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Disclaimer: Yeah. I don't exactly own Rurouni Kenshin. Yep. Real tragedy.

Warnings:

Chapter Five:

Kaoru woke up the next morning with a splitting headache.

"Oh, gosh…" she moaned, flipping over on her other side to check the time. 6:45 AM. With another groan, she faced the ceiling once more. "What did I do to deserve such bad luck…"

By 7:00, the pain wore off a bit, but still hurt like hell to Kaoru. She forced herself out of bed to go find some Tylenol, or Motrin or something that would ease the pain.

"Ugh…" she groaned. Misao, who was drinking a smoothie snorted in surprise.

"Kaoru! I didn't know you were up so early," she exclaimed brightly. Her energetic friend blabbered on. "Sorry, that there's nothing to eat, just yogurt and smoothies and stuff. I could run out get something for you by the bakery down the street, if you like. Or maybe you would want some bagels. Or how about-"

"Misao," she interrupted. "It's okay. I don't need anything to eat. Just aspirin. Please." She finished, a hand still on her forehead.

"Are you okay?" Misao inquired, opening the cabinet of medicines.

"A killer headache," she replied unpleasantly.

"Time of the month?" she questioned once again.

"No, this is much more painful," she explained, thankfully snatching two pills and swallowing them with the water Misao had poured for her.

"Do you want anything to eat?" she asked, ready to take out a Krispy Kreme donut, which was for emergencies.

"No, I'm fine, thanks," Kaoru answered. "I'll just bring it to work," she added, remembering her dilemma from the previous day.

"Good idea," Misao agreed. "Sorry, I got to leave now – I promised Kei that I would help her study before our final exam for Biology,"

"Bye," Kaoru called as Misao sped out the door, and she heard a faint, "Sayonara!"

Letting out a sigh, she plopped her head down on a pillow, hoping that she would feel better in a couple of minutes.

Nope, the aspirin didn't do too much.

She finally gave up and stormed back to her room to begin changing. Fighting the pain, she went on with her morning tasks, as if there was nothing wrong with her at all. Kaoru wasn't a vain person; it didn't take long for her to get ready. Just brush her teeth, wash her face, apply some makeup, fix her hair, and voila – she was done.

By the time she was ready, it was 7:30. Right on time, she thought with a smile, which was her first that morning. The pain swelled down a little bit, which left her in a brighter mood. Grabbing her purse, making sure she took the donut too, Kaoru headed to her car, determined to do well at her job today.

There was not as much traffic as the day before, but still enough to stall her. Luckily, she arrived right at 8:00.

During the day, the office was quiet. First thing in the morning, it was like a mad-house. There were people sprinting around, phones ringing in every corner, papers flying everywhere.

"Get to your meetings, people!" she heard the booming voice of Hiko Seijurou call out. The entire office scrambled around to get to their meetings as soon as possible, afraid of their six foot tall boss.

Kaoru followed what the crowd was doing and headed towards 'Room 210,' while quickly snatching her sketches from her desk. With the same idea of haste, she sat down right at 8:15, and the meeting began. She scanned the room through her azure orbs.

There was Enishi in the front – she didn't like that man too much, there was something about his aura that made her shiver. Then there were a few workers – whose names she didn't even know – the one next to them was, Kamatari? He was probably gay. Then there was Kenshin Himura. That man… she couldn't even begin to explain what he was like. That creep -

Her thoughts were cut short by the cool tone of Enishi, initiating the meeting. "So," he began. "The meeting has begun. Anyone care to show the work they have done in the past two days?" he continued, glaring at Kenshin. He glared right back, and spoke up.

"Yes, I have the…better blueprints," he drawled out, emphasizing 'better' stiffly.

"Good. Let's see them," Enishi replied, his hands behind his head, crossing his legs, as if he were about to enjoy something.

Kaoru stared through the violet orbs at the man with the hair like fire. She could swear that it was a shade of gold – with coldness shimmering on the surface. As he began to speak, she spaced out. Not listening to a word he said, she just observed his ever-changing eyes. All sense of sound was blocked out from her ears.

Underneath those piercing, round eyes, a layer of confusion, sadness, nervousness, and slight depression was arising, swirled in the mist of anger. Kaoru wondered about this for a great deal of the meeting – why was sad? Why was he confused? Why was he angry?

It wasn't until that gay man – Kamatari, tapped her on the shoulder snapped her out of her trance.

"You really should pay more attention next time, sweetie. If you don't that bastard's going to find some way to shoot you down," Kamatari warned, as they walked down the halls of the office.

"Yeah, I know… I was just thinking," Kaoru replied, clutching her papers and books to her chest.

"Thinking about my Kenny?" he inquired with a wink.

An expression of shock spread across her face. "What? Of course not, and even if I was, it would be negative thoughts!" she huffed, offended that Kamatari would think of something like that.

"Sure, honey, sure. See you later," he answered, walking down the rows to his desk.

Kaoru sighed. Gosh, that man really bothered her now. He seemed so nice – even if he was a little weird.

"Oh well… ughrghh…" she mumbled, looking at all the paperwork she was assigned to do. "When will I get to sketch?" she asked to the air.

"Sooner than you might expect," she heard a cool voice slither in her ear.

Kaoru yelped and jumped out of her seat. It was Enishi, standing right before her.

"Wow, you gave me a scare there," she breathed, a hand over her heart, feeling her rapid heartbeat.

"Sorry about that," he murmured, taking a seat in what was usually Kenshin's chair. Where was he, anyway?

"So… you said that I might have a chance to draw soon?" she questioned hopefully.

"Yes, you may. There is a building – around the outskirts of the city – it is a rather important building. It's the building for that business man, Makoto Shishio? Heard of him?" he explained.

That name was familiar… but from where? "Yes, I think I have heard of him," Kaoru muttered.

"Yes. Anyway, he wants a fantastic building, and the boss, Mr. Seijurou, thinks you can handle that task, with maybe some help. It's just an idea so far, it hasn't been completely confirmed by Mr. Shishio." He finished.

Kaoru looked at him in awe. An important building for Makoto Shishio? That was huge! Excitement rose up in her.

"Anyway… I came here for another reason." Enishi said, driving away from the topic of architecture. "How do you like your office buddy, Kenshin?" he asked with disgust.

"Um…" Kaoru began. "I-"

"You can tell me the truth. He's not watching, is he? I need to know these kind of things," Enishi explained.

"Well… he can be kind sometimes, but I'm not sure yet, because I've only known him for a day. He can be kind of rude though," Kaoru blurted. Why the hell did she just say that?

Enishi wore a look of sick satisfaction. "Good. I'll be back later," he finished. He approached her, leaving about two inches of space in between them. "By the way, I think you look great without makeup." He whispered in her ear, his breath leaving her with chilling goose bumps. He gave her a long glance, and then exited the room.

Ew.

Just then, Kenshin entered the room. He gave her a piercing glare that would've shot her dead if looks could kill.

"Well… had your first talk with Enishi?" he inquired coldly. "And you decided to make me look even worse there, too?" he added with anger dripping off of every word he spoke.

Kaoru's eyes were wide – he had heard?

"Yes, I did hear that entire conversation." He answered, as if he read her mind. "I know he wants me out as soon as possible… and you just helped him," he went on, his frustration breaking the freshly sharpened pencil tip on a sheet of graph paper.

Kaoru bit her lip, staying silent throughout this whole speech. Say something! Her mind screamed. But she couldn't. Why?

Instead of getting angry at him, she simply asked the question on her mind. "Why?" she whispered.

Kenshin looked surprised, but it suddenly turned to irritation. "Because you just told him I was rude, which he thinks is absolutely true," he answered, turning back to the pencil sharpener.

"No… I mean, why?" she repeated, staring at his cross-shaped scar on his left cheek, as millions of things ran through her head.

"Why what?" he asked, extremely confused and annoyed.

"Why are you sad? Why are you depressed? Why are you always angry?" she asked, finally looking up into his eyes. Shock reached them, and they turned a deep shade of dark purple.

"I'd rather not say…" he murmured, turning away from her.

Kaoru was disappointed, because she didn't get any answers. She had a curious nature, and no answers just kept her pestering on.

"…and why do you care anyway?" he snapped, which immediately set up a defensive wall for himself from showing too much emotion.

"See? You're scared… all the time…" she interrupted suddenly. Kenshin gave her a queer look that even though he was trying to hide it, was full of realization.

They didn't speak for the rest of the day.

&&&&&&

It was 6:30 PM – the end of another long, tiring day. Kaoru contently packed up her stuff, getting ready to leave.

The paperwork that was given to her that day wasn't difficult – they were just inquiries of what she did, sketching-wise, or some papers Enishi had requested for her to sign.

She was about to exit the office, but glanced back at Kenshin one last time for that day. He was intensely sketching away, his face screwed up into a frustrated expression. Turning away, she walked down the hall.

There were only a few people left in the office, but the majority of them she didn't know. Kaoru took the stairwell down, for the elevator hadn't been fixed yet.

As she passed through the lobby, exiting the building and into the parking lot, she didn't notice a pair of light turquoise eyes behind dark sunglasses intently watching her the entire time.

&&&&&&

Kenshin was sitting at his desk, staring into the snow globe that rested on his desk. He wasn't even working. All he was doing was thinking.

The snow fell hard that night. After all, it was Montreal; it was pretty cold during the winter.

Why couldn't he go somewhere warmer, like Mexico, for a business trip?

He was regretting every moment since he accepted the task for designing a building all the way in Canada. Why did he do that?

His intuition told him to do so. He had a feeling that pushed him forward, telling him to take this assignment. The young architect had expected something exciting and life-altering to happen… and nothing had happened so far except for the fact that he had caught a cold.

He wrapped his scarf around his neck tighter, insulting more heat. The streets he walked through were almost deserted, with the exception of the occasional cars passing by and the few shops that were still open.

The red-head only had a few hours left in the country, and he decided to spend it in town. Why wouldn't he grasp the opportunity to finally get out of his 'drawing chair?'

As he approached the small market covered in a blanket of white fluff, a tiny sensation of warmth flowed through his body, as he started wandering towards life and light.

He floated past a few tents that sold little trinkets, like key chains, and other touristy things.

His eyes lingered on a snow globe in front of him. It was the most beautiful snow globe he had ever seen – it was simple; with the regular fake snowflakes falling down, the title engraved, 'Montreal,' and a city in the background. But the beauty was in the tranquility of the fake snow swimming in the water. It slowly rested at the bottom, and the entire globe was still.

He reached for it, and found that another hand was there already.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he murmured, instinctively removing his hand from the globe.

"No, I was just looking at it. You can have it," the owner of the hand responded. He looked up at her. Her face was covered in a heavy scarf, the only thing visible were her vivid, bright, sapphire eyes.

He could see her smile through the scarf. She placed the globe back onto the market table, gave one last glance at him, and walked away.

The young man was left puzzled, and the only thing he felt like he had to do was to buy that snow globe. Something inside his mind triggered which told him to buy it.

So he did.

He continued on – he passed by the little vanities without noticing yet another woman in front of him. He accidentally bumped into her, and she gasped.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he murmured once again, picking up the bag she dropped from the icy floor.

"It's okay, it was my fault," she answered, taking the bag from him thankfully. Her beautiful voice entranced him, her tone as sweet as a song.

He gazed up at her. She had a very pale face, with dark eyes that bore sadness, although her face was lit up with a smile. The woman was gorgeous, but her aura was full of sorrow, and her beauty was haunting.

There was an awkward silence between them, as the world around them went on with life, and the little space they occupied halted time. They concentrated on each other's eyes, realization washing over them as they learned more about each other every second without saying a word.

"Well…I guess I should be going then," she finally spoke up, breaking their thoughts.

"Yes, I suppose so…" he muttered. The woman began to turn away, walking towards another man with silver-whitish hair. He didn't notice this man, and called out to her.

"Wait!"

The woman spun around and looked towards him.

"Yeah?" she called back, her hopeful, dark eyes gazing into his.

He approached her with confidence. "What did you say your name was?" he inquired.

"Tomoe Yukishiro." She answered. "And yours?"

"Kenshin. Kenshin Himura."

And that was the story of the snow globe. That was how he met Tomoe.

Fate altered things itself, and that's how they got there today.

But as he reminisced on the story, he couldn't help but wonder what happened to the mysterious, blue-eyed girl. She was definitely familiar – family friend? Someone in his past life?

He shrugged this thought off and packed up his stuff to leave. He glanced at the clock – 7:15. Groaning, he left the few people that remained in the office and headed out to leave.

The rest of the night was eventless for Kenshin, and the thought of that blue-eyed girl was pushed back to the back of his mind – but it was still there.

Holaaa! Another chapter finished.

I'm so sorry for the long wait! I hope this was good enough. It wasn't that exciting, but it provided a lot of information… and a lot of questions.

PLEASE REVIEW! AND VOTE FOR THE STORY YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE NEXT:

TAKE MY HAND:
-Summary: A tidal wave crashes upon the heart of Tokyo. Kamiya Kaoru has just barely escaped the disaster, but how will she survive? With the help of a mysterious, red-haired, purple-eyed man. AU. KK. What may seem like the end could just be the beginning.

CONFESSIONS OF A RACCOON:
-Kaoru is a writer with big dreams. She one day gets an inspiration to write a thrilling, fresh, novel. Little do the readers know, that this novel is an autobiography. AU. KK. Writing really is a true form of expression.

CRYSTAL CLEAR:
-People tell me I was born with a curse - blindness. They pity me. But little do they know, I can see much more clearly than they ever could. I am Kenshin Himura. My job is to open people's eyes, to help them see. AU. KK. For a blind person, I can see crystal clear.

KEY TO ROOM 414:
-Kaoru is the manager of a major hotel in New York City. Life had always been the same for her. Routine. Never once did she do something spontaneous. But one man can change that. AU. KK. It's feels good to break free for once.

(title/summary pending)MY PERSONAL DIARY(suggestions are welcomed):
-After a heart-shattering accident, Kaoru loses her entire memory. With the help of a mysterious red-head, she begins taking tiny steps towards regaining her memory, but until then, she needs a personal diary. AU. KK. Patience is a virtue.

Oh, and the results so far are:
Take My Hand – 0
Confessions of Raccoon – 1
Crystal Clear – 2
Key To Room 414 – 2
My Personal Diary - 1

PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks to royalbluekitsune, blooded wyngs, kawaii meeh, 1kenshinlover, Dancer122, Shimmering Tear, mari, and Alex! Thank you guys so much, they mean so much to me – honestly.

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