At This Unique Distance From Isolation 

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<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/1980624"><strong>At This Unique Distance From Isolation</strong></a> (702 words) by <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulJelly"><strong>SoulJelly</strong></a><br />Chapters: 1/1<br />Fandom: <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Code%20Lyoko">Code Lyoko</a>, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Code%20Lyoko%20Evolution">Code Lyoko Evolution</a><br />Rating: General Audiences<br />Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply<br />Characters: Yumi Ishiyama, Elisabeth "Sissi" Delmas<br />Additional Tags: Angst, Female-Centric, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon<br />Summary: <p>Yumi and Sissi have grown close, but XANA's return threatens to pull them apart again.</p>

Yumi and Sissi have grown close, but XANA\'s return threatens to pull them apart again.

Sissi\'s whisper comes soft and slightly hoarse through the darkness, almost hidden in the sound of rumpling bedsheets as she shifts position. Yumi\'s back is to her and she stays curled like that, drowsy and warm, staring unfocused at the slanted rectangle of moonlight on her bedroom wall.

Yumi shivers slightly as a hand taps her shoulder, though the skin isn\'t cold. Then Sissi\'s voice is close enough to tickle her ear; she breathes in strawberry shampoo and hears, more persistently;

The older girl mumbles a reply, kicking her feet out as she rolls over and, accidentally exposing the end of her body to the cold room, draws herself quickly back in with her knees to her chest. She shakes her hair out of her eyes and faces Sissi, so close that wide brown eyes fill most of her range of vision. She can see the faint freckles on the bridge of Sissi\'s nose and a minute blemish on the skin below her eyebrow.

Reluctantly Yumi peels herself away from the pillow and sits up, drawing the blankets to her chin to keep out the rush of cold air from the rest of the room. She casts her gaze into the dimness, relishing a few moments of peace before the questions start. She sees Sissi\'s bag and coat in the corner, the little heart-print case with her toiletries in it; a few escaped pieces of popcorn on the floor, and the empty wrapper scrunched beside a pile of movies.

"You\'re drifting again," says Sissi quietly. Yumi turns to see her pressed back against the pillows. Sissi picks at an imaginary spot on the blankets and says no more.

"I\'m…" Yumi sighs. "I\'m sorry, Sissi, things are-"

"You know you can talk to me, right? We\'re- we\'re friends now."

Yumi can\'t help but notice the way Sissi still stumbles over the word, afraid that admittance will stop it being true. They\'re still quiet, mindful not to wake Yumi\'s family (though Yumi thinks her mother wouldn\'t mind too much; they\'re so pleased to see Yumi with more female friends, and the kind who like sleepovers and shopping and encouraging Yumi to wear more things that aren\'t black) and with the rest of the world asleep, there\'s nowhere to hide.

As Sissi says this, she hunches her shoulders up against her ears, blocking out some anticipated truth. Yumi sinks back into the pillows and leans her head against her, so Sissi feels the shaking of Yumi\'s head against her shoulder, and she relaxes slightly.

Yumi draws another deep breath, releasing it slowly in a heavy exhale.

"But you\'ve been wandering off again." The words out in the open now, they leave her in a rush as though she\'s afraid that if she doesn\'t say them now, she never will. "You weren\'t at lunch yesterday, or the day before. I haven\'t seen anyone outside of class for a week. Ulrich, Odd, Jérémie and Aelita always rush off." She pauses a fraction, then adds so softly that Yumi can barely hear it, "I don\'t think they like me any more."

Yumi examines her hands, paler than usual in the moonlight, and thinks about the source codes. She imagines them like bacteria, ugly foreign bodies swimming in her bloodstream. The very idea of them has her struggling not to panic, and her heart beats faster in her chest, skin crawling with the invasiveness of them. Worst of all perhaps, is that they\'re not even destroying her body, but instead chipping away at the life she\'s cultivated for herself.

Sissi presses against her, arm slipping around Yumi\'s waist in a half-hug.

me, this time?" she mumbles into Yumi\'s shirt.

Her hands find Sissi\'s in the darkness and Sissi threads their fingers together, as though a crowded mall is about to separate them, or Sissi is just a little too scared by the movie Odd\'s forced them to watch.

How to answer, without saying more than she can allow?

A shadow flits over the moon; for a brief moment they are in darkness.

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