Kenshin Himura, also known throughout the anime as Hitokiri Battousai (Battousai the Manslayer) or Himura the Battousai is the main character of the anime series Rurouni Kenshin. His original name was Shinta. His parents died of cholera when he was very young and as a result, was adopted by three slave women in a traveling slave wagon. Soon after meeting them, bandits had raided the convoy and killed his three new guardians and where about to kill him when Seijeru Hiko killed the bandits. Hiko soon adopted the child and because Shinta was not a name fitted for a swordman, he renamed him Kenshin, meaning "Heart of Sword," took him under his wing and taught him the Hiten Mitsuruugi Ryu.
The next time we see Kenshin is 10 years later as he has become a wanderer who helps out anyone in need who is suffering right before his eyes. Those long 10 years have taken him from Kyoto, all over Japan to where we find him in episode one of the anime, in Tokyo, still keeping his vow never to kill again. It is here where he meets Kaoru Kamiya and his whole life begins to change once again.

Ryo Narushima - a talented highschooler who was about to enter Tokyo University, the most prestigious university in Japan, killed his parents before his successful life could begin. The perfect family and perfect life seemed to devour the young boy's restless soul. In a beautiful sunny afternoon when cicadas were singing, he stabbed his father and mother to death with a short knife repeatedly before he came to his senses.