The old building had seen better days. It used to be a splendid church, and its grand sanctuary drew quite a large congregation of worshippers. But as members moved away or felt their faith dwindle, the condition of the church deteriorated until it was finally abandoned and left a rotting husk, filled with broken pews and detritus left by the occasional homeless squatter. It had been condemned for quite some time, but its demolition was a low priority on the city's budget.

Right now, though, the church was in immediate danger of being destroyed by a pair of teenage girls.

An onlooker would have been dumbfounded by the battle taking place in the derelict building. A redhead in a frilly crimson dress with an oversized spear was attacking a blue haired, sword wielding girl dressed in a cape and stylized knight-like outfit. The redhead spun her weapon around in a defensive flourish before leaping at her opponent with a two-handed overhead attack. The knight sprang backwards at least a dozen feet, leaving the spear to split a pew in half. The redhead didn't pause in her attack, but leapt towards her even faster than her opponent had jumped and rammed into the knight with her shoulder, sending her sprawling into the main aisle of the sanctuary. She didn't notice the gash in her arm until she was standing over her opponent—she was lucky that her reckless charge hadn't earned her a more serious injury.

Kyoko swung her spear around to place the tip at Sayaka's throat. "Give up."

The defeated Magical Girl glared up at her, defiant even in the face of death. "Never."

Kyoko grinned and tapped her spear point against Sayaka's breastbone. "Doesn't matter, I win anyway." She offered her hand to the newer Magical Girl, who accepted it only begrudgingly, and hauled Sayaka to her feet. "So you owe me dinner."

"That wasn't fair! We were supposed to only use our weapons! When did body contact become allowed?"

That smug grin of hers always got under Sayaka's skin. Kyoko knew it, and so used it as often as possible. "About two minutes ago."

Sayaka opened her mouth to fire off an angry retort when she noticed the bleeding cut on Kyoko's arm. Only her irritation at Kyoko had prevented her from spotting it sooner, which was impressive considering that half of Kyoko's arm was covered in blood by now. Sayaka's temper was replaced by worry so quickly that Kyoko was surprised she didn't get emotional whiplash. She grimaced. Now Sayaka was going to feel guilty, and start to fuss over her, and be generally unbearable. She preferred it when Sayaka was bickering.

"How did that—when—" Sayaka looked at her sword and noticed the thin red line along the edge and dropped it in shock. "Oh my god, Kyoko, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"Shut up, it's just a cut! It's already almost stopped bleedin' and it'll be healed in a couple of minutes. Jesus, I'm fine. Knock it off!"

Sayaka had cut a strip of cloth off of her cape and started wrapping it around Kyoko's arm. The makeshift bandage would only last until Sayaka dispelled her Magical Girl outfit, but should do until Kyoko's magic knitted the flesh back together. Kyoko grumbled the whole time but didn't stop her. She knew that the girl needed to nurture others; it was just in her nature.

It was one of the reasons she loved her.

When Sayaka had grudgingly gone to her senior to ask for combat advice, Kyoko had come up with this exercise as both a means of teaching her how to fight and motivating her to push herself harder and harder. So far, Sayaka had won their little sparring matches three times. Kyoko had won eleven. She always asked for food as her prize—usually a few days worth of snacks, but sometimes a full meal at a decent restaurant. It was getting to be too expensive to keep losing.

"Your problem," Kyoko said through a mouthful of udon, "is that you're too stiff. You got a lot of raw talent, and you got the ferocity to carry you through fights, but you can't adjust to the unexpected." She pointed with her chopsticks to emphasize her point. "Like when I charged you. I left myself wide open. If you could think on your feet, you'da won."

She had heard all of this before, and each time it grated on her nerves a little more; that Kyoko was absolutely right did nothing to improve Sayaka's mood. "And if you do it again, I'll be ready," she shot back.

Kyoko grinned. "Which is why I'll try something else you won't expect, and win again."

"Eventually you'll run out of new strategies."

"Maybe. And then maybe I won't be able to beat you. You do get better each time, I'll give you that." Kyoko set down her bowl and leaned across the table towards Sayaka, suddenly serious. "But if this was real, you'd be dead eleven times over. One day you're gonna come across a fight that you can't win directly, and if you can't come up with new strategies on the fly, you're gonna die."

Sayaka snorted. "That'd be a shame. Where would you get your free meals then?"

Kyoko laughed, but Sayaka could tell that it was forced. "Free? I work pretty fuckin' hard for these."

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence that fed the guilt that Sayaka was already feeling over her poorly chosen remark. Kyoko was working on her second course when Sayaka finally spoke up. "I know you're trying to help—no, you have helped, a lot. I'm sorry for being a bitch about it."

That brought a real grin back to Kyoko's face. "No problem. I'll keep working with ya, and covering you on hunts, and before ya know it, you'll be as good as me." She paused halfway through finishing her tea. "Almost."

By the time they left the restaurant, they were the only ones still there and night had fallen. They had stayed long past the end of their meal, keeping an easy conversation going and laughing at anecdotes and shared mishaps. Sayaka had come to enjoy these meals after their fights, though she would have enjoyed them a lot more if she wasn't always the one paying.

As they cleared out of the restaurant and started to walk towards Sayaka's apartment, she took a sidelong glance at Kyoko. She had to admit the older girl looked nice when she actually bothered to make herself presentable. The only times she had ever seen Kyoko wear something other than her street punk clothes and Magical Girl outfit was when she went to a restaurant with her. On these occasions, Kyoko showed up in fairly attractive formal attire consisting of slacks, a blouse and a female suit jacket. If not for her wild hair tied back in its usual ponytail, she would have looked like a businesswoman. Sayaka was pretty sure that if she mentioned that, Kyoko would deck her.

The outfit looked expensive, so Sayaka was pretty certain Kyoko had stolen it and so didn't bring the topic up (not entirely true; Kyoko had paid for the clothes…with stolen money). She was just glad that the tough tomboy changed to more respectable clothes when they went somewhere nice, though she didn't know why Kyoko bothered. She had never given any indication before of caring what others thought of her appearance.

They split up before reaching the apartment complexes, Kyoko heading off for the long walk back to her side of the city where the derelict church resided. She stopped after a few yards and watched Sayaka as she shrank in the distance. She had screwed up again. She had enjoyed herself with Sayaka, so it wasn't a complete loss, but she had to get her act together soon. Well, she would have plenty of chances. Sayaka was getting better, but she was still nowhere near surpassing Kyoko.

"Ha! Beat you again!"

Kyoko rubbed her bruised ribs with a pained grimace. This was not supposed to happen. Sayaka was not supposed to win. The few times before had been flukes, but this was starting to get serious.

"Oh, shut up. Just say what you want, already. I have better things to do."

Her exasperation masked the growing sense of panic that she was feeling. Sayaka never asked for much, fortunately. She kept things simple. A few hits from one of Kyoko's Grief Seeds, or backup on her next hunt. That wasn't the problem; that Kyoko was running out of chances, that was the problem. Sayaka was getting better. Of their last five matches, Sayaka had won three. What had started as a sure thing was turning into a quickly closing window of opportunity. If she didn't grow a spine, quick, she wouldn't be able to beat Sayaka again and her whole plan would fall apart.

Her heart was hammering in her chest, but she didn't have time to rest and collect her bearings. This was all going wrong. Kyoko flipped one of the few unbroken pews at Sayaka with her spear to buy herself some time, but Sayaka cut the thick wood in two without pause and sprang at her. The clang of metal on metal echoed through the grand auditorium so quickly that it sounded like the pipe organ had just fallen apart.

She should have known that Sayaka wouldn't want to keep sparring forever. The whole thing started as a way for her to improve her fighting skills. Once she was had surpassed her teacher, what was the point in continuing? It was perfectly sensible, nothing to get upset over…except that it was going to ruin everything.

Kyoko feinted and then whipped her spear around in a low strike at Sayaka's legs, hoping to sweep them out from under her, but Sayaka leapt nimbly over the attack and snapped a kick at her head that missed by centimeters. Kyoko stumbled away from her, barely able to block the flurry of slashes from Sayaka's sword. Her partner had never really learned to think on her feet like Kyoko had wanted her to, but she was right about one thing: Kyoko would eventually run out of surprises. And the uncomfortable truth was that Sayaka was faster than her.

If she stayed on the defensive like this, she was already done. But she had no opening to allow for an attack, she couldn't fend Sayaka off long enough to…let her….

The solution came to her in a flash of inspiration. She almost laughed at the simplicity of it, but Sayaka's elbow nearly colliding with the side of her head curbed that desire pretty quickly. Now or never. Sayaka would hate her for it, but…

Kyoko held her spear loosely in one hand, the other tense and ready at her side. She deflected blow after blow, waiting for the right moment… There. She caught Sayaka's blade squarely on the shaft of her weapon, and in the instant that her opponent's weapon was still she whipped her left hand at it. Sayaka had expected this and had already pulled her hands and the hilt of her blade out of reach—Kyoko had beaten her once before by grabbing her wrist and pulling her off balance while their weapons were locked together. But this suited Kyoko just fine. She wasn't going for Sayaka's hands.

Her fingers closed around the blade, and when Sayaka reflexively pulled back, the sharp edge sliced deep into Kyoko's palm. Blood hit the floor; an instant later, so did the sword. Kyoko looked Sayaka square in the face and knew she was grinning, knew that Sayaka understood an instant too late as the horror on her face changed to anger. Too late. Kyoko slapped the flat of her spearhead against Sayaka's side, staggering her, and in an instant had the sharp edged pressed against Sayaka's neck.

"I win."

"Damn it! Damn it!"

Kyoko was too nervous to laugh at Sayaka's childish outburst, as she normally would have done, and fortunately Sayaka was too busy kicking a pew to notice. As soon as she had finished dressing Kyoko's injury, which she would not be dissuaded from despite her bitter resentment, she had taken to stomping around the church, hitting things and cursing Kyoko for her underhanded tactics.

This match had been close. Too close. If she didn't do it now, she would probably spend the rest of her life kicking herself for her cowardice. Her hand throbbed painfully under its bandage, another reminder of what this victory had cost and that there was no way she could manage another.

Sayaka's disgruntled voice brought her attention back to the moment. "Look, I don't have enough money for dinner right now. I'll have to give you a rain check."

Kyoko barely restrained an enormous grin. Perfect.

"No good. I won now, so I want my prize now. You shouldn'ta made the bet if you couldn't afford to lose." Sayaka grumbled something that sounded insulting, but Kyoko paid it no mind. She was focusing all of her efforts on keeping her cool.

"Well, what do you want? I can't buy anything for a while!"

She'd never get another opportunity after this. She couldn't have hoped for a better setup. She would never forgive herself if she let this go by. So why was it so hard? She had no trouble charging headlong into a fight to the death, but she was finding that killing Witches was so much easier than asking for this one little thing that could potentially ruin her friendship. She was left paralyzed by doubt, stuck between action and inaction.

And Sayaka had just noticed her standing awkwardly behind her, looking like she wanted to say something.

"…What?"

Now or never. Kyoko forced herself to calm down and speak slowly.

"Well…you don't have to get me dinner or anything."

Sayaka was looking wary now, like she could sense a trap coming. "Yeah?"

Kyoko swallowed hard, gathered her nerve, and said what she had wanted to for weeks. "You could give me a kiss, instead."

Silence. The church seemed every bit the lifeless wreck that it had been when she found it. She could see the surprise and confusion in Sayaka's face. It was getting unbearable. Every second that ticked by increased Kyoko's embarrassment. Great. After years of being alone, she had finally found a good friend to spend time with, someone she could trust, and now she'd ruined it. Best case scenario, they could both just pretend this had never happened. More likely, Sayaka would bolt and be too freaked out to spend time with a girl who had a crush on her.

"Look," she finally snapped, sounding harsher than she wanted, "you don't have to do it, I just—"

Kyoko was spared the trouble of figuring out what she just was because Sayaka chose that moment to lean forward and kiss her. Kyoko was so taken aback that she barely had time to close her eyes and kiss Sayaka back before the blue haired girl pulled away. It was over so quickly…but it left her heart pounding harder than it had during the fight and her body tingling from head to toe.

Sayaka was as red as Kyoko's hair, and she guessed from the burning in her ears and cheeks that she must look the same. Several moments passed in complete silence, then:

"Th-that didn't count!" Sayaka raised an eyebrow at Kyoko's outburst. "I wasn't ready. That didn't count as my kiss."

Under any other circumstances, Kyoko would have admired the perfect imitation of her own smirk that Sayaka now turned on her.

"Tough. You have to learn to think on your feet, react to the unexpected."

Now she was using her own words against her. Was it as annoying when she treated Sayaka this way? Kyoko felt like a little kid that had been offered a treat only to have it snatched away at the last moment.

"Too bad this is our last match. No more prizes, even if you could beat me."

Kyoko's heart sank. Now she was just being cruel.

"Although…"

Kyoko raised an eyebrow, hope starting to return.

"You could buy me dinner."

A huge grin slowly spread across Kyoko's face. "Are you asking me to take you on a date?"

Sayaka shrugged. "If you want to think of it that way," she said with an indifference that was blunted by the playful spark in her eyes.

"With the promise of putting out if I do, right?"

The prudish girl gasped in indignation and slugged Kyoko on the shoulder. Pretty hard, too. "You pervert!"

Well. If that's how it was going to be, the only thing Kyoko could do was respond with an obscenely suggestive gesture that made Sayaka turn crimson.

"Oh my god, I am never going anywhere alone with you ever—"

Her next words were stifled by Kyoko's lips. She could feel Sayaka relax into the kiss after a few seconds. She could feel joy and excitement swelling up inside her, almost too much to contain. This was easy. She should have just done this to begin with instead of fucking around with the sparring matches.

Sayaka tried to look angry when they finally broke apart, but was still rather flushed and breathless. "You didn't earn that one!"

Kyoko had jumped back onto one of the empty stained glass sills, safely away from reprisal and Sayaka's huffiness. She fished a stick of pocky out of her pocket and stuck it between her teeth, bared in a wide grin.

"Since when do I play by the rules?"

A/N: Hello, everyone. After I finished my main KyoSaya story, I had the desire to write some lighthearted oneshots of one of my favorite yuri couples. "I'll See You Again" was the story that I really wanted to tell, and will probably remain my preferred fic, but there's too much potential with these two to just end with that. This is the first of an indeterminate number; I'll keep writing them until I can't come up with fresh ideas. They won't be related and won't necessarily even be in continuity with each other. Hope you enjoy.

Addendum: I swear to God, I hate nothing more than coming up with titles. It took me hours to think of this, and no doubt I'll think it's a stupid title later. Please excuse this pointless griping, but after how much frustration I went through to name the collection of stories, I felt it needed to be shared.