Chapter 15
Five Dayz: Dead-ly

Seto set the last item on the tray before turning towards the door and heading out of the room. He left the empty pots and pans in a heap inside the sink. He'll have to wash them later, or just let the maids do it. (It was with the exception of Mokuba or Serenity telling them first.) He had almost forgotten he couldn't be seen. I'm really home. Kaiba's steps seemed to have a little more bounce in them as he quickly pushed the kitchen door open and headed into the main hallway. As each step seemed to vibrate off the walls, he continued on his way minding his business.

Something didn't seem right. It came more often than not these days. But in doing so, he paused for a second.

It stopped.

Glancing from left to right, and not acting suspicious, Kaiba continued on his way again.

There it was.

Out of place as it seemed or was, Kaiba couldn't put his finger on it as he halted once more. It stopped; whatever it was. Whether it was the uneasy feeling or his head making up something for his new little newspaper stand inside his head, he had no idea what to think. This was not like Kaiba: confused and bewildered beyond compare. Maybe we can add impaired on the back of that. But as soon as Kaiba lifted his foot, a smudge-blob crashed landed into his stomach. It attached itself like a bat to the side of a cave not wanting to let go. As if it was glued, Kaiba lifted the tray above his head and peered down at messy auburn hair.

The mystery was solved as Kaiba replied, "Why were you following me?"

The little girl's voice reasoned, "That's what I am supposed to do." She peered up at Kaiba mirroring his own shade of eyes, "You haven't been around long, so I'll have to show you the ropes of being a parent." She immediately let go of his midriff and put up a finger as she counted, "Lesson number one: children always follow their parents, or at least know where they are at all times to complete their mischief." She put up second finger, "Lesson number two: child can do whatever and whenever they want. Lesson number three," the third finger went up as she pointed to it with her other hand, "child is supposed to be annoying when appropriate. Lesson number four: child can use parents as things to accommodate them to their childish games and fantasy plays." She looked up at Kaiba and stared him in the face, "There's plenty more, but I won't get into them right now."

Spinning around, she ran off.

Almost dumbstruck, Kaiba stared at her receding back. What the heck was that?

As he began what was originally stopped, he lifted his foot as he voiced out loud, "Lesson number Five: Confuse adults beyond impairment. And last but not least, lesson number six: run off at excessive high speeds and tell adults what to do." He shook his head from side to side slightly before continuing on his way. Then one of his thoughts stuck out in his mind, does she get up this early everyday?

Finally coming to his destination, Kaiba opened the door while balancing one tray in his hand. Pressing the door to his back, Kaiba pushed it open and stepped inside to see his sleeping beauty on very thin silk sheets. Her hair fanned out around her head as she slept soundly unnoticing the footsteps inching closer to her side. Kaiba quickly placed the tray on the bedside night table and bent over the bed to kiss Serenity lightly on the lips. She stirred a little before turning over on her side facing Kaiba fully. Staring down at the redhead, Kaiba reached out towards the tray and picked up a rose to tease the young woman with. The placed the tips of the petals against her skin and slowly began tracing her eyelids, lips and face. Every now and then Serenity would swipe at the rose as Kaiba would take it away.

"You know I'll just get you back," she whispered. Serenity's eyes popped open as Kaiba leaned down and caught her lips in a sweet peck.

Kaiba sat back and watched as Serenity stretched slightly and turned over on her side. Her back faced him. Frowning slightly, he spoke softly, "Fine. Go back to sleep, I guess I'll just have to throw away this plate of beautifully made, sculpted, fluffed up with love and gentleness, whipped with chocolate and whip cream, and cherry on top pancakes." Kaiba stood and picked up the tray with him. Serenity sat up so quickly like a jack-in-the-box and grabbed Kaiba's arm.

"I…I haven't had that in five years." She stared at the plate. Then up at Kaiba. Back to the plate, and back to Kaiba. For a few seconds this happened before her eyes finally landed, and stayed hypnotized by Kaiba's eyes. "I cant' believe you made this…It's—"

"What?" Kaiba paused and glared down at the tray he was holding, "it's not like I poisoned it or anything."

Serenity's hand left Kaiba's arm, "I know, but…it's just weird."

"How?"

"Your grave is not more than fifteen minutes away Kaiba."

The brunette had to take a step back for a moment. He moved out of Serenity's reach and stared at the deflating whip cream. To him, it looked no longer fluffy and inviting with surgery sweetness waiting to me tasted for a morning treat. To him, it looked dull, like a rock. Just sitting there, with no life at all.

An awkward silence fell between them. Suddenly Kaiba set down the tray and strode into the bathroom not too far away. Serenity sat where she was and left the food untouched. Bringing her knees into her chest, she watched quietly and patiently at the doorframe of the main bathroom. Minutes seemed to pass before Kaiba emerged with something in his hand. The object glistened when it hit the light. The shining ray lit up a piece of wall for a few seconds before dispersing with Kaiba's figure nearing Serenity.

She watched him fixatedly. He seemed to move with exact posture and grace as his feet took him closer to where she was sitting. His face was neutral and stern. The auburn woman hadn't seen that from the beginning of their trials when he came home. She almost hesitated when he finally reached her and stuck out his hand. She brushed her fingertips against his skin as she picked up the razor blade from his hand. The plastic covering hadn't even been removed from the sharpened blade and rubber handle.

Seto order sternly, "Take off the plastic."

Without question, Serenity did as she was told. She held the razor in her hand as if it was an ordinary object like a hairbrush.

Kaiba snapped it out of her hand as if it was deadly snake. He stared at the blade a few seconds. His expression neutral as can be.

Serenity stared at Kaiba. She had no idea what this was all about. Was he going to shave for the first time in a long time? It just didn't seem right. It wasn't until Kaiba was brought out of his reverie, that he glanced at Serenity before bringing the blade to his wrist. Her eyes widened.

"Watch," he murrmured.

All she could do was gulp and gaze at him blankly. But it happened so quickly, she didn't have time to respond before she found herself lying on top of her husband and griping his arms above his head to the ground. It almost felt like an instinct to lunge at Kaiba and knock the razor out of his hands. Except, it was too late. The blade fell a few feet away oozing with blood seeping between the blades.

Serenity's heart wouldn't stop pumping as she stared down at her husband. His eyes were soulless, like nothing had ever even lived within his body. His eyes brought sorrow to her heart as his eyebrows dropped from their surprised look. His eyes dulled with sadness as the two continued to stare each other in the eyes. The thumping of the girl's heart seemed to race with immeasurable beats as she continued to breath in and out with grief.

Kaiba quietly coed, "You have got to know I'm dead Serenity…I am not here to stay," before his voice went silent. Serenity's body froze before she, herself, was able to relax her grip on Kaiba's hands and spoke forcibly, "I know." Serenity quickly let go of Kaiba and stood up on her slightly wobbling legs.

The brunette watched as Serenity turned and began walking towards the bathroom. He felt a tear on land on his cheek above him as she ambled past him. Kaiba sat up slowly and began rubbing the tear away from his face. Guilt swelled up inside him as he let his hand drop to the floor in eager attempt to push him up from the floor. It was then he noticed the tear he had wiped from his face, wasn't a tear.

Abandoning getting up, he quickly glanced at his wrist where he should have cut. There should have been a severely deep cut, he coudln't feel, to make by his own, mistakably fake, suicide in front of his wife. It was only a scrape like a paper cut. The other problem was: there was no liquid streaming down his wrist to accommodate the suicide attempt in front of Serenity in proving his death. There was in fact a small pool of blood on his wrist a few in inches down from the cut.

Cursing silently Kaiba jumped up and ran towards the bathroom in dear attempt to help Serenity with her wound, before it became deadly enough to go to the hospital for. Shoving the door open to the bathroom, Kaiba ran in and glanced her standing next to the towels. Her face was pale as she glanced at Kaiba through the mirror. Her slow reaction made Kaiba panic he jogged over to the redhead. Her left hand was gently supporting her right wrist with a towel as she fell forward on the shelf. The surprise of Kaiba's enter took her off guard as she slightly nurtured her wrist.

Kaiba put his hand on her shoulder in dear attempt to calm and steady her as she stared up into his eyes. Her pale face made his eyes roam down towards her wrist. Quickly he brought the girl into a hug as he held her tightly like he wasn't ever going to let her go. He felt Serenity let go a breath of air as he felt her body relax against him.

"Serenity, I want you to know that I am here. That's all that matters." He whispered gently into her ear as he pushed her backwards to look into her gleaming, and most precious, face. The girl didn't move as he made the motion.

Her body was limp, her head fell forward, and the towel dropped to the floor.

Kaiba stared in horror as he watched blood seep from her hand to the floor, in not one or two, but multiple drops like a broken faucet.

It was then his heart began beating like Serenity's had moments before as he lay the girl down on the floor and began putting pressure on the wound.

His voice thundered throughout the whole house as he screamed in terrified desperation, "Someone call 911!"

Hope I am not loosing my touch. Tell me what you think? (Comments greatly appreciated).