Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Vampire Hunter D.

I do not know how many times I can apologize for untimeliness with these chapters. I just hope you all are still enjoying the journey, because I still am.

Thank you for the reviews! And just an fyi still looking for another beta-reader inclined to such a story.

And a heads up...don't get too comfortable...

Chapter Twenty: A Regular Western

The ranch was an adobe marker of a civilization that now lay in ruin. It was a gorgeous expanse of a building; its red tiled roof fire in a sunset sky. Some walls were cracked with age, but otherwise it was in good condition. Inside one could house a family of eight comfortably. It was obvious that those who lived there had been of well means, and it was a comfortable stay for any weary traveler that could be trusted. There were eight horses roaming in the corral out back; there had been more, but with minimal contact with those that could provide food for the horses, there had been a hard decision, and a few casualties.

Matthew Ellis was the owner of this establishment, and along with his wife Sophie, their eighteen year old daughter Elizabeth and eleven year old son Andrew, kept the ranch running as if it had remained untouched by the devastation. With the addition of Bakura and D, instead of the hardship that many in the community had thought would fall upon the family, they found helping hands and a willingness to learn. It had not been a seamless transition, but the two outsiders had not expected others to take kindly to them at any rate. What was important was that most of the population that remained after the unannounced war seemed to enjoy their presence, and if not enjoy, tolerate. There were only a few still wary of their company, and Bakura was more than used to dealing with people such as Mr. Johnson, the man who brought around everyone's mail.

"Do…You…Understand?" the man said, his voice raised, as if Bakura were deaf, "You…Do…Not…Open…This…It…Belongs…To—"

"Yes," Bakura replied, forcing a smile on his face as he tried to pronounce every word just right, "I am as well aware of the fact that this is Mr. Ellis' package. I was just asking if you knew if Mrs. Rosales remembered to put the –"

"Just because I bring around the stuff you all're too lazy to walk over yourselves doesn't mean I'm a goddamn messenger." With that the man spun around and ambled off of the porch into the gray light that was morning. Bakura watched him leave, his lips pursed in disapproval. The man had chosen the job for himself, they had been told the night that they arrived, when they had met the nearby townsfolk that had heard about their arrival and were curious about the outsiders. Everyone had chosen a duty that most suited them that would benefit the community as a whole. Unlike the way the city had been in Domino, it was only delegated if a person had not responded quickly enough. Bakura felt that Mr. Johnson had been lucky in that aspect. What was so bad about walking around a city that you knew to deliver something for someone who could not walk very far to someone whose family was too busy to pick it up? It was not like he was getting a grenade thrown at his face.

"Inconsiderate asshole," he muttered under his breath as he closed the door.

"Oh! What does that mean?" Elizabeth asked, making Bakura jump. He held the package close to his body as his heart beat wildly. It seemed like he was becoming more paranoid as the days went by.

Smiling at the girl, he shook his head. He remembered that she had been the most excited to meet the pair when they had first arrived, and had noted that she had seemed particularly interested in him. She especially seemed to like the fact that he interchanged languages frequently when he believed no one aside from D was in earshot. "Nothing really," he said as she looked at him dubiously. "You scared me."

She smiled at that. "It's a gift."

"Being so ugly?" Andrew said as he passed by the hall. She glared at him and then turned back to Bakura with nervous laughter.

"He's such a moron, you know?"

He smiled politely but did not respond. He looked down at the package and then back at her. "After I give this to your father, is there anything that you need me to do?" She smiled lewdly, and for quite some time he could not figure out why. When he did not respond in kind she laughed again.

"You're cute. Yeah, there is something. Take a break!" she smiled brightly at him as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "You work too hard."

Bakura shrugged, "Your father allowed us to stay here for a time; I want to be as helpful as I can."

"He's going to work you to the bone if you don't stop being so helpful!" she exclaimed, shaking her finger at him.

"He's not that bad." Bakura readjusted his grip and began walking to the stalls where he knew Matt was. "By the way, do you know if D is well?"

"Oh, him?" Elizabeth replied, looking at her nails. She liked the boy's company as well, but he was close to her brother's age and therefore not to be trusted. Bakura found that amusing. "He was supposed to be helping Andy with fixing the fence by where the trees start. That reminds me…ANDY!" She hollered, startling Bakura again.

"WHAT?!" was the response.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!" She yelled, invoking her right as eldest to reprimand him.

"What?" Andrew poked his head from out of his room, his face displaying his annoyance.

"I said what are you doing in here? Aren't you supposed to be working on the fences like dad said? You know it's important that those get fixed! Suzy almost made a break for it the other day."

"Yeah, well that's 'cause she's your horse and she hates you."

"She does not, and that's not the point."

Andrew snorted. "Anyway, I'm in here because we're done. Can I read now?" He asked, waving his comic book above his head. Elizabeth scowled, and Bakura could not help wondering if he and Amane had ever been this antagonistic to one another.

"Liar," she snapped, "Dad figured you guys wouldn't be done until tomorrow. If you did crappy work, you know you're going to get grounded."

"It's not crappy! It looks just like he showed us. Not my fault if that kid moves like The Flash," he muttered as he slammed his door, showing that he felt the discussion was over. Elizabeth looked as if she was about to kick said door down, and if Bakura had not been there, she may have. What she did do was make her way outside to see if what her brother said was true, Bakura not far behind her.

In the time that had been allotted the two boys, the beginning of last night with instructions and an early start in the morning, Bakura and Elizabeth should have found a mess of wood and nails, and an incomplete structure. What they found was a well put together fence and D performing cartwheels as the family dog chased after him. When D saw Bakura he froze in a perfect handstand, smiling sheepishly…at least until the dog bowled him over.

For a moment Bakura was filled with shock, but when D righted himself and began brushing dried grass out of his hair he could not refrain from laughing. He looked like he was doing well, even after spending most of the afternoon in the sun with his pea coat on (but the young man supposed that heat was of no issue to D, it was the sun he wanted to hide his skin from). The boy looked up at him with feigned irritation before taking the hand that Bakura offered.

"How did…?" Elizabeth asked in wonder as she checked over the fence. "You guy's actually finished it?"

D gave Bakura a quick look that said both I-did-most-of-it and it-was-easy-to-learn before replying. "Yes. The hardest part was making sure the board was straight, but it is done. Does it look right?"

"It looks like we hired a professional is what it looks like…" she eyed the pair as if she would see something that would explain this anomaly. "You guys are really hard workers, aren't you?"

Bakura nodded. "Before we…decided…to leave ," he began, happy for once that he was not as adept in English as D because it allowed for a pause as he tried to figure the right way to present himself, "we did some miscellaneous work for others. We just need to be told what to do and we will do it."

"Uh huh." Elizabeth went to the fence and gave it a little shake to check the handiwork. "Well then, my dad got lucky when he found you, didn't he?"

Bakura shrugged, glancing at D as the boy pried dirt out from under his fingernails and already off in his own thoughts. "I suppose."

She was still giving him that curious look when she asked, "Are you going to go with the Deputy tonight and keep watch?"

One of the first things that the community committee (who still retained the name City Council) had been going over on the day that Matt had introduced them was the problem of the missing persons. They had already attempted a watch of sorts about a year ago when the problem began. Nothing had been found and yet the people continued to disappear, so they stopped. That had been when they had an ample supply of batteries for large flashlights and just as many community members interested in getting some glory for finding the source of the vanishings. However, the newcomers soon realized that most search parties had stuck to the main roads, and none so much as thought that whatever it could have been possibly came from the vicinity of the sea. When Bakura questioned the acting council about these two factors, one member had laughed (they soon learned that his name was Robert Decker) and complimented him on finding such a simple solution to a glaring problem, while another member eyed him with distrust, questioning the thinning of resources when they had concluded that it could not have been an animal at work, and why and how would it be coming from the ocean. Bakura could not remember his name, but he was another one of those people who had still not warmed up to him. However, the community and City Council still agreed that a new search party was in order, as ignoring the problem was not keeping the city safe. Now volunteers traded off nights in which two groups (timed an hour apart) would walk, or ride, the smaller city limits one way and two groups another, both creating a full circle by the end of the night. Thus far there had been no other disappearances. Yet that did not mean there would not be, as a full month had not yet passed since the last time when the daughter of another rancher named Greg Vasquez had ridden off on a trail in the afternoon to gather kale. The rider and the horse were never found.

"More than likely," Bakura answered, plucking a piece of yellowed grass from D's hair and flicking it away. The boy looked up at him and Bakura nudged him off to go play with the dog, which the D happily did. The two adults watched as the child chased after the sheep dog, riling it up for a game of tug of war.

"Then you really should take a break," she said after a moment, her voice lowering. "Do you think that you'll find anything?"

Bakura looked her in the eye and saw something he did not like. It spoke of an emotion he had been faced with before and had stood in a similar position, just as perplexed. He did not want that responsibility, however, did not want that complete adoration for doing absolutely nothing. Not from her. This girl before him was just that, an adolescent girl who's crush was turning into something more, so similar to the young woman who died in his arms. He would not be around for much longer, he knew this with some intuitive part within him, and he would not be the cause for her heartache.

How to explain this all to her was his problem. "I hope that we do," he started, looking toward the stables where he caught a glimpse of Matt Ellis' hat. "That is our job, to find what is happening to these people, and to stop it from happening again."

"You know…you're really brave."

He shook his head. "No, not really, but thank you. I just do not like the thought of anyone else losing family. Listen…" She looked at him so intently that he had to look away. His cheeks were already reddening and he cursed himself for being so ridiculous. She was just a teenager, how was it that he was incapable of putting her interests somewhere else? "I am going to go talk to your father…and give him this package." He once again raised the box for her to take note of and hurried off, trying to ignore the confused look that D was now giving him as he passed by him, more quickly than intended. His face was flushing and while flattered he wanted no part of it. He felt so trapped and confused.

"Uhm…Matt? Mrs. Rosales sent this for you," Bakura said to the man who was cleaning one of the horse's hooves. Lucky was the horse's name if he remembered correctly, a palomino if he recalled correctly. Matt glanced up at him and gave a nod in the direction of where he wanted the parcel to be placed.

"Did she remember to return the clippers? Sophie's been trying to tend her garden with regular scissors and if she didn't I'm going to have hell to pay."

Setting the package on the stool, the young man shook his head. "I don't know. I tried to ask Mr. Johnson but he…" he frowned and figured it best not to complain. They all had more important things to deal with than a rude mail carrier.

"He what?"

"Left before I could ask. Anyway, I am done with the other chores you asked me to complete, is there anything else I can do?"

Matt looked up at him and then continued scraping the mud and rock from between the shoe and hoof. "You know where I've been?"

Bakura blinked. The question seemed a little odd in response to his. "No, Matt, I don't. I thought you were out here most of the day tending to the horses."

"With your help we've been keeping up so well with the house and animals that I've had a little free time. I want you to saddle up and take a ride with me. You remember how to saddle the horse right?" Bakura nodded and Matt returned it, clearing his throat. "Good, take Rusty. He's the one I've been teaching you on."

"And D?"

"He and Andy should be fine. They're still working on the fence, right?"

"They finished. Elizabeth and I looked at it."

"What?" Matt looked up at him skeptically. "This I have to see. It should have taken them most of the day, if not all."

Bakura shrugged. "They worked diligently, I guess."

"Well then, let them play or do what they want to do. You say it's done, I believe you. Now get the saddle on Rusty and follow me."

Bakura could not say that he was made for riding horses, but he was grateful that he had finally learned how not to bounce wildly in the seat once the horse's speed moved up to a canter. Looking down at his neck, Bakura brushed away a rather large horsefly that was trying to land on the horse's red-brown coat. Rusty was a Bay or so Matt told him, although he couldn't tell the difference between the different types of horses and wasn't quite sure why it mattered for him to remember that. He had listened and nodded and followed instruction, however, because the man and his family had been nothing but kind to them, and maybe, perhaps, one day he'd be able to use that bit of knowledge for something.

Now D…D took to riding horses. Bakura recalled the first day that they had been introduced to the new tasks that would be required of them; D had eyed the horses with that childlike interest that made the young man's heart swell with happiness. Of course the boy had seen horses before, but mostly in pictures, or mostly glimpsed at night. At first the horses had shied away from him, sensing what Matt and his family could not…but after a time with just a look from the boy, he had been able to walk right up to one (a white horse called Rain) and pat it gently on the neck. After that, it was easy. The boy found his balance faster than Bakura could throw his leg over to the other side of the saddle, and for the most part mastered how to ride at any speed. His only problem was that he tended to push the horse too hard, forgetting that most animals did not have his stamina. Bakura never had that problem. The first time he had tried to gallop he had slid off the saddle and still had a huge bruise on his elbow from where he broke his fall.

"What are you thinking about?" Matt asked, shaking Bakura out of his thoughts.

"Nothing, really. I am just wondering where we are going," Bakura said. Matt gave a single nod but did not respond further, nudging Lucky into a gallop. Bakura watched him for a moment, nervous, and followed after.

They stopped when they reached a trail that ran off into the wooded cliffs of some beach or another. Rusty stomped in irritation as Bakura tried to regain his footing in one of his stirrups while Lucky began sniffing at the ground for something to forage. Matt tugged on the reins lightly to dissuade the impromptu meal, and motioned for Bakura to come closer. The young man did.

"Sorry for seeming so hush hush about this," Matt began, lighting a cigarette. He offered the pack to Bakura who politely declined. The older man shrugged and put it in his shirt pocket. "But I don't think everybody needs to be in on this conversation, if you catch my drift."

Bakura nodded, partially understanding and partially trying to figure what 'catch my drift' meant. "What did you want to talk to me about?" he asked.

"You've been on a few rides with the others, watching, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes."

"And what have you seen?"

Bakura shrugged, unsure as to why it mattered. "Nothing, really. I've heard some coyotes and other small animals, but nothing else."

Matt shifted in his saddle. "It's a whole lot of nothing going on for nearly a full month…not that I'm not happy about it. I don't want to lose any others, but it's odd." He inhaled, and Bakura watched as the smoke trailed out of his mouth. He turned to the young man and said, "It's a pretty big coincidence, wouldn't you say?"

"Coincidence?" Bakura asked, guessing his meaning and disliking the route the discussion was taking.

"Ever since the two of you showed up—"

"You cannot think—!"

The man raised his hand and Bakura's mouth shut, his lips pursed in anger. "No, I don't think you two had anything to do with it. And I doubt the rest of my family would either, but you have to understand that others," he made a twirling motion with his hand, indicating the city, "Others might. It doesn't make sense of course, D's just a kid and you…well to tell you the truth Bakura, you're a good guy, but you're nothing to really be afraid about."

The corner of Bakura's mouth twitched at that, remembering the night of their escape from Domino, but he did not need this man to doubt his innocence. "Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yeah. I like you and I don't want any harm to come to you or your kid." Again he held his hand up as Bakura went to correct him, "No, it doesn't matter whether or not you're related or if you knew his father or his father's brother. You've taken responsibility of him, and the kid even called you his adoptive parent, he's as good as your own flesh and blood, wouldn't you say?" Bakura nodded. Matt smiled, flicking ash off of his cigarette, "Well, you're safer knowing this, then. No one here is stupid, but we're all scared. It'd only be an idiot who would deny it. There've been disappearances in our city for quite some time now, like I told you before. And then you two come along. Some people might see the lack of 'em as your luck rubbing off on the town and will simply be grateful for it. Others might think that you were a part of that problem, part of a group of raiders or something, come here to gain our trust until they have enough information to attack the town in full force. These others don't know you like I do; all they know is that your appearance and the lack of disappearances is too good to be true. If this keeps up, or if by some chance there is another disappearance and you just happen to capture whatever it is, it'll be just another reason for them not to trust you. How did you succeed where others failed?"

"Basically, you are saying that our welcome is wearing out."

"Basically."

"But not from your end."

"No."

"Well," Bakura said, smiling at the man, "I am glad we at least got to know one another."

Matt chuckled. "Don't make it sound like you are leaving already."

"Never," he replied, returning the laughter. "But on a serious note, why do you think we have not seen anything yet? If there is something or someone going around and spiriting away these people, wouldn't they have left a trail or something? I doubt that D and I scared them off. "

"I don't know, but I don't like it."

"Neither do I."

They sat there in silence for a moment, lost in their own thoughts. Bakura looked down at his hands that held onto the reins a little too tightly. He would not deny Matt's assumption regarding their welcome, but it still stung. Even if no one ever found out about D, would everyone still distrust them, simply for being outsiders? He hoped not, and yet something inside him was telling him yes.

He looked up in time to see Matt slide off his horse and watched as he tethered it to the tree. It was only when he realized Matt was waiting for him that he slid off of his own and did the same. The man was just finishing his cigarette by the time Bakura had managed to tie the knot correctly.

"You're getting better," the man remarked. "You just need to learn speed." Bakura nodded sheepishly fearing he may have done something else wrong but the man simply smiled. "Do you shoot, Bakura?"

"I?" He wanted to say yes, as he had of course used a gun before, but the memory of failing Miho was oddly fresh thanks to Elizabeth, not to mention he no longer had a gun, so he shrugged. "I have, but I do not shoot very well."

"Well that's the other reason why we're here today Bakura. I can't let you leave in good conscience without knowing you're going to have a fighting chance out there. So…" He ambled back to his horse and pulled off a pack Bakura had not noticed until then. Inside were two types of bullets, the larger amount of the two being practice ammunition, and a gun very similar to the one that was slung across Matt's horse. "I figured I'd teach you how to really shoot. And in the end, if you end up having to leave us, all of what is in this pack is yours."

Bakura's eyes widened. "I cannot take this…"

Matt snorted. "You can and you will. I'm not arguing. This is yours and you are going to learn how to use it."

"But…" The young man's eyes were stinging with tears he refused to let fall, "Why?"

"Because you are a good person, Ryou Bakura, it's no more and no less than that. I saw that the first day I met you, after the initial distrust. I saw it again as you helped us out time and time again at our ranch. You didn't have to do half the stuff you did for us, but you did it anyway. I think that boy's going to turn out to be a fine man if he keeps hanging around you." He smiled and raised a hand to rest on Bakura's shoulder, "Were it a different time, were it three years ago, I know that my fellow city dwellers would have loved you. But times are strange now, and nothing is to be trusted, and you have no idea how sorry I am for that."

Bakura nodded, unable to trust himself to speak, but he did hug the man and hoped his gratitude showed in some way. Afterwards, Matt buckled his own gun to his belt and lead Bakura through the wooded land to a place where he received his first real lesson on how to shoot a gun. He was far from Matt's skill, but at least there was more hope for him regarding shooting rather than riding.

As he returned from his excursion he saw D running around outside playing with Andrew. It gave him as much joy as sorrow, but that night as he rode out with the group that consisted of both Robert Decker and the other council member who distrusted him (his name was Henry Ortega) he realized that he wouldn't have changed these new experiences for anything. There was a difficult road ahead of them somewhere, and they needed these good memories to get them by on the hard days when nothing would seem right.

"Just like the good times with you, Amane," he whispered to himself, looking up at the stars.

"Say something?" Robert asked, looking back at him.

"Sorry, I was just talking to myself," he replied, peering into the darkness as if it would open up and let him see what he was searching for. It might have done just that for D, but the boy was at the ranch. He was hopefully asleep, but it was more likely that he was awake and waiting for Bakura to return.

"Try not to," Henry said, urging his horse into riding beside Bakura's. "Unless you want whoever's out there to hear you and get into better hiding."

"Do you still think it's a person?" Robert asked, slowing so now they were riding in a row.

"Don't pull that bullshit with me again, Bob. I don't care what the rest of this city is talking itself into. It's not some animal that's doing this, we already looked into it. We've seen loads of animals just lurking around because no one's keeping them in check, but most of 'em just run when we get too close. Or they don't give a shit and keep eating out of the garbage's. Either people are being stupid and wandering off too far, which I doubt, or someone's taken to a nasty hobby, and they're right under our nose."

"But why?"

"Why not?" Henry continued, "Why not when there's always been murder in history. There was murder three years ago, and there was murder in the middle ages. That shit hasn't changed."

Bakura frowned. "But to think that it is anyone in town…"

"Why not? They're less prone to be suspects…anyone on this ride could be seen as less prone to be suspects…" He eyed Bakura in a way that the young man did not like, and to stop himself from retorting he thought of ways to change the subject; however Robert wanted to continue.

"You can't be saying you think the missing people are due to Ry…Ryo…Ryou here?" Robert snorted, sending Bakura an apologetic smile for butchering his name. He would have preferred Robert calling him Bakura like Matt and his family did, but it was different here, and he was not going to complain over something like which name to use.

"I'm not saying anything aside from it's pretty suspicious that all of the sudden everything stops as soon as he and the kid arrive."

"I doubt it has stopped," Bakura said, "They might be waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Henry asked incredulously.

"For the chance to pin it on someone else, an outsider maybe," he snapped, making his point clear. Robert cleared his throat and looked the other way while Henry kicked his horse forward without another word.

"He's a good guy you know," Robert said after a while. Bakura turned his attention toward him. "Just a lot has happened you know?"

"I know," Bakura said, his voice soft, "But I cannot allow him to say such things. It is not right. He wants to keep this city safe, which I will not blame him for, but I will also not allow him to put it in further danger by looking at me as a suspect."

"You're really serious aren't you?"

"Why would I not be when lives are in danger?"

Robert shook his head. "Hang on a second, I'll be right back," he said, quickly chasing after Henry.

Bakura thought the love those men had for their "city" was sweet, and thought Robert was sweeter still for going to talk the situation over with Henry. At least that's what he assumed was going on. He doubted he was going to be pegged as the killer if Robert managed to convince Henry he was looking at Bakura in the wrong light. Perhaps if he was able to get the whole of the city council thinking that way, they may be able to stay. It was a nice "city", he could see himself remaining there; perhaps a fisherman or something not too exciting and D could live and grow and become whatever he wished.

He was still on that train of thought, imagining D even finding someone to love, when he heard an odd scrapping noise. He turned his head in the direction of where it came from and slowed Rusty to a stop. It repeated itself, metal scraping metal…metal scraping asphalt. Rusty nickered and shied away from the noise. Bakura did what he could to quell the animal's fears but just as he was about to say there was nothing there, he saw it.

In the middle of the road, just at the second cross section, the one they were going pass without a glance because their route turned left at the first one, was a newly formed hole. No, it wasn't newly formed. It was a (now uncovered) manhole. Peering from just inside the darkness was a pair of deep red eyes. Bakura could hear a low slithering noise, something that he did not think he would have heard at any other time, as it began to hoist itself up with oddly clawed hands.

It felt like ages before he was able to fire the gun.