Hey everyone. I am so so so sorry for how long this took me to get out. I haven't had a very good time. I was stuck in a city surrounded by bushfires; one of my friends parents are fighting, and I'm the one she confides in; my brother just got engaged, after his girlfriend got kicked out of home, so she's living with us now; and I have to have my wisdom teeth pulled! Plus my eczema is playing up, and if it gets much worse, I might have to go to hospital!

And I still have school.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I have to clear something up, though. In the last chapter, I said that Yugi was going to Tokyo, and to America, and some people commented on the fact that they are no where near each other. Well, what I meant was that Yugi went to Tokyo, to go to the airport. I don't know how many airports there are in Japan, but there would definitely be one in Tokyo. I hope that makes more sense.

The name of the ward Yugi uses in this chapter is in Chinese.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this chapter, except the plot. Don't sue.

Please, R+R, and I'll hopefully have the next chapter up sooner then this one.

Chapter 4

Seto heard Ryou's cry from across the terminal.

"NO! YUGI!" the white haired boy had cried. It wasn't loud, but the anguish in it brought Seto to Ryou's side at a run.

Yami appeared a few seconds later, obviously also having heard the cry.

"What is it, Ryou? What's wrong?" Yami asked.

"Is it Yugi?" Seto added, feeling his heart clench in his chest.

"He's gone…Yugi's gone…" Ryou cried between tears, his speech so distorted that Seto could barely understand him.

"Speak clearly Ryou," Yami ordered. "Now, have you found something out about Yugi?"

Seto was amazed at the calmness and control in the spirit's voice.

Ryou couldn't speak; numbly he pointed at the screen on the wall, before sinking to the floor, tears consuming him once more.

Seto turned his attention to the screen, with a sense of dread pooling in his stomach.

An emergency news broadcast was showing.

"…Engines seem to have failed, according to reports we have received so far," the anchorwoman reported. "Flight 496, on its way to Washington DC, America, from Tokyo, Japan, crashed at the Honolulu Airport, where it was scheduled to stop for a fuel refill."

Seto's breath caught in his throat, and next to him, he heard Yami do something similar.

"Please be alright," he murmured.

"The plane engines cut out just after takeoff from Honolulu, and the plane crashed into the runway, before exploding into flames," the woman continued. "Officials in Honolulu have informed us that there have been no survivors found so far, and though the search will continue, the odds of anyone being found alive is slim. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to the family and friends of the victims of this tragic accident."

The report continued for a while after that, but Seto stopped listening.

"No…" he muttered. "No, Yugi can't be dead."

"There's something wrong here," he heard Yami mutter beside him.

"Yami, I'm sorry," Ryou said from his position on the floor, his head bowed.

"Don't be, Ryou, Yami said. "Yugi isn't dead."

Ryou's head shot up. "W-what?"

"Either there were survivors, or Yugi wasn't on that plane," Yami explained. "Because he's alive. I can still sense him through our link."

"You can sense him?" Seto growled, his relief at hearing Yugi was all right evaporating as he heard that Yami had the ability to contact Yugi, and he hadn't.

"Why haven't you used your Puzzle to find out where he is, Yami?" Seto demanded. "Why-"

Yami cut the teenaged billionaire off. "I haven't because I couldn't, Kaiba. Yugi is blocking me."

"Blocking you?" Ryou asked, tilting his head to one side in question. "I didn't realise we could."

"The wards Yugi is using are very powerful," Yami explained, slight pride in his voice at his hikari's achievements. "Whenever I get close to breaking them, to discovering what's hidden underneath, something comes over me."

Seto couldn't help his curiosity. "Something? Like what?"

"I…I'm not sure. All I know is that when I get close, suddenly my mind is distracted, like I want to do something different."

"It's called the 'bu nimen shi' ward, Pharoah," Bakura said, temporarily taking control of Ryou's body.

"The what?" Seto asked.

"The 'Not Your Business' ward, Moneybags," Bakura snarled.

"Give control back to Ryou, Tomb Robber," Yami commanded. Bakura grumbled but did as he asked.

"Sorry," Ryou mumbled when he was fully himself again.

"That's alright, Ryou," Seto said. "Yami, you say you can sense him?"

Yami nodded. "The most I can tell you is that he is safe, but I can't tell you where, exactly, he is."

"Will the sense get stronger when we get closer?"

"Yes, it will."

"That will have to do for now," Seto said, his calculating mind already running.

"So what do we do now?" Ryou asked.

"We wait," Seto replied simply. "That's all we can do. Yugi will have to use my credit card again, and from there we will start tracking him again. But until then…" Seto sighed. "I suggest you get some sleep, both of you."

"I don't need to sleep," Yami immediately cut in.

"Well, why don't you do something useful, like working to break through Yugi's barriers?" Seto snapped, then blanched. 'Break through Yugi's barriers?' he asked himself. 'How could I ask Yami to do such a thing? We can't betray Yugi's trust like that…but, what can we do?'

Yugi was not stupid. Innocent, yes, but stupid? He had known Seto long enough to know the teenaged billionaire would search for him as soon as it was discovered he was gone. He had seen the way his friend had acted when Pegasus had kidnapped his brother - Seto hadn't let anything get in his way in his efforts to save Mokuba.

So he knew he would have to be sneaky.

Seto would most likely confront Yami and his friends, as well. Yugi only hoped that Seto managed to keep his cancer from them. He didn't want pity, and he didn't need it.

There was another reason Yugi had left, and it was this reason he hoped his friends didn't find him at all.

Yugi was dying.

Oh, he had known all along that he would probably die young, but the cancer was spreading, spreading quicker than his doctors' thought it would. Yugi had managed to hide this from everyone, even Seto and Mokuba. He was dying. The doctor had told him he had a couple of months left, at the longest, perhaps less, unless a miracle happened.

Yugi had been shocked at the announcement. What normal teenager wouldn't be? It was a shock to anyone; young or old, to be told that they wont live to see their next birthday.

He was only sixteen!

When he had gotten to the airport, he had first bought a ticket to Washington D.C., the capital of America. About 15 minutes later, he had gone back to the cashier and asked to change the ticket. It had taken a bit of discussion, and a small conference with the airport manager, but thanks to a large dose of what Ryou and the others called his 'puppy dogs eyes', Yugi had managed to swap his ticket for America for one for Australia, but he had to pay the cancellation fee, which was the remainder of the American fare.

The ticket he had bought to Washington had been strange though. A man in front of him had been trying to change his ticket to Washington for a later one. Yugi had managed to get the man's ticket, the last ticket on that particular plane.

Because there was no change, the new ticket, the one to Australia, hadn't gone on the card Seto gave him, like Yugi had hoped it wouldn't. That was the way Seto would try to trace him, Yugi guessed. It was the most obvious way, Yugi thought.

He knew what he would have to do, once he got to Australia. It would let Seto in on his location, but there wasn't much he could do about that. He would have to go to the bank, and take some money off of the card, and put it in a separate account. Then, he could buy what he needed to survive in this strange country, without having Seto be able to trace him as effectively. He hoped.

A voice came over the intercom of the plane. "The plane is about to fly into an unstable cloud bank. During this time, we may experience some turbulence. Please fasten your seatbelts and remain seated until we have cleared the pocket of air. Please remain calm, and thank you for your co-operation."

Sighing, Yugi fastened his seatbelt, and pulled out his sick bag, just in case.