Alex: Smurf Cat does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! So there!

~@~@~@~@~@~

Serenity looked out at the clouds rolling in. there would be rain today. She sighed at she saw the grey clouds and the look of the dry earth as it thirsted for water. Rain made her sad. And somehow, it never failed to rain on the days when she was most depressed. Seto had kissed her earlier and she didn't know why. They never kissed anymore. There were times when it was deeper than just a kiss, much deeper, but not lately. Seto had once acted loving toward her, but all of that was over. Their relationship had nothing left.

She wanted the old Seto back, the Seto that would love her and didn't care what her brother thought. Seto had really never cared much for Joey in the first place, he only liked to shove it in his face that he was dating his younger sister and that there was nothing he could do about it. Joey and Seto had always been rivals, Seto being the more powerful. Serenity smiled as she remembered when Joey had first found out about her relationship to Seto. He had overreacted and threatened to kill Seto. It wasn't very funny at the time, but now that Serenity looked back on it, she laughed. Her brother could be so foolish sometimes. It had all worked out in the end.

This was another problem, if Joey were to find out about all the trouble in the relationship, he would take Serenity away and would never let her go back to Seto. Joey tried to be her father sometimes which annoyed Serenity. She didn't like being bossed around by her older brother, no matter how much he cared for her! She sighed again, more heavily this time, as rain began to fall. She could hear it as it fell upon the dry earth. She slid her eyes shut as she listened to it, letting herself be comforted and soothed.

This didn't last long. She could hear Seto in the other room, talking to some important business man on the phone. 'When will he realize that work is not the entire world?' she asked herself as she heard his deep voice. She loved listening to Seto's voice; it was calm, much unlike his spirit. It was steady and reminded herself of how she wanted the relationship to be. She had always wanted to love him openly, but Seto didn't want their relationship to come out to the public. This was reasonable.

The only friends that Serenity had anymore were Mai and Anzu. They had sworn themselves to secrecy when told about all of the fights and depression, but Serenity knew that it couldn't last long. While Mai could keep a secret, she could also tell it for reasons like, "it was for your own good", or "your brother needs to know". This was why Serenity had been so cautious about telling her. Then there was Anzu. If she told Yugi, it was all over. Yugi and Joey were best friends.

As Serenity listened to Seto, she could hear him getting off the phone. Standing up, she made her way over to the door of his office and without knocking, entered. "Seto," She looked over at him in his chair.

He looked back, with somewhat of an annoyed expression on his face. "Yes?"

There was silence. They hadn't spoken in so long and were beginning to get lost within the presence of the other. "I need to talk to you..."

The phone chose this moment to ring. Seto looked at the caller ID before unhooking the phone. Serenity looked over at him warily. Seto never did that. Was there something wrong with him, or was it the caller? "Who was that?" she asked.

"Some business man who wants to buy the company. Fool, does he actually expect me to sell?" Seto said this in his normally deep voice with a hint of pity for the members of the lower classes of society, of course in reality; there was no pity from Seto. "Also, your brother called. He wanted to know how you were doing..."

"And you said?" Serenity asked.

"I told him you were fine." Seto answered as he looked over at her. "What is it you wanted me for?"

"Why did you kiss me?"

An annoyed look made its way across Seto's face. "Is it wrong for me to kiss you?"

"No, it's just that, you haven't kissed me in so long..." serenity's voice trailed off. It had been years since she had moved in with Seto and she still became afraid of him at times. He heart fluttered within her chest like a bird within its cage afraid of a leering cat.

Seto turned away at Serenity's remark. "Go away!" he barked.

"But..."

"I said, go away! I have work to do." He leered back at her and serenity could feel restrained tears. She wasn't going to cry.

"You should relax!" she protested. "All you do is work. We never spend time with each other!"

"So be it." Seto grumbled.

"You don't even care about me, do you?" serenity felt her tears falling and silently, she left the room.

Seto whirled around in his chair only to face an empty office. He felt his heart seize up, and silently he whispered back, "I never said that; I do...love..." but before he could finish his mutterings, the phone rang again.

~@~@~@~

Serenity made her way down the hall as tears streamed down her face. Seto didn't care for her, he never had and he never would. Coming to this realization only made her cry more. They always argued in this fashion and today's argument was no different. They would start off speaking nicely to one another and then Seto would bark something cruel at her and have her leave with tears in her eyes.

She despised the feelings that she got, and somehow, in a strange sort of cruel and twisted way, she dwelt in them and became unwilling to let those feelings go. It was as if she were to leave this world of sadness, she would not know how to live. She was afraid. She wanted Seto to love her, but she didn't want the relationship to become too good for words in an unrealistic time frame.

She stumbled as she entered her room. It was dark here as she plopped down onto the bed. She took deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. She let the tears fall as she concentrated on each and every one as it made its way down her tear-stained face. She lay back on her bed and hugged a pillow close to her. Dwelling in the silence, she became lost in her own thoughts. Muttering to herself, she formed her own conclusions. It was true; she dwelt in the dark.

~@~@~@~@~@~

Seto hated himself. 'Why' was his only question; why had he hurt her yet again? He loved her, but she couldn't see it. It seemed as though she would never see his love. It just seemed like everything always had to get in the way. This world was cutting him off from the only thing worth living or worth dying for; love. He was too proud to make time for her instead of going to the big meeting or parties. In truth, he was afraid. The thought of people looking down on him for loving a Wheeler was too much for him. Now he even wondered if his pride was really worth it. He only wanted the pain to stop.

Slowly, he made himself to get up from his office chair and walk down the lonely halls of his mansion. He walked aimlessly and when he realized where he had unknowingly been leading himself, he sighed but didn't care. He was headed toward Serenity's room. He knew that he would find her there. It's the only place that he knew to look. He cast his head down as he realized how little he knew of her. 'And I call her mine' he thought silently.

As he led himself on, he thought about her. He didn't really know what had brought them to this depression. All he knew was that they were in the mist of it. They used to be so happy. Seto wondered what had happened. He had gotten busy, that's what had happened. He began spending less and less time with her that they finally became distant. He regretted that more than anything. He only wished that they could be happy again.

Rounding a corner, he found her room. She was lying in her bed, asleep. She slept often these days. It was a way for her to let go. Slowly, Seto crept to her bedside. Laying a hand on her shoulder, he called her name softly, "Serenity."

She stirred somewhat. Seto called her name again, this time louder, "Serenity."

Her eyes fluttered open. She looked over at him and asked with a harsh voice, "What do you want?"

Seto swallowed his pride. "I want to talk to you."

"About what?" serenity asked, careful to stay on her guard.

"About us." Seto answered. "What happened?"

"You happened." Serenity replied.

Seto looked away, his rage coming back, he didn't know why this woman had to be so foolish. Didn't she want them to heal? "What do you mean by that?!" his voice thundered with rage.

"I mean that you don't like me anymore! You never spend time with me; you never make an effort to be with me! And guess what Seto, I'm sick of it!" Serenity was never this straight forward.

"So be it!" Seto yelled at her before getting up from the bed and making his way out of her presence. "But don't expect me to try to make things right anymore! You're so ungrateful!"

As Seto left the room, serenity got a sinking feeling. She knew that Seto was trying to help. He had dropped opportunity after opportunity into her lap to be close to him. She had ruined every single one of them. Now she fell back onto the bed and began to cry once again. "Is it you, Seto... or is it me?"

~@~@~@~@~

well, that's it! That's the second chapter!

Alex: that was short!

Malik: Smurf Cat's been slacking off lately!

...Malik, C'mere...

Malik: * comes *

*huggles Malik *

Alex: next chapter will come soon! ...We hope...

Mia: REVIEW!