A saga of revolution and warfare set in nineteenth-century Kyoto is centered on the bakumatsu, a chaotic and bloody period in Japan's history which would result in the disbanding of the samurai culture.

Three months have passed since the Ikedaya Incident that crushed the anti-shogunate rebellion and propelled the Shinsengumi, Kyoto's now official police, into history as Kyoto's premium peacekeeping force. But there is no rest for the peaceful, including one unexpected threat to the Shinsengumi: Sakamoto Ryouma, the cowboy samurai who fights with guns instead of swords.

Time passes, but not all wounds are healed. Tetsu's finally getting taller, and his sword skills are improving exponentially, but the Shinsengumi members face newer and greater challenges every day. And while Sakamoto Ryoma continues his own crusade to change Japan for the better, Suzu's scheme for revenge on Tetsu takes a tragic twist.

"When childhood innocence gives way to a blinding thirst for revenge, is gratifying bloodlust worth the price of one's humanity?

Japan, 1864. The Tokugawa shogunate is locked in a bitter battle with Choshu rebels who desire to overthrow the shogunate and restore the emperor to power. The rebels' chief weapon is Yotoko Mizuki, a seventeen-year-old assassin with the ominous nickname of Battosai, or Man Killer. Masquerading for years as a boy, Mizuki longs for a normal, peaceful life as a girl. When she abandons her former life and mysteriously shows up in Kyoto, the killing begins anew. But a chance encounter with three ronin lead her to an unexpected match with the genius swordsman, Okita Souji, captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi. When Souji finds that his greatest enemy is a woman, swords clash and sparks fly. Though bested by her, Souji is unexpectedly attracted to Mizuki. Their relationship grows closer by the day, and the two eventually realize they are in love. But her former leader, Toshimaru Yoshida, has other plans for the young woman. Determined to get her back at any cost, Yoshida heads to Kyoto and a violent confrontation with Mizuki and the Shinsengumi, pitting the two lovers against each other in a dangerous game of lies and accusations. Can Souji protect Mizuki from the demons of her past, or will she be lost to him forever?

With Japan in the midst of a bloody revolution, an elite cadre of samurai swordsmen known as the Shinsengumi must protect the embattled city of Kyoto. Tetsunosuke Ichimura has spent his life dreaming of working at the Shinsengumi, and his wish has recently been fulfilled. As a page for Vice-Commander Hijikata Toshizo, he is privy to a wealth of secrets and is among Japan's highest ranking officials, some of whom are actual historical figures. When a strange gun-toting swordsman, Ryoma Sakamoto, recognizes Tetsunosuke and his brother as the sons of someone he calls the "Peacemaker," trouble brews and the other Shinsengumi run the outsider out of town. Full of action, this sword-fighting and gun-toting story is centered on the bakumatsu, a chaotic and bloody time of revolution that would ultimately result in the disbanding of the samurai and the opening up and Westernization of Japan. Fifteen-year-old Tetsu must witness the war around him, and perhaps gain some amount of wisdom about the samurai.