So... chapter 8. Exactly one week later. School sucks and I can't write everyday anymore. I apologize for not being as quick with this as my other chapters, but really you can't complain with a week cause that is still pretty quick. Thank you lovely reviewers, I love you guys so much! I need motivation now more than ever. Again with school here I won't be able to better than a week with updating :( that make me sad like you don't even know.

I almost forgot.

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 8

Marik followed the older boy in front of him through the now crowded school yard, past several entrances to the school and groups of students through the path that Bakura had cleared for them. Upon reflection, it was a rather odd path to take in Marik's eyes, but Bakura was not a man to do things without reason. He would never dream of wasting his precious time for nothing at all.

He wasn't exactly sure where they were headed for the white-haired boy never told him but Marik knew regardless that he was going to follow Bakura. It wasn't a admiration he felt for him but a sort of respect. Sure, some of the things the brit did weren't exactly look upon as 'good', however, the younger boy found his confidence, attitude, and way of prioritizing to be refreshing and possibly even inspirational. What am I talking about? I'm no thief, so how can I be inspired by one… do I even want to be.

The older boy rounded a corner and, of course, Marik shadowed him. Perhaps if the younger boy had been paying attention to his surroundings instead of simply following Bakura, he would probably know where it was that he was being led by now.

Then suddenly white-haired boy came to an abrupt stop just as they came along a back wall of the large school building and all in the same instance he turned to face Marik, who bumped into him. He was certainly startled by this for lack of a better word.

"If you're going to do that then tell me first! I don't want to-" He was cut off by Bakura putting a finger to his lips, effectively shutting him up.

"Be quiet Ishtar, don't draw attention." He said in a rather calm voice.

Marik didn't talk or do anything at all, actually. Once again, he was stuck in a position he had never been in before and didn't quite know how to react. So he did what he was told instead. In his silence, he noticed that the small corner wall they were standing had no windows. No unwanted spectators. He understood why they were in this specific place.

Marik's eyes flicked back to the boy in front of him who was currently digging around inside his dark blue blazer. Marik was now inspecting him. He's looking for something, but what? Will he show me? Oh, it looks like he found it.

Bakura drew his finger from where it had been placed at Marik's lips and instead used that hand to cradle some of the items he'd withdrawn from his jacket. He held it outward in his palms looking at the goods with slightly loving eyes, something Marik felt was out of place on Bakura's face. It really didn't look like much of anything to Marik.

A notepad, a ring, a bottle cap, some loose change, a couple of wallets, and a keychain. Why on earth would Bakura need those things with him at school. Wait! Two wallets? Why does he have two?! Marik was catching on now.

"Do you know what these are, kid?" He had asked while Marik was still swimming in his thoughts. The Egyptian didn't respond. Bakura snapped his fingers in the boy's face quite literally snapping him back to reality.

"Come on now, it's pretty obvious given who I am." The pale teen commented. "I thought you were supposed to be smart." He frowned. But Marik did know, he was not stupid, he knew all too well.

"You… stole… them."

"There you go champ, you got it!" His smirk was once again brought back to his face; it was almost never not present when they talked.

"But… when?" Marik asked. He was still clueless of the point Bakura was trying to make.

"On our way over here, of course." He appeared to be very proud of himself.

"But that's impossible! I was watching you the entire time and I never saw you do anything like that!" That doesn't make any sense.

"Those are the skills that come with experience, the ones I'll be teaching you." He took one look at the Egyptian's unsure expression and decided that what he had told him and shown him simply wasn't enough and that he would have to prove himself even further.

"I'll show you again if you want me to. I'm not lying. My jacket is empty." He showed him that fact and with that Bakura had grabbed Marik's arm and was pulling him towards the corner of the windowless wall. He left Marik there to peek out and watch while Bakura once again taking off into the crowds.

Marik tried to look even closer this time (though he didn't know how that was possible) so he could see the Thief King in action, but the man was simply a blur in the corner of his eye. He was only able to catch a small image of a hand extending out in the direction of some boy's jacket pocket, but in the next instant he had lost sight of his mentor again. To an outsider it looked to be absolutely nothing more than a boy walking through a crowd of students, but Marik knew it was much more.

Bakura back into the spot he had left Marik waiting in, with completely new 'treasures' being held out toward him. Marik took each new item and carefully examined them, yep, they were the same kinds junk (other than the money) the thief had swiped the first time around.

Then he spoke the only word that came to his mind. "How?"

"I thought I told you already, they don't call me the Thief King for nothing you know. You don't listen do you, Ishtar?" He questioned.

"Yes I do!" He pouted. "I just don't get how you can do that. I must admit though, it's kind of impressive…" Marik admitted.

"I bet you're excited to learn from me now, aren't you? I must warn you though, kid, it won't be easy. You'll probably get in a lot of trouble, that is, until you get the hang of it." Bakura cautioned.

"I can't be getting into trouble, Ishizu will kill me! She was already angry with me for getting detention; she'll ground me for sure if I get another one." Marik complained.

"Don't worry" Bakura assured him. "I'm a good teacher. Well I haven't trained anyone before but I'm good enough at what I do and you know what they say; first time's the charm." He finished then winked at the boy.

Marik was slightly angry at Bakura now, though he should have expected that that was what was to come when he accepted. "That's not how it goes." He stated trying to keep as calm as possible like Bakura was always able to (well, most of the time was able to).

"Whatever, kid. We'll meet here again tomorrow after school for your first official lesson, so you won't have to skip class again." He stopped his train of thought at this. "God, you are such a goody two shoes. I'll have to fix that… Anyways don't forget!" Only the last part of his speech was directed at Marik.

"You always have nothing but good things to say about me, don't you Bakura." The sarcasm in the boy's voice was crystal clear.

Just then the school bell rang for the start of a new school day. Being directly under one of the school's bells Marik took a quite noticeable jump into the air. "Aww you scared of a little school bell, Marik? You can head off to classes now if you want."

"Um thanks, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye!" He walked off.

Marik couldn't get angry at Bakura's words for he was busy debating something with himself.

Did he just call me by my name for once?

No that's impossible he told me he wouldn't.

I don't think I heard him wrong though.

It was probably just a mistake.

He didn't seem to notice his words.

He also seemed nicer today… I won't get my hopes up, it's probably the calm before the storm.

It went on like this for a while. Marik had most certainly not heard him wrong. Marik made his way to his next class still reading into the words.

I rewrote this chapter a couple of times and I'm still kind of on the fence about it. It's shorter than the previous chapters too, but I thought that this was a good place to end it.

Any suggestions or ideas you have for me are appreciated :)

R&R

-Witch12