Ryo and Nosaka were walking towards some of the castle apartments.

"So Nosaka what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh well you see I'm the local school teacher."

"You are?"

"Yes, Tristan's been yelling at me to take some time off to take it easy. You see the schools only one room. It has every grade level and about 50 kid's."

"Wow that's a lot of kid's."

"Yes, it was hard work. Then about a year and a half ago two of my older students Arianna and Juliana took a test to become teachers. They asked me to train them. Well even with their help, it's been stressful. Tristan's tried for months to get me to take time off as well as my students wanting the chance to prove their selves. Well after meeting Mokuba here, I've decided to take them all up on their offer. I've got 10 students that are having major trouble in learning. I just never had the time even with Arianna and Juliana to give them the attention they deserve. We have anywhere from 16 to 17 students each to deal with. Well I've got another student Alicia that's failed the teachers test and wants another chance to pass it. So I'm thinking give her the chance by allowing her to help out while I'm gone. Then with your permission of course to take my trouble students and Mokuba and work with just them. This way I can give them all the attention they need."

"Well if you're sure I don't mind. I think Mokuba would enjoy actually learning how to actually read."

"Yes, he must be very smart if you were able to teach him."

"Well I didn't really teach him all that much. I started simple with the alphabet and eventually went on from there."

"Mind if I ask why he can't read?"

Ryo had had time to think about it. "Well my parents divorced when I was young after Mokuba was born, my father took him, my mother took me and my brother she dropped me off at my aunts. By that, time by brother was old enough to do what he wanted so he left to try to become a knight. It wasn't long before both my parents remarried. My father died and left my brother with his new wife and her two kids. It wasn't long before I learned they were mistreating him. But I couldn't do anything about it. By the time, I was old enough and realized how badly they were mistreating him I was already in Master Pegasus' school. I couldn't take him away from there due to that. But not long after I graduated from that school I got him out of there." Ryo told her. It wasn't a complete lie he tried to stick as close to the facts as he could so Mokuba wouldn't have to lie if he was asked a question. "So Nosaka I was only made a guard-in-training. I would have thought my score would have qualified me for full guard." Ryo said trying to take the subject off Mokuba to keep from explaining the abuse the child suffered.

"Well if the king had been here you probably would have been but Prince Jounouchi of Elam Trabia was the one doing the scores. He's trying to impress Princess Tea and he demands perfect scores from his knights. It was mostly your shooting scores. You missed the target once and only nicked it a couple of other times. In his book that means you need improvement, that's why you were chosen. He was here last year too, Tristan's scores were half of what they are now and he was turned away. You got lucky. So you said your brother wanted to become a knight?"

"Yes he's a knight in Draglor."

"Oh well why come here then?"

"I felt it better to start again fresh this way I wont be in my brother's shadow or people expecting me to be as good as he is."

"I can understand that. Now where do you want to start? There are lots of small homes just outside the castle we can look at or we can check out the apartments here inside the castle. Their small but there are a few that are just big enough for either one big bed or two small ones. Come on I know of one that I think would be perfect." Nosaka said leading him to a long row of buildings behind the castle but still within the castle walls. She took him to a room at the very end and they walked inside. "As you see, there's a kitchen, a washroom and two beds. The nightstand there keeps the beds separate."

"What do think kiddo?" Ryo asked Mokuba.

Mokuba let go of Ryo's hand and sat down on one of the beds then laid down and then sat up and nodded his head.

"He doesn't seem to talk much."

"I think its more being self-conscious of his stuttering."

"Oh well I'll have time after school to work with him on it if you'd like. I'm sure you'll be busy with training. Don't forget to tell Amelda the head of the knights about your brother so he won't assign you night duty. After all, if you had night duty you'd have no time for Mokuba. Besides you need someone to look after him while your working."

"I hate to ask this of you. I'm sure you have a life. What about your husband or boyfriend won't they get mad? You spending all this time with Mokuba."

"I'm not married and I'm not even seeing anyone at the moment."

"I see. So Mokuba does this mean you want us to get this or do you want to look at those houses?"

"T-this is okay. I l-like it."

"Its not that bad. It's smaller than my room at Master Pegasus' was but it's inside the castle and I think Mokuba could feel safe here. Well then I guess we see who to talk to about renting it then." Ryo said.

"Well if you go all the way to the end the room that takes up the whole corner if you go there the man in there I forget his name at the moment, but he'll help you and rent the room out for you."

"Thank you for all your help Nosaka."

"My pleasure. You do that and I'll stay here and talk to Mokuba."

"All right." Ryo said going over to Mokuba. "Be good I'll be back soon." He then ruffled his hair.

"I w-will big brother."

'It's strange when he first talked to me he stuttered like mad but yet with Ryo he hardly did at all. Mmm…that's going to be an interesting challenge.' "So Mokuba what's your dolls name or does she have a name?" Nosaka asked sitting down next to him.

"H-her n-name is Anzu."

"Anzu that's a pretty name. Is that your mom's name?"

Mokuba shrugged his shoulders.

"Have you ever met your mother?"

Mokuba shook his head no; he hated being asked these questions. He remembered Ryo's story and decided to do what Ryo did. Just tell as much truth as you can.

"Well would you like to start learning to read more or learning to write?"

"R-read, R-Ryo says that I n-need to l-learn h-how to w-write. B-but I w-want t-to r-read m-more f-first."

"Well I guess I see that. You want to learn and grow more with your reading and then tackle a new challenge. That's actually smart."

Mokuba was surprised that she said that. But he never turned down praise.

x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x

Ryo was able to rent the room and soon they started to move in and get adjusted.

It didn't take long before Mokuba was reading a lot more; Ryo however wasn't having as much luck. It seemed the prince didn't like many people and made every challenge set up to 10 times harder to pass. Ryo was doing his best but it sometimes seemed like it wasn't good enough.

It'd been over a month and Ryo felt no better than when he started. He was majorly depressed when he went to pick up Mokuba. Nosaka was teaching the kid's from her own home. Ryo dropped him off every morning before starting his duty with his trainer and his training sessions.

"Hi Nosaka, where's Mokuba?"

"Well he did so good today I let him outback to play for a while. Why don't you sit down and rest and I'll make you some tea."

"I just want to get home and rest."

"Look why not sit down and relax. It's not a long ride back to the castle but you look as though you'd never make it back there. Plus with the addition of Mokuba, do you really want to scare him if you pass out before you get there?"

Ryo sighed he could argue with that. He sat down and rested while Nosaka put tea on, then walked outside to tell Mokuba that Ryo was here.

Mokuba ran inside and hugged Ryo tightly.

"Hey kiddo did you have a good day?"

Mokuba sat down in his lap. "Yeah, I l-liked it a lot big brother! N-Nosaka says t-that I'm r-really g-getting good."

Nosaka returned with tea. "Yes, pretty soon he can start learning how to write. He's still got a long ways to go before he'll be at the level he should be for his age but he's a fast learner he'll catch-up in no time." Nosaka said handing Ryo the tea and ruffling Mokuba's hair.

"That's really great kiddo, I'm proud of you." Ryo said.

Mokuba hugged him. 'I wonder if Seto and Yami would be proud of me too? Maybe someday, we can go back and visit them. I miss them. But this is where I belong now. I love them but I'm not sure they ever really loved me.'

x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x

After a few minutes of talking Ryo decided, they should leave.

"Well I guess we'd better get going. I may need to drop Mokuba off a little earlier tomorrow the knights want us to start sword training."

"No problem just be careful, I overheard once that the knights that do the training in tryouts hold back. I've heard that they're a lot better than the way they appear to be."

"Great if that's their idea of holding back then I don't think I want to see them when they're not holding back!"