A/N: Hey look, a story from Sayaka's perspective!

Madoka was fidgeting again.

She hadn't said anything, but her restlessness was making Homura anxious. Merely knowing that something was bothering Madoka was enough to disturb her relaxation. It was less than three minutes before she finally set her tea aside and broke off the conversation they had been having by asking, "What's wrong?" even though she knew the answer.

The small pink-haired girl looked embarrassed at being so easily read. "They're very late," she said, that soft voice of hers carrying her anxiety clearly to Homura. "I'm worried that something has happened to them."

Homura suppressed a sigh. Kyoko and Sayaka were habitually late, but Madoka always worried anyway.

"I would guess that they are late either because they are sharing a moment of intimacy," (Homura found it endearing that even such a tasteful way of mentioning sex caused Madoka to blush) "and lost track of time, or…they are fighting again."

Personally, Homura suspected the latter.

She was right.

"Jesus, Kyoko! What about this is so hard to understand?"

Kyoko was stretched out on the couch of her hotel room, lazily searching through a pile of empty snack packages for something to eat. Sayaka knew her too well to be fooled by her feigned indifference: Kyoko was just as angry as she was, and it wouldn't be long before her temper showed itself.

"I don't know, I guess the part about me not being allowed to see my girlfriend in public."

Sayaka made a frustrated noise. "Of course you can see me. You can spend time with me. You can talk to me. We can have lunch or dinner together. But you can't feel me up in front of my classmates! I don't need to be outed that way!" She could still see the shocked faces of her classmates when, on the walk home, this girl that none of them knew had approached them and grabbed Sayaka's breasts from behind by way of greeting.

"Why, are you afraid of what all the little gossips will say about you behind your back?" Kyoko smirked, her fangs lending the expression a level of derisiveness that few others could achieve and that never failed to get under Sayaka's skin.

A vein ticced in Sayaka's forehead, but she didn't rise to the bait. "I was barely able to talk my way out of it, and I don't think Hitomi is really convinced."

"Screw her." Kyoko propped herself up on her elbows and glared at Sayaka. "Why do you care what she thinks, anyway? She went behind your back and hamstrung ya, right?"

Sayaka's cheeks colored. "That's not the point! And she's still my friend!" she added hastily.

"Yeah, about that…what is the point?"

"You are impossible!" Sayaka screamed, pulling at her hair in a slightly exaggerated display of aggravation. "Why can't you just respect my wishes and leave it be? I don't want everyone to know about us! You're right, I am worried about what they'd say about me at school! You don't have to worry, it wouldn't affect you at all, but it could put me through no end of hell!"

Kyoko had gotten to her feet and was finally showing some anger in return. "You're always worrying about what other people think instead of just doing what you want! You won't live your life how you want because someone else might not like it!"

"And you don't give any consideration to what other people think!"

"Why should I?" Kyoko countered with a contemptuous sneer. "What the hell do they have to do with me? I'm not going to let some assholes that I don't even know stop me from doing what I want to do."

"And what about your friends, Kyo? What about me?"

Kyoko waved her hand dismissively. "That's different. You and the other Magical Girls are actually people I like, so I'll listen to what you think."

Sayaka crossed her arms and glared triumphantly. "Except when I ask you not to out me in front of my classmates, right?"

She had nailed it. Kyoko flushed and opened her mouth to retort, but was at a total loss for words. Finally she scowled and flopped back down onto the couch, facing away from Sayaka, and ignored her. Sayaka had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from laughing at Kyoko's petulant behavior.

A few minutes of painful silence passed before Sayaka's temper had cooled enough that she had begun to feel bad for yelling at her girlfriend. It's how it always went. No matter how right she was, no matter what a bitch Kyoko had been, Sayaka always started to feel guilty for fighting once her anger had subsided. She knelt at the arm of the couch and leaned over to look Kyoko in the eye.

"Why is it such a big deal to you?" she said in a much less confrontational tone. "It doesn't hurt you to be a little discreet."

Kyoko's scowl deepened, but she still didn't meet Sayaka's gaze—no small accomplishment, given how close their faces were. She didn't reply right away, but when she did Sayaka was taken aback at the tone of her voice. She didn't sound angry or petty, anymore. She sounded hurt.

"I don't like havin' ta pretend I'm just some punk kid that you made friends with. I don't wanna be your dirty little secret 'cause you don't have the guts to let other people know about us."

Sayaka opened her mouth to protest but stopped halfway through the first syllable. It was suddenly apparent to her just how much this bothered her girlfriend. The guilt she had felt squirming in her belly was now twisting her stomach in knots. The silence dragged on as Sayaka tried to find the words she needed to make this right. Nothing was coming, and Kyoko was only getting more upset as the seconds ticked by. So instead of trying to come up with the perfect words, she just started talking.

"You know I love you and that you make me happier than I've ever felt before." Kyoko snorted, still avoiding eye contact. "But I need you to respect my wishes. Now isn't the right time to let people know about…us. And when it is, I want to tell them rather than show them."

Kyoko finally let her eyes meet Sayaka's. A thin smile formed over her lips. "So…you love me, huh?"

Sayaka's heart froze as she realized that that was the first time she had directly said it. She had made plenty of vague allusions to it, of course, but she had never said the words 'I love you' out loud…until now. This was not the context she wanted to surround her first declaration of love.

Strong hands grasped the back of her head and yanked her off balance. Sayaka flailed for a moment before she found herself nose to nose with Kyoko.

"You're lucky I'm a sucker for that sappy stuff."

And with that unromantic but definitively Kyoko statement, Sayaka and Kyoko were locked in a kiss that had more passion and intensity than any they'd shared since they had made love for the first time. The fiery redhead hauled Sayaka over the arm of the couch and, after a confused thrashing of limbs, they found themselves face to face again, slightly breathless, with Kyoko on top.

Kyoko lowered her head to Sayaka's neck, and the light bite she felt just below her jaw set her skin tingling. But after a few seconds, Kyoko stopped moving completely.

"What? What is it?"

The redhead stayed motionless, but spoke from near Sayaka's collarbone. "Look…if it's such a big deal to you, I'll back off and let you handle telling your friends and family."

She felt a bittersweet twinge in her heart and wrapped her arms tighter around her girlfriend. "Thank you, Kyo."

"But," the redhead continued, and Sayaka could hear the smirk in her voice, "if I can't have any fun with you in public, that means you have to make it up to me in private."

Sayaka scowled, though she felt more amused than annoyed. "Is that all you ever think about?"

"Course not!" Kyoko answered as one hand strayed to her girlfriend's hip. "I also think about food and hunting Witches."

Sayaka couldn't suppress a snort of laughter. A moment later it turned into a horrified gasp. "Oh, no! We were supposed to meet Madoka and Homura fifteen minutes ago!"

Kyoko finally lifted her head from Sayaka's neck, glanced at the clock, then back at her girlfriend. "They can wait a little longer."

Madoka's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh, don't say that, Homura. I hope they aren't fighting again." The look of worry on her face was so heartfelt that Homura felt a twinge of possessive jealousy. "Sayaka would be heartbroken if Kyoko left her."

One of Homura's eyebrows just barely arched, a strong expression for the taciturn girl. "You think that they might break up?"

Madoka looked surprised. "Yes…don't you? They fight so much."

A rare smile tugged at Homura's lips and she decided to let it stay for a moment. "You don't have to worry about that, Madoka." She turned her gaze to the sky. "They don't argue because they're truly mad at each other."

The delicate girl's look changed to one of bemusement. "Then why…?"

Homura looked back at her and gently placed her hand over Madoka's. "It's just how they are. Do you remember how hostile they were when they first met?" Madoka nodded, confusion written all over her face. The two girls had been ready to literally kill each other, for a time. "Their feelings towards each other have changed, but not their personalities. They will always be grating against each other. But not because they are a poor match.

"It's how they show each other that they truly care."

A/N: I've had this story mostly written since I uploaded the last one, but it never felt quite right and I'm lazy so it stayed unfinished until now. It still doesn't feel perfect, but it never will and I had better upload it anyway. Part of the problem I encountered when first writing this story is the same one that gave me trouble in the second chapter of "I'll See You Again": writing an argument between Kyoko and Sayaka is very difficult. Oh, it's easy to have them argue; it's too easy. They're both volatile and abrasive. The problem is staying astride the happy middle ground between a petty squabble and a serious fight. I didn't want to write about an argument between them over something completely stupid and inconsequential, like whose turn it was to pay for dinner or who was hogging the blankets, but when writing about a more serious argument between them, it's very easy to have one of them say the wrong thing and have the argument escalate into an ugly fight. I had to keep erasing whole paragraphs because it was getting out of hand.

Keeping these two happy with each other is a hassle, but they're too sweet a couple to do anything else.

Oh, and Madoka and Homura are dating in this story; I had a bit of subtext in there implying such, but didn't feel there was a good way to make it more obvious without just going off topic. Kyoko and Sayaka were going to meet up with them for a double date.

And if you're wondering why Mami doesn't make much of an appearance in these stories, it's because I don't really like her that much. I don't hate her or anything, but she's never interested me as a character.

Well, that's enough yammering from me. I have another story in the works, and hopefully I can get it put up in a decent amount of time.