Wow, this chapter is an entire week late from when I wanted to publish it. For some reason, this one was really hard for me to write. I was having pronoun issues (you'll probably start to understand why as you read it). I really don't like the second half at all. I'm okay with the first half, but Marik seems bipolar (he's six-years-old, so right now, he's basically every ADHD kid I've ever baby sat). Also I have an epic run-on sentence that, according to grammar-check, is actually grammatically correct WOOT! XD. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I loved all of your reviews!

Also, before I forget, Happy late Birthday Beansprout-ninja! And thank you (and my sister) for harping on me to get this done.

Chapter 2—Sneaking Out

"Marik!" Ishizu called "Marik, where are you?" She paused. "Okay fine, I give up." She heard a groan coming from up in the rafters.

"Ishizu," Marik whined. "You're not supposed to give up! It's hide-and-seek."

Ishizu sighed. "It's time for dinner. How in the world did you get up there?"

"I climbed," the small child answered simply. She saw a small blonde head peek out from behind one of the large wooden beams.

"Marik! That's way too high! Get down from there!" Ishizu yelled.

"Aw, but I like it up here." Ishizu gave the child a glare that said 'if you don't come down here this minute, then [insert terrifying fate here].' "Fine," Marik huffed as she slid from the top rafter to a lower one. She repeated this until she landed on the lowest rafter.

"Come here Marik. I'll catch you," Ishizu said.

"No."

"Marik," Ishizu said in a warning tone.

"I wanna jump," she told Ishizu.

"Don't you even dare think about it, young man."

"Ishizu~ I'm thinking about it~" she sang.

"Marik."

"I'm jumping." And she jumped, only to be caught by Odion who had just walked through the door.

"Hey! What the—Odion!" she yelled happily and hugged the large man. Odion chuckled and put the young girl down.

"Odion! Odion! Odion! Guess what!" Marik said, jumping up and down.

"What?"

"I have a pet now!"

"Oh really?" he asked. Odion saw Ishizu rolling her eyes.

"Yeah! There was this big storm the other day and then I found this baby bird out on the balcony, but Miss Serenity got mad at me 'cause I got my clothes all dirty, but the baby bird was sooo cute and Miss Serenity said that the storm must have knocked it out of the tree but it had this broken wing and Miss Serenity helped me fix it and she said that I could keep the baby bird!" Marik took a big gulp of air. "I named the baby bird Mr. Tweetums because me and Miss Serenity and Ishizu were playing this game and I wanted to be the bad guy and the bad guy had a bird but I didn't have a bird but I wanted one and then I found a bird and I wanted to give him an evil name but I don't know what an evil name sounds like so I thought of a good bird name and I thought of Mr. Tweetums because birds make tweety sounds and so I asked Miss Serenity if Mr. Tweetums sounded like an evil name and Miss Serenity said that it did sound evil so that's why I named him Mr. Tweetums." Odion had a bewildered look on his face.

"Um…wow, seems like a lot happened while I was away. So what were you doing up in the rafters?" he asked.

"Oh, I was bored. I wanted to play hide-and-seek. Ishizu is a poopy-brain 'cause she gave up. You know." Marik shrugged.

"I am not a poopy-brain!" Ishizu stomped her foot.

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"I know that you are but what am I?"

"A dummy," Marik replied.

"I know you are but what am I?" Ishizu said.

"I am not a dummy, you are!" Marik cried. Ishizu stuck her tongue out. "Odion! Make her stop! Ishizu is being mean to me again!" Odion rolled his eyes.

"I think dinner is ready. Go wash up, okay."

"Okay! Come on Ishizu! I'll race you!" Marik yelled, running ahead.

"Yeah, but I'll win!" Ishizu yelled back.

"Good evening, Sir Odion," Serenity said, coming into the living room. "Dinner is almost ready."

"Thank you Serenity," Odion replied.

Serenity sighed. "My goodness, they've been rambunctious these past few days. Must be the cool weather I suppose. Marik keeps asking to go out," she told him.

"Well, he is six-years-old," Odion replied. "Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't asked sooner. He's been stuck here for nearly four years now. He's just a kid. He doesn't understand that he's been imprisoned and he isn't allowed to leave."

Serenity smiled sadly. "Of course, with his climbing skills, we had better be careful that he doesn't just climb down the tower." Odion chuckled.

"Can you imagine the King's face? 'Yes my Lord, you did hear that correctly. Prince Marik climbed down the walls of the tower and escaped and now we have no idea where he is.' Do you think we'd be beheaded for that?" he joked. Serenity laughed.

"But you know Sir Odion, we will have to talk with him about this. He does need to know that he can't leave."

"Yes I know," he said.

"Odion! Miss Serenity!" Marik shouted as she bounded from the bathroom. "I'm all ready for dinner!"

"Marik, please stop shouting! You are going to give me a migraine!" Ishizu scolded.

"Well you're shouting too Ishizu!" Marik retorted.

"I know I am! Because it's the only way to be heard over your incessant chattering!"

"Okay, enough kids," Serenity said.

"I'm not a kid," Ishizu said, crossing her arms. "I'm twelve-years-old."

"Well then start acting like a twelve-year-old."

"Hahahaha! You got scolded!" Marik laughed.

"Marik, you should start behaving like a proper prince," Serenity told him. "You're almost seven now, so behave like a young man."

"Aw, does this mean I have to eat all my vegetables?" she asked.

"If you want to grow up big and tall, then yes," Serenity replied.

"How can Marik behave like a proper young man while wearing a pink skirt?" Ishizu asked.

"Why are you always so mean to me?" Marik whined.

"Because, shut up."

"That's not an answer!"

"If you two don't stop arguing this second then you will both go to bed without dinner," Serenity said. The two stopped arguing. "Good. Now let's eat."

After dinner, Serenity began putting the kitchen back in order. Ishizu had gone of to her room to read, and Odion sat in the living room writing a letter to Queen Isis.

"Miss Serenity," Marik, who had changed into a boy over the course of dinner, said. "Let me clean the kitchen since you made dinner and everything."

"Aw, Marik how sweet of you, but I think I've got it covered," Serenity said.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine."

"Um, I'll put the cake away for you," he said.

Serenity sighed with a smile. "If you insist, but I don't want to find any of your little finger prints in the frosting 'kay?"

"Yay!" Marik cheered. He skipped to where the cake sat on the counter. He was secretly grateful that Serenity hadn't agreed to let him clean the entire kitchen. That probably would have taken him hours. When Serenity walked into the dinning room to get the dirty dishes, Marik cut a large slice of cake and put it into a box. He slid the box off to the side so Serenity wouldn't notice it, then he packed the rest of the cake into another box and put it in the icebox.

"All done," Serenity asked when she came back into the kitchen.

"Yep," Marik replied. "Are you sure you don't want me to help with anything else, Miss Serenity?" he asked, hoping that she would say no.

"I've got it Marik, but thank you for asking."

"'Kay, bye-bye!" he said and left the kitchen in a flash, the small box of cake tucked under his arm. Once in his room, he slid it under his bed, so no one would see it.

Marik's room was the highest in the tower, but it was quite small, especially with everything he owned crammed into it. He had a rather large bookshelf that was almost entirely filled. Odion always brought him books. He used to not like the books Odion brought because he thought they were stupid and kiddy, but as he got better at reading, Odion started bringing him better books to read, books filled with knights and pirates and princesses and Marik loved those books.

Marik had a small bed and a small closet. Both the bed and closet consisted of a lot of purple, which was Marik's favorite color. Most of the clothes he owned were girl clothes because he spent most of his time as a girl. Only his pajamas were boy clothes.

He grabbed a ratty tan shirt and matching pants. He preferred to wear these because 1) they were comfortable, 2) just the sight of them annoyed Serenity, and sometimes, annoying Serenity was fun, and 3) they were perfect for what he was going to do. If they were torn or dirty Serenity wouldn't care. It wouldn't make her suspicious.

When it was nearly midnight and Odion, Ishizu and Serenity were asleep, Marik crept down the stairs to the living room and out to the large balcony. A great oak tree grew about ten yards from the balcony, and over the years one of its branches had grown closer to the balcony. Marik hooked him arm over the branch and climbed onto it with a practiced ease. He began to inch his way towards the body of the tree, a sack with the cake box in it slung over his shoulder. Once he reach the main part of the tree, it was easy as pie to get to the ground. All he had to do way drop from one enormous branch to a lower one, just as he had earlier that day on the rafters.

Marik took off running through the forest towards the small town that was about a mile from his tower.

"Touzie!" Marik called, seeing his friend leaning against the wall surrounding the town. He was slightly out of breath from his long run, but he was getting more and more used to the trek he made almost every night.

His friend, Touzie, turned his head. "Marik! There you are." Touzie smiled. "I almost thought you weren't coming tonight."

"Of course I'd come tonight. Hey Touzie, come over here," Marik said. He led the other boy into the shadow of the trees. He pulled the cake box out of his sack. "It might be a little bit squished, but it still tastes good." Touzie looked at the blond boy curiously.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's cake."

"Why did you bring cake?"

"Because, you said you were pretty sure your birthday was in fall and well, it's fall, so I decided you deserved a birthday cake," Marik answered.

"It…it's for me?"

"Yeah! Happy birthday Touzie! How old are you turning anyway?"

"Um…ten I think," he said.

"Aw, so you are older than me," Marik said, pouting. Touzie laughed.

"You turn seven this winter, right?" Touzie asked.

"Yeah, but you don't have to get me anything. My family gets me everything anyway." Touzie smiled playfully.

"You sure you just don't want me to steal something for you?" he asked.

"Well, of course I don't want you to steal something for me! I don't want you to get caught. You're like, my only friend." There was silence for a few moments and a sad look crossed Touzie's face. "Are going to eat your cake?" Marik asked.

"Oh! Yes," Touzie answered. He dug into the cake with his bare hands. Marik watched his friend. From the first day they met, Marik knew the boy was a thief. It's what his name meant. Touzouku. Thief. Touzie had said that it was the only name he was ever called. Storeowners would yell the name at him as he ran with their merchandise, so he decided to use the name as his own.

Marik learned that the boy was orphaned at a young age. He didn't remember his parents. He still had his younger sister, Amane, but she didn't remember his name either. Marik often wondered what Touzie's parents had been like. The boy had silvery hair, so messy it looked like it had never been brushed, dark brown eyes, and tan skin. Marik always thought the tan looked strange on him, like he wasn't supposed to be tan.

"Thank you!" Touzie said, the only remains of the cake stuck to his face. Marik laughed.

"Come on," he said, grabbing his friend's hand. "Let's go celebrate!"

In the darkest hour of the night, the time just before dawn, Marik and Touzie sat down by a lake, just a half-mile from Marik's tower. A chilly silence came over the two boys.

"Marik, I have to tell you something," Touzie said, a distant look in his eyes.

"What?"

"I-I can't stay here anymore. People are starting to recognize me as the thief. I don't want to put Amane in danger. We have to leave. I'm-I'm so sorry. You're the best friend I ever had. This is the best birthday I ever had."

"When do you have to leave?" Marik asked.

"Morning," he answered. "I know you have to go back home now, before your family finds you missing."

Marik looked at the ground. He didn't know what to say, so he did the first thing that came to his mind. He gave Touzie a quick peck on the lips and said, "I'll see you later."

"What?" Touzie asked, his eyes widening.

"That's what Odion always does whenever he is going to be gone for a while. He gives everyone a quick kiss and says 'I'll see you later.' And we always do see him later," Marik answered.

"Oh," Touzie said. "But, how do you know we'll see each other again?"

"Because, I don't lie to my best friend," Marik said simply. "And we will see each other again because I said so."

Touzie chuckled. "Well, see you later Marik," he said and he hugged his best friend. Then, he was gone.

Bakura: Clearly, I am having an identity crisis. What the hell is my name! Am I Akefia, Touzouku, or Bakura?

Me: All three *smiles*

Bakura: Am I Ryou too?

Me: No, Ryou's dead.

Bakura: I'm still confused...