Disclaimer – I don't own Puella Magi Madoka Magica
This will probably be a bit out of it, mainly because it's filler – hence the reason it's up sooner than a regular chapter would take XD But either way, maybe you'll get a few lawlz and it might tie up some loose ends. Let's hope it turns out well 8D
Chapter 7
Spontaneous Or Ostentatious?
I did not think that through.
For the hundredth thousandth time, that reoccurring thought ran through Madoka's head. But in all fairness, she deserved whatever came back to bite her when her suspension ran out and she returned to school. Or whatever came to her via phone call or text message after Homura snapped out of her initial state of what-the-hell-just-happened.
With the realization that her cell phone was liable to start ringing with a very pissed off girl on the other line at any moment; she grabbed it and smashed her thumb down on the power button. She just knew that if it sounded off with either a call or a message – she would have to answer or read it. And probably end up cut down with a series of insults that would leave her totally heart-broken and humiliated.
But wouldn't it be better to deal with it in private, rather than hide away until her next class and risk getting called out in front of everyone?
"Aghh!" She slammed her head into her pillow, holding it to her face and rolling onto her back. "Why? Why!"
It was safe to say that Madoka was certainly not handling things well. She didn't even know why she had done something so reckless. Okay, it was no secret that she slipped up and made a mess of things from time to time, but this was so much worse.
In one crazy, spur of the moment second she had rushed everything, ditched her plan of being subtle and working her way into things – and near enough rammed her tongue down the new girl's throat. Well, maybe not to that extreme. But did it really make a difference? A kiss was a kiss, whether it be a full-blown attempt at making out or just the quick peck that it was.
Having run through each and every interaction with the other girl more times than she could count, the churning feeling in her stomach only got worse. The more the memories kicked about in her mind, the more blatant it became that the best she could have hoped for was to be an acquaintance. The transfer student didn't seem to like her that much, but she didn't hate her either. Well, if she didn't to begin with, then she did now.
Well, at least she wouldn't have to deal with things for a while. But she couldn't do much except lounge around – with Sayaka being grounded flat-out for the next few weeks. She wondered how well she could dodge anymore thinking through that time.
*X*X*X*X*
Maybe she should attempt to get another suspension.
It was Monday, and she could finally go back to school. It hadn't seemed so bad when she first woke up, the chance to finally do something and not just wander aimlessly around her house all day clouding over the more negative tasks of the day.
But actually going to class, the realization that she would have to face Homura had finally stuck her, and she wanted nothing more than to run home and hide in her bed. Or under it, whatever was safer. She was walking to the school gates, dragging her feet deliberately to go slower, when she was barrelled into from behind with such force that she almost hit the ground face-first. Before she could, arms wrapped around her midriff and yanked her back in balance.
"Free, I'm free!" As usual, Sayaka was living up to the hear-her-before-you-see-her style she maintained. "Indoors for the whole week, can you believe it? I was going mad in there." The blue-haired girl hugged her friend tightly from the back, burying her face in the crook of her neck. "I couldn't even see my future wife…" She trailed off when she didn't get her usual reaction of giggling and demands to be released. "…You alright there?"
"Yeah," she muttered, trying and failing to make herself sound a bit perkier.
"Madoka, what is it?" Letting go and circling round, Sayaka looked her up and down in a way that reminded her of Homura at the apartment. She winced. "Did your parents give you grief for getting busted or something?"
She shook her head, shrugging miserably. She had left home later than usual, and knew that the transfer student was probably already sitting in class, waiting for homeroom to start. She wondered how many people the dark-haired girl had told already.
"Okay, you're worrying me here. Come on, tell me. I'm your husband, it's my job!" Sayaka grabbed her shoulders, giving her a gentle shake to spur her into talking.
After a few seconds of increasingly aggressive staring and shaking, she caved, knowing that her friend could keep it up all day. And probably would. "I did something stupid."
"We're making progress. Now, be more specific. Like, `I wrote a dumb answer in a test and failed,' stupid, or `I really shouldn't have done that, hide the evidence and run,' stupid?"
"I kissed someone." Why keep it secret when half the class were bound to have already heard `how much of a pervert Kaname-san is'? None the less, it felt good to tell someone. Considering it, she knew Sayaka would back her up in class. The blue-haired girl may mess about a lot, but she knew she was open minded and wouldn't turn on her. It actually calmed her down a bit.
"You finally lose your first kiss – and I'm banged up in my bedroom without phone privileges? This is sacrilege, dammit!" The girl smacked her fist into her palm, looking outraged. "Who was it though, and why so down about it?" Snapping out of it, she looked at her in puzzlement.
"…Homura." She blushed dark.
"…" Sayaka looked at her vacantly. Then her eyebrows vanished under her bangs. Then she snorted, clearly biting the inside of her cheeks to stop herself from laughing. "Oh my god, this is amazing," was all she said.
Madoka crossed her arms, trying to keep her composure, and awaiting for advice. Any kind would be good, right now; she wasn't in a place to be picky.
Her friend lost it and burst into hysterics, clutching her stomach. "Of all the people you could wanna sex up, you take Akemi? She's such a stiff, who would have guessed that she's into chicks?"
"She isn't," the pink-haired girl informed sharply, wishing that Sayaka would give her some moral support. "I just grabbed her," she admitted, burying her face in her hands.
Understanding slowly found its way into Sayaka's expression."…In that case, you probably gave her a heart attack. What did she say after?"
"I don't know. I ran for it and haven't turned on my phone since I got back."
Sayaka ruffled her hair, her `calm down, it's all good' gesture, while shaking her head with a look of amazement. "You're a total ditz sometimes, you know. Since when were you so bold anyway?"
"Since never. I don't know, I mean, I just really wanted to. Like I just randomly turned round and just kissed her, I can't even remember what I was thinking." She could feel that her hair was getting knocked askew and would probably need re-tied now, but didn't honestly care.
"It's official; this place is a freak show. At least it's fun to watch." Another voice cut in, making them both turn abruptly to find its owner.
An apparently very sneaky Kyoko was standing to the side of them, leaning against a nearby tree and looking most amused.
"What the – how long have you been standing there?!"
"Long enough, Miki, long enough," the redhead sighed leisurely, producing a box of pocky from her pocket and jamming a stick into her mouth. "By all means, continue," she added with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"So you're not just a physco, you're a stalker as well," Sayaka grumbled.
"Hey; if I'm going to be forced to attend this school, then I may as well get some entertainment while I'm here…" cutting herself off, she leaned to the side to see past them, a grin slowly sliding across her face. "…and entertainment I'm going to get."
Sayaka would have ignored her, if not for the look of sheer terror on her friend's face. "Madoka?" She followed her line of sight, and instantly knew what Kyoko meant. Homura was approaching from the distance, though not looking at them.
"I predict another fight. Five boxes of pocky on the closet case!" The redhead munched her way through another stick of pocky, clearly loving every second of this.
"Would you get lost already?" Sayaka abandoned the pink-haired girl's side for the moment, marching up to the delinquent and giving her best intimidating look.
"Or what?"
"Wanna find out?" She gritted her teeth.
"Sure. I've got a few minutes. Hell, I've got all day – not like I'm going to go to class or anything," she smirked.
"You got me suspended for a week already. If you land me with detention on top of that, I will kill you." Sayaka spoke slowly and calmly, stressing her words.
"Sounds like a challenge to me. I bet you can't catch me."
"I will carry you there if I have to."
"Princess-style? You sure know what a girl likes to hear, you must take after Pinkie over there."
The redhead had adapted a whole new way of being insufferable, and the blue-haired girl was beginning to wish that she would go back to the traditional style of insulting and trying to hit her every waking second.
"Sayaka-chan, let's go before she sees me," Madoka cut in, tugging at her arm, having come out of her fear induced trance.
"Oi, Akemi!" Kyoko hollered at the top of her voice, which was a near super-human volume. Both of the other girls covered their ears. "She wants to talk to you! Come on, she doesn't bite, unless you want her too!" Maybe she was going to say more, but doubled over with laughter when she saw the girl being called heard her, glared in their direction.
Madoka took this as her cue to abandon what little dignity she had left and do what she had done back when everything had first gone belly-up. Run as fast as she could in the opposite direction.
Kyoko was laughing herself into an early grave, and even a smack over the back of her head couldn't shut her up. "You're a terrible person, I hope you know that."
"Better to be a bitch openly than to act nice when I ain't," the redhead replied, pulling herself together and stretching her arms above her head.
"Well, at least you admit to it," she raised an eyebrow, confused at the lack of come backs.
"My dad always used to say that honesty was the best policy."
Sayaka opened her mouth, then closed it again, recalling what the girl had said when they were in the principal's office. "…I'm sorry about your family, by the way."
The redhead blinked, giving her a somewhat gracious nod. "You remembered that, huh?"
"You really know how to make an impression, so yeah. A bit hard to forget."
"That's me, making an impact wherever I go. Disorderly behaviour, and all that," she went to grab another pocky, but this time offered the box to Sayaka while she was at it.
Shooting her a look of disbelief, the blue-haired girl eventually took one; expelling the suspicion that it was poisoned. "Thanks," she bit down on the snack, finding it to be her favorite flavour. Knowing she shouldn't ask, but curious, she voiced out her thoughts. "What happened to them?"
"To keep it simple, we used to own a church. Dad was a preacher, but we lost all our followers. Don't know why, but one day afterwards he just lost it. Torched the place…with us in it." The redhead sighed, making a face. "Foster homes galore for me, thanks to somehow getting outta there." She spoke as if she were talking about something as trivial as the weather. Stuffing another pocky into her mouth, she bit down and chewed it thoroughly.
"Woah," she leaned back against the tree beside the delinquent, not sure what to say. "That's…rough."
"Mmm," Kyoko suddenly turned to face her. "I reckon I should have grabbed you from the front, last week."
"What?" Of all the ways to change the topic – saying that was in the top ten of the weirdest ways.
"You know, gave you a proper chance. That was a bitch move, I'll admit. Maybe you would've been a good challenge."
Sayaka snorted in mock arrogance. "A challenge? I'd have destroyed you."
A playful shove was her reply. "Just you keep telling yourself that."
*X*X*X*X*
Homura was going to kill her, and Sayaka was probably dead.
Yes, things were going swimmingly for Madoka, who was currently burning away the free time left before homeroom in the girls bathrooms.
Kyoko had made things even more embarrassing than what they already were – something she hadn't thought possible – and when she fled, she had left Sayaka with her. Knowing the pair of them, they were either fighting, about to fight, or one of them was in the process burying the dead body of the other.
Was it too late to apologize? More than likely. Would her apology be accepted if she did do it? She wouldn't bet on it.
How had her life gone so totally insane within the span of the past month? Everything was completely banjaxed at this point, and she didn't know what she was supposed to do. Up the creek without a paddle, lost at sea, sinking in quick sand, every euphemism for `I'm so dead' applied to her right now.
Maybe it was just the jitters talking, but if she was in this much trouble, she found herself thinking that she may as well have tried for more than just a chaste kiss. Wait – what on earth was that?
She hit her palm against her forehead, trying to get it together. She was losing it. She took a deep breath, and then let it out.
Okay, I've got this.
Fuck it, this is a crack-fic now.
It's like a freaking scholarship, isn't it? Free education if you have a depressing history! `My family got toasted!' `My heart doesn't work!' All I need to do now is have Mami stagger in crying, `I sold my soul to the Teddy Bear Lucifer! Now I have to fight reality defying abominations in a frilly dress!' *Slams head on table repeatedly* I can't write proper humour without adding sad bits XD I'm too depressing as a person for that O_O Filler chapter became a plot chapter. I don't know what the actual hell is going on 8D How much more do you guys want anyhow? I was thinking some plot-less fluff (suggesting this story wasn't that to begin with :B ) to round things off XD Let me know, because my mind is long past the point of functioning!
-Obsidian
X3