A/N: Merry Christmas, here's a rushed story!
The sidewalks were packed with foolish people who had put off their Christmas shopping until the last minute, or unlucky people who had been unable to find what they needed earlier and were hoping against hope that they would be able to now. Sayaka was a little bit of both.
She had made an honest attempt earlier in the season to find decent gifts for Madoka and Hitomi, but after having no luck she gave up for a couple of weeks and very suddenly realized that she was out of time. So here she was, out in the bitter cold late in the evening, when stores were beginning to close and the shoppers were becoming more chaotic and hurried. She had managed to find a decent bracelet that she thought Hitomi would like, so all she had to worry about now was Madoka.
The stress was starting to get to her, but she persevered with the confidence of someone who was clutching at straws that this would all somehow work out in the end. It wasn't like Madoka would cry or stop being her friend; she would smile sympathetically and tell Sayaka that it didn't matter, and Sayaka would feel all the worse for it.
Her ankles were soaked from the snow-turned-slush that she had been forced to walk through due to the crowd, the few exposed places on her face were raw and painful, and her muscles ached from walking around for hours amid throngs of pushing people. Her heart was sinking from her failure and the unfairness of the whole situation, and she was just beginning to think of heading home when she caught sight of a tiny, independently owned toy shop that had not yet closed.
Deciding that she might as well look inside as a desperate, last hope, she pushed open the door and stepped into blessed warmth. Sayaka stood shivering just inside the building for a minute, letting the heat seep into her body, before taking off her scarf and ear muffs and looking around. The shopkeeper, a kindly looking old man, smiled politely at her and told her that he would be closing soon, but would assist her with anything she needed first.
The items in the shop were a mix of typical name brand products and handmade toys. She ignored most of the merchandise and focused on the plush toys, knowing well Madoka's fondness for stuffed animals and hoping she could find something special.
She was in luck. Next to a creepy catlike toy, she found an otherworldly but strangely endearing creature: a tiny bodied figure wrapped in a beige coat and dark red cloak, with little, chubby pink legs poking out from under it. The head, a little too large for the body, had an expressionless white face with large black eyes, yellow circles on the cheeks, and poofy pink hair. It was a little unnerving, but cute and disarming at the same time, and she had a feeling that Madoka would dote over the thing like it was a kitten. Even better, it was within her price range in spite of the obvious care that when into its crafting. She paid the store owner and left, feeling giddy as the old man closed and locked the store behind her, thrilled by her last minute save.
The sidewalks were a little less crowded now, with most of the shops having closed, but there were still frantic people out and about, just as she had been until five minutes ago. Sayaka breathed a sigh of relief and started walking to the train station that would take her home. The cold air was still sharp and painful, but with her recently panicked nerves finally calmed, she took a little more leisurely pace than she otherwise would have.
Her peaceful evening was shattered by a shout of surprise and a rough hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, wait up! Where did you get that?"
Sayaka whirled around, more than a little startled, to find herself face to face with a girl about the same age as her with fiery red hair spilling down her back. She was a little shorter than Sayaka, but had such an air of confidence and determination about her that the difference in height seemed insignificant.
Feeling a little panicked, Sayaka pulled away and said "Let…let go!" in as loud a voice as she could manage, which, given her shock and the scarf partly covering her mouth, wasn't very loud. Nevertheless, the stranger snatched her hand back and looked suddenly stricken, but didn't back off.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have grabbed you, but, I-I need to know where you got that!" she babbled before jabbing a finger at the toy that Sayaka had just bought.
Sayaka stared at the girl, some of her confusion giving way to understanding, but other questions popping up the more she took in the girl's appearance. She was clearly out here out of desperation to get a gift for someone, but everything about her was odd. Sayaka was bundled up from head to toe, but the stranger barely had any winter clothing on and was even shivering every time a small gust of wind blew past them. Once she looked past the girl's eye-catching hair and vibrant maroon eyes, she noticed how gaunt her cheeks were. In spite of all of that, there burned a strong, clear resolve in her dark eyes.
"Aren't you cold?" Sayaka finally asked.
The girl frowned. "What does that matter? I just need to know where you got that," she said again.
Sayaka pointed back the way she had come. "There's a little toy shop two blocks over, but…I'm sorry, it's closed now."
Disappointment flooded the girl's face; she looked like she had just found there wouldn't even be a Christmas. Which might be true for her… Sayaka thought with a sharp spike of discomfort. The girl looked around them hopelessly at the closed shops and rapidly emptying streets as everyone headed home, and Sayaka felt a twinge of sympathy for the girl.
"No…there's nothing left…" Her eyes flicked over the toy again and she straightened up, then jammed her hand into her pocket and pulled out a fistful of crumpled bills. "I'll buy it from you!"
Sayaka stared in disbelief at the increasingly bizarre character in front of her. She glanced at the money in her hand and noted with dismay that it was quite a bit less than she had paid for the toy, but knew instinctively not to ask for more; the girl's haggard appearance and inadequate clothing made it pretty clear that she couldn't afford more.
"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I can't…this is a present for my best friend, and everything is closed now. There's no time to find something else for her."
The redhead deflated right in front of her eyes, the determination that burned in her going out like a candle. Her shoulders sagged for the second time in the past minute and she looked suddenly close to tears. Sayaka felt pity gnawing at her. "…Who are you shopping for?" she asked tentatively.
"My sister," the girl muttered. "She's only seven. She would have loved something like that. All day running around and nothing to show for it," she groaned. "Dad's gonna be so mad that I was gone the whole day, and I didn't even get something for Momo." She scowled suddenly, not at Sayaka but at some memory. "Everything's so expensive," she snapped. "How 'm I supposed to get a present when they charge an arm and a leg for even the cheap junk?"
Sayaka didn't know what to say to this and so stayed quiet, which the girl apparently took as a sign that the conversation was over. "Sorry to bother you," she muttered and turned to leave.
"Hey!" the young blunette called out, swallowing nervously when the stranger turned to stare at her. "What's, uh…what's your name?"
The redhead stared at her suspiciously for a long moment, then shrugged to herself. "Kyoko."
"I'm Sayaka. Nice to meet you, Kyoko."
"Yeah…look, I don't wanna be rude, but I really need to get home now," the girl said, jerking a thumb over her shoulder and looking uncomfortable.
Sayaka shook her head and took a step closer to her. "Well, I was just… Your sister's only seven, huh?"
"…Yeah?" Kyoko returned with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, it's…it's Christmas," she said lamely. "A little kid should get something nice for Christmas, so…" Her cheeks heated up and she looked away from Kyoko but thrust the toy out to her.
The girl didn't move or say anything for several long seconds, then quickly pulled her money back out of her pocket and shoved it gratefully towards Sayaka, but the blunette just smiled and shook her head. "No, keep it. It's…it's a gift from me to you, and then you can give it to your sister."
Rather than look delighted at Sayaka's generosity, Kyoko's relieved look turned sharply into a frown. She jammed her hands roughly in her pockets in an almost adorably pouty way and scowled at the ground, kicking sullenly at a clump of snow. "I don't need pity and I don't like getting charity," she muttered darkly.
Sayaka was a little taken aback by the sudden surliness, but only rolled her eyes and pressed on. "It's not charity. It's a Christmas gift. 'Tis the season, right?" Kyoko still looked disgruntled and Sayaka snorted, feeling oddly more at ease with the situation now that there was something she could do about it. "Don't be a knucklehead. I'm not taking your money; you can either take the gift and give it to your sister, or refuse it and not have a present for her at all. Are you going to be stubborn if it means you can't give Momo a present?"
Kyoko winced and looked immediately ashamed. "Yeah, I get it," she mumbled. There was an awkward silence, then, "…Thank you, Sayaka."
The blunette grinned and nodded in satisfaction, handed the package over to Kyoko, and was pleased to see a small but utterly genuine smile on the redhead's face. An instant later, she was wrapped in a tight hug as Kyoko laughed excitedly in her ear.
"Momo's going to be so happy! Thank you so much!"
Sayaka started laughing to and gently pried the ecstatic girl off of her. "She's a good kid, huh?"
"The best," Kyoko said earnestly, then added quietly, "Much better than me. She deserves the best." She looked around suddenly at the nearly deserted sidewalks and then at the time displayed on a clock by the square. "I have to go! I'm really gonna get it for being out so late!"
The blunette nodded and gave a little wave. "Get going, then. And, it was—"
But she never got a chance to tell Kyoko that it was nice to meet her. In a moment that was over too quickly for her to react, the shorter girl leaned against her and kissed her. It wasn't on the lips, exactly, but it was closer to her mouth than her cheek, and all thought was driven forcefully from her mind, leaving her staring blankly at the redhead.
Kyoko hopped back, already turning to run off. "Thanks again, Sayaka! You're a good person. And Merry Christmas!" And then she had disappeared into the night air, leaving a thoroughly dazed and confused blunette behind.
Sayaka's hand was on her face where the strange girl had kissed her. The blankness was starting to fill in with a buzzing confusion as the reality of what had just happened took root in her mind. Even in the bitter cold, her face now felt quite hot.
"Yeah," she murmured after the girl had long since vanished. "M-Merry Christmas…"
She turned to start off again towards the metro, wincing at the thought of meeting Madoka the next day with no present for her. She would explain what had happened; Madoka would understand, would probably be really happy that Sayaka had done that.
She would still feel guilty about having nothing to give her. Nothing, she supposed, except this exceptionally strange story.
Her face turned red again and her hand touched the spot on her face where she could almost still feel Kyoko's lips.
I might keep that part to myself.
A/N: Hello everyone! I thought this up and typed it out in a very short amount of time! Please forgive it for any rough spots and for the clichéd concept; I really wanted to put out a Christmas related chapter tonight so that it would be available bright and early on Christmas morning, and between wrapping presents and spending time with family I didn't have a lot of time to write this. I only thought of writing something this evening. So, you get a very quickly conceived and written story. I hope it's all right.
I have no idea how old Momo is supposed to be, but Sayaka and Kyoko are also younger in this story than they were in the series proper. I figure somewhere around 11 and 12. Kind of young to be out shopping by themselves in the city, but whatever.
Happy holidays, whichever one you celebrate, and I'll upload more things eventually. Things that I didn't rush out the door. Actually, I have some ideas for whole new stories, but it will be a while before they're ready.