(A/N: Back again! I think this one sort of ventures out of character slightly, but I'll leave thatfor you to judge. Thanks to Sirithiliel, darkmetaldragonfangs, shadow of the doubt, Cettie-girl, Snickerer and lilmatchgirl007 for reviews!)

Chapter 9: Sault Ste. Marie

"Sixteen thousand, four hundred forty-three miles."

Yami jerked awake; he didn't know what time it was but he was sure he'd dozed off to the sound of José's pencil scratching. "Pardon?"

José threw a piece of paper down in front of him with a flourish, "That's how far it is from here to Tokyo. I answered your question."

Yami blinked and picked up the sheet of paper, which was covered in numbers and messily scrawled notes he couldn't read. At the bottom '16, 443' was circled in red pen. "Oh, I see. Thank you..." He muttered, looking again at the map and then back down to the number. Then he sighed.

José sat down next to him, "You okay, man?"

Yami shook his head, then nodded, which only succeeded in confusing José further.

"You haven't eaten anything since that beavertail, eh? What say we get something for dinner?" José stood up and gave him a grin, trying to make him feel better.

Yami looked up and smiled weakly; he wasn't really hungry, but he could humour the other. Maybe he'd feel more like eating once there was food in front of him.

"Chinese? Pizza? We could go all out and have a salad..." José's cheery disposition made it difficult to feel depressed without feeling guilty.

Yami stood up too, saying, "Why don't we make something? Whatever's in the cupboard's fine..."

"That's only if you like Alphaghetti and Zoodles for dinner, but hey, whatever!" José poked him on the shoulder, wandering into the small kitchen and throwing the fridge doors open, "Would you look here, we've got some chicken strips! You like chicken?" He poked his head back out, looking at Yami with concern.

Yami nodded, feeling a smile creep onto his face. He couldn't help it, José made him laugh.

"Excellent! Then tonight, at Chez José, we shall feast on ze chicken strips and ze French fries, la!" A French accent was given to these words, as José pulled the chicken from the fridge and some French fries from the freezer, "Now sit back monsieur, and José shall create a repast magnifique!"

Yami obligingly sat down at the bar, watching as a cookie sheet came out of nowhere and was drowned in French fries, which were quickly tossed into oven. The chicken made its way onto a plate and into the microwave before José paused and took a deep breath, putting his elbows on the counter and looking at Yami with a cheeky smile. "My turn."

Yami blinked once, then nodded. Twenty questions. Where were they now, six?

"Question five!" José announced, then coughed and asked, "Who is the most famous person you know?"

Yami blinked again. That was random. Now, think about this. It was really very, excruciatingly difficult. "Seto Kaiba."

"No way! You know the dude who owns Kaiba Corp? Personally?" José sounded absolutely flabbergasted, surprised beyond belief.

Yami'd never really thought of Kaiba as much more than an asshole. How interesting to see from this side of the world's point of view. "Unfortunately."

"So he's a rich-bitch, eh? That's to be expected." José shrugged, then looked at the roof, "Still... I'd love to meet the guy, just to say I have..."

"You know about Duel Monsters here in Canada, then?" Yami asked politely; he had a feeling this could work out really well for him, if he was lucky.

"Oh yeah, sure! Actually, I'm involved in a hobby league at a place down the street. Help out there on weekends. It's really cool to see all the little kids duking it out like their lives depend on it."

Yami gave a hollow laugh. If only he knew.

"You duel?" José asked curiously, glancing at the time on the microwave to see if the chicken was done yet.

Yami cleared his throat. "Yes, actually, I do."

"Sweet, man. Well, if you want to come along with me, I was planning on heading in there tomorrow..."

Yami smiled wryly to himself. "I'd love to."

Interlude 9.1

Domino City

Jounouchi had come back downstairs with his arms full of food of all kinds; canned food, packaged food, raw food, cooked food, almost anything you could hope to find in a cupboard or the fridge. He piled it on the couch to the opposite end of Yugi, who stirred a bit and woke up. When he saw the massive pile of food, he giggled slightly and asked,

"Hungry a little, Jounouchi?"

"Starving!" The blonde replied with a grin, tossing a loaf of bread across the room at Honda, "Wake up, you! It's eating time!"

Yugi heard a distinct snort of disgust from Kaiba who was still at the computer, then heard a groan as Honda woke up and chucked the bread back across to Jounouchi, "That's not the best reason to throw something at me!"

"It's the best way to wake you up, though!" Jounouchi laughed, opening the bread's packaging and starting to make a sandwich, "You sleep like the dead unless you smell something good!"

Yugi smiled at Jounouchi and Honda's ribbing back and forth; at least they were in good moods. He still felt enormously tired, and his head hurt. But he was hungry. He crawled down the length of the couch, hunting through the pile until he found an apple.

Jounouchi smiled at him and took a bite out of his sandwich, sighing a little. "Thas good stuff." He muttered, his mouth full and little bits of bread flying out.

Honda looked at him with a bit of disgust, and chewed his own sandwich. Yugi merely shrugged and ate his apple. After a couple of moments –and half the sandwich eaten- Jounouchi said to Kaiba, "What kind of meat was that?"

Kaiba, with his usual amount of scorn, replied, "I couldn't tell, you've got so much on there it's probably butchered the taste."

Jou almost scowled, but popped the last bit of sandwich into his mouth and instead said, "Well, if you're implying you have crap meat, it's definitely good quality."

Honda shook his head while Yugi laughed, "Jounouchi, that doesn't make any sense."

Jounouchi looked offended, "Of course it does! He has crappy meat, it's just three times as expensive as anything we could afford. So it's good quality."

"You're an idiot." Kaiba remarked dryly, returning to his computer as something else was plucked from the pile and began to be devoured.

"Better than an ass." Jou muttered under his breath, causing Honda to smirk slightly, but Yugi said in a whisper,

"Jounouchi, don't say that. He's letting us stay here, can't you be friendly?"

"I will if he will." Jou replied simply, eating crackers idly.

Yugi shook his head but had to smile. Jou was crazy, sure, and immature, but that's what was great about him.

Honda suddenly turned things on a more serious note, "Jounouchi, you've been awake for a while. Has Ryou woken up at all?"

All attempts at humour were dropped. "No, I haven't seen him awake at all. You, Yugi?"

Yugi shook his head, "No, and I'm kind of worried. Kaiba said the doctor needed to take some more tests, but I don't know anything beyond that."

"He was moaning once." Kaiba said from over by the computer, "Saying something about 'his dark half' and 'the Millenium'."

Jounouchi rounded on him, "How come you never said anything before?"

"None of you asked." Kaiba returned with easy indifference.

Jou sighed, and sat back down on the couch, "Well, at least we know he's still alive."

Yugi looked shocked, "You thought he was dead?"

"He could have drifted off while we were all sleeping. And mister computer over there wouldn't notice if the house fell down." Jou shrugged.

"I resent that." Kaiba muttered darkly, seeming like he was only half paying attention to them, if that.

"Good for you!" Jou returned sharply, then spoke again to Yugi, "But honestly, I don't know how we could tell if he's alive or not."

"There are conventional methods, like taking the pulse, checking for breathing..." Honda muttered sarcastically.

"I know that!" Jou said indignantly, "Jeez, don't turn into Kaiba on us."

Yugi didn't look happy. "You guys, don't argue. Ryou's not dead and he's not going to die, so this conversation doesn't need to be happening."

"Well if Jounouchi weren't so dull-" Honda began, but Jou cut him off,

"What do you mean 'dull'?"

"I mean stupid!"

"I'm not stupid!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Well if I am, then you definitely are!"

"I think you've taken too many hits to the head!"

"I think it wouldn't matter how many you'd ever taken!"

"Guys, don't fight!" Yugi said urgently; both Honda and Jou were rising and looking daggers at each other. These close quarters weren't doing well.

"Stay out of it Yugi!" Honda snapped, cracking his knuckles.

Jou immediately snarled, "Don't talk you Yugi like that! Just because he has a brain and you don't!"

"You want to say that again?" Honda said loudly.

A groan came from across the room, which went silent in an instant. Everyone looked across to a pair of brown eyes, and softly, Ryou said, "He's in Tver."