Author's Note: This was fun to write. I hope you'll have fun reading it too.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, or any of its characters. All information regarding the institutions that will be mentioned in this story are fictional. This is being written purely for entertainment.

Relevance
Chapter 2

Kaoru

Kaoru is not a bad person.

On the contrary, she believes that she is a good person—a very good person, at that. She's a doctor, for fuck's sake. She saves lives on a regular basis, she doesn't have any criminal records—except for the one time that she was caught speeding by the interstate, and she donates her fair share to charitable organizations. She is a good person.

So her actions in this life couldn't possibly have merited such punishment. She couldn't help but resent the previous owner of her soul because she was pretty sure that he or she was the one who was responsible for what was happening to her right now. It was horrible. In her book, it's inhumane.

She didn't usually sleep with random men. She's actually very much aware of the proven fact that nothing good could ever possibly come from someone you meet at a bar. But the man who approached her the night before was just so pretty; his silky red hair shone wonderfully under the dim lights of the bar, his violet eyes were so warm and gentle and friendly while he was speaking to her, and that face—oh God, that face. His features were rather feminine, but they were not any less striking—and they were only enhanced by the cross-shaped scar that he had on his left cheek.

Could she really be blamed for wanting to be held by such a wonderful specimen of the human species? Especially since she didn't consider herself as someone who would ever be noticed by someone such as him. She isn't insecure or anything, but she knows who she is and what she has to offer, and what she has in terms of the physical department are features that are considered average. She had her fair share of lovers and one night stands back in Boston, but none who ever fell on the same scale as the attractive redhead did.

What she is though, is a brilliant surgeon; she breezed through med school thanks to her photographic memory, every resident she worked under in Massachusetts General Hospital gave her outstanding recommendations, and it was NewYork-Presbyterian's Chief of Surgery himself who invited her to work here—with a wonderful compensation package, if she may say so herself. She also loves taking pro bono cases because they're usually the ones filled with challenges, and she feels that it's reasonable for her to be excited by them since she gets to hit two birds with one stone in terms of self-fulfillment.

But she digresses. The point is that she is a good person. And she did not deserve to have slept with a man who apparently worked in the same hospital as she did; and as if the universe hasn't played enough of a joke on her, was actually one of the Attendings there.

"Hey." Kenshin smiled at her once they all got a moment to process the situation. He was obviously very pleased with what he was seeing and she would've paid any amount of money just so she could have the chance to smack that silly grin right off of his face.

She cleared her throat after securing her shoe and stood up to her full height, running her hand through her raven locks as she did so. "Good morning, Doctors. It's lovely to meet you", she said with a graceful smile.

Sano chuckled and gave a long whistle. "Who'da thunk we'd see you here of all places, eh Missy? You didn't tell us you were a doctor too. It would've been way more interesting if you did."

"Oh I think it was interesting enough, Dr…?"

"Sagara." He replied confidently. "Sanosuke Sagara at your service—but you can call me Sano. I run the orthopedic surgery team here."

She grinned, feigning smugness as she tried to ignore her racing heart. "Ah. Well, Dr. Sagara, I wouldn't have had the chance to tell you I was a surgeon last night, anyway; though I highly doubt you would've remembered it seeing as how you already were piss-ass drunk by the time you approached me."

His laughter made her smile, but it was the way that he clutched his head in obvious agony a few moments later that made her chuckle.

"So, Dr. Kamiya," Kenshin interjected, his eyes filled with amusement as he took in her professional appearance. "What brings you over to our side of the town?"

She chose to ignore his question and focus on Sano's pathetic form. If she pretended he didn't exist, then maybe he'll get the point and just leave her alone. "I'm sorry for bothering you, but would you mind telling me where Chief Seijuro's office is? The residents are supposed to be meeting there and I got… lost."

"Obviously." Sano scoffed. He stood up, bringing his cup of coffee along with him. "We'll take you there. We have to be there too, anyway; might as well drag you along with us so we can make the proper introductions."

She smiled gratefully at him and followed him out the door. "Thanks," she smiled gratefully. "The nurses are bitches here. I think they thought I was an intern."

"Well, no offense, Missy, but you kinda seemed like one. Running in here like a banshee and all, that is."

"I resent that. I had a long night, and I'm late. I have reason to panic."

"I'd say." Kenshin commented with a smirk from where he appeared beside her. "I bet someone interesting kept you up all night."

Sano's booming laughter made her cheeks burn in embarrassment and indignation. What the hell did he think he was playing at? "I don't believe you were part of our conversation, Dr. Himura."

"Ah, she remembers my name." He replied joyfully. "I wonder if you can remember more than that."

Fed up with his presence, Kaoru pushed the redhead into the wall, her right arm pushing into his chest and near his neck. The occupants of the hallway they were in all stopped what they were doing to stare at the spectacle before them. Their eyes widened in varying degrees of surprise and horror as they digested the fact that this strange girl was pushing Dr. Himura into a wall. Sano, on the other hand, stood calmly behind them, watching the situation with amusement in his eyes and trying to not laugh at what he was seeing

"Listen to me, and listen well, you brute," she hissed into his face, making sure that nobody but him could hear what she was saying. "What happened last night was a mistake; a huge, gigantic, misjudgment. Obviously, I thought you were a stranger whom I'd never see nor have to interact with again. Had I known you'd be working here—as an attending, no less, I would've stayed as far away from you as I could. I'm a professional, and I sincerely hope that you have enough decency to be one too. I'm going to forget what happened. As of this moment, I never met you in a bar, I've never talked to you, and I've never even so much as breathed anywhere near you before. Got it?"

She watched his eyes fill with amusement, and she felt his chuckles reverberate through his chest. God.

"What if I don't want to forget?" he whispered, smirking.

"That's not really your choice, is it?" she huffed before letting him go. She walked away from the two surgeons, leaving them just standing there to watch her as she took step after step in an effort to put more distance between them.

"She's going to be a lot of fun." Sano chuckled as he took a sip of his coffee.

Kenshin, whose eyes were the brightest they've been ever since he moved to New York, smiled delightedly. Kaoru was nearing the end of the hallway, and he was quite sure that she wouldn't know if she should turn left or right.

"Undoubtedly."

"Sagara!" she yelled, frustrated. The hallway opened into a whole new other one and she didn't want to waste any more time trying to figure out where she should go when there was an obvious solution to her problem right behind her.

"Coming, Missy!" Sano called out.

"You're late."

The three of them were standing inside Hiko Seijuro's office, watching as the man stared up at them from behind his table with a stony expression on his face. Sano stood silently by the doorway since he was the last person to enter the room, while Kenshin sat on the couch across Hiko's table. Kaoru saw both of them cringe at the chief's harsh tone from her peripheral vision, and smiled internally at seeing how scared they were of the man she was sitting adjacent from. The chair she was reclined on was rather comfortable, and she was very happy to know that it was since she was quite sure that she'd be spending a lot of time using the said furniture during her stay in the hospital.

She scoffed. "I wouldn't have been if your staff were decent human beings, or if you gave me directions to your office."

Kenshin and Sano's eyes widened comically in shock when they heard her tone. It was obvious that not a lot of people talked back to the esteemed senior surgeon, and for a bit, she got worried that she might've seemed overconfident and that she'd be fired on her very first day. She steeled herself at what his response was going to be, but then she figured that if he wouldn't be able to take her attitude then maybe this hospital wouldn't be the place for her after all. She was not someone that would be bullied or scared to express herself. If he didn't like her, then so be it. She could always go back to Boston.

Chief Seijuro's eyes were appraising as he watched her, searching for any sign of weakness in her blank stare. "Excuse me?"

"Your staff." She repeated. "If I were a dying patient and I asked for directions to anywhere in this hospital, I probably would've spent the rest of my short life walking around, looking for wherever it is that I'm supposed to be."

The chief sighed. "You're not bleeding, and you obviously look healthy. They probably thought you were some self-important idiot trying to sue the hospital. God knows we get enough of those bastards every damn day."

"I heard. Your hospital has quite the reputation where I'm from. I thought they were exaggerating, but now that I'm here… well, I see why that's been happening."

Hiko gave an annoyed grunt in response before turning towards the other two occupants of the room. "You two. What the hell are you doing here? Why aren't you busy slicing someone open?" he asked harshly.

"We brought her here." Kenshin replied simply. "She stumbled her way into the lounge, and we thought we'd be helpful."

"I'm not paying you to be helpful to bumbling idiots like her. I'm paying you to operate on sick or dying patients. Get out."

"You're not even going to introduce us? Is she here to assist?" the redhead asked, unfazed by the rough treatment he received from the old man.

Before the chief could answer, four people in their blue scrubs hidden underneath white lab coats entered the room. They were quite the collection of people, Kaoru mused. One girl had a serious and stern look painted across her porcelain face, her long black hair tied into a high and neat ponytail. She exuded an amazing amount of confidence—as if every move she made was well-calculated and thought out, making her steps and movements look stiff, but sure.

The other girl standing beside her had short, cropped hair, and Kaoru watched as her brown eyes shyly took the room in. She looked friendly enough, but she seemed so nervous about having all these people around her that Kaoru wondered about what she would be like inside an operating room—where the surgeons were expected to take charge and to not appear weak in front of any of their staff.

There were two men standing beside the women, and to be honest, Kaoru was fascinated by them. One of them had a head full of shockingly blonde hair that it almost seemed white. He was rather tall, so he looked down at her curiously from where she was seated in front of the Chief's desk. The other guy… seemed creepy. He was smiling politely enough, but Kaoru had a feeling that there was something a bit off about him. He seemed cold, and his eyes were a bit too empty for her liking.

"What part of be here at exactly eight a.m. do you idiots not understand?" Hiko growled, glaring at the four newcomers.

Blondie gave his superior a sheepish grin. "Sorry, boss. We got held up down at the E.R.."

"Why? Anything interesting come in?" Sano interrupted. "Why weren't we paged for consults?"

"It was nothing." The stern-faced girl said. "Just a bunch of drunk idiots with a few scrapes and bruises. Nothing that would've needed your attention."

Hiko gave another grunt, and the entire room turned to face him. He was obviously getting angrier and angrier by the second, and although most of the room's occupants seemed to not be unfazed by it, Tae looked like she was about to crack from the pressure of it all.

"This is Dr. Kaoru Kamiya. She flew in from Boston, and she'll be a part of our surgical team from now on." He announced.

The surgeons gave each other confused glances and tried to see if any of them knew what was going on. It was rare for NewYork-Presbyterian to hire someone who wasn't trained in and by the hospital's senior members themselves. They believed in utilizing and honing the skills of home-grown surgeons, so to speak, since this will ensure that they truly have the best of the best. So to hear their chief inform them that someone will be joining their prestigious team was quite a shock for them.

"She's a resident—" their chief continued.

"Sorry," the blonde-haired man interrupted. "She's a what?"

Hiko sighed. "A resident, Yukishiro. Do you understand that or has your meager surgical skills driven you deaf?"

"No, Sir." He mumbled as he cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"She will be a resident in this hospital, which means that like you four," the chief pointed to the newcomers. "she will report to and assist attendings with whatever they choose for her to assist them with. The difference is that she already has an area of specialization which she will be practicing in this hospital."

"Wait." The stiff woman called. "If she's a resident, then why does she get to practice whatever she wants to practice? We've never been given that opportunity before. As far as I know, only the chief—" she stopped suddenly, feeling an ice-cold weight suddenly settle in her chest.

"Yes, Takani. Kamiya here will be your new chief resident."

A palpable silence filled the room and for a moment, Kaoru wondered at the reason behind it. Back in Boston, it wasn't really that much of a shock when their superiors would bring in a surgeon from another hospital to take charge of their residents. So she really didn't understand why this was the case for this particular hospital. From what she was able to gather from Hiko when he invited her to be a part of their team, it appears that his residents were in dire need of a guiding hand, and since she was never one to back away from a challenge, she accepted.

She noticed that the other surgeons were giving this… Takani person strange and nervous glances. Did the stiff woman really not react well to having new people on her team? Well, if that were the case, then Kaoru would just have to view this as another challenge. They had to be a team here. It wouldn't bode well for them if their residents were far too competitive to even think about working together. Saving lives was not easy, and having to constantly watch your back for people who have the ability to turn on you will only make it that much harder.

"Chief… resident?" Takani whispered, her face pale and her eyes wide in shock at what she just heard.

Finally deciding that she had enough pussy-footing around, Kaoru stood up to her full height and faced her four subordinates, gracing them with a friendly smile as she did so. "Yes, it would appear so. It's lovely to meet you all. I'm excited to work with you."

It was the blonde-haired man who first broke out of his surprised stupor and approached her outstretched hand, enveloping it in his warm one as he introduced himself. "Enishi Yukishiro," he said with a smile. "Second year resident. We all are, actually." He explained, gesturing to his other comrades.

She turned her attention towards the other man who walked up to her. "Soujirou Seta."

Nodding as she memorized his face and name, she turned to the third member of the group and asked, "And you are?"

The other girl jumped up in surprise and had to catch her breath before she was able to shake Kaoru's hand. "Tsubame Sanjou. Pleasure to meet you."

Finally, she turned to face the last member of the group. It was a bit odd that the stiff woman was still looking at their Chief as though he suddenly grew another head, but she paid it no mind. If the hospital's surgical team were all in the office, then that meant that there were no surgeons in the wing; and based on her experience, surgeons always had to be moving around the hospital.

"Takani, is it?" she greeted kindly.

Kaoru's voice seemed to have broken the tense doctor's stupor, and she watched as the other woman shook herself to regain her bearings before looking coldly at her. "Yes. Megumi Takani."

"It's nice to meet you." Kaoru said with a smile, stretching her arm to shake Megumi's hand. Her eyes flashed when Megumi made no move to mimic her polite greeting as an obvious sign of disrespect, but she forced herself to shrug it off. It was her first day here, after all, and she didn't want to make unnecessary enemies.

Seeing that his team were now well-acquainted with each other, Hiko cleared his throat before standing up to address his employees. "Great. Social niceties are over. Now get back to work. We have patients and none of them are going to get any better if their doctors are busy fucking around."

Kaoru chuckled, but followed the other doctors out of the office. She saw Megumi stay behind, clearly waiting for the rest of them to leave before she talked to Chief Hiko. It was starting to get blaringly obvious that there was tension building between the chief and the resident, but she opted not to get herself involved… yet.

Upon closing the door, the three remaining residents stood calmly before her as they waited for their assignments for the day. Since Kaoru was in charge of directing them to their respective duties, she immediately got to work. Enishi handed her a clipboard that she didn't realize he was holding, but accepted it graciously nonetheless.

"Okay, what do we have for today?" she asked rhetorically as she looked over the chart she was handed. When she got all the necessary details, she didn't even bother to look at the three doctors as she told them what they'd be doing for the rest of the day. "You," she pointed to Tsubame. "are going to be assisting Dr. Himura with his coronary artery bypass grafting this afternoon. You," she said, pointing to Soujirou. "will be with Dr. Sagara. And you," she said as she turned her finger onto Enishi. "will be running pre-ops and post-ops. I'll be in the NICU to get a full grasp on the facilities you have. Neonatal's the only service you have here that we didn't have in Boston."

She paused to look up at the dumbstruck faces of her residents. "What? Is there a problem?"

"Sorry, um, Dr. Kamiya." Tsubame said shyly. "It's just that… well—"

Enishi interrupted his colleague in obvious frustration of her stammering. "What she's trying to say is that those aren't our usual assignments."

"Oh?" Kaoru asked, amused at what they were saying. "What's the status quo, then?"

"I'm usually assigned to Dr. Sagara since his field's the one I'm most interested in. Soujirou here hangs around neuro with Dr. Oibore—who, I assume, you haven't met yet. Tsubame's in charge of the post-ops and pre-ops; and Megumi's always with Dr. Himura for cardiothoracic cases."

Just as Enishi was about to finish explaining their usual assignments to Kaoru, the Chief's door opened to reveal a rather flushed-looking Megumi. It was clear that whatever was discussed in the room wasn't pleasant, and the three residents she was addressing earlier cringed as the stiff woman stood beside them.

"Good of you to join us, Dr. Takani." Kaoru greeted. "You'll be working at the pit today. I already gave the others their assignments, so you can just ask them where they'll be if ever you'll need any of them."

There was a tense pause as Megumi processed what her superior told her. "Excuse me?" she asked haughtily after a while.

"The pit, Dr. Takani. That's where you'll be for the rest of the day." The chief resident replied simply before looking back down at the chart she was holding.

Megumi took a deep breath before speaking, her face deadly calm and her eyes flashing with hate towards the new addition to their team. "I don't think you know this yet, but I usually work with Dr. Himura on—"

"Oh, I understand. Don't worry, Dr. Yukishiro here has already informed me of what you… usually do around here." She said with a smile. She crossed her arms in front of her, still holding the chart in one hand, as she addressed the four residents with a serene smile on her face. "As far as I know, junior residents aren't allowed to take on any specializations yet, so I don't care what you usually do around here. Exposing yourself to different fields will help you become better surgeons. So what you used to do is something we'll have to correct, and it's something that I've already discussed with the chief before I even came here."

She paused. "Also, you seem to be forgetting that I was assigned as the chief resident, which means that I will be responsible for your education, in the same way that I will be responsible if any of you ever fuck up. So," she gave each of the doctors a pointed look. "I get to tell you what to do now. Is that understood?"

By the looks on the junior residents' faces, they were obviously surprised by the amount of authority in her voice. Her smile contradicted the way that she was speaking to them, but her eyes told them that she meant everything she said. Having nothing else to say, they simply nodded to indicate that they understood what she said.

"I'm never assigned to the pit." Megumi spat.

Kaoru's sapphire eyes flashed angrily at hearing what the doctor said, but kept her voice calm and steady as she answered. "Well, now I'm assigning you to the pit. If you have any more problems with that, you can bring it up with the chief."

Stunned at being told off, the fox-like woman had no other choice but to nod in acquiescence before she walked away from the group.

"Do we have any more problems?" Kaoru asked sweetly. When they shook their heads, she nodded. "Go."

She took a deep and calming breath as she watched her junior residents scurry away from her to do their assigned tasks. It was only her first day in NewYork-Presbyterian and somehow, she knew that her stay in the hospital wouldn't be as smooth-sailing as she'd hoped. She only prayed that she'd be able to get a good grip on things before anything terrible happened.

"Told 'ya." She heard Sano mutter from behind her. "Lucifer."

She's had her share of long shifts, but this one definitely cut the cake.

It wasn't like she had to deal with anything extraordinary during her first 48 hour shift. The surgeries that she assisted with were relatively minor and went by smoothly, there were no trauma cases—which meant that the pressure she had to deal with wasn't as bad as what she usually dealt with during her stay in Boston, the hospital staff were a lot friendlier to her when they found out she was the Chief Resident, and she even got the pleasure of putting one of her residents into her proper place.

She chuckled a bit as she remembered Megumi's appalled face when she repeatedly told her that she would be assigned to the pit for the rest of the week. Call it her sadistic side, but she loved getting a chance to tell people where exactly they could shove it whenever they made her feel like they were better than her, especially when they weren't. Don't get her wrong—it wasn't something that she flaunted or craved. But, like she said, she knew herself. She knew what she deserved and how much she should be respected and she'll be damned if she won't hold onto that with all her might. She worked hard to get to where she is now.

But her rather harsh interactions with her residents weren't what made her feel the way she was feeling now. No, it's that damned redhead that kept on following her like a lost puppy the whole day. It was like he made it his own personal mission to annoy the hell out of her whenever he had free time—which he apparently had a lot of since, like her, there weren't any major surgeries that were assigned to him for his shift; his shift that was only supposed to last for a total of 24 hours, but thanks to his oh so generous nature, was doubled to match hers.

So most of her two-day stay in the hospital involved a lot of ducking around corridors in an effort to avoid his unbelievably arrogant presence; although it didn't really get her that far because he obviously knew the hospital better than she did. Besides, the cardio attending popped out of the most outrageous places—in stairwells, in elevators, in the residents' locker room; hell, she even bumped into him on the way out of the restroom once! It was like he had a personal tracking device on her which he abused to no end.

"Hey, Tae." She greeted as she sat down on one of the booths in the same bar that she was in a few nights ago. She was slowly beginning to understand why it was such a popular establishment among the doctors in NewYork-Presbyterian: it was the closest place that served strong alcohol within the general vicinity of the hospital, the staff were friendly—but not to the point that they'd impose on your evening, and its atmosphere was a far cry from the stiff environment of their workplace.

The bartender smiled pleasantly down at her new friend. "Glad to have you back here, Kaoru. How've you been so far?"

Kaoru shrugged. "As well as could be in a new city, I guess. What are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to be busy trying to give your customers alcohol poisoning?"

"Not tonight. I'm training a new girl and I'm trying to see how she handles the pressure." Tae explained cheerily. "So, what's your poison?"

"Raspberry vodka, please. On the rocks." She sighed. "And if you could just make sure that I don't drink more than four glasses, that'd be great."

The jolly bartender smiled pityingly down at her. "Sure honey. I'll be right back with your drink."

The chief resident nodded and pushed her purse off of her lap and onto the empty space beside her. The leather seats were comfortable and she was immensely grateful for the relative privacy that she was given since she was seated in one of the darker corners of the bar. She cradled her head on her right hand and leaned on the table as she tried to stop the headache that was building in the back of her head.

"Long day?"

'Oh for the love of—' "I don't recall inviting you to sit with me, Himura."

Kenshin chuckled and gently placed the glass he was holding on the table. "May I sit with you, Kaoru?"

"No."

"That doesn't sound like you mean it."

She sighed out of frustration and brought her head up to give the redhead one of her best glares. She really didn't like being unnecessarily mean to people, but this abominable excuse for a man definitely deserved her anger. "What makes you think I don't?"

"I felt it." He smiled at her, not even looking the least bit bothered with the cold treatment he was receiving. "Call it a… connection from our activities the other night."

"I thought I told you to forget about that."

He smirked. "And I thought I told you I didn't want to forget?"

The headache that she was trying to get rid of crawled its way into her skull. She really didn't understand what was going on in the attending's brain, but she had a feeling that she wasn't going to like it if she ever found out. "Go away, Himura."

"Kenshin. And no thank you." He said cheerily.

"I really don't need this right now." She sighed again. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because you look like you need a friend. And since I'm feeling particularly magnanimous tonight," he paused when he heard her scoff. "I decided to grace you with my delightful presence."

"Where'd you get that load of bullshit?" She muttered.

"I have a lot of credible sources."

"Your mother doesn't count." She eyed the redhead warily, but her expression brightened when she saw Tae walk towards their table to give her the glass of vodka she requested for the night. The moment she felt the cold and slightly moist surface of the glass, she eagerly took a couple of sips before smiling at the bartender. She got a bit annoyed when the bartender shot Kenshin a meaningful look before winking at her, but she refused to let it show because the woman was going to be her source of alcohol for the night. And based on her previous experiences, you never wanted to get on a bartender's bad side.

Kenshin watched the raven-haired surgeon in front of him amusedly as he took a sip of his own drink. "Better?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." She sighed after gulping down the rest of her drink in one go.

They fell into a relatively comfortable silence then. Kaoru looked around the bar and amused herself with watching how the different patrons interacted, while Kenshin lost himself in his own thoughts as he enjoyed his drink. After about five minutes, he signaled Tae for another round of drinks for the two of them and waited patiently for her to arrive at the table with the requested beverages.

She gladly took the second glass of vodka from Tae, and for once during the entire time that he's been pestering her, she actually felt glad for his presence. Kenshin saw her slowly easing herself from her tense posture and decided to start another conversation.

"You did good today, you know." He said with a warm smile. "And I'm not just saying that because we had sex—though I won't mind if you'd want to go for another round of that."

She chuckled. "I'm going to ignore the second half of what you said for the sole purpose of attempting to be friendly with you. Thanks, though. I appreciate it."

He ignored her jab at his sad attempt at flirting and gave her a curious look. "Did you ever think you'd do otherwise?"

"Honestly? Yeah." She admitted before taking another sip of her drink. "That Takani person's quite a character."

"Sano and I figured you'd have trouble with her. She can be difficult when it comes to authoritative figures."

"Obviously." She scoffed. She took a quick glance at the people in the bar before turning her attention back to the arrogant man. "Where's Sano anyway? Aren't you two supposed to be attached at the hip?"

"Not when there's more preferable company around." He winked.

Amused at his antics, and a bit loosened up by the strong drink she was enjoying, she laughed. "Seriously? You seriously thought that line would work with me?"

"It was worth a shot. I'm still trying to figure out how I could get into your good side." Kenshin shrugged.

"Well, cheesy and overused pick-up lines definitely won't help your case."

He chuckled at her response and picked up his drink again. She felt him watching her as he took a few careful sips, so she turned her attention back to him after being a bit distracted by the rowdy group of people opposite them.

"What?" she asked.

Kenshin's eyes brightened and took on a rather predatory gleam as he decided to go for the direct approach. "Come home with me."

She scoffed. "Are you kidding me?"

"No." he shook his head before flashing her a dazzling smile which she was sure made a lot of women swoon. Unfortunately for him though, she wasn't one to be easily charmed by a brief show of, admittedly and regrettably, perfect pearly whites. "Come home with me." He said again.

"What makes you think I'll go home with you?" She retorted. She was trying to fight the amusement that she was feeling at the current flow of their conversation, but she had a feeling that he knew how he was affecting her anyway.

"Would you rather I go home with you?"

"Seriously, Himura. Were you dropped on your head as a child or something? I can't believe you're even asking me that."

He smirked again. "Kenshin, and I don't hear you saying no, Kaoru."

"It's Kamiya to you, and if that was all you needed to get off my back then, no, Himura. I won't go home with you, nor will I let you come home with me. Happy?"

He looked at her intently and for a moment she felt a bit insecure. She knew she didn't really look all that glamorous that night. She just came out of a 48-hour shift and she was pretty sure that aside from her pale skin, her eyes had at least three layers of bags under them. Her hair was disheveled under the baseball cap she was wearing the other night, and her clothes weren't any better. The moment her shift ended, she quickly changed into her favorite pair of jeans and sneakers, and a green camouflage v-neck shirt that hung a bit loosely on her torso.

"You don't mean that." He said after a long pause.

She prayed to the spirits of the universe to grant her with patience as she dealt with the smirking man before her. Deciding to take the high road by driving the conversation into a more comfortable topic, she asked. "What's wrong with Takani anyway? I never would've expected that much hostility from someone I just met."

He sighed and leaned back on his seat before answering her question. He thought about lying to her so she wouldn't worry too much about it, but opted against it. It wasn't like she had any trouble with dealing with Megumi's cold nature anyway. "She was in the running to be the next chief resident. We actually thought she was going to get it, so we were a bit shocked when you came along."

"Ah." She nodded as she processed what he said. "I see. So that's why she was so uptight when I assigned her to the pit."

"Yeah. She hasn't been down there for almost a year now, so she must've thought of it as an insult."

"What makes you think it wasn't?" she teased. She saw his eyes widen in surprise, and she couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled from her lips. "It was a joke, Himura. Did you seriously think I'm that immature?" She saw him open his mouth, but she continued what she was saying before he could even make a sound. "I put her there 'cause I knew she hasn't been down there for a long time. It helps when they go back to the basics every now and then. That way they won't forget the simple procedures when they're neck deep in big, fancy surgeries."

He eased back into his seat and smiled at her. "That's what I thought. See? Even the way we think is compatible."

"What are you trying to say, Himura?" she sighed as she waved her hand at Tae to ask for yet another glass of her drink. If she was going to survive the night, she would need more than two measly glasses.

"Kenshin." He reminded gently. "And I'm trying to get you to come home with me."

"Haven't we already been through this?"

He smiled and leaned forward so he could whisper in her ear. "I'm not going to stop until you start meaning what you say."

"You think I'm lying to you?" she whispered back as her gaze locked with his while he was leaning away from her.

"Haven't we already been through this?" he mocked with a raised brow. It was obvious that their conversation was more than entertaining for him because of the way his eyes shone, and at that point, she didn't know whether she wanted to gouge them out with a needle or if she wanted to just look at them for the rest of her life.

She laughed at his mockery and thanked Tae once more for bringing her the drink she wanted. "You're really something, aren't you, Himura?"

"I've been told that several times now, so yes." He grinned. "And it's Kenshin, Kaoru. How many times am I going to have to remind you to call me that?"

"A thousand more would do." She grinned back.

"If that means I get to spend more time with you, then I won't mind."

She chuckled. "Your ability to come up with pathetic attempts at pick-up lines astounds me. Aren't you ever going to give it up?"

He finished his third glass of scotch and looked at her smiling face, his confidence rising when he saw something in her eyes. "Not when I know it's working."

"Oh? What makes you think that?"

"You'll see." He grinned.

Their conversation lulled for a bit before they talked about safer matters. Kenshin told her more about the hospital they were both employed in, while Kaoru compared everything that he was saying to what she experienced in Boston. She was starting to think that it really was a privilege to work at such a highly acclaimed institution, and she was grateful for her previous mentors for encouraging her to transfer rather than give her reasons to try to stay with them. The previous hospital she worked for was great and all, but she knew that she was going to learn more about medicine if she went to Manhattan.

By the time a couple of hours had passed, they were both comfortable enough to talk about topics outside of their work life—although Kaoru made sure that their conversations wouldn't touch on anything too deep or too revealing of who she was. It was, after all, another reason why she wanted to rebuild herself in New York—there were ghosts in Boston that she wanted to forget.

They paid for their tabs—separately, after Kaoru threatened to maim Kenshin with a toothpick if he paid for her drinks again, and put their coats on before walking out of the bar. She could feel his overwhelming presence warming her from where he stood, and the resolve that she forcefully built up during her entire day and most of the night was starting to crumble—especially when he kept smiling at her like that. His eyes were glowing and she could smell his soothing cologne as he guided her towards her car.

"This is me." She smiled, slightly craning her neck to look at his face—his suddenly very attractive, and very alluring face. "I had a nice time, Himura. I don't really want to say this, but… thanks for intruding."

"Anytime, Kaoru." He chuckled as he leaned down to place a soft kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah."

She got in her car and tried to control her suddenly raging hormones. That goodbye of his didn't do her already crumbling resolve any good because she felt his hot breath caress her cold cheek as he chuckled into her skin. It only happened for a brief moment, but the effect it had on her was astounding.

She groaned when she remembered what she'd be going home to, and it seemed as though that was the last straw for her. Steeling herself against entertaining anymore doubts, she decided to stop punishing herself and to just give in. What she did in her personal life was none of her colleagues' business, and it wasn't like what they did outside of work affected how they interacted with each other in the hospital professionally—as evidenced by their serious personas when she assisted him in one of his surgeries during their long shift.

She saw the redhead walking along the sidewalk, and she slowed down so she could match his pace.

'Fuck it, whatever.' She thought before rolling down her window. "Kenshin!"

Surprised, the redhead paused for a moment before a smile crept up his face as he walked towards her. He leaned down so his face could be on the same level as hers before he asked amusedly, "Yeah?"

She grinned mischievously up at him. "Come home with me."

Author's Note: Well, here it is! It took me a while to write it 'cause every time I'd try to work on this, another story idea would suddenly pop in my head and, as I keep saying whenever I update any of my stories, I couldn't not write them. I hope the wait was worth it for you, though.

In case you'd get bored with waiting for the next chapter to come up, I'd like to (shamelessly) take this chance to invite you to try reading the other pieces I've written over the past couple of weeks—all of them, of course, are for Rurouni Kenshin since I am completely enamored with Kenshin and Kaoru right now. A Wonderful Affinity for Strawberries and Unexpectedly Expected basically have the same feel as this one (good vibes all the way!), while Where Light is Found dabbles more with the fantasy genre.

And of course, It Is What It Is—my longest (and most dramatic) baby yet. I'd like to think it has a complicated plot line, but I try to make it as easy to follow as possible.

Anyway, yeah. Here's the second chapter. I hope you guys liked it, and I'm so excited to hear what you think! May it be good or bad, please feel free to comment. Ideas and suggestions as to how I should proceed with this are more than welcome too.

Cheers!