Disclaimer: What? Don't look at me like that. I don't own Mahou Sensei Negima nor its characters in anyway. So don't you ever try to sue me. Lol

Akira: Well then, it's me again I guess. Hmm, this is kind of inspired by a few of Busy Big White's awesome fan art. (Though I also got the idea from reading something) I hope it's good enough to satisfy fellow KonoSetsu fans out there. By the way, I have a word of warning for you; the story is extremely sappy and lame in a way, so if you don't like it, I suggest you'd better stop now. Also, this hasn't been beta-ed at all, so there might be some mistakes around. On to the story then, shall we?

The Silent Treatment

"O-Ojou-sama?" Setsuna whispered meekly as she peered into the kitchen where the chocolate haired girl was busy chopping fiercely at the poor already mutilated carrots into smaller pieces. The smaller girl stiffened visibly and raised her head a little at her winged guardian's voice, frowning a little before going back to her chores. It had been only two days ago before all these happened.

'Secchan no baka! I hate you!' Konoka thought to herself while biting her lip in the process.

Watching the Konoe princess 'murdering' the carrots again and again, she sweated and sighed dejectedly as her heart fell at Konoka's cold attitude towards her before returning to the living room where the other two occupants of this room were at. She shivered slightly as a chill was sent up her spine for no apparent reason. The room was cold, with the air-conditioning and the weather outside wasn't exactly helping either. Walking upon the scene, it wasn't all that unusual to see Asuna once again chasing after the perverted ermine trying to murder him for having done something… perverted again.

"Don't you try to run away from me, Ero-chamo!" Asuna yelled into the ermine's face and held him in a death grip, cutting off the air supply to his lungs.

"So how was it?" Negi asked, upon sensing Setsuna's presence in the room.

Asuna quickly turned her attention to the new presence in the room, ceasing her current activity of strangling Chamo for stealing her underwear once again. Finally freed from Asuna's deadly grasp, Chamo quickly ran onto Negi's shoulder and sat himself there, panting hard and trying to take in as much air as he could to regain his normal breathing. Sitting down at the table beside Negi, she smiled weakly at her friends before shaking her head. Taking that as a hint for no, Asuna went ahead and gave Setsuna a friendly pat on her shoulder to comfort the samurai girl.

"No problem, Setsuna nee-san! Just give Konoka nee-san a hot, passionate and sexy smooch and everything will be alright!" Chamo wrapped his little arms around himself twisting a little and puckered his lips, making kissing sounds. She felt blood rushing up to her face, warming it and reddening it visibly and her pulse quickened significantly as she shifted uncomfortably at the comment and the thought of kissing Konoka while Asuna grabbed the ermine by his tail, yanked on the two edges of the little ermine's body hard and yelled once again, "Ero-chamo, you just signed your death warrant!"

Was it just her, or did the room temperature just increase? Because the room suddenly felt a lot warmer than it should have been.

"No- Don't! I was just kidding, Anesan! Don't kill me, Aniki, save me!" Chamo begged for his life and struggled futilely before finally giving up.

"Don't worry, it'll all work out in the end, right, Negi?" the twin-tailed girl gave Setsuna a thumb up while looking at Negi for back-up.

"Huh? Wha- Oh, yeah, don't worry too much about it Setsuna-san. I'm sure Konoka-san will forgive you for scaring her with that-

"Ouch!" Negi's hands flew to his head immediately at the contact of Asuna's fist atop his head.

"Baka Negi, you're not supposed to remind her of that!" Asuna whispered harshly into the boy's ears and glared at him.

"Oh- I'm so sorry Setsuna-san. I didn't mean to…" the boy pleaded, his eyes fixating upon the ground.

Setsuna shook her head at her teacher and replied, "It's okay, Negi-sensei. It was my fault anyway. I shouldn't have done that to Ojou-sama no matter what. It was… a practical joke taken too far."

Just then, Konoka's sweet voice rang from the kitchen, saying, "Negi-kun, could you help me with bringing the dishes to the table? I'm a little busy here at the moment."

"Ah, yes, of course!" Negi replied while getting up from his seat, only to be stopped by Asuna's hand on his shoulder, pushing him back to his seat. Confused at the girl's actions, he looked up into her face and realization dawned on him.

"Konoka, let Setsuna-san and I help you. Negi's way too clumsy to be carrying our dinner!" Asuna stood at the entrance of the kitchen with Setsuna's wrist in hers, dragging the swordswoman along with her.

The door to the kitchen opened violently, a dangerous but hardly noticeable glint flashed in Konoka's eyes as she smiled sweetly; a little too sweetly in fact, and said, "What did I tell you about entering my kitchen? The last time you came in here, we almost had to move out of the dorms for a whole week. Also, didn't I tell you not to mention that name in front of me?"

Asuna gulped and Setsuna cringed at the tone of her voice before nodding meekly, signaling that they understood her and that she wasn't in the best of moods right now.

'Scary' was the only word they could use to describe the Konoka at the moment.

"Itadakimasu."

Dinner proceeded in an uncomfortable silence surrounding the four of them, with Konoka pointedly ignoring Setsuna completely. The poor eleven year-old could only watch the silent treatment helplessly. After all, nothing he said or do could change the stubborn princess's actions towards her protector. Gently placing down her chopsticks in a well-mannered way as she was trained to do, Setsuna spoke softly, "Gochisousama deshita. Please excuse my presence, Ojou-sama. I have to go to work now."

Standing up from her seat, she picked her eating utensils up and walked towards the kitchen to place them into the sink.

After grabbing Yuunagi which was sitting at the edge of the bunk bed, Setsuna gave one last bow before exiting the room sadly. It was then that Konoka finally raised her head to catch a glimpse of the half-demon before quickly returning her attention to clearing the dishes on the table. A tingling feeling in her spine made her shiver uneasily. It was a bad feeling, but in regards to what? The remaining pair at the table shrugged and proceeded to clear their utensils as well.

'Secchan… Please be safe…'

Setsuna furrowed her eyebrows as she strode towards the barrier, thinking of ways to apologize to the Konoe heir when she got back. The matter had been bothering her for two days and it just had to be solved, somehow. One could just tell that something was troubling her as the evident frown on her face was pretty much obvious to anyone who saw her.

"Mana," the half-demon said as she arrived at the border of the school barrier. The tanned sharpshooter who was leaning against one of the many trees in the forest nodded lightly as an acknowledgement of the Sakurazaki's presence.

"What's up?"

Setsuna's head which had been lowered for her to stare at the ground, jerked up at Mana's sudden inquiry. The gunner had never been the type to initiate conversations, why start now?

"What I meant was, what happened between you and Konoe?"

Judging by the question, Setsuna deduced that for a moment her face must've shown a look of confusion at Mana's first question. However, it wasn't that surprising for Mana to find out that her behavior had something to do with a certain chocolate haired girl. After all, it was pretty obvious that only one person in the whole of the Mahora campus could've had that kind of effect on the Shinmeiryuu swordswoman Sakurazaki Setsuna. She sighed and asked quietly, "Was I that obvious?"

Mana only shrugged at her colleague's question and answered as-a-matter-of-factly, "Pretty much. I'd get whatever's on my chest off if I were you. These things we're dealing with today, aren't exactly your everyday weaklings. What I want to say is, you can talk to me if you want. Beats stashing everything away inside of you really. If there comes a day where you can't take it anymore and explode, the consequences would be much worse than the situation now. So… you might want to let everything out. It's dangerous to commence the mission right now in your state."

Feeling defeated at the gunner's words, she opened her mouth to speak-

Only to be interrupted by a disturbance towards the forests slightly north and west of their current location. Their eyes met for a brief moment, their heads nodded, and an understanding was achieved.

"Too bad. Work first, talk later!" The gunner broke into a sprint towards the west and was soon out of sight.

"I'll see you later then." Setsuna called out as she leapt onto one of the sturdy branches and began traveling towards the clearing swiftly. In no more than two minutes, she reached her target destination. She stopped in her tracks immediately. Something was wrong… the demons were supposed to be sensed in this area but… where were they? In a flash, she drew Yuunagi and slashed at the demon which snuck up on her from behind. The demon's arm fell to the grassy ground with a thud, turning into nothing but dust. The demon gave a loud, deafening roar as it fell to the ground, signaling the other demons to attack the swordswoman as well.

'Che, today's demons are indeed tougher than the ones we've encountered before. I've got to end this fast and apologize to Ojou-sama again.' With her instinct, she ducked and spun around, taking out two demons in one move. As that pair of demons fell to her sword, another three made a mad dash for her in three different directions and started roaring for their fallen comrades. Raising Yuunagi to eye-level on her left, she broke into a run towards the largest demon and thrust the blade of Yuunagi right into its chest, causing it to scream in agony before turning into dust, just like the previous demons she slew.

She spun around once again, and leapt onto one of the other two demons which were charging madly at her and stabbed her sword into its head, quickly disposing of another enemy. She whipped her head around and noticed something. The number of demons weren't decreasing at all. They were actually increasing very quickly, in a rate that easily surmounts the usual amount of demons she used to deal with.

'This is not good. They're spawning faster than I can kill them. Who's summoning them? I've got to find the summoner before the numbers become too overwhelming. But how do I start? I wonder how Mana's doing…'

Killing one after another, Setsuna never had the time to catch her breath. She was rasping her breath heavily after having slain at least three dozen of the demons. She had to find the summoner quick, or all her efforts would've gone to waste. Rolling to the side quickly, she raised the sheath to block an attack. Upon blocking the demon's monstrous swing, she winced as one of its claws found its way onto her left shoulder, creating a gash as blood spilled freely onto the ground and pushing her a few feet back. She fell to her knees immediately, wincing as she clutched her shoulder with her free hand in pain.

She gritted her teeth and gripped Yuunagi tighter. She felt her energy quickly depleting. No, she would not allow herself to fall here. Not when she hadn't solved her problem with Konoka. Her grip was feeling numb, her legs were getting heavy and starting to ignore the orders that her brain was giving, her eyesight was also starting to get blurry and unfocused. Using Yuunagi to support her weight, she stood up forcefully as the demons closed in on her quickly.

'Damn… I'm feeling faint… Must be the blood loss…'

She couldn't fall there, and wouldn't fall! Bidding her last strength, she closed her eyes and concentrated. White, stainless wings sprouted from her back as she crouched over, spreading her angelic wings fully before flapping them hard, lifting her off the ground. Her sepia orbs scanned the clearing quickly before discovering that the summoner wasn't amongst the horde of demons. Of course, it wouldn't be in there. It'd be hiding somewhere in the trees. She cursed under her breath, here she was, already doing everything in her power to keep flying, and she still had to find the damn summoner. Shutting her eyes tight, she focused her 'Ki' and tried to sense the summoning magic which was being cast.

'There!'

Her eyes opened in a split second as she prepared for her attack.

'This is it. I only have one shot. Miss and it's over. Concentrate!'

Gathering her strength, she concentrated her energy into one, last attack.

"Shinmeiryuu Kessen Ougi…" she whispered while panting and taking in deep breaths… "Shin . Raikouken!"

The trees in the forest exploded and were blown away by the huge impact of the technique. The ground vibrated violently for at least a few seconds and the demons in the clearing started to fade one by one before totally disappearing back to wherever they came from. Setsuna took in one last deep breath and then, everything turned dark and the wings behind her back ceased all movements.

A sudden flash of red hair appeared and caught the falling angel in the air before she hit the ground in her unconscious state.

"Way to go, Negi!" Asuna cheered from below as Negi descended from his magic staff. He heaved a sigh of relief as he touched the ground, with Setsuna unconscious in his arms.

"It's really lucky that I caught her before she hit the ground. The tremor we felt earlier must've been this," he looked at the poor trees which were blown away by Setsuna's technique and sighed again. "She's lost consciousness due to fatigue and blood loss, we got to get her treated immediately. Asuna-san, I'll fly her back first, could you inform Konoka-san and tell her that Setsuna-san is alright? She must be really worried; with us rushing here just like this…"

"I don't need you to tell me that, brat! You go ahead and seek treatment quickly! Count on me to inform Konoka!" Asuna yelled at the poor boy before sprinting back towards the dorms, where Konoka was waiting.

'Secchan…'

Konoka sat at the table holding a warm teacup in between her palms as a frown showed evidently on her soft features. Her eyebrows were creased and once again, she stood up to pace around the room impatiently. The nagging feeling at the back of her head was telling her that something had happened and yet they specifically told her not to go anywhere. She was worried sick about her winged guardian to the point that whatever Setsuna had done to her the days before just didn't matter anymore. What's most important was for Setsuna to be safe and sound. That's it, that's the last straw. She couldn't wait any longer. The worrying and waiting was driving her crazy and she simply could take it no longer.

'Secchan… I got to go see her! Sitting around in the dorms won't help in making things better. I'd better get going.'

Just as she was about to leave the room, Asuna burst into the room with her hands resting on her knees as she bent over to pant, her face was flushed and beads of sweat were trickling down her forehead and face.

"K-K-K-Konoka… Setsuna-san… In the infirmary… S-She was… K-Killed…" the twin tailed girl tried to catch her breath before speaking again but when she looked up, Konoka was already gone from the room. "I'm not done with my sentence and she's gone. And I was about to tell her about Setsuna-san's amazing feat of killing the demons all on her own… Oh well. I guess that's that."

"Anesan… Seems like you screwed up again," the perverted ermine stuck his head out of one of the drawers and lit his cigarette casually.

A murderous glint appeared in Asuna's eyes as she raised her trembling fist slowly.

"Chamo… Have you been sleeping in my underwear again?!"

"N-No! Not this time! I slept in Konoka nee-san's today!"

"Die! Just die, Ero-chamo!" Shouted Asuna as she reached for the small creature for the nth time.

"Nooooooooooooooooo!"

And screams of agony could be heard from their dorm room once again…

'It can't be, Secchan got killed?! That's impossible! She… she promised to protect me forever! She can't be dead, I can't believe it… No, I refuse to believe it!' She ran through the hallways ignoring the weird looks that her school mates gave her and headed straight for the infirmary. Her eyes stung from the tears that now fall freely from her beautiful eyes as she rubbed them carelessly. Her main concern was to get to the infirmary fast just to see her angelic bodyguard once again. Nothing else mattered anymore. The hallway outside the infirmary was totally deserted. Where did Negi and Mana go to?

She opened the door quickly, only to see an empty room filled with white curtains everywhere that obstructed her view. Well, the room wasn't exactly empty. If you listened carefully, you'd be able to hear faint but steady breathing sounds coming from one of the beds. Konoka followed the sounds of faint breathing and came to the bed where Setsuna was sleeping on. Upon looking at her guardian's relaxed sleeping face, she let out the breath that she didn't notice she was holding. A look of relief washed all over her face as she watched her guardian sleep, the constant vigilant face replaced by a child-like, innocent expression that wouldn't be seen if said guardian was awake. She sat herself down at the chair beside the bed and gingerly held the calloused hand which was lying still on the bed.

These were the hands that protected her always without fail. If only she could just hold them like this forever without ever letting them go.

"Kono…chan…" the chocolate haired girl looked at the other girl's face immediately, thinking she had woken up but... it seemed that she was only mumbling in her sleep. She gave a gentle smile as she brought the hand up to her cherry lips and kissed it lightly before placing it back to the bed, holding it tight but gently. Konoka yawned lightly as tiredness overcame her as she placed her head on the bed to rest.

The birds outside the window were chirping livelily as the sun shone brightly on the white sheets of the infirmary. The sheets shifted as the occupant fidgeted a little, and the raven haired girl cracked her eyes open reluctantly to the brightness of the room. Feeling warmth in her right hand, she traced her sight along her arm until her sepia orbs rested upon a sleeping angel who had their fingers entwined. Her gazed softened as a soft smile graced the smaller girl's features and as she did so, mumbling inaudibly to herself, "Kono-chan…"

The girl stirred in her sleep, slowly opening her chocolate brown eyes to meet the eyes of her guardian. Her eyes widened immediately, and soon, the silence was broken by a sob, followed by…

"Secchan, you're awake!" She cried and hugged the injured swordswoman in happiness, momentarily forgetting about the injury on her left shoulder. Even if it hurt at the point of contact, the feeling of being hugged by Konoka had made her forget all the pain that the wound was causing as she flushed scarlet red at how close their faces actually were. Sitting in shock, Setsuna could feel nothing but embarrassment at the close contact with their bodies pressed together like that.

'Snap out of it, Sakurazaki Setsuna! Say something, apologize for what you did!' Right, the matter had been tugging her at the back of her head for a while now, she had to apologize for the joke that had gone too far.

"O-O-O-Ojou-sama… I…" she stuttered and moved her hands frantically after Konoka pulled away from the hug, sighing in disappointment as the body contact ended right there.

"Oh my goodness! You're bleeding again! I'm so sorry, Secchan, I shouldn't have hugged you so tightly!" Konoka panicked at the sight of the blood which was slowly but surely staining the white bandage wrapped around the wound across Setsuna's shoulder.

"Ojou-sama, listen, I'm-

"Secchan, you're bleeding! Whatever it is, can we talk later? I'll get sensei to take a look at you again," Konoka cut her guardian off and stood up quickly to leave the room, only to be stopped by Setsuna's hand which had a firm but gentle grip on her wrist.

"Ojou-sama, please listen to what I have to say," her voice was so steady and firm that it calmed Konoka down instantly. Konoka, having her wrist held by her guardian, had no choice but to sit down in the chair beside the bed and listen to the bleeding girl's request.

"Y-Yes?"

"I… I'm sorry for what I did the other day. I knew I was stupid enough to let them convince me to play a prank on you with a fake-

"Don't say the name of that hideous, horrible, destructive, and terrifying monster! There're just too many ways to describe that terrible creature that even I can't name them all!" Konoka gasped a little too dramatically, squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears tight to shut out the word that Setsuna was trying to say. "I'll hate you forever and never forgive you if you say it again!"

Suppressing her laughter at Konoka's cute antics concerning a certain little creature, she reached out for both of Konoka's hands and removed them from her ears slowly. "What I want to say is, I really want to apologize for it. It's the stupidest thing I've ever done. I'll never do it again."

Raising her head upwards to look at Setsuna properly in the eyes, she slowly opened her tear-filled brown eyes, only to see her very own reflection in Setsuna's eyes. Neither of them realized, but their faces were close enough for them to feel each other's breath on their lips.

'Why didn't I notice them earlier? What beautiful eyes she has… I can just drown in those eyes if I looked at them forever. I've never been so close to them before… I want to take a closer look at them…'

Setsuna released her grip on Konoka's wrists as she cupped her face with her right hand wiping away the tear while her free hand reached up slowly to caress Konoka's soft lips. She felt Konoka's breath hitch a little at the soft touch on her lips. It felt as if the time stopped moving, neither of them knew that they were both holding in their breaths. She leaned in unknowingly , and just as their nose brushed against each other's, Setsuna jerked back into reality almost immediately, and her heart was beating so fast that it felt like it would've jumped out of her ribcage anytime soon. Her cheeks felt as if they were on fire and she drew a significant distance away from the smaller girl quickly, trying to look everywhere else but into those mesmerizing chocolate orbs.

"Kono… No, Ojou-sama, I… Please forgive me for what had transpired earlier. I didn't-

Without a second thought, the silent girl leaned in completely and pressed their lips together in a shy, chaste kiss, cutting off whatever explanation that the protector had in mind. Both of them tensed at feeling one's lips on the other, and it lasted no longer than two seconds as both parties pulled back feeling awkward and their faces were as red as tomatoes. A second kiss, this time, initiated by none other than the swordswoman herself. Pulling away again, they breathed hard. A third kiss, followed by another. Soon, they lost count of the number of kisses they shared as the smaller girl wrapped her arms around her guardian's neck, deepening the kiss while the winged girl slowly encircled her arms around her princess's waist pulling her closer than ever. The both of them were so caught up in the moment that neither realized the door to the infirmary was being opened and that there was a third presence in the room.

A momentary bright flash enveloped the room and the couple pulled back in shock, turning their heads at the direction of the flash only to find Asakura Kazumi grinning slyly with a camera in her hands while striking a victory pose. The mischievous glint in her eyes was unmistakable and before the both girls who were caught making out on camera could say anything; Kazumi had already disappeared from the room shouting happily, "Big news! It's a scoop!"

What happened a few seconds ago finally sunk into their minds as both had their eyes widened in surprise with the two of them shouting in unison, "A…Sa…Ku…Ra!"

Fin.

-Omake-

"Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, isn't there any other way to find out?"

"What are you saying, Setsuna nee-san? This will be the perfect way to do it, I assure you!" the little ermine gave her a thumb up and gave a little wink. "Isn't that right, Kazumi nee-san, Haruna nee-san?"

With that, both girls nodded and handed Setsuna a small match box. Setsuna opened the box slowly, revealing a small mechanical toy cockroach as she scrutinized the thing with an amused expression on her face.

"Setsuna-san, aren't you dying to know what Konoka fears? This is the best way to test it with results guaranteed! After all, one will only show their fears to the person they love," Haruna beamed at the swordswoman who was debating within herself whether to go on with their suggestion or not.

"Besides… you want this back don't you?" Kazumi added, holding up a picture of the raven haired girl in a sexy and revealing maid's uniform with cute and fluffy neko-mimi on her head, doing the pole dance. Setsuna flushed five shades of red at the sight of her own picture, cursing inwardly at herself for letting the two devils succeed in persuading her to attend that drinking party a few nights ago and for letting herself get drunk. She sighed in defeat and kept the little box in her pocket before nodding and leaving for the dorms.

'I shouldn't really be doing this but for the pride of the Shinmeiryuu…'

Peeking into the kitchen where the smaller girl was usually at, Setsuna set her foot into the kitchen, walking towards the counter where the mage was washing the dishes and humming to herself. Fingering the small box in her pocket, she contemplated before removing the box out of her back pocket…

Following next, was a shriek of horror and… Well, I'll let you imagine the rest.

End

Akira: Finally done! Honestly, I didn't intend for the story to turn out like this in the first place lol. It's so different from what I've formulated it in my head. All in all, I think it's pretty interesting to write something like this once in a while. If there's any OOC-ness, I apologize for it. I don't think there'll be a sequel for this as I wrote it at whim XD. So that's all. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. It was fun, to say the least. Thanks for reading this.