nice story... really liked it... good job... great work!

I love your writing style and characterization :)
Very melancholic, but amazing story!

I really, really like how Kenshin tells his son to be better than him. It's very in-line with his character.
Great fic, recommended to me by skenshingumi. The only problem I have with it is that Kenji seems to act older than his age; I think he ought to be at least seven, not five (and swords are heavy!). But the whole image of the rurouni pushing a baby cart along with his young son in it was really sweet, and you did a good exploration of Kenshin's feelings on being a rurouni and especially on being an aging swordsman. It's kind of nice to see Kenji actually liking his father, and I'm also very glad that Kaoru is not dead. :)

Well written! And I'll admit that you did achieve your goal well enough to "mislead" me (I used quotes because Kenshin was "misplaced" and I "mislead"). Excellent job on the action and emotional appeal, too. I would have it no other way.
One thing though... realistically, could a young boy, who's age be counted on one hand, carry/wield a sakabatou or any sword for that matter? Just a question. The fact that he could bravely care what I'm sure was a heavy sword make it all the more cute^^ Protecting his father with all his might. Very loving.
One last thing...I think you would do fabulous if you did a gory scene. Maybe do a Holocaust scene where Kaoru is a Jew and Kenshin a hired nazi who works with Aoshi and Saito. Enishi being the leader (and in case anyone reads this and thinks it sounds familiar it does. I was on another website before all the data was lost and the author never continued or even brought it back up)...Just a suggestion, though. Open to anyone at this point.

you sure fooled me. I thought had kaoru died or something. great story, I really enjoyed it. congratulations on a job well done!

a great little story

*grin*


~3 days later~

*grin*

I loved this. At first, I thought that maybe Kaoru had died... Phew! I'm glad she didn't. Our little rurouni would be heartbroken...

lovely story.

Kenshin's heartache at feeling like a rurouni again was touching, especially since it was unclear at the start whether or not he actually became one again or not.

Nicely written.

Bravo; you certainly succeeded in keeping my off-balance. At first, I thought it was set pre-Tokyo during his wandering years. Then, when it finally clicked that this was after he'd met Kaoru, I had this horrible feeling that something had happened to Kaoru and things had taken a turn for the worse.

Very well played. The scene at the end was especially touching :)

-- Shinjin

Gorgeous story. I was worried at first that Kaoru was dead, but I like the way you put her in xD

Great story!! Love it!! =)
Kenji is so brave, trying to protect his father when Kenshin is not feeling well. Love Kenji when he is so cute and filial to Kenshin!! Kenji loves his father in this story!! =)
Poor Kenshin.. Having to be tormented by thoughts of being a rurouni once again when Kaoru was not with him.. I am glad Kaoru is at home waiting for Kenshin and they are just such a lovely couple.. =)

Now if I had half of your talent, I could truly do wonders. You have a wondeful piece of work here that was everything you mentioned you wanted it to be. It did indeed fool me, I was so curious as to how Kenshin managed to get himself into such a state. There were literally tears in my eyes when he finally arrived home and I realized Kaoru was not dead after all. I was so relieved! I got so into the story that I was so very afraid that Kenshin might meet his end in this tale, I'm so grateful that he didn't.
I did notice that you failed to mention his name (Kenshin) throughout the whole thing, but only at the end when Kaoru names him. That was very lovely, very...emotional. It was only too easy to understand Kenshin's mind-set and his complete angst for not having his love with him, not being home.
This is perhaps one of the sweetest stories I have read, ever. I enjoyed reading it and I'm very glad you wrote it. =)

Wonderful, another addition to your long list of awesome stories! I dont know how you do it every time... lol No kidding, you totally had me fooled - i thought Kaoru was dead (which would have been *awful*, poor kenshins had enough pain and loss in his life, he doesnt need anymore), I was so relieved to read your little surprise at the end! Once again i thought you did a wonderful job of keeping the charaters in *character*; i love how you portray Kenshin and Kaorus relationship...they way they both need and lend each other strength. And i really Loved their little boy! The OAV's (even if they are anti-universe) sort of left me off anti-kenji-ish, but he was to cute not to like. ^^

Well, it sure felt like Kenshin was the rurouni again to me. I loved Kenji's protectiveness, because it made it so much more mature in my eyes. And Kenshin's concern about the name touched me too; now that I think about, not even Tomoe called Kenshin by his name (in the dubbed manga). Granpa Hiko... so cute.

*sigh* What a beautifully written story... *sigh*

I must say you managed to pull off your idea - I *was* a little off-balanced while reading this, I was very sad, I waited for the end to reveal a very sad fate for Kenshin's family - and so I was utterly relieved when the end came and it was so light and so very touching.

I love the way you wrote Kenshin and Kenji together, and the bits of story told from the little one's point of view (and how touchingly he loved and admired his father, how he wanted to protect him - and how Kaoru reacted to that at the end); I loved the references to Kenshin's friends and the ambiguity in them; I loved how Kenshin thought of Kaoru and how he always saw some traits of her - eyes, smile, spirit - in his son; and sad as they were, I loved his thoughts about the amount of skill (and not only that) he's lost ('How much more of himself would he lose?' - this almost broke my heart... especially since I was worrying about a possible awful fate for Kaoru, because why else would he be wandering again, in such a shabby state, and with his son no less? Yes, everything about him (even without the mention of the word) showed that he 'was' a rurouni again... *sigh*... this reminds me how beautiful the ending was again...) and I loved his thoughts' and his heart's way back to his reasons for life and the people who waited for him. And, of course, the scene where he runs after Kenji and falls down after catching him - I could picture it so easily

There is so much about this story that I love... and the fact that I had 'Departure' and 'Days to remember' from the RK soundtrack in the background helped to set the mood so well!

Yup, beautiful story!