Again, I apologize for the late chapter! I'm so sorry! DX But now it's summer, so I will defiantly be posting more! Here's to summer: a new chapter! Enjoy!

I jolted awake suddenly from my sleep, probably from a bird's shrill song I could hear above me in one of the trees. I blinked and sat up quickly, looking up at the sky. Judging from the placement of the sun, it was about midday. Was I asleep all morning?

I stood up, but then knelt down again to pick up my knife, which I noticed was on the ground. It must have slipped out of my hand while I was sleeping. I can't believe I fell asleep while I was suppose to be on watch...

With my knife now in hand, I ducked my head as I entered the cave Tsubasa was supposed to be in, but froze in mid step when I looked to the spot I saw him last night and found he wasn't there. I felt a surge of fear, but tried to calm myself quickly before I started to panic. It's too early to panic. I knelt down on the ground to looked around and found no sign of a struggle, so obviously he wasn't forcibly taken. As I looked over his things along the cave wall, I noticed his hunting knife is also gone.

Well, he must have just gone out to look for food or something, I told myself, crawling out of the cave backwards before straightening up. He couldn't have gone far, since his ankle was still messed up.

My first thought was to check the river beside the cliff, because it's close and a good food source. I begin to walk quickly, but quietly, towards it, fear that the Erasers might have found him while I was asleep still in my head. I weaved around a few trees before the shimmery blue water of the river came into view. I paused behind a tree to cautiously look around for any sight of him before stepping out into the open.

Thankfully, I saw him on his knees, leaning over the water with a pile of flopping fish beside him. I breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out of the tree line to walk towards him.

"Hey," He says to me without looking up, "Sorry if I worried you by leaving, but I thought you'd be hungry when you woke up so I decide to get us some food."

"It's fine. I wasn't worried."

"Did anyone ever tell you you're a terrible liar?" Tsubasa asked, his hands and arms in the river water up to his elbows as he scrubbed his hunting knife clean, "You were totally worried."

I scowled at the back of his head and knelt down beside him on the grass. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Not really," He said, "I'm just about finished here. I hope I got enough fish for both of us!"

I shoved him lightly with my shoulder, "I don't eat that much!"

He pushed me back a bit harder with his shoulder and turned to grin at me, "Yes you do."

I rolled my eyes and bumped him with my shoulder again, "No I don't!"

He pulled his hands out of the water, placed his knife gently on the ground beside him and shoved me forcefully sideways. I shrieked as I lost my balance and fell into the river, water splashing everywhere. I sat up in the water, the clear liquid dripping from my hair into my eyes. I looked back at Tsubasa, who was still on his knees on the ground, but now he was laughing, "Yes you do!" He said, covering his mouth with a wet hand to hide his smile.

I stand up in the waist-deep water and shake some of it out of my hair. "How dare you push me into the river!" I exclaimed, "You're gonna pay for that!"

I jumped towards him and grabbed his wrist, pulling him forward hard to unbalance him. It workedand he fell forwards, but unfortunately I fell backwards in the process. We both splashed in the water and came up coughing and laughing.

"How could you do that?!" He said, pretending to be outraged, "You know what happens to my hair when it gets wet!"

"Well, my feathers are gonna take all day to dry, no thanks to you!" I retorted.

He snickered and splashed his hand into the water in my direction, showering my front with its cold spray, "You won't melt from a little water, now will you?"

"Neither will you!" I said, narrowing my eyes at him and grinning. Taking a small step back, I spread my wings out at my sides and slapped them down on the water hard at an angle. This made the water arc dramatically before splashing Tsubasa completely and everything in his general direction. He gasped as the water soaked his hair and clothes.

He stared at me in disbelief, water dripping from his bangs down his face, "Now that was uncalled for."

"Oh, don't be such a whiner," I said, folding my dripping wings back up against my spine. I'll have to air them out later.

"Now c'mon, let's go cook those fish you caught! I'm famished!" I said, turning and strutting towards the river bank dramatically, the water churning around my hips as I walked. I heard him laugh lightly before following me out of the water.

The rest of our day was quite enjoyable; I would say it was the best day of my life, considering I hadn't really done anything outside my dog crate back at the School. After we had our breakfast, Tsubasa showed me how he'd been training for Battle Bladers, which usually involved smashing some rocks or trees or maneuvering an obstacle course of his making. He decided to incorporate me in a couple of his exercises: he got me to fly up about twenty feet in the air with a large rock and drop it while he launched at it. This exercise was for target practice, but he didn't really need it. He smashed every single rock I dropped, even the few that I threw.

After his training, I showed him how I took off and landed. He was quite impressed, not only with my flying, but with my wings as well.

"Your wings have the most beautiful feathers and color patterns I've ever seen," He said, running his hand lightly over my slightly damp plumage as I held them out to show him.

His comment made my blush lightly, "Thank you, Tsubasa. You're so kind."

He smiled and came around to stand in front of me, "I have a question for you, Safire," He said.

"Okay, what?" I asked, folding my wings up against my back.

"Will you come with me to Battle Bladers?" He asked, his golden eyes locked on mine.

I smiled and nodded, "Of course, Tsubasa! I would love to!"

He looked relieved, "Great! Thank you. I know I'll win with you there to support me."

I blushed once more by his flattering words. I hoped he wouldn't notice, "I'm sure you'd win even if I was a thousand miles away."

"But you won't be, so my win is guaranteed."

"You sound worried that you'll lose."

"I'm never worried."

"Everyone gets worried."

"I don't."

I narrowed my eyes, "I don't believe you."

He raised an eyebrow, "You think I need more practice?"

"No!" I shook my head and sighed, "You practice too much! You need to get a life other than beyblade! A girlfriend, a job, the list goes on! How old are you again?"

"I'm seventeen," He said, taking a step closer to me and ruffling my hair, "And, for your information, I do have a job."

"Oh, yeah? Tell me what it is."

"You're very demanding."

"Don't avoid my question!"

"I'm not!"

"Then tell me what job you have."

He thought about it for a second, then said: "No."

"Why? 'Cause you don't have a real job?"

"I have a job."

"Then tell me what it is."

"No."

I threw my arms up in exasperation. "You're impossible, you know that?"

"That statement has come up a few times, yes," He said, as he sat down with his legs in front of him to ease the pressure on his ankle. He picked up a small stick on the ground next to him and began mildly pulling the bark from it.

I sat down next to him with my legs crossed, "So what about a girlfriend?"

He paused, "I'm currently not in a relationship at the moment," He said rather coolly as he snapped the stick in two.

Whoa, I thought. Did something bad happen with his last girlfriend? Dang it, now I'm curious!

"Tsubasa," I said, placing my hand on his shoulder, "Did something bad happen in your last relationship?"

He sighed and threw the stick pieces a few feet away, "My relationship problems can't possibly be of interest you."

"They don't have to be, but sometimes talking about your problems are better than bottling them up." I state, removing my hand from his shoulder.

He hesitated for a moment before answering; "Alright; I'll tell you. My first girlfriend was this girl named Madoka Amano. I first met her when I was passing through Metal Bey City to get some repairs done on Earth Eagle. I went to the repair shop recommended to me by one of my co-workers: the B-Pit. I walked in and she was at the counter, sorting through a box of beyblade parts. I gave my beyblade to her and she fixed Eagle for me by the next day. After that, our relationship kind of blossomed from there and we started dating. I really liked her, but she fell for the newcomer in Metal Bey City, Gingka Hagane, and left me for him.
"I was devastated, of course, and quite miserable. I thought for sure I would never get over her. But then Hikaru Hasama came along. A particularly skilled and beautiful blader, she arrived in the City a couple months after Madoka broke up with me. I fell for her and naturally worked up the nerve to ask her to battle me. She agreed and I won the battle, but she put up quite a fight. We kept in touch after that and it eventually led to us dating. That is until Kyoya Tategami came out of the shadows and she left me to be with him."

After he had finished, he smiled weakly at me and said in a slightly shaky voice; "Like I said before, my relationship problems probably bored you."

"Oh, Tsubasa," I said, sliding my hand into his. "I'm so sorry."

"After those experiences, I haven't really had the heart to try anything again," He said, pulling his hand from my grasp without looking at me and crossing his arms over his chest like he was cold. "It will just be too painful to have my heart broken again."

I didn't know how to respond as I took my hand back and placed it gingerly on my lap. I felt awkward and a spark of disappointment as we sat there, not speaking, for a minute. Finally, he cleared his throat and looked over at me, grinning his usual soft grin like nothing had happened, "But none of that matters now! What matters now is our hunger. Do you want me to catch us some more fish? I'm not that hungry myself, but I'm more then willing to get you some."

"Um, that's fine," I said, looking down at my hands in my lap, "I bet you're tired from all your training this afternoon and your ankle still needs time to heal. Let's just hit the hay. I'll take first watch."

"Are you sure? You took watch most of last night too."

"Yeah, I'm sure," I said as I stood and grabbed my knife from the ground and strode over to the outside of the cave. I sat down again, "Thanks though."

"Okay," He said, standing as well. He limped slightly as he walked to the entrance and bid me goodnight before ducking into the cave.

I waited a couple minutes before I glanced over my shoulder to make sure he had gone to bed. I saw him lying on his side, his back to me. Already, he looked asleep. Turning, I placed my knife on the ground next to me and looked up at the appearing stars in the darkening sky.

I have to get my feelings in check. I must really like Tsubasa because I've never felt anything like I have when I'm around him. The feelings of energy and happiness I get and the warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach. But I can't believe I was foolish enough to think I had a shot to be with him. He doesn't want a girlfriend to begin with, much less a freak like me for a girlfriend.

I sighed and let my head drop onto the rock behind me. Sometimes I just wish I was normal, you know?

As I was leaned forward to pick idly at one of the scabs on my leg, I felt a furry hand close around my mouth and yanked me backwards.

Instinctively, I screamed into the hand of my attacker and struggled to reach for my knife. I managed to lunge forward and grab it, only to have it kicked roughly from my hand and my arms wrenched behind my back, my shoulder that had been dislocated screaming in protest.

"Tsubasa!" I tried to yell, but the hand over my mouth very effectively muffled my cries.

I screamed again and struggled to break free. The claws on the hand over my mouth pierced my cheek and I felt warm trails of blood trickle down my face. I looked wildly around me to see Erasers, mostly morphed and drooling all around me.

I heard a familiar silky voice in my ear as I tried again to cry out to Tsubasa: "I love it when captives struggle. Makes my job so much more fun!" Ari smirked as he laughed and kicked me in the ribs so hard he knocked the wind out of me. "C'mon, boys! We got her! No need to stay here any longer. Let's sure we tie her down good! We don't want her escaping again."

The Erasers holding me began dragging me further into the forest behind the cave. The rest of the Erasers followed closely behind. I desperately tried to pull myself lose as a black hummer came into view.

"Stop! Stop!" My shriek was still deadened by the hand, "Let me go! Tsubasa, please help! Tsubasa!"

Ari reached the hummer first and quickly swung the side door and the trunk open. He then pulled out a roll of duct tape and a coil of rope from the backseat. Panicking, a terrified sob forced itself from me and I and struggled again to pull free, to no avail. I felt my tears run down my face into the cuts on my cheek and they stung. Ari came closer and wound the rope around my chest and back to hold my wings in place, then wrapped it around my wrists and secured them behind me. He also tied it around my ankles, so I wouldn't be able to run. He quickly exchanged the hand over my mouth with a piece of duct tape and threw the extra into the backseat of the hummer.

"Now," He said, leaning close to my tear and blood streaked face, "We take you to the Institute, where you'll live your final days."

Then, he picked me up by the rope around my chest with just one hand and hoisted me into the trunk of the hummer, slamming me down onto my back so hard I saw stars. I felt myself losing consciousness as Ari laughed wickedly and slammed the trunk door shut, dousing me in darkness.

Dun dun dun...