Author's Note: Okay, sorry this took so long, I had a MAJOR case of writer's block...

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Chapter 6: Rejection Blues

Ulrich's jaw dropped as he scrambled to his feet, embarrassed. He couldn't believe Yumi had rejected him. She loved him; he knew that now because she had said she had been waiting to hear that from him. So why had she said no?

He watched, bewildered, as she turned away, tears spilling from her sad eyes.

"Ulrich, I-I'm so sorry. I-I want so much to just- to say yes. But I can't!" she mumbled sadly, hugging herself.

"But why not?" he inquired, hurt deeply by her rejection of him. She whirled around, a look of incredulity on her face.

"You mean you don't know?" she exclaimed disbelievingly. "Ulrich, I'm already engaged, whether I had a say in it or not! My hand has already been promised to Hiroku in honor, and if I were to break that pledge, it would destroy the honor of the Ishiyama family!"

She looked down. "Ulrich, this is not about me. I told you, my mother is dying, and I want her name to be remembered in honor, for keeping every promise and following every rule. She has promised my hand to Hiroku and now, for her sake, I must deliver it.

"I will never forget you, Ulrich. You are my closest and dearest friend, and for three years I have wanted to be so much more to you than that. I just wish it hadn't taken you quite so long to realize that you want the same. If you had proposed to me two days ago, I would have been free to say yes, but unfortunately, I now am not free to do so.

"I wish with all of my heart that I could say yes to you. You mean the world to me, Ulrich, and I want to still be your friend, even now. Please don't deny me your friendship. I'll need you there for support until the wedding. Just because I'm going to go through with it without further complaint doesn't mean it won't still be hard on me. I'd rather be with you than with Hiroku." She sighed. "Ulrich, please, I'm going to really need you. I'll let you have as much time as you need to think about what's happened. Right now, I need to get back to the school. William covered for me first period, but I want to get back so he won't have to do it again." Then she turned and ran from the woods in tears.

Ulrich stood there, still shocked by the developments. He climbed back up his tree and rested again on the branch. A million thoughts and emotions were running through his head, and he needed time to sort them out.

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An hour later, Ulrich was still sitting in his tree. He was starting to get hungry and realized that lunchtime was approaching. But he wasn't sure whether or not he was ready to face Yumi. He was going to miss her, that much was certain.

He decided to think things over on the walk back to the school. He climbed down the tree and moved slowly and surely through the forest. Why was he having such a hard time dealing with this? It shouldn't be this hard to get used to the idea that he was losing Yumi. So why was it taking him so long?

The answer was simple, he realized. He really loved her.

The thought of losing the only person he'd ever loved was simply unbearable to him. So few people really loved and cared about him that his self-esteem was low. Until he'd met Yumi, he had thought he would never fall in love with anyone- and that no one could possibly fall in love with him.

But then he met her, and he felt something he'd never felt before. Love for someone. For a long time he didn't think Yumi really loved him, until Odd, Jeremy, and William sat him down and gave him what for. Ever since then he'd felt a special bond to the Japanese beauty.

Then he thought back to the moment he first saw her, back in the gym one warm afternoon in early fall. It was the first day of school and he had just met Odd and saved Jeremy from the first XANA attack without knowing that that was what it was. He had gone for a martial arts training session in the gym. They were forced to work together when Jim called for them to get into pairs and when she knocked him over and he was forced to look into her eyes for the very first time… somehow he had this feeling that that wouldn't be the last time they were so close.

Since then their relationship had grown by leaps and bounds, to the point where they were now the closest of friends. Even after Yumi had decided two years ago that they should just be friends, right before XANA had snatched William, their relationship had continued to grow. And when they finally defeated XANA and managed to get William back, they were so excited that they hugged and kissed each other before either realized what they had done. That had drastically changed their relationship, making them closer than ever. He loved her, and he had known it for a long time. But Yumi didn't act like she wanted their relationship to go anywhere, so he didn't act on his feelings, for fear of destroying the friendship they had. Now he was going to lose her- and he felt like it was entirely his fault.

He arrived back at the school and swallowed hard. He didn't feel ready to face her yet. But he had no choice. He entered and went straight to the cafeteria, knowing it was lunchtime. He went through the line and met the group back at their usual table, where Jeremy was happily, yet solemnly, scarfing down Brussels sprouts and the others were discussing the upcoming wedding, thinking up color schemes and designing the dresses with quick sketches being drawn by Odd as Yumi and Sissi cooked up the designs together. At the same time, Yumi was also creating a list of the people who would be in the wedding party while Aelita wrote it down and discussing the menu with William and Sam while Sam wrote that down and working on the guest list, which she was writing down herself. Yumi only had five months to plan this wedding, because there were three and a half months of school, and that would give her a month and a half to decide on a location, since the wedding would be held in Japan. Yumi and her family would be flying to Japan two days after school ended, and the Ishiyamas had graciously offered to pay for the plane tickets of all of Yumi's friends so that they could attend as well. All of them except Ulrich had already talked to their parents and been cleared to go.

"Ulrich! Where have you been? We really need you!" Yumi exclaimed, shoving another pad of paper and a pencil in his hands. "I need you to take some notes for me. Write down everything I tell you, okay?"

He smiled and nodded, trying to be brave for her. He really loved her, and he realized that part of loving her meant supporting her now when she needed it. He realized that this was the last thing she wanted to do, and that she was doing it, not because she didn't love him, but because she loved her mother. She wanted to make her mother proud, and Ulrich couldn't rightfully say he didn't understand, because he did understand, with all of his heart. He wanted to make his father proud, though it was for a different reason. Ulrich hated his father, and he just wanted to prove his dad wrong, to prove that he could be someone someday.

"Ulrich," Yumi cried, snapping him away from his thoughts. "Write down that I have an appointment at 10 AM on Saturday with a florist, and one at 11 with a wedding coordinator. Her name is Andrea, and she'll help me get everything organized so I don't have to do it all myself."

"10 AM florist, 11 AM Andrea. Got it." Sometimes things couldn't be helped, he realized as he wrote it down for her. But he was going to make sure that his Yumi's wedding was the most beautiful and perfect wedding ever, no matter how much it hurt him to see her marry someone else, just because he loved her so much.

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Okay, so it wasn't a cliffhanger... but I hope you liked it enough to want to see the next chapter anyway... :P Please leave a review on your way out!