There are some days when Ryuko falls to her knees on the floor of the Mankanshoku house, her breath heavy and her dark hair hanging limply across her face like a do not disturb sign with no letters. Her limbs are sore and her vision is blurred but she has to blink, she has to because she is a warrior and a fighter, not a crying little girl. Not anymore, at least.

Those are the days when Mako is there.

Mako is not a fighter. Mako is loud and energetic and socially awkward. She can't wield a blade, she's the victim at the execution, not the hero. Ryuko often finds herself wondering how Mako lived so long, with her big mouth and her nature that's somewhere between invasive and endearing. Mako would have died a long time ago if there wasn't something else there inside her, Ryuko thinks. Something special.

And Mako is special. Mako sits with her when she's staring out the windows at the slums and babbles about something incomprehensible, and Ryuko doesn't really listen. But Ryuko knows that Mako's trying, and Mako knows that sometimes Ryuko needs to hear something that isn't earth-shattering explosions and bloodstains on the concrete.

"Ryuko-chan, you're always so close to death! You're so brave, Ryuko-chan!" She pauses for a moment. "Do you ever wonder what...what would happen if you died?"

Ryuko twists a strand of hair around her finger, looking out at grey, barely visible circle of the moon smog-filled sky. "No, not really. I'm too focused on not doing it, I guess." She laughs, trying to break the awkwardness of the situation.

Mako has a faraway look on her round, childish face, a look Ryuko remembers too well on her own father. "It's sad, Ryuko-chan. It's sad that you don't want to die so you never really get to live, y'know?" That silences any reply Ryuko had, and she stares at Mako somewhat openmouthed. "Ryuko-chan, do you ever wish your life was different? I mean, do you ever wish that you were a princess living in a castle somewhere? Or not even a princess. Maybe a little puppy dog or a flower or a seal."

Ryuko looks into Mako's large, brown eyes, and for a moment she sees a girl who's lived in poverty her whole life, who's had the weight of her entire family resting on her shoulders, who's pummeled with threats and taunts at school for so much as opening her mouth. "I mean, don't get the wrong idea," Mako continues. "I like me. I like my family. But sometimes I just...I wish things were different, you know?" She complements the sentence with a cheery smile, and Ryuko swears she can feel her heart breaking in her chest.

"Mako?"

"Yeah?"

Before Mako has a chance to go off on a tangent, Ryuko puts her hands on the other girl's shoulders. "You know, if someone gave me a chance to live someone else's life, I'd tell them to go fuck themselves. You wanna know why?" She reaches up to brush a bit of Mako's messy bowl cut hair away from her face. "'Cause no matter how shitty things are here, I've got somebody on my side at least. I've got you."

Mako opens her mouth, then closes it again. "R-Ryuko-chan, you're so…" She wipes her eyes, although Ryuko can't see any tears. "You're so brave. You're so nice. I wish I was more like-"

"No," Ryuko whispers, smiling. "I wish I was more like you."

And she kisses Mako, with the snoring of the Mankanshoku family and the rattling of street rats going through the garbage outside in the background. Matoi Ryuko kisses Mankanshoku Mako, and for a moment, it's as though she's won all her battles already.