Chapter II

Rin sighed as she looked up at the building she stood in front of. She didn't really want to go inside, but she knew that what lay inside that building was infinitely better than what was outside. Glancing down at her watch, she noted that the streets would soon be quite crowded since everyone would be leaving work as it was the end of the day. Looking up the street, she could already see a crowd of people forming a queue outside the train station, eager to get home after a hard day's work. As she sighed to herself, Rin looked up at the building again and felt rush of pity for the people within in. They had to work longer hours to cater for the people like herself who couldn't make appointments at any other time during the day. Frowning slightly, she briefly wondered what time her psychiatrist started and finished work before wrinkling her nose slightly at the idea of referring to him as 'her psychiatrist.' The whole idea still didn't sit well with her, but as the saying went, she knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth and in this case her gift was definitely the fact that Sesshoumaru Taisho was willing to take the time to help her.

The number of people walking down the street was steadily increasing just as she predicted and Rin took a deep breath before walking up the few steps and pushing open the heavy door to the building she had spent the past few minutes staring at. The secretary she had met the week before looked up and smiled at Rin as she walked towards her desk, biting her lip nervously. There was silence for a moment while the seated woman typed something into her computer and then smiled at Rin again.

"You're here for your appointment, Miss Abe?" she asked politely.

"Y-Yes," Rin replied, stunned that the woman remembered her name.

"Please take a seat."

The woman gestured to the seats that sat around the edge of the room and Rin looked around briefly before finding one in the corner of the room. Once comfortably seated, Rin took the chance to examine her surroundings. The number of people sitting across the room from her surprised her, but she soon realised that this building was shared by two psychiatrists and not just her own as she had originally thought. As she looked at the people around the room, she had started to wonder which psychiatrist they were waiting to see when the large clock started to chime and Rin looked at it, surprised when it showed that it was already 6pm and she had been sitting here for half an hour. Sighing to herself, she looked down at her hands with a slight frown as she prayed that whatever therapy she was going to have to face would help her. Every meeting she attended that wasn't related to her work had to be held after her working hours because of her inflexible employer who clearly didn't care much for her well being and couldn't spare her for just an hour in the day. Rin glanced out the large glass doors at all the people walking hastily towards their destinations, not caring about who they bumped into in the process and she flinched slightly at the thought of having to make her way through all those people. She always arrived early for meetings to avoid the rush of people and now was no exception, but she was getting heartily sick of waiting all the time. At one time she had been patient, but after spending so much of her life waiting for a peaceful time to walk down the street, she found her patience wearing thin.

The sound of a door opening and a cheerful voice caught Rin's attention and she looked towards the source from the corner of her eye, not turning her head away from the sight of all the people in the street. Her hands clenched in her lap as she recognised the cheerful voice as coming from the very woman who had hugged her when she had first come here. Panic raced through Rin for a moment as she wondered if the woman would try it again and she bit her lip until she could taste blood in her mouth, closing her eyes as though not being able to see the woman would make the problem go away. The sound of a door closing caused her to crack an eye open just in time to see the woman disappearing into the crowds and she sighed in relief.

"Miss Abe?" a voice called and Rin looked around hastily to see who was calling her.

The voice had come from Sesshoumaru Taisho who was leaning against his door frame and watching her with a slight smirk on his face. When their eyes met, Rin got to her feet as he beckoned her over and disappeared into his office, waiting for her to follow. After narrowly avoiding a collision with a man who wasn't looking where he was going, Rin sighed as she stepped through the door. Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at her, but closed the door behind her and gestured for her to take a seat as he made his way to his own chair behind his desk.

"I was wondering if you were going to come back or run away," Sesshoumaru said casually as he opened her file and pulled pencil and notebook towards him.

"Uh, I-I've had t-to work overtime t-this week," Rin stuttered in reply, looking down at her hands.

"I see. What do you do for…" Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked up at her. "Miss Abe, are you aware that your lip is bleeding?"

Rin stared at Sesshoumaru for a moment, not comprehending his words before remembering that she had bitten her lip a bit too forcefully while she had been sitting outside. Blushing slightly, she reached into her bag and pulled out a tissue, dabbing her lip hastily.

"S-Sorry about that," Rin murmured with a blush.

Sesshoumaru coughed, not sure what to think about the woman. "Uh, I was going to ask what you do for a living."

"Interior design."

"I see."

They sat in silence for a moment as Sesshoumaru read through something in the book in front of him. Not knowing what to say, Rin watched quietly until he seemed to sigh to himself and push the book aside before clasping his hand on the desk in front of him and looking at her seriously.

"As I said last time we met, I've never treated anyone with aphephobia before so I'm going to by the book," Sesshoumaru said, nodding towards the book he had pushed aside. "However, if I feel that the methods in the book aren't satisfactory, I will find an alternative method to help you. Unless I have full commitment from you, there is no point in continuing. Are you certain that you want to go through with this?"

"I have no choice. I have to go through with it."

"Of course you have a choice."

Rin frowned at him slightly and sighed as she looked out the window. "When you know what it's like to leave home every morning an hour early and leave work an hour late to miss the crowds then you can tell me I have a choice." She turned her gaze back to him and he noted the steely determination he had seen before shining brightly. "I have no social life, no relationships of any kind. I even avoid the people who still call themselves my friends. I'm the source of all the office gossip and I'm almost certain that most of my colleagues go out of their way to find a way to touch me just to see the reaction. I'm tired of this. I have no choice but to accept whatever therapy you choose to throw at me. You have my full commitment."

Shrugging slightly, Sesshoumaru leaned back in his chair and considered her words. He hadn't thought she had been that badly affected by her phobia, but he supposed that in light of what her phobia was, it would be hard to not let it affect the way you live your life. Leaning forward again, he pulled his notebook towards him and opened it to a fresh page. Rin watched his hand move quickly and elegantly across the top of the page, leaving her name written neatly in the centre of the page and underlined twice. She raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Perhaps if she were to flick through the used pages of that same notebook she would find other people's names written he same way?

"How long have you had this phobia?" Sesshoumaru asked, ignoring her previous outburst and looking at her closely.

Rin blinked in surprise and looked thoughtful for a moment. "As long as I can remember; I can't remember a time I didn't worry about people touching me."

"Your family can't shed any light on when this began?"

"I don't remember them." Rin almost sighed when Sesshoumaru tilted his head to one side slightly and gave her a curious look. "They're all dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Rin waved her hand dismissively as though she was used to that sort of reaction and Sesshoumaru silently breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't called up bad memories. Still, it amazed him that she could just say that so bluntly and without feeling. Most people he'd spoken to who'd lost only one parent or perhaps a sibling would virtually burst into tears whenever they were mentioned, but here sat a woman with no family and she didn't seem to be upset about it in the least. She was either a very strong woman or she was heartless and Sesshoumaru found himself hoping it was the former rather than the latter. Pushing aside his thoughts, Sesshoumaru cleared his throat and looked seriously at Rin for a moment, his pencil twirling around his long fingers.

"There are several theories about why people suffer from aphephobia," he started and looked out the window awkwardly.

"There are?"

"Some people feel objectified when others touch them and others were simply brought up in an environment where there was little physical affection shown towards them. However, there is another theory that people who suffer from this phobia were abused either physically or sexually."

"I see."

"I need to establish if any of those were the cause and from there we can work on how to treat it."

Long fingers picked up the pencil he had put aside and started writing something in the ever present notebook. Rin raised an eyebrow as she watched him write the three causes he had told her about against the margin of the page and then look up at her. A brief glance into his amber eyes told her that he was slightly unsure how to go about discussing this and she pitied him somewhat. The certificates that hung in neat frames on the wall showed that he had the skills to make it as a psychiatrist. Everything about him and his surroundings showed professionalism, but it was glaringly obvious to her that something was lacking. Rin wondered briefly if anyone else had noticed this and quickly decided that most people who came here had more pressing matters to deal with than to contemplate what their psychiatrist was lacking. She resisted the urge to smirk when she finally realised that he lacked the warmth and friendliness that most people in the medical profession seemed to radiate without noticing, not to mention there were no smiles of encouragement or greeting. In fact, there were no smiles at all, just an expressionless face that made her wonder why he had chosen this line of work when he seemed so ill at ease.

"Do you feel objectified when people touch you?" Sesshoumaru asked, bringing her from her thoughts.

"No," Rin answered instantly, knowing that was not the cause.

Sesshoumaru smirked slightly at the immediate response. "What about physical interaction when you were a child?"

"I don't remember anything before my parents died."

"We'll have to look into that. What about abuse?"

"None."

"Since you seem to be very certain on two of those answers, that leaves us with only one lead to follow."

"How do we do that? I don't remember anything."

"It might be something after the death of your parents, but we'll look into it in greater detail when you come back next."

Taking the hint that the session was over, Rin got to her feet and picked up her bag and coat before looking up at Sesshoumaru who stood opposite her. She marvelled at how tall he was for a moment before stepping back and smiling slightly. He nodded politely in return and walked to the door with her, opening it for her and walking out to the secretary's desk with her. The woman smiled at her employer and his client when they stopped at the desk and gave them a questioning look. Sesshoumaru leaned against the table and looked at Rin thoughtfully.

"Please ensure that all of Miss Abe's future appointments are the last of the day," he said finally, looking at his surprised secretary.

"Yes, sir."

"Why?" Rin asked as they moved away from the desk.

"There will be less people around at that time of day."

"Thank you."

Rin smiled gratefully at him and pulled her coat shut, graceful finger moving easily over the row of small buttons. Once done, she waved slightly at the tall man beside her and made her way towards the door, pausing briefly to ensure a quick exit without touching anyone. Sesshoumaru watched her quickly walk down the steps and walk away out of view. Initially he had intended to help her overcome her phobia without delving too deeply into her past, but now that he knew that he had no choice but to hear her life story, he wondered how everything would turn out. The little he had learnt about her today had piqued his curiosity and a part of him was eager to hear more of her story.