Excellent!

Despite the few typo here and there, this is an interesting, introspective story on the Mibu wolf and the former Tenken. The ending is perfect too. Thanks for the good read.

I liked it very much; it's so difficult to find a good story about Soujiro's journeying, and yours is one of the best, in my opinion. Both his and Saitou's characterization were not only accurate, but highlighted their inner thoughts. Then there were the character development, the historical facts, the simple yet engaging narration.

Just a flaw: many typos and disappeared verbs/words. You might want to proof-read every chapter )

Hope you'll write about So again, someday!

Thank you for writing about the interactions between Okita and Saito. Have you got any others similar?

very good.

I'm adding this story to my favorites list! Even the few grammatical errors here and there couldn't stop me from absolutely LOVING this story. There were so many things about it that reeled me in from chapter one - political intrigue, murder mystery, Soujirou's recruitment as a police spy, not to mention the touches of humor. Awesome use of flashbacks - the amount and placement within the story was sheer perfection.

You write an invigorating action adventure while incorporating a common Japanese theme, that of needing an opponent to grow stronger. I loved the way you stuck Soujirou in a morass of moral ambiguity - to protect Seisuke or not, to save him or his wife, and then after that having to make the decision to save Seisuke's children while leaving him to the very unforgiving Japanese justice system. The line: "I will wait with you, even if you don't know that it's forever now. This is what I can do in the end. I'll never be like Shishio and try to rule the world. But I'll never be like Saitou either, always trying to protect it. I don't know what I will do in the end but protecting these three, giving them a home, that enough for now." sums up Soujirou's growth as a character so well.

You're an amazingly good story-teller. Thank you for writing this!

Great fic, amazingly written! I liked the way you switched from present to flashback, very smoothly done.

I liked how you showed why Saito was the way he was. And Soujiro, I thought at first he was going to be recruited by Saito by your ending was much better.

There was a bit of typo errors in the story but that's all. Excellent work!

I really enjoyed reading this.

More than anything else I loved your portrayal of Saitou. He's such an enigmatic character, you kept that up while giving him a lot of depth. The flashback scenes with Okita were fantastic, teh same with the comparisons between Soujiro and Okita. They are rather alike.

I quite liked the ending actually. Much as I'm sure we all wished the Meiji era ended all right, we know in fact that this sort of thing was going on all the time. It really made for quite an engaging and realistic plot. It wasn't completely over the top either, you managed to keep it concise and structured.

I'll be adding this to my faves and C2 list.

Wonderful job.

~Vialana

Okita's eyes stared at the sun. The last embers of light slowly flicked into the thin line of the horizon. Okita smiled and took in a deep breath.

"Aku. Sou. Zan."

This line did it for me. This is absolutely fantastic by the way. I love the way the fic ended. I can't picture another ending that is so fitting to the story as this one.

Great job.

Right. First thing's first. This is definetly going into my favorites. Now. Onto the fic.
I absolutely loved this. Saitou was just so Saitou that you couldn't help but love him. And Soujirou's so angsty and depressing and struggling through his emotions that you couldn't help but love -him-, either. And the three kids... They were adorable. Even if the third one really didn't do much except lie there on her lazy ass like every baby does. XDD
The flashbacks of Okita and Saitou were nifty. Crafty, too, since it made things more confusing for Saitou. Like how Soujirou and Okita were like the same people... I personally though it was crafty.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading this. It was really different. And I loved it. -

It's a wonderful story, though the ending could have benefited from a good round-off. Besides, it was much too melancoly for my taste.
Still, a smashing good work as usual, Istoria-dounin.

Wait a minute! Okita, that was the guy who had tubercholosis, right?
Thinking back (I lost all my scans when my PC died T_T) he really DID look alot like Soujirou!
NICE plot-point!

Aha! After a long period of silence, I, Ghost, has returned to FFN to review your story! Rejoice!
Man, Soujirou and Saitou! This is gonna rock! _

This fic is great. I have also done a wee bit of research on shinsengumi and this is quite accurate. Poor kids . . .

also, a great site for saitou and shinsengumi stuff, including the last chapter of Ruroken:

I really enjoyed reading this story. I liked the fact that you included so much about Okita and made the effort to be historically accurate. The in depth looks at Soujirou and Saitou were good as well. Cheers:)