Finally. Today was the day that Ino was finally being released from the hospital. She was glad to be going home; though she'd only been cleared because of the conspiracy they were stuck in the middle of, Ino was more than ready to get the hell out of there. There wasn't anything she could do in the hospital; at least at home, she could read, do a little bit of cleaning, and still take it easy without feeling like she was sitting on her rear all day. Her body hurt all over, but there wasn't much she could do about that. Her concussion had at least subsided; the fact that she had no previous head trauma contributed to that fact.
She spent a few hours in the morning with Sai before they got into his vehicle, heading to a particular location where they'd all agreed to meet. This was the first time their crew was having a secret meeting; they'd picked a spot that no one would bother them so they could discuss. It seemed Sai and Kakashi had come across some new information that was imperative to share with the rest of the group.
They drove in silence until they'd reached the warehouse and were the second to arrive. Kakashi was waiting for them, idly reading a book. Ino and Sai stood further apart in the room than they might have previously. Things were… still a little weird between them. Ino was struggling to wrap her head around it. The only thing she did know was that two things were happening in her house: one, she was ridiculously deprived of any action, and two, he was not making it any easier by being around. Sai seemed to care… very little for decency in some ways, opting to at times wander around her house shirtless. Bastard. He was just a walking temptation half the time!
But… he was friendly, at least. That much Ino could accept.
Naruto was the last of their group to arrive, strolling in with… not even a bounce in his step? Damn, that was new for Naruto. "What do we have?" He practically demanded, earning raised eyebrows from Ino. He was rarely if ever, this level of serious; that face meant he meant business. She'd seen that face on a few occasions. She never liked to see it because if Naruto was serious, that meant the situation itself was dire.
"Well, we've traced some of their dealings to a company that we may be able to get insider details from... assuming certain parties can cooperate, that is." Sai's tone made Ino twitch. She planned to stay quiet for this meeting, knowing she had little to nothing to add, but Sai hadn't even told her what was going on. His cagey demeanour was starting to get to her. Maybe she'd have to think about loosening him up a little…
"We have to be careful how we approach things," Kakashi warned.
Naruto spoke up with a firm tone. "If it means getting my best friend and Sakura out of being on the run for the rest of their lives, then screw it. We'll damn well do it!" Ino jumped as Naruto slammed a hand down on the table and startled her with the noise. "Sasuke never deserved this, and neither did Sakura! We were just... we were all doing our damn jobs, nothing more!" Sadly… she agreed with him wholeheartedly. Her best friend never deserved to be in this kind of situation. They were doing their jobs, saving lives, helping people, and being upstanding citizens.
"Calm down, Naruto," she coaxed as she placed a hand on his shoulder. If he was getting too heated, it was likely they'd get off track. "I know better than anyone how little Sakura deserved any of what she's been given." Ino knew Sakura's history. She knew how Sakura was bullied when they were younger, how Ino had been the only one to stand up for her, and how Sakura herself had struggled with self-esteem, even to this day. "The only thing we have to count on is that she's with Sasuke. He won't let anything happen to her." Though she couldn't quite remember everything, she felt like she innately knew Sasuke wouldn't let anything happen to her. How, she couldn't explain it, but she chalked it up to her foggy memories that were only slowly making their way back to her.
As Naruto let out a sigh, Ino removed her hand from his shoulder, glad that he'd relaxed. "Yeah… I know. I'm just worried, ya know? Worried he's going to have to live like this the rest of his life… when all he deserves is a little justice for what happened." Ino believed Sakura deserved the same thing; she deserved to have a happy love life after far too many years of being single.
"He won't. Trust me." Neither of them would if Ino had something to say about it. It was something she'd been thinking of over the past week. "Worst case scenario, if they get brought in, I can assure you, they will have the best goddamn lawyer they can have. And Konoha is going to lose the only prosecutor that could prosecute their damn case." The moment she spoke, everyone's eyes were on her, making her feel mildly nervous. Was it that out of character for her to say?
"Ino, you wouldn't." Naruto's shock was palpable in his tone.
"You are damn right I would," she confirmed. "I will quit my job and become their damned defence lawyer if it means getting them out of things. The prosecution department had better fear me because I will raise hell to save my best friend." Ino was fierce when it came to her best friend. No amount of amnesia was going to change that.
"Let's stop it before it gets to that." Kakashi held up a hand to slow them down, then turned to Sai. "Sai, who was this contact you wanted us to get in touch with?" Sai had been surprised by Ino's sudden declaration but was shaken back to reality by Kakashi's words, clearing his throat to cover how distracted he was and producing a file that he set on the table in front of everyone.
"We have reason to believe that portions of Akatsuki may have contracts with Hyuuga Security Industries." They were a powerful force in Konoha, responsible for a lot of private security events. "I doubt we'll be able to get close to the heiress, but..."
"Hinata?" Ino asked, an incredulous look on her face. Were they going to get Hinata involved in this? Where had he even come across this information? Hell - why was he looking into Hinata in the first place? "You want to get her involved? I don't know about that." Ino shook her head, not liking where this was going. She was also certain Sai had some explaining to do. "Hinata... Hinata's sweet, and-"
"And not the person they'll see coming," Naruto interrupted, earning a sharp glare from Ino. "I don't like it either, but Sai's right, and on top of that, Hinata has been suspicious of what we've been doing lately. I think Hinata's someone we can count on to have our backs. She'll help, I'm certain of it. And if we talk to Neji, maybe he'll help as well." From what Ino knew, Neji had a bit of a sour attitude, but he was an all-around close companion of Hinata's. They were inseparable, almost like siblings.
"You forget she's my friend, I swear." Ino's frown said everything about her opinion on the situation. Her best friend was gone, and now they wanted to get one of her only other friends involved? Well, she had at least one point she wanted to make. "We will not be using manipulation tactics on her. Don't ask me why because it's not my story to tell, but damn it, if she's involved, it's by choice. I'll fight you all on this." Sai leaned away from Ino with a wary look. She was on the warpath today, it seemed.
"So... who should talk to her?" Naruto asked. Ino felt a little lightbulb go off in her head, and as Sai opened his mouth to reply, Ino turned on him.
"No." No way in hell was Sai taking that on. He was far too awkward. She was the social expert here, not them; she knew precisely the best way to handle this. Staring Sai down, she pointed at Naruto, who made a noise that gave away how flabbergasted he seemed. "Yes, you," she confirmed, slowing down her words in case it wasn't clicking.
"But… why me?" Seriously, was he that stupid? He was the perfect candidate for this kind of thing. She let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. Oh, these boys were hopeless. Did they not understand the art of talking to women?
"Three reasons. One, Sai's too blunt, and he'll probably screw it up." Sai winced sheepishly at her comment, rubbing the back of his neck. Unfortunately, Ino was right, and he knew it. He would screw that one up quickly if he weren't careful.
"Two, Chief Hatake has too much authority, so it'll look suspicious. Three, I'm too directly connected to this case, both through Sakura and through everything else, that it also would be suspicious, and I kind of don't know all of the details of our friendship because thanks, head trauma." Three damn good reasons to count three of them out, leaving Naruto the only one left. To punctuate her point, she pointed at Naruto again, this time facing him. "You can easily just ask her out for coffee, talk to her, and everyone will be none the wiser. For all they know, you're just asking another cute girl on a date." Now that she remembered.
"You make it sound like all I do is ask girls out on cute dates," Naruto defended. Ino pursed her lips, shrugging her shoulders and humming. She wasn't wrong. That was… kind of what he did—a lot. Naruto was the office romantic; if there was a new girl in the office, you could bet Naruto would ask her on a date. He'd done it with her, and he'd done it with Sakura… He'd probably done it with just about every other girl that came through their office. It wasn't a bad thing, and it was about to be helpful for this particular situation they found themselves in.
"Okay, okay, I'll ask her," Naruto finally agreed as he crossed his arms. Ino puffed up triumphantly at his reaction. "Sheesh, you're pushy, ya know."
"I know. Call me cupid." She tried to flip her hair over her shoulder but found that with the shorter length, it didn't quite work as well. Ah, whatever, it still had the intended effect, and she couldn't resist following it up with a bit of teasing. "And don't forget to send me a wedding invitation~."
"Oi, oi, oi, who said anything about a wedding?! I'm askin' her out for coffee, not an actual date!" Ino smirked at him, spurred on after her comment had the intended effect. Time to turn up the heat on this conversation a little; she'd missed having these kinds of conversations with her friends.
"Yeah, yeah. And Sakura and Sasuke were just crime partners with one who accidentally sent basically nudes to the other." The moment that comment came out of her mouth, she immediately regretted it. It was… obviously another memory, but as it dawned on her, it was pretty clear she'd just outed one of her best friend's biggest secrets. Oh, crap. She… probably wasn't supposed to say that, and the fact that everyone in the room was staring at her told her that even more.
"THEY DID WHAT?!" Naruto's screech broke the long, awkward silence, drawing everyone's attention. There was the old Naruto, back to his over-dramatic self. Well, that much was a relief. Now she just had to do damage control. Naruto continued to spout off absurdities, leaving Ino scrambling to shut him up.
"Will you un-knot your panties for five seconds already?!" She reached forward and slapped a hand over Naruto's mouth, giving him her best deadly glare to keep him from screeching any louder. "I said basically nudes, meaning almost nudes, and god damn it, none of you ever heard me say that you hear me?!" She turned back around to everyone, staring at them each in turn, a small part of her enjoying just how much they recoiled. "None! Nada! Zip! Zilch! Zero!" She wasn't going to have it. Sakura would kill her for telling them. She was a dead woman if her best friend ever found out. Damn her scatterbrained memories!
"Oi, oi, oi, but why would they be excha-" Ino didn't even let Naruto finish that sentence, turning around and snapping her fingers in his face to shut him up.
"Not. A. Word. I hear the word 'nudes' come out of your mouth, and it better involve a bowl of ramen." Then it came. On cue, at the mere mention of ramen, Naruto's stomach growled so loud everyone in the room heard it.
"I'm sorry! I like ramen!" Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. She couldn't believe this.
Sai, too, found the whole situation… amusing but surprising. He would never have expected Dr. Haruno to be the kind of person to send such risqué materials to someone, let alone to Detective Uchiha before their budding relationship. He would have to file that information away for later… if he ever needed it. It wasn't likely that he would, but he might be able to use it to leverage Ino, at the very least.
Naruto seemed to have got lost in his thoughts again, only brought back out by Ino snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Naruto? Hello? Focus?" His stomach growled again, and she resisted the urge to cuff him upside the head. He was such an idiot sometimes—a cute one and good at many other things, but an idiot nonetheless.
"Okay, okay! But… can I ask her out for ramen instead? There's a special going on at old man Ichiraku's restaurant, and I have a coupon-"
One word crossed Ino's mind. Hopeless. "Oh. My god. No wonder." That explained a lot of things. "Coupons on a date is so tacky." Okay, so maybe it wasn't to everyone, but it was tacky for a romance (and sex) expert like Ino. "Yeah. Fine. Okay. Ask her out for ramen. I hope for your sake she doesn't hate ramen." She… couldn't remember if Hinata liked ramen or not.
"All right! Yeah! Ramen it is! And I'll see what Hinata knows as cleverly as I can." At least he was making a note on his phone not to forget. Now that she thought about it… she'd best do the same thing. Sai breathed a sigh of relief as the situation seemed defused and their next course of action planned.
"All right. So Hinata's our best bet, then," Naruto confirmed. "Let's start there, and we'll see what's gonna happen!"
Everyone nodded in unison as they parted ways, Ino making a mental note to give Sai a little personal interrogation. She had plans, though… First, she needed to loosen him up, and that was going to be easy.