A/N: alright, I am trying to type up a good summary for more readers. If you please have any ideas….let me know. I seem to be lacking in summaries…but not the story itself.

Written by: Chika of the high Mts
Written 6/07/05 - revised 6/13/05 - updated 6/1/05

Please tell me ifI have spelling errors. Even if i have gone through it a million times already. Everyone makes mistakes!

Chapter 11
Five Dayz: Desperate

It was past twelve. The auburn woman had left the Kaiba mansion a few minutes after registering that she was kicked out by her husband. It didn't take long before she knew what she had to do. Running in the middle of the night she ended up in the old rusted down place.

It was now or never to get what she had lost. It was now or never to get back what she had been denying all this time. It was time to get back what was rightfully hers. Serenity walked into the darkened room. The key that was under the mat so long ago was still there after all these years. She was surprised that not a single homeless man was living here yet. Although, she was grateful that someone hasn't shown up here… yet. But most of all, she was grateful for her older brother.

Serenity smiled. She stared into the mirror; the butterflies were now getting to her. This afternoon's lunch, seemed to gurgle in her stomach. She took a deep breath to soother her uneasiness and stared once again into her reflection. Her eyes held happiness.

Today was the day.

Serenity Wheeler would and will be forever in the past.

The young adult gulped. How she had gotten into this mess was completely oblivious to her. It just started out as friends. And now look at her. She was trapped and couldn't get out of the circle. She almost wanted to curse the man that brought her into this. But how could she do that when she herself was the one that agreed to do this. It wasn't her fault. But the man behind it that caught her heart and wouldn't let go of it.

"Well, just look at you!" The accent immediately reached her ears and Serenity knew who it was right away.

"Big brother!" she almost squealed but held it in…after today she would become more that a teenager, adult or lady. But a woman. Serenity turned away from the mirror with her reflection and the tuxedoed blond.

"You look beautiful Serene."

Her face cut into a smile. The elegant white dress emitted a glow. The front reached her toes and barely lifted off the floor while the train in the back was a different story. Its many layers filed out like waves of the ocean bringing it all together with the sparkles of the front of the dress. Her sleeves came off the shoulders and hung loosely at the upper arm. The top portion was cut like a corset connecting to the lover silken half.

Joey stared at Serenity in aw. Never in his whole life had he ever seen something so magnificent or gorgeous like an angel. It almost took his breath away to look at his baby sister and know that she would never be his little sister again. She would belong to someone else and forever keep the Wheeler name behind her.

"Thanks Joey."

A smile beamed across his face, "No problem."

The girl was about to smile back when the smile on his face suddenly fell. "I need to talk to you Serenity."

Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed in confusion whist anger hid behind, "You promised Joey!"

The blond shook his head, "I know Seren. But I can't stand back and let him take you candy from a baby. It was almost too easy. And I blame myself for letting my guard down and not protecting you from him."

Serenity gulped in sadness. Tears almost flushed from her eyes, but she held them in with all her might. She had to go through with this. She couldn't cry. Not until later. After the wedding. But of course…they would be tears of joy.

The red head kept her mouth shut as her brother continued, "I am sorry, I know you love him, but there is only so much I can do." He seemed to pause and wait for his sister to come up with a response. Anything.

"You promised you wouldn't ruin this day for me. Even if it was with Seto."

Joey physically flinched. "I know but-"

"You promised Joey!"

"I know I did. But I can't let this go with nothing to support your back from Kaiba."

"Are you saying…." Her eyes widened, "you can't stand up…."

"I can't forever hold my peace."

"But he's changed!"

"Not to my eyes Seren. He hasn't changed for anyone."

Tears almost dropped from her honey -brown eyes as she looked down at the ground.

"I can't hold my peace. But… I will."

Serenity's head snapped up.

"I will hold it for you. But I want you to know one thing."

Joey took a step forward and slowly embraced his sister. Before he let go he whispered, "I love you. And if he does anything to hurt you, I will come after him. But…" He slowly let go to face her. His hands held her shoulders as they stared into each other's eyes for a moment. The blonde's left hand left her shoulder to reach into his breast pocket. He pulled out a key. "…I want you to keep this." He held out a key to his sister, "It's the key to my apartment. If he does anything, you can always come to me. No matter what the problem is. This will always be left open to you." He pulled away and started to amble towards the door.

"Thank you Joey." Her voice barely reached his ear as he left the room to find his place next to the groom.

The music started not a minute too late after that.

Serenity sniffed. Joey had left and was never returning to Japan for business reasons. It would be rather difficult trying to come back home to see his sister, but for that matter, he still had the apartment owned so no one could rent it. Serenity stood at the door of her brother's apartment. Her brother's essence was still beside her as she heaved in heavily and breathed out slowly. Everything has been going wrong since the crash. It irked her to know that she was alone in the country. By herself. Alone; and no one was with her to help her through the ordeal. Except Mokuba.

But what can a small teenager do?

The redhead stared at the door in front of her.

Who knows what was in the future? No one. But to make sure that nothing bad would happen. She had to take the extra precautions. Who knows? Maybe someday someone would attack the mansion and they would be forced to flee the palace. Serenity made the area behind the door, months ago, their refuge if they were ever attacked for some reason. It as quite genius, if you ask anyone. Including her dead husband.

Serenity knelt down and picked up the suitcases next to her. One in each hand, she kicked the door open and followed suit inside. The furniture was left by the means of Joey. She was grateful too, but she didn't let the anxious feeling in her slide. Putting the cases down in the hall, she turned around to get the other two.

The auburn woman huffed and looked at the finished work. The old refrigerator was now up and running, but shut down for the moment, until the time was needed. All the outlets had electricity running in them. Each of the two rooms held a dresser. She filled the drawers with clothes that could fit anyone. But she still had some outfits made for a lady and others made for a male. To be more specific, gowns and suits. Laptops covered was hidden in one of the closets for desperate measures.

The apartment looked more used than it had been in the last three weeks. Joey had taken the expenses to live elsewhere besides the broken and run down apartment Serenity was now standing in. But it didn't matter. It was up to her now to protect her family from whatever would come in the future.

Turning towards the door, she noticed the key to the apartment on the counter where she had put it earlier. Quickly grabbing it, she left the apartment. Hoping to never come back again unless it was an emergency. Serenity locked both locks on the door and slipped the key under the loose floorboard. It was hidden by a think and welcoming mat. Whirling towards the stairs, Serenity made her departure.

Hoping it would be a while before she had to return.

The woman stared around the room. Nothing has changed but the amount of dust settling on top of the furniture. It wasn't very big, but since when can Joey ever afford a big apartment…well…that was before he got accepted to an ivory college in America. (1) Now, he was making a little less than Kaiba. It was almost unheard of by her.

Serenity almost smiled. The look on her husband's face would have been priceless. But that was beside the point.

The point was to get back what was taken from her.

Seto had taken a seat next to Mokuba. They hadn't said anything for a few minutes and the silence was slowly tearing at Mokuba's interior. The little girl that he held in his arms seemed to sniffle the last of her cries away. But the teary eyed child still wouldn't let go of the front of her uncle's shirt.

Kaiba has some problems with his own. He couldn't believe what he had just done. It was almost like…..

No words could describe it. It was simply unheard of. No words could be uttered in this situation. Nothing could describe what he was going through. He was ripped from his wife five years ago and then reunited with her. Only to find out that she had been the traitor the whole time. What could describe such a thing?

Mokuba glanced sideways at his brother. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. It almost pained him to see the look on his face as he noticed Seto battle with himself. Sakura seemed to bury herself farther into his arms. A huge breath was taken into the little girl's lungs before she turned over to stare at Kaiba.

His downcast eyes stared at the carpet again. He was leaning over his lap with his elbows on each of his knees. They were icy with no complexion. It almost seemed that love was never once in them. Or the capability to ever hold such a thing. But he still kept the tears from flowing down his cheeks as he thought of his beloved.

Is this what it feels like? Complete anger towards the one you love. And yet, sadness for losing them?

Mokuba stood. The little girl in his arms was long gone. He left the room before he too could belong to suck emotions. But he interlocked it and went to his study to find out more.

Kaiba felt a hand on his arm before he felt a whole frail body in his lap. His arms opened to let Sakura into his hold as each of them broke down in each other arms. Each embracing the other.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Serenity sat down in the empty room. It was filled with darkness in every crevasse. The laptop in front of her was her only source of light before the whole apartment would turn on in an hour. The backup generator kicked in immediately once Serenity flicked the switch to the computer.

The light cast monsters into the room as it flickered making them move.

Serenity kept her eyes on the computer. The menu flipped up, asking for the password. Typing it in, she was finally uploaded to do anything she willed on the computer. But only one thing crossed her mind before she would starte her mission: revenge.

It was unlike her. But everyone has a monster waiting to be revealed. Only, Serenity's was a little more than just angry. But livid with irritation.

Typing in a few things, she was able to enter Kaiba Corp mainframes. It was hard. It was almost easy. 'Specially knowing all and any of the passwords.

It took almost an hour to finally get to the desired destination Serenity wanted. Confidential could be read across the top of the screen

Scanning the information that she opted upon the screen, she picked out various information on her husband's car wreck. She pulled up various pictures of the accident and the crashed car.

The side was completely crashed. If she didn't know better, she'd say he totaled it.

Serenity gasped.

She had never seen the pictures of her dead husband until now.

He almost looked like he was sleeping. No blood could be seen anywhere. It was like he suddenly crashed it and then got out of the car, laid on the ground and then fell into a deep sleep.

Stealing another glance at the many pictures, she printed them out.

Turning towards the computer again, she brought up the video to Kaiba's office. A long time since she had seen her husband in his office working. She ignored that fact and played the video of the day's happenings of August 15, 1999.

Employees came in and out of the office all day.

That would be the case, but this is a cold-hearted jerk we are talking about. There was no use in trying to deny that fact.

So the truth was, no one entered except for a few employees that handed Kaiba some papers. The whole video was sound proof. But Serenity watched at Kaiba began to type extraordinarily fast. It almost confused her. A few minutes ago, Seto was typing a document of some sort. She could tell. Every other second or minute that passed he would stop to look over his manuscript. If any errors were apparent, he would correct them. After all, no one is perfect. The same thing would go on over and over. In the same process: he'd type for a couple of minutes, sometimes stopping every second to re-correct an error or something that didn't make sense. And then he repeated. But as the minutes wore on, he suddenly changed. Serenity didn't even see the computer screen alter. Perhaps he did something? But as the redhead watched, he started typing quickly. Almost too fast as if he was in a hurry. But the phone went off, cutting him from completing what he was doing. He seemed to be irked an angry at the same time, but grabbed his suitcase on at once before leaving the room.

It seemed to fast like the video was on fast-forward.

He rushed out of the room like his life depended on it.

But… perhaps it did.

Mokuba stared at the papers before him. They scattered the desktop. The urge to finally avenge his brother was beginning to become adolescence. He was sick of sitting here and staring at the same papers. They held to data. At least, none that could be presentable for any information on his dead brother. And none of it showed any pattern of any sort that would help him solve the mystery. It was all a bunch of trees.

The male breathed in deeply before exhaling.

Maybe it was time to get a map.

And then hack into some video cameras of the highway's security system.

Not a moment later, Mokuba was sitting in front of a computer with a map next to him. The black marker was set on top of the map. If needed, he could pick it up and trace the moments of Kaiba's car before it crashed.

Wait, Seto had the security enhanced around the house. Who's to say that he didn't enhance…a smirk tugged at the corner of Mokuba's mouth. Kaiba's silence to tell any information has finally pulled off. He abandoned the map on the desk and immediately went to work.

Of course it had never been done before. He will be the first. And it definitely will take time to actually get into the system. Maybe hours to finally break the code. But if it was worth saving his brother, if that was the only cause, then it will be done.

Assuaging his nerves, Mokuba placed his hands on the keyboard.

Kaiba didn't have the nerve to stop crying. He missed her. Missed her with all his might. But she was gone. And it was all because of him. Him and his betraying heart. He hated the feeling inside his heart knowing that he abandoned his wife, just like his parents had done to him. And to make his life more miserable, he was adopted by the most terrible man in Japan.

It was a mistake.

Yes, that's it. A mistake. Mokuba must have been not thinking properly. He…he…

Kaiba couldn't come up with a good excuse. It was almost useless. Why had he thrown Serenity out again?

The brunette blinked. He couldn't even think straight anymore. His mind was racing. He only had three days, but to be specific, it was only narrowed down to 2 days and 23 hours. His heart seemed to speed up. It was already one in the morning? How could this happen? And he his just sitting here like a rock letting Sakura sleep in his arms. Wait…

Kaiba looked down. The last of his tears were visibly gone, but his eyes were still bloodshot. After all the trauma, you'd think he'd go crazy at contact with another person. But no. His eyes immediately softened as he stared at the sleeping girl in his arms. So this is what a father feels like . . .

His head bobbed before it settled on the back of the couch. His eyes closed leaving the ceiling above him to turn to darkness.

Mokuba smiled at the screen. It had taken a lot less time than he expected. But hey, he's a Kaiba right? Nothing would be keeping him away form finding the truth about his brother's murder.

The young adult watched as the highway screening of August 15. Kaiba was smart. And somehow he knew he couldn't prevent the accident or murder. But he could help his brother prevent the killer from getting away in the future.

Kaiba had rigged his car with a tracking system and camera. All feedback was traced back to files. Of course they were hidden; encrypted. But it didn't take much for Mokuba to find out where he had hidden them. Kaiba had indeed enhanced the security system.

It could only be hours before Mokuba was on the right track. But he was lacking information. Something was missing. What was it?

Mokuba jumped at the red light that flashed on the screen. The male's eyes narrowed at the words:

ALERT!

He didn't do anything before his computer automatically said, "Kaiba Corp. tracing hacker now."

Serenity kept replaying the video. It had been awhile since she ever went against her husbands company. But what was done was done

Mokuba picked up the phone to 911 to report the hacker. He held his hand on the phone ready to pick it up once he had the location to the hacker.

The redhead sat at the desk. It didn't make sense. Crashed car. No blood. Where was the car headed to anyway?

The male waited for the computer to trace the "being" on the other side.

She couldn't figure it out. There was something missing to his story. Yet the police said he crashed into something. But what was it? Serenity stared at the pictures again. Maybe it was time to visit the actual site before commencing with the mystery.

"Hacker found."

Mokuba picked up the phone to dial 911.

"911 emergency and response. How may I help you?"

"This is Mokuba Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corp. I'd like some officers to check out the building on Wallstreet Avenue. I believe I have a hacker in one of the rooms."

"Yes sir. Right away."

Mokuba hung up the phone.

Serenity stood up. She quickly picked up the pictures she printed and threw on her coat as she headed towards the exit. She halted. She was forgetting to do something…

Rolling her eyes she retraced her footsteps and turned off the laptop and then stuffed it away in the closet. She then took her leave at the exit of the apartment.

Mokuba stood. All he had to do was wait before the Police called him back and let him know they caught the cracker.(2) And have him in handcuffs.

Cars pulled out from the station to check out the building on Wallstreet. Sirens flipped on, shrieking into the obsolete silence.

The auburn women descended down the stairs of the apartment. She reached the ground as she heard sirens in the distance. Her eyes widened. She couldn't stay here any longer. Serenity turned and fled into the darkness.

Mokuba waited. He paced back and forth on the floor while contemplating the situation. First finding information on Kaiba actually helping him (well not really, but he did it as his past self) almost made him happy. But it he back of his mind….The question kept popping up. What was the hacker up to?

The male immediately sat down on the computer. He typed a few things before the screen came up with files that were confidential. Not to mention, images he didn't want to see.

But Mokuba couldn't take his eyes away from the monitor as he stared at Kaiba's dead body.

Serenity quickly jumped into an alley as the police cars whizzed by. She clenched her eyes closed..

She hated running.

Especially from the cops.

But what was she afraid of? She didn't do anything!

The raven-haired male narrowed his eyes. No one would be interested Seto's accident at this time. Especially after five years…. He sucked in his breath, "Serenity…"

His breath whirled in the air and dissipated into a whisper echoing off the walls. Mokuba immediately grabbed the phone and dialed the number to the police station.

"911 emergency and response. How may I help you?"

"This is Mokuba Kaiba. You are looking for an Auburn haired woman. Age about twenty-four at the height 5 feet and 2 inches."

"I'll mike the information to the officers heading to Wallstreet right now sir."

Mokuba hung up without a bye or any kind of adieu.

Serenity quickly stepped out from the alley. The halo form the lamppost provided very little light as she watched as they pulled up to the apartment she occupied earlier. She crept back into the darkness and waited for the voices of the officers.

"Mr. Kaiba said there should me a female redhead inside. Check all doors, rooms and any other areas in the place. I'd like to add, pissing off a Kaiba is almost like going to hell and back. So ahead of time, don'tscrew this up!"

Steps pounded against the cement as three or more officers headed up towards the apartments to begin their search.

"CLEAR!" "CLEAR!"

More steps were heard as doors were forced open.

"CLEAR!" "CLEAR!"

Serenity silently cursed. Mokuba seemed like he almost wanted her dead.

"CLEAR!" "CLEAR!"

It was time to leave.

"CLEAR!" steps pounded the ground and seeped into the air and whispered into Serenity's helpless ears. All she could do was lean against the wall trembling hoping she would suddenly loose her balance.

"CLEAR!"

"That's the last one sir."

"Hold on! I found something in 3E."

Serenity suddenly seemed powerless, "…that's Joey's apartment!" Lifting herself off the wall, she stepped back into the light. She glanced at the cars parked outside the complex. Now or never . . . Taking a huge breath, she sprinted down the sidewalk, trying to keep in the shadows with the pictures clutched in her coat pocket. Her eyes almost leaked with tears.

The officer standing watch saw something out of the corner of his eye.

"Lieutenant! We've got a 10-107!" (3)

Without hearing the chief's orders, he quickly began the goose chase.

How can Mokuba do this to me!

(1) – in the second or third chapter it mentions Joey moving to America to get an education.

(2) – I asked my brother (he's a total computer freak) what another word for hacker might be. His response was, "Someone who violates and illegally goes into computers with his?" I nodded. He then said, "I believe the word you are looking for is 'Cracker'." So there you have it - The answer to your question. I was not…I repeat…not talking about the cookies that might be salted and crushed up and put into your tomato soup.

(3) – it's a code for police. I think. Well I looked it up and that's what I got. But it stands for: suspicious person.

A/N: I tried to get this out as soon as possible! huffs I hope you are happy! Cuz I am!

Thankies!

Losaye Maiden

StarWolf4

Princess Yunariana

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SetoxSerenity4ever

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Please review! I appreciate it!

A/N (again): alright, I am trying to type up a good summary for more readers. If you please have any ideas….let me know. I seem to be lacking in summaries…but not the story itself.