Note: The author has seen way too much Neon Genesis Evangelion prior to writing this music video. So gomen if some of the scenes are just too Eva-like. Please don't sue either...

(Get on with it Tracy, the preliminaries will be longer than the music video if you're not careful!!)

The Ocean Vast Under A Clear Sky

by Tracy Lim
30 June 1998

[music interlude]

A single snowflake with all its exquisite geometrical symmetry and precision against a black background. A gust of wind blows, and the snowflake spins, flies up into the air, merging into a snowstorm. The dark background lightens to a dazzling white. From an aerial view, Kenshin is seen walking slowly out of the Kekkai no Mori, carrying a bundle in his arms, leaving a track of scarlet footsteps in his wake. The scene fades...

[This cold night.]

...to a lonely Aoshi standing in a small clearing in a dark, shadowy forest, eyes closed, his kodachis in hands. As he suddenly summons up all his sword ki and executes the Kaitenkenbu Rokuren flawlessly in a blinding flash, branches snap, trees after being hacked into sections fall to the ground, leaves dance furiously.

[I watch the snowflakes sail by.]

Turbulent air caused by the impact of the trees on the ground pushes the leaves even higher into the air... to Aoshi, they look so much like the Goddess of Snow herself dancing in glee in a snowstorm...

[I sail towards the horizon and beyond, with a frozen heart.]

His heart is all frozen up indeed, even since the day Hanya and the others departed... and the Aoshi that once was departed as well... even now, watching the dance of the leaves - or are they snow? - his thoughts wander...

[Chasing shadows in the storm.]

A silhouette against a bright light.

Who's that? Battousai?

[I can't make out the shadows and silhouettes in the fog.]

Long hair tied up high with a strip of paper. A scarf wrapped around the lower part of the face. A kodachi in his right hand. Cold eyes with a frozen fire burning in them.

no.... it's me... when I was younger...

[This world, with its clear skies and oceans vast.]

"Omedeto, Shinomori!!"

"Hey, it's not Shinomori anymore, Hyotoko you baka! He's our Okashira now!!"

"Yeah, Okashira, I just knew that you're qualified enough to be appointed the new Okashira!"

[You and I.]

"Seems like yesterday when I first taught you to handle a katana, Aoshi. You've learnt your lessons well. Be a good Okashira. I have great faith in my choices."

Okina...

[Will it ever change. (who's not changing)]

"The Oniwabanshuu continues to be in good hands. I, Hanya, will always follow you."

"Hey Hanya, you think you're the only one who thinks that way?!"

"Count us all in, Okashira! We all pledge undying loyalty to you and the Oniwabanshuu!"

Minna-san...

[For innumerable times, I bore the jeers.]

"Shinomori-san. It's the Meiji era now. Do you honestly think this so-called Onmitsu Oniwabanshuu continues to have any significance in this new era? It's nothing but an antique. A thing of the past! Listen to me, be my personal bodyguard. I guarantee that you'll have all the riches in the world. I guarantee that you no longer have to worry about the rest of your life! Simply come work for me."

"And the other Onmitsu's?"

"Who cares about them? Just a pack of stunt-performers. I just need you and you alo.... UUUURGH!!"

[Never giving up the dream in my heart.]

Aoshi picks up the sprawled official roughly by the collar, holding him high up in the air, the scalding anger in his eyes scaring the official half to death.

"I will not tolerate any humiliation of the Oniwabanshuu. I will not let anyone - ANYONE - mar the brotherhood's pride!"

[In that short instant.]

The noise of the Guttering Gun in Takeda's mansion shattered the night... and one man's heart...

"Shikijyou... Beshimi! Hyotoko!!! HANYAAAAAAAA!!!! "

[The feeling as if I've lost something.]

Aoshi's eyelids fly open, and darkness greet him. He can barely make out the ceiling of his room in Aoiya.

All a dream...

Minna... gomen nasai....

[And it starts to fade.]

Though Aoshi remains expressionless and the night seems undisturbed, he's aware that his brisk heartbeat refuses to slow down. He wills the images to go away, wills his heartbeat to return to normal. The latter complied, the former refused.

[This love in my heart. (who can understands me)]

He closes his eyes again - in defeat? exhausted? He himself doesn't know the answer.

[Forgive me, this unbridled, freedom-loving life.]

Scene cuts to night at Kamiya dojo. Kaoru and Yahiko have long since retired to their rooms. Sano keeps gulping down bottle after bottle of sake, and even Kenshin starts to look concerned.

"Hey Kenshin... c'mon, have some more sake... ahahaha..."

"Sano, you're getting drunk."

"Who cares? I'm... the famous Kenkaya... I'm supposed to be drunk... supposed to be a crazy guy ain't I... ahahaha... everybody must think I'm such a happy, carefree soul... haha..."

"Sano."

[But I'm afraid...]

Sano suddenly starts to sob quietly.

"I just can't help it... if I don't act the way I do I'll keep remembering all of it..."

"Sano... you're drunk, you should rest now..."

"DAMMIT I JUST CAN'T HELP IT!! Even after Kenshin dragged me out of my self-pity... I just can't help it, I just can't forget Sagara Taichou, everybody!!"

[...that one day I'll fall too.]

"I'm so afraid... so afraid that one day this will all end... afraid that Kenshin will somehow be gone... 'jouchan... vixen... kiddo... I'm so afraid I'll lose everyone again, and I'll be alone again... alone... again..."

Sano... Kenshin suddenly realises that this is the Sano whom he tries so earnestly to hide from everyone else. The Sano who's afraid of losing everything he has again.

Let him vent out his true feelings now, he'll snap if he's stressed like this any longer.

[It's so easy, to give up on your own dream.]

"Oh god, it's so easy to lose one's self control... eh Kenshin...? Even after all these years' practice... But... I don't care... I just feel so tired... so tired... I just want to rest... I just..."

Silence reigned.

[And if one day, all that's left are you and me.]

"Sano, I promise you. If ever I need to go away... I'll always come back..."

"Sano? Sano?"

~sigh~ He dozed off...

[I won't be afraid.]

Kenshin gently drapes a blanket around Sano, who's already sound asleep. "Oyasuminasai. Have a good rest, in body and in mind, Sano."

[music interlude]

After cleaning up a bit, Kenshin blows out the candle and returns to his room. As he passes along the corridor, he notices the silent, snow-covered clearing outside the dojo. It's snowing again. His thoughts flit back to that fateful day...

[This cold night.]

He throws a last departing glance over his shoulder, bidding farewell to his life as an Ishin Shishi. As Battousai. It's early wintry January, the War of Toba and Fushimi having recently ended.

[I watch the snowflakes sail by.]

It's not snowing, and as if to compensate for that, the setting sun glows a bloody red, throwing a scarlet hue all over the land. He smiles wryly. So, are the heavens predicting a bloody death for me? Or are they simply mirroring the spilt blood on the battle fields?

[I sail towards the horizon and beyond, with a frozen heart.]

He looks down at the newly obtained Sakabatou from Shaku at his waist. So... my journeying partner, he thought. Yoroshiku. I guess we'll spend much time together from now on. And the rurouni starts his wanderings which is to last for ten years.

[Chasing shadows in the storm.]

Night has fallen. The rurouni slumps against the trunk of a tree, faces and images flying past before his eyes.

Shishou... Katsura-san... Takasugi-san... Yamagata-san... Iidsuka... Kiyosato... Tomoe... Enishi... Shaku... the Yaminobu...

[I can't make out the shadows and silhouettes in the fog.]

In the Kekkai no Mori... it's like fighting underwater... my sight's murky, my hearing impaired, my motion sluggish... the satisfaction when my katana found its target... until I saw what the target was...

"TOMOE!!!!!"

[This world, with its clear skies and oceans vast.]

His thoughts wander even further back. By the countryside. Kenshin waves goodbye to the children after the day's play, then joins Tomoe who's sitting beneath a tree, writing in her diary.

[You and I.]

Kenshin keeps looking at Tomoe's face with such deep interest until she blushes.

"Is there something on my face?"

"...Tomoe?"

"Hmmm?"

[Will it ever change. (who's not changing)]

"I hope the world will stay this way and never change..."

She is silent for a while, then whispers.

"But who's not changing..."

[Forgive me, this unbridled, freedom-loving life.]

"Dear... you're wounded again?" Her hesitant voice, afraid of annoying her husband, but still full of concern and worry.

"It's nothing. I'm a police officer, these things happens all the time!"

But Tokio, when I see your worried face, the hesitant way you speak to me... how I wish I could tell you, "Gomen nasai, I've burdened you with all these worrying..." How I wish I were a more gentle man, able to soothe my own wife who's such a good woman...

[But I'm afraid that one day I'll fall too.]

Can it be that I'm getting old, that I'm starting to think like Battousai?!

Saito glances at Tokio playing with their infant son, and his eyes soften. Perhaps... I'm starting to understand something... But he will never admit it to anyone, probably not even Tokio.

Great, now I guess I'll just go soft in the head in another 2 years' time.

[It's so easy, to give up on your own dream.]

Saito knows simply too well that in a fight, the party who loses his will to live first is as good as dead meat. But for some weaklings, the thought of simply giving up is so enticing. It's a choice of immigrating from a realm of sufferings and pain to one where there's no pain - and no joy as well. No feelings. A realm from which there is no return.

[And if one day, all that's left are you and me.]

The only thing I can do is to keep on fighting for this nation, keep on fighting to live, keep on fighting so that I can come back to you again and say 'Tadaima' at the door. And you'll greet me with a 'Okaerinasai' and a smile.

[I won't be afraid.]

Because of you. All for you.

[music interlude]

Scene switches to the fight between Kenshin and Aoshi at Shishio's secret fortress.

"You say you're fighting for the four of them?! Don't make me laugh! You're just using them as your excuse to butcher people!!"

...is that true? that i've come this far... only to build my own hell?

"SHUT UP!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW!!"

"At least I know that you're just hypnotising yourself by trying to obtain the title of the 'Strongest', to escape from the reality."

...is that true? that all this while i fought for myself and myself only, not for the oniwabanshuu as i told myself?!...

"Are you going to continue escaping from the reality, Aoshi? Putting all the blame on the departed, while you yourself try to escape to the realm of the dead where there's no pain and also no return?! Call back your pride, your strong heart and will! It's time to get the clock going again and to continue with your life! IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP, AOSHI!!!"

[I'm still free, still my own master.]

The frozen fire in his eyes burning once again, Aoshi finally regains his pride. The Okashira of the Oniwabanshuu is revived. For Beshimi, Hyotoko, Shikijyou, Hanya... for Okina... for Misao...

He clenches his fist around the kodachi, and draws it out of the floorboard.

[I'll sing my song, forever and till eternity.]

Aoshi: "For the pride and memory of the Oniwabanshuu!"

Sano: "For the pride and memory of the Sekihotai!"

Saito: "For the pride and memory of the Shinsengumi!"

Kenshin: " For the pride and memory of all the inhabitants of the world!"

[I'll journey through thousands of miles and beyond.]

A falcon flies across the sky, its piercing screech echoing again and again in the valleys and mountain ranges below.

Yes, they are all souls born to be free!

[Forgive me, this unbridled, freedom-loving life.]

Sano spars playfully with Yahiko, as the latter keeps trying to hit Sano with his shinnai in vain. The lanky teenager simply stops the shinai in mid-air with his forefinger and thumb time after time. Finally, exasperated, Yahiko simply abandons his shinnai and gnaws on Sano's head in relish.

[But I'm afraid that one day I'll fall too.]

"Kaoru, aren't you going to stop those two?" Kenshin asks as he exchanges wry smiles with Sano.

"I have better things to do than to bother about the lunatics..." Kaoru mutters as she walked off. Yahiko pounces after Kaoru to repay the insult, and Sano gazes after them, a smile lingering on his face.

[It's so easy, giving up on one's dream.]

Well I'll worry about it when the time comes for us to part. But until then... I'm going to have a good time with my life... I'm Kenkaya, after all...

And seeing Sano's eyes, Kenshin knows that Sano can take care of himself.

[And if one day, all that's left are you and me.]

Kenshin's gaze lands on his Sakabatou resting on his left shoulder, his trustworthy Sakabatou who's been through so much with him all these years.

Well... not the same Sakabatou Shaku gave me when I left the Ishin Shishis, anyway. But then you're still the same, aren't you. Still the same Sakabatou which vowed not to kill.

[I won't be afraid.]

We'll see everything through together yet, right? My old partner... He fingers the sheath, almost a caress in that.

[short pause in music]

Atop a hill, Hiko gazes out into the sky, a pitcher of sake in his hand.

[It's so easy, giving up on one's dream.]

"Baka deshi desune. Leaving with dreams of being a saviour of the world, of saving people from their misery. And in the course of things... directly and indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally... caused so much blood to be spilt, so much misery for himself and others."

[And if one day, all that's left are you and me.]

"To all souls that were sacrificed during these turbulent years! May you find bliss and happiness in your future lives!"

Hiko splashes the pitcher of sake up into the air, as a toast of tribute in the memories of those who were sacrificed pave a way for the new era.

[I won't be afraid.]

He watches as the golden droplets glisten in the sun, stopping briefly in mid-air before diving down into the lush green valley below, as if the souls are bidding a last farewell to their current lives before they are reborn.

[Forgive me, this unbridled, freedom-loving life.]

The view pulls sharply from the hill, speeding across the lush greenery towards Kyoto, towards the Aoiya, where Misao and Okina are having another go at their childish squabbles, while Shirojyou, Kurojyou, Oumine and Masugami try to pull them apart.

[But I'm afraid that one day I'll fall too.]

Aoshi walks past the room, and is taken aback at what he's seeing inside. He knows that Misao has always been high-spirited, but she's already 16 now... and... she's still like that?!

[It's so easy, giving up on one's dream.]

As Misao tugs furiously at Okina's beard which the old mentor is trying desperately to save, the slightist of twitches tugs at the very corner of Aoshi's mouth. He turns to go for his meditation, the commotion still going on in the room.

[And if one day, all that's left are you and me.]

The view pulls sharply away again, up into the air, and speeds northwards, towards the crowded streets of Tokyo, and swoops down towards the Kenshingumi. Suddenly, people jump back as a horse-drawn carriage drives down the street. As the carriage approaches the Kenshingumi, a sharp pair of eyes glances out and notices the Kenshingumi. A thin wisp of cigarette smoke wafts down to Kenshin.

[I won't be afraid.]

Kenshin locks eyes with the Miburo. Both are undaunted, unafraid, steadfast in their gaze. A cynic smile, perhaps greeting, perhaps challenging, perhaps mocking, shows itself on Saito's face as the carriage passes them by.

[music interlude]

The Kenshingumi gazes after the carriage as the horses trots on, each thinking his/her own thoughts regarding the Miburo.

At length, Kenshin turns. "Let's go home."

Kaoru smiles. "Hai. Home..."

"Hey it's still early in the day, whaddaya say we go over to Akabeko to get some food?" Sano and Yahiko said in unison.

"Trying to get another free meal, eh, Sano?" Megumi jeers.

"Heh. I don't deny it." "Megumi, is there any cure for thick-skinnedness? Especially a severe case of it?"

"Unfortunately there isn't. Alas for the world indeed."

As they continue on their way, slowly losing themselves in the crowd, the view pulls up again, up into a clear sky, where a sun is shining brightly. The view continues to rise even higher up, until the colour of the sky matures into a deeper blue... then to a dark blue... then to a dark sky with glittering stars. The stars glitter and waver, until they slowly turn into a snowing scene against a dark background.

[music fades]

The scene slowly changes into a still picture of a single snowflake with all its exquisite geometrical symmetry and precision.

THE END.

(Tracy: See, I told you it's heavily Eva-influenced... )

Lyrics and melody by: Wong Ka Kui
Sung by: Beyond
Lyrics translation by: Tracy Lim