1849 - Shinta is born on June 20 (Gemini). (For my time line purposes, I move his birth year to 1850).

1858 - Shinta is orphaned by cholera and enslaved at age nine. Takani Megumi born in December.

1859 - Shinta is rescued from bandits and adopted by Hiko Seijuro XIII at age ten. Shinta is renamed Kenshin. Kenshin trains under Hiko for four years in the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu sword style.

1860 - Sanosuke is born in February (Aquarius).

1862 - Kamiya Kaoru is born in June (Gemini).

1863 - Kenshin leaves Hiko to join the Choshu Clan. Becomes the shadow assassin for the Ishin Shishi at age 14. Is so powerful in battle, men give him the name Hitokiri Battousai, the Assassin Who Draws the Blade. Kenshin kills Mimawarigumi swordsman Kiyosato Akira and receives the first slash of the cruciform scar.

1864 - Kenshin is attacked by an assassin, wielding two swords on the ends of a chain. Kenshin is able to kill the assassin by turning his own weapon against him. As blood spatters everywhere, Kenshin senses a presence and turns around to see a beautiful girl with deep black eyes and a purple shawl staring at him wordlessly. She passes out from the site of so much blood and Kenshin finds himself stuck with her. Not knowing what else to do, Kenshin takes the girl back to the Kohagiya, the inn where the Ishin Shishi live.

The landlady puts the girl in Kenshin's room for the night (much to his consternation). In the morning, Kenshin finds that the girl, who introduces herself as Yukishiro Tomoe, has started working in the inn, serving breakfast to the men, who tease him mercilessly until he threatens them with his katana. Tomoe's continued presence is a great annoyance to Kenshin who has to share his room with her and endure ribbing from his comrades because of it.

Tomoe questions Kenshin's line of work and makes him think things over. Things come to a head in their relationship when Tomoe walks into the room and finds Kenshin sleeping in the window seat. She attempts to put her shawl around him to keep him warm, but ends up with his katana at her throat when she startles him awake. Kenshin apologizes profusely to Tomoe and begs her to leave. Tomoe decides to stay and become a sheath to Kenshin's madness. Afterward, the two start to grow closer. Tomoe waits for Kenshin to return after his "assignments" and acts as a soothing presence for his embattled mind.

However, things are afoot. After the Ikedaya Massacre, Kenshin and Tomoe flee Kyoto in July and live in Otsu for five months. During their tenure there as apothecaries and farmers, they fall in love and live together peacefully. In December the peace is shattered when Tomoe's little brother, Enishi shows up and asks Tomoe to come home with him. He tells her that he is working with the Yaminobu, a band of ninjas that she joined to kill Kenshin. Tomoe tries to get Enishi to return to Edo, but instead he returns to the Yaminobu.

Kenshin and Tomoe talk things over. Tomoe tells Kenshin about Enishi and her fiance and reveals that she came to Kyoto to seek vengeance for his death. Kenshin tells Tomoe that she woke him up and made him realize the horror of his life as an assassin. Kenshin vows that once the war is over, he will stop killing. After spending one more night with her husband, Tomoe sets out to find the Yaminobu and try to call the whole thing off. Meanwhile, Tatsumi, the leader of the Yaminobu, sends Enishi back to the house with a letter of challenge (really a ransom note).

Upon discovering that Tomoe has been taken hostage, Kenshin is enraged. He sets out into the Binding Forest to get her back. He finds out quickly that this is no ordinary forest. It has strong magnetic fields that smother his ability to sense ki. Due to this, Kenshin is unable to fight at full strength and is critically wounded by the ninjas he fights. In addition to this, they set off bombs, which rob him of his sight and hearing. Kenshin gets to the shack where Tatsumi is holding Tomoe, he is in bad shape. He and Tatsumi struggle, but Kenshin has a very difficult time against the Yaminobu leader. In the shack, Tomoe wakes up and sees them fighting. She decides not to make the same mistake with Kenshin that she did with Kiyosato. As Kenshin and Tatsumi rush at each other for a final clash, Tomoe throws herself between them and is slashed nearly in half by the down swing of Kenshin's katana. Tomoe's tanto flies from her hand and etches the second slash of the cruciform scar on Kenshin's left cheek. Kenshin grieves bitterly for Tomoe and later on reads her diary, which reveals his role as the killer of her fiance. Because of this, Kenshin vows to stop killing as soon as the war is over.

1865 - Kenshin quits assassination and becomes a free-striking swordsman for the Ishin Shishi at age 16.

1869 - Kenshin leaves after the battle of Toba Fushimi as the Meiji Jidai starts, takes up the Sakabatou and becomes a wanderer at age 19 and wanders throughout Japan for the next ten years. Captain Sagara Sozo and the Sekihoutai are disbanded and killed, leaving a disillusioned young Sagara Sanosuke alone. Sanosuke becomes a fight merchant at age nine. Myoujin Yahiko is born in August (Leo).

1878 - Kenshin (29-30), Kaoru (16-17), Yahiko (10-11), Sano (19-20) and Megumi (22-23) meet and become friends. Tokyo, Kyoto and Jinchuu arcs take place over a period of nine months. Sanosuke flees Japan. Megumi returns to Aizu. Kenshin remains with Kaoru at the dojo.

1879 - Kenshin and Kaoru marry.

1880 - Kenji is born to Kenshin and Kaoru.

1882 - Kenshin gives Yahiko the Sakabatou for his genpuku (15th birthday) in August.

1883 - In May, the group (sans Sano) gather for a reunion picnic at Mt. Ueno. This is in the Haru ni Sakura mini-chapter in Watskuki-sensei's Kenshin Kaden art book, which is the happy ending of the Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story.

A note about character ages. In Japan up until 1902, a person was counted as one year old at their birth. Thus, the characters of Rurouni Kenshin are counted a year older in Japanese culture than they would be to us. In Western culture, Kaoru would be 15 going on 16, Yahiko nine going on ten, Kenshin 28 going on 29. As to why Kenshin said he was 28 instead of 29; this is likely because he didn't know when his birthday was, because the Japanese didn't often keep track of people's exact birthdays until after the Westernization.

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