In which the girls have a sleepover.

"Hell yea," Sakura said, grinning. "There's nothing more satisfying." She licked her fingers.

Ino rolled her blue eyes from the couch. "You're so weird, Forehead, it's just popcorn. Settle down."

Sakura gave her a halfhearted glare. "Now you know that almost every time I make popcorn the damn bag rips and I drop some."

Hinata giggled from the corner of the couch. "Usually, you get more on the floor than you do in the bowl."

Sakura laughed, padding quietly towards the other two, a large bowl of steaming popcorn in hand. "Hinata-chan knows what I mean."

"Yea, yea." Ino waved her off and popped a few pieces into her mouth. "We know you're adorably clumsy or whatever, no need to keep bringing it up." Sakura reached over and playfully pinched her and Ino shifted. "Oi, cut it out."

"I'm so glad we could get back together," Hinata said softly, scooping some of the popcorn pieces into her hands. "It feels like it's been forever."

Ino nodded. "It has been a few months."

"How has your team stuff been?" Sakura asked softly.

Hinata dusted her hands off on her thighs as she shrugged. "I think Kurenai-sensi is dating someone."

"Asuma-sensei too." The girls looked up at each other and smiled. "How weird would it be if they were dating each other?"

"Ino-chan!" Hinata giggled. "Maybe if they were we could spend more time together."

"It would be so nice to not spend all of my time with the boys." Ino sighed wistfully, leaning against Sakura's side as the pink haired girl continued to munch on the food, watching them talk. "How are your teams doing?"

Sakura shrugged. "I think the team is fine. I think Naruto might be lactose-intolerant, but that's not really his fault."

They both looked over at Hinata, who's cheeks had pinkened at the mention of the boy's name. "Oh… u-uh… my team has been good. Kiba sometimes marks his territory on trees which is a… thing we're working on correcting. But Shino is good. I feel lucky because I have Kurenai-sensi with me." She frowned at the other girls. "Is it weird?" she asked timidly. "Being surrounded by boys all the time?"

Ino brushed her fingers through Sakura's hair. "I don't really know anything else. It's just been me, Shikamaru, and Choji since we've been kids. Asuma-sensei is new, but he's kind of what I imagined having an older brother would be like. So, I don't mind him." She nudged Sakura's shoulder. "Can I braid your hair?"

Sakura nodded, placing the bowl of popcorn on the couch between Ino and Hinata and sliding to the floor in front of Ino.

"I don't mind the boys," Sakura said, picking at her fingernails. "I do wish one of you were on my team though," she sighed. "But I don't think it's because they're boys but because Sasuke and Naruto have been best friends their whole life and Kakashi is like an older sibling to Naruto so I'm the odd man out." She frowned and scratched at the carpet.

"Woman," Ino corrected over Sakura's shoulder. "The odd woman out."

Sakura groaned. "Don't remind me about it."

"Remind you about what?" Hinata quirked a brow.

"You didn't get to tell Hinata yet?" Ino asked, strands of Sakura's long hair were twisted around her fingers.

"I haven't seen her since they got back from their most recent mission." Sakura shifted to sit cross legged and Ino tugged on her hair to stop her from moving any more.

"What happened Sakura?" Hinata asked gently, heart race picking up a little with worry.

Sakura sighed and fidgeted again. "I got my first period on our last mission."

"Oh, Sakura," Hinata drifted off the edge of the couch to wrap her arms around Sakura's shoulders. "I'm sorry."

"God, guys," Ino rolled her big blue eyes, pursing her mouth. "What's wrong with you both? Getting your period isn't something to be upset about. It should be celebrated, you're a woman now!" Ino snaked her arms around both of their necks. "We should be happy." Sakura growled and bit Ino's arm. "Ouch, hey!" Ino pulled her limbs back frowning.

Before Ino could retaliate, or Sakura could refute why she wasn't celebrating this step towards adulthood, Hinata waggled her pointer finger at the two girls, and frowned in an attempt to look stern. " Now, now," she deepened her voice, lips tilting up as both of the others started to snicker. " Stop fighting, ladies, that's not how young kunoichi are supposed to behave." Hinata burst into laughter with her friends after the words fell from her mouth.

"Hinata-chan," Sakura wheezed lightly from her laughter. "I don't know how you do it b-but," her cheeks were hurting from her broad smile. "You do an excellent impression of Iruka-sensei."

"It's like he's in the room with us!" Ino added, her hands had released Sakura's hair and one came to rest on Hinata's shoulder to stop herself from rolling off of the couch. "Wait, wait, let me…" Ino's face screwed up, brows furrowed deep, nose scrunched, and lips pursed as she attempted to reach the deeper pitch of their teacher's voice. " You must remember, when you arrange flowers, you arrange-" her voice cut off with a cough and laughter. "Damn, I can't do it. Sakura," Ino swatted at her pink haired friend as she wiped an errant tear from her eye. "Sakura, you try, you try."

"I-wait!" Sakura leapt from the floor. "I have a better idea, wait right here!" she scurried from the room, hair fluttering behind her.

"Hinata-chan," Ino rubbed her cheek before settling both hands in Hinata's hair. "I think you should grow your hair out."

"You're always saying that Ino-chan," Hinata brushed self-consciously at her bangs. "Is there something wrong with it?" it came out hesitant and uncertain.

"Oh- No!" Ino said quickly, flushing crimson. "I didn't mean it like that, it's lovely!" she pet the soft strands. "I-I just had this idea… my family grows these peonies, and I think they would look lovely braided in your hair. They'd bring out your eyes." Her smile was apologetic and soft. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

Hinata patted Ino's knee. "I know… I'm sorry. Just with everything going on at with my father… I'm sorry. I know I'm sensitive-"

"You're wonderful, I should be more careful." Ino wrapped her arms around Hinata and squeezed her. "I am sorry."

Hinata shook her head but before she could protest Sakura's footsteps thundered back around the doorway and they both looked up at her. Sakura had somehow poofed some of her hair so that it sat windswept on top of her head. Her hitai-ate was angled down over her left eye, underneath a scarf covered her nose and mouth, and she held an orange book in her hands. She came to a halt, nearly tripping and toppling to the ground in the process. Sakura quickly opened the book and held it up, and quickly assumed as bored of an expression she could with only her right eye visible.

"Who am I?" she tried to keep her giggle restrained to maintain the bored expression but didn't completely succeed.

Both of her friends stared blankly at her.

"Sakura, I have no idea-"

"Ugh, just guess Ino!"

"Aoba?" Ino offered, clearly confused.

"Aoba?! No, I'm-" Sakura looked down at her costume and figured maybe the scarf was not mimicking a mask as well as she wanted. She waved the book in the air. "Th-the book, Hinata? Who am I?"

Hinata twisted her fingers together, not wanting to disappoint her friend but unknowing what she wanted. "K-kumade?" she said hesitantly.

Sakura sighed and hung her head in defeat. "At least Kumade wears a mask."

"Well, who the hell are you supposed to be then?" Ino huffed, crossing her arms in irritation.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura blurted as she turned away to pout. "Yanno, the hitai-ate over the left eye, the bored look, the mask – to be fair I had to use a scarf, b-but surely the book!" She gestured to the orange book again. "You have to know based off of the book." They continued to look at her blankly and she sighed, dropping the book to the floor before unwinding her scarf and tossing it to the side. The hitai-ate was removed with more reverence and placed on the table.

"Naruto and Sasuke probably would have got it." She muttered to herself. "And Naruto might even have laughed."

"I-I'm sorry Sakura-chan," Hinata offered tenderly. "I-I don't know Kakashi-sensei very well."

"Yea, me either." Ino grabbed the long-forgotten bowl of popcorn and shoved some in her mouth. Blue eyes landed on the book still on the floor. "What's up with the book though?" she asked.

Sakura shrugged, "I don't know." She picked it up off of the floor and walked over to the other girls, dropping it into Ino's hands. "He reads this all the time."

"Did you steal his book?" Ino gasped.

A green-eyed glare was shot Ino's way. "No. This is my mom's copy, but I think it's the same book." Ino turned the item over in her hands.

"What's it about?" Hinata asked curiously, pearl eyes wide.

Sakura shrugged again and plopped onto the couch beside Ino, who was still crunching on their snack in a manner that reminded Sakura of Choji, though she would never tell the blonde that. Ino let Hinata take the book from her, and the heiress cracked it open.

"What does it say Hinata-chan?" Ino asked, leaning forward to see as Hinata looked at the pages.

Hinata shifted so that the swirling ink characters were easier to see for all three of them. The words on the page didn't make much sense given the lack of context and were therefore not very insightful to the contents of the book itself.

Hinata shook her head. "I'm not sure." She readjusted her grip so that she could flip through a few pages. "Oh, wait!" she stopped flipping and worked to go back a few pages. "I think there was a picture here, certainly that should help give us an idea."

Sakura nodded, still disappointed that her friends hadn't gotten her impersonation of her teacher. "I'm surprised there's any pictures in it." she said thoughtfully.

"Here," Hinata pressed the pages down, eyes squinting to decipher the image. "I don't… what is that… two animals fighting?"

Ino leaned forward to grab the other side of the book, craning her neck to see the black and white image. "No…" she tilted her head the other direction. "I think that one on top is a woman."

"A woman riding an animal then?" Hinata asked. She pulled the page closer to her face before stretching it back out. "I think… is she naked?" pearl eyes turned to look at the other girls questioningly.

Sakura's brows furrowed. "I think that's a man, not an animal. See," she leaned over, ignoring the few pieces of popcorn that escaped the bowl and tumbled to the floor. "I think those are his arms and legs."

"If those are arms and legs, wouldn't that make this a… a third leg? That doesn't make- Oh my god!" Ino gasped, cheeks flaring crimson, eyes blowing wide open. Her hands let go of the book as if it burned her and covered her mouth.

"What do you – why are you being weird?" Sakura asked skeptically, looking back and forth from the page to Ino.

"No, no no no." Ino shook her head and jumped off of the couch, trying to swipe the book from Hinata's hands. Hinata frowned and pulled the object closer to her chest.

"Hey!" The heiress responded. "Don't try and just grab something from my hands."

"Yea that's rude!" Sakura added, also hopping down from the furniture and standing in between Ino and Hinata. "Why are you being weird?" she demanded, planting her hands on her hips.

The blonde girl's face was beat red, hands clenched into fists at her sides. She took a breath in, opened her mouth and floundered for a moment before slamming it shut and gripping at her hair.

"We shouldn't be looking at it." She finally managed. She was biting at the inside of her cheek, feeling uncomfortably warm.

"Ino, what-"

" They're having sex in it!" her voice had risen an entire octave as the sentence fell past her lips.

"No way," Sakura spluttered, looking over her shoulder at Hinata and losing the full strength of her power pose with the motion. "A-are they?"

Hinata shrugged, cheeks pinkening. The black-haired girl swallowed, and after meeting the wide gazes of her friends -one uncharacteristically anxious and the other obviously curious – she glanced down at the paper. She held it at a different angle, and as she did so, the swirled black lines fell into place into her brain, and her own face bloomed scarlet. She suddenly felt lightheaded but nodded towards Sakura. With timid fingers she moved to close the book, but Sakura's voice rang out.

"No – let me see!" her hands dropped from her hips, and she pounced closer to the heiress.

"No, Sakura, don't!" Ino sprang forward in an effort to grab Sakura's wrist and stop her.

"It's not fair," Sakura huffed and held her hands out calmly to Hinata. "You both got to see it." Ino crossed her arms with a deep frown and color still on her face. Hinata eyed Sakura for a moment, seemingly calculating whether not letting the pink girl see the image would be easier to deal with than letting her see it, and with a look of resignation, handed it to the girl without qualm.

Green eyes wandered over the ink, scrutinizing the curves and intersections of the line work. She tilted the pages into the light, and then the shapes suddenly made sense.

"Oh!" she gasped softly, glancing up at the other two before looking back at the page with rose dusted cheeks. Her heart had kicked up a beat, but it didn't seem to be like the embarrassment or fear that gripped the other two, but with something akin to curiosity. Her brows furrowed, and she looked at the position the people were depicted in. "I-is…" she spoke tentatively before looking up at the others. "Is that what sex is supposed to look like?"

A small squeak came out of Hinata and Ino quickly shifted to face away from the other girls. Silence filled the room for a moment.

"I-I don't remember Iruka-sensei showing us… what… it's supposed to look like in class." The Hyuuga girl's voice was intensely soft.

"Ino?"

The blonde bristled. "What?" she spat over her shoulder.

"Do you know if that's what it's supposed to look like?" Sakura asked again.

"Well, how the hell should I know?"

Sakura hummed. "I wonder if there are any more pictures." She started to thumb through a few more pages.

"Why do you even want to see any more pictures of it?" Ino chewed the inside of her cheek. "It's weird and gross…"

"It's something we'll have to know about eventually." Hinata offered timidly. "Neji has talked before about his teammate having to take lessons on it in her kunoichi class."

"Kakashi-sensei has talked to us about Sparrow missions before." Sakura breathed, the air in the room suddenly still and oppressive. "N-not in any detail… But… it was stuff that happened during the last war."

"Can we…" Ino turned around with a few tears in her eyes. "Can we talk about something else?" She rubbed at her arms and sighed. "We're supposed to be having a slumber party… not falling into existential dread because of Forehead's sensei's weird obsession with pornographic novels."

The other girls nodded and Hinata held her arms out to Ino for a hug, which the blonde readily accepted.

"Sorry Ino-chan," Sakura said softly, closing the book and setting it on the table. She reached over and patted Ino's back.

Silence lingered for another moment before Hinata asked softly. "Sakura, didn't you say you had a story to tell me?"

Ino immediately brightened, wiping her face but smiling. "This is a wonderful story, Hinata-chan, you're going to love it."

"It is not wonderful, Pig." Sakura scoffed. "It starts with me getting my first ever period in the middle of a mission," Hinata gasped, pearl eyes shooting wide. "And ends with Gai-sensei alerting the entire village about it after the Hokage stopped to talk with Kakashi-sensei about it."

"Wait the Hokage knows about it?" Hinata's voice was small and wobbly at the very thought.

"Wait, Gai-sensei told the village?" Ino asked in unison with Hinata's question, her mouth had dropped open. "When did that happen? I thought the funniest part of the story was Sasuke not knowing what a period was?"

Sakura nodded with a frown. She fell back against the couch cushions and stared at the ceiling. "Yea… earlier today, actually. Mom and I were getting dango from that little shop, you know the one." The girls nodded. "Well, we were in line waiting, and I don't know exactly what happened, but before I knew what was going on there as a man in bright green spandex shrieking on the outside patio about Sakura's Red Bloom of Youth-"

"You're kidding me-"

"I am not, we can track down mom and she will corroborate. He screamed Sakura's Red Bloom of Youth directly into the Hokage's face. I'm pretty sure Sasuke's dad and Kakashi-sensei were both there too." She smacked herself in the forehead. "I'm never going to recover. I'm mortified. As if Naruto being the one to coach me through it wasn't enough."

"N-naruto-kun?" Hinata's face flushed red. " N-naruto-kun?" she squeaked. "I'm going to pass out."

"No, no, no," Ino swiped the cup Hinata had been drinking earlier and shoved it into the girl's trembling hands. "Drink this, you'll be fine. Do some breathing."

"In through the nose," Sakura had leaned forward from the couch. All three girls inhaled though their nostrils in unison.

"And out through the mouth." Ino finished, letting her breath out and fanning the heiress gently. "Wonderful, and again."

The three girls worked through a few more breaths together before Hinata calmed down. Her cheeks were still a ruddy crimson, but her chest was no longer tightened.

"I'm going to have to make sure Naruto knows the breathing exercises for whenever you two finally get together." Sakura said with a playful tone.

Hinata gave a weak smile. "Was it weird that he was the one to help you through it?"

Sakura shook her head no. "He was wonderfully supportive, weirdly respectful, and didn't even mention it again." Hinata's smile broadened with something like pride for her crush. "Honestly he'll probably coach you the whole way through every milestone in your relationship, first kiss and all." Sakura's lips tilted into a smile while Hinata chuckled shyly behind her hands and Ino snorted.

"Continue, Sakura-chan, please." And she did, recounting the rest of her Big Traumatic First Menstruation and the calamity of Gai professing to the village about her Red Bloom of Youth.

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