Three days have passed since Soujiro encountered a village in his journey. He was now headed to his hometown. His feet directed him to the place that he would most avoid in the world – his stepfamily's house, where everything began. He hated this place more than anything else in the world, for it brings back memories that he tried to bury in his life, and yet, he was headed towards its direction, wondering what happened to it – if there were already new occupants, or if it was still there. He predicted that he would be there in a day or two, as he descended the mountain steeps. It was late in the afternoon, and the sun was slowly hiding from view yet again, the mark of another day's journey that was ending with the blood-red sky. From afar, Soujiro could see another village appearing into view. It was a small and scanty-looking village.

"Looking for a place to stay, my good young man?" a plump woman along the streets greeted, as Soujiro made his way to the village. "We have a very low price for pilgrims and travellers..." She continued talking to Soujiro for at least five minutes, endorsing everything in their inn and convincing him to stay for at least a night.

"I'm terribly, sorry," Soujiro said, smiling at her. "But I have no plans of staying in this village. I'm really in a rush, you see."

The smile on the plump woman's face faded, as she stopped following him. "Broke runt," she whispered behind Soujiro as she let him pass. There was no point in trying to convince a potential customer who was broke. Soujiro heard the remark, but chose to ignore it - it was half true, after all - he was broke.

"Have you heard of that famous inn in the village nearby, Tenshi House? It's about to be shut down," Soujiro heard from behind him, making him stop to his tracks and look over his shoulder. The plump woman was talking to a man at another inn nearby.

"I read it in the papers this afternoon," she told her companion. "It was a shame. A high-ranking government official accused them of attempted murder or theft or something. Of coarse, for an accusation such as those from a high-ranking government official can bring about the shutting-down of any place, even if it was a geisha house."

"But this is the Tenshi House," her companion replied, scratching his balding head. He was a man in his late fifties and yet with a toothy smile. "Words of the grandeur of that House travel to this village, saying that it is one of the most entertaining places in the history of Japan. It was very efficient for entertaining foreigners, not to mention that Umeko village was something that the Meiji government improves in the name of tourism."

"Well, the papers say that the House betrayed a contract with the government official, Akihiro, who was their customer at that time. Their most prized dancer, Saya Tenshi, tried to stab him during a conversation, I think."

"Saya Tenshi? What a shame. She's an incredibly good dancer. I heard that when she dances, flames respond to her every movement."

The word 'flame' reminded Soujiro of the young woman who has become his company for a short time. Her name was Saya Tenshi.

"And I heard that this Saya Tenshi is in the threat of being imprisoned because of the attempted murder case. She also owes a lot of money. I wonder how she can earn that much money..."

"Poor girl," the plump woman said. "They didn't even get the statement from the side of the Tenshi House. All this accusation seems to favor that government official."

"Seems to point-out that this government's rotten, eh?"

"I guess."

Soujiro remembered the day that he has seen Saya Tenshi's unconscious body, limping on the river. He recalled the smell of her blood as he tended her wound. Attempted murder? It was she who was stabbed nearly to death and not remember anything. How can she be capable of attempting to kill someone? Soujiro hesitated for a while, but then finally found his feet and continued crossing the village, his head swimming in the memory of Saya dancing the night away in the manner that he has seen her that fateful night.

The campfire crackled in front of him. It was a very warm feeling for a cold night as Soujiro rested his tired traveling body on a sturdy tree trunk. He was very used to this kind of life nowadays, spending the night outdoors. He was miles away from the village now and has entered a forest before the sun has completely sunk. There was nothing visible in the forest this night, as the moon was nothing more than a crescent smile. He gave out a yawn and stretched his tired arms and legs.

"What a day," he said out loud. "I'm quite tired that I don't feel like having dinner anymore."

He stared at the pitch black view in front of him.

'I won't pee in the middle of the night again, I promise,' Saya's voice resounded in his memory, as he recalled the night when she asked him to accompany her through the forest for a midnight pee.

The fire crackled in front of him. He watched as the flames danced on the burning firewood until sleep drowned him into an unusual peace.

The cold drops of rain soaked Soujiro as he stood under the darkened heavens with no proper garments on - a tattered kimono was all he wore. There were no shoes to protect his numb feet from the damp ground. The katana in his hand made a ground a crimson pool, drenching the ground from where he stood with blood. On his feet lay dead bodies of people, whose faces were all to familiar to him. They were the faces of people who made his everyday life a living hell. The scars and bruises on his little body reminded him of how hard it was to be an illegitimate member of a family. A door creaked open from behind. A tall man, whose body was heavily bandaged, came into view.

"Boy," he said, referring to Soujiro. "Are you crying?"

Young Soujiro looked up at the heavens, making raindrops fall to his face and clear it of tears that he will be denying for ten years. When his tears were already confused with raindrops, he then faced the heavily-bandaged man, smiling.

"No," he answered in an almost playful manner.

He awoke. It has been years since he dreamed of this faraway childhood memory, something which he thinks has implanted irrevocable consequences. Soujiro at the tree trunk, recalling the vision as he vividly remembered it. But then, an impossible thought occurred to him - one that is ironically unconnected to his dream - he had to help his short-lived companion, Saya Tenshi. Something in his heart, as part of his atonement, pulled him towards helping this young woman who treated him, for the first time in his life, not as an opponent in battle or a lifetime servant but an ordinary human being. And for a person in his disposition, this meant greatly. He owed her. It was time to return the favor.

Miles and miles away, the young woman named Saya Tenshi awoke. It has been three days since she has taken refuge in the Kamiya Dojo with her new companions and still, she finds it hard to sleep. She bolted upright, irritated in her own inability to find booze. She slid open the door and made the pale moon gleam inside the room that was originally occupied by Kenshin Himura, who had kindly insisted that he sleep outside in the meantime that she was in the Dojo. The moon, she saw, was nothing but a crescent smile. Staring at it, she had an awkward feeling - one that makes a person uneasy for reasons that he or she does not know. It was like being stared at. Elderly folks would say that this feeling occurs when someone is thinking of a person. A strange connection goes between the two of them, making the person sense that someone out there, any where in the world, is thinking of him or her deeply. Saya wondered if it was true. But then, the idea was crushed in her, as she thought that no one out there cared for, or even knew, her. She doubted if someone was thinking about her. It was, for the most part, an impossible thought.