Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translations
Volume Twenty-Four--End of the Dream
Part 212--The Beginnings of Action
(Sunlight streams in a high window. Kaoru stirs.)
Kaoru: Mmmm . . . Kenshinnnn . . . is breakfast ready? (hearing no reply) Okay, just five more minutes . . .
(Suddenly she sits bolt upright.)
Kaoru (thinking): Idiot! Five more minutes?! What on earth happened . . . (And why am I wearing a bathrobe?)
(The last thing she remembers is Enishi grabbing her.)
Kaoru (thinking): That's right--I was sure he was going to kill me. But he held a cloth soaked in some kind of drug over my mouth and I blacked out . . I don't know how much time has passed, but I've definitely been taken somewhere. Anyway . . . first I've got to get out of here!
(She takes stock of her room, which is sparse but well furnished.)
Kaoru (picking up a vase and thinking): This'll do for a weapon . . . (trying the door) It's open . . . (entering the hall) I don't see any guards . . . There's no one here at all. As still as the middle of the night . . .
(She moves down the hall.)
Kaoru (thinking): I hope everyone's all right . . .Sanosuke, Megumi, Yahiko . . . Kenshin . . . I'm making you worry about me again. I'm sorry. Just wait, I'll be back soon. I'll be back--
(She opens another door and is confronted with a cliff, overlooking a small inlet.)
Enishi (behind her): It's no use trying to run away.
(Kaoru whirls, vase at the ready, but is stopped by Enishi's appearance--bandages, arm in a sling--and the dull look in his eye.)
Enishi: It's a deserted island, a relay station my organization uses to ship goods by sea into Tokyo. It's at least 20 kilometers to the nearest island, and there are sharks in the area. On top of that, except for the inlet you see before you, it's all shear vertical precipice. Aside from the weekly ferry, no one can get in or out. In short, it's a natural prison. You'll just have to be patient. Sooner or later I'll send you back to Tokyo.
Kaoru: . . . How soon?
(Enishi smiles.)
Enishi (thinking): As soon as Battousai dies. (aloud) Well. Not long.
Kaoru: Just tell me one thing. Why didn't you kill me? I was sure . . . I'd be killed.
(There is a moment's pause. Then Enishi turns back to the house.)
Enishi: That's not something we need to talk about.
(Kaoru watches him go.)
Kaoru (thinking): Was it pity? . . . No. That can't be it. He all but said during the fight that there was no such thing in his heart. I don't understand. (remembering his smile) But it seems like his revenge is complete. Something's happening to Kenshin. Kenshin-- . . . I can't leave it like this. Somehow, I have to get off this island!
(Enishi encounters Gein in the hallway.)
Gein: "Not something you need to talk about"? It's certainly not something you like to talk about with strangers.
Enishi: What.
Gein: Nothing . . After all, that's the reason I got to demonstrate the real extent of my skill. (Walking off.) Just make sure I'm on the next ferry out. I have a very, very important job to do.
Enishi: Hm. (thinking) Now that my Earthly Justice is complete I have no need for him. I'd better finish him before he starts talking . . .
(At the Kamiya dojo, Misao brandishes her kunai daggers.)
Misao: Hiiiii---ya!
(She slices through Kaoru's memorial tablet.)
Misao (kicking over the altar): Kaoru's alive! We don't need this anymore! (Demon Bird Kick of Joy!)
Yahiko (eating): You're going to clean all that up.
(He notices Megumi's subdued expression.)
Yahiko: Hey, don't worry about it. The best doctor in the world wouldn't have been able to tell. Crazy stuff like that is Aoshi's kind of thing.
Megumi: Thank you. I wasn't worrying. I'm happy. Since she's alive, Ken-san will feel better . . .
Misao: Yeah! That's why we gotta tell him right away!
Aoshi: Leave him. It's too soon.
Megumi & Misao: What?
Aoshi: Even if Kamiya Kaoru is alive, Battousai will still blame himself. It doesn't change the fact that he couldn't protect the one he cared about most after Yukishiro Tomoe. If he knows Kamiya Kaoru is alive, Battousai will act. He'll drive himself desperately to destroy Yukishiro Enishi and rescue her. But then it will be over. He'll never come back here again. He'll set off wandering. He'll live out the rest of his solitary journey stopping and moving on. He'll essentially stay the way he is now. In the end . . the only way is to find the answer within yourself . . . For fifteen years, he's searched the depths of his soil for a way to atone for the sins of the Hitokiri . . . Now, as long as he can't find that answer, he'll never find his soul. Someone might help him and give him a little push on the way, but the only one who can find that answer if himself--
Megumi: But then--
Yahiko: Wait, Megumi. Aoshi's right . . . Let's listen to someone who's been there. At any rate, we have to be ready to act when Kenshin finds his answer. We have to find out where Kaoru is as soon as we can!
Aoshi: Yes . . We don't have any leads, but there's someone who will show up in Tokyo soon. I'll set a trap for him.
Yahiko: That's a good, but we don't know how long that will take. There's a place where they'll have leads. Let's go check it out!
Misao: A place with leads . . .
Megumi: You don't mean . . .
(They're all thinking of Saitou at the police station.)
Yahiko: Yeah! (I don't care how stubborn he is!)
translations by maigo-chan
last updated 30 jan 2001