Title : Confessions on the Telephone

Author: Snow Tigra

Rating: PG 13, some language

Pairing/Character(s): I mention a few, but it's mostly Ino and Sakura

Comments/Warnings: Inspired by a phone conversation with my own girlfriend, I decided to write the idea. Not enough yuri for Naruto

Late afternoon. Class had ended long ago, and the setting sun found her sitting on her plush pink bed, nestled between flowered body pillows with a bottle of nail polish in one hand and a determined look on her face. Why was painting one's toenails so hard? As she carefully made the colored lines over her nails her mind considered the thought that in the past they'd made women do this as a form of torture, kind of like foot binding. The human body just wasn't made to bend in the right position to paint one's toenails, no matter how thin and shapely and flexible one could be. Especially so for teenage girls about to leave school for summer days with boyfriends, beaches and occasionally jobs. Sandals required one's nails to be painted and it was completely inhuman to lock one's feet away in tennis shoes when the rest of one's body was shown off in bikini's, tank tops and shorts that could barely be called that.

Twisting another direction she tried to gain a better vantage point to paint the next nail, but that only seemed to make it worse and she smudged this one worse then the last.

"Well fine then." She closed the container of nail polish and abandoned it on the bedside table, opting instead to lay back on the bed and bounce her foot in the air, drying off the two and a half nails she'd managed to paint. A peaceful night of nothing to do…

Except answer the phone.

She leaned over and grabbed the pink piece covered with stickers from childhood, going back to laying on the bed.

"Hey you," came the voice on the other side. It was accompanied with the familiar smacks as the one on the other side of the line chomped her ever-present gum. It was a thing you just did as a teenage girl, even if there were really no point.

"Hey. Anything new?" She never called unless there was something new. Painted nails were quickly forgotten as the girl rolled over in bed and twirled some hair around her finger, giving her free hand something to do as she settled in for what was always a long talk.

"A little. You see her skirt today? I swear Temari always wears them too high and too tight, you could see the fishnet stocking on one side! I saw her weaving around the teachers, avoiding them. She's daring as usual."

She smiled at the thought and what she'd seen that day as well. "It's kind of impressive don't you think? She's that bold-"

"She's that much of an attention whore."

"Ino!"

The girl on the other end smirked and she could hear in her voice. "Ok, I didn't mean that, but she's close!"

"Maybe… a little…" the girl conceded. She knew her friend was nodding on the other end.

"I would never wear something like that out of my room."

She thought for a moment, remembering what Temari had looked like at school. The clothing never seemed an issue to her, she looked good in anything, and it wasn't because of her tall body, especially since Temari was a little more filled out then the popular anorexic opinion, she just managed to look good in anything.

"I would," She muttered, without thinking or realizing it was out loud.

"Sakura?"

She blinked. "Well… I would. I mean… I would if I were that confident."

The one on the other end seemed to consider that, then jumped to the next topic, obviously not willing to admit she agreed and too honest to protest that she didn't. "I saw Tenten and Neiji going at it again today."

Sakura blinked and coughed a little. "Again? What are they, rabbits? I swear he's groping her every second he gets."

"Nu-uh! You didn't realize? Tenten is the one who always pulls Neiji off into the back hallways and behind the bushes. He tries to pull away every time, until she starts kissing him. Then his hands are all over her. You should see them making out, I swear it's almost like watching real sex with all the clothes on."

Sakura made a face at that. "Least they're the only ones. How could someone like that? Hands everywhere, bodies moving like that… it doesn't look good at all. It looks kind of… brutal. When I kissed Sasuke he wasn't like that."

Silence stretched between them for a second, almost un-noticeable. Almost.

"How is the old pissy boy?"

"Pissy as always. You know he's with Naruto now, Ino, he wouldn't give me the time of day."

"Maybe you scared him away from breasts."

Sakura choked on her own breath. "Ino!"

The girl on the other end laughed softly. "Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist. Though, you have to wonder about the guy. Seems to me like he was trying other pastures for a day or two."

"Whatever, he and Naruto are happy." Sakura leaned over and grabbed the nail polish bottle, twirling it in her fingers as she watched the red and glitter slide around inside. "Besides, he always looked like he'd snap and strangle me in the middle of the kiss."

"Least he doesn't snore when he kisses."

Sakura couldn't stop that giggle. "Someone's still bitter about Shikamaru!"

"Hmph. Am not. He can have his potato chips and moths and icky gross yucky caterpillars. Ew."

"Bitter. Bitter."

"Shut up Sakura! He does too snore when he kisses! In fact, I think I'm convinced that the entire male population has no idea how to kiss at all. Screw them all. I'm turning lesbian."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Now that was interesting… where had that come from? "Ino, don't be silly, you've never even kissed a girl."

"Have to."

Blink. "When?"

"Anko. She cornered me after gym class and dared me I wouldn't do it. I got her good."

Ino had kissed a girl? Silence stretched between them for a moment.

"You ever thought of kissing a girl Sakura?"

Sakura shook her head, forgetting she was on the phone. A second later she recovered, her eyes scanning the bed. When had she dropped the nail polish and when had it rolled on the floor? "No…. never…"

"Not even thought about it? Wow. You should try it sometime."

"They're just lips Ino. Doesn't make a difference if they're male or female." Sakura climbed out of bed and frowned, squinting under the bed as she looked for the bottle. It had hit the back wall, resting under her small heater.

"Does too. Girl's are softer, and girls practicing kissing."

"Yeah, because mirrors are great kissing teachers." The nail polish was way out of reach. Sakura sighed softly and gave up. She didn't feel like moving the bed to get to it. So instead she moved toward the bathroom, looking for the nail polish remover. Oh well, she'd wanted to do them blue in the first place anyway. "Besides, what about all the other stuff?"

"What other stuff? Touching? Kissing? Hugging? Caressing? Girls can do all that, and they aren't all hurried anyway. Yep, that's it, I'm gonna be a lesbian."

Sakura frowned as she pulled down the thin yellow bottle. "Well, what about that… other part?"

"You mean the part that no girl can say without a straight face? Naw, don't need it."

"Don't need it?" Sakura left the bottle forgotten, listening to the conversation more. "Then what…?"

"Fingers."

"Ew."

Ino chuckled. "You'd be surprised, it feels incredibly good. Just a finger or two, or three when you're used to it. Sometimes more then that. Then there's other things, things better then penises. There's tongues…."

Silence stretched out again and Sakura shifted where she was sitting on the edge of the bathtub. When had she sat down? When had the room started getting warm?

"Still, it doesn't sound nearly as good."

"Because being impaled with a penis does."

"Ino!" Sakura stood up and wandered back to her room, glancing down the stairs. Thank god her parents weren't home to accidentally pick up the phone.

"I'm serious you know. It feels a lot better. Soft hands, sliding over your body, exploring every inch. Not hurried or impatient or demanding like boys, just exploring, just sliding…. Holding."

When had Ino's voice become that soft? And why had Sakura stopped walking in the middle of the hallway.

"Sakura?"

"Hm?"

"Never thought about it?"

"Not… really…" Sakura couldn't hide the curiosity in her voice. She was curious. She'd never been touched like that at all… just that one time she and Sasuke had kissed. He hadn't even seemed to have been there.

"Thinking about it now?"

"… yeah." Sakura admitted softly.

Silence stretched between them again.

"I bet your hair is soft," Ino whispered softly into the phone.

"And your hands are warm," Sakura responded without even thinking. It just seemed like the right thing to say, especially since she swore she could feel Ino's hands resting against her back, slowly heating her skin.

"Beds are more comfortable with two people."

"Do women hold each other all night?"

"I would."

Silence again. Sakura's eyes slid to the bedside table, the clock, the phone cradle. Her school books lay on the desk, her backpack hanging off her chair. And a bus pass nudged just into sight under something about ancient Japanese history.

The bus went right to Ino's place.

"Sakura?"

Sakura hesitated.

"Sakura? You coming over now?" The silent invitation in her voice was almost deafening. Ino had planned this.

Sakura didn't care.

The phone clicked off and a hand grasped the bus pass, heading out the door with a swift lock.

Maybe, for tonight… she could try being a lesbian too.

Or maybe it would last for more then a night.