Lightning-Dono: This chapter will be longer. That I promise you! I'll stop now because that last line sounded like something from a sappy love song dripping of sweetness, lovey-dovey-ness, and all that stuff. But I'm a hopeless romantic, so being corny in that area isn't much of a different territory for me.

I rambled off a bit in this chapter. Once again, 3 hours of homework doesn't do a person any good.

Answers to teh Review

can't think – I'm pushover for that stuff, too. When I type up the last part I was like, "Wow, Kaiba is so awesome right there!" Now to imagine him actually doing that. oO; Nice, educated guess! And you know what? You're right! It's absolutely true – Kaiba has too much on his mind, but deep inside he loves Isis more than anything. It's like a branch to hold onto after someone's shoved you off a cliff. And Isis is kind of out there with her marriage thoughts right now.

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The funeral home was packed that day, even though Kaiba had personally booked a private visitation for those who knew him well enough. Instead, a hoard of people came rushing into the room as soon as Mokuba's room was declared open. It was the day after Kaiba and Isis had their moment inside an office that couldn't have been less romantic.

The room reeked of incense, the stench of death trying to be drowned out by sickeningly sweet perfumes as women walked in and out, pulling tissues from their purses and dabbing their eyes carefully, not wanting to smudge their makeup. It just went to show how uncomfortable everyone was with themselves to go around wearing makeup just to mask their true selves. It was like living beneath a table and knowing that if you emerged, everything would think you were weird because you didn't stay under there. Once you start up on makeup and people get used to you with it, they expect you to wear it constantly.

One of Mokuba's friends from school entered the room, wearing a formal black suit as though he were a certified lawyer. The boy was about eleven, his face solemn and from the looks of it, he had been crying before. As he approached Kaiba and Isis he gave them with a look that made your heart just want to burst with sadness.

"Hello, Kaiba-san," he whispered, bowing to the tall man before him. "Would be it be quite all right if I took a look at him to remember his face once more?"

The couple exchanged glances nervously. Kaiba found himself jumbling up words in his head like fruit in a blender as he attempted to explain this to the young boy without making him shed more tears over his lost friend.

"I don't think you should," was his best reply, his throat tightening, choking his voice.

The boy was desperate, his slick black hair laid perfectly on his head and smoothed over with gel. His eyes were the spitting image of Mokuba's, wide and innocent with the hint of joy that had long left his mind. Focused and serious, the boy raised his head just to watch Kaiba, who stood feet taller than him. It was like standing an ant next to Goliath and asking Goliath to react reasonably.

"Why not? My mom told me it was only proper to open the casket for visitors to see and pay respects to the deceased," the boy persisted. For someone so young he had quite the expanse of vocabulary. "My mom knows everything. She must be right." Kaiba watched a build-up of tears gather at the rim of his eyes. The boy blinked and Kaiba, as though mesmerized, watched them fall.

After feeling her heart sink somewhere down into the vicinity of her stomach, Isis felt both upset and angry at the same time. Speaking to Kaiba as though he knew nothing! It was completely outrageous to her that someone of his age would go about saying his mom knew everything, meaning his mother topped the knowledge of Kaiba. However, Kaiba knew what had happened to Mokuba and this young one didn't.

"What's your name?" She jabbed in sharply.

The boy seemed to lapse into deep thoughts, as though this question required much thinking.

"Tsuaska Matsuura," he replied at last, reverting his attention to her after his eyes had become glazed over for a second.

"Do you know how Mokuba..." Isis's voice trailed off. She didn't want to say 'died' because it'd sound so blunt, so straightforward, while everyone else walked in crooked lines of sorrow.

Tsuaska seemed stunned to be faced with this question. "No, but his death shouldn't have anything to do with opening the casket!" The boy argued coldly. What feelings of anguish Isis once had for the boy was quickly erased from her mind. She forgot that he was the smartest person of his age she had ever met. Instead, she decided to make him look even more idiotic that he was making himself appear.

"You don't know how much it affects that!" Isis said scathingly, arms no longer clasped at her sides but making huge gestures that didn't really mean anything to the untrained eye. She was indicating how much Mokuba's death would influence the opening of his casket by making huge arches, hoping she would get the point across. "Do you think you'd like perfectly fine for an appearance in public if a two-ton anvil fell on you? Would you!?" By now, Isis was spewing tears left and right, no longer able to keep her balance as she tripped over her own feet. Kaiba caught her as she tipped backwards, hands over her eyes and sobbing in a borderline hysterical manner. Tsuaska stared at the woman not bothering to fight back tears for someone that she hardly even knew. He was silent as he walked right out the funeral home, giving one last mournful look at the gold-plated casket decorated with flowers that lay around it.

"Good-bye, Mokuba," Tsuaska whispered before kneeling by a large pot of rhododendrons and crying his eyes out.

Many a visitor paced back and forth, unable to think of anything to do but sign the guest book several times under different names. Men adjusted their ties, uncomfortable with the surroundings and especially bothered by Isis, who was assisted by Kaiba, being led into a calmed state. She took in deep breaths to level her breathing and heartbeat. Kaiba coached her dutifully, no matter how odd it looked to see the once reclusive man turn into someone who could care so much about something that would've meant so little.

- - - - -

Three days later, the cremation commenced. Within that time span, nothing completely out of the ordinary had happened. Kaiba was pelted with constructive criticism, letters and e-mails from people who felt they just had to apologize for his loss even though they probably never did anything, and comments about the status of the company itself. But this time Isis answered his every beck and call, picked up the phone for him, and kept him company in those times of crisis where stocks were plummeting down and prices for store-bought goods rocketed up.

The process began in a place that looked comparable to that of a dungeon, but with comfortable chairs surrounding one small table for visitor's pleasures. Off to the sides were several large machines where the burning would take place. Other families stood by the covered bodies in arising panic that there might somehow be a mistake. Kaiba and Isis were a duo and in it together. They cuddled up in the chairs, Isis sitting in one and Kaiba in another. Isis was leaning over, practically lying down, her head in Kaiba's lap and her mahogany, soft hair spreading across his thighs and lower legs. Kaiba's fingers played in the thin strands, tangling them and straightening them up again.

"Don't worry too much," she said into his leg.

He smelled her sweet hair and kissed her on the head. "Of course I won't," he breathed, watching the machine take in his brother's broken body. Atleast once his brother was reduced to ashes he could embrace Mokuba forever and protect him like he had promised to so long ago.

A man beckoned them over and handed Kaiba a small glass jar that was tinted a beautiful sky blue. The jar was tapered towards the top and contained a little more an ounce of blackness. To the man's horror, Kaiba took it from him like he was holding a baby and hugged it to his chest.

"Don't leave me again," he murmured. With that, he took Isis's hands in his and the both of them caught a taxi back to Kaiba Corp's secondary building.

Of course, after a day of regret and hectic emotions, neither of them was expecting the letter they were about to find.