---Captain Sagara's HQ, Kanna---

She was seated out on the porch, the bright moon filtering down, through the trees. Her fan rested beside her, untouched, but cleaned neatly. She was the hostess of Sagara's guests, so she was to sit there every night and await the arrival of any guest. Since Souzou Sagara loved to have his guests arrive in the dead of night, it was up to Kanna to greet them and make them comfortable.

Tonight was no different, only that she was awaiting Captain Sagara and Kenshin's atsumeru. Tonight, she admitted her sins and was ready to become one of the many that mourn the loss of someone or something dear to their souls. She was leaving tonight, taking her sword, her pure white kimono, and the fan. She had already arranged for a ride to come pick her up in two hours and had her own money to take with her. She was mourning the loss of her love for her leader.

The soft "tak" of the sandals was approaching. She rose to her feet, unfurling her stark black kimono and hiding her hands with the long sleeves of her kimono and her nose and mouth with her fan that she cherished. She bowed low to Souzou and the rest of the atsumeru before she slid the door open. She still had to wrap up her kimono and still had to place her farwell letter to Souzou where he could find it, so she had to lead them inside.

Kanna didn't notice Souzou's pained shock. He adored her in that inoccent white color. It made her seem like she was always a sinless being sent down from the heavens high above. He loved her in that sense that she wanted to never stain her inoccent soul with lies or blood, and as long as the white shone brightly, she was sinlessly inoccent and wasn't ever going to let blood or sins stain her. He felt that ping of pain he'd felt the day she was forbbiden to look upon him anymore.She wore the color of the sinful, and it pained him dearly, like the daggar of sadness had chosen him to be the fell target.

Kanna bowed gracefully, her hair had been let loose from it's ponytail, so it swept about her like water would around an object in it's path, giving her the look of someone who was drown in a sea of darkness and decay.

Kenshin touched her sleeve, unable to bear her like this. "Kanna-chan, nan no?"

"Why do you ask 'what' when there is no answer for it, Kenshin-san?" Her eyes raised up to the group and they were all shocked at what they saw.Souzou and Kenshin were shocked most of all. Her eyes were those of a killer. Blood-thirsty,reining in madness, soaked in hate and lies, scared with the rage of revenge. She was no longer the inoccence that had once blossomed in Shinta's village, nor the rose that saved Souzou's soul from thebullets that raind down upon him, buta merderous villan who would have slaughtered Kenshin where he stood or killed Souzou for the world to have his head.

"K-Kanna!" Souzou's eyes were wide and his pupils were shrinking. This was the mark ofa sinner? Was this the look that a woman from Shinta and Kanna's village would see? Was this the image of a sinner painted black? Was it? Or was she simply a dead body without a soul to tell what's right and wrong?

"Please, do excuess me, Souzou-kun."

The honorific she gave him shocked him even furthur. "d-doshite, Kanna!"

"Why? I called you that because I have lied to myself long enough. I love you, Souzou Sagara. But it is a sin to love someone who means so much to other people, who leads them on in life. So I must part, now that I have spoken." She turned to leave.

Sano grabbed her arm and wheeled her around. "Don't walk away! Captain Sagara would never turn someone away!"

"Do you love someone you shouldn't, Sanosuke-san?"

At these words, Kenshin's fists tightened and Yahiko began to sweat some. Karou hid her face, as she knew who he adored and was afraid she'd be asked.

Sano's grip on her arm slacked a smidge. "hai... His kind witts kept me alive and his beautiful face has charmed my heart long enough for me to remember the feeling of love I feel inside for him... And I hope that I, Sagara Sanosuke, can return those affections, full-heartedly and without regret."

"Then you will understand what I must face." She gently shooed his hand away, her eyes becoming a little softer. "I told a friend of mine a long time ago, his witt and charm would make someone love him for what he is. I didn't know I was telling the future whilst I said that." She bowed once more and this time, her sandals faded away, off, down the dark hall, down the hall where nolight followed.

Sano suddenly collapsed. "I-I... That woman speaks as if she's a soother or maybe something like an optimist." He looked up at Karou and gave a soft laugh. "I think I gave it away, missy." He stood up. "So, do you two know?"

Sagara's eyes fell on Kenshin, and Yahiko smiled. In unison they said; "Himura Kenshin, the man from the revolution."

Sano smiled. "Yes, Kenshin, I fell in love with ya."

Kenshin fainted, making a loud thunk as he fell on Yahiko and Karou. Sano began to worry over Kenshin as the other two bickered about how heavy the other one was. Sagara looked down the empty halls as he heard the soft voice of Kanna floating towards them, her voice barely audible over the roar of the arguments around them, but Sagara felt a sudden faimilarity with this mix.

His blind rage at the men who started the revolution had become the bellow in his mind, but that soft voice of sainity was coming from Kanna's small voice, a voice that penetrated so quickly into his rage that it had been dwindled down to a whisper as well. But the words she always spoke were the same...

'The flames of the revolution cannot have exsisted without the ice of a normal evolution, Souzou-sama. You cannot blame the revolution for taking Sanosuke away from you, but you can blame fate for letting both of you have your lives back. You must always remember the grace of the revolution let him live, but it also desemated the atsumeru that you led.'

"'The flames of the rvolution...' I won't ever forget those flames, Kanna-kun."

"AHA!"

Sagara almost fell against the paper doors in shock. "nan no!"

Sano smiled. "You did fall in love." Now that he acctually stood close to Sagara, he could see that he wasn't taller than his captain, just the same height as his former leader. "Why didn't you say sum'n to that girl?"

"Why does she wear black? Answer me that." He had adressed anyone who cold answer.

Kenshin stepped forward. "In the village i grew up in, there is a religious faith. The colors of your kimono represent your mental status as well as any sins you have commited. The Color of Inoccence White, the Color of Death and Destruction Pink, the Color of the Liar Black, the Color of Faith Blue, the Color of Hope Red, and the Color of Equality Yellow. Those are the Sin Status. To wear a color with it is same as mine. Redemption of White, Revenge of Green, Jadded of Brown, Love of Red, Greed of Purple Hue, Deviant of Yellow, and Sunful of Black. The colors as they mix represent each status. I wear the Color of Death and Destrution Pink as well as Redemption of White. I am paying for the sins of death I have caused by letting life return to this world with each passing day."

"But then she warsthe Color of the Liar Black and Sinful of Black." Sano was thinking outloud once more.

"Yes, so she has lied to, not only herself, but to everyone." Kenshin's eyes swiftly moved to Sagara and he pointed his finger at him. "She wars the colors of those who have lost the will to live their lives because they have lost the love of someone they tresure. She knew that I would remember those colors of war and peace, so she wore them before she returns to her White Rose. A rose from the grave is she, that she is. But for her to throw it away easily isn't like her, that it most surely isn't. The White Rose has her thorn and I have learned well what that thorn can do to one's heart if torn away..."