A/N: Hello! Welcome to Necessity of Virtue, a Code Lyoko story. I'm going through the process of editing so this is the first of many edited chapters. Now you won't have to go through my horrible old writing, long author notes and bad grammar. This chapter may seem extremely long but its just this chapter that's super long, I promise. The rest should be half of this length. If you're just joining us, then welcome! If you're re-reading, welcome back! I hope you enjoy. -A.A

"Ulrich, wake up," Ulrich Stern's mother said as she opened the door to her son's bedroom to see him sprawled amongst the covers, "or you'll miss your flight to France." Even if he didn't like it, in fact he was partly hoping his mother forgot about the Sunday morning flight Ulrich had to take to go to Kadic Academy. Groggily, he rolled in his bed and scratched his head as his mother flipped the light on and temporarily blinded him. Shielding his eyes, he made his way slowly out of bed. Ulrich yawned and rubbed at his face as he grunted, a loving way to say 'thank you mom, you're the best for remembering,' and headed for the shower. He found his mother again in the kitchen after his quick shower and quickly getting dressed. As he sat down to eat breakfast, she laid down his ticket and school schedule next to him on the table.

"Here you go, darling," she said in a soft voice, patting his head a couple times, "Oh and don't forget, you have to swing over to your aunt's house to pick up Katherine." Ulrich groaned and dropped his fork as he was about to finish his plate of scrambled eggs covering with ketchup, "But Ma! Why can't she just go by herself? Why do I have to pick her up? We're the same age, after all." His mother shook her head, wagging her finger at him.

"Doesn't matter, Ulrich. Same age or not, you will be nice to her. I promised your Aunt Julie that you would pick her up and get to her to the plane, that's all. She's a big girl, but it's her first year at Kadic, sweetheart and we have to help family, okay?" He rolled his eyes and continued to groan as he picked up his plate and put it into the sink, taking his ticket and schedule.

"I really don't want to, Ma."

"Your father will be very disappointed in you if I call him at work and say you don't want to pick up your cousin. Do you want that, Ulrich Stern?" He stopped in his tracks, halfway to his luggage and sighed. She pulled the father card, again. His ultimate defeat. He shook his head.

"No," he said, "Alright, I guess I don't have a choice. Bye mom." The taxicab outside beeped, signaling its arrival as he kissed his mom goodbye and promised to call when they landed. He grabbed his luggage and headed out, closing the door behind him.

Katherine sat on her doorstep, hugging her knees as she waited. Her palms were sweaty and clammy as they shook in her grasp. She wasn't nervous about the living in a completely different country. She wasn't even terrified about starting a completely new school. The aspect that terrified her to the core, to her very bone and tissue, was the people. The people of the new area, or anywhere for that matter, was mortifying. She wasn't as social as Ulrich, or at all. She hadn't gotten out much in her 15 years. Mainly because she became so nervous around new people, she would freeze up and stammer with her words. But she wanted this to be different. She wanted to try to be social, and that's why she was so terrified as Ulrich pulled up in a taxi cab, opening the window and waved her over. It was getting closer and closer to be trying to be social, to trying to be friendly. But, she wanted it. She had to try. Katherine quickly tied her dark brown hair up into a bun, and smiled softly as she stood up, grabbing her luggage. She put her luggage into the truck and opened the door, sitting next to Ulrich.

"Hey Ulrich," she said, smiling at him, "how've you been?" He nodded, smiling back at her but he didn't look at her. His eyes remained straight ahead.

"Hi there, Katherine. I'm good, what about you?" She nodded back, her fingers pulling at her sweater, twirling them around the fabric. The two didn't say anything further. In fact, most times, the cousins never really said anything to each other. Whenever Ulrich was dragged to Aunt Julie's house with his parents, her parents always had the same excuse for Katherine's exclusion. She was always studying. To them she was, at least. In reality, she sat at her desk, pretending to do work to avoid saying hi to the family.

Some 8 hours and 2 naps later, the pair landed in France. With Ulrich slept soundly next to her, Katherine could barely keep her eyes closed for a minute, in fear of something happening while she was sleeping and in the air. She nudged him lightly on the shoulder, he groaned and twitched.

"Ulrich, we landed," she said softly, "You have to get up." He grunted in response, and stretched like a lazy cat, his eyes closed still. He yawned and squinted his eyes open, the bright light blinding him twice. He nodded and struggled up in his seat, rubbing his eyes. He looked at her, his eyes adjusted to the light. There was a slight tinge of dark under her eyes from lack of sleep and a glint of something else in her brown colored eyes. She was exhausted, he thought. She was such a baby. The two grabbed their luggage, made their way through customs and headed for the cab provided by the Academy. Katherine's palms began to sweat as they neared the gates of Kadic, her heart pumped loudly as she tried to control her breathing.

"Ulrich," she breathed and turned her head to meet his gaze when he looked at her, "I'm nervous." Ulrich's hard expression softened at the sight of her on the verge of a panic attack. She wasn't a baby. Katherine was just scared; she was terrified of what awaited her. She never did something like this before. He gave her reassuring smile and patted her on the shoulder.

"It's going to be okay, Katherine." She nodded, returning a smile while her brain screamed (run! run while you still can!). But she didn't. She stayed, even when the cab came to a halt in front of the school and Ulrich was already opening the door to his side and getting out. She stayed. She followed Ulrich and stepped out of the cab.

After dropping off Katherine at her room, and meeting Jim for the first time of that semester (and certainly not that last time) to get the key to her room. She thanked him and let him leave because she wanted to take a nap. Jet lag was beginning to take over Ulrich's body as well, but he still wanted to see his friends. He missed them. But, where would they be? At that moment, his phone rang. He flipped it open and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey roomie, did you get to school yet?" Ulrich smiled as he heard his best friend, Odd on the other end.

"You're still alive, it's a miracle," he said and heard Odd laugh.

"Oh believe me. My sisters wanted to use me all summer for their weird girl experiments. It's a definite miracle that I'm alive." The two shared a hearty laugh.

"Where are you?" asked Odd, "I'm with the others in the plaza." Funnily, Ulrich was just entering the courtyard as Odd spoke and spotted the tall blonde hair of his short roommate from a meter away. Next to him, Ulrich already spotted the pink hair that belonged to Aelita.

"Turn around, Odd." He watched as his roommate slowly turned around, looking to his left and his right until Odd's eyes met Ulrich's. Odd smiled brightly and waved him over. Ulrich chuckled as the others saw him when he walked up to them. He waved at them until his eyes landed on Yumi Ishiyama, the girl he was madly in love with. But of course he would never admit it, not out loud at least. She didn't care about him, and he didn't want to make it awkward for the others of the group. But, seeing her after an entire summer away, he felt a warmth rise in his chest and in his cheeks.

"Hi," he said to her and she smiled at him, he felt his heart skip a beat.

"Hey Ulrich, how was your summer?"

It was nice," he said simply, unsure of what else to say. His summer was really uneventful without his friends and fights on Lyoko. To avoid the awkward silence, Ulrich turned to Jeremy.

"So genius, any news on Lyoko?" Jeremy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"Nope, nothing at all. It's actually a little weird. It's been relatively quiet all summer."

"That's weird," Yumi agreed, "Do you think it's gone? Will it come back?" Jeremy shrugged and said he had no idea, it was possible. Odd shrugged and waved off his comment with a chuckle.

"That's all I needed to hear," he said, "No XANA, more reason for me to head over to the cafeteria to eat." The others laughed and followed him, except Ulrich.

"You guys go ahead, I'm going to go to my room." Odd chuckled at his friend and nudged him playfully.

"Are you sure there's not a girl you're going to see right now, buddy?" Ulrich laughed and shivered slightly at the thought of the only girl that came to mind. Katherine, his cousin. That would definitely be creepy. Thanks Odd, Ulrich thought, for that disturbing thought. He shook his head and yawned.

"No, no girl," Ulrich said, stealing a glance at Yumi. Their eyes met and Yumi immediately looked away. There wasn't another girl in his thoughts besides her, the girl he was madly in love with, "I'm just going to get some sleep. The flight made me all jet lagged." The others nodded and he waved them goodbye as they headed to the cafeteria with a very jumpy Odd, always excited to eat. Ulrich continued to have a smile plastered on his face as he walked to his dorm and claimed his bed, the one on the right side of the door. Without setting up his sheets or unpacking even a little, he collapsed on the bed. Exhaustion swept over him, despite sleeping on the plane, as his biological clock had not yet become accustomed to the time difference. France and America were far from each other, but Ulrich felt more at home here, at Kadic. This is where he had friends and now he had family here as well. He thought of Katherine before falling asleep and wondered what she was doing, if she was sleeping just as he was. He worried for her and he felt ashamed of pushing her away all these years. He would make it up to her soon enough. he wanted his cousin to be just as happy as he was at Kadic Academy.

The next day, the students were thrilled to begin their first day of classes. Thrilled is the wrong term to use, devastated and lazy is better. They dragged themselves to their classes, or Ulrich had drag Odd all the way from his bed to class. The two were now in their shared Physics class and sat down next to each other on one of the lab tables near the back of the classroom. Odd yawns and scratches his head, stretching his arms as he prepared for his nap. He didn't bother paying attention in class, it simply goes to one ear and out the other. Why bother?

"Hey," Odd said as he laid his head on his arms for his nap, "Do you feel any better? You were really tired from the jet lag. You were out like a light all night." Ulrich chuckled and nodded, not noticing when their teacher for the class, Mrs. Hertz, walked in and began her lesson.

"Yeah," he replied, "I feel so much better. But you know Odd, you're the last person to talk about being out like a light. I'm the one that had to drag you here." The two laughed together and Odd, with a lingering smile, closed his eyes to begin his transition into dreamland. He was slowly beginning to drift, forgetting his surroundings and began to believe that his desk was actually a giant slab of chocolate.

"Mr. Della Robbia!" Just as Odd was beginning to gnaw and chew at his desk made of chocolate, he heard the distant voice of Mrs. Hertz dragging him out of reality. He groaned and lifted his head, wiping the drool that fell down his chin. He looked at her as she stood in front of the class.

"How nice of you to finally join us Mr. Della Robbia," Mrs. Hertz said, "Now, please answer the question." Odd looked around and saw Ulrich next to him, snickering. Odd leaned a little to the left, towards Ulrich.

"What is she talking about?" he whispered to his best friend. Ulrich shrugged.

"I have no idea." Great, Odd thought. Just great. He looked back at Mrs. Hertz as she expected his answer. He could hear her tapping her heels against the hard floor rapidly, waiting impatiently. Without another word from Odd, Mrs. Hertz knew he didn't know what they were talking about, but regardless she wanted to hear his answer. So, she repeated the question to him with a frustrated sigh.

"Stone A and Stone B are thrown horizontally off the top of a cliff. A's initial velocity is 15 m/s while B's initial velocity is 30 m/s. Why would they reach the ground at the same time with negligible air resistance?"

He looked around, hoping that someone might have the answer etched on their face, but he saw no help. Odd had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. He had no idea how to answer it.

"Here is one you might know, Odd. Which one of my students is about to come to fail my class if he does not come to detention today?" With a pang in his chest, a sense of disappointment coursed through him. But, he knew it would have eventually happened.

"Me?" Mrs. Hertz nodded and smiled, "Precisely. Finally, a correct answer from you." After a few moments of silence, a hand slowly made its way into the air. It trembled gently the longer it stayed up in the air until finally, Mrs. Hertz noticed it.

"Yes?"

"I-I know the answer," the girl that the hand belonged to said softly. Mrs. Hertz raised her one of her eyebrows and eyed the girl curiously.

"Oh really? Then please, tell the class the answer, Miss Katherine."

"Um, since the throw is horizontal that means that their initial downward velocity is zero. S-So, both will land at the same time," she said with a soft voice. Mrs. Hertz looked at her, surprised and nodded in approval.

"Nicely done, Katherine. You've done extremely well your first day," Mrs. Hertz complimented before going on with her lesson. She continued to drone on about momentum and velocity, making them answer a few questions on their own until the bell rang and everyone rushed out.

The next day at lunch, the Lyoko Warriors were telling each other about their classes so far. Odd explained what happened earlier in physics, completely trying to defend himself for not knowing the answer. His reasoning for falling asleep was that Mrs. Hertz speaks at one word per minute. There was some science in his explanation, so he was proud of himself and treated himself to some of spaghetti lunch.

"So, Einstein" he said to Jeremy as he nudged him playfully, "Ready for gym next class?" With a groan, Jeremy shook his head, lowering it as he pushed around his food with a fork.

"Of course not," he replied, "I'd much rather be on my laptop then run laps with Jim." Odd laughed and nudged him again, trying to cheer him up. Yumi laughed as well but as she looked from her group, her frown faded.

"Hey," she said, "Isn't that Ulrich over there? With that girl?" The others looked over to see what she saw. Indeed, it was Ulrich. He walked alongside a girl with dark brown hair. The two sat down at one of the other lunch tables. Ulrich sat across from her as they spoke. They smiled at each other and Yumi could feel a pang in her chest. She knew that he didn't know about her feelings for him, but either way the sight of seeing him with someone else, another girl, made her heart break. But the group didn't know either. Odd nodded, turning back to them and returning his attention to his spaghetti.

"Yeah," he said with a mouthful of spaghetti, "Her name's Katherine. She's in the our physics class." He swallowed the spaghetti and shrugged, "She's kind of cute, good for him." It was good for him, Odd thought. It was better to move on if Ulrich wasn't going to confess to Yumi. But she didn't hear what Odd said, she continued to glance at Ulrich and the new girl she had never seen before.

Meanwhile, Ulrich sat with Katherine and she looked at him as he glanced at the table a few rows behind them. She sighed and gestured to them.

"Ulrich, go sit with your friends." His head snapped back to face his cousin. Ulrich pouted at her, but Katherine didn't seem fazed by it.

"What? You don't want to spend time with me?" Katherine shook her head, dropping her eyes to her book and grabbed it. She ran her hands over the spine of the book. She'd rather read her book alone in a room filled with people chatting away than force him to spend time with her just because of they were cousins.

"You want to be with them, Ulrich. Just go. I'll be fine," Katherine reasoned. Ulrich didn't move, which partially annoyed her because he was being stubborn. He never listened.

"Why do you say that? You're my cousin, of course I want to spend time with you," he defended. Katherine noticed that despite what he said, he still managed to sneak a glance at his friends. She sighed and smiled.

"Says the person who's been looking across the room for over 5 minutes. Seriously Ulrich," she said, "It's okay. Just go. You did what you had to do. You brought me here, I can take care of myself." Ulrich thought for a moment. She had a point, he thought. He did his part and fulfilled his mother's wishes. He brought her to Kadic in one piece but he also promised that he would make Kadic as special for her as it was for him. He intended to fulfill this promise as well.

"Come sit with us, Katherine," he offered. Katharine shook her head, and began to flip through the pages of her book to find the last page she read. She would just be a burden to his friends and she didn't want to bother him.

"I told you, you did what you had to do," Katharine insisted, "You don't have to baby me, Ulrich." Ulrich chuckled and reached with his hand to hers that was flipping through the pages. He smiled as he held her hand warmly.

"I'm not babying you, Katharine. I want to spend more time with you, I never got the chance back home. Come on, please?" He pleaded her. She looked at their hands and Katharine felt a warm feeling in her chest, acceptance. She looked back toward his friends and knew that they were looking at them too, of course they would. Their friend wasn't with them. She knew that she would be a burden to his friend but she also knew that Ulrich wouldn't take no as an answer.

She agreed and Ulrich's face broke out into a wide smile as he got up from his seat. Still holding onto her hand, he pulled her out of her seat and dragged her over to the other Lyoko Warriors. And then, she was in front of his four friends. Ulrich sat down and Katharine squeezed down next to him as Ulrich gestured to a slim blonde boy with round glasses.

"This is Jeremy Belpois," Ulrich said as Jeremy smiled and waved awkwardly. Ulrich then turned to a girl with short bright pink hair and soft eyes. The girl smiled sweetly at Katharine and waved at her and introduced herself as Aelita Stones. Katharine returned Aelita's smile shyly. Katharine's eyes followed Ulrich as he then turned to another girl, this time with shoulder length ebony hair and a piercing gaze.

"This -uh- this is Yumi I-Ishiyama." Katharine smiled shyly and waved at Yumi but received nothing in return.

"Um, you're Japanese, right?" Katharine asked, her voice a little too high from her nerves. She just didn't want to come off as a mute or weird, she wanted to be different then who she was back home. But, Yumi didn't reply. She nodded slowly, but didn't say anything. Moving on, Ulrich turned to the boy next to him and Katharine had to lean closer in to see properly with Ulrich in the way. What caught her attention to this boy was a lot of things, but the main one was his hair, It was blonde like Jeremy's but the boy's hair was completely spiked up, defying the laws of gravity with a purple streak in the middle. He smiled at her, his grin taking up most of his face. She knew his face. He was in her gym class as well as some of Ulrich's other friends. But she remembered his face because they raced against each other, as Jim, the teacher, told them to. She won, but she remembered his face.

"Hi," the boy said to her, smiling, "I'm Odd. I never had a chance to introduce myself before. You were too fast! I couldn't keep up." Katharine smiled and let out a giggle. Ulrich coughed and turned the attention back to him.

"Guys," he said to his friends, "This is my cousin, Katharine. She just transferred here." Katharine noticed Yumi's eyes widen slightly as she gaped at the two cousins, trying to find some kind of resemblance. She knew the rest of his friends were doing the same. It was okay though, Katharine thought. No one would have guessed that they were related if it weren't for their names.

"She's your cousin?" Odd questioned. Ulrich nodded and put his arm around Katharine's shoulder and smiled.

"Yeah, her parents thought it would be a good idea since Kadic is such a good school and Katharine's a genius. Plus, I'm here so they thought we could bond while we're here," Ulrich explained. Odd laughed and put a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth.

"Considering your friends, Ulrich, that may have been a bad idea."