A/N: It's been a while, hasn't it? Holidays for both of us so we managed to squeeze out another chapter before we're back at uni. Enjoy!

chiseling
Chapter 4 - A Mess with Ingredients

When the attack of the dinosaur was going on by the supermarket, Tomoe Mami was doing one of her favorite activities: baking. Some of it was given away, because, without a certain someone around she unintentionally made way too many. The rest of it was eaten herself, over days at a time. So, being that she was busy with mixing and chopping, she missed the alert until it was too late, blaring over the news in bold letters.

Mami could not easily hurt herself anymore, due to her profession, but she was very glad her hands caught the knife before it hit the floor. Cleaning the blood would be a bit of an inconvenience. She put it back on the cutting board, moving to watch the news as it played.

'Oh dear,' she mused. "Not another one.'

This was getting out of hand, wasn't it? There weren't enough of them, were there?

A tapping on the window drew her attention, and she set the knife carefully on the counter and opened it. Kyubey hopped in, gracefully avoiding the pots and pans and other assortments, though he scattered her chopped chocolate with its tail.

"Kyubey," she scolded. 'I'm cooking with those.'

"You humans are so particular," was the reply, as he inspected his tail. The brown colouring left a smudge that was barely visible.

"You won't say that when ants crawl up your tail tomorrow," said Mami with a smile. She liked it when Kyubey came to visit. No-one else did, even though she heard there was another Familiar in the area. "Did you have anything to do with that?" She gestured to the screen. The news anchor was talking about sports now, but Kyubey got the message.

"Not particularly." Kyubey tried to lick his tail. It scattered more chocolate until Mami snatched the chopping board up. "I was scouting when we were interrupted."

Mami perked up at "scouting". "You found a potential Familiar?" She hoped they were more sociable than the other one.

"Potentially," Kyubey replied.

Mami examined the still clean chocolate before asking her next question. (She was going to smack his little ears one of these days. if he ever burned something, she was going to let him have it. Gently, of course. They needed him around. "And someone stopped you from bringing them into the fold?"

"Unfortunately." Kyubey washed at one paw and moved it to his ear. "It was a start but then that friend of yours got in the way. Then the enemy appeared and I lost a good opportunity, I tracked her, at the very least, so it is quite possible that I will be able to speak to her again."

"I see." Her methodical movements resumed. "What kind of person is she?" Asking this was a moot point, since he didn't think about, nor care about this sort of thing. That said, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"A willing worker, a good listener." Kyubey moved to rub his other ear. "Also, slightly too obedient, but you may need that for quite a few battle maneuvers."

Mami nodded, expression a little thoughtful, but definitely concerned. She would need someone that could think on their feet. That said, she could teach that, given enough time. "I see." She grimaced. "Perhaps I should speak to her then. A person is a lot more soothing than an alien weasel."

"If you think it wise."

Kyubey, that sneaky little alien, had probably planned that all along. And had stolen a little of the chocolate while he was at it because, when she weighed it out to put in the pan, she came up a little short.

Kaname Madoka, fourteen years old and in eighth grade. The same age as Akemi Homura but the "good listener" part implied she'd be an easier person to get along with. And of course Kyubey knew the address. Someone else might have considered it stalking, but it really was a necessity in this case.

Still, Mami thought as she lingered outside the Kaname residence, it simply wouldn't do to knock on their door as ask to speak to Madoka. She'd frighten the poor girl off - never mind that having a monster emerge near her and chase her two thirds of the way home was plenty frightening enough. It was a good thing, actually, that Akemi-chan had been there to rescue her. Mami had been a bit too far away. She hadn't felt the soul at all. Mitakihara was a little bit too big for one Familiar to handle.

There! Madoka emerged from the house and Mami held in a squeal. Kyubey hadn't mentioned how cute she was! And she was leaving too, giving the little boy who'd crawled after her (also cute!) a pat on the head before leading him back side and closing the door after her.

Mami made to follow, but then she stopped and smiled upwards instead.

Akemi Homura was sitting in the tree, also watching Madoka. And glaring at Mami.

Well, that was certainly friendly. How were they supposed to work together and get along if they kept doing things like this? Glaring at each other and generally promoting negativity, how was that going to help their new comrade any? It wouldn't, it would just make her nervous about talking with them and listening and making friends.

She supposed that was Homura's general idea. However, if the other girl was a bit more amicable, Mami wouldn't find it that necessary to work with new familiars as much. Or at least, she could fudge it to herself and lie to Kyubey and watch his disappointment.

Deciding she herself at least could be friendly, Mami smiled and nodded at the girl. No offense to the other girl's best efforts but she couldn't stop Mami from at least talking to the girl, surely. Or maybe she could.

She leapt nimbly from the tree, like a cat, and cut off Mami's view. "The Incubator brought you here, didn't it?"

Mami blinked. The girl had been frosty before but this was downright rude. "Kyubey has a name," she said mildly, though there was a bit of warning in her tone. "And considering he granted your wish as well, the least you could do is use it."

Homura tilted her head a little and regarded Mami, as though she knew something the other girl did not. And why? Mami was the more experienced magical girl. Mitakihara was her forte, and Homura was the newcomer who hadn't even asked for advice or if she was stepping on toes. She didn't usually and she was a help in keeping the numbers down. She stayed right out of Mami's way except when she thought Mami couldn't handle a particular monster. Then the monster would be gone before Mami could blink and she'd be no wiser about the other girl.

It was infuriating, really. That Homura pretended to know what Mami could and could not handle. That Homura acted as though she were too good for Mami - and too good for the new potential as well? Was that why she sat in a tree, watching? More creepy than what Mami had planned to do, by far.

Homura's icy gaze caught Mami's eyes. "Leave Madoka alone," she said. Not "Kanane-chan" or even "Madoka-chan", but just Madoka. Rude.

Mami huffed a little. "You're not in the business to listen to people, are you?" she asked.

She hadn't expected Homura to answer that. She'd asked it that way, in fact. And it was somewhat gratifying to be the subject of an annoyed glare before Homura spun on her heel and vanished down the street.

The annoying part was that Madoka had vanished long before.

Kyubey would have loved to be higher in the tree, but that Akemi Homura was a sharp one. For one, he didn't remember having ever contracting her, and neither did Misako. And he was sure all of Jyubey's Familiars were dead, and besides, she was too young to have been one of those. So then how had she done it?

Problem number two was the nature of her contract itself. Just what sort of container had taken in her soul? Tomoe Mami's he knew. He'd placed the soul into GoldenRapidmon himself after all. And it was obvious in her transformation: the way her armour shone gold and ringlets appeared on her thighs, the way her hands extended into red blasters and her blonde tresses sprouted little ornament rabbit ears.

But he hadn't seen Homura changed at all. One moment the enemy would be there, and then it wouldn't and Homura would be a little distance away and probably the cause.

So too close to Homura when attempting to spy wasn't safe. But Mami was good. Mami was the model Familiar - and, hopefully, that would be enough to offset Homura and catch Madoka.