A/N: Remember four months ago when I said that I had two stories that were written and almost ready to post? Well...here's the first one!

Don't ever trust me when I say that I'll have something out soon.

The second one actually should be out soon, though.

This was the worst date of Sayaka's life.

The reason behind this murmured something unintelligible in her ear and Sayaka shot her a fierce scowl, which went unnoticed because Kyoko was barely conscious and resting her head against Sayaka's shoulder. The cab driver, to his credit and continued well being, hadn't said a word when a clearly underage girl had hauled a clearly drunk underage girl into the backseat, though Sayaka doubted this was a new experience for the aging man.

As the restaurant faded into the horizon, Sayaka kneaded one of her eyes with the palm of her hand and tried to suppress the burning humiliation that made her feel like she was going to be sick. She stared forlornly at the stylish red dress she had saved for months to buy; while the dress had not suffered in any physical way, she knew that its association with this date, the first time she had ever worn it, would kill her enthusiasm for the garment.

Twisting around in the seat, she felt another twinge of misery: there were not many formal restaurants in the area that they could afford to dine at, and she was certain that they should let a lengthy amount of time pass before returning to that one.

She paid the driver and pulled Kyoko out of the car and onto her feet where she wobbled unsteadily, eyes closed. With an exasperated sigh she slung Kyoko's arm around her shoulders and helped her walk through the parking lot towards their apartment, hoping that the redhead wouldn't start throwing up.

The shock and confusion had worn off during the brief ride home, and anger was quickly filling the void. The need to half-carry Kyoko through the parking lot and the inability to vent any of her frustration brought the simmering resentment to a boil by the time they staggered through their door, and Sayaka dumped Kyoko on the couch without attempting to be gentle. She flung herself into an armchair on the other side of the small room and glared daggers at her infuriating beloved.

Kyoko was the one person, the one, who could pull this kind of bullshit and still count Sayaka as her girlfriend the next day. Anyone else, anyone at all, Sayaka would have dumped immediately after a date like that. But even in her current mood, the blunette didn't entertain the idea for even a moment. They had been through far too much together, had grown too close, for Sayaka to consider leaving her. She loved Kyoko; the woman would have to do something unthinkably awful before Sayaka would ever contemplate breaking up with her.

But she could certainly be mad as hell at her.

She wouldn't be getting off easy on this one. Kyoko owed Sayaka one hell of an apology when she sobered up—a proper apology, not one of Kyoko's "apologies" where she took advantage of their strong mutual attraction and Sayaka's libido to sidestep trouble. In fact, she very much doubted that Kyoko would be doing anything of the sort with her in the near future.

Her anger had started to cool as she relaxed in the chair, staring at nothing and deep in thought, when Kyoko suddenly rolled off the couch and rushed to the bathroom.

Oh no… Sayaka groaned and sank her head into her hands. Well, she wasn't dealing with this. Kyoko could be sick and miserable without her there to hold her hand. This was all her fault. Sayaka was going to bed.

Thirty seconds later she was in the bathroom with Kyoko, holding her hair out of the way while the redhead vomited into the toilet.

"You're lucky I love you," Sayaka muttered darkly.

One hell of an apology…

Kyoko had woken up the next morning alone in bed and feeling awful. There was a hideous taste in her mouth, her eyes were gritty and her head felt like it was being crushed in a vice. She had wondered where Sayaka was, why she was left to be miserable by herself instead of being taken care of, and then the memories of the previous night returned. Her bloodshot eyes had widened in horror as the blood drained from her face, and that was when Sayaka chose to push the bedroom door the rest of the way open and fix Kyoko with a Hellish glare.

Sayaka may have been angry, but she wasn't cruel enough to torment Kyoko while she was in the grip of a nasty hangover, so she kept her voice low and the conversation brief. From it, she gathered that Kyoko barely remembered any of the antics she had pulled the previous night, but even the little that she did recall seemed to cause a suitable amount of horror in the redhead.

The rest of the day mostly passed with the two not speaking to each other—or, more specifically, Sayaka not speaking to Kyoko and Kyoko meekly holding her tongue.

Several days passed, wherein Sayaka went to her classes at Mitakihara University and Kyoko worked night shifts at the bar, so the two didn't see much of each other, and a profound melancholy began to take hold of Sayaka. Kyoko had apologized profusely, of course, but the embarrassment she had caused Sayaka in public wasn't easily forgotten and just apologizing wasn't enough this time. She wanted to move on from this and have everything be well between them again…she just didn't know how to do that.

Thursday rolled around, the day she had been dreading in her current sullen mood. Her class load was heaviest on Thursday, with classes nearly the entire day and very few breaks in between. Kyoko would be working again that night, as she had the last three, and as the day wore on Sayaka found herself wanting more than anything to just have Kyoko with her and have everything be normal again.

She trudged home that night, feeling generally miserable, and lamented yet again the apartment that would be empty when she got there. Sayaka was almost willing to just let the whole thing go, exactly as she had promised she wouldn't, so that things would return to normal; the last few days had been terribly lonely.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that, after opening the apartment door and stepping inside, she didn't immediately notice the soft lights that had been left on. It wasn't until she reached for the light switch and found it already in the on position that she became concerned. She adjusted the brightness so that it wasn't so dim in the living room and wondered if Kyoko had forgotten to turn the lights off before going to work. Her irritation ticked further upwards at the thought.

That's when she noticed the bathroom door ajar and more light coming from within. Frowning, she cautiously pushed the door open and peered inside.

Kyoko was standing in a towel next to the bathtub, which was full of steaming water and currently fogging up the bathroom. There was a thick layer of bubbles on the water and Sayaka could smell a few of her favorite bath oils. Flower petals—cherry blossoms—were scattered around the tub, some in the water. The redhead had a sheepish grin on her face that didn't entirely mask the anxiety as she waited for Sayaka's reaction.

The trouble was, Sayaka didn't know how to react. Even this seemingly simple situation had set off a cascade of emotions in her. She was surprised that Kyoko was here, but surmised that she had traded shifts with one of her coworkers. She was relieved that she wouldn't be alone after all, after the day she had had, but was looking towards the conversation that they would have with some trepidation. And, with Kyoko naked but for a towel, she felt a stab of suspicion that plucked at her frayed nerves. If Kyoko was trying to seduce her, she was not in the mood…

She settled for simply raising an eyebrow at Kyoko, hoping her face was neutral, and Kyoko responded by beckoning her over. The redhead started to undress her and Sayaka let her, ready to tell her off for trying to use sex to get out of trouble again. But her hands only busied themselves with Sayaka's clothes, never straying or even caressing her skin. She didn't even try to kiss her. Once she was naked the redhead led her over to the bath and she stepped obediently in, then let herself sink into it. She groaned in spite of herself; the hot water felt wonderful on her tired body.

After a few silent moments she looked over at Kyoko and frowned. "Well? Are you getting in?"

The redhead only smiled slightly. "Nah. This is just for you. Relax for a little while. I have stuff to get ready."

Sayaka shrugged and let her eyes drift closed as she heard Kyoko pad out of the bathroom. She had to admit, her girlfriend had surprised her with this, and a small smile appeared on her lips. There was still some lingering resentment towards Kyoko, she couldn't deny that, but this…this set her heart at ease. Kyoko had sincerely apologized, several times, but she could have just left it at that. Sayaka would have gotten over it eventually and things would have returned to normal. That she made this gesture, small though it was, showed that she cared enough to try to make things right.

She soon found out that Kyoko wasn't stopping at just the bath.

After about ten minutes of soaking in the hot water, Sayaka heard the door open and reluctantly opened her eyes. Kyoko was just setting an end table next to the bath and then laid a tray laden with an assortment of sliced fruits, fine chocolates and gourmet cookies on the table. Sayaka saw some of her favorite treats on there, some rather pricey cookies and chocolates that she only got on special occasions, and started to fully appreciate how much thought and care Kyoko had put into this. It wasn't just the attention and the snacks; she had held off on doing this until the day that Sayaka would need it the most.

She wouldn't allow Kyoko to feed them to her, though, despite her wet hands making the cookies a little soggy. There was only so much pampering that the blunette could take, but she did appreciate the thought.

After Sayaka had had enough, Kyoko moved the table away and finally let the towel slip off of her. She stepped into the bath tub and Sayaka moved forward so that the redhead could settle behind her. Kyoko pulled Sayaka into her lap, but her hands didn't stray above or below her belly. With a gentle nudge she indicated to Sayaka that she should lean forward, and the blunette rested her arms and head on the edge of the tub, knowing where this was going and pleased with Kyoko's thoughtfulness.

She sighed as Kyoko's fingers pressed into her collarbone and neck, working the muscles there with practiced skill. Surrounded by hot and soapy water, feeling Kyoko's gentle hands working against the tension in her shoulders, and resting in the girl's lap, Sayaka couldn't remember the last time she had felt so comfortable.

Kyoko's hands were surprisingly delicate when she wanted them to be. Fingers that could crush bones now worked into her muscles with much more gentleness, releasing the tension that had built up there. The blunette sighed as her stress melted away in the hot bath and under Kyoko's massage. She closed her eyes and dozed lightly, not quite asleep but not awake either.

This was bliss.

Eventually she shrugged off Kyoko's hands and turned to face her lover with a bright smile on her face. The relief was evident on Kyoko's face. She opened her arms and Sayaka obligingly nestled up against her, resting her head on Kyoko's chest. The redhead smiled and gently stroked her hair. It was rare that they were both naked together and Kyoko didn't try to go for anything more (unknown to Sayaka, it had taken a great deal of self control to keep things chaste when Kyoko had felt Sayaka's rear pressing against her hips), but she must have understood that this was a time for being sensual, not sexual.

"Sorry about the other night," she whispered into Sayaka's ear.

The blunette smiled. "It's all right." As she said the words, she found that she really meant them. This was exactly what she had needed to let go of the incident. "Just…please don't do that again."

Kyoko kissed her forehead. "Promise."

Sayaka nuzzled against her and let out a contented sigh. "I really appreciate all of this. You know I would have forgiven you and gotten over it anyway, right?"

The arms around her squeezed a little tighter for a brief moment. "I thought so, yeah, but you deserved this anyway for putting up with me."

The blunette smiled to herself. And that's why I appreciate it.

She's still not getting any tonight, though.

It was a little later, when they had finally stepped out of the cooling bath and helped each other dry off, that Kyoko asked, "So, uh…what exactly did I do?"

Sayaka raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember?"

Kyoko shrugged. "Only bits and pieces."

Sayaka sighed and raised a hand to her forehead. "You sure you want to know?"

"Jesus…was it really that bad?"

Sayaka looked her girlfriend straight in the eye and grimaced. "You told the waitress that she was cute…"

Kyoko grimaced. "Er, sorry about that…but that's not so bad, all things consi—"

"…and then you offered to flash her if she got you a free dessert. Which you did anyway."

It was almost fascinating to watch how quickly the blood drained from her face. Sayaka hadn't seen her that pale since the time she had nearly bled out. "I…I did?"

She smirked at her. "Maybe."

Color returned quickly to Kyoko's face and she scowled. "Very funny. What did I really do? Sayaka?" Her girlfriend had started walking out of the bathroom, her smug smirk only growing wider. "Come on, just tell me! Sayaka!"

Sayaka had no intention of telling Kyoko the specifics of what she had done in the restaurant.

She would save that story for a party.

Second A/N: I think I'll be bringing Rigors to a close before too long. I may well start up another anthology for Madoka stories, but this one has a specific theme (that I have mostly stuck to) and I'm about out of ideas. There are some things left that I want to write, but it will be kind of nice to finally mark this one as Completed. I do have some other ideas, possibly another chapter story if I can think of enough to do with it.

Anyway, thanks for reading and for putting up with my lazy writing habits, and please review or something! Take care!