Heartbeat

by basalisk120

A little while back, Sayaka noticed something very surprising about her friend Kyouko - whenever she looks at her, she get's the strangest feeling in her chest! Of course, it doesn't take a genius to work out why, but now she's going to have to work out if Kyouko feels the same way! (Mostly cute fun, but gets a little emotional at times... Set in an au where Kyouko saves Sayaka)

3. Chapter 3

"Guess who's here!" I called, as Kyouko and I pushed open the door. I presented enthusiastically, lifting both bags of shopping above my head.

"Sayaka!" Madoka replied, appearing in the hallway. She was wearing both that innocent little smile of hers, and her full Magical girl garb.

"Hey, you're transformed already?" Kyouko asked, scooting past me. "You guys could have waited."

"Ah, sorry! That was my fault, I'm afraid." Mami said, from the kitchen. "Madoka was commenting upon how Homura and I have Magical girl uniforms similar to our school uniforms, so I decided we should transform early to compare."

"Pssh. You guys are always too eager." Kyouko said dismissively, dropping her bags and pirouetting, wreathing herself in magical flame. Her uniform burned away, replaced immediately by those swishing red robes. She gave a graceful little leap forward, and as she landed, there was a small flash, and the fires were extinguished as the transformation was completed.

Opting to wait until after I had delivered the ingredients, I hurried into the kitchen, looking about for Mami.

"Ah, there you are." Mami said, looking resplendent in her attire. Hers wasn't the most practical, but I still thought it was among the best looking. "I'm sorry for making you two buy so much…"

"Oh, don't worry about it. You're entertaining all of us, after all." I said with a smile. "Most of it was on sale, in any case."

"Oh, I know." Mami said, who always knew exactly what was on sale. She truly was a master of budgeting. "But still…"

"I said don't worry!" I said kindly as Kyouko walked in. "Now, where would you like us to put them?"

"Oh, just there on the counter." Mami said, pointing to her left as she returned to her cooking.

"Need a hand at all?" Kyouko asked as she pushed past me, putting her bags down unceremoniously. I was right not to put anything that might bruise or break in her bags.

"Oh, thank you, Kyouko. But I'm already very ably assisted." Mami said with a smile, as Nagisa squeezed into the cramped kitchen, carrying a small tray with a pair of empty teacups.

"I'm helping!" She cried enthusiastically, setting the tray down on the counter.

I smiled at the young Magical girl, but I couldn't escape the tiny shred of sorrow that I always feel when I see her in uniform. She's so young. She shouldn't have to make her own decisions yet, and she already goes out at night to fight creatures from the nightmares of things that only live in the darkest depths of nightmares themselves. Creatures that were once girls just like us, too. I sighed, slipping out of the crowded kitchen and letting my own power surge forth, ballooning out into that warm, comforting blue that enveloped me, whirling me around and bringing out my power.

We had a lot of strange little traditions, these days. They'd built up slowly over the months that we'd known each other, so slowly that I hadn't even noticed at first. For one, whenever we met up like this, provided we had sufficient privacy, (for instance, we rarely had the opportunity to at Madoka's house) we would always spend the evening in our Magical girl regalia. For a start, it was much more freeing to be like this. Kyouko and Mami often felt shackled or caged while in their normal form, they had been Magical girls for so long. For Madoka, Nagisa and I, it was just comfortable, and reinforced the trust we had in each other.

We always tried to meet up like this at least once a week, for a number of reasons. For a start, Mami liked to get a clear picture of how things looked in Mitakihara from a Magical girl's perspective. We had a huge map of the whole city, several feet across, one of Homura's, (Not sure why she had one) onto which we annotated the locations, dates and approximate strengths of all the witches we encountered. The dates were fairly easy to punch in, but the locations were a little harder. Mami and Homura were somehow always very specific, but Witch labyrinths hardly make any sense and don't follow the normal laws of space-time. So I always make a guess based on what I remember being around me when I go in. It doesn't need to be all that specific anyway. Madoka, Kyouko and Nagisa are all pretty poor at this. Madoka and Nagisa genuinely forget a lot, I think, but Kyouko clearly doesn't care all that much. The strength thing is… A little more complicated. It's based on comparison, I think. We've got a 1-10 scale of strength based on how hard they were to defeat. All of the numbers from one to six have a specific Witch we all remember that represents a typical witch that we compare to the ones we fought. Only one witch scored higher than a six, and I think it's what we base the scale off. It's called Walpurgisnacht or something, and Mami and Homura discuss it every so often. Mami says she's only ever heard of it, but Homura claims to have fought it before and so created the scale herself. Mami says that no Magical girl ever survives Walpurgisnacht, but I'm happy to take the transfer student's word for it. The other major reason was grief seed sharing, a ceremony that would come a little later.

"Hey, Sayaka!" Madoka said to me as I entered the living room. She and Homura were sat around the triangular table in the centre of the room. I could see the map from where I was standing, only half folded-out and spilling over the edges of the table. "We're just filling in for the night before last. Could you do last night, please?"

"Yeah, sure." I said, walking over and sitting down as far away from Homura as possible. "How was your night?"

"Oh, it was okay. We encountered a 'three' just here." She said, pointing toward a string of multi-coloured dots. There were thirty different kinds of dots, which were a sort of quick visual representation of how the months passed. We started doing things that way because we noticed that the witches seemed to get stronger and braver as the full moon gets closer, so it's important to keep up with the lunar cycle too.

Looking at the map, you could see pretty easily where you got Witches. Mami had some idea from sheer experience alone, but when it was all mapped out, it became pretty telling.

We never had any Witches in any of the Market districts, or near any well-lit roads. We've noticed that even though Witches are invisible, and no matter how bright things might be inside their barriers, they always like quiet, dark places to set up. Most residential districts see few Witches for the same reason. But they are also drawn strongly to areas of extreme negative emotion, so you can easily see where 'downtown' is. There's a general sparse cloud over the whole city, with gaps for places like markets and such, but it's definitely thinner in the nicer areas of the city and denser toward the nastier ends. Alleyways and underpasses in the 'red-light' districts looked like multi-coloured ribbons weaving their way through the city, and multi-storey car parks were also pretty crowded. The industrial sector was also pretty dense, largely due to high numbers of the homeless and the general poverty of the surrounding area. Not to mention, it was pitch-black and silent at night. Being a Magical girl showed you what the city you lived in was really like.

Hospitals were hotspots too, as were police stations, prisons and bars. They showed up like a camel in your garden.

Ours had been downtown, just at the edge of a car park where it met a small, scabby-looking park where a lot of shady deals took place.

"Ours was… Here-ish." I said pointing. I'd gotten much more accurate these days, and could link up the places I remembered with how they looked on the map.

"Ish?" Homura asked, frowning. "Are you even trying to be accurate?"

"I'm not a bloody Sat nav, Transfer student." I said dismissively, picking out a mid-blue dot and placing it where I reckoned we had been. It was close enough to place it on the border between the car park and the park, anyway. It didn't really matter how far along it was.

"There?" Madoka asked, as Homura glowered at me from across the table. "But nobody really lives over there at all… Were there any victims?"

"None that we could find." I said with a shrug. Victims were a pretty poor indicator of most things, anyway. It was very rare to find one at all, regardless of the nature of the Witch.

"You're not still playing mapmaker with this lot, are you?" Kyouko said, suddenly behind me. "You know it's kind of a waste of time now we know where things are roughly, right?"

"It's not a waste at all, Kyouko Sakura." Homura said formally, as I marked the Witch as a level three as well. "It's statistics."

"What for?" Kyouko asked, for what must have been the tenth time as she sat down lazily by my side. "What are we even learning?"

"As of yet, nothing." Homura said, as she had done before.

"Then why-"

"Because, if you give me time, I might start to be able to detect trends, patterns. Useful information that could tell us how serious a fight will be before it even happens." She growled, sounding genuinely angry. Today probably wasn't the best day to pick on her, then.

"But-"

"For instance:" Homura said flatly, pulling an exercise book from her back. It was bulging from the sheer volume of extra pages added. She flicked about a hundred pages in. "We now know that Witches are strongest upon a full moon, likely due to a superstitious increase in fear and negative emotion. We also know that there seems to be no real correlation between the strength of negative emotion in the area and the strength of the Witches drawn to it. But we do know that stronger Witches will often hide their barriers behind those of weaker Witches, to keep itself hidden for longer and to steal their victims with minimal effort. These are now facts, Kyouko Sakura." She said firmly, in a weary tone. "You cannot keep expecting me to explain the same things to you."

"I'm just sayin' that we've been doing this fer ages." Kyouko muttered. "Why keep on at it?"

"Because we might learn more from continued observation." Homura replied, looking increasingly tired. "Now Sayaka, would you please take care of your pet barbarian and let the rest of us safeguard her well-being?"

"Hey! You-" Kyouko began, lurching forward to grab at Homura. But I latched my fingers around the back of her collar, yanking her back and throwing my arm around her.

"H-hey! What was that for?" Kyouko asked, coughing and rubbing her throat.

"Mami doesn't want bloodstains on the upholstery." I said, poking her cheek as forcefully as I dared. It was risky business, touching that soft, irresistible skin of hers…

Kyouko just huffed loudly and folded her arms, but she didn't make any move to slide out of my grasp and to my surprise (and shameless delight) she actually leant against me as Homura poured over her precious numbers and Madoka helped her as best as she was able.

It was about ten minutes before anyone came out of the kitchen. It was Nagisa, who handed out cups in the incredibly enthusiastic way that only kids are able. Then she vanished again, and Homura and Madoka started clearing up, folding up the titanic map so that it was only about a foot square and a couple inches thick. We hardly ever had the space to get out the whole thing to look at it.

And yet, still, in all this time, Kyouko didn't pull away. I didn't even realise she could keep still this long. I was starting to feel restless myself, actually. What were you supposed to do when the person you loved lay against you, anyway? I kinda wanted to stroke her hair, but that felt a little… Personal. As did hugging her any tighter, or kissing her head, or anything like that. But was it okay to just leave her?

"Sorry to keep everyone waiting!" Mami called as she entered the living room, laden down by a tray piled high with food. Nagisa followed her closely, similarly burdened. A full half of it would probably end up in Kyouko's stomach, eventually. I swear she has hollow legs.

"At last!" Kyouko cried, springing out of my grasp at the first sight of plated food. I sighed as subtly as I could, trying to hide my mixture of disappointment and relief.

Dinner was pretty great. Better with company, and the wait for it. We started off almost in silence, happy to just dig in. It wasn't anything vastly complicated, but it was hot food made well, and Mami had a special way of just making anything taste fantastic. I almost envied Nagisa, for getting to eat Mami's food every day.

Madoka got the conversation going fairly quickly though, and pretty soon the five of us (as a rule, Homura didn't speak unless spoken to directly) were in full swing, laughing and chatting and generally having a great time. It was a far cry from how things had started, really. When we first got together, it was a grim atmosphere indeed. Kyouko was reluctant to be in Mami's house again after so long, I was still trying to piece my spirit back together, Nagisa still cried at the drop of a hat, and Madoka was stretched pretty thin with the stress of it all.

But look at us now! Mami was beaming with pride and the content of a girl that didn't have to be lonely anymore, Kyouko was playing with a happy and excitable Nagisa, Madoka looked as comfortable and contented as anyone I'd ever seen, and I'm sure I looked pretty happy too, even though I hadn't actually wanted to socialise in the first place. Homura, on the other hand… Well, she always looked the same, really.

After we'd finished eating, we piled up our plates to the side (It took Kyouko quite a lot longer than us to do this) and got down to business. The mood dipped a little, but we were still in pretty high spirits as I produced my grief seed, and Homura retrieved the two she and Madoka had earned. As we always did, we placed them in the centre of the table, crowding around it and slowly fading into silence.

As one, we let our soul gems take their 'default' form, placing them in a tight ring around the grief seeds. Mine was looking ever so slightly cloudy, as was Nagisa's and Mami's. Madoka and Kyouko looked more or less fine, as usual, and Homura's was… Well, it was hard to tell, to be quite honest. The purple was pretty dark anyway. But then, the corruption flaked off us all like dandelion seeds, and there was a collective sigh in the room as I felt a weight lift from my shoulders as the grief seeds took in our despair and negativity in the form of a swirling black cloud.

It was a full ten seconds before Madoka broke the silence.

"Do… Do you think we could get another use out of these?"

I shook my head.

"Nah." Kyouko confirmed. "And even if we could, I doubt they'd keep until next time."

This was hardly any surprise. It was pretty rare to get more than one use out of anything below a level 4 for all six of us, even though we hardly deteriorated at all.

Mami nodded, grabbed her soul gem, and moved back, materialising one of her rifles with a solemn expression. This was the final part of our 'ceremony'. I leant forward and retrieved my own as the others did the same, moving the grief seeds so that they were in a line parallel to Mami's field of view. It had been Madoka's turn last week, and we rotated it in alphabetical order. It would be Nagisa's turn next, though Mami often did it for her. Gracefully, and without a flicker of breath or emotion, Mami took aim and fired, punching through all three grief seeds and blowing them apart. With a puff of coiling black smoke, they were gone.

Ever since we chased the Incubators out of the city (as far as we know) it became hard for us to dispose of grief seeds. It had been their job, after all. But we couldn't just leave grief seeds lying around, or keep using them, because they grow into Witches again. So, in the early days, there was quite a bit of debate as to what we should do about it.

Kyouko was the first to suggest destroying them. She knew that soul gems could be shattered relatively easily (I didn't ask her how she knew – I prefer to think that she was a witness, not a perpetrator) and Homura agreed that that the same should hold true for grief seeds. (Again, I'm not sure how she knew that either, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was some kind of dark secret to her.) It didn't feel particularly pleasant at first, knowing that you were permanently killing off what was once a Magical girl, but in the end it wasn't that much different from fighting a Witch normally.

The ceremony completed, the atmosphere brightened up again. With our soul gems in prime condition, it was much easier to get into a bright and cheery mood, and I totally forgot my woes with Kyouko, happy to laugh at her antics as she messed around with Nagisa and told jokes at the expense of all of us, and we didn't hesitate to return the favour.

"A-and then- And then-" Kyouko continued, having spent at least five minutes trying to set up some story about something I'd done. But every time she tried, Nagisa would tickle her, and the two would have to 'fight' it out until Kyouko could breathe well enough to talk again. "A-and then, once we'd defeated the Witch, right, Sayaka was closest to the seed. S-so I went-" Here she stopped again, picking up Nagisa by the midriff and carrying her over to Mami, who hugged her tightly to her chest. Nagisa pouted and squirmed, but Mami had gotten out a brush, and started to untangle her white mass of hair.

"So I went: 'Yo, Sayaka, go pick that up!' 'Cos I'm miles away, and she's right next to it. And she's all 'Okay!' And goes over to fetch it, trying to look all cool and stuff." Madoka giggled as Kyouko did a terrible impression of my voice and mimed me walking like some kind of action hero. I, on the other hand, stopped smiling. I knew exactly what she was getting at, and I didn't want her sharing that with-

"And it's, what, ten feet to the seed? And yet she still manages to trip on something, and she flies arse-over-elbow and lands flat on her face!" Nagisa and Madoka laughed at even that, but Kyouko silenced them by raising her hand as she tried to control her own mirth. I got to my feet, feeling my cheeks start to burn.

"Wait wait, that's not even the best part!" Kyouko said, sniggering to herself. "Because when she goes over, her skirt flies up, and she is wearing the most childish-"

"Stop it!" I cried, taking a step forward. But there was a table between us now, because Kyouko's war with Nagisa had moved her halfway across the room.

"She's wearing- She's wearing-" Kyouko stammered, her face red with the effort of telling the story. She broke down for a moment, gesticulating wildly without speech as Mami, Nagisa and Madoka started to laugh at her reaction as much as the story itself.

"-Has bloody teddy-bears all over it!" Kyouko finally finished, roaring with laughter and doubling over as I easily leapt the table in (what I considered to be) a majestic manner.

"Right!" I shouted, irritated but not really that angry, running toward her.

"Crap!" Kyouko swore, breathlessly ducking under my arms and taking off down the hall, still laughing at my expense.

"Hey! Get back here!" I cried, setting off in pursuit. Kyouko's fast, but I'm a natural sprinter.

Now, Mami's flat is pretty small. We actually ended up in the living room twice more, each time entering to see three faces creased with laughter and one with mild indifference. We weaved in and out of rooms, darted down halls, leapt over furniture and generally caused a ruckus for quite some time until I finally had her cornered in the bedroom. Weak with laughter, she tried to duck past me again, but she was slow enough that I caught her, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her around.

At the last moment, she realised what was happening and pulled back, throwing me off-balance. Still holding her arm, we collided together, spun around and fell down onto Mami's bed.

Kyouko landed first, face up, lying on her back with an expression of alarm as I bore down on her. I imagine my expression was much the same.

With a 'whump' sound, I landed bodily on top of her, almost perfectly in line. We nearly smacked heads, but I pulled to the left at the last second, and my lips smudged hard against her cheek instead. It was warm and soft, and smelled of Kyouko.

All of Kyouko was warm, actually. A big part of me wanted to know exactly how warm. An even bigger part of me wanted to take my arms away from Kyouko's shoulders and wrap them both around her slender body, and a bigger part of me still was wondering what might have happened if I hadn't moved my head, and just kissed her square on the lips.

There was, however, a tiny part of my brain that wasn't completely obsessed with Kyouko, and it was very loud indeed. And it was telling that more than ten seconds had now passed, and Kyouko was probably feeling very uncomfortable.

She coughed quietly, and I jumped, leaping to my feet.

She still lay beneath me, her hair splayed out beneath her like a warm, comforting flame. In fact, it was lying a lot like when she had been asleep that morning, only now she was awake, staring at me, and blushing as red as a carnation. Her mouth was parted slightly, and I could see her adorable expression in perfect clarity as I felt myself staring back.

"Sh-Shaya…" She mumbled, soft as her expression in the privacy of Mami's bedroom. She looked so vulnerable, so defenceless, so… Nervous? But then, as suddenly as the moment had begun, her expression changed, and Kyouko was back. "Wh-what'd you trip me up for?"

"Me?" I said defensively, trying to buy myself enough time to come to terms with what I had just seen. I filed that image of her away for later consultation. "You tripped me up!"

"What? Did not! You started it, anyway." Kyouko said sulkily, rolling off Mami's bed and onto her feet with catlike grace.

"Me? You were the one telling that story anyway. You know I get embarrassed about that."

"You were the one wearing the things!" She cried in defence of her actions. "Why were you wearing them anyway?"

"Like I said at the time, everything else was in the wash! Would you rather I wore nothing?"

"Yeah, but why do you still have a pair that looks that stupid?" Kyouko asked, her blush returning.

"Well, I just… Don't like getting rid of stuff…" I said, scowling and looking away. I was starting to realise I might be in the wrong, here.

"You hoarder, you. Can't even get rid of old underwear?"

"Shut up. You wouldn't understand anyway. Do you even have more than one set of underwear? You certainly don't have more than one set of clothes."

"Hey, shut up! Of course I do!" She said, striding past me. "That'd be disgusting."

"Oh, because there's nothing disgusting about anything else you do…" I shot back, following her as she headed out of Mami's bedroom and back toward the living room.

"Huh? Like what?" She asked, her hair swirling out wildly as she whipped around to face me.

"Well, aside from the way you eat…" I said, pretending to look thoughtful. "There's probably the fact that you never wash your hands."

"I do too! And besides, what's wrong with not washing them every five minutes? They're not dirty, and I never get ill anyway."

"Yeah, yeah. You know, sooner or later, you're going to have to face up to the fact that you're a girl." I said innocently as I walked past her.

"Wh-wha? How am I not feminine?" She asked indignantly, poking her chest in emphasis.

"You really need a list?" I asked sarcastically. "Which reminds me. After we get back from the hunt, I'm gonna have to wash your hair. Do you even bother doing it yourself?"

"I do too! I get it wet and all, and I sometimes use shampoo!"

"Sometimes? See, now that's just not good enough, Kyouko." I said, tutting. "You need to give it care and all."

"Well, whatever. We'll see when we get back, okay?" Kyouko replied in resignation.

"Good!" I replied, but inside, I was annoyed at myself for deciding something without thinking. How would I be able to do this, considering how weird I'd been over the last few days?

.0.

After we returned, things went back to normal pretty quickly. I received a few quips and remarks. (Mostly from Kyouko) but I more or less managed to live the whole thing down. Possibly because Madoka's too nice to keep on about it, and Mami's too mature.

After another half-hour or so, Madoka announced that she had to get going, and Homura went with her, to the surprise of precisely nobody. And so, after we helped Mami and Nagisa clear everything away, (Well, I did, anyway. Kyouko mostly just lazed around. Mami, however, didn't seem to mind at all. This kind of worried me, a bit – Mami is basically the only person that Kyouko will listen to all the time, and is the only one that can really control her. But most of the time, she seems quite happy just to let Kyouko walk all over her. I think she puts too much of the blame on herself for what happened a year ago. Not that I really know what that was.) Kyouko and I said our goodbyes and got to work.

Saying goodbye when heading out on the hunt was… Odd. We all know in the back of our minds that this might be the last time we ever see the people we're bidding farewell to, but we never really put that across. Perhaps saying goodbye so informally is a kind of promise to return? I don't know. I think I put too much thought into this sort of thing.

As per usual, we headed straight downtown. As it was pretty late in the month, we normally only went down into the roughest areas when at least one of us was a veteran. Luckily, that wasn't a problem tonight, as I had Kyouko by my side. Of course, it wasn't always a matter of preference – if we detected a witch, we followed it no matter where it went. Familiars too, as much as Kyouko whined about it.

"I swear Homura spends her whole life looking at those stupid statistics…" Kyouko said as we cleared a whole street in a single bound from the rooftops. We'd spent a good ten minutes in silence, so I was glad to hear her attempt conversation.

"They aren't stupid…" I replied. "But they are weird. I mean, I think she goes too far."

"You think? Ain't it obvious?" Kyouko asked, glancing at me. "I mean, it's great that we can say 'oh, it was a level four, and it was 'liiiike, this big!' and all, but she's proper weird about it."

"You're not kidding! I mean, have you actually looked inside that book? It's less of a statistics theorem and more of an encyclopaedia of all things Witch." I said, gesturing to imply the size of the book. "It's not just locations and classifications, either. It's got the date we killed it, the strength rating with a detailed description of its weapon and how it fought, a description of its appearance and that of the familiars and labyrinth. She even writes about what kind of person the witch might have been, and the wish they might have made. It's mad!"

"You know, she could probably make a fortune if she published that as fiction…" Kyouko mused, smiling.

"You know, it'd be pretty cool if we published it for Magical girls to buy, actually. It might be good for them to know what sort of things they're up against." I replied thoughtfully.

"Man, that would be a tough read though, wouldn't it?" Kyouko asked with a laugh, as we dropped down four storeys and into an alleyway. We stopped to draw our soul gems and check for a signal.

"And I didn't even know you could read…" I said absent-mindedly, staring at my gem.

"Hey-"Kyouko began, but I stopped her with my hand.

"I-I'm getting a signal, here!" I said, sounding excitable and stupid.

"Huh?" Kyouko asked, moving her gem over next to mine. She picked it up too. "Oh yeah! Looks to be… This way." She said thoughtfully, pointing down deeper into the alley. She looked serious and mature, especially for her.

I nodded, and we hurried down the side-street, our magic granting us a pretty incredible running speed. We checked our gems every so often as we wound deeper and deeper into the maze of tunnels and alleyways in the city, getting ever closer to the source of the signal.

"You know, we seemed to have picked this signal up from quite a way away…" I said, as the signal got yet stronger. We were close.

"Well, it's pretty late in the month. It's gonna be pretty strong." Kyouko said, as if it wasn't something she had been told by Homura.

I looked around as we entered a final alley. The trace of the Witch was strong, now, its unique signature flashing brightly upon our soul gems. As one silent body, we took a few steps forward, Kyouko drawing her spear one-handed as I drew one of my own swords.

With a dull flash and an unidentifiable series of sounds, our gems resonated with the Witch barrier and tore open a portal.

"Here we go, Kyou…" I murmured feeling much more dramatic than usual. This far into the underbelly of the city, it was pitch black and lonely.

"What do you think it's doing all the way back here?" She asked, approaching more cautiously than she normally would.

"Dunno." I replied, looking around. "Doesn't look like it gets a lot of traffic back here…"

"Ah! We have needles!" Kyouko cried, after a few moments of silence. She scuffed at the used little instruments, flicking them away distastefully.

"Eww." I replied, looking away.

"Oh, grow up. You don't catch anything nasty from looking," the red-haired Magical girl replied, clearly poking fun at me. "Just don't touch 'em."

"I know that!" I shot back, nudging her. "Stop making light of it! It's gross."

"Hey, don't judge until you've been in the same situation." She replied, shrugging.

"Don't tell me you've tried that stuff." I asked, frowning as I looked over at her.

"Me? Of course not! You'd know if I did. But I don't judge." Kyouko answered dismissively.

"Whatever." I said, shivering at the thought of using those things. "Let's just make Mitakihara a safer place for everyone?"

"Ever my Ally of Justice, huh Sayaka?" Kyouko asked with her familiar impish grin, nudging me as gently as one could expect from her.

"Don't forget, you're one of us too, now." I shot back, as I regained my balance.

"Damn right I am. And I'm doing a better job than you, newbie."

"Hey, I'm pretty experienced, now!" I returned, though I didn't feel all that experienced.

"Yeah, compared to, what, a pigeon?"

"Oh, shut up…" I said with a scowl, breaking into a jog. "Let's just get this over with."

"I like the way you think!" Kyouko replied, breaking into a run by my side. Before long, we were running at full tilt, charging through that disorientating series of dimension barriers, each one a surreal art gallery. Then, we pushed through the final one, and entered the personal dimension of the Witch.

The first thing I noticed was the scale. It was fairly unusual for the landscape inside a labyrinth to be set outside, or at least anywhere that was open. But this labyrinth was both, and it seemed huge.

It was a sprawling but largely featureless landscape, something akin to a savannah only without most of the grass. There were only a few trees, too – all distant, but twisted, ill-looking and seemingly made of stone with some kind of dull crystal for leaves. I wondered if the 'world' was actually real that far away, or if the Barrier ended before then.

The other main difference between this and a real savannah was that it was dark, and grey. Everything was grey. The grass was grey, the earth was near-black and looked oddly scorched, and the sky was grey too, covered entirely by thick grey clouds that obscured any kind of light, if any existed. Yet still we could see – Witch barriers often ignored details like that. In many ways, it was a lot like one of the Witches I'd faced during my 'darker' phase, only… Much emptier.

"Something's wrong…" I murmured, and Kyouko nodded in agreement.

I couldn't recognise any elements of the alleyway at all. This was bad. You see, when a witch sets up a barrier, it maintains elements of the scenery it replaced inside the barrier. Like, for instance, the first Witch that Madoka and I ever saw was some kind of weird, rose-based Witch with a garden. But because we were still in a car park, there was still stuff like police tape and road signs knocking about. As a rule, the stronger the Witch, the less real-world elements were preserved inside the barrier, as the Witch is strong enough to keep its world and the real world separate. The only exception to this that I know of is that 'Walpurgisnacht' thing that supposedly doesn't use a barrier at all. It sounds brutal.

But this Witch was somewhere around here, and Walpurgisnacht was… Well, somewhere. Wherever Witches were when they were dormant. I know which one worried me more right now.

We walked in silence for a good five minutes more, the largely featureless landscape becoming monotonous and threatening. I started to feel paranoid, not helped by an intense feeling of aura, something you only got with stronger Witches.

"Kyouko, this looks…" I began, looking about.

"Like a six?" Kyouko finished, twirling her spear nervously.

"Yeah. At least." I replied, as we backed slowly toward each other. It was suspiciously quiet.

"Look, Sayaka…" Kyouko said, making me jump. I turned to face her. "If you're nervous about this, I can go it alone…"

"The hell you can!" I returned, glaring at her for even suggesting something like that. Or implying that I was scared. "You'll get killed!"

"You think I didn't face worse, back in the day?" Kyouko asked accusingly. "I've not gone soft, you know."

"You don't know what this is!" I said, poking her chest. "And we don't take risks like you did, in the old days. I'm not… I'm not gonna let you die just to do something so stupid."

"S-Sayaka…" Kyouko breathed for a moment, almost too faintly for me to hear. But she soon followed it up in her usual style. "What would you suggest, then?"

"I'm… I'm gonna call Mami." I said, to which she glared at me.

"What for?" She demanded angrily.

"In case we need her help! It's good to have backup! What's your problem anyway?"

"I don't wanna bother her with this! It's our night, and our problem!"

"We band together on nights like this! We always do! Do you not want Mami's help or something?"

"No!" Kyouko shouted, before her eyes went wide, and she raised her hands. "I-I mean, I do, but… I don't… I don't like fighting alongside Mami, Sayaka… It hurts…"

"It hur- Oh, Kyouko…" I said, my expression softening. I didn't realise things were still rough between them. They looked so happy together at Mami's house.

"I don't need your sympathy!" Kyouko cried, turning away. It felt like she'd just pierced my heart with that spear of hers.

"Kyouko…" I sighed, stepping closer to her. I gingerly reached out and placed my hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but didn't pull away. "What about everything you said? About not being alone anymore?"

"So what?" She huffed, still looking away.

"You shouldn't have to deal with all of this yourself…" I continued, giving her a gentle squeeze. I glanced about – we were still alone for now.

"Why shouldn't I? It's not your problem, or Mami's. It's mine." Kyouko growled, still closed to me. It hurt to see her this way.

"Was Kyousuke ever your problem?" I asked, pulling her around to face me a little. She didn't resist, though it would have been easy for her. "Was… Was me going nuts and turning into a Witch really ever your problem?"

"Of course it fucking well was!" Kyouko shouted, rounding on me. There were tears welling in her eyes.

"Why?" I asked, glad she was finally paying attention to me.

"Because I- B-because you're my friend, and I need you!" Kyouko said, faltering as if she'd almost said something else.

"You think I don't need you, Kyouko?" I asked, raising a thumb to her cheek and wiping away a tear. She sniffed, but didn't pull away. "Do you think you aren't… My most precious friend, Kyouko? You saved my life, Kyouko… Don't try and stop me from helping you out when you so clearly need it."

My words seemed to calm her down a little. Her shoulders sagged, and she looked down. She twirled her spear dejectedly, stabbing it firmly into the ground. Then, both hands free, she wrapped her arms around me, giving me a gentle hug. I smiled as warmly as I could, squeezing her gently to her chest.

"Can we… Talk about this later, Sayaka?" She asked softly, looking up at me. "Like… After the hunt?"

"Sure, Kyouko…" I replied, squeezing her again.

"Thanks." She mumbled, slipping gracefully from my grasp, wiping her face with a sleeve and retrieving her spear with a turn and a flourish. By the time she was facing me again, she'd whipped a box of pocky from her pocket, and was removing a stick with her teeth. "Now, let'sh go." She said with gritted teeth. Serious Witch-hunt Kyouko was back.

"Sure thing." I replied, drawing a sword. "Any ideas about this Witch?"

"None. Kyouko replied, surveying the landscape. "Thish one looksh to be a bit… Weird."

"See, if we told Homura more about the Witches we fought…" I said, but Kyouko stopped me.

"And give her the shatisfaction of another accurate prediction? I'd rather let the Witches win." She muttered, chewing through the stick with a series of well-practiced lip movements.

I laughed as genuinely as I could in the situation. "Seriously though, I think we should get Mami on standby here. Just to have her close if we need her."

Kyouko flinched and looked a tiny bit pained, but eventually relented. "Alright, alright… But we won't need her anyway."

"If you're so sure, why does it matter to you?" I asked with a smile as I caught her out, reaching into my pocket to grab my phone. It was a weird sensation, as my uniform didn't technically have pockets.

"It doesn't!" She huffed, as I called her on speed dial. She was number 3, after mum and dad.

The phone barely rang for a few seconds, before Mami picked it up, sounding breathless.

"Sayaka!" She cried. "Is everything alright?"

"Ummm… Right now, yes, later… Maybe not so much." I said as conversationally as I could, looking around us. We were still alone. It was unheard of to remain undetected for so long.

"What is it, Sayaka?" Mami said. She still sounded concerned.

"Ah, well… We're in a Witch barrier now… And it looks… Ominous?"

"Ominous how, Sayaka?"

"Well, I don't want to worry you unnecessarily, but it looks to be a six or so." I said, as Kyouko and I started to move deeper into the labyrinth.

"A six? A-are you two alright?"

"At the moment, yes." I said, watching as the landscape rippled slightly. That wasn't right. Was it just a trick of the eye? "Look, Kyouko thinks that we can handle it alone, but I wanted you on call as backup. That okay?"

"Yes, of course." Mami said quickly. "I've already put Nagisa to bed. Where are you both?"

"Just down… Just down an alleyway in the rougher side of town. We picked up the trail heading southeast from your flat, down toward the river."

"I… Think I know where you mean." Mami replied, sounding thoughtful. "I'll be there as quick as I can."

"Thanks, Mami." I said, relieved to have her as backup. "Just wait outside, and I'll call you again if we're in trouble."

"Okay, Sayaka." Mami said. "Thanks for calling me. I'll see you two outside the Witch barrier!"

"Sure thing!" I replied, more cheerful than I felt. "See you soon!"

"Bye!" Mami called out, and the phone went dead. I put it back in my pocket, smiling over at Kyouko.

"There we go." I said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Great. Can we find that Witch, now?"

"Care to point out a direction?" I asked, sweeping my sword out in a wide arc. "This place is empty. There aren't even any familiars."

"It's starting to creep me out, actually." She replied, twirling her spear again nervously.

"Starting?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah. Only starting, see, because I'm a lot braver than you are."

"Whatever." I replied, unwilling to start another argument. "Still it's not good to stay in a labyrinth this long…"

"I don't see why. This place is empty. Does a Witch ever leave its labyrinth behind?" She asked, although she must have known I couldn't answer. She'd seen almost every Witch I'd ever fought. "Or to Homura's numbers neglect to tell us that?"

"Stop being so difficult…" I replied, still looking around. The ground definitely rippled again, some way off. I'm sure it wasn't any kind of distortion. "But I genuinely don't think we're alone, here."

"Ooh, maybe the Witch and her familiars are invisible?" Kyouko asked, in a sarcastically spooky voice. I gave her a look that said 'stop it, you're not making this any better'. Or I tried to, at least.

"What?" She asked indignantly. "It's happened before."

"Seriously?" I asked, as the ground rippled again, closer this time. It was an odd sensation, like a hill just… Moving, or sliding away. I could have sworn there were trees when we first entered, or something close to it. But now when I looked… Nothing.

"Yeah! It was this one time, I…" Kyouko kept talking, likely revisiting some heavily embellished tale of her slaying an invisible Witch. But I'd stopped listening, because I'd noticed something high in the sky, a twinkling yellow dot that almost seemed to be… Heading straight for us.

"I hate to interrupt, Kyouko," I said, perfectly happy to cut across her. "But I think I've found something." I finished, pointing at the dot as it grew larger.

Kyouko scowled at my interruption, before turning to follow my gaze.

"Yeah, that's definitely… We should move." Kyouko said, changing tone rapidly.

"Mm." I nodded in agreement, and we prepared to evade.

Just in case the mysterious glowing yellow object was able to home in on us in some way, we waited until the last possible second before leaping apart, our magically infused bodies propelling us high above the weird, blackened terrain.

I landed some twenty feet away, just in time to see the yellow thing hit the ground. Only it didn't. The best way I can describe it is as if it fell into water, though there was scarcely a splash, and the ground it hit had been solid moments before. Kyouko and I had been standing on it. Still feeling confused, I stood up straight, cautiously approaching the place where the curious yellow orb had vanished. The ground, despite still being solid earth, began to ripple and bubble, and I frowned.

"What is it?" Kyouko asked, coming up behind me. I just shrugged, pointing at the bubbles. As a Magical girl, I'd seen far weirder in my time, but this was pretty damn surreal.

"Kyouko, I think we should probably get back…" I warned, retreating a step.

Suddenly, the ground rippled and burst beneath us. We were thrown apart, and I landed hard on my back. Kyouko rolled to her feet easily on landing, twirling her spear defensively as she looked for me.

"Sayaka!" She shouted urgently, as I pulled myself up. "I found out where the Witch is! It's-"

A deafening, shuddering shriek ripped its way through my mind, and the ground between us stretched and warped impossibly to form a spiked pillar of blackened earth, twenty feet tall and topped by a huge yellow eye, glowing like a lantern and held in place by an ornate framework of black wires that twisted around its base and formed a sort of cage around it. This was the Witch, and the whole barrier was its body.

The ground beneath my feet became lumpen and started spouting thick black vines coated with thorns. They gripped me and tore at my flesh, but I cut through them and leapt away. It would take more than that to do me any lasting damage.

The pillar grew a great horizontal wheel of blades, slicing at me. Again, I jumped away, unable to fight back against a whole world at once.

Of course, Kyouko could. The middle of the pillar suddenly burst open, and Kyouko leapt through the hole she had torn through it, a whirling fire of destruction and blades. Not that it made much difference. It grew back immediately, and the ground where she almost landed became a nest of spikes, impossibly long and thin. They glinted like steel.

However, Kyouko's conviction was stronger still. Her spear ripped the ground apart at her command, and then she leapt away, suddenly crouched by my side.

"This one's pretty hard-core, huh?" Kyouko said, flashing me one of her signature grins.

"Any ideas?" I said, as the vines erupted ground the ground once more, and we fought them off together. Two Magical girls in synchronisation were all but unstoppable.

"My best guess? Hit the eye." The fiery-haired beauty replied, pointing at the glowing yellow orb. It stared balefully back.

I nodded, forcing an opening with both swords, slicing through vines like a professional. My path clear, I hurled a sword point first, spinning round before throwing a second.

The Witch merely threw up a second pillar from the ground around it and my swords thudded harmlessly into the hardened earth. My heart sank.

"You know, I don't think we can hurt this thing by attacking the ground, or the vines…" I called to Kyouko, as she tore apart a thicket of the rapidly growing thorns. It was pretty difficult to, though, as the ground beneath us was constantly shifting, bulging, dipping or fracturing to reveal razor-sharp edges and spikes.

"Pretty big challenge then, huh?" The fiery Magical girl replied, striking at the pillar's eye like a scorpion. The pillar shifted, bending away just out of Kyouko's reach.

"Damnit!" Kyouko shouted angrily, snapping her weapon back. As if in response, the Witch roared again, and the ground became needles beneath us. I grimaced with pain, leaping up as high as I could, while Kyouko shrieked with agony, joining me in the sky and throwing up a chain barrier on the floor. I landed on one knee, glowing staves wreathing my feet as I healed myself. Kyouko didn't land so easily, rolling onto one side to absorb the impact without using her feet.

"Kyouko!" I shouted, quickly crossing the space between us on the flat, stable barrier thrown up by my comrade.

"I'm fine!" Kyouko gasped, unable to 'walk it off'. "Just got feet like a colander."

"Here, let me get that…" I replied, healing her as quickly as I could while the Witch hammered on the underside of Kyouko's chains. Not that my fiery love-interest could be thwarted so easily. The chains held, blocking the vines and spikes from touching us at the same time as preventing the Witch from going anywhere.

"Alright, alright, I'm better now…" Kyouko said impatiently, rolling up onto feet that were caked with blood. We magical girls can bleed an awful lot without it us doing a great deal of harm. "Let's go bag us a Witch!"

"I'm starting to think we should get Mami involved, Kyou…" I warned, as we took off, heading straight for the unprotected Witch.

"I'm confident we'll be fine on this one, Sayaka. Don't be such a wuss!" Kyouko replied, her voice a pillar of confidence even taller than the pillar we approached. Her spear was in its single stage right now, ready to break apart at any moment.

"Fine…" I muttered without much enthusiasm, speeding up. Below us, I could hear the metallic thuds of the witch hammering violently against its bonds. A few tentacles wormed their way from outside Kyouko's barrier, striking at us with serpentine motion. Nothing the two of us couldn't tackle with ease. Then, the Witch started casting off small amounts of its body in the form of hardened spikes and things got a lot harder for me.

Not for Kyouko though, of course. With barely a thought, her single weapon became a storm of chain and unbreakable wood, and she could take on a dozen targets without even trying. With a mighty leap, she easily overtook me and soared above the storm of spikes, preparing some kind of strike on that eye.

Suddenly the ground beneath me bulged and ruptured, and the chains set up by Kyouko shattered. My vision was filled with twinkling red pieces of magical chain, and my lower half was consumed by spikes. I cried out, genuinely injured this time, my healing magic working overtime as I hacked my way out, pain coursing through every fibre of my being as my muscles were slashed through, only to be reknitted so that I could move that little more before they were cut again.

I broke free of the ground, my stockings now just ribbons stained red with my blood. I glanced up at Kyouko just as she struck.

Illuminated by the tainted sunlight like some kind of angel, Kyouko spun, lashing out with all her might. Her fragmented spear, a ring around her body, snapped out like a whip, extending twenty, thirty feet from her hand. Like lightning she struck – too quick even for the Witch to react. She caught it with the tip of her blade, cutting the eye deep into its side. The force of Kyouko's attack launched it far away across the barrier, soaring in a graceful arc across the blasted grey landscape.

As soon as the eye was a good fifty feet away or so, the pillar crumbled to the ground, the floor stabilised and the vines shrank back. For a moment, I thought Kyouko had managed to kill it in a single blow. But then I saw the ground rise to catch the eye far in the distance like a baseball player's mitt, and I knew we were just getting started.

"Kyouko…" I murmured, looking her way as she landed gracefully beside me.

"Jeez, Sayaka, you're looking rough. You okay?" She asked, nodding toward my legs. They were totally wreathed in staves.

"Don't worry about me, Kyouko. I'm fine. But I think the Witch is, too…"

"Oh, yeah." Kyouko said, in an almost conversational tone. "In fact, she's gonna be pissed."

"I still think we should call Mami…" I said, as the pillar reformed itself in the distance and started to move toward us – fast.

"And I still think we've got this one…" Kyouko replied, readying her spear.

Then I saw the ripple. It started off small, pushing out in front of the Witch, but got bigger the closer it got. It was at chest height within seconds, and it was made purely of spikes.

A panicked heartbeat later, it was upon us. Anchoring myself in place with rings of glowing runes, I pierced the wave with the point of my sword, shattering it and diverting it about me. Kyouko used her spear like a pole-vault to leap over the wave, striking at the pillar as it barrelled past her, stopping between us with her spear-tip buried inside it, obviously to no effect. The eye turned to face Kyouko for a moment, and I took my chance to strike.

Given that the whole barrier was part of the Witch's body, it was pretty hard to do anything without the Witch noticing. I knew that I'd be sticking my neck out a little, but with a Witch this strong, there weren't any safe bets.

Infusing my limbs with magic, I leapt high into the air, racing toward our adversary with a sword held in both of my hands. I spun around like a top, changing my sword and slashing out at eye-height.

Now, like I've said a thousand times already, I'm no professional Magical girl. I've got a few months under my belt, now, but Kyouko's got more than three times that under hers, and she still says (When we're alone) that there's still a lot she could learn. So when I say that I'm clumsy and hopeless, I'm not just trying to make Kyouko look better, I mean it. The Witch obviously defended itself in some way when I struck, because my sword hit something solid, but thanks to the flash of light I produced when I attacked, and the way I couldn't exactly see where I was going, I honestly don't even know if I hurt it.

I landed heavily on both feet, facing away from the Witch. Blinking as I gained my bearings, I whipped around, drawing a second sword from nowhere.

As I had planned, I was now standing by Kyouko's side, feeling pretty brave. Kyouko looked simply heroic, holding her spear head-first out in front of her.

"Sayaka!" Kyouko shouted, looking over at me. "Let's play a duet!"

I nodded, grinning enthusiastically. "Just like we practiced?"

"Damn right! Show this Witch why we're in charge!" She replied, returning the grin in her beautifully wild way.

I drew four swords and charged them with my magic, levitating them point-upwards around me. Meanwhile, Kyouko charged the head of her spear, such that it burst into red flames, while my swords glowed like luminescent water. Kyouko pointed her spear at me, point-first, and I sent my swords to her, five tips meeting together such that my blades formed a sort of pyramid around her spear head. Then, as we made our attack even stronger, my blades spinning about her spear to form a drill surrounded by musical staves with blue and red fighting for dominance, Kyouko spun her spear at top speed, drove the tip into the ground and flicked it forward with all her might.

She kept her spear, but the energy she had channelled into it remained, the whirling mass of blades and hissing, sparking energy ploughed through the ground, ripping a great furrow a foot wide through the earth in a straight line toward the pillar. The Witch tried to retreat, but our combined attack tore its way up the pillar, ripping it apart violently as it headed straight for the eye.

The pillar widened at the top, condensing as much mass as it could to protect itself in the scant moments it had. Our strike hit the top of the pillar with a deafening boom that echoed out across the remarkably still landscape, a mis-mash of blues, reds and purples and a storm of blackened stone chunks that rained harmlessly down upon us. The eye was blasted straight up into the sky, and I cheered as the whole world screeched in pain.

"Nice one, Kyou!" I roared over the deafening shriek, offering a high five. She returned the gesture with all her usual bone-breaking enthusiasm.

"Oh, I can't take all the credit, Sayaka…" She replied with a grin, suddenly entwining my fingers in hers and offering me her box of pocky. Unwilling to let her go, I took a stick with my free hand, popping it into my mouth with an appreciative nod.

Then we felt the ground rumble beneath us.

"Kyouko… Shouldn't the barrier have dissolved by now?" I asked, my gaze returning to the sky. Something small, orange and very ominous was falling at an alarming speed.

"Aww, crap." The redheaded Magical girl muttered in response, releasing my hand.

Three spires rose from the ground, each one eighty feet apart. They hemmed us in in a wide circle, the earthen spires stretching impossibly thin to catch the eye about sixty feet above us. For a moment, it hung above us, looking like one of those massive satellites they use to pick up radio waves. Then the spikes began to rain down. I raised my swords to defend myself, but Kyouko protected us both – whirling that spear of hers about her head like a helicopter. I didn't know she could spin it so fast. The spikes splintered and were smashed aside by Kyouko's strength, but I couldn't help but wonder how long she could keep it up. I looked over at her.

"Call Mami." She growled, her face desperate.

"Y-yeah!" I replied, dematerialising my swords as I dropped them in my haste, fumbling around in my imaginary pockets for my phone. I retrieved it almost instantly, hammering on the '3' button and lifting it to my ear. The sound of Kyouko's struggle was deafening.

The phone didn't even ring twice before Mami answered.

"I-is something wrong?" She asked, her voice tense.

"Yeah, we need your help." I said simply, glancing up at Kyouko. "Kyou's holding it for now, but I don't think she'll be able to stop it much longer."

"Alright, I'm on my wa-" Mami began, but I interrupted her.

"No, wait! I need to tell you! The whole barrier is the Witch!" I pressed, clutching the phone tightly to my face.

"Understood." Mami replied, and the phone went dead.

"She'll be here any second!" I called up to Kyouko, who nodded.

"We'll be stuck here 'till she turns up, then!" Kyouko shouted back, almost forced down onto her knees. I wish I knew how to help.

"Anything I can do?" I asked, feeling rather pathetic, ducked as I was under Kyouko's protective barrier.

"Having you here is enough." Kyouko replied, glancing down at me for a moment, then back up at the Witch.

"Huh?" I asked, dragged out of the atmosphere of our near-death situation. Did she just-

"Forget I said anything." The wild redhead said firmly, not looking my way.

"No, really, what-"

A bang rang out in the distance, clearly different from the shattering crash of Kyouko's infallible defence. It could only mean one thing.

Suddenly, there was a hail of similar bangs, and the number of spikes hitting Kyouko's spear dropped to zero for the briefest of moments.

"Move!" Mami shouted, her voice a beacon of stoic determination and hope.

I ran first, Kyouko hot on my heels. The ground rippled and tried to grab us as we ran, but the distracted efforts of a Witch desperately trying to protect itself from three-dozen flintlock rifles blasting pieces of it apart.

Mami was some fifty yards away from the Witch itself, bombarding it with as much cannon fire as she could muster.

"I'm glad you two called me, Sayaka. I was starting to get worried." Mami said, as we staggered over to her. We seemed to be just out of range of the Witch's attacks.

"I'm glad we did too." I muttered, looking myself over for wounds. Surprisingly, I didn't have any. Kyouko must have protected me pretty well. The Magical girl in question, however, hadn't fared quite so perfectly as I. There wasn't anything serious, but her skin and regalia were littered with scratches and scrapes from impossible shards of shattered earth, and she was bleeding much more than I'd like.

"Kyou, you're bleeding… Let me get that." I said, calling on my magic.

"H-hey, don't waste your- Oh, whatever." Kyouko said, resisting at first, before giving in and letting me knit her wounds closed. In the meantime, Mami kept the Witch at bay with her bombardment. Her aim was almost perfect, compared to mine. With the two veterans around, I couldn't help but feel pretty clumsy and useless in combat beside them. Kyouko was bad enough, with her lithe form and staggering array of attacks, but Mami was even better, and actually managed to hit the eye a couple of times as it threw up layer after layer of hardened earth to protect itself. The three supports crumbled as it dropped back onto a pillar, and for the first time, it actually looked like it was on the defensive.

As a unit, we descended upon the Witch. Like acrobats we darted about the sea of shifting earth and ravenous thorns, binding a world in ribbon and chain and holding it in place with a hundred swords. Mami was a relentless storm, a hail of magical bullets lancing through the skies from every direction, each one hitting exactly where she planned it, locking things up tight with the cancelling power of her ribbons. Already, a dozen pillars to support the Witch had been formed, frozen by our powers and then abandoned, monoliths in the shifting landscape. If Mami was the storm, then Kyouko was lightning. She blocked a few things with her chains, but mostly she flitted about the Labyrinth like a spark, striking out with her spear like a scorpion and leaving brutal gashes and craters wherever she struck. Mostly, I felt as if I struggled to keep up, but I wasn't without my uses. Unlike Kyouko, or even Mami, I could take a hit or two. I won't say I deliberately got myself injured at any point, but I spent most of that time blocking attacks meant for the powerhouses, and if those attacks occasionally slipped past my blades and struck my body instead, it wasn't the end of the world, even if it did hurt.

Feeling like a third wheel, I landed as I watched Kyouko and Mami's master plan came into action. Finally, Mami had locked down enough of those spikes and vines and pillars to hold it in place long enough to hook a ribbon around its twisted metal cage and rip it loose from its realm. Kyouko anchored one ribbon in place with her spear as Mami swung it out in a great wide arc, releasing the ribbon and pulling loose the one tied around her neck. With a mighty flourish, she drew the ten-foot cannon that had captured my imagination all those months ago, took aim and fired with an earth-shattering boom.

And she missed. Mami's look of plain disbelief was the most powerful, but my mouth fell open too. I'd actually begun to suspect that Mami never missed.

Against the odds, the Witch had managed to throw up a spike, severing Mami's ribbon and casting it out wide. There was a rather embarrassing silence as the eye soared away from us, still trailing what was left of Mami's ribbon.

"S-sorry, everyone." Mami said, dropping to the ground.

"Not your fault." Kyouko replied, actually panting slightly.

"It's coming back…" I warned, as a pillar reformed itself, racing our way. It was smaller this time, and glinted like steel. The Witch had started learning.

Before Mami could even draw her rifles, the Witch was upon us. The sheer power of the shockwave it gave off as it crashed into the still forest of spikes and pillars we had made from its attacks was enough to tear ribbons and shatter chains, and all our work was undone in an instant. We had wounded the Witch a few times, but we were almost back at square one.

It sent out another ripple of spikes, that Kyouko and I leapt over while Mami blasted a hole straight through it. As I landed, I got my first good look at the Witch.

Instead of being the roughly-hewn earthen pillar made solid that it was before, the earth had somehow condensed into some kind of shining black stone like obsidian, forming a ring of blades that ran up the length of the pillar. The tip of the pillar was no longer topped by the eye. From most angles it was pointed, the pillar seemed to be topped with a bulging cone, which I realised was actually a sort of hood, when it turned toward me. The hood was edged and sharp like Kyouko's spear, and the eye glared hatefully at us from beneath its stony cowl as we waited for its next attack.

It was wounded more severely than I initially thought, actually. There were a number of gashes and holes in its form, and brackish orange liquids sprayed out with every motion it made. It was probably the closest thing this monster had to bleeding.

Then, as if it had finished calculating us, its whole demeanour changed. To her surprise, it rounded on Kyouko, the pillar racing toward her with sudden and alarming speed we had never seen before. Kyouko danced out of the way, blocking blades that speared out of its body as best she could, but it just kept coming.

"Little help?" She called, but I had already swung into action. Mami and I pursued it as best we could, but with so few weaknesses there was little we could do. My blades bounced harmlessly off its armoured hide as I threw them, and Mami's bullets had the same effect. The Witch threw up great spikes to stab and slow Kyouko as she dodged, but she leapt between them like a hare, springing from spike to spike as they formed. But no matter how much she weaved or dodged, the pillar was right on her tail. She made a majestic leap for clear ground, using her sear like a pole vault to gain herself some extra distance. For just a moment, she was clear of the Witch's attacks.

"Kyouko!" Mami cried, rushing past me as if I didn't exist. "Use Rosso Fantasma!"

"Huh?" Kyouko grunted, glancing over at her. And in that tiny moment of hesitation, I saw hell unfold before my eyes.

The Witch caught up in a fraction of a second, slamming into Kyouko's middle with a sickening crunch. It smashed her to the ground, dragging her twenty feet across the rippling landscape.

Mami cried out, stumbling, but I was past her already. I saw in my eyes a flash of what I had been a few months ago, able to shut out everything and focus solely on destruction. Nothing mattered to me then, until Kyouko had taught me how to live again. But now, one thing and one thing alone did matter, and she was about to die. Months of training, of conservation, of efficiency, of risk assessment were all forgotten in an instant. Power flooded through my system as I bounded; one step, two steps, three – and then I was upon the Witch, still forcing itself through Kyouko's slim body. I channelled my power into both of my blades, striking out like anyone possessed. Barbed tentacles rose from its form as I slashed, ripping at my skin and clothing, but I was far beyond anything so petty.

Then, Kyouko was in my sights, impaled by that impossible spire of land that I despised. It took me a long moment to realise that I had actually ripped my way through its entire body.

That foul, glowing yellow eye stared hatefully down at me, and I heard that groaning, shuddering shriek burst my eardrums. Not that I cared. My swords glowed blue and crackled with energy as I straightened up, ramming them both to the hilt inside that monstrous eyeball.

It bellowed, this time in pain, pulling out of Kyouko and rearing back, vile yellow liquids spraying forth from its wounds. I fell to kyouko's side, watching as Mami's shots rang out in the desolate cold, puncturing its eyeball time and again. Each shot anchored it in place with her ribbons, and with her expression like death, she formed that gigantic cannon once again, took aim, and fired.

Mami's aim was perfect, and the eye was blown to pieces, my cloak was singed with my proximity to the explosion. Not that I cared. As soon as the Witch's death throes began, my attention was solely upon Kyouko.

There was a gaping, ragged hole straight through the middle of her gut, and I could see the ground through her as it shattered and melted away into the alley. There was blood everywhere. I think she had lost consciousness by that point. She might have even been dead. But I patched her up all the same. Every reserve I had, each tiny ounce of my being went into my magic, and I could feel it. Her flesh boiled, rippled and then grew back, but it looked too late. Her gem was corrupting at a rate I'd never seen before – I was losing her. I closed my eyes as tears clouded my vision entirely; pouring everything I had into my magic even as I felt Mami sharing the grief seed between Kyouko and myself.

After minutes that felt like years of heartbreak, I cracked my eyes open. I could still scarcely see straight, but her midriff was healed, and her gem, though cloudier than two weeks without a grief seed, was stable.

"Kyou…" I muttered dully, grabbing her limp form by the shoulders and hugging her possessively to my chest. I lifted her higher, pressing my ear to her soft, warm chest.

Thump thump… Thump thump… Thump thump…

The sound was more beautiful than any other, before or since. It was harmonious, melodic and powerful, and brought fresh tears to my eyes.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry…" Mami murmured, from somewhere to my left. Instinctively, I bundled Kyouko up protectively in my arms so that she was lying with her back against me, her head resting against my chest. My vision was still blurry, so I blinked a few times, glaring up at her.

"Sorry? What was that?" I demanded. What had she even said?

"It was… It was… It was something from the old days… I had a flashback…" Mami mumbled weakly, holding her head shamefully. I'd never seen her so apologetic and small. "Rosso Fantasma was something she could do, back before she lost her magic…"

"Lost her- What are you talking about?" I asked, my expression still the same. No matter how you cut it, she had still put my Kyouko in danger. She'd almost gotten her killed.

"When she was your age, in the old days…" Mami began, sitting down before us. "She had magic specific to her wish, like you do, and all of us. She could control illusions. Manipulate reality in the minds of others, and so forth. Her speciality was to create doubles of her own body, a move I named Rosso Fantasma. It confused Witches and forced them to stop for a while. But when… When she lost her family, she rejected her wish, and lost nearly all of that ability. She can't use it in battle at all, anymore…" Mami finished in a solemn tone, now holding Kyouko's hand. I forced myself to breathe a little, to stay my anger and forgive Mami. It was only a mistake, after all. But… It was a stupid one! Kyouko had nearly died thanks to that flashback, regardless of how serious it was.

"Kyouko…" I breathed, squeezing her gently. "Why didn't you tell me?" My ears bubbled painfully as my eardrums repaired themselves.

"It's a point of humiliation for her, I understand…" Mami said, looking just as distraught as me. "It's forced her to become extremely creative to compensate. Her spear didn't used to break apart, you know?"

"No kidding…" I mumbled, still holding Kyouko. She'd never looked so… defenceless, before. She looked weak and vulnerable, two things that Kyouko would never appear as willingly.

"She is okay, right?" Mami asked me, as the seconds passed into minutes. Kyouko still hadn't stirred.

"She's weak, but she's alive. Just unconscious, I guess…" I said, looking down at her. She looked so harmless, so sweet… I bent down closer. I didn't much care if Mami saw. She knew anyway.

Brushing aside her hair, I planted a little kiss on her forehead, marvelling in the smoothness and softness of her flawless skin. Mami just shifted uncomfortably and squeezed Kyouko's hand. Was I being selfish, holding all of Kyouko while Mami just held her hand? Probably. Did I care? Not at the moment.

Suddenly, and much to my surprise, Kyouko groaned, stirring at last. I sat bolt upright faster than I thought possible, fighting to control a sudden blush. She lifted her head a little off my chest, and I loosened my grip so that she could move a little more freely.

"Mami…" She grunted, sounding drunken and disorientated. Mami, still sitting in front of her, leant forward.

"Kyouko?"

Reaching out, Kyouko punched her in the top of her head. Even as weak as she was at the moment, it must have hurt a lot, because the experienced Magical girl nearly crumpled.

"Rosso Fantasm- Mami, what the fuck were you thinking?" Kyouko shouted angrily, trying to push herself up a little.

"I-I'm sorry, Kyouko! Mami cried, holding her head. "I really am! I-I just… It was a flashback, see, I-"

"Ah, whatever." Kyouko said dismissively. "I'm fine now, I guess. So no harm done." That was her way of accepting an apology. That was Kyouko all over. Her anger was like a flash of lightning, and she could totally switch emotion just as fast.

"W-well, that would be thanks entirely to Sayaka…" Mami said softly, pointing at me.

"Saya-" Kyouko began, looking down and placing her hand on top of mine thoughtfully. Then, suddenly, her head shot back, and she stared up at me. "S-Sayaka!"

"Hey there, soldier." I said in a smaller voice than I intended. "You gave us quite the scare back then…"

"Tell me about it…" Kyouko groaned, trying to sit up a little. "Now, be honest… How do I look?"

"Gorgeous." I replied, before my mind could remember that saying that was a horrible idea.

Kyouko must still have been feeling unwell, because she had a short coughing fit after that, and her face went rather red. So did mine, but for a slightly different reason.

"I-I mean, you're looking better now that I've put you back together…" I said, trying to hold myself together. To be quite honest, I just wanted to start crying again. "I could see the floor through your stomach."

"My stomach-" Kyouko began, looking down at where her uniform had been ripped apart by the Witch. Her whole midriff was showing. "D-don't look at that!" She said hastily, clapping both forearms over her bare stomach.

"Why on earth not, Kyouko?" Mami asked, looking bemused.

"I'm self-conscious! Shut up! Now let me go, so I can get up." Kyouko said, looking up at me again. Her face hadn't lost any of its redness.

"Kyou, you're still weak… At least let me give you a hand." I said gently reluctantly releasing her. "You almost died."

"I'm fine, really." She said, groaning with discomfort as she pulled herself up to her feet. I got up beside her, ready to catch her if she fell. "Trust me, I've had a lot worse and been a lot closer in my time, and I didn't have you on call to help me out."

"That so, Kyouko?" I asked, frowning sceptically. It was nice to see she still had a sense of humour. "And how did you get through without me?"

"Oh, I'm tougher than I look." Kyouko stated proudly, flexing her muscles. "I always bounce back in the end."

As much as I didn't believe her, I was impressed by how quickly she got back together, both physically and mentally.

"Look, I… Perhaps you two should take the rest of the night off? You could both probably use the rest…" Mami said cautiously.

"Well… Maybe…" I said, wincing a little. I didn't like the idea of leaving Mitakihara without a protector, even for one night. I'd seen what happened if we turned up just a little too late, so I didn't want to think about what might happen if we didn't turn up at all.

"I'd be happy to take over for the night…" Mami suggested helpfully.

"Not on your own." I said firmly, getting to my feet. Kyouko stood by my side, opting not to join in. "Not this late in the month."

"You're right… But it'd be unseemly to invite Homura out this late, and I've put Nagisa to bed already."

"Well, I'm out already, and I'm still okay." I replied, shrugging.

"I'm still fine!" Kyouko interjected, but I nudged her into silence.

"Are you sure?" Mami asked me, her gaze flickering over to Kyouko. "Can you get home by yourself?"

"No, mum, I need Sayaka to hold my hand when I cross the road." Kyouko replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Kyouko, I know you've been through a lot just now, but the attitude isn't really appreciated at the moment." Mami said flatly, and Kyouko stopped in her tracks.

"Yeah, I can get home okay…" The long-haired Magical girl muttered sullenly.

"Thank you, Kyouko." Mami said, much more brightly. "I am still sorry for earlier, you know…"

"Of course I know, Mami." Kyouko said, slightly less defensive. "And I said I forgive you. People do stupid stuff, sometimes. We make mistakes, we mess around and we fuck up. But it's important to live without regrets, when you're a Magical girl. So even if something really bad did happen, you've gotta learn to let it go. You can't get it back, so just leave it in the past where it belongs. And hey, I'm still here. So nothing went wrong, did it? Learn from it, then move on. I forgive you."

The two of us stared at her in disbelief. From anyone, that would have been impressively insightful. But for a girl that considered farting under her armpit the height of wit, the times when she came out with that sort of comment was really astonishing.

"Ummm… Yes, Kyouko. That's… Still, I felt the need to apologise." Mami said hesitantly, clearly still taken aback.

"No worries, Mami." The redhead in question replied, stretching out her core a little. "Guess you two had better get going?"

"If you're sure you're gonna be okay…" I repeated, nudging her shoulder lightly. "I don't want anything happening to you.

"What's gonna happen to me? It's up to you two to take care of the Witches, and nobody's gonna lay a hand on me without losing it." Kyouko stated boldly, activating her soul gem and reverting to her school uniform.

"Remember, don't go to bed before I get back, Kyouko." I said, as Mami and I made to head deeper back into the alley. "I'm washing that rat's nest of yours tonight."

"Looking forward to it already!" She replied brightly, waving enthusiastically before strolling out into the street.

"Are you worried about her?" Mami asked, as we drew our soul gems.

"Not really." I replied truthfully. "You know Kyouko as well as I do. She can take care of herself, even in this area of the city. Hell, she probably could if she wasn't even a Magical girl."

"True, but… I can't help but worry about her, the same way I do Nagisa."

"That's only natural." I replied, surprised to be the one consoling Mami. Surely, it should be the other way around? "But if you… You know. Care about some that much, then you need to learn to trust them, I guess." The word 'love' doesn't come all that easy to me. I don't even know why! I'm an extrovert and everything!

"You're right, of course." Mami said, as our gems simultaneously picked up a signal. "But it is terribly hard for me to let go like that…"

"And I can understand why!" I replied reassuringly, as we took up the hunt. "But you're not even letting her go, really. She's just heading back to my place. You'll see her again tomorrow."

"Again, you're right. I even worry about Nagisa, sending her to elementary school like that."

"Now you're just being crazy." I said playfully, cuffing her shoulder lightly as we scaled a wall easily. One of the Witches that had been lurking nearby had dissolved its barrier and fled, but we gave chase from its magical signal. It wouldn't go far. They never did. "You know, I'm starting to feel like your senior, here."

Mami laughed softly. "Sorry, Sayaka. I know it's silly of me. I'm fine though, don't worry. All I really need is some company."

I smiled and nodded. "That's good news then, because I doubt any of us are going far."

After the death of what Mami and I are tentatively calling a level seven, for its sheer strength, scale and unusual nature, the Witch hunt was fairly easy. It was pretty uncommon for there to be more than one Witch on any given night, but this close to the full moon, there had been three hiding in that alley, and the other two had fled when we took down the 'seven'. They didn't put up much of a fight when we found them, either – mere level ones, one of which clearly an ex-familiar that had only just worked its way up into Witch-hood. Angry at myself for letting a familiar get this far in the city we protected, I slew it personally.

Mami and I used most of the first gem on ourselves – primarily me – to get us back in good form. The second, Mami gave to me, both for Kyouko, and to keep until the next meeting. She also promised me that at the next meeting, we would be discussing actual tactics, and bring Homura's precious statistics into play.

.0.

After that, the journey home was… Joyous? That's probably the wrong term. But I did feel really light and… I don't know, excited to be seeing Kyouko again? That's probably the best way I could describe it. I think I might be on some kind of high after seeing her back from the brink of death.

The threat of dying is something we have to live with every day as a Magical girl, and I'm acutely aware that my feelings don't amount for much when the Witches come calling. Just because of who we are, I have to accept that even a year from now might be too much to ask. But to spend it with her… It's a price worth paying, I think.

Sometimes, I wonder what my life might have been like if none of this had ever happened. If Madoka had never heard Kyubey calling to her that day, and if Homura had never transferred to Mitakihara middle school. We never would have gotten caught up in that Witch barrier, and we never would have met Mami. We never would have become Magical girls, in short. We'd live safer, more secure lives, I think. No lying to people, sneaking out at night to risk our necks killing things that, logic should dictate, don't exist. But Madoka would still be that kind-hearted but really shy and insecure girl, Mami would be all alone, so would Kyouko, and I… Christ, I would still be pining for Kyousuke.

Damn, Kyousuke. He would still be in the hospital, with no hopes and no future. Maybe it is better that all this happened, then? I've got no regrets anymore. A lot of things have gotten better since we contracted, even though the world has become a slightly less friendly place to call home.

After what felt like an age, I finally arrived home. Kyouko had left the door unlocked when she came back (of course she had a spare key – she practically lived here!) so I walked straight in, turning back into a 'human' with a flash of blue light.

"I'm home!" I cried into the quiet house, locking the door behind me.

"Living room!" Kyouko called in reply, her voice clearly coming from said living room. I bounded lightly in, eager to see her again.

Kyouko was, as per usual, relaxing and eating. She was reclined sideways on one of my armchairs, uniform thrown carelessly on the floor so that she was wearing just her tank top and those ridiculous little denim shorts of hers. One foot dangled loosely on the ground, while the other was propped up on the arm of the chair. There was already an empty packet of my crisps on the floor beside her, and a half-eaten box of doughnuts that she must have bought on the way home from a 7-11.

"Hey, Sayaka." She said lazily, waving.

"Jeez, Kyouko. It's past midnight, and you're eating?" I asked incredulously.

"Looks that way. Guess I got bored. Want one?" She asked, holding one out for me.

"No! I'm watching my weight. And besides, I'll get terrible indigestion eating that sugary crap this late." I replied, pushing the disturbingly mouth-watering snack away. Truth be told, I did kind of want one. They looked great, and I hadn't had one in ages. But even with all the exercise I did these days, my metabolism is awful, and I put on weight really easily.

"Suit yourself." Kyouko replied, stuffing the doughnut into her mouth whole. She was a bottomless pit. "Now, we gonna wash my hair at some point?"

"Well, we'd better go in the bath, first." I replied, folding my arms. "Unless you don't wash anymore."

"Hey! I wash!" Kyouko shot back, sliding off the chair and onto her feet. "Just because I'm not some weird clean freak like you!"

"I'm not a clean freak just because I have a sense of basic hygiene!" I retorted as she walked past me, heading to get a towel. Over the last few months, she had gotten so comfortable in my house that she treated it like her own home.

"Basic? It's like, space age cleaning in here!" Kyouko shouted back, slinging a pink towel over her shoulder. I feel like your apartment has been laminated!"

"Only because your flat is the last place on earth where you can still catch smallpox! I bet the rats get ill!" I cried, stamping.

"I wouldn't know! Since you kidnapped me, I hardly ever even see my flat!" She returned, striding toward the bathroom.

"Kidnapped? If you don't like it here, leave! I won't stop you!" I sent back, feeling my face heat up.

"Well, maybe I will!" Kyouko shouted, glaring.

"Ha! And go look after yourself? You're far too lazy to ever feed yourself again!" I returned triumphantly.

Kyouko just 'hmphed' as loudly as she could, stalking into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her. The quivering silence left in the wake of our argument was tremendous.

Then Kyouko started laughing. Quietly at first, from behind the bathroom door, but before long she was full-on cackling with the mirth of a stupid little good-for-nothing that had just beaten me again. I seethed quietly for a moment. Of course, that wasn't a real fight, even if I had started to act like it was. As per usual, Kyouko was just winding me up and I had fallen for it. What did she love about getting me so riled up anyway? She was such a cretin.

"And stop eating my bloody crisps!" I bellowed at the closed door, to which she just laughed even harder. That done, I sat down heavily on my sofa to have a jolly good sulk.

It only occurred to me then that despite all my worries and woes regarding Kyouko, and what we'd just been through, I hadn't actually been thinking about it at all since I got back. It was almost as if none of it had ever happened to her. Was this what she meant by a life without regrets? Encounter a problem or tragedy, solve it immediately as best you can and then just move on? I mean, she forgave Mami almost immediately, even though it was kind of her fault. Now, that's not to say that I haven't forgiven her by now, but it's different. I guess Kyouko's just too laid back for me to understand. She really just doesn't stress about things in the same way that I do. Nevertheless, I still want to talk to her about it. I'm worried that she might not be quite as fine as she seems.

Aside from my general thoughtfulness however, bath time was much the same as it always was. She went in for a while, came out looking cheerful and incredibly distracting wearing nothing but a towel, before telling me to be quick so that I could wash her hair when I was done. And when I was in, nothing out of the ordinary occurred. No mysterious crashes from outside, nothing weird at all. This, I concluded, was both great and a very bad thing at the same time. It was fantastic that she could bounce back so fast, I confirmed to myself for at least the tenth time as I stepped out of the bath, drying myself off enough that I didn't drip at all. But on the other hand, I couldn't escape the feeling that I definitely would not have recovered so quickly. This I reaffirmed to myself as I wrapped my towel tightly around myself, tucking it into itself at my chest so that it couldn't fall off.

My thoughts were re-prioritised, however, when I invited Kyouko back into the bathroom, and she arrived eagerly, grinning at me as she pulled a little stool out from under the sink and sitting down, facing away from me. I found myself unable not to notice that neither of us were wearing very much at the moment, alone as we were in this warm, steamy bathroom…

Man, Kyouko looked great in the rich orange light of the bathroom. Her wet skin glistened like gold, and her beautiful red hair cascaded down her shoulders and almost to her seat, shining and sleek. She tapped her feet gently against the tile flooring as she waited for me, adjusting the way the towel rested on the top of her chest.

"Come on, Sa-ya-ka!" She said in a soft, sing-song voice to the beat of her feet, rocking her head from side to side. "Can we wash my hair to-day?"

"Okay, okay!" I laughed as she sang my name. She was such a little sweetheart. All other thoughts about earlier in the evening were essentially forgotten as I knelt down behind her, bottle in hand. Her hair really was a tangled mess up around her head. "Man, for someone with such pretty hair, you really don't look after it." I said, studying her.

"Hey, it's not so great." Kyouko replied, stopping to look up at me. "Your hair's way nicer." As if to emphasise her point, she reached up, pinching a lock of my fringe between her forefinger and thumb.

"Oi! Hands off, you!" I scolded lightly, patting her arm away and trying to hold in a faint blush that I could feel spreading across my face. "My hair isn't nice at all. It doesn't style, it just… musses up everywhere. I can't even have it long like yours, because it starts to curl and look weird. 'Sides, red's a way nicer colour."

"Is not! Blue looks really cute." Kyouko stated obstinately, turning away to face the front again.

"I-I…" I stammered, the heat in my face starting to feel like a fire. "Y-yeah, sure, Kyouko. You just take better care of your hair from now on, okay?"

"I'll try!" Kyouko said brightly, starting to tap her feet again.

"Or do you want me to wash your hair all the time?" I asked, smiling as I upended the bottle over her head and squeezed.

"Ah! Cold!" Kyouko winced, her shoulders tensing up as I squirted the pale pink ooze onto her head. The faint smell of passion fruit filled the air. "But really, I don't think I'd mind it too much. It's fun!"

"I've hardly even started, yet!" I said, placing both hands on her head. Man, her hair was so silky and soft! It wasn't fair that she never did anything with it.

"Prove me wrong, Sayaka." She replied simply, leaning back into my hands as I coated her head in suds.

Okay, I admit that I went a bit too far. Even with a case as bad as Kyouko's, forty-five minutes was too long to spend in a bathroom full of steam, eagerly and happily running my hands through Kyouko's luxurious hair again and again. Devoid of knots and tangles, it was actually even longer than I thought, coming down past her waist. I must have rinsed out her hair a dozen times that night, each time giving it that little extra shampoo until she shone like the sun. Not that she didn't anyway.

And yet, through the whole thing, she just sat there and took it. I mean, I never once expected her to enjoy it at all. And, yet, that's really the only way I can adequately describe it! For the whole forty-five minutes, she never complained (Except for when I had to untangle a few really difficult knots) she never whined, or fidgeted too much. In fact, by about twenty minutes in, she had closed her eyes and was humming softly to herself as I obsessed over her hair, and then her head, and then I might have ultimately finished up with a short shoulder massage. It wasn't like she didn't deserve it, after the day she'd had. And besides, she was practically asleep at that point anyway. And her skin was irresistible. It was so soft and warm beneath my hands! I'm sure I must have been shaking, but Kyouko never said a word about it. I just get so nervous when I'm touching her, you know? I wish I could explain why, as it's not like I can't trust myself to keep my hands somewhere innocent.

"There we go!" I said enthusiastically after rinsing her down a final time, throwing my arms around her.

"Whoa, hey!" Kyouko shouted, jumping in surprise. "Could have given me a heart attack!"

"Oh, hush you. It's time to get out now." I said, smiling. She smelled of passion fruit.

"I'm going nowhere with you limpeting on me." Kyouko said stubbornly, but it didn't sound like she minded too much.

"What? A big strong girl like you, can't carry little old me?" I asked teasingly.

"Well, maybe if you weren't so heavy…"

"I'm not heavy!" I shot back, poking her cheek.

"Yeah, yeah." Kyouko said, unable to comprehend that, as someone that doesn't have the metabolism of a whippet, I'm touchy about my weight. That, or because she did realise, she found it funny. She is a piece of work, sometimes. And with that, she got up, with me still clinging onto her back. Kyouko was strong like an ox, despite her slim, feminine body.

"Yay! Told you you could do it!" I said smugly, as she smiled back at me.

"'Course I can. I'm magnificent." Kyouko replied, so full of confidence and pride.

"Carry me, carry me!" I said cheerfully, swinging my legs up for her to catch.

"Oh, if I must…" Kyouko replied in mock reluctance, catching my legs just in the crook of my knees and carrying me piggy-back out of the bathroom, across the living room and up to my bedroom.

"Last stop, lazy-bones." Kyouko called, reversing into my bedroom. She let go, and I finally released her, dropping lightly to the ground. I felt a bit giddy, having spent so long in the hot, steamy bathroom, and then with my head resting on Kyouko's shoulder all the way up to my room.

"Thanks, Kyouko!" I said, ambling over to my bed and fetching my pyjamas. "I'll get changed just out here, okay?" I continued, pointing to the door.

"Huh? Oh, okay." Kyouko grunted, as she walked over to her sleeping bag. For some reason, she was blushing furiously.

I stepped outside into the darkened landing, closing the door behind me before I removed my towel and dried myself off. Yeah, it might not have been too weird if we'd gotten changed in the same room if we'd both just looked the other way or something, but, I don't know… Doing that would have been treating Kyouko as a really close friend, or possibly a sibling or something. And while I am happy treating her as a close friend, because she is, that's not really the relationship I want to have with her. In a weird way, I want it to be awkward between us. I want it to be awkward, because if she feels uncomfortable with me looking at her, then maybe it's because she's been looking at me the same way. As unreasonable as it might be, I really want her to find me attractive.

Then, she did say that my hair was cute…

Not that it meant anything. Understanding Kyouko was like trying to understand meaning in the universe. She was full of dead ends and hyperbole and it all went by at such a breathlessly wonderful pace that it swept me off my feet, and… I really don't know anything.

I sighed, adjusting the way my pyjamas sat on my shoulders slightly and pushing the door open.

"Ready, Kyou-" I began, before Kyouko caught my eyes. It hadn't really occurred to me that she might have taken longer than me to get changed. She had her trousers on, and had put on her shirt, but it wasn't buttoned up yet and there may well have been quite a lot to see, had I not suddenly clapped my forearm over my eyes, turned away and started shouting incoherently in that 'I'm not looking, I'm sorry but I didn't see anything!' kind of way.

"H-hey!" Kyouko squawked, as my experience of the world became entirely aural. "I'm still getting changed, you great bleeding asshat!"

"I didn't see your fucking stomach, don't worry!" I shouted back, starting to blush quite fiercely.

"There's other stuff besides my stomach!" She cried back, as I staggered blindly over to my bed, feeling my way across my room one-handed. "I have boobs, you know!"

"Could have fooled me…" I muttered in reply.

"Shut up! I'm still growing!" My beautiful lodger replied, clearly sulking.

"Yeah, yeah." I replied, acting as if I didn't care. "Are you finished, yet?"

"Yeah, I am now." Kyouko stated, and I finally lowered my arm, restoring my sight.

Kyouko was wearing one of my sets of pyjamas, a long sleeved set of airy blue clothes that were just a tiny bit baggy on her. Personally, I think it made her look adorable, and as I was the only one who saw her like this, mine was the opinion that mattered.

"It's about time." I replied, hands on hips.

"Whatever, Sayaka."" Kyouko grumbled, stumbling back over to her sleeping bag. "Tell you, I'm knackered after having my belly ripped out. I'm gonna be starving in the morning."

"When are you not?" I asked flatly, slipping quickly into bed. Looking over at little Kyouko though, getting into that sleeping bag (Or rather, wriggling her way in like a grub) all by herself… It didn't sit right. Surely though, I couldn't-

"A-actually, Kyouko…" I said, before I had the chance to stop myself.

"Hm?" Kyouko grunted in response, looking up at me.

"Do you wanna… Sleep in my bed with me? Just for tonight." If I was honest, it was as much for my comfort and reassurance as hers. I'd almost lost Kyouko just a couple hours ago. My Kyouko! That… Cursed obsession of mine.

"Really?" Kyouko gasped, looking up at me with the huge eyes of a child that had just been told they could have as much ice cream as they liked. As if I could have ever said no to that.

"Sure. Come on up." I said, moving away and patting the side of the bed closest to her.

"Yay!" She cried, scrambling out of her sleeping bag and diving under my covers from the side, worming her way up next to me with a grin. "Thanks, Sayaka!"

"You know what's gotta happen now though, don't you? I asked, looking over at her.

"It ain't sleep, is it?" Kyouko mumbled hopefully.

"It's not. 'cos you said you'd answer some questions when we got home… About Mami."

"Ah, damn." She muttered. "Well, I suppose you'd better know sooner or later…"

"Yeah, I should." I said as gently as I could. "So, why is it that you're so touchy about hunting with Mami?"

"Well, it's… You know how it digs up a lot of old memories from way back when it was just the two of us…" Kyouko said, shuffling a little closer to me in the bed. "For her, I… I think she remembers a lot of the good. She likes to think the best of everyone, even someone like me."

"But you…" I prompted, edging slightly closer myself.

"I abandoned her, Sayaka!" Kyouko blurted with sudden emotion. "I left her all alone and I hardly looked back! If she had died, it would have been all my fault!"

"Kyouko…" I murmured, sliding my arm around her shoulders and pulling her in a little closer. She didn't reject me this time, or pull away. It felt nicer than I'd like to admit to hold her like this. "I'm sure she's forgiven you, for all that…"

"Well, I dunno…" Kyouko mumbled, turning her body toward me and throwing her arm across my chest in a loose, comforting hug.

"W-well… Haven't you apologised?" I asked, starting to feel a little flustered. She was so close, so needy… I didn't know she could be like this.

"I… No, not really…" Kyouko muttered, her voice clearly full of shame.

"What? Why not? You've been back for months!" I said, staring down at her in disbelief.

"I-it's not so simple as that!" Kyouko wailed, squeezing me tighter. "When I came back, I went to go apologise, but she just started acting like everything was fine, again… I-I didn't wanna ruin that…"

"Oh, Kyouko…" I soothed, trying to act as much like Mami as possible. She was reassuring and mature. "I understand, but… don't you think you should have apologised, by now?"

"Well yeah, but… I don't really know how. I mean, what I did was horrible. How could I make it up to her?"

"I don't really know, at the moment…" I replied thoughtfully. "But we'll think of something, don't worry."

"Thanks, Shayaka…" Kyouko murmured sleepily, scooting a little closer and hugging me tightly. "I'm glad I have you…"

"Yeah, I'm pretty great, aren't I?" I said with a smile, glad that she had closed her eyes and couldn't see how dark my blush had become. "But I guess you wanna sleep now, huh?"

"Yuh…" Was Kyouko's only reply, before sleep gently took her. She really could fall asleep at the drop of a hat. She was such a sweet little thing. I stroked her hair as I too felt fatigue slowly take me, listening to the soft sounds of contented breathing in the darkness as I lay back, Kyouko's face against my shoulder and her arm across my chest. Despite everything, that night had ended on a pretty good note.

.0.

Jeez, that was an ordeal, for you as much as it was for me, I'm sure. 17000 words! Longest chapter of anything I've ever written, and longer than the first two chapters combined! Bit of a rollercoaster too, so I hope you enjoyed it.

Don't worry, by the way - it might not seem like it, but I do have a plan. Some background stuff won't be delved into at all, but most of the main differences between this universe and the canon one will be explained (Primarily why on earth Nagisa is alive, because that's pretty important).

Of course, the biggest difference of all is that Walpurgisnacht never actually turned up, but I couldn't possibly tell you why in a 'lore' sense. That's mainly because the canon story really doesn't give us enough to go on when it comes to Witch behaviour and nature. Which comes to my Witch headcanons - I'm sorry if you didn't really like that, but I had to say something on the subject. Mami already said the kinds of places you get Witches more frequently, and I just kind of expanded on that idea. And as the Witches all seem to have strong ties to European witch mythology (particularly German - they all have German names, for instance) I decided to run with the lunar cycle, which features pretty strongly in just about any country's folklore as a time when the worlds of the living and the dead are the closest together, allowing for all kinds of mythological creatures to come out. I just took mythology for poorly understood witch tales from Magical girls of millenia past, and ran with it.

Anyway, if you have any questions at all regarding the nature of the story, please message me because I reply to any message given to me that isn't through a guest account (though I wish I could reply to those too). Also please tell me what you think of my storytelling ability! Fanfiction isn't just my way of giving back to the fandom, it's practice for my own independent writing works and it'd mean a lot to me if I could get some feedback off you guys.

Until next time!