going to have to give you a crash course before dinner!" She went to the kitchen to get a pair of chopsticks for Xavier to practice with.

Getting back to the couch, Yumi did her best to coach Xavier through the use of chopsticks, and he eventually sort of got the hang of it. When she got up to put the chopsticks away, she thought of when she taught Ulrich how to use them. He was a natural and she remembered how every time their hands touched during the lesson, a warm tingle seemed to spread throughout her body, and she couldn't help noticing that she felt nothing of the sort with Xavier, even when they kissed. She was starting to wonder if there ever would be…

Before she could think about it too hard, she heard her father come in and figured she should act as a buffer between him and Xavier, so she rushed back into the front room.

"Hi Dad!" She called out when she saw him.

"Hello Yumi," he replied. After helping Xavier to his feet, she started the introductions.

"Dad, this is Xavier." Her father eyed Xavier appraisingly for a moment before extending a hand to shake.

"Hello Xavier, I'm Takeo Ishiyama."

"It's nice to meet you sir." Xavier shook the proffered hand.

"Yumi, could you get your brother? It's time for dinner!" Akiko called from the kitchen.

Yumi headed up the stairs and knocked on her brother's door.

"Come in." She poked her head through the door to see Hiroki working at his desk.

"It's time for dinner." She started to turn around and head back downstairs but stopped and poked her head back through the door. He had turned around and was facing the door now. "And please try to be nice. You never know, he just might be your brother in-law someday!"

"Yeah, maybe," he snorted out. When Yumi gave him a dirty look, he added, "I promise I'll be nice." The two siblings headed down the stairs to dinner. Yumi thought that it promised to be an interesting evening.

A/N: Again, I'm sorry about the late update, but between all the family stuff through the holidays, and the fact that this was also another 'not so exciting' chapter to write, it was a struggle getting it out. I've got one more of these slog chapters to get through and then it starts getting exciting again! For those of you that think that it's a little early for Xavier to be meeting Yumi's parents, when I was in my late teens/early twenties I had a couple of different girlfriends and it was never more than a few weeks before I met their parents. I think the living at home factor makes a big difference.

In other news, this story has officially made 3000 views as of yesterday! Yay!

*Lightly fried shrimp with thick noodles made from buckwheat.