Death and the Swordsman

Chapter 6

By: Leelei

Author's Note: You guys seriously leave some awesome reviews, but after this chapter you might want to hang me. There's actually one more pairing in this story that I never mentioned because I was being stubborn about giving away anything that might spill the unfolding story line early. It's nothing Earth-shattering, but please work with it even if you're totally against it. Yes, I know I'm just mentioning it now without telling you, and that's pretty annoying, so I'll shut up and let you read. : D Thanks for your cooperation, and please review!

Ulrich regained his composure as he looked up to see the next image, sniffing in hard to keep his nose from running and biting his lip to stop it from quivering. But the next image left him in shock, and soon he gasped, wide-eyed at what he saw.

He and Death stood in a schoolyard similar to Kadic's, but what Ulrich recognized as actually the local high-class boarding school that most of the students from his school usually attended following their graduation. The brunette boy gazed around the area, noticing several faces that he knew, but had grown up and changed since he had last seen them.

"Death, are we in the future?" he asked and turned to the apparition.

Death nodded her head. "This would have been your senior year in high school."

Ulrich skimmed all of the students standing around and talking, playing football, or sitting under shade and on benches, finishing their homework. He finally noticed someone he knew. "Nicholas?" he asked out loud in an amazed tone.

The tall blonde-haired teen walked by him, holding a set of car keys in one hand and his other laced together with the slender fingers of a pretty girl who looked about his age. She was a head shorter than him, thin and petite with lightly curled hair and a sweet smile. Ulrich couldn't remember her, and realized that the two must have met in high school.

"Death…is that really him?" The apparition nodded to confirm his question. "Wow, he's changed so much," Ulrich snickered. "And he doesn't look as shaggy without that long, greasy hair."

He was about to ask where Sissi and Herb were, but his attention quickly left them once he saw another couple enter the image. Immediately, he recognized the two and time seemed to stop for him as he couldn't believe the picture he was seeing. "Oh my god…" he mumbled as he stared blankly, his eyes set on them.

The boy was just under the teenaged Nicholas' height and shared his age, but had wild blonde hair that stood up in large, clumped spikes with dark blue streaks on each one. He wore a thick, pyramid studded black belt and chains with his long, baggy jeans that had large pockets on the legs and a slight flare to the legs around his old, worn Converse sneakers. He had on a dark blue zip-up hooded sweater left open, with long white stripes down the sleeves, zipped halfway over the black undershirt he was wearing. His ears were gauged with large disks, and around his neck were a few loose necklaces, one comprising of several large dark metal balls all linked together, another that looked like a small chain, and the third looked like mock barbed wire. To top off the entire image, the boy wore thick black eyeliner under each eye.

"Odd…" Ulrich said in utter amazement as he watched his friend as a teenager. A smile grew on the young boy's shocked face. "I can't believe it. Look how he's changed! His style is so cool."

Then Ulrich saw the girl that Odd was with. "Yumi…" he said breathlessly, admiring her change as well.

Yumi was nineteen, and was nearly as tall as Odd had grown. She had let her dark hair grow out a little, tying half of it up similar to how it was on Lyoko. Still dressing in head-to-toe black, her top was in a sheer material with a dark underlayer that had a low, square cut above her chest and long bell-sleeves. She wore a skirt, which Ulrich found surprising, but was suited to her taste, reaching just above her knees with a jagged hem cut in long angles. She wore black fishnet stockings and low platform boots that reached her mid-calf with several buckles. Ulrich noticed she wore a couple rings and had hear ears pierced twice with black studs in all four holes. She wore light make-up; just enough to be seen and to enhance her light skin and slanted, almond eyes, but not to overwhelm her features.

"She's beautiful," Ulrich muttered in awe as he gazed at her. "Perfectly beautiful."

Then Ulrich was completely taken back when he saw the image continue. Odd moved closer to Yumi, putting his hands on her hips and leaning in to brush his lips against hers. Yumi had placed her hands on his arms in return, and the two closed their eyes as their lips met.

Ulrich felt his heart plummet to his stomach, and at the same time his insides seemed as if they were twisting upside-down. "What in the HELL?!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice shrieking through the air, but heard by none in the image. He turned to Death in a rage. "What in god's name did I just see?" he continued to shout angrily. "Huh, Death? What the hell was that?"

Death watched the couple as she responded. "It is as what you see it to be, Ulrich. I cannot lie and tell you otherwise."

Ulrich looked back to his two friends, having broken their kiss but still held each other. Odd was smiling and saying something Ulrich couldn't hear, and Yumi laughed. They parted completely and Odd took a hold of Yumi's hand.

Feeling his blood boil, Ulrich clenched his teeth. "I die, and my best friend takes my girlfriend." He turned to the ghost again. "So did he want her all along? When I was alive and we were all together?"

Death turned to him and tilted her head slightly. "Do you mean, did he love her from the beginning?"

"Yes!"

Death returned her invisible eyes to them. "No, they were never in love when you were alive. Only best friends, as you four all were."

Ulrich noticed a group of teenaged guys appear, all about Odd's age and sharing his same style. They called and hooted to the couple, Odd smiling and calling back as they approached, but Yumi seemed to have to force a smile herself. Odd seemed to forget her as he let go of her hand to cup his own around his mouth, raising his shouts and loud swearing to them, disrupting the entire schoolyard with his loud behavior.

One of the guys from the group lunged forward at Odd, making a grab at his hair, but Odd caught him and pushed back hard on his chest, causing the guy to loose his balance and nearly fall backwards. They laughed at the moronic stunt, Odd jumping around and making loud cheers at his victory block. At one point, he pulled his jacket half-way off, and Ulrich could vaguely see a mark on his arm.

It was a tattoo, with dark Japanese characters inked into his skin and a black rose underneath. Ulrich recognized immediately that he knew the characters spelled Yumi's name.

He gasped in deeply at the unexpected sight. "He read my diary!" the brunette raged out loud, causing Death to look his way. "I can't believe this! He waits until I die, takes my girlfriend, reads my diary, and gets the tattoo that I designed!" he continued shouting. "That bastard!"

"I see…" Death mused. "You had drawn the tattoo in your diary, and planned to get it when you were older, correct?"

"Exactly." Ulrich said, still in his angered tone as he watched the image continue with narrowed eyes.

Odd had put his jacket back on and stopped jumping around and interrupting the others when Yumi yelled at him to quit. She stood with her arms folded and waited as he conversed with his friends.

"Hey man, let's go drive around," one from the group said.

"Odd," Yumi cut in and walked up to her boyfriend. "Aren't we going out there today to visit him?"

"Uh…" Odd said, sounding caught in a jam. "Hey, uh, I'm sorry Yumi, but I got detention for later today."

"You did?" Yumi asked. "When?"

"I was late to my history class again. I'm sorry, I can't go with you this time," replied Odd.

"Oh…" Yumi trailed off, looking away.

Odd took her hand again and looked to his friends. "I'll see ya later." The group groaned as they heard his excuse, but cat-called at the couple as the walked away.

When one of the guys made a sound imitating a cracking whip, Odd looked back to them with a laugh, "Kiss my ass!" he yelled and raised the middle finger of his vacant hand to the group.

"Odd!" Yumi chastised him, yelling his name in disgust.

"Fuck off!" he shouted again to them and continued laughing, ignoring her plea.

"What is going on?" Ulrich asked. "Why is Odd acting like that? He was never that out of line, or that crude! And why is he ignoring Yumi like that? I thought he was supposed to care about her."

"I told you that you would not like what you are seeing," said Death.

"And you're damn right I don't like it!" Ulrich relaxed his features, his tightened brow hurting from his perplexed state. He heaved a frustrated sigh. "I-…it's just that I thought she loved me..."

"She does love you, Ulrich," replied Death. "But she and Odd were left alone to support each other through the years and eventually learned to fall in love."

"What do you mean left alone?" Ulrich asked, turning to the apparition. "What about Jeremie?"

Death didn't respond.

"Death, where is Jeremie?"

The ghost still didn't answer, but her sorrowful sigh was enough of a reply for Ulrich as she waved her hand and changed the image for him to learn her reason for silence.

Wow, I have no idea what the schooling is like in France, so I pasted a little bit of America in there. Yes, it's an OxY pairing, I know it isn't very common, but it's actually the structure for pretty much the rest of the story. But I'll let you know that this is far from the last chapter, and there are definitely more twists in the future. Well, I hope everyone isn't too pissed right now! :D Chapter 7 will be posted very soon. See you then! : )