"Arrgh," I grunted as something hard smashed into my head. The sound wasn't very powerful, because I was fast slipping into oblivion. Everything went black, and my last thought was this: which of my comrades had betrayed me?

When I awoke, I hurt. I was suspended from something, my entire body hurt sharply, and I had no idea why until I opened my eyes. I couldn't see anything at all except fire. I was surrounded by flames that ate away at every part of me. I didn't scream, for what kind of sissy would that make me? I just shouted to those around me.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Why am I in here? I'm alive, don't you see it?" I shouted until I could barely talk, but they ignored me. Obviously more than one of them wanted to dispose of me. I snorted. So this was how I would die: ambushed, incapacitated, and betrayed by my friends. Wait. I didn't know if I would exactly call them friends, but we had worked together. We fought together. We- they- had similar ideas, they all wanted their emperor in charge, and they should have thought I did, as well. Why else would I be here with them, fighting for it in this blue uniform?

I'll tell you why. I did want this revolution, but not so that pathetic teenager Meiji could have power again. Oh no. I wanted this war for one simple reason: wars create chaos,and that goes double forrevolutions. There would be plenty chaos, and once it was over, a weak fledgling government, easy prey. The entire country would be begging for a strong leader before long. That would be me.

The thing is, how could any of them have known that? I'm certain I acted the part of a good little Ishin Shishi when any of the weaklings were around... must have been spies. Some cowardly little spy went and told everybody Shishio was different. Smart. More importantly, strong. Shishio wasn't taking orders anymore. Shishio was dangerous.

What a joke. Me, dangerous? Unstable? Power-hungry? Malicious?

Dangerous, yes. Power-hungry, I suppose, though that's such a crude way to put it. Malicious, of course. But unstable? I was the only sane person in the place.

Those little Tenchuu idiots all wanted to take orders from their beloved emperor, but not me. I wanted to be the one calling the shots. Anybody in his right mind should be able to figure out that's the only thing worth having, but no, they wanted to be vassals. That was just fine with me; they could be my vassals and take orders from me. Knock themselves out.

I acted like I wanted that, too, because it suited my plan, but somebody was smarter than I thought. Not smart enough to join me, mind you, just smart enough to figure out what I was doing and that it was a threat to his imperial scheme. The worms. There they were, burning me alive for it, too.

My uniform didn't last long, and it was then that the real pain started. With nothing between the flames and me, I regret to inform you that a moan did find its way out of my mouth. I hung there and burned. What other choice was there? I wasn't quite sure why I had lived this long, but I wasn't complaining. Maybe I was even stronger than I thought.

Some dark figures moved around outside the fire where I could barely see them. Were they standing around watching me die for their entertainment? What was going on? They'd already as good as killed me, why did they need to stand around and watch me squirm, and without my uniform, no less? That was a little much even for me.

My eyes hurt from the bright light of the fire. Everything outside it looked like a shadow. It was dark anyway, and everything was darker to my ill-adjusted eyes. I fell to the ground suddenly, landing right on the source of the fire. My legs crumpled beneath me and my weight ground them into the embers. I really had to bite back a scream that time.

On the upside, I could sort of breathe again. There was no healthy air in my immediate vicinity, but it beat strangulation. On the downside, my legs were completely useless. I heard some mumbling talk as I tried to move, and people began walking away. I guess they were satisfied that I couldn't get away and were getting tired of watching. The fire would do its job without their presence.

The red-hot wood now in very close contact with my skin burned hotter under pressure, it seemed, and I soon blacked out again. When I awoke, it was still dark, but it didn't seem so bad to me, because the fire had burnt itself out. I was alive, the fire was out, and no one was around. At least, I was reasonably sure I was alive. I tried and found I was able to sit up. I looked and there was in fact no one there. I wasn't sure yet if that was good or bad.

If the Ishin Shishi had spread the story around, I was better off not finding anyone for awhile, but otherwise, maybe it would have been nice to find a civilian who was willing to help me. As it was, however, there was absolutely no one. I couldn't walk yet, but I could crawl. I dragged myself painfully across the ground to where I could get out of sight until I was in better condition. When they saw me next, those cursed imperialists would wish they'd never met Shishio Makoto.

Well, there it is. This is all. No more. Hope it was fun, though!