Nothing brought out the zeal for life like the imminent danger of losing it.
Under the buzz of adrenaline, all of her senses felt sharpened. The dull glow of the fluorescent lights became dazzling. She could feel every drop of sweat running down her face and neck, feel the quickened pace of her heart. The minute tap-tap-tap of blood drops hitting the floor was almost deafening. And with her eyes trained on her opponent, no twitch or shifting of weight went unnoticed.
The spear split into a chain again and snaked towards her, but this time she was ready for it. Sayaka weaved between the triangular blade's strikes and deftly slid her sword up through one of the links. With a flip of her wrist and another jab, the sword was sunk into the concrete and the spear was pinned. Three more swords glowed into existence; she snatched two of them and drove them through other links to ensure that the spear stayed where it was, then caught the last one and spun on her heel to face her unarmed opponent.
Sayaka barely had time to smirk over her success before a set of knuckles crashed into her mouth, splitting one of her lips and snapping her head back. A flurry of blows thumped against her chest, shoulders and head and she raised her arms to protect herself. Sayaka shifted her grip and prepared to cut through the girl attacking her, but a steely hand clamped over her wrist and twisted until she dropped the weapon.
She needed room so that she could summon a fresh sword, but the bitch wasn't letting up for a moment. She raised her leg just in time to block a knee to her gut, then slammed her foot down on the redhead's instep. She heard a snarled curse and the hands gripping her arms loosened. Sayaka swept her arms against the other girl's and finally managed to break her grip. She twisted on one foot and snapped the other straight out to catch her opponent in the stomach and the redhead staggered away.
Finally. Sayaka spat out some blood and reached into the pool of magic that burned within her to draw a new sword into existence. The blade glimmered into being in her hand, but before she could bring it to bear a growling red mass collided with her midsection and brought her to the ground.
Sayaka grunted as the other girl's weight drove her down into the mattress. Before she could do anything she felt the girl on top of her shift and found knees pinning her arms to her sides. Sayaka growled and tried to lean up to bite at her, but an unyielding hand shoved her back down against the mattress. She had no recourse but to glare up at the smirking face above her.
Kyoko always ended up on top.
One of these days, Sayaka was going to take her by surprise, tackle her down, and have her completely at her mercy.
But for now, Kyoko had won. Sayaka stopped struggling, her glare melted into a pout, and she tried to hide her anticipation as Kyoko's smirk turned into a more affectionate smile and her fingers crept up Sayaka's thigh.
She ached all over. At some point, with neither able to best the other, their duel to the death had just turned into an ordinary fist fight. Even if their conflict had de-escalated, her righteous anger at her opponent burned just as hotly.
The problem was, between summoning swords and healing injuries, she was running out of magic. She had some grief cubes with her, but didn't want to bring them out where this girl could see her. She could just imagine the redhead kicking her in the face and stealing them.
At least the other girl wasn't unscathed. Her arms were mottled with bruises and a few cuts, one of them pretty deep, her left eye was swollen shut, and the way she winced as she breathed told Sayaka that she probably had a cracked rib. That soothed her pride a little, but she still couldn't so much as sit up.
"Run home, little girl, and don't get in my way again. Next time—" The girl hissed and took a few shallow breaths before starting again. "Next time I won't stop with just a beating."
Sayaka's anger spiked. "Eat me," she snapped. Not a particularly witty comeback, but she wasn't in top form at the moment.
The redhead gave a sharp bark of laughter. "Not for all the grief cubes on the planet."
And with Sayaka floored by the literal way her retort had been taken, she could only watch as the other girl limped out of sight.
The sight of her girlfriend, naked from the waist down now and straddling her shoulders, almost drove Sayaka crazy with desire. But she wasn't giving in that easily. Kyoko may always have the upper hand when they wrestled for dominance, but Sayaka could fight back in her own way.
Kyoko blinked several times in confusion when Sayaka placed her hands on her hips and pushed her back a little. "What…?" Her eyes narrowed at the sight of her smirk.
"Hold on, Kyoko. I think you're forgetting something."
The redhead stared blankly for a moment before something clicked in her head and she groaned in frustration. She knew where this was going. "Are we really going to do this again?"
Sayaka raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you're the one that set the standard. I'd feel cheap if I settled for less than all the grief cubes in the world."
Kyoko groaned again and threw her head back in exasperation. "How long are you going to keep bringing that up?" she grumbled.
Until it stops being funny, she thought to herself. To Kyoko, she replied, "Well, maybe I could look past all of that…if I had some kind of reassurance…"
Kyoko's hands tightened on Sayaka's arms and she lowered herself until they were nose to nose. "I am not going to beg," she growled.
But she would. She always did eventually. Sayaka could hold out longer and they both knew it. She knew that this wasn't fair and that it wasn't a smart idea to keep causing conflict over something so trivial, but it helped her bruised pride recover and she played this card very sparingly.
Kyoko couldn't complain too much, anyway. Sayaka always made it worth her while for that little ego boost.
The cool water was a relief as it washed away the lingering traces of her battle, and there was something hypnotizing about watching the rose colored water, tinged by her own blood, swirl down the drain. She rinsed off quickly, eager for the soothing heat of the bath; her injuries were all healed, but she was still sorer than she had ever been in her life.
Sayaka scowled as she stepped into the bath tub from the washing area and petulantly punched the surface of the water. There was no denying that she had lost that one. She didn't want to think about it, but if the other girl had wanted to kill her she could have done it with ease. The blow to her pride stung more than her injuries.
The warm water was excellent for relaxing their bodies and minds after their activities, the hot bath a cherry on top of the whole affair. Kyoko snuggled against Sayaka, their roles reversed after sex. This was one of the rare occasions where she allowed Sayaka to see her vulnerable side, and Sayaka loved every second of it.
"I'm sorry."
The murmur was so quiet that Sayaka barely heard it. She had to restrain herself to keep from sighing. She knew what this was about, but had to ask anyway just in case she was mistaken.
"For what?"
The water sloshed as it was displaced by movement, and then she found scarlet eyes piercing her own. "You know."
She supposed this was her fault. She had dredged up the past for a joke. "I forgave you a long time ago. There's nothing for you to be sorry about." She pressed a light kiss to her girlfriend's lips. "And I wasn't exactly blameless, myself."
She stared at the hand thrust out towards her with disgust. The redhead's face held a trace of its usual smirk, but there seemed to be a gleam of sincerity beneath it. Sayaka reached out and knocked her hand aside, watching with pleasure as the other girl's eyes narrowed and fire flickered to life behind them.
"I don't care what you think about me. I can't forgive you for what you did. If you're serious about not being enemies, then stay away from me. I won't back down next time."
The girl—Kyoko, she now knew—slowly pulled her hand back and folded her arms. The mischievous glint was gone from her face, replaced by a predatory grin. "Fine. I don't have any problem with going back to my first plan." She pushed carelessly past Sayaka and went on her way, pausing only briefly before turning a corner.
"Watch your back, newbie."
Sayaka grimaced at the hand hovering in front of her face and waited for her head to stop swimming before she reached up and grasped it. Kyoko pulled her to her feet slowly, gently, but Sayaka still felt like vomiting.
"You've got a concussion," she provided. "Your magic should clear that up soon enough, but right now you stay here. I'll handle the rest of them."
Sayaka started to shake her head but quickly thought better of it. Kyoko squeezed her hand before spinning on her heel and lunging at the scattered wraiths, disappearing—to Sayaka's dazed eyes—in a blur of red and brass.
She really wished they'd just stayed in the bath.
Being a Magical Girl was a blessing and a curse. She probably would have never met the love of her life if she hadn't made a contract with Kyubey. She might still be pining for Kyousuke and hoping that he would notice her some day.
But she would also be asleep right now with no head injury.
The fight had already been nearly finished; by the time her magic started to undo the effects of the concussion, Kyoko was heading back to her with a pouch full of grief cubes.
She was snapped out of her thoughts when something small but hard plinked off of her head. Sayaka blinked and looked at Kyoko, who was pulling her hand back to throw another grief cube, a sour look on her face.
"What's your problem?"
"What the hell do you think you were doing back there?" Kyoko shot back. "Are you still trying to get yourself killed? You're lucky I was around!"
Sayaka folded her arms and glared at the interloper. "No one asked for your help. Not this time, not last time, never. It's none of your business what I do."
Kyoko whipped her hand forward and the second cube bounced off of Sayaka's forehead, hitting hard enough to make her yelp. "Spoken like a pissy schoolgirl. Grow the fuck up, kid. The least you can do is not get yourself killed after I wasted all of those grief cubes on you." She spun on her heel and stalked away.
Fury mixed with confusion as Sayaka glanced around and saw almost the entire bounty of grief cubes left untouched.
A grief cube bounced lightly off of her head.
"Your head finished healing yet? You're lucky your skull is so thick."
A thought occurred to her, a sneaky idea that she had to try. "I'm fine, mom. Just a little dizzy." She stooped to pick up the grief cube and immediately fell to her knees and pitched forward, only barely managing to get a hand on the ground before she was kissing pavement.
"Yeah, you look fine. Come on," an exasperated voice sounded from above her, and hands appeared under her armpits to hoist her back to her feet. Kyoko's hands stayed protectively at her sides while she steadied herself.
Sayaka waited until she had taken several steps before stumbling, and before she could touch the ground she felt strong arms catch her and lift her off of her feet.
"Guess we're doing it this way, then…" Kyoko muttered, shushing Sayaka when she protested.
As Kyoko set off through the alleys that would lead them home, Sayaka snuggled against her chest. She had to be careful: if Kyoko realized that she was feigning impairment, she had no doubt that she would be dropped on her ass in a heartbeat. It was worth the risk, though; being carried by her partner, cradled protectively against her lover's body, made her heart swell with more contentment than she'd felt in ages.
If Kyoko had really believed Sayaka's injured act, she must have known that her healing magic would have fixed her up long before they reached home, but Kyoko never suggested that she set her down. A few times, Sayaka felt the arms around her tighten in a brief, affectionate squeeze, and she nuzzled against her harder.
And in those golden moments, she finally knew that it was time. Her heart skipped a beat when the realization struck her, followed immediately by a giddiness that made it difficult to remain calm and discreet.
But first thing's first.
"Hey, Kyoko?"
"Eh?" The redhead frowned and tilted her head towards Sayaka to catch the words that had suddenly dropped to a murmur. Something about not needing all the grief cubes after all. A scowl flickered across her face at the mention of that stupid joke again, but it disappeared just as quickly as she caught Sayaka's meaning.
Her pace, which had slowed as she listened to Sayaka, picked up again to twice the speed it had been before.
A/N: Well, this has been a long time coming. This is part 1 (out of 2) of the last story for Rigors of Love. I can't say I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out, but I've been struggling over ideas for this story and how to make it all play out for months, so I think this is the best it's going to get. Trying to improve any of these pieces just makes the gears in my head grind to a halt, so instead of dithering over it forever I think it's time to just go with it. I think the second part is better, so that's something.
The next part is mostly finished; I'm hoping to put it up in one week. Please let me know what you think of this section, and thank you all for reading these stories for the last few years.