Kaoru knows that he's sick, and she goes to him in the night and sits with him on his futon. They embrace, and Kaoru tries to remove his kimono. Kenshin stops her with a shake of his head-- barely hidden by the kimono are large patches of red bruises. (somewhat akin to leprosy, but they don't say what it is.) Kaoru insists, telling him that Kenji has long since become a man and that she has no one left to live for but him. She wants to share his pain and sorrow, and Kenshin accedes and makes love to his wife. The next time I come home, he whispers, call me by my real name-- Shinta. ( This is a particularly dramatic moment, one that shows nothing but reveals everything. Probably the simplest and most poignant moment in the run of the entire series.)

This time, when Kenshin leaves it is the longest he has ever been away. It is in this time that Kaoru realizes she has contracted the same disease and opts to patiently waits for her husband while her health deteriorates more and more. Megumi travels to her side and states that she will not leave it until Kenshin comes home. There is no cure for their disease-- the best medicine can do is slow it down. In the meantime, Yahiko realizes that time is running short for Kaoru and goes to Seigiro Hiko's home in the mountains. Kenji ran away to train there, apparently, and he tells Yahiko that he 'is not the one she is waiting for'. He also reveals that he has no great love for his largely absent father. Yahiko then gives him the sakabatou and tells him to sleep with it that night-- in the morning, perhaps he will have his answers.

Kenji spends the night trying to decipher Yahiko's words, but he is too immature to understand. He knows that his father used to be the most feared warrior in the Bakumatsu, but all he ever knew was a man who wasn't even a swordsman. One that gave way to everyone and constantly tried to help others. A man who was willing to go halfway across Japan to help strangers, but wasn't home often enough to even know his own son. He says that he doesn't want Kamiya Kashiin Ryu (the sword that protects; Kaoru's sword school), and he doesn't want Kenshin's Hiten Mitsurugi. What he wants is the pure Hiten Mitsurugi from Hiko-- a sword that kills and is feared by all. In the end, he wants to be greater than even his father was during the Bakumatsu.

In the morning, Kenji rouses and tosses Yahiko back the sakabatou. He wants Hiten Mitsurugi and he is not afraid to take it. They prepare, and Kenji slips into the infamous Battou-jutsu stance. Yahiko takes on a stance we have seen him take many times before-- that of the sword school he has inherited, Kamiya Kashiin ryu. They engage, and Kenji slashes at him from all directions. Yahiko smiles and says that he is a true genius. But he cannot win because every fight Yahiko has been in can be seen in the soul of his movements-- his is the sword that protects. He gives a swift, smooth stroke (similar to what he used to do with the bokken in the dojo), and Kenji rises to block. His sword shatters behind the power and grace of Yahiko's strike, however, and he is struck with the flat of Yahiko's blade. He falls, and Yahiko gives him the sakabatou, saying that it is his genpuku present-- late as it is.