Chapter Ten: Something Cooking
If it hadn't been for Kyouko, Madoka pictured herself sitting there a hell of a lot more often, for her Art studies. It was a great place to people watch, observe folks from far of for a project. She'd found a bench and waited as Kyouko went to fetch their treat. The sun was glorious, for a time approaching the festive season and knew it was a matter of time before the warmth died away for the rest of the year. She figured it'd be a last opportunity, so she'd dug out her summertime dress: A ripe peach colour with a faint diamond checkered pattern, white lace trimming and a cute red bow in the center of her collar. It summed up the little girl completely.
There was something about them now, Madoka could sense Kyouko a mile off. So she chuckled, amused, when she spotted Kyouko, sneaking through the gathering of trees from behind to pounce on her. She whined disappointedly and sat beside her friend.
'They ran out of strawberry, so I got raspberry ripple instead' she informed, showing her the ice-cream cone. The perfectly spherical scoop a delightful swirling of reds and pinks. 'So what exactly is the be all, end all of your project then?'
'Oh, I was thinking of doing a painting'
Kyouko wrinkled her nose at that, unsure. 'Really? It's hard to imagine my ugly face up in somebody's house or something'
Madoka playfully batted her shoulder with a hand ' You're not ugly'.
'Good morning Madoka'. A waft of expensive perfume confirmed her friend Hitomi's presence. She bowed to her respectfully, her strands of moss like green shimmering in the light, despite being in the shade of the trees.
'Oh, hello Hitomi' Madoka perked.
Hitomi smiled, but the gesture of peace and joy was torn away quick when she had laid eyes on her company, lounged boyishly beside Madoka. The cotton candy haired girl watched in bewilderment as Hitomi's face went white as snow and her hands started shaking fearfully. 'Who are… W-Who are you?' She quaked.
'Err, I'm Sakura Kyouko. Have we met?' she pondered, eyeing her.
Hitomi squeaked, taking a step back away from them then turned and dashed off rather abruptly.
'Strange girl' Kyouko mumbled, eating her own mint choc-chip ice-cream contently.
''What was that about? I haven't seen Hitomi like that before. You sure you haven't seen her before, Kyouko-chan?'
She shook her head dismissively, not really caring.
Still eating their treat, they wondered together into the trees. Madoka wanted to see Kyouko somewhere different than the city setting and wanted to test out more of a greenery appearance, although Kyouko didn't compliment the scenery as well without her green hoodie, being in the wash. She instead was wearing a red vest so stuck out with her trademark colouring, like a fox.
She snapped a few shots of her with her phone anyway to get a sense of research accomplished, only to find Kyouko up in a tree. She sat out, or crouched, on a large branch, fairly high, looking over her with a fearless, confident expression. Seeing her engulfed in the shadows, with hints of blind light shooting through the spots of space between the leaves and branches, looming over her, Madoka was inspired for her final piece and started taking pictures like crazy. Kyouko wasn't too sure about what Madoka saw in this pose from where she was, but watched her curiously.
When she finally stopped, Kyouko leapt down, her hair falling behind her like a cape. 'Hey Madoka'.
'Hmm?'. Madoka turned to her, still having ice-cream left, starting to drip and her cheek was smeared with a tiny blob.
Without a second thought, the red head leaned in and cleaned her face, licking the raspberry ripple off. Madoka was taken aback, too stunned really to react, but a blush faded into her cheeks, colouring her face. 'K-kyouko-chan' she whispered. The fiery eyed fiend shot her a teasing grin, chuckling. 'Nice. I shoulda got me some of that. The mint sucked' she stated, stretching her arms and starting to walk out from the gathering of trees. 'C'mon. We need to drop back at my place to get that blanket and pillow if I'm staying at your place now'.
Things still didn't fully register with Madoka. Kyouko licked her cheek so spontaneously, almost automatic. Was Kyouko really just overly friendly and poking fun, like Sayaka, or was there anything there at all? The puzzlement made her a little sad and she slowly followed on behind the red head.
Kyouko was taking longer than expected. She waited just outside the church door as told, but time was certainly dragging. She said she only needed to collect a few things. What was taking her? Patience wore away eventually and Madoka sighed, opening the door.
There were voices, 2 distinct older men, that could be made out and Kyouko's teamed with them. With the echo, their words were muffled and Madoka's curiosity bought her, entering into the place casually. She followed the sound along, all the way to her friend's bedroom. Peaking through, she saw the redhead giving a fierce stare at the two men in front of her: dressed head to toe in black, balaclavas and grasping daggers. The bubblegum haired girl's heart seized in its place and her stomach flipped, watching through the crack in the door.
'You made the contract with us kid. We gave you instructions and you failed to meet our demands. So what're we gonna do?' the first man said, gesturing with his weapon.
'I already told you, I no longer agree to the conditions. You can take this place for all I care, just let me get my stuff and leave' Kyouko assured firmly, her gaze cold and relentless.
'Shoulda told us in advance kid. It's not a business, but you should treat it as one and you had one job' he said nonchalantly, before booting her in the stomach. Kyouko wailed at the impact, but remained standing, growling. Madoka gasped, covering her mouth, trying not to be heard.
'This is our new deal and there's no choice for you really otherwise. You can make amends for the delay and do the new job we set for you, or we cut your throat. Simple shit, kid. Your name and details are on our database. We can track you even if you ran beyond the city limits' said the second bloke. Both appeared rather similar in height and build, but sounded distinctly different.
The young phoenix met his eyes, stubborn 'Fuck you'.
The gents shrugged, looking to each other. 'Cool. We won't be quick though, we wanna take our time. Here, take my knife. Let's see how that dirty mouth is when its wrapped around my dick' he glared, grabbing her hair.
The door burst open and the man was decked, as the cotton candy haired babe struck the back of his head with a heavy wrench she found on the warehouse floor. The man spat blood and released Kyouko, collapsing to the ground. Both the remaining man and Kyouko stared dumbfounded at the violent display from the sweet innocent girl 'Stay away from my friend, asshole!' she shrieked… maybe not so innocent after all.
'Splendid, associates. Once the guys catch wind of this… OOF!' he was punched severely in the belly and the girls made a run for it, after Kyouko seized her old rucksack. 'Get back here you bitch!'
The girls dashed to the chapel, only to be confronted with the same man standing at the doorway. He held out a .44 Magnum, aimed directly at them. A strike of genius occurred to Madoka then. She took a hold of one of her own shoes and threw it, missing him. The guy cackled menacingly 'So adorable!'. The shoe however had struck one of the rickety construct of chandeliers and upon the shoe hitting it, a domino effect of slipping chains occurred and the mass unhinged from where it hung. The man screamed, attempting to run, before the groaning abomination crushed him into the floor, blood pouring like water from his mouth, nostrils and eye sockets.
Allowing for silence to find it's place again, watching the man bleed out for too long, Kyouko grabbed Madoka's hand and they fled.
End of Chapter Ten
