Ten years have passed into the Meiji era, and in the night, a man with red hair and scars on his left cheek walks through downtown Tokyo. A voice calls from behind him to stop. It is a young woman running after him with a bokutou. Calling him Hitokiri Battousai, she says that she has finally found him and she will put a stop to his serial killings. She charges, and he dodges, but he lands on an unstable fence and falls in a heap at her feet. As the girl is wondering if this is really the legendary Hitokiri, he tells her that he is a rurouni (wanderer). She takes his sword and is surprised to see that it has a reversed blade (the sharp and dull sides of the sword are reversed)! He says that he couldn't kill anyone with that sword. The girl is eying it suspiciously when they are interrupted by a police whistle. Exclaiming that it must be Hitokiri Battousai, she runs off int he direction of the noise. The rurouni stumbles to catch his sword that the girl dropped, and shows his real skill by catching it perfectly with the sheath.  

     Meanwhile, a huge masked man is killing policemen, while laughing at them for being so weak. One policeman is trembling in fear of being his next victim, when the girl from before leaps above him and attacks the serial killer. However her wooden sword proves to be a disadvantage and she takes a cut to the shoulder and her bokutou is broken in half. As she is about to be slashed through, the rurouni arrives just in time to whisk her out of the danger. "Rurouni..." she gasps. The masked man, surveying the scene, leaves threatening that he is Hitokiri Battousai of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. The girl gets up to stop him but is held back by the rurouni. He says that since they know what school he is from they can find him later. The girl cries out in indignance that Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is *her* school and he is disgracing her by committing these crimes in her school's name. She then faints in the rurouni's arms, who smiles at her strong spirit.  

     The girl, Kaoru (for that is her name), wakes up hte next morning in her own bed. She touches her injured shoulder, which has been bandaged, and remembers the rurouni who saved her the past night. Kaoru slides open the screen door and sees the rurouni making breakfast for her, withe the "help" of Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan, the little granddaughters of Doctor Genzai, Kaoru's old family friend. Kaoru, tasting the food, says that it is slightly better than her own cooking. While the rurouni is playing with Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan, Kaoru thinks that he is different from other swordsmen. Kaoru invites the rurouni to stay with her at the dojo. The rurouni is surprised that she would take in a stranger. However, Kaoru replies that everyone has something in their past that they would not like people to know and asks him is that not the reason he became a rurouni. The rurouni is touched by her wisdom.  

     Kaoru shows him the dojo, and tells him about the school. She explains that Kamiya Kasshin Ryu goal is to improve oneself and to protect others instead of killing them. Kaoru says that Battousai is dirtying her school's name with the killings and she can not forgive him for it.Some of Kaoru's students come, and she is overjoyed that they have come to help her defeat Battousai. However, they tell her that they are quitting and apologize. Kaoru is shocked, and watches them sadly as they leave. From behind her, the rurouni watches thoughtfully.  

     Sadly, Kaoru takes a bath. She cries softly to herself. From outside, Suzume, who is watching her through the window, tells the rurouni that she must be crying. Inside, Kaoru tells herself to cheer up and dunks herself in the water. The rurouni, who is keeping the fire going outside to heat the bath water, becomes concerned and calls out to Kaoru, asking if she is all right. Upon hearing no response, he becomes greatly alarmed that she may be trying to commit suicied and rushes into the bath. As he comes running through the door, Kaoru lifts her head from the water to see the rurouni's shocked expression.  

     As punishment, Kaoru locks the rurouni in the shed for the night. After she reprimands him for bursting in on her in the bath, he asks her if she remembers a student who was left-handed and had a dislocated right thumb. Kaoru becomes furious at his suggestion that the killer was a student of her school. She dismisses it saying that no one who practices Kamiya Kasshin Ryu would kill people, unlike Battousai who was born a killer. She says that she will not forgive him for it and she will fight for her father's honor. The rurouni replies that he thinks that her father would not want her to die protecting his honor; he would only want her to be happy. Kaoru, feeling that the rurouni is getting a little too personal, gets angry and leaves.  

     Kaoru goes to bed, but the rurouni's words have touched her heart. She goes back to the shed to let him out. After apologizing, she becomes angry that the rurouni is not responding. Kaoru opens the door and is surprised to see no one there. The rurouni has left. She sighs wistfully and regrets that she did not ask him his name.  

     Meanwhile, the killer, whose real name is Hiruma Gohei, is with his men and they remark how skilled he is even with his left hand. Gohei tells them that they will attack the dojo that night. Gohei slashes through a wooden practice post and suddenly there is a flashback to the time when Gohei slashes a student in the Kamiya dojo. Kaoru's father comes and Gohei tells him that swords are meant as weapons and he won't be a student of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu anymore. Gohei attacks Kaoru's father, but is easily defeated when Kaoru's father strikes the hand with which Gohei was holding his sword. As Kaoru's father tells him to leave the dojo and Gohei is cursing Kaoru's father for breaking his thumb so that he will never be able to hold a sword again, Gohei sees little Kaoru who is watching from the door and smiles evilly. (End of flashback.)  

     Kaoru opens her eyes from the terrible memory. She remembers that there *was* as student who had a dislocated right thumb: Hiruma Gohei who had been expelled from the school ten years ago. She gets up and finds his name, which has been crossed out, in a book containing the names of her father's students. Almost in response, the door slides open, and it is Gohei and his men. Kaoru quickly grabs a bokutou and tries to defend herself, but her wooden sword is broken again and she defeated. Gohei, holding her by the front of her top, tells her that by killing her and destroying the dojo, he will have completed his revenge. Kaoru gasps that a sword is meant to protect people, and Gohei laughs at her.  

     Then one of Gohei's men appear at the door. Gohei asks him why he is here, but all Nishiwaki says is "strong" and falls. As he collapses, he reveals the rurouni who is behind him. Gohei recognizes him from the night before and says that he must be with the girl and the non-killing thing and laughs. However, the rurouni says no. (There are flashbacks of Battousai.) A sword is a weapon. Kenjutsu techniques are meant to kill. This is its true nature. Then he smiles and says that, however, he likes Kaoru's way better than the way things really are.  

     Gohei tells his men to kill him. The rurouni easily defeats all of them. The terrified men remark that he must be a magician. Kaoru thinks to herself that it is because of his amazing speed and how he reads his opponents moves before they can attack. Gohei recognizes the red hair and the scars on the rurouni's face. The rurouni remarks that Hitokiri Battousai's techniques are not that of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu nor the style of Gohei; the style is called Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu and it is known for its godlike speed and as the ultimate assassin's technique. Kaoru realizes that the rurouni is really Hitokiri Battousai. Gohei attacks the rurouni, saying that there can be only one Battousai, but the rurouni leaps up and smashes him to the ground.  

     As he turns to leave, he apologizes to Kaoru for not telling her who he was. He opens the door when Kaoru stops him. She tells him that the mess at the dojo is his fault and he must stay to help her rebuild the dojo. The rurouni replies that the presence of the real Battousai will put her in danger and it is better if he leaves. Kaoru starts to say that it is not Battousai she wants, it is the rurouni, when she stops herself, afraid that she has said too much. Abruptly she turns around and asks him his real name. After a pause he says that his name is Himura Kenshin. Fiercely Kaoru tells him to go ahead and leave, Kenshin. In response, the door slides shut. Kaoru hangs her head with a sigh.  

     However Kenshin has not left. "I'm a little tired of wandering," he tells her. With obvious surprise and foy, Kaoru turns around to see him standing at the door. Kenshin reminds her that he is a rurouni and he does not know when he has to leave. As he walks toward her smiling, he warns her that his cooking is not very good, which Kaoru dismisses by saying that it is better than hers. He also reminds her that he may accidentally walk in her in the bath again. Kaoru says not to worry and demonstrates how she will beat him up if he does. Unfortunately, Kenshin does not dodge her punch and goes down going "oro," much to Kaoru's distress.  

     Later Doctor Genzai is treating Kenshin's injury as Ayame and Suzume tease him for being such a wimp. Kaoru looks contentedly at the sky. Kaoru's narration: And now we have a new person staying at the dojo.

What's with Kenshin's sword? 

Kenshin's sword is different from a normal sword. It is called a sakabatou and it has a reversed blade, meaning that the sharp and dull sides of the sword are on the "wrong" side. Because of this special sword, Kenshin cannot kill anyone with it even when using the full power of his techniques (though he can still knock people unconscious, dislocate their bones, etc.)  
Kenshin's sakabatou symbolizes (and enables Kenshin to keep) his vow to not kill. This vow is very significant throughout the series and it could be thought of, in a way, as the whole point of the story. This vow of Kenshin's is also the fine line between the rurouni and the hitokiri (a political assassin during the Bakumatsu) side of Kenshin (which you will find more about later.) 

Is this a romantic story? 

Sometimes. This series doesn't focus that much on Kenshin and Kaoru's romance (i.e. like in Fushigi Yuugi), obviously because they never really tell each other directly that they love each other. However, there are some fuzzy moments before the series ends and one of the main reasons I even watch this show is for Kenshin and Kaoru.  

What's the Bakumatsu? 

It was a time of political upheavals in Kyoto before the Meiji Restoration.