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

Five years was an awkward amount of time for them. It was long enough for them to move on from what had happened at the airport, to move on from the fact that they couldn't contact their friends, the fact that their friends were probably lost to them… But five years was far too short of a time to forget.

Five years wasn't enough time to forget. Five lifetimes wasn't enough time to forget. Not after all the pain the endured. Not after the public discovery of the super computer in the abandoned lab and the "amazing adventures" that developed as a result.

Had they moved on? Not entirely; it was nearly impossible to move on that quickly after such a life changing event. Were they recovering? Of course. Time heals all of these types of wounds, no matter how deep.

The remaining year of High School had been hell, and college applications were stressful. College wasn't a slice of cherry pie either, but they had survived it, and they were ready. They were ready to face what should have been faced years ago.

They were always ready.

They would always be ready.

"I don't think I'm ready for this," a weak voice shook as the airplane landed.

"You are!" a second voice replied with innocent enthusiasm.

"It's been long enough; finally you're able to go home," A third, deeper one said. "You're back, Yumi. You're home."

The trio stepped off the plane together; one with confidence and excitement, the other with fear and uncertainty. The third one held both of their hands.

Indeed it was true; Yumi Ishiyama had finally returned to France.

-------------

"Li, what if they don't remember me? What if they do? What if they're mad at us? At me? What if he doesn't love me anymore? What if I don't know what to say to them?" Yumi was pacing up and down the apartment's living room.

"Yumi, would you calm down already?" Li raised his eyebrows, watching the girl pace. She let out a whimper at his words.

"What do I do? Oh God, oh God! What do I do? What do I say? Should I look for them?" she gasped suddenly and froze. "What if they've moved? What do I do if they've moved? They can't have moved, I won't get to hunt them down if they've moved!" she started to twitch. Li just stared at her.

"Aiya, calm down! Look, we know they're still here."

"How?" Yumi asked, glaring at the man. He blinked, then blinked again and again, looking very much like a trapped animal. "They found the factory and shut it down," Yumi continued. "We know that; it was worldwide news once they found out all about Lyoko. After that kind of loss, I can't see why they'd stay," she finished confidently. Her voice was wavering, heartbroken.

Li looked down at his bare feet. "It can't be that hard to find them…" he said. "Wouldn't they be in the phonebook?"

"What if they're married?" Yumi shot back immediately.

"Then their wives would take their surenames," Li said with a sarcastic tone, as if he were talking to a toddler.

"…" Yumi sighed. "I can't believe they didn't try to call me."

"I can't believe that you didn't call them. Well, I know you didn't have your cell phone, but you could have used another phone. It's not like there's a phone shortage…" Li smirked. "Besides, I'm sure they assumed we were both dead. It's not their fault. That crash was pretty harsh. You should have called and told them you were okay. Ulrich, at least." Yumi flinched ad his name.

"I was too shaken up," Yumi said. "We were lucky. WE were lucky. My parents… everyone but us didn't have that luck. You were there, you would know. It's my fault that I couldn't save anyone else. If my TK were stronger, maybe I could have. But I couldn't. And two weeks later the airline found us in the hospital and bothered us about cause and such for weeks. They gave us free tickets back to Japan for our troubles, of course, but still. It's not as if I had much personal time with them always around me.

"Then there were the bodiless funerals, the memorials, the questions, the wedding… It was too overwhelming. I guess… I forgot. At least, until months later, when everything calmed down and I realized that I had lost my cellphone in the attack and that I couldn't remember anyone's cell. Except for Ulrich's. And his was out of service. And has been ever since."

"You can't worry about things that didn't happened yet." A little girl came bobbling into their view, having been hiding out next to the bed for the past ten minutes, listening to their conversation.

"Aah, Hana!" Li said, scooping up the girl into his arms. She looked at Yumi with childlike arrogance, her chubby face bunched up into frustration.

"You're being silly, Yumi-tan. If they your friends then they can't have not remembered you anymore," Hana argued, putting her little fists on her hips, successfully elbowing Li. Yumi chuckled at the sight.

"I know, Hana-chan. I'm just nervous."

"I don' wanna be called that!" Hana said grumpily. "I wanna be Hana-hime!!" Yumi laughed, ruffling the girls hair affectionately.

"Like mother like daughter, it seems," said the black haired woman, standing up from the bed.

"You're lucky Sakura isn't here to hear you say that," Li snickered. Yumi just smiled.

"Well, what can I say? Your wife is the most straightforward person I've ever met."

He held his hand to the side of his mouth so that his daughter wouldn't see his lips. "She thinks Hana's the most obnoxious little thing ever. She'd kill you for comparing her and her daughter," he mouthed at Yumi. She laughed.

"Not obnoxious, just forward," Yumi mouthed back. She turned to Hana and offered a hand. "Well, Hana. If you promise to be polite tonight, I promise to take you out for crepes tomorrow."

Hana turned her head to the side. "What's a creeeeepe?"

-------------

Odd paced back and fourth in the office slowly, growing irate. Ulrich was late again, and Odd would be the one to suffer for it. His boss did not appreciate tardiness, as they learned the first week of their new employment, yet somehow Ulrich always managed to be there just a little bit too late for the liking. Four hours late, give or take. Letting out an angry sigh, Odd flopped back down in his chair, his eye twitching.

"Odd,"; came the threatening voice of his boss. "Is your wonderfully punctual partner here yet?"

Odd resisted the urge to throw his paperweight at the open door.

"Not yet, your majesty. It seems that our little knight in shining armor is far too busy wooing the ladies fair," he replied with an acute sarcasm. His boss poked his head into the door with a huff.

"God damnit, how many times have I told you not to take that tone with me?" the man grumbled. Odd smiled with feign innocence.

"Oh, I don't know Mr. D, five hundred-something? I stopped keeping tallies." He held up a notepad suggestively, and his boss sighed.

"You're lucky you do good work, or else I'd have kicked you and your crew out of here a long time ago. And it's Mr. Delano, for God's sake." Mr. Delano raised his eyes to the heavens and sighted, leaving the room. "If your partner doesn't get his sorry little German butt here soon, I'll put you two on a crappy case."

"Grumpy old bear…" Odd muttered under his breath, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back on the chair. Just as he did so, his phone rang. He jumped and dived for it, splaying papers across his desk.

"Ulrich, you lazy little shit, where the hell ARE you?!" He practically screamed.

"Jesus, calm down will you?" came the voice on the other end. The female voice.

"Ah! Sorry, Aelita. Ulrich's late again…" Odd flushed with embarrassment, apologizing profusely with his tone.

"It's alright, Odd, I understand. I was calling because I wanted to know if Jeremy was there yet."

Odd blinked. "No, I thought you two were out on a case together."

"Yeah, we were, but apparently he had to go back to the office."

"Well, he's not here yet. I'll tell him that you called, though."

"Thanks, I would appreciate it. I'll see you later, Odd!" He heard the click on the other end, and grumpily threw the phone back into the receiver, resuming his irritated position in the chair.

Twenty minutes later, Ulrich walked in. He was pale and looked disoriented, but that didn't stop him from tipping Odd's chair over backwards in his usual way to wake the man up. Odd yelped and sprang up instantly, rubbing his sore head.

"God damnit, do you think you could find a cuter way of waking me up next time?" Odd started, then glanced up at his friend. "What the hell happened to you? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Ulrich muttered something under his breath before speaking to his friend. "I thought I saw Yumi."

"Again?" Odd deadpanned. "God, you're torturing yourself Ulrich… Look, come to The Bar with me after work tonight. I'm sure we can find someone for you."

"Odd, trust me, no one at that bar will interest me. There's this one small factor you're forgetting: unlike you, I'm all-the-way straight. Just because you're having a boy-day doesn't mean you can drag me down with you," Ulrich rolled his eyes in mirth, a smirk forming on his face at his friend's habit of visiting 'The Bar' on his unpredicted 'boy days'. "Besides, the only women that will be there will only be interested in other women."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…" Odd grumbled, sticking his tongue out at his friend in a childish manner.

"AH! There you are, you little wolf monster!" Mr. Delano burst through the door, pointing at Ulrich accusingly. "Why in God's name are you late again!"

"Sorry, Mr. D, I-"

"MR. DELANO, for CHRIST's sake!"

"Sorry, Mr. Delano… I ran into an old friend. Or.. erm.. Well, an old friend look-alike."

"AGAIN?!"

"What do you mean, 'again'? Geeze, you two make it sound like this is an every day occurrence."

The two other occupants in the room stared at him as if he had just grown a third head. "Hmph." Mr. Delano muttered. "Well, I'm giving you two a case no one wants. Maybe next time you'll actually show up for work on time, wolf monster. I'll have my secretary throw in your case files in a few minutes." Mr. Delano slammed their door shut, and Odd flipped him a very rude gesture. Ulrich rolled his eyes at his friends' immaturity, but took a seat at the edge of the desk and frowned.

"It was different this time, Odd…"

"How the Hell was it different?" Odd replied in a flat voice, once again flopping in his chair. "You say it's different every time."

"No, I mean it was really different this time. This time, I could have sworn it was her. She had a little kid with her, a little girl."

"So? Lots of asian women have kids. That doesn't mean it was Yumi." Odd didn't even bother to look at his friend, instead shutting his eyes leisurely.

"She was levitating crepes, Odd. Levitating crepes. How many asian women can do that?" Ulrich turned and looked at his friend, who now had an eye cocked open.

"How do you know you weren't just imagining it, hmm?"

"I… I guess I don't." Ulrich said softly, turning back around just as the case file slipped through the strip under their door.

-------------

"Yumi-tan, float it, float it again!" Hana screamed, her bubbly girlish voice laden thick with Japanese accent. Yumi just smiled, and bent down close to the girl in her seat. She glanced around quickly to make sure no one was watching them; no one would be, since most people kept to themselves now a-days, but it never hurt to be sure. Seeing nothing threatening, she gave the girls' third strawberry crepe a glance, and it hovered off the plate and soared right to Hana's waiting hands. The child giggled hysterically, and Yumi straightened up in her chair with a grin on her face.

The door to the restaurant opened and the bell jingled, and Yumi glanced up with a slight pang of fear, worrying that maybe someone had spotted her and was coming to poke and prod at her. When the sandy haired man that entered paid her no mind and instead went straight for the bar in the back, she relaxed some.

"Yumi-tan, float it again!" Hana begged, tugging on Yumi's sleeve. Yumi rolled her eyes and gestured to her dish.

"You had four crepes, Hana, and I've 'floated' all of them along with your roll and salad tomatoes! That's enough for you!"

"Pleaaaase, Yumi! Float one more!! Please Yumi, Yumi, Yumi, Yuuuumiiii!! Yuumii, flooooat it!!" The girl twisted and whined, throwing herself into Yumi's lap. A tick appeared in Yumi's eye and she yanked the girl off her lap.

"Hana! Stop behaving badly, we're in a public place. Mind your manners. And stop acting like such a wiggle worm, you're getting your crepe filling everywhere!" Yumi frowned, realizing that she was starting to sound like a forty year old mother, but Hana giggled and threw her arms up.

"Float me, Yumi, Yumi!"

Yumi growled, half in irritation, half in playfulness, and grabbed her niece's sides and tickled mercilessly. Hana's shrieks and giggles filled the nearly empty restaurant. "You only get floated if you can beat the tickle monster!" Yumi said with determination. Hana just shrieked louder and tried to flee from Yumi's grasp.

"NO!! STOP!! FLOAT ME!!" Hana squealed. Yumi recoiled her hands back and shushed Hana, but couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"Hana, don't shout so loudly!!" Yumi couldn't help but chuckle. "Fine, fine. I'll 'float' you once we get back to the room."

"Promise…?" Hana said with a grin. Yumi nodded.

"Of course. Now, are you ready to go?"

"Yes, Yumi-tan!!" the little girl chimed.

"Alright, then, got your jacke-" Yumi was cut off as she looked up, noticing that the man who had walked in before was now staring at them in shock. "Can… I help you…?" Yumi asked hesitantly. The man blinked a few times.

"Yumi?" he said in a deep, yet familiar voice. The recognition struck Yumi like a ton of bricks.

"Holy shit. Jeremie, is that you?"

Fffht. As if i could actually break up Ulrich and Yumi. XP

Hime is princess
Yumi-tan is just an affectionate name

Those who completely missed what I was saying; Odd is bisexual. Sometimes he has "girl days", sometimes he has "boy days". "The Bar" refers to a gay bar. XP

Mr. D keeps calling Ulrich "wolf monster"… the name Ulrich means something along the lines of 'wolf'.

Argh, I wanted to have their meeting be longer in this chapter, but it didn't come out the way I wanted it to, so I'm putting the rest off 'till next chapter in order to fix it. Oh well…

Aah, please keep your flames to yourself, too. They're unappreciated. Keep in mind that I'm NOT a writer, I'm a manga artist, so I'm not exactly the most perfect writer. Any questions are welcomed, but they'll probably be answered in later chapters. XP