Maura walked outside and saw Mokuba standing against a wall.

"Hi, Mokuba."

"Hi, Mai s-sug-gg…" Mokuba growled in frustration. He shook his head and turned to leave, not able to say it.

But Maura got in front of him. "No, Yami said to help with your stuttering you have to say it. That and I want to know what you were going to say. Now take it slowly and try again."

Mokuba sighed and nodded. "S-sug-gest-ted."

"There see, you can say it. So who suggested what?"

"M-Mai, said I s-should s-show you ar-round."

"Great, so let's get started." Maura said, grabbing his arm.

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

Two hours later, Leichter, who had made a prearranged meeting with Malka and Ita to hand over the kid's and let them decide what to do with them, walked over to Mokuba and Maura. "Greetings."

"Hello." Maura said.

Mokuba however remembered he had stolen Seto's millennium rod. He didn't like this man at all.

"The king and Master Atemu asked me to take you to them." Leichter said.

Both kids found this odd since Seto and Yami had made it clear that they'd be busy. But neither questioned it on the off chance that maybe they got free time.

Leichter then reached out, grabbed both their hands and started to drag them. After a minute or two Mokuba noticed they weren't going anywhere, he would think Seto and Yami would meet them. He would think, the garden or patio or somewhere in the castle but they were heading away from the garden. Mokuba started to fight back.

Leichter stopped and pulled Mokuba close, he knew Mokuba's past and somehow one of his spies had found out about the sexual abuse that Seto and Yami had been trying to hide and told him. So, this helped him to know how to intimidate the child even more. He leaned in and whispered. "Stop it, now. If you don't want me to do to your little friend here what Noah did to you with his toy or any other part of his body, then you'll stop fighting me, now!"

At this Mokuba whimpered. Maura didn't hear what was said but knew whatever it was that was said upset Mokuba and that was all she needed to know. She no longer wanted to go anywhere with this man. So, as he leaned up Maura kicked his shin, causing him to release them both. Maura took the opportunity to grab Mokuba's hand and run towards the stables where she hoped someone could direct them to Ryo.

"Excuse me?" Maura said.

"Can I help you?" Honda asked.

"We were looking for Ryo."

"Sorry, kid; haven't seen him."

"H-have y-you s-seen Uncle Bakura?" Mokuba asked.

Honda thought for a moment. "Hey, Duke, have you seen Bakura today?"

"Yeah, I think he said something about helping Ryo with some riding and roping lessons over at the corral." Duke said.

Honda directed them to the corral.

As they were heading over there they saw Leichter. Mokuba only whimpered but it just made Maura mad. However, she felt it'd be better if someone bigger and older handled him since they have that choice. She quickly grabbed Mokuba's hand and they ran. She stopped a few feet from the corral when she saw Bakura. There was still something about him she wasn't crazy about. Mokuba however had no such feelings and ran over to him and tugged on his shirt. If it'd been Ryo, he'd have hugged him but Bakura, he didn't think he'd approve.

Bakura looked down and was surprised to see Mokuba. Even though Maura wasn't crazy about Bakura between him and Leichter, the choice was obvious.

"What's up kid?" Bakura asked.

Maura walked over, "That creep." She turned and pointed at Leichter. "He told us Seto and Yami wanted to talk to us. They told us this morning that they were going to be busy all day and not to bother them unless it was an emergency. But then he grabbed us and started to drag us. Then for some reason Mokuba started to fight back, he leaned in and whispered something to Mokuba and well whatever he said upset him."

Ryo, seeing them got off his horse, walked over and climbed out of the corral. Mokuba walked over and hugged him. "What's going on here?"

"The girl here says that that former advisor upset Mokuba." Bakura said.

"What did he say Mokuba?" Ryo said.

Mokuba pulled his shirt because he wasn't about to repeat it out loud. Ryo bent down and went pale as Mokuba repeated what Leichter had said. He couldn't believe it! Bakura was surprised by Ryo's expression.

"You two stay here with us." Ryo said.

"What's going on Ryo?"

Ryo pulled Bakura to the side and then had to keep him from going over and killing Leichter when Ryo explained what he said.

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

Leichter was not pleased but decided to keep track and maybe he'd still get his chance. He was glad he didn't give those women a time as to when he'd have the kid's to them.

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

Bakura broke free of Ryo who'd been holding him.

"Bakura you can't hit him."

"Why not? Are you going to tell me that when the king hears this he won't?"

Ryo couldn't argue with him there. He'd be surprised if Seto didn't kill him when he hears this.

Bakura walked over to Leichter.

"Sir Bakura, may I help you with something?" Leichter asked.

"You're lucky I don't kill you, now!"

"May I ask why?"

Bakura growled. "You know why!"

"I'm afraid I don't." Leichter said, trying to play innocent.

"Mokuba told us exactly what you said to him."

"I don't know what you're talking about, obviously the child is a little liar. I would not have thought you would have believed the little brat. I thought kid's weren't at the top of your list."

"The only kid I had a problem with was my little brother. But now I see he's not a little kid anymore. As for the king's kid, I've been around that kid enough to know that he's terrified of a lot of things. I believe he fears getting into trouble if he lies. I've also been a good judge of telling when someone's lying. I don't see this kid lying, especially about something like that. Besides, the kid doesn't even know you, why would he lie and say you said that if you didn't."

"How should I know?"

"I know that I've heard all about the stunts that you and your friends have pulled. So, between you, your friends and that kid, you tell me who you think I plan to believe. I will tell you this, I find out you laid one hand on this kid or that girl you will feel my wrath! I may not have any affection for that girl but she belongs to the king and Master Atemu and that's enough for me to defend her."

Maura couldn't believe he was going to defend her.

"I'll take it under advisement." Leichter said, turning to leave.

Mokuba and Maura spent most of the rest of the day watching the things Bakura was teaching Ryo.

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

Later on that day, Bakura and the other knights were informed of possible trouble on the outskirts of the country.

"Bakura, I want to go with you. It'll be good training!"

"Forget it!"

"But…"

"Look, your job is to take care of those kids. At the moment that's top priority."

"Fine." Ryo said and watched Bakura and the other knights leave.

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

Hearing of Leichter's failure, Crump moved in. He paid off one of the guards to approach Ryo and the kids. This way they would be less suspicious. The guard approached Ryo who was sitting in a chair against the wall, watching the kid's color in a sunroom.

"Hey, your Bakura's brother, Ryo isn't it?"

"And you are?"

"My name's Victor. I'm a guard."

"Can I help you with something?"

"No, I've just heard a lot about you and wanted to talk. So, um… have you heard of the rumors of that tower way over there?"

"Is there something special about it?"

"Yeah I've heard it's haunted."

"You don't believe that, do you?"

"You never know." Victor said, walking away.

Ryo shook his head and walked over to check on the kids.

"W-who was that big brother?" Mokuba asked.

"Just some strange guard. He was telling me about that tower out there. He was saying it was haunted or something like that."

"Really?" Maura asked.

"Yeah, it sounds strange."

"I think it sounds cool." Maura said.

"Well, I want you two to stay clear of there." Ryo said.

"Okay, big brother." Mokuba said.

"Maura?"

"Yes, Ryo, I promise."

"W-what does h-haunt-ted mean?"

It wasn't easy but between Ryo and Maura they were able to explain. But the look on his face told Ryo that maybe they shouldn't have. He was scared the boy would have even more nightmares now.

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

After lunch, the knights returned and Ryo went to talk to Bakura.

"Hey Mokuba, come on, let's go outside and play."

"B-but Ryo said we should stay here."

"Yeah, I know but aren't you hot in here?"

"A l-little."

"Then come on."

Mokuba decided it couldn't hurt to go outside to play for a little bit.

"So, um…what do we play? Do you know any games?"

"N-not m-many, but those are always w-with more than two people." Mokuba said.

"Oh, um well what was the first game you learned?"

"Tag."

"Well tell me how you play."

Mokuba explained.

"Well, let's try it. It might not be as much fun with just the two of us, but we can try."

So they started playing but a few minutes later, they saw Leichter once again coming near them. Crump had told him it would be better to approach fast. To keep them from getting back into the castle and try to drive them to where they want them. It worked. Maura spotted him and quickly grabbed Mokuba's hand and they left for the castle. But Leichter was coming fast and kept moving to keep them from getting back into the castle. It didn't take him long to get them towards the tower where his hit women were waiting.