It starts with a young woman running up to a guy (Kenshin) and accusing him of being the hitokiri who's lately been killing people in the city. Kenshin has no clue what's going on.

(get used to lots of slapstick and characters turning SD, btw)

He does, however, show her his sword, which is a sakabatou (a reverse blade sword - ie, when fighting, it hits people with the blunt side, so it doesn't kill) - Kenshin gave up killing after the Bakumatsu). 

Seeing that Kenshin *isn't* the hitokiri, she tells him that there's someone in town who is pretending to be the Hitokiri Battousai, and also saying that he's using the fighting style taught at her dojo, which is why she's hunting him down. 

Shortly afterwards, she actually finds the right guy, and attacks him (with a bamboo sword - which doesn't do much good against the real sword the bad guy is using). Luckily Kenshin had been following her and rescues her. 

The girl is called Kamiya Kaoru, is about 17 or 18, and is trying to save her dojo, because the bad reputation that the pretending-to-be-hitokiri guy has been spreading has driven away all her students. Kenshin ends up helping her against the guy (it's an ex-student of her father's who was kicked out and is thus pissed off at the dojo).  

Kaoru's father founded the dojo, which teaches Kamiya Kasshin Ryu (a budo that doesn't kill, but uses swords to protect people, and only uses a bokken - wooden sword - to fight). Her father died about a year ago, and now Kaoru has been teaching. 

BTW, when confronting the bad guy, Kenshin says (referring to a comment by Kaoru that "swords are meant to protect people", which caused laughter from the bad guy): "A sword is meant to kill. Fighting techniques are ultimately used to kill. This will never change. But dreamers like Kaoru-dono use budo for something besides killing. And I prefer what Kaoru-dono believes over the way things are. Maybe someday, everyone will see why her way is better". 

After evilguy and his group of more badguys laugh at that and then move to kill Kenshin, he proceeds to knock everyone of them (about 20 or 25) into unconsciousness. (RK is full of totally improbably fight-scenes: Kenshin is about 1,58 m tall, and slight, so the idea that he beats up large groups of people with ease is a bit - erm, unlikely, even if he has been extremely well-taught in his fighting style. Which is called Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu - it uses "god-like speed". Don't laugh, it's canon...) 

Main evilguy starts to realize: red hair. cross-shaped scar on left cheek. That guy *is* the Hitokiri Battousai. Kenshin then beats him (and cripples his hand, so he can't fight anymore). By now, all bad guys are lying in unconscious heaps.

Kenshin then apologizes to Kaoru for not telling her about being the Hitokiri Battousai, and turns to move on (he's been wandering around for 10 years). Kaoru, however, calls him back, asks him his real name (Himura Kenshin) and tells him that she wants him to stay. He agrees. 

(Yes, Kaoru clearly at least has a crush on him at that point. She definitly falls in love with him over the whole first season. And while it's all very typically Japanese, ie, understated, you realize pretty quickly at Kenshin at least likes her very much as well). 

Here's a nice pic with both of them, just because.

Kaoru's a pretty... energetic character. She also has no problem hitting all the other male characters over the head with any heavy object that might be handy. She's got a bit of a temper... 

Kenshin mostly spends his time at the dojo washing dishes, cooking, doing the laundry, and generally doing house-work. And he looks after and plays with Ayame and Suzume, who I've neglected to mention so far: Dr Genzai is an old friend of Kaoru's father, and an old doctor. Ayame and Suzume are his grand-daughters (they're about 3 and 6, I'd guess), and they often come over and spend the day at the dojo. Kenshin is their 'Ken-nii', and they're very enthusiastically fond of him. 

During ep 2, Kenshin and Kaoru meet a 10year old boy, Yahiko, who's an orphan, but who's father was a samurai. However, due to his mother's illness, which killed her, they ran up a huge debt, and after their death, Yahiko now has to work for the yakuza as a pickpocket. He picks Kenshin's pockets, tho Kaoru notices and stops him (tho Kenshin ends up giving his money to Yahiko anyway - well, he tries to, but Yahiko is a bit too proud to accept it). They end up getting Yahiko free and tell him he can stay with them and be taught sword-fighting. Yahiko eagerly accepts, tho he's a bit pissed off when he learns that it's going to be *Kaoru* who's going to teach him...

Kaoru does train Yahiko, but they spend most of their time bickering like brother and sister... Yahiko always calls Kaoru names like 'buso' (ugly), and Kaoru usually retaliates by beating him up.

In ep 3 we learn that the people Kenshin fought for are now in very important positions in the government, and they would very much like to have him as part of the government administration. Kenshin however refuses - he much prefers to use his sword to just protect the people he cares for. 

During the next couple of eps, we're introduced to Sagara Sanosuke (here's another pic). He also calls himself 'Zanza the gangster', and wears a jacket with the kanji for 'evil/bad/wicked' on the back. 

He fights with his fists (he's quite strong) or with his *huge* sword (a 'zanbotou' - ok, it's more like a lance... ok, it's huge even for a lance... <tries very hard not to make a penis joke here>), and he's lately been very bored, because he has noone left to beat up - he's pretty much defeated everyone. He gets hired by the bad guy from ep 1 to beat up Kenshin, which he agrees to, but for his own reasons. 

His backstory is that as a child, he was part of the Sekihoutai - a group that fought for the Ishin Shishi side. Sano was 7 or 8, and was very close with the boss, Sagara (so much so that he asked him that once they'd won, if he could take his name as a last name (one of the reforms the Ishin Shishi made was that everyone now has a last name)). 

The Sekihoutai had been gathering support from the common people by spreading word of the IshinShishi and promising more rice for everyone, as per orders of the Ishin Shishi. When the Ishin Shishi found that they did not have enough rice, they cut off the Sekihoutai and said that they had been acting on their own, then sent out people to kill them. Sanosuke is the only one who survived, because their boss threw him into a river before everyone else was shot. 

So Sanosuke carries a grundge against the Ishin Shishi (and the current government), and since Kenshin used to be one of them, he wants to fight him. They do (even tho Kenshin does understand why he's so pissed at the Ishin Shishi), and in the end, Kenshin wins, and Sanosuke says he is going to stay and keep an eye on Kenshin to see if he *really* doesn't have anything to do with the government and is really just living as rurouni to protect the people he cares for. He tells Kenshin that Kenshin better not take off somewhere without telling him first...

Sano spends a lot of time hanging around the dojo, slacking off, hoping for free food, or gambling with dice, and quite often he eats at the Akabeko (the local restaurant) and skips out without paying. He does, however, give up the 'gangster Zanza' act. 

Oh, and he and Yahiko spend a lot of time trying to twist each other's heads off...

(He's a lot nicer than the above sounds. He's a bit hotheaded - well, he's only 18 or so - but he's a very loyal friend, and always ready to defend others)

Somewhen later, Sano and Kenshin find a young woman who's running away from some bad guys, who're working for Mr. Kanryu. Her name is Takani Megumi, and she's trained as a doctor. We learn that Mr Kanryu has been blackmailing her into producing Opium for him (and sharing his bed). It's a very lethal brand of Opium (it has killed one of Sano's friends), and only Megumi knows how to make it. 

After Mr Kanryu's goons threaten to hurt Ayame and Suzume, Megumi goes back to Mr Kanryu, however, Kenshin, Sano and the others go after her to get her out. 

They meet with Mr Kanryu's bodyguard, Shinomori Aoshi (and one more pic), and his Oniwabanshu (currently band of 4 freaks, by the name of (left to right) Shikijo, Hyottoko, Beshimi and Hannya (the guy in the suit is Mr Kanryu). They were a group of ninja defending the Edo castle, and after the Bakumatsu became obsolete, which doesn't make Aoshi happy. 

He wants to kill Kenshin because Kenshin is the strongest, and if he kills him, he can take the title of the strongest for the Oniwabanshu (because the other 4 members are freaks, they can't really find a way of fitting in with current times as the rest of the retired Oniwabanshu could - not only are they freaks, but also, the only thing they know how to do is fight. Since Aoshi trained them, he feels responsible for them, and thus wants the title of the strongest for them. 

Aoshi comes quite close to beating Kenshin, but not quite - Kenshin beats him in the end. Aoshi asks Kenshin to kill him, because otherwise, he'll come after him again. Kenshin tells him that he doesn't really mind Aoshi coming after him again, as long as he doesn't involve anyone else in their fight. 

Just as they're staring at each other, close to agreeing, Mr Kanryu comes in again, with a gatling gun, set on just killing everybody in the room. 

The 4 Oniwabanshu members throw themselves between the Gatling gun and Aoshi, thus giving their lives for his. Aoshi carries them off and buries them in the woods. On their graves, he swears that one day he'll give them peace, then he walks off (yes, you do get the feeling that he'll show up again). 

Kenshin defeats Kanryu, but leaves him alive for the police to find. 

Megumi joins the Kenshin-gumi - she works with Dr Genzai in his clinic, and often spends time at the dojo, usually flirting with her Ken-san... (much to Kaoru's anger <g>). There are hints that Sanosuke might be interested in her. 

The other eps are fillers, and mostly deal with people from Kenshin's past showing up and wanting to get revenge against him. He does his best to fight them off without slipping into Battousai mode (he does slip, once, when a demented Shinsengumi nearly kills Kaoru). 

The only thing worth noting might be that Sano finds out that there was another Sekihoutai member who survived: Katsu, who's now working as an artist (and does give up his bombmaking and nocturnal 'let's destory the government' ways after Kenshin has a go with him).

Fast-forwarding to ep 28...

Kenshin's been having unsettling dreams - memories of the Bakumatsu no Douran, of fighting the Shinsengumi, especially Okita Soushi (also based on a real person - a 15 year old who was the captain of the first division, and died of tuberculosis a few years later), and Saitoh Hajime, the captain of the third division. They fought a number of times, but never got around to ending the battle - they always were distracted by something. 

The Shinsengumi motto was 'Aku. Soku. Zan.' (kill evil instantly). They were also called 'Wolves of Mibu'.

A little while later, Sano is alone at the dojo, and a medicine peddler shows up. However, Sano notices the very distinct sword calluses the man has, and when he becomes suspicious, it turns out he has reason to... the man fights Sano, and leaves him, with a sword through the shoulder, as a calling card for Kenshin to find. 

The person who attacked him is Saitoh Hajime, who is now living under the name of Fujita Goro, and works as a policeman (for the secret police). He is one of the few people alive who has a chance of winning against Kenshin...

(I'm extremely fond of Saitoh - he's such a sarcastic bastard. I especially love his interaction with Sano during the Kyoto Arc... <g> yes, it's incredibly slashy)

While Kenshin is out (handling a B-plot), and Sano is still unconscious, Fujita Goro shows up at the dojo, saying that he's been sent by the police chief, and that he wants to wait for Kenshin, which they allow him to do. 

When Kenshin comes home and find Fujita/Saitoh in the dojo, they quickly fall back 10 years into the past, and start fighting again (because Saitoh knows exactly how to goad Kenshin), and after not very long, Saitoh manages to bring the Battousai out again (have another Battousai pic). Their fight is pretty fierce, and soon they get totally lost and are only focussed on killing each other. 

At pretty much the last second, they're stopped by Okubo Toshimichi, ex-Ishin Shishi and now the Meiji Government's Secretary General of the Cabinet (he's pretty famous - if you've read the history infodump, you know that he's one of the Ishin Sanketsu. The other 2, however, are dead). He reveals that he had sent Saitoh to gauge Kenshin's fighting ability. 

(Saitoh: "My report: Himura Kenshin isn't a reliable killer at all. However... Himura Battousai has the potential to be very effective. That's all." <marches off to kill the bad guy behind the B plot of the ep>)

Kenshin punches himself into the fact to snap out of Battousai mode, then they sit down with Okubo-kyo and he tells them why they want Kenshin. Basically, after Kenshin walked away from being a Hitokiri, they found a replacement for him, Shishoi Makoto. However, the guy was - not quite stable, and in the end, the Ishin Shishi decided that they had to get rid of him, so they shot him, and then set him on fire. Sadly enough, that wasn't enough to kill Shishio, and now he's back and wants to bring down the government. To that goal, he's gather 10 other fighters (the Juppongatana, lit. 'Ten Swords'). The government now desperately need Kenshin to fight against Shishio and get rid of him. (I have to admit that I'd find Shishio a lot more scary if it wasn't for the ridiculous tufts of hair sticking out of his bandages...)

Kenshin isn't happy with the thought of going back to Kyoto (he has some bad memories back there), and besides, he doesn't want to kill. The other Kenshin-gumi are even more unhappy with the idea. Okubo-kyo asks Kenshin to think it over for a week and then give him an answer. 

After the week is over, Kenshin says that he'll go and meet Okubo-kyo to give him his answer. However, on the way to the meeting, he finds Okubo-kyo in his carriage by the wayside - he was murdered by a rather young and very happy-looking man (ok, he's Soujirou, as we find out not that long afterwards anyway), who mutters a warning to Kenshin to leave Shishio alone before melting into the crowd and disappearing. 

Kenshin spends the rest of the day talking with Saitoh and the police commissioner. When he asks Saitoh what he is going to do now, Saitoh says he will do the only thing he can do - go to Kyoto, and face Shishio, simple as that. 

Meanwhile, the news of the assassination are spreading over Tokyo, and people are very scared. Kenshin realizes that he can't escapte his destiny, which seems to lead him towards Kyoto, and fighting Shishio. 

When Kenshin returns to the dojo, it's already late at night, and everyone but Kaoru has gone to bed or gone home. She is still up, and waiting outside the dojo, looking at fireflies. When Kenshin shows up, it's only to tell her that he's going back to Kyoto. He doesn't know if he'll be in Kyoto as the Rurouni, or as the Battousai. But he can't stay, because he knows that he'll just put Kaoru and everybody else in danger, and slowly become the Battousai again, loss by loss... 

He thanks Kaoru for not minding about his past, and tells her how happy she made him, because he could live a normal life with her and the others. Then he hugs her, and tells her goodbye - he's returning to being a wandering Rurouni. Then he turns and leaves. After he's out of sight, Kaoru breaks down crying. 

"Meiji 11. May 14. This day, Kenshin returned to being a wandering rurouni again. He disappeared... into the dark, alone."

End of Tokyo arc.

*sigh* this is just an incredibly romantic scene... (sadly way overused in RK songvids, tho). 

ok, onwards to the Kyoto arc (eps 32 - 62) - I was going to summarize this very very loosely, because I think that people should *see* this, but then I started watching the eps again, and the summary got pretty detailed as well.

Kaoru is lying around in bed, crying, and not moving, for days, because Kenshin saying 'Sayonara' just made her totally depressed. Then Megami shows up and kicks Kaoru's ass into gear. (When Kaoru accuses Megumi of having no clue what it is like to be told 'Sayonara' and left behind, Megumi answers that, no, she doesn't know that, but then, Kaoru doesn't know what it feels like to be abandoned without so much as a goodbye.)

Yahiko also tells Kaoru to hurry up and go off to Kyoto, because since she was the only one Kenshin said goodbye to, she must have been the one that was hardest for him to leave behind, so that means that she is the only one who will be able to bring him back. 

Kaoru and Yahiko set out to Kyoto via ship. 

Meanwhile, Sano is incredibly pissed at Kenshin because he left without telling Sano. He talks Katsu into giving him some money so that he can go to Kyoto, too. However, he immediately runs into Saitoh, who tells him he's a complete fool for wanting to go to Kyoto, because after all he's such a bad fighter, so he would be a weakness for Kenshin. 

Sano, predictably, gets incredibly pissed, and wants to kick Saitoh's ass - which doesn't quite work, since Saitoh is quite a bit stronger and a much better fighter than Sano, even with fists (Sano's best weapon). That makes Sano even more angry, and now he's determined to both go to Kyoto (so he can prove that he's not a weakness), and to become an even better fighter. He sets off towards Kyoto on foot, demolishing trees along the way. <g>

Sadly enough, Sano has all the directional sense of a dead moose, so he gets lost nearly immediately... 

Kenshin is off to Kyoto on foot (actually, Saitoh wanted Kenshin to travel with him to Kyoto via ship - even telling him that the government would pay for the ticket, so Kenshin shouldn't worry about being broke - but Kenshin refused, because Shishio seems to have eyes and ears everywhere, and they could be attacked on the ship). 

Pretty much the day after everyone has left, Aoshi shows up at the dojo (finding only Megumi, who promised to keep the dojo in working order), looking for Kenshin. He tries to find out where Kenshin is from Megumi, but she refuses to tell him. However, for some reason, Saitoh shows up at the dojo, too, and tells Aoshi that Kenshin went to Kyoto. They glare at each other a bit. Saitoh brings Aoshi up to speed on the situation, and Aoshi wanders off towards Kyoto, too (because, after all, *he* wants to kill Kenshin himself). Saitoh then tells a rather pissed off Megumi that he told Aoshi so that Aoshi would be on their side. However, they were watched by Soujirou, who thinks that his side could use Aoshi as well... 

On the way to Kyoto, Kenshin meets Makimachi Misao, who's 16 and extremely genki, and who insists on following him (well, after trying to mug him) so that they can travel together. She also very enthusiastically tells him why she's running around between Toyko and Kyoto: she's looking for her friends, Aoshi, Beshimi, Hannya, Hyottoko and Shikijo (you *do* remember them from further up?). Kenshin isn't quite sure what to tell her, so in the end he says nothing. 

Aoshi and the other 4 Oniwabanshu brought up Misao, but they left her after the Bakumatsu, and she's been trying to find them again since then. Misao very much adores and loves her "Aoshi-sama", however, she is also a trained Ninja, and quite capable of taking care of herself. Well, unless her immaturity gets the better of her, but still... 

On the way to Kyoto they also encounter Saitoh, who went to Kyoto by boat and has now trekked back a bit to investigate a sighting of Shishio in a village (Shishio occupied the village because it has a hotspring that he wanted to use). Shishio is indeed there, and Kenshin ends up fighting one of the Juppongatana - Seta Soujirou, the guy killed Okubo-kyo. He's a very very good fighter, and the main reason that Kenshin has a lot of problems fighting him is that Kenshin usually reads his opponents ken-ki (battle-aura) to know how they are going to move, and to thus intercept them before they even start to move. However, Soujirou apparently doesn't feel anything except a violent sense of enjoyment (as Shishio explains to Yumi, it's because of Soujirou's dysfunctional childhood), so it's impossible to read his ken-ki. Kenshin and Soujirou fight to a draw, however, Kenshin's sakabatou breaks - so now he has to find a new reverse-blade sword, and that is quite difficult to do. 

During this little episode, we also learn that Saitoh is married. All we know is that the woman is called Tokio - however, both Kenshin and Misao are quite sure that the woman must be a goddess to put up with someone like Saitoh... 

(Saitoh, opposed to Kenshin, has absolutely no problem with killing people, and doesn't always stick to the rules. He just gets rid of problems, in the most efficient way.)

oh, and I haven't mentioned yet: Megumi is quite often referred to as Fox Lady (and quite often in SD form aquires fox ears and a tail), Kaoru is the Tanuki Girl, and when Saitoh first meets Misao, he decides that she is Racoon Girl.

Saitoh goes back to Kyoto on his own, and Misao and Kenshin continue there together. 

oh, did I mention Komagata Yumi yet? Yumi is Shishio's woman (very beautiful, always wearing a kimono that's on the verge of falling off her shoulders and breasts), who's utterly devoted to him. IIRC, she used to be a geisha. 

Back in the woods, Sano is extremely lost, however, he runs into Anji, a priest (well, he's an hakai-so, a priest who has broken the unbreakble laws of god, ie, a fallen priest) who teaches him a new attack that makes his fists very powerful. However, shortly after he sends Sano off in the correct direction to Kyoto, Soujirou shows up and tells Anji that he has to come to Kyoto now, because Shishio is gathering the Juppongatana...

Once Misao and Kenshin arrive in Kyoto, she takes him to the Aoiya, which is the base of the rest of the remaining Oniwabanshuu (I never managed to remember the names of the 4 other Oniwabanshu - they're only minor characters. They run the Aoiya inn as a cover for still being Oniwabanshu). Misao's father figure, and a former highranking Oniwabanshu spy, is Okina (that's a title, Misao calls him Jiya), who, while a competent ninja, also quite often turns into a lecherous old man, or a very silly SD guy. 

Kenshin goes off in search of a new sakabatou, and eventually finds one. 

Kaoru and Yahiko arrive in Kyoto, but have *no* clue how to find Kenshin. They do however see Aoshi walking by. 

At the same time, Kenshin gets off to find Hiko Seijuro, and tells Okina that he'll probably not come back to the Aoiya - he doesn't want to endanger the inhabitants (by now, Misao has found out that Kenshin used to be Hitokiri Battousai, but doesn't really care). Misao sees him leave and runs after him, but looses him - however, as luck would have it, she runs smack into Yahiko, who's busy running after Aoshi. The figure out that they're looking for the same person, and Misao takes Kaoru and Yahiko to the Aoiya. After bringing each other up to speed on what has been happening, Misao agrees to take them to Kenshin. 

Aoshi sends Okina a message to meet with him, which he does. Okina refuses to tell Aoshi where Kenshin is, and disagrees with Aoshi's plans of revenge. Okina tells Aoshi that because Aoshi has started down the path of evil, he has now become Okina's responsibility, and if necessary, Okina will fight him. 

Aoshi leaves - and runs into Soujirou and some Juppongatana. Seijirou offers him help in finding Kenshin - and Aoshi accepts. 

Kenshin meanwhile has met Hiko (who's now working as a potter) - Hiko was the master who taught him Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu (the name Hiko Seijuro is inherited from master to pupil - the current Hiko is Hiko Seijuri the 13th. He's 43, but an extremely *goodlooking* 43year old... The white mantle he wears weighs 40 kg, and he wears it because otherwise it would be *too* unfair for his opponents, because he is such an incredible swordmaster...) 

Hiko apparently hasn't changed in the 15 years since Kenshin saw him last - he's still arrogant, and still calls Kenshin 'baka deshi' (stupid pupil). Kenshin asks Hiko to finish training him, and to inherit the succession technique of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. 

Hiko refuses. 

Kenshin keeps aking, and explains the whole situation he's in (he can't defeat Shishio without becoming Hitohiri Battousai again, and he doesn't want to do that, so he needs a more powerful technique). Hiko calls Kenshin a selfish bastard for trying to keep to his childish ideals and still wanting to use the technique to defeat Shishio. 

Flashback to 15 years ago, where Kenshin argued with Hiko because he wanted to use Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu to protect people from the civil war that's going on. Hiko told him that Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu was the most powerful technique, and thus any group that Kenshin joined would most likely win. 

Back in the present, Hiko tells Kenshin that he left before his spirit was sufficiently developed, and that is why he got hurt during the Bakumatsu, and that is why Kenshin became a useless wordmaster who's torn between pacifism and being Hitokiri, and that it was him who helped create the evil demon at the end of the dynasty called Shishio (don't hurt me, these are literal transcriptions of Hiko's dialogue).

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu was originally founded to protect people from national conflict or public fear, but only a sword that doesn't belong to any ideology or authority can accomplish this. Hiko can't give the succession technique to someone who does not understand this. 

At that point, Misao, Kaoru and Yahiko show up in front of Hiko's house (somewhere in the mountains). They hear Hiko scolding Kenshin through the door ("I was wrong to teach an idiot like you Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu"), and Misao and Yahiko get pissed enough to kick in the door and scream at Hiko, and when Kenshin sees Kaoru through the open door, they just stare at each other. 

Hiko sends Kenshin out to get water, and asks Kaoru why *she* is here. Kaoru says that he just wanted to see him again... Hiko says he doesn't understand why Kaoru would love such a dorky guy as Kenshin, and Yahiko explodes at him, yelling that he has no clue what happened to Kenshin after he left Hiko, so he has no right to talk about him like that. Hiko agrees, and asks (ok, orders) them all to tell him ("I really want to know if my stupid pupil has wasted my expertly taught Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu") - and he wants to hear it not from Kenshin himself, but from someone who thinks they know him. 

Kenshin, while out getting water, muses the the fight with Shisho has just become a lot harder, since Kaoru and Yahiko are now here (which means that Sanosuke can't be far, too). 

Once Kenshin comes back with the water, Hiko knows about him becoming Rurouni and wandering all over the country for 10 years, helping people, and finally embracing the philosophy of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu as a way of atonement for all the people he killed as Hitokiri. Hiko agrees that he will pass on the succession technique to Kenshin, since Shishio must be stopped anyway. 

When Kaoru asks Kenshin if he's angry that she came to Kyoto, he tells her that half of him is - but the other half is relieved. 

Kaoru, Yahiko and Misao walk back to the Aoiya - and on the way back, it comes out that Kaoru and Yahiko wanted to warn Kenshin about Aoshi - and thus Misao finds out just what happened between Aoshi and Kenshin, and the fate of the other 4 Oniwabanshu. Misao is shocked. 

At the same time, Shishio and Aoshi meet, and agree on an alliance - Shishio will give Aoshi all the information on Kenshin, and if Aoshi then kills Kenshin, Shishio won't mind. The current lead on Kenshin is that the Okina of the Oniwabanshu knows where Kenshin is - so the next step will be to attack the Aoiya. Aoshi doesn't mind - all he wants is to kill Kenshin. 

Hiko and Kenshin walk off to train. First of all, Hiko tells Kenshin that it isn't as easy as it used to be - he can't just go and sacrifice himself for many, because if he dies, "the woman who came to see you from Tokyo will be unhappy for the rest of her life". Kenshin is only human, no matter how strong he thinks he is. 

Once they start training, Hiko calls Kenshin's technique pathetic, and tells him that he's totally out of shape, and that he will need to defeat him once before Hiko teaches him the succession technique (however, he *does* see that Kenshin is determined enough to eventually manage, no matter that he's gotten rusty. He just doesn't *tell* him that). 

Shisho has sent some people to attack the Aoiya, but Okina and the others defeat them effortlessly, much to Hoji's amazement. Okina also sends back a message that he's challenging Aoshi (I haven't mentioned Hoji yet - he's one of Shishio's men, but not a fighter - he's kinda an administrative leader. He also very very much adores Shishio). 

Aoshi and Okina meet, and fight, but Okina refuses to tell him where Kenshin is. Misao arrives just in time to see Okina being beaten (brutally - it looks like he's dead). Aoshi walks off, only telling Misao that he never wants to see her again, and that she should tell Kenshin that he will meet him at Shishio's headquaters. 

Miraculously, Okina actually survived, but is very badly hurt. Misao now declares herself to be the new leader of the Oniwabanshu and they will fight together with Kenshin against Shishio. 

oh, more information about Shishio: since he was burned by the government, his body has become abnormal: he constantly produces adrenalin, which is why he's abnormally strong, and has sweat glands don't work anymore, and his bodytemperature is constantly abnormally high. 

We get to see a flashback of how Hiko met Kenshin (this is shown in greater detail in the OAV, you can read about it in the OAV summary). What happened is that when Kenshin was about 6, he had been sold to slavers (since his parents had died of cholera). They were attacked by bandits, and everyone but Kenshin was killed, even tho some of the other slave-girls tried to protect him. Then Hiko showed up and cut down all the bandits without even breaking into a sweat. Hiko left Kenshin there, only telling him to go to the next village and tell them what happened, they would take him in. End flashback. 

After quite a long time, Kenshin finally manages to scratch Hiko, so Hiko finally teaches him the succession technique (you'll have to forgive me if I don't go into details about all the different swordfighting techniques and the different moves of each - if you're really interested in that, watch the show). Basically, he first teaches him one technique (Kuzu-Ryu-Sen), which is Hiko's "coolest and most effective" move, however, the succesion technique (Ama-Kakeru-Ryu-No-Hirameki) is the only move that can defeat Kuzu-Ryu-Sen. Kenshin masters Kuzu-Ryu-Sen, and then Hiko explains Ama-Kakeru-Ryu-No-Hirameki to him. 

Hiko tells Kenshin that there's something that's blocking him, and that he has to find out what it is before he can master Ama-Kakeru-Ryu-No-Hirameki. Kenshin settles down to think. 

Hiko continues remembering how he met Kenshin: When Hiko returned to the site of the battle some time (days?) later to bury the corpses, he found that Kenshin had already buried them all, both the bandits and the other slavers. He made special graves for Akame, Kazumi and Sakura - three other girls he had met the day before, and who he had wanted to protect. Hiko asked his name, and Kenshin told him his name was Shinta. Hiko said that this was a much too sweet name for a warrior, so from now on, his name would be Kenshin, and Hiko would be teaching him something special - Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. End flashback. 

After the night is over, Kenshin still hasn't figured out what is holding him back. Hiko tells him that if he doesn't know that, he won't inherit the succession technique, or beat Shishio. He will eventually be overtaken by the Hitokiri, and even if he survives, he'll spend the rest of his life confused, tormented and alone. So, Hiko is not going to teach him, he's just going to put him out of his misery - as his master, that's the least he can do. 

(Hiko actually takes off his mantle for this... he's got amazing muscles under there... )

While Hiko slowly advances on Kenshin, Kenshin keeps wondering if maybe he should die, and that leads him to wonder if he actually fears death - he fought through the Bakumatsu no Douran, and had been prepared to die in it, after all. As Hiko and Kenshin run at each other, Kenshin flashes back to the night when the bandits killed all the other slaves and the slavers, and remembers his thoughts from back then: "I am the only boy, and I have no parents, so... I must protect them even if I I have to die for them". However, the 3 girls ended up protecting him, and as they died, they implored him to live, since he was much to young to choose to die for someone else, and they also implored him to stay alive until he knows what life really is. And Kenshin realizes that he has killed so many people that he doesn't value his own life, and that thinking like this allows the Hitokiri to well up from inside of him. He must live his own life, then Ama-Kakeru-Ryu-No-Hirameki will flow freely from him, and he will never submit to the Hitokiri inside of himself. 

So, Kenshin defeats Hiko's attack with the Ama-Kakeru-Ryu-No-Hirameki - however, Hiko "forgot" to mention that the technique kills othe opponent, and thus it's the fate of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu that the student has to kill the master to inherit the succession technique. Hiko falls over, with a very nasty wound on his chest. Evilly enough, this scene is a cliffhanger ending of an ep. 

Kenshin drags Hiko back to his house, and tries to use some medicine on him. 

Next morning, Hiko wakes up before Kenshin, and promptly wakes him with a kick to Kenshin's head, chiding him for sleeping so long. Kenshin is overjoyed to see Hiko alive, and nearly hugs him, but Hiko jumps back at the last second ("I have absolutely no interest in men! Don't even think about it!"). Hiko survived because of the way Kenshin's sword is made - the force of his blow was absorbed by it. 

Still, Kenshin has now inherited the succession technique. As he turns to leave the mountain and go back to Kyoto, Hiko offers him the white mantle - it's passed on as if from father to son - it represents the identity of the inheritor of Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu with each generation, so by rights, it now belongs to Kenshin. However, after Hiko and Kenshin share a quick mental image of Kenshin wearing that mantle, they agree that Hiko should keep it... <g>

However, Kenshin asks one more favor of Hiko - to protect everyone at the Aoiya while Kenshin is off to fight Shishio. Hiko (after grumbling about Kenshin taking way too much advantage of him) agrees. 

Finally, Sano makes it to Kyoto as well. Since he has no clue where the others are, he lets himself get arrested, because that way he knows he's sure to at least find Saitoh - which is true, although Saitoh nearly lets him rot in prison... <g> - especially since Sano might have a stronger attack now, but he *still* has absolutely no defense... (I adore the Sano/Saitoh interaction, of which there is a lot from hereon. Saitoh continues to rile Sano, and usually calls him 'ahou' (idiot), and Sano gets upset every time... <g>)

Saitoh and Sano learn that Shishio's plan is to set fire to Kyoto and assassinate many government officials during the confusion. That leads them to agree on postponing the rest of their fight until after they have managed to stop Shishio. 

Meanwhile, all the Juppongatana have gathered - Anji is the guy on the left with the cloth over his head and the darkened eyes, Usui is the one on the top right with the bandanna over his eyes, and Hoji is the one far right with the slicked-back hair. 

Kamatari, the one above Anji, is a male-to-female crossdresser, who's in love with Shishio - which means that his relationship with Yumi is... frosty would be a nice word to use here. <g>

The other vagually interesting guy is Usui, who is mostly there because he hates Shishio (Shishio blinded him) and is just there for revenge - should Shishio ever let down his guard a little bit Usui is going to kill him. 

After leaving the mountain, Kenshin shows up at the police station to meet Saitoh (who immediately notices that there is something different about Kenshin). Saitoh fills Kenshin in on Shishio's plan to burn down Kyoto, which is supposed to happen at 11:59 that night.  They think that the information is solid, but that there is something strange about it - they think that Shishio has another plan up his sleeve - a secondary target. Since Shishio seems to like to refer to things that have happened before (Kyoto was once set on fire during the Bakumatsu no Douran), they figure that he's probably going to try to invade Tokyo by sea as well. They now have to stop Shishio before he sets sail from Osaka. 

As they start to leave the police station, Sano shows up, and promptly decks Kenshin for leaving for Kyoto without him. 

The three of them take off towards Osaka to stop Shishio (and this ep has such wonderful Saitoh/Sano bickering), but first Kenshin sends off a letter to the Aoiya, telling them if Shishio's plan (the police might be able to stop Shishio's 500 soldiers who will be laying the fires, but they can't stop 500 fires...)

So when Shishio's soldiers try to set fires, they're stopped by the police, and the few fires that they manage to set are promptly doused by the citizen, who have been alterted by the Oniwabanshu. The plan to set Kyoto on fire fails. 

Kenshin, Saitoh and Sano also arrive in time to stop Shishio's ship from setting sail (they use the bombs Katsu gave Sano before leaving Tokyo to blow a hole in the ship). Shishio realizes that he has to get rid of the three of them and challenges them to meet him in his main stronghold, a hidden shrine in the mountains, and they accept to meet him there. 

(after this, Kenshin also tells Saitoh that Sano is more useful than Saitoh thinks. Saitoh: "I know. Don't remind me...")

Kenshin and Sano head back to the Aoiya to wait there until Saitoh takes care of police-related issues. Once they arrive, they're updated on the latest happenings, and as luck would have it, Okina wakes up shortly after they arrive. 

Okina and Misao sit down with Kenshin, and Okina asks Kenshin finish what he couldn't do and kill Aoshi. Okina knows that Kenshin has sworn to never kill again, but he asks him to make an exception in this case, since Kenshin is the only one strong enough to kill Aoshi, and it has to be done, since Aoshi has turned evil, and since death is the only rest a devil can know, killing Aoshi is the only way to give him peace. 

Kenshin replies that Aoshi has not turned completely evil yet, and that he can still be saved, and promises to bring him back to the Aoiya (which makes Misao very happy). 

Saitoh sends a message that next morning, they will set out to confront Shishio. 

During the night, Kenshin sits on the roof of the Aoiya, thinking, and Kaoru joins him. They talk, and Kaoru asks him about the succession technique, and is worried about him. Kenshin tells her that yes, the technique is difficult, and he has to walk a razor's edge between reverting back to Hitokiri if he looses control like he did with Saitoh, and holding back too much if he fears turning into the Hitokiri again too much - so it all depends on his state of mind. 

Just then, what might have been a romantic moment is interrupted by Yahiko, who turns up on the roof as well, hits Kaoru over the head, drags her off and asks her why the heck she isn't talking more advantage of the mood, since she had a chance to kiss Kenshin. Shortly afterwards, Sano, Misao and the rest of the Oniwabanshu all show up on the roof and join the conversation. 

Kenshin asks Yahiko to stay at the Aoiya, because he's gotten so much stronger, and Kenshin needs him to stay and protect everyone. Kenshin also says that with the support of so many friends he has nothing to fear. 

Next morning, Saitoh, Kenshin and Sano set out to Shishio's stronghold, but not before Kenshin promises to eventually go back to Toyko with Kaoru - together. 

When Saitoh, Kenshin and Sano arrive at Shishio's stronghold, Yumi meets them and tells them that they have to fight 3 fights before they can engage Shishio - one fight for each of them. Since the whole complex is a maze, they need to follow Yumi's directions. 

Sano gets to fight Anji, and we get a long flashback that explains why Anji (who's basically a decent guy) ended up fighting for Shishio. Sano wins the fight - well, ok, barely, and only because Anji realizes that fighting for Shishio is wrong. They leave Sano and some medicine behind with Anji, who promises that he'll take care of Sano, and move on. The medicine (that came from Megumi, Kaoru brought it with her to Kyoto) works rather well, and Sano is soon fit enough to go catch up to the others. 

Meanwhile, all of Shishio's men (except for Anji, Usui, Hoji, Soujirou and Shishio himself) have gone to attack the Aoiya - that's about 150 against 7. 

Saitoh gets to fight Usui, and tells the others to meanwhile go on without them, which they do - Sano just picks up the protesting Yumi and drags her off (over her complaints "hey! Only Shishio-sama is allowed to touch me!!"). Alone with Usui, Saitoh doesn't have to bother with Kenshin's wish that nobody should be killed, and thus Usui gets offed, but who cares, he was an annoying git anyway. 

At the Aoiya, the Juppongatana have offered to make it a fight between them and the Aoiya inhabitants. They start fighting. 

The next fight is supposed to be Kenshin against Soujirou, however, as they pass one of the rooms, Kenshin feels someone - Aoshi. So he goes and faces him, doing his best to draw the Oniwabanshu-Aoshi out of the ooh-look-he's-evil-now Aoshi, which mostly consists of fighting Aoshi no with his sword, but with bookshelves (don't ask). Eventually they go sakabatou against kodachi, and Kenshin aquires 2 neats cuts on the left and right of his neck, and Aoshi gets his trenchcoat cut off and shirt cut open (lots of interesting scars on his chest...). They blather on quite a bit (hell, Sano remarks "You two can talk about who's the strongest until you're blue, but you'll never know until you get it on"). They finally get down to actually fighting in earnest, and then Kenshin talks to Aoshi some more.

"I committed many unforgivable crimes as the Hitokiri Battousai, I always thought that when I died, I would pay for all of it. I'll never give up my will to live no matter how much I'm tormented by my guilt, or if I have to answer for my crimes. Aoshi. You said you've sacrificed everything you had for this. It's easy to give up. Anyone can give up anytime they want. Your sword techniques are stronger than before. But your mind has become weak. I completely understand why you want to give your four men, who died to save you, the title of the Strongest warriors. But that's the only reason you can come up with for you to throw away your life. Your weak mind rationalizes your actions, but when you say you're doing it for them, you disgrace their memories and make them responsible."

This actually gets through to him, so Kenshin wins, and Aoshi stays behind, lying on the floor, contemplating - eh, something, I'm sure. 

Kenshin and Sano (together with Yumi) move on to the next fight, Kenshin vs Soujirou. Soujirou is faster and stronger than Kenshin, and thus should be able to kill him without too much effort, however, for some reason, he can't bring himself to do it - mainly, because he can't understand why Kenshin doesn't kill, and why it makes Kenshin happy to protect weak people. Kenshin thinks that Soujirou has just been supressing all the other emotions but happiness, and that he is now slowly beginning to crack. 

We get another neat flashback, this time of Soujirou's childhood. He was an illegimate child, and all his half-sisters and brothers and his stepmother only used him as a pack animal and a servant and abused him pretty badly. He just realized that if he keet smiling, even if in pain, they lost interest in him a lot faster. One night, when he was - 8? I'm guessing - he found a badly bandaged Shishio (apparently quite shortly after Shishio got burnt by the government). He didn't turn him in, but actually brought him bandages and food and let him stay in the barn of his family. 

At first, Soujirou was rather scared of him, but while he realized that Shishio was a bad person, he also realized that he was a very *strong* bad person. Shishio started telling him that his family is only abusing him because he's a weak person - because, the whole world is only about the survival of the fittest: if you're strong, you survive, if you're weak, you die. Shishio then gave Soujirou his wakazashi (a short sword). 

Soujirou kept thinking about what Shishio told him, but realized that he would never be as strong as Shishio, and that he didn't really mind that, so he went to give Shishio his sword back. But about the same time, Soujirou's family figured out that he had been hiding Shishio, and they got *really* upset, and started beating him really badly, and then got ready to kill him. Soujirou grabbed Shishio's sword and killd them all. 

When it was over, Shishio came out from the barn and asked Soujirou if he was crying. Soujirou said 'no', and Shishio took Soujirou with him, and they wandered off. End flashback. 

So Shoujirou thinks that protecting the weak must be wrong, because if Kenshin was right, why didn't he protect him. But still, when he's fighting Kenshin, he feels ... distracted. 

Based on what Soujirou says during the battle, Kenshin seems to have a pretty good idea about what happened to Soujirou, and tells him that he knows Soujirou didn't plan on living the life of a killer, and that if he really wants to, he can start over. Soujirou flashes back again to that night - because, the truth is, even tho he was smiling, he also *was* crying. 

The realization makes him snap, and he attacks Kenshin again, and Kenshin beats him, cutting Soujirou's sword in two. Soujirou realizes that he has to find his own answers - he ends up taking up the life of a Rurouni. 

Have I mentioned yet that the Aoiya people eventually manage to fight off Shishio's guys? They do. Yahiko got somewhat hurt, but everyone survives. Hiko shows up in time to save the day, and fights an utterly cool and amazing fight, and the 2 female Oniwabanshu fall utterly and madly in love with him. The Aoiya gets destroyed, tho. 

Kenshin and Sano move on, and Yumi leads them out into the area that Shishio has chosen as the battlefield between him and Kenshin (it's some kind of petroleum factory? I have no clue, actually, except that there's big stinky buring stuff going on around them, with occasionally flames erupting from huge iron chimney-things). On the way there, Yumi starts consulting a pocket watch quite often... 

Shishio and Hoji are waiting for Kenshin, Sano and Yumi, and once they're there (and Shishio has planted a long kiss on Yumi and promised her that he'd finish the fight in under 15 minutes) the final battle between Shishio and Kenshin begins. The fight takes several eps, and you'll just have to take my word for it that it's very brutal and extremely difficult, etc, etc. Shishio has some nasty surprises up his sleeves, too. 

Shishio beats Kenshin into the ground (several times, actually), and isn't above taking a bite out of Kenshin, either. Shishio also talks a lot about his theory of the strong vs the weak, how the weak are only food for the strong, blah blah. Once Kenshin is on the floor (looking pretty dead), Saitoh shows up, taking a stab at Shishio, once he is down, Sano tries - no luck as well. Once they're all lying around in little heaps, Aoshi shows up and he engages Shishio as well (and loses). However, all of this has bought enough time for Kenshin to somehow stand up again by focussing all his ken-ki, so much so that he ends up with swirling leaves around himself. That apparently wakes up Saitoh and Sano as well.

Yumi is starting to get very worried - the fight has lasted over 15 mins already, and Shishio's body can't release sweat because of the burns that cover his body. If the fight doesn't end very soon, Shisho's bodytemperature is going to become lethal.

Kenshin draws more power from himself by thinking of Kaoru, and keeps hitting Shishio, but Shishio doesn't seem to be horribly affected. Both Kenshin and Sshishio seem to have gone far beyond pain by now. Just as the leaves started mirroring Kenshin's ken-ki, the flames from the surrounding whatever-it-is start mirroring Shishio's ken-ki. Kenshin, at this point, is nearly totally exhaused (it's pretty much a miracle he can still stand).

When Shishio finally is mostly down (and his body is seriously starting to overheat), Yumi jumps in front of him to stop Kenshin from finishing him. As Kenshin hesitates, Shishio stabs Kenshin - stabbing right through Yumi, who is incredibly happy that for the first time, she could make an impact on the outcome of one of Shishio's fights (she's always been jealous of Soujirou and the other Juppongatana). She tells Shishio that she'll wait for him in hell, and then dies in his arms.

Both Kenshin and Shishio are totally exhausted and on the floor, trying to get up. However, Shisho's bodytemperature has now risen so high that his blood is boiling and evaporating, but his ken-ki is so amazing that he still manages to get up. Kenshin, by drawing on memories of Kaoru again, manages the same - he has people who are waiting for him to return. They go at each other one more time, however, Shishio's body finally gives out on him and bursts into flames.

Hoji (who's rather upset with Shishio losing) locks them in the whatever-it-is they're in, and starts to demolish the place so that it'll blow up. Saitoh, even as hurt as he is, uses his sword to get them out, but an explosion cuts off the bridge that he would need to cross to get to safety. So he tells Aoshi and Sano (who's carrying an unconsious Kenshin) to get out of there, and lights up a cigarette, and then walks back into the whatever-it-was, as it starts to totally collapse.

Aoshi and Sano carry Kenshin out. Hoji survived as well - apparently Anji dragged him out. Soujirou, who's also watched the whole thing blow up, says goodbye to Anji and Hoji and takes off towards his life as a Rurouni. Anji turns himself in to the authorities to make up for the things he's done. Hoji goes with him, hoping that he'll have a chance to rant against the government at his trial.

Sano is extremely upset that Saitoh is dead.

By now it's night, and the Aoiya people are still sitting at the destroyed Aoiya, waiting for everyone to return. Finally, they show up - Aoshi and Sano, who's dragging Kenshin. Everybody's happy.

A month passes (during which Megumi travels to Kyoto as well to treat Kenshin's wounds). While Kenshin is lying in bed, the memory of Yumi dying for Shishio seems to remind him of something. The Aoiya is being repaired. Aoshi has taken to not talking to people and to sitting around in a temple and medidating full-time.

One of the ex-Juppongata shows up at the place they're all staying while the Aoiya is being rebuilt, and tells them what happened to the rest of the Juppongatana: most of them made a deal with the government, and are now working for the government in some way. Anji didn't take a government deal, and preferred to stay in jail, using the time to think. Hoji committed suice in jail, after learning that there would be public trial (where he could have tried to clear Shishio's name a little).

We get to see a short view of what is apparently hell, where Shishio, with Yumi on his arm, welcome Hoji, and tells him to not just stand there - after all, there's all of hell to conquer. Hoji happily runs to him, and they take off.

Megumi, while taking care of Kenshin's wounds, tells him that he'll be fine, but if he ever gets hurt like that again...

The Kenshin-gumi finally start planning for their return to Tokyo (Kaoru says she wants them to go home rather soon, since Kyoto has so many bad memories for Kenshin). During the last day there, Kenshin goes off to buy flowers that he puts on a grave, telling Hiko, who shows up as well, that the main reason he hasn't returned to Kyoto for 10 years is because it would force him to remember that he killed the person who is buried in that grave. But now he finally found the courage to return - and before he leaves, he promises whoever it is in that grave that he will visit again.

Hiko and Sano go back to where Shishio's headquaters used to be - Yahiko because he feels a bit left out of what happened, and Sano because he's still thinking about Saitoh - he wanted to surpass him, not only in strength, but in everything (instead of beating him - looks like Sano's growing up...).

Kaoru and Megumi talk, and Megumi tells Kaoru that she wouldn't be surprised if the next time Kenshin has a such a huge fight, he'd die of his injuries. And that's why Kaoru must always believe that Kenshin will always come back to her, because if one wants to live, they will survive, and Kaoru is the only person who can call him back from his battles.

The Kenshin-gumi go and say goodbye to Aoshi (who's meditating again), and Kenshin tells him that they'll meet again some day, and drink sake together. Aoshi: "I don't drink sake. ... But instead of sake, I would drink tea."

Then they take off to Tokyo by train (which means that Sano's sitting in a corner, shaking and being horribly afraid - he's technophobic <g>).

After they have left, one of the Juppongatana turns to Saitoh, who's alive and well, and asks him why he didn't tell them that he's still around. Saitoh didn't want to - after all, one day he still wants to conclude the fight that he started with Kenshin during the Bakumatsu, so he doesn't want them to think of him as a friend.

Hiko has gone back to his mountain, making more clay pots, and drinking sake.

When they all arrive in front of the dojo, Kenshin tells Kaoru that he was so afraid that the Battousai would come to the surface again, and so didn't want any of them involved in his fight, which is why he left them - and now they're all back here together, like that is the way it should be.

Kaoru turns to him, hold out her hand, and says "Kenshin - okaeri nasai [welcome home]". Kenshin takes her hand: "Tadaima de gozaru [I'm home]".

End Kyoto Arc.

Like I said, I'm *not* going to summarize season 3, because it's all just filler eps. However, I'm going to give you a brief overview of the 3rd manga arc, the Jinchuu arc. At this point, you should go read the OAV summary, because you need that knowledge. For now you'll have to live with the 5 sentences below, because I'm going to reread the manga before making a more decent summary - sorry.

Enishi declares vengeance for Tomoe

Kenshin tells everyone of his past

Enishi kills Kaoru

They discover it was just a decoy

Kenshin goes and defeats Enishi and fees Kaoru, but gets very hurt in the process

So - how does the manga end?

Well, somehow, Sano ended up being a wanted criminal, so he went on a 'world tour' to avoid being arrested. He definitly makes it to Mongolia. He also planned to make it to America, but I'm not sure if he ever does (can you imagine Sano as a cowboy? Oh, he'd have loved it...)

Saitoh spends a year stationed somewhere high up in the mountains of Mongolia. I know nothing else.

Yahiko I think becomes an instructor of Kamiya Kasshen Ryu, and also falls in love with Tsubame (a servant-girl his age who works at the Akabeko, the local restaurant where the Kenshin-gumi often eat).

And Kenshin and Kaoru?

Well... look.

His name is Kenji.

And yes, that's short hair on Kenshin.