"Your mother made Gatotsu famous amongst the ranks of the Shinsen-Gumi," Miryu's grandfather once told her long after they had reconciled. "She and Saito were the ones who formulated it, you know, and let me tell you, the two of them were just like you and Himura Battousai..." How convinient it was that her and Kenshin's katana would be damaged just like that. Perhaps it had very little to do with Soujirou's skill level, and more to the fact that the force of all three katana clashing upon one another, and perhaps it was just the time to change her weapon... After all, it was her mothers, and she had been using it for the last fifteen years...

Algren looked at his wife as her sapphire gaze was still transfixed upon the notch in her katana, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?" the American asked, receiving a smile from her, one that he knew was a sign that she was totally distraught on the inside. She had a habit of acting like that, and he had known that ever since they started working together. And under these circumstances, he knew that it was best that he kept his silence. She would be back as a her old self in no time.

"My mother was given a titanium katana when she served as a samurai," Miryu told him, "And my grandfather once told me that it bore a dual meaning. One would be that since titanium was not tamahagane, her katana was imperfect, and she was still not officially a samurai, because she is a woman. Another would be that she was given a strange and high honor... But this katana is what made her so famous, the Testu-Rou-Jou of the Shinsen-Gumi..."

He silenced her with a finger and said, "But you shouldn't be so worried, after all, you were fighting for the Ishin-Ishishi," Finally, he elicited a small giggle from her that he knew that it was genuine. "Besides, if you are so worried, perhaps you could keep your mother's bell when you get a new katana."

Indeed, it made her smile even more. "Nathan, you always have the best ideas," she told him, giving him a light peck on the cheek. In fact, she forgot how much she had missed him ever since they had left Tokyo. There was once a time when she thought that he was a lone, stoic soul. How much was revealed to her since then... "We will have to get to Kyoto in all due speed if we want to replace our weapons, am I right Kenshin?"

The red headed companion of hers nodded with a smile as well. "Algren-dono, Miryu is very lucky to have you as a husband de gozaran," he said, "If you were another man, Miryu would have beaten you flat de gozaru yo." With that, he was punched into the wall by her, leaving Saito to give her an appreciative puff of smoke.

"I always wanted to do that, thank you, Miryu," Saito added as Kenshin swaggered here and there dizzily, obviously trying to recover from that heavy impact.

Graham, now being used to such exchanges only managed to sigh, wondering how many more beatings from Miryu that Kenshin could survive before they actually face Shishio and the boy once again. Looking to his side, his train of thought was being disturbed by the sound of a katana being picked up, only to find that Eiji was now holding his brother's katana towards Senkaku.

Luckily, Saito was able to stop him. "Ahou, killing in the sake of getting revenge has been outlawed in 1873," he told the child. "Besides, you cannot kill him just yet, we need to question him for information. And after that, he would surely receive the death penalty, which is far more punishment than being killed when he is unconscious."

"Shut up!" Eiji shouted. "My family can't rest until he is dead!"

Kenshin smiled, and put his hand over Eiji's. "The dead do not desire vengeance, but the happiness of those who live de gozaru yo," he told the boy. "One day, these small hands will grow big, and you will be happy because you have not bowed down to the urge of staining them with blood, and nor will you be willingly oppressed by those more powerful than you are."

"You will learn, Eiji, that most of the battles you face, is not about death and blood," Miryu added, kneeling next to the child. "But how important it is, to live for those that you love. I can understand how you feel. I was orphaned by the Bakufu, as you were orphaned by these Meiji times, but no matter what happens, as long as you are alive, your voice will travel to those of power, and you will be heard, I assure that."

With those words, Eiji released his brother's katana from his hands, and started to cry. Those were not tears of pain, nor suffering, but that of closure. "You will be proud of yourself that you didn't do it, kiddo," Algren said, giving Eiji a nudge on his elbow as they all had ascended the hill that overlooked Shingetsu village, alive with activity once again.

"Perhaps I will, Algren-san, but I don't know whether I'll ever forgive them," Eiji said, "But maybe I won't have to..."

Graham looked at the boy and said, "I say, why don't you come with me?" he asked. "I own a little shop selling good old English tea in Kyoto, and I know a friend who will be absolutely willing to take care of you once you have cooled off and know what to do with your future..."

Algren, Kenshin, Miryu and Misao did not notice the blatant change on Saito's usual cold, calculating expression, rather because it came and went almost immediately. "Yes, Tokio will take good care of him, without a doubt," he added, ignoring Graham's wink.

"Saito, how would you know Graham's friend?" Miryu asked.

"Well, my dear, she's Saito's wife, naturally," Graham said before Saito even had a chance to explain, an answer that brought an untold amount of shock to them all, Miryu including.

The other four formed a huddle, headed by Misao. "W...w... wife?" she asked. "That man has a wife?"

Kenshin took another sly look at Saito and said to the others, "Only a bosatsu (Bodhisatva) will be able to put up with the likes of him..."

"Since when did I ever have a pseudo-aunt?" Miryu asked, raising an eyebrow. Of all her years knowing Saito, he never even mentioned that he had a wife. And for all she was concerned of, he was never a husbandly-man to start with. "What is this world coming to?"

However, Algren was able to see some logic to Saito's marital status. "Who knows? She could be as devious as he is..."

"If you four ahou have finished gossiping about me and my wife, I would like to add that Eiji would be left in capable hands," Saito said, breaking their huddle with little effort. "Battousai, you will have to go straight to Kyoto with Miryu, and make sure that you become the hitokiri you once were. Facing Shishio Makoto as a rurouni would only quicken your defeat, mark my words."

Kenshin nodded, but said nothing else. Miryu, on the other hand, was sounding very confident. "Don't listen to that old wolf," she told him just as Saito left with Eiji. "I'm sure that you will find your own way to beat Shishio, and if you have forgotten, I'm still here, no matter what."

"Thank you, Miryu," he replied, before looking back to see Algren, Graham and Misao lagging behind. "Well, it looks like with those three, we won't be reaching Kyoto any earlier."

Miryu looked in the same direction and said, "Graham and Misao, I would have no idea, but I could come out with ideas that would make Nathan move faster..." The sly smile on her face made Kenshin grimace immediately.

"I do not want to know about it, and I do not want to see it actually happen!" Kenshin shouted in response. "Miryu, Misao-dono is still a child, you won't want to be polluting her innocent mind!"

Nagasaki Hiryuko looked at Shishio Makoto and his retinue involving Komagata Yumi and Seta Soujirou. "They broke your katana?" she asked Soujirou with a raised eyebrow. "And after so many years of non-violence, they actually have the strength to break the Nagasony Kotetsu... I must have underestimated them."

"Your young cousin was more happy to have disposed of Senkaku for me," Shishio replied. "But Battousai, on the other hand, will not prove to be a worthy challenge." Although he knew that Miryu had not taken a vow like that of Kenshin's, he still felt her weaker than she once was. Perhaps she had been too domesticated by the Meiji government, or the fact that she was now a wife to a man... He could not put a finger to it, but he felt that she was no longer the wild fire she used to be.

Hiryuko looked over her shoulder to meet his garnet eyes and replied, "Regardless, such power cannot be allowed to grow. We would be at an utter disadvantage if this happens... Do you have other lackeys up your sleeves to be more worthy opponents for Battousai and Battouryu?"

A flash ran through Shishio's red orbs. "Indeed, I have, Hiryuko. Indeed I have," Turning to Soujirou, he said, "Soujirou, I want you to gather the Juppon Gatana, all ten of them. They might be able to return Battousai and Battouryu back to their original states."

"The Juppon Gatana?" Hiryuko asked. "Do tell, my friend, what are they?"

It was a question Yumi answered, "It is Shishio-sama's most trusted band of warriors who are the strongest in all of Japan," she said with a light smile. "All ten of them with their own specialities and abilities."

The answer rather intrigued Hiryuko. "Indeed, the best of Japan you say?" she asked, piercing her own katana into the earth. "I would very much like to see them myself."

"I promise you, Hiryuko, that they are as blood-thirsty as you are," Shishio replied with the most charming smile that he could ever muster. "And they will carry out our plans to utter perfection."

The older Daughter of the Dragon returned his gaze and said, "Well, you had better honor your words. I would not want to lose a partner, after all."

Deeper in the forest, a few hours later, Nagasaki Hiryuko was running through her kata one by one, in the dance of swords that ran through her veins as sure as her own blood. It was ironic, deeply ironic that usually, it was the men that could feel whether a woman was from the Line of Dragons, while the women had no clue at all. Most of them were either discovered by their own fathers, or those that were close to them. There was certainly a great pull and an attraction between the two. Women from her line would always find themselves in the world where no other women dared to enter... But one thing was for sure, whoever that daughter of her bloodline was, she would never be far away from that one style of kenjutsu, even if she did not practice it.

Her late cousin, Reiyama Ryumiko was a fine example of it. She had created the Shinsen-Gumi's only style, of which Gatotsu was the most famous of its techniques, but she fell in love with the style's Master of the time.

Her younger cousin, Algren Miryu as she is called now, was a student of said style, and perhaps, was a greater master of it than Battousai was. And she, was involved with two men from the style as well. One her own master, who loved her like his own daughter and Battousai, a man that she had looked upon like a brother....

As Hiryuko ran through one last technique, she could not help but to utter, "Hiten-Mistsurugi Ryuu, Ryu-Tsui-Sen!" as she split a young tree into half vertically from above...

Women of the Line of Dragons will never wander far from it... she thought, as she looked at the waxing moon.