"Where is he?" Yami asked when he climbed down and got into Noah's face.
"How should I know? I had him then looked at you the next I saw the brat was gone."
"What's the kid's name?"
"What do you care? You criticize me for what I did, but you apparently did no better seeing as how he was just walking down the road!"
'So, he didn't go back to him. Well that's a relief knowing he didn't go back to him.'
"Why should I tell you his name? You should already know it by now."
"Look I wasn't prepared to deal with this today, I forgot it, all right. Now, I'll ask you again. What is the child's name?"
"JJ as in jinx! He's a double jinx demon child, and has been since the moment our father was stupid enough to accept him from some creep on a horse!"
"A-a m-man on a horse you say!" 'It can't be! Seto's father left with Mokuba on a horse. Maybe, maybe Seto knew this also and that's another reason he brought him home. It might also be another reason why he gave him our brother's name!' "Can the kid talk at all?"
"I'm not answering any more of your questions. You only want to take him away from me. Why should I help you?"
Yami growled. "Fine, I'll find out on my own now, get out of here before you make me do something I might regret!"
"I don't have to listen to you! I have as much right if not more to that kid!"
Yami grabbed him by the collar. "I'm giving you fair warning, I am not in a good mood! I won't kill you, but you will wish that I had when I get through with you!"
Noah just glared at him not believing he'd hurt him, but then again the look in his eye told him he might just hurt him and the brat wasn't worth getting hurt over. So, he jerked away from Yami's grip and then reluctantly he went back up to his horse and rode off.
Yami sighed, now all he had to do was locate the kid. "J…" 'No, no.' Yami told himself. 'Ryo was right if someone told me that's what my name meant I was, then I wouldn't want to be called that either. Plus he did seem to respond when I asked him if Seto called him Mokuba. Well anything's worth a try. "Mokuba, Mokuba where are you?"
Mokuba looked up from behind the bushes he was hiding behind. 'That sounds a little like that guy, Seto's brother. Why does he want me? I'm surprised he's not using my old name.' Mokuba wasn't sure what he should do. But after listening to Yami call for him and could see he was searching and obviously worried Mokuba decided to come out. However, as he was going down the hill he slipped and fell in the water. Yami looked up and went to help. The water wasn't that deep but the force of the impact had knocked him out. Yami picked him up and carefully laid him down, then he looked him over and was thankful he was still breathing. He sat down beside him and lightly brushed at his bangs. Mokuba started to moan then he started to cough. Yami helped him to sit up.
"You okay?" Yami asked and started to pat his back to help, however it hurt more than helped, he started to arch his back and winced as he coughed. Yami lifted his shirt thinking he'd hurt his back on something and was surprised to see his back was all wrapped up. He reached up and started to pull it down when Mokuba squirmed away.
"You don't like that I take it."
'Why do you care anyway?' Mokuba wondered. By this time, he'd almost completely stopped coughing. If he weren't still afraid of him, he'd ask.
Yami sighed. "Well you obviously either can't talk or don't want to. Come on, let's get you back to the castle and cleaned up."
Mokuba shook his head no. 'I don't want another bath!'
Yami was confused. "I guess you don't trust me. Maybe that's the reason you won't speak. Look kid I'm sorry all right, now please come with me."
Mokuba sighed, 'Fine, might as well. I don't have any place to go anyway.' He walked over and took Yami's hand and they got on Yami's horse and started into town.
x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x
The advisors weren't happy to hear that the king was back safe and sound.
"I thought you said that guy assured you that the king wouldn't make it back alive." Johnson said.
"We're paying him good money, he'll get the job done, you said." Leichter commented.
"Well what are you going to do about this Nezbit? You promised us that the king would never return to this castle alive and yet here he is!" Crump said.
"I've even heard there's a rumor that the kid that arrived in the kingdom that left Master Atemu is really the king's long-lost little brother." Gansley said.
"That's just a rumor there's no truth to it!" Nezbit said. "I do plan to have it out with that Marik punk over this! I told him he couldn't do it in the castle, it'd just be too suspicious."
"Not to mention the fact that he'd never get out of the castle once the deed is done." Johnson said.
"He's right, the moment it's learned that the king is dead this place will be locked down tighter than a drum, he'd never get out." Gansley said.
"I will straighten this out and we will be rid of the king!" Nezbit said.
"What about that kid?" Leichter asked.
"Yeah, shouldn't we get rid of him too just to be safe?" Crump asked.
"I advise we play this out, if it turns out that the kid is the king's brother we can deal with him then. In the meantime if we do something stupid as to kill the kid before the king is dead then they'd be an uproar. We can always make arrangements to have the brat killed later if the need should arise." Johnson said.
"He's right, we do it now we won't get our chance at the king. The brat will be an easy target for us if we need to get rid of him, there'll be time for that in the future. I'd rather not miss this chance over some brat that may or may not be the young missing prince." Nezbit said.
"I'd advise that we go about our regular duties now, we continue to meet like this Master Atemu, we'll only grow more suspicious and it will make our plans that much harder to accomplish." Gansley said.
They all nodded and with that, they all left to go about their daily routine.
x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x
Yami and Mokuba had just started to go into town when his horse started to limp. Yami got down and looked him over.
"Well I can't be certain but it looks like my horse here just caught a rock in his shoe. I'm going to have to get it looked at. You can stay up there for now." Yami told Mokuba.
Mokuba patted the horse's side. 'I hope he'll be okay.'
'Well at least I know for a fact he understands what I'm saying, I thought so but now I know for sure.'
They took the horse to a local blacksmith shop.
"Well mister it looks like you were right, he's caught himself a rock. I'll have to remove the shoe and replace it. Seeing as how this is a specially made shoe, it'll take at least a half an hour to repair. Then I'd advise letting it rest at least another half an hour to be certain he doesn't end up going lame."
"Fine, I'll do that." Yami said, taking Mokuba off the horse.
"Well when you return in case I'm not here just ask my assistant to fetch me; the names Rex."
"I'll keep that in mind." Yami said, taking Mokuba's hand and they started to walk around town. Yami was surprised that Mokuba was clinging to him. 'Hasn't he ever been into town before?' at every new and strange noise, it frightened the kid more. Yami took him to the side and lightly stroked his hair. "Hey it's alright, you'll be okay."
Mokuba sighed and snuggled into him. His fear of him was starting to disappear little by little.
'Well I'll take this as a good sign. He seems to be responding to me. If he can talk, maybe before we return to the castle I can get him to talk to me.'
After a few minutes, Mokuba had calmed down and adjusted to the noises around him. He figured he'd try to treat Yami like he would Seto or Ryo. He lightly pulled him so that they could look around more.
"So, you want to look around some then, huh?"
Mokuba smiled at him and nodded his head.
"Well the first thing we'll do is, get you some dry clothes. I don't want you to end up sick on me."
Mokuba wasn't going to argue with him, his clothes were still a little wet.
Yami picked out an outfit that Mokuba could barely stand to look at much less wear. But he wasn't going to argue with him over what to wear. However, Yami saw that the kid didn't exactly look happy. He didn't look disgusted either. It reminded him a lot of Seto. He had the same blank look when he hated something but didn't want to complain or argue. Mokuba took the shirt and was about to leave when Yami caught his arm.
"Wait a minute kiddo. You're worse than Seto."
'What does he mean by that?'
"Seto has the same look on his face when he hates something. He doesn't have to say anything for it to be known. Now I want you to put this back and pick something you like."
'I like?' "I-I d-don't k-know h-how." Mokuba said he had never been asked to do something he liked and decided to ask for help.
Yami was more than a little surprised. "So you can talk!" he said, hugging the kid tight. "What do you mean though you don't know how. Don't know how to do what?"
"I-I've always b-been t-told w-what t-to d-d-do."
"No one ever told you to do something you'd like, is that what you mean?"
Mokuba nodded.
Yami smiled. 'I still can't believe I got him to talk to me! I wonder if this stuttering is normal or if he's still frightened. Oh well we'll figure it out later.' "Well let's see now this is really easy now do you like this one?"
Mokuba wasn't sure and looked at Yami.
Yami, seeing the kid was still going to depend on him to make a decision, decided to try to coax him a little. "I want you to like it. I like it but if you don't I want you to tell me. I wont be mad if you don't."
"Y-you w-wont?"
Yami gave a sad smile. "No kiddo, I won't. I promise."
That gave Mokuba a little confidence. He didn't care for the one Yami chose but they did find one they both liked. Yami also got him a pair of pants to match. Then seeing as how his shoes were old and worn out he decided to get him some new ones. Ryo had tried and though Bakura's old clothes fit, his shoes hadn't.
Then after he got the kid into his new clothes they started to wander around town more. Yami was realizing more and more what attracted Seto to the kid. He figured since Seto hadn't said anything about the kid being their brother obviously meant that the kid didn't have their stuff. So there'd be no way they'd ever know. But he also realized that the kid was beginning to grow on him. He knew it wouldn't be long before true brother or not; he would be a member of the family.