"Come with me," Algren said to Miryu, once Graham had tapped upon the window of his quarters, signaling that Bagley was in the complex. "In America, no one would find us, no one would know us, and the Emperor will know only after we're miles away…" Their plan had been set in motion, and they knew what they were supposed to do… She smiled, and inwardly applauded his acting skills, watching from the corner of her eye for signs of the Colonel.

Brushing her lips against his neck as soon as she heard approaching footsteps, she said, "Captain, my place is here, with my people. If Katsumoto falls, I must fight by the side of my brothers…" They share a brief, fleeting kiss, and when Bagley knocked upon the door, she ripped herself away from Algren's hold, and shared almost a tender gaze before grabbing her katana upon his bed, and standing beside him.

"Sorry for disturbing you two lovebirds," Bagley said with a smug expression on his face. He was taking the bait, and boy, was he in for it. Turning towards Algren, he studied the captain, who was looking at a scroll that contained a single word that he did not understand. "Omura offers you my job and you run away… I should be thanking you," he told Algren, with a little slip of sincerity in his words. Dropping a package into one of Algren's luggage bags he said, "Five hundred dollars a month, including back-pay for time spent 'in captivity'". He said the last two words looking at Miryu, who glared at him as she did Omura. This woman, he knew, would be a dangerous enemy if she wanted to, but thankfully, she was not in a position to do any harm to him. It was a shame that she had to be born into the social class that caused so many problems… she could have been a beautiful and…stimulating companion, as Algren had discovered. Only a man like Algren would accept just any riffraff he finds…

Algren was silent, and Miryu had abandoned her station, having started to help him pack, whispering to him in Japanese. Bagley was sure that it must have been some eternal declaration of love or something romantic like that. To be honest, he never thought that Algren had anything in him to have captured Miryu's heart… That woman was like a savage fire that could not be tamed! "Take care of yourself, Miryu," Algren said in English, giving her a quick hug before they continued packing again.

Bagley knew exactly when he was being ignored. Nevertheless, it had never deterred him before. He commented that the money Algren had received was enough to climb back into a bottle for the rest of his life, and that perhaps if he drank a little less, he could have been able to find himself a young wife and raise a family as well. The last bit was definitely aimed towards Miryu, but it had no effect on her whatsoever. "It's all over, by the way…" he added. "Katsumoto's under arrest, and Omura won't let him last the night. With Katsumoto dead, we'll have little trouble handling what's left of the rebellion, even without you…especially without you."

The woman said nothing, only casting her sapphire eyes upon Algren, until Bagley left. "What he says is true, Algren," she murmured. "If Katsumoto-san is dead, his uprising would be like water upon solid rock, we would have failed before we could have started…" She knew that Katsumoto would die either in the battlefield, or by execution, and she would have no regret or remorse if he expired in the manner of the former, for it had always been his wish… She, on the other hand, would live, and live to protect what she held dear, which was his legacy, and the ideals that he had taught her.

Algren gathered her in his arms and kissed her lips lightly. "It will be alright, Miryu," he said, cradling her for the slightest moment. His gesture comforted her, and by the time he had released her, she was already to execute the next part of their plan, which had been rather easy. All they had to do was to join with Graham, and make it look like he was actually going aboard the ship. Miryu, already changed into her formal uniform, discreetly retrieved a solid gold hairpin, studded with precious jewels, and gave it to the captain of the ship to ensure that Algren's name was clearly printed on the ship's passenger logs, and disembarked with him.

Night had already fallen when Algren and Miryu walked from Yokohama bay into the heart of Tokyo. Katsumoto's residence was in the outskirts of the city, and they were almost there when they were suddenly surrounded a group of several ronin, about four or five for the each of them. "Omura's men," she whispered to him, and threw him her wakizashi. Its length was shorter than the normal bokken or katana, but he had to improvise…

The men that charged towards Tsubasa Miryu were in the greatest surprise of their lives. They were faced with the fury that no man could ever carry in his heart, and the rate in which she killed them was so fast that even they would not have known that they were dead until they saw the gods of the netherworld before them. Such was the speed of the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryuu that none of them had the time to scream or even blink their eyes, and in a spectacular display of grace and beauty, she had cut down a man into half vertically, severed another's legs before plunging her katana into his heart. The other two were struck down by debris she had caused to rise from the ground, just by striking it with her katana, followed by a swift arc that beheaded them in one slice. The last man that stood before her received the height of the style that washed the streets of Kyoto with blood in the dead of the night…

Algren had already killed off all his opponents when he watched Miryu dispose of the last man standing. She stood there, in the stance he came to recognize as the beginning stance of battou-jutsu, and charged towards the man, dealing him nine strokes in rapid succession, utterly disintegrating his being, leaving only nine pieces of flesh in its wake. He had never seen before a technique so gruesome in his entire life, and for the slightest moment, he could have sword that Miryu's eyes had turned into a deadly shade of golden amber before he was proven wrong. "What was that?" he asked her, as he took her hand while they left the place behind.

"Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryuu's Ku-Zu-Ryu-Sen," Miryu replied, "It was handed to me before I left my Shishou, and I discovered the technique to break it… The only reason why he survived was because that we used bokken the day he taught me the secret of our style, one stroke that requires speed that surpasses the god-like speed already demanded of us… I am still a woman, after all." She spoke those words with no shame and no regret, and Algren knew that she was proud to have learnt it… "Kenshin forsaken his training before he could master it," she told him, and was inwardly thankful for it, or he would have had to kill Hiko to learn the ougi, Amakakeru-Ryu-No-Hirameki…

Moments later, they met up with Graham, who had rented out two rickshaws: one for Miryu and Algren, and the other for himself and his camera equipment, with Ujio and several others disguised as bearers of the equipment, for rich gaijin often hired such people to carry their things around, and they would not be noticed at all if Graham, Miryu and Algren were to storm into Katsumoto's residence. Also, concealed within the bags of equipment, were their katana, and also that of Katsumoto's, which Nakao had stolen from Omura's office. With all due haste, they made for their destination, and found it heavily guarded with soldiers armed with rifles. "Whatever you do, don't stop," Algren whispered to the Englishman.

The guards began to shout at them, trying to stop them from moving any closer. Miryu, bearing her katana, leapt before them, unsheathing her weapon as Graham shouted back in his most commanding voice, "Prime Minister Omura has commanded us to photograph the traitor!" The guard, who appeared to be in charge, was not willing to relent. Graham then grabbed Miryu's hand, showing the guard her ring. "The Emperor has also honored us with the protection of his own bodyguard and ward, Tsubasa Miryu!" Turning towards the "bearers" of his camera equipment, he clapped twice and instructed them to bring them forward.

"You… stop!" the guard continued to scream. At this moment, Miryu began to ask for permission to kill him before Omura sent his men to kill them for failing to execute his orders, staring the young soldier down to great effect.

"You insolent son of a peasant dog!" Graham yelled at the top of his voice when the guard unsheathed his own saber in self-defence, "How dare you show your sword at his presence!" He pointed towards Algren and continued, "Do you know who this is? He is the President of the United States of America, here to lead our armies in victorious battle against the rebels!" Apparently, the guard needed a little convincing to do. Graham, seemingly undaunted, then added, "Now get over there and help those men with their equipment!"

The guard finally relented, and instructed his men to do so per Graham's "orders". The very instant they were out of earshot, Algren muttered under his breath, "The President of the United States?" He told Graham to be creative, but not that creative…

Allowing herself a light chuckle, Miryu patted her friend on the shoulder and made towards the room where Katsumoto was held. The board was all set, and now, it was time for the pieces to move…