Disclaimer – I don't own Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Herro! I know this is a late update, but I'm not bunking this story; I should point out. I took so long because I had to go to A&E in the small hours of the morning during the week to get stabbed repeatedly in the face with needles and then get dosed on painkillers…Long story short I totally out of my skull for days. Sleepy, sick, and so full of love I'd put Woodstock to shame. All I remember is telling everyone I loved them and giggling like crazy, then puking a lot 8D ANYWAY, I'm somewhat sane again and back XD So enjoy and excuse the late-ness/rambling.

Chapter 5
Progress

"Fight, fight, fight!"

"I-I'm going to go get a teacher!"

"Who's the new girl?"

"My money's on the new kid!"

On route to the bathrooms to clean the few smears of crusted blood from around her nose and try to mop it out of her shirt, Madoka stopped mid-step halfway through the courtyard. Her features crinkled in confusion at the rambunctious chanting and cheering radiating from a large crowd a few meters away. She senselessly started towards the jamboree to investigate.

Homura – being brought along for the sake of `friends have to hang out' – silently followed, though she didn't exactly think it the best thing to be getting involved in. Still, she kept her lips sealed, not wanting to seem like a kill-joy.

The crowd shifted, and allowed them both of glance of the pair scraping. And just like that, whether she liked it or not, she knew she was going to get involved.

"Sayaka-chan!" The pink-haired girl in front of her dived forward, pushing and shoving through the thicket of the students with a holler the second she saw that her bestfriend was currently in a rather painful looking choke hold.

"Kaname-san!" Biting her lip and hesitating, she pushed her fear to the side and ran after her classmate, knowing that she wouldn't forgive herself if the girl got hurt.

A flushed and grunting Kyoko was hanging onto the blue-haired girl, who was bucking and kicking hopelessly in an attempt to break free.

"Get this crazy ginger offa me!" Spotting her back-up, Sayaka grabbed onto the redhead's forearm with both hands and pried with renewed vigour. She let out a strange `gakkkk' sound when the arm around her neck pressed hard into her throat.

Madoka grabbed onto her friends collar, tugging and doing her best to pull her free.

"Leave off. This is a one on one fight, dammit!" Snarling, Kyoko's fang glinted eerily in the corner of her mouth. Having on hand still free, she leaned in and gave the pink-haired girl a hard shove to send her stumbling back.

Almost the second she did it, the redhead found her arm being caught and yanked behind her back. The wrist pushing into Sayaka's neck was squeezed in a particularly sensitive pressure point, making her try to pull away only to have that arm jerked behind her back as well – efficiently freeing the blue-haired girl.

"Don't push her," Homura stated coldly, tightening her grip on the other girl's arms.

Kyoko squirmed in reply, trying to get loose. "Let me go!"

"Not until you calm down."

"Geez, Madoka. Trust you to bring the badass to a fight…" Sayaka rubbed her neck, raising her eyebrows in surprise. "…Not that I'm complaining. But I totally could've taken her down if you just gave me a few minutes."

The girl in question shook her head, nudging her bestfriend with her elbow. "You're lucky Homura-chan was with me, or you could've gotten hurt!"

"`Homura-chan?' You two are certainly getting close."

"Kaname!" An impatient yell cut off the pair's conversation and gained their attention. "Call your girlfriend off me already!"

Sayaka snorted when she saw that Homura was blushing from the redhead's words.

What happened next was a prime example of horrible timing. The athletics teacher came jogging up to the scene, being lead by one of the students who had gone to report the scuffle. "Akemi, I'm surprised at you!"

The pink tinting Homura's cheek faded into nothing and she paled at the sharp rebuke. In a bad attempt to hide the evidence, she hastily released Kyoko.

"Not even here a full week and you're fighting with another student," the sensei shook her head in distaste, crossing her arms.

"Naw, Akemi was just helping me. She started it!" Pointing an accusing finger at her rival, Sayaka immediately backed the dark-haired girl up.

"You started it, you were on my ass the second I walked into class!"

"I don't care who started what – all of you follow me to the principal's office." Shooing away the cluster of on-lookers, the athletics coach beckoned for them to start for the inside of the school, walking behind them to make sure nobody broke away.

Madoka obediently followed the order, the rest of the group trekking indoors with her. Sayaka didn't seem too phased, though her eyes were narrowed. Kyoko stamped along, her face as red as her hair and looking like someone had put a match to her.

Madoka's throat was dry, and her heart was thudding heavily. She hadn't been in serious trouble before, the worst she'd had was being told to quiet down for talking in class. But she hadn't been fighting, so she wouldn't be in too much trouble, right? Fiddling with her collar that seemed suddenly tight, she looked to Homura in hope of reassurance. Much to her surprise, the previously stoic other girl had her head hung and was dragging her feet – clearly just as nervous as she herself.

Instantly feeling guilty, she moved to the side and latched onto the dark-haired girl's arm as they walked. "You could've walked away," she informed when she felt the girl tense under her touch.

"You might have gotten hurt," was her reply.

"Thanks for looking after me, Homura-chan." Releasing the arm and instead hugging her friend fully around the waist, she smiled when a hand rubbed uncertainly at her shoulder.

*X*X*X*X*

The silence in the hallway outside the principal's office was stifling, only broken by a loud pop from Kyoko's gum.

"I don't think this is the time to be chewing gum, jackass."

"Well I don't think this is the time to be starting on me," the redhead responded grouchily to the one sat beside her. "Considering you can't have a fair fight." She smacked her gum extra hard for emphasis.

Further down the row of chairs, Madoka hugged her knees to her chest. "Please, you two, we're in enough trouble as it is."

"I don't plan on coming to blows again…not that it was really punching, just a random attack from behind…" The blue-haired girl gritted her teeth, drumming her fingers on her knee.

"At least I didn't have to call in for backup!"

"Stop it, both of you." Homura spoke suddenly, staring vaguely at the ceiling.

"Or what?" The redhead shot a look at her from up the row.

"Or nothing! Just calm down, okay?" Madoka sighed in exhaustion. "You don't have to be so aggressive all the time, Sakura-san."

"Shuddap," Kyoko grumbled, though all the venom appeared to have gone out of her words.

The sounds of footsteps coming up the corridor put any further bitter taunts or conversation on stand-by; where all the girls looked to see who it was.

"Oh Hell," was all Sayaka said when she spotted her mother, who looked livid.

"Uh oh…" Madoka bit her lip when she noticed her father walking closely behind her friend's mother. He wasn't one to get angry, often, though he looked stern as well as concerned.

"Miki Sayaka, what have you got to say for yourself?" Facing her daughter, the woman gave her a no-nonsense look.

Before she could get an answer, Kaname Tomohisa appeared beside her, clearly doing his best to be firm. "Madoka, what hap- Is that blood on your shirt?!" He kneeled down in front of his daughter after seeing the stain, inspecting her up and down for damage and quickly noticing the blood around her nose. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

She nodded, smiling in relief that she wasn't getting yelled at. "I'm fine, daddy, this was just from an accident from earlier. I didn't get punched or anything."

"I don't think you should be coddling her right now, they were fighting." Miki Yuki didn't seem to be easing off with her inevitable anger.

"We'll have plenty of time to tell them off when we get them home; and we can discuss their punishment in the principal's office. Right now, I just want to make sure she's okay." Ever level-headed, the man responded calmly.

She sighed and turned to her daughter. "You're not hurt though, are you, Sayaka?"

"My neck hurts a little. The physco was trying to freaking choke me!"

"Choke you?" The elder Miki echoed, eyes widening.

"Hey! That was hardly a choke hold, I barely touched you." Kyoko – ending her record-breaking silent streak – spoke up in disagreement.

Sayaka tried not to cheer when her mother's expression darkened, looking like she was about to give the redhead the chew-out of a lifetime. Sadly, the door next to them opened before that could happen.

"I'm ready to see you girls now," the rarely seen head of the school looked out from around the door. He was pulling on the jacket to his dark suit, and straightened his tie as he walked back inside the office.

Homura was the furthest from the office, walking deliberately slowly and trying to stay calm. She hadn't been speaking much, but she couldn't help it. Still, when something grabbed her hand and she looked up to find the pink-haired girl giving her reassuring look, she didn't feel as bad. Madoka pulled her in close just before they went inside, lips brushing against her cheek when she clumsily leaned to whisper in her ear – efficiently making her blaze scarlet

"I'm scared too. But I won't let you get into big trouble, I promise."

With that and a light tug on her hand, she willingly followed the others inside.

"Now, I understand that you were all fighting during lunch hour. I tried to call all your parents, but I couldn't find any numbers for Sakura's and I couldn't get a hold of Akemi's…None the less, how did this start?" The principle had sat down behind his desk, clasping his hands atop the desk.

"I'm not sure how it started, but apparently this girl," the elder Miki beckoned towards the redhead, "had my daughter in a choke hold."

"Really now? Sakura, you've only been in this school for a day. I really need to call your parents, could you provide their number?"

Kyoko snorted. "Sure, all I need is an Ouija board and I'll get them on the line," sarcasm dripped from her words.

The principle, clearly taken aback tried to remain professional. "Then any siblings taking responsibility for you?"

"Yeah, my little sister. Full time accommodation at the graveyard." The redhead was more spiteful than usual, avoiding making eye-contact with anyone.

"Then…a guardian?" The dark-haired man treaded carefully, scratching his cheek awkwardly.

"Like Hell I'd memorize their number. Check my records. Can I go yet?"

"We're not going anywhere until we get bitched out," Sayaka muttered, somewhat surprised along with everyone else at the news of the delinquents' family.

"Watch your language!" Her mother nudged her shoulder sharply.

*X*X*X*X*

It took a good forty five minutes to get to the bottom of everything. And Homura soon learned that despite Madoka's promise and comforting hand-holding, the girl's word wasn't completely reliable.

Four one-week suspensions later; the girls and the two parents to the group were leaving the grounds, the aforementioned suspensions being immediately set to work.

Kyoko had vanished off ahead of the lot of them, making herself scarce. Sayaka was being told off for `winding people up.' Madoka was talking to her father, leaving the dark-haired girl to trail along behind – knowing that she would be getting a very angry phone call from her parents the second the school got through to them.

Despite the sporadic experiences throughout the day between her and the pink-haired girl that made her feel caught between shy and happy and set her heart going crazy, she didn't feel very cheerful now. Now that the strange fuzzy feelings were dying down, it was actually giving her time to reflect on how weird she was feeling. Not ill, just odd thoughts. It wasn't until she was slouching out of the school gates and heading back to her apartment that another recordable event happened.

Madoka hurried up behind her, weaving in front of her and halting her where she walked. "You're not angry at me, are you?"

"No," she looked away when she couldn't help but stare into the girl's eyes.

"I knew the school was all `zero tolerance' on fighting, but I didn't think that we'd all get suspended…" Madoka paused for a second, thinking for something to lighten the mood. "I didn't know that you lived alone, by the way."

"The highschool in Tokyo wouldn't take me because I'd missed too much school, so my parents moved me here. They couldn't come with me because of their work."

Homura was acting distance again, and it was really bugging her. Refusing to let awkward coldness be what they left off on, she tried again. "Can I come to see you during the week? I'm sure I can get out, and you must get lonely all by yourself."

"After being in the hospital I'm used to spending time alone."

Giving up completely, she grabbed onto Homura's arm and tugged impatiently. "Well don't get used to it, be lonely! Well, not in that way. I mean hang out with people a bit more…Like me." The last words were barely out of her mouth before the girl jerked away from her. Her face fell.

She wasn't sure what the dark-haired girl's expression was. Uncertain, frustrated, and then something else.

Madoka didn't want things to crash and burn before they'd even started, not when she had finally started to make progress in getting closer to the transfer student. Not when she still couldn't explain those feelings and that weird dream.

"Kaname-san, just…"

She clenched her fists while she was waiting for the ending to the sentence, her nails biting into her palms and not caring.

"Just…why are you so persistent?" Homura didn't look up from the ground, though her tone of voice was just plain sad.

"Because I like you."

The transfer student did look up then, wondering why the other girl said that like it tied everything up in a perfect bow. It wasn't really an explanation. Not when she had a stomach full of butterflies around her and kept catching the girl staring at her. Saying she was freaking out would be an understatement. "Fine. I'll text you my address." Without waiting for an answer she sidestepped around her classmate and walked briskly.

"Homura-chan!"

She paused, glancing over her shoulder and finding Madoka to be blushing for some reason.

"I really do like you, you know."

"Yeah, I like you too," nodding in acknowledgement, and not really paying attention to the words, she hastily threw a reply behind her and continued on home.

Though she did wonder why Madoka looked so disappointed.

THE ANGST. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HUMOUR? SOMEBODY THROW A PIE, FOR GODS SAKES! DX When in doubt; bitch fight. This was filler, mainly done for character development on top of everything else. If you're wondering why I made Kyoko so slap-able in this chapter, it was for the sake of making it valid. Botched history – aka dead family - is a decent excuse for present bad behaviour; and it wouldn't really add up to have her so feisty for no reason other than just being a dick 8D It'll make sense, I swear. Homura's stuck in personality limbo again~ Oh lawrd. Anyhow, excuse the late update, once again *headdesk* Back to more regular instalments now. Review, show me you haven't forgotten about this story ;_; Pretty pwease!
-Obsidian
X3