BITCH I’M FABULOUS!

kateviardo:

THE JOURNEY BEGINS » A Rurouni Kenshin Graphics Challenge

2 - Favorite female character.

Kamiya Kaoru (and her memorable mometns).

“Tomoe…”

“I’m…so sorry…my dear.”

"I came for you; I came back home."
"I welcome you, Shinta."

filledwithgold:

*breathes*

On an aesthetic level, I love the way this video was created and rendered, using still black and white images of the manga and somehow giving it movement, as the images all fade and flow into one another, like reflections on water when they are tenderly broken by the ripples created by gently falling raindrops.

And yet on a deeper level… I am reminded of everything I had ever loved about their story, and everything they had inspired and taught me.

He left her behind to protect her, and she left everything behind to follow him.  And when she couldn’t fight the battles by his side, she still fought hard to win the battles that she could.  And she waited — so patiently waited, with complete trust and complete faith — for him to return to her.  And it is that faith, that belief, that promise to return home which kept him fighting and prevented him from succumbing to death, because he knew that he couldn’t possibly die… not when he knew that he couldn’t leave her alone and broken, not when he knew he had to see her smile again.  For him, always, always for him.

And despite the demon he had convinced himself he was, she saw in him the good man he was trying to be, and even when he was willing to succumb to the seductive call of the bloodthirsty monster still clawing inside him, to kill once more in order to save her life… she was the one who determinedly saved him from himself.

She was the epitome of everything he had fought for when he brought about this era: hope, life, redemption, home, love.  She wielded the Sword That Protects Life, and it was the idealistic joke that she somehow recreated into truth, a way of life in which he could finally walk in peace. 

And he was the fulfillment of everything she had ever believed in, all the ideals she never thought could ever be brought into reality.  Here, now, with her, was a man who was legendary not only because of his skill with his sword, but because of his impossibly strong heart, in which he would always, always use his strength to fight for those who are weak, for the people in this era which he had sacrificed everything for.

And she was determined to stay by his side, because for as long as he was protecting the happiness of the people, she would be there to protect his.

But when I feel like giving up
You’re reminding me
That we all fall down sometimes
And when I hit the ground
You lift me up when I am weak
Your arms wrap around me
Your love catches me so I’m letting go