A/N: Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. Work has been crazy for the past 3 weeks but finally it has calmed down enough for me to finish the chapter. As usual I'd like to thank Illegitimi and Minniemousemom for reviewing, and Garrakills for adding my story to your alerts. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 11: The hospital room drama

Hours had passed since the emergency room door closed. The red "surgery in progress" light above the door blinked so rapidly that it almost made Ibiki ill to his stomach, but he dared not take his eyes off the light. Doctors and patients hustled and bustled by continuously, but all Ibiki heard was his own nervous heartbeat. He would never forget the sight of Ai lying unconscious on a hospital bed, covered in blood and fatal wounds. He thought for sure he was going to lose her, until the moment she magically opened her eyes and called him "snuggly bear". Ibiki swore he would never complain about her calling him by that nickname ever again.

Having stared at it for too long, Ibiki actually failed to register when the red light finally stopped blinking. He had to rub his eyes a few times to make sure that it wasn't his imagination playing tricks on him. The door to the emergency room slowly opened and out walked Haruka. She seemed pale from exhaustion, but in a good mood nonetheless.

"The surgery is a complete success." She smiled at Ibiki and said. "We still have to keep a close watch on her for the next few days, but we definitely got her back. She's asleep right now, but you can go in and take a quick look at her before the nurses take her to the ICU."

Ibiki hurried into the emergency room. There Ai was, looking so small and helpless on the hospital bed, her eyes tightly shut but her mouth hanged open slightly. The blood on her body had been cleaned off and her wounds were neatly bandaged. Ibiki wanted to hold her in his arms, to feel her presence, but of course he knew better. Instead he kissed her lightly on her forehead and whispered in her ear, "Sleep well and get better baby, I will come visit you everyday and you know I will be thinking of you." Then he turned around and left the emergency room, ignoring the skeptical looks from the nurses and other medics.

He found Haruka sitting tiredly on the bench in the waiting area. He walked in front of her and bowed deeply. "Thank you for saving her." He said. His words were simple yet they carried all his gratitude for the medic.

"Oh, Ibiki-san…" Haruka was surprised by his action. She gave him a friendly pat on his hand and gestured him to sit down next to her.

Ibiki leaned back into his folded arms behind his head and stared into space. Even though Haruka hadn't asked him about anything, he felt like he owed her an explanation.

"Ai and I are in love with each other." He said suddenly, after a period of silence.

"I can tell." A knowing smile crept onto Haruka's face. "And I'm truly happy for the two of you."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow in disbelief. This wasn't the answer he had braced himself for. He tilted his head slightly to survey the medic next to him out of the corner of his eyes. Her smile seemed to be genuine, and there wasn't the slightest bit of surprise or disgust on her face.

Haruka was a smart woman. She knew why Ibiki was giving her the questioning look, and she wasn't going to pretend that she didn't know what was on his mind. She decided to be honest with him. That was the only way to be with the head of the ANBU torture and interrogation squad anyway. "I was of course surprised to see you in the emergency room. Even though Ai-chan hasn't said anything to me, I can tell that she's been seeing someone just from the way she walks on cloud lately." Haruka chuckled.

Ibiki couldn't help but smile fondly. "Yes, she does have a tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve."

"Both Kakashi and I had our guesses on who the lucky man would be, but we never once thought of you as a possibility because we didn't even realize you and Ai knew each other." Then she turned towards Ibiki so that she could look him in the eyes. "But you know what? However it happened, whatever the story was, perhaps you will tell me one day, perhaps you won't, I'm grateful that it happened, because back in the emergency room, you saved her just as much as I saved her. You gave her a reason to live, a will to survive. Without that, even my own sensei wouldn't be able to bring her back to life."

So that was how he gained her acceptance so quickly, Ibiki thought to himself, other than the fact that she was a kind, understanding and nonjudgmental person. He had prematurely revealed his relationship with Ai to the world, and he was beginning to dread the consequences. He didn't expect everyone to accept them right away like Haruka did, but at least this was a good start.

He once again said to the medic, "Thank you, Haruka-san, thank you, really."

Haruka smiled understandingly. "Alright, Ibiki-san, I need to go get some rest myself, I will send a note to you via ANBU if anything happens to Ai, ok?"

***

Ai was in a restful coma for three days, but when she finally came to, she felt a lot better than she expected. Sure she was in a lot of pain, but at least she was alive and breathing. To her delight, Ibiki was by her side when she woke up. She later heard from the nurses that Ibiki had been staying at the hospital with her as much as they would allow him to during the time when she was unconscious. He would sit next to her bed, hold her hand and whisper loving words into her ears. His devoted love for her soon won him a steady fan base among the medical staff. Some of the nurses began to worship him as a romance hero, but others considered their relationship unconventional, shocking, abnormal, or even doomed. Nonetheless, regardless of what their opinion was, to Ibiki's relief no one had dare to say anything to him yet. Ibiki had underestimated how much he was feared in Konoha.

Inside the plain hospital room, Ai half-sat, half-lay on the bed, casually flipping through a few culinary magazines that Ibiki brought her earlier. Ibiki had left a few hours ago to attend an important meeting at ANBU. Ai couldn't wait for him to come back, not only because she missed him, but also because he promised to bring her dinner. She had been put on a fluid diet for the past few days as Haruka didn't trust her injured abdomen to handle solid food yet, but she finally got the permission to eat normal food today so Ibiki had volunteered to cook her something delicious.

Footsteps sounded as the door swung open. She looked expectantly at the door, but it was only Haruka. Ai greeted the medic with a bright smile nonetheless. "Nee-san!"

"Hey girl friend, how are you doing today?" Haruka ruffled Ai's hair endearingly before she proceeded to check her pulse, her pupils, her temperature and her blood pressure. She then opened up some of the bandages to inspect her wounds. "They are healing very nicely, much faster than I expect!" Haruka exclaimed. Ai explained to her that she had been applying magnetic forces across the wounds to help bind the torn tissues together, this way she would minimize scar formation as well. "Not that there's anything wrong with scars." She added quickly in subconscious defense of her lover.

Haruka caught that, she was about to tease her little sister when the door pushed open again and in came Ibiki. He acknowledged both women by nodding at them, Ai saw the large bento boxes in his hand and said excitedly, "What did you bring me?"

Ibiki shook his head and teased her, "Sometimes I wonder if you only date me for the food." Nonetheless, he put down the bento boxes on Ai's bedside table and lifted up the covers in front of them.

Inside the beautiful black lacquer boxes were golden fried pork cutlet laying on a sea of rice and topped with steamed eggs and vegetables with sprinkled furikake seasoning. Ai cheered happily, "It's katsudon!" Her favorite comfort food, especially when it was made by Ibiki.

"Did Ibiki-san make that?" Haruka stared at the professionally made home cooking in disbelief.

"Yes, katsudon is nutritious and easy to digest, so I thought it will make an appropriate dinner for Ai on her first day back to solid food." Ibiki laid out three bento boxes on the table. "Haruka-san, I made some for you too if you care to join us for dinner."

If Haruka hadn't become a fan of Ibiki yet, she certainly was one now. She gladly accepted the invitation and immediately dug into her share of the delicious food. Being a medic was a tiring job and she could certainly use some nutritious and easy to digest food herself. During dinner, she listened with a smile to Ibiki and Ai exchange technical culinary terms and other small chit-chats, and she found herself beginning to understand how their relationship worked.

Everyone finished their dinner completely, not a single grain of rice was left in those bento boxes. When all three of them were sipping on their hot roasted green tea satisfactorily, Haruka thought it would be appropriate to bring up the topic.

"Ai-chan," she tried to make herself sound as casual as possible, "Tsunade asked me to file a report on the details of your ambush." She knew it was often difficult for patients to talk about their traumatic experiences, especially while they were still recovering from the physical injuries, but this information might be important for the village and she understood the Hokage's urgency in obtaining it.

Ai nodded bravely and began to recount the ambush in details. When she described how the enemy nins assaulted her with their deadly attacks, Ibiki, who was sitting at the side of her bed next to her, couldn't help but put his arm around her shoulder protectively while clenching his other hand into a fist so tight that his knuckles turned white.

"I was lucky that I managed to fool them with my henge, but I lost my shoto in the process." Ai lamented the loss of the shorter member of her precious twin blades, the only memento her mother left her.

"Don't worry baby, I'll go there and find it tomorrow. It's probably still lying somewhere in the bushes." Ibiki promised her.

"It certainly sounds like the enemies are trying to hide their real identities." Haruka said thoughtfully. "No hitai-ate, no insignia of any sort, no signature weapon or jutsu. Well, except for the last one, when they had become desperate." She took out a small glass bottle from her pocket. "What you thought were needles puncturing your back were these instead. You probably lost most of them when you transformed into a fish, but a few grains got stuck to your internal organs. I found them when I operated on you." She shook the bottle against the light so that they could see the little black grains inside.

"Sand?" Ibiki frowned. "The only sand user I know is Gaara, but he uses his sands to crush and engulf, not to puncture."

"Plus Suna is our ally now. There's no reason for Gaara to go after Ai-chan." Haruka frowned in frustration as well.

"Another curious thing is, the enemies seemed to know exactly when and where to wait for Ai-chan. The mission was only given to her the day before she left by the Hokage herself. How did the information leak out? I think it's highly likely that the people who ordered the mission were the enemies themselves." Ibiki hypothesized.

"But the person who requested the mission was nee-san's brother, the feudal lord of the Quartz Country." Ai's information quickly invalidated Ibiki's theory.

"Ai-chan, can you think of anyone who may hold a grudge against you? Perhaps someone who you've gone against in previous missions?" Haruka asked.

Ai thought for a moment, but eventually she just shook her head. "I always keep my mask on during ANBU missions. My identity should be a secret."

"It's possible that the enemies were not after you per se, they might simply hold a grudge against ANBU or Konoha and wanted to kill someone as a warning – you just got unlucky." Ibiki suggested.

"It's possible," Ai agreed, "but I do remember thinking that one of the enemy nins' voice sounded familiar. I just can't recall where I heard it before."

"This may explain their need to be completely masked – there's someone Ai knows among them." Haruka said.

Ai forced out a pale smile. "It doesn't feel good does it, knowing that someone out there is after you and you don't even know who or why."

Ibiki instinctively tightened his arm around Ai. He kissed her on the temple and whispered next to her ear, "Don't be scared, precious one, I promise I will do everything I can to protect you, even if it costs me my life."

Ai smiled and snuggled closer to him.

Haruka collected her notes and said, "Well, I think that's all the information we have for now. I will write up a report and give it to Tsunade-sama first thing tomorrow morning. Ai-chan, don't worry about anything for now, you'll be safe in the village, just focus on resting and recovering ok?" She gave her little sister an affectionate kiss on her cheek before she went back to her office next door. However, just as she sat down at her desk and laid out her stationery to write the report, Kakashi stormed into her room like a hurricane.

"I heard Ai-chan got ambushed. What exactly happened? How is she doing now?" The copy nin asked urgently. He had just returned to the village from a mission and heard about the bad news.

"She was pretty scratched up before, but we fixed her and she's ok now. She's still in pain, still needs bed rest for another week or two, and definitely no battle for at least a month, but she will be fine." Haruka said in a soothing voice.

Kakashi visibly relieved. He smiled at his fiancée, his sole visible eye crinkled into one thin line, "Thank you for taking care of her, Haruka."

Haruka smiled back at him. "She's my little sister too."

"Alright," Kakashi turned around as he spoke. "I'll go take a look at her. Are you ready to go home after this?"

"Kakashi!" Haruka rose from her chair, almost frantically, as she suddenly remembered that Ibiki was still in the room with Ai, and Kakashi didn't know about their relationship yet. "Ai's… boyfriend… is in the room with her."

"Boyfriend?" Kakashi broke into a wide grin under his mask. "That Izumo, he finally confessed huh? Took him long enough. Well I'll say hi to him too." He left the room before Haruka had a chance to say anything else. She was about to chase after him, but a nurse came in with an emergency case and strong-armed her away. She could only hope that Kakashi could handle the surprise calmly.

Kakashi recklessly pushed open the door to Ai's room, but the first person he saw was Morino Ibiki. What the heck was the head of Torture and Interrogation doing here? Did Tsunade send him to gather some information from Ai? However, no matter how Kakashi looked at it, Ibiki didn't seem to be in the middle of an interrogation. The supposedly fearsome man was sitting at the edge of Ai's bed, wearing a gentle expression on his face, one of his arms draped across Ai's shoulder so that she could comfortably lean against his body, and the two of them seemed to be reading some magazine together just before Kakashi barged in.

Suddenly it dawned on Kakashi. Ibiki was Ai's boyfriend. His little girl was dating Ibiki, the monster of Konoha.

For a moment the copy nin stood silently at the doorway, his eyes switched back and forth darkly between Ai and Ibiki, unsure of how or what he should think.

Ibiki was the first among the three of them to react. He let go of Ai, stood up from her bed, nodded to acknowledge Kakashi and said, "Kakashi-san." His tone was neutral but Ai could see that his back muscles had tensed up like a beast ready to hunt.

Kakashi nodded back at Ibiki, it was hard to judge his expression under the mask. He said to him, "Ibiki-san, would you mind sparing me and my little sister a few minutes of privacy?" His words were polite but his tone was cold as ice.

Ibiki's eyes narrowed dangerously for a few seconds before he left the room. He closed the door behind him but he made sure to stay near it, for he knew that the walls at the hospital were thin as paper.

Inside the room, Kakashi walked towards Ai's bed and said, "Ai-chan, what's this supposed to mean?"

Ai turned her gaze away from Kakashi, "What's what supposed to mean?"

"You and Ibiki." Kakashi said impatiently. "What's going on between the two of you?"

"It's just as you see." Ai replied defensively. "We're in love with each other."

"You're in love with each other?" Kakashi roared at her. "Do you know who this man is? He's the head of Torture and Interrogations. He freaking tortures people for a living. He's not a normal man, he's a sadistic monster!"

"Ibiki is not a monster!" Ai yelled back at her nii-san. "He is one of the most caring and kind person I know!"

"Do you know what you are talking about, young lady? I don't know how he tricks you into thinking that he's a nice person, but you have to look beneath the underneath and see who he really is. Even the toughest criminal crumbles at the sight of him. How can you possibly claim to be in love with a man like that? Not to mention he's almost twice your age."

"YOU are the one that needs to look beneath the underneath! Ibiki is not what his reputation claims. Do you not understand? He sacrificed his own reputation in order to do his job properly, all for the sake of the village. Are you willing to do that, nii-san?" Ai defended her lover protectively.

Kakashi was breathing heavily with anger. He rarely lost his temper like this, but Ai was the only relative he had left and he needed to protect her from the sadistic beast of Konoha. Suddenly it occurred to him, "Ai-chan," he softened his voice, "did Ibiki manipulate you into this? Did he use any torture on you to make you comply?"

Ai began to shake with anger. How could Kakashi say something like that? She could feel moisture collecting in her eyes, but she wouldn't let the tears fall because that would appear to Kakashi that she was admitting to his ridiculous accusations. She was at a loss for words, so she just kept silence and let her body language showed her emotions.

Outside of the room, Ibiki heard every single word the two cousins exchanged. Finally he felt like he couldn't keep his silence anymore, so he promptly walked in, sat down next to Ai and collected her protectively into his arms. He regarded Kakashi in a calm, controlled manner, "Kakashi-san, even if you don't trust me and my reputation, you should trust Ai's judgment. She is no longer the child you looked after years ago. She has grown up into a fine woman who is intelligent and strong, otherwise she wouldn't be offered a position in ANBU. She is fully capable of making choices for herself."

Just as Kakashi was about to say something in return, the door opened and in came a fuming Haruka. She could hear Kakashi and Ai's yelling from down the hall. "Kakashi," she pulled her fiancé backward and said sternly. "Ai is still injured and she needs her rest. You're disturbing my patient, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Go wait for me in my office."

Ibiki was surprised by how compliant Kakashi was at Haruka's words. Without a single word of protest, the jounin simply turned around and left the room.

Haruka sighed heavily. She gave Ai a hug and wiped off the tears that had finally slide down her face. "It's ok, Ai-chan, your nii-san is just being a protective and jealous big brother. He's not used to the idea that his little girl has grown up. I'll talk to him tonight and it'll all be sorted out, ok?"

Ai nodded and waved her nee-san goodbye, feeling very thankful for having such a patient and understanding future sister-in-law.

Ibiki helped Ai to lie down. He carefully tugged her in and said, "You must be exhausted now. Go to sleep, I'll stay here until you fall asleep."

Ai smiled sweetly at Ibiki and said in her most soft and gentle voice, which Ibiki had always found irresistibly seductive, "Kiss me, snuggly bear."

Ibiki was more than happy to oblige. Without breaking eye contact with her, he leaned down and placed his lips lightly on top of hers. He started out slow and mellow, for fear that he might hurt her if he went too rough, but Ai quickly let him know that she wanted more than that. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly to press his head further down towards her, her lips eagerly opened against his. Upon such sweet invitation, Ibiki couldn't hold back anymore. He began to make love to her mouth with his tongue. Her mouth felt so wonderfully warm and delicious. Very soon Ibiki felt like his pants were getting too tight…

For the third time this evening, the door to Ai's room was recklessly pushed open by someone without a knock, startling the two lovers and forcing them to break apart. Standing at the entrance was an obviously drunken Izumo. He stared at Ibiki and Ai stupidly while muttering to himself, "It's true, what they said is true."

Ai had never seen Izumo like this before. She could smell the alcohol on him from her bed, and she knew that he was in this state all because of her.

"Ai-chan…" Izumo moved towards Ai unsteadily, and he successfully tripped over himself along the way. Luckily, Ibiki managed to catch him before he fell on his face and broke his nose. The torture specialist then settled the gatekeeper into a chair next to the bed not too gently.

"Thank you… thank you… Ibiki-san…" Izumo said barely intelligibly. "Ibiki-san… I don't know you very well… but I know that you must be a great person… because Ai-chan chose you and not me… you must be a great person…" Then he buried his face into his hands and sobbed loudly. "Oh Ai-chan… I love you so much… I really do… but I'm really happy for you and Ibiki-san… hic… really happy for you… hic… " He began to hiccup uncontrollably.

Ai and Ibiki exchanged a glance with each other. The usually handsome young man looked so comically pathetic right now. Ai slide herself closer to the edge of the bed so that she could pat Izumo on his back and said, "I'm sorry, Izumo." She truly felt guilty for not being able to reciprocate his love.

"Don't… hic… don't apologize… Ai-chan… can we still be friends?... hic… Can I still take you out to dinners… without being tortured by Ibiki-san afterward…hic…"

Ai threw Ibiki an apologetic look, who simply shook his head and turned away so that he didn't have to watch this anymore.

Ai smiled gently at Izumo, "Of course we are still friends, and yes, please still take me out to dinners. Don't worry about Ibiki, he's a very nice guy once you get to know him."

"Really?" Izumo's face brightened up. "Thank you… Ai-chan…" He stared at her face like he had just met her for the first time today. "Ai-chan… you're so beautiful…" He leaned in closer to her as if he wanted to kiss her. Ai let out a nervous giggle and quickly retreated backward.

Ibiki, who was now watching the two out of the corner of his eye, cleared his throat loudly and dangerously. Izumo paused and seemed to sober up a little. He laid back into his chair and rubbed his face tiredly. "Man… everyone is in love these days… you're dating Ibiki-san, and Kotetsu just proposed to his girlfriend now fiancée, only I'm left alone…" He whined.

"Kotetsu's engaged?" Ai was excited about the news of her other good friend.

"Yeah… he just proposed yesterday… a gigantic rock too… dunno where he got all that money…" Izumo yawned and closed his eyes, looking like he was about to fall asleep.

Ibiki quickly went up to him and pat him on the shoulder. "Hey buddy, you look tired, I think it's time for you to go home now." Even though he rather liked this young man, he didn't trust him to sleep in the same room as Ai. He ushered him out of the door. "Can you find your way home? Do I need to send someone to go with you?"

Izumo, now a lot more sober than when he first walked in, shook his head and said, "I'm fine now, Ibiki-san, please take good care of Ai-chan, I'll see you later."

Ibiki promptly closed the door behind Izumo. He once again sat down next to Ai and tugged the exhausted girl in. "How many more jealous men of yours do I have to deal with tonight?"

Ai made a pouty face towards his comment, so he laughed and said, "I'm just teasing you baby. You know I'll do anything for you. Now go to sleep. You're tired." He kissed her on the forehead and turned off the light of the room.