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The door slammed roughly closed with a loud thwack, jarring Odd up from the magazine he was reading. Kiwi lay nestled against his side, nose quivering and paws twitching just enough that he could guess that his animal friend was deep in the dream world. A box of cookies he'd snitched from the cafeteria lay out next to him, along with a diet coke. It was already late, nearly ten, but that was just fine because it was Friday, the day where he didn't have a curfew, he could stay up as late has he wanted, and eat as much junk food as the catboy could get his hands on. Yes, by far Friday nights were the best of the whole week.

Well, usually, he winced as Ulrich stomped over to his bed across the small room from Odd's, throwing himself down face first into the pillow with a muffled growl. Dressed in only a pair of long pajama pants due to his shower, Odd couldn't help but admire his friend's smooth white completion, soft glistening brown hair as it sparkled wetly under the dim light of the room, his luscious lips...

Whoa, down boy, he told himself, struggling to keep emotions under control as he felt a guilty pang of arousal at his friend's bare top, not to mention other unmentionables.... Besides, he was clearly taken by Yumi, even if it wasn't official and she did have a fiancé. And even if he wasn't, Ulrich was obviously as straight as a board. All signs neatly pointed hands off, so why couldn't Odd convince his heart, not to mention body, of that?

"Still not feeling any better, eh?" Odd asked, searching franticly for a distraction. Ulrich shook his head in his pillow, brown hair blowing back and forth in the light breeze that blew through their room through the open window.

Odd watched as his friend and crush flipped himself over onto his back, looking up at the cracks in the ceiling. "I don't know what's going on with me, Odd," he confided in him. "It shouldn't be bothering me this much."

"Yes it should," Odd shrugged. "You and Yumi are tight. Finding something like this out about her has shocked all of us. I mean, it's not exactly something to brush off."

"Yeah, I guess," Ulrich said, stretching his hands up to touch the wall behind him, arching his back up in a pose that made Odd blush and look away.

Overcoming his blush as fast as possible in the hopes the swordsman hadn't noticed, Odd told him, "Besides, you love her, right?" He wasn't sure whether he wanted the answer to be yes or no. On the one hand, he loved his friends more then life itself, and would be overjoyed to see them both happy. The only problem was, that meant with each other.

"Love her, huh?" Ulrich muttered, rolling away from Odd to look at the wall on the opposite side. The catboy was grateful for the lack of attention, as his blushing was quickly getting out of control. Giving love advice to his crush to go after someone other then he wasn't something easily done. It was probably all for the best though.

Well, he thought, sighing inwardly, even if they didn't love each other, and weren't going out, it's not like I'm up for second with Ulrich anyway.

"Ulrich's not exactly happy with you right now," Odd told Yumi the next Monday morning. They stood in the courtyard out in front of the school during the midmorning break.

The catboy had had biology last period, which meant plenty of time to catch up on the sleep he'd missed out on during the weekend. Yumi had once told him he reminded her of a real cat, and so affectionately called him "kitty boy." Jeremy had declared him a hypocrite, saying that weekends were for gaining rest and recuperation for the long week of studying in advance. Odd had told him that he got little rest anyway with the attacks, that he was used to it. And besides, what was the point of sleeping away all your free time when you could do it in class?

"I guessed he wasn't exactly pleased," Yumi remarked to Odd, shaking her head slightly in dismay. "I couldn't get a hold of him all weekend. I just left message after message after message..."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, he didn't jump off the bridge and kill himself," Odd told her, teasing in the attempt to make her feel a little better. "He's bed's clearly been slept in, and I've noticed some of his clothes are gone." Then he put on a mockingly thoughtful pose, looking up at the sky, hand fingering an invisible beard. "Then again, it could just be Kiwi sleeping in his bed and eating his boxers."

"Idiot," she said affectionately, ruffling his blond and purple hair as he tried to dodge under, grateful for his attempts to cheer her. "Don't even joke about that."
Ulrich stood around the corner, listening to their conversation. He sighed, shaking his head, grabbed his bag, and trotted off to class.

This was too much. He didn't know why he was responding this way. After all, Yumi had called and apologized several times, and it wasn't as through she had chosen to have the arranged marriage. Like she had said herself, it had been done before she was even able to walk.

It was jealousy, he knew, pure and utter jealousy. It had nothing to do with the facts, it was simply his primal side taking over, protecting the mate, all that ancient junk. He felt a sudden blush of embarrassment, as he realized that he had just thought of Yumi as his mate. Now that was a major breach in reality. They weren't even going out, let alone...well...THAT.

It was then he caught a lone figure heading toward him. He groaned out loud. He just couldn't handle this right now.

"Helllllo, Ulrich dear," a voice cooed.

Lord save me from rabid bears and Sissy, he thought with a sigh.
Hey again,

Okay, second chapter up a little bit sooner then I had planned, but at least it's better then my trademark lateness... next chapter probably won't be up until Saturday, maybe Sunday. Thanks to everyone who told me how to spell Xana. Like I said before, I've only gotten into the series a few weeks ago and can't really find much fanfiction I like about it. Also, I feel I should tell you that being engaged is VERYYYYYY different then being married. Yumi is not married! She has a fiancé due to an arranged marriage set up by her parents, which is actually moderately common in old Japanese families. Hasn't anyone read Ranma?

Dream Fox