Angel: Yeah, people reviewed! XD Well, here is the second chapter. But first, time for some responses!

Meiko: The highlight of her day.

Seto: Literally.

Angel: ignore my obnoxious yami and prisoner peoples. -.-

Maruken – Well, maybe. If this was going to be a yaoi it would have been a Malik/Marik but I'll think about it. And Malik REALLY has no brains, you can tell in this chapter. You can also tell he has no guts. Oh, and about that story by Spyder Webb, I think, what's it's name? Spyder Webb has 51 stories, so, a little help?

Hershey-kiss – The insane asylum? Well, I thought a mental institution would be a little minor for Malik. :D And I'm not funny, I'm sarcastic! XD Thankz for the compliments though.

Revlis – I like the Goo Goo Dolls too! :D Though you can kind-of tell that already huh? XD Well, hope this makes ya happy too!

IcyPanther- I'll try to add more of Seto at . . . some point. XD

Sailor Mini Venus – Well, I try. :D I had so much fun writing the flashback! And yur right. School is evil! XP That's why I'm glad I don't have to go for another two months!

FeatherWings- I've updated for ya! XD Keep reviewing please!!!

Angel: Well, enough of that. Now on to disclaimers.

Meiko: It's not my turn.

Angel: It's never your turn.

Meiko: That's not my job.

Angel: Whatever. -.- Well, then you get to do it.

Seto: Damn it all. Dark-Angel302 doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh of the song I'm still here by the Goo Goo Dolls.

Angel: See, that wasn't so bad.

Seto: -.- Sure, I guess not.

Angel: But this is! types frantically on the keyboard and Seto ends up tied to a chair with is hands bound to the arms

Seto: SHIT! NOT AGAIN.

Meiko: eating popcorn Wow, twice in two days.

Angel: sits on Seto's lap since he can't do anything about it Well, enjoy the chapter. starts to play with Seto's hair

---

I'm still here

Chapter 2

/And what do think you'd ever say?

I won't listen anyway:

You ignore me,

And I'll never be what you want me to be/

Malik leaned against the chain-link fence, the bell would ring in about 15 minutes, but Malik wasn't ready to go any where, let alone go through another day of torture. He closed his eyes, only to be met by a blasting throb in his head, when would this stupid headache go away. Malik sunk to the pavement, and sighed, closing his eyes again. 'Maybe going to sleep will help . . .'

"MALIK!" Came a distant voice, the blonde Egyptian looked up to see someone running towards him. It was Ryou. The white-haired teen stopped in front of Malik, breathing heavily and cheeks flushed from the bitter fall wind.

"Hey," he breaths, smiling and sits down in front of Malik who just stares at him.

"Hi," Malik says slowly. "Sorry, about yesterday."

"It's okay," Ryou says, still smiling, and breathing heavily. "I'm the one who should be apologizing-"

"No, I should have looked where I was going."

"It's not about that," Ryou interrupted. "About yesterday, at school." Malik put on a confused look.

"You weren't here yesterday, were you?"

"No, I wasn't. I'm apologizing for the other guys," Ryou said quietly. "Joey still doesn't forgive Marik for sending Mai to the shadow realm, and he doesn't believe that you aren't him. Then Tristan, if something is bothering Joey, he's going to go against it. Tea, well, I don't really understand what her problem is, she has too many." He said with a smile, Malik smiled back. "And, I think Yugi just feels odd around you because, it really was you, before the Battle City finals so . . ." he trailed off, looking at the ground.

"It's okay, I get it," Malik replied, suddenly finding his shoes very interesting to look at. "But, what about you?" Malik almost whispered. Ryou looked up at him, his doe-brown eyes looking confused. "I'm only worried about you Ryou," Malik said a little louder than before. "You know you were the only person yesterday that said something near nice to me?" A slight frown appeared on Ryou's face.

"Well, I forgive you Malik, I have for a long time. What happened in the past, just . . . happened. We really can't do anything about it, so it's best to be left alone. What matters is what is happening now, not then."

"You're too forgiving, you know that," Malik said, a small smile crawling up his face.

"You have no idea how many times I hear that," Ryou sighed, falling backwards on to the pavement, staring up at the sky. There were a few moments of silence before Ryou said softly, "We're going to be late for homeroom."

"Screw homeroom," Malik muttered. Ryou smiled a little, but it disappeared as a thought accrued to him. "What class are you in?"

"B"

Ryou sighed a little, "That's my class, and everyone's else's."

"Don't remind me," Malik muttered, staring back at his feet. Ryou sat up, sitting cross-legged, a look of sympathy for the Egyptian on his face.

"You really don't like them, do you?"

"I would like them fine, they're the ones that seem to have a problem with me."

"Well," Ryou was silent, thinking of a way to answer that. "They just need get to know you." After running his own words through his head, an idea came to Ryou's mind. "If they would just give you a chance, I bet they could forgive you. I know Yugi and Tea would easy." Malik thought that over, but there was something else.

He had seen what good friends all of them were; Yugi seemed like someone you could always go to for help, Tea would always be your friend no matter what, Tristan was a good friend to have around, especially if Joey was around as well, and Ryou was just the finishing touch, someone who would always listen to you. The five were friends, but what would Malik do if he was added to their group? 'Nothing,' he thought to himself. 'I just wouldn't fit in. I'd screw everything up, maybe it's better if I just stayed by myself. And I probably couldn't get them to like me anyway.'

It was true, living underground for 12 years didn't really help his people skills. To tell the truth, Malik didn't know how to make friends.

'I would give anything to fit in . . .'

---

The two made it to homeroom on time, mostly because Ryou dragged Malik there. Malik sat down in the back of the room, and wasn't surprised at all when Ryou went over to the other group. Sighing, he took out another book to read. But soon found himself looking up at the group, laughing, joking.

Why couldn't he be like them?

Why couldn't he have friends who would always be there for him?

Malik remembered Battle City, and seeing through his darker-half's eyes. They would always be there for each other, almost considered each other as family. They were such good friends they would risk their lives for each other. That was true friendship.

All he had was alliance. Bakura had helped him get his body back, but only because Malik had bribed him with the Millennium Rod. The two ended up fighting and arguing the whole time.

But then there was Ryou.

Malik came back from his deep thoughts to see Ryou laughing and joking with them. Did Ryou even consider him a friend? He said that he forgave him, but Ryou didn't like seeing people hurt, he might have said that just so Malik wouldn't feel bad.

Right at that moment, Malik felt more alone than he had ever felt in his life.

Tears stung his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. 'Stop being such a baby,' he tried to reassure himself. 'You don't need anyone. You made it by yourself before, screw them if they didn't care. You're better off alone anyway.' Frowning at himself, Malik stuffed his book in his backpack and dug out his CD Player.

Malik had an interest in American Music for some reason, mostly because it was fast and dealed with problems he was experiencing, or would make him feel better if he was down. He couldn't really explain it, he couldn't even think of a word for it, maybe there wasn't one. But every morning, Malik would grab a random CD and leave for school, he always ended up listening to it.

Right now he wished he had Linkin Park or Evanescence.

Strapping his headphones over his ears, he pressed play to find out he had grabbed Yellowcard. He skipped to number eight, listening to the steady rhythm.

There's a place off Ocean Avenue

Where I used to sit and talk with you

We were both 16 and it felt so right

Sleeping all day, staying up all night

Staying up all night

Malik closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair, not caring about anything, just losing himself in the music.

There's a place on the corner of Cherry Street

We would walk on the beach in our bare feet

We were both 18 and it felt so right

Sleeping all day, staying up all night

Staying up all night


If I could find you now things would get better

We could leave this town and run forever

Let your waves crash down on me and take me away

He felt someone tapping his shoulder. Opening his eyes slightly to see Ryou standing next to him, and his stuff on the desk next to him. Lowering his earphones, still blasting music, though it was very hard to make out the words.

"Sorry, I had to ask them something," Ryou said, sitting down next to Malik, who stared at him. Ryou was trying so hard to be his friend, but Malik just realized he was just making it more difficult. Forcing a smile, Malik turned off his CD Player.

"Is this your assigned seat, or do you really want to sit by me," Malik asked.

"Both," Ryou's smile never left his face. "I have some good news for you too!"

"Oh, really," Malik said, sarcastically. "That's a first." Ryou pulled a face on him, making Malik laugh.

Wait, he just laughed.

For the first time in days . . .

Oh well, about time.

"Well, I just talked to them, and they agreed to let you sit with us at lunch." Malik raised his eyebrows at Ryou's words. 'They're letting me sit with them.'

"How much did you pay them?" Malik teased. Ryou rolled his eyes.

"Joey asked for $10."

"He did!"

Ryou burst out laughing, "No, but I owe him a math lesson." Malik had to laugh at that.

But he had a feeling that the others didn't really want him around at all, and were only doing it for Ryou. If one thing went wrong, Malik could just forget about becoming friends with them.

That was the thought he stressed over all morning.

---

It was lunch, Malik had gotten there early, and finally decided he couldn't go through with it. 'Joey and Tristan are going stare me down the whole time, and what if I say something wrong! What if they get mad at me!' He thought hysterically. 'But Ryou wants me to, if I don't do it will that get him mad at me?' He sighed.

'What am I supposed to do?'

"Hey Malik!" Ryou yelled, coming up behind him. 'crap, no chance turning back now.' Malik put on a fake smile as Ryou approached. "We have to find a table, then I'll go find everyone." Malik nodded, not speaking at all.

The two picked a spot by a tall Sakura Tree, and I mean right next to it. It was like the table was built into it. Malik sat down on the bench, and leaned up against the tree at the same time, his feet on the bench as well.

"I'll go and get them," Ryou said quickly before darting off, not waiting for an answer. Malik sat there for a moment, watching everyone else around him, eating their lunches and talking with their friends. Malik didn't have a lunch, he would have got one, but he didn't think he could keep it down. Malik was stressing enough over this.

This was his one chance to set things right, his one chance to make friends, to belong. His one desire. 'But,' he realized, 'this is also my one chance to escape since no one is here to stop me.' But there seemed to be something stopping him from getting up and heading back inside. So he sat there, deep in thought, and stressing so much he could barley hear himself think.

Five minutes past, and Malik couldn't stand it any longer. He didn't know what would happen, but he would either explode or . . . . something else. HE COULDN'T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT!!!

Trying to find something that would get his mind he dug back into his backpack to find his CD Player and started to listen to it:

There's a piece of you that's here with me

It's everywhere I go, it's everything I see

When I sleep, I dream and it gets me by

I can make believe that you're here tonight

That you're here tonight



If I could find you now things would get better

We could leave this town and run forever

I know somewhere, somehow we'll be together

Let your waves crash down on me and take me away


Malik was really starting to get into the song when, once again, he was tapped on the shoulder by none other than Ryou. Only he had the others with him, and Malik automatically froze. Tea sat by Yugi who was across from Malik, and Ryou took a seat next to Malik. But Malik could feel Joey and Tristan's glares even though he didn't dare look up at them.

The Egyptian moved his feet to the ground under the table and turned off his CD player, sliding the headphones off as well. 'Okay, this is it. Don't mess it up Malik.' The four boys were eating while Tea was looking up at the Sakura Blossoms in the tree, leaving Malik in his nerve-wrecking silence.

"We should sit here more often," Tea said out of the blue. "The tree is beautiful." Ryou and Yugi nodded, their mouths seemingly full with food. Yugi swallowed hard and looked up at Malik, who was also looking up in the tree.

"Where's your lunch Malik?" he asked. The lavender-eyed boy looked away from the tree. He had hoped they would act like they always would and ignore him. He didn't think he could speak; it was kind-of heard when you don't trust your own words.

"I'm not really hungry," he managed to force himself to say before staring at the wooden table-top.

"Yugi's right, you really should eat something Malik," Ryou said worriedly. Malik looked up at him, his eyes pleading him to not make him do anything other than sit there at the moment. He couldn't move, let alone eat. For one thing, he didn't think he could keep anything down right now. Even speaking seemed dangerous.

Ryou suddenly felt a pain of guilt, Malik was taking this really bad; why was it so hard for him? He was only trying to help Malik, but the Egyptian was sitting there like he couldn't trust himself to do anything. Ryou decided to leave him alone, maybe the others wouldn't talk to him.

No such luck.

"So, uh . . . Malik?" Yugi asked, the silence was getting to him. "What do you do after school now?" Malik gulped, he meant now that the Rare Hunters were discontinued. He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't get his words to come out, his voice was frozen, out of fear he supposed. He swallowed again, hoping to build up the courage to say something. One word, that was all he needed.

"Work."

'Good going Einstein. You got to say one word, and one that practically screams ask me more ask me more!!!'

"Really," Yugi said, trying to end the conversation. Malik seemed really uncomfortable around them, and Yugi couldn't really blame him. Joey and Tristan weren't really trying to make peace or anything here.

"Where," came an unexpected voice. Malik's head shot up to look at Tristan, who just stared at him in return. 'Come on Malik, stop being a baby and talk to them! It's not that hard!!!'

"An Auto Shop," Malik said, sitting up a little and talking louder than his previous mumbles.

"Oh, the one right next to our Game Shop," Yugi added.

"Well, I didn't know you owned that Game Shop Yugi," Malik continued. "I usually come from the other way."

"But the school is from da other way," Joey said, speaking up for the first time since he sat down."

"Well, I kind-of have to go home and change." He added in a teasing tone. Malik froze after he uttered those words. He could have killed himself right then and there. 'Somebody shoot me, please,' he thought desperately. If only his Rod would let him disappear instead of control peoples minds, that would come in handy so much more. 'No sarcasm, now they think I think that they're stupid. BAD MALIK!!! BAD!!!' Malik sunk a little in his seat, embarrassment and regret nagging him in the back of his mind, not to mention stupidity.

"Well, yeah," Yugi said, breaking the silence once again. "You can't really work in your school clothes, right Tristan?" Yugi looked over at the tallest of the boys, who nodded, his eyes not lifting off of Malik.

It was like he was being kept under close watch, like he would explode at any moment. Tristan didn't trust him, no one at that table did, maybe Ryou, but he would be the only one. 'Hell my own family doesn't trust me. Isis was about to drag me back to Egypt with her!' Malik looked around at his current situation. 'Actually that wouldn't be a bad idea.'

"Well, you weren't there yesterday for more than a few minutes," Tea pointed out. Malik felt like strangling her. Why was it that everyone was insisting on him talking. Or were they trying to break his nerves, this was driving him insane!!! 'Well, at least the rumors would be true.'

"I'm off work this week," Malik muttered. Hoping to God that the bell would ring soon, he didn't dare look up at the clock; Tristan was still watching him. It was like a surveillance camera, and Malik felt like if he did one thing wrong he was going to get jumped.

"Oh, well, then you wouldn't mind meeting us at the arcade?" Yugi asked. Malik looked up, blinking a couple of times. The arcade, the wanted to go do something with him? Hope swelled up inside of Malik, but it popped as soon as he looked at everyone else. The other three were staring at Yugi like he had grown another head. Ryou just stared at Yugi, but a smile was playing with his lips.

But Malik could tell the others didn't want him at the arcade with them, and now everyone was staring at him, waiting for an answer. 'Wait, if I go, that means another whole afternoon being watched for one slight hint of insanity and then get the shit kicked out of me. And we'd be out of school so there was less of a risk of getting in trouble if someone did that to me. I would love to go, but if they are acting like this I'd rather be run over by a school bus. But I can't say no, then I can kiss my chances of ever getting friends good-bye. But- oh – uh – SHIT! What do I do?'

Malik opened his mouth to answer, but shut it tightly, not knowing what he was doing. They were all still staring at him, he was going to crack, he just knew it. Any minute now. "Uh . . ."

"He can't," Ryou answered quickly for him. Malik looked over at Ryou with everyone else. "We're going to the movies this afternoon, so sorry." Malik nodded in agreement when everyone looked over at him.

"Maybe next time then?" Yugi offered.

"Yeah, maybe," that was all Malik could manage to say. Before he looked up, seeing that there was another fifteen minutes left of lunch. Malik's eyes widened. 'No, no way, no way in hell am I sitting here for that long.'

"Uh, Ryou, could I t-talk to you," Malik managed, but only because he looked at Ryou and no one else.

"Sure," Ryou said uneasily and got up with Malik, but seemed to be the only one to notice that Malik picked up his stuff when they left. Malik stood by the side of the building before turning around to face Ryou.

"I can't do this," his voice and tone showing how desperate he had been to get away from them.

"What are you talking about, you were doing f-fine." Fine wasn't really the word, but he was still in one piece.

"Who are you kidding Ryou, I was about to blow. I can't stand being over there." Malik looked close to tears and his voice was straining. "They don't like me, I know that. And I know you don't like that, I don't either, but nothing is going to change their minds. It's just too hard for me, too nerve-wrecking. But I appreciate this, a lot, you've been my only real friend, ever." Malik paused, his voice returning to normal.

Ryou smiled a little at the last part. "Well, I consider you a friend, don't forget that." Malik nodded, then got an odd look on his face.

"You didn't really mean it when you said we were going to the movies, did you?"

"Uh, no."

"Okay, good," Malik sighed. "I have to help Odion finish packing up the museum this afternoon, and I really didn't want to turn you down too."

"That's okay, I have to do something too," Ryou replied. Malik nodded, and the bell rang suddenly through the school grounds. "I'll see you later okay?"

"All right," Malik then turned around to leave but Ryou stopped him once more.

"Are you going to be alright?"

Malik paused for a moment before he nodded, "Yeah." He smiled at the white- haired teen who nodded as well and left to get his stuff back at the table. Malik couldn't help but smile then, even after the nerve-wrecking near insanity experience he had just been in.

For the first time in his entire life, he felt like someone cared about him, and meant it.

---

End of Chapter 2.

And that sucked! I know it, tell me, come on, tell me it sucked.

Meiko: It sucked.

Angel: Oh, what do you know! hits Meiko with large mallet

Meiko: XP

Angel: But she was right, that sucked. Review please.

THEN YOU'LL GET A BIG BASKET OF COOKIES AND A SETO PLUSHIE!!!

Seto: They'll get what.

Angel: Oh stop, you have fans, make them happy.

Seto: I would if you would GET OFF OF ME!!!

Angel: No you wouldn't.

Seto: Really?

Angel: yeah, I've completely messed up your hair! XD Oh, and people, Marik will be here next chapter! Now, where was I? Oh yeah! continues playing with Seto's hair

Seto: Help me, please!?!

---

Angel

Dark-Angel302