A/N: This is a Seto/Jou story but the pairing is not the center of the fic.


A Ceiling of Glass


Preface


Her name was Sara Wright. She graduated from Harvard School of Medicine and moved to Japan to work as a general practitioner in understaffed hospitals. She found quickly that she couldn't stand the dull repetitiveness of dealing with snotty-nosed kids, seniors who thought they were having a heart attack when in reality they had heartburn, and teenage girls wanting birth control.

So she accepted what most would consider a demotion to work as a paramedic. Driving and working in the ambulances, helping to save lives on a daily basis, it was work she never regretted until one day.

"We're an ambulance. We save lives, we don't escort dead bodies."

Her supervisor sighed. "Please, Sara, we're over booked. Just bring him here."

They arrived at the school shortly after. Sara steeled herself to find the body of a child. In a way, what she found was worse.

A teenage boy, maybe three or four years younger than she, lay dead on the floor of the school library. His wrists were slit several times but he had one hand behind his hand and the other resting on his stomach. If it weren't for the pools of blood, he would look like he was taking a nap.

He was even smiling.

Sara felt tears well up in her eyes.

This boy had committed suicide and died with a smile on his face.


Chapter 1


May 20, Wednesday, 11:37 a.m.

"Come on, lunch time..."

"Cheering it on won't it come faster, mutt."

Yami rolled his eyes. Though Kaiba's words weren't gentle, they also held no malice. Jou, for once, didn't respond but kept on cheering the clock. The teacher was ignoring the class, having given them the last fifteen minutes to work on their projects.

Pre-calculus had always been one of his worst subjects but with Kaiba and Jou as his partners, the project was set up for perfection. Jou had never listened to Yami's praise of his math work and since Yami was horrible at math, it was understandable. But when Kaiba praised him, it had warmed Yami to see Jou's face light up. Of course, he'd coughed and insulted Kaiba which caused the CEO to shake his head.

But the insults has slowed as the project continued.

Only Yami knew that Jou kept an account of how many times Kaiba had said his name instead of 'mutt.'

"Jounouchi-san,"

Yami smiled. Speak of the devil. Jou still laughed at the '-san.'

"Yes, Kaiba-san?" Jou replied with a bit of a smile.

Kaiba gave something between a head shake and an eye roll but immediately began speaking math so Yami began tuning the two out, drawing a poor likeness of the Dark Magician on his notebook.

The bell rang and Jou was out the door, leading the race to the cafeteria to make sure he got the best pick of everything...completely forgetting he'd brought his lunch that day. Kaiba leaned down and picked up the brown bag Jou had left on the floor as well at neatly organizing the work they'd done that day. Kaiba was adamant on finishing the project early.

Yami pulled his pack over his shoulder as Kaiba picked up his laptop bag. Side by side they walked to the cafeteria where Jou was now mourning the fact that he had no money for lunch while Anzu offered to share her tempura. Kaiba joined them long enough to return Joey's lost lunch before taking his usual table and setting up his laptop.

A few minutes later, Mokuba came jogging over from the middle school and began his daily attempt to join the tables which ended as it always did.

With Mokuba running back and forth.

Mokuba jumped over to our table and grinned, immediately part of the conversation, wolfing down his sandwich between comments. The smell of tuna wafted around but it wasn't bad. Mokuba had told them a hundred times that his brother made the best tuna salad.

Kaiba himself was eating tuna salad out of a plastic container and drinking milk while making notes on paper for once.

Kaiba had odd tastes, Yami mused.


Kaiba moved over the notebook before him with a pencil, making short notes and checking off things as they had happened

Mokuba must be very comfortable with Yugi and his gang. Check.

Call Hokutei and make sure everything was all in place. Check.

Make friends with the librarian. Gain her trust. Check.

Finish all group assignments. Not check.

Kaiba frowned. It was that math project with Jounouchi and Yami that was holding him up. He hadn't set a date in mind but now that everything was taken care of, he admitted he was eager.

Then he smiled. Seto Kaiba was not built for smiles and it made those glancing at him receive a chill through their spine but he thought it was funny.

One should not be eager to plan one's own demise.

He had everything planned out, down to the song he'd be listening to. The razors rested comfortably in his pocket and every so often when the pain became close to unbearable. As it was now, as he stared at the happiness at the table next to him, the happiness he'd been so completely excluded from.

His hand folded into his pocket and caressed the razors there.

It was just worse when they tried to involve him. No matter how many times Yugi or Anzu or even Jounouchi tried to tell him that they were friends. If they were friends, why couldn't he join them? Why couldn't he do anything to help them on their 'adventures' without having some ulterior motive? No, they always backed themselves into a corner before asking him for help.

Well, it'd all be over soon.

The lunch bell signaling the end of the period rang and the hordes of people rose to go to their next class. Jounouchi landed beside him.

"Hey, moneybags, Mokuba told us you had a meeting this afternoon so Yug' and I'll finish up the project tonight, kay? You can check it in the morning if ya' want."

"You'll be done tonight?" Kaiba said with an internal smile.

"Yup."


May 21, Thursday, 3:27 p.m.

Why was the day taking so long? Kaiba thrummed the desk with his pencil, staring at the French words on his paper but not really seeing them. He had two hours left.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Mokuba met him just outside and gave him a hug.

"Mekaira and me are going to the arcade, all right? Don't work too hard."

Kaiba patted his head. "No worries, Mokie."

Mokuba beamed at the nickname and Kaiba watched him get into a car with his friend before going back inside.

The math project was finished, perfect. Everything was done, taken care of. He went on as he did every Thursday.

He rejoined Ms. Larange in room 207 and helped her grade French tests until 5:00 p.m. when she left to go pick up her son from daycare.

He then went to the library and settled into a corner as he always did. The librarian smiled at him and fixed her hair too often until 6:00 p.m. when she had to go.

"Lock up?" she said softly and Kaiba nodded, turning the page. He had less than thirty pages left in The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks.

He waited until 6:15 p.m. to walk to the library doors, cut out the lights, and lock the doors. Locking himself inside.

With the finished book sitting on the table, he walked around, pulling the curtains over the windows, giving the beautiful library an eerie feel.

Finally.

He'd even picked the place.

Slowly, he checked his book back in and left it on the counter. Then he walked to the back, the dusty shelves of old classics that ordinary high school students couldn't stand, the shelves arranged in a large half-circle.

He lay down in the center of the half-circle and stared up. Here, the library was covered by a beautiful ceiling of glass. The dying sunlight streamed down over him and he closed his eyes, both feeling and not feeling its incredible warmth.

Kaiba brought out the razors from his pocket and turned them over in his hands, still staring up above him. He set the razors down beside him the sat up, unbuttoning the dark blue uniform blazer, balled it up, and set it under his head as a pillow. He then pulled out his mp3 player and placed the earbuds in his ears. Sweet rock filled his world as he set a playlist going.

First, Apocalyptica's "I Don't Care" featuring Adam Gontier.

Seto closed his eyes, lifted the razors again. As the chorus came along, he made his first cut, smooth, shallow, across his left wrist.

He made three more cuts before the song died. Next was "Field of Innocence" by Evanescence.

Three more cuts.

"Always" by Saliva.

Seto jumped when the razor met resistance and he pulled through, barely feeling the pain. Blood gushed from his arm and he smiled. He'd finally hit the brachial artery.

He lay back now, setting the blessed razor beside him. He folded one arm behind his head and lay the other over his stomach. The scent of the blood filled him up, made him light-headed, calm.

"Lonely Day" by System of a Down.

Perfect.

He closed his eyes and smiled.

The minutes ticked away. His heart stopped beating at 6:37 p.m.