"Zoran, how are we on mangoes?"

"We should probably bring some in from the back before the next rush," Zoran answered, scrutinizing the stock of fruits and vegetables in front of him. "We could probably use more carrots, kale, spinach, and blueberries, as well."

The brunette winked and sent him a thumbs up before heading into the back. Ami's friend Makoto had been more than happy to hire him to mix the juices and take some orders, so long as he didn't make her look bad. He had worked in the little bakery that she managed for the last two weeks and he felt pretty confident that he hadn't made her look bad. Of course, Zoran had met he owner once during this time and the older gentleman had raved about Makoto so much that Zoran wasn't sure anything could make her look bad.

He liked Makoto. She was fair, hardworking, sometimes a little scary, and often very motherly. She mothered her friends. She mothered the owner. She mothered him. She was even more accommodating than Ami's mother. She sent him home with meals nearly every day. He'd told her once he was capable of making food and she'd so absolutely told him to shove it and take the food that he hadn't said another word about it.

He'd found he liked all of Ami's and Jacob's friends. He'd met them at various times throughout he last two weeks. Usually, they stampeded into the shop as one raucous group, the two blondes usually the loudest. Sometimes, one would stop in for a juice while running towards some class or errand. He'd had the chance to talk to all of them. He'd found he was right about Minako. When she wasn't in the Khaled's presence, she was always laughing and joking, sometimes bordering on rambunctious. He was unsure about Rei at first. She seemed so serious, so passionate. Jacob, however, was undeniably crazy about her and, Zoran quickly realized, she was about him, as well. Usagi was just kind. He was fairly sure he'd never met a person with a purer heart. She chattered at him, giggled, included him in everything.

Ami was as studious as he'd assumed. She came every day after classes with one large textbook or another. Sometimes, she talked to her friends. Sometimes, she talked to him. Sometimes, he noticed, she seemed to be completely lost to everything and everyone around her. He loved to watch her at these times. The books always looked so complicated and she always looked so invested. There was something familiar and comforting about those moments.

He'd asked her during the first week what her area of study was. She'd told him biology, that she would love to become a doctor like her mother but there probably wouldn't be time for that. At least, there wouldn't be time until things settled back down. She hadn't exactly seemed sad when she'd said it. When he asked why, she had glanced towards where Usagi stood by the door, talking with a man, and smiled. Some things are more precious, she had answered.

He'd pondered that point for a while. He was aware that there was a hint there. Something that set Ami and her friends apart from others, in case he hadn't realized it before. He'd noticed that all of the group had their own things, their own lives, but they still somehow centered everything around Usagi and the man she'd been whispering with at the door that day.

Which brought him to that man. He hadn't actually met the man. He didn't often come into the café, at least not while he was there. He always seemed to be leaving as Zoran was arriving. He'd slip in during busy periods to talk with everyone at the table. He never came to the counter to order. Makoto would have food and a coffee ready to go when he entered the room. They always seemed to miss one another, and Zoran was beginning to think that was planned.

His name, he'd learned, was Mamoru. He was Usagi's fiancé, a relationship he could have guessed based only on how much of the girl's chattering involved doing things with Mamo-chan. He seemed to be close with everyone. If he did stop in during one of those busy periods, he and Jacob would often sit next to each other, heads close and expressions serious. If Mamoru was grabbing some coffee and Ami was studying, he'd sit with her, point out things in her text book.

Zoran would be jealous, he admitted. It would be so easy to be jealous of the man for being so close to not only Ami, but Jacob and the others, as well. As it was, he found himself too relieved every time they seemed to avoid each other to actually feel any jealousy or annoyance. His whole body seemed to tense when the man entered the building and then he'd relax the second he walked out.

It stemmed from him, that him inside his head that Jacob had verified was there. He mostly seemed quiet. The first day Ami had walked in, there was that overwhelming joy again, followed by something that seemed darker, heavier. Remorse, maybe? It had dimmed to a single spark each day Zoran saw her again. But, when Mamoru walked in. The walls went up. He could feel it, agitation and fear swirling around inside his head. It made Zoran wary of the man as well and he knew the relief when Mamoru left came both from Zoran himself and that other him.

"Well, shit," came Makoto's voice loud with an edge of pain from the back, pulling Zoran from his thoughts and his task of restocking the fruit Makoto had brought out only 5 minutes before. She came out of the swinging door with a towel around her hand. "Shit, no Ami. I got distracted while cutting up some strawberries."

"Let me see," Zoran automatically stuck out his hand and Makoto stared at him for a few seconds longer. "Come on, I'm handy with first aid."

"You're going to touch me? Willingly?" Makoto asked, tilting her head.

Zoran sighed. Jacob had told him that it was probably find if he touched anyone who wasn't Ami, but he'd been reluctant to do it. However, it couldn't be helped now, "I'm sure it will be fine. Better than letting you bleed out or trying to do it one-handed. Give me your hand."

She finally held out her hand and he glanced under the towel, cautiously touching her wrist to move her hand into the light. Nothing happened. He sighed with relief, "Not serious. Shouldn't need stitches. Let's get away from the food area and I can bandage it up."

As they were moving towards the back, the doors whirred as a guest entered and Zoran threw back, "We'll be with you in just a few moments. We thank you for your patience."

"What happened?" Ami's voice was concerned, and he heard her books hit the table and quick footsteps following them towards the back.

"I was watching TV while chopping up fruit. Distractions plus knife equal bad, I know. I would have been fine if I hadn't thought I'd seen him," Makoto muttered as she took a seat and Zoran retrieved the first aid kit.

"She's fine. It's just a scratch," Zoran told Ami off-handedly. "Who'd you see?"

"I can take care of it," Ami interrupted, moving to take the bandages.

"Nah, it's fine. I have knack for it," Zoran shot her a smile. "It was another side business. I helped an acquaintance once and word got out. People would come see me when they didn't want to visit a doctor. I was told they healed quicker than normal after I bandaged them up."

He winked at Makoto and she laughed, "Of course, they did. Did they all happen to be female? A lot of paper cuts and fingers caught in doors."

"He was always good at healing," he heard Ami mutter. When he glanced at her, she was back in that place, somewhere beyond where he could see.

"Who?"

"A friend," Makoto smiled. "So, did you keep supplies?"

A subject change, Zoran realized. Then he remembered the first him, the one that had so distracted Makoto that she'd managed to slice her finger. They'd managed to avoid answering that, as well. He eyed her for a second and then returned to his task, finishing washing the wound, "We kept some things. They typically paid us enough to be able to keep supplies. I made some poultices and salves myself."

"You made things to put on wounds? How did you know what to do?" Ami asked, seeming equally intrigued and terrified.

Zoran shrugged, beginning to wrap the bandage around Makoto's finger, "Ana got hurt one day and I just… mixed it up. After that, I found a book at the library. Apparently, I'd mixed up the right things. I guess I just knew. I tried to double check everything after that but… It was just natural. That wasn't long before… Whatever happened. It really started to turn things around for Ana and me, though."

"Who's Ana?" Ami asked, her voice quiet.

He paused, glancing over her shoulder to where she sat motionless, "Can you tear off a piece of that tape and hand it to Makoto?"

She was silent as she did what he asked. He noticed that Makoto was looking everywhere but at them. They wanted answers. But, to be fair, so did he.

"Who was good with healing? Who did Makoto see that distracted her so much?" he asked into the silence, taking the tape from Makoto and putting in place. He turned her hand this way and that, inspecting his handy work. "Honestly, it already looked like the bleeding was stopping. This was probably overkill."

Makoto gave a small smile, "I appreciate it either way."

Silence once again took over.

Finally, Makoto sighed, "I thought I saw someone I used to know. His name was Nephrite."

The name stirred in his memory. That piece in the back of his head reached out for just a second and then retreated. So, it was like Ami and Jacob and Khaled. Something important to that piece of himself.

"Makoto, we agreed that…" Ami started, but Makoto waved her off.

"Sorry, we're asking questions. It's only fair that we answer some. There was a news article about America on TV, talking about his miraculous return and all these things he's doing. I haven't seen him in a while and didn't know where he was. It came as a surprise," Makoto tried to give a smile, but it was dimmer than normal.

"That sounds like it would be a shock," he finally answered, and it almost seemed to disappoint Makoto. As though she were hoping he'd have more of a reaction. He felt guilty that he couldn't give her what she'd expected, "Ana was… my partner, I guess. Kind of more than a girlfriend and kind of less than a girlfriend. It was… survival."

He didn't look at Ami, not yet. It was easier to just tell Makoto. He didn't want to delve too deeply into the why of it.

"Have you contacted her since you woke up?" Makoto asked, glancing from him to the silent Ami.

He shrugged, "Sent a letter to an acquaintance that has a more stable residence, just to let her know I was alive. She'd left. Married some guy, I think. Like I said, it was all about survival. She wouldn't have waited around for me. We'd agreed on that before, a lot can happen when you're moving place to place. I cared about her well-being but… it was complicated. I was too young and inexperienced to make it on my own and she could use the extra money a pretty face would secure. It just worked. I'm glad she's doing better than we were before."

"I'm sorry," Makoto glanced from him to Ami again.

"Don't be. It was life. I've got a solid gig now," he gave her a reassuring smile and faced Ami, whose face was carefully impassive. He had an odd sense that he had somehow betrayed her. He hadn't known her, and things had been so casual with Ana. He attempted a half smile, "Joining the sharing circle?"

Ami glanced from Makoto to him a few times, seemingly unable to make up her mind. Her questing gaze landed on Makoto, "I don't know."

Makoto shrugged, "Your choice. Rei had a choice. You get a choice."

He was momentarily distracted by the thought of Rei and what she may have had a choice in. Jacob's words came back to him. Until you make the right connections. So, he had made the right connection. Either with Rei or through Rei. And, now, Ami had the choice. The same choice that Rei had had before. A choice that, Zoran was sure, involved Jacob and his memories being recovered.

"It was a friend," Ami repeated Makoto's earlier words. "He was good at healing all kinds of wounds. It was amazing, really. He and I were… close."

"More or less than Ana and me?" Zoran asked with a raised brow. It was barely more of an answer than he had received from Makoto. But it was awakening that part of his mind. He could feel the agitation grow. At the term friend, at the description of close. At the conversation as a whole.

"Oh, more," Ami breathed. "Zoisite was… a lot."

Zoisite. That was important. He knew it was because the agitation turned to anger, to fury. It didn't like the name, the man.

"Zoisite is gone," the words burst from his mouth without any control. He hadn't thought them himself. He wasn't even sure what they meant. They must have come from there. From him. Zoran wanted to say something, but he couldn't get his body to obey. The words kept coming from some where else, as though he were just a spectator to his own life. "I didn't deserve you. I didn't deserve him. Leave it alone."

The anger retreated back to its safe little corner. The walls built back up, the final tendrils of regret filtering out. Lost control, the thought accompanied the regret before it was all gone. Zoran felt only his own emotions. Fear. Confusion. He stared from Makoto and Ami, both silent and regarding him carefully. The headache began, creeping from the back corner and splitting his mind in two.

"I should… go…" Zoran mumbled, reaching up to press on the side of his head.

Makoto nodded silently.

Ami took a step towards him but stopped when he flinched, "Zoran…"

"I should go," he repeated and turned, leaving both silent in his wake.