The next day, Naruto went out to train his sage form, like clockwork, never once suspecting that his comrades and former classmates had gathered together to discuss him. Though, in hindsight he'd probably say that it explained all the sneezing he did.

The meeting was held at Sakura's apartment, since the ice cream parlor was closed, which made for a little bit of a tight fit, but they managed. Sakura and Ino took up the love seat, Shikamaru claimed the recliner, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata each took a chair from around Sakura's dining room table. Right now, all eyes were on Hinata as she passed around the picture.

"Ano... I... I found this yesterday, and I couldn't help but notice that... it's from the day we don't remember..." Hinata opened nervously, her eyes checking the time. "When I brought this up with Sakura-san yesterday, we both thought that Naruto-kun may know about it."

"So let's tie him down and beat it out of him," Kiba scoffed, upset that Akamaru couldn't join him inside the apartment. "Or have Ino pull it out of him her way."

"Ano... I don't think..." Hinata started, trying to placate her miffed teammate when Shikamaru interrupted.

"That may not be a bad idea, though it is troublesome, we should find out if Naruto remembers anything of that day," Shikamaru corrected, gaining a horrified stare from Hinata, a smug grin from Kiba, and curious looks from the others. "Though, I think trying to gain the information from him voluntarily would be best, seeing as it'd be more troublesome to explain why he's been beaten to the Hokage."

"Good point," Sakura mused, leaning forward with interest. "But how do we get him to do that?

"Ano, I'm sure he'd tell us if he knew how important it is to us... right?" Hinata offered, trying to placate the group. Seeing the minimal affect it had on them, she looked to Shino, who normally was in her corner.

This time, however the bug user just sighed and made the smallest shake of his head. "I think that he would have told us already Hinata if that were true. Naruto must have his reasons for keeping this a secret, and while we should respect that, we have a right to know."

Hinata's eyes turned down as she noticed everyone else was nodding. "Ano... couldn't we... can't we... we could just forget about it, and not let it bother us..."

"Hinata, do you remember how you woke up? With that practice dummy laying on top of you?" Shikamaru asked calmly, his eyes watching the heiress. "He might know why... as troublesome as it is, he is the best chance we have of figuring out what happened."

Hinata bit her lower lip in thought as she fidgeted with her fingers, her mind racing along. "I... I don't want Naruto-kun hurt... but... I suppose finding out would be nice..."

"Then it's settled," Sakura cut in with an evil grin to her face, "I want first crack at him... knowing all this time, and not breathing a word about it."

"I think Billboard Brow has a point, but she's going to need help," Ino said with a smirk to the pink haired girl. "Someone has to counter her fists of fury, and keep her on track."

"Why don't you do it Ino?" Chouji asked, wiping chip crumbs off his cheeks. "You two have been getting along better since the last invasion attack, besides if anyone could keep her on task, it's you."

"Good points Chouji, beyond that, they can have one distract Naruto, while the other searches for more information," Shikamaru added after a moment of thought.

"Why... why don't I go first everyone? He is my fiancée..." Hinata asked feeling nervous about Naruto's survival prospects already.

"Because, he is your fiancée," Shino answered, his attention focusing on her, "Your resistance to this matter earlier shows that you want to side with him, to a point. I'm sure we can all agree that if the roles were reversed, Naruto would be a last resort to gain information from you too."

After everyone recovered from the shock of hearing the normally silent Shino talk at length, Shikamaru continued. "So then, it's settled, Sakura and Ino will have the first shot at gathering the information, and report back to us on their findings, should all go according to plan."

"Hai," everyone agreed with varying degrees of enthusiasm and interest.

Sakura and Ino hung around after everyone left, cleaning up the apartment and placing the chairs back in place. "How do you think we should do this Ino?"

"I'm all for going into his mind and pulling out every last bit of information I can... but I don't think Hinata would like that too much," Ino mused as she slid a chair under the table. "Why don't we just ask him a few questions, get him to confess willingly?"

"It's been too long for that to work, we might trick him into one or two answers, but he'll lock up after that. And I... I would suggest not going into Naruto's mind, just trust me on this," Sakura answered, stacking the coasters back into their holsters. "How about we go over and help him move boxes, and see which ones he doesn't want us touching, then I'll distract him while you go through those boxes."

"Sounds like a plan..." Ino replied, pulling out a pint of ice cream, and a pair of spoons, settling in on the couch. "So are we doing movie night tonight?"

Sakura laughed lightly at her friend's antics, settling in next to her. "Sure, what're you in the mood for?"

"Fighting Dreamers!" Ino shouted excitedly as she pulled out the DVD from the couch cushions, causing Sakura to sigh in exasperation.

"We watched that last week, come on, let's watch Ko-no-Hana this week, please?" Sakura pleaded, her eyes going misty, and lower lip pouting ever so slightly.

"No way... I'm sick of watching that ship go down, too much drama..." Ino moaned as she looked at the case for the movie on Sakura's shelf. "How about the Kage of the Rings?"

"You just want to drool over that Suna Blossom guy again," Sakura teased as she watched her friend's eyes glaze over slightly, "Admit it."

"Hold on... fantasizing now... denial later..." Ino replied, lost in her own little world, drooling slightly. "Do you think I'd look better in those tights then he does?"

"Oh yeah, nice and leggy," Sakura intoned dryly as she pushed off the couch, and grabbed out the movie. "One eye-candy festival coming up."

Putting the movie on, Sakura settled back down on the couch and the pair began eating the ice cream while watching the movie quietly, save for the squeals and giggles. Halfway through, they paused the movie to drop off the container in the trash, the spoons in the sink, and enjoy a short intermission.

"Ugh, five hour movies... whoever thought of that need to have their entrails dragged out an inch at a time," Ino moaned as she stretched her legs, trying to get feelings back into it. "I should call dad, let him know I'm sleeping over again I guess."

Sakura exited the bathroom, drying her hands on a towel, while Ino rushed in quickly. "I'll call him Ino, and pull out your futon, set it up next to my bed."

"Thanks!" Ino called out from the bathroom, before Sakura got out of hearing range.

Picking up the phone, the pink haired woman dialed a number she'd memorized by heart ages ago. "Hey Mr. Yamanaka. Yeah, she is. Early morning plans. She has some here. Don't know, but will ask. Probably around seven. Good night."

After her conversation, she hung up the phone and busied herself setting up the futon next to her bed. "Hey Ino! Your dad wants to know if you want him to bring over Mr. Oinkster!" She shouted as she passed the bathroom again, smirking as she heard a pained groan from inside. "I'm surprised you still have that thing... I mean I like P-chan too, but it's too easy to tease you about it Ino-pig."

Ino stalked out of the bathroom with a glare on her face, broken a moment later by a familiar smile and shake of her head while sighing. "It's just something from my childhood... a memory of a time we left in the past too quickly. Know what I mean? Or do I have to pull out your widdle pink bwanky?"

Sakura blushed a cute little shade of red, before growling, "No, you don't... Come on, let's go finish the movie and then get to bed."

"Spoilsport..." Ino spat out with her tongue sticking out impishly. After a short pause, in which the pair had resettled on the love seat, she sighed and rubbed the back of her head. "You know... maybe I should just move in, I mean I'm over here more often then I'm ever at home. And I can help pay my way too..."

"I don't know Ino... I mean I don't have an extra room, with the second bedroom being my study and training room..." Sakura explained, looking down at her hands nervously. "And I don't think my closet would be big enough for both of our wardrobes..."

Ino looked at Sakura for a few minutes before starting to laugh, a few seconds later Sakura joined in. As kunoichi they learned early on to store clothes into scrolls, because they never knew when they'd be called upon to change into a new outfit while out on missions, or have long term missions that required more clothes. Beyond that, they normally just wore interchangeable copies of the same outfits, to save on time deciding what to wear.

"Seriously though," Sakura continued after the giggling had stopped, "Are you sure you want to? I mean you have a nice set up at your parent's place... and I am a bit of a slob when I have busier weeks at the hospital..."

"That's fine, I've practically been living here anyhow, so why not? It'd be nice for you to have company and a hot meal waiting for you when you get back, wouldn't it?" Ino countered with a smirk.

"Let's... let's just enjoy our movie night for tonight, and talk about it tomorrow..." Sakura answered with a small smile, starting the movie again.

"Alright," Ino whispered quietly as she frowned looking down a little put off, that lasted only until Suna Blossom came on screen, and then her attention was absorbed into movie. However, the moment of sadness was caught by Sakura, and she frowned in thought, wondering what was wrong. She decided to put it off until she could really sit down and talk with Ino.