This is the story of my life. It doesn't start with my birth, because that's not when my life truly began. No, it does not begin even when I lost my parents, or when I was taken in and given my name by my late Master. It did not even began when I left to join the revolution as a manslayer.

It all began on one snowy night.

It was in the middle of winter and in those days, it was a night like any other. Once again, I had been sent out on a mission. My target was some old samurai, whose name I can no longer remember. I thought, when I was much younger, that I could never forget the faces of those I had murdered. But, unfortunately, old age rots the mind. Through the years, the clear image of their faces blurred, their screams which rang so loud in my dreams have now been muffled.

Yet still, after all this time. The image of that day had been burnt into my soul.
The man was surrounded by two bodyguards. They were young, very young. I doubt any of them were over the age of twenty. Of course, I was even younger.

Upon my announcement of my intention to kill them, one of the guards even charged forward. So, I too charged in. My skill in battoujutsu had not failed me, as the guard had been cleaved in two before he could even draw his weapon. I drew closer to the old man. The old man had pushed his other guard out of the way and charged forward, the boy must have been important to him. Though he had raised his sword, it was too late. By the time he was ready to strike I leaped into the air and stabbed him through the head with the Ryutsuisen-Zan. His fate was sealed. The mission was over now. My job was done.

There was one more left standing. We clashed swords and I asked him for his surrender. But despite muttering that he must live on, he had chosen the fatal error of taking me on in an one-on-one duel.

To this day, only one man had survived such an encounter.

He ran at me prepared to strike and I delivered a clean cut to his gut. I began walking away. He should have died, any normal man would have died. However, Kiyosato Akira was not an ordinary man. He was deeply in love, having foolishly journeyed to Kyoto in order to prove his worth to his fiancee who already loved him enough to be his wife. He wanted, no needed, to live on. It was something deeply profound, but at the time I just thought he was stubborn.

Kiyosato steadied himself and raised his sword once more. He charged at me again, so I turned and ran at him in kind. In one move, I had sliced him across his torso. But he too drew blood. The scar on my face that I bare to this day, came from his sword, which had managed to score a cut upon my left cheek. It was the first time someone had wounded me in Kyoto.

Kiyosato began to crawl away, now he realized that to fight meant certain doom and that it was better to run. Unfortunately, it was too late. I don't recall why, but I was intent on ending his life at that point. I walked up to his tattered body and ended his life with a plunge of my sword.

A cruel and evil decision on my part. But little did I know, at that moment, it was a decision that would bring me a lifetime of happiness. As he died, I had wished that he would find happiness in his next life. It was the least I could do, having stolen his happiness away from him. The scar he gave me, after all these years, continues to bleed from time to time. I think it must be some form vengeance he imposes upon me from the afterlife, for taking what was rightfully his and living without consequence. It was a memorable night for me, because it was the night my life had changed forever.

I had a meeting with Katsura the next day, it was the first time he invited me to attend a meeting outside the role of an assassin. I declined, believing that my role in the revolution was only that of an assassin. Indeed, back then I had thought by killing enough men, I could bring about a new era of peace and justice. How wrong I was.

Several nights passed after that assassination and I had a run-in with an unpleasant assassin. He put up a decent fight, but before he could wound me I had split him in half. The blood of this sword-for-hire had sprayed up into the skies and it appeared, as my late wife remarked right then, like I was "making the rain bleed".

Of course she was not my wife then, it was our first meeting. She had seen me kill that man and I was troubled. I was an assassin back then, my identity needed to be protected. She was so beautiful, standing in the rain and it would've crushed my soul to have taken her life. Luckily, she passed out before I had to make any difficult decisions and I carried her back to the Kohagi Inn. She smelt of plums, it was a wonderful scent. The owner had thought I brought back a prostitute. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding.

Tomoe she began working at the inn and rumours of me and her began to spread. Even Katsura believed so. They enraged me, but she didn't seem to care. She had told me her name was Tomoe. Time then passed as I continued to perform my duties as an assassin. There was a spy in our midst and my identity had been exposed, but that didn't seem to worry me all that much. Nothing did those days. It was almost as if I had lost my ability to feel. Or maybe it was because I was paranoid continuously so it didn't matter to me anyway. I remember that one time Tomoe touched me upon my scar in my sleep and I burst out and almost cut her down.

Over time, Tomoe and I exchanged conversation, drank sake together, and grew closer day by day. Then one day, the Shinsengumi had uncovered our plans. The Ikedaya Inn was raided and in revenge, we launched a failed attack against the Bafuku. When the Bafuku's counter-attack began, Tomoe and I had to flee together in disguise as husband and wife.

I enjoyed life in hiding, it was definitely a change of pace from the life of an assassin. I wished those days would never end, but I knew that the looming revolution would pull me back into violence once again. They were peaceful days. I would sell medicine; Tomoe and I grew some crops by our humble little home. Months passed as the summer gave way to the frost and we had grown accustomed to that way of life. I had fallen for her long ago, but it was during this period that she truly began to love me.

One day, Tomoe's brother came to visit. It was quite odd that he knew where she was, and I really should have put more thought into it. Considering what had happened the day after, a lot could have gone wrong. Yet, at that time I really didn't think much of it. Enishi eventually left and night came.

Tomoe and I were huddled in front of the fire. I told her that I had to fight once we came out of hiding, but that I wanted to stop killing after the revolution was over. How naive I was, thinking that something could be so clear cut. I asked her if she wanted to get married for real after. She drew herself closer and we made love for the first time that night, so I think it was a yes. After we finished, I had drifted to sleep.

I then awoke to the sound of crows and a closing door.