Rurouni Kenshin fic: Truce, 6/?

[syolen]

Title: Truce
Chapter: 6/? - A Woman in the Crowd
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Somehow, he couldn’t help but notice the young woman who dared walk the streets of Kyoto alone after dark and wielded only a bokken. It was only a matter of time before their paths crossed.
Warnings: Italics galore.
Disclaimer: Alas, no.
Notes: In which Kaoru paraphrases Thorin

Comments

[kokoronagomu]

you make us feel so sad for kenshin (his self recriminations and stuff. and then relieved that kaoru gave him something else to ponder (kaoru-dono's tea doesn't taste of blood, her acts of friendship, continued acceptance in spite of his 'duties' and identy etc.) and then cause us to laugh at his fear of her wrath. --nicely balanced.

[syolen]

Thank you!
What always gets to me is how incredibly lonely Kenshin must have been during the Bakumatsu, before and after Tomoe. To bear all of this, all on his own... poor, poor man. It's one of the reasons I'm writing this. Kaoru would never let her friend down! I imagine, once she decides you're a good person, it would take a *lot* to change her mind. So Kenshin is safe with her.
Writing the first scene was bringing me down, I needed a bit of humor at the end! XD

Thanks again! :D

[kokoronagomu]

social interaction and acceptance is vital for a preteen and teen, from peers and from all ages. the fact that he'd had very little exposure to any form of interaction from the time his parents and siblings died other than the slave caravan and with hiko his friendships had been nonexistent. one couldn't call hiko an actual 'friend'. his isolation during his time before and during, even after his time with the ishin shishi and his wanderings would have been devastating, especially after his becoming hitokiri. the emotional turmoil for a sensitive person his age... you did portray that rather well in spite of it being so depressing it had to be shown.