An old, tattered book was balanced upon Meiko's palm as she sprinkled a pinch of this and that into a bowl.

"Hmmm..."

A look of dissatisfaction came upon her face when she took a taste. "I don't get it. I followed everything—oh!"

Scrambling through her shelf, she began discarding quite a few questionable vials that were probably too old to be usable anymore as she sought a particular one she apparently missed in her brew.

"Aha!"

Giving the vial of colorful liquid a kiss, she popped the cork and added just a drop to her concoction.

BOOM!

The room erupted in smoke, and Meiko found herself coughing as she fanned the smoke away. "I guess that extract was expired too..."

"Mei-chan, I'm—" Kaito stopped in his tracks when he saw a plume of smoke swirling around his wife and what appeared to be slowly spreading flames upon the counter. With a quick snap his fingers, he did a whirling motion with his hands, causing the flames to freeze—quite literally—and another gesture caused the ice to melt, expelling the flames with it.

"Oh, thank you! Somehow I missed that..."

"Experimenting with sweets again?" Kaito asked, judging from the burnt but fairly sweet aroma the smoke was wafting through the house.

"Not experimenting, cooking!" Meiko said in response.

"With a touch a magic, I assume?"

"Just a little..." she blushed. The red mage was skillful in most things, but very clumsy in the kitchen. Which was unfortunate, since Meiko's passion is for sweets.

Kaito sighed, but with a slight smirk on his face. "Just a little too much, hmm?"

The blush on her face grew hotter as she pouted. "I've almost perfected it! Your taste buds will be elated when I'm through!"

"Yes, I'm sure they will feel... something." Kaito replied nervously. "Ow!"

Meiko whacked his shoulder with her wand. "Hmph!"

"Eheheh... I'm sure it'll be great, Mei-chan."

"Oh, confident only when I have my wand in hand, are you?"

"I have one too."

"But I can set you on fire!"

Kaito leaned near her face, cradling her chin close to his. "And I can freeze your hand before you even had the chance."

"I'd simply... melt the ice... then..." she managed those words in a whisper as the two inched closer. Their lips barely brushed when Kaito pulled away.

"Well, I'll leave you to your experiments!"

Meiko was dumbfounded. "H-Hey!"

Kaito just laughed, then leaned in close once more. "I'm sure whatever you make will be delicious."

He gave her kiss as a sign of reassurance.

Meiko's cheeks were left with a rosy color as Kaito exited the kitchen, probably to sort through assignments of his students. Being married to an ice mage sure was interesting.

"Now..." Meiko turned to look at her rather messy kitchen, wand in hand. "I think I know what I may be missing!"

Kaito cringed a couple times when he heard very clear explosions coming the direction of the kitchen.

"Everything's fine!" his wife assured him.

"Are you sure?" he shouted back.

"Yeah!"

He sighed, but followed up with a laugh. Kaito wasn't sure whether he should be intrigued or scared at what's going to come out of that.

"Here you are, my love~" Meiko appeared with a tray, waving her wand briefly to decorate the treats to make them more pleasing to the eyes.

Kaito closed his book to get a closer look at them. The aroma smelt safe lovely and they certainly were quite pleasing to the eyes.

"Come on now, why don't you take a little bite?" Meiko urged in a slightly seductive tone.

"Trying to lure me into a trap?" he teased.

Meiko mocked-gasped, putting her hand to her chest for good measure. "Are you accusing me of poison?"

"Hmmm... I didn't say poison."

"Well..." Meiko's tone was a little anxious. "...Well?"

Kaito reached for one of her confections that was laid out on the tray. He took a bite and chewed silently without an expression. "It's..."

Meiko awaited his response with bated breath.

"...not sweet enough."

And that's when her confidence deflated. "Th-That can't be!" she grabbed an identical treat from her tray. "I'm sure I put the right amount of—"

As she brought the treat to her mouth to taste it herself, Kaito immediately went in for a bite—their mouths meeting.

"Now it's sweet enough~" he winked as he fell back in his chair.

Meiko was left red hot in her cheeks.