Rin didn't want to continue with this conversation any longer.  She had gotten the answer that she came to find, and no matter how painful, she would just have to accept it.  She stood up to leave, but Ibiki blocked her way.

"Rin, wait, let me finish," he told her, and she found that she really couldn't say 'no.'  "I said that I hated you, but that didn't mean that I've not missed you."  Rin was caught off guard by that statement.  "I was angry at first, but after you left, the days started to stretch and I started to remember the times when I would see you almost everyday."  He put one gloved hand to her cheek and wiped away a single tear.

"I still love you, Rin," Ibiki told her, she tried to look away, afraid that when she looked at him, all of this would turn out to be some kind of illusion or dream.  However, he didn't let go and lifted her chin to make eye contact with her.  "I don't want to forget that incident, but I don't want to throw away what we had either."

"What are you saying?" Rin asked him, as if she wasn't sure what he had meant.

"I want to get back together, Rin." He said, as sincerely as he could manage.

"But…" Rin didn't know what to say.

"When I saw you the other day, I wanted to tell you all of this, but I knew that it wasn't the right time, especially from what Haruto has told me." Ibiki had actually been asking Haruto to set up a meeting for him and Rin, but he never agreed.

'Haruto?' Rin didn't realize that Haruto had anything to do with it.  No wonder he's been pressing her about what she was going to do about this.  It was also very likely that he had been in cahoots with Mayumi on this one. 

"And when I heard about the attack the other day, that someone would try to kill you, I…" Rin put a finger to his lips and stopped him.  With her other hand, she reached for his hand, only to find it clenched into a fist, shaking with anger.

"I heard," was all that she could say.  "I'm just glad that you're still looking out for me…"

"I will always look out for you, Rin," Ibiki told her and enveloped her in an embrace, something that she hadn't felt for 2 over years, and it still felt like how he held her the first time, when they started seeing each other.

"Don't leave me…" Rin said, barely a whisper, but both understood the meaning behind those words.

THE END

Thanks for all the reviews, I've been really encouraged to write another fic.  ^_^

However, I haven't had much ideas after all that, so if anyone has got any ideas, email me.  I'll see if I can come up with something, ok?  Cya!