* Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translation *
* Volume 10: Invincible sword's master and disciple *
* Chapter eighty-four: Invincible sword's master and disciple *
(a wooden hut stands within the trees. The exterior of it looks normal.
Inside lays shelve after shelve of pottery lined all over the walls)
Hiko: Good... (he sits down very hard) I didn't think you had the face to
ever see me again. What do you want?
(Kenshin looks around at the surroundings)
Kenshin: You are indeed a popular newcomer in the pottery business, but why
have you become a clay moulder?
(Hiko stares)
Hiko: (closes his eyes) I do not care whether I'm a clay moulder or not.
Only, if I should be able to forget all the troubles and frustrations of the
world, a clay moulder is the best choice. This is indeed simple words of
shallow meanings! Um!
(he brings his right hand to lightly touch his fringe, striking 'that pose')
Hiko: The genuine genius brings light and glory to whatever he does!
Kenshin: *His over-confidence has never been changed...* (he snaps as Hiko
continues)
Hiko: We have not stuck to the topic. Are you here for something you find
hard to ask of me?
(he smiles a knowing smile)
Hiko: I am your master! To see through what goes on within my silly disciple
is not something extremely difficult.
Kenshin: ...
(he lifts the cloth on his right knee)
Kenshin: ... then I shall be straightforward!
(he kneels in front of Hiko one-legged and bows his head deeply)
Kenshin: 15 years ago, the 'Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu Succession Technique' which
Master has not imparted to me -
(Hiko stares emotionlessly)
Kenshin: - please would you impart it to me now!
(Hiko continues staring. Then he closes his eyes)
Hiko: Don't want!
(he stands up to leave)
Hiko: You were the one who rejected the imparting at that time, why have you
come to find me now then?
(Kenshin, still kneeling, grabs a patch of Hiko's cloak. Hiko turns around)
Kenshin: ... Master, I beg you please...
Hiko: (smiling) ... So, you must have met with some hard-to-tackle problem!
(the smoke churns out of the chimney)
Hiko: Fine! Let's hear what you have to say.
(In another part of the forest)
Yahiko: Woah! The sun's set already. We need to move faster.
Misao: (holding a notebook) Yup!
Kaoru: Well...
Misao: According to what Okina gave us, we should be near.
(Flashback at Okina's teahouse)
Misao: WHAT! Himura's gone away already?
Okina: Yup. And these two are?
Misao: Huh? Himura's friends. Specially journeyed from Tokyo just to see
him.
(Okina snaps and places his hands on Kaoru's shoulders)
Okina: You must know that Himura would be fighting a duel that would also
decide which route Japan takes hereafter? If you still hold an immature
attitude and...
Kaoru: Huh...
Misao: I've already asked her!
(she puts her arms akimbo)
Misao: Kaoru is determined in this aspect too. So just hurry up and tell us
where he is!
(Okina turns to look at Misao and turns back to Kaoru as she bows)
Kaoru: I beg you please then... (she grasps her kimono tighter. Okina lets
out a puff of air in let up)
Okina: All right! Just be careful on your own...
(End flashback as Misao flips the papers)
Misao: The person Himura wants to find is on the surface a pretty normal and
honest pottery maker popular and well liked in this ring, but that is only
his identity mask! He's actually a powerful swordsman by the name of 'Hiko
Seijuro', also Himura's master.
Yahiko: An identity mask?
Kaoru: Usually when someone does not wish for others to know his true
identity, he would veil it with a mask identity.
(Misao turns around to look at them)
Misao: However, 'Hiko Seijuro' was the name of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu's
creator, only the person who's mastered the Succession Technique can qualify
to use this identity mask.
Yahiko: Oh... (he snaps) That means...
(he lock palms with Misao)
Yahiko: Hang on a sec! That means -
Misao: (opening her mouth really big) Right! This also means Himura hasn't
graduated yet! And now he wishes to ask his Master to re-impart to him what
he hasn't learned during the last times!
(Yahiko opens his mouth equally big)
Yahiko: Doesn't that also mean that when he's mastered all those skills
he'll be even stronger than what he is now?
(they lock the back of their palms)
Yahiko: Woweeohwhy! He's really as strong as a non-human!
Misao: Yup! He's a hybird!
Kaoru: *There's no need to describe till a state like that!*
(she touches her hair in the pale moonlight)
Kaoru: *Every kenkaku's target is indeed to be stronger than what he is
now.*
(picture of the black starry sky)
Kaoru: *But...*
(back at the wooden house, Hiko pours out a cup of sake)
Hiko: Um... so I see.
(he drinks)
Hiko: This person called Shishio Makoto wants Japan resting in the palms of
his control, and you are slowly reverting into the Hitokiri Battousai of the
past.
(Kenshin, seated opposite him, stares in apt attention as his Master
continues to lecture him)
Hiko: To not turn back into being the Hitokiri Battousai, yet to defeat this
Shishio, you must become stronger than what you are now.
(he closes his eyes)
Hiko: This is called: "he who treads on both boats is, shall be fallen to
the seas"!
Kenshin: Master!
(Hiko places his cup on the floor)
Hiko: I have told you before...
(Kenshin eyes widen in acknowledgement)
Hiko: (looking very fierce) A sword is a weapon, kenjutsu is a killing
skill. No matter how you try to cover it up, or how high and almighty, how
earnest and dynamic your excuses are, that, is the truth!
(Kenshin goes into shadows as he continues to listen)
Hiko: To fulfill your beautiful ideal yet wishing to overcome this current
obstacle in front of you, do you really think you are some lead in a fairy
tale storybook?
Hiko and Kenshin: ...
(Kenshin bows his head and looks down on the floor)
Hiko: By the looks of it, fifteen years ago...
(picture of waterfall. Little Kenshin follows Hiko to the edge of a cliff)
Hiko: (voice over) ... the way you devoted your entire self into the chaos
of the Bakumatsu turmoil, was from the start a serious flaw and wrong on
your own part -
(begin flashback)
Hiko: No way!
Kenshin: Master!
Hiko: You do not have to care about what happens to worldly people. Stay and
practice your sword here for me!
Kenshin: But, many innocent lives have been killed in this messy web of
chaos and turmoil! Wasn't the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu's fervent beliefs based
on wrenching the innocents from the hands of destruction? If we don't
practice this belief now then when can we do it?
(Kenshin bends forward and shouts)
Kenshin: MASTER!
Hiko: If you insist on going, then defeat your master first!
(Kenshin whacks Hiko with his sword and sheath on the head)
Hiko: (rubbing a bump on his head) Darnation! You're giving me a real hit!
Kenshin: Go blame it on your stubborn refusal to allow human pity!
Hiko: You do not know anything at all! The Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu is the
mightiest clan, and whoever we helps will surely triumph! It's just like the
'dark boat on the road'!
(he points at Kenshin)
Hiko: Do you understand? It means...
Kenshin: (clenching his fist) I do not understand a single bit!
(starts shouting again)
Kenshin: How many people are suffering and how many are without homes?
Whatever the reason, it does not allow me to sit and watch wide-eyed!
(end flashback as the scene shifts to the shelves in Hiko's house again)
Hiko: After we quarreled for a full and night you left defeated.
(he brings a finger to point at Kenshin)
Hiko: This is...
(Kenshin stares in anticipation)
Hiko: ... your ending theme. Your kenjutsu is indeed the creme de la creme,
but at that time you were still a fifteen year old greenhorn who hasn't
really seen the world yet. After that, your left cheek and heart took to
themselves an injury hit so hard it would never be lightened, becoming a
kenkaku drifting between to-kill-or-not-to-kill...
(Hiko stares fiercely without removing his pointing finger)
Hiko: ... eventually awakening Shishio Makoto - a shattered lost soul of
Bakumatsu.
(Kenshin stares in half acknowledgement, attentively paying respectful
attention)
Hiko: The shishis you put all trust and no doubt in has indeed ended the
chaos and violence to construct this Meiji government. But to hide their
shameful past, they started to destroy everything that would reveal this
past or even prove the slightest bit of problem to them.
(a picture of Shishio and his Juppongatana)
Hiko: (voice over) From the sunset death they awakened a strong Bakumatsu
lost and wrecked soul Shishio Makoto, allowing he and his company the chance
once again to bring the people back into the living hell they thought would
never come again.
(lowering his hands but still staring at Kenshin)
Hiko: In other words, you have used your Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu to play a part
in the awakening of the lost souls of Bakumatsu.
(Kenshin silently accepts the truth behind Hiko's words. Hiko suddenly slams
his hand on the floor and gets up a little)
Hiko: Yes you are right! To wrench the innocents away from the hands of
destruction, THAT, is what the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu fervently place our
beliefs upon! But only if our Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu is not attached to any
authority powers or any organized clan, as a free swordsplay movement or
better can the belief be practiced and done!
(his cup has been smashed by the force of his slam)
Hiko: Not a freedom swordsplay's Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, will eventually lose
it's original beauty! Every generation of passing on the tradition at Edo
has come to use the mask identity of 'Hiko Seijuro', so that the Hiten
Mitsurugi Ryuu would not come to be under any authority or powers!
(Hiko's eyes gleam with finality)
Hiko: I never knew you would not even understand this point, by the looks of
it you do not deserve to be imparted the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu's final
succession technique!
(Yahiko, Misao and Kaoru arrive just outside the door of where Kenshin and
Hiko are seated)
Misao: It's here!
(Kaoru grabs her kimono tighter in suspense)
Misao: Then let's go...
Hiko: I fear...
(Misao stops)
Hiko: ... that when I imparted the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu to you those years
ago had been the fatal wrong already.
(Misao and Yahiko snaps)
Misao and Yahiko: !!
(and both barge into the room without knocking)
Misao and Yahiko: What's the meaning of that sentence!
(Hiko looks at the newcomers with knitted brows and lets out a huff of air)
Hiko: What is this? Who in the world are you people?
Kenshin: (turning around) Misao-dono, Yahiko... (he pauses for a while)
(Kaoru stands framed by the door, afraid to step in or just paralyzed by
seeing Kenshin one more time)
Kenshin: Kaoru-dono...
(Kaoru blushes at hearing her name being called by Kenshin again while the
stars sparkle for the reunion of a lost and confused pair)
END TRANSLATION
(c) Nobuhiro Watsuki Translation: ruroken@geocities.com
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