I congratulate you if you manage read the first story. The story's not over though. The long awaited (Wat?) sequel is here. (After a week.) Enjoy!


Naruto would have noticed that he almost broken his front door to his apartment when he entered, but he was too relieved to be back home to care as much about his door.

"It's so great to be back home," Naruto said, throwing his pack down at the side of his door and kicking off his shoes as he entered his apartment. Kiba, Chouji, and Shikamaru trailed behind him throwing their own packs along with Naruto's, quickly making themselves at home as well.

"Seriously," Kiba said sourly, following Naruto and taking a seat at the table as Naruto had done. Akamaru strolled behind Kiba and took his usual spot under the table whenever Kiba visited. "That mission was definitely underrated, not that I am complaining or anything."

"Complaining, huh?" Shikamaru commented dully, pulling out a deck of cards from his pocket as took a seat at the table as well. Chouji took a seat next to him; all of them taking one side of the small table.

"Did I just say I wasn't complaining," Kiba said annoyed. He leaned his elbow watching Shikamaru shuffle and pass out the cards.

"Sounds like complaining to me," Chouji murmured amusedly, but his words still reached the ears of his friends. Kiba scoffed at his comment and Naruto snorted a laugh.

"What game are we even playing?" Shikamaru asked, ignoring Kiba's rant shuffling the cards again after randomly passing out cards to his friends.

"I wanna play Bull-" Naruto began to say.

"We should order take out," Kiba interrupted, quickly slapping his cards on the and running towards the phone by the door. "Not paying."

"Not paying," Shikamaru and Chouji said at the same time, both concentration more on their cards than the conversation. Naruto yelled standing up from his seat.

"I don't have enough money for everyone," Naruto said, searching in his pocket for his wallet. Kiba ignored his plea and was already hallway in ordering food. Shikamaru and Chouji simply hummed in acknowledgement, but said nothing to save him. "Some friends you guys are." Naruto sighed loudly and moved to looked around his kitchen for any loose cash he might have. When he didn't find any in the kitchen, he searched in his hall closet. During his search, he notice a box on the top shelf. He looked at it curiously, taking it down and shaking it slightly. He brought it back to the table just as Kiba finished his phone call sat down as well.

"Ah ha!" Naruto cheered excitedly, opening the box and pulling out an envelope from it. "I just found our dinner money." He looked inside it and was pleased with what he saw.

"What is this?" Kiba asked pulling the box closer to him and looking inside curiously. He pulled out a hand full of, what seemed to him and the rest of them, small linked chains.

"Ah," Naruto said, instantly recognizing the tiny objects. "Those are necklaces I found a long time ago. I forgot to cash those in." He looked at the envelope he held. "That's where I got this from."

"You can get money from this junk?" Kiba asked skeptically dumping the jewelry back in the box. Naruto shrugged, not understanding the value but didn't complain. Money was money and he always needed money.

"Apparently - anyway, what are we going to play?" Naruto asked excitedly, sitting down in his spot again and picking up his cards.

"Let's play poker," Chouji suggested. "We can use what's in this box as counters."

"Sounds good to me," Shikamaru agreed, already fishing inside the box and grabbing a hand full of items. "I don't feel like shuffling again so just put two cards in the discard pile." Everyone around him mimicked his actions, grabbing their own hand full of random, worn-out jewelry.

"Ha ha!" Naruto laughed, glancing at his friends pile with his own. "I'm the riches out of all ya-"

"Can it. We're starting the game already," Kiba said, holding his cards to his face. In less than a second, the whole gang went silent. "I start with this rusted-looking ring.

"I'll call it by a small chain," Shikamaru said, dumping a random object in the middle. Naruto copied him by throwing a small chain of his own. Naruto was amused at their substitute counters, and began to laugh.

"I guess I'll throw in this locket thing," Chouji said, carefully placing a heart-shaped necklace in the middle of the pile. Naruto took a few quick glances at the pile, each time the glances became longer and his laughter died down bit by bit, until he was staring intrigued at the small necklace.

"That locket looks familiar," Naruto mumbled, loud enough for the rest of his friends to take notice.

"Well, it is yours," Shikamaru stated, going back to his cards. They continued the game by each of them discarding and drawing cards into their hands. Naruto did so as well, but he kept his eyes glued to the small locket. Why did that piece of jewelry catch his eye all of a sudden? He shook his head and went back to concentrating to the game. When the time came, they all showed their cards.

"Suckers," Kiba yelled in triumph. He reached out and dragged the pile towards him, Naruto watching his every move. None of the other things made him wonder, why did this one? The game continued on, slowly growing more serious with each passing minute. During their match, they had either forgotten that they were gambling trinkets or that they each enjoyed the feeling of winning and the suspense before the winner's reveal.

Naruto had enjoyed this part of the game the most. Every now and then, he would gaze over at Kiba's pile and stare at the locket. Every time he would glance over, he felt the bottom of his jump and his heart swell up. He tried not to look at it, but something itching in the back of his head. Where did he get that necklace? Where he found the rest of them, right? No, it belonged to someone. That's it what it was! He met someone and they must have left it in his apartment. It wasn't given to him, he knew that. He would have remembered something unique as that. Why was he bother so much about this?

He was pulled back out of his thoughts as a loud knock came upon his door and Naruto almost fell out of his chair.

"Food's here," Kiba said, nudging Naruto in the elbow. Shikamaru grabbed the envelope left at the edge of table and went for the door instead, noticing Naruto wasn't exactly all there, but he said nothing about it. Naruto didn't notice what was happening till the food was dropped in between him and his cards.

"Are you even there anymore?" Shikamaru asked, sitting down back in his place once the food was passed around. Naruto didn't noticed his friends looking at him strangely.

"Do any of you know or remember anyone that might have visit me?" Naruto asked solemnly, eyeing the necklace in Kiba's pile again. His friends looked among themselves confused as they began eating their dinner.

"We visit you," Kiba answered dumbly.

"Other than you guys," Naruto corrected. "Someone else."

"Uh, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Lee," Shikamaru began say, obviously listing people Naruto definitely knew.

"How about Sasuke?" Chouji asked next. Naruto shook his head at all of their answers, lazily banging his head against the table.

"Someone else, someone I can't remember," Naruto murmured with great frustration. He was quickly becoming over whelmed with a deep, cutting feeling.

"Are you trying to remember someone?" Kiba asked curiously, passing a few strips to his buddy under the table. Naruto sat back up in his chair and reach to snatch the locket out of Kiba's pile before he could protest.

"This belonged to someone," He said loudly, grasping the necklace from its chain and letting the heart locket swing like a pendulum from his fist. "Who does this belong to?"

"Well, we don't know," Kiba said defensively, eating away at his dinner. He and his other friends began to become uneasy with Naruto's sudden change in attitude.

"Why can't I remember? I'm sure- I know who this belongs to," Naruto went on, becoming extremely jittery. He felt the rise of his stomach and the swelling of his lungs and heart come again. More noticeable to his companion, his breath began to quicken and appeared more distressed by the second. Why couldn't he remember who this simple, little locket belonged too?

"I wouldn't think about it that much," Shikamaru said after swallowing a mouthful of food. "If you don't remember then you probably didn't care that much."

"I do care about-" Naruto snapped angrily, abruptly rising from his chair that it had fallen backwards. The outburst was so sudden, even he didn't know what he was doing. His friends froze. Shikamaru taken aback, Kiba held his breath, and Chouji was hallway from eating another bite.

"About who?" Shikamaru had finally asked after a long dead silence, with only Naruto's heavy breathing filling the gaps of sound. Another knock on the front door filled the silence. It was an awkward moment as Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba looked at each sure uneasily. Naruto was lost in his thought, only staring at the top of the table. He didn't seem to understand that he had a new visitor. The problem quickly solved itself as the visitor let himself in.

Sasuke didn't know what to expect when he opened the door of Naruto's apartment open. He had just expected to give a simple message in a quick visit. When he did enter, he was greeted very uneasily by the stares of Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji. His gaze then settled on Naruto who still had his head hanging low, who seemed to be lost in his own world.

"Am I interrupting something?" Sasuke finally said, becoming slightly uncomfortable in the awkwardness.

"Just Naruto's something-breakdown," Kiba answered stiffly. "He says he's trying to remember someone." Naruto suddenly noticed Sasuke in the room. He suddenly felt a wave of anger and his blood began to boil.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said angrily. "You had something to do with. I just know it." Naruto lunged at Sasuke and, in a second, Naruto had Sasuke pinned up against his wall by the collar of his shirt by both of his hands. Kiba and Chouji immediately stepped back as Naruto charged at Sasuke. Shikamaru was the only able to reach Naruto and grab and hold Naruto by his wrist while locking an around his chest, but he wasn't fast enough to stop his firm hold on Sasuke.

"Naruto, calm down," Shikamaru ordered, trying at least budge Naruto's hand, but his hold has too strong. "Just because you can't remember some guy, doesn't mean you can blame Sasuke. He just walked in and hasn't even done anything yet."

"You had something to do with this. I know it," Naruto snarled, pushing Sasuke harder to the wall. Sasuke was speechless for the most part, till a sudden realization came over his face. He noticed the small locket still grasped in Naruto's fist as Naruto was still pinning him to the wall.

"I see," Sasuke finally said, grabbing the necklace and tugged it free from Naruto's grasp. He let it hang from in between his fingers. Naruto flashed a glace towards the object. "This must have been hers."

"Who Sasuke?," Naruto pleaded desperately.

"I can't tell you." Naruto suddenly yelled in frustration and banged Sasuke against the wall.

"So you do know," Naruto accused angrily, getting in Sasuke's face. "Why can't you tell me?"

"Naruto, stop it," Shikamaru grunted, trying to pull Naruto off of Sasuke but greatly failing.

"Because if you don't remember on your own, it won't have any meaning," Sasuke simply said. Naruto managed to calm down greatly, releasing Sasuke from his hold, even though he felt that he was going to explode. Sasuke adjusted his shirt before handing back the locket to Naruto.

"Would you mind explaining?" Shikamaru asked, releasing Naruto right after Sasuke had been let free.

"It depends," Sasuke said, ignoring Naruto for a moment and addressing the three stragglers. "Are you up to getting involved?" Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba took glances at each other, all with uneasy and unsure stares and gestures.

"Well, we're already here," Shikamaru said stately, stepping back to lean against the table.

"And we have to know what Naruto's trying to remember," Kiba said sitting back down in his chair, almost in a bored tone, but it was obviously clear he was just as curious.

"We might even be able to help," Chouji said hopefully, sitting back down again. Sasuke smirked and rolled his eyes at the last comment. He found it ironic.

"You knew as well," Sasuke said seriously, his grin disappearing. "You all also had forgotten the person Naruto is trying to remember."

"What?" Naruto asked greatly surprised. It was also the question of his friends mind but they only stared speechless.

"Naruto, who gave this to you?" Sasuke said quickly, grabbing Naruto's hand and opening it up so Naruto could see the locket.

"That's what I've been trying to remember," Naruto replied angrily.

"Then start trying to remember," Sasuke snapped back. "Close your eyes." Naruto didn't hesitate and obeyed immediately. He had to trust Sasuke. "The person who gave you this locket was the you're most important friend you ever had."

"Even more than you," Naruto asked curiously, peeking with one eye.

"Yes, even more than me," Sasuke answered. "Now shut up and concentrate." Naruto closed his eyes again. "You meet even before you moved into the village, you found her injured and took her in. She was different from you and that's why you were attracted to her."

"She?" Naruto asked, though it sounded more as a statement than anything. He shut his eyes tighter, the sinking feeling rising from the pit of his stomach again. The strange wording sounded very familiar.

"You spent nearly every day with her. From the moment you woke up till the time you went to sleep, she was at your side, and you didn't want to spend a second without her. You went out of your way to protect her, to make her as happy as she made you. Remember Naruto, who was with you?"

The swelling in Naruto's chest grew larger with each word Sasuke said, he was afraid he wasn't going to be able to breathe. Like someone opening the blinds to a dark room and light began to fill, Naruto slowly began to remember. There had been someone with him, even before he had entered the village. All his memories of being alone suddenly filled with a vague image of someone beside him. Someone small, petite, kind, caring...she...she was the most kindest person he had ever met and treasured her like family-more than just family. She had made his days full and he wanted to stay like that forever.

His head quickly began to hurt more as the images-memories began to come back to him. He desperately began to fight back the pain, using everything he had to concentrate on the rising images.

"I remember someone. I-She..." Naruto stuttered, clutching the locket hi his hand, hard enough to have a solid hold, but delicate enough as to not crush it. Like the missing pieces to a puzzle, he began to put the piece of the picture in his mind; a small frame, long dark hair, and white - no - lilac-tinted eyes. "She was a Hyuga."

"What was her name, Naruto? Her full name." Sasuke said forcefully. He grabbed Naruto's shoulder, as if to steady him from falling over.

"Her name was...?" Naruto repeated growing more frustrated. He clutched the locket tighter and clenched his teeth. A round, friendly face came to his mind, a warm smile accompanying it. He could suddenly see her. Her full person, just as if she was standing in front of him. She stared at him, as she opened her mouth and said, like the chime of bells,

"Naruto..."

"Hinata..."

The words were barely audible, but they came out nonetheless from his own mouth. Like a flick of a light switch, everything he had forgotten came back to him. From the first moment they shared and the days that came after. He had remembered all the times spend together, and all the feeling he had felt came rushing back to him. He fell to his knees, wrapping one arm around his stomach and a hand covering his gaping mouth. Tears fells on the sides of his face as he stared at his floor petrified.


Sorry to cut this short. It's not as long as I would want it but it just wrote out that way. See you next time.