* Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translation *
* Volume one: Kenshin . Himura Battousai *
* Chapter two: The ideals of a Rurouni *
The matter of the false Hitokiri conjoured by the pernicious conducts of the
Hiruma brothers had passed one week.
Kamiya Kasshin Dojo's acting master in-charge Kamiya Kaoru (17 years old)
yearns to arise in fame and prestige as were before, to earn back the
disciples of whom had deserted the dojo. Thereby, following one day by one,
she flew from place to place in search, flying almost her life away -
- however -
Kaoru: Not one has returned... my anger is killing me!
Kenshin: In the era of civilization and discovery, it is no easy task to
regain what has been lost.
Kaoru: My anger lies with your age! Only 28 you said? Liar! Cheat! Out with
the truth, you!
Kenshin: All right. Then make this erring one 30 years old.
Kaoru: I do not believe... !
Kenshin: How more difficult canst thou get...
(They go to the streets to buy something. Kaoru is behind Kenshin and is
looking at him thoughtfully)
*Himura Kenshin. The lofty, carefree and happy-go-lucky rurouni dwelling
currently in Kaoru's Kamiya Dojo.
However in face of the truth, the beater of the track for the Meiji era,
'strongest warrior in history', Hitokiri Battousai of legend, has with this
rurouni a certain...*
(Kenshin crashes into a large sumo wrestler)
Kaoru: *What... this little insipid fellow...*
(Kenshin waves an apology to the sumo)
Kaoru: *One can really not fathom what this man ponders... virtually all
previous Ishinshishis had given up their swords and dissolved gradually into
the Meiji government and seek out their high fates, power, and prestige...*
(Kenshin turns to face Kaoru)
Kenshin: Thou hast some unspoken questions for this undeserving one?
Kaoru: (remember what she had previously said) *Nay! Everyone has a past
they wish to bury. It is nothing unusual* - ... there is nothing! But I have
forewarned you to restrain from showing your sword in daylight! (beats
Kenshin up)
Kenshin: Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Please do not worry! Was it not two years ago
that many showed their swords in daylight? Everyone will but notice!
Kaoru: If the matter of the other time repeats itself, if you may be caught
by the police again what of it? Your sakabatou makes the capture all the
more appealing!
Kenshin: The other time remains the other time, this time luck does not run
dry!
Kaoru: Hmph. Let it be! You may die if you choose! Hurry along and get me
something from the stores! Get the miso, salt and soy sauce, do you read me?
Kenshin: Wherefore all are kitchen goods.
Kaoru: Keep the unnecessary talk!
(Kenshin runs off to get the stuff. A carriage stops behind Kaoru.)
Stranger in carriage (SIC): Little miss, my apologies...
Kaoru: !
SIC: ... but pray show the way to the police post, upon which route should I
undertake?
Kaoru: Oh, you have not erred. Finish this route, see the main route and do
a right turn shall be the correct way.
SIC: I thank thee! (to driver of carriage) Then we shall move.
Kaoru: Gave me a fright... which province does he overlook? It is such an
unseen face...
(turns to run)
Kaoru: Forget him. Best be I make buying the things more important.
(Stranger in carriage smoking his cigar)
SIC: *You... you are truly in this place? Himura Battousai...*
(back in the marketplace streets)
Kaoru: Wow that is a big crowd. What big matter has taken place?
Someone: They have caught someone. The police are encircling a man who has
defied the sword abolishing edict.
(Kaoru drops everything she has bought)
Policeman: Give up, you!
Policeman: You have no more routes to sneak away in.
Kenshin: Oh dear... thou can be such a bother... no matter, pray thou treat
this clumsy one with respect when you bring me in!
Ujiki: Make way! The arrival of the sword bearing police! Those who wish to
avoid death best avoid the path of us!
* Footnote reads: Sword bearing police. In the police force, these people's
kenjutsu are higher than the normal band of troops, and are specially picked
because of this. The creme of the police department.
Policeman: Ujiki police chief...
Ujiki: It has been hard on you, we may take over from now. You may go.
Policeman: However, this man has shown no sign of pulling his sword to
fight, and he has been surrounded by us. Therefore, the sword-bearing police
need not be moved.
(Ujiki slams the handle of his sword into the policeman's nose)
Policeman: Oh oh!
Ujiki: You are just a third grade ranked officer, how dare you even give
suggestions to me, a former Ishinshishi, the chief of the sword-bearing
department! I asked you to leave, then leave!
(Kenshin looks a little disturbed at the scene)
Ujiki: What? Just a soft and weak man!
(Pulls his blade and swings it towards Kenshin's face. The townspeople watch
in horror and disgust)
Ujiki: En guard, you! To dare to bring a sword around in Tokyo means you
have extreme trust in your abilities.
(Kenshin brings the sword blade down)
Kenshin: My erring self really has no need to pull the sword as and when my
unworthy being pleases. For, the reason for walking around with a sword is
not for harnessing this clumsy one's abilities.
(Ujiki brings his sword to his shoulder, mayhaps surprised at Kenshin's
super politeness)
Ujiki: Hmph.
(Kaoru is running towards Kenshin)
Kaoru: Kenshin!
Ujiki: That is... your accompliance?
Kenshin: Kaoru-dono, come not closer!
(two policemen draw their swords and hack over her head. Her ribbon drops to
the ground.)
Ujiki: The next to drop will be her kimono. Do you bear to see her wallow in
self-shame? I shall repeat myself, DRAW. YOUR. SWORD.
Kenshin: Canst thou really be police?
Ujiki: I bear with myself a sword, licensed to kill - the sword bearing
police! Well? Are you still hesitating to draw?
Kaoru: ...
Townsfolk: Violent! Police should not behave so! This is reckless renderings
from brainless officers!
Ujiki: Hmph. You have quite some guts to be shooting off me. You have
breached the rules of the police! Leave no mercy! I allow all to draw and
kill! All who has breached; none shall be left!
Townspeople: (as the police chase after them) WOah!!!
(A sound makes everyone freeze in their place)
Kenshin: Thou mayst but touch Kaoru or the townspeople's...
(everyone turns to see Kenshin with his sword drawn)
Kenshin: ... one single strand of hair! Thy opponent stands here, seek this
useless one, not them! Enjoy sufferings? Do pit thy most ferocious skills
onto this direction!
Ujiki: So you have drawn, lad! And with a sakabadou! A normal reaction? As
a sword-bearing police... it would not matter so much if my sword tasted a
little blood sometimes... (he licks the nick of his sword)
(At the police post)
SIC: So he was a fake...
Chief: Yes!
SIC: I was busy with the affairs of the other side, and could only rush over
today. Foreby, if we had considered the matter thoroughly we know, Himura is
not one to relieve the innocent of their lives. Mayhaps he was known as the
'Hitokiri Battousai' and he had indeed stole many lives away, but this he
never did once did for personal gain, only did he do for hacking a path
through for Meiji in which we could walk comfortably in.
(He snuffs out his cigarette)
SIC: His sword hast protected many Ishinshishis, thereby without him, the
Meiji could not have arrived as smoothly as now. Should I sift him out, I
must let him assume a most important role in the army of the government.
Chief: There is one more thing. The truth belies, that this fake one has
early been dumped at the front gates of the police post, and to date we know
not of whoever who have done this. From the words of his subordinates, it
seems that the real one had.
SIC: Oh! Can they be speaking the truth?
(Policeman forces open the door)
Policeman: Trouble, chief!
Chief: Thou insolent patch! Are you blind enough to mistake my guest here as
air? Dare you have not knocked before coming in?
Policeman: Apologies! But the sword-bearing police - has murdered some
amount of people!
SIC: Sword bearing police? Why have I not heard?
Chief: Owing to the matter of the Hitokiri, we have specially formed a group
of kenjutsu brave warriors. The leader, an Ishinshishi, my right hand man!
* Footnote reads: The Ishinshishis came from five main areas: Satsuma
(present-day Kagoshima), Choushuu (Yamaguchi), Tosa (Kouchi), Hizen (Saga),
and others (Mito, Fukuoka, etc.) Satsuma and Choushuu for a long time
commanded the most government influence. At this time, Satsuma
controlled the police and Choushuu the army. (I admit, I stole most of this
from maigo-chan sensei's translations because I didn't know what they
sounded like in Japanese... ^_^x I told you my translation skills were
lousy!)
Chief: Who have they offended this time?
Policeman: No... they are not offending... rather, defending... They are,
being offended by someone else instead. And only one opponent is
offending...
Chief: Liar and slave! Sword-bearing police are the creme of the department!
Policeman: That true, but what I have spoken, that is more true!
Chief: Impossible to believe! (SIC dusts his cap) Where hence does the
opponent come from?
Policeman: I know not. I only know that he is a small, red-headed man.
(SIC pauses in mid-air of putting on his cap, his face a realization)
Policeman: But the swiftness of his sword allows no one to predict his
movements!
(SIC's eyes bulges out with the expression of 'OH MY GOSH' on his face)
Policeman: He has a big cross scar on his left cheek!
SIC: HIMURA BATTOUSAI!
(The carriage is rushing to the scene. SIC gets off)
SIC: Himura... !
(Kenshin waves his blade with his left hand and finishes off the last three)
SIC: (super shocked) No... !
Kenshin: Thou art the only one now.
Ujiki: Detestable!
Kenshin: If thou swear by the crowd thy acceptance of a vow to never place
disturbance upon them, never to oppose them in violence, This forgetful one
shall spare thy life. Thereafter, whatever sin thou wishes to lay upon my
unworthy self, assaulting policemen or defying the edict, no noise shall be
made.
Ujiki: Cut your gibberish! I am a generation hero, how will I fall in the
hands of a nobody!
Kaoru: *Oh! This stance...*
Ujiki: KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILL!!!
Kaoru: Satsuma's Ninotachi Irazu technique of the Jigen school! The best...
Chief: This fellow is...
SIC: Oho. Thou stubborn goon! His technique is indeed first class, however -
Ujiki: Give me your life!
SIC: Against the 'Hiten Mitsurugi', it has not a single streak of chance.
(Kenshin jumps off, flies into the air, strikes Ujiki on a vital back spot
and lands cleanly.)
Kaoru: Kenshin! You are not hurt?
(Entire onlooking townsfolk push against Kenshin)
People: That was so cool, brother!
People: Where do you come from?
People: Have a drink in my humble house please!
SIC: Himura! We have finally met again. I have sought you out for ten
years...
Kenshin: Thou hast grown a moustache, Yamagata-san.
Yamagata: Chief, shall we disband these people...
Chief: Yes!
Kaoru: *Yamagata... can it really be -*
Policemen: All right people, go home!
People: What? Dare you touch us with violence again?
People: Brother, teach them a lesson too!
*During the restoration period, one of those of the six greatest generals -
Ishinshishi Yamagata Aritomo!
Yamagata: My carriage awaits you! (reaches out for his hand) And we all
await in tingling anticipation our most cherished companion. Come!
Kenshin: Apologies! A post gained by bloody hands is something detestable
and undesirable in mine eyes.
Yamagata: !! Where does those words come from? True we killed, but only so
that the path throughout the turmoil and traumas may be fully cemented! Why
are you still thinking along that line? Mayhaps, you are still known as the
'Hitokiri', and this has polluted your guilt, but you need not bother them,
you only...
Kenshin: ... need to possess the heart and mind of an official? Then become
a proud, ignorant of true facts, arrogant, bossy, show-off, self-assuming,
liar, complacent and insolent fool just as in impression of these. (Ujiki
being taken away)
(turns his back to Yamagata. Kaoru follows meekly)
Kenshin: We did not engage in the bloody battles for high posts in the new
era, but to preserve and ensure that these poor commoners smoothly live
through this era happily. If thou hast deserted even this thought, then
Yamagata-san... Ishinshishis are not more than a haughty troop of arrogant
winners.
Yamagata: Please wait, Himura!
(Kenshin turns his head around)
Yamagata: The time has flowed on to differ, this is the Meiji era, not only
has the sword-abolishing edict been implied, even the samurai spirit has
stopped. No longer do we dwell in the times of the samurai castes either. It
is never longer 'walk through it all with my sword'!
(Yamagata is sweating from trying too hard to convince Kenshin)
Yamagata: In the Meiji era, if thou hast no superior command, one sword will
gain nothing for thou!
Kenshin: Be it may then, one sword be it, one shall be contented. Before my
unworthy self becomes like them sirs, mine only wish can be to guard mine
own ideals.
(Yamagata is exasperated, frustrated, but chained and tongue-tied)
Kenshin: Most disappointingly, myself has not changed. Only that name. No
longer can this unworthy one claim the 'Hitokiri' title; however, the title
of 'rurouni' resides in me.
(Kenshin turns and leaves. Kaoru follows)
Yamagata: ... Chief... I have understood. Whoever stands in the light or
whoever wallows in dark shame, the reaction of them common folks have made
the fact obvious.
Chief: A sword, a knife, it still exists it's pride and usefulness. But I
have been hoodwinked into believing that the actual Hitokiri was a fierce
and heartless creature by matter of the recent false Hitokiri issue.
(shows Kenshin and Kaoru walking back home, Kenshin having two buckets of
whatnots on him)
Chief: (voice over) That however, is false of the real Hitokiri. He is not
fierce, or the heartless creature I have drawn him to be, but a true hero of
our times...
Kenshin: My humble apologies, Kaoru-dono!
Kaoru: *I am beginning to understand...* What?
Kenshin: This careless one hast made thou lose thy favorite ribbon.
Kaoru: *Why Kenshin chose the path of a rurouni.* 'Tis alright! If you
would do my housework for me, you have already repaid all favors for me!
*Because only like that may he, free of responsibilities and duties, fulfill
his ideals and dreams to the new world.*
Kenshin: ...
Kaoru: *Just as like the rushing rain and river as per freedom. -Rurouni-*
Kenshin: 'Tis not light! Doth thou wish this lowly one make another journey
for't again?
Kaoru: There is no need...
END TRANSLATION
(c) Nobuhiro Watsuki Translation: ruroken@geocities.com
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