Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. Just the plot.

A/N: Hey! This is my first fic, I hope you enjoy it! Please read and review!

Full Summary: Kenshin Himura is an architect, has a family, and gets paid an average amount in his average life. One day, a new girl enters his life in the most confusing way. His mixed emotions about her lead to love, hate, happiness, sorrow, mistakes, lies, and overall, a new life.

Design My World

Chapter One: Out-Designed

Monday, June 6th, 2005 – 8:00 AM

Tokyo, Japan

There was much chatter at The Seijurou Architectural Industries that morning. It was like this every Monday morning. There was always gossip to go around, and there would always be talk about the weekend, talk about the upcoming plans of the week, etc, etc.

But unlike his workers, Kenshin Himura hated this kind of Monday morning talk. He hated loud noise first thing in the morning – it gave him a headache. He just wanted to finish the weekly, Monday morning meeting, and go straight to his office for peace and quiet. Getting off the elevator, he headed to the meeting.

"Let's get moving, people! We've got lots of work to do! Get to your meetings, now!" Hiko Seijurou, the head of the company, shouted, as he headed over towards the elevator. He wasn't a Monday morning person either. "DON'T TALK BACK AT ME, HONJOU! GET YOUR SISSY ASS OUT OF MY FACE!" Hiko roared once again at a stunned architect. He threw the door to the staircase open, and it closed once Hiko began climbing up the stairs.

"Well, you heard what he said. Get to the meetings," said Enishi Yukishiro in a cool tone which Kenshin hated. In fact, Kenshin hated everything about Enishi Yukishiro. He hated his sarcasm, he hated how he pretended to have all the control, he hated the fact that he was his brother in law – the list would go on forever.

He grumbled as he stumbled into 'Room 210' with an armful of blueprints. Damn those freaking elevators. They just had to break down today. Kenshin was tired without the blueprints' help – the night before he had gotten no sleep, due to the fact his son was crying all night. Sure, he loved his son, but at times, he had become a big…responsibility.

"You're late, Himura,"

Kenshin groaned inwardly as he heard that cool voice again. He glanced up at the clock. The meeting was supposed to start at 8:15. It was 8:17. How would two minutes make a difference?

"I'm sorry, I got caught up trying to carry these here," he muttered.

"Oh well, nothing we can do now. Be quicker next time, we wouldn't want to waste valuable time, now would we?" he said in his sickeningly, fake-sweet voice. "Now, lets get down to business. It's only a matter of time before the blueprints for the theater are due. Luckily, Himura here took the time to give his idea of the theater's layout. I will now turn over to him,"

Kenshin unrolled the blueprint, and posted it on the wall with a thumbtack. "I thought that the theater should have a round shape. Not exactly a circle, but more of an oval, or an ellipse. That way, the acoustics for the theater would be better. I thought that the ceiling shouldn't be too high – that would take up too much space and the walls wouldn't be able to support something like that -- "

"You're wrong," said a voice to his right, which was at the door.

A young woman – couldn't be older than twenty-two – was standing at the door. She was very pretty, her black hair swept up in a ponytail, and her azure-blue eyes on her pale face. She didn't have an unhealthy-pale look, though. She was definitely Japanese – Kenshin could tell by her voice. This woman didn't look like a professional because she didn't wear proper work clothes, and didn't have any materials with her. Besides, they had never seen her at the company either.

"Excuse me – you're not supposed to be here," Kenshin remarked, quite irritated that this woman was accusing him of being wrong.

"No, let her go on, I'm interested in what she has to say," retorted Enishi, who was quite pleased that Kenshin had gotten something incorrect.

"Thank you, even if I am butting in," she murmured to Enishi. "I'm not saying that you are wrong – well, you sort of are, but – anyway, the ceiling should be higher because that would also give a better acoustic effect – unless, of course, you give it a flat shaped ceiling. That would kill the sound. If you had a slightly curved ceiling, or even a slightly triangular shaped one, that would be able to hold up the walls just fine,"

Kenshin gawked at her. How dare she correct him! She didn't even work here!

"Well, well, a young woman that doesn't even work here corrected you," Enishi pointed out, with a mischievous grin. "Thank you, miss…?"

"Miss Kaoru Kamiya," she answered with a smile.

"Thank you, Miss Kamiya," Enishi finished. 'Miss Kaoru Kamiya' bowed quickly and left their meeting.

"Well, that was certainly interesting. The meeting's over, but I expect you to have a blueprint that's more suitable to what Miss Kamiya said by… Wednesday," Enishi sneered.

"Yes, Enishi," Kenshin muttered, thoroughly annoyed at this new girl. What kind of nerve does she have to just barge in like that? And she just had to make him look bad!

"Good. Now get working," he ordered coldly.

Kenshin groaned as he plopped down onto his chair at his desk, taking a pencil out of his pencil cup, ready to work.

Kaoru Kamiya could've smacked herself – waking up late on the day of an interview wasn't too convenient. Her stupid alarm clock just had to break.

Rushing out the door, she pulled her hair up in a ponytail and drove in her Sedan to her interview at The Seijurou Architectual Industries. Kaoru was actually a professional dancer, but she became pressured to pay for her rent – which she skipped four months of, due to her struggle with money. So she decided to try to get another job in the architectural world, because she had always loved sketching and drawing. She had so many ideas and visions, even if she wasn't a professional.

Getting out of the car, she quickly locked it and sprinted inside. The building looked very elite and high class. Oh no. This wouldn't be good.

She stumbled towards the staircase as fast as she could, because the elevator was broken.

"Oh my gosh… ten minutes late!" she hissed, mentally kicking herself. She literally ran up the stairs to the fifth floor. "Excuse me!" she said loudly and rudely to a tall, muscular man with spiky brown hair and a toothpick in his mouth.

"Watch where you're going, missy," he replied in an equally loud voice. Kaoru ignored him and headed up the steps still.

Unfortunately, in her rush to get there, her heel broke off. Kaoru screamed as she descended downwards, about to fall smack down on her head, when she felt someone catch her.

It was the man with the brown, spiky hair.

Kaoru blinked in a state of shock, and soon realized what happened.

"Oh… thank you," she thanked, as she stood up and brushed dirt off her skirt. "But I have to get to a meeting now. Sorry I was so rude before,"

"No problem, missy," he responded, still fiddling with the toothpick. "Just watch out next time. I don't want anyone dead here,"

"I can take care of myself just fine!" she huffed. "And I have a name, you know. Kaoru Kamiya,"

"Nice to meet you, missy," he replied with a smirk as she wore a look of fury. He exited the staircase on the fifth floor, the same as her.

Well, he was kind, she thought. She headed to the room that said, "Mr. Seijurou's Office," took a deep breath, and entered.

"… no, no! The plans are due in two weeks, not two days! Jesus… I've got to go, goodbye," Hiko said in frustration. "What do you want? Hey… I haven't seen you before. Damn! Has Enishi been hiring young secretaries again? He knows he can't do that! That perverted…"

"No, Mr. Seijurou. I'm here for the interview," Kaoru explained.

"Well. Have a seat," he told her. She accepted and sat in the seat in front of his desk, hoping he wouldn't notice the time.

"… You know you're about fifteen minutes late, right?" Hiko pointed out. She groaned inwardly.

"Yes, I had…traffic troubles. It wouldn't happen again. There's a huge crowd out there," she said, pointing out the window.

"Very well," he said, after a long pause. "Let's get down to business. How old are you?"

"Twenty two," she responded calmly.

"Oh… you're very young, you've just graduated from where…?" he asked.

"Harvard University," she replied proudly. She had gotten a scholarship to Harvard.

Hiko seemed impressed. "Wow, that's pretty good. Harvard. The big H. So… what kind of experience do you have in architecture?"

"Well… um… basically none. This is one of my first jobs," she explained.

"Oh? So what are your previous jobs?" he inquired.

"A waitress at a local diner, a cashier at Burger King, and a dancer," she muttered, in humiliation.

"Oh." Hiko murmured in slight disappointment. "So…no experience at all?"

"Well, I've drawn and sketched before – I was a set designer in high school for most of the plays, but nothing professional," she explained once again.

"Okay, okay…" he said in a low tone, writing things down on a notepad. "I read your résumé while you came, and you don't have too bad of a background and all, so I think you probably nabbed the job,"

Kaoru was ecstatic, but tried to stay cool and collected. "Thank you, Mr. Seijurou," she replied. "Trust me, I won't be late again, and I will try my hardest to reach your expectations,"

"Wait, I wasn't finished," he interrupted. "Come back tomorrow and bring something that proves to me that you can be an architect – like a blueprint,"

"That, I will do, Mr. Seijurou," she responded. "What time should I stop by tomorrow?"

"Same time," he replied.

Kaoru bowed and quickly left the office. On her way to the stairs, she heard a man obviously in a meeting explaining the plans of a building. She peered through the door, and watched the meeting.

"…the ceiling shouldn't be too high – that would take up too much space and the walls wouldn't be able to support something like that--" the man said. He had fiery-red, long hair tied in a ponytail and warm, violet eyes. He looked about thirty.

But more importantly, what he was saying was wrong. It's better for the ceiling to be higher, not lower, if he wants good acoustics.

"You're wrong," she blurted out, quickly regretting what she said.

"Excuse me – you're not supposed to be here," the man said, obviously irritated by her.

"No, let her go on, I'm interested in what she has to say," said a man with snow-white hair and sunglasses.

"Thank you, even if I am butting in," she murmured. "I'm not saying that you are wrong – well, you sort of are, but – anyway, the ceiling should be higher because that would also give a better acoustic effect – unless, of course, you give it a flat shaped ceiling. That would kill the sound. If you had a slightly curved ceiling, or even a slightly triangular shaped one, that would be able to hold up the walls just fine,"

The red-haired man glared at her. She felt pretty bad for making him look bad, but she was right. Well, she thought she was.

"Well, well, a young woman that doesn't even work here corrected you," the white-haired man said with a grin. "Thank you, miss…?"

"Miss Kaoru Kamiya," she automatically replied, feeling pride in herself.

"Thank you, Miss Kamiya," he said. Kaoru quickly bowed and left the meeting as soon as possible.

She wordlessly walked down the staircase, out of the building, into the parking lot, and into her car.

"Yes!"

Thanks for reading! Please review! No flames, please. Constructive criticism is nice though. I will include all my reviewers in the next chapter!

/xoxo/

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