Disclaimer: The canon characters from the "Rurouni Kenshin" belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki, and all associated concepts.
Kamiya Kaoru bled to protect the honor of her family sword style, Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. As much as he disapproved of her recklessness, he felt sorry for her. Although eleven years into Meiji, his shadow still can cause confusion and terror. She defended her actions with fire in her eyes. She said someone like him wouldn't be able to understand. After all, he was a wanderer. A bystander. Only a passerby.
By fate, he ran into her again. She thanked him for protecting her and apologized. She was a strange amalgam of sweetness and fierceness, a total contradiction. She didn't care about anyone's past, and he was taken aback when she offered him a place to stay. A knot, so strange, settled in the pit of his stomach.
"We all have things in the past we don't want to talk about.
You do, don't you?
That's why you are a rurouni."
The young woman seemed so perceptive, and he knew right there she would cause him a lot. But as he turned his back, his realization came in. He would protect her with all his might.