Tragedy in the Storm. Soujirou's Past.

A smile of innocence or insanity? As Kenshin finishes up with his bandages, Soujirou looks on while tying his sandal's lace. Soujirou again begins disagreeing with Kenshin's philosophy, and suddenly, the past comes back to haunt Soujirou. A while ago, when Soujirou was young, he was adopted by a family that had a rice distribution company. Soujirou was their manservant, transferring the heavy rice bags from the home to the shed. Whenever he did a minor mistake, the family beat him like a dog. One night, Soujirou had heard screams as he was moving the rice bags. Curious to know what was going on, Soujirou visited the scene and found a bandaged assassin killing a small number of policemen. When the murderer was finished, he looked back at Soujirou, ready to kill him since he was a witness.

Soujirou harbors Shishio. A smile came to Soujirou's face when Shishio threatened to kill him. Soujirou himself didn't know what was wrong with him, since he never showed any other emotion except happiness after all the beatings he received. For some reason, Shishio let Soujirou live unless he got him food and bandages. Soujirou did so and hid Shishio in the shed where the rice was stored, the place where he slept as well. Later, when Soujirou brought Shishio his food, the young boy asked the assassin if he's a bad person. Shishio then introduced himself and said that the Meiji Government are the ones who's bad, but he claimed to be a sadistic killer.

Shishio lends Soujirou his sword of murder. Word got around about an assassin being in the area. The brothers of the family asked Soujirou if he knew anything about the killer, since he has been sleeping outside for a while, but Soujirou denied knowing a thing. Still, the brothers could not resist getting Soujirou into trouble. One of the brothers took his sword and sliced Soujirou's rice bag, claiming that was what he was going to do to the assassin, while the other called his father and blamed Soujirou for ruining the rice. A beating was given to Soujirou, and the boy returned to Shishio with a smile on his face and told him what had happened. Shishio thought that Soujirou was just covering up his weakness. A smile is what Soujirou thought would make his "family" not care about him, but Shishio stated that the strong survive, and the weak, like Soujirou, just die. Shishio gave Soujirou a chance to be strong; he lent the boy his sword.

"The world is the survival of the fittest." Later that evening, when the bandages were found to be all gone by the family, the family knew that Soujirou is harboring the wanted assassin. The five call for Soujirou, and when he answers to their call, they all begin to belittle the boy for lying to them. The men of the family had weapons in their possession and chased Soujirou as he ran away from them. Soujirou hid underneath the shed, but he was found by one of the brothers. With the words of Shishio flowing through his mind, Soujirou got the idea it's either kill or be killed. As the brother tried to take Soujirou's lent sword into his hands, Soujirou killed him with it.

Soujirou accompanies Shishio on his quest. A painful scream came out from under the shed. As a storm began to brew, the family thought the scream was that of Soujirou's, but when the corpse of the brother was pushed out from under the shed, they were all left in shock. Soujirou exited from underneath the shed and proceeded to killing the entire family. Shishio stepped out from the shed and took a moment to overlook the scene. Out of the blue, he asked Soujirou if he would like to come with him. Having no where to go, Soujirou accepted the offer. Through the storm they walked. Soujirou asked Shishio if he could become strong. Shishio thought the boy could be so, but told him that only he would be stronger than him.

The battle of Kenshin vs. Soujirou resumes. Soujirou is urged by Yumi in present time to finish the fight. As Kenshin steps onto the field, Soujirou promises he will hurry. With the speed of his Shukuchi, Soujirou begins running all over the place. The speed is so incredible that Kenshin can't predict where his opponent is going to attack from. Somehow, Kenshin manages to block Soujirou's attack twice. During his run, Soujirou questions why Kenshin, one who protects the weak, didn't save him. At last, Kenshin understands what Soujirou's problem is, but there is nothing he can do to stop him from his deadly assault.