Disclaimer – I don't own Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Behold; the result of being unable to sleep! A longer chapter. I'm so proud of myself :B Anyways, this will hopefully have some decent fun stuff going down~ Thanks for all your reviews, by the way :3 Not much else to say, so enjoy!

Chapter 4
When One Wasn't Enough

"How was your conquest to talk to Tall, Dark and Handsome?" Sayaka asked playfully when she got back to class, looking zoned out.

"I got her number," Madoka murmured breathlessly.

"Really?" The blue haired girl walked round to face her, plucking the carefully cradled cell phone out of her friends' hands. Scrolling through the listings, she sure enough found a number to match Homura's name. "You sure work fast." She got no reply, and was more than thankful when Hitomi arrived soon after from her early morning student council meeting.

"Good morning, how are you both?" Hitomi came to stand beside their desks after dropping her bag at her own.

"I'm good. But don't try talking to Madoka," Sayaka told her flatly, ceasing picking at the edge of her desk to turn around. "She's been on cloud nine since she got Akemi's number ten minutes ago." To demonstrate her point, she snapped her fingers in front of the pink-haired girls' face, to which she got no reaction.

"Oh my." Hitomi regarded the girl in concern.

"Yup. She's gone and she's not coming back."

Before anything else could be said; Madoka was stirred from her happiness-induced stupor as everyone else was roused from their usual chatting. There was a loud ruckus kicking off outside the class. Some of the more adventurous and inquisitive members of the class looked like they were about to go and investigate; until the door flung open.

"Fine, I'm in! Happy now?" A girl stormed into the room, expression livid.

Miss Saotome staggered in after her, looking positively exhausted. "Class, we have a new student starting today…" A strained silence ensued. "Introduce yourself. Please." Her tone of voice was imploring as she eyed the sulking girl warily; as if she were a ticking bomb.

"Sakura Kyoko," she said through gritted teeth, flipping her red pony-tail over her shoulder. "Here against my will."

At this point, the silence in the room was stifling. Nobody had seen such deliberate bad conduct to a teacher, nor had they seen the aforementioned teacher be worn down by bad behaviour. So everyone remained silent; except for one.

"Well hello sunshine."

Sayaka said that louder than she had intended to. She had meant it as a whisper for Madoka and Hitomi to hear and giggle to – but the overall quiet atmosphere turned it into a loud statement. All at once, the wire thin tension in the room shattered and the best part of the room burst into laughter. Even Miss Saotome giving a badly concealed smile which she tried to hide behind her hand.

Having her cool you-can't-touch-this-badass self-introduction completely lampooned sent the Kyoko's already thoroughly annoyed mood evolving into totally pissed off state. "What you say?!"

"Woah, I guess it's true. Redheads really do have a bad temper."

Madoka gulped, kicking her foot forward so it connected firmly with the underside of her bestfriends chair; signally for her to shut her mouth sharpish. "Sayaka-chan, don't!" She hissed in a futile attempt to prevent the girl from getting them all killed.

"I'll give you five seconds to take that back."

"How about no?"

"Girls!" Miss Saotome intervened the second Kyoko began to menacingly walk down the aisle towards the blue-haired girls' desk by jumping in the way and holding up her hands in surrender. "Any fighting results in automatic suspension. So let's all just calm down."

"No problem, I'll just deck her outside." Sayaka glared at the redhead, who returned the look with tenfold the venom.

"I'll wreck you." Kyoko slouched to the empty seat the teacher pointed for her to take.

"What a bitch," she spat, features twisting in distaste.

"Sayaka-chan you shouldn't provoke her like that, she looks tough!" Madoka exhaled, relieved, and shook her head in disbelief. "She might actually want to fight you now."

Her friend reared around in her chair, speaking quietly but heatedly as Miss Saotome begun the lesson.

"It's her own fault for not being able to take a freaking joke. I mean, come on! And so what if she does? I'll take her."

She buried her face in her hands, moaning dejectedly at her friends' undeniable arrogance. "When we get out of class we're so running for it."

*X*X*X*X*

"This isn't good," Hitomi informed.

"You can say that again," Madoka groaned, leaning against the wall outside the class. The rest of the students had vacated the room a few minutes ago for lunch – including Homura, sadly - but she and her friend were hanging back to wait on Sayaka – who had been held back along with the newest student. Standing close to the door, she could hear snippets of the conversation going on within the room. "Don't you have tea club on today's lunch break?"

"Oh, yes. But the meeting's a little bit later today, so I don't start for another ten minutes. The group captain told us to have a bit of free time to relax before we came to work on our technique." The class rep sighed happily, a dreamy expression on her face. "Tomoe-san's thoughtful like that. A wonderful teacher."

"You seem really taken with him, Hitomi-chan." Distracted from waiting for her blue-haired friend and – and defiantly not eavesdropping – she did a double take of spaced out expression on the greenettes face. "Is this Tomoe-san possibly a good looking teacher? Maybe exactly your type?" Her lips curved into a teasing grin. She was starting to wonder if Sayaka's influence was rubbing off on her.

"Oh no, Tomoe-san's a girl!" Hitomi corrected her, looking scandalized and raising her hands to either side of her face. "I mean she's attractive, but that's forbidden love!"

Before she could reply to the now-awkward air between them, the hushed talking in the classroom flared up, making them both jump. Sayaka's voice was shrill, while Kyoko had to holler back to be heard.

"What?! Don't land me with that – I've seen better personalities on a rabid dog!"

"You're one to talk, at least I don't start what I can't finish!"

"Girls, please!" Yet again, Miss Saotome had to come between them. "I'm not changing my mind, so there's no use in arguing. Now, go get your lunches."

A second later, the door flung open and the two girls within emerged.

"I'll end you, Miki!" The redhead snapped before turning and flouncing down the corridor.

"I have to keep tabs on her and stop her from skipping classes; which she got kicked out of her old school for doing, apparently. If she does the disappearing act this time around, we both get detention." Sayaka briefed them and eyed the departing girl angrily. "This is the worst punishment in the history of mankind. I'll see you two in class." Barely pausing to regard her two friends, she ran after the blatant delinquent. "Get your ass back here, Sakura! I'm not taking the heat for your bad attendance!"

"…On the bright side of everything, at least this solves the mystery of the wrongly-named transfer student I told you two about." Hitomi picked up her bag from where it lay at her feet. "Though I should probably get going to tea club."

And then there was one. Madoka looked around herself gormlessly, unable to make head or tails of what was going on.

This week is just getting weirder and weirder.

*X*X*X*X*
Should I text Akemi-san? No, I'll save that for the weekend. I don't want her to think I'm too clingy…

Finding herself spending lunch hour alone for the first time in quite a while, Madoka wandered aimlessly around campus. She didn't have much of an appetite for some reason, and didn't have anyone help her pass the time.

It was a last resort of desperation when she set her route for the library. It wasn't that she hated reading, she didn't mind it. But she'd rather avoid it if she could, and rarely picked up a book for the sake of enjoyment. Apparently most of the school shared her view, since the building was mostly vacant with the exception of a few students studying.

Unsure of where to start, she dragged her feet to the nearest bookshelf, until something caught her eye and made her look twice. In a table across the way, the one who was the main topic of her thoughts was sitting at one of the empty tables, resting her head on her hand and slowly turning the page of a book.

Either I'm stalking her subconsciously, or this is fate.

Smile tugging at her lips, she crept up behind the dark-haired girl. She leaned in close, reading the book over her shoulder. Somehow, Homura didn't notice. Until she broke the silence with, "you didn't seem the type to read fantasy."

She was never one to think things through, and it therefore it wasn't unusual for her actions to come back and haunt her. But this was ridiculous. It didn't take the biscuit; instead this failure took the entire goddamned cookie jar. She had totally disregarded that doing that to any normal person would usually scare the hell out of them – and Homura was no exception. Gasping sharply and giving a start; the dark-haired girl unintentionally executed the perfect backwards-headbutt to the face.

Letting out a cry and falling to her knees, Madoka clutched her hands over her nose which was beginning to throb.

"Kaname-san!" Out of her seat in a split second and dropping down, Homura was beside her. "Are you okay?"

"Ughh…I think so…" Her voice was thick, and when she moved her hands to speak, blood dripped freely onto her lips. "Oww!" She winced when a tissue was pressed over her nose, fingers pinching through it.

"I'm sorry, but you scared me." Homura looked at her with concern, lifting her free hand to cup her chin. "Tilt your head or the bleeding won't slow."

She's touching me…

Madoka closed her eyes, ignoring the metallic taste in her mouth and focusing on the soft and warm hand against her jaw. "I wanted to surprise you," she informed hazily.

"I don't seem to take those very well. You should take note of that, especially if you're going to keep following me." The dark-haired girl pulled the tissue away, using it to mop away the excess blood around her upper lip.

"I'm not!" Madoka flushed red, shuffling back and away from the transfer student's touch. "There was just that one time today, and this was coincidence!"

"Your nose is still-"

"If you want me to leave you alone, I will. I just wanted to get to know you, Akemi-san." She hung her head, where she realized that the blood hadn't stopped; and was now dropping onto her shirt. "Ahh, tissue, tissue!"

On request; a fresh bit of cloth stemmed the bleeding.

"I was only joking." Homura looked away, her own cheeks turning pink from embarrassment. "I guess I'm not good with humour."

"I didn't think you had a sense of humour," she admitted thickly.

"What do you think I am – a robot? Or maybe some government spy? You and your friend have some very colourful conversations about me." The girl met her stare, eyes sparking in amusement.

"You heard those?" The colour drained from her face, her voice a squeak.

"I couldn't not hear. Miki-san can get very…loud."

"Well it's your own fault for being such a mystery. Maybe if you weren't so secretive, people wouldn't be so curious about you," Madoka said defensively. "…But I guess her theories are a bit crazy…She actually thought you were Yakuza, you know." She grinned crookedly.

Homura shook her head in mock defeat, sighing. "Okay, what do you want to know about me?"

Madoka's face lit up, and she had to resist the urge to punch the air. "Okay, what school did you go to before here?"

"Tokyo elementary."

"I mean middle school, silly." Her voice finally went back to normal when the other girl retracted her hand, the blood flow having finally stopped.

"I missed the first three years of middle school because I was in hospital."

"Eh?" Her excitement ebbed away, stomach beginning to churn. The other girl swallowed uncertainly in turn, looking like she was trying to find the words.

"That scar you saw the other day – it was from a heart transplant. That's why I'm always at the nurses' office; for my medication. I don't tell anyone because I don't want them to treat me like I'm made of glass." The silence was deafening. "So, I'm not government Yakuza cyborg double agent, just a boring person." She smirked goofily.

Not sure how else to react, Madoka surged forward and flung her arms around the girls' neck – her reaction being a noise of surprise and nearly sending both of them toppling back onto the floor.

"You're not boring, so stop saying that. And it's official – we're friends now, so stop running off at lunch on your own without waiting for me!"

"You're crushing my ribs," was the choked reply to her burst of affection. But none the less, she could feel herself being tentatively hugged back after a few strained seconds.

I don't even. Yes, this was my plan for Homura all along…Sorta wimpy turned badass via operation…This was better in my head. I was hoping it would explain her being stuck in personality limbo, not being a badass but not a being a pussy either. Oh well. At least I tried! :c And to those worrying – I am getting rest, it's just that I'm so bored! I'm stuck in bed with nothing but endless Simpsons and fanfiction to amuse me DX Why won't this cough go away?! *throttles medicine bottle* Maybe redheads having a temper is a true rumour after all ._.Okay, before I ramble anymore, I'm off XD
-Obsidian
X3