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Title: Reason to Believe
Author: Nakira Ayame Outsuno
Disclaimer: Code: LYOKO, Garage Kids, and all characters and related items belongs to Antefilms and france3. I am simply borrowing them :D Original concept for this fanfic copyrighted to Dream Fox, who so graciously let me use it. Please visit her fanfiction by following the link in my profile. It's worth it, i promise. Thank you so much, Dream Fox!!

See a variation of this fanfiction in doujinshi form by yours truly! Link in my profile!

Key:
'Thought'
"Speech"
"Speech in Japanese"

NOTE: There are bouts of Japanese phrases throughout this chapter... But I have no clue if they're correct. I kinda had to teach myself, so any corrections would be much welcomed.

The colour drained from both Yumi and Ulrich's faces. Yumi sported a pale look of pure horror. Several emotions flashed over Ulrich's face, starting with shock and confusion, moving straight onto hurt and settling on anger.

'Engaged?!' Ulrich thought furiously. 'How the hell can she be engaged?! She's underage! Damnit, this must be a joke. This has to be a lie! Damn you, Sissi! This isn't funn-'

"How... How do you know about that...?" Yumi growled out, interrupting Ulrich's furious train of thought. Ulrich stared at her as a new wave of shock hit him. Sissi just laughed.

"Because your fiancé just enrolled into the school," She said with glee. "Your parents escorted him here. He's pretty cute, too. If he weren't so bad at English, or, ya know, tied down to you, I'd definitely go for him. Shame about the English thing, really..." Sissi trailed off. She turned to Ulrich, ignoring Yumi's presence. "So will you come to the dance with me, Ulrich?"

Yumi snapped out of her shock and turned to Ulrich. "Don't listen to her, Ulrich. It was an arranged marriage; I had no say in it! I don't even like him like that; she's just trying to confuse you, Ulrich! Ulric-"

"She's trying to confuse me?" Ulrich snapped out. Yumi looked at him in shock.

"Ulrich, no-"

"At least I know how she really feels about me," he interrupted again. "I'm sorry, I... need to go. I'm confused; I need to think about some things." Ulrich stood up, and after a few staggered steps backwards, turned around and fled. Yumi glared up at Sissi. Sissi smirked down at Yumi.

"That was petty and low, even for you," Yumi said lowly.

"Yes, but it's also true. Your parents and my father are looking for you back at the school. I was sent to get you. Perfectly ironic, if you ask me," she smiled. "Well, I'm off to provide comfort to my poor heartbroken love. Ta-ta!" Sissi practically skipped off after Ulrich. It took a good amount of will power on Yumi's part not to chase after the egocentric girl and beat her senseless... or at least levitate a large boulder to "accidentally" drop on her head.

As tears threatened to fall from Yumi's eyes, she silently packed her bento away and sulked off back to the main building.

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By the time Yumi got back to the school, her eyes were red and puffy from holding back tears. Crying over this would do absolutely nothing but create more problems and make the situation that much more difficult. It was just her luck that she ran into Odd and Jeremie on her way to the office. They were leaning against their trademark tree talking about something significantly uplifting, as both were almost on the ground laughing so hard.

"Hey guys, what's so funny?" Yumi walked up, trying to clear all saddened emotions from her voice. Odd, who recovered from his laughing fit first, stood up and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Sissi just went by practically dancing... It was the funniest thing I've ever seen! You'd think she finally got Ulrich to date her or something!" At this, Odd burst out into another bout of laughter. "Oh, like that'd ever happen!"

Yumi remained silent and looked away. Noticing their friend's silence, the two let their laughter come to a stop.

"Yumi...?" Jeremie started. "...That didn't happen, did it...?" He took a step closer to Yumi, hoping his closeness would provide some comfort to their friend. She shook a few times, obviously concealing sobs. Odd and Jeremie exchanged a look, then both touched her shoulder. "Yumi, tell us..." Jeremie continued.

"N..no.. They're not d..dating.. Ulrich and I got... into a fight... because of something tha..that Sissi said..." With that, Yumi broke. She leaned onto Odd's shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably. Again, Odd and Jeremie exchanged a look.

"Don't worry, Yumi! I'm sure it was just a lie she made up to get you two to be angry at one another," Said Odd, patting her shoulder gently. Yumi just clung to his shirt with her free hand and sobbed harder.

"Yeah, if you get upset about it, then you're just letting her win!" Jeremie said, stroking her back comfortingly.

"No!" she bit out between sobs, shocking both of them. "No, it's not a lie, it's all true, and it's all my fault! I though I convinced my parents to break the engagement but now they enrolled him in the school and Sissi found out and now Ulrich's mad but there's nothing I can do because once my parents get an idea in their head, there's almost no chance in them changing it but it's not fair because it's not my choice!!" Yumi choked in air from her ranting and went back to crying. Odd looked down at her surprisingly.

"'Him'? 'Engagement'? What do you mean, Yumi...?" he asked. Jeremie waved his hand a bit to get Odd's attention.

"Yumi comes from a Japanese family. Japan has a much different culture. Arranged marriages aren't uncommon in Japanese society... Just not quite as common in this era. Yumi's family must have arranged a marriage for her because of how wealthy her family is." He said offhandedly. Odd stared at him, then down at Yumi.

"That... How can..." he fumbled over a few words before falling into a shocked silence. It was a few more minutes before Yumi calmed down. She lifted her head from Odd's shoulder and sniffed a bit, rubbing her eyes.

"Thanks, you guys... I'm sorry..."

"Aww, Yumi, there's nothing to be sorry about!" Odd said, patting her head.

"Yeah, we're here for you no matter what!"

Yumi smiled, trying to wipe away any bad thoughts. "Oh, hey, do you think I can use your dorm to wash my face and put this thing down?" Yumi held up her bento box.

"What is that?" Odd asked.

"Err... Nothing important," Yumi said, smiling a bit. "But there is food in it! Here, you take the leftovers in payment for letting me use your shirt to cry on." She handed it to him.

"'Nothing important'? Are you crazy!?" He opened the box hungrily and began to drool. "Yumi, you're a cook after mine own heart," he grinned then proceeded to dig in. Yumi laughed.

"Haha, feeling better?" Jeremie asked. She nodded. "Why don't you go back to the dorm and wash your face? I'll go with you,"

"Ya know what? Forget it. I'll be fine now... Thanks you guys. Besides, I have to go to the main office before the headmaster hunts me down himself." She wiped her eyes with the backs of her sleeves.

"Yumi! There you are!" came a distant voice from behind them.

"Speak of the devil," said Jeremy. "There he is now. With your parents,"

Yumi paled and turned around, praying the swelling under her eyes would go away quickly. The headmaster and both her parents were there, a boy about their age between them. He wore an orange shirt with a loose black tie, and simple black pants. He had dark hair which was pulled back in a small ponytail.

"Headmaster! Mom, dad! What are you doing here?" Yumi asked stupidly. She knew why they were there.

"Why, didn't Sissi tell you?" the Headmaster said. "Your parents are enrolling this young man. It seems he doesn't know English well enough to get around on his own, so they want you to escort him around. They've told me that you two are engaged, so I don't have to ask you to treat him nicely."

"Yes sir..." she mumbled with a downhearted tone. She turned to Ulrich and Jeremie. "This is Li Shitashima," Turning to Li, she said in Japanese "Li, these are my friends Jeremie and Odd,"

"Jeremie, Odd, it is nice to meet friends of Yumi. I hope we can learn to get along as well!" said Li, bowing to Odd and Jeremie. They looked at each other with raised eyebrows then turned to Yumi.

"Translation, please?" said Odd. Yumi sighed.

"Li says that he's pleased to meet you and he hopes that you can be friends,"

"Oh... Well, it's nice to meet you too, Li," said Jeremie, holding out his hand. Li looked at it for a second, then you could practically see the realization float across his face and he took Jeremie's hand and shook it.

"Aah, I'm still unused to your culture. Well, hopefully we can be friends and you can teach me about it!" a grin adorned his face, and Jeremie gave him a confused grin back looking to Yumi for another translation. Yumi rolled her eyes. This was going to be a hell of a week...

"He says hopefully he can learn a lot from you," Yumi bit out quickly. She then turned to her parents. "Mom, dad, what happened to the agreement we had, huh? I thought we took care of this."

Her parents exchanged a look and frowned. "Yumi, dear," her mother started. She then looked around and spoke in a hushed whisper so that no one around them would hear. "We told you we would give you until your 18th birthday to find someone to spend the rest of your life with. Your birthday is coming up next month and we've seen nothing of a relationship between yourself and another."

"That's right," her father cut in, keeping his voice at the same level at his wife's. "We brought Li here in hope that you would decide to start a relationship with him. His parents are very much looking forward to you two getting married, you know. The joining of you two will bring great profit to our family,"

Yumi glared ferociously at her parents. They both simultaneously scowled. "Don't give us that look, young lady," bit out her mother in a loud tone. "We gave you plenty of time to choose you husband now we're choosing for you-!"

"MOTHER! I'm only 17!! I'm still a child! How do you expect me to choose a husband of all things! Do you even understand how many mistakes kids my age make in romance!? I can't believe you would set me up with someone I met all of three times since I was a baby and then not even ask my permission if you could arrange the rest of my life! Damn you and your need to control everything about me! Don't you care about anything other then how well your business does? Doesn't my happiness and future mean anything to you?!" She paused, letting her words sink in. At her parents startled and offended looks, she let out a scream and marched off back towards the park muttering things in Japanese that made the three remaining Japanese people turn around and gawk.

"What the hell was that all about?"questioned Li as he leaned over to Odd and Jeremie.

"Dude, I don't know what you just said, but I completely agree with you," muttered Odd, staring at where Yumi went in shock.

It wasn't until a few hours later that Jeremie and Odd found Yumi passed out beneath a tree, exhausted from crying so much.

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Rumors about Li and Yumi sprung up before the day had even ended. Odd and Jeremie had a ball trying to correct them. The rumors were everything between "Li and Yumi have been sleeping together for years but Yumi dumped him for Ulrich and now Li's back because he wants to have a child with her" and "Yumi and Li have been married since they were 5, but Yumi fled from him and now he's back for his revenge". It was like trying to untangle a rather large knot of yarn, and the damage was done far before the two boys could get to fixing it.

The following day in science class, Mrs. Hertz brought Li to the front of the room to introduce himself. Several people snickered, and Yumi sunk far in her seat.

"Class, class... Please be silent while our new student tells us something about himself. Li, go ahead." Mrs. Hertz turned to him expectedly. Li, of course, had no clue what was going on, and Yumi stopped translating for him willingly after he insisted upon leading her by the hand to the wrong classroom, then kissing her cheek.

"Shitashima Li, desu! Yumi-chan wa boku no iinazuke!!" He marched straight up to Yumi's desk and took her hand, kissing it lightly. "Totemo Kirei ni narimashita, Yumi-chan! Aishiteru!!" Yumi groaned and snatched her hand back, flushing crimson from pure embarrassment and his unwelcomed display of affection. Despite the fact that no one had any idea what he just said, everyone giggled at the hand kiss. Except for Ulrich. He sat in the back, fuming.

Odd, who had been unofficially appointed to 'deal with' Ulrich (as they share a room), leaned over to his friend and whispered, "You know, she really doesn't like it when he does that..."

Ulrich huffed. "Of course she doesn't. After all, she's trying so hard to push him away..." His voice was full of sarcasm and he frowned, leaning on one hand and looking out the window. Odd sighed.

Mrs. Hertz clapped to get the classes attention. "Class! Stop this. Yumi, please tell us what Li said!" The class became silent, then, but Yumi could feel the amusement floating between them. Surely Li must have said something to feed the rumors if he touched Yumi so lovingly. Yumi groaned internally. She was NOT translating what he just said. 'I'd better make something else up quickly...' she thought. 'Umm... let's see, let's see...'

"Li says that he likes the colours orange and black. He likes the theatre and he's... engaged to me," she spoke the last three words with embarrassment and regret, and turned her head away. The class giggled again today. Mrs. Hertz clapped again, looking angry.

"Class!! Why are you behaving so badly today? I understand that we don't usually have such a relationship between our students, but I will not allow this to effect our learning!" The class became silent after that; a few people giggled every now and then. "That's better. Now Yumi, tell Li to sit down, please."

"Li-kun, koshikakeru onegai..." Yumi said quietly. Li looked around and took a seat near Herb. Unfortunately, Herb sat in front of Ulrich and Odd. Ulrich stiffened at the unwelcomed presence, and noticing this, Odd lay a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, relax. There's not much she can do, Ulrich. Her parents arranged this marriage. It's not like she has much of a say in it..."

Ulrich lost his cool after this. He slammed his fist on the table, interrupting the beginning of Mrs. Hertz lesson. He stood up, creating even more noise. "DAMNIT, she DOES!!" Ulrich shouted to Odd. The entire class looked startled, and most of them guessed that he was talking about Yumi. Only the three of them knew the true depth of his words.

"Ulrich, what is the meaning of this? You're disrupting my class," Mrs. Hertz said. "Report to the Headmaster at once!"

"No need to ask me twice," he growled out rather rudely. As he gathered his things, only Yumi turned away. She hadn't spoken to Ulrich since 'the incident'; she wasn't sure how to approach him. Jeremie, who was seated at her side, put his hand on her shoulder. As Ulrich passed by Yumi's desk, he paused and turned to her.

"You were right, Yumi. This was a mistake," Without another word, he marched to the exit and slammed the door shut as hard as he could. A beaker shook from the vibrations and fell off Mrs. Hertz's desk to shatter on the floor.

Yumi burst into tears.

A/N: The Japanese should translate to (in order): "My name is Li Shitashima. Yumi is my fiancé!" (walks up to yumi, yadda yadda..) "Yumi, you have become very beautiful! I love you!" then later, "Li, sit down please". I really don't know if this is proper Japanese, so please forgive me if it isn't...

I'm sorry if I make Yumi seem like a crybaby... She just seems like the kind of person who would be too upset to do much else if she were in this situation.

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