Sophmore-year Ulrich Stern was standing on the roof of the science building. A year has passed since shutting down the supercomputer and plenty of things have changed for him since then. For one, his grades have improved drastically, most of it all things to a certain pinkette, who is making sure he has good grades. His father has stopped being condescending, but the young did not really care. One drastic change about him is his overall appearance.

He was once short for someone his age, but strong and tough nonetheless, mostly thanks to his martial arts training, and not many dared to mess with him because of that fact alone. Now, about a year later, he has grown to be quite tall with some muscles showing. Many of the female student body noticed, and were increasingly showing their affections for him more than ever.

It was the weekend, but he was up bright and early and has already changed into his sweats before dawn even started. He looked down at the track field before looking at the bleachers.

It was very cold that early morning on a Saturday. Aelita should know. It was still wintertime.

And because she was currently jogging on the running track with Ulrich.

"I c-c-can't bel-ieve that you w-w-would jog when it-it-it's c-cold like this," Aelita complained as she shivered from the cold, her warm breath freezing in front of her.

The pinkette was wearing a long-sleeved sweatshirt which should be keeping her warm, but the cold climate plus the sweat clinging to her skin made that ineffective. It did not help that she was also wearing shorts. Clearly, she underestimated that morning's temperature since she is rarely out of her room that early. She was currently thinking of investing in some sweatpants, which she does not own.

Ulrich, who was jogging ahead of her, chuckled a bit before looking back at her. He was wearing his usual gym clothes.

"Come on, Princess. Jog a little faster. Feel the burn, it'll warm ya up!" He shouts to her half-jokingly. "And why are you complaining? You wanted to come along with me."

The cold did not bother him one bit. It was something that he was accustomed to, due to having to train his body to his limit so he can be prepared for any overwhelming attacks that their old enemy would plan up. He took the habit of jogging very early in the morning during school days when XANA managed to escape its virtual prison. Even after its destruction, the young athlete still kept his training regimen, seeing no reason not to drop it.

Aelita groaned as she increased her speed up a bit so she was right behind Ulrich. That day, they were supposed to be studying, but the young athlete thought that he had studied enough that week, so he planned to practice his body rather than his brain that day.

[Flashback; Yesterday during dinner]

"I-I can join you if you want some company," Aelita asked with a slight stutter. She was caught off guard by his plan on Saturday, they have been studying so much for almost a week that she did not think about his own plans.

"Uh, you sure?" Said Ulrich with a raised eyebrow. "You should take a break, I mean between classes and our study sessions all week, you should take it easy tomorrow."

"Well by that logic, you shouldn't even be training." Argued Aelita as they shared the same activities for the past week. "Maybe we can go see a movie again?" She suggested with a forced big smile to help coerce him on her idea.

"Yeah, but I've been neglecting my Pencak silat practices, plus that's how I relax, Aelita," Ulrich argued back. He is not one to sit around all day without doing any physical activities, only taking a whole lazy day once in a while without studying or physical training. "Maybe you should go hang out with Jeremie, I'm pretty sure that he misses you."

Aelita froze as her mind flashes back to that day, which Ulrich noticed. She sat there perfectly still for a solid five seconds, her face staring right past him to empty space.

"Aelita?"

That snapped said princess out of her stupor. She shakes her head a bit before putting on a forced smile, albeit a rather convincing one.

"I'm fine." She shrugged off what happened seconds ago like it was nothing. "So anyway, maybe I should join you with your exercise."

Ulrich stared at her. She closed her eyes with her fake smile still on her face.

In the end, he agreed for her company

[Flashback end]

And now she is starting to regret it. She was starting to run out of breath, her legs were getting weak, and thus could not keep up her pace.

She tripped when she could not make the next step. Luckily, Ulrich was watching her and quickly dove in to catch her before she fit the ground.

"I got you," Ulrich said as he held Aelita up by grabbing her by her arms. He held her close to him. Aelita did not bother to stand on her two feet, being winded and feeling a bit fatigued from waking up early that morning. Ulrich slings her left arm around his neck and started carrying her to the bleachers.

"You're worst than Jim," Aelita complained a bit.

Ulrich could only chuckle at this. He helped her stand on her feet.

"Don't blame me, Princess. I told you to take the day off and do your own stuff, but you wanted to join me on my training."

Aelita grumbled under her breath as he led her to the bleachers. On the way there, Aelita pressed her body as close as she could against Ulrich's well-toned body, not caring he was more sweaty than she was. He was very warm, that is all she cared for right now.

When Ulrich set Aelta to sit on the bleachers, he tried to go back to his training. Keyword: tried. Aelita gripped on his arm to keep him from jogging off.

"You stay," She insisted with a demanding tone, befitting an actual princess. She did not want to lose her heat source. "At least until the sun comes up."

It was still winter. Time of the year when days are shorter, nights are longer, and when clouds dominate the sky. Ulrich looked up. The sky was almost filled with clouds, but the sky was still visible, and he can tell it was dawn. It was almost sunrise. Seeing no reason not to, he sat down next to her.

"You do know that you can't join me on my Pencak silat practice. Right, princess?" Ulrich asked after a moment of silence, watching the sky. He has a feeling she wants to be with him as much as she could, for whatever reason that is currently unknown to him.

"Then perhaps," Aelita yawns as she snuggled against Ulrich's side, resting her head on his shoulder. "It's time that I learn some... martial arts."

Ulrich looked at his side, at her. She was not sleeping, which would be difficult as she was currently sitting on the cold hard bleachers, not to mention the aforementioned cold temperature. The princess was just resting her eyes due to the cold air hitting her face from the jogging.

What happened between her and Jeremie? That has been on his mind lately. Not once has she mentioned the computer genius all week during their tutoring sessions. Not only that, it took him a while, but he finally notices that she has not been smiling as much before or as brightly. Sometimes her smile was forced, trying to hide the frown behind it.

"Alright," He relented. "It's always good to know how to protect yourself, so I guess I can give you some pointers while I train."

He is not the kind of person to get the middle of something, especially if it involves the relationship of two people unless he believes someone needs to butt in. He can at least do it subtly by being supportive. Be there for her.

Aelita lifted her head to give him a smile with opened smiles, "Thank you, Ulrich."

He returned the smile before looking back up the sky, which Aelita copied. The sun was finally rising up and the clouds seemingly parting away for it. Albeit the buildings of Kadic Academy obstructed their view from the bleachers, but the sight was still spectacular.

"Nice sunrise," Ulrich commented.

"Yeah," Aelita agreed, "No wonder you train this early, maybe I should make it a habit as well."

"Do what you want, Princess." He told her. "Though maybe we should have gone to the roof of the science building for this. The view would definitely be better there."

Aelita agreed at that prospect, "How about we do that before the next time we go for a jog?" She suggested, which Ulrich silently agreed with a nod.

They continued to sit there in silence. Enjoying the sunrise and each other's company.

"Good morning, Ulrich." An angelic voice called to him, snapping him out of memory lane.

When he turned to look at Aelita, an image of her from a year ago overlapped her current appearance. She sure has changed since then, which he was certain started when she started to join him on his training regimen and started teaching her the ways of martial arts with karate being her first, and the results were showing.

Aelita is taller than before but stood a little shorter than him, almost at eye level with him. She is lean and athletic, not at a competitive sports level, but is certainly more so than any other girl in school who is not part of any of the sports teams. She has grown some muscles on her bones but they were not very noticeable. She still has grown physically stronger than before, none the less, but has come to prefer to sticking with aerobic exercises, such as running, dancing, and swimming, than strength building. She was doing well in her martial arts training, according to Ulrich and Jim; although she was nowhere near close to being a blackbelt, Aelita was content with her progress and can definitely protect herself without much help. The only thing that stayed the same with her appearance is her pink hair, which she keeps from growing past her neck.

She is also wearing her sweats. She has bought her own pair of sweatpants long ago but has stuck with wearing sweat shorts after having gotten used to cold jogs some time ago. She was also wearing a pair of earbuds connected to her phone, which she started bringing with her all the time when she started joining Ulrich on his morning routine.

"Morning, princess." Ulrich greeted back with a smile as she stood next to him.

Aelita returned the smile before turning to the sky when she felt sunlight started washing over her.

"I'll never get tired of this sight." She said contentedly.

Unknown to Aelita, Ulrich was not looking at the rising sun. Instead, he was watching her from the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah, I'll never get tired of this."

For the record, I've never been to a boarding school, so I'm not sure if any student could wake up early before dawn. But I'm certain boarding students are free to do whatever they want on the weekends so as long they follow the rules.

Anyway, I hoped you loved the chapter. Please leave a review if you don't mind.