I've met you somewhere before

This is a slightly Alternate Universe pic, kinda like "What if...". I drew this thinking about this: What if Kenshin had met a lost Souji Okita when he was a child in the middle of a road before the incident that made him met with Hiko? Well, they would probably have become friends for a while, while Kenshin tried to show Okita the right way XD.

Those two character have similar personalities, so I think that if they weren't enemies in war, they would probably become good friends. Based on this idea, I drew this pic for *hakubaikou's contest, "Friends & Enemies ".

My original idea was to draw Saitou and Kenshin after the Jinchuu saga, but I think everyone thought about Saitou. Then I wanted to draw Sanosuke fighting with Kenshin with his zanbatou, but Sanosuke doesn't have that "enemy" tag at all. I ended up drawing Souji Okita with Kenshin, representing the Shinsengumi. Like Kenshin said in the mangá, he and the Shinsengumi shared the same ideals and they only were enemies because of the war context.

Okay, enough of explanation XD. And I know, my Souji Okita is way too bishy... but I think he is good enough for a first attempt. I've never drawn anyone from Shinsengumi before.

Rurouni Kenshin (c) Nobuhiro Watsuki
Media: watercolour and dark brown ink for lineart.

Edit: forgot the link to the contes ---> [link]