Kenshin and Sanosuke return
home to Kaoru and Yahiko with Megumi. Immediately, Kaoru
questions the stranger's presence. Before Kenshin explains
the whole story, Sanosuke lies saying that they both won
so much from the gambling hall that they couldn't afford
to pay them and instead let them bring home Megumi. After
beating the daylights out of Kenshin, Kaoru tells Megumi
that she is free to leave, yet, the foxy woman declines
the kind offer. She begins to anger Kaoru by preferring
to stay near Kenshin's side. In a bitter rage, Kaoru ends
up kicking everyone but herself out of the dojo's doors
and onto the streets. Just then, one of Sanosuke's friends
named Shu rushes up with some urgent news.
Nearby a bridge in town,
the bodies of the two men who were after Megumi just earlier
in the day were found lifeless. Already a large crowd
has gathered to witness the gruesome sight of their corpses.
When Kenshin, Sanosuke, and Megumi arrive on the scene,
what catches the rurouni's eye is the presence of Takeda
Kanryuu, the man whose clutches Megumi is trying to free
herself from, and a tall, handsome man dawned in a white
trenchcoat who Megumi identifies as the okashira, the
leader of the Oniwa Banshuu, Shinomori Aoshi.
