Back to the weekly update. ;) Prompt: "Write about a pair that is formidable together but useless apart." (Thank you Zero!) Because I am still dragging my feet on creating any actual plot for angel!Neji and demon!Tenten, I now present another pretty pointless installment. ;)
Naruto and its characters do not belong to me.
Demon in My Chariot
Part 4: A Formidable Pair
"How on Earth is this supposed to help with our mission?" Tenten hissed, holding up a large, metallic sieve. "Making a cake is stupid and useless and I can't cook anything to save my life-"
"I can't bake a cake, either," Neji answered dryly. "But we do need to get this done."
They were in his kitchen, which, like the Ferrari-chariot, was decked out with the most beautiful electrical appliances that Tenten had ever seen. And she didn't know what half of them were for.
"And so you expect it to turn out like this damn thing here?" she snarled, jabbing a finger into the printed recipe on the kitchen counter. On it was a beautiful cake, with chocolate ganache as a glaze, and some fruits and rolled wafers arranged elegantly on it. "I suppose you're hoping to lump whatever we bake under that pretty chocolate and present it as that."
He raised an eyebrow, smirking smugly. "How did you guess?"
Tenten rolled her eyes. "Figures. The know-it-all front is just a facade."
"Hey," Neji protested, "The A grades I score are legitimate."
"When you aren't brainwashing the teachers," she muttered under her breath.
"I do not brainwash them," he informed her grudgingly. "Anyway, the cake."
He held up a heavy plastic bag of white powder, getting ready to tip it into the sieve.
"Wait!" Tenten shrieked. "That's confectioner's sugar! Icing sugar! We're supposed to be sieving flour here, you dolt!"
"A-names, Tenten," he shot back, annoyed. But Neji did not tip any sugar into the sieve, and instead set the bag down. "I'll get the flour."
It seemed as if angels had no idea what went into baking whatsoever, because Tenten had to point out all the wrong ingredients that he was bringing to the counter.
"I thought you knew everything," she goaded. "You can't even tell vanilla extract from a bottle of wine."
"They're both alcohol anyway," Neji groused sullenly. "It's not like you can bake, either."
"I can so bake," she shot back, and grabbed the electric mixer. Once all the ingredients were in the bowl, she shoved the metal whisks into the mixture and flicked the mixer switch on to High.
Egg, flour, and all manner of powdery substances flew everywhere. Yellow slime smeared on Tenten's apron, and Neji received a generous layer of powder on his face.
"Maybe we should use a bigger bowl," Neji observed.
"You're telling me now," Tenten snapped, baring her teeth at him. "Look where you got us!"
"It's not like you knew any better," he pointed out.
She glared at him. All the ingredients in the tiny bowl had vacated it, save for a faint trace of flour and egg. They set about cleaning up the mess.
Three attempts and one successful cake mixture later, Tenten sighed as they finally slid the springform pan into the oven.
"Now for the ganache," Neji commanded.
It took another few attempts to get the ganache right, by which time the kitchen was filled with a delicious, chocolaty aroma.
"My mouth is watering," Tenten said, licking her lips. She slid multiple glances towards the oven.
"I can see that," Neji told her wryly. "Wipe that demon spit up before it corrodes anything."
"It does not corrode anything!" she bit, and made a face.
"Here I thought you were so very powerful." He shrugged, turned away from her.
Tenten raised a fist to hit him. "Why you-"
"Cake's ready." Neji calmly turned to the oven and pulled the heavy door open, reaching for the oven rack with a mittened hand.
She wanted to glower at him, she really did, but the cake that had risen up in the pan looked springy and warm and delicious, and Tenten forgot all about Neji.
"It looks good!" she gasped, salivating more. "I want to eat it-"
"Don't drool in it," he reminded her. The angel slid the cake tin carefully out of the oven, careful to not let it within the range of Tenten's spit.
"I don't even know how this relates to our mission," Tenten whined as he brought the cake to the counter and set it on a cooling rack. "They don't need cake."
"And you do?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Yes," she told him. "I want to spread the ganache!"
"No, you'll just ruin it," Neji told her. "Like you ruined the cake mix and two bowls and the rest of the eggs."
"And you almost ruined the mix with your wrong ingredients!" Tenten retorted. "You didn't even latch the springform pan before you attempted to pour the mix in!"
He winced at the reminder of another almost-catastrophe. "Well, we'll take turns with the ganache. Maybe it'll turn out right like that."
She looked dubiously at him, and very reluctantly agreed.
The chocolate ganache turned out near perfect, much to their surprise. The first bowl of cream boiled over, though the second simmered like the recipe said it would, and both Neji and Tenten watched in awe as the the cream-and-chocolate-chip mix was mixed into smooth, silky chocolate.
"This is turning out right because of me," Tenten proclaimed. "It's my luck that is giving us this beautiful chocolate."
Neji scoffed. "It's your luck that ruined all the things we've been working on so far."
She blew a raspberry at him. "Fine, but I'm pouring the ganache."
"You're going to get it everywhere," Neji said matter-of-factly.
Half of the ganache did spill onto the counter, and it took another batch to completely cover the rest of the cake. What resulted was a masterpiece that was very similar to the picture on the recipe, surprising both first-time bakers.
"Look at that," Tenten remarked. "Maybe we make a good team."
Neji's features tightened into one of distaste. "I would hope not. You're a filthy-"
"I am not filthy!" she shouted, rounding upon him.
He dodged her fist, and another, stepping away from her, and as Tenten advanced on him, her foot slipped in a patch of egg that they'd missed while cleaning up.
For a moment, she flailed, wobbling on the one foot.
Neji looked past her and saw her arm come dangerously close to smashing into their complete masterpiece, and panicked.
He grabbed her by the collar. Yanked her away from the cake.
That, unfortunately, meant that he had pulled her in the direction of himself, and she fell heavily against him, somehow landing them both on the floor with a heavy thud.
Neji glared at her; Tenten sputtered.
"What was that?" she growled.
"I saved the cake," he answered shortly, looking at their perfect edible masterpiece, which was sitting oh-so-happily on the counter like its very existence wasn't just threatened a few moments ago.
"Whatever," she muttered, her cheeks flushing a pretty red, and picked herself off him (Neji didn't want to think too much about that - he needed as little contact with demons as possible).
"I'll pack the cake," he informed her. From the corner of his eye, Neji noticed that Tenten paused at the threshold of the kitchen.
"I should supervise you," she said, turning back. "Who knows what you'll do to destroy that cake."
"I won't destroy it," he huffed indignantly.
All she did was roll her eyes and step back. "Yeah, sure, A-grade genius. Like you haven't almost destroyed the kitchen yourself."
A/N: I'm not completely sure how baking scenes always turn out so long (the one in Blackmail was 4k words)... but okay. ;) This amused me greatly. ;)
As always, thank you for taking the time to review!