"I kissed Sai this morning."

Ino's head whipped around so fast her ponytail caught Hinata in the face. "What? Mmmfpht..." Mouthfuls of sandwich tend to impede speech. She swallowed and grabbed Sakura's arm, "Are you dating? I didn't know you liked him. Details! Now!"

If Sakura is dating Sai then maybe Naruto won't be so hung up on her and then maybe he'll see-

"No, nothing like that. It was... kind of an experiment?"

Damn.

"An experiment? Only you could make your first kiss an experiment, Forehead." Sakura stuck her tongue out at Ino out of habit.

"Bite me. I'm not telling you anything."

"Whatever, you brought it up so you obviously want to tell," Ino winked at Hinata and leaned towards Sakura conspiratorially. "So, what happened?"

"Well, Sai and I have been spending every morning in the library since Kakashi's been training with Naruto," Sakura rushed out. Ino and Hinata nodded encouragingly; they were aware of that. Naruto was trying to master being wind natured or something or other. Cutting waterfalls in half. While not wearing a shirt. Well, Hinata knew that part, due to some, er, investigations. "And this morning he pulls out this book, the one you guys have been reading-"

"Midnight Confessions?" Ino squealed, "I love that book!" Hinata nodded emphatically and both stared off over Sakura's shoulder for a moment, dreamy smiles plastered on their faces.

"Um, yeah," Sakura shifted into their line of vision and they blinked at her. "Anyway, out of nowhere he just smells me to see if I smell like the girl in that book."

"She smells like wind on a cool day," Hinata stated knowingly. Ino nodded in agreement.

"Yeah..." Sakura drew out, glancing back and forth between the two. "So Sai was confused and he wanted to-"

"Wait, Hiriko tastes like ripe strawberries! Is that why he wanted to kiss you?" Ino spit out.

Sakura just stared. "You guys are way too into this book. But yeah, that's why we kissed."

There was a moment of silence between the three, their sandwiches abandoned in the center of the picnic blanket. "So..." Ino grinned, "what did he taste like?"

Sakura giggled. "Like warm?" She giggled some more. "It was really weird. He was all 'what did you have for breakfast this morning?' and then he grabs me and kisses me." Well, it was kind of like that.

"Well I guess that's kind of romantic..." Hinata smiled weakly and Ino made a face.

"Was he any good?" Ino asked.

"I think so? How do you know if it's good?" Ino shrugged and Hinata blushed slightly. "Yeah, I don't know either," Sakura replied, "but it was kind of fun."

"Did he smell good?" Hinata asked while toying with her napkin.

"Yeah, like clean laundry and... paints. He kind of smells like turpentine."

"Ew," Ino wrinkled her nose, "turpentine smells awful. I'd hate to smell like that."

"It's not so bad," Sakura defended. "It's kind of light on him. Besides, what do you smell like, Pig?"

Ino thrust an arm out between Sakura and Hinata, "Enchanted Forest."

Sakura put her nose down to Ino's arm and took a whiff. "That's not like any forest I've ever smelled."

"That's because it wasn't enchanted" Ino snapped pulling her arm away and knocking Hinata in the nose. It just wasn't her day.

Sakura leaned into Hinata and took a long sniff at her neck, "you smell like, like lavender?"

"Um, the staff uses lavender water in the laundry," Hinata politely explained as she tried to pull away from Sakura without seeming rude. Smelling her neck? That was just a little - close - for her taste.

Ino nodded sagely, "huh, that sounds pretty nice. Does that make you want to kiss her, Sakura?" Hinata turned bright pink and fell backwards trying to get away.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Tenten asked out of nowhere. The older girl grinned down at the three of them as Hinata scrambled to right herself.

"Nothing much," Ino answered breezily. "Sakura was just telling us how she made out with Sai this morning and what he smelled like."

"Shut up!" Sakura hissed as she lunged for Ino. "It was just a kiss and it was no big deal" she explained frantically.

Tenten plopped down laughing. "Whatever. You gotta do who you gotta do."

Ino turned on Tenten, "who have you gone and kissed then?" Sakura's attention was drawn away from strangling Ino and Hinata's face seemed to be returning to its normal color.

Tenten raised an eyebrow and grinned, "well, there was this mission once. It was an escort mission and we were taking the daiymo's son to-"

"Yuuta-san? He is soooo hot!" Ino squealed and Sakura briefly wondered if she knew the name of every attractive male, real or imaginary.

"The very one," Tenten grinned. "Well, I saved his ass from a band of thieves and he gave me a pretty good thank you."

"You did it?" Ino gasped.

"No," Tenten furrowed her brow. "We made out. You're a pervert, Ino." Ino rolled her eyes in reply.

"Did he smell good?" Hinata couldn't figure out why she was fixated on this of all things. Naruto probably smelled like, like, um, ramen. She made a small face to herself. Maybe he didn't.

"Uh, I don't really remember. Like a guy? We were traveling and not really slapping on tons of scented lotion, like some people I know," she stated, staring at Ino.

"What do we smell like if we don't smell like lotion or laundry then?" Sakura asked. This was an intriguing idea to her. What did someone smell like down to their skin? "And I don't mean b.o. I mean when someone smells good, but like themselves."

There was a moment of silence. "Um, like the inside of your elbow?" Hinata ventured. The girls blinked and immediately shoved their noses into the crooks of their arms.

"Huh," Ino stated, "I'll have to wash off the lotion when I get home today". She grabbed Sakura's arm and inhaled. Then Hinata. They waited. She nodded, "it is different between people." She grabbed at Tenten's arm and Sakura reached for Hinata. For a few moments they all silently smelled each other's elbows, noting the distinct smell each girl had. Tenten was alternatively sniffing Sakura and Hinata's outstretched arms when it happened.

"Tenten?"

The girls all looked up together at a very, very confused Neji. "Lee-san and I were going to meet and, uh, train?" His eyes darted from one girl to the next. Hinata's face had returned to its earlier shade of pink. The other three, though, they looked decidedly like they were plotting something.

"Neji-kun," Ino cooed, "have a seat for a moment." Her hand snapped out and caught onto his wrist like a vice.

"Yes, Neji-san," Sakura echoed, grabbing his other wrist, "we're conducting an experiment."


Of course you would immediately go tell your girlfriends. Isn't that the entire point of having girlfriends? Recreational kissing requires telling.

Thanks, disneytiger for the review. As you can see, I appropriated some of it. :D

On a random note, I'd imagine that ninja would make damn sure they didn't smell like anything. I mean, they're supposed to be all stalker-like and invisible so they really shouldn't smell all dreamy. So, for this world we'll pretend that official ninja uniforms are laundered officially with scent-less detergent.

The inside of my elbows smell like unicorn tears and the laughter of children. No joke. Hope you liked my two shot. :)