Traveling the streets of
Tokyo is a red-haired, cross-shape scar bearing, wandering
samurai, armed with a sword. A young woman with a bokken
in hand stops him, calling him Battousai. The rurouni looks
questioned and is taken by shock as the girl charges forward
at him. With a leap to evade, he crashes, making the the
girl wonder if she has the right person. The rurouni makes
it clear that he is no Hitokiri Battousai the girl is looking
after. To prove that he's not, the rurouni allows the to
take a look at his sword. The blade is on the wrong side.
Before any more interaction is made, the police whistle
is heard and the young woman runs off.
A large man with a sword
brutally kills a few policemen. The girl with the bokken
enters the scene just in time to catch "Battousai".
However, as she enters combat with the killer, her arm is
slashed. "Battousai" begins to corner the girl
up against a wall. When it looks like she's about to be
the next one slain, the rurouni rushes in and lifts the
young woman into his arms, just before "Battousai"
brings down his sword. The rurouni, however, shortly falls
onto his knees, believing he has dislocated his pelvis.
"Battousai" takes the opportunity to run away.
Before he completely vanishes, he mentions that he is the
Hitokiri Battousai of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu. The girl
is just about ready to follow him, but the rurouni stops
her by pulling on her ponytail. Instead of going after "Battousai",
the rurouni again picks the young woman up and runs off
in another direction.
The rurouni winds up at the
Kamiya Dojo, the girl's home. There, Kaoru, the assistant
master and daughter of the founder of the school, explains
to the rurouni about her situation. "Battousai"
has been running around, ruining the sword style that is
suppose to protect life. Since his appearance, many students
of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu have quit, fearing that they
will be belittled by the community for learning a sword
style used by a killer. Kaoru is desperate to stop "Battousai"
at any costs, even if it means her life. The rurouni remains
quiet while Kaoru talks. Meanwhile, a late middle-aged man
named Kihei bandages Kaoru's arm up. The rurouni understands
how Kaoru must feel, but he steps out of the dojo, mentioning
that Kaoru's father would not want his daughter to throw
away her life so recklessly. With the rurouni gone, Kihei
adds his own two cents, saying he thinks opposite of the
red-haired stranger.
Sometime later, Kaoru and
Kihei enter town and find the rurouni being arrested. He
had violated the ban on carrying swords, but with a bribe
given from Kihei, the police officers leave the wandering
samurai alone. Kihei leaves the scene to go home to prepare
dinner, while the rurouni and Kaoru discuss who the killer
might exactly be. Kaoru does have a clue to who might be
the murderer. About two months ago, the same time the murders
began, a dojo in the other town by the name of the Kihei
Dojo opened up. An ex-swordsman took over the place and
turned it into a gambling hall. To the rurouni, those are
good enough guesses, but he also finds something suspicious
about Kihei, just by looking into his eyes.
Kihei has been living at
the Kamiya Dojo since Kaoru's father had passed away. Kaoru
had found Kihei hurt outside of the dojo and has taken him
in ever since. Kihei has been urging Kaoru to sell the dojo
to live in peace. Besides such bits about Kihei, Kaoru has
no other information about her housekeeper's past.
The rurouni leaves Kaoru's
side once again after being thanked by her for the other
day. Kaoru did invite him to stay at her dojo, but the rurouni
had other things to do. That evening, he visited the Kihei
Dojo in the other town. Once he mentioned the name Hitokiri
Battousai, dozens of swordsmen appeared.
At the Kamiya Dojo, Kaoru
is interrupted by Kihei as she is reading. Kihei would like
to talk with Kaoru about selling the dojo. Kaoru refuses
to, as usual, but Kihei just needs her signature, as he
already has papers for the sale ready. Just as Kaoru remains
in shock, the door busts open. In walks Kihei's little brother,
Gohei, with a bunch of lackies at his side. Kihei reveals
his plan. All along, he had been acting as an assistant
to Kaoru just to take over the dojo, which, according to
his calculations, has a very high land value. Kihei had
used the Hitokiri Battousai tale to frighten people and
give a bad reputation to the Kamiya Dojo. Since Kaoru had
learned of Gohei's identity as the "Battousai",
they had to resort to extreme means.
Gohei charges forward with
his sword. Quickly, he breaks Kaoru's bokken and overpowers
her by picking her up by her shirt collar. Kihei takes advantage
of the situation and cuts Kaoru's thumb slightly with a
knife, then presses it up against the sale papers. With
Kaoru's print on the papers, Kihei rejoices, but at the
door is a man back from the dojo. Immediately, he falls
down and behind him is the rurouni.
The rurouni expresses that
the sword is meant to kill, but he prefers Kaoru's idea
of protecting people with it more. Gohei wastes no time
on sicking his men on the rurouni. The cronies of Gohei
jump out at the wandering samurai . Yet, with incredible
speed, the rurouni takes them all out, leaving only Gohei
and Kihei. Before Gohei tangles with him, the rurouni makes
a correction. He states that the Hitokiri Battousai does
not use Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu, but Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu. Everyone
comes to the conclusion that the rurouni is in fact the
real Hitokiri Battousai. Gohei finds the facts interesting,
but he raises his sword, declaring that there cannot be
two Battousais in the world. However, the second Gohei takes
his eyes off of the rurouni, the rurouni is up in the air.
With his sword brought down with incredible power and speed,
the rurouni is able to send Gohei crashing through the floor.
Kihei is the next target. The rurouni threatens to turn
his reversed blade over to the other side for Kihei's punishment,
but before he gets to even touch the old man, Kihei has
passed out from fear.
The sale papers are torn
up by the rurouni. He turns and apologizes to Kaoru for
hiding his true identity then begins to walk out of the
dojo. Before he steps out of the door, Kaoru stops him and
asks him to stay. The rurouni thinks it would be controversial
if the real Battousai stays, so he is planning on leaving.
With that said, Kaoru shouts that she didn't want the Battousai
to stay, but the rurouni. Yet, Kaoru insists the rurouni
tell her his name if he is planning on leaving. The rurouni
turns away from the door and introduces himself as Himura
Kenshin. Kenshin admits that he is tired of traveling, but
warns Kaoru that a rurouni never knows how long he'll stay
in one place or when he's leaving. Now that Kenshin is going
to stay with Kaoru, she questions him on his age. That,
Kenshin has to figure out with some old fashion counting.
