"\1cH000000)}RUROUNI KENSHIN SEISOU-HEN 453)}After so many years have lapsed" "nothing." "Why?" "It's a waste of time even trying to escape from here." "This place is a natural fortress that nobody can access or get out of." "Answer me." "Why don't you kill me?" "I ask you back." "How valuable is your existence to him?" "He killed my sister." "He is the man who murdered his wife with his own hands." "or not?" "I will let you live." "That's the reason why I brought you here. he'll find this place and come here soon. and make him feel the same as I have." "I'll torture and kill him slowly." "However..." "I have nothing to do with you." "stay here and be quiet." "I wonder how valuable I am to Kenshin?" "Tomoe-san has continued to exist at the bottom of Kenshin's heart sad existence which won't disappear until he dies." "She gained her place in his heart in exchange for her life." "How can I do as she did?" "I have no idea." "I envy Tomoe-san." "Kenshin?" "I swore I'd punish the person who once was called the strongest assassin in the last days of the Tokugawa." "I can match him in swordsmanship." "including its secrets." "I don't need any help." "with my own hands. who is willing to punish him?" "Sister..." "Sister..." "Why?" "Why did you die?" "!" "Sister..." "He's also so lonely." "I'm sure that he's lived alone with his grudge and hate." "What the hell is this?" "so of course I can cook." "so I made extra." "I don't care if you eat or not." "Sister... aren't you?" "you're hoping he'll come?" "people feel more pain living than dying." "a "living hell." "a "living hell" means losing Kenshin." "I don't know if he really needs me or not." "I want to believe so." "That's why... erased them with his own hands." "The people left behind are still in the darkness of sadness and desperation." "His guilt is unfathomably great and deep." "he hasn't been judged and lives peacefully in the Meiji era." "Why?" "How can he live?" "!" "Why do you love a person like him?" "He doesn't have any right to be happy." "He should never receive love from anyone!" "Kenshin loved Tomoe-san." "even now." "He has a burden; he killed the person he loved." "He has been accusing himself and he can't forgive himself." "because that's what Tomoe-san wanted him to do." "who killed her fiance. because I'm a woman who loves the same person she did. and he has been seeking for a way to atone for his guilt." "The answer of atonement..." "You said he's been seeking for a way of atonement." "I think it's time to give him an answer." "Get ready." "We will go to the seashore and wait for him." "it took fifteen years to walk through this route of revenge." "I can't." "Never." "The answer is to punish him with my own hands!" "Kenshin!" "I won't give this woman to you." "you'll have to fight me." "I will kill him by myself." "you'll have to commit suicide and follow him." "don't worry." "Please wait there." "Kenshin is different from just a while ago. and I feel he's stronger than before." "I wonder if Kenshin finally found the answer he had been seeking so long?" "You make me laugh if you're thinking about not killing me." "You are also disqualified to be an assassin." "The guilt of murder can only be atoned with your death." "the dead don't have any way to punish you." "the people who loved your victims must execute it as their successors." "That's what Jinchu means." "You're a criminal." "suffer the pain!" "Regret!" "taking away her happiness!" "You made my life crazy and smashed it." "and vengeance of those left behind carved into your body." "I'm not afraid of dying." "my life is not only mine. and Tomoe..." "I was made to live by them. and I will complete my life." "my way of atonement." "Kenshin... above that of all the people in this world." "and erased it along with her life." "I don't have anybody to protect now." "What's left for me is only the flames and fire of anger." "That's why I'm going to kill you. then at least I have to face it." "I am so sorry." "I don't think my guilt will be forgiven even if I win." "I know your vengeance and sadness will not disappear." "if your smile will come back to you in exchange for my life... aren't you?" "Then at once!" "are you telling me not to take revenge?" "Do I need to forgive someone like him?" "Sister..." "How frustrating!" "If he had never existed..." "Damn..." "Damn..." "Sister..." "I will watch it until the end." "That's what Yukishiro Enishi said when he left. atonement can't be achieved without the other person's forgiveness." "You might never be forgiven..." "But... let's go home together." "Even so he smiles at me." "His usual smile that secretly hides his sadness behind his gentleness." "I want to reply to this smile. but at least I'd like to be at his side and support him until the day when he smiles at me from the bottom of his heart." "That's my true answer." "but it's the most important." "I might not be able to live a life of integrity and rigor like you did." "I don't think I can be more important than you were for Kenshin." "in the best way I can." "please." "Please entrust Kenshin to me." "Tomoe-san..." "Kaoru?" "I'm being a bother." "It's nothing." "The doctor said you need rest." "so don't overdo anything." "I've been dreaming." "up to the days we were married." "Old story." "but I feel like it was just a short while ago. starting the journey for their own lives. but it must have been hard for you to live here after that." "he lived in battles more than before." "He told me he would do as much as he could while he was able to use his sword." "His thoughts are left to you along with his reverse-bladed sword." "Yahiko." "That was a good one." "Can you stand up?" "Yes... this is a gift for your coming-of-age ritual." "Take it." "so I was prepared." "So many battles and scars... they undermine his small body." "His life as a swordsman won't last much longer." "Kaoru-dono." "Yes." "I've been thinking ever since I left my sword." "unhappiness never disappears." "illnesses and poverty..." "I think these won't disappear no matter how times change." "if there is anything I can do..." "I no longer have a sword and I've lost the power to protect people." "What I can do now isn't reach out to help from above; and do my meager best to encourage them to live on." "would you allow me to do so?" "That's what you chose." "Please be confident and go your own way." "I have already received more than enough happiness from you." "I will wait for you." "In order to welcome you with a smile." "I will wait for you with our child." "Then he traveled all over Japan?" "But he always came back. but his smile contained deep sadness." "Natural disaster or epidemics take human lives mercilessly." "they die." "The reality of being shunned and hated just for having fallen ill." "People were depressed and fought against desperation day by day. and let him leave the house with a smile. or sometimes it's seemed a short time for fifteen years." "Kenji grew and has left me now." "The only thing left for me is to wait for him to come back." "That's why I asked him to share a little piece of his suffering. because we are husband and wife." "Kaoru-dono." "Yes..." "Thank you." "Kaoru-dono." "I have no words to express my appreciation." "Thank you very much. because I was not a good husband and father." "I am so sorry to have made you suffer through painful days..." "I've found out how happy it is to devote yourself to someone when I met you." "If I'm successful in supporting you... that's my greatest dream." "I'm happy." "I've been happy and I will be forever." "come home." "don't leave me alone." "share your pain with me. because I am your wife." "I'm sorry." "Kaoru..." "Kenshin... to fit a man living by the sword." "it's not fit for me any longer." "My parents named me Shinta." "That's my real name." "Shinta... can you call me by that name?" "Kenshin!" "Kenshin!" "Kenshin...?" "are you..." "I have to..." "I have to go home." "I'm going to bring a doctor." "Kenshin!" "long time no see." "You came all the way here from Aizu?" "Of course!" "I was asked by Ken-san to take care of you." "let me see." "Kenshin..." "Sanosuke..." "You don't need to force yourself to remember things." "the first priority is to recover your health." "It's done now." "Eat!" "Isn't it good?" "Yes." "There is nothing left for you to do in this country." "I will make you go back to Japan." "To the place where Kaoru is." "Kaoru..." "I don't think I will be able to go back to Aizu soon." "I will stay here for a while." "Is it okay?" "but..." "I told you." "Ken-san asked me to take care of you." "I have a responsibility as a doctor." "I'm sorry." "Wind chimes?" "It was summer when Kenshin left here." "So I keep it just as it was." "right?" "Where is Yahiko-kun?" "He went to Kyoto." "He told me he'd bring Kenji-kun back." "I see... how is Kaoru-san?" "it's the same disease as Ken-san. there's no medicine that will stop its progress." "no!" "She accepted a disease like that intentionally." "But that's so sad." "That's her way to show her devotion." "nor does she regret it." "it's her way." "I mean she wasn't in a negative state of mind. while waiting for the person she loves to return." "That's why I can't give up on her either." "as a doctor and as a woman. we will probably have to go to Shanghai." "But I don't think he can survive a long voyage in his condition." "What shall I do? I have to have your liver." "Sorry." "Kenji..." "Yahiko-san?" "I can't go home yet." "Kenji!" "The person my mother has been waiting for isn't me." "I haven't found out what true strength is yet." "I..." "True strength?" "Why don't you ask this sword about it?" "This is the reverse-bladed sword." "You keep it for one night." "I will teach you myself." "Sorry to keep you waiting." "I'm going to make a special meat dish for you tonight. which my father kept even after he quit being an assassin? but it was in the last days of the Tokugawa." "The father I knew was not even a man who lived by the sword." "He didn't carry the sword and didn't come home for long periods." "My mother was always waiting for him. but Hiten Mitsurugi swordsmanship." "I will learn it and create a new legend superior to my father's." "I am sorry." "I came here without telling you and carried on with my business." "You don't need to worry about it." "I don't intend to give my swordsmanship to anybody." "Mitsurugi swordsmanship will die with me. and live all your life with pain." "Just like me... and him." "The secret of Mitsurugi Swordsmanship is to protect the weak from pain in troubled times." "and it's become a relic of the past." "Everything is destined to change and disappear." "Only the moon remains unchanged." "Good morning." "This is a herb medicine which contains mostly ginseng." "Its effects will help your constitution and warm your body." "It's bitter and horrible." "Don't complain." "I'm sorry." "You... can't you?" "Megumi-san." "The most effective medicine for Kenshin's cross-shaped scar is my smile." "in any condition." "So it's become a habit now." "The reason why Ken-san chose you..." "I really understand." "Indeed you are a genius at swordsmanship." "Kenji." "I know you already realize that you can't be superior to Kenshin with talent alone." "I'm going to include all of the feelings I've felt throughout my battles." "Just like me at that time." "which is sealed in this sword." "Heavy... but this is a gift for your coming-of-age ritual." "Kenji." "My idiot student thinks he's changed the secret of swordsmanship." "Kenshin!" "Kenshin!" "the cargo ship will take you to Yokohama." "when you see Kaoru..." "I'm sure your memory will come back at once." "I've already asked someone to help you." "but I have things to do here." "I have to say goodbye." "Sanosuke..." "Thank you." "not you." "and changed everybody." "just like you did." "Kenshin." "Kenji..." "I'm home." "your mother..." "Don't say sorry to a son who ran away from home." "Kenji." "The cherry trees are blooming." "Let's go see the cherry blossoms like we do every year." "So..." "Yes..." "Kaoru..." "Kaoru..." "I am home..." "Kaoru..." "Welcome home..." "Shinta..." "I wonder how long the cherry blossoms will last? I want to go to a cherry blossom viewing and invite everybody." "and the year after next." "Then Yahiko might be a father." "Shinta?" "aren't you?" "Finally..." "It's finally disappeared." "Don't worry." "I know he'll be back." "no matter what happens." "both you and I have lived with scars which won't fade." "Scars which were carved as a cross." "I wonder if I can do it..." "If I can share his pain and the weight of his sword. but it's also beautiful when they're falling." "You don't need to force yourself to smile in front of me. and they will fade in time and disappear someday." "he will show me his smile from the bottom of his heart." "I believe so." "I knew that the times need him and I couldn't change his way of life." "I know that." "but..." "Thank you so very much for everything until now." "1300)}Goodbye..." "Kaoru... what's wrong?" "nothing." "What is it?" "I'll tell you later." "that ribbon looks good on you." "Really?" "We'll live happily." "Won't we?" "Yes!"