* Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translation *
* Volume 11: The final curtain *
* Chapter ninety-three: Blind swordsman Usui *
(a shadow grabs a guard and slashes him. He walks into the hallway leading
to Shishio's hideout)
Chou: (voice over) To have been able to assasinate 50 expert swordsmen in
one night, only two of the ten Juppongatana can achieve that.
Sano: Two? Just only two?
Chou: To leave no eyewitnesses in one night... and to finish off so many at
the same time, it takes about two to three hours. If there weren't all these
time limits, such lollipop snatching deals I can perform just as well.
Sano: So that means everyone in the Juppongatana can achieve it.
Chou: Why?
Sano: 'Coz you're the lousiest in the lot.
Chou: Got a bone to pick against me? I'll defeat you this time! Rooster tail
head!
Sano: Great! 'Coz I was just about to do it! You dirty little broom head!
Saitou: You can fight after you finish talking.
Chou: One of those is Tenken Soujirou, the guy who can't stop smiling.
Saitou: *Indeed it is him...*
(picture of Soujirou)
Chou: (voice over) He may be young, but the oldest in experience compared to
all the rest. I hear he was with Shishio-sama ever since Shishio-sama was
burnt down by the Ishin government. Because of this too, Shishio-sama trusts
him most in the Juppongatana, and even Okubo Toshimichi's assassination was
entirely entrusted to him.
(Saitou smokes his cigarette)
Chou: But he can't be the one do have done it. After the assassination of
Okubo Toshimichi, he should have reflected back to Kyoto with the
Juppongatana in Eastern Japan, so he couldn't have flown over to Kobe, west
of Kyoto to do off with your 50 men.
Saitou: ... that's reasonable.
Sano: So who did it? Cut the nonsense and out with it! Or I'll just have to
beat you up again!
Chou: (exploding) Eaarr... ccihiii...
Saitou: You keep quiet. (stubs his cigarette on Sano's right temple)
Watsuki: This action involves high risk of danger, good children will not
imitate it!
Saitou: So you mean there's someone of equal calibre as Soujirou in the
Juppongatana, and he's the one to have done it?
Chou: That's right, somewhere there.
(picture of Shishio)
Chou: (voice over) While however much Shishio-sama knows about him, is just
like how much the Juppongatana does.
Man: No shadow of the attacker! We lost his locations!
Another man: Neither here either! The intruder's gone!
Hoji: Shishio-sama, forgive your subordinate here.
Yumi: Really! Every time something important happens, that little fellow
(Soujirou) is always missing!
Hoji: The Juppongatana is in full strength now. This intruder shall not
escape our claws.
Shishio: There is no need for an internal strife within the Juppongatana.
And if I'm not wrong, the opponent has already been hiding here for long.
Hoji: ! Internal strife... opponent... can it be...
Shishio: !
Yumi: Shishio-sama!
(a sound from above)
(both of them draw swords and meet in a flash)
Shishio: Your skills have improved.
Hoji: So it's really you, USUI!
Saitou: (voice over) Blind swordsman? Usui...
Chou: (voice over) Hired by the shogunate to finish off the assasinators of
the Ishinshishis... a really powerful kenkaku. Those famous hitokiris of
the past had many died under his blade. Yet in a freak battle with Shishio-
sama, his eyes were scratched through by Shishio, and lost his eyesight
thereafter. In order to seek his revenge he went under countless trainings,
ultimately acquiring the 'heart eye'.
Usui: What're you yelping for about, little fellow? As long as I create an
opportunity and space, I shall attack Shishio as and when I like. I joined
this organization too because of this promise wasn't it?
(turns to Shishio)
Usui: Am I right?
Shishio: Umm.
Hoji: I know that! What I cannot accept is your breaking through into this
terrain by killing so many of your colleagues!
Usui: Once I'm in form no one is my match. Why mind so much those little
nothings' lives? Speaking of nothings, I met an entire group of sneaky
looking fellows in Kobe, and in a fit of joy tried my sword on them.
Hoji: You... ! I told you never to act on your own...
Shishio: Usui, there could not have been a man with a cross scar on his left
cheek and one who has the build of a preying wolf in those 50?
Usui: !
Shishio: You're right. I don't care about those little nothings at all. But
those two are the biggest threat to the Juppongatana.
Usui: Ho ho... so that means if I finished you with the both of them off at
the same time I would've completed my mission.
Chou: Tenken Soujirou and Blind swordsman Usui... the duo at the forefront
of the Juppongatana. But unless Shishio-sama orders, Soujirou will not move.
So on a distorted point of view, his threat is not as large.
(he lifts his finger)
Chou: You don't look too poorly skilled yourself. But Usui's kenjutsu is
definitely of a higher grade than yours.
Saitou: Ho... We shall see soon. I have one more question. I received news
of Shishio's plan to destroy Kyoto, but the precise details are unknown to
me. What does he intend to do to Kyoto?
Chou and Saitou: ...
Chou: ... Incident of 'the house of Pooled Fields (okay okay, this is corny,
but as long as it sounds like a meaning, who cares!)'. I believe you know
about this matter.
(Saitou's eyes widen [not very much though, his eyes aren't very big
anyway])
Saitou: Yes. I have heard about it.
(picture of fighting people)
Chou: (voice over) June A.D. 1864, the Ishinshishis gathered in the lodging
in the house of Pooled Fields to secure a plan. They intend to incinerate
Kyoto and throw everyone into chaos, then take the opportunity to assasinate
the important characters in the Shogunate empire, then escort the Emperor to
Choshuu. While they were discussing, the Shinsengumi sneaked in to do off
with all those involved, sprinkling a blood bath, and curing Kyoto of an
incoming inferno disease, which history termed as 'Incident of the house of
Pooled Fields'.
(pause)
Chou: (voice over) Shinsengumi was known to one and all as Mibu's Wolf's
assasination sydicate, their ability to stop this disaster from happening
helped the commoners to finally clear up the misunderstanding of their
outward impression and proved to all the great battling powress of the
Shinsengumi. Due to the Shinsengumi the Kyoto Inferno plan was never carried
out, and this is what Shishio-sama wants to fulfill as of now.
(scene of a fire)
Chou: (voice over) 500 of Shishio's men will be stationed throughout the
important points of Kyoto and light it up, the the Juppongatana will sneak
in through the chaos and murder the important men now...
(picture of a burning roof)
Chou: (voice over) Shishio-sama will now fulfill what those Ishinshishis
who had burnt him left behind, a plan without carried on success. This is
the results of Shishio-sama's sharp senses in battle strategies'
chronological records!
(he stares)
Chou: The original plan was to initiate this action when the Jupopngatana
has congregated in Kyoto. And that time is near.
Saitou: That's a great move indeed, though the Emperor's lodging is no
longer in Kyoto but Tokyo, however as long as the edict has not been
officially announced, Kyoto shall still be the capital and not Tokyo...
(he stares too)
Saitou: Kyoto is known to many affectionately as 'the thousand year empire',
it's place in the hearts of many Japanese cannot be underestimated. If they
can't even protect this capital, then the government shall lose a great many
points in it's favor with the commoners.
Sano: That's the government's business, not mine.
Chou: Why haven't you gone out yet?
Sano: Crap! To set Kyoto ablaze just like that, the government wouldn't
suffer, but the people would! Ten years of cold blood lived through after a
turmoiled Bakumatsu... it wasn't easy for the people to finally get the
peaceful new era they craved for, but must it disappear into a puff of smoke
along with the fire just like that?
(he slams his fist hard on the floor)
Sano: Shishio and the Ishin government aren't any different! Don't think us
commoners got no value in our lives! I swear before the 'evil' on my back,
that I shall never allow Kyoto to burst into flames! Saitou! Let's settle
our accounts another time and channel all our energies for finding Kenshin
instead!
Saitou: Settle it whenever you want. But we truly must find Kenshin out now.
To allow those of the inverted triangle (shinsengumi) to rest in peace,
Kyoto must never be reduced to ashes.
(he looks at Sano)
Saitou: ... Never expected.
Sano: That's right, even you and I can see a day when our views compromise.
Not even in dreams can it be expected.
Saitou: ... Humph! Don't you stand there lazing away! Go find Kenshin out
now! AHO! (Saitou's nickname for Sano)
Sano: Wait a minute! You've got no right to order me around! I'M NOT YOUR
SUBORDINATE!
(the prison door closes)
END TRANSLATION
(c) Nobuhiro Watsuki Translation: ruroken@geocities.com
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