Always there

Yumi was in shock. Ulrich had appeared out of nowhere at her door, soaking wet, while she was covered with nothing more than a towel, proclaimed his love and pulled her into an embrace and was now kissing her. She was still processing the the event before she realized she was kissing him back.

They remained like that, locked in a kiss of nothing but love, for almost two minutes. They broke the kiss for a moment to breath and locked eyes. Then Ulrich's cell phone rang. He answered it without breaking eye-contact with Yumi. "Hello?" he asked.

"Hey Ulrich! Did you-" Odd said before Ulrich hung up the phone. Then Yumi leaned forward and they kissed again before-

"Alright!" Hiroki yelled from the door. Ulrich and Yumi blushed and turned to look at the entrance to Yumi's room. Standing their was her little brother with a big 'its about time' grin on his face, her mother with an 'oh dear' expression, and her father with a 'what the fuck do you think you are doing with my daughter' expression.

"Mr. Stern." Mr. Ishiyama said with his arms crossed and a vein visible in his temple, "I do believe this is a less-than-appropriate time for you to have your arms around my daughter." That's when Ulrich realized that Yumi was in a towel.

"Oh. Um, yes sir." he said respectfully. He turned to Yumi, his face as red as hers. "Um, I'll, uh, see you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah. See ya." Yumi said as Ulrich turned to walk out of the room. Yumi's family stepped aside to let him out.

"Mr. Stern, I'll drive you back to school. You shouldn't be walking in this weather." her father said with a tone that suggested saying 'no' would be a bad idea.

"Um, thank you sir." Ulrich said with a sheepish smile. Mr. Ishiyama led him out to his car in the garage and soon they were on their way.

"Well, Mr. Stern," Yumi's father said, "Do you mind if I call you Ulrich?"

"Not at all sir." Ulrich said.

"Well, Ulrich," Mr. Ishiyama continued, "I am relieved that Yumi has chosen a fine young man such as yourself to call 'boyfriend.'" Ulrich blushed some more against his will. Yumi's father continued, "Needless to say, I approve of her choice; I approve of you. But also know that I wish to see my Yumi happy. So it would be in your best interests to not do anything to her that would harm her physically or emotionally." he looked at Ulrich.

Ulrich met his gaze and held it. Then he said, with all of the seriousness and finality he had gained through his battles with Xana, "I swear that I would never do anything to harm Yumi and I will do anything to keep her from harm." Mr. Ishiyama analyzed him for another moment. He had to admit he was impressed at how seriously this young man took the situation.

"Alright." he said, looking back at the rain swept roads, "I believe you. Now I believe it is time to set some ground rules for my daughter's and your 'relationship. One; whenever the two of you 'go out' I expect her home no later then ten o'clock on school nights, midnight on weekends. And two; if you do anything 'inappropriate' to my daughter, I will break your legs with my bare hands." he said as seriously as Ulrich had.

"I understand." Ulrich said, "I would never do anything to dishonor Yumi or her family." After a moment Mr. Ishiyama smiled.

"I always knew my daughter was smart. And after finding a young man like you, that just proves it." The car stopped at the entrance to the campus. Yumi's father reached into the glove compartment and handed Ulrich an umbrella. "Just give it back to Yumi tomorrow and she'll bring it home." he said with a smile. "Goodbye, Ulrich. I suspect I will be seeing more of you from now on." Ulrich smiled, opened the umbrella, and left the car.