This looks interesting so far. I'm off to read the next chapter!

Wow, what a twist at the end. It's hard to say it's a bad ending or that it's unsatisfying, the truth is that the ending fits and it's perfect for the rest of the story, so I guess unexpected is the correct word to use. I think the views on Society that you've portrayed Kenshin having fits really well. As always a story written by you, it's written well. Excellent work! :D

this is the funniest thing i've ever read! and the reason: brutal truth! i love this story so much, i love people like him, they know reality-and you too since you the author*sorry i'm a lil dense for a couple seconds sometimes* ok now i must go read all of the other chapters after this one!

well... this story didn't end as I had thought... I accually didn't thought he would kill her. Maybe taht theyy had lost the case, but never that he would end her life.

but still the story gave a lot of things to think of..

hope to hear from you soon...

Michika-chan

i dont really get why Kenshin had to kill her,but i guess the ending was okay.i guess i would have liked it better if she wasn't killed,but thats just other than that, the rest of the story rocked!This story is so much better than most..keep on writing!

For the life of me, I can't decide if I love it or hate it. Maybe it's a bit of both and that ending totally caught me off guard, so I'm still processing that...my brain hurts now. This is a somewhat pointless review because due to my divided feelings, I can't give you an assessment of what i thought of it.

Whoa. So was Kaoru the one Kenshin had to kill? If so, he really is heartless, even (especially)if she weren't. If she weren't,then he was just taking the easy way out, making him look the weakest, in my eyes. Is there any limit to killing? It is true, he is a killer, but does that mean killing is his life? Read more dude!

It was a very dark story that really sucked me in. Even though Kenshin is obviously a very depressing character in the begininng, I really didn't think he'd be so... cruel (is that the right word?)in the end, especially when Kaoru seemed to have a very positive effect on him. Why did he say that last line, "I don't want this to end like this", to give her some sort of closure before he killed her?

In the end, I really think Kenshin wasn't any better than the people he was complaining about, because he was just part of an endless cycle: Kill, Get paid, Sleep, and Kill.

It was a very good story, but i have a feeling I didn't get the central idea, so I'll read the other reviews to see if I got close.

that was such a great story the ending fit the plot completely finnally something without a happy ending.

QUESTION: I love the song "The Taste of Ink" by The Used. if this is not in some way a long song-fic to that song, then what makes the title fitting to the story? (I MUST KNOW!)

-ja ne!

I quote taste of freedom on everything they reviewed upon; complex... fascinating... and strangely, an end which fit.

Oh man, very fitting to include "The Waste Land" in here. It's T.S. Eliot's most famous work and mistanthropes and literary buffs alike would like it. So ha.

By far one of the most interesting ends to a story I've ever read. Your story made me question society. The world we live in. We live with rules, rules that are supposed to dictate who we should be. There is always that one person that stands out, for example Kenshin in our society. That person strives to see beyond what we are and question human nature. Is there any time when we can truly say we're free? We get to be free under laws, we can say what we want but to insult the president is against the law. We can be where ever we want to be but there are always limits. I'm not a goth, I'm not a speech writer and I'm just a teenager getting out of high school. But is so wrong to question life, a story like yours would probably be meet as unsuitable but then what is? Just anything that fits under the rules of society.

i'm sorry, what? he just killed her? that's...pretty random. did not see that coming. hmm...interesting...

i had planned to review anyways, were you still in high school whilest writing this? your views just sound very familiar to me. i like your suggestions for reading and listening material, always looking for new stuff (although i did know of the waste land...one point for me...)

yeah, don't know where this review is going. maybe i should actually critique!

it's unusual to have kenshin so very...black in mindset, i think you managed to get it to work, but it added an element of stress to MAKE it work. the whole impolite-ness especially. oh well. all in all, a very good story. now, not one of the best, but one of the ones that make you think. thank you for writing it.

Dea-chan

That was a really good story. Most of the stories on here show Kenshin as a so good you want to hit him sort of way, but I loved that Kenshin was actually more true to real life in here. This story is more true to life than most of the other ones I have read. I love how everything was played out in the story as well. Great writing.

I've just completed reading this story from beginning to end and I must say that I am indeed impressed.

I enjoyed your characterization of Kenshin emensly. Too many stories focus on the happy bubbly rurouni we almost always see him as. I liked the idea of him actually showing signs of his inner turmoil. That his life as the battousai, in whatever era, was not all cakes and roses.

You actually had a theme, upon which I commend you. I know the world is a superficial uncaring place in a lot of ways, and this fic certainly stressed their prevelence. The idea that we build our lives around nothing substantial is true is a disturbing thought. Even more so is that no one seems to notice, and those that do, inevitably get left behind. While this was a depressing view on the world, it held an element of truth, one which has taken me years to see.

The end was well thought out and well excecuted (pardon the pun). It was appropriate. They, like so many others, build their case on nothing. A nice parralel.

On a final note, keep writing. In a fandom which is filled with 95% fluff, we need to remeber all the angst which constantly permeates the canon. Good job.

-Holly