Chapter 8

"Taxi!" yuugi hailed, waving his small arms erratically. A bright yellow van drove down the rain soaked roads, eager to get home for a late night meal. Looking like it was in no mood to stop for the small boy, the engine revved as it's speed increased, bowling straight past the group. Marik huffed and rolled his large lavender eyes. This had been the third missed ride. A dejected looking Yuugi stared down at his feet in sadness. Marik just tapped his foot irately. He had volunteered to do the hailing, one because he was more noticeable, and two because he was ten times more likely to score them a free ride. He DID have a scary yami to back him up. Plus his attitude alone could get the job done.

"It's alright aibou, we'll get the next one. Never give up! That's how we've always done things, remember?" Atem said with an encouraging tone.

"Really, I'm sure I can get us one relatively quickly." Marik said acridly. He was cold, he was wet, he was hungry, and he was tired. He did NOT have time to deal with Prince charming and his under developed princess' conversations.

Atem turned around with a slight leer, but quickly regained his calm expression.

"Well, if you think you can do better, give it your all. I believe in you." Atem answered, grinding the last bit out through his teeth. Marik just narrowed his eyes. Atem's holier-than-thou vibe made him want to punch someone in the face. Nowadays he was a bit more tolerable of the ex-pharoh because he had other things that pissed him off, like teachers, jocks, and those annoying janitors that mopped his shoes when they cleaned the cafeteria. But, it was moments like this that irritated the hell out of him. Yami knew it would've been easier from the start for Marik to do it, but his precious Hikari wanted to be helpful. For once, he might add.

Just as Marik contemplated tackling Atem for rolling his eyes, he spotted a flash of black and yellow down the road, driving rather slowly. They were in luck- it was a spacious taxi van. They could all fit, if they squeezed in.

Flipping his hair to the side, Marik glanced back and made SURE atem saw what he was doing. He liked to gloat.

Clearing his throat, he strolled into the middle of the road as the vehicle rolled down the road a couple yards away.

"Marik!" Yuugi shouted worriedly before he squeezed his eyes shut as he heard the screech of tires and a crash.

"Ahaha, open your eyes Yuugi, I'm not dead." Marik said, putting his hand on the shorter teens shoulder and holding back a mean hearted snicker.

"But what just happened—"

"I stepped into the road, driver swerved and hit a mailbox. No biggie, it works all the time." He explained, smiling brilliantly at his triumph. Atem frowned disapprovingly.

"What the hellsamatta with you?" The driver yelled, shaking his fist angrily.

"I didn't look both ways before I crossed, sorry sir." Marik said sweetly.

"I'M gonna be the one who's sorry, oi! I gotta payfuhdis paint job!"

"Well, I need you to take us to the nearest hospital, our friend needs immediate medical attention—"

"FUHGETTABOUTIT! I aint takin' you no place!"

"Can we work something out?" Marik began, a sly tone to his voice. He reached into his hair and removed one of his glittering earrings, and held it out to the curt man. He was no fool, he'd never give anyone his REAL earring. Those were locked away somewhere in his house. He'd have to be an idiot to wear real gold jewelry in such a shoddy place. Luckily for him, though, the taxi driver thought they were pretty authentic.

"…A'ight, get in. Are these real?"

"Do I LOOK like the type to lie?" Marik sighed, fluttering his eyelids and flipping his hair. When all else fails, play the blonde card.

"Eh, whateva. You comin' ah what?"

With an indignant grin, Marik hopped into the spacious van and waved at the rest of the gang to join him. Atem crawled into the back, followed by Yuugi. Marik sat himself in the row of seats in front of them.

"Malik! Theres uh…only one seat left." Marik said, looking at his yami in dismay.

"We'll fit." He grunted. He peered down at Ryou, who was resting on his shoulder, and at Bakura who he held by the waist as the injured whitehead rested on his second shoulder.

"Ryou," He said quietly, moving his shoulder a bit to wake the snoozing teen. "Get into the taxi, I'll be right there."

"Hnn…not yet…." Ryou groaned, burying his face into Malik's chest and not budging. With a roll of his eyes, he propped Bakura up against the wall they were standing next to and walked Ryou, who's legs were working on auto pilot, to the open door and set him on the seat next to Marik.

"As for the royal court back there, I suggest You sit on each other's laps if this is going to function properly." Malik growled, glaring at Atem, saying it as more of a direct order than a suggestion.

"Sure, whatever you need us to do, we'll do it gladly." Atem said lowly, glowering back at him as he pulled an oblivious Yuugi onto his lap.

"Marik, crawl back there and somehow take the comatose kid with you. I need the front seats for Bakura."

"Rodger that!" Marik said as he made his way to the back seat and pulled Ryou along with him, waking the white head up as he growled something about popping his arm out of it's socket if he continued to drag him around.

"I wasn't pulling you that hard!"

"Ergh…" He groaned in reply, simply falling back asleep as he curled up on Mariks lap.

Malik had gone back out onto the sidewalk to retrieve Bakura, who's eyes were open slightly.

"Hey, are you okay?" Malik said, a twinge of worry in his voice.

"I feel like shit…" He slurred, trying to muster up the strength to glare at the blonde but giving up completely to just stare at him unfocusedly.

"Yeah, you look like it too."

"Bitch. You stabbed me."

"You tried to kill me, just returning the favor." Malik chuckled, scooping up the light weight teenager easily and sitting him in the van as he finally hopped in also, sliding the door closed.

"Don't get any blood on my seats yah hear?"

"Shut up and drive baldy." Malik said, kicking the seat.

Oooooookaaaayyyy…. Well, um I just wanted to post a REALLY short chapter to show you that I'm still alive. This is just the first part of Chapter 8 though, so don't worry, this chapter isn't over.

Oh, dear this is almost as short as the first chapter. *Shudder*

But still, I had the story on hiatus because of the move so I apologize for the delay. School has started, so updates will still be a bit slow until I get settled. As for the Kaiba X Bakura shipping, it still applies to this chapter. The other shippings will have to come later, because I've been having a rough summer.