Once, when I was a child, I heard a story. It is said that sometimes when a child is born a coal falls out of the fire and gets lodged in their heart. If that happens, It will burn inside them their whole life. The moment that I heard that story, I knew that it referred to me.
I have an anger in my heart that never dies. A desire to fight. A desire to kill. I hold it inside, but it is always there driving me onward. I gave up drinking, because it comes out when I lose control. The anger, the pain that can only be destroyed through killing. And once the blood is on your hands, it can only be washed away with new blood. A person who kills without thought is just a killer. So I have learned to reign in my anger and control who I kill. Now I kill only evil, for the blood of evil men is clean and pure.
I learned this from my master when I was in the Shinsengumi. I was a young, arrogant, punk when he found me and allowed me to follow him. I knew nothing then, but I grew strong and clever and learned to live my life by the motto that I hold now as the core of my heart. AKU, SOKU, ZAN. Kill evil instantly wherever it is found. The Shinsengumi is no more. Each of them has gone to their graves. Until I am in mine, I will uphold the honor of our creed and use my anger to destroy those who are a threat to the peace of civilization.
I am not a man of peace. But I protect the peace of the world. Most people are like sheep. They are easily preyed upon by the predators that roam through the streets disguised as ordinary men. It is my job to sniff them out as a wolf sniffs out his prey to tear it and destroy it with his sharp fangs.
Many people hate me. They call me evil because I kill. But I don't need to be liked to know that I am right. I use my anger and my power to save others from evils that they cannot even comprehend. If an evil is not cut out immediately, it will grow like a cancer. So I use my sword to weed out disease and make the world healthy.
I am just one man, but as long as I have AKU, SOKU, ZAN my sword will do good in the world, and cool the burning coal within my heart.
SAITO HAJIME
(Rurouni Kensin)