"Goodbye sweetheart," Mrs Ishiyama kissed Krystal and gave her to her father.

"Bye Grandma!" Krystal replied happily unaware of how sad her mother was

"Goodbye Ulrich, look after Yumi, but I already know that you will, you are a sweet man Ulrich take care" Mrs Ishiyama kissed him on the cheek.

Ulrich took Krystal inside to allow Yumi and her mother to speak privately.

"Honey, I know you disagree with me leaving but it is for the best. You have Ulrich and Krystal to look after now. I shall be with my family in Japan, please come and visit me sometime, I love you my darling, don't forget that" she kissed her daughter and got into the taxi.

Yumi waved her off with a tear in her eye. She just couldn't believe that her father had died and the day after the funeral her mother leaves for Japan. Yumi felt alone and parentless but nonetheless she stepped back into her warm home.

Yumi could hear Krystal's laughing and entered into the living room to find that Krystal and Ulrich were having a tickling fight.

"Come and join in, mommy!" Krystal said with glee when she saw her mom

"No honey, I'm not in the mood" Yumi said placing a fake smile on her face.

Ulrich could see right through the fake smile and told Krystal to find a DVD they could watch.

He sat down next to Yumi and he put his arms around his wife.

"I'm ok Ulrich just fed-up, why can't we ever have a long period of happiness?" she asked him sounding tired.

"I know but things, they will get better I promise"

"I may have fought with my father when I was younger but I turned to him when Theo dumped me, and when William and I spilt up and then it was him that I stayed up all night talking about you when we finally got together"

Ulrich nodded his head and simply allowed her to cry and complain in his arms

"And then I never told him about the miscarriage or Lyoko and I feel guilty about that 'coz he had started telling me things that I never knew"

Ulrich started to understand what a father meant to a daughter as she continued talking about her feelings and regrets. He finally understood why girls made a fuss over their fathers. He knew he wouldn't be able to feel what Yumi was feeling now that her father was dead but she was hurting inside and that was something he could feel too.

After Yumi had dried her eyes and calmed down, they watched a DVD together.

Yumi even managed to laugh at some parts.

Ulrich had made popcorn after a thousand requests from Krystal for it.

3 hours after the DVD finished, Odd, Sam, Twinkle, Jeremie, Aelita and Ansel came round to try and cheer up Yumi.

If truth be known Yumi had already cheered up a lot just by spending time with her family. She did understand the reasoning of why her mother left for Japan. For her mother, there was nothing left in France for her. Yumi had her own family now to look after. Mrs Ishiyama needed Yumi to realise that she had her own family now and that she couldn't depend on her parents to help her anymore. That she had to sort things out for herself.

In a way, Yumi had already done this especially with the miscarriage but the thought was always subconsciously there that she could turn to her parents if things had turned out too sour to take. Now, her father was dead and her mother had moved to Japan. Her mother was right she had her own family now- Ulrich and Krystal. They were the most important people in her life and would be forever. She thought that she had grown to be an adult but now she truly had, she had to have independence now. Ulrich and Krystal was her life now and her childhood would just have to be long gone sweet memories with the occasional hint of bitterness and sadness.