Author's Note: Okay, I didn't get the number of reviews I wanted, but I just HAD to post this update... it's burning a hole in my hard drive. Okay, enjoy... or not... You guys are SOOOO going to hate me...

Chapter 5: Telling Others

Yumi awoke the next morning and followed her usual morning routine, though she did so listlessly. She was extremely disturbed by the recent developments, and she needed to talk with her friends. She couldn't believe how quickly and suddenly her life had turned so completely around. It was unbelievable. But she had made a decision. She was going to go through with the wedding without any more complaining.

She finished her breakfast, grabbed her backpack, and rushed out the door with Hiroki in tow. Hiroki had sent a text message to Milly, Tamiya, and Johnny the night before and Yumi had sent one to all of her friends. They were going to all meet outside the school.

As they approached the school, they saw their friends waiting together in the courtyard. They stopped in front of them.

"Yumi, what's wrong?" Aelita inquired concernedly. "Your text message sounded very urgent!"

"Yeah, what's going on, Hiroki?" Milly asked, taking a step toward her beloved. They both looked down sadly. Then Yumi looked up.

"Guys, our mom's pregnant again," she said softly. The group of ten gasped in disbelief, already knowing of what had happened at Keiko's birth.

"A-are you sure?" Ulrich asked anxiously. "Couldn't they be mistaken?" Yumi glanced in his direction and shook her head.

"No, Ulrich. According to what my medical classes have told me, the tests seemed very conclusive. She showed me the printouts from the test last night. There was no margin for error. She has elevated levels of all the pregnancy hormones, and there was an ultrasound photo and I could see the baby in it. It's for sure now, guys." Tears filled her eyes. "Our mom is going to die." The others all looked down sadly, feeling pain for their friends. Milly ran to Hiroki and hugged him.

"Hiroki, I'm so sorry," she said. He hugged her back. The Lyoko group looked on sadly, then looking back toward their friend.

"Yumi, you know we're always here for you," William said. Yumi smiled softly at the group.

"I know." Then she drew in a deep breath. She needed to tell them now. "And guys, one more thing… I've decided that I am going to go through with the wedding with no further complaints." The group nodded understandingly, except for Ulrich. "It is my mother's wish that I marry so that I may take care of my siblings after…" her voice trailed off. She was looking at Ulrich, who looked angry. "U-Ulrich?" she asked. "Wh-what is it?"

"You are going to willingly marry him?" he yelled before he turned and ran off in the direction of the woods. Yumi looked at the others.

"I'd better go and talk to him." She looked at William, the only group member there in her grade. "Cover for me with the teachers," she said to him. He nodded, agreeing.

"I'll go with you," Odd offered. Yumi shook her head.

"No, Odd. This is something I need to do myself. I need to explain to him why I'm doing this. I should be back by lunch at the latest." She turned and started to run off before she turned back to Hiroki. "Hiroki, please don't tell Mom and Dad about this."

"Don't worry, Yumi, I won't," he promised. "I swear on my love for Milly I won't tell." Yumi smiled then, knowing now that he really wouldn't tell. She then turned and fled into the woods after Ulrich.

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Ulrich ran through the woods, tears nearly blinding him as he ran toward the place he always went when he was upset. He slowed down as he approached a seemingly ordinary section of the woods. But it wasn't ordinary. It contained the oldest and tallest tree in the whole of the woods.

Ulrich climbed up about forty feet high, resting on a branch that was toward the middle of the tree. This was where he went when he was tired or needed to think. It always gave him a deep sense of inner peace, and that was what he loved most about this place. He could go there and clear his mind of whatever was bothering him so that he could think it through and work it out. It also happened to be the only high place where he was not affected by his vertigo.

Suddenly, he heard someone approaching his hiding spot. "Ulrich?" the person yelled, and then he knew it was Yumi. Tears came to his eyes. He couldn't lose her, not now! Yumi had always been the person to hold him together, to comfort him when his dad would get upset with him. And now, he was going to lose that stronghold, the one he had in Yumi, his closest friend.

He couldn't deny that she was his closest friend. But he also couldn't deny the fact that he wanted her to be so much more than just a mere friend. He wanted to have a special relationship with her. And now, he envied the man in Japan to who Yumi's parents had engaged her. And suddenly, that gave him an idea.

"I'm here, Yumi," he said as she passed under the tree he was in. He started to climb down, watching her the whole time. When he reached the bottom branch, he jumped down. He turned to Yumi as she looked down.

"Ulrich, please understand," she begged him, but he cut her off.

"Yumi, please don't ask me to just understand. You're leaving me, you're leaving the group, you're leaving your home, and all for some guy you've never even met, just because it's your mother's wish?" he asked, but then it was Yumi's turn to cut him off.

"Ulrich Stern, you rude, ungrateful little creep, you just shut up and listen to me for a minute! I skipped class to come and find you to explain it to you because I didn't want to leave with you angry like this, so you just swallow your stuck-up pride and listen!" She drew in a deep breath as she saw him flinch from her words. "Ulrich, my mother is dying! My father isn't going to be able to care for my siblings after her death! I need to marry so that I can adopt my siblings and care for them myself, according to my mother's wishes!"

"Is that all? You just need to marry?" he asked incredulously. He turned away, and when he looked back, there was a sad and pleading look on his face. "Why don't you just marry me?"

Yumi stared for a moment. "U-Ulrich, y-you can't be serious!"

"And why not? Yumi," he began, getting down on one knee, "I love you so much, and I don't ever want to lose you. I don't want to feel like I have felt the past twelve hours for the rest of my life. I would miss you if you left, and it's not something I want to go through. Yumi Ishiyama, please do me the honor of accepting my hand in marriage."

Tears fell down Yumi's face. She smiled through them. "Oh, Ulrich, you have no idea how long I've waited to hear you ask that."

Then it was as if all the light was sucked from her face. "But Ulrich… I can't."

LOL! What'd I tell you? You all hate me now, don't you? That's right... Anyway, if you wanna find out what happens next, I gotta see 14 reviews... 10 for this chapter, plus the four I didn't get last chapter. See you for Chapter 6: Rejection Blues!