A/N: So, here is the second chapter, I don't really know if anyone is all that interested in it... I don't know, it doesn't seem to be getting as much attention, but for those few who are reading this, enjoy! Also, this chapter is centered around Kenshin, so if you're wondering about the character pov shift, yes, it is done on purpose. I haven't gone crazy... yet. Sorry if it seems to be spaced weirdly. I haven't figured out completely how technology seems to ruin my life. Technology plus me equals no friendship. Sad, but true.

disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin... Unless someone wants to give the rights to me, which I would happily accept!

He watched the passing of traffic from high up in his office window. The company had recently overtaken one of its smaller competitors and that would usually give him some sort of feeling of satisfaction. Aoshi had signed over some of the members as part of the deal, however the reserved man seemed somewhat affected by the new employees, although he would never say it out loud. His partner's silence was nothing new, but this form of silent brooding proved to be somewhat distracting. In meetings, the taller man's attention would waver slightly, and would have to interrupt to clarify certain facts.

"Mr Himura? Is something wrong?" His thought pattern was interrupted by his assistant standing in the doorway. She was all grace and seriousness, always the perfect image of what a woman should be, quiet and attending to all his needs. She was also the type of woman his father wanted him to marry before he took over the company. He didn't think he could stand to marry someone with as little spirit as she exuded. Looking down, his posture seemed to be the direction of her query. His hands had formed into fists on the glass windows and his faced had been pulled into a scowl.

"No Tomoe, everything is fine. Is there some reason you need me for?" Her face seemed to flicker before she masked it with a clam expression before replying.

"Mr Shinomori would like to speak with you." Nodding to Tomoe, he walked around to his desk and sat down as the tall man walked through his door and shut it in Tomoe's face.

"She wants much more than you give her, Himura." Aoshi announced stoically as he sat down. Raising a crimson eyebrow in response, the other man leant back in his chair.

"Surely, that was not the reason you decided to visit?"

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They had been talking over the new acquisition for approximately 10 minutes before the subject was brought up.

"I do not understand why you agreed to employ those members as part of the take over." Aoshi had a way of making his comments as subtle as elephants stampeding though butter. At least he had finally brought up the topic so that Kenshin could move on with the rest of his work day without worrying about how Aoshi would concentrate though the afternoon's meetings.

"It was an un-negotiable part of the contract, you know that. They also had the choice of whether or not to sign with the company." He responded tiredly massaging his temples.

"It seems to me to be a sign of weakness – accepting opponents' employees into our company. You don't know how much you can trust them." The icy reply was straight to the point. It was always the good of the company first when it concerned Aoshi.

"Did you find any discrepancies in their files when you read through them?" As tempting as it was, he did not feel like having an argument with a brick wall again.

"No. However, there was this one employee who signed very quickly without the consideration of the other members and without any emotional ties to the others."

"So because he had no emotional ties to the company and he was confident in his ability to agree to the contract that you wrote, you think that he is a liability? He sounds like someone I know, Shinomori." Blue clashed with amber-violet over the desk in a silent duel. Aoshi was the first to break and stood from his chair and stalked to the door.

"It was a woman, Himura. Any woman who can cut her ties to a company she has worked at since she graduated must have an attachment." He said over his shoulder and closed the door with a snap.

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Signing yet another report after reading through it for what seemed like hours, he leant back in his chair and stretched his arms over his head. A small knock at the door signified her presence as she walked in, carrying a couple of take out containers in her hand.

"It's half past nine Mr Himura. You should eat." She cleaned his desk of the remaining reports and setting the containers down.

"Thank you Tomoe. However, you staying back so late is unnecessary." He opened a container full of rice and another full of a combination stir-fry, one of his favourites. She sat across from him, her eyes watching his movements to fill two plates worth of food.

"When you work, I work." She firmly stated, tucking her hair behind her ear. She leant over the desk slightly to collect her plate, giving him a glimpse down her loose blouse. Closing his eyes in annoyance he grabbed a fork and his plate and leant back in his chair. She had done it on purpose. Shoving a forkful of stir fry into his mouth he blatantly stared out the window watching the lights illuminate the sky.

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"Do you have any plans for the rest of the evening, Mr. Himura?" She asked quietly, but the intensity of her gaze gave him the impression that she had been staring at him for a while. Looking down at his plate, he realised he had finished eating, the plate to mouth movements seemingly acting out of necessity, rather than thought.

"I had planned to have an early night. But I have to read a report for the meeting tomorrow." He brought his fingers up to massage his temples, thinking of the final report now sitting in his briefcase waiting for him to go home. Four reports had mysteriously found their way into his office during his lunch meeting. There were no guesses about who had placed them so neatly across his desk, and he had spent the rest of the afternoon doing the work his father had so kindly left behind.

"Go home, Tomoe. It's going to be a late night for me." Looking up, he saw that she had cleaned up his desk from their meal and was standing next to him. As he stood up to collect a couple things, she put a hand on his arm.

"I can help, if you need it." She stared into his eyes, a something hidden behind her gaze. Turning swiftly to pick his briefcase up from beside his desk he shook his head.

"I'm going home to finish it up. There is no need for you to stay." He closed his office door and strode to the elevator, making the appropriate stops for her to collect her things. They had reached the garage and he had stopped at her car before she reached out to touch his arm again.

"Let me help… Kenshin." She stared imploringly up at him. Staring coldly down at her and her, he shrugged off her arm, turned, and begun walking towards his car, calling out over his shoulder in reply.

"Go home, Tomoe. Good night."

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He cursed upon returning home to find his answering machine blinking happily away in the darkness. Flicking on the light switch, he literally dumped his briefcase in his study and practically tore the tie off from around his neck, stalking towards the blinking red light. He pressed the button with a little more intensity than necessary and booming voice begun to filter through his apartment.

"Evening, baka-deshi. I've left some reports you need to read before tomorrow in your mailbox. Read them." Growling at the answering machine as the bringer of unfortunate news, he grabbed his keys and turned once more to his door. His father failed to mention the word 'more' in his statement, he was sure that he intended to ruin any form of rest that the world gave him.

Stalking through the main body of the apartment building he reached the front entrance, moving towards the mailboxes to retrieve whatever reports his father, so kindly in his own amusement, sent to him. Hearing the clicking of heels behind him he cringed inwardly, used to the attention that he normally received when he strayed into the public domain.

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"No, if he thinks that he can do that, then fine… I'm too tired to continue arguing about it., I'll speak to you later." The voice the rang out was crisp, anger underlying the pretence of calm. He heard a cry of annoyance before the dual-clicking sounds stopped echoing off the tiled entry.

Figuring it was safe to venture out of on of the coves in the foyer, he was somewhat surprised to find a young woman struggling to pull off her remaining shoe whilst opening her letterbox with her other hand. Smiling slightly at the picture it presented, fate seemed to deal him an unfortunate hand. The hand tugging on the key suddenly flew back, along with the balance of the woman, thus prompting him to act automatically. This was how he found himself seconds later, with a small woman cursing in his arms.

"I am so sorry. This is just not my day." The woman ground out under her teeth. He could smell her faint perfume as he held her as she attempted to regain her balance. Grabbing her hands, he felt a small electric current run through him, as he turned her around, pulling her against him in an effort to get her standing up straight.

"It's alright, you're not hurt are you?" He forced himself to ask, hoping that this wasn't some sort of sick set up, like the one his cousin pulled on him last week.

"I'm fine. I just have to-" she was cut off by her phone ringing. Turning to grab the mail in the box, slamming it shut and locking it with her key and pulling her remaining shoe off in one smooth move, she glanced down at the phone ringing in her grasp; a frown marred her features as she turned back to him.

"Thanks. I appreciate you helping me out. Have a good night!" She was walking away and on the phone again before he had the chance to say anything else and just settled for staring at the sway of her hips as she unwittingly seemed to sashay away from him.

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It had taken him until the early hours of the morning to complete those damn reports, the images of the woman last night interrupting him constantly. He had reached the office looking much worse for wear than usual with a grim expression that had most people skirting around him in fear. The way that her hips moved as she walked was the worst image possibly for his tired mind. The meeting hadn't gone much better, his father constantly interrupting to assert his opinions and then forced Kenshin to produce the correct reports highlighting his point. He had shut himself in his office after returning from the meeting barking an order that he was not to be disturbed.

He was currently sitting at his desk, his fingers massaging his temples from the headache that seemed to be progressively getting worse as his day wore on. He didn't understand how one single woman could infiltrate his mind so easily, but he would soon rectify it. It was just the lack of sleep that his brain was functioning on, when he had enough rest, he would be able to focus on his work and the vixen, which seemed to be both anti-phone and shoes, would be banished from his mind. Deciding that was nothing pressing left to do for the rest of the afternoon, he packed his briefcase and strode out of his office. Tomoe wasn't at her desk, which was a good thing as he figure that he never would have made it to the elevators without being forced to snap at her. Forgoing the delightful experience of driving home half dead, he called for a taxi upon reaching the street, climbing gratefully into the backseat and directing the driver where to go.

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After dragging himself up to his apartment, taking the phone off the hook and placing his mobile on silent, he had spent a blissful four hours in a deep sleep, only rising when his body clock announced that he had had enough and if he continued to sleep, he wouldn't be able to get back to his normal routine. His dreams were once more the accumulation of watching too many fantasy/supernatural movies as a child. He had been running towards a light and then had fallen, only to find himself standing in the light he was chasing. He had been having the recurring dream for months without it changing, and would always wake with a sense of dissatisfaction, that something had not been completed. This prompted him to go and do something concrete, something physical, to drain the dream-like state from his mind. Usually, he would take this time to hone in his technique of sword fighting but he had only recently moved into this state of the art complex. Therefore most of his belongings were either at his father's or in storage – which meant that his bokken had lived in his car, constantly travelling with him. His car happened to be back at the office so he had to make to with his second choice. Attempting to remember what facilities Sano said that the complex boasted, he remembered walking past a sign that distinctly said the word 'pool'.

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The pool area had only one other occupant who was swimming laps when he arrived. Striding into the area, he dumped his stuff next to his companion's gear and dove in. The world was silent for a change, the only thing he had to focus on was his breathing and finding the right time to turn before he went headlong into the wall. It had been years since he had actually swum, he had preferred to take his frustrations out on his bokken. The peace that he now found wasn't lost on him and he promised he would ease his frustrations out on the pool more. His hands cut through the water at a now reasonable pace, his body adjusting to the synchronisation of all the muscle groups timing his movements just so. Feeling slightly worn out, he swam to the side and hopped out. Shaking his hair out, he pulled it back to a pony at the base of his neck and reached for his towel, only to find he was not the only one who had finished. Blue met violet as they both stared, reaching for their towels automatically. She smiled softly at him, slight dimples appearing which seemed to suit her no longer angry attitude. She seemed a considerable amount calmer then when he had encountered her the day before.

"Sorry for yesterday." Her voice seemed so much more melodious than before and he seemed to be drowning in her blue eyes. How he could not have noticed such blue eyes yesterday, was slightly startling to think about.

"It's alright. I'm Kenshin." He managed to introduce himself, sticking a hand out in greeting. She reached out to meet his hand.

"I'm-" The phone in her bag rung, cutting her off. Rolling her eyes, she retracted her hand and picked up the phone only to hold it away from her ear as someone squawked loudly into the speaker. Her eyes rounded in surprise then squinted into anger as she brought the phone to her ear.

"Right, I'll be right up." She clicked the phone shut and hastily grabbed her gear together.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. Bye!" She tossed over her shoulder and was gone, giving him the view of her once more angry gait, her hips swaying in a way that should be classified as dangerous. Swimming had always seemed like a brilliant plan.

A/N: Let me know what you guys think!

All the best! xoxo -ac