The Wanderer
Kenshin's transformation from the soulless killer Battousai and into the wanderer we meet in the first volume is a long and painful process which I will discuss in detail in Paths. Suffice it to say that Kenshin, at 28 years old and having left the Ishin Shishi ten years before has, for some reasons which are not at once revealed, pledged to never kill again. He has chosen to wander through the land as a simple vagabond, without any belongings or attachments.
However, what happened within that ten-year period was only a part of his redemption, and his change from Battousai to plain old Kenshin was half-hearted and incomplete. His resolution and determination would be put to the test many times over, and it would all start in a small town in Tokyo.
His arrival in Tokyo was marred by a case of not-so-mistaken identity, when a young girl, Kamiya Kaoru, hit him with a bokutou and accused him of being the killer Hitokiri Battousai, who was attacking people in the name of her kenjutsu dojo, destroying her father's legacy. However, Kenshin's refusal to fight back, his reversed-edged sword, and the pitiful ease with which he had been struck down made Kaoru doubt her earlier assumption. As they were talking, the police whistle blew, signalling another attack by the so-called "Battousai," and both Kaoru and vagabond took off running in its direction.
Due to an interesting series of events, it was revealed that the pretender was a crook who, along with his brother, was trying to take Kaoru's land away. At the same time, Kenshin's identity as THE Hitokiri Battousai was also given away. To his surprise, instead of being frightened of him, or of being repulsed (after all, the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu upheld the ideal of the sword that protects life), Kaoru invited him to stay on as Himura Kenshin, to live in her dojo and help out.
While he was staying with Kaoru, however, his quest for inner peace got interrupted several times. As the area's resident super!swordsman, Kenshin often got dragged into (or invited by the police chief) fighting -- usually for the sake of others. Eventually, he was persuaded to return to Kyoto, the former location of Hitokiri Battousai's (in)famous work. Confronted by his past, his true journey to seek redemption began in earnest.