Wow, I must've been feeling generous within the past two weeks. I updated on the earlier date last week, and now I'm updating 6 days after the last chapter's been updated. Well, this has been a long week, and considering that I'm heading back home from my father's, I might as well post early. I just know for sure the next chapter (after this one) is going to be updated on Saturdays. Anyway, onto the story!

Pretty Hate Machine

Anger distances me from my friends.

Chapter 4: Don't Want Everything

The sunlight peeked through the thick curtains, with its rays hitting the sleeping Japanese girl. Yumi groaned, slowly opening her eyes, annoyed that the sunlight found its way into her bedroom. She sat up, feeling surprisingly well rested despite staying up until two am in the morning. But she was glad it was Sunday.

She threw the blankets off her body and stood up from her bed, stretching out her limbs. Then, she exited her bedroom, closing the door silently to not wake up her parents or her younger brother who were most likely still sleeping. Carefully, she stepped down the stairs to the ground floor, once again, with her parents and her brother in mind.

Once she reached the end of the stairs, her ears picked up sounds coming from the lounge room. She was surprised somebody was already awake, but kept on walking down the hallway to enter the kitchen. However, as she approached the kitchen, she grew curious about who was in the lounge room, remembering that Ulrich was sleeping on a mattress in there.

She stood directly in the doorway of the lounge room, and was again, was stunned, this time, at who was awake. It was Ulrich, who watching some anime on the T.V. Yumi expected him to sleep in until lunchtime, but that wasn't the case. Either way, he seemed happy to be watching the programme.

Yumi spun around and entered the kitchen. The kitchen was small for one, but it left enough space to cook and eat in there. She took a seat at the table in the middle of the kitchen, suddenly not feeling as hungry as she thought she was.

She stared blankly at the appliances, with her stomach constantly telling her to get up and make something for herself. However, her thoughts were preoccupied with the events that transpired last night.

Flashback

Yumi and her family were coming home from her father's business' presentation night. She was glad it was all over. It was extremely serious and boring, and her brother was almost driven to insanity by the boredom. Mostly, she annoyed that she had to wear a formal black dress, her mother's pearl necklace and bracelets and worse of all, black high heels she was forced to walk in.

She was sitting in the back seat of the car, on the right side, behind her mother, looking out the window. There wasn't really anything better she could do. Hiroki was playing his DS, focusing on killing off monsters. Her parents were chatting with each other, probably how they enjoyed the night, which she found hard to believe.

The car stopped at traffic lights, but her parents weren't fussed about stopping. They were taking their sweet old time to get home. Yumi shook her head and looked out her window, hoping for something interesting to happen on their slow trip home.

Suddenly, her eyes picked up a man punching an injured man in the stomach. That was something she didn't want to witness while heading home. But the person receiving the punch did not crumble down, but held his ground. Yumi was impressed by this guy's stamina, but knew that he would inevitably receive another attack.

However, there was something about this man that she recognised. She had seen one of her friends wear a darkish green jacket and blue jeans before. But with the bandage wrapped tightly around his head, it couldn't be the person she was thinking about.

Abruptly, the man was kicked in the head, facing her direction. Yumi blinked, but it was like taking a photograph of him. When she opened her eyes, the man had fallen onto the floor. The aggressor casually walked towards her, but then spun around to face the injured man.

A mental image of the photograph flashed before her eyes. She could clearly see the man's face… and quickly realised it was a boy and somebody close to her. She averted her eyes from the action and quickly undid her high heels. She needed to protect this poor boy from receiving more damage or he would be dead.

Once she removed the heels and had them dangling in her left hand, she looked up at the scene again. Her heart just skipped a beat. His attacker drew out a blade. He was going to die unless she intervened.

Without hesitating any longer, she pressed on the trigger that released her seatbelt and propelled herself out of the car. Ignoring her parents' calls, she sprinted across the road barefoot. She wished she wore something more loose fitting so she could reach the scene quicker.

Her feet contacted the footpath, as she handed one heel to her right hand, preparing for the worse as she charged into the scene. She then grabbed the toe area of the shoe and swang it across her body. The heel connected perfectly with the back of the attacker's head. He instantly dropped his weapon and fell forward.

Seeing that the aggressor was knocked out cold, Yumi knelt by the body of the victim and turned him over to face the sky. She was right about the person she thought she recognised. Ulrich Stern was the boy taking all the blows despite his injury to the head. He was clearly unconscious, probably due to the violent kick to the head.

She heard her parents parking the car in front of the alleyway, but her eyes remained focused on Ulrich, so concerned for his condition. At that moment, she couldn't comprehend why he was out here instead of being home with his parents. She questioned if something happened in their home, but then again, he wouldn't do something as dangerous as this. It was against his common sense.

"Yumi! Are you okay?" Her father asked in desperation.

Keeping her gaze on Ulrich, she responded distantly, "You should be more worried about Ulrich."

Takeo looked over Yumi's shoulder, finally spotting Ulrich. He remained in silence, afraid of how critical his condition was. He stared back at Akiko and Hiroki, who were just getting out of the car, worried how they would react when they saw Ulrich like this.

Yumi then heard her younger brother's voice ask their mother, "Why did Yumi just get out of the car for this?"

Yumi looked back at her mother and her younger sibling, clueless of what just transpired here. They were staring in the opposite direction, probably seeing something Yumi did not see earlier. Yumi decided to look the same way, finally noticing two other witnesses. Both were female and older than her. They were terrified.

"Ulrich!" Hiroki exclaimed.

Hiroki knelt next to Yumi, and rested his head against Ulrich's chest. Yumi could tell that he was devastated that his real live hero was knocked out by some nobody. She could hear her brother's whimpers, assuming he was crying.

And she refused to remember more of the incident. Her brother's tears were enough to get her feeling very emotional. She put her head in her hands, wondering why she had to put her family through all of it for one of her friends. But if she just ignored the violent event, Ulrich would've been dead.

At least, realising that she saved a life made her feel slightly better. Ulrich had always saved hers, either by protecting her from a fatal attack by people possessed by XANA or from falling into the Digital Sea. She felt like she returned the favour… without the need of a XANA attack to occur.

However, it wasn't the way she wanted to save his life. He looked like he already died when she rolled him over to see his handsome face. She felt like he was lucky to be alive at this present moment.

"Yumi?"

Yumi looked up and sighed in relief. She was glad that her father was addressing her, and not Ulrich. Ulrich was the last person she wanted to see after all.

"Hey Dad," Yumi stated.

"Are you alright?" Takeo enquired.

"I was just thinking," Yumi answered.

"About last night?"

"Yeah."

"Are you ready to tell me what Ulrich told you?"

Great. She completely forgot about that. However, it was a very good opportunity to get Ulrich out of her mind. She was relived that the terms of Ulrich's promise allowed her to tell her family about this. But then again, he probably kept that in mind.

"Yes. But… it was hard for me to hear this. Are you prepared?" Yumi asked.

Takeo sat down on the other end of the table and replied, "Certainly. Begin when you are ready."

For the next half an hour, Yumi retold Ulrich's story to her father. Takeo had his head lowered after she finished, a physical sign that he was finding all of this hard to swallow. He never thought Ulrich would go through all of this in one day. Deep inside, he wanted to help the poor boy get justice on his father, but his daughter warned him of the consequences. That they could be given a one way ticket back to Japan. His and his family's lives could be ruined just to protect a friend. And Ulrich's single life wasn't worth four lives. Despite this story though, he was happy that they brought Ulrich in for the night after hearing all of this. Otherwise, Ulrich could've easily died on the street last night.

As Yumi was explaining the details to her father, she felt constantly bothered about not being allowed to tell Jeremie, Aelita or Odd about it. Would they also be in danger if she repeated this story once again to them? Or was Ulrich too paranoid about the whole situation? Either way, she had to honour his word. Afraid that if she broke their promise, he would feel that he cannot trust anybody.

Several hours later, when the clock struck three in the afternoon, Yumi was watching her brother and Ulrich play some video games. It was great that Ulrich was keeping his mind off the traumatic chain of events he'd just been through. Especially since he had been playing with Hiroki for about two hours.

Ulrich was focused on beating Hiroki, as controlled his character to avoid Hiroki's character's attacks. Hiroki was inputting the same strategy, forcing a stalemate between the two boys. Sooner or later, one of them had to break the ice and do something different.

Noticing an item popping up nearby, Ulrich moved his character to the left quickly. Then, pressing the A button, he picked up the item, which he could throw at his opponent. Ulrich smirked.

Ulrich's character threw the item towards Hiroki's character, who was charging at him. Ulrich could feel his victory coming very soon. However, Hiroki's character caught the item and threw it back at Ulrich's character. Caught off guard, Ulrich's character was sent flying off the arena.

Frustrated, Ulrich threw his controller on the ground when the announcer shouted 'Game!'. He was so close to winning against Hiroki, but yet his cockiness preventing him from winning the match.

Hiroki looked up at Ulrich and shouted, "Yes! I won again! But wow, you really gave me a run for my money. Good game!"

"Good game," Ulrich stated distantly.

Yumi stared at Ulrich, growing concerned about him. Maybe he was still thinking about that night, hence why he seemed very competitive playing against Hiroki, even though it was only just a game.

Yumi's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by her mobile phone ringing. Ulrich and Hiroki averted their attention to her while she withdrew her mobile from her pocket. She pressed the green button and put the phone up to her ear without even looking at who called.

"Hello?"

"Hey Yumi," Jeremie's voice cheerily said.

"Hey. How are you?" Yumi asked.

"I'm great. Anyway, are your parents home?" Jeremie enquired.

"No, they went out shopping for groceries an hour ago. Why?"

"Can you come to the Factory right now?"

"Sure. I'll see you there soon."

"Bye."

Yumi pulled her mobile away from her ear and pressed the red button. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and stood up from her seat. Ulrich also stood up, sensing that he was going to go back to Kadic Academy. It was past three in the afternoon, and usually his parents would drop him off at four in the afternoon the day before school began.

"Who was it?" Hiroki enquired.

Taking a glance at Ulrich, Yumi responded, "It was Jeremie. He was getting worried about Ulrich. I think he usually gets back to Kadic at about two o'clock. So, he has to leave now."

"Awww. I was having so much fun with him," Hiroki groaned.

"Can you do a favour for me Hiroki?" Ulrich asked.

"What is it?"

"Tell your parents that I'm very, very grateful for their hospitality… and their kindness too. I know it isn't much to say but… I just don't know what else I can say to them," Ulrich replied.

"Don't sweat it Ulrich! My parents will understand what you mean," Hiroki reassured.

"Thanks," Ulrich said, feeling a little bit more confident, "Let's go Yumi."

Fifteen minutes later, Yumi and Ulrich were taking the elevator down to the Supercomputer Laboratory. Both of them remained silent during the trip down to the room, looking forward to see their friends again. But there was nothing much they could say to each other.

They already planned how they would explain Ulrich's head injury, which was using his mother's excuse for it. It sounded like a very legitimate excuse, even though it didn't happen at all.

Soon, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened slowly in front of them. Once they were opened enough, Ulrich and Yumi walked through the doorway, waving to their friends. Jeremie, Aelita and Odd gasped in surprise that Ulrich was with Yumi, not expecting him to arrive with her at all. Jeremie jumped out of his seat to greet the two of them.

"Hey. It's great to see you both here," Jeremie declared.

"It's good to be here," Ulrich stated.

"What happened to your head Ulrich? Did you hurt yourself on something?" Aelita enquired.

"Actually it was pretty bad. I was walking around the block until some mongrels forced me into their car and made me poke my head out of it. My head was like a baseball bat hitting signs. Well, that was until one sign cut me near by temple. My mother witnessed most of it and called the ambulance and the police. I was lucky to be alive and those idiots were arrested," Ulrich lied.

"Ouch. How many stitches did you get?" Odd asked.

"Over a hundred at least," Ulrich answered.

"Wow, and the bandage is there to prevent the stitches from coming undone?"

"Yeah. It'll be fully healed in a week's time."

"Good, because that look doesn't look great on you," Aelita quipped.

"I'm aware of that," Ulrich responded.

"Hey guys," Jeremie called.

The group directed their attention to their Einstein, waiting for him to announce something big. However, Aelita felt that he only called for their attention because Ulrich's unexpected appearance stole what they're meant to be gathered here for.

"Sorry to interrupt and all, but there's big news regarding the multi-agent system," Jeremie announced.

"Well, what is it?" Yumi enquired.

"Franz Hopper has decided to help me with the project. He managed to find a place in the network where he's certain that XANA won't find him for a while," Jeremie replied.

"How did my father manage that?" Aelita questioned.

"I have no idea, but at least Franz Hopper is safe as long as you don't fall into the Digital Sea," Jeremie began, "Anyway, now since Franz Hopper is going to help me with the multi-agent program, it's cut the time of the project down drastically too."

"What do you mean by drastically?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, Franz Hopper just saved me eleven months of-" Jeremie began to answer.

"Eleven months! Do multi-agent programs really take that long to make?" Odd exclaimed.

"Since I'm creating several hundreds and thousands of agents, yes, it does take that long to make by yourself," Jeremie retorted.

"So, do you have an idea when it will be completed?" Yumi enquired.

"About a month, providing that I work on it constantly in my spare time. But, there's still a long way to go on it," Jeremie answered.

The group acknowledged Jeremie. It was a fantastic program Jeremie was working on, especially with the Skidbladnir recently destroyed, they could use something to annihilate the remaining hundred Replikas. Then they would have XANA right where they want him.

However, the program required tremendous work to be done. Aelita grew worried about Jeremie, knowing that he would spend many days and nights typing away at the program, without getting any substance and sleep. He would damage his health and when the time did come to activate the program, he could probably not fight against XANA.

But that worry subsided when she started speaking to her friends, especially towards Yumi, where she felt extremely happy to talk to another girl. It certainly made her feel better hearing what happened during her long weekend. Of course, Yumi didn't tell her that Ulrich slept over at her house last night, nor what happened to him.

After some time, Yumi looked at her watch, checking the time. She'd realised that she had been out from her home for half an hour, fifteen minutes too much.

"Alright, I have to go home now. My brother's going to get worried about me," Yumi announced and began walking away from her friends.

"Right. See you tomorrow Yumi," Jeremie responded.

"Say hi to Hiroki for me!" Odd shouted.

"I will!" Yumi yelled back as she pressed the button to open the elevator.

Ulrich ran across the room, calling out, "Wait!"

Yumi spun around, seeing Ulrich approach her quickly. He stopped immediately, not realising he was invading her personal space. He looked down at fingernails, scratching them before facing Yumi.

"Yumi, can you still not mention anything I told you about last night?" Ulrich asked.

"Of course. You held me to it," Yumi answered.

"Right, right. Um… I also want to thank you, for everything you've done for me," Ulrich replied nervously.

"You're welcome Ulrich. But next time… can you not stand too close to me. You're making a scene and it's kind of implying something is between us," Yumi retorted.

Ulrich took a step back from Yumi and reassured her, "There's nothing between us. We're just the best of friends, and that's all."

As he finished his sentence, the elevator doors opened up for Yumi. She entered the elevator, then spun around to face him. She pressed the button on the elevator to go up, and stared at Ulrich as the doors began to close.

"Look after yourself Ulrich. I'll see you tomorrow," Yumi stated.

Ulrich only waved in response, watching the elevator doors close in front of him. The first door soon trapped Yumi in the large elevator, making him sigh. He wished she could stay for longer.

"So, how did it go Casanova?" Odd enquired cheekily.

"I wasn't asking Yumi out, we were just talking," Ulrich maintained.

"Talking? Yeah right," Odd retorted.

"Whatever I say, you're not going to believe me," Ulrich argued back.

"Guys, let's just head back. Dinner's going to be served in two hours and we all need to catch up," Aelita declared.

"Great idea! I'm going to tell Loverboy here about all the pranks we pulled off yesterday!" Odd exclaimed.

"Odd, I'm not in love!" Ulrich protested.

"Too late Ulrich. Once Odd's got something in mind, you'd have to convince him real good to prove your point," Jeremie responded.

Jeremie and Aelita laughed at Ulrich's misery, while Ulrich just grimaced, trying not to laugh at himself. At least, that helped him greatly to keep his mind off the negative things in his life. It also helped him keep the events of the whole weekend a big secret from the rest of his friends.

It brought Ulrich peace of mind that it was much easier protecting them by not feeding them any information, than revealing everything to them. Even though he hated to lie to them, he believed it was for a good cause. After all, if his father ever were to find out, they would be in huge danger.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Yumi looked back at the Factory. She was relieved that the fight against XANA could all be over in a month. She wouldn't have to sneak out of her parents' house or lie to them anymore just to fight off an ambitious A.I. She could return to her normal life.

However, Ulrich's story lingered on her mind. That devastating story of betrayal, hurt and mistrust still left Yumi shaken just by imagining his father's actions on both him and his mother. How could somebody control their family like this? How could they sleep at night not regretting a single thing they did?

Yumi began to regret keeping this story a secret. She felt the heavy burden of that night rest on her shoulders. Although she wasn't there, she was starting to feel the pain of it throughout her body. Even though she did tell her father this earlier, he just wasn't the right person to tell. She would rather hand this information to her friends, who had every right to know this.

But the threat of the normal life that she knew could be ruined if Ulrich's father ever were to find out. All of a sudden, she felt like she was trapped in an emotional prison. All thanks to a promise that also weighed heavily on her. This all began when she decided to save Ulrich's life.

Thanks to her actions, she was stuck in the middle. She didn't want this. She didn't want everything that Ulrich had been through. Little did she know, that this was going to be the least of her problems.

Author's Notes: Wow, what a chapter! This time it was actually shorter than I expected, but it did have a lot in it.

A lot of events in this chapter have changed, especially earlier in the chapter. The biggest change was switching the flashback scene to this chapter from chapter three and Ulrich's frustration to chapter three from this chapter.

The changes happened because this was mainly a Yumi-centric chapter. After all, it's has been an all about Ulrich show until this point. The idea of this chapter was to show how events affect other people other than the direct victim. Yumi also is close to Ulrich, so she was the perfect character to take the attention away from Ulrich for a short while.

And the game that Ulrich and Hiroki were playing was Super Smash Bros. Melee. I was going to put in Brawl, but due to Code Lyoko being set between mid-2004 to early 2007 (As one of the Jeremie stated in 'A Lack of Goodwill' they fought XANA for two years and they had their Christmas holidays at the start of 'Distant Memory') and Super Smash Brawl being released in June 2008 in European countries, it wouldn't make sense to put Brawl in the story.

And that's Chapter 4. I hope you'd enjoyed it, and I hope you guys look forward to the next chapter!