Chapter Eight: Fun and Games

They all headed back to school, on the way up the stairs to their rooms Yumi tripped and would have fallen down the stairs if Ulrich hadn't of caught her.

"Whew, close call." Odd said.

"Yumi are you feeling alright?" Ulrich asked.

"I felt fine then for some reason I started to feel dizzy, its gone now." Yumi stated, still gently holding onto Ulrich's arm, the arm that stopped her from falling down the stairs. Ulrich gently held onto Yumi until they reached the top. They all continued to Jeremy's room.

"Thanks," Yumi whispered.

"No problem, it's always fun." Ulrich joked. Yumi laughed quietly. They made it to Jeremy's room and sat down.

"Hey I have an idea, let's play hide and seek again, tonight. We can play with flashlights." Odd said.

"Yea we can, let's see if I have them from the last time we used them. I think we threw them all in my drawer here. Here they are." Jeremy said, pulling out four flashlights. "We only have four, one of them is Odd's, one Yumi's, one Ulrich's, and the other mine. We must have used them before Aelita was materialized." Jeremy said.

"I can just watch," Aelita stated.

"No way! I have an idea, since Yumi isn't feeling well you can use hers. She and Ulrich will be partners, just in case she doesn't feel well and needs to head back here." Odd said, grabbing Yumi's flashlight. Jeremy and Aelita caught on to his plan, so before any one of them could protest they spoke up.

"Great thanks Yumi, you're a pal." Aelita said.

"Now we can play, good idea Odd." Jeremy said. Odd was secretly congratulating himself for hooking up Ulrich and Yumi.

"Even if it's not a real date, I got them together. Haha, Ulrich will kill me later for this but for now, I'll enjoy the red look on their faces." Odd thought. It was true Yumi and Ulrich slightly blushed.

"Alright then it's settled, we wait for the sun to go down," Jeremy said, looking out his window. What they didn't know was that someone could hear them.

"Hmmm, she doesn't feel well. She is slightly resisting that last dose. When she comes tonight I will up it times five. If she can resist that I would be so surprised that I would…..I would……leave a note on Ulrich's bed telling him what I did." X.A.N.A thought to himself, laughingly. "They never will no what hit them." he thought.

Later that night everyone was in the woods hiding, except for Odd. Odd was it. Aelita and Jeremy still hid together, they hid in a tree. Ulrich and Yumi tried to be sneaky and hid two feet in a bush, from where Odd was counting. He finished counting and slipped away towards some trees.

"Man, this was a good hiding place." Ulrich said.

"Yea, I guess so." Yumi said rubbing her forehead.

"You still don't feel well, do you?" He asked.

"O….no….I mean…well I'm alright." Yumi said, stuttering. Ulrich wasn't so reassured though.

Meanwhile with Jeremy and Aelita.

"Do you think he will find us?" Aelita asked.

"I don't know, hopefully not." Jeremy whispered back. He and Aelita were on a branch in the lower part of the tree. Jeremy wasn't comfortable climbing all the way up in the dark. Aelita gently leaned against him. Jeremy had his back to the trunk so he wouldn't fall, so Aelita's extra body weight didn't affect him. Aelita was about to say something when Jeremy noticed a light coming there way, then it turned off. He gently placed his hand over Aelita's mouth and whispered in her ear.

"I thought I saw a light, it might be Odd." Aelita nodded her head and they waited. Jeremy's guess proved to be right when in a few seconds Odd came crawling out of a bush. He stood up right under the tree they were hiding in. Suddenly the branch cracked where Aelita was sitting, Jeremy was alright since he was further back.

"Aelita!" Jeremy shouted as she fell. Odd looked up and saw Aelita falling. He put his arms out and caught her.

"Well you were easy to find." he said. Aelita smiled and laughed. "Hey Jeremy I heard you were up there. You might as well come down too." Odd said, setting Aelita down. Jeremy slid down the tree trunk and grabbed Aelita's hands.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Aelita nodded her head.

"Great! Then you two can help me find Ulrich and Yumi. Who knows where they are." Odd said. Suddenly he jumped into a bush.

"What are you doing?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm trying to find them, if I scare them maybe Yumi will scream. Either that or Ulrich." Odd said, standing up.

"I doubt you would get either of them to scream." Aelita stated. Odd just shrugged his shoulder and walked off. Jeremy and Aelita followed him.

Back With Ulrich and Yumi-

Yumi still didn't feel well, and Ulrich could tell. "Hmmm maybe I should scare her a little, maybe then she wont fight that last dose so much if she's scared and exhausted." X.A.N.A thought. He was hiding in a tree above them.

"Yumi, maybe we should call it a night. We can play tomorrow night when you feel better." Ulrich suggested.

"No really Ulrich I'm fine." she said. Suddenly something cold and fell onto her hand. "Ulrich very funny," She whispered.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything." he said. Yumi froze and looked at her hand, she couldn't see much since it was dark.

"There is something on my hand then, can I borrow the flashlight?" She asked. Ulrich looked around and didn't hear or see Odd, so he gave her the flashlight. Yumi turned it on and put the light on her hand. Ulrich looked at her hand too. They both froze.

"Ulrich, is that a….a….please tell me that isn't what I think it is." Yumi whispered. It looked like a human heart was on her hand, blood and all.

"I'm sure it's fake, just someone playing a trick." Ulrich said. He took off his outer shirt and whipped her hand off. He put the heart in his shirt and wrapped it up. Yumi's pale face looked at Ulrich.

"Okay, now I don't feel very good." She stated. Ulrich stood up one hand holding the heart the other helping Yumi up. They both still had the flashlight on. Yumi's knees gave way and she fell on the ground.

"Here, grab onto my arm, I'll help you." he said. Yumi took his arm and stood up. Suddenly Odd burst through the bush.

"You two should have kept your flashlight off, I never would have found you. Hey Yumi what's wrong?" Odd asked. Aelita and Jeremy had stopped right behind him. Ulrich handed his shirt to Odd and then put his arm around Yumi to balance her. Odd opened it up and turned pale, Aelita and Jeremy looked over his shoulder and froze.

"Ulrich, is this a joke?" Jeremy asked. Ulrich shook his head no.