I wrote this quite some time ago and came across it in my document folder. Thought I might as well post it up. A lot of it doesn't match up with the whole new series of Beyblade, and that's because I wrote it way before I even heard about Zero G. So, you know... it's pretty much just an idea. Hope you like it anyway. :)

The clock on the far right wall of the room read 3:30 am. The last time she'd checked, the hour was 10:00pm, and she'd usually have been in bed by then but sleep seemed to be even more reluctant to cooperate than usual tonight. So she'd pulled out her textbooks and decided to catch up on some much needed study. Now, five and a half hours later, unconsciousness seemed to crawl back for forgiveness, tell her to forget about their disagreement and beg her to take it back.

And she would have accepted it with open arms, if she weren't already knee deep in studies.

'Just a few more pages, then I'll get to bed,' she thought to herself. Leaning back in her chair and putting her arms behind her head in a moment's break, she took a deep breath. Looking around the room, she noticed how different her friend's apartment looked at night. She was always so busy, she never really took the time to stop and see what there was to see.

The walls were a muddy brown, how drab. The carpet was even darker, chosen specifically so as not to show dirt. The sofas, coffee table, shelves and other items of furniture including the dining table and chairs at which she sat were even more boring; old, mahogany classics. There were hardly any displayed nick-knacks. her friend considered such things as clutter. There were quite a few large windows lining the apartment out from which you would be able to see the dazzling street lights of the city if you cared to look, but these windows were covered with expensive looking shutter blinds. She shared rent with a friend she'd met at college here, though this friend was an absolute control freak.

She looked at her textbooks. There were many of them scattered across the table, and she knew that if her flat mate were to wake up and see this mess, she'd be having to call an ambulance and tell them to get there stat, because somebody's just had a heart attack.

One of the books was closed; she'd already studied everything in it. She read the cover, distracting herself from the work momentarily.

Madoka Amano, Auto Mechanic Basics.

Auto Mechanics; one step higher than Bey Mechanics.

She thought to herself about how much easier all this would be if she hadn't sacrificed high school for travelling around with Gan Gan Galaxy all those years ago. She'd made a lot of memories alongside those people to last her a life time, and the adventures they'd given her were times she would never regret, but she did find herself wishing she'd taken some time out for school. Now, at age 20, she realized she hadn't had a proper conversation with any of her old friends from back in those days in years.

After the fall of Nemesis, she and the gang had parted ways in order to move on with life and overcome the loss of Ryuga. Though they persevered and came through victorious, it was also a time filled with darkness, heartbreak and rough roads. The journey they'd taken from start to finish had been a long one, and the gang had left their inerasable footprints in the sands of her heart. Yet, despite all the good times, it was something none of them really wanted to remember.

Madoka herself had gone on to further her mechanical career to automobiles, thinking that it would be a more practical career path than that of Beyblade mechanics. There was simply a lot more money involved.

Just the other month, she'd run into Benkei when she stopped at a fast food outlet to grab some lunch. She was very happy to see that he was managing the place, and was working towards owning his own diner called 'Benkei's Big Buns'. She didn't get the name and wondered why he'd looked like he was trying to suppress a smirk when he told her, but was happy for him anyhow. (A/N When I was writing this, I totally thought Benkei would end up working in a diner when he grew up. I recently saw a screenshot of what I think was Zero G and it had Benkei behind the counter of a burger joint... I knew it haha)

Surprisingly, throughout her whole conversation with him, Benkei didn't mention Kyouya once. When she asked about the former lion tamer, she swore she saw Benkei desperately try to fight back tears. He told her he just got up and started walking one day, saying he was just going to the park for fresh air. He never came back. Nile and Demure searched for him, but found no trace. Sooner or later along the line they both went separate ways as well. Demure, apparently a studying student too, sometimes drops by to see Benkei when he's in the country, but Nile has changed his phone number.

Yuu and Kenta still see each other regularly. She knows this because as Madoka was driving past a corner shop one day, she saw both boys wearing school uniforms and holding ice creams. She was about to stop and say hello, but the happiness that painted Kenta's face was something she hadn't seen in a long time, since after Ryuga's demise. She had a feeling that the sight of her would evoke painful memories in the boy, so she drove right on past.

Masamune, she saw every week. Not in person, but on her television. He'd gone on to score a 5 minute skit in a standup comedy late show. She watches him less often now, because hearing his voice makes her reminisce of a somehow more carefree life. Even though fighting to save the world was a tough job, it almost seemed easier than college. Word had it, that Masamune would be going onto bigger and better things.

Hikaru had accompanied her for dinner one night. Still a member of the WBBA, she told her that Tsubasa had succeeded Ryo as the head of the corporation, and was struggling to keep everything under wrap as new generations of Bladers were coming up. She said he was thankful that all of the 'bad guys' had been defeated and were long gone, and that he often complains to her that all the stress is causing his hair to fall out. Madoka found that odd, she didn't remember Tsubasa as having a stressed personality. Well, when Yu was busy annoying someone else anyhow.

Hikaru also said that she was thinking about leaving the WBBA herself, not for any reason like she didn't enjoy working there. She simply stated that, since Tsubasa had landed the job she'd been striving for, there wasn't much for her to do there. She wanted to use her hard earned experience elsewhere and possibly establish her own company. Her new boyfriend, who she was now living with, had promised to help her get ahead. Apparently, she didn't want to leave Tsubasa without an assistant, but said he'd had his eye on another young girl who seemed keen on him too, and suspected that the new girl would take her place without hesitation.

Then Madoka asked about Ryuusei, to which Hikaru responded by lowering her voice to a near whisper, leaning across the dinner table and saying "Don't tell anybody, I'll be in so much trouble if you do, but I hear he's still with the WBBA. He works in the upstairs rooms, he's never seen but he watches everything. He's either got some sort of new plan up his sleeve, or he's waiting for something bad to happen again..."

"But you haven't seen him at all?" Madoka had asked.

"Not since Ginga ran off," she'd replied and relaxed back into her seat. Madoka remembered watching Hikaru swirl the straw in her drink absentmindedly, twirling her longer blue tresses in her frail fingers with her other hand.

Later on, she said goodbye to Hikaru and they promised to keep in touch from then on, but neither of them had called each other. As a person gets older and changes, so does their life and choice of company. Madoka had been meaning to see her old girlfriend again, but things just kept popping up. She made a mental note to text Hikaru in the morning.

After all that thinking, Madoka redirected her attention to her textbooks. Finalizing that she was now too off course to continue studying, she gathered her books in one large pile and heaved them into her arms. Struggling slightly, she carried them to her room.

Perhaps visitors would wonder if they were in the same apartment when they walked from the dining room into Madoka's room. It was a nice change of color scheme. Pastel yellow walls, pink bed sheets, shelves and a pink desk. There were lots and lots of photos and nick-knacks all about. A big window was set across from her bed, and she never pulled the blinds closed. For she'd always preferred the way natural light exposed a room, and at night, the soft caress of moonlight and twinkling stars helped her sleep. Perhaps subconsciously, this was because she'd always related the stars to an old friend of hers.

Rubbing her eyes, she began to place her books back on the shelf. She went to place the thickest away, but found that it was going to be a tight squeeze as there was simply not enough room for it. Deciding to throw away an old notebook of hers, she pulled it out and as she did, she accidentally pulled out a neatly bound Bey Mechanism book with it.

The Bey book fell to the ground with a thud. She froze for a second, listening for the sound of her friend waking up. When no such offensive sound fell on her ears, she bent own to collect the book. What she found almost brought her to nostalgic tears.

A photo had tumbled out of the pages. She turned the photo in her hands and looked at it, the corners were slightly damaged but the faces of her (mostly) smiling friends were like they hadn't aged at all. This is the beauty of a photograph; as they say, a photo never changes like the people in them and the feeling in your heart at the time it is taken so often do.

Kenta, Yuu, Tsubasa, Hikaru, Benkei, Masamune, Kyoya, Hyoma and… Ginga, were all crowded around the living from of her old B-Pitt which she had since left back in the hands of her father whilst she'd gone away to peruse her studies.

She recalled the moment this photo was taken, it wasn't long after Gan Gan Galaxy's win at the Championships. Perhaps the most painful thing this photo presented was the fact that just after it was taken, Ginga had cornered her in the basement privately, and told her how much he was grateful for having met her.

xxx

"We'll always be friends, right Madoka?" he'd asked, his eyes so deep with affection and undying love for his best friend.

"Forever and ever," she'd told him…

xxx

'Good luck sleeping now,' she teased herself. She left the room, made a hot cup of coffee, and went out to the apartment balcony with the photo in hand.

Madoka let out a sigh; she remembered what it was like to be so young. How it felt to be so carefree, what it was like to not really give a damn about your future, about stupid things like rent, and what it was like to think your perfect circle of friends would never part.

Right then and there, she missed being that age where she'd thought she'd have her act together by the age she was now.

And she missed her friends. In particular, she missed Ginga.

An idea crossed her mind then. She pulled her phone out of her bra (as we all know, a ladies' bra is a versatile item which not only serves as a breast supporter, but two extra pockets as well) and she scrolled through the contacts until the got to Ginga's name. She'd rung him consistently in the past few years, never to receive an answer. But that wasn't what she'd been calling for. She rang his mobile so often simply to get to his voicemail and hear the recorded message.

"Hey, it's Ginga, leave us a message and I'll get back to you." Just to hear his voice.

So she tried ringing him again. She sipped her coffee and waited patiently, but this time, there was no dial tone and there never came a voice mail. All she heard was the phone service provider's automatic message.

"The number you have dialed has been disconnected."

"Oh…" was all the brunette uttered. Her crystal oasis eyes began to water slightly, but she wiped the tears away and pulled her shoulders back. What was she crying about anyway? It's in the past, isn't it?

Isn't it?

She went back inside, put her empty coffee mug in the sink, collected her car keys and left the apartment. As she made her way to the complex's main entrance, she pondered what she was doing.

Truthfully, she didn't know what she was doing.

The shrill night air made her realize that she'd forgotten a jacket, so she shuffled to her car a bit faster. Before she knew it, she was driving a familiar road back to the inner city. She rolled the windows down and felt the wind on her face, her car's headlights gradually clearing a ghostless path in front of her. She turned the radio up, and when an old song that she and Ginga used to sing to each other came on, she took it as some sort of message that told her she was doing the right thing.

The car ride which usually took an hour or so seemed to only steal away twenty minutes of her lifetime. Perhaps that was because of the lack of traffic, but she soon pulled into the B-Pitt's driveway.

She could have been sitting idle in the car for minutes, or maybe hours. Time seemed to slip away from her, like most other things in her life had previously done. It was only when a dog barked somewhere in the distance, probably warding off intruders from entering his territory, that she decided to get out and make her way up the driveway to the door.

She didn't need a key, she knew where her father always kept a spare; underneath the leg of a small coffee table he put on the patio. Once retrieved, she used the key to unlock the door, and stepped inside, reaching up to the side wall in a blind search for the lights.

Artificial glow filled the room, but before that, it was the sweet scent of the place that brought back memories. The battles, the laughs, the tears and the time spent worrying over Ginga's wellbeing ebbed into her head. She felt a peaceful sense of home.

She noticed that her father hadn't changed the furniture at all; everything was just as she remembered. On the wall above her old work bench was a drawing of herself which Yuu had made. She'd always loved that drawing, though she'd decided to cut down on the sugar after seeing how big Yuu had illustrated her waist line. He'd given her a mustache, too, but had put lots of colorful ice-cream cones around her and signed it with 'Luv from Yuu' so she'd held some sort of affection towards it.

She walked over to the drawing, took it off the wall, folded it and put it in her pocket to take back with her.

Then, she went to the couch which Ginga always slept on. She sat down and smoothed her palm over the space beside her, trying to envision a young redhead with a stupid grin on his face. In Madoka's mind, he was really there. Sprawled out on the couch, rambling on about some new battle he intended to win.

She could have stayed in her fantasy forever, had she not been such a realist. Madoka soon shook away the thought and lay down, her face nestled into the armrest. It still smelled like Ginga, she resided in the moment until a slash of blue caught her eye. Between the couch cushions, was a piece of material. She slipped it out and rubbed the cotton texture between the thumb and index finger. Printed on the blue was the head of a Pegasus and a wing.

She knew what the thing was. It was Ginga's bandanna, and she wondered why he would have left something to precious to him behind.

Nevertheless, she felt like she hadn't slept in a thousand years, so she placed herself into a more comfortable position on the couch and felt the soothing tide of slumber wash over her worn body. In no less than five minutes did the sandman arrive to hold her hand and guide her into his dreamland of wonder and limitless possibilities. Still she clutched the bandanna in her fingertips.

Ginga Hagane had been walking for quite some time now. With his head down, his hands placed comfortably in his pockets, he watched his shadow fall behind him and then move around to the front of him on the pavement as he passed under streetlights. He smirked, thinking about that old phrase "His shadow was his only friend", because lately, it seemed that that phrase applied to him more than ever.

He had a purpose, had a place to be, but he was in no rush to get there. Nothing caused him much excitement anymore these days. The city around him was busy, very different to what he remembered from his childhood spent in these same alleyways and streets. Things had changed, and though he knew that it was human nature to cling to faded memories, he tried his best to get over it and deal with life as it was.

As he passed a familiar alleyway, he saw two small and thin looking figures wobbling towards him. He quickened his pace almost instinctively, in an attempt to try and pass the strangers without making eye contact with them. He was almost clear of them, until one of the two sprung around and grabbed his arm.

"Hey," the girl said. "Wait up, you look familiar."

Ginga didn't say anything, but he could smell the alcohol in her breath. No wonder she could barely stand up.

Her companion turned to Ginga too, squinting a bit, trying to make out his features in the dim light. "Yeah, I know you. You're Ginga Hagane, the Beyblade Champion!"

Gently, he pulled his arm away from the first girl. "I'm sorry; you must have mistaken me for someone else."

"No, no, no. You're that guy, where did you go? The whole city's been wondering where you went." Her sentences sloshed and ran into each other as if she couldn't make her lips mould into the appropriate shape to form words.

The second girl stumbled and fixed up her crop top after noticing that its neckline had fallen down, revealing the top of her bra. "Look how big he got; I used to watch you on T.V when I was about 10."

"Sorry girls, my name's not Ginga Hagane. Don't even know who that is."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire.," drunken girl number two began to chant.

Ginga turned his back to them and kept walking, leaving them to wonder off up the street, talking to themselves about how they couldn't wait to tell everyone that they'd met THE Ginga Hagane.

Sighing, Ginga hoped they'd forget about it by the morning.

Soon, he came to the B-Pitt. He would have walked right on past if he hadn't noticed that the lights were on, and Ginga was a very curious person. He paused, pulled out his phone to check the time, shrugged and decided to go investigate.

He walked up the driveway, rounded the exterior of the house and came to a window. Inside, he could clearly see a sleeping girl on the couch where he had spent many of his own nights. The sight of her made his heart skip a beat; he felt it in his chest. Before he knew it, he was fiddling his fingers around the broken lock which only he and Madoka both knew was there. This time, however, it proved to be a minor struggle as his fingers were much larger than they had been when he was an underage boy.

But he prevailed, and he slipped thru the window with all the soundlessness of a prowling alley cat. Like a ghost, he hovered over to the sleeping form and knelt down beside her. He watched her for a minute, watched her breath so soundly. Her face was still smooth and childlike, like she hadn't aged at all since the last time he'd seen her. Gently pushing a strand of long hair of of her face, he noticed that she was holding something very familiar to him; his old bandanna.

In his fingers, he took the end of the bandanna and observed it. Then he saw the photo the armrest Madoka laid her head, which she had brought to the B-Pitt with her. This too, he picked up and looked over while he smiled.

He let the bandanna go gently, it still hung in Madoka's grip. He put the photo back on the armrest, and placed his fingrtips on Madoka's shoulder. He wanted to shake her, call her name, wake her up. Wanted to say 'hey, how've you been all these years' and catch up.

But he knew that that would be insensitive. He couldn't just waltz into her life as easily as he had disintegrated out of it, could he?

Could he?...

He could.

He was about to shake her gently, when something vibrated in her top.

"What the he-" On closer inspection, he noticed her phone hanging out of her shirt. He realized that the vibration was simply a text message. Curiosity again got the better of him as he slipped it out of her top, gripping the top of the phone between his fingers.

Ginga looked at the phone. He knew he shouldn't read the message, but he still felt as close to Madoka as he had years ago. It was like he'd only waved goodbye to her yesterday, and reading the message just didn't seem like that big a deal. Innocent ignorance is something that's hard to grow out of, you see.

He clicked the message open and scrunched his face up as he read the contact name, 'Marty'.

Now, Ginga didn't know that Marty was Madoka's flat mate. He didn't know that Marty was a girl either.

"Madoka where r u? Just woke up for work n ur not here. Don't u have college this morning?"

The fiery haired young adult felt his heart sink a little at the thought of Madoka being so close to another guy that she would move in with him. Despite his absence, he thought that Madoka would still think about him every now and then, and he'd assumed that there was even some sort of romantic pull between the two of them. He thought that Madoka was his.

It looked like things had changed. Madoka had forgotten about him. The day he'd left, she'd gotten right over it and found a boyfriend…

And college? Was she that much better off without him in her face everyday that she'd gone on to college?

'She's moved on,' he thought. 'She's so much happier without me.'

An exhausted sigh fowed through his parted lips as he looked her over once more, suddenly getting wind of a terrible feeling of loss. Ginga fixed his stare on her motionless body for a long moment, perhaps trying to carve the image into his brain.

He flicked through her phone, selecting the clock application and setting an alarm 5 minutes from the current time, typing something into the alarm's title. He didn't want her to be too late for college.

After he'd done that, he stood up and made his way to the window again. He slunk out into the night air once again and told him self to grow up, forget about it, and get on with the task he was persuing in the first place.

With a heavy heart, he turned back to the window still staring at the girl. He whispered the words, "You may have forgotten me, but I'll never be able to forget you. I couldn't, even if I tried..."

Ginga then pulled the window down and closed it with a gentle thud. He found his way back to the footpath just as his own phone began to vibrate. He answered it.

"Hey…"

"Son, where are you? You were meant to be at the WBBA hours ago." It was Ryo.

"I know, I know. I'm on my way."

"Good, but please hurry. Ryuga's becoming impatient."

"What's he got to be in a hurry for? He's pretending to be dead. Last I heard, being dead is a pretty undemanding lifestyle."

"Don't get smart, just hurry."

"Alright."

"So, you don't sound too happy. Is there something troubling you?"

Ginga didn't answer.

"Ginga?"

"No, nothing's troubling me. I'm just, I'm just realizing how much things have changed."

"do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I'll be fine."

"If you say so… I'll be expecting you soon, goodbye until then."

"Seeya Dad."

Ginga hung up the phone and replaced it in his pocket. He then continued to walk a solitary path to the WBBA suddenly feeling older than he had earlier that night. It his head, he remembered the sweet times he shared with his old Bey mechanic. The laughs, the tears, the friendship… all just memories now.

Through the night he walked, and he didn't look back.

'BZZZZT, BZZZZT, BZZZZT'

Madoka woke with a start. It took awhile for her to realise her surroundings. She looked around for the buzzing sound and found that her alarm was the cause of all the hullabaloo.

"6 am!" she yelled to herself. "Dammit, I'm going to be late for college."

Then something else caught her attention. On the phone screen under the flashing digits, were words that differed from her usual alarm title of "Wake up!"

She read the words carefully. "I've always loved you. I just wish I'd told you when I had the chance."

'What?' she thought to herself. In her mind, she tried to come to some sort of solution to this new little mystery she'd found. She knew that she certainly wouldn't have written such a message to herself. But if she didn't write it, then who did?...

She didn't have much time to ponder the thought, however. The screen suddenly flashed again with an incoming call. The caller ID read 'Marty'.

"Hello?"

"Oh, you're awake. Good, where were you this morning?"

"I went for a drive," Madoka replied, still trying to wrap her head around the title on her alarm.

"All night?"

"...Yeah."

"Sometimes, I worry about you. Anyway, are you at college?"

"No, I suppose I should get a move on."

"Good idea. I'll see you at home tonight. Oh, and Madoka?"

"Yeah?"

"Pull yourself together, okay?"

Madoka scowled, "I'll try. See you later."

She hung up the phone and prepared to leave the B-Pit to leave for college. All the while thinking about who on earth could have left her a message like that. She was filled with a terrible feeling of sadness however, because somewhere, deep down in her heart, she suspected that she may never know the answer.

Eh, yeah I just posted it for the sheer purpose of posting something.

Until next time, my dears. :)

Jessie