Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate them. Thanks for all of your support...it really helps me continue, knowing that people actually want me to! Haha...

Okay, so enough of my babbling.

Here's chapter seven! (Wow, seven!)


Fragile
Chapter Seven: Harbinger


Elaborate - develop or present in detail.

Yami's crimson orbs scanned over the page, taking the information into account. So this is what that...word Kaiba said yesterday meant. He flipped a page, wanting to know more. Maybe if I learn some humongous words of nerd-like proportions, I can one-up Kaiba in his own game... The thought alone was music to the former pharaoh's ears as he once again turned the page with a quick movement of his fingertips.

A rough cough escaped the lips of the confident man, and he covered his mouth with the palm of his hand to shield anything from getting onto the pages of Seto's rather expensive looking dictionary. When he looked down into his palm, he saw a viscous, red fluid that could only be described as blood, and he was faced with an undeniable fact.

This day was the beginning of his second month at life.

His last month.

True, he was diagnosed about three weeks before he, or rather, Kaiba told his friends about his illness, but this was the beginning of his last month of life, as the doctors had so blatantly told him time and time again when he was being careless about his health.

He had been getting more and more dizzy spells lately, but he had been sitting down more often and eating even more when these events happened to keep his strength up, and to not worry Seto much.

He wondered why he cared about worrying Seto, sometimes he cared a little too much. Yami only dismissed this fact as being guilty of taking up residence in the russet haired man's home, but then he would always get that guilty feeling in the back of his mind as if he were denying something.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the door to his room open and the patter of footsteps as someone walked in.

"Brushing up on definitions, Mutou?"

Jumping slightly, Yami turned to see Seto standing over his shoulder, his head dangerously close to his neck, peering at the dictionary in curiosity. "What do you want, Kaiba?"

"Just going to tell you that I'm going out for a while and to not do anything strenuous...not even if Mokuba begs you with his infamous puppy eyes." Seto said, rather off the cuff.

"O...kay?" Yami looked skeptically at the taller man, who still had not pulled his face from near his own. He could feel Seto's warm breath caress the nape of his neck, which, despite his pride, felt good. He fought off a blush that threatened to rise upon his cheeks. "Have fun."

"You've got a month now, right?" Seto asked as he ignored the stab of some foreign emotion slice his chest.

Yami looked at Seto. He said it so...casually. Or rather, he whispered it delicately in his ear. The former pharaoh felt a chill going through his bones, down into his core...and yet, he didn't know why...

"You'd be right..."

Seto finally pulled back, giving the maroon haired man distance, "Oh..."

Yami looked at him, "Seto..."

For a moment, Seto's eyes widened. Yami didn't seem to realize what he had just said.

Mutou...he just called me by my first name...

"What is it?" Seto decided to play it off as if nothing was wrong.

Yami shook his head, "It's...nothing. It's nothing."

"Aa..." Seto mumbled, walking out the door, "I'll be back later."

"Alright..." Yami said meekly as the taller man shut the door.

Even after the cerulean eyed man left the room, Yami could still feel his breath on his neck, the chill of his words in his ear, and the weight of his slender, muscular body being pressed against him, and it made his heart race.

Damn you, Seto, what are you doing to me?


Seto shook his head as he walked down the sidewalk. Yes, walked. Where he was going, he didn't need a limo drawing all sorts of unwanted attention to him. So, he realized he needed the exercise and decided to walk to his destination.

He's called me Seto twice since he arrived in my mansion...maybe his sickness is messing with his feelings... The CEO thought as a brisk, bone-chilling wind swept through his hair and blew his over-sized jacket around his ankles.

Yami might not have realized that he called Seto by his first name, but Seto himself knew it. Choosing not to show any emotion he was feeling has always been a trump card among Kaibas, and it helped him out a whole lot during the past couple of days, leading up to Yami on his doorstep, suitcases in hand.

The brunette turned a corner to where he was heading.

The Kame Game Store.

A place Seto would never imagine himself going, not in a million years.

But, here he was, heading to the very home of his arch rival, Yugi Mutou, and his terminally ill counterpart, Yami.

He was on the doorstep, contemplating his next move - to ring the doorbell, when the door opened.

"AAHH!!" screamed an old man, recognized to be Sugoroku Mutou, in shock as he stared into the intimidating blue eyes of the tall man in front of him.

Seto covered his ears with his large, slender hands and squinted his eyes, Damn senile, old man!

The gray haired old man stopped screaming, although his wrinkled hands were still clenched tightly into the trash bag he was apparently about to throw out. "Oh...sorry." He apologized, removing one hand from the bag and clasping it into his mop of silver hair. "I was just about to throw this out, and then BOOM! There you were!" He began chuckling like someone had just said something extremely hilarious.

Seto quirked a quizzical eyebrow at the man. Hopefully, this isn't were Yugi is headed...

"Um..." Such a word has never been used by Seto Kaiba in his lifetime, "I'm here to get some of Mutou's clothes...because, as you know, he's staying at my house, and..."

"Oh, certainly!" Sugoroku said with as much hospitality as he could muster. Clapping a hand on Seto's shoulder, he laughed, "Come, this way! I'm sure Yugi would be glad to help!"

As Seto was literally dragged into the home, a thought crossed his mind, He must be trying harder than ever to keep up the cheery facade...because Mutou...

He shook his head, russet locks blurring his vision as he did so. He couldn't think such thoughts now!

"Yugi!" Sugoroku shouted up the stairs to his grandson. "Come down here!"

The tri-colored boy walked slowly down the stairs and looked at his grandfather with wonderment, "What is it, Gramps?" He paused, looking at the man standing beside his elderly caretaker, "Oh...what is Kaiba doing here?"

Sugoroku just smiled brightly despite himself and shoved Seto toward the steps, "He came here to get the rest of Yami's clothes.

The eyes of the shorter man took on a sad look as he made his way up the stairs, clutching his chest. "Come on then, Kaiba..."

Sugoroku nodded in approval as the younger man looked at him in a questioning manner. "Go ahead."

Seto tried not to show the uneasiness he suddenly felt in the pit of his stomach as he climbed the stairs after Yugi.

He turned a corner right after Yugi, who opened a door and entered a very childish room, filled with posters of every known great duelist to ever play the game - Yami/Yugi, the mutt, Malik Ishtar, Ryou Bakura, Mai Kujaku (the poster of which could have been there for other purposes), Isis Ishtar, there was one of Otogi Ryuuji, posing with his dice game, and then there was...

His cerulean orbs widened.

There was a poster of him on the wall.

Seto looked at it in shock. The poster looked familiar. He remembered Mokuba having one in his room. It was of him holding up a card, eyes set in a determined gaze as if ready to play that card. His hair was deliberately scruffy that day, because, according to the photographer, 'it will bring an audience of girls to dueling'. His trademark white trench coat seemed to be blowing in some invisible gust of wind. The intimidating figure of the Blue Eyes White Dragon was digitally placed in the background behind his domineering figure.

Yugi must have noticed his staring, for the next words out of his mouth were, "Don't be freaked out by it."

Seto turned and gave him a look, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Yugi started, "Don't be freaked out by the poster on the wall." He motioned to said poster that was displayed on the wall.

"I'm not freaked out." Seto said, rather simply, "It's just not every day that - "

" - that your rival has a poster of you hanging on his wall, I know."

"Yeah..."

Yugi sighed, "I wasn't the one who wanted the poster on the wall, if you must know..." He trailed off, grabbing all of Yami's clothes from a drawer and stuffing them into an oversized suitcase, "Yami wanted that."

Seto looked at Yugi as if he were crazy.

"It's the truth!" Yugi said honestly, raising his hands almost as if he thought he was about to be arrested. "We were going through this shop, and he just happened to see your poster, and suddenly he grabbed it and paid for it. I asked him why he was getting a picture of Kaiba of all people, and he just smirked and said that you were the only great duelist missing from our wall."

Seto's mouth felt like it was made of cotton.

"Yeah. So..." Yugi held out the suitcase that was literally bigger than him. "...here's the clothes you wanted. I'm pretty sure that's near about everything he owns."

They began the descent down the stairs, Seto nearly tripping over the suitcase twice before reaching the bottom floor. Yugi led him to the door, "I hope you take good care of him, Kaiba. His last days better be his best!" He scolded playfully, pointing a tiny finger at him in mock anger.

The CEO heard the shorter man's voice crack as he said those last words, and he knew Yugi was trying his best to not cry.

"I will," Seto smirked, walking out the door, "And thanks for the clothes..."

"No problem." Yugi said, smiling brightly.

Seto began to walk off, carrying the large suitcase in his slender, muscular arms.

Just as soon as he was out of sight, Yugi clutched onto the doorframe, leaning up against the wood as if it were a last line of support. Tears pricked his eyes. He blinked, the tears fell from his violet orbs and rolled down his cheeks, splattering on the floor below.

Yami...you don't know what you're doing to all of us...including Kaiba...


Yami went through the Kaiba brother's kitchen carefully - trying not to make any sudden movements to arouse his dizzy spells that he was quite capable of getting lately.

C'mon, Seto... He thought, using the brunette man's name despite himself. He had figured if it kept slipping, then just go with it! He was getting annoyed with the whole 'Ow-my-heart-is-hurting-and-I-think-it's-because-of-Seto-err-KAIBA-and-I-don't-know-why' phase of his life.

So instead, he just decided to use the cursed first name and get it over with. But, he did have t o admit he enjoyed the look of utter shock that went across Seto's features when he realized what he had said.

Seto might not have thought he noticed it, but Yami sure as hell did.

And it had, to say the least, a huge impact on his ego.

Reaching into the back of the cabinet for the peanut butter, he smiled slightly despite himself. He then proceeded to get the bread and jelly. Sitting them on the table, where the blue eyed man's papers were, he gave a rough sigh as he opened the containers.

There was a slight curious interest that pricked the back of his mind as he gazed sideways to observe the papers that lay scattered lazily across the wooden surface of the table. Hmm... He thought, leaning to get a better look, but as soon as he did so, his arm slipped rather gracelessly and knocked the papers off the table. Damn me and my dizzy spells...

Yami bent over to pick them up delicately, slightly looking over each of them with wonder, It's not violating his privacy if he doesn't know, right? He thought, placing each of the papers back on the table. He was just minding his own business, when his name caught his eye.

"What's this?" He said, picking up a sheet of paper that was typed formally. Yami began to read, knowing that he just invaded the CEO's privacy.

Mr. Seto Kaiba,

I would like to inform you that I have accepted your proposal referring to a Mr. Yami Mutou that you wrote to me about two days ago. The way you described his symptoms made me come to believe that he is the perfect candidate to undergo the certain surgery that I have prepared for people with these kind of tumors. It has about a 50/50 survival rate, but, as you stated, in his condition, anything is worth a try. Please come to my office in Tokyo, and we will discuss the further details relating to this. I would like it if you brought the potential patient in as well, because we must get this surgery underway as soon as possible, because according to you, he only has little more than a month left. The address is in the envelope. I look forward to your visit.

Sincerely,

Dr. Koki Shibuya

Yami clenched the paper in his fists, glaring at the letters with menacing crimson orbs.

"What the HELL?!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, Seto walked in the kitchen, clothes in hand.


End Chapter Seven.

Whew! I hoped you enjoyed it! I personally think that this is the turning point in the story...well, one turning point of many, I guess. Haha.

It took me a while to write this chapter, I guess because I didn't have that much inspiration...

Oh, well. I pretty much know how this is going to end, so the chapters will be coming up quicker (hopefully). But I hope to keep you guessing!

Ciao, Prideshippers!