(Yumi P.O.V.)

After I told Jeremie and Aelita about my dad, they looked extremely worried.

"Are you going to be okay?" Aelita asks.

"Yah, I remember when your Mom and Dad were just fighting. You didn't seem to take that very well." Jeremie adds.

"Guys, I'll be okay. I made it through last time because of Ulrich, and we were just friends last time. Now that were going out, I'll make it through. I'm not so sure about my mom though…" I say, looking at my feet.

"I feel so sad for your mom." Aelita says, laying a hand on my shoulder.

"I do too. What about your little brother? Hiroki? How is he going to handle this?" Jeremie asks. I'm amazed he even knows Hiroki's name.

"I think Hiroki will be okay. I don't think he even fully understands. He probably just thinks Dad went away like last time." I say. It's the truth, Hiroki has not said much, but I think he might be in denial even.

"Someday he's going to realize that he's not coming back, and it will be hard. I suspect it will be harder for him, he's going to have to become 'the man of the house.' He will need a lot of help, I don't think he'll be ready." Jeremie says concerned.

"I know. I'm going to go home now, I need to do some stuff." I say.

"Okay, I'll see you later Yumi." Aelita says. She takes Jeremie's hand and walks back towards the school.

Well, I might as well go home now.

I walk home, and enter to find my mother cooking.

"Hey Mom. Why are you cooking? It's only 3:15."

"I wanted to have a nice dinner. Do you want to invite Ulrich over? I think it would be nice if I got to know him better. I never really got the chance…" She trails off.

"Sure, I'll invite him. I think he would be grateful to come and have a home-cooked meal for once. I don't think he's fond of cafeteria food." I laugh and walk up to my room.

I think Mom is hurting more than I am. She doesn't like to cook all that much…

I turn on my computer to find a new e-mail from Ulrich. I open it and see this:

Yumi,

Just want 2 say real quick that Macas agreed. He wants 2 meet u the park at 6:00. I hope that's OK. Just so u know, pretty soon I'm gonna have 2 change my e-mail. Somehow the school got a hold of it and I have about 30 girlz talkin 2 me. I was thinkin somethin along the lines of Supersamurai286 or YumiandUlrichforever286. What do u think?

All my love,

-Ulrich

I almost start to e-mail him back, but I decide I want to deliver this news in person. I get up and go downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hey Mom, I'm going to go and invite Ulrich now, okay?"

"Sure honey. Dinner will be at 7:00, just dress normally."

"Okay, I'll tell him." I say and walk out the door, heading to the school. I go to their dorm room to find Odd, making up a new song for their band.

"Hey Odd, what's up?"

"Oh nothing. Just trying out a new song. You looking for Ulrich?"

"Yah, how'd you guess?"

"Why else would you be here?" He says laughing. "I'm not sure where he is, but you might want to check the gym. I saw him earlier in his workout clothes."

"Okay thanks Odd. That's a nice song, I like it." I say as I walk out the door.

"Thanks Yumi, but remember, you have to sing this!" He yells out before I close the door. I laugh and walk out towards the gym. I open the doors and find the mats out, Ulrich on them, and a line of what looks like about ten guys and sixty girls. I came just in time to see Ulrich pin a girl to the mat with his foot, having just taken her down.

"Okay, next!" He says as the girl stands up.

"Nice match." He says and gives the girl a pat on the back.

"Thanks…" She says and walks off the mat. Another girl gets on the mat and in ready position.

Oh! Ulrich must have come in here, and asked anyone if they wanted to spar with him. No wonder they're mostly girls, they just want to get close to him! Well, two can play at that game…

I walk over to the other end of the mat and get in line. I see Ulrich take down another girl, and give her a pat on the back too.

"Next!" he calls out. I see him spot me. He gives me a wave, even though he looks confused. I just stand smugly in line, not saying a word. Considering the line, it takes about an hour for me to get up near the front. Some of the guys are pretty good, but Ulrich still wins. Most of the girls look like they haven't really fought in their life. There's a guy in front of me, and Ulrich seems to take his time with him. This guy would be pretty good against a normal opponent, but against Ulrich? He would lose easily. Still, I think Ulrich is stalling against having to fight me.

"Come on Ulrich, just take him out!" Says the girl behind me. At her cue, Ulrich takes him down and pins him to the mat with his foot. I step up to the mat and get in fighting pose.

"Hey Yumi, what's up?" he says taking a step towards me. I just give a spin kick towards his head, slow enough so that he will dodge, but fast enough to get him off guard. He backpedals furiously, and I take a step towards him.

"Come on, don't you want to spar?" I ask playfully, letting a smile creep across my face.

"Oh, I see. You want to spar, do you? Let's go then." He gets in ready position too. We stare at each other for a second, then I make a move. A quick punch towards his chest. He easily dodges and gives me a sharp push on the shoulder, throwing me off balance. I step back, and he comes forward again. I aim another punch at him, and he does the same maneuver. I anticipate his move, and jab him quickly in the chest with my elbow. He steps back surprised.

"I'm impressed. That's the first good blow anyone has landed so far." Right after he finishes talking, I go into a reverse ankle sweep and take his legs out from under him.

"Come on, you should know to never let your guard down." I say mockingly. He just smiles at me tries a reverse ankle sweep on me. I easily jump over it. He jumps up quickly and we fight again. To a normal spectator, it would seem that I am winning by a good margin. But I know better, he's just toying with me. He hasn't thrown one punch.

"Come on, let's pick this up. I don't have time for fun and games." I say. He flashes another smile, and does such a fast kick towards my feet, I barely have time to realize it's coming, let alone react. I fall hard, but jump back up really fast.

"Finally!" I push his shoulder twisting it backwards, bringing my right foot towards his left one. He sidesteps and pushes me back, I grab his arm and flip him over my shoulder, he lands hard on the mat. He quickly jumps back up and resumes his fighting stance.

Wow, I can still do that?

"Come on, afraid to hit your girlfriend?" I say smiling. I hear whispers from the crowd that has gathered. 'Did she just say girlfriend?' 'Yah, I think she did!' 'She's probably just trying to rile him up!'

He laughs and aims a punch for my shoulder; I dodge and give him a punch to the chest. I think he has finally decided to end this. He goes into such a complex series of maneuvers and techniques, it's all I can do to block or dodge half of them. After receiving a sharp hit on my lower arm, he pulls my own move against me. He goes into a reverse ankle sweep, throwing me to the floor. Before I hit, I grab him, pulling him down too. All of the sudden, I find us rolling around and laughing on the floor. We stop and he gives me a kiss, which I gratefully return. The crowd is shocked and they start talking in loud voices.

"Well, this was fun." Ulrich says and looks at me.

"Yah, it was." I say, and I stand up.

"You going to give me a hand? I'm exhausted." He says, and he looks it. He's got one elbow propping him up, and has sweat all over him.

"Yah, just one thing first." I take my foot and pin him to the floor. "I win."

"Okay, okay. You win. Can you get your foot off of me now?"

"Sure." I say, and offer my hand. He grabs my hand and stands up.

"Sorry everybody, but Yumi won fair and square. I guess she won the prize."

"What prize?" I say bewildered.

"This." He says and kisses me.

"You offered that as a prize? How could you do that? What if you actually lost?"

"Nah, I just made that up a second ago. Beside, I wouldn't lose if it meant I had to cheat on you." He says and takes my hand leading me off the mat.

"You get extra points. You were the hardest opponent I fought."

"So you weren't just going easy on me because I was your girlfriend?"

"Hell no. Well, maybe a little. You were still hardest."

"What do those extra points give me?"

"How about this?" He says and kisses me again.

"Wow, what a good way to spend points." I say, and he blushes.

"I'll meet you outside in five minutes, okay? I'm going to go change."

"Yah, me too." I say, and head into the girl's locker room.

He gave me a good workout.

I meet him outside in five minutes as promised and we walk off to his dorm together.

"My mom has invited you to dinner tonight at our house."

"What's the occasion?"

"Oh, nothing. She just wants to get to know you better. She never really got the chance before…" I trail off, remembering my father.

"It's okay Yumi." He says and puts a comforting arm around me. "I would love to go to your house for dinner. I don't much care for cafeteria food.'

"I knew it. We can go after we talk with Macas." I say, thinking. "What time is it anyway?"

He pulls out his cell phone.

"5:15. Just enough time to go back to my dorm and hang out for a while."

"Great."