Heat Until Creamy
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Chocolate making in five easy steps.
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1. Place chocolate in the pot.
Ino couldn't believe her bad luck.
"White chocolate." She spat the words as if they were venom she desperately needed to get rid of. " White chocolate. Shikamaru, are you even listening?"
Shikamaru blinked up at the sky. "No?" he offered mildly, not even bothering to roll out of the way when Ino lifted a hand to hit him.
Ino sighed, letting her fist fall back on the grass. "She gave him white chocolate," she muttered again, darkly. "I don't stand a chance."
Shikamaru murmured something that sounded suspiciously like 'You never had in the first place.'
This time, Ino did hit him.
Hard .
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2. Heat until creamy.
Ino was immensely proud of herself. It had taken her hours of sweating in the kitchen, but she had finally, finally managed to get it right. (Of course she had made sure she would catch Sakura first thing in the morning, about halfway towards Team 7's usual meeting place.)
"Look!" Ino exclaimed, thrusting her work (a piece of art, no less) in front of her rival. If Sakura didn't drop dead from jealousy now, she never would.
"Is that... white chocolate?" Sakura asked, reaching out a finger to poke at it.
"Yes, and no touching , Forehead!" Ino hissed, cradling the little box of sweets against her chest protectively.
"Oh." Sakura smiled cheerfully. "That's nice."
"You bet it is," Ino told her smugly.
"Well, I'll be on my way," Sakura said, turning around. "Oh, have I mentioned how last year's confession turned out?" she added over her shoulder offhandedly, not pausing in her walk. "Turns out, Sasuke-kun hates white chocolate. Well, good luck anyway!"
Ino stared after Sakura's retreating form until it disappeared around a corner.
Then she started to shriek.
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3. Check to make sure the temperature is no higher than 160 degrees F. before pouring. Pouring chocolate molds hotter than this will destroy the mold.
"Why are we doing this again?"
"Because it's Valentine's Day tomorrow. Duh."
"Yes, but Sasuke-kun-"
"So?" Sakura shrugged, starring into her pot of slowly melting chocolate with unseeing eyes. "It's still Valentine's Day."
Ino bit her lip and said nothing.
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4. Fill the mold with melted chocolate.
"Is that for Lee?"
"Yes."
"It looks... cute."
"Would you like the recipe?"
"Whatever for?"
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5. Allow the chocolate to cool.
"Is it... for me?"
God, the shock on Sakura's face was enough to want to make her run far, far away from here, to any blissfully Sakura-free place.
"It's a leftover," Ino blurted.
"Oh." Sakura bit her lip, still staring at the clumsy little chocolate heart in wonder.
Ino started to sweat. "I know it's not as good as yours, and it looks like shit - no pun intended - but as I said it's just a leftover and it doesn't taste that bad and-
"Ino?"
Ino snapped her mouth shut. A good thing, too, because not two seconds later, Sakura was kissing her softly.
"Hmm. It does taste better than it looks," Sakura whispered, smiling impishly. "I might store it for cold, lonely winter nights."
"It'll go bad," Ino murmured. "Silly."
Sakura's smile turned into a smirk. "Then you'll just have to make me some more. One more reason to keep you around."