First Valentine's Day
I own Love Hina in no way whatsoever. I make no profit from this story.
Also the information I got on making chocolate came from the following link. .com/Make-Chocolate-by-Hand
February 13th, 3:45 PM.
Motoko Aoyoma felt out of place. She had shopped before, but that was different. She knew what to get when it was her turn to buy groceries for everyone at the Inn. But now she was trying to decide on what to get for her girlfriend Shinobu Maehara. The two had been very close ever since they became a couple on Christmas Eve and since tomorrow was Valentine's day Motoko wanted to make chocolate for Shinobu.
It seemed simple enough. At least at first. But when she went to buy the cooking chocolate she noticed that it may require a little more effort than she thought. She had put no thought into what kind of chocolate she wanted to make for Shinobu. Milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, extra dark chocolate. It didn't really help that she had no idea which kind Shinobu liked or disliked.
Motoko considered just buying a box of chocolates. But decided against it. Anyone could buy chocolates for their loved one. Giving someone chocolate that you made for them made it more special. And Shinobu deserved to get something special.
Deciding not to waste any more time Motoko just opted to get regular cooking chocolate. Then she noticed something else. This store also sold actual cocoa beans. She picked up a package and inspected it. On the back were instructions of how to make chocolate as well as a list of other ingredients needed.
Motoko thought it over, if making chocolate from cooking chocolate for someone on Valentine's day was special, then would doing the same thing, only with cocoa beans be more special? Maybe. Maybe not. But she knew that Shinobu would love it no matter what. Motoko made her purchase and went back home. She spent the rest of the day studying and training deciding to make the chocolate in the morning.
The day soon came to an end and Motoko prepared for bed. She had just finished brushing her teeth and was on her way to her room. As she walked down the hallway she heard a set of footsteps other than her own, following her. She stopped and counted back from five. Five…four…three…two…one. As she expected Kaolla Su rushed towards her and jumped onto her back.
"Hiyas Motoko!"
Motoko let out a sigh as she adjusted to the additional weight she was now carrying and continued to her room. Over the course of the past couple months Su had become more fond of Motoko and spent more and more time with her. She had even started to sleep in the same bed as her instead of Kitsune.
"Hello Su. Are you ready to go to bed?"
"Yup!'
It had taken a few days for Motoko to get used to sharing her bed with Su. The first night she thought that Su only wanted to stay in her room for that one night. But the next night she slept over again and the following night as well. Soon it became a daily thing and Motoko had come to accept it although she wasn't too happy about it at first.
It wasn't that she didn't like Su staying with her at night. In fact she understood fully that the foreign girl couldn't fall asleep at night unless there was someone next to her. The problem was that Shinobu was insanely jealous when she found out that Su had been sleeping in the same bed as her girlfriend.
When she had found out she stopped talking to Motoko. It wasn't until Kitsune explained the reason Su was sleeping with Motoko in the same bed that she forgave Motoko and accepted it. But she still was jealous, and Motoko found that cute.
Motoko reached her room and went in. She dropped off Su and went to leave. Each night she made it a point to go to Shinobu's room and lie down with her for a little bit before she went to bed.
"Su, I'm going to say goodnight to Shinobu. I'll be back soon."
"Okies! Have fun doing naughty things to Shinobu!"
Motoko's face flushed red. Su knew very well that the most Shinobu and Motoko ever did was kiss and cuddle, but she loved to tease them. It was a lot of fun to embarrass them and see them blush. She giggled maniacally at the look on Motoko's face. She looked so cute when she blushed. It was too bad that she was already with Shinobu but Su didn't mind. She was happy that they were happy.
Regaining her composure Motoko went downstairs to Shinobu's room. The door was slightly open and, despite her better judgment, Motoko peeked in. She didn't know why she was doing it. She didn't expect to see anything. She was wrong.
Inside her room, Shinobu was changing into her pajamas, with her back facing the door. She was currently bending over while putting on her pajama pants, giving Motoko a very nice view. Motoko's face went cherry red and a small dribble of blood trickled from her nose.
Motoko looked away from the door and scolded her self mentally for what she had just done. She was just grateful Shinobu hadn't seen her doing it.
"Motoko?"
Whoops, wrong again. Shinobu had come to her door and found her girlfriend just standing there. She was about to ask Motoko what she was doing when she noticed the older girl had a mild nosebleed.
"Your nose is bleeding!"
Taking Motoko by the wrist, Shinobu led her into the room. The young cook grabbed a tissue and tenderly wiped the blood from Motoko's face. When she finished, she gave Motoko a quick kiss on her upper lip, where the blood had been.
"There all better!"
Unable to resist the adorable girl Motoko pulled her into a strong embrace. "You're so cute!" She then kissed Shinobu, earning a cute cooing sound from the young girl.
The kiss ended; Shinobu snuggled close the Motoko, letting her head rest on Motoko's chest. They stood there for a moment, just enjoying being in each other's arms. They then went to lie down.
The two girls got into Shinobu's bed and snuggled underneath the blanket. Motoko had her arms wrapped around Shinobu. They closed their eyes and let themselves relax.
Motoko gently began to stroke Shinobu's hair, "Comfy?"
Shinobu gave a small nod.
"How have things been at school?"
"Fine, but I still have trouble with math."
"Maybe you should ask Naru to help you. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
She gave Shinobu a chaste kiss and got up, "I should be going to my own bed now. Goodnight."
"You're leaving already? But you just got here."
"I'm sorry but you know that Su can't fall asleep unless there's someone lying down next to her."
Shinobu pouted, "I know. But it's not fair." She sat up, "Every night she gets to sleep next to you in the same bed."
"That's why I make sure to come by your room each night."
"But the longest you ever stay with me is five minutes! Then you leave and go back to your room to lie down with Su! Sometimes I think that you love her instead of me!"
Shinobu was becoming upset; her eyes began to grow moist with tears. Motoko felt a pang of guilt. Shinobu was right. She usually never did stay longer than five minutes when she came to say goodnight to the younger girl. She knelt down and held Shinobu in her arms once more, to calm her down.
"Don't say that. I love you and no one will ever change that. I couldn't stop loving you if I tried."
Shinobu began to settle down, "Really?"
"Really." Motoko pulled away and looked Shinobu in the eyes. "Just look at you. How could I not love you? You're cute smile, the way you laugh; I just can't find anything about you that isn't perfect."
Shinobu blushed at the praise. She didn't feel upset anymore, that was just the way that Motoko affected her. When she was with Motoko, she felt safe, she felt like nothing bad could happen to her. Of course this didn't change the fact that she didn't like that idea of her girlfriend sharing a bed with Su, even though it was just so the foreign girl could sleep peacefully.
She pouted again, "It still isn't fair."
Motoko smiled at the younger girl. She had no idea how cute she looked right now, "I promise I'll make it up to you. Now we both need to go to bed. Good night."
"Good night."
The two reluctantly separated. Shinobu laid down and Motoko covered her in her blanket. She gave Shinobu one last kiss and then went back to her own room where she found Su nodding off, but not quite able to fall asleep.
She crawled into bed and Su joined her, latching herself onto Motoko's arm. In mere seconds she was fast asleep. Motoko soon drifted off to sleep as well.
---The next morning---
Motoko's morning routine may as well have been set in stone. Wake up, get dressed, & train until breakfast was ready. This morning was no different. Having been woken up by an overly energetic Su (her alarm clock was by now only for decoration) she changed into her usual training attire. She grabbed her sword and proceeded to the roof for her training regimen.
Close to two hours later she was called down to breakfast by Naru. Now normally she made sure to pace herself and to enjoy every bite of Shinobu's cooking. However today she had other plans. She was making chocolate for Shinobu. So she ate her food quickly while still making sure to mind her manners.
She got up, "Thank you for the meal." She brought her dishes to the kitchen and put them in the sink. She then went back through the dining room to leave. Haruka had offered her the use of the kitchen in the teahouse so she could make Shinobu's chocolate in private and then later surprise Shinobu with it.
Kitsune noticed that Motoko was in somewhat of a hurry, "Hey Motoko, what's the rush?"
"I have something important that I need to do. I'll be back in a short while."
"I see. Well aren't you going to give Shinobu her goodbye kiss?"
Kitsune loved to tease Motoko about her relationship with Shinobu. It was fun to mess with her like that.
Motoko didn't feel like putting up with Kitsune's teasing. But Kitsune did have a point. Motoko usually did give Shinobu a kiss before she went out. So she gave Shinobu a quick peck on the cheek and then turned to leave again.
Unfortunately Kitsune wasn't done picking on them. "What was that? She's your girlfriend, not your grandmother. Let's see a little tongue."
Both Shinobu and Motoko's faces turned cherry red. They had never kissed with tongue before. Shinobu silently wondered about what it would be like and Motoko, while she didn't mind the idea, decided not to let Kitsune to get to her. She smiled, two could play this game
"Very well Kitsune. You can watch me and Shinobu French kiss if we can watch you French kiss your lover. Oh, I'm sorry, you don't have one."
Kitsune didn't know how to react. She never would've expected that from Motoko. Motoko took advantage of this and left for the teahouse.
When she arrived she set straight to work. She had left the cocoa beans and other ingredients needed there the previous night when she had gotten back. She made a quick check to make sure she had everything she needed.
- One pound of raw cocoa beans. Check. The package of beans she had gotten was three pounds.
- Half a cup of sugar. Check. There was plenty of sugar.
- Two-thirds a cup of milk. Check. There was also plenty of milk.
- Half a teaspoon of vanilla. Check. She had gotten a bottle of vanilla at the store.
-Additional flavoring. Well that seemed to be optional. So she didn't bother.
Next she checked to make sure she had all the necessary cooking equipment.
-Two pans, check.
-Bowl, check.
-Wooden spoon, check.
-Cookie sheet, check.
-Mold, check. She had bought one at the store. It was shaped like a teddy bear. She knew Shinobu would love it.
-Mortar & pestle, odd item to need when making chocolate, but check.
Alright she was ready. She began following the steps on the cocoa bean package.
(A/N: I got these from the link above. I only modified them for the sake of the story. All credit goes to the website.)
Step 1) Place raw cocoa beans on cookie sheet in a single layer. Roast in oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool and discard bean husks.
This step seemed simple enough. Motoko set the beans in the oven as instructed. Now all she had to do was let them cook. The thirty minutes passed and Motoko went to turn the oven off and take the beans out. This wasn't so hard. As long as she wasn't interrupted she'd have this done in no time.
Sadly things wouldn't be going smoothly for much longer. Kitsune had decided to drop by the teahouse for a little while. It was there she found Motoko at work in the kitchen. Wondering what the swordswoman was up too she let herself in.
"So this is where you went. Are you helping Haruka out for the day or something?"
Before Motoko could answer Kitsune noticed the cocoa beans on the counter as well as all the other things. She quickly put two and two together and figured out what Motoko was doing.
"Oh I get it. You're making some chocolate for Shinobu."
"So what if I am? It is Valentine's day."
"Aw isn't that sweet? Are you going to hand feed it to her?"
Motoko blushed, "Don't be ridiculous."
"Hmm, you're right. That's such a cliché. I know!" She walked up to Motoko and started to whisper in her ear, "What you need to do is….(A/N due to the explicit nature of this content I cannot post it. I can however assure you it is suggestive and involves adult situations. Use your imaginations people.)"
Motoko had gotten a nosebleed from the imagery Kitsune had used. She would have never thought of doing something like that with Shinobu. It was just so, so naughty. She just couldn't get the images out of her head. She had a sneaking suspicion she would be having some rather interesting dreams that night.
Kitsune smirked at Motoko's reaction. "Glad to see you like my idea."
Motoko snapped out of her thoughts, "What? No! It's indecent and…"
"Oh don't give me that. You wouldn't hesitate to do it if you had the chance. Admit it."
"I would not! I don't want to hear any more of this!"
"Well okay. But Motoko…"
"No Kitsune! I said I didn't want to hear anymore!"
"But…"
"I'm not listening so don't bother."
Kitsune was becoming irritated, "Motoko! I'm trying to tell you that I think your chocolate is burning!"
"What?" Motoko turned around and saw smoke coming from the oven. Acting quickly she turned it off and quickly removed the beans. Unfortunately they were burnt and therefore unusable. She'd have to start all over again.
Motoko sighed in frustration. Now she had to dispose of the burnt cocoa beans and clean off the cookie sheet and then she'd try again. Kitsune felt a little guilty. Maybe if she hadn't teased Motoko like she had this wouldn't have happened.
"You want any help?"
"No, that's fine. I can do this myself."
"You sure you don't want me to do anything?"
Motoko shook her head, "I want to do this myself. But thank you." She had finished cleaning the cookie sheet and was about to fill it for her second attempt when she thought of something. "Actually there is something. I'd like to ask a favor."
Motoko explained what she wanted and Kitsune accepted. It was a simple enough request. Motoko thanked Kitsune and went back to work. Kitsune went back to the Inn to find Su. She needed to talk to the foreigner.
Motoko set the cookie sheet with fresh cocoa beans into the oven. This time the thirty minutes went by uninterrupted and Motoko removed them from the oven and set them to cool. Once cool she removed the husks.
Step 1) Place raw cocoa beans on cookie sheet in a single layer. Roast in oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool and discard bean husks, check.
Step 2) Break up the beans with a mortar and pestle. Continue until beans are broken into small pieces.
Step 3) Keep mashing beans with mortar and pestle until they turn into a brown mush.
Check and check. This wasn't so hard. Next step.
Step 4) Heat a large pan of water until hot, but not boiling. Put cocoa bean paste into smaller pan and place smaller pan in the larger pan of hot water. Wait until the paste is heated but not cooking and place into a bowl and continue to work with mortar until paste is smooth. Check.
Motoko was starting to enjoy herself. Who knew that cooking could be so fun? She made a mental note to try it more often. Okay, the paste was nice and smooth. What next?
Step 5) Mix vanilla, milk, sugar and additional flavoring into the paste. Once mixed pour into mold and let the chocolate cool and harden. This can be done at room temperature or in the fridge, covered with foil.
Easy enough. Motoko began to mix in the sugar. The instructions said to start with a little and add until the paste reached the desired sweetness. She did so until she deemed the chocolate to be sweet enough. She was about to add the milk and vanilla (she didn't add any additional flavoring as she didn't know if Shinobu would like it or not) when Su came bounding into the room.
"Hiyas Motoko!"
"Sorry Su, I don't have time to play now. I'm busy."
"I know! Kitsune told me what you were doing."
"I see. Did she also tell you about the favor I asked her?"
Su nodded. "Yup!"
"And you are alright with this?"
"Yup! Can I help you make the chocolate?"
"That's alright but it's almost finished. Thank you anyway."
Su didn't get the message. She began to rummage through the kitchen, looking for something. After a minute she found what she was looking for. Curry powder. She went to Motoko and held it out to her.
"Here, add some of this!"
"Su, that's curry powder. I don't think it would be a good idea to add that. It would ruin the chocolate."
"No, it wouldn't! It'll make it really tasty!"
Su proceeded to add the powder to the chocolate, but Motoko tried to stop her.
"Su! Don't!"
It was too late, the powder slipped out of their hands and fell into the chocolate, the two mixing together. There was no saving it. Motoko would have to start over again.
She was becoming very irritated. Not thinking, she let her anger out.
"Damn it Su! Now look what you did! It's ruined! I told you I don't need any help!"
Su backed away from Motoko, afraid. Motoko could be very scary when she was angry, especially if she was angry at you. Su's eyes began to tear up.
"I…I only wanted to help."
Seeing Su on the verge of tears Motoko got control of her anger. She knelt down and held her arms out, offering for Su to come to her. Su hesitated, but seeing that Motoko wasn't mad anymore she went to her. Motoko pulled her into a gentle hug.
"I'm sorry Su. I had no right to yell at you. Will you forgive me?"
Su nodded, "I'm sorry too Motoko."
"That's okay. Now, why don't you go outside and play?"
Su's face broke into a smile, "Okies!"
She ran outside. Motoko shook her head and smiled. It never ceased to amaze her how energetic Su could be. She took the bowl and dumped the ruined chocolate into the trash. Once that was done she began to clean everything so she could start over.
Outside, Su ran back to the Inn. She had a new invention she was working on and figured she could finish it and then give it a test run. On the way inside she bumped into Shinobu.
"Hiyas Shinobu! Wanna help me with my new invention?"
"Um, no thank you." Shinobu knew by now that nothing good came from helping Su with her inventions. "I'm just going to wait for Motoko to come back from her errand."
"She's in the teahouse."
"She is?"
Su nodded. Shinobu thanked her and went down to the teahouse. She made her way into the kitchen where she found Motoko at the sink washing dishes.
"Motoko?"
The swordswoman turned to face her.
"Shinobu! What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you. Su said you were here so I came to see you."
Motoko silently cursed herself for not telling Su to keep her mouth shut about what she was doing. Oh well, it was too late now.
Shinobu noticed all the stuff in the sink as well as all the ingredients on the counter. "So what are you doing here?"
"I was trying to make chocolate for you as a surprise. But I keep running into problems."
"What kind of problems?"
Motoko told her about her earlier encounter with Kitsune (leaving out Kitsune's suggestion) and the recent mishap with Su trying to help her. Shinobu giggled.
"Well I'm kind of glad you haven't been able to finish it."
Motoko looked confused and a little hurt, "Why?"
"Because I was hoping that we could make chocolate together."
"You want to make it with me?"
Shinobu nodded, "I thought it would be a fun way for us to spend time together."
Motoko felt a little foolish. Why hadn't she thought of that in the first place? She knew that Shinobu loved cooking. Why not let her help cook the chocolate? Now she was sort of glad she had to start over.
"Alright, I can't see any reason why not. Plus I could never say no to you."
Shinobu smiled at the older girl and the two set to work. While the cocoa beans were in the oven Shinobu took a seat on Motoko's lap and the two spent the time cuddling.
Once the beans were done, they took them out to cool and then removed their husks. Shinobu began to grind the beans in the mortar and pestle, but found it to be tougher than she had thought as she wasn't used to it. Motoko came up behind her and, placing her hands over the younger girl's, she helped her.
Next they heated the paste on the two pans and then used the mortar and pestle to smooth it out. Finally they mixed in the sugar, vanilla, and milk into the chocolate and poured it into the mold (which Shinobu loved as Motoko thought she would).
Setting the chocolate aside to cool and harden they went to sit down. Haruka brought them some hot tea and then went back to work. They sat there, drinking their tea and talking.
"I had a lot of fun cooking with you Shinobu. Maybe we can do this again."
"If you want you can help me with dinner tonight."
"I think I will. And after dinner we can share the chocolate we made."
"I'd like that. I'm glad I'm getting to spend so much time with you today. It means a lot to me."
Motoko smiled, "I'm happy to hear that. I have a surprise for you by the way."
Shinobu's eyes lit up with excitement. "Really? What is it?"
"I asked Kitsune to do me a favor. She's having Su stay in her bed tonight. Which means that I'll have a vacant spot in mine."
It took a second for Shinobu to realize what Motoko meant. When she did, she could hardly contain herself.
"You…you want me to sleep in your bed…with you?"
Motoko smiled and nodded, "If you want to." She reached out and held Shinobu's hand, "I'd really enjoy the company."
Shinobu couldn't contain her joy any longer. She tackled the swordswoman with a massive embrace.
"Motoko, I'm so happy!"
Motoko smiled at the younger girl, "Then you'll love this. Su and Kitsune agreed to do it every Saturday night from now on."
Shinobu was becoming overwhelmed with joy, "I love you so much Motoko!"
The next thing Motoko knew Shinobu was kissing her. But there was something different from their usual kisses. She felt something part her lips and slip into her mouth. Before she could react the kiss ended. Shinobu pulled away, her face covered in a blush.
"Shinobu, was that you tongue?"
Shinobu giggled, "Maybe. Was it something like this?"
She kissed Motoko again. She slipped her tongue between Motoko's lips and into the taller girl's mouth. Motoko returned the kiss, wrapping her arms around Shinobu. A minute later they had to separate for air. Shinobu relaxed into Motoko's arms and they just sat there for a moment.
Shinobu snuggled closer to Motoko, "So Su is really going to stay with Kitsune, so I can stay with you one night each week?"
Motoko nodded, "That's right. I would ask her to just not sleep in my bed with me anymore if it wasn't for two things. One) it would be unfair to her. And two) I think it's cute how you're jealous about it."
"I'll have to thank her the next time I see her. I know! I'll make her favorite for dinner tonight! I'll need to pick up some things from the store though."
"That's a good idea. She'll love it." Motoko got up and helped Shinobu to her feet as well. "I'll help you with the shopping lets go."
The two held hands and left the teashop for the store. The rest of the day flew by for the two of them. The sun finally set and the time came for them to go to bed. They snuggled close underneath the sheets and let sweet slumber take them.
Elsewhere in the Inn, Kitsune found herself unable to fall asleep due to the death-grip Su currently had on her. As she struggled to get some rest she knew one thing: Motoko owed her for this. Big time.
End.
Well that's that. Hope you guys liked it. I sort of made it up as I went along so if it isn't that good I'm sorry. I think I might do other stories down the line featuring these two. As always reviews are appreciated.