After carrying
out the assassinations of hundreds of men,
Battousai is met at an inn by Katsura Kogoro,
leader of the Choshuu Clan. Katsura invites
his hitokiri to join him when he attends a
secret council during the Gion Festival, but
his offer is immediately turned down. Battousai
has no interest in such a thing, all he cares
about is a peaceful era in the future.
Katsura reminisces
to the past when he first met Battousai. The
second-in-command, so to say, Takasugi Shinsaku
had set up an army of men known as the Kihei
Tai. Unlike the samurai, basically anyone
could join the Kihei Tai. Among the group
of men showing off their skills before Katsura
and Takasugi was a young red-haired boy. Not
aware of the boy's powers, a man cockily betted
one ryo that young Kenshin could not cut down
his target, a thick wooden pole wrapped in
rope. In two swings, one with his sword and
one with his scabbard, Kenshin sliced the
pole in half using the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu's
Sou Ryu Sen. Everyone looked shocked, including
Kastura.
That night,
Katsura and Kenshin dined together. Katsura,
impressed with Kenshin's skill, had asked
the boy if he could kill for a new, peaceful
era. It took little time for Kenshin to agree.
From the first time Katsura had met the boy
that would soon turn into the most feared
hitokiri, the same pure hearted attitude was
kept. Recently, however, Katsura has been
noticing a slight change in the boy once known
as Kenshin and his personality. He assumes
that the lifestyle of a hitokiri is finally
getting to him.
Alone at a
restaurant in the evening, Battousai drinks
sake. The only thing he can taste is blood.
Commotion rises in the air when a beautiful
young woman enters the restaurant. While all
of the men gawk at her, she takes her seat
behind Kenshin, who has his back turned towards
her. A sake is what she orders.
