Ryo felt his parents would better understand if he just started from the beginning.
"Well After Aunt Jane died, I moved in here. After about a year or so of trying to live here and farm, I chose to start at Master Pegasus'."
"You never told us that you tried to farm." Their mother said.
"There are lots of things that I've never told you." Ryo said. "As I was saying, I don't know for some reason I couldn't focus when I'm at home and I'm suppose to be training. I just never seem to be able to get up and do it. So I decided to find someplace quite and open to train in. I found a nice clearing. Well I continued to train there for about a month or so when one day the wind was exceptionally strong. Suddenly out of nowhere this shirt comes flying at me. I catch it and then notice there are several others lying on the ground. I started to pick them up and then see if I can find out where they came from when a little boy comes running up. I was surprised I didn't know I was that close to a house. I asked if they were his and he nodded yes. Then he thanked me. I found it odd that he stuttered, I'd never met any that stuttered, but something about the kid. I don't know what it was but something about him made it hard not to like. When he told me his family hated him well its not that I didn't want to believe him, but I couldn't believe that the family could hate such a sweet kid. I decided to stop training and help him. After that I came by everyday. One day I had a picnic basket and was going to see if he wanted to share. I didn't have any classes that day so I was real early. I left the basket on my horse and went towards the house to see if he was around."
"But why would you do that?" Dad asked.
"Well, I noticed that the poor kid was skinny. I felt that perhaps his family was poor and couldn't afford much."
"So, what happened?" Mom asked.
"Well, I heard yelling and screaming. I got closer to see that there was a family. I was shocked when I saw them. They all looked healthy. Not to mention that the fact that they had a picnic table full of food! I couldn't understand it. How was it they all appeared healthy and well fed but yet the kid I met didn't."
"Well perhaps you were mistaken and the kid didn't live there after all." Dad said.
"No, I watched and waited and I saw him. He reminded me of the slaves we use to have, when I was his age."
"Now, why on earth would this kid remind you of them? It was such a waste when the present king took over and demanded that all slaves be released or at least paid for their services. I couldn't believe that we had to release all our slaves!"
"Mother, would you let him finish." Bakura interrupted.
One he wanted to know a little more about Mokuba. Other than what he's heard through rumors. Second the last time they let their mother continue with her rants like this they were there all night. The last thing any of them wanted was to listen to her rant more.
Ryo then continued. "Anyway as I was saying, the poor kid was waiting on them hand and foot. I couldn't believe it. Then when everyone was finished the older lady, I learned later to be the boy's stepmother told him to put everything up. There would be plenty for dinner."
"Wait, what about the kid? You just said he slaved away. Doesn't he get anything?" Dad asked.
Ryo shook his head. "No. As a matter of fact she yelled at him that she'd know if he snitched a piece."
"That's impossible unless she stood there and watched." Mom said.
"I thought so too, later I asked him on it and he said about a year or so ago they had something like this and he snitched just one small slice of ham. Well his stepmother had forgotten something and came back to tell him when she caught him eating."
"So, she want. Did like you mother here did? Yell, scream and throw fits and then lock them away?"
Ryo looked away, "Yes, but they also beat him."
"Well I suppose disobeying an order, no matter how cruel deserves punishment."
"So what you think he deserved to be beaten with a whip designed to keep cattle and things in place!" Ryo yelled.
Their parents were taken back by this.
"You can't be serious?" Mom asked.
"Unfortunately I am." Ryo said. "I personally witnessed her doing this."
"Well why didn't you do something?"
"Like what?" Ryo demanded to know. "After wards I comforted him and fed him. I promised we'd meet everyday at that time. I did all I could for him! I did my best to bring him food, if I had time I'd pack enough so that he could save some and eat it when he got hungry later."
"You should have taken him away from there, taken him with you."
"How would I have done that? I couldn't leave him here alone all day. I wouldn't have felt right about it. I'd never been able to concentrate on my studies knowing he was here all alone. Plus there was not guarantee that his family or especially his stepbrother wouldn't have gone looking for him. He might not have found him here but then again he might have. I would have been in a constant state of worry."
"Did you think to just move to Master Pegasus' place and take the kid with you?" Dad asked.
"Of course I did! I thought of everything! I went to Master Pegasus and pretended Mokuba was my cousin and told him that he was being abused in his home, that I'd like to bring him here. I gave him my word that the kid would never leave the room without me. That he would very quite and well behaved."
"What did he say?" Bakura asked, not knowing he'd done that.
"He said, he'd heard it all before. That a couple of students in the past had siblings that they wanted to come and visit for a few weeks and they promised the same things; but they were total terrors, practically running everywhere. Making all kinds of noises and getting on the roof, disrupting classes everything. I all but got on my hands and knees and begged him to reconsider. I'd have even done that if I'd thought it'd done any good. But sadly in the end it remained unchanged."
Mom was about to question something he'd said that she thought odd, when dad asked, "Well when you graduated, you were going to move in with Bakura and live in the castle. I'm sure then there'd been no problems."
Ryo huffed, "Yeah, I thought of that too and quickly shot it down."
Bakura blinked in surprise staring at Ryo now. He'd considered bringing Mokuba?
"Why didn't you?" Dad asked.
"Quite simple. As much as you'd like to believe Bakura and I were not exactly the best of friends. It's only now starting to improve. Mokuba was an extremely shy and scared little kid. I know that Bakura's temper over his being there would have only frightened him and made him feel in the way and unwanted. He probably would have returned to the hell he knew. At least there, they may hate him but they wanted him around. If as nothing more than a slave dog."
Dad was about to say something to Bakura on it when mom asked, "You said that his stepbrother would be the one to look for him. Why? Why not everyone? Did he secretly like the kid?"
"I can't say for sure none of the others would have looked for him. Yes, Noah liked him, but not in the way you mean. His sister Asana did, in the manner you mean."
"What do you mean by not by what I mean?" Mom asked.
Ryo sighed. "I was running late. I showed up to find the poor kid crying and sitting against a tree. I thought they'd beat him again. He-He told me that Noah had taken him into his room and kissed him and put his hand inside his pants and touched him. He wasn't sure what else would have happened but their stepmother called for them at that moment. The stepmother told him he could do what he wanted so he went to our meeting spot."
Mom blinked, "He tried to rape him?"
"Not only tried but from what I was told did this many more times. Sometimes the boy felt that Noah was afraid his mother or sister would find out and come barging in. even though he had a chair, in front of the door, it seemed like he couldn't risk removing and clothing or touching there physically without fear of getting caught. From what I've heard before he left that place he came this close to actually being raped."
"How old were they?" Mom asked.
"Mokuba I later learned was 9 at the time and Noah was one to two months shy of being 15."
"So, how did he get out?" Dad asked.
"A month or so later he came running to me and told me he'd found a man hurt. Well we cared for him and the two just seemed to have a bond. It was hard to explain. I helped the kid care for him the best I could. Well I told him he could rename him since the name he had was tainted."
"How can you taint a name?" Dad asked.
"His name was JJ and his family especially his stepbrother told him it meant jinks. Well Seto, he renamed the kid and after Noah tried to really go through with raping him, Seto got him out of there. I was shocked when Seto told me. I was even more shocked when I learned the next day that he was the king."
Both parents gasped. "He was the king!" they asked at the same time.
Ryo nodded. He could have told his parents what he learned from Seto later how Noah orally raped Mokuba, after running away from him. But he didn't cause well first his parents were already shocked at what they'd heard so far and second it'd take a lot of explaining and probably go into a lot of details he didn't want to get into.
"Yes, Seto took Mokuba home to raise him. Though at the time he and his brother were looking for their real little brother. Well they started to neglect the poor kid. Bakura and I had had a major fall out and I also broke up with my girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?"
Ryo gave a very brief summery on how he and Shizuka met and why they broke up the first time. Then gave another short summery on his and Mokuba's leaving, not real details just skipping to the major highlights so as to not be hounded by them on certain things, like how far he'd took his relationship with Nosaka. He made her out to be as just a good friend and she died in a tragic fire. Nothing else. He felt that too much information would only serve to traumatize his parents more than they had been. He felt like if they truly knew everything then they would probably lock him and Bakura in their rooms and never let them out again. He then gave another brief and no details and parts skipping summery of why they returned.
"So, how is it if you and Bakura weren't getting along, then why are you now?"
"Well one of the people who tried to kill Seto thought Mokuba saw him, so he wanted him killed." Ryo said, again not giving all the facts. "Bakura happened to be riding by on patrol and saw the fight. I won and Bakura, I guess realized I'd grown up. I wasn't a child anymore. I could take care of myself. Soon after Seto and his brother who had realized their mistake in neglecting the kid and had pledged not to let it happen again. They took him back and have done all they can to keep him safe and happy. That's their goal in life is to keep him happy. I only learned much later that it seems the brother Seto had been looking for was little Mokuba all along."
Though his parents got the strong impression Ryo was making something's up as he went along and other things happened at the moment they chose not to pressure him for details.
"We would like to meet him, if we can." Dad said.
"Yes, I can see you care a great deal for this boy. We defiantly have to meet him." Mom said.
Ryo smiled brightly that was what he wanted. "I'll talk to Seto tomorrow and see when I can arrange it!"