A/N: Sorry for the lack of update within the past month. I was at camp, and when I came back, all my files were gone! I had ¾ of the third chapter written and then it was all erased. Sorry about that.

Warnings: (Overall) Kenshin is a bit OOC in this story, but he gets better. Mild language.

On to the story!

Chapter Three: Frustrations

"I'm home!"

Kenshin swung open the door and called out to inform he had returned home. He hung up his coat on the coat hanger and took off his Nike sneakers. He quickly put his suitcase and blueprints in his office and headed towards the kitchen.

A smile lit up his face as he saw the love of his life in the kitchen, stirring miso soup for him. Her back was turned to him, but he could still see her beautiful face and her flowing, black hair. He snuck up on her and placed his hands over her eyes.

She seemed stunned, but relaxed at the sound of his voice. "Guess who?" he whispered.

His wife turned around and gave him a peck on the lips, but went back to stirring the soup.

"That's all I get?" he whined playfully.

She smirked, turned around and gave him a long, heart-warming kiss.

"That's better," he teased. "Where's Shinta?"

"Sleeping," she said with a smile. "He finally got to sleep,"

Kenshin responded with a genuine smile, and started poking his rice.

"How was work?" she inquired.

"It was okay. The usual." He replied shortly.

"The usual being…?" she started.

"You know, your brother trying to fire me all the time, that sort of stuff." He explained curtly.

"Oh, Kenshin," she began, her hand touching his arm. "He'll have to accept the fact we're together sometime. After all, he is my brother. He wouldn't want to disappoint his favorite sister, now would he?"

"I don't know…" he mumbled.

"He'll accept you soon," she reminded him softly.

Kenshin didn't respond, but instead began sipping at this miso soup.

It was a silent dinner, with only the running of the sink water to fill in the silence. Kenshin was in deep thought about work that day.

I didn't mention the new girl… he thought. He decided that it was better that way. Tomoe wouldn't feel sorry for him as much.

Kenshin finished quietly and retreated to his office. He crept down the hall and down to the second to last door. He opened it and groaned at what he saw.

His office was a professional mess. There were crumpled pieces of paper on the ground, along with fresh sheets that had spilled off of his desk. There was absolutely no space to walk across to his even messier desk, which had about one pencil lying on it, the rest of them lost in the sea of paper. What made it worse was that the fan was blowing at top speed. Blueprints, both ripped and whole, were occupying the desk and the floor, and all his pens were missing. The overhead light bulb was shining pathetically by itself, illuminating the room until it would burn out. The funniest thing about that room was that his garbage bin was empty.

After practically fighting to get to his wheelie chair, he sat down and rolled over to his desk. His elbows rested on his desk, and his head fell into his hands. Kenshin released a sigh and took out a pencil to begin working.

You're wrong…

That voice! It haunted him. Why did she have to correct him?

You're wrong…

"Shut up!" he bellowed, snapping his pencil in two. He let out an aggravated sigh and threw it violently into the garbage bin. He groaned at seeing he had no more pencils to work with. In frustration, he banged his head on the desk, which earned him a throbbing forehead.

To make matters worse, the power suddenly went out. He was now stuck in a room full of waiting disasters.

He decided to retire for the night, but he struggled in the blinding darkness. At last, he reached the door, where Tomoe had handed him a small candle to take.

"Thanks," he whispered. She merely smiled and headed to their bedroom. Kenshin followed her.

He didn't even bother brushing his teeth; he just hopped into bed and fell asleep right away.

&&&&&&

Kaoru was up for a rude awakening.

"Kaaaaaaaaaaoru!" she heard a sing-songy voice croon above her.

"What?" she asked grumpily.

"I made you pancakes," she said, holding out a plate of her favorite blueberry pancakes on her favorite ceramic plate. Misao wore a kitchen apron and those mittens-that-you-wear-when-things-are-too-hot-to-hold.

Kaoru managed to give her an appreciative, yet weak smile and told her to put it on the table. She instantly fell asleep.

"But Kaaaaaaaaaaaaoruuuu! You have to go to that interview thing! You have to eat these fast!"

At that, she froze. She glanced at the clock. It was 7:45 AM.

"Ahh! Crap, crap, crap…" she muttered, jumping out of bed. Without even realizing Misao was there, she pulled on a brown pencil skirt and a white collar shirt with a blue, cashmere sweater on top of it. She quickly scrubbed her face with soap, dried it, doused her mouth with mouthwash, pulled her hair up in a ponytail, took out her favorite pair of stilettos from her closet, snatched her blueprints and bag, stuffed blueberry pancakes in her mouth while washing them down with Starbucks coffee, and sprinted out the door.

She jumped into her Toyota and drove at the speed of light to downtown Tokyo. But as soon as she met the highway, she was caught up in congested traffic.

"Ah! Dammit!" she cursed loudly, crashing her head onto the horn. It let out a loud honk, which she received many 'rude hand gestures' from.

Kaoru stared at the traffic ahead. She would be there for a long time.

She sighed and sipped some of her Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino with impatience. She was obviously pissed, and her boss would be too. She might not even get the job now. Thanks a lot, freaking world.

While she waited, she applied some lip balm to her chapped lips, but noticed she hadn't brought her makeup, which she cursed herself for. Now, she would one: be late, and two: look like crap.

This just wasn't her day.

Kaoru started getting bored, so she turned on the radio. She turned the dial to the most popular radio station in Japan, 99.9 FM. Kelly Clarkson's, "Behind These Hazel Eyes," blared from the speakers.

"Here I am, once again, I'm torn into pieces, can't deny it, can't pretend, just thought you were the one…" she sang along. "Broken up, deep inside, but you won't get to see the tears I cry… behind these hazel eyes,"

"Swallow me then spittin' me out, for hating you I blame myself, seeing you it kills me now, no I don't cry on the outside, anymore…"

She sang along with the entire rest of the song with entirely true feelings. Why… why did he leave me? She thought sadly as the next song started playing.

Music make you lose control, music make you lose control, Let's go, yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah, here we go now, here we go now…

Kaoru blew her bangs out of her eyes. The traffic moved as slowly as it possibly could.

She looked her watch. It read 8:15 AM.

Cursing for the millionth time that day, she pedaled to the metal as soon as she got out of traffic.

"I can still make it," she muttered as she sped through downtown Tokyo. Kaoru, unfortunately, didn't notice that she was going sixty miles per hour.

"Yes! I made it…" she exclaimed, about to make a left into the parking lot. What stopped her were red and blue lights flashing through the mirror. She stopped and watched the car behind her stop.

"What the… oh no, oh no, oh no… please don't tell me – not now – are you kidding me?" she sighed in exasperation.

A police officer stepped out of the car with a notepad. Of tickets. He was smoking a cigarette, and his sharp, golden eyes bored into hers. He motioned for her to roll down the window. She did.

"What did I do?" she asked.

"You tell me," he said gruffly.

"Wha-"

"Did you not see yourself drive at sixty miles per hour?" he asked monotonously.

"Well, no, but-"

"Are you drunk?" he interrupted.

"Drunk? Wha – no! Of course not," she exclaimed.

"So… then you did know that you were driving that fast." He replied.

"I didn't realize-"

"Then you must've been drunk,"

Kaoru couldn't take this. "Just give me the freaking ticket! I have to be at work right now, and if I don't, I could be fired-"

"Hm. That's a shame. Shouldn't have been speeding then,"

"I-"

"Let me see your license," he demanded.

Kaoru got her purse, fumbled with her wallet, and showed him the horrifying picture of her on her driver's license.

"Hey, could you make this fast-"

But the wolfish officer had retreated to his car to write up the ticket.

The clock ticked away… 8:25… 8:26…

That officer seemed to enjoy keeping her waiting. She watched him light up another cigarette.

Finally, at 8:40, he came out of his car and handed her the ticket.

"One hundred dollars?" she asked angrily.

"Yes. For speeding, and looking like a raccoon." He recited with a smirk.

"Excuse me? You shouldn't be talking, you wolf!" she said heatedly.

"Hm… I think I'll add another twenty dollars for harassment." He murmured.

"You can't give me a fine for looking like a-" Kaoru began.

"Watch me," he said, beginning to go back to his car. "Be a bit more respectful to people of high authority."

"But-"

"Your trial's on July 11th," he cut in. Kaoru's eyes widened.

"Trial? What trial?" she questioned frantically.

"You're going to have to plead innocent to keep yourself driving. They'll take a few points off if you lose the case," he explained.

"What?" she nearly screamed. He shrugged, hopped into his car, and sped away.

"The nerve of that little…" she mumbled under her breath. As soon as she parked, she took her purse and her blueprints up to the fifth floor.

She ran past all the offices and desks to "Mr. Seijuro's Office," and burst through the door.

"Mr. Seijuro – I'm so sorry – there was tons of traffic-" she gasped, out of breath.

"Sit down. Those blueprints better be good," he interrupted sternly, his elbows on the desk and his hands laced in the air.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. She quickly unraveled the blueprints and spread them out on the glass table.

Carefully and wordlessly, Hiko examined the blueprints of the theater play for Shakespeare, nodding his head in approval and making sounds of appreciation.

"Very good," he declared, rolling the blueprint up and placing it on the ground next to him to inspect the next one.

He froze, his eyes as big as saucers as he looked at the layout for the mall. His eyes darted across the page, in bewilderment. Making sounds of approval and an apparent expression of impressiveness, he finally spoke.

"You – you designed this?" he inquired.

"Yes, I had planned to send it in, but I had no time and missed the deadline," she explained.

"This is much better than the current design for the mall," he complimented. "May I keep these?"

"Sure," she said easily.

"I have another meeting in five minutes, and due to your lack of being on time, we have to cut this interview short," he told her. It was silent. Kaoru waited for a response, but with her heart sagging, she headed towards the door. He hadn't told her if she had gotten the job! And frankly, the suspense was killing her.

"Oh, and Kamiya?" he said, about to dial a number.

"Yes?" she asked hopefully, turning around to face him.

"Welcome to Seijurou Architectural Industries."

&&&&&&

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Kenshin stared at the clock before him. It read 9:30 AM. It had only been an hour and he was already losing his mind and losing the patience to sketch.

I really need a vacation… he thought, sighing. It would be nice. Picking up the picture of him and Tomoe at their wedding, a smile crept up on his face. Yes, it would be nice. They could go to Hawaii… in the United States…

His daydreaming went on and on until the alarm for ten o' clock went off on his watch, and he snapped out of it.

"Right… I have to finish this by Thursday," he muttered to himself. He picked up his worn down pencil and started sketching… again.

After an hour, he finally dropped the nearly broken pencil. With a satisfied grin, he leaned back in his rolling chair and examined the print.

It was pretty damn good. It was everything that Enishi wanted, and he added a few special touches, like a signature trademark.

"He better accept this, or I'll-" he began.

"You'll what?"

Groaning inwardly, he reluctantly turned to face his boss.

"None of your business," he replied with the same cool tone as his boss, as if he was mocking him. Enishi glared at him and turned his heel and walked away. Kenshin could've sworn that he saw his eye twitch. Smirking, he felt triumph over the ego-maniac wearing a stupid contemporary, black suit.

But his glory didn't last for too long. With the smirk still on his face, he returned to watching his blueprint, but he felt a tap on the shoulder. It was Kamatari.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I'm not sure if you'll stay happy for too long…" he began.

"Why not?" he inquired in confusion.

"Look over there," Kamatari informed. Kenshin cocked his head towards the direction he was pointing to, which was his right.

Oh, God.

He was sure that this was going to be one of the worst days of his life.

&&&&&&

Yay! I've managed to finish another chapter. Please review! I'd really appreciate it, it will only take a minute or so. Sorry that this chapter is shorter than usual.

Reviewers:

Royal BlueKitsune, mtgranola, shimmering tear-starry night blue, blodded wings, kawaii meeh, sweet taola, 1kenshinlover, and drawkcab – thanks so much for your reviews and suggestions! They've really helped me.