"I'm sorry, Jacob, but I'm just not seeing anything in your tests that would explain what had happened. What were you doing? It could have been stress related."

Jacob glared at the doctor, almost daring him to leave it at that. What had happened was not normal and there was no way that it was brought on by a woman merely touching him. He may not have been with any women since the accident, but he highly doubted he'd fallen that far.

"I told you I was at the grocery store," Jacob almost growled, running a hand through his already mused blonde hair.

"You were just standing in the store? No one approached?"

"No. Well, yes. A woman approached me. She thought she knew me but, obviously, I didn't remember her. Memory loss or not, you wouldn't forget a woman like that."

The doctor almost sighed and ran hand over his thinning hair, "I'm going to recommend, again, that you start seeing a counselor."

"I don't need therapy. I'm doing fine."

"You seemed to be doing fine until this incident. You refused the immediate trauma counseling, which is fine and your own right. But what you went through was a traumatic experience."

Jacob glared and opened his mouth but the doctor held up a hand. He closed his mouth and crossed his arms across his chest, still glaring but letting the doctor talk.

"You woke up out of nowhere, Jacob, and we can only account for four-and-a-half of your last five years. And three of those involved laying in bed with machines keeping you alive and then another six months learning to function again."

"I wasn't that bad," Jacob glowered. He had spent a few days confused but he'd been able to tell the doctors his life story up until six months before they found him. He had taken some time reorienting himself and he awoke with an unknown ability to speak fluent Japanese. But, other than that, he felt being confined to the hospital was more a formality and one that was mostly used to keep tabs on him while they investigated his past.

The last year, however, he'd been plenty successful despite any 'trauma.' Since he had no reason to return to Australia, he'd officially moved to Japan, as there was no previous explanation for how he'd arrived. He'd found work as a, for lack of a better description, lackey for one of the biggest investigative journals in the city. He was fairly convinced he'd gotten the job out of pity but at the time he had no qualms using his predicament for his own good. He'd found a very nice apartment to rent. And, since the day he left the hospital up until the moment he'd seen that woman, he'd been the epitome of good health.

The doctor did sigh this time, "Jacob, I'm only saying some psychological stress wouldn't be unheard of with this situation. The symptoms could very likely have been psychosomatic."

"They sure didn't feel in my head. I think the alley way agrees."

The doctor gave him a blank look, "They happened. They're just caused by mental anguish. Plus, there were a lot of strange sicknesses and comas around the time you disappeared and reappeared. Some of them have groups now. You could see a private counselor or join a group…"

"Now you're really making me sound crazy, Dr. Kudou."

Kudou shook his head at the formal title, "Look, Jacob, for whatever reason, you were sent to me and never moved, despite talk of sending to Dr. Mizuno. I took care of you through the coma, the recovery and taken care of your regular check-ups. Hell, I let you spend holidays with my family. I think it's abundantly clear that I care about you by this point. So, would you please just put my mind at ease and see a specialist."

It was Jacob's turned to sigh and he pressed his palms to his eyes, "Fine. Okay, fine, Kenji. Write me a referral for whichever you think will be best."

"I'm writing you a referral to see a friend of mine. He'll be able to decide on the best course of action for you. Thanks for putting an old mind at ease, Jacob," the older doctor gave him a smile.

"Well, I can't keep the closest thing I have to family worrying about me, can I?" Jacob conceded and smiled back.

One week later, Jacob found himself face to face with one Dr. Yamada, the quick work of his overly concerned friend. The doctor poked and prodded in ways that Jacob was not used to, despite his year and a half recovery time. On occasion, Jacob felt downright insulted by the doctor. But, Kenji had promised that he was the best he knew and Jacob had never had a reason not to believe him.

"You know," the doctor finally set down his pen and leaned forward, as though the end of the session was nearing. Jacob hoped so. The man continued, "There's a group that I help run for this kind of thing. There's actually some surprisingly similar stories to your own. It may not be a bad idea to join that."

Jacob had thought about the idea of group therapy a few times over the last week. He wasn't sure, however, that that's where he saw himself getting the help he needed. And so, he'd been prepared with the answer, "Thank you. But, I think for the time being, I'd prefer private counseling, if any at all."

Dr. Yamada eyed him warily, as though this response didn't surprise him at all and Jacob assumed that it probably didn't. Kenji had surely told him about his reluctance to see a mental health professional.

"Okay," the doctor finally responded. "How about we meet… once a week for a while and see how that goes?"

Jacob very visibly balked at the idea, "How about every other week?"

"It's my professional opinion that weekly meetings would benefit you better."

"Of course it is."

The doctor sighed and picked up his pen to scribble something down on his notepad. He laid his pen down and looked at Jacob, "Okay, twice a month, then. How about Thursday the 10th. Same time."

"Fine," Jacob shrugged.

Jacob left the meeting feeling more drained than he had when he'd gone in. He'd have to remember to ask Kenji if this is how he was supposed to feel. Because, he certainly wasn't feeling any better and he was fairly sure that therapy was supposed to make you feel better. But, then again, what did he know?

He'd been so consumed in his thoughts that he hadn't even notice her until she'd stepped directly in front of him. And, even then, she'd had to step out of the way with an indignant "Excuse you!" before he took notice.

He'd immediately put a fair amount of distance between them, his hop back rivaling her quick movement out of his path. She raised a thin eye brow and one side of her mouth twitched up.

"Did I scare you?"

He scowled. She hadn't scared him per se. He hadn't been expecting her without a doubt. However, his reaction had been an immediate wish not to repeat the terrible incident from the week before. So, in a way, maybe she did scare him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, instead of giving any sort of answer to her accusation.

The smile slid off her face and she flipped her hair over her shoulder, "I knew you'd have to live around here to use that rinky dink shop. It's not the place you travel miles to visit."

He raised an eyebrow at her this time, "You're stalking me? And I'm the one who has to see a shrink."

"I was not stalking you," she replied, crossing her arms and turning her nose away. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye, a look of curiosity on her face. "A shrink?"

The look was so familiar that Jacob began to feel the back of his head prickle again. He shoved his hands in his pocket and took another small step away, "Maybe."

"Hmm," she regarded him carefully, finally dropping her arms and lowering her gaze. "Anyways, I needed to find you. There's someone I want you to meet."

He let out a sharp bark of laughter, "Seriously? I don't even know you. Why would I want to meet anyone you know?"

She tapped her foot, tennis shoes today, "It won't take long, I promise."

It was insane, he knew. And, to be honest, he didn't much want to spend time around this mysterious woman. She intimidated him in ways that didn't only involve their previous meeting. She almost shamed him. The look in her eyes at the end of their last meeting flashed before him.

However, more than any of that, he was curious. He'd been searching for something connected to those six months that he lost. And maybe, just maybe, she did have something to do with it. That, and some of small part of him was leaping at the chance to go with her.

In the end, he nodded, "Okay. Fine, okay. Where to Miss…?"

"Hino. I live in a shrine nearby. I'll show you," she turned from him and began walking without regarding him any farther.

Note: Kay guys. So most of this was written right after the first chapter but it needed tweaking and I got ridiculously busy. But, I hope you enjoy :D