Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

Sighing, the raven-haired girl put the thin paintbrush back into the glass of water, and stared at her progress on the canvas. She hated it. She grabbed up her pallet and paint, and started to mix new colors together to create a murky looking brown. She lathered her brush with the paint and smeared it across the canvas. After each stroke of the brush, her movements became angrier and angrier. She growled in frustration, and picked up the canvas, about to throw it out the window, when she heard footsteps behind her.

"What are you doing, Kaoru-dono?" The red headed, wandering swordsman asked her. His expression showed worry for his lovely companion.

Kaoru blinked at the swordsman, and lowered the canvas back to the easel. Her hair had fallen in her face, and she brushed it back behind her ear. She then fixed her eyes on the man. She was jealous of him. He seemed to be good at everything, and despite how much she tried to catch up with his talents, he was always three or more steps ahead of her. She was too ashamed to tell him of her pathetic attempts to find something she was good at.

She remained silent for a moment. Her head bowed gazing at the pallet and brush in her hand.

"I was painting." She said simply, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Why?" He asked.

"I just felt like it, Kenshin!" Kaoru replied angrily.

Sensing there was more to it than that, Kenshin approached her. Knowing that this could play out for a while, he knelt down to sit beside her. From the corner of his eye he could tell that she was avoiding his gaze. He turned his eyes to look upon her painting. It was a landscape, or, from what he could tell. The majority of the piece was dirt, with misshapen and very little detailed castles. It was very bare, with hardly any color. Kenshin looked back at her, and saw that her eyes were misty, as if she was about to cry.

"Don't cry just because your first attempt doesn't meet your expectations." He said.

She turned to look him in the face, her eyes burning with fury.

"That's easy for you to say!" She shouted while tears streamed down here face.

"I do not know why you say so," Kenshin replied calmly.

"You're good at everything you do!" Kaoru's tears began to fall more rapidly.

Kenshin was a little taken aback. He suddenly knew why she had been uneasy with him the past few days. She was angry because he could cook, clean, and fight better than her. He knew that Kaoru had put everything she had into becoming the perfect bride and swords-woman. Here she was, trying to find a new talent for herself. His eyes softened as he looked at her. If only she knew how much she had that he didn't. She had qualities he had never possessed. She blinked at him when he looked at her like that. She felt her face heat up a little.

"You are wrong." He said.

Kaoru looked at him and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve, still angry at him. She watched him under lidded eyes, her bangs hiding her expression. She studied her hands in her lap, her fingers were callused and her palms were sweaty. She began to scratch at the calluses on her fingers, trying to ease her nerves. She couldn't stand to look him in the eye again,. she could feel chills down her spine the way he looked at her.

Kenshin smiled at her, he liked to watch her fidget nervously. Maybe this wasn't the time for this conversation. He turned his eyes to look at the painting again. After looking at it a second time, he discovered that it wasn't all that bad, it did have some potential. He looked at the pallet of paint with the brush and placed it back into Kaoru's fingers. She looked up at him curiously. He smiled at her gently and said,

"Besides, it only needs more color."

Kaoru looked confused. Color? You mean he doesn't think it looks awful? Kenshin could read her thoughts from the look on her face.

"You have true potential, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin said, while he brushed the hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear. Her eyes began to sparkle with joy at his words.

"Really? You think so?" Kaoru turned happily back to the painting and began putting more color to the canvas immediately.

It was nice to see her smile again.

Kenshin took this as his cue to get up at let her paint some more. He walked away from her a few feet and turned around to look at her for a moment before continuing on. Once he turned back to continue to walk away from her, she turned around and said,

"Kenshin!"

He turned around to see her gazing at him happily. He loved that look on her face, it was so much better than what it was a moment before.

"Thanks." she said, her cheeks flushed a bit. "I appreciate it, really."

"One can not help but to tell the truth." He said to her.

Her eyes lit up more. Suddenly, it didn't bother her that Kenshin was a better cook or housekeeper than she was anymore. She knew that she would always have her own talents. Whether it would be just teaching Yahiko the sword, painting, or being able to terrify Kenshin, she knew that she was special and irreplaceable, and she had to thank Kenshin for that.