<p>In the OAV series <em>Rurouni Kenshin: Trust &amp; Betrayal</em>, we get to learn more about Kenshin and his trip from being a simple orphan to Japan's most feared assassin Hittokiri Battousai, and then to the peaceful Ruroni. </p>

<p>As Hittokiri Battousai, he wasn't exactly evil. He had good intentions, and saw assassination as the only way he could help the weak and the downtrodden. Through his interactions with Tomoe, and her final fate, Kenshin begins to realize that he had been doing it all wrong. Helping people by spilling blood was not the way to go. That's when he dons the character of pacifist Ruroni Kenshin, who refuses to kill no matter the provocation or how <em>evil</em> the other person is. </p>

<p>But that conviction is a very hard one to keep, especially for a trained assassin such as Kenshin. He knows that if he slips just once, and kills as a means to an end, he would fall back in to the endless cycle of blood letting that dominated his life as Hitokiri Battousai. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-18T16:36:48.020Z
Did you mean, OVA?
Madara's Ghost
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-18T17:20:25.523Z
OAV and OVA are used interchangeably. Unless one of them has been standardized now.
System Down
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-18T16:14:56.093Z
2013-04-18T16:14:56.093Z
System Down
<p>He took a vow to never kill again, and that forms the core of his being.  During the war his psyche became extremely fragile from killing as he is naturally a kind and good person.  Killing required him to bury those parts of himself.  When the final battle is over he disappears from the world vowing never to kill again.  He heals mostly but he is not stable.  If he kills again there is a chance that his mind would break and he would no longer be able to find the parts of himself that were good.</p>

<p>Kaoru is able to appeal to Kenshin's good side as he loves her, which gives him the strength to fight the killer in his heart.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-17T04:19:13.170Z
2017-09-17T04:19:13.170Z
user35672
<p>In the early Meiji era, after participating in the Bakumatsu war as the assassin "Hitokiri Battousai", Himura Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed.</p>

<p>In the story Kenshin is said to revert to the murderer Hitokiri Battousai he once used to be. Why would killing revert his full personality back in to that of a murderer permanently?</p>

<p>NOTE:
He did sometimes temporarily revert to his murderous self but soon after gets pulled out of it by people such as Kamiya Kaoru.</p>

<rurouni-kenshin>
Why would Himura Kenshin turn back into Hitokiri Battousai?
# Why would Himura Kenshin turn back into Hitokiri Battousai?
Posted by: username_0 on 2013-04-17
In the early Meiji era, after participating in the Bakumatsu war as the assassin "Hitokiri Battousai", Himura Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed.

In the story Kenshin is said to revert to the murderer Hitokiri Battousai he once used to be. Why would killing revert his full personality back in to that of a murderer permanently?

NOTE:
He did sometimes temporarily revert to his murderous self but soon after gets pulled out of it by people such as Kamiya Kaoru.
**Tags:** rurouni-kenshin
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## 2 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2013-04-18. Score: 5 | Accepted answer
In the OAV series *Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal*, we get to learn more about Kenshin and his trip from being a simple orphan to Japan's most feared assassin Hittokiri Battousai, and then to the peaceful Ruroni.

As Hittokiri Battousai, he wasn't exactly evil. He had good intentions, and saw assassination as the only way he could help the weak and the downtrodden. Through his interactions with Tomoe, and her final fate, Kenshin begins to realize that he had been doing it all wrong. Helping people by spilling blood was not the way to go. That's when he dons the character of pacifist Ruroni Kenshin, who refuses to kill no matter the provocation or how *evil* the other person is.

But that conviction is a very hard one to keep, especially for a trained assassin such as Kenshin. He knows that if he slips just once, and kills as a means to an end, he would fall back in to the endless cycle of blood letting that dominated his life as Hitokiri Battousai.
> **Comments:**
> **username_2** (2013-04-18): Did you mean, OVA?  
> **username_1** (2013-04-18): OAV and OVA are used interchangeably. Unless one of them has been standardized now.  
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### Answer by username_3 on 2017-09-17. Score: 0
He took a vow to never kill again, and that forms the core of his being. During the war his psyche became extremely fragile from killing as he is naturally a kind and good person. Killing required him to bury those parts of himself. When the final battle is over he disappears from the world vowing never to kill again. He heals mostly but he is not stable. If he kills again there is a chance that his mind would break and he would no longer be able to find the parts of himself that were good.

Kaoru is able to appeal to Kenshin's good side as he loves her, which gives him the strength to fight the killer in his heart.
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