Created purely for Hakubaikou's Rurouni Kenshin's fan Art contest.

Sketched this a loooonng time ago, but couldn't continue due to real life..(nearly missing the dateline)

This is actually a part of larger composition but I cropped it as I wanted to focus on their faces. I was imagining how Kenshin would feel when he first held his child.

A gift of life, after all those he'd taken. He must have felt that somehow God had decided he'd paid his dues.

additional comments in relation to the contest theme ' Passages'

I'd always thought that Kenshin had several main ' Passages' - the obvious ones were told in the the story.

To me, the birth of his own child would have been the final important passage to accepting that his life is worth living; and to him of God's way was telling him he's forgiven.

Edit 10/01/09:
Repainted everything [link]

Edit 13/03/09:

wrote me a gift fic [link] inspired by this pic. It's fantastic..putting into words all the feelings I could only imply here. Check it out, pleeeaassee