pink-strawberries: Hehe, well, here he comes!!! ^^

Chickanooka: Cool nickname ^^ thanks for your comment and for favouriting my story! :D

Catalyna Cullen: 'Cause to lose all her senses, that is so typically her! XD Never thought about that song but yes it does kinda fit her... except that she's not playing with Duke's heart, nor Kaiba—she really loves him. I think the comparaison she made about the drug addicts explains her "relationship" with Duke perfectly.

Chapter 8: 300 knives in your back

"Mrs. Kaiba", Ethan's polite voice said.

She lifted her eyes to look at the butler, who was standing in the door frame.

"There is someone at the door who asked to see you."

Serenity frowned. She wasn't expecting anybody—except Seto, of course, but Seto wouldn't be announced by his own butler. He'd just walk inside.

"Who?"
"I don't know, Mrs. Kaiba, but he ensured me you would recognize him and be willing to speak to him. He said it was important. I asked him to wait outside."

The red-haired young woman looked by the window and blinked several times when she saw the man sitting on a bench, holding a cigarette in his fingers.

What the fuck do you want?

"I'll go. Thanks, Ethan."
"My pleasure, madam."

She left her book on the couch and headed for the door. When she finally closed the big wooden door behind her, he turned to look at her.

"Hey", he simply said before dropping his cigarette on the ground.
"Duke Devlin, what the hell are you doing here?"
"You won't even say hi?"
"Gimme only one reason why I should even bother speaking to you."
"Your dear husband's not here, I'm sure. He's got to be working."
"He's away", she replied as she shrugged.

He smirked.

"See?"
"You do realize of course that the security cameras are not away?I already told you, I don't want you here! As a matter of fact, I don't want you in my life either, so go back to yours and leave me be."
"Yeah, it's just that you forgot something when you left", he said as he walked towards her. "Unless those cute panties were meant to be a souvenir?"

He tried to put his arms around her waist, but she pushed him away with all her strength.

"I'm not kidding, Duke", she said with a neutral voice. "For the sake of our past friendship I'll leave you a chance to leave before I ask Ethan to force you to do so, but if you're not out of my sight within 30 seconds, I'm calling him. One. Two. Three."

Duke arched an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't do that."
"—ven. Eight. Nine."
"Seriously, Serenity, you're not actually going to—"
"—ifteen. Sixteen."
"Ok, ok! God dammit—"
"Nineteen."

He rolled his green eyes, sighed and walked away. Serenity went back inside.

"Ethan, if that person ever comes back here, don't even bother listening to him. Force him to leave."
"Yes, Mrs. Kaiba."

She stared at her watch and smiled. Seto should be here soon, and she really wanted to make sure he would properly apologize for completely forgetting their anniversary.


When he came back and finally stepped inside their bedroom, she wrapped her arms around him and got on her toes, lips begging for a kiss. Kaiba just gave her a tired, bored smile and kissed her on the top of her hair. She pouted.

This doesn't start very well.

"Worst. Congress. Ever", he simply said before walking away from her arms.
"What about forgetting all this boring stuff and taking care of something else?" she teasingly asked as her hands started to massage his shoulders.
"Serenity, I missed you, I really did..."

Seto kissed her forehead, and then gave her a sorry smile.

"But I'm exhausted. They killed me. Literally."

God dammit.

"Yeah, but you sort of owe me some apologizes you know..."
"I already told you I was sorry I forgot to tell you I would—"
"I'm not talking about that, I don't care. I'm talking about something else."
"Mokuba's birthday? What does it have to do with you?"

She sighed in despair and looked at him.

"Us, Seto! Our anniversary, for heaven's sake! Not that you seem to care of course."

The CEO's jaw dropped.

"Wasn't it next month?"

Serenity crossed her arms.

"Oh my... Serenity, honey, I'm really sorry, I have so much on my mind, I forget everything—"

His wife remained silent, but she shot him the death glare, with her You-may-have-forgotten-but-I-will-remember-it-for-the-rest-of-my-life-and-make-you-pay-every-fucking-day eyes.

"I'll make sure you forgive me—"

A smile on her lips.

"I'll buy you a nice present tomorrow, I swear—"

The smile disappeared.

"I don't want a present, I want some time with you!"

He sighed and started to rub his forehead. Damn, his head hurt.

"Serenity, I'm sorry, I won't have enough time for long, I'll have a lot of work to catch up—"
"Our anniversary, Seto, dammit!" she said with a angry voice. "It's only one day per year, you know!"
"I'm a busy man, Serenity, you know that—"
"B-but..."

She felt her lips shaking in an effort to prevent her from bursting into tears.

"But last year, you found the time for me..."
"Well this year, right now, I cannot, it's not my fault!"
"Oh, it's never your fault, but you decide your schedule! You decide when work is more important than me, more important than us! You're the fucking CEO, Seto!"
"Honey, work is not more important than you, don't be—"
"If it isn't then why do you spend so much time there, working, and so little time here with me?!"
"You don't complain that much about me working too much when you go shopping with your friends with that credit card do you?!"

She slightly moved back and blinked, as if she couldn't believe he had actually said that. As a matter of fact, she could hardly believe he had just said something else than "I'm too tired for this".

"W-what?!"
"Yes", he said as he stood up, shooting her an furious glare. "Quarrels are not that fun when you're on the receiving side, are they?"
"How CAN YOU said something like that—do you really think I'm that kind of woman? I didn't marry the Kaiba Corporation's bank account, I married Seto Kaiba! How dare you say, even think, that I wouldn't prefer it if you had less money and more time to spend with me?"

He sighed and hid his face behind his hands before dropping on the chair again.

"Serenity, I didn't mean that—I didn't mean what I just said, I'm sorry, I'm just... I need some sleep—"
"Fine", she said with a spitful voice. "Then get some."

She turned and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna go to a guest room for tonight."

Before he was able to say anything, she slammed the door behind her.


"Serenity..."

The young woman frowned in her sleep, and then rolled on her back.

"Serenity, wake up..."

She managed to open one hazel eyes. She had no idea if it was early in the morning or late in the afternoon — all she knew was that she had spend long hours crying, mentally swearing against herself and spinning in her bed.

"What..."

She sat in the bed and looked outside. The sun was shining brightly. It was probably eleven in the morning, at the very least. She frowned at Seto.

"Aren't you working?" she asked.
"I took some days off."

She blinked several times.

"Are you kidding me?"
"No."
"B-but..."

She stared at him in disbelief.

"Seto... really? I-I mean... when was it the last time you took some days off?"

He smiled at her.

"A bit more than one year ago, I'd say."
"But you really serious with this?"

Kaiba nodded and his wife jumped out of the bed to hug him tight around her body.

"Even... even with all those horribles things I said yesterday—?"

He kissed her cheek and caressed her red hair.

"I've been mean too, you know. I-I don't even know why I said that. But I bet you're going to forget all about that when we're in Paris."
"WHAT! In Paris? This is a joke? I've always dreamed about going there!"

He laughed a bit.

"I know."
"Oh my God, wait a minute, I'm so going to pack my stuff so we can—"
"Ethan did it. I had a feeling you would say 'yes' so I took the liberty of asking him. Put some clothes on, grab something to eat in the limo and then we're all set."

Seto laughed again when Serenity ran outside the bedroom.


They entered the chic, elegant hotel where Seto had booked a room.

"Bonjour", the young man behind the desk said politely.
"Oh my God, we're actually in Paris!" Serenity said with her most cheerful tone, although she didn't even understand what he had just said.

The receptionist arched an eyebrow, as if she was the dumbest person he had seen in his entire life, but Seto's glare made him understand that such an behaviour was not acceptable.

"I made a reservation earlier. The name's Seto Kaiba."
"Ah, yes, Monsieur Kaiba", the man replied with a strong accent. "It is a pleasure to meet you. All I will need is your signature here, and your credit card. Merci", he said as Kaiba gave him one of his credit cards.

One minute later, he gave him back the card and a golden key.

"This is the suite romance, and it is on the top floor. If you need anything, please feel free to call the front desk anytime."


"A whirlpool tub!"

Serenity jumped out of joy and quickly walked toward it. She sat on the edge of the huge tub.

"I love these!"

She took his hands and pulled him close to her.

"Do you remember last year?"

He smiled. Seeing her so happy and cheerful made him happy too. The real, smiling Serenity was back.

"Hell yes", he said as he bent to kiss her.

His hand moved and started the whirlpool tub.

"But what if we started creating new memories that we can enjoy?"

She smiled and he kissed her again, but this time it was a deeper, more passionate kiss. Their clothes slowly, silently fell on the floor and they entered the tub — well, Seto did.

"Ow!" Serenity said. "Seto, the water's too damn hot!"

The CEO — who was already sitting in the tub — smirked.

"Oh, you poor fragile woman."
"Water's so hot, I wonder why it's not actually boiling—eeekk! What are you doing?"

Seto had just stood up and taken her in his arms like a new bride.

"Wai-wai-wait, I'm just gonna get used to it with my own ryt—ooooh!"

He sat again in the water, this time, while holding Serenity in his arms.

"You'll get used to it."
"Yeah", she said with a mocking tone, "I will, when my skin is as red as a tomatoe!"
"You're still going to be pretty."

He softly kissed her.

"Seto..." her mouth spoke without her consent.
"Yes?"

She looked down at the hot water. She felt that her cheeks were burning, and it had nothing to do with the steam.

"What... what would you do if I told you I... did something terrible?"

The CEO frowned, and then laughed a bit.

"You? Something terrible? Like what, not rescuing a lost dog?"

Like cheating on you. Like begging another man to fuck me. Oh, but you would never suspect it, would you? I'm loyal. I'm cute. I'm innocent. I'm pure.

She bobbed down.

"N-no, nothing in particular... I just wonderer... if you could handle... if you'd still love me..."
"Well", he said after short silence, "I guess it'd depend on what you did... but coming from you, that couldn't be so terrible."

He kissed her cheek with a smile, and she closed her eyes to hide her tears.

Believe me. It could.

End of the chapter: Hope it didn't take too long for you!!! Review are always appreciated, and only two more chapters to go!