I'll agree with your more serious, down-to-earth reviewers. This was very disturbing, but beautifully written, very intense, and a piece of art. Art. I had to read until the end.

I will favorite this, not because I like the story, because I don't. How could I like a piece of writing that paints Aoshi in the very worst of ways? But at the same time, despite that, I recognize good writing when I see it. This was amazing. Something so terrible written in such a way that it hurts...?

"Occidental" is a fitting title, and this work is Aoshi/Misao at its absolute worst. I'd like to think that Aoshi does feel something for Misao in canon, but Aoshi is Aoshi, and he may or may not recognize or understand his own emotions and feelings. His guilt, his burdens... They are very heavy, indeed.

The way he uses Misao is heartbreaking, but like I said above, it's Aoshi/Misao at its worst. As an AM shipper, [we] want a happy ending for them. But the reality is that happy endings are not always possible.

Aoshi is a man at the core, and Misao is a woman. Perhaps they need one another to be happy, but happiness might be harder to find than is first imagined. I could see this happening if things went wrong. If Misao pushed him too hard or too fast, if she let her love for him cloud her judgment, her reasoning. Would a life with Aoshi-sama be happy if he used her? Misao loved her Aoshi-sama for years and years. Who's to say that she couldn't convince herself that letting him use her in such a way would be okay? It's very possible.

A haunting piece of writing you have here. But hats off to you for pulling it off so very well. I could learn from you. I might have already done so.

Cheers,

-Manna

i liked it... aoshi has given-in his innermost desires for misao! though it's kinda sad in the end :(

Wow.

Aoshi really is a rat-bastard in this one. You've narrowed in on the cold-hearted aspects of his character, which were undeniable in the anime, yet I never would've expected him to sink so low as to use Misao for sex.

So much for his attempt to 'pacify his immortal soul' and improve his character. It's beautifully written, but entirely too disturbing.

oh my so...So leaving-one-outta-words! I'm a big fan of AoshixMisao, and this is the first fic for them I read since my subscribing on it was so...I like it really! Oh, I've gotta get my tissues...REALLY NICE ONE!

nice play with words. it did well with conveying aoshi's inner suffering and misao's too.

GREAT job!

brittle?

wouldn't have expected anything less.

it kept me breathless.

i loved the words and the imagery. great job!

This story is absolutely spectacular. You weave a wonderful web, adding the intricacies one by one until the characters are completely give them immortality as you breath life into them. This story is nothing short of beautiful as you have wonderfully captured Aoshi's hesitance and Misao's anxiety. Keep up the splendid job!

Beautifully written. Your ability to capture the depth of Aoshi's tortured inner life is just amazing. Deeply moving.

It takes a great writer to take something innately dark and make it beautiful. You used poetic word choice without compromising the readers' ability to easily picture each scene, which can be harder than it seems. Your new look at the Aoshi/Misao relationship is fresh and a little painful, which is probably more true than any fairy tale ending. I'm not usually one for darker fics about my favorite pairings but this one just works. Lovely, lovely job.

This is so intense. So hard and beautiful and jagged. "how does one really remember anything but the passion", "His guilt is a sieve", "tries to smother the thought with his body over hers". Such desperation, such hope, such despair-it's almost like something three-dimensional.

And in the midst of all this anguish (NOT, to my mind, "angst"), "she dances out of the room." They are in different universes when they are together like this, and their very intimacy is the chasm to be bridged.

Aoshi's torment is rarely convincingly written about-the focus is almost always on Kenshin's. But Kenshin has many more helping hands out of his pit than does Aoshi, and his character bends more easily toward healing, in spite of his difficulty with it.

Aoshi is an interesting problem in intractability and possibility, and you've really captured that here. His nightmares, his rejection of her concern, his directionless "search for his needs", his tentative approach-avoidance conflict when he "touches her damp skin with a light hand".

"She stirs, and Aoshi moves away." Of course he does.

beautifully captured, simple as it is :) i lke the dark feeling it has. it isn't the overused, overly-angsty type that is the overgrowth of it's wonderfully simple, yet it has the certain ability to tug at many a heartstring o well done. :D i love your use of words by the way v

very simple and so amazing. great job!

Beautifully written. Sad and poignant, but with so much meaning. I loved it.

Beautiful. AS always. I sometimes can't comprehend how you write so well.

After...ahem...looking up "occidental" I can't say that I understand it as a title choice...but I'm sure to smart people, it's wonderfully revealing and adds a whole new level to the story.

Not that it needs it, since this already rich and wonderful as it ]

I've noticed you've taken posting Aoshi/Misao...well, WHEN you post. Not a favorite pairing, but I would read virtually anything you write, as long as you're writing it this well!

Wonderfully dark and well-worded...love it.