Day Nine. Enishi
has made no attempt for a surprise attack. Even
with the long-awaited battle the next day, things
are still going along as normal. In the Kamiya Dojo,
Yahiko finishes fifty thousand arm crosses. After
being told to do even more by Kaoru, Yahiko complains,
since he's done more than enough. To put Yahiko's
complaining to rest, Kaoru decides to show him the
succession technique he's been training so hard
for. Kenshin steps in to watch in the meantime.
With his shinai, Yahiko charges at Kaoru with a
violent rage. When he strikes at Kaoru's head, however,
the assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu
crosses her arms quickly to catch her student's
shinai between her wrists. A split second later,
she twists her wrists, forcing Yahiko flying, as
well as his shinai.
The Kamiya Kasshin
Ryuu Succession Technique, Hawatari. If not executed
at the perfect time, it may mean certain death on
the battlefield. Thus, Kaoru rarely relies on such
a dangerous, yet ultimate move. She allows Yahiko
to try it out. The same moves are executed, but
Yahiko crosses his arms too early, allowing his
torso to be wide open. Kaoru takes advantage of
her student's opening and smashes her shinai right
into his stomach. Yahiko falls over from the immense
pain. If it were a real sword, he'd be dead. Kaoru
leaves her student lying on the floor after showing
him why the succession technique of the Kamiya Kasshin
Ryuu simply cannot be mastered in ten days. Noticing
Kenshin is gone, Kaoru wanders off to look for him.
Yahiko, on the other hand, gets back to his feet
and once again starts his arm cross exercise after
noticing that he crossed his arms much faster than
his instructor.
After an unsuccessful
search for Kenshin around the dojo, Kaoru heads
to the Oguni Clinic where she bumps into Sanosuke.
She inquires if he saw the rurouni. Sanosuke mentions
that he was just at the clinic for a visit to Chief
Uramura. Kaoru goes to see the chief in his room
to apologize for everything that happened. Uramura
understands, since Kenshin told him what had happened.
He doesn't put any blame on Kenshin at all.
Kaoru and Sanosuke
leave the chief's room. When Sanosuke asks about
the Maekawa Dojo, since they were attacked at the
same time as the Uramura residence, Kaoru explains.
She met with a student of the dojo the other day.
Everyone is still recovering, and like Uramura,
Maekawa doesn't blame Kenshin for anything that
has happened. Though, Maekawa feels as though he
is too old, so he is planning on passing the dojo
on to a younger student.
Sanosuke leaves Kaoru's
side at the door to get his hand checked up. Knowing
that it won't heal within a day, Sanosuke mentions
that he does have a back-up plan before completely
getting out of Kaoru's sight. Upon walking into
the room, Sanosuke hears a man talking to Megumi
and Dr. Oguni. The man is from Aizu, Megumi's homeland.
He asks that Megumi return. The shogunate still
resents that Aizu had sided with the shogunate,
so medical attention to the sick is poor. Megumi
always had planned on returning to Aizu, but is
hesitant to do so because of the uncertain outcome
of the following day.
While passing through
town, Kaoru meets with Tae and Tsubame, who are
standing in front of the wrecked Akabeko, passing
out fliers of the restaurant's reopening. She asks
if either of them saw Kenshin recently. Tsubame
replies that Kenshin had come by earlier to apologize.
Kaoru adds in that she checked all of the usual
spots and had no luck in finding the rurouni. Again,
Tsubame replies, saying she might know where Kenshin
may be.
In the bamboo grove
where Tsubame once met Kenshin is where the rurouni
is. He stands in the middle of the grove in deep
concentration amongst the peaceful quiet. However,
his thought is interrupted when he is surprised
by Kaoru who calls out his name.
