Part 197: Once Again the Wolf

Saitou: I came to ask what your connection with Yukishiro Enishi was, but there's no need. You keep the worst of company.

Sanosuke: You bastard... If you were alive, why didn't you show us your face?

Saitou (ignoring him): Since I'm already in the middle of a fight, I'd like to save some time. It's not much fun if you don't know what's going on.

Sanosuke: You let on you were dead so you could look for your chance to kill Kenshin??

Saitou (still ignoring him): Explain.

Sanosuke: Don't tell me what to do! Answer me!

Saitou: Persistant, aren't you. You wanted me dead so badly?

Sanosuke: It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to say it, but if you were alive you should have told us.

Saitou: Then you shouldn't get so attached. Now explain.

Sanosuke: Yeah right!

Megumi (elbowing Sanosuke out of the way): All right, I'll explain.

Sanosuke: Wait a minute, I'm still talking here--

Megumi: I'll tell you everything you want to know. But in exchange... please, help Ken-san.

Saitou: I can't do that. I wield my sword for my own justice alone. I reject your condition. Now explain yourself, quickly.

(Meanwhile, Mumyoui is perched on the roof, staring at Kenshin and Kaoru.)

Mumyoui: Take up your sword. Or what? Do I have to fight the woman instead?

Kenshin: I understand most of this. But there's one thing I still don't see. How did you, a miner, join up with the Dark Arts?

Mumyoui: When times change, lives change too... At the end of the Edo period, the gold seams of Japan, once called the Golden Country, were almost all mined out. Without gold, the miners had no way to live. We had to find a new way of life. The Yatsume clan's secret body manipulation techniques found it in me. This body contained a great deal of fighting potential. If the Tokugawa shogunate had seen this-- But you destroyed it. The patriots destroyed the shogunate. Now the Yatsume clan is just a candle in the wind... Dying of cold and starvation, they're searching the unclaimed lands of Hokkaido for gold... That's the end of my story! Take your sword, Battousai!

Kaoru (thinking):... This man isn't just obeying the laws of his clan. He's made all the misfortunes of his clan into hatred of the Ishin Shishi, and turned it all on Kenshin...

(Kenshin stands up.)

Kaoru: Kenshin...

Saitou: If you're planning on fighting and not killing him, then stand aside.

(Saitou has entered the courtyard; all eyes turn to him.)

Kenshin: I thought I heard your voice.

Saitou: You don't seem too surprised.