Being an old fan of Rurouni Kenshin, I must say that I really enjoyed this. It was extremely emotional, visual and interesting. Yes, Kenshin wasn't exactly acting like he does normally, but this is set in his dark past in the heat of the revolution. I find it wholly believable that this could have happened, and the realistic setting and style made it that much better.

I have to acknowledge, though, that I can't judge the other characters on account of it having been so incredibly long since I've seen the show (and some of them could always be manga characters, and having never read the manga I wouldn't know of them).

That said, I did notice two things:

First, your point-of-view seems to jump from character to character. This was just a little confusing at first, though I got used to it rather quickly. Still, might I suggest that you try to stick to a single POV for each section? I can understand having different sections of the same chapter be from different viewpoints, but you were making these jumps mid-section. It just... didn't seem to flow properly that way.

Second, and this can be set aside due to the fact that the story has never been beta-ed, I noted that you used a few words that didn;t seem to work in the sentences they were in. Just an example: "There was no possible way to equivalent all of the lives lost to his blade." Note that 'equivalent.' I normally wouldn't mention something like that, but I'm trying to be as helpful as possible.

On the whole, a very good story. Believable, emotional and passionate.

Very eerie and sad. I wonder how Kenshin ever got over killing a child? I really liked how it echoed his own childhood experience.

It was a very enjoyable read, I must say!

I think it's quite OOC for Kenshin – even as a hitokiri – to kill a defenseless child in cold blood, especially given the whole situation and the uncanny resemblance of that scene to the one from Shinta's past. It was also slightly out of character for him to break down so easily in front of his superior – I'd expect him to cry into Okami's bosom, perhaps, but not into his leader's sleeve.

I'm surprised Katsura didn't notice that something was amiss much sooner – the man's supposedly sharp and perceptive.

The random Japanese phrases grated on my nerves a bit. I used to like such things many years ago, when I still couldn't speak one bit Japanese, but now they just seem awkward to me.

Last but not least, as far as I'm concerned, seppuku is always about slitting your stomach, not your throat, as implied in one of your paragraphs (but I liked how the boy paused to consider the fact that he was not samurai and didn't deserve to die like one).

...But the truth is, I really don't /mind/ any of the things listed above. All these possibly OOC twists enabled you to create a very good angst and hurt/comfort story. It was painful and powerful, and I liked it a lot.

The ending seemed pretty optimistic, given the general atmosphere of the fic, but that was okay, too. I don't think I would've enjoyed reading a story in which Kenshin actually succeeds in his suicide attempt. :(

Many thanks for sharing!

That was so touching. I was nearly crying by the end. I love the parallel you drew between Shinta and Souta. It fits perfectly. Your story really gets to the root of Kenshin's feelings.

~RHRF

I wasn't too sure about the plausibility of Kenshin killing a kid. After all, he couldn't bring himself to kill a full grown woman (Tomoe) who stumbled across one of his kills, but then again the argument could be made that Tomoe wasn't actually brandishing a sword and besides that she fainted, leaving Kenshin with the dilemma of what to do with her: kill an unconscious female or leave her alive on the street to be the victim of who knows what atrocities the Kyoto lowlifes could envision. It was just such a shock to read about Kenshin crossing the line like that when he didn't cross it in the OAV.

The emotional reaction to the blood on his clothes was particularly well done. It reminded me of the scene from MacBeth when Lady MacBeth freaks out over a bloodstain. Your exploration of the psychological effects of murdering a child were sharply, painfully, realistic.

I didn't find Katsura to be at all OOC. Sure, he may be the remote, driven leader in the OAV, but in the face of anguish like Kenshin's, who wouldn't unbend a little? A good commander knows when to be awe-inspiring, and when to offer comfort to his troops. You've brought out Katsura's sense of concern over Kenshin. Ironic that he refers to and thinks of Kenshin as a child, when it was Katsura who demanded Kenshin take on a man's role as assassin. I was kind of hoping at the end that Kenshin would actually tell Katsura what went so wrong with his last mission, but if Katsura had pulled away in disgust, I don't think Kenshin could have survived it.

This was a very well-written and thought provoking one-shot.

Good job. There have been plenty of oneshots about the Battousai's contemplations during the Bakumatsu but the interaction with Katsura here is certainly unique. Only the end seemed a little off to me.

I like this story a lot it seems to be well thought out. I would like to see more stories like this it would be great if you did animations along with it like a manga or something I also like the use of Japanese vocabulary as well I give 2 thumbs up! Yokatta ne!!

One thing I've always hoped is that Kenshin never actually killed any civilians. I think it would destroy him.

For a 10 page fanfiction it was really enjoyable. For once we finally see sorrow from the "demon" which gives him humanity. Love the glossary. XD