A/N: Finally the most waited chapter... I really don't know how it is.. So please let me know... and this is probably my longest chapter! ^_^

Kotoko's disease, diagnosis, causes, symptoms, treatment- everything is written out of imagination which does not have any logical explanation.

When the world shattered

(Kotoko POV)

I was decorating the salad dish when Irie-kun welcomed his guest inside. To be honest I was quite surprised when oka-san told me this morning that Irie-kun invited one of his colleagues over to lunch at home. The only person he ever invited home for a meal earlier was Sahoko-san and her grandfather. That invitation was important because he wanted to introduce her to his family. I wonder who this new colleague is.

"I will bring beers out in a minute. You can start with the appetiser." I told otou-san.

"Okay. Don't be late." He instructed me and went out into the backyard to join the others with the appetiser. Yuki-kun helped him.

I took my time and gathered the required beers on a tray. Then I carefully carried them outside in the backyard. I couldn't see the guest's face because Irie-kun was sitting right across him blocking him from my view. As I moved closer I heard what oka-san said which caused a huge jolt in my heart and made me take a few quick steps forward and finally I saw the guest. I felt like the entire world shook beneath my feet and the tray I was holding slipped to the ground off my hands making a loud smashing sound.

"Dr. Ayano." I uttered. I was staring at him in utter disbelief.

What on earth is he doing here? I felt numb. How did they know each other?

All the heads have turned towards me expect Irie-kun's, who didn't look back. I stared at his back which was stiff and then I gaped at Dr. Ayano who seemed flabbergasted.

"Kotoko-chan, are you alright?" Oka-san rushed towards me. I didn't reply to her and again resumed staring at the back of Irie-kun.

"Kotoko-san!" Dr. Ayano mumbled and stood up.

I focused my eyes back on Dr. Ayano automatically. But I was too dumbfounded to say anything.

...

(General POV)

"Irie Kotoko... Irie Naoki... No way... What?" It seemed like Dr. Ayano was equally astounded.

"I'm sorry to put you in this situation Dr. Ayano. But I was desperate this morning and I needed answers which I think I have now." Naoki's voice broke in the end. He gulped and fisted his hands. He was frozen on his seat and still was not looking back at Kotoko.

"What's going on Naoki?" Mr. Irie asked him.

Instead of replying he took a deep breath and finally stood up and turned to face Kotoko. She had tears in her eyes. Realisation was crushing down on him giving him shocks as if electric current was passing through him. It was killing him from inside. He just stared at her unable to say anything.

"Will somebody speak up?" Mrs. Irie asked, bewildered.

"Kotoko -san." Dr. Ayano addressed Kotoko. "You need to explain it, to me and to every single member of your family. Your family clearly doesn't have any hunch of what's going on here." He said sharply.

Kotoko looked down. Tears spilled from her eyes.

"Very well. I have no idea of what you were planning. I have told you explicitly that you need to inform your family about your situation but you kept delaying." He continued. "I understand your husband was out of town and you didn't want him to get involved, although I don't quite understand why- seeing your husband is Irie Naoki, you still could have confessed to your in-laws or at least to your father."

Everyone was nonplus and looking at Dr. Ayano while Naoki kept looking at Kotoko. Kotoko looked up at Dr. Ayano.

"Dr. Ayano, I'm sorry. I tried but I didn't know how to..." She sobbed.

It was evident that Kotoko was still unable to confess and Dr. Ayano wasn't sure if it was his place to interfere. So Naoki opened his mouth at last.

"Kotoko... Please..." He needed to hear it directly from her in order to believe.

In the meantime, Kotoko's face had already turned red due to all the crying. She could hardly speak, but she still mastered up her courage and started speaking.

"I... I..." She gulped. "I have Neuroshia... I was diagnosed a year ago. I wanted to tell Irie-kun after he returned but I couldn't... I couldn't just say it..." She sobbed harder. "I'm so sorry to you all."

Finally the truth.

Finally the completely unthinkable utterly horrifying deadly dreadful truth!

Naoki felt like his heart has stopped. He couldn't feel it beating.

So he turned out to be right. How badly he wanted to be wrong. He could do anything to be wrong just once. But unfortunately he was right.

His breathing became shallow. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was having a panic attack. He could feel tears were forming in his eyes, but they didn't fall. He was feeling so guilty that he felt like strangling himself. His heart was paining so much that he wanted to run a dagger through it and rip it apart just so that the pain would stop. He fisted his hands so tight that his knuckles turned white and the nails nearly dug on his palm.

Everyone else was on their feet now and they simply stared at Kotoko as if they didn't understand a single word she just spoke. Slowly when her words sunk in to them, Mrs. Irie felt extremely weak that she couldn't stand on her legs any longer. She dropped on the ground.

"Oka-san." Kotoko who was standing right next to her grabbed her and knelt down with her. Yuki ran forward for support and also knelt beside them holding Mrs. Irie.

"Kotoko... What are you saying?" Mr. Aihara asked with a trembling voice. He was wondering if he heard his daughter right and was looking at her with disbelief.

Kotoko hide her face with her both hands unable to answer her father. She had failed to realise earlier that how much she was going to hurt her family just to keep this hidden from Naoki. But no matter what, he was hurting the most.

"I think it would be better if I explain everything to you all." Dr. Ayano said. All the heads turned at him except Naoki who was watching his wife with anguish and Kotoko who was looking downwards.

"To be precise, Irie Kotoko-san was diagnosed with Neuroshia a year ago. That was before I knew her. I believe she went through some check-up at her previous hospital Tonan. They referred her to Kobe. She was again tested and confirmed about having Neuroshia. But she didn't start her treatment immediately. It was too sudden for her I guess. In the mean time I returned to Japan from USA and joined the Neuroshia team at Hope. I met her in the emergency of Hope for the first time."

"Dr. Ayano, please..." Kotoko pleaded him.

When he looked at her she shook her head. "Kotoko-san!" He only said, sympathy and warning mixed in his voice.

"Why in the emergency? Dr. Ayano, please continue." Mr. Irie urged him. The others were unable to speak. Dr. Ayano stared at Kotoko for another moment then continued.

"She fainted on the street and was taken to the Hope as it was the nearest." He paused thinking what to say.

Naoki closed his eyes. He wasn't sure how much more he could take. Kotoko looked up at him and felt like dying right on the spot seeing the hurt look on his face.

"Well, Dr. Shinju who diagnosed her before me introduced her to me. And after that day she decided to start her treatment but with some condition." He paused again. Every pairs of eyes were glued on him. Even Naoki turned at him opening his eyes.

"We had to sign a document which banned us from contacting her family unless it was a major emergency. She wanted to take her time to inform you all. According to her, since her father lost his wife due to the same disease and now she is suffering the same one, you all will be extra devastated. Also Irie Naoki-san was in Kobe and she told us either to wait until he comes back or to start her treatment based on the contract." He stopped for a while.

Naoki lowered his gaze towards the ground unable to look at anyone.

"She was in her initial stage... well, she is still in her initial stage of the disease, but when she started her treatment she was completely capable of taking decisions on her own. Also she is an adult. Hence it wasn't against the hospital policy and we decided to start her treatment as she wanted. She also joined as my assistant at Hope and then after her nursing exam she joined the team permanently as a nurse. So yes, she is a colleague as well as a patient of mine." He finished hoping he explained everything.

Everyone was dead silent. Even Kotoko was tired of crying and was sitting flat on her bottom on the ground. She wasn't feeling good. She cried so much that her head felt heavy and was throbbing due to a bad headache. She started to get dizzy and knew she was about to faint. She didn't even have the strength to look around at anyone. She didn't know if Naoki was looking at her. Slowly she started to lose focus and falling down to her right. She felt strong arms grabbed her and the warmth informed her that it was none other than Naoki. Naoki saw her fainting and instantly rushed to her. She lost her sense in his arm for the second time in less than 2 weeks.

"Kotoko-chan!"

"Kotoko."

Mrs. Irie and Mr. Aihara shouted at the same time. Everyone dashed towards her.

Dr. Ayano checked her pulse. Her breathing seemed fine.

"Irie-san, you should take her inside. She is too weak." Dr. Ayano instructed.

Naoki did as he was told. He lifted Kotoko carefully in his arms, took her inside and straight into their bedroom.

He laid her in the bed and pulled the blanket on her. Then he started to do some initial check-ups on her. After a while someone knocked on their bedroom door. When Naoki permitted to enter, Dr. Ayano pushed open the door and entered the room. He also did some check-ups on her.

"Dr. Shinju is on duty today. I asked him to bring me some emergency aid. He is on his way here. It would be better to shift Kotoko-san in the hospital but I assumed she will want to stay home for today. We'll discuss about this further later." Dr. Ayano told Naoki who only nodded.

Nearly 20 minutes later, Dr. Shinju arrived with all the necessary medicines and medical instruments. Yuki escorted him to Naoki's room. Their parents hovered over the door but didn't enter. They didn't want the room to become stuffy. Dr. Ayano put a saline on her while Dr. Shinju checked her blood pressure. He had also brought oxygen with him but it wasn't required since she wasn't having any breathing difficulties. Dr. Ayano then injected her with the medicine which will allow her to relax and sleep for a while. Then the doctors along with Naoki went out of the room.

"Let's go to downstairs." Naoki said in a low voice.

They all agreed and moved towards the stairs. Naoki led them to their sitting room where they all sat around in the sofas. The lunch remained forgotten.

"Dr. Ayano, I apologise again. I could have asked you or her directly but I wasn't sure if I was right and I was hoping to be wrong until the moment she clarified." Naoki's voice was very dry.

"Irie-san I understand. We were also trying to make her understand that it's high time that she should inform her family. But it wasn't easy for her either." Dr. Ayano tried to put some reason to Kotoko's decision. "Besides, I'm actually glad this happened at home rather than at hospital. Kotoko-san would have gotten into much worse condition if it was in the hospital." He said softly.

"This is Dr. Shinju. I spoke to you earlier about him. He was the one who diagnosed her." Dr. Ayano introduced them. "And they are Kotoko-san's family." He said turning his head towards Dr. Shinju. Then he explained how they were related and Dr. Shinju bowed his head slightly to everyone.

"I'm sure you all still have a lot of questions. Dr. Shinju, you might want to explain from the beginning."

Dr. Shinju obliged. He began to tell them everything in details starting from Dr. Miki Furukawa's assumption about Neuroshia to suggestion about Neuro-Hope Hospital. Then again about her going through several tests and Dr. Ayano reviewing the reports from USA and getting confirmed about Neuroshia.

When Dr. Shinju reached the part where he has to explain about Kotoko's mother's condition he hesitated. He turned to Dr. Ayano who was also hesitating. They both reached to the same decision without any verbal communication not to elaborate that part. They weren't sure if they had the right to talk about her mother.

Naoki noticed their hesitation and urged them to talk.

"Dr. Shinju, please, I need to know everything that you know." He pleaded.

"Well Irie-san." It was Dr. Ayano who replied. "We are not sure if it is our place to talk. Even if we can do that, I think we should wait for Kotoko-san. I'm sure she will want to be present for that. We would rather stick to her condition for now."

Naoki didn't want that but he agreed. He couldn't force the doctors. They were already doing more than they were obliged.

Then they explained how Neuroshia initiates and its stages. About Kotoko's condition and how the therapy works. Exactly how long it has been since she is getting the treatment and how she is maintaining her work and treatment. That answered how she wasn't sleep deprived all the time as she took rest enough in between her work.

They skipped telling anything related to Mrs. Aihara and also about Kotoko's accident. It was up to Kotoko to share that part as it wasn't related to her treatment and was entirely her personal business.

"Irie-san you must want to see her reports. They are kept in Hope. She also keeps her copies in her locker at Hope so far I know." Dr. Shinju said.

Before Naoki could respond, Dr. Ayano intervened.

"Irie-san already saw a few reports in the conference. I will email you the rest as soon as I get home. You should stay home for now." He directed the last part towards Naoki who gladly nodded with appreciation.

"Dr. Ayano, we are really sorry. You were here for the lunch but we totally forgot." Mr. Irie suddenly remembered what triggered the day to go so wrong.

"Oh... right... I will heat up everything again." Mrs. Irie stood up with difficulty. She was drained of all the energy.

"Dr. Shinju you should join to." Mr. Irie added.

"Mr. And Mrs. Irie please, it's really okay. I understand. You never expected this to turn out like that. I didn't expect either. We can have the lunch another day."

"But..." Mrs. Irie started.

"I had the appetiser. It was great. I'm sure the main course is even more delicious Mrs. Irie. Dr. Shinju and I will stop by some other day. I give you my words."

"Dr. Ayano, you should eat today. Please I insist." Naoki said.

"Irie-san, you don't have to feel bad. Seriously I don't mind. Besides Kotoko-san also owns us a lunch for all the explanation we did instead of her." Dr. Ayano said softly.

Naoki tried to smile but it looked very painful.

The doctors got up. But before they go out of the room Dr. Ayano stopped suddenly remembering something.

"Irie-san, there is something you still might not be aware of. This detail was written on the reports but was not mentioned on the presentation and I don't think it would be wise to leave it on Kotoko-san to inform you about it." He stopped.

"Yes doctor?" Naoki looked at him with questioning eyes.

"Kotoko-san is not allowed to conceive until her treatment is finished. The therapy will cause miscarriage." He stated looking at Naoki who nodded to make it clear that he understood.

"Umm also, the chances of conceiving after she is cured decreases greatly due to the treatment. She was informed about it before she started her treatment." Dr. Shinju added.

Naoki, who already read about it on the report in Kobe and the book he was reading on Neuroshia, was not shocked too much but the rest of his family was perplexed. Not knowing what to say, Naoki just nodded his head again looking down.

Mrs. Irie clutched her clothes over her heart and sat back on the sofa. Mr. Irie moved closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Mr. Aihara held his head with both hands and looked down.

Naoki and Yuki escorted the doctors out. Then Yuki went back to the sitting area and Naoki went straight to his wife.