Chapter I

Sesshoumaru Taisho could be described by many people in many different ways, but what everyone failed to realise was that he was, in actual fact, a man of very simple tastes. Everyone assumed that because he came from a wealthy family, he would expect the highest quality in everything around him and that his working and social standards were just as high, but this was truly very far from the truth. Sesshoumaru was a content man and enjoyed the simple lifestyle he had adopted since leaving the family home after graduating from university three years previously. Now, at the age of 27, he lived a quiet life as a psychiatrist which suited him just fine.

However, while there was not a lot of truth to the rumours that spread about him and his character, there was a small amount of truth that even he couldn’t deny. He was not a patient man by any stretch of the imagination, nor was he known for the good natured and sometimes humorous manner that some people in the medical profession adopted. In fact, he did not have the biggest clientele but he suspected that most of the people who came to him for help came because he was from the aforementioned wealthy family and not because of his reputation that he had been painstakingly building since he started work. Despite what some people thought, the lack of clientele didn’t bother Sesshoumaru that much. Instead, he found himself able to devote more of his time to the people that visited him on a regular basis which pleased him since it meant that he didn’t have to deal with too many people. In hindsight, he could only wonder what had made him choose to be a psychiatrist when he didn’t really enjoy the company of many people.

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It was rare for Sesshoumaru to get new patients and it was even rarer for them to have been passed along to him by his more prestigious colleagues. As he sat behind his enormous mahogany desk, Sesshoumaru frowned as he looked through the files that his secretary had handed him when he had arrived that morning. Having had meetings with patients most of the morning, he only now had the chance to glance through the files on his new patients who he would be meeting in a matter of minutes. It irked him that his colleagues had passed the poor people on from one psychiatrist to another before finally sending them to him. He considered that to be highly unprofessional and was going to take the chance to show his judgemental colleagues how the job was done. Pushing aside the thoughts, Sesshoumaru got to his feet and picked up the folders he had been looking at as he made his way over to the seating area he used when meeting patients that sat on the other side of his office. Just as he had settled into his usual chair, Sesshoumaru’s eyes rose as his door opened and his secretary stepped through the door with an unsure smile pasted on her face.

“Your new clients have arrived, sir,” she said, her gaze fixed at the group that stood just outside the door.

Nodding his thanks, Sesshoumaru sat up straight in his chair and waited patiently for the first of the small group to come into the room. The first person to enter the room was a plump woman who was talking excitedly as though finishing a conversation with someone. She grinned at him before sitting in the chair closest to him before turning to the man sitting beside her who was almost as tall as Sesshoumaru and seemed slightly uncomfortable with the woman’s attention. Shaking his head at their antics, Sesshoumaru looked down at the list that sat on the table beside him and saw that they were only missing one other person from the little group. About to get to his feet to inquire about the whereabouts of the remaining person, his actions were halted when the door opened and a slim woman slipped through the door, her head bowed and made for the nearest seat which was directly opposite Sesshoumaru. Shrugging slightly, he cleared his throat and watched as the trio of faces turned to him expectantly.

“I’m Sesshoumaru Taisho,” he said quietly in a deep voice. “As we have just met, I’ll be talking to each of you individually to discuss why you’re here.”

Without another word, Sesshoumaru picked up the first folder and found that it belonged to the only other man present in the room who came across the room hastily as though trying to escape the loud chattering of the woman who sat beside him. Soon enough the man was on his way out the door after a brief conversation with Sesshoumaru who was now trying to deal with the talkative woman as she seemed to be bent on ignoring everything he said. After half an hour of trying very hard to not lose patience with the woman, who he now knew was called Hitomi, Sesshoumaru finally managed to get her to leave, sighing to himself as he watched her walk towards the door. He frowned slightly as he watched as Hitomi stopped beside the woman who had waited patiently for Sesshoumaru to call her name. The unknown woman looked up as Hitomi approached and a look of uncertainty crossed her face briefly before she masked it behind the calm façade she had kept in place throughout the afternoon. Hitomi leaned down and wrapped her arms around the woman’s shoulders in a tight embrace, not noticing the way the woman stiffened or how her fingers clutched the arm rests of her chair until her knuckles were white. Sesshoumaru waited patiently for Hitomi to leave before calling the seated woman closer.

“Miss Rin Abe?” he asked politely as he rose to greet her and extend a hand towards her as he had done with the other people he had met that day.

“Yes.”

The woman’s voice was soft and so quiet it was almost a whisper, but it was like velvet and sent a shiver down Sesshoumaru’s spine as she spoke. He watched as Rin’s gaze fell from his face to the hand he had extended towards her and saw yet more uncertainty pass through her eyes. Looking closer, Sesshoumaru saw her fingers twitch slightly as though itching for her to lift her hand to shake his, but then her hands clenched and she looked away, a slight blush colouring her cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her gaze cast towards the floor.

“Not to worry,” Sesshoumaru replied, unfazed by her behaviour. “Please take a seat.”

Rin had caught his attention the moment she looked away; seemingly reluctant to shake his hand and now his curiosity was piqued as he watched her pull her chair back slightly so that the distance between them increased. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked over the seating arrangements and then after pulling her chair back a little further, Rin finally sat down, her hands clenched on her lap as she waited for him to say something. Deciding to push his curiosity away in favour of being professional, Sesshoumaru picked up his usual notebook and pencil and turned his full attention to the woman sitting in front of him.

“Generalized anxiety disorder?” Sesshoumaru asked, looking at her open file which sat on the table beside him, his eyes narrowed.

Rin shrugged. “Apparently so.”

“You have only recently been diagnosed with it so there is no need for you to be here. You should have been given medication by your doctor.”

For a moment there was silence between them as Sesshoumaru watched Rin carefully and waited for her response. She seemed to be at a loss for words and knowing better than to push for a response she may not be ready to give, he decided to look her over instead and almost immediately regretted it. Her eyes were almond shaped and framed by thick lashes that cast long shadows over her cheeks as she closed her eyes briefly, only to open them after a moment to reveal very expressive eyes that held a glint of steely determination beneath the swirling emotions. Long dark hair hung was held off her neck by a ribbon and several strands escaped to frame her face and brush against the collar of her shirt. Her skin was very pale and there were dark circles under her eyes that even her make up couldn’t hide but instead heightened the air of vulnerability that surrounded her and her plump crimson lips brought his attention down to her suggestive mouth. For a moment, Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, trying to go back to being impartial but found it impossible as her face appeared in his mind’s eyes while the sinful part of his mind told him to open his eyes and look some more.

Eventually, he opened his eyes and found himself unable to keep himself from trailing his gaze up her slim legs, clad in black stockings, to the hem of her skirt that sat just above her knees. Rin Abe was a petit woman, but there was nothing demure about her, although he doubted whether she knew that she radiated sex appeal and that with her looks and grace, she could turn heads without even trying. She had certainly managed to catch his eye and that was a feat in itself since not many women could accomplish that. After trying and failing to bring his attention back to the conversation they had been having, Sesshoumaru gave up trying to fight with his desire to continue his visual exploration of his new client. Following her round hips that he was sure gave her a perfect hourglass figure, his amber eyes trailed up the curve of her waist and stopped briefly at the generous heave of her breasts that rose and fell gently beneath the pale blue blouse she wore. All in all, he had to conclude that she was a beauty.

“They tried to give me medication,” Rin said, bringing Sesshoumaru’s attention back to the matter at hand immediately. “But they had to touch me and I didn’t want them to.”

“Didn’t want them to touch you?” Sesshoumaru repeated in confusion. “Why not?”

“I don’t like it.”

“You don’t like doctors touching you?”

“I don’t like anyone touching me.”

“I see.”

Sesshoumaru sat back in his chair and looked at Rin speculatively for a moment as he thought over everything he had heard and how she had refused to shake his hand. It made sense and he wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before now. Standing up, he smirked slightly as Rin shrank back in her seat slightly and eyed him warily as he walked past her to the book case that stood against the wall, heaving under the weight of all the books that had piled up on it as time passed. He stood there for a moment, amber eyes running over the titles before he picked up the book he wanted and made his way back to his seat. Rin watched curiously after he was seated a safe distance from her.

“Aphephobia,” Sesshoumaru said after flipping through the pages to the one he wanted. “That is what you are suffering from.”

“What’s that?” Rin asked, frowning slightly at the thought of having a phobia.

“Aphephobia, also known as Chiraptophobia, Thixophobia or Haphehobia, is the fear of being touched by another. Symptoms include: heart palpitations, breathlessness, nausea, inability to think or speak clearly or anxiety attacks.” Sesshoumaru lowered the book slightly and looked at Rin over the top of it, surprised to see no shock on her face. “Do any of those apply to you?”

“A couple of them do,” Rin replied calmly.

“I think that your anxiety is probably caused by your phobia,” Sesshoumaru said as he shut the book and put it on the arm of his chair. “If you can overcome your phobia, then your anxiety should also lessen.”

Rin sighed and sank down in her chair, closing her eyes as she tried to digest the information given to her. She slowly opened her eyes again and lifted a hand to brush her hair away from her eyes as she looked up at Sesshoumaru who was watching her with that piercing amber gaze that made her feel as though he could see into her very soul. His diagnosis was right and she knew it. She had done some research herself and had come to the same conclusion, but she had ignored it and instead hoped that it was just a phase she was going through that would soon pass. Unfortunately, Rin knew that it definitely wasn’t just a phase since she had had the phobia since she was a child and if it hadn’t gone by the time she reached her current age of 24, she doubted that it would disappear on its own. Now here she sat in a psychiatrist’s office, a very handsome psychiatrist, but how good looking the man was didn’t take away the fact that if she couldn’t overcome her phobia, then she would have to deal with it for the rest of her life.

The quiet sigh from the woman sitting opposite him brought Sesshoumaru’s attention back to Rin and he watched her carefully as the information sunk in. He felt something akin to pity as he watched her obvious struggle with conflicting emotions. Normally it didn’t phase him when he had to tell someone what was wrong with them, that was his job after all, but there was something about this woman that made him pity her in her current situation. Aphephobia was one of the more extreme phobias that some people suffered from and she was the first person he had encountered who suffered from it although he had read several case studies on the topic while studying. Rin seemed very vulnerable and on edge all the time, but he supposed that that came with living with the constant fear of being touched by someone. The dark circles he had seen under her eyes earlier indicated a lack of sleep that was probably caused by anxiety. Sesshoumaru wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed with this case, but he knew that it wouldn’t be fair to leave her to suffer as she clearly was. Sighing to himself, he looked at her carefully for a moment. He had noticed before that she was a beauty, but he knew that she was no different from the other women who had come to him for help. Pretty but with problems he had no desire to delve into any deeper than strictly necessary.

“What happens now?” Rin asked, arching an eyebrow at Sesshoumaru’s thoughtful expression.

“Therapy usually,” Sesshoumaru replied and frowned as he looked over the short list of suggested therapies in the book he had closed. After a moment he closed the book again with a snap and looked at Rin’s slightly surprised expression. “I’m afraid this is going to be a learning curve for us both. This is the first time I have met someone who suffers from aphephobia. As far as I know, it’s not one of the more common phobias.”

“I see.”

Rin bit her lip as she watched Sesshoumaru’s long fingers wrap around his pencil as he wrote something down in his notebook. She didn’t really like the idea of being treated by someone who wasn’t sure of what to do, but as she considered the situation, she knew that she had no other alternative. Sighing she pushed herself to her feet and stood behind her chair, looking at the seated man carefully.

“Very well. I’ll just have to trust you to do what you think best.”

Sesshoumarualmost grinned when he heard her words. He knew that she was trying to stop herself from just turning tail and running away to deal with her problems by herself, but he was glad that she decided to trust him. It would be a good experience for him and would help her so much if his ideas succeeded. Getting to his feet, Sesshoumaru followed Rin to the door and leaned forward to open it for her, smirking to himself as he watched her step back hastily to avoid contact.

“You can arrange another meeting with my secretary,” Sesshoumaru suggested as Rin stepped out the door and put some distance between them.

“Thank you.”

Without another word, Rin turned and walked away, eager to get back to work where she knew she didn’t have to worry about people accidentally touching her. Sesshoumaru watched as she walked away and realised that he had been right about her hourglass figure. Glancing out the window at the crowded street below, he wondered how she planned to get out of the building without colliding with someone. It seemed impossible, but as he watched her, he realised she had somehow perfected the art of avoiding people. Shaking his head, he turned and went back into his office. This was going to be interesting.