A door opened and out stepped Erya. She stood a moment staring at the people outside the door. "Here are a lot of people" she stated in a rusty, not-used-so-much voice and looked at her Yami, Leah. Leah nodded silently. Everybody was surprised to see her out of the room she rarely came out of. They also noticed that her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. "Could you remind me of were the food is kept?" Erya asked a bit nervous. Leah pointed in the direction of the kitchen, and Erya nodded showing that she knew now. Leah's hand dropped and she stared helplessly at her Hikari, sad to see her in such a state. Erya's appearance was in a hideous state; even without counting in the eyes she looked pitiful. Her black curly hair was tangled and had the glossy look of not washed hair. Her skin was a ghostly pale, and looked paper-thin. She was very thin herself and her clothes were unwashed and hung around her small body. The nails on her hands were a bit long; they were also flossed and dirty.

Leah was being sent looks from different people and she started explaining her Hikari's state. She told them that her eyes were like that because the only things she could do in her room was either; reading a book, looking at TV, be on the computer or sleep. Leah told them that Erya's eyes were puffy because of crying over The Accident. She refused to tell them about that. Leah also told them that Leah was the one giving Erya food.

Erya went into the kitchen looking emotionlessly around. She went over to a cupboard and took out a few things. She then made herself a sandwich. She carried it into the living room, and sat down at the empty sofa. The people were sitting on the floor. She began eating feeling uncomfortable by all the stares she was getting, but no emotion showed on her face. The people were beginning to get uncomfortable themselves by the silence. Erya finished her sandwich and rose from the sofa. She went over to her door again, but hesitated right in front of the door. She turned around and looked at them motionlessly as they stared back at her. Her eyes drifted to a man she didn't know who were. The man not only stared at her, he had downright disgust in his eyes. His voice was high-pitched in the most annoying way: "you're some kind of monster and you disgust me" he said with arrogance noticeable in his annoying voice. Erya's face showed no emotion, but under the emotionless outside she raged, how dared he?! After all she had been through this was what she got? Leah looked at the man and rose from her spot in the middle of the crowd. Her voice was icy. "If you dare say such a thing about my Hi-"she stopped herself in the middle of the word, threw a glance at Erya before continuing, "about my good friend I swear I'll kill you." almost everybody stared at Leah, wondering why she stood up for the freak. Under Erya's façade she felt a sudden rush of emotions wanting to get out. At first she didn't want them to come out, but changed her mind and tried forcing them out. Nothing happened. It was like her thin skin were blocking the showing of emotion and Erya shook her head wanting to show something, there finally did when the man talked again. "You stand up for the freak?" he asked in an, again, annoying way, before continuing without waiting for an answer, "You must also be a creepy freak then." He said it like he stated an obvious thing and hell broke loose. All the forgotten feelings blew out at the gruesome words to her Yami. "AAAARRRHHH" she screamed and jumped at the man. The man stared scared at her as she lifted him with ease by the collar. Erya's face was now full with the emotion of anger, it had been sleeping behind a mask, but his voice had awoken it again. She snarled and threw him back on the floor. He whimpered. She stared with all the disgust in the world down at him. "Not worth it" she hissed before stomping back to her room. But not without hesitating at the door, taking a look back at her Yami, and receive an encouraging smile from said person.

That was the first time in a long time Erya had emerged from the depths of sorrow. Leah thought that maybe now would be a turning point. But she didn't now how much that was going to change.

Erya looked from the book to the computer and back again. What she saw was long from encouraging. She sighed and shook her head, which was clouded with sleepiness. She took one more look at both things and finally accepted that she would be going to the depths of hell. She sighed and stretched her tired body, rising. She put a mark on the page and put it down on the table, beside the computer. She stretched again before going over to lie on the bed. She laid down and fell in deep exhausted sleep.

When she woke up again she felt like only a second had passed. Her head was groggy from the sleep and it took her a second to realise she had woken up to a scream. The scream suddenly muffled and a shiver ran down her spine. Her mind had cleared immediately at the sound of scream, and she quickly gathered some things around the room. She took the book from last night and stuffed her laptop into the faded green rucksack. She gathered some clean clothes and also stuffed a blanket into the bag. She also gathered her plushie, which she could not live without and stuffed it into the top. Only the head stuck out. She gathered some last things and swung the bag onto her back. She carefully sneaked over to the door and opened it a bit. She bit her lip wishing Leah was still here. But no, the Yami had been transferred to another school. She hadn't even said goodbye. Erya sneaked out the small gap and quickly looked around. No one was around. She quietly sneaked down the hall and suddenly heard footstep. She quickly hided in a niche. Some cloaked men came around the corner, whispering quite loudly to each other. They went down the hall and went around another corner. Erya quickly went down the hall in the opposite direction. She remembered the scream and shivered again. She went down the main hall and went in the direction of an exit. That's when she heard a yell. "There is someone there!" Erya froze, then hearing another voice directed at her: "stay right where you are or we shoot!" Shoot! Erya took a deep breath, before suddenly turning to the exit storming out the doors. She rushed out into the fresh air she hadn't breathed in weeks. She took another deep breath, this time in the wonderful fresh air, and began running. She heard a gun shot ricochet close to her feet and she began running for real. You wouldn't think a girl who had been staying in weeks inside the same room could run this fast. But she did. Before The Accident she had been a star athlete. Especially at running. So now she ran for her life. She ran for the world, even though she didn't know at that time. She just ran.

Erya sneaked through the alleys of the Slum. Even though they wouldn't be looking here, it was best to go unnoticed in a place like this. She heard voices and hid. "Why are you always like that?" the first voice was rather loud, and she knew it was a man. It was also rough with an accent she hadn't heard anywhere other than out of her Yami's mouth. Erya's eyes watered at the thought of Leah, but shook it off, again listening. She had missed the other persons answer, and heard again his voice. "So? I don't have any problems with it?" the other persons answer was in a lower voice. "But you're you, Bakura. I still have problems about such a thing." The second voice was also a mans. This man just had a more feminine tone. "Why?! You're not even doing anything!" Bakura yelled at the other man, "So? I can still care. Besides what if I worry?" you could almost hear the smirk in Bakura's voice, "Oh? But, like you pointed out before, I am ME!" the last thing he yelled out. Erya flinched realising the voiced were coming closer. She closed her eyes begging not to be noticed, but couldn't help keep listening. The other man sighed. That made her freeze when she realised how close they were. "That's not what I-"there was a small unnoticeable hesitation."-mean!" the man rose his voice for the first time. "Oh? What do you-"a hand reached in and gripped her by the collar. She was surprised, but struggled and ended on the ground coughing. "Are you some kind of spy?" a calm voice asked. Erya carefully lifted her head and looked at the two men in front of her. The one who had been talking, Bakura, had a flash of white hair, he was pale and had scars over one eye, the colour of crimson was his eye colour, and he was wearing a red faded cape, but everything he wore were of good quality. The other man was also pale, his hair was also white, but it looked more laid down than Bakura's spiky hair. His face features looked similar to Bakura's, but were softer. His eyes were a stormy blue-grey colour, and he wore a white t-shirt with blue stripes, and faded jeans, both also of good quality. What they saw were; a young girl, her eyes showed she had been through great pain and still hadn't forgotten it. Her colour of the eyes was a silvery-grey. She was pale and looked athletic. She was wearing black hoodie and grey pants. She looked dirty and also wore a faded green rucksack. If they squinted hard enough they could see the lost beauty she once was. She started stuttering: "N-no, I'm not, not an s-spy! I was just," she regained compositure and stood up. "Hiding from you." she said the last without even blinking. "Oh?" Bakura cocked an eyebrow. He was beginning to like her attitude. "Why were you hiding?" The softer one took a step closer, and Erya looked suspicious at him, "because you might want to hurt me." Notice that she didn't say it in past tense. The two men exchanged looks. Then the softer reached out with his hand. "I'm Ryo and this is Bakura." Slowly Erya shook his hand. "I'm Erya," she introduced herself. Ryo smiled at her and she noticed their eyes more; Ryo's was filled with innocence and his stormy blue pools were flooding with kindness, while in Bakura's eyes the arrogance and coldness ruled, but if you looked closer to his red orbs you could see something hidden. "Who are you?" Erya wanted answers. What was it Ryo didn't want to? They exchanged looks before Ryo tried explaining, "well, we're…we're kind of… you know we're…Ehm we-"Bakura broke in, "We're thieves." Erya cocked an eyebrow, and suddenly relaxed. She didn't have anything against thieves. Bakura cocked an eyebrow at that, but Ryo only saw the changed stance and thought she was scared, "but don't worry, we-"Erya waved dismissing with her hand to make him stop. "No, no, I don't have anything against thieves." Erya smiled at them, a thing she hadn't done since… The Accident. Her smile lit up her sad face, and showed them the forgotten beauty. They again exchanged looks. "So, who are you?" Bakura was straight forward, "Eh... Well if you have a place to tell my story, I could tell you…?" Ryo smiled and Bakura smirked. (A/N: he doesn't smile!) Bakura then motioned a direction and began walking, without making sure they followed. After a second they also followed. They went down alleys and more alleys. Then they stopped in front of a door. They all went into the abandoned shop. Well not actually abandoned. But they weren't staying at the shop, Bakura went behind the desk and they followed. There, there was a chair. Bakura took it out of the way and opened a hatch in the floor. All three climbed down and now stood in an earthy corridor. Erya followed the two men down the way, but they didn't go further and opened a secret door in the wall. Erya followed them inside and stood looking around at their house. It was like a cave, but there were two beds, and it seemed like the door in the other side of the room were an escape exit. Rough life, she thought. "You seem to live quite well." She said out loud. Ryo just 'hmm'-ed, while Bakura smirked and answered: "that's because I'm a king." Erya stared at him, "wait," she said when she realised, "you're THAT Bakura?!" Bakura's smirk grew, "that explains quite a bit." She mumbled and sat down on Ryo's bed. "So?" Ryo seemed a bit impatient. Erya smiled and began, "well I had transferred to this school, and then my friend Leah transferred away," she began her story.

"And then you found me." She ended. She then noticed they were staring at her, "what?" Bakura snapped out of it and scratched his head, "so you don't know who these men are?", "nope," she answered sadly. "But they were clearly looking for a person." "Hmm" Bakura drifted into thoughts, while Ryo finally also snapped out of thoughts, "So you're from far away?" Erya nodded. Ryo also nodded and went to stare at a map. Erya followed. "What are all these pins?" Erya pointed to one of the pins, a red one. "That's… places I want to go…" Erya smiled at the statement and knew that he wanted to travel. "Why haven't you?" Erya traced the road from the red pin to a white one marking this city. "Heh," he said with a sad smile, "I was needed here." He shrugged. Erya, now feeling sorry for him, let her hand fall. She fighted an urge to hug him, (A/N: who wouldn't?) but he must have had seen the motion, because he smiled at her. "You don't have to" he said, she gave him a nervous smile before going back to the bed, sitting down. Bakura shot a look at Ryo, before declaring: "we're going to come with you." Erya's eyes grew big, and Ryo's mouth opened slightly. "What?" Bakura asked his brows risen and in an irritated tone. Erya quickly smiled and thanked him, "don't thank me" he said like it was an insult, "I'm curious about those guys." "Curiosity killed the cat." Erya unhearable mumbled. Ryo suddenly tackled Bakura. "What the-!" Bakura fell back and quickly shoved Ryo off. Ryo looked apologetic at him, before lighting up with a big smile. Bakura shook his head angrily and rose to pack the necessarities into a bag. Ryo quickly packed some stuff also. Then Ryo lead Erya to another room. "You can sleep here. We're going to wake you up early." He said still with a smile. Erya shook her head also smiling. "See you then." She nodded to Ryo, who went into the other room. Then she prepared the small bed and got into it. She fell asleep still smiling.