ME: Sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but I have been really busy with school projects and my other story that has now been completed. But anyhow, those things are all cleared up, so here's chapter eight.

Chapter 8

The cool wind on that chilly afternoon swept Ryou's hair a bit off to the side as he strolled quietly over to the two benches that were being occupied by the other boys. Marik, Seto, Bakura, and Joey all sat on the benches, oblivious to Ryou's presence. As Ryou approached them, Marik jumped up at the site of his friend.

Marik went up close to Ryou and whispered, "Get me out of here."

Ryou did as told and said aloud, "Well, I guess we better be going then."

The boys said their goodbyes to their sad little group of friends; Joey being all depressed, Bakura a bit of a drama queen, and Seto just rather quiet all in all. The boys sped off, walking as fast as they could without making it obvious. Ryou had never had a problem with the other boys, so he began to worry about what had happened with Marik. It wasn't like him to get upset so easily, so it was obvious to Ryou that this wasn't just any escape pact.

"What happened with you guys?" Ryou sad sympatheticly.

Marik looked just about ready to pull his hair out. "I can't take any more of them! They are the most disfunctional group of people ever!"

"I am going to take a guess and say that this isn't going to be good news." Ryou added in quickly between Marik's words.

Marik shot the other boy a death glare before continuing on. "All those two do is bitch at eachother!"

"Which two?"

Marik rolled his eyes, "Which two? Joey and the tree," He said sarcasticly. "Who do you think?"

Ryou looked almost a little shocked. "But when I was with Bakura and Seto before, they seemed completely fine to me..."

"Ya well, they aren't going to get mad around you; That would acualy be too hard. You are just too calm all the time, dude. You make the atmosphere too serene."

"First off, I am not a 'dude'. Second, I am not always calm."

Marik just rolled his eyes again. "Oh, please. Who are you kidding?"

Ryou just kind of shut up after that, not really wanting to go back to the topic. But he wasn't all that hurt though.

The movie theater wasn't far from there, so it was nothing more than a quick walk. But the last few minutes there remained quiet. The silence wasn't quite an uncomfortable, awkward one, but simply just the silence where there really was nothing else to say.

As they arrived there, the movie listings flashed up on the a big screen infront of the ticket counter. Any movie worth seeing to Marik was sold out, and Ryou didn't even seem to be looking at the listings, because as soon as they approached the place, Ryou ran right over to the concession stand and bought every box of raisisnets that they had in stock.

And unfortunatly, they ended up going to a cheesy chick flick that generally would be forgotten about in a mere five minutes after it was over.

Back near the benches, Bakura got up and walked off without so much as a wave good bye; Not that Seto really cared, and Joey just didn't really notice. He headed off in the direction opposite the other boys, the wind blowing his hair back. And of course, he didn't stop at any stoplights, and instead walked right through them. Cars were going balistic and honking their horns for the albino boy to, on some level, learn to cross a street. Not far from there was Duke's house, which was exactly where he was headed.

The house itself was huge, but completey ugly in the sense that it hadn't been fixed up in a good five years. Duke and his family just never found the time to do any remodeling with all their busy plans. Although, his bedroom was completely spotless, and one of the biggest rooms in he estate. The pathway that lead to the door was completely surrounded by grass that had been unattended to in what seemed like centuries. The door was completely new though, and was probably the only thing that had been fixed up in the entire property.

Bakura walked up the little stone path and smashed his fist against the door so hard the some of the other neighbors had mistaken the boy to be knocking at their doors. There was a long delay until Duke finally opened the door.

Duke stood in the door with nothing but a bathrobe and a pair of pink fuzzy slippers. "Hey Bakura. Surprised to see you out of the house on such a nice day," He smirked.

Bakura shrugged off the comment. "Dude, what's up with the slippers?"

Duke glared at Bakura with his mascara covered eyes. "Shut up. Why are you acualy here. And please don't tell me you came all the way down here just to make fun of my slippers. Because I swear to Ra, if that was the reason, I am going to freaki-"

Bakura cut him off mid-sentence. "I need your help."