I watch French Beyblade, et qu'est-ce que c'est? I get all inspired up, that's what - ! C'est genie! It seems that the French version contains a lot more emotion for me than the English.

In other words, here's today's chapter. By the way, if you're reading this, please review~! It only takes a minute and it's SO encouraging.

Here is the word list:

Abatjour: Skylight or device to direct light into a room

Abature: Trail beaten through the woods by a stag

Palabra: Words; talk

Sanable: Able to heal

~Madoka's POV~

Tsubasa is so quiet.

He has always been quiet, but more so than usual now. His heart is breaking, and I don't know why. It's like something inside him is drawn up and he doesn't speak unless spoken to.

At night I wake up in the hotel because I can't sleep in strange places, and sometimes I look out the window. A few balconies down he is always just standing there, so quietly. Perhaps all night; I do not know.

Sometimes he has his fingers up, tracing the lines of the constellation Aquila in the night sky.

His bird is always on the lookout. It seems that Eagle is also agitated. I read somewhere that birds pluck out their own feathers when they are nervous, and I have been finding feathers all through my luggage. He sits above the abatjour in the lobby and looks down from the roof of the hotel, watching, always watching, like he is trying to protect Tsubasa. He feels that something is wrong. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Today Tsubasa sits in the dining room at the hotel with us; this is our last day in India. He does not eat, and he does not speak. It's like something keeps coursing through the abatures of his mind and he can't seem to let go. He tells us he isn't hungry; he tells us he'll eat later.

He won't.

I try to bring him food in the afternoons, to keep up his strength, but I come back an hour later to find it cold on the wrapper and him long gone. Sometimes he feeds it to Eagle, but he knows I am watching.

Gingka is speaking to Masamune about the upcoming battle in Japan. I know he is also troubled. His and Masamune's meaningless palabra floats around the dining room like a flock of brainless birds.

I need to find out what's wrong with Tsubasa. If he cannot function, his beyblade cannot function, and where will our team be then?

When I turn towards Tsubasa, his appearance once again alarms me. Since the heated battle with Kyouya, he has lost weight, and there are faint circles under his eyes. His hair, normally so well-kept, has lost its lustre. Something about all of this scares me. I cannot place it, but I am unnerved.

"Something is bothering you." It is not a question; it is an observation. He knows this. He cannot dodge it now.

He only nods.

"What's on your mind?"

He shakes his head. He will not tell me.

"You're not sleeping. You're not eating. You need help."

"I don't need help." His voice comes out husky. He hasn't been speaking, either. "I'm fine. All of this travel is wearing me down, that's all."

"You used to work for the WBBA! You travelled all the time then. It shouldn't bother you."

"I guess I am a little rusty. It happens to the best of us." He holds my gaze, daring me to challenge him. Even in this state he is so stubborn.

"You should rest."

"I'm jet-lagged. I won't be able to sleep until later this evening, probably. We'll be home soon. Everything will be better then."

He is trying to convince himself more than he is trying to convince me.

He stands and walks away from me. I hate it when he does this; he doesn't understand that running solves nothing. I sit back, letting my mind float. What was it that I saw that day, in his battle with Kyouya, when he first began to seem troubled? Was it something out of place - Eagle? Was his bird reacting already? Or was his beyblade moving strangely?

There was something. Now that I have thought about it, I am sure of it. Something in his eyes was...askew. Crazed.

I try to tell myself that it is sanable, that everything can heal with time. He needs time. He needs us around him to help him with whatever it was that appeared in his battle with Kyouya, more so in his battle with Chi Yun. He will overcome these restless abatures. He will find a way.