"go Ifraid!" Zero shouted, sending his bey flying at Shinobu's Saramanda. "special move: Burning upper!"

Zero and Shinobu were battling once again at Bey Park, trying to see who was the best Blader. Madoka smiled as she watched them. "Zero reminds me so much of Gingka when I first met him. And Shinobu is like Kyoya! Mal is kind of like me, always giving them advice and finding the scientific reasons for a bey's movement…. Gingka….." the name of the Legend Blader resounded in her mind, over and over again. She had been thinking about him a lot lately. She admitted it, she missed him, all of him, his strong arms around her, his love for her hamburgers, the hilarious look that always appeared on his face when she caught him looking over her shoulder at her work, his overall silliness, his Blader's spirit, the way he had looked at her when she tripped over the doorstep with that cake, trying as hard as he could not to laugh as he helped her up, the time he had been throwing water balloons at her and had missed her and his the news reporter full in the face, causing him to run inside the B-Pit and upstairs to hide, but most of all, the way he had always come to her aid when she needed him most, even if it was something as silly as her cake mixer going crazy and splattering her and her kitchen.

"teacher? Teeeacheerrrr?" mal poked her, bringing her back to the present.

"hmm? What is it mal?" she replied

"isn't it way past time to open the B-Pit?" Mal asked, pointing to the clock. Madoka suddenly realized that she had been thinking about Gingka for over an hour now, and Zero and Shinobu had finished their battle and left Bey Park.

"what? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Madoka almost shouted, causing a few stares. She grabbed her purse and ran off to open up her shop.

-a couple of hours later-

Madoka had closed the B-Pit at the usual time and was fixing the few beys she had picked up from young bladers who had begged her as usual to fix them. Luckily, there hadn't been that many of them today so opening up late had proved to not be a problem. Madoka placed her third bey in the scanner and sighed. When "complete" flashed up on her screen, she took the bey out and placed it alongside the others. Mal had gone camping with Zero, Ren, Shinobu, and the others for training purposes, and Madoka was alone in the B-Pit for once. She opened a file on her computer, one she hadn't been able to open for a long time, as both she and Gingka had agreed it would be better if they keep their marriage to each other a secret, as Madoka really didn't want tons of news reporters flocking around her asking about Gingka. They had married a couple of weeks after she turned 17, when Gingka was 18. A year later, she had had a baby girl, after that, Gingka had decided that he was fed up with all the news reporters and media asking him for interviews, and Madoka was having a really hard time talking care of baby Anashi and running the shop at the same time. So, a couple of days after she was weaned, Gingka had taken her and left for Koma village. It had been Madoka's idea that he take Anashi with him, but she missed her little girl. Anashi had had Gingka's big brown eyes and Madoka's hair, not to mention her attitude. Madoka smiled at this as she was browsing through her wedding photos. Her and Gingka kissing, her and Hikaru with their bouquets, her and Gingka…when did they take that picture? Madoka suddenly discovered that Gingka had been right about one thing: she did look good with cake on her face. Oh that picture….. Ha-ha, Gingka and his caked-up hair, she remembered plotting with Hikaru on that one. Kyoya didn't look too happy in the background… she was brought back to the present again by the doorbell ringing. Madoka sighed and got up to answer the door. It was Tsubasa.

"can I come in?" he asked uncertainly. Madoka nodded silently and opened the door wider to let him in. "where's mal?" he asked, looking around.

"she went to the mountains with Benkei and the others" Madoka said.

"I see, I wanted to see her for something, can you send her over when she gets back? And Zero too, I need to talk to them both" Tsubasa replied.

"alright, ill tell her" Madoka said, writing it down so she wouldn't forget.

"thanks Madoka" Tsubasa muttered. "ill be heading back to the WBBA now then, unless you need something"

"alright, see you then" Madoka said, closing the door behind him as he left.

Sitting down in her chair once again, she wondered how she could get in touch with Gingka again. She picked up her phone and dialed his number, only to hang up seconds later remembering that he had canceled his service a couple of days before leaving. She opened her email and started composing a message before remembering that he didn't have a computer or an email address. She couldn't send a letter, as none of the mail services would know where Koma Village was. She couldn't go to Koma Village herself…. Or could she? She picked up her cell phone again and called Hikaru, who was now Hikaru Tategami, married to Kyoya only a few weeks after Madoka and Gingka's wedding.

-at Kyoya and Hikaru's house…

Hikaru was busy putting her own Child to bed when he cell phone rang. She picked it up, surprised that Madoka was calling her at this time. It must be some emergency, like the time when she he accidentally dyed her hair green instead of red like Gingka's. it had taken them a whole afternoon to get it out, and they weren't quite finished when Gingka had gotten home and had immediately been sent out to get more shampoo.

"Hello?" Hikaru answered her phone. "hey Madoka! How have you been? You didn't dye your hair green again, did you? You didn't? ok good. What is it then? You're going to what? Ok. Ok. I see….. Sure, just let me check with Kyoya once he gets back from the store…. Yeah, he sprayed his hair black so he wouldn't be noticed, it was my idea….yeah, I might need to help him get it all out….oh you are right I forgot to check!"

Kyoya walked in the door with a bunch of bags, which he set on the counter. "forgot to check what?" he asked. Hikaru held up one finger. "one moment" she mouthed.

"yeah, I should really go check that…no, he is home now… sure you can talk to him…." she handed the phone to Kyoya. "its Madoka" she said "I have to check something" with that, she walked into the bathroom.

"hey Madoka" Kyoya said. "what was Hikaru going to check…you're kidding? It better not be! He ran his fingers through his hair then looked at them. Hikaru walked out of the bathroom, carefully reading the label on the hair color spray. Suddenly she started blushing furiously, making Kyoya nervous. "sorry Kyoya" she said, holding it out and pointing to the spot on the label where it said "permanent".

"argghh! No, no, no! Kyoya yelled, dropping the phone and grabbing the hair spray. Then he ran to the bathroom, frantically trying to wash it out. Hikaru picked up the phone, laughing. "Madoka, can you come over? We can talk about this over washing Kyoya's hair. And bring that stuff Gingka found at the store last time we had to wash permanent dye out of someone's hair… yeah, that would be a good idea too, just make sure you get the right one… alright, see you later, bye" she hung up and went to help Kyoya with his hair.

Madoka put her phone down, almost out of breath from laughing. She went to the bathroom and found the bottle that Hikaru had requested, then put it in a bag and went to the store. Quickly finding the hair dye section, she grabbed the one that was the same color as Kyoya's hair, then quickly drove to Kyoya and Hikaru's home on the other side of town. when she rang the doorbell, she heard Kyoya yelling, "if it's a legend blader don't let them in!" Hikaru opened the door laughing."come on in Madoka, lets get Kyoya back to his normal green-haired self" she said, out of breath.

"lets do it!" Madoka said. "I just hope this stuff Gingka got still works, it has been sitting there for two and a half years. I also got the green hair dye just in case it doesn't work." they walked into the bathroom and Hikaru effectively stopped Kyoya's shouting by dunking his head in the bathtub. He came up sputtering. "what was that for?" he asked, angry.

"you were yelling and didn't hear me ask you to stop, so I had to get your attention some other way" Hikaru replied.

"yeah, she did" Madoka said. "don't worry, there aren't any Legend Bladers at the door either, it was just me"

Kyoya blushed at this, thinking that the whole neighborhood had probably heard him. And that annoying Titi was right next door…

"lets get started then" Hikaru giggled, opening the bottle Madoka handed her and pouring it all over Kyoya's hair.

"oops, I forgot how much it stank" Madoka giggled, pinching her nose.

"ugh, what are you doing to my hair?" Kyoya asked, plugging his nose. Hikaru had found some cotton balls and shoved them up her nose, handing a few to Madoka and Kyoya. Then the two girls got out the shampoo and washed all the dye and the foul-smelling liquid out of Kyoya's hair. "all done!" Madoka exclaimed, handing Kyoya a towel. He glanced in the mirror before putting the towel on his head, satisfied that it was green once again.

"so, about my question?" Madoka said once they were all settled on the couch.

"what question?" Kyoya asked, clueless.

"oh yeah, we never told you did we?" Hikaru said. "Madoka wants me to take care of the B-Pit for a week or two. I told her I would ask you about it, but I forgot when we got caught up in the hair dye incident"

"fine with me" Kyoya replied. "but why do you need someone to watch the B-Pit for you?"

"well, I haven't seen Gingka or Anashi in two years and I wanted to see how they are doing." Madoka replied, blushing slightly as she mentioned Gingka's name.

"fair enough" Kyoya said.

"thanks guys, I knew I could count on you" Madoka replied, getting up to leave. "Hikaru, if you could be there tomorrow morning, I will go over the basics for you so you know what you are doing"

"alright, ill be there at 8:00!" Hikaru said, opening the door for Madoka, then closing it behind her.

At that moment, their two-year-old son Takeshi Tategami waddled in and held out his arms to Kyoya.

"didn't your mom just put you to bed?" Kyoya asked, picking his son up and carrying him back to his room.

"I want story!" Takeshi demanded, pointing at the bookshelf. Kyoya sighed, then walked over and picked the shortest book and sat down in a chair nearby, setting Takeshi on his lap. Hikaru watched from the door as Kyoya read the book to Takeshi, who fell asleep halfway through anyway. As Kyoya shut the door to his son's bedroom and walked into his own just down the hall, he found that Hikaru was already in bed waiting for him. He got in bed, turned off the lights, and fell asleep. At the B-Pit, Madoka had fallen asleep already and was dreaming about Gingka and Anashi….