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Kiba Inuzuka considered himself quite skilled at giving compliments. He'd been determined to be so after his elder sister Hana had told him he had a distinct lack of "charm," and that he'd never get a girlfriend the way he acted.

Kiba really didn't care about the latter part of her statement, being nine years old and all, but any accusation of a lack in one's self by a sibling generally leads to some sort of action.

So, after some intense interviews with a few older cousins about what exactly charm was, and how he could get a hold of some, he learned that showering girls with praise seemed to be the way to go.

He declared himself a master of the trade when he'd made Sakura Haruno blush to edges of her rather large forehead by commenting on her new ribbon.

Alas, the boy's complimenting-skills were not to out-shadow his mastery of the olfactory sense. The Inuzuka blood ran strong in him, after all, and he had not missed out on the overly-sensitive-sense-of-smell gene.

And it came to be that, on a particularly boring day at the academy, as Iruka-sensei droned on about chakra-flow, and even Akamaru's wriggling atop his head couldn't hold his attention, that Kiba found a way to combine two of his strongest traits.

Ino Yamanaka, with her long blonde hair and big blue eyes, by some strange twist of fate, was seated next to him, far away from her beloved Sasuke. It seemed that she'd come late to class, and all the dark-haired boys other fan-girls had swarmed the seats next to him. It was through this event that Kiba came to realize he didn't need Akamaru to distract him. Ino's scent was doing plenty.

She smelled a lot like tea. Or maybe, what goes in tea. Like lemon. Or honey. The thoughts floated in his head, not at all abnormal, because people's scents came with their identity. It was simply normal for him to catalogue them. The blue-eyed girl's scent was just a little more appealing than most.

Because of this, it occurred to him that maybe someone would like to know that he enjoyed the way they smelled. Simple enough logic, though, now that he thought about it. He bet Ino would blush even more than Sakura had if he told her she smelled nice.

And so, it was with this seemingly perfect idea in mind that Kiba approached Ino after the Academy was let out, wearing a roguish grin.

Looking over at the scruffy-haired boy making his way toward her, the small girl let out a "What is it, Kiba?" as he neared her spot on the sidewalk.

Wasting no time, Kiba delivered the words he had pondered over the entire lecture time with a smile, anticipating that Ino was going to melt into a puddle of goo at his feet.

He was mightily confused when instead fire leapt into her eyes, veins popped out on her forehead, and she stormed away in an angry huff.

The brown haired boy watched in surprise as she walked away. He had been sure that she would understand and be flattered when he told her she smelled like his grandma, who was never found without a cup of hot tea. It didn't seem to be so. He'd tried yelling "It was a compliment!" to the angry girl's back, but he'd gotten no response. Apparently, nine year old girls were a bit more complicated than he'd thought.

Actually, way more complicated. Kiba again found the pretty little Yamanaka in the seat next to his when he walked into class the next day. Only this time, there was most definitely a seat open next to Sasuke.

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