"Tsubasa Miryu, how do you find your new charge?" a voice asked Miryu the moment she approached the Emperor's quarters in the Imperial Palace. It was not a long walk from the ryokan Algren, Gant and Graham lodged in, but far enough for assailants and other beasts to have found and tracked her. She looked at the owner of the voice and smiled. With a deep bow, she regarded the Emperor Meiji of Japan, of whom this age of peace was named for. He was her employer, and a great friend of hers. She looked at him, and was surprised that he could have even thought of reassigning her to Algren. Not that she disliked the man, but she was just curious. Why Algren, of all people?

She motioned for a palace maid to serve them tea, and she sat next to the Emperor when he told her to. "He is a strange man, heika… He is the first among thousands of gaijin that carries himself like a samurai that has eyes so fraught with turmoil and sadness," she said, tucking her chin between her knees, the silver embroidery on her dark kimono glimmering as she did so. "Captain Algren, you know more about him that I do, heika. You read his book! Please, why him?"

The Emperor's answer was simple. "Because I am sure that you will find happiness in him," he said calmly. He had always loved her, but he also knew that she did not reciprocate that love. Her heart was too set for the freedom she had always had, and she feared the Imperial Court as much as she loved her country. Her parents had been destroyed by the politics of the ancient times, and she did not wish to be caught in the same web. She had wanted a life far away from the sheltered beauty of the Court, as one of its leaders, where she would be under close watch by others… He was young, no younger than she was, the Ruler of the Chrysanthemum Throne, and yet, he had insight and intelligence. "And, he was the most honorable man that I can find to change my army,"

Nothing short of a soft sigh escaped her lips when she heard those words. "A killer like me deserves no happiness," she replied, looking towards the stars. Get away from me! She remembered a woman screaming bloody murder after one of her assignments. Who do you think you are, killing everyone? How many families have you destroyed, how many fathers, husbands and brothers have you killed? In the years of the Bakamatsu, she had killed more than six hundred men from her assignments alone, perhaps hundreds and hundreds more in all the skirmishes and battles she had fought in. She had come so far from being that orphaned little girl searching for her friend, with only the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryuu and the name "Kenshin" as her guide. Her sapphire eyes were filled once with rage, then, when Tomoe died, they were filled with reflective melancholy, they were filled with sad light that no one but the Emperor was able to see, and perhaps her Shishou as well. "Not from the Emperor, not from anyone,"

Meiji put a hand on her lap, and tipped her chin so as to force her to look at him. "Miryu, everyone deserves a little happiness of themselves," he said. He knew that he never had a chance with her, she, whose smile was brightest when she held a weapon in her hands, when she was around those who knew her, those who understood her, and those who held her dear. The look of determination in her eyes when she was sparring with the Imperial guards, when she was deep in her practice and her meditation was ever so beautiful, ever so intense. He could have sworn that he had seen a sword-wielding angel descend from the heavens… Her soul, it may have been stained by the blood of many, but it was still full of light, full of hope for the new age. She had risen from the darkest of terrors to lead Japan, if not forcefully, into the embrace of peace and enlightenment with Himura Battousai, and the other Ishin-Ishishi patriots and she had succeeded. "And I wish you find your own, someone who can wipe that mask of a smile away from you, and reveal the true, beautiful Tsubasa Miryu."

Miryu smiled, trying not to shed a tear. "Forgive me, heika. For all your help and kind words, I am unable to repay you in kind," she said, forcing a smile. She knew that he only asked for her love in return, but she could not. She had loved this man, this visionary, like a brother, like how she had loved Kenshin, and no more. Her heart was saved for a man, who he was, she did not know, but this man, she knew, was not the Emperor of all Japan. He had a good heart, but it was not hers to claim.

"I would not want to force you to a life that you do not wish to lead," Emperor Meiji said, holding her close in a friendly embrace. It was the closest he could get to actually have her in his arms, and he cherished the moment. "You are a great friend of mine, and I want only the best for you." He remembered the first day she had been in his service. She was both fearful and worried that she might offend him, always alert and stalwart, constantly on the watch for his life. As time passed, she realized that all he had wanted, was a companion, and slowly opened up to him, talking to him. And when she found out that he did not give a damn that her parents were supporters of the Shogun before their death, she was even more surprised.

"So that is why you had me reassigned?" she asked him, "Because you want me free from the courts?"

The young Emperor gave her a simple nod. "I told you before, I am the Emperor of Japan," he replied with a small, cheeky smile. "What I say goes, and I say that it is time you live the life that you desire, because you desire it,"

She smiled, and hugged him closely. "Thank you, heika," she exclaimed, and bowed before going on her merry way. Of course, she was still a Ward of the Emperor, but, her freedom from the beautiful palaces of Tokyo and the ladies of court and the ministers was just too much for her to take in. Yes, she loved her job as the Emperor's bodyguard, but now, she was free!

"And one more thing before you leave," Meiji said, "If you want to marry, bring the man to me. I'll want to… inspect him…"