Himura doubts her statement but nevertheless asks her to come and live with him for real and not just as an act. After Katsura leaves, Tomoe states that she has no where else to go. Before Katsura also goes into hiding, he arranges for Kenshin and Tomoe to hide in the village of Otsu, outside Kyoto, asking Tomoe to look after Himura and pretend to act as husband and wife so that Himura would not be suspected.
When the Shinsengumi track them down and arrive at their hideout, Himura and Tomoe manage to escape along with the other revolutionaries. As reinforcements from both sides arrived, Katsura is said to be safe, Himura and the Choshu are forced to withdraw from the area. When Katsura is informed of the odd relationship, he visits Tomoe, and asks that whatever she intends, she does not stop Himura from performing his role in the revolution.ĭuring the Ikedaya incident (1864), an armed encounter between the shishi which includes masterless samurai (rōnin) formally employed by the Chōshū and Tosa clans, and the Shinsengumi, the Bakufu's special police force at the Ikedaya Inn in Sanjō-Kawaramachi, Kyoto, Himura rushes to the site to protect the Choshu and rescue Katsura who is believed to be attending a meeting there but is delayed by the Shinsengumi captain Okita Sōji. Although remaining elusive, Himura accepts and co-exists with her as she serves him food during the day reminding him to finish his food, helping him to wash the blood off his hands when he returns from his slaughters, keeping watch over him during the day so that he can sleep. He is stunned particularly when she questions and twists his philosophy on who he chooses to kill.ĭespite their silent nature, Himura and Tomoe seem to bond. The next morning, Tomoe decides to stay and work at the inn, seemingly grateful that Himura had protected and looked after her, and he is unable to persuade her to leave. In the aftermath, Himura finds a shocked Tomoe watching him, drenched in the blood of the assassin he has just killed, and takes her back to his hideout, an inn for Choshu revolutionaries. After leaving the establishment, Himura is attacked by an unknown assassin but manages to slay him. One evening, as Himura is out having a drink on his own, he steps in to intervene with supposed members of the revolution who demand to be treated as heroes by a woman named Yukishiro Tomoe who had come in to drink alone. Katsura realises that Himura is still pure at heart which is why the killings still make him uneasy. Himura had stated that he had not killed anyone at that time but that he could kill provided that the new age they believe in could bring about a peace of mind to all. Katsura recalls the day Himura was recruited. It is Katsura who later notices that Himura has a scar on his face, and from his response, that despite having killed 100 people Himura is still uncomfortable with killing people. In contrast to the cold demeanor with which he kills the person, as he walks away, Himura is clearly disturbed. He joins the Chōshū clan and soon works for their leader, Katsura Kogorō, as an assassin alongside Iizuka, the examiner of executions.ĭuring one of the assassinations, a member of the Kyoto watch refuses to die, which results in Himura receiving a cut on his face. During the Bakumatsu in Kyoto, and a carnage of killings, Himura Kenshin, also called Hitokiri Battosai is a political assassin, who is part of the revolution that is poised to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate and which eventually leads to the Meiji Restoration.