The next morning was strange without Yami there. But they had to move on.

"I'm sorry Mokuba but I have a lot of work to do today. Maybe after your tutoring, you could get Varon to take you into town. Yami asked him to look after you while he was gone. He didn't feel it necessary for him to go with him. By the time your lessons are done for the day school should be out, maybe you could see if your friend wants to come over and play for a while or maybe tomorrow since it's Saturday."

"R-really he can come over if he wants?"

Seto got up and ruffled his hair. "Sure thing kiddo, but you stay in the garden or the playroom, no running in the castle or leaving the garden, no going into the maze. If you want to go to the center then make sure Varon goes with you but no further than the center. I'd rather you not go that far but if you do I don't want you going out the other side."

"Okay big brother I promise, thank you for l-letting my friend come over."

Seto kissed his forehead. "Maybe you might consider introducing me to your friend."

"Sure, I w-want you to m-meet him."

"Good, you run along and play." Seto said leaving.

Mokuba had decided that he was going to risk seeing Ryo today. He was a little lonely; tutoring wasn't scheduled to start for another half-hour and school wouldn't end for hours after that. That was one of the things Nosaka had been able to teach him how to read non-digital clocks. He approached Ryo's clinic room and froze hearing Shizuka.

"So, Ryo, what do you want to do today?" Shizuka asked. "It's your first day you're being allowed out of bed. Dr. Solomon even said you could leave the clinic."

"I promised Bakura that I'd start going over some training moves with him today."

"Today you're just now moving around."

"I know but he's actually being nice! I still can't believe the changes in Bakura. I'm not going to risk losing him. He was rarely this nice to me growing up. Now he's actually trying to be friends with me! He's agreed to train me! I couldn't ask for anything better! This is what I wanted; this is what I dreamed of! The two of us training and working side by side! It's what I always wanted!"

"Still you shouldn't do too much."

"He'll be doing all the movements and just talk. He'll probably show me by sparring with one of the other knights."

"Fine but we need time together."

"First, I wanted to check on Mokuba, for some reason he seems to have been avoiding me. I can't understand why, what could have happened to make him stop coming?"

"Ryo, the boy has two brothers that are trying to bond with him, you're only getting in the way of that."

"Still the boy looks up to me and well I need him. I always told him while we were away if he wanted to return I'd allow it without question. But he always insisted on staying, he stayed to be sure I wasn't alone. I was his only friend when he really needed one. I'm just worried about him a little, that's all." 'You know it was right around the time Shizuka started to hang around a lot more that Mokuba stopped coming.'

"Ryo the boy no longer needs you! He has a good home and family now. You're only getting in the way of that!"

"I...I don't know Shizuka."

"Apparently you haven't heard the news."

"What news?"

"It's all over the castle! It hasn't been made public yet, but it seems that the boy has a necklace around a doll he was carrying."

"I know which one you are talking about. It's green. He kept it around the doll's neck for safekeeping. What's so special about that?"

"It seems the king gave that necklace to his brother before he was kidnapped by their father."

"Their father?" Ryo asked, confused.

"Yes, the king, Master Atemu and your little Mokuba are all blood related!"

"But Bakura had told me that they weren't."

"Well now it's confirmed that they are blood related!"

"Really, then I guess you're right, I have no right to interfere with him. I should just leave him alone and let them bond together."

'Good, without that brat always hanging around, I can finally get him to focus all his attention on me and forget him! I'm happy that brat took the hint and got lost!' "Perhaps you should give him back that necklace. You both seem happy wearing them." 'I wasn't supposed to say that out loud.' Shizuka thought to herself evilly. "What I mean is if you continue to wear it then you'll both still be connected and you can't stay connected to him if you expect him to bond with his brother's."

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

Mokuba however was shocked that Ryo was willing to break up their relationship as brothers simply on Shizuka words.

"Hey! What are you doing kid?"

Mokuba jumped and turned around and sighed when he saw it was only Bakura. Then he remembered Ryo's words about how he wished to bond with Bakura. He wiped away his tears and took off his angel necklace. Then he grabbed Bakura's hand and put it in it. "H-here, I w-want y-you to h-have it."

Bakura stared at him a minute then opened his hand. He couldn't understand why the boy was giving him his necklace. He remembered the king and Master Atemu commenting when he told them the child had bought this necklace that it meant he was bonding with Ryo. He remembered the night Ryo was stabbed protecting the boy that he'd made it clear the boy was his brother. He reasoned that to them the necklaces meant a form of bonding. "Why are you giving this to me?"

"S-Shizuka t-told Ryo t-that w-we shouldn't b-be b-brothers any m-more, R-Ryo s-said he w-wants to b-bond with y-you. S-so y-you s-should have it." His tears making him stutter more.

"Look kid, I know Shizuka's got Ryo wrapped around her thumb now, but I'll talk to him. You two shouldn't break up over that wench! Look, you take your necklace back and I'll tell Ryo that you want to see him."

Mokuba smiled. "T-thanks, b-but h-he's r-right y-you two should b-bond. Y-you keep it." Then he ran off before Bakura could protest again.

Bakura slammed open the door to see Shizuka trying to take Ryo's necklace off. "Leave it where it is wench!"

Ryo and Shizuka both looked up in surprise.

"Look Bakura, Ryo's just getting up and around he doesn't need to be doing any form of training."

Bakura let Mokuba's necklace drop so that it was now waving in front of Ryo's face.