Ibiki sat next to her on the sofa and pulled her closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. "I can't believe I turned you down, over him." She admitted and Ibiki pulled her more into his side.

"It happens." Ibiki said as he kissed the top of her head. "Once very thing is over, we could go on a date." He added after a short silence. He had let her go so she could be happy; he didn't want to chase her if she didn't want him. But now he wished he had, if he had just tried harder then maybe she would be with him and she would have never been hurt. He wanted to blame himself but he knew it wasn't his fault. It was Uchiha's fault. He knew if Uchiha had never hurt her then they would be happily married by now, Ibiki guessed. The thoughts of what could have been have always haunted him, but now he had a chance to show her who he was and how happy he could make her. To show her what love really is. Even if it doesn't last, he wanted to be the one who showed her how to love again.

"You never stopped loving me, did you?" She asked, looking up at him. He smiled and shook his head.

He slowly leant down towards her when Kenzo barked, followed by a knock at the door. He quickly pulled back and sighed but he didn't fail to notice Katsumi blush. Whoever was at the door, knocked again.

"I'll get it." He said as he stood up and walked to the door.

"Neji-san?" Ibiki questioned as he opened the door, he was unaware Katsumi knew him personally. Neji was stood there with a bouquet of blue roses and tulips. "What can I do for you?" He asked getting his train of thought back on track.

"I came to see Katsumi-chan. I just wanted to check she was ok." Neji explained. "I was part of the tracking team that found her." He added when he got no response from Ibiki, the man made him feel nervous.

"I'm not sure she's willing to see anyone, but I'll ask." Ibiki said finally, closing the door ajar and walked back into the lounge to inform Katsumi, leaving Neji in the doorway.

"Katsumi, Neji-san is here." Ibiki told her, he didn't miss the slight flinch as he told her. "Do you want to see him?" He asked, worried. He wasn't sure why Katsumi would react to Neji's presence like this but it told him that she wasn't fond of Hyuga anyway.

"Let him in, I want a private word with him anyway." She said making her voice sound strong. Ibiki frowned but let the topic go.

"Neji-san, go straight through to the lounge. I will be in the kitchen, while I'm there do you want a drink?" Neji shook his head and respectfully declined the offer as he stepped into the apartment. Ibiki watched him closely as he walked towards the lounge.

"Katsumi-chan." Neji called to get her attention. She looked up at him and pulled Kenzo closer to herself. "I got these for you, I know they're your favourite." He added as he held the flowers out for her. She slowly placed Kenzo next to her on the sofa.

"Thank you." She took the flowers and placed them on the coffee table. "I'll put them in some water once we've talked." She added as she gestured for him to sit down in the armchair next to her.

"I see, Kiba-san, has been by." Neji pointed out as he noticed the puppy in her arms earlier.

"Yes, he traded with me." She smiled softly. "He got Akamaru back and I got little Kenzo." She explained and he nodded in understanding.

"So, you and Kiba are getting close then?" He asked with a frown but she shook her head.

"No, he's just being nice after everything that happened. And he wanted his best friend back." She told him, looking down at Kenzo.

"I think you know who I am now?" Neji asked as he sat down and she nodded.

"Yes, so what do you want?" She asked taking a deep breath in. Neji frowned slightly.

"Well, I want you. I've wanted you ever since I first saw you, Katsumi-chan." He admitted and she looked away from him.

"I can't give you what you want." She told him.

"Why?" Neji asked confused.

He had saved her twice, he told Kakashi and he went after her on the tracker team. He made sure she got home safe every night. He made her bed on more than one occasion when she left on an early morning mission. Why couldn't she accept him?

"Neji-san, I can't love you like you want me to." She admitted to him, tensing as Neji clenched his fists. "Things might have been different if you had just approached me, talked to me." She added quickly.

"But I've done so much for you!" He stressed to her. "I saved you from Sasuke, twice! I made sure you got home safe every night!" He raised his voice, trying to get through to her.

"What do you mean twice?" She asked confused, as far as she knew Neji was just on the tracking team and it was just by sheer luck that Kakashi found out.

"I left a note on Kakashi-sama's deck the day after I saw Sasuke rape you." He admitted to her and she curled up, bringing her knees into her chest.

"You stood there and watched?" She asked on the verge of tears. Neji shook his head.

"No, as soon as I saw what he was doing, I ran to the Hokage tower to tell Kakashi-sama. But he wasn't there so I left a note." He explained. "I knew that if I just ran in to save you, Sasuke could have gotten more violent towards you." He sighed and decided to carry on listing what he had done for her. "I cleaned your apartment when you were on missions." Katsumi flinched and looked up at him.

"That was you?" She asked confused.

"Who else would it have been?" He asked softly.

"I thought it was..." She cut herself off.

"Sasuke?" Neji asked and she nodded. "Will you please just give me a chance?" He asked hopefully. She shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Neji-san, but I can't do it. I can't pretend that I love you." She told him and stood up. Neji looked up at her, fighting back tears. She gently touched his hand that was resting on the arm of the chair. "I'm sorry but I can't lie to you." She told him softly. Neji nodded and stood up.

"Can I hold you one last time?" He asked quietly and she nodded, opening her arms up for him. Neji quickly pulled her close to him, tucking her head under his chin. "I wish I could have you." He whispered as he kissed the top of her head before he let her go.

"We can be friends, Neji-kun." She told him and he gave her a small smile.

"I would like that." He told her before heading towards the front door. Katsumi sighed and sat back down on the sofa, closing her eyes while leaning her head back. She really didn't want to have that talk but it was needed. Maybe he would stop stalking her now.

"Aren't you going to put them in water?" Katsumi jumped as she was startled by Ibiki's voice.

"Ibiki!" She screamed at him while throwing the nearest thing she had to hand at him, a pillow. He blinked as the pillow hit him square in the face. "One day that could be a kunai." She grumbled annoyed.

"Maybe you shouldn't be such a scariedy cat." He teased back at her. She rolled her eyes and picked up the flowers. They both knew Ibiki could have dodged the flying pillow but chose not to.

He and Kenzo followed her into the kitchen, where she filled up a vase with water. "So, you and Neji, huh?" He asked feeling a little rejected. She looked back at him confused.

"Me and Neji, what?" She asked hoping he would clarify for her.

"Well, he knew your favourite flower." He pointed out as she started putting the flowers in the vase. "And you two seemed close." he added, waiting for her to put two and two together. She laughed once she understood what he was getting at.

"I and Neji are not dating and nowhere near dating. He's a friend." She told him as she picked up the vase.

"He seemed like he thought you two had more, or he wanted more." Ibiki said as he followed her and Kenzo back into the lounge. She sighed as she put the vase down on the coffee table.

"He does want more but I don't." She huffed as she turned to look at Ibiki. "He has always wanted more from me but he won't get it. It's a simple as that so drop it." She added getting annoyed by his constant questioning.

Ibiki looked at her concerned, she only got defensive when she was hiding something.

"Katsumi, you know you can tell me anything, right?" He asked worried about her. The last thing she needed was extra stress. She sighed and sat down, rubbing her face with her hands. Ibiki knew this meant she was debating whether to tell him or not.

"Fine." She huffed and looked up at him. "Remember two years ago, I mentioned I had a stalker that would follow me home?" She asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, you said it didn't seem like a bad thing, it felt more like he was making sure you were safe." Ibiki answered and nodded.

"Well, a year later, he got more confident and started breaking in." Ibiki looked at her concerned and shocked, why didn't say anything before? "It wasn't too bad. He would clean up when I was on missions, buy me my favourite soaps and food ready for my return. I always thought it was Sasuke." She admitted Ibiki nodded in understanding. "Then, just before I moved in with Sasuke, he would break in while I was home." Ibiki frowned, this was a serious problem, why hadn't she said anything? "He would make sure it was too dark for me to see and always seemed to disappear before I could turn the light on. He would tell me how beautiful I was and how much he wanted me. At this point I thought it was someone else, that Sasuke was who was doing the things before and now someone else was breaking in." She took a deep breath in. "I thought I could handle it, I thought he'd back off once I was living with Sasuke."

"But he still broke in?" Ibiki asked concerned.

"Yeah, whenever Sasuke would have an overnight or longer mission." She nodded. "I thought if I ignored him, he would go away. But I'm glad he didn't go away." She added and Ibiki frowned, confused, most people want their stalkers gone.

"What do you mean? This man has scared you." He said trying to understand.

"He saw what Sasuke did to me, he went to Kakashi's office but he wasn't there so he left a note. The next day, Kakashi approached me and found out what Sasuke was doing to me." Ibiki nodded in understanding.

"He saved you." She nodded in response.

"Twice."

"Twice?" He asked confused.

"He was on the tracker team that saved me, it was Neji." She told and Ibiki sighed, still concerned for her safety.

"Why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have let him in." He told her, sitting down next to her or rather as close as he could with Kenzo keeping guard of her.

As much as he hated the dog, he was glad he was already protective of her.

"I needed to talk to him about it." She explained with a sigh. "Confront him about it."

"If I see him anywhere near this apartment..." Ibiki started.

"No, I told him we can be friends. He shouldn't be around here unless I invite him." She interrupted him.

"Even so, I will warn him the first time I catch him. After that, he's an intruder." He warned her and she nodded.

"Thank you." She smiled at him.