Asana sat down gently on the bed. "Why is he being so nice to me? After everything we did to him. I never enjoyed beating him. That's why I almost always refused to do it. I couldn't stand seeing him beaten like that. I wish I'd had the courage to stand up to mother and Noah years ago. I mean I always felt there were better ways to punish him than beatings. However, mother and Noah disagreed with me. Even Marine agreed with them. I guess the reason I didn't is because I always assumed that mother knew what she was doing." Asana said, then sighed. "No, that's not true. That's not true at all. I was too young and stupid to know better. Just blindly following whatever my mother said. I guess Noah being younger it just rubbed off on him more than it did me. Plus other factors; he needed an outlet and mothers saying 'let's beat JJ' was that outlet. Noah would yell at me especially in the last year or so when I tried to protect JJ from him. I was in denial as to what he was doing. But when I caught it I'd try to protect him. Especially if mother wasn't home." Asana sighed again. Then she got up and looked out the window. "I shouldn't stay here. I don't want Mokuba to get into trouble for helping me." But as she continued to stare out the window, she unconsciously shuddered, noticing a cold wind blow through a tree. She realized that she had two choices: Stay there where it was warm and comfortable or go back outside where it was cold and no place to go. So, she could either stay there and keep warm or go outside and freeze to death. Some choice. She decided to stay here for now.

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

Mokuba was feeling scared and nervous all at the same time. Just exactly how was he supposed to tell his big brothers about Asana? Mokuba sighed; trying to think of some way to tell them.

Seto heard Mokuba sigh and looked over at him and noticed he looked like he was debating on trying whether or not to say something. So since the breakfast dishes were already put away he folded his paper carefully and set it on the table.

Yami didn't hear Mokuba as he was concentrating on reading his part of the paper. The Funnies always had two sections and they would give one half to Mokuba the other half to Maura. Maura was busy reading hers. Though Mokuba never told anyone, he had trouble reading and understanding some of the Funnies. But when it came time to switch with Maura, he did so without a word. As much as he hated too, he decided he should at least talk to Samantha and tell her about it. It didn't take long before he learned that he could trust her like he trusted Nosaka. But it was still hard for him. He was told time and time again that not being able to read in his case was nothing to be ashamed of. He had believed that until Maura came. Then it made him feel bad all over again knowing she was not only at the level he should be, but way ahead.

Seto stood up before walking over and tapping Mokuba on the shoulder. Mokuba looked up and saw Seto's hand. He took it without a word.

Yami looked up in surprise to see Seto taking Mokuba somewhere. He wanted to say something but decided against it.

As they were walking, Isis walked up. "Master Mokuba, one of your friends, is here to see you."

"Okay kiddo, see what they want then meet me in the living room." Seto said.

Mokuba nodded. "Okay big brother." Then let go of Seto's hand and took Isis's hand.

Isis smiled and squeezed his hand. 'I hope when I have kids someday that they turn out as sweet as him.'

Isis left Mokuba in the hallway and went about her daily chores.

Mokuba was surprised to see Angela standing there. He walked over to her. "Hi An-Angela."

Angela turned around and smiled. Though Mokuba noticed it looked a lot sadder than it normally did. "Oh hi, Mokie."

"W-what you d-doing here?" asked Mokuba curiously.

"I wanted to come say goodbye." Angela said.

Mokuba blinked. "W-where are you going?"

"Well…" Angela sighed. "You see Mokie a few days ago, my father picked up my sister Chris from a friend's house. The roads were slick and muddy from the rain and well I've only gotten a few details from eavesdropping but apparently, there was a mudslide or something and it sent the wagon over a steep hill. They were both killed in the accident."

"I'm s-sorry."

Angela smiled. "Thanks."

"B-But w-where are you g-going?"

"My mother thinks this must be a sign from the heavens."

Mokuba looked at her like she was crazy.

Angela gave a slight laugh. "It's all right, I'm not totally sure I understand it myself. I think it's just the grief going to her head. Anyway she said that this sign was telling her to go home."

"W-what you m-mean go home?"

"My mother was originally from a town called Kalamazuno. That's where my grandmother and great aunt live. My mother wants to return there. The funeral is in an hour and then we're leaving. It's both exciting and sad, I guess. I'll miss my father and sister. But it's a little exciting too. I've never been on a train before and I've never met any of my relatives. But I'm making the rounds to see all of my friends. I didn't want to just disappear. I wanted to say goodbye."

Mokuba smiled. "I'll m-miss you."

Angela smiled. "I'll miss you too, Mokie. I promise to write to you when I get to where we're going. Will you write me back?"

Mokuba nodded. "Of c-course I will."

"Angela honey we must get going."

Angela turned and said, "Okay mom, I'll be there in a moment." Then she turned to Mokuba, gave him a quick hug and said. "Well I have to go now, goodbye Mokie. Take care."

Mokuba was a little shocked by the hug but said, "I w-will. Goodbye."

Mokuba waved goodbye to his friend. He was sad to see her go. Then he remembered Seto was waiting for him.

He entered the room to see Seto reading. Seto looked up when he heard someone enter the room.

"Hey kid, is your friend gone?"

"Y-yeah, her f-father and s-sister w-were killed and s-she's m-moving f-far away."

"I'm sorry. Now let's get to why I brought you in here. You seemed upset or worried about something. I want to know what it is."

Mokuba bit his lip. How was he going to do this? Then suddenly an idea hit. "I h-have a f-friend. S-she's l-left home and s-she n-needs s-some p-place t-to live and s-stay."

Seto knew that kid was extremely nervous. He didn't normally stutter that much. Talana was a good teacher and so the kid didn't stutter quite so much. 'There must be more he's not telling me to be this scared and nervous. His stuttering is worse than normal. It's not like him to hide things from me. He's usually open about things. Besides that I wouldn't have thought he knew anyone old enough to leave home and need a job.'

Seeing the kid refusing to look at him, told him it was important but he was scared. "All right kiddo. Bring your friend to the throne room and I'll talk to her and see what I can do."

"R-really you p-promise?"

Seto and Yami had discussed it but so far neither one had figured out what the kid's obsession with wanting everything to be a promise was. Yami's theory was that it was something taught to him. If it was promised it was for real, and you meant it. If it wasn't promised then the person wasn't being serious.

"I promise." Seto answered.

Mokuba hugged him tight. Then he sat up and said, "I'll g-go tell her n-now."

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

Seto walked back into the dining room and was surprised that Maura was gone.

"Where's the girl?" he asked.

"Oh her friends from the fair stopped by to play for a while. Where's Mokuba?"

"He has a friend he wants us to give a job and a place to stay."

"That's weird. Did he say who it was?"

"That's the weird part; he didn't. It's not like him to hide things from us."

"True. Say, I heard you had a problem last night with Mokuba."

"Yeah, the new stuff is apparently stronger and acts different from the old stuff. So by waiting so long to change his bandages that they almost got infected."

"I see. I haven't had the courage to look at his back lately. Are there any real signs of improvement?"

"I wish I could say there was, but there aren't really all that much. I mean, there are clear signs of improvement since we started but at the same time…"

"At the same time if you hadn't seen it in the beginning you wouldn't know the difference."

"Sadly yes."