Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Josh, who tricked me into letting him read my work on this site. Here's hoping he likes what he sees.

Chapter 15

Yumi threw herself on her bed, frustrated beyond belief. Hiroki had just gotten home and wondered aloud where their father was. She tried telling him the truth, but he started yelling when he didn't like the news. Soon it turned into a screaming match and their mother had to take over for her.

Aelita hadn't replied to her text but it was just as well. She didn't feel like talking to anyone right now. Her anger hadn't flared or receded, but it was there. She wasn't sure it was directed entirely at Ulrich. Sissi had never been high on her list, but now she had made rock bottom.

The optimistic side of her clung to the hope that this was a giant misunderstanding. Like when Jeremie saw Theo kiss Aelita for the first time. But Aelita fought Theo off. Ulrich did nothing. If he really loved her, he would have done something.

Would he even come clean about it? Or did he plan on hiding it from her? She'd like to think he'd be honest, but he hadn't said anything in the half hour since it happened. She hadn't even spoken to him. Her muscles felt oddly excited. She should have been sparring with Ulrich right now. Yumi was itching to aim a blow at him, and for him not to block it.

Yumi knew that there had to be some kind of explanation. Maybe not one she liked, but there had to be one. If Ulrich didn't come to her, she'd cool off and confront him. But she was going to get to the bottom of this, one way or another.

"Sissi kissed you?" asked Odd, wide-eyed.

"Yes," spat Ulrich.

"When do you plan on telling Yumi?" asked Jeremie.

"I have to tell her?" asked Ulrich incredulously.

"Of course you have to tell her!" said Jeremie, staring at him like it was completely obvious. "You can't keep this to yourself!"

"Oh, come on!" replied Ulrich pleadingly. "What's the point in telling her?"

"You wouldn't be able to handle the guilt," said Odd simply. "You're too much of a good guy."

"She's just going to get angry," said Ulrich.

"You'd want her to tell you if William kissed her, wouldn't you?" asked Jeremie.

"Yeah, so I could beat him to a pulp," answered Ulrich casually.

"You have to tell her, and soon," said Jeremie. "It's better that way."

"Fine," said Ulrich. "Did you ever tell Aelita about Taelia?"

"That's a cheap shot," muttered Jeremie, turning red as he remembered the name.

"Did you?" asked Odd interestedly.

"Well, no, not yet," said Jeremie slowly. "But she wouldn't understand."

"Explain it to her, then," replied Ulrich, smirking. "She'd love to hear how you nearly got arrested and blew our secret over another girl."

"A girl you guys thought was Aelita," retorted Jeremie. "Besides, Taelia left Kadic months before I materialized Aelita. It doesn't matter anymore."

"It was as plain as her pink hair you assumed she was Aelita," said Ulrich. "We don't blame you for that, we just blame you for the police showing up."

"Anyway, tell Yumi," Jeremie quickly redirected the conversation. "If you don't and she finds out from someone else, she'll think more is going on then what actually happened."

"And don't you dare tell her by calling her," warned Odd. "Go find her in person."

"Great," growled Ulrich.

"What are you afraid of?" asked Jeremie. "It's not your fault."

"Nothing," said Ulrich. It wasn't that he was afraid, he just didn't want to give her any bad news while she was having a hard time. They were right, though. The longer he waited the less likely he was to admit it. "I'll see you guys later."

"Good luck!" said Odd brightly.

"I'll get it!" called out Yumi, moving for the door when someone knocked on it. Anything to distract her from algebra.

"Hey, Yumi. Got a minute to talk?"

Maybe she should have narrowed down from anything. A sheepish Ulrich was standing on her doorstep. She managed to keep a straight face and nodded, shutting the door behind her on the way out.

"Something wrong?" asked Yumi.

"Just something I wanted to tell you," said Ulrich.

"Fire away," said Yumi, following him down the steps and onto the sidewalk.

"You missed our sparring session," said Ulrich casually.

"Oh, something came up," said Yumi. "I couldn't get out of it. Sorry."

"No, no, it's all right," said Ulrich quickly. The last thing he needed to hear from her was an apology.

"Ulrich, I saw you and Sissi!" It blurted out of Yumi's mouth without hesitance. The moment it did, she regretted it. Ulrich's eyes widened at her outburst.

"Oh," was all he could think of to say. Yumi's mouth seemed to develop a mind of its own, because it shot off again.

"If you wanted to go out with Sissi, why did you ask me to be your girlfriend?" asked Yumi. Ulrich gaped at her.

"Yumi, I can't stand Sissi, you know that!" replied Ulrich.

"You looked pretty tolerable of her this afternoon!" spat Yumi.

"Look, I don't know who you think you saw, but it can't have been me!" said Ulrich.

"Did you kiss her or not?" asked Yumi, fuming.

"She kissed me, but it didn't mean a thing!" said Ulrich. Yumi rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"I've heard that line used a hundred times, Ulrich," said Yumi coldly. "I just never thought I'd hear it from you."

"Yumi, listen to me, I want to be with you!" said Ulrich, grabbing her shoulders. "You think I'd throw away what we have for Sissi?"

"If that's true why didn't you do anything when she started kissing you?" asked Yumi, hating the fact that he was so tall now. It made it harder to look him in the eye without her neck hurting.

"I don't get along with my dad, but we both agree that you never hit a girl," said Ulrich. "My only exception is if she's possessed by Xana. That was the one thing I wanted to do to Sissi, and I was using my energy to keep my fists under control!"

"You took your sweet time pushing yourself away!" said Yumi angrily.

"I was surprised!" yelled Ulrich. "Sissi's forward, but I never thought she'd go that far! It felt like kissing Kiwi!"

"Sure it did," muttered Yumi. "Ulrich, I care about you, a lot, but I can't take seeing you with another girl."

"I wasn't with another girl!" said Ulrich. "It was Sissi!"

"And you know I can't stand her, but you still let her kiss you anyway!" retorted Yumi.

"I didn't let her do anything!" said Ulrich, getting more frustrated by the minute. "She came onto me!"

"Yeah, right!" shouted Yumi, shrugging his hands away from her shoulders and storming away.

"Wait!" Ulrich felt like smacking himself for letting this turn into an argument. The next three words came out in barely more than a whisper. "I love you."

Despite how quiet they were, the words reached Yumi's ears. She froze, only a few meters away from Ulrich. Yumi turned on her heel and inquired sharply, "What did you say?"

Ulrich's throat went dry and his head clouded with thoughts. Jeremie and Odd were right. He hated admitting it, but they were right. Their stupid plan was working. As he processed this, his mouth took control, much like Yumi's had.

"I said wait," Ulrich started walking towards her.

"No, after that," said Yumi, not moving any closer or further from him.

"I didn't say anything," said Ulrich blankly. "You must have been hearing things. Just like you were seeing things."

Yumi turned red with fury and she resisted the urge to slap him silly. She managed to keep her temper as she turned away from him, heading back to her house. How dare he! He was in hot water as it is, he was in no position to judge her senses!

"Yumi!"

Ulrich's plea was replied with the slam of her front door. He was halfway up the steps, ready to knock until someone opened up, before he realized no one would. He'd made the mistake of making her angry, a mistake he'd made countless times in the past. He should have known better. He should have gone about it a different way. He should have realized what Sissi was after in the first place.

Ulrich groaned and trudged down the sidewalk. If there was anything he had learned from their previous arguments, there was first the cooling down period where they avoided each other studiously, then usually something along the lines of a Xana attack happened, forcing them to work together, then a few muttered words that formed a half-baked apology were spoken, until they finally got over it. Ulrich didn't want to wait that long. But what could he do?

"Jeremie?"

Aelita poked her head through the doorway to find Jeremie sound asleep on his keyboard in front of the antivirus equations. She smiled, glad to see him taking a break, even if he didn't mean to. The cellphone next to him started ringing loudly, and she quickly answered it before he could wake up.

"Hello?" murmured Aelita.

"Aelita? What are you doing picking up Jeremie's phone?" asked Ulrich. "Wait, never mind. Can you put him on?"

"He's busy," said Aelita firmly. Jeremie deserved a rest.

"It's an emergency," said Ulrich tensely. Aelita sighed.

"Hold on," replied Aelita, setting the phone down. "Jeremie, wake up."

The blonde didn't move. Aelita shook him gently by the shoulders, snapped her fingers in front of his face, and called out his name a few more times, but each attempt failed. Finally, she tilted his head up and caressed his lips with her own. His mouth woke up before his brain, and only when she pulled away did he open his eyes.

"Am I in Heaven?" asked Jeremie, yawning.

"I don't know how you can flirt when you've just woken up," responded Aelita.

"I wasn't flirting," said Jeremie, grinning. She blushed.

"Ulrich wants to talk to you," said Aelita, handing him the phone.

"'Lo?" answered Jeremie, rubbing his eyes. "Huh? Well, it's natural she's going to be mad...Don't get angry, it's Sissi...I know that, but you didn't break my heart...Yes, you still have a shot with Yumi...Look, I warned you, if you didn't make your move soon, we'd have to take control...Figure it out. Bye."

"What happened?" asked Aelita.

"They--" Jeremie was cut off by Aelita's beeping phone. The caller ID showed Yumi's number. "There's your answer."

"Hello," chirped Aelita. "Why?...Oh, Yumi, I'm so sorry...We'll go over the details later, okay? Then we'll meet with the girls...To help you patch things up with Ulrich! You love him, don't you?...And you don't like being angry with him, do you?...And do you really believe he would hurt you like that on purpose?...Well, you're going to have to find a way to talk with him about it. And I mean talk, not yell. If you don't talk to him, you're never going to get him to say 'I love you.' Yes, he loves you! I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"You think we should go for the last resort?" asked Jeremie. Aelita shrugged.

"We might not need to," said Aelita. "Jeremie, should we feel guilty about this? We did cause the fight."

"If it weren't for us, they never would have gotten together," reminded Jeremie. "We can fix it."

"Since when are you an optimist?" asked Aelita.

"I've come to realize things have a way of working out for the best," said Jeremie simply. He stretched his arms and turned back to the computer. Aelita rolled her eyes.

"If you fall asleep again, wouldn't you rather do so on your pillow?" asked Aelita, running a finger over the red marks on his cheek.

"I won't be falling asleep again," said Jeremie determinedly.

"Isn't that what you thought last time?" asked Aelita, smirking.

"Aren't you full of answers?" asked Jeremie, smiling. Aelita bent down, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and planting a kiss on his cheek. "I'll definitely stay awake if you keep doing that."

"I think I will," said Aelita, tightening her grip on him.