Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto.

Ok, please give this a chance. I don't like introducing OCs normally, but this fic has a host of them...blame Kishi for not giving Ibiki more of a backstory (Idate doesn't count, that was barely about him). :) Plus, it's not even close to romance.

Enjoy!

Ibiki sighed as he put the last item in his shopping basket. He had spent the last few hours at T&I, breaking in a new prisoner. In fact, he had spent the last few days at T&I, sleeping in his office and eating from the vending machine. He just wanted to go home and relax day or two, take a shower, and eat a real meal.

He dumped his basket on the checkout counter and watched the older woman behind the counter start scanning the items. He squinted at the woman. She looked vaguely familiar, which was disturbing. He prided himself in being able to remember every face and name he'd met in the last twenty-five years. That surprise was what let him, against his better judgement, talk to her.

"Don't you think you're a little old to be stuck in a dead end job like this?" said Ibiki gruffly. He wasn't sure how rude that was, as he wasn't used to being polite.

She glanced up at him and did a double take. Her eyes were brown and her hair was pulled back in a short ponytail, streaks of gray running through her hair liberally. She had a friendly face touched with wrinkles.

"Well, it's only temporary, for my daughter's wedding, but I suppose so," she said cheerily. She didn't seem to take offence to his question. She patted him on his gloved hand. "You're a big man. Are you sure this is enough food?"

He blinked in surprise. "I'll only be at home for a bit."

"Ah, that explains it." she said, finished with bagging his groceries.

He collected his groceries, pausing to check if anyone was behind him. There was no one, and he cleared his throat, about to ask her if they'd met.

"What's your name?" she asked, leaning on the counter.

"Hm? Me?" He hesitated before remembering that his name, at least, wasn't classified. "Ibiki Morino."

"I knew an Ibiki Morino once. He was a cute kid," reminisced the woman. "I baby-sat him years ago."

He stared at her. "Are you…Hijikata-san?" She had jolted his memory, and now he felt self-conscious in his leather trench-coat and scars.

"Oh, my, it's you, Ibiki-san!" And without another word, she hugged him around the middle.

If he'd felt awkward before, it was nothing compared to now. Her fingers barely touched around his broad chest.

"It's been years!" she gushed. "You've grow into such a strong man. So, you really did become a shinobi?"

He supposed it was obvious, even with his forehead protector replaced with a black bandanna. He emitted the same aura almost every ninja did, one of danger. The smallest genin could sometimes scare the biggest man.

"Aren't you on duty?" he grumbled, embarrassed.

"Oh, yes, well, this store isn't very busy. I'll get back to my job in a second," she said breezily. "Ibiki, I haven't seen you since you were about eight years old. That must've been twenty-years ago!"

"Just about." he agreed.

"I always wondered what became of you. You should come over for dinner tonight, we'll be having lasagna. It's very good, I promise."

"I couldn't impose like that." Hijikata, he remembered, was married to a well-off businessman in the village. They had several children and were a happy couple by all means.

"Of course you could, silly," she patted his cheek, making him fight the urge to wince. "Unless…you said you'd only be at home for a little while, didn't you? I wouldn't want to interrupt your time with family."

Ibiki thought of the empty apartment waiting for him and shrugged. "There's no one waiting for me."

Her eyes widened very briefly before she smiled. "Then come! The more the merrier."

He reluctantly accepted directions to her home and strolled off, watching her chat with another customer over his shoulder.

Hijikata-san had babysat him so long ago that he was sure she couldn't see any connection between the bubbly child with scraggly brown hair and a knack for getting into trouble and the huge, surly, scarred man she had seen today. Why had she bothered to invite him over? He had no doubt that he would feel unwelcome when-if-he went. Why bother? She probably wouldn't even notice if he didn't come. Why did he even care? She'd barely been in his life back then, let alone now.

But he went. He found himself in front of her door at the time she had told him, cursing himself for going. A warmly painted home that was decorated liberally with hanging plants and welcome signs wasn't a place where he belonged. But he knocked anyway, his thick glove softening the impact on the door.

It was another long thirty seconds before she opened the door. She was so much smaller than him- he hadn't noticed that earlier. He bent slightly so he wouldn't hit his head on the door frame as she invited him in. It felt wrong, being here, but he couldn't resist.

The inside living room was lit with lamps that cast a soft glow on the walls. A quilt hung over the couch and an old black and white TV sat in front of it. Maybe they just hadn't felt like upgrading with the rest of Konoha to color.

"I'm glad you came," Hijikata-san gushed. "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't. I told everyone you were coming, and they would've thought I'd made you up if you didn't come."

What exactly had she said about him? It was a little thought-provoking.

He followed her to a dining room set off the living area. No less than eight people already sat around the table, and Ibiki realized he hadn't been with this many civilians in years. Hell, he usually avoided being with this many ninja at a time.

Hijikata-san beamed. "Family, this is Ibiki-san. Ibiki-san, this is my family. My husband, who you probably don't remember, is Souji-san. These are my sons, Harada-san, Hinata-san, and Matsushita-san. My daughter, Kanade-san, and her fiancé Hikaru-san, and my daughter-in-law, Saya-san. And her daughter, Yuri-chan."

The little redhead stared at Ibiki, frightened. Her mother, who Ibiki assumed was Saya, patted her head.

"Ibiki Morino!" boomed the head of the table as Ibiki sat in a seat obviously meant for him. "It's been years!" Souji was a large man with a beer gut and a head of iron-gray hair. His face had laugh lines written all over it, just like his wife.

"It has," said Ibiki. "It's good to see you."

"Mother, are you telling me this is that little boy you'd bring over now and then?" asked Harada, the oldest, incredulously. "He's bigger than I am now!"

"I've been told I grew fast." muttered Ibiki, eyes seemingly on his hands. In fact, he was analyzing everyone there. Saya was having an affair with an older man, one her husband, who Ibiki was fairly positive was Harada, wasn't sure of but suspected. Yuri was fidgeting, presumably terrified of him but scared to say so. Matsushita was a typical teenager with typical teenage problems and Hikaru was uncomfortable, probably worried about impressing his fiancé's parents while Kanade was fine, probably having already received her parents' approval. Hinata seemed the most at ease, and Ibiki guessed he had close friends that were ninja.

"Eat up, now."

Ibiki nodded at her. "Thank you for this." He hated being there, and felt so out of place he wished he hadn't come.

She smiled brightly at him. Hinata, who he was sitting next to, leaned over. "How'd you get those scars on your face?" he asked. He had bright red hair and a round face, dooming him to the title of eternally cute. Ibiki could tell he was in his late teens.

"Hinata, don't be rude!" admonished Hijikata-san.

"That's fine," said Ibiki, relieved to have something to talk about, however morbid. "The one on the right is from a recon mission I was ambushed on. The one on the left is from protecting my younger brother." He was secretly proud of how far Idate had come since he'd left the village, and secretly happy that Team Seven had let him know that, however indirectly.

"I only met him once," said Hijikata-san. "He was a cute baby."

"Yes, he was." admitted Ibiki.

Hinata leaned on the table with his elbows. "Did you ever do anything cool?"

Ibiki thought of the people he'd tortured over the years, the missions he'd gone on, the amount of times he'd been pranked by Anko, the times he'd pranked her back without her knowledge… He had saved people- a far less ration than the people he'd broken, but still- and he supposed that counted.

"Once and a while." he replied.

"Awesome." said Hinata. Matsushita snorted with disdain, and Ibiki took the opportunity to scarf down some of the delicious lasagna.

Matsushita was the youngest, in his mid teens, with droopy eyes and lank brown hair. Ibiki could smell the pot from where he sat and wondered if they could too.

"Why are you all going gaga over that poser? Ninja are horrible murderers who do horrible things and don't even deserve to live."

Ibiki didn't deny it as Hijikata scolded him. "Matsushita! The ninja protect our village! Could you do that?"

Matsushita muttered something the others didn't catch, but Ibiki did- "Maybe if you'd let me." was what he'd said.

That explained it.

"You should take your coat off in the house." murmured Kanade. Her hair was silvery white, and she looked like a quiet and peaceful sort of person. Ibiki needed to get out of there. He felt like the breath was slowly being squeezed from him the longer he stayed.

"Oh, don't bother him." snapped Hijikata.

He didn't take it off, using it as some sort of comfort blanket and a mark of defiance.

"Your gloves, too." she added softly.

He felt a touch of annoyance. His gloves he was definitely not taking off. His hands were blanketed with thick, rough scars that hardly diminished in intensity over time.

"I'm sorry, but I have my reasons." he said roughly.

"Leave him alone," whispered Hikaru.

Hinata didn't seem done questioning Ibiki. "I have a couple friends who are ninja. Do you know them?"

Chances were that they were genin, and that he didn't, but he could give it a go. "Name them."

"Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki."

Ibiki's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You know them?"

"Yeah. We've been friends for ages."

"They're good shinobi when Kotetsu hasn't fallen asleep at the gates," chuckled Ibiki. "You have no idea how many complaints I get about that."

Hinata laughed. "He's notorious for it, I've heard."

"They should take him off guard duty," said Ibiki, shaking his head. "I don't know why they complain to me, I'm not the Hokage. Maybe they're afraid she's too busy drinking so the come to me instead."

"Are you talking about Tsunade-sama?" asked Kanade, sounding scandalized.

He nearly face-palmed. Of course, most civilians thought their precious leader was flawless. Only the ninja used her drinking at a running joke.

"Oh, lay off it, Kanade," snorted Souji, who had been talking with Harada. "You know the stories of our gambling boozer of a leader."

Maybe civilians weren't that naive after all.

Ibiki sniffed and smelled Matsushita's pot and the delicious aroma of home-cooked food. How long had it been since he'd whiffed that? Smelled anything other than take-out and hastily cooked (and likely burned) simple meals.

Saya was writing something on slip of paper, trying to be secretive about it. She passed it to Kanade, who smiled. Ibiki frowned, wishing he'd seen what she'd written just out of habit.

Kanade got up to clean off her dish, and Hinata tapped him on the shoulder again.

"Do you like being a ninja?" he asked.

"Depends. Aren't I supposed to get some down time to not have to think about being a ninja? It's not the most moral of professions, and it's pretty exhausting."

Hinata blushed and fell silent.

"Hey, I'm kidding, kid. Ask me whatever questions you want. I'm liking the attention." Ibiki found himself saying. Why did he say that? He noticed that Matsushita was listening in on them and grimaced slightly.

"Really? Cool. What do you do all day?"

Ah, classified information. He was wondering how long it would take. "This and that…I spend most of my time in my office doing paperwork."

Hinata made a face. "That's boring."

"It happens when you become too important."

Ibiki was prevented from saying anything else by Kanade walking back into the room and snatching the bandanna from around his head.

"Ha, maybe now you'll be polit-" she cut off with a gasp.

Ibiki swallowed as he saw eight pairs of eyes stare at him with shock and horror, unable to take their eyes off his scarred scalp, every hole and laceration and burn. He calmly grabbed the bandanna out of Kanade's slack hand.

"Why?" whispered Hijikata-san.

"Thank you for the meal. It was perfectly satisfactory," Ibiki declared evenly. The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife. His hands were involuntarily curling, but the rest of him betrayed nothing. "I think I should take my leave."

Ibiki stood and pushed in his chair, walking away from them. When he went outside to the crisp, cold air he didn't even flinch, letting his trench-coat flap behind him as he left them behind.

Imagine his surprise the next day when he was in his office, prematurely returned to work by a complaining ANBU staff member telling him that the prisoners had been neglected, when one of his ANBU appeared through the door. They rarely used conventional means of travel, so this was quite a shock. A blast of cool air hit him, and he realized he forgotten to turn his AC on. No wonder he was sweating. Ibiki looked up from his paperwork to see the man fidgeting.

"Yes?" he asked sharply.

"There's a woman at the front asking to see you. She says her name is Hijikata-san."

Ibiki was a good enough psycho-analyst to know that he was avoiding the issue when he said, "How did she find this place? This is supposed to be secret to most ninja, let alone civilians."

"She said her son's friends led her here."

Ah, Izumo and Kotetsu. He would be having a talk with them later.

"Let her in. Blindfold her, though. She doesn't need to see anything."

Ibiki sighed and massaged his temples. How the hell had this happened? He still hadn't had much sleep and almost no down time, and now he had this to deal with. What did she want to say to him, that he was ugly and hideous and that he better not go near her family? Because that was a given.

He tapped the desk impatiently, unable to concentrate on his paperwork now. He was getting a headache, his eyes were blurry, he was exhausted and he just wanted time to relax.

His door burst open again and another wave of air-conditioned air came in. Two ANBU, probably Yûgao and Tenzô, came in leading Hijikata-san. She was dressed in slightly rumpled clothes that could best be described as her Sunday best. He mouth was drawn in a tight line as the ANBU that was most likely Yûgao untied the blindfold. They left, leaving him alone with her. In all honesty, the were probably guarding the doors.

"You must be very important." she said, her voice trembling.

He shrugged. "In some ways."

He saw he look around at his office, the bare walls and the concrete floors. The only thing on his desk was paperwork and a bottle of water, and it was bolted down. His chair was made of metal and sometimes even he felt like he was in a gray box. He could imagine what she thought of it.

"Ibiki-san, I really must apologize for my daughter's behavior yesterday." She looked for somewhere to sit and found nothing.

"It's fine. I suppose it was rude for me not to take my coat off." He said it pleasantly, but there was no mistaking the annoyance in his words.

"No, that's wrong. It didn't offer to take your coat or anything, why would you-oh, I'm getting off track. That's not why I came here today," She paused, and Ibiki waited for her to go on. "We all feel horrible about the way Kanade treated you. She should've known to leave you alone, you're a shinobi, after all."

"It's fine."

"No, it's not," To Ibiki's slight fear, he could see her tearing up. He hated it when woman cried. He always got interrogations done a lot faster when they started crying. "We just stared, we didn't say anything or try to make you stay, I can't imagine how you felt…"

"It was a natural human reaction. It's not a pretty sight to look at."

Hijikata-san took a handkerchief out and blew into it. "The pain you must have gone through! It's horrible to think about, what must have happened to you to give you those scars."

He was startled into saying, "You're not…repulsed?"

She took no heed of his question. "Your mother dying so young and your father dying in the Kyubi's attack…it's just so sad! And those scars..."

Ibiki normally hated being pitied. He'd snapped at the nurses in the hospital who had changed his blood-filled bandages and had cooed nice words to him because they'd thought he'd needed it. He had, but he didn't want it from them.

He shuffled to his feet and stood over Hijikata-san for a moment before saying gruffly, "Thanks."

"Huh?" She looked up at his with brown tear-stained eyes. She smelled like she had been cooking apple pies all day, an aroma he hadn't smelled since he was eight.

"No one's cried for me in a very long time." he added quietly, feeling embarrassed and young at the same time. A novel feeling for him.

"You poor man." she said softly, as the odd feeling of being cared for started trying to destroy his carefully built-up walls as she enveloped him in a hug. She barely reached the his chin, and he patted her head awkwardly. She was warm and soft and he felt weird in her grip.

"I don't need to be anyone's charity case." he said, his self-control reigning once again.

"Of course not, Ibiki-san. I wouldn't dream of it. You're a very capable person, and we all know that. Why don't you come over for dinner again?" she sniffled after a moment, letting go of him. He straightened his trench-coat.

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"I don't blame you." She walked over to his desk, examining it. He whisked the paperwork into a drawer, muttering something about classified information. She nodded, pretending she understood.

"It's so bare."

"There's no point in dressing it up," he said blandly. "I don't have any family to take pictures of." Way to make him not look pathetic.

"Oh, of course." she said, looking slightly sadder.

"You don't need to worry about me, like I said. I'm take care of myself and I have people to go to if I need to." Anko, if he was desperate. Kakashi, although he'd have to bear thinly-veiled comments about his sadism. Iruka, who had found out his birthday somehow and had been giving him gifts for the past three years. Tsume, who had decided he needed more company and showed up every once and a while.

"Are you sure?" She looked a little hurt.

"Yes. Although…" He didn't want to hurt her feelings. "If I could have some of that delicious food without having to go to the dinner, I'd like that."

"Oh, yes! I always make too much food anyway," She looked thrilled to have something to help him with. She checked her watch. "I should let you get back to work."

"That would be helpful."

She gave him a big smile and waved as she left, leaving him to sit back down and wonder what on earth was happening. Was he really going to let this woman he barely remembered back into his life? Did he have a choice? And what was this feeling?

He picked up his pen, being a good enough psychiatrist to know that he was happy. Hijikata and her large family had made him think about his life, think about whether or not he was unhappy.

He knew now that he wasn't, that he was perfectly content with his quiet life serving his village. Maybe he would call up Tsume or Iruka and talk to them for a bit. He buried his face in his hands as he laughed, a deep booming laugh. One day with this old woman and he'd re-evaluated half his life.

1. Hinata can be a guy's name. Ex- Angel Beats. Also, it's a common name. Hinata from Chibi Vampire, Fruits Basket, and Angel Beats proves that.

2. Hijikata...name after a historical Japanese figure. Also true for Souji and Harada. And Saya. :)

3. I used OCs as a way to portray Ibiki. They'r a plot device here.

4. Please review! :):):):):):)