Disclaimer: this is the last time i'm writing this, so sue me, i don't own RK nor main plot, parts are heavily edited.

Last Chapter:

He lit a cigarette and leaned against the car, inhaling deeply, then exhaling again. He did this continuously for a few more times before throwing the cigarette down and grounding it out with his shoe. Then, taking a deep breath he entered the restaurant, only to be confronted by the sight of Kaoru sitting at a table with a group of people, laughing up at Seta Soujiro.

Chapter 5
HatredHarshness I

I glanced up when I heard the bell ringing over the door and my laughter immediately died down when I saw Kenshin standing in the doorway, his icy gaze fixed on me. Sensing something amiss, Soujiro, who was seated next to me raised his head and followed my gaze to where Kenshin stood.

"Mr. Himura." I stood up and slightly bowed my head in greeting when he crossed our table. Not surprisingly, he brushed past me, his shoulder knocking against mine, without even looking up. Okay, I pretty much expected that. You can't expect him to be all goody goody and nice after what I did today.

"Still haven't lost his attitude from back in high school, huh?" Soujiro remarked.

"Who is that?" asked Tae, shooting curious glances at Minwoo.

"My boss," I replied glumly.

"Oh? That's the President of Mitsurugi Ryu Corporations?" asked Akira, sneaking another glance at him then turning back to look at me suspiciously. "And he doesn't get along very well with his workers, does he?"

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Oh no, if you're thinking what I think that you're thinking, forget it. I didn't do anything to him! Honest!" Okay, so I lied. But they don't really have to know about my stint, do they?

"What did you mean when you said from back in high school, Soujiro?" Aoshi asked.

"Oh, that. We used to go to the same high school but we never really got along," answered Soujiro, shrugging his shoulders.

"And how come I've never heard of anything like this before?" asked Akira, putting down his chopsticks and looking at the both of us. "If I remember correctly, every time I asked, the both of you would often tell me that I worried too much and that you guys were getting along with EVERYONE in school."

I winced. Uh-oh.

"Well, when I meant that we never really got along…it was in the sense that…that we…um…" stumbled Soujiro.

"That we just didn't click together. Like we didn't share the same interest and…um…sports…and…uh…" I trailed off, shooting Soujiro a desperate look.

"And…and…yeah! That's about it. We just didn't, you know, click," finished Soujiro, lamely.

"Okaaaaaay. Well, that's not surprising. I mean, the both of you were pretty rotten people back then."

"Hey!" Soujiro and I yelled simultaneously. "Okay, so maybe we were just a little hard to handle, but that doesn't mean we were rotten, right Sou-chan?" I said, turning to him for confirmation.

"Right!" he answered, nodding his head.

"Just a little hard to handle? That, has got to be the understatement of the year," retorted Aoshi, turning in his seat to face Akira. "Remember the time when they came home with bruises all over after getting beaten up?"

"We weren't beaten up! We…we…just got caught up in a fight!" I said.

"Oh yeah! And there was this other time when the principal called up and said that instead of them helping to clean up the cafeteria as a detention punishment, they had managed to turn the whole cafeteria into a…what was the word that he used?" said Akira, ignoring us.

"A soapy battlefield," answered Aoshi.

"Ah yes, a soapy battlefield," repeated Akira.

"That was totally out of our control! You see, Sou-chan started it by throwing this really wet ra—"

"And then there was the time when he called up again to complain about both their behaviors in school…for going around and drawing on other people's faces while they were asleep!" Aoshi said, cutting me off.

"And also for starting a paint fight in the art room!" chimed in Akira.

"And throwing scrunched up paper balls at their history teacher."

"Mou! It wasn't intentional! It was actually meant for Sanosu—"

"And stuffing frogs in that girl's bag…what's her name again?" asked Akira.

"Tomoe," replied Aoshi.

This time, it was Soujiro's turn to defend us. "She deserved it. You wouldn't believe what she was like back then. She was this really really rott—"

"And blowing up the Chemistry lab."

"And messing with the lightings for the yearly concert."

"And cutting up th—"Akira stopped in mid-sentence as I stuffed a piece of salmon sushi into his mouth.

"Eat," I ordered, "and don't talk." I took a look at his shocked expression and burst into laughter, followed shortly by Aoshi and Soujiro.

"Mmmmph bmmmph rumphhh drumphhh" replied Akira, shooting daggers at me as I smiled back innocently.

All throughout lunch, Kenshin's golden eyes and attention were focused on their table. Noting how close both Kaoru and Soujiro were, noting how she always laughed at his jokes, noting how they always defended each other, just plainly noting their closeness. And as he continued looking at them out of the corners of his eyes, he clenched his fists tightly under the table when he felt a sharp pain in his heart.

"Morning! Guess what day today is?" I said, rubbing my hands gleefully as I sat down next to Akira and took a sip of my orange juice. There was a flurry of activity as he folded up his newspaper, Aoshi closed his file and Soujiro closed his laptop.

"What?" they all said in unison.

I blinked my eyes a few times. "You mean, you guys don't know?" I said, my heart sinking. They looked at one another blankly. "Okay, let's put it this way. What month is it now?"

"April," they answered, promptly.

"And what date is it today?"

"16th."

"So, doesn't April 16th ring a bell?" I asked, crossing my fingers under the table for luck.

To my delight, Soujiro's face lighted up and he snapped his fingers.

"I know! Today's our big meeting with the Sagara Corporations!"

"Oh! I totally forgot about it!" exclaimed Akira, hitting his forehead. "Thanks for reminding us, Kao. We would have screwed up the deal if it weren't for you," he said, standing up and kissing me on the forehead. "Ready to go?"

I nodded my head and plastered a smile onto my face to cover up my disappointment.

They totally forgot about my birthday! Those cows. I exhaled a dejected sigh as I went to put on my shoes. On the way to work, the prospect of their new deal were the only topic of conversation. I nodded my head at intervals, not really listening to what they were saying.

Just as I was about to enter the building, Akira yelled, "Kao! Come home early tonight so that we can all have dinner together alright?"

"Sure thing!" I yelled back, feeling my spirits lift. Maybe they haven't forgotten about it after all. Maybe they just wanted to surprise me tonight! I entered the office with a smile on my face.

"Why the happy face?" asked Misao, poking me in the sides and giving me a smile.

"Nothing that you should know about!" I replied, laughing as he pushed my head to the side.

"Alright everybody! Settle down and listen up!" came Tomoe's voice. "As you all already know, the company has decided to branch out and a new range of soft drinks have just been launched into the market. What I want you all to do is to create an eye-catching advertisement to promote the soft drinks. All assignments have to be handed in to me before you leave the office. So get started on it!"

Groans and murmurs were heard collectively from around the office. I rested my chin on my hands and tapped my blue pen on the tabletop. This was my very first assignment and I wanted it to be good. I wanted to prove to Kenshin that his decision to let me stay at the corporation was a wise one and to Tomoe that I could produce good work just like everybody else. As I sat looking at everybody hard at work, inspiration suddenly struck me and I quickly pulled out a sheet of paper and began drawing on it, putting my idea onto paper. I was so absorbed with my work that I skipped lunch, conveniently breaking one of my promises to Akira. But he didn't need to know about it. By 4:30, I had finished my advertisement. I stretched my back and got up to get a cup of coffee from the coffee machine, stopping at some tables on the way to admire their work.

We all piled into Tomoe's office together, commenting on each other's work. As I placed my advertisement on her desk, everyone kept quiet, waiting for her response. I crossed my fingers behind my back for luck.

Then, after an excruciatingly long moment, she looked up at me and said, "What kind of rubbish is this?"

My jaw dropped open in disbelief. "Wh—What do you mean?"

"You call this work? It's not even up to standard! Look at the drawings! Look at the colors! This looks like the work of a 12-year-old! What were you thinking? That you were just completing an assignment for a high school project?"

"Um, Ms. Yukishiro, I think her work is better than most of ours," said Misao, as everyone else nodded their heads in silent agreement.

"Yeah, hers is different. Special in a way and it gets the message across," quipped Shishio giving me a smile.

"Did I ask for any of your opinions?" she lashed out. "You," she said jabbing her finger at me. "I want you to redo this advertisement. And you may not leave the office until it's on my desk. Get it?" I nodded my head numbly as I exited her room.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Okina, running up beside me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry," I answered, giving him a feeble smile.

At 5 o'clock, everyone began packing up to leave the office.

"Need any help, Kaoru? I could always stay and help you out," offered Misao, her bright emerald green eyes shinning at me.

"Nah, it's alright. I can handle it. Thanks anyway. Go out and enjoy your night," I answered.

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright then, take care ok?" She said, patting me on the shoulder.

"Sure thing. You too," I smiled.

A few moments later, Tomoe came out of her office, ready to leave.

"Don't even think of trying to get off early, Kaoru. You'll be in trouble for disobeying my orders. And," she said, pointing around the office, "remember to off all the lights and lock up when you're done."

She strode out of the office without even giving me another glance. I knew it was already no use trying to plead with her to let me hand it in tomorrow, so I whipped out my phone and dialed Aoshi's number to tell him that I couldn't make it for dinner.

"Why?" he asked in a worried tone.

"It's nothing, Aoshi. I just have to stay to complete some work. I'll see you when I get home alright? Bye!" I said, clicking my phone shut.

By 9.30, tears of frustration began to prick my eyes. Wads and wads of scrunched up paper balls lay beside me, all over the tabletop and floor. As I brushed the tears away carelessly, a dark shadow loomed over me. Immediately, I jerked my head up only to look into a set of deep amber eyes.

"Mr. Himura," I mumbled, quickly standing up and giving him a slight bow, all the while looking down and praying that he did not see my tears. He'll probably think that I'm a wimp!

"What are you doing here?" came his monotonous reply.

"Um, Ms. Yukishiro said my work wasn't satisfactory enough so I had to stay back and redo it."

He furrowed his brows and said, "Alright then. Continue with your work."

Just as he was about to turn and walk away I tapped him on the shoulder and immediately let go when I saw his cold expression. "I was just wondering whether you needed any help getting anything."

"No. I'll be fine." With that he turned around again and headed towards Tomoe's office as I sat down once more to resume my work. We continued minding our own business until suddenly, the electric power got cut off, leaving the both of us in total darkness. A few minutes later, I heard the sound of glass breaking and Kenshin muttering a curse.

I got out of my seat and made my way towards Tomoe's office, groping around in the darkness.

"Mr. Himura?" I called out tentatively. "Are you all right?"

When he failed to answer me back, I quickened my pace, taking my cell phone out of my coat pocket and gripping it tightly in my hand, just in case I needed to use it as a weapon. I mean, you never know what's lurking out there in the dark, right? Like say, what if it was an intruder who had managed to creep up behind Kenshin when he wasn't looking and smashed a glass onto his head to knock him out? Or maybe there was a homosexual rapist who had an obsession with him?

I entered Tomoe's office and with the help of a shaft of moonlight streaming in through one of the windows, I managed to locate Kenshin, who was kneeling on the floor with his back to me. No intruder. No homosexual rapist. I breathed a sigh of relief as I made my way towards him slowly. As I began to near him, I noticed that there were shards of glasses littered everywhere beside him but what shocked me the most was the fact that his left hand was covered in blood, a large shard of glass still embedded in his flesh.

"Oh my God," I breathed, running over to him and taking his hand in mine so that I could take a better look at it. "What happened?"

"I accidentally knocked over a glass plaque when the lights went out," he replied, wincing slightly.

"Hold on," I said, getting to my feet, "I'll go get the first aid kit."

"Wait," he called out, handing me his cigarette lighter. "Use this. It's not much but at least you'll be able to make your way across the office without knocking into chairs and banging into tables."

"Thanks," I said, reaching out for the lighter. The moment our fingers touched, I felt a tingling sensation shoot through my arm and spread to my entire being. Not wanting him to suspect anything was amiss, I grabbed the lighter from him and headed out the door, deep in thought.

Kenshin looked at her retreating back in silence, also deep in thought. The beeping of her cell phone nearby which indicated that she had just received a message jolted him out of his reverie. He took a long look at the phone's blinking screen, debating whether he should read it or not. Curiousity got the best of him and he lifted the phone up which lay on the floor amidst the numerous shards of glasses and flipped it open.

Dear Kaoru, it's your aunt here! I dropped by your house earlier only to have Akira tell me that you were not back from work yet. It's such a pity as I was really looking forward to seeing you today. Anyway, I've left your present in your room. You didn't think I'd actually forget, did you? Give me a call, or better yet, drop by and visit me whenever you have the time okay? Oh, and before I forget, happy birthday, dear. Miss you loads!

Before he could flip the phone shut again, a voice in the doorway made the blood drain from his face.

"What are you doing?"

He turned his head around to look at me. "Your phone kind of beeped while you were gone so I picked it up for you, only to find out later that it was actually a message alert. Sorry," he said, handing my phone back to me.

"Don't worry about it." I gave him a smile, motioning for him to sit on the couch nearby.

"Um, anyway," I said, biting my bottom lip, "do you think you could pull out that shard of glass that's sticking out of your flesh? On your own? I can't bring myself to do it."

"Sure," he says, calmly reaching for the shard of glass and carefully dislodging it from his palm.

I flinched when I saw what he was doing and looked up at him to see how he was taking it. His face was a mask of concentration, and I was surprised to find that not even a flicker of pain was etched onto his features. Doesn't it hurt at all? I turned my head away from the sight in front of me. His hand was a bloodied mess and the more the shard was being pulled out, the more blood spilled from his wound. Yet, his face remained determinedly cool. Redness completely devoured his hand as soon as he completely removed that shard. He didn't wince, I did for him, it looked so painful, I don't understand how he could stand it, and pulling at it so slowly and steadily.

"This might sting a bit," I told him, carefully cleaning the blood with a cotton ball dabbed with some antiseptic.

It stung like hell but I was adamant not to show it. To show pain would mean that he was showing weakness. And weakness is one thing that Himura Kenshin can never show. Not to her. Not to anyone. So, to get his mind off the pain, he focused on her.

Kenshin's POV:

Her long hair fell about her, hiding most of her face as she pored over my wound, but I noticed that she had caught her bottom lip between her teeth and was clenching the pink flesh so hard I was sure it was beginning to hurt.

"Oh no, there isn't any more bandage in here!" She said rummaging through the first aid kit, then turning to face him. "What do we do now?"

"It'll be fine without any bandages. I'll just get it wrapped up later or something," I replied, inspecting the wound.

"No! Hold on, I know what we'll do!" She said, untying her cream scarf from around her soft white neck reflecting from the moonlight.

Kaoru's POV:

"No." The 'no' was refined, chiseled to perfection. A firm no.

"Don't be stupid. It'll get infected if it's not bandaged. This will just have to do for the time being until you get a proper bandage," I said, pulling his hand back towards me and wrapping it up deftly. For a moment, both of us were silent.

"Thanks," he says gruffly. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Since when has Kenshin ever thanked anyone? Never.

"It's no biggie." I gave him a smile, then mentally kicked myself.

What was I thinking? He probably couldn't see it anyway. We were still in the dark, for God's sake.

Just then, the lights came back on. Mou! Me and my big mouth.

As I caught a glimpse of the time on the wall clock, I immediately jumped up from the couch. 10.30? I've wasted a whole hour just tending to his wound? I let out a frustrated sigh, and brushed my fingers through my hair. At this rate, I would probably have to sleep in the office tonight. And that was not what I had in mind to do on my birthday.

"If you may excuse me, Mr. Himura, I need to complete my work." I hastily exited the room, not waiting to hear his reply.

"Kaoru!" he called out after me. "Can you please come back in here for a moment?" I rolled my eyes in exasperation.

"Do you need any help, sir?" I asked, as politely as I could.

"Which one of these advertisement is yours?" he asked, pointing to the numerous cardboards stacked in one corner. "I want to see it."

I rummaged through all the cardboards, one by one, finally coming across a familiar picture. I pulled my cardboard out from the pile and handed it over to him. He looked at it thoughtfully, taking in the colors and the pictures. Then he looked up at me, gave me a long look and said, "You may leave now. I'll explain to Tomoe about this in the morning."

I widened my eyes in shock. No way was he going to speak to Tomoe about it, or about anything for that matter! He'll only worsen things between the both of us. As if things weren't going bad enough already. But he didn't need to know that. Nope.

"Oh, it's alright, Mr. Himura. I mean, I understand fully why Ms. Yukishiro insisted that I redo it. The pictures aren't even up to standard, the colors are an awful combination and the ca—"

"Did Ms. Yukishiro say that about your work?" he asked, sharply.

"N—no…I just thought that it wa—"

"Well, you thought wrong. You may pack up and leave. No excuses." With that, he turned his back on me and continued to study my work.

I stared at him in disbelief. He is a complete cow. I swear. One minute he's nice and the next, he's mean. What is it with him? PMS? I grumbled to myself as I headed out of the office. No doubt Tomoe's going to be all mean and bossy to me tomorrow. I flagged down a cab and looked at the time. 15 minutes to 11 o'clock. Which means that by the time I reach home, I'll still be able to celebrate my birthday with the guys. Oh, and I'll be able to know what my surprise is! Finally! I felt my spirits lift at the thought of what lay in store for me. After all that I had gone through today, I deserve it.

Kenshin looked at her work in surprise, tracing his hand over her drawings and admiring the blend of colors. He had never thought Kaoru was capable of doing something like this. Purple shades finally made its way to his eyes for the first time, but that was pushed out of the way as his expression hardened immediately when he thought of what Tomoe had said about her work. Although Kaoru had denied it, he knew. He knew that Tomoe had said all those hurtful remarks about her work. He wasn't surprised though. He saw it coming. Ever since that day at the restaurant, he knew Tomoe wasn't going to go easy on her.

He exited the office and just as he was about to switch off all the lights, he caught sight of the cream scarf that was wrapped around his palm. With a jolt, he realized what he had forgotten to do. Or rather, say.

He had forgotten to wish Kaoru a happy birthday.

Next chappie: At midnight did kaoru make it home enough to have dinner with her family on her bday because she couldn't leave earlier due to Tomoe's cruelness? And will the guys hurt her more forgetting her bday.

A/N: Hey readers, please please pleaseeeeeeeeeeee answer this… would u prefer me to update more often with shorter ones or update only once a week with longer ones like this one? Also do you want me to reply to your reviews? I know some people think that review reply is useless, so if you prefer not to see half a page of review reply tell me.

Sorry took such long time. I wrote the next chapter as well because they tied together and I some major writer's block.