A/N: So yeah, why not try this too, right? Let the requests flow in, dearests. You have no idea how bad I feel for making so many people wait. I am sorry, but this one sucked the life out of me thanks to writer's block. Tell me if you laughed because, as you may see, I attempted at humor. Again.

Before I let you go on to the chapter I have another thing to say: please check out and give all the support and feedback you can give (anything works if it helps the author) to MandNwriterzz's newest story: The Measure Of Love. Requests are accepted and they way the story is written never disappoints. Also take a look at the collab with Chained Princess, another great authoress, - The Fine Line Between Heaven and Hell – if you haven't done so already. Thank you in advance for doing this!

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer apply here.

A Time to Love

Chapter 15: Technical Help – Ryuga x Madoka

They say that if you look for something hard enough you will find it. But is that really true? Ryuga was beginning to believe the answer to that question was a big, fat 'no'. Here he was, in the middle of a deserted playground, trying again and again to find that something, only to fail every time.

The young boy raised his launcher and pulled on the cord, a bey shooting towards a small BeyStadium and failing to spin correctly on it's surface.

He cried in frustration and hit the hard ground with his feet.

"Why isn't this working!"

He had to get this right and master all the moves his bey could do. There wasn't much time left either. Or so has said his father. The man had great expectation from his oldest son and Ryuga wasn't one to disappoint.

All the boy remembered from his last 'talk' with his parent was getting a time limit on him 'getting the hang' of the art of beyblading. And Ryuga didn't have anything against it. Beyblade was his passion. Watching different battles made him happy. Beys were a source of entertainment for him.

He wanted to do this so why couldn't he get what he wanted already? That was the question which made Ryuga so frustrated. If he was willing to get better and master his beyblade why couldn't he do so too?

When Ryuga didn't get an answer from anywhere he decided that trying again was the only thing he could do.

The white haired child stood into launching position again and and fixed his stare in the middle of the stadium. He had to reach maximum concentration.

The hand holding the cord was shaking, sweat trailing off his temples.

He had to do it. He was the best. The one and only. The real champion!

Just you wait and I'll show you. I'll show everyone!

Ryuga was so focused on the launch that he wasn't at all prepared for what was to happen the next second.

"What are you doing here?"

Surprised by the sudden intrusion, the boy jumped around and away to face the new individual. . .and only to have his jaw almost hit the ground. It was another child – a young girl, so it seemed – peering up at him from behind her goggles, eyes' color altered by their colored lens.

Ryuga hastily shoved the launcher behind his back and swallowed apparently starstruck (or frightened; see what fits you best) by her weird apparition.

"Wh–Wha—"

Curse his for-the-moment inability to form actual words clearly.

The girl threw him just one mixed look of confusion and irritation with a dash of amusement (but just a little) before running a hand through her short, brunette hair.

"Forget that. Who are you?"

This time Ryuga was ready to answer back fiercely. . .with another question, "Who asks?"

The boy was a stubborn one, the other one remarked.

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

". . ."

". . ."

Seeing that the fellow's level of bullheadedness was by far too much trouble and wasted time to deal with, the girl let out a sigh and pushed her yellow goggles up, past her forehead, on top of her head. And so the young white haired blader-to-become discovered that her eyes were of a bright blue tone that showed only the innocence and tenderness of her age.

"I'm Madoka and I moved in a few days ago."

The boy's posture didn't change as his eyes were fixed on the new girl – Madoka.

". . .Ryuga," he said back in the end.

"Well hello there, Ryuga-kun. Isn't this better than the way we started?" She smiled full-heartedly.

The young blader scoffed, "It's your fault for not introducing yourself first before demanding my identity."

And things weren't going so well already.

The young Madoka felt her anger rising. You prat! Maybe if you were friendlier you wouldn't be all alone here, hiding.

There were so many things the girl could've said and, for sure, a full blown fight would've broke out, but she wasn't that kind of person. Madoka just wanted to make a friend in this new, strange town. Or at long last help this very stubborn boy correct his mistakes.

"All right, but you still didn't answer my first question: what are you doing?"

Great, another one that wanted to know his secrets. There was no way he'd let her in on something so personal. He didn't need any more people mocking him.

The boy was too focused on finding a way to deceive the girl that he came back only after Madoka called his name for the third time. "Huh?"

Her large blue eyes were fixed on him weirdly.

"Ryuga-kun, are you still with me?"

He shook his head. "Stop that!"

"What?" The girl was confused by his behavior.

"Adding that suffix to my name!"

"Oh, I am sorry, Ryuga-sa—"

"No, just Ryuga is fine. Good?"

Madoka nodded in understanding and the blader relaxed with a sigh.

"So, for the third time, what are you doing here," the girl said, and to please him she added, "Ryuga?"

The boy, visibly more at ease, was still unsure about telling her about his (failing) beyblade practice.

"You wouldn't understand anyway. It's complicated."

It was better if less people knew how bad he was at this.

The girl, in response, nodded. "Yeah, beybattling is kind of hard at first."

He raised his gaze from the ground and up at Madoka in surprise.

"But with practice and a little technical help things should go easily," she finished with a smile.

Ryuga's wide, golden eyes filled with some relief. Maybe this girl – who didn't look anything like a professional beyblader – was the help he needed surprising the best of best.

"I didn't get that much of a good look from that distance so can you please show me your bey?"

The white haired handed her the beyblade from behind his back, watching in silent wonder as Madoka took out a small, silver laptop and opened a program on it. On the screen appeared an image of his silver-and-green bey, a few notes and a smaller diagram which the brunette studied with maximum attention.

"Of course. It's obvious why it didn't work." Madoka said as her eyes moved from numbers to letters and again to numbers.

Ryuga was looking over her shoulder at the rapidly changing images on the laptop and didn't understand that much of what she was getting at.

"What do you mean? Is something wrong with my Aquario?"

The blue eyed child didn't answer his question, but asked one of her own, "Where did you get this bey? The parts were selected by you or just put together like that?"

"I used the best parts. What's wrong with them?"

The girl looked like she wanted to hit him upside the head, and Ryuga believed she was willing to do so if he said something wrong, again. But how was he supposed to avoid getting hurt if her words didn't make any sense to him.

"Look, Aquario beys are Attack type known for their quick speed, hard-hitting attacks, as well as having a rather poor stamina. In order for them to defeat opposing beys by either depleting all of their stamina or knock-out them out of the BeyStadium, Attack types must accomplish this in the least amount of time, you following me?"

All Ryuga could do was nod.

"To be that fast they need lighter parts, made of plastic, like performance tips or blade bases. Now look at your Aquario and tell me what do you see?"

Doing as instructed, the boy takes his beyblade back and turns it upside down before weighing it into his other hand.

"It's pretty heavy, this one."

When he looked up to see if he said anything wrong he found Madoka beaming at him.

"Exactly. You used a Defense type wheel and it kept your beyblade from spinning for more than a few seconds."

She took the blade back and opened a kit beside the small laptop.

"And now we're going to fix this little issue."

After a few minutes in which the girl replaced the green spinning wheel with a dark blue one and put the rest of the parts back together, Ryuga was handed his Aquario back, shining like new.

"And now you say it'll work. . .Thanks. . ."

Madoka was in the middle of gathering her kit and laptop when the boy surprised her with his words. She smiled. "No problem. It's my job as a beyblade mechanic apprentice to help other fellow bladers."

His eyes were wide again. So she's not even a pro? If this is the apprentice level then I can't help but imagine what a professional would be able to do.

Ryuga went in front of the practice stadium again and raised the launcher to eye level. He placed the beyblade and gripped the plastic cord, ready for action. With his eyes closed, he tried to gather his emotions and keep them at bay.

3

He knew he could do this now. Nothing was standing in his way now.

2

Madoka said so herself and, after all he had seen, Ryuga was willing to trust her word.

1

It was as easy as it could get.

"Go shoot!"

His eyes were still closed, as if not to open to the sight of his bey missing the spot yet again, but at Madoka's clapping they opened involuntary.

Good they did.

In front of him, in the middle of the stadium, was Aquario, spinning. His bey was steady and the boy felt like crying with joy (but of course he didn't).

"I. . .I did it." Ryuga smiled then frowned and turned away. "I mean, of course I did. What else would you expect from the future best Blader in the world!"

The short girl went to stand next to him and said, "Yeah, yeah, Ryuga. Of course nothing else was expected from Your Highness."

". . ."

". . ."

". . .Madoka, that was unnecessary. . ."

"Well, just because you've done it one time doesn't give you the right to gloat like that," Madoka continues with her small hands perched on her middle.

The boy smirked then. It was the kind of smile everyone was to remember him for in the future.

"Then I'll have to prove it to you too. I will become the strongest and most famous blader to ever exist. Everyone will know me and recognise me just by my first name."

The girl smiled, too. "I guess I have to stick around and see if that happens or not."

"Fine. Let's meet here again tomorrow. I'll bring my little brother's beyblade so, maybe, you could fix it up too."

He didn't think about asking for her consent. Ryuga was too excited about meeting her again (for more training and technical help of course) to care about that. But for some reason, when he thought about introducing Ryuto to Madoka and sharing this new 'friend' with him, the boy felt angry.

Ryuga felt like hiding the brunette and keep her all to himself, and that confused and scared his young mind.

The two children said their 'goodbye's and were off to their own business.

Both were happy about finding what they were looking for.

Both were looking forward to the next day.

Both didn't have a clue about the disappointment that was waiting for them.

They didn't know how that night Ryuga's father would send the boy for further training in America, to a famous blading academy, headed by a famous doctor, with the purpose of creating famous and strong Bladers only. Of how sorry he felt for not seeing her the next day and keeping his promise.

Or that Madoka's heart would be broken after standing alone in the small park for the whole day, waiting and waiting for the white haired boy with melted-gold-like eyes to show up and mumble a lame excuse about why he was late and then brush it off and proceed with life.

She was to cry and wonder if she said something wrong the other day or if, maybe, changing the wheel wasn't the brightest idea in the first place and something went bad for him.

It was to be a dark future for both of them.

And even if they eventually forget about the existence of the other, their dreams would come true in the end.

Madoka will become a great bey-mechanic with a lot of new friends to support each other. And Ryuga will get to be the best, with people fearing him and trembling with only his first name being spoken, infamous for what he'd become.

But wasn't that what mattered in the end?

A/N: In case you didn't figure it out by now, the two are way younger than in the series. I didn't really have a reason for giving him an Aquario as a bey. Those are usual Attack beyblades, so yeah.

Thank you for the numerous hits you all gave this story. You don't know how much it means to me.

BlackCatNeko999