Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translations
Volume Twenty-Eight--Toward a New Age
Part 250--A Smile Once Again
Saitou: So this is how it turned out . . .
Aoshi: But he won't use that sword again.
Sanosuke: That's it.
Yahiko: Kenshin won!
Megumi: Ken-san!
Misao: Himura!
Kaoru: Kenshin . . .
(Behind her, Heishin is regaining consciousness.)
(Kenshin suddenly staggers.)
Megumi: Oh no!
Misao: Himura, are you--
(He pulls himself together.)
Kenshin: Not yet . . .
(Enishi, too, is on his feet.)
Kaoru (thinking): I see . . . Just winning or losing a fight isn't enough to pay for
his crime. He has to make it right . . .
Enishi: Battousai . . . Battousai!
Kenshin: Enishi--
(He is suddenly struck by a bullet in the shoulder. Heishin appears at the edge of the woods,
clutching two pistols.)
Misao: Himura!
Aoshi: It's all right. It missed the vital points. However--
Heishin: So you all tried to make a fool of me! I'll kill you! I'll take you all down!
Kaoru: No!
(She rushes out in front of him.)
Yahiko: Kaoru!
Misao: Kaoru!
(In Enishi's clouded vision, Kaoru seems to blur with Tomoe, leaping in front of the blow
to protect the one she loves.)
Heishin: Die!
(Suddenly Enishi is between them, knocking Heishin down with one solid punch. Heishin hits a
tree and slumps down. Enishi roars and rushes forward.)
Kaoru: Stop! Any more and you'll really kill him--
(Kenshin blocks Enishi's next punch.)
Yahiko: Kenshin . . .
Enishi: Move!
Kenshin: I'm not moving.
Enishi: Move it!
Kenshin: If I move, you'll kill this man. I won't kill, and I won't let anyone else be
killed. As long as there's anything I can do, I won't let anyone else die! It's over,
Enishi . . . If you don't let go, Tomoe's smile will be lost to you forever.
(Slowly, Enishi moves back a pace.)
Kenshin: You saved Miss Kaoru. Thank you.
(Enishi suddenly sinks to the ground, pounding his fists into the sand.)
Enishi: No! The one I wanted to save--the one I really wanted to save--Damn you! Damn you!
(Tears fall from his eyes.)
Kaoru (thinking): In order to pay for his sins . . . even if he shed his heart's blood,
unless someone forgave him, it wouldn't mean anything. Maybe it ended without forgiveness.
Maybe his life will always go unrewarded. But--
Kenshin (to Kaoru): Are you hurt?
Kaoru (thinking): But Kenshin can still smile. He always smiles, with a little sorrow
hidden in all his kindness. Maybe one life can't change an age. But I at least want
to be by his side. I want to always be by his side.
(Kenshin stumbles, and Kaoru moves forward to catch him.)
Kenshin: Oro?
translations by maigo-chan
last updated 8 february 2002