Hello to all the avid readers of RK fanfiction. I haven't written anything in a looong time, I figured now is a good time as any to get back into it.
Please do give this a read. Comments, reviews, suggestions, and even spelling corrections are accepted and appreciated. Hope you enjoy this as much as I have! ^_^
Disclaimer: I tried magic potions to make RK mine… obviously, it didn't work! No RK characters are mine, only the original characters joining them, if any.
Summary: Schmear (noun) - a batch of things that go together.
Schmear
By iamALEX
Monday…
Kaoru woke up feeling the annoyance of knowing that another work week has begun. She knew she was going to be late, but her latest dream was still too enchanting to leave completely so she settled into finishing it as much as she could before getting up. Alas, after 13 minutes, she found herself awake and began to grudgingly get out of bed.
She went about cleaning the dishes she left the night before which consisted of a mug and a teaspoon… Well, at least last night, pizza and fresh milk sounded nice but today she didn't quite agree. She then proceeded to do some light laundering, and then went in the bathroom brushing her teeth, earnestly shampooing her hair, shaving her legs, and scrubbing herself free of dirt till she was quite pinkish from the attention and hot water.
Kaoru got out of the bath at the exact time that she needed to be at work, but she couldn't care less. It was either she got all that she wanted to do before starting with work, or running after time and beginning work with a grumpy expression on her face. She didn't need to look grumpy, she needed to look fantastic. It was the beginning of their one-week international convention, and she had her work cut out quite finely for her.
Kaoru decided to wear a light blue, sleeveless turtleneck; an A-cut black skirt with large pleats that reached to her knees; a cream-colored form-fitting leather jacket; black pantyhose; a pair of moderately-high heeled black boots that reached up to two inches below her knee; and finished the look off with some gray pearl earrings and a simple silver necklace atop her turtleneck that also had the same gray pearl as pendant. Kaoru decided to just have her hair up in her usual high ponytail with a light blue bow the same color as her top. She took some wisps of hair on the sides of her head to frame her face which only had some light powder, eyeliner, and pink lip gloss.
Kaoru looked herself over and found satisfaction on how she presented herself. 'Great! I can feel harassed and stressed and not look the part.' Kaoru thought, slightly smirking at the silent confidence building in her chest which she dearly needed in everything she had to do today. Kaoru was expecting a really stressful day ahead, fixing up new files, presenting her company to fellow colleagues attending the conference, and meeting new and old clients which she only conversed with over the phone for the past seven months or so. 'This is war,' she mentally chanted while getting inside her rented white car and driving off toward the venue, smiling at her own crazy thoughts.
Around a quarter to 2:00 in the afternoon, Kaoru found herself eagerly awaiting her long-delayed lunch break. Since there were a lot of people attending, she and her colleagues couldn't afford to have their break at the same time. Kaoru offered to be the last one to have it, knowing full well that her stomach could handle a very late lunch and maybe some cold coffee.
At exactly 2:00, Kaoru bid good luck to the others and went out of the building to check out where she could have her lunch. She heard a few recommendations from her coworkers about where to eat since all of them weren't familiar with the place. Kaoru was quite shocked to find a lot of people still milling around the streets and having their lunch. Apparently, eating a late lunch wasn't a new thing in Chicago.
'Chicago… Funny how that sounds quite comforting.'
A mild brush of wind blew Kaoru's bangs sideways while she walked toward a little coffee shop that wasn't full of people. Kaoru walked in, a small chime sounding off expressing her arrival. A blonde girl with a black apron and hair up in a bun greeted her and led her to an empty seat for two near the window. The girl gave her the menu and left immediately to attend to a new customer, which Kaoru didn't hear coming in, heading off to a seat on the opposite side of where Kaoru was.
The cafe was quite small. It housed only ten small, round tables for two and a counter where another five people could take a seat. The place was well lit and had a wonderful view of the whole corner it was located in due to the glass windows that started a few inches above the height of the tables. The whole place had a comfortable atmosphere; the chimes, maple wood furniture, the polished wood parquet flooring, varying shades of brown ceramic cups and saucers, and the noticeably formal, crème wallpaper only adding to make the desired effect of sophistication and ease. There were two waitresses attending to the customers, and from what Kaoru could hear, there were two cooks in the kitchen, both guys.
Kaoru sighed and decided that this was the perfect place to have her late lunch in. For all the stress of the day, Kaoru didn't feel the need to stuff herself with food and decided to have a toasted bagel with cream cheese and a caramel frappuccino. She needn't look that up in the menu, knowing already that every cafe had that in their menu from what Kaoru and the rest of her group had found out for the past two days they were there.
Kaoru then found herself a problem…
She creased her forehead in thoughtful scrutiny, quite bemused at the sight before her. The menu did have what she wanted to order but she didn't quite understand the long list of cream cheeses that she was to choose from. From what she could see, there were about 18 flavors she could choose from. 'Mou!' There was chocolate, plain, light plain, ham, olives and chives, cheddar, honey, strawberry, and a lot more that just made her slightly smile at the sudden complications of ordering one of America's usual breakfast menus.
The blond waitress walked over to Kaoru's table, smiling brightly and asking for her choices. Kaoru automatically blurted out her order to the girl, stuttering slightly at pronouncing the cream cheese flavor she decided to try. The girl repeated her order, and with Kaoru's slight nod, she left to hand over the list to the counter for the kitchen crew to receive and then prepare the food.
Kaoru looked over at the watch beside the take-out counter and took note that she only had used up exactly eight minutes after 2:00. She sighed at the thought that she could slowly eat her lunch and enjoy the view the window seat provided her of the city that she only heard of through films and some TV series.
She liked Chicago. She didn't know why but she always felt a sense of comfort at the name of the city, and now that she was here, she was feeling a certain fondness of the city and its environment. They've been here now for exactly two days, arriving Saturday morning to tour the city and relax by Sunday, the day before the convention began.
"Here's your toasted bagel with smoked salmon-flavored schmear and your caramel frappuccino," the same blonde girl said smiling, interrupting Kaoru's thoughts. "I'm Ashley. Enjoy your food then and don't hesitate to get my attention if you still need anything. Okay?" Kaoru smiled and quietly said her thanks. 'She sure was nice,' Kaoru couldn't help thinking while eyeing her foreign lunch.
As though on cue, Kaoru's stomach let out a silent growl signaling her hunger. Kaoru chuckled at herself, a little blush showering her cute nose hoping that no one heard her stomach's little speech. 'Smoked salmon schmear Ashley said, I hope it's good.' After a prayer of thanks, Kaoru took a bite of the bagel and was quite surprised at the delicious treat she found before her. 'I'm going to buy more of these!' Kaoru couldn't help thinking, grinning at the wonderful discovery she had made.
Monday was always hectic. He began the day quite early and still had to take more time in the early afternoon to finish up with the meeting concerning an event that was to be held at the hotel by the end of the week. Kenshin let out a loud sigh of relief at the thought of going out for some fresh air and maybe some lunch… he was quite hungry, considering the fact that he skipped breakfast as well.
The elevators dinged indicating his arrival at the ground floor. He walked out of the building stopping near the entrance to just feel the slight chill in the air. He didn't bring his jacket with him and was thankful about that. The collars of his dark burgundy long sleeve polo flapped softly following the direction of the breeze.
A whiff of jasmine passed through his nose which instantly made his eyes close slightly, loving the fragrance that made him feel quite relaxed. A slight nudge on his left shoulder by a rushing businessman startled him, forgetting completely to find the source of the tranquil scent that washed over him from somewhere in his right. Remembering his need for food, he automatically headed to his favorite shop directly in front of their building.
Opening the door of the cafe without making the chimes tinkle had been his signature, his guilty pleasure of sorts. Stealth had been something he was practicing since he was little. A childlike hope of becoming a ninja or a secret agent spurred this weird habit. Fortunately, he proved to be quite good at it. It proved to be a skill he was gifted with, along with the other skills he had enhanced during his sword-training from way back.
Sitting down at his usual place at the corner nearest to the counter, he busied himself in pulling out his cellphone and shutting it off. He hated to be interrupted during his 'hour of peace' as he had dubbed it. Taking a quick glance around, he noticed that the cafe wasn't full today. There were still a couple of tables unoccupied, and the silent chatter of the other customers weren't even noticeable.
Ashley soon was at his side, ready to take down his order. She greeted him and asked if he was having his usual. He smiled at her, confirming the answer to her question. This was one of the reasons he liked this place… they somehow provided him a place of comfort and a feeling of recognition between plain acquaintances.
He leaned his back down the cushioned maple chair, his head back, eyes closed. He let out a cleansing breath hoping to calm down the stress he knew was beginning to take over his system. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes catching a glint from something in his right. As if without control, his eyes followed the direction of where the glint came from, his mind curious to find out what it was.
An earring.
It was an earring from a customer that Ashley was now serving and quite fully covered due to the angle of where he was seated. From what he could see, it was a pearl earring and that the girl wearing it had long, dark hair up in a high ponytail held by a flowy silk ribbon. Before he could even decipher what color the ribbon was, Ashley was already serving another table and the girl was completely revealed to him.
He blinked and corrected his thoughts, the customer wasn't a girl but a lady. 'How typical,' he thought, 'you see that the girl was beautiful and all you can think of saying was that she was a lady!' He chuckled despite himself and stopped from blatantly staring at the lady with the pearl earring. It was then that his food came and then he was left with his hot latte, cheese omelet, and untoasted bagel with sun-dried tomato schmear.
Now that he had a good view of her, he realized that he had never seen her before in the cafe. He considered himself a regular of the shop and was quite happy to admit that he knew the faces of the other regular customers by memory now.
The whole time of his lunch suddenly was devoted to silently observing the new girl. Smiling slightly when the girl chuckled lightly to herself and a little blush showed on her nose and cheeks.
Lunch quickly passed for Kenshin this time. He was actually a bit surprised when the new lady suddenly stood up and straightened out her skirt before heading out of the cafe. Too stunned to go and follow her like he had planned, he just let his eyes follow her instead, hoping that somehow she would head off to a place he knew and be within his visual range.
He smiled when the girl entered the building… his building. He could see clearly through the glass doors that she headed to the elevators and went inside one before she was out of his sight. Smiling slightly, he then went to the counter to pay for his lunch and headed back to his office. He was definitely coming back here tomorrow at lunch. He was hoping the lady would come back and maybe by then he could make his move to come up and meet her.