All was quiet at Maison Izumo. Well, for the most part at least. Hikari and Uzume were upstairs playing on Naruto's Xbox. The intense rivalry between the two knew no bounds. Naruto was out in the backyard training himself to exhaustion like always and Miya what out visiting her late husband's grave. So Hibiki took it upon herself to prepare dinner. The Lightning Sekirei stood in the kitchen humming a soft tune. A light scratching noise caught her attention and she looked to see the ever energetic Kurama come bounding into the room. "I bet you're hungry too, aren't you boy?" she asked, earning an excited yip from the small fox.

Hibiki smiled as she reached into one of the cabinets and withdrew a box of treats for Kurama. She placed a few in his bowl and the energetic kitsune happily munch on the snack. Hibiki her shuffling behind her and turned to see her Ashikabi trudging into the kitchen.

Naruto held in a groan as he felt his aching muscles pulsing in pain. He'd spent the last two hours working on his Kenjutsu in the backyard. Since Miya was gone, he had to settle for facing off against one of his shadow clones. By fighting himself he was able to discover weaknesses in his defenses and techniques and was able to correct them. But unfortunately, his personality transferred into his clone, and he wasn't exactly one that fancied losing. Granted he was able improve his technique but at the expense of a black eye and a multitude of bruises. Those damn bokken hurt like hell.

The scent of food had brought him to the kitchen where he found his youngest Sekirei feeding Kurama and dinner cooking on the stove. The scent was enough to make the blonde salivate in anticipation. 'I think I'll just have a small snack to tide me over until dinner,' he though as he began rummaging through the many cabinets. "What are you doing?" he heard a voice behind him. He turned to see Hibiki staring at him, arms folded across her chest with a inquisitive expression.

"Nothing…" the blonde lied.

"Well, go away. You're sweating all over the place!"

Naruto offered a sheepish smile as he pulled out a large bag of chips. "Yeah sure, I'm just going a grab a snack and go hop in the shower," he said. He turned to leave the room when he felt the chips snatched out of his hands. Naruto looked to Hibiki with a bewildered expression. "Hey, what gives?"

"No snacks. Dinner will be ready by the time you get out if the bath," Hibiki said.

"B-But…I'm starving…" the blonde whined.

"No buts Naruto, now go bathe!" The Lightning Sekirei said sternly. Much to her ire, the blonde would not relent.

"I need it Hibiki-chan! I can't…go on…like this anymore! No…more…energy!" Naruto said as he dramatically collapsed on the floor. Hibiki rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the food. "Stop being so dramatic Koibito. Dinner will be ready shortly so go clean your-" She stopped speaking when the sound of munching reached her ears. She turned to see Naruto shoving chips to his mouth. The blonde look like a deer caught in headlight as he stuffed his face.

"Naruto!" Hibiki roared. She suddenly found herself enveloped in a tight embrace. "Have I ever told how much I loved you Oto-hime?" Naruto asked as he nuzzled her hair. "Everyday…now…let…me…go!" Hibiki said as she struggled escape her Ashikabi's clutches. "Don't fight it Hibiki-chan! Let me love you!" Naruto exclaimed as he pulled her closer. Hibiki cursed as she tried vainly to push the blonde away. Hibiki kicked his shin and her efforts finally proved successful as her Ashikabi released her.

"Ow!" the blonde shrieked as he recoiled in pain. He quickly recovered when he saw Hibiki reaching for his chips. "I said no Naruto!" Naruto sidestepped her lunge and shoveled another handful of chips into his mouth. Naruto tried to make a break for it but found himself backed up against a wall. Hibiki glared at her Ashikabi as he kept eating despite her protests. "No! Stop! Bad Naruto!" she chastised as she tried snatch away the bag of snacks. Naruto took advantage of his height and held above his head, just out of her reach. Hibiki cursed the blonde for exploiting her shorter stature. She suddenly found his lips against hers in a passionate kiss. Just as she began to settle into it Naruto pulled away.

"Geez if you wanted a kiss you just had to ask!" he grinned upon seeing his Sekirei's flustered expression. Hibiki was furious with the blonde for playing on her emotions like that. Naruto's mirthful expression suddenly shifted to one of agonizing pain when he felt her fist drive into his side. Naruto collapse to the floor and glanced up in fear at the enraged Hibiki. "H-Hibiki-chan I'm s-sorry I didn't mean to- Oh no the food's burning!" he suddenly explained.

Concern immediately replaced the rage written arcoss Hibiki's features as she turned back towards the stove, expecting the worst. It then donned on her that she'd just turned the stove off moments before. She turned to face her Ashikabi once more but found no trace of the blonde. There was only a small black tape recorder.

"Sorry, I'm not available at this time, but if you leave your name and a brief message I promise to get back to you at my earliest convenience!"

Hibiki's eyebrow twitched in annoyance and a growl escaped her. "Koibito…"

"Heh looks like I win this round!" Uzume exclaimed with a victorious fist pump.

"So? I'm still beating you 47 to 42," Hikari grumbled.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash followed by a bout of shrill screams.

"Did you hear th-"

"Nope," Hikari interrupted as she focused on picking a new character for their next battle.

"But…"

"I'm not in this, so I didn't hear anything," Hikari said flatly. "Now are you ready to lose again or what?"

Uzume smirked at her rival. "In your dreams!"

"I'm home!" Miya called out as she entered her home. She didn't receive the normal obnoxious greeting of her Ashikabi and began to wonder why the house was so quiet. She made her way down the hall towards the dining room where she found everyone eating dinner. But as she entered, she could feel the overbearing tension in the room. Hibiki sat at one end of the table alone quietly eating, a dark aura surrounding her being. Uzume and Hikari both sat at the other end, glancing warily at the younger Sekirei. It was then she spotted her near-catatonic Ashikabi off in the corner sitting in the fetal position. His eyes was unfocused as he stared ahead with a blank expression.

"Um…did I miss something?" Miya queried.

"No, nothing at all," Hibiki replied.

"Then what happened to Naruto?"

"Oh, I just taught Koibito a very important lesson today."

"And that being?"

It was then that Naruto spoke for the first time in the last hour. His voice was shaky and laden with fear. "N-No means no!"

So I've been been struck with a bad case of the diabolical Writer's Block these past few weeks. I tried working on Divine but I got stuck. It didn't help that I got discovered Elsword and have been playing it almost constantly. But this came to me earlier while I was watching TV and I decided to write it out. There's also another one-shot I want to write but that'll come later.

Anyway, not one of my greatest works, but it did help me get out of my funk and now I can start working on chapter 22. Plus, I did get a chuckle out of this.