I was recently asked to post the artist's comments in this picture: drawn in honor of HakuBaikou.

Loss of a Friend

You were always two steps ahead of me
And I was happy to follow
But now your footprints have vanished before me
For you now walk where I cannot

Now I stand where your path ends
And as I look forward I wonder
Is this where you wanted to go
Or were you planning to go much farther

In my heart I know I will head toward the horizon
As I'm sure you planned to do
I will carry your memory with me forever
And I will walk where you could not

I am pretty sure that every Kenshin fan on dA knows Hakubaikou.
. for her amazing Kenshin fan art, her fan site, and the annual Kenshin contest. I am sure a large percentage of fantasy art lovers know her as well for her breathtaking landscapes and fantasy characters painted in her gallery... so I am sure that a great many of us will feel the same sadness I feel to learn of her death.

She died in a car crash Jan 27, 2009. We are told it was instant and that she felt no pain... no, it is us who feel the pain.

Haku was an inspiration to me for so many reasons. When I first got on dA, I was just an anime fan artist... but Haku showed me that I could take my skills further by drawing realism that still looked like the anime, and because of her beautiful fanart, I was inspired to do the same. Then she started doing other, non-fanart related works, which showed me again that there is more to dA than sharing the love of existing anime. I started working on my own original stuff in part because of her example, and in a way, Manic-goose may not have been with out her. Her annual contests showed me that by doing something every year, it can get big, I hold my coloring contests because I wanted to give colorists something like what Haku gave Kenshin fan artists. In a lot of ways, she inspired me to become the artist I am today, and now she is gone from this world forever. The saddest thing is that I know that I will never have the chance to tell her how much her work helped me to grow now. I was always too embarrassed to tell her so, but now I wish I had, because now I will never have another chance to.

I needed to do something for her, to honor and remember her, and I couldn't think of anything more fitting than a realistic fanart of Kenshin, expressing the sadness I'm sure he would feel to learn of her passing. She was a good friend to Kenshin because she helped keep the fandom alive. The poem is also a way to honor her, for I wrote it immediately after I found out.

Please take a moment of silence now to remember her, and all that she has given us.

One Final Rurouni Kenshin Fan Art Contest
After talking about the loss we suffered with some other fans of Haku, we decided that it would be a good idea to hold one final Rurouni Kenshin fan art contest in her name. I have created an account here on dA for just that purpose. [link] and I am currently looking to see who would be interested in helping out or participating. Please contact me through that account if you are.