Just wanted to let you know that my favourite line in this chapter has to be:

'I got an “Ah” out of him once, but I'm not sure if that was good, bad, or if he were just politely catching himself before he called me “ahou”

It had me sniggering for quite a while. *thumbs up*

Because of the way I happened to navigate to this chapter tonight, the prologue was the first thing I saw, so I took the opportunity to reread it. I had forgotten just how powerful and hard-hitting it was. In it, your portrait of Kenshin is almost unbearably palpable and tragic.

And what it highlights so keenly are the marvelous contrasts between Kenshin and Ushiro: not just the obvious ones of size, life experience and situation, etc., but the bigger themes of the dark soul against the good heart; the shuttered life against the open; the reactionary denial of selfhood against the determined courage to deal with self, others, all of life. Because we know Kenshin’s (canon) future, we can bear, at least a bit, this time of extreme emptiness for him, his passage through this true "valley of the shadow".

Part of what makes this really work for us, emotionally, is Ushiro’s not seeing himself for what he really is. It’s true he sees Kenshin perhaps better than anyone has (including even Hiko? Ushiro has a similar protectiveness, but the barriers between him and Kenshin can't be simply bulldozed through--Ushiro can lay claim to no authority or superiority by which he can work his good will in Kenshin’s life), and he has these impulses for helping the boy and hopes for the boy's development, but it's all sort of "innocent"--he doesn't really seem to see that he, and he alone, is not only in the unique position but has the unique personality to carry Kenshin through this time--is, in fact, probably Kenshin’s single survival mechanism.

Well, enough of that! Here are some bits I particularly liked, for various reasons: "Then again, maybe you aren't..." -- "concern flared in my weakening mind like a lantern in the dark" -- "blade of cold moonlight" (ah my fainting heart!) -- "I hoped he'd live that long" -- "wrecking the tatami" -- "The lady Ikumatsu tends to him" (such richness of detail, making us remember and experience this entire world) -- Yuasa's perceptiveness and down-to-earth talk, how he doesn’t let Ushiro bullshit his way out from under questioning -- "Okita" (wow, what a tale is packed into that single-word answer!) -- "fingering a deep gash in the side of my sheath" (oh. yeah. that.) – The whole, inescapably accurate paragraph about who’s going to die! – “We’re backing him, whatever his choice.” (a tight group, indeed, in spite of the chasm between the assassin and the rest of the corps) – “Okami will have your head if you bleed on her futon.”

(I especially loved the discussion between Yuasa and Ushiro of sword styles and strokes. This is obviously as much a language to these men as is their spoken one--I found this quite sexy, somehow!)

You have such a way of mixing the ordinary into the dramatic, grounding us in the most mundane of details (that ground us in the story’s reality) while simultaneously making our heads spin and hearts pound with breathtaking danger and political Gordian knots.

Yep. You’re good.

it's a very great story, i love it so much! the ushiro character is like a saviour in kenshin's gloomy day after tomoe's death and the betrayal..

i really, really, hope you update immediately^^ ganbare!

This chapter was *definitely* worth the wait!!

Good chapter. I love Ushiro's depreciating humor.

I accept it will be a while before the next chapter, thanks to RL. But don't let it hold you down to long.

AM

This is a very interesting story and I'm enjoying it a lot! I like your character Ushiro (he's an OC, right? I don't know too many characters in RK besides the main gang...) and his relationship with Kenshin. Your writing style is also very good, and your fighting sequences are amazing, definitely a lot better than most (including mine, he-he...)! I can't wait for your next update! Keep up the good work!

--Girlbender875

I wanna know more... CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!

I was so happy when I saw that you'd updated! I'm glad you haven't decided to abandon this story. :) Good job building up the plot! I'll be expecting a climax pretty soon. I hope poor Kenshin doesn't get in trouble for what happened, but knowing him, he'd take all the blame. But, Katsura also trusts Kenshin, so it could go either way. I can't wait to see what happens next! Update soon!

~ZukoFlame

damn this is good! i can't tell what you've changed, but it's smooth and powerful and compelling. i'm not signed in right now because i'm reading this at work and i want to leave a full review tonight under my login, but i couldn't wait to tell you at the very least how great this chapter is!

I was so happy to see an update I had almost thought you had given up on this story. Update soon *gives you a cookie*

Ah! Everyone needs to stop being so frustratingly stubborn and listen to people when they have things to say/stop assuming things. And kenshin is not allowed to "take the fall" as you put it. he can't! and neither can ushiro...who's being ridiculously heroic and protective (but that's why I love him).

Anyways, can't wait for more!

LOVE all the new developments! <3 Can't wait for more!

There's something wrenching moving about the fight at the start of this chapter: I started this one hardly breathing from the menace at the end of the final one (curse you you cliff-hanger-creator you), knowing that Ushiro is in real danger from his companion. Kenshin is not merely suspicious, he _knows_ that betrayal has happened somewhere; his life up until has uniquely conditioned him to be exquisitely sensitive its "smell". I think it's the fact that he doesn't kill Ushiro outright that's so telling. Only his deepest instincts about Ushiro hold him back (maybe he's not even completely aware of them), and I guess that seems to me like a measure of their relationship: a respect and understanding that runs so far beneath the surface, for each of them, that it affects even their instinctual impulses, even as Kenshin is blinded by anger and fear, and Ushiro, with his stalwart, good heart, faces certain death at the hands of someone whom he knows "doesn't mean it."

For you to have managed that in such a few very short paragraphs (two of them a single word, and several no longer than a sentence) is, in itself, a measure of your skill.

I guess the most heart-wrenching little bit in this story is: ‘ “What?” There was an edge to his voice’ and ‘ “There were two of them… both dead.” ’ Kenshin is so tortured by that whole I’izuka thing that he actually is vulnerable because of it. (And we know how long it takes him to do anything like “get over” _that_ episode!). And Ushiro is so deeply good at heart that he is perhaps the only one who could successfully negotiate this misunderstanding: I’m certain that Ushiro’s unwavering courage in the face of Kenshin’s deadly blade is a good part of what saves his life: only the pure of heart know that it’s _always_ “a good day to die”, and Kenshin’s own goodness, never successfully damaged by his life and history, would inevitably respond in harmony to Ushiro’s.

Now, what was fun for _me_, as your reader, was hearing them savvily figure out this tangle, which had been a total mystery to me, so naturally and clearly—it made me feel like an idiot for not seeing it all along. (How easy you are with this kind of political subtlety—I’d better watch my step around you!)

And I simply ADORE Ushiro (you know I have a _terrible_ crush on him, don’t you?) for how he protects “his” Kenshin at the end with his quick understanding of the situation and his ridiculously brave lie so that Kenshin doesn’t “go down alone”! What a hero!

How HAVE you managed to create a character that is worthy of “sharing the stage” with this, my Favorite Hero Of All Time? I certainly hope you DO write that original novel…

(Then, of course, there are your trademark (especially when writing Ushiro) light touches: “Screw his hatred for the name. What was he going to do, kill me for saying it?”—Ushiro explaining ‘very carefully to Kenshin why he should’ avoid telling Katsura the bit about where they are at each others’ throats—‘ “It’s a joke” ’—‘If I were smart… I’d already proven that I wasn’t smart.’ These, sprinkled among the darkness of tragedy and courage and danger like sparkles of starlight, are probably what really makes your stories addictive!)

Hello, there! Long time no talk! :) I've missed reading your stories, and when I FINALLY came back to FFNet and checked out your profile, I was so happy to see this one updated - it's most definitely one of my favorites. I just love Kenshin so damn much, especially young Kenshin, especially young Kenshin interacting with Ushiro. I have thoroughly enjoyed catching up on this, and I cannot wait for you to save me from this awful cliffhanger you've left us on! Is Ushiro going to justify his claim that he killed Toriyama by saying that he killed his ward by abandoning him? How will Kenshin react? When will Ushiro learn about Tomoe?? Ah, the suspense... I would love to go catch up on your other stories right now, but I must go get some sleep. Oh well. Looking forward to the next chapter!!

Great chapter! Kenshin didn't really want to kill Ushiro. Part of him (Kenshin) wants to die; but not really, thus the spike of fear. But he is still so guileless, he'll hang himself with honesty. But Ushiro to the rescue! Oh really? Now what?

I don't know what you feed your plot bunnies but you're welcome to put a few treats on my tab for the next chapter.

AM