Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translations
Volume Two--Two Hitokiris
Part 14--A Final Act Under the Moon
(Battousai stands poised with the sword raised above Jin’eh. Jin’eh is kneeling, making no
move to avoid the blow.)
Kaoru (still unable to breath): Kenshin . . .
Jin’eh: What’s wrong, Battousai? Why do you hesitate? You have to kill me to release the
girl. Spare me and she dies. Kill me and you save her. The choice is too simple. Don’t
hesitate. There’s no time. Great Hitokiri of legend, assassin--send me to the netherworld
with one stroke here (drawing a line across the top of his head)
Battousai: Yes. I have no desire to give you such a gift. But to protect Miss Kaoru, I will
be the Hitokiri once again.
Jin’eh: That’s it! Give me a taste of your assassin’s blade!
Battousai: Die.
(The blade comes down.)
(Kaoru remembers Kenshin’s words when he first came to the dojo--
A sword is a weapon. Kenjutsu is the art of killing. Whatever pretty words
you use to speak of it, this is its true nature--
But, I like Miss Kaoru’s idealism better than its true nature. I like it better.
Kaoru: Ken . . . shin . . . Kenshin!!! NO-----!!!!
(He freezes)
Kaoru (sweating and breathing hard): Don’t go back to being the Hitokiri . . . and using the
killer’s sword . . . (she collapses) . . . no . . .
Kenshin: Miss Kaoru! (he dashes over and catches her before she hits the ground) Miss Kaoru,
wake up! Are you all right?
(She opens her eyes, then smiles.)
Kaoru: I’m all right. Kenshin.
Kenshin: Oro?
Kaoru: You're talking . . . like you usually do. I’m fine, now--
(Jin’eh stands behind them. He draws his short sword with his left hand.)
Jin’eh: I could understand the rooster-head doing it, but I would never have believed the
girl could break out of the One-sided Heart. I must be getting soft too.
Kenshin: Stop, Jin’eh. You have no chance of victory with only a wakazashi in your left hand.
You lost. It’s all over. Accept it quietly.
Jin’eh: No. It’s not over yet. There’s still things to be settled.
(He plunges the wakazashi into his own chest.)
Jin’eh: Hmm. This feeling . . . it’s good.
(he falls backwards)
Jin’eh: Stop . . . looking like you don’t understand. I said it . . . the things left to be
settled. I . . . I was alive, and caught . . . if the investigation continues . . . it will be sure to
find the politician who commissioned these killings . . .
Kenshin: What . . .
Jin’eh (chuckling): I can’t believe you thought there was no need for a Hitokiri in the new
era. You don't look like Battousai. That's why I thought you had gotten soft. There's a lot of
noise about the new government, but at heart it’s still the same
bloody struggle for power. They want to erase those who got in their way, but now, under the
new regime with a modern police force, it's not possible to carry out a simple killing.
Not only could I not break away from my path of
violence, but I didn’t want to. So when the interests of politics and the Hitokiri came
together, the assassin "Black Hat of Rushes" was born. "A Hitokiri kills of his own free
will, but he does not choose his own targets." I ignored this rule and challenged you, and so
came to this awkward end. But, I don’t care. I enjoyed this duel to the death.
And living with a smashed right arm would have been boring.
Kenshin: Jin’eh . . .
Jin’eh: Stop looking like that, Battousai. When you said you’d kill me, those eyes were better.
Your true nature is that of the Hitokiri. As was mine. A Hitokiri
is a Hitokiri until death, after all. No one else can change this. I'll watch you from the
abyss of hell to see how long you can wander as a vagabond.
(With a final chuckle, he dies. His words echo in Kenshin’s mind.)
"A Hitokiri is a Hitokiri until death, after all. Until death . . ."
Kaoru: Kenshin . . .
Kenshin: Let’s go home, Miss Kaoru. We’ll leave what’s left for the police.
(They walk home through the deserted, early-morning streets, Kenshin a few paces ahead.)
Kaoru: . . . Kenshin (he says nothing) Kenshin.
Kenshin: Ah . . . what is it?
Kaoru: Thank you, for saving me. At least let me say it--
Kenshin (remembering her screaming): . . . No. It is I who should thank you. I’m grateful.
When Miss Kaoru stopped me . . .
Kaoru: What? Oh. No, I mean, it was nothing.
I had become the Hitokiri Battousai once again.
Kenshin: Oh yes, your indigo ribbon. I have to give it back.
(He holds it out.)
Kenshin: Oro.
Kaoru (snatching it): What is this! It’s all bloody!
Kenshin: Oh, when my shoulder was cut the blood must have--
Kaoru (chasing him with the reverse blade): This is terrible! I’ll never forgive you for
this! Come back here!
Kenshin: I couldn’t help it!
Jin’eh . . . Watch me from the abyss of hell. I’ll spend the rest of
my life suppressing my Hitokiri nature. I’ll never become Hitokiri Battousai again. Until I
die, I’ll be the vagabond who doesn’t kill . . .
(Back at the dojo.)
Sanosuke: So you met up with her and didn’t come back till early morning, eh? Aren’t you
the smart guy. Did you finally do it?
(Kenshin is not even going to deal with this. Kaoru wearily smacks at them with her shinai.)