Hitokiri Battōsai participates in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi and walks away from the battlefield as the victorious Imperialist forces celebrate. After a decade, he, now calling himself Himura Kenshin, arrives in Tokyo and meets Kamiya Kaoru, the owner of a fencing school left to her by her father. Kaouru's only student is a boy named Myōjin Yahiko. Kenshin soon moves in with them after stopping a group of thugs in the employ of Kanryu Takeda...
