Chapter 130: Soujirou's Past--A Chance Meeting on a Moonlit Night

(After taking a massive slash to the back, Kenshin is breathing hard but still keeps his feet.)

Sanosuke (thinking): Kenshin's... it's the first time someone's gotten him on the back. Not good--this is definitely not good!

Yumi (thinking): He can do it! The boy--no, Soujirou the Prodigy--he really is better than Himura Battousai! Just one more attack! The next one will bring him down for sure!

Soujirou (still looking puzzled): It really is strange.

Sanosuke & Yumi: Huh?

Soujirou: I was meaning to go for the opening after your attack all along, but it didn't bring you down. (musing) Strange...

(Sanosuke and Yumi look disgusted.)

Yumi: Look, boy, you can think about it later, just hurry up and kill him!

Sanosuke: Now, Kenshin! He's distracted! Get him!

Soujirou (looking down): Oh. Mr. Himura, I'm sorry, can you wait for a minute. After all that running, look at my sandals.

(The straw-soled sandals are tattered, their laces broken.)

Soujirou: Rest yourself while I change them. (walking off) Let's see, spare sandals...

Yumi (storming after him): Come back here boy--!!

Sanosuke: Why didn't you attack, Kenshin? There would've been nothing cowardly about it. It'd be his fault for stopping in the middle of a fight.

Kenshin: That sounds like something Saitou would say. I just couldn't attack someone so unashamedly off-guard. More importantly, I want to dress these wounds. Let me borrow some bandages.

Sanosuke:... So he's really tough?

Kenshin: Yes... He has the speed of a trueborn swordsman. And I can't read his moves... But I do know one thing. At first glance, he looks like he's lost all emotion, but when he didn't destroy me as he intended, while it was subtle, there was a flicker of unease. If he were truly without emotion, there would be none. Something has happened to him to seal his emotions away at the bottom of his heart... though he may not realize it himself.

(In the other room)

Yumi: Hey! Why didn't you give him the final blow! Just one more step, and you would have--

Soujirou (sweetly): Miss Yumi, why are you so angry?

(Yumi almost chokes with rage)

Yumi: No matter how good you are, this is just leaving too much to chance! Himura's got that precious succession technique of his, so if you think you can just knock him off whenever you want, you're making a big mistake!

Soujirou (lacing his sandals): I don't think of him so lightly. Mr. Himura is far stronger than I expected him to be. Worthy of the legendary Hitokiri. But no matter how strong he is, the Mr. Himura of today can't compare with Mr. Shishio or I. I've only heard this from Mr. Shishio, but Mr. Himura's sworn never to kill again. He wields his sword to protect the weak, doesn't he? So he shouldn't be able to compare with us. No. He shouldn't be able to--

(flashback)

Father: Stupid brat!

(He kicks the young Soujirou, about nine years old, through the door.)

Father: I told you to move a hundred bags of rice into the western barn! Can't you do anything!

(Soujirou raises his face, smiling slightly. The man throws his sake bottle at him, catching him on the forehead.)

Father: What the hell are you grinning about! You're not setting foot in this house till you finish the job! You're sleeping outside tonight!

(Though his forehead is bleeding, the smile does not leave Soujirou's face.)

Father: Damn kid.

Sister: Now, now, father.

Father: Things have been bad enough since the new government started taking land tax in cash instead of rice. Then dad's mistress leaves this brat on our hands.

Sister: That kid... He's always got that creepy little grin on his face. We had to adopt him for the sake of appearances, but he's not all there.

Younger Brother: He's fine, isn't he father? He'll work for us all his life and we'll never have to give him a thing.

Mother: You'd better believe we won't! I don't care who adopted him, you think he's laying a finger on our land or the store?

Father: Don't be silly. That's all for my children!

(Soujirou walks away, still smiling. He draws water from the well and is cleaning off his forehead when he hears a noise. He creeps closer to have a look. A policeman is fighting with a man swathed in bandages. The policeman charges, and the man in bandages first cuts off his arms, then cleaves him in half. A twig breaks under Soujirou's foot, and the man turns.)

Shishio: You saw. Didn't you, boy...