This is the first drabble of many that I will probably be posting. I figure it would be better to have them all in one area, like many other authors have decided.

Anyhow, this particular one was inspired by the wonderful ladies at Smoke and Mirrors. Though I am not a member, reading all of their wonderful drabbles made my own pop into life. Although, come to think of it, perhaps this can't be a drabble. It took me an hour and a half to write, mainly because after the first hour, I realized I had begun to write utter nonsense (how ducks made it into the fic, I have no idea, but they had to go), so I went back, deleted most of the ending, and started again. Just to warn you, the end is crap. I wrote the first thing (OK, second thing, I said the ducks had to go) that came outta my fingertips, and conclusions never were my strong point. Anyhow, here's the product, three days after Valentine's Day. shrugs I never really said I was punctual.

"What a wonderfully great Valentine's Day. He forgot," she muttered as she clocked out. "I can't believe he forgot."

After a tiring day of shelving books, cheerily helping customers, and ringing up their purchases, Kaoru Kamiya was, to put it quite frankly, beat. It didn't help that her longtime boyfriend, Kenshin Himura, had clearly forgotten the significance of this day.

Kaoru continued to mutter evil things to herself as she walked out to her car. The diatribe against rotten boyfriends continued on her drive home. The litany of insults picked up with a vengeance when she noticed the dark house as she pulled into the driveway.

"First, he can't show up for a romantic lunch. He doesn't even send a surprise bouquet to the shop. Now, he doesn't even have a nice dinner at home planned. Perfect end to the perfect day," she snarled as she stomped up the walk.

Yes, perhaps she was over-reacting, she thought. It wasn't as if they hadn't ignored this holiday before; she could remember quite clearly years ago when the most they managed was a quick-spoken "Happy Valentine's Day". It had become almost tradition to exchange words and nothing else on this day. But, dammit, he had hinted that he had something planned this year!

She threw open the front door after fumbling with her keys, tossed down her purse, and slammed the door closed again. She kicked off her shoes, which hit the wall with a thump, and proceeded to the kitchen to grab a wine cooler. She needed to relax for a bit; perhaps the drink and a bubble bath would soothe her? She considered this as she took a sip, then proceeded to head to the bathroom. A trail of clothes, beginning with her jacket and ending with her socks, marked her path as she walked into the tiled room.

A flip of the light switch, a pull of the dial, a dollop of bubble bath, and a twist of her hair later, Kaoru reclined into the hot water with a sigh. Yep, bubble baths were definitely the way to a relaxing evening. Now all she needed was some softly playing music, a few rose petals floating in the water, and a warm presence behind her, massaging her shoulders, and this would be perfect. Of course, as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she scowled. Yet another romantic scenario that her mind had come up with that he had failed to deliver on.

She set about relaxing with a new fervor. She downed the remainder of her wine cooler, sunk deeper into the water, and closed her eyes. Yep, nice and soothi-

RING! RING!

Kaoru shot up with a start, her Zen-like moment shattered. Once she figured out the reason for her disturbance, a dark look passed over her face. Of course. She finally starts to enjoy her day, only to have it ruined by the phone! She considered sinking back into the water and ignoring it; actually, that was quite appealing. The consideration turned to action as she leaned back again and closed her eyes. She sighed in contentment a few moments later when the phone stopped its shrilling ring. A few moments of silence hung about the air, before-

RING! RING!

Kaoru opened an eye and stared at the doorway, imagining the phone to be right there so she could kill it with a death glare. Well, if inanimate objects could be killed. She considered the possibility of this until the phone, once again, stopped ringing.

"Ahh," she murmured, "no dying phones today."

Well, until the phone began ringing again. She stood up with a snarl and wrapped herself in a robe as she stomped to the phone. She ripped the handset off the charger, punched the 'Talk' button, and didn't even try to sound cordial as she started in on the person who had so unfortunately ruined the one bit of the day she had been enjoying.

"What! Can't you get a clue? If I don't answer the first or second time, there's probably a reason for that! Look, I've had a really rough day today. My job was the pits, my boyfriend forgot today was February fourteenth. I was finally enjoying myself in the bath until you came along. Just what was so important that it couldn't have waited an hour? Or a day, even!"

She paused to let the caller answer and heard nothing but silence. She was about to roar in anger and toss the phone through the window when a hesitant voice finally decided to speak up.

"Kaoru, it's me."

She bit her tongue to keep from blowing up.

"What is it?"

"I..uhh…I wanted to see if you would be able to come pick me up. You see, the car broke down and-"

"Fine," she growled. "Where are you?"

"Umm….at work."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes."

And she hung up without waiting for a reply.

She hurriedly threw on some sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. In no way was she going to dress up to take a twenty minute drive to pick up Kenshin and drive back twenty minutes in anything but the comfiest clothes. She deserved that at least, right?

In a surprising replay of that afternoon, not even two hours past, she stomped out to her car, muttering obscenities. They became increasingly vulgar as she drove. This time, though, varying satisfying pictures ran through her head, mostly of the various ways she'd enjoy torturing the redhead: vats of boiling oil, suspending him over a volcano with only the thinnest rope, dipping him in blood and dragging him behind a boat in shark-infested waters….oh, the pictures got more and more gruesome as she drove. By the time she pulled into the parking lot, she was at the pinnacle of her rage. She cut the engine, stepped out of the car, and prepared for the long talk she was going to have with him. And then she stopped cold.

There, on top of the hood of his car, with only the faint moon and flickering light over the doorway to illuminate him, sat Kenshin. And he looked utterly depressed. His shoulders were slumped, his head was hanging, and the most pitiful look was on his face. Next to him laid the bouquet that she had dreamed about earlier, along with a heart-shaped box that she knew would contain her favorite chocolate. And in his lap rested something he appeared to be stroking.

Altogether, the picture he presented was disheartening. Kaoru felt her anger melt away, replaced with an odd sort of joy. 'He didn't forget,' she thought. 'He had an unfortunate incident, but, if my eyes are working correctly, and they were last time I checked, he was planning on surprising me. Which means…Valentine's Day is on again!'

She cleared her throat, hoping to disguise the way her thoughts had gone, despite the fact that Kenshin probably didn't know anyway, and continued the walk over to his car. She settled herself next to him and greeted him with a soft "hey". He looked at her from the corner of his eye and responded in the same way.

"So, do you know what happened with the car?"

He shook his head.

"Oh. Well then, I suppose we'll have to leave it here for tonight and call a shop and tow truck in the morning. You ready to go home?"

He gave a brief nod. "I'll just grab my briefcase and lock up the car, and then we can go. Could you…could you hang onto him for a sec?"

And he placed a bundle of fur into her arms before he stood and went to the car door. She looked down at the puppy resting in her arms and felt the very last vestiges of even the smallest trace of bad emotion flee. She freed an arm so that she could stroke the sleeping pup in her arms. She looked up when Kenshin came back.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Kenshin gave a small grin. "I knew you've been wanting one since we moved into the house; I thought now would be a good time to get him."

Kaoru murmured something in agreement as she stood and made her way to her car. She settled the pup in the backseat, along with the bouquet and chocolates. He silently held the passenger door open for her, but she didn't slide into the car. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her level. His eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't stop her. She spoke quickly to cut off what he was about to say.

"How about you and I go home and settle in the new addition, and then I give you a proper sorry and thank you gift in one, hmm?"

He hesitated a moment. "So…you're not angry anymore?"

She gave a soft laugh and kissed him briefly. "No, I'm not. Now, let's go home. There's a gift waiting there that I think you'll really like."

If the wicked smile on her lips gave him any indication, and by the darkening of his eyes she assumed it had, he was in for a real treat tonight.

"I think I'd…like that," he replied softly, returning her smile with one of his own. She felt her heart trill in response. Oh yes, today was definitely going to be a great Valentine's Day.

So, now that it's finished...mind telling me how my first dip into the drabble pool went?