Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.
The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.
Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.
When they got to Yumi's house, she called out to her parents, but no one answered. They looked around, until Yumi found a note for her on the message board in the kitchen.
Had to rush Father to the hospital. Hiroki staying with friends. Will call soon. Mother.
"Oh my God, no," Yumi said and started frantically looking around for any indication where her mother had taken her father.
Her cell phone rang, granting her relief.
"Hello? Mother! Where are you? How is father? What's going on?"
Yumi listened to the responses from the other side of the conversation.
"Alright. Give Daddy my love. Come home soon," she said, and ended the phone call.
"What's up, Yumi?"
"My father woke up sick with a fever this morning. It got so bad that mother took him to the emergency room. Hiroki was spending the night with friends, so she had him stay where he was. She just now got around to calling me."
"What's wrong with your dad?"
"Kidney stones. He's trying to pass kidney stones. Mother says he'll be in the hospital for days, and they may have to do surgery if he doesn't pass them soon."
Ulrich winced. He had heard once that passing a kidney stone is the closest thing to childbirth a man could experience.
"I'm really sorry, Yumi. Does that mean the trip is off?"
"No. I'm still going, father insisted. I'll be flying out at one o'clock tomorrow afternoon."
"Oh."
With that, Yumi and Ulrich went up to her room. Ulrich dropped his bundle where Yumi indicated and turned to leave.
"Ulrich, wait for me downstairs, okay? I just want to change."
"Yeah, sure."
Ulrich went back downstairs and she closed her door. Tomorrow afternoon. She knew deep in her heart that it was only for a short while, but she was still afraid. Afraid that she would never have another chance to be with him.
Yumi walked over to her bed and started undressing. She was working on automatic pilot, changing out of dirty clothes into clean ones. No thought needed to do that.
Then something caught her eye. On the nightstand by her bed, was something she didn't put there. She looked closer.
They were foil packets. Inside them was something round and flat, like an octopus sucker. She stared, because she never had, or purchased, anything like that, ever.
Condoms.
Under the condoms was a note with one word, karma. The note was in her mother's handwriting.
Yumi thought for a moment, her mind no longer on autopilot. She then quickly undressed, and went to her closet.
Downstairs, Ulrich was waiting for her in the family room, trying to figure out what kind of game was played using black and white rocks.
"Ulrich, could you come up here a moment," Yumi's voice called from upstairs.
"Okay," he replied and started upstairs.
When he got to her room, the door was closed. He knocked and went inside.
Yumi was standing there before him, wearing the most beautiful silk kimono he had ever seen. Even in the poor lighting of her bedroom, it shimmered. He had never seen her wear it before.
She stood before him, a blush on her cheeks. She didn't say a word to him. She just moved a little bit, and the kimono slid off of her, to pool around her feet. She wasn't wearing anything underneath.
Ulrich couldn't believe he could be surprised by her that way twice, but he was. Not only that, she was even more beautiful now than she was earlier in the week, when she saved him from himself.
She didn't say a word. She stepped out of the pile of silk on the floor, walked up to him and kissed him.
He fell, drowning, into her.
Nothing prepared them for what came next. No words, no thought, no action, no previous sensation could have even come close to preparing them for what they gave each other that afternoon. It was like trying to explain the color blue to something that couldn't understand the concept of sight. There was just no compatible frame of reference.
They spent the afternoon, then the evening, and the night together. Each time, they would come together, feel and feed the desires in the other, then slide into blissful rest.
Each time, one of the foil packets would disappear.
"Yumi."
"Um Hmm?" Yumi said as she stirred contentedly in Ulrich's arms.
"I just wanted you to know that your father was resting as comfortably as he could when I left him."
Yumi's eyes flew open. There, sitting on the edge of her bed, on the side Ulrich was asleep on, was her mother. She calmly regarded them.
Yumi didn't move a muscle.
"Have you have finished packing?" her mother asked, idly brushing a stray hair from Ulrich's face.
"Yes, except for a few things, I have," she replied, still tense.
"What are they? If you need something washed, I will wash them for you. And I can do some other things while I'm at it," she said, gently stroking Ulrich's forehead as she did.
She then stood up, and began gathering their clothes from the floor. Yumi watched her mother from the bed.
"I assume he brought nothing else with him," she asked Yumi.
"No, just my stuff," Yumi replied.
"Good. Your brother won't be coming home until after you have left. Your father is resting in the hospital. I'll be off to take care of these now."
"Please inform Mr. Stern that breakfast is at 8 am."
Monday
Ulrich woke up at seven in the morning and groaned. He knew he was in Big Trouble.
Yumi was lying next to him, watching him. She had propped herself up on an elbow.
"Hi, you," she said.
"Hi yourself," he replied, "ah, not to seem rude or anything, but how am I supposed to get out of here?"
"Too, late, we're busted," she giggled and told him about last evening's conversation.
Ulrich quickly looked under the sheets to see if everything was still attached. Yumi giggled again.
"Don't worry. Nothing got broke yesterday that wasn't supposed to, stud."
"Yeah, well I figured your dad had my balls by now and your mother was wearing my guts for garters." Yumi laughed.
"No, father is still in the hospital and my mother wasn't surprised to find us. She was the one who left these for us," Yumi said, holding up one of the empty foil wrappers.
"Damn," was all Ulrich could say.
"Breakfast is at eight, so you'd better get moving," Yumi's mother called from downstairs.
"C'mon, lazy," Yumi said, throwing back the covers, "let's get going."
The rest of the morning was, interesting, to say the least.
Ulrich managed to get to the bathroom with out being seen naked somehow, and then got the shock of his life when Yumi just walked right in after him. She brought underwear and robes for them both when she entered, along with two towels. Then, she just calmly walked over and started running a bath.
"Well, what are you waiting for, climb in," she told him from the tub after filling it and climbing in herself, "and mind your aim would you? You're worse than Hiroki."
Ulrich joined her and made a mental note afterwards that if he lived long enough to own his own home, it would need a large bathtub in it. Bathing was much more fun than he remembered it being.
After they dressed for the day, they came down to breakfast.
"Good morning, Ulrich, how are you this morning," Yumi's mother called from the kitchen.
"Fine, Mrs. Ishiyama," he replied.
"Good," she replied, "a good night's sleep is always refreshing for both the body and spirit."
Both Yumi and Ulrich winced at that comment.
She had laid out breakfast on the table by the time they entered the kitchen, and they sat down. Mrs. Ishiyama seated Ulrich next to Yumi.
Yumi and her mother talked of little things, making sure Yumi had everything packed and ready to go, Yumi assuring her that she was ready. Her mother said all of her travel documents were in her purse and to remind her to give them to Yumi before she got on the plane.
Ulrich spent the whole time waiting for the other shoe to drop.
He wasn't sure what to make of Yumi's mother. She sat at the table, chatting with her daughter about her preparations for the trip, giving her things to relay to her sister-in-law, and acting as if this were just another normal day in her life. She regarded Ulrich exactly as if he had appeared on their front doorstep this morning to see Yumi off to Japan, rather than having just woken up in her daughter's bed with her.
They finished breakfast and Mrs. Ishiyama went to clear the table. Yumi started to help her when she spoke, "no, Yumi, you start bringing your things downstairs. Ulrich, could you help me, please?"
Yumi's eyes turned to Ulrich, startled. Ulrich had a look on his face like he had just been called to the gallows.
"Sure, no problem," was all he said.
He got up, gathered up the remaining dishes, and joined Yumi's mother at the sink. Yumi went to her room to get her baggage.
The drive to the airport was quiet.
Yumi and Ulrich sat in the back seat, close together. Mrs. Ishiyama just drove, not saying a word.
Ulrich was wondering what was going to happen next. Especially after Yumi left.
Then they arrived at the airport, found a parking spot, and got Yumi's luggage out. They got her checked in, her baggage stored for the flight, then went to the departure gate.
They had to part company at the security screening station, because only passengers were allowed beyond it. Yumi pulled Ulrich into her arms and kissed him, telling him she loved him and they would see each other soon. She then hugged and kissed her mother, quietly telling her, thank you, and went on her way.
Ulrich and Mrs. Ishiyama stood looking at each other for a moment after Yumi left.
"We need to get you back to school now, Ulrich," she said, and they left.
When they got back to the car, Mrs. Ishiyama told Ulrich to sit in the front seat with her. He did, and they drove off.
As they left, Ulrich couldn't take the silence any more. "Mrs. Ishiyama, I..."
"Ulrich, what my daughter told you was true. I left the condoms for her, tacitly giving her permission to do what she did. I knew it would happen one way or the other, so I made as sure as I could that no problems would arise to complicate your lives in the near future."
"Fate also played its part in the whole thing. It is unfortunate that my husband has to endure what he must, but if he had found you two together, he would have killed you both."
Ulrich gulped.
"I don't know if Yumi told you this, but I have some idea of what your lives are really like. And if the choice were mine to make, she would never leave the shores of Japan ever again."
"But is isn't. Karma, we say. Fate or Kismet you might say. It is yours and her karma to be together, to do the things you do, to fight the battles you must. I can only stand aside and bow to it."
"But promise me this, swear by whatever god or gods you hold dear that you will protect my daughter with your life. And know that if you ever trifle with my daughter's heart or hurt her, I will personally feed your liver to the dogs."
"I swear before God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and before all the Hosts of Heaven that I will keep her safe with my very life and soul, if need be," he told her.
"Good," she said and smiled at him at last, "and one more thing, you two really need to learn to be more discrete in your trysts. Some people might not understand."