Author's Note: Thank you so much for my reviews. Son of Xana, I can tell you are really obsessed with evilness, but unfortunately for you, the romantic part continues here. Sorry! Just don't kill me or anything. To Shesu-San, I didn't intend for Jeremy to sound stupid. I just wanted him to be worried about his feelings about Aelita and so on and so forth because I'm guessing it's the first time he's been in love. And to orange, I honestly forgot about that scene (oopies) but even though Sissy kissed Ulrich, you still wouldn't know if she was infected or not. That is something that you will have to find out by reading on. And I'm sorry to report that this fan fic (my first, by the way) is rapidly coming to a close. But I'm thinking about doing a sequel so let me know if you want one. Now, on with the chapter...

I ran straight ahead through the streets of the city. I knew them well. Just last year I would walk home everyday after school. I was glad this year my parents gave me some more freedom and let me stay at the boarding school in a dorm.

In no time I was rounding the last bend and my house came into view. I slowed down a bit and pushed open the white wooden gate that led up to the walkway up to the front door. Ulrich and I trudged across the front porch and I rang the doorbell. I noticed Ulrich was fidgeting awkwardly.

"Yumi!" came my mother's high-pitched voice. She flung open the door and gave me an embarrassingly tight hug.

I scrunched up my face and said in a muffled voice, "Nice to see you too mom. Now would you mind? I do need air to live, you know."

My mother stepped back and held me at arm's length away from her. "Getting more beautiful every time I see you."

"Mom!" I said indignantly. I risked a glance at Ulrich; he was suppressing the urge to snicker. I glowered at him. Then I turned back to face my mother. "It's only been a month, mother." I swallowed and said more nicely, "Mom, can Ulrich study with me today? He...uh...needs help on his homework and would greatly benefit if I helped him."

"He friend?" my mother said, looking Ulrich up and down. Ulrich turned slightly red.

"Yes...mother," I said through gritted teeth. Why did my family like to embarrass me so much? "You've met him before."

"Oh," she said, her Japanese accent strong in her broken English. "Um...would you like me to tell father he's here?"

"Uh sure, whatever" I said quickly. "Come on, Ulrich let's go." I dragged Ulrich into my house by the arm. He smiled wide as he passed my mother, as if trying to convince her that he was a good guy.

I ran to my room and after Ulrich was inside, I shut the door safely. "Whew," I said exasperated, plopping my bag onto the floor. I looked around my room. It was neat and orderly. Obviously mother had been cleaning it.

"Your mother seemed...er...nice," Ulrich commented, pulling out his geometry book.

I pulled out my own math book. "You don't have to be so modest. She's a big pain. She and my dad seem to take pride in embarrassing me in front of my friends."

Ulrich snorted. "Not as bad as my parents. My mom doesn't hesitate to pull out my baby pictures to show off to family and friends and my dad is always complaining. If I'm playing soccer outside or something, he says I need to study more. If I'm in my room studying for more than an hour, he'll barge in and say I should be doing something fun, like playing soccer." He shook his head. "Its hopeless."

I laughed. "No wonder. I was wondering where you got your personality traits. Their obviously hereditary."

"Hey!" Ulrich said indignantly, balling up a piece of paper that had fallen out of his backpack and throwing at me. I turned away and it hit my shoulder. I picked it up and was about to throw it back when I caught my name on it. Interested, I went to smooth it out. Before I could, Ulrich snatched it from out of my hand.

"What was that?" I asked curiously, watching him shove it into the far reaches of his backpack.

Ulrich's cheeks turned slightly red. "Nothing," he mumbled and clipped his backpack shut. "Now," he said hurriedly, as if to change the subject, "geometry. I never did get geometry."

I smiled. "Maybe you should pay more attention in class instead of staring out the window."

Ulrich blushed a deeper shade of red for some reason. "Yeah, I should," he said brusquely, brushing it aside. He opened his geometry book to a book- marked page and stared down at it. I stared down at it also and saw the page full of circles. He scratched his head. "How do you find the area of a circle again?"

I shook my head. "Wow, Ulrich, you're more behind than I thought."

I spent the next hour and a half catching Ulrich up on everything he had been missing. He was smart, I found out, but he just didn't like to show it. Soon we had worked through geometry homework and we were ganging up on history.

"I need to go to the bathroom, hold on," he said, pushing himself off the floor and opening my bedroom door.

"Okay," I said, without looking up from the history book we were sharing. "It's down the hall to the left."

"I know. I've been to your house before."

"Oh right, sorry." I heard the door close and looked up to make sure he was gone. Then I reached over and opened his backpack. I knew I shouldn't have, but I really wanted to read that note, if it was a note. It had my name on it so I had to find out what it said.

My hand was rewarded when it closed around the ball of paper. I brought it out and as silently as I could, I smoothed out the wrinkles and started to read. I blushed immediately.

"'Yumi,'" it read, "'I just wanted to tell you...well, there's no other way to put it...I love you. Before you dismiss this note as crazy or a joke, just listen. I've had a crush on you ever since I first met you and, believe it or not, through all our fights, I've just learned to love you even more. Everything about you is perfect and even in Lyoko your charm never disappears. But sometimes I have a feeling that you don't like me as I do, that you ignore me for some reason. It's okay if you don't like me back. I just had to tell you. I felt as if I was going to explode. Thanks for reading this. Ulrich.'"

Stunned, I rocked back on my heels. Ulrich had just professed his love to me in this letter (well, he would have if he had given it to me). I didn't quite know what to do or how to respond. But I knew how I felt and the first and foremost feeling I had was quite apparent. I felt happiness.

I heard the toilet flush and I quickly crumpled the note back up into a ball. Then I shoved it in his backpack and clipped it shut just as he opened the door. I resorted to looking back at the history book but in truth, everything on that page was just a blur. I could feel my cheeks burning as he settled down next to me again. He was so close to me. I tingled inside.

"Hey Yumi, are you okay? You're red," Ulrich said. I straightened up as he put his hand on my forehead. "Do you have a fever?"

"No, no...I'm...uh...fine," I turned away and his hand dropped away from my face.

There was an awkward silence. "You read the note didn't you?"

"What?" I said, still trying to calm myself down.

"You read that note that had your name on it." Ulrich sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Don't lie to me."

I sighed as well. "Yes, I did."

Silence resumed its reign in my room. It buzzed annoyingly in my ear. I wanted to reach up and swat it away, but I knew there was nothing to swat. Instead, I sat silently, listening to the buzzing. It grew incessantly louder. Finally, I felt I had to say something to make it go away.

"Um...Ulrich...I just wanted to say that..." I trailed off. I saw him out of the corner of my eye look up expectantly. "Well," I said, dipping my head and allowing myself a small smile, "I just wanted you to know that I felt the same way about you." I laughed softly. "I guess I did a good job concealing it, right?"

Ulrich's hand came up to turn my head gently toward him. My heart pounded inside my rib cage, threatening to burst it. He leaned in, and I did too, slightly, the smile dying on my lips. I closed my eyes.

Our lips were just about to touch when our cell phones beeped at the same time. We simultaneously turned away from each other to get our cell phones, the moment lost. It was crushed even further when I read what was on the display.

We both said it at exactly the same moment.

"Lyoko."