As dawn crept slowly over the Kyoto Mountains, Miryu rose from Algren's embrace and donned her leather suit with her new katana in tow. The day had come when they would face those that threatened the peace of the new age that Japan had been ushered into, and she, Saito, Kenshin and Sanosuke would fight until the very last inch of their being to ensure their victory.

"Go get them, tiger," Algren said as they all assembled before the doors of the Aoiya, just as the sun started to shine above them. Miryu was in his arms, silent, but he knew that her resolve was stronger than anything. She was a woman ready to die for her country, and if that was her fate, she would welcome it whole-heartedly. "And make sure that you come back, Mrs. Algren."

She smiled, a genuine smile that brightened her beautiful features, a smile that Algren knew held a bittersweet promise that she would try to do as he had told her to do. "I will try, Algren," she reassured him as he fisted some of her long, black hair, inhaling the scent of her hair just before she would leave. Although they were now on first-name terms as husband and wife, Miryu still used his last name in times of tenderness, and it made her thought of the slightly happier days of their courtship, when Katsumoto Moritsugu had been alive. "You must do your best to stay alive as well…"

They share a mutual chuckle, but Miryu could tell from his sea-colored eyes that he was serious. Thus, she took the initiative to pull away and started to walk away from her husband, not failing to retain eye-contact. In the other corner of her eye, was Kenshin, saying goodbye to Kaoru and Yahiko, as well as Misao and Okina. "When you come back, we'll go back to Tokyo together," the seventeen year-old girl proclaimed happily, and Kenshin nodded. It was a promise that he would see delivered, whatever the cost.

No words were uttered as the four warriors walked towards Mt. Hiei, no words of comfort were given, nor words that described their impending doom were even heard of. The only sounds heard were the sounds of their footsteps, and the sounds made by the waking city, as well as the bell tied to the tsuba of Miryu's katana. The rustle of the summer leaves, the slow caress of the wind, and the chirping of the many-colored birds that dotted the skyline, every single sound imaginable, marred by the glumness of the realization that they would either meet their impending doom.

Miryu remembered a time when young, unmarried girls would go to Mt. Hiei to pray for a good husband, while young, married couples would pray for children, and old, squabbling grandmothers and grandfathers would pray for great-grandchildren. She came to the shrine with Katsumoto as her chaperone, who had brought his young son to pray for a pretty, young wife.

"What kind of husband did you pray for, Miryu?" Katsumoto asked Miryu, while Nobutada was still praying. Even then, at the tender age of seventeen, Miryu did not blush at all. "A handsome man? A man that can out-drink you?" He knew the young woman well, especially her talents, and asked those questions only to tease something out of her.

She looked at the statue that she had just prayed before, and said, "A man who fights like I do, who can hold a wife like I, and who loves me because I plan to fight for the weak until the day I die, and he will help me." Katsumoto looked at the wild light in her sapphire eyes and just shook his head. She was young, idealistic, and not even the darkest of wars could ever bring her down. She had come to the Choushu-han as a wide-eyed girl of fifteen, and now, she was their greatest asset at seventeen.

"One day, child, you will find the love that you will seek," he told her, patting the young crown of her dark, long hair. "I am sure of it."

She remembered a time when she was young, and the world was her oyster. She had been the hope for the future, and now, she was one of the vanguards of the age. Twelve years ago, she had come to that mountain with her second teacher, and the man she had come to love as a brother; twelve years later, she was walking up that mountain, with Kenshin, Saito and Sanosuke, walking up that mountain to protect Japan from terror and war once again.

"Miryu, do you know why the Daughters of the Dragon are so special?"Katsumoto asked Miryu, seconds after her answer. "They are descended from a real Dragon, and thus, they are fierce, they are beautiful and graceful, and they are strong. Samurai men fall after them from mother to daughter, because they show them a life they cannot imagine."

A life they cannot imagine? What he meant then, she could never, ever guess for the life of her, what he had meant. Algren had told her exactly that, on the night they got married. Her husband had told her that had given him peace, through her smile, and because of that, he did not need to depend on alcohol any more. He had told her that she had a fire that he could ever imagine, something that came from within her…

"Never let this fire die, Miryu, this way, you will never lose yourself."

That fire faltered once, on the night she had met Shishio Makoto for the first time. He had promised her power, and he had promised her something even better: freedom. He had kissed her, her first kiss, and it was more frightening than anything she had ever known, because of what he had promised her. At that moment, she knew that if she took his hand, the one beside Shishio now, would not be Komagata Yumi, but Tsubasa Miryu. They would not wed, but live as they would, unbound by the chains of society… Such a promise to her, to a nineteen year-old girl, who had known nothing but blood and war, was so powerful and poisonous that she began to fear it.

And the worse thing was that he still held that promise to her. He was still offering what he had offered ten years ago to her. He had been a handsome man then, he was a highly charismatic man now, even without his looks. There was a deep seduction about him, and every time she met him, there was that feeling, gnawing at her insides, a question that burned in her mind, threatening to consume her. Her life with Algren was one of love and comfort, of passion, but whenever she saw that man again, the dark feeling in the days of her youth surrounded her, demanding something more than what she had… "Power, Miryu, power than that you can never imagine, Miryu! You are a kenkaku, a daughter of the Line of Dragons. Come with me, and you will have this power, to rule over a nation that has only wanted dominion over you!"

Shishio Makoto was shot in the head and was then burnt alive… His only sin then, was that he had known too many secrets of the government, so much that he had to be silenced. This fact haunted Miryu the most, because she had been what Shishio was, a shadow hitokiri, a child of the night that killed according to the wishes of those above, without question. It had haunted her for ten years, and counting…

"I saw him, the hitokiri of the shadows," Miryu told Katsumoto after he had brought her to the Imperial Palace to serve as the Emperor's bodyguard. "Tell me, what happened that he has to be put down in such a fate?" She knew that Katsumoto would know about Shishio Makoto, he had been relieved to see Kenshin and her fighting in the open, and even more so when he knew that their replacement was just as powerful as they had been.

Katsumoto shook his head and put a hand on Miryu's shoulder. "He has tried to blackmail the government using the deaths that he had caused," he replied, knowing that Miryu would settle with little less than the truth in its entirety. "He knows too much, child, and must be stopped."

Her sapphire eyes widened. "So, if Kenshin and I had not been removed from his position, you would threaten to quiet us down in that way as well?" she asked again, her voice now slightly shaken. However, Katsumoto presented her with a different view, a view that offered her slight comfort, in the least.

"You and Himura are pure of heart," he told her sternly, as though he was lecturing Nobutada over something or other. "We know that you can never betray us, that you can never betray us, and that is why we cannot bear for you to be merely murderers. We needed you to be what you had been, agile warriors, with precision and a high sense of duty. Shishio Makoto had been as volatile as gunpowder, that is why he must be put down."

"Surely, you have tried to silence him? Sometimes, men are fickle… Money… women… have you tried those things?"

"If he could be bought, we could have bought him already, Miryu." She had said those words not out of naiveté, but out of desperation. He knew that she wanted to believe that there could be a less cruel fate to be suffered by a former comrade. Katsumoto sighed, and looked into her dark, sapphire eyes, saying, "I do not want you to worry over such trivial matters now, child. You are safe from that monster, because he cannot hound you in death. Promise me that you will never fret over this matter, and focus on your new task at hand."

Her new task… To defend the Emperor… She was a student of the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryuu, her oath was to protect those who could not do so themselves. The Emperor would have the best protection, but she decided to protect only him, because the people still saw their Emperor as a living god, anyways, they had Kenshin amongst them. The ruler of Japan was just a boy, in the mercy of a council of old and musty men who had gotten their offices from the blood of their Bakufu enemies; that was why she had chosen to protect him…

Who could ever guess that now the tides had changed so greatly?

Shishio Makoto was walking amongst the living, while Katsumoto was dead for a year now… Her world had been turned upside down… This was a mission that she had to complete with her own bare hands, in any way possible, or her soul would be as troubled as Kenshin's. She knew that it was the beginning of the truth for her best friend as well. If they won, it would mean that they were able to stand up to the devils that lied within them, and they were able to persevere, and protect Japan until the day they died. And in the event that if they failed, Japan would be plunged into darkness, and they would be worse than dead, they would be cursed by those that they had sworn to protect, because history was always written by the victors.

Her thoughts died down, and a beautiful woman stood before them as they approached the shrine upon Mt. Hiei. It was Komagata Yumi, Shishio's beloved Oiran that had once taken the world of men into a storm. "Shishio-sama bids you welcome to our humble fortress," she said, bowing before them in greeting. "I will be your guide in this vast labyrinth, please, follow me."

Miryu nodded to the other woman, while the men just acknowledged her presence. The gesture could be a genuine one, since it was commonly known that Sanosuke, Saito and Kenshin were not interested in her at all, even if the former oiran was an incredibly sensuous beauty. No, Yumi's presence was a psychological message sent to her…

"Miryu, are you alright?" Kenshin asked as she faltered a step. To his relief, she smiled, and nodded.

"I'm alright, don't worry…" Miryu replied, and looked towards the fortress after Yumi had opened the doors.

The oiran smiled, and said, "Shishio-sama has also demanded that this challenge is to be fought warrior against warrior, the best of what the pig-headed government has to offer, against our best, and nothing else. The others who are not involved in the battle are not to interfere. With that in mind, I bring you your first opponent, Anji, the King of the Light."

The man who stood in the middle of a dark red room could almost be classified as a giant. He was heavily muscled, tall and perfectly able to crush the skulls of men with those hands. But before anyone could come up with any strategy in their heads, Sanosuke was the one who reacted to this man's presence in the battlefield. There was no doubt that the youth would be his challenger.