Synopsis
Rurouni Kenshin is a long but very good series. I'll try to illustrate the most salient points of the story, and I'll probably get distracted talking about my favorite episodes and characters, so bear with me. ^_^ If i start to ramble, it's hopefully with good purpose. Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself...
Japan, 1867. The Tokugawa bakufu which had controlled the Edo period was abolished, and the Imperialist regime was reinstalled. During the Bakumatsu (revolution) the actions of one man, a genius who studied the nigh-invulnerable Hiten Mitsuruugi Ryuu, pretty much broke the shogunate. This man, known as Hitokiri Battousai, was the most powerful of the Imperialists. His sobriquet came from the fact that he was a manslayer (Hitokiri) and that he was exceptionally skilled at the techniques of sword-drawing (battoujutsu).
Ten years later, that same man has resolved not to kill when he can avoid it, and carries a sakabato (a reverse-blade katana) to insure that he does not hurt anybody. Well, okay, so he's really just making sure he doesn't kill anybody. Plenty of people get hurt when they cross him, still. Going now by the name Himura Kenshin, he runs into Kamiya Kaoru when she is trying to ferret out someone who calls himself Battousai. Obviously it's not the real one. the real one looks like this:
The fake Battousai is a former student of Kaoru's father's style, Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu. Hiruma Gohei wanted to use his sword for his own benefit, which goes against the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu's teaching of using a sword to protect people. So Kaoru's father broke Gohei's right thumb, thus severely limiting his skill. When Kenshin defeats Gohei--also revealing to Kaoru that he is the true Hitokiri Battousai--he mangles Goehi's other hand so that he is hence incapable of holding a sword.
Kaoru, impressed with Kenshin (and, I'm sure, rather attracted to him) invites him to stay at the dojo. Kenshin becomes a surrogate big brother to the dojo's doctor's (Gensai-sensei) granddaughters, Ayame (the older) and Suzume. He also manages to pick up a young boy named Myoujin Yahiko. Yahiko-kun (he HATES being called Yahiko-chan, and uses a very masculine "ore" instead of a more common "boku" or "watashi" when referring to himself, even though he's only like, ten) is a pickpocket working for the yakuza because the boss loaned him money to help pay for his mother's bills when she became ill. As it turns out, there really was no loan, and they were just using Yahiko. So Kenshin saves him and Yahiko, determined to learn the Hiten Mitsuruugi Ryuu, asks Kenshin to teach him kendo. He gets Kaoru instead, a fact which makes neither one particularly happy at first.
Then Gohei comes back. Yeah, he's kind of like a bad penny. He can't hold a sword himself, so he has a fighter-for-hire named Zanza fight Kenshin for him. Zanza has a few problems with Imperialists. In fact, he HATES the Meiji government with all his might, for killing his mentor, Sagara Sozou. Sagara-taicho was the elader of a small Imperialist army known as the Sekihou Tai, made entirely of commoners and farmers. The government used them to convince the common people to join the Imperialists, then, to avoid lowering taxes as they'd had the Sekihou Tai promise would happen, declared them liars and killed them off. Sagara-taicho was beheaded.
So Zanza, naturally, feels it is his duty to fight Kenshin once he finds out Kenshin was Hitokiri Battousai. Obviously, Zanza is no match for Kenshin, despite wielding the horse-killing sword, Zanbatou. Kenshin tells Zanza that the Revolution is not over, and that it has only begun, and it is up to the people living now to shape the future. When Zanza realizes this is the same goal as Sagara-taicho, he admits defeat, crashing gracefully to the ground. When he sees Kenshin again, he says that he is no longer Zanza, but is Sagara Sanosuke. And he hasn't paid his tab at the Akabeko, the beef hot pot restaurant. Well, he doesn't tell them that, but he never pays anyway.
We encounter one of the characters who later returns to the story line in the next problem Kenshin encounters. A woman named Takani Megumi is running from some thugs when she sees Kenshin and Sano gambling--err, I mean, having a friendly game with some of Sano's acquaintances. She is being chased by the servants of Takeda Kanryu, a lousy little drug dealer. Kenshin easily deals with the guys, but the main problem is Kanryu's other employees--a ninja group known as the Oniwabanshuu. Their okashira (leader) is a withdrawn man named Shinomori Aoshi. He's one of my favorites, even though he's somewhat of a cold bastard. Aoshi has four followers: Beshimi, the little guy; Hyottoko, whose name means "fire man" and is HUGE; Shikijo, who's a Hulk reject with a lot of scars; and Hannya, my favorite. Hannya wears an oni mask because his face was highly disfigured and burnt. The names are actually the four Noh masks from Kabuki theater...but Hannya's the only one who wears one. Still, pretty cool. And apparently, Aoshi was the one who gave Shikijo all those scars when they first met. Damn.
Back to the plot. Kanryu threatens the Kamiya dojo, effectively blackmailing Megumi into returning to his care to make drugs for him--specifically, opium. Naturally, the Kenshin-gumi goes to rescue her. Sano fights Shikijo at the gate of Kanryu's estate, defeating him with his usual aplomb. When they head inside they take out a few normal underlings, then step into the mansion. The first real fight Kenshin has is with Hannya, who uses kenpo (martial arts) and the stripes tattooed on his arms. The sripes are an illusion that make his arms seem thicker, which makes Kenshin misjudge the distance. Kenshin breaks the top left corner of Hannya's mask, then defeats him, even as Hannya says Kenshin will be no match for Aoshi-sama.
Up to the second floor! Leaving Kaoru and Yahiko to deal with some low-level thugs, Kenshin and Sano head upstairs to find the mysterious and handsome Shinomori Aoshi. Yes, I know I'm biased because I totally love Aoshi--but the title of the episode says he's "so beautiful, it's frightening." Reminds me of Hotohori-sama. Anyway, Kenshin and Sano enter the ballroom (?) or whatever it is where Aoshi awaits them. Sano, being his usual brash self, tries to do away with Aoshi himself. Aoshi takes Sano out with one well-placed elbow to the back. Yattaze, Aoshi-sama!
*Ahem* Anyway, Kenshin doesn't want to fight, but Aoshi says that he shoudl ask his questions with the sakabatou, and he will answer with his kodachi, a slightly shorter blade which is highly effective when used for defense. Kaoru and Yahiko have arrived by this point and are in the doorway with Sano, who sapiently remarks that this isn't good...Kenshin thinks to himself that perhaps Aoshi stresses defense, but he knows that's wrong. So Aoshi obigingly attacks, using a kenpo style we've seen before and beating the bejeezus out of Kenshin. However, he mentions that he was the one who taught kenpo to Hannya, and that he is much, much stronger.
So, Kenshin can't even land a blow on Aoshi, while Aoshi's wiping the very shiny floor with him. Aoshi also reveals his motivation--to gain the title of "strongest" for the Oniwabanshuu, he must defeat Hitokiri Battousai. Kenshin tries to dissuade him in vain, asking what pride there is in working for Kanryu, but Aoshi doesn't listen. Instead he uses his ohgi--a combination of an illusion move Jissen Kenbu and a three-slash rotating attack, Kaiten Kenbu (oh, just wait till he gets that second kodachi...). Kenshin, naturally, goes down. Yahiko chews out Aoshi, and Kenshin gets up again. Before Aoshi attacked, he inserted the sheath for his sword between them, thus halving the power of Kaiten Kenbu.
Aoshi tries again...however, this time Kenshin catches Aoshi's kodachi between his hands.
1) DAYUM
2) OUCH.
Kenshin tells Aoshi that the title of strongest he is seeking is meaningless in the Meiji Era. If he wants it, Kenshin will gladly give it to him, if only he is allowed to save Megumi-dono from Kanryu. Aoshi is incredulous that he could lose. Kenshin slams the hilt of Aoshi's kodachi into his throat (owwww... poor Aoshi), and tells him to retreat. Aoshi, of course, is tenacious as a bulldog, and instead gets in one last punch on Kenshin before falling. Sometimes he is so amazingly strong that even when beaten he can get in another blow...but then again, he's kind of dense sometimes. >_<
Aoshi's unconscious because he's just been whacked in the throat with a sword hilt. Very sad. The Kenshin-gumi gets set to go find Megumi, but the rest of the Oniwabanshuu shows up. Aoshi also gets up, which is a pretty damn quick recuperation. He's hardcore. Or just foolish enough to try to get up after being wounded, like most men in this show...the other Oniwabanshuu explain that it was for their sake that Aoshi remained a ninja after the revolution. Although they were protectors of Edo Castle, they did not get a chance to engage the Imperialist troops (if I remember my Japanese history correctly, that's because Edo surrendered without a fight to avoid excessive casualties). Although Aoshi was offered a high ranking position int he government, he turned it down because he couldn't abandon them. They know no other way of life to live. Aoshi looks so sad here, and his eyes are all big and unhappy and...*cough* uh, yeah.
Aoshi demands to know why Kenshin didn't finish him off, and threatens to spend the rest of his life fighting Kenshin. Kenshin says that's okay, as long as no one else gets involved. Typical Kenshin conditions. However, at that moment the door at the far end bursts open and there's Kanryu with a Gatling gun. For those of you who don't know, that is the predecessor to both the Thompson gun and the modern machine gun. Kanryu toys with everybody for a while, prating on about how great money is. Hannya asks him where he got the gun, and Kanryu, pissed, says "Call me Kanryu-SAMA, you rude idiot!" and proceeds to shoot at him.
Before Hannya can be shot, however, Aoshi knocks him out of the way, taking three bullets in the legs.
1) DAYUM.
2) OW!
3) Awwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry to get all sparkly eyed and girly here, but I love Hannya-kun and I love Aoshi, and the fact that Aoshi would do that for Hannya....)
Anyway , as I was saying, Aoshi gets shot. So he's sitting in the middle of the floor with the Oniwabanshuu around him. Kanryu decides he'll take out the Oniwabanshuu starting with Aoshi, and aims. Before he can hit Aoshi, however, Shikijo interposes his body and takes the bullets instead. Role call! We see everyone looking shocked, and the expression on Aoshi's face...tragic. Shikijo tells Aoshi that he's happy the muscles he hardened as one of the Oniwabanshuu served as a shield to protect Aoshi, and that a sad face doesn't suit him. Hyottoko runs to attack Kanryu and is shot, but when he falls Beshimi jumps out from behind him and attempts to get Kanryu, without success. However, one of Beshimi's darts sticks in the bullet feed for the gun.
Hannya appears behind Sano and Yahiko, and tells Kenshin to pick up his sakabatou, which he dropped in oder to catch Aoshi's blade earlier. Hannya says that Megumi's in an observatory on the third floor, and that he'll take the Hiten Mitsuruugi Ryuu with him to the underworld as a souvenier. Waaah!! Hannya-kun! I'm okay, really I am. So Hannya runs for Kanryu. He says "Saraba, okashira!" as he's shot, and Aoshi shouts his name. He's been shouting all the Oniwabanshuu names, but when he says Hannya...I get the feeling they were close friends. I mean, Aoshi did teach Hannya kenpo, and Hannya seemed to be slavishly devoted to his okashira.
Meanwhile, Kenshin has picked up his sword and, dodging bullets the whole way, hacks off the manual turn for bullet feed. Luckily for him, Beshimi's dart impeded the bullet feed. Kanryu has no way to beg for help as Kenshin-gone-slightly-Battousai whacks him upside the head with his sword. Kaoru is a little hesitant about leaving Aoshi there, but Kenshin reassures her. "They did not waste their lives...those four won over Kanryu's gatling gun." So they go to rescue Megumi.
We see Aoshi and the four dead Oniwabanshuu. You don't see Aoshi's face, but you see his hand...which clenches into a fist hard enough to draw blood from his palm. Once Megumi has been rescued, it's revealed that when the police got to Kanryu's mansion the Oniwabanshuu were gone. Aoshi took their bodies and buried them. As he stood by their gravestones he says, "I can't place flowers here...not yet...but one day, I will." Then he walks off into the forest. You know, in the manga Aoshi doesn't take their bodies, but he cuts off their heads...easier to transport, I supposed, especially since he still had three bullets in his legs.
Okay, I know I spent a lot of time on a very concentrated part of the show, but I feel that it is important since we run into Aoshi again later. Damn, his kodachi nitou ryuu...and you know, I knew that the Oniwabanshuu died before I even saw the series. It's one of those things people mention because it does happen fairly early on in the series, and is sort of a major sore point for one of the characters. But it still makes me teary. Like watching Orson die in Lodoss. I knew it happened, and I still cried.
Anyway, following Aoshi's disappearance into the dark, there are some more filler episodes. Kenshin goes around saving people. Yahiko meets a girl his age named Sanjou Tsubame, who works at Tae's Akabeko. We run into another survivor of the Sekihou Tai, Tsukioka Tsunan (aka Katsuhiro) who is Sano's best friend. Katsu plans to bomb the government to avenge the Sekihou Tai, but Kenshin stops him and Sano from being such morons. I love the constant insulting between Sano and Katsu. They're always calling eachother "bakayaroh." Katsu eventually is set on the right path again, and instead of making bombs decides to publish a newspaper. There's also a rogue hitokiri from the Bakumatsu named Udoh Jin'e (voiced by the talented Ohtsuka Akio), codenamed Kurogasa ("black hat"), who's out assassinating politicians. He kidnaps Kaoru to make Kenshin into Battousai again, but before Kenshin-gone-Battousai can kill him Kaoru ends up snapping him out of it, so Jin'e commits harakiri.
The most interesting part of the series begins around episode 28. This is the start of the Kyoto Arc. Kenshin has been having dreams about the Bakumatsu, and specifically, about fighting the Shinsengumi. The Shinsengumi was a real group that fought for the Tokugawa bakufu (for a little more information on them and some pictures, go here). In fact, two of the characters Kenshin is remembering are based on real people: Shinsengumi ichiban taikumi cho Okita Soushi, and Shinsegumi sanban taikumi cho Saitoh Hajime. Saitoh had a favorite move, a single left-handed thrust with the sword parallel to the ground, known as the gatotsu. Very cool... especially when you see the zeroshiki, but I'll get to that later. Saitoh holds very strongly to the Shinsengumi's creed of "Aku Soku Zan" (Destroy Devil Immediately).
Just as Kenshin has determined not to let the past bother him, a man calling himself Fujita Goro appears at the dojo. Sano is the only one there, since Gensai-sensei took everyone out to Akabeko to celebrate a successful labor. No pun intended. A woman just gave birth. Anyway, Fujita-san is selling medicine, but Sano is suspicious. He says Fujita-san has very narrow eyes, to which Fujita replies he can't help what he was born with. Then Sano says Fujita can't have been born with calluses from weilding a sword.
Saitoh's "nice" side, Fujita Goro.
Fujita drops the polite act, saying, "Nothing less from Sagara Sanosuke. So, Battousai isn't here?" Sano, being his customary moronic self, tries to fight Fujita, who has a hidden sword. Fujita uses a left-handed thrust...gee, a gatotsu! Yeah, you guessed it. Fujita is really the moto-Shinsengumi-sanban-takiumi-cho, Saitoh Hajime. (I have to put it in romaji...they freakin' call him that every time he turns around. It means "former Shisnengumi squad three leader") So, having put a huge hole in Sano's shoulder, Saitoh leaves. It's a message for Battousai, you see. He is posthumously working for a corrupt politician, and sends Kenshin a note to come meet him, meanwhile intending for one of the politician's underlings to get Kenshin...although he knows full well Akamatsu is NO match for Kenshin. Probably a fitting punishment to have to fight him, then.
He returns later while Kenshin is out and waits for Kenshin to return. Kaoru and the others let him in because he is a police officer. Kenshin is disappointed in Saitoh, believing he has changed from the warrior who fought for the Shinsengumi, but really, Saitoh has his reasons. They insult each other a bit, then get down to the real business of fighting. Saitoh puts a big hole in Kenshin's side, then rolls him over his shoulder and kicks him away. I LOVE that move. Yes, I am a big Saitoh fan, too. He's totally kickass, and wicked smart. And that whole Mibu no Ookami thing. As he says, "No man can raise a wolf of Mibu." That about sums him up.
Anyway, during the fight Kenshin is slowly turning back into Battousai. Saitoh's nihontou breaks durnig the fight, but he is not helpless without his weapon. He uses his belt to slap Kenshin's sakabatou away, then tries to strangle Kenshin with his uniform. Kenshin catches him under the jaw with his sheath, and Saitoh drops him. They're about to get down to the final attack when Kawaji-san, the head of the police, shows up to stop them. Nor is he alone.
It turns out that Saitoh was sent to the dojo to test Kenshin's strength by one of the great imperialists, Okubo Toshimichi. Saitoh, irritated that the fight was stopped, heads off to deal with Akamatsu and his "boss." He states, laconically, that Himura Kenshin will be no good whatsoever...but Himura Battousai just might do.
Okubo lays down the facts for Kenshin: there is another hitokiri from the Bakumatsu who is threatening the Meiji government. This man, Shishio Makoto, is very dagerous. As a hitokiri he performed many assassinations that the government didn't want known, so they shot him full of holes and then set his supposed corpse on fire. Obviously, he lived, although God only knows how. But, it's anime, so people live through all kinds of fantastic things. Shishio was basically Kenshin's successor, when Kenshin decided not to be a hitokiri anymore. Okubo asks Kenshin to go find Shishio and kill him.
No one's too happy about this. Kaoru, Yahiko, Megumi, and Sano don't want Kenshin to have to break his oath not to kill anyone, and Yahiko makes a very good point--that the government might have tried to do the same to Kenshin, had he not disappeared and become a wanderer for so many years. Okubo is not dissuaded, and says he'll come back on May 14th for Kenshin's answer.
The promised day comes. Kaoru is afraid Kenshin will accept the task, and she doesn't want him to leave and become Battousai again, because then the Kenshin everybody knows and loves will be gone. Kenshin goes to find Okubo and talk to him, but alas, it is not to be. We see Okubo riding in his carriage thinking about the future, and how imperative it is that Kenshin accept. However, his thoughts are interrupted by a young man (you know, I've heard Sojiro's everything from 18-24. I'd personally be more likely to believe he's 18...sorry, I digress) who is standing on the step to the moving carriage.
The boy is a messenger from Shishio, and is there to assassinate Okubo, which he does with smiling efficiency, just like he does everything else. Moments later, ex-samurai stop the coach and kill the driver, so they can kill Okubo. He's already dead, but they sa they did it anyway. Kenshin comes across Okubo's corpse surrounded by a crowd. The boy in the blue gi says that he should beware, or he will end up the same way. The news is flying around that Okubo's been assassinated.
Of course, Kenshin ends up leaving Tokyo. He says a somewhat painful goodbye to Kaoru, who is paralyzed by her tears, and steps off into the night to head for Kyoto. He is determined to walk to Kyoto so that no one else will be harmed by potential attacks of Shishio's group. Shishio has ten underlings known as the Juppongata who are his most powerful allies...Tenken no Sojiro, Usui and his Shingan, Myouou no Anji, Katanagari Cho, Kamatari of the Great Scythe, Henya the flight, the big dumb Iwanbo, the Destruction Army Saizuchi and Fuji, and Houji no Hyaku Shiki, which basically means he's a sneaky bastard but doesn't have much of a weapon beyond political skill.
So Kenshin is walking to Kyoto. He's not exactly pleased to be returning to the city of his youth, which holds some painful memories for him. Meanwhile, Kaoru is sunk in a funk! She doesn't eat, can't sleep, and cries all the time. Typical female, but I can't find it in me to blame her. Anyway, it takes some harsh words from Megumi to get her ass out of bed. Megumi is actually quite cool in that episode. When Kaoru says Megumi will neevr understand how she felt, because Kenshin told her "sayonara" face to face, Megumi says that yes, it is true. But Kaoru will never understand Megumi's feelings, because Megumi didn't even get that goodbye. Then Yahiko tells Kaoru that Kenshin saying goodbye to her meant it was hardest for him to part with her. So she's pulled out of her funk and they head for Kyoto.
I love Kenshin's reaction to the news that he and Saitoh will be working together...
Saitoh: We should be more friendly, since we'll be working together.
Kenshin:...we will?
Saitoh: I'm in charge of the police squad in Kyoto. Kenshin: Betsuni. -_-'' Speaking of working together, guess who's back in Tokyo and looking for vengeance? Aoshi! He goes to the Kamiya dojo, which is empty, because Kaoru and Yahiko have left. Megumi, coming by to take care of the place, discovers the door is unlocked and hopes that Kenshin has come back. He hasn't. It's Aoshi. He tells her that she will tell him where Battousai is, or he'll kill her. She's not about tell him, but she's saved by the timely appearance of Saitoh, who informs Aoshi that Kenshin has gone to Kyoto, and fills him in on the story. He asks Aoshi if he's going to Kyoto too, and what will he do if Shishio kills Kenshin? Aoshi replies that there's no point, as he is the only one who can kill Kenshin. As Saitoh says, those are words of confidence, but they aren't hot air.
Meanwhile, four big fat guys are sitting on the Oniwabanshuu graves waiting for Aoshi. He is not pleased to see them, understandably. They tell him that he has found favor in Shishio's eyes, and he is to go with them to meet Shishio. Aoshi's response is very straightforward: that if they continue to tresspass on those graves, not only they, but this Shishio person, will die. They don't like that, so they attack him. He pulls out his weapon, which appears to be a long sword, but is actually twin kodachi in a single sheath. He does away with them and then turns to see Okubo's assassin, who applauds him.
Aoshi again is his usual blunt self when Sojiro asks him to see Shishio. He has no intention of pairing up with anyone. Sojiro tugs on a few of Aoshi's emotional strings, saying that if he were to miss otu on the chaos now, that it would bring shame to the Oniwabanshuu, who were not able to fight in the revolution. You know, Aoshi's quite intelligent, but he's so easy to manipulate. So now we have Aoshi heading to Kyoto too.
And where would we be without the tori-atama? Sano is pissed that Kenshin left, so he goes to Katsu's to borrow some money. Yahiko follows him there, and is in turn followed by Saitoh, who tells Sano that the whole reason he stagd that stupid trick was to show Battousai that his friends are his weak piont. That's why Kenshin left alone--because he wouldn't be able to protect everyone. This only pisses Sano off more, and what's worse, it hurts. He tells Saitoh he's going to Kyoto, to Saitoh says he'd better prove to Sano that he's weak and useless.
Whate better way to hit Sano's pride than beat him at his own game? Saitoh agrees to a fistfight, and proceeds to punch the bejeezus out of Sano. He does, however, avoid Sano's shoulder. Sano realizes that Saitoh was treating him gently, and is further pissed. So he decides he will become stronger, and heads for Kyoto. He probably gets lost on the first day. As Saitoh later notes, he is directionally challenged.
Anyway, Kenshin starts to walk to Kyoto, trying to avoid people. However, it is not meant to be. While camping outside he runs into a woman who is beating up some thugs for the money they stole, because she's broke. She's a young female ninja named Makimachi Misao, from Kyoto. She's on the road heading to Kyoto, because she was out in Japan looking for some people. Her favorite move is the kecho giri, which is usually a kick to the head. Then there's her throwing knives, the kansaki tobikunai. She's rather...um...unrestrained, like most girls her age (yeah, she's 16...makes me feel so old). After helping Misao escape from the yakuza that was chasing her for beating up the members, Kenshin is about to leave her when she mentions that the people she's looking for were protecting Edo Castle from the shadows during the revolution.
Yep, she's in the Oniwabanshuu. She's looking for Beshimi, Hyottoko, Shikijo, Hannya-kun and Aoshi, whom she constantly refers to as Aoshi-sama. She's got a bit of a crush on him, which is impressive, since she hasn't seen him in eight years. Of course she doesn't know that Hannya-tachi was killed, or that Aoshi has disappeared and is off in a corner frothing at the mouth and twitching and obsessing about killing Kenshin. Well, he's probably not that bad--at this point he's out on the edge of chaos fighting people to improve himself, and somewhere picking up a second kodachi.
Kenshin, being the bright boy that he is, says "Shinomori...Aoshi..." thus letting Misao know that he knows who she's looking for. Now she's hooked onto him like a burr, and won't stop following him until he tells her what happened to everyone. He doesn't want to, understandably, because it is not a happy story. While trying to lose her in a forest, Kenshin jumps a gorge that is very wide, leaving her on the other side. He tells her that for her own good she should just forget about Aoshi. Sometimes I wonder about Kenshin. He's not the brightest about women. Misao in turns says How can she go home, when she's out there searching for him because she can't forget about the person she cares for the most?
Back in the forest...Kenshin ends up taking Misao with him, somewhat reluctantly. He really has issues with placing all the responsibility on his own shoulders, because he's so afraid of other people getting hurt. Although that's very nice, it's rather counterproductive. Anyway, they're passing thruogh the forest when Kenshin ehars something. Thinking it's Shishio's group attacking, he runs away from Misao to protect her, but she follows him. Instead of an attack, however, it is a young man with a small boy. The man is dying, and asks Kenshin t protect his little brother, Eiji.
They bury the man, and when Eiji awakes Kenshin asks him what happened. Eiji is from a nearby village, Shingetsu, which has been taken over by Shishio. The government had abandoned the village as well. And, as it so happens, Shishio is in town...
