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1. Chapter 1 :: Deception by BakaBokken [Reviews - 0] (2502 words)

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all affiliated characters and settings are the creative property of Watsuki Nobuhiro and all companies affiliated with its license and translation. The setting and characters are used without permission, at no profit to the author of this fanwork.
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Translations:
-san: an honorific added to names to denote Mr., Mrs., or Miss; in Japan, it is considered polite to use this suffix on a regular basis in conversation with other individuals.
ki: (chi, in Chinese) the aura or spirit of an individual

The “Not-Really-A-Foreword”

I'd originally started writing this story in February of 2004, and completed it a little less than a year later. While I'd had a lot of fun writing it, I was highly unsatisfied with the result, as it was my very first stab at fanfiction. This is the third version of the story, and I've made some pretty major changes with it so far. I might eventually post the first draft on my personal site just to show how different these two versions are. In addition, the new rating for this piece is now raised to R, unlike the original version's PG-13 rating, mostly due to more graphic violence and somewhat stronger language. While I'm still not entirely satisfied (will I ever be? haha), I can say that I'm very much a different writer (and person) than I was when I'd originally written this.

To all new readers, welcome, and I hope I don’t scare you off too quickly! If you have any questions, feel free to ask it in a review or PM on FFnet – either format is fine. My apologies for flooding this humble little site with my horrid fiction, though if you do have something negative to say, please offer suggestions on how I might fix it (since I really do want to try to improve).

Please do leave a comment, and I would appreciate it greatly. Like, a lot. Comments are love.

Many thanks to Nekotsuki, who has so graciously beta-read this story for me and constantly encourages me not to give it up entirely. Much love, Keej.

2. Chapter 2 :: Casualty by BakaBokken [Reviews - 0] (5348 words)

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all affiliated characters and settings are the creative property of Watsuki Nobuhiro and all companies affiliated with its license and translation. The setting and characters are used without permission, at no profit to the author of this fanwork.

Warnings: This fanfiction’s rating has been updated to reflect the violence in this (and later) chapters – it is now rated R. And I mean it.

Still not satisfied with it, but eh. I'm working on it. Really.

Many thanks once more to Nekotsuki for beta-reading this for me. Any remaining mistakes are my own and not hers.

3. Chapter 3 :: To Live by BakaBokken [Reviews - 0] (5502 words)

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all affiliated characters and settings are the creative property of Watsuki Nobuhiro and all companies affiliated with its license and translation. The setting and characters are used without permission, at no profit to the author of this fanwork.

Warnings: graphic violence, language, and potentially disturbing themes throughout the story as a whole.

I’m working on fleshing out some of the older plot points with more historical basis, so please bear with me. Feel free to ask questions via review or FFnet PM on the historical context, as I did try to base as much of this story in fact as I possibly could. As always, comments are very much appreciated by this humble, horrid writer.

As always, many thanks to Nekotsuki for beta-reading. *love*

4. Chapter 4 :: Lull by BakaBokken [Reviews - 0] (3853 words)

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all affiliated characters and settings are the creative property of Watsuki Nobuhiro and all companies affiliated with its license and translation. The setting and characters are used without permission, at no profit to the author of this fanwork.

Warnings: graphic violence, language, and potentially disturbing themes throughout the story as a whole.

If you have any historical or setting-based questions, feel free to ask via PM or review, and I’ll do my best to answer them either in a reply or at the end of the next chapter. A lot of the context for this story is based in fact; I have much more background information on almost everything mentioned in this chapter if you're interested. And I must say that it was really a fun experience to get to see Nara and Kyoto for myself just before I finished writing this chapter. It made me excited to work on it, and it's really neat seeing how accurate of an image Watsuki drew of the cityscape. Ohh how I love Kyoto.

Many thanks again to Nekotsuki for beta-reading.

5. Chapter 5 :: Force by BakaBokken [Reviews - 0] (7640 words)

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all affiliated characters and settings are the creative property of Watsuki Nobuhiro and all companies affiliated with its license and translation. The setting and characters are used without permission, at no profit to the author of this fanwork.

Warnings: graphic violence, language, and potentially disturbing themes throughout the story as a whole. This chapter is one of those chapters. We’ve got some gory action this time around.

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Historical Notes

I had a question on the kokugaku sect in one of the earlier chapters, so I thought I might as well answer it here in case anyone else has the same question. While I was studying abroad, I took a history course that focused on Japanese religion and society, and I ended up doing a presentation on a reading for the class that covered the post-Bakumatsu/early Meiji religious changes that the new government put in place, mostly concerning the Great Promulgation Campaign that legally separated Buddhism from folk religion (which had no name until that point, at which it began being called the Shinto ‘religion’). Folk religion had been heavily reliant on Buddhism for its structure for many centuries, but the main goal of the GPC was to boost nationalism in the form of religion, and Shinto was considered Japan’s only ‘native’ religion, as Buddhism had been imported from China despite the fact that it had been in Japan for centuries at that point. Needless to say, the GPC largely failed, but that’s another story for another time. ;)

I promise I’m getting to a point here, haha. The first part of the reading I had to cover in my presentation did a little background on the Great Promulgation Campaign’s origin, and it turns out that there was this one religious sect during the Bakumatsu that had heavily supported the Ishin Shishi efforts. They were strongly against foreign influence, and they were the first to come up with the notion that Buddhism wasn’t a ‘purely Japanese’ religion. This group came to be called “kokugaku,” “koku” meaning country (implying nationalism) and “gaku” meaning school. While they did not participate outright in the actual war, they were very supportive of the “sonno joi” (“revere the Emperor and expel the barbarians”) motto of the Ishin Shishi. Mind you, I did take plenty of artistic liberties on this idea with this story, but this is the historical aspect that I’d pulled it from. Yes, there was an actual kokugaku sect, and yes, they did support the Ishin Shishi.

I hope that answers your question at least a little, misaoshiru. ;) As for the rest of you, if you also have any contextual questions (historical or otherwise), don’t hesitate to ask them. I’ll do my best to answer.

And on to my own notes. XD; Huge thanks to Nekotsuki, who helped me clean up this chapter quite a lot with her awesome beta-reading skills even while she was horribly busy and sick. ;3 I would also like to thank several people for helping pick out a few things in it that needed fixing after I’d posted it at LiveJournal under friend-lock over a week ago. Thank you to Nekotsuki (again, who also prodded me into finishing this chapter in the first place!), Warg, xZig-zagx, Hitokiri Taijiya, gure, Calger, and Khrysalis. I really appreciated hearing from you guys. -love-

... And I apologize for the teensy font size. D: Does anyone know how to fix that? 

6. Chapter 6 :: Pawn by BakaBokken [Reviews - 0] (8230 words)

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all affiliated characters and settings are the creative property of Watsuki Nobuhiro, and all companies holding the license to its title and distribution. Used without permission for non-profit creative purposes.

There are also a few references to the dramatized characterizations of actual Shinsengumi members used in Shinsengumi Imon Peace Maker. Those are the creative property of Kurono Nanae, Gangan Comics, and all other companies affiliated with the title.

Warnings: language, graphic violence and brutality