I sit quietly on the futon that had been provided for me and stare at the handleless sakabatou laying on a piece of cloth.

Distantly, I can hear the chatter of the other guests, and the clinking of plates from below. Every once in awhile, Misao's voice raises over the din for a few incomprehensible words before it subsides.

An odd feeling settles over me as I watch the light coming from the window gradually change. The golden light of sunset slowly fades away until the only light illuminating the room is the silver glow of starlight. The sounds from below, too, fade.

I note distantly that I should be going to sleep soon.

Misao calls out goodnight as she passes by the room that had been provided to me on the way to her room, and the lights in the hallways are turned off soon after, leaving me in almost complete darkness.

It feels fitting.

The sakabatou glints almost accusingly before me.

I think . . . consider what I should do now. Shishio is still out there. He won't stop pursuing me if I keep avoiding him - that's why I came to Kyoto.

I watch the sakabatou.

I think . . . I broke my promise. Misao said earlier that I had not. She thought that because I had not drawn a katana, because I had not killed, then my promise was not broken.

In a way, she was correct. By the letter of the law, by the letter of my promise, I did nothing wrong. I drew a sakabatou and not katana. I did not kill anyone.

But the spirit of the law was broken - shattered. I had drawn a sword I thought to be katana. If the sword had not been a sakabatou, I would have killed a man. Where intentions matter, I was dangerously guilty.

Here I sit, watching the sakabatou, and wondering when intentions override the result.

So, I haven't finished Rurouni Kenshin yet, but something about then end of chapter of 81 got to me. Okina said that Kenshin would fall back to his ways as a hitokiri if he drew a katana and not a sakbatou, and Kenshin drew the blade without knowing it was one. Even though he later learned it was a sakabatou, for the moments he first wielded it, he thought is was a deadly weapon, and that would have a deep emotional impact.