Here goes Miko's approximate Jump summary/translation. ^_- Bracketed text are 'thought' text... ^_^; (original translation from Rurouni Kenshin Archive) ---------------------------------- Rurouni Kenshin Act 196: The Blue Smoke of the Wolf Yahiko pulls off the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu Attack ougi, thus whacking Otowa in the jaw! He is flipping over Otowa in the process (shinai hits Otowa's jaw, throwing Otowa's head back as Yahiko somersaults over). Yahiko: (Got him...!) (It was no good!! I still wasn't able to bring him down...) (I must get up quickly... if I fall now... I would... lose...) Yahiko falls forward, but Kenshin is already there to catch him, Kenshin says nothing as Yahiko lies unconcious, though he is still gripping his shinai. Megumi hurries over to tend to Yahiko's wounds as Sano and Kenshin watch over her. Megumi: It's all right. None of his tendons or vital organs are wounded. It's much easier to heal than a certain idiot's right hand. Sano: Hey you... (turns to look at Otowa, who is lying flat on his back passed out with his eyes open ^_^;) But... If one can die smiling (Otowa has a kinda maniacal grin on his face ^_^;), then I suppose he had no regrets. Megumi: I said he's not dead. Kenshin: Losing to a child who is not even half his age, I think that he really couldn't believe his own defeat. Sano: Well. That wasn't all of it, watching from the side.That frilled loser got all nervous when he looked over at Kenshin in the middle of the fight, and thought about retreating. A guy who is thinking about retreating and a guy who is completely focused on attacking. When the moment of truth comes, the difference between the two also comes out. Kenshin: Sano -- Sano: Yes, I know. Don't mention it in front of Yahiko, right? It's no reward for the kid if I said "You won because of Kenshin's glare/gaze from behind you." That's it, right? Kenshin: Aah. But if the one who fought is Yahiko, then the one who won is also Yahiko. Kenshin and Sano turn towards Kaoru who is still sitting on the 'porch' facing the path where the battle took place. Sano: So, how about it, substitute teacher (shihandai)? The growth of your number one student (ichiban deshi). Kaoru: Eh? Megumi: (gives Kaoru a kinda frown/lifting eyebrows look) What a pitiable teacher you are. The student has worked so hard, but the teacher is so shocked that she can't stand up. Kaoru: (cutely SD kinda mad) No! It's not that! (back to normal) More than the fact that Yahiko was able to use the Hawatari (the ougi) and won, I'm just relieved that he's alive and all right... Sano: (everybody SD'd) And so you can't stand up? That doesn't change the fact you're pitiable. Megumi: That's right. Kaoru: (cutely SD'd red in the face) THAT's ENOUGH! One can make out the shadow of someone at the end of the path, outside the dojo... Whoever: ...... A gloved hand with a cigarette and a puff of smoke. Whoever: Joking right in the middle of a fight. As always, it's nothing but idiots in this bunch. Sano and Kenshin's eyes widen in alarm. Both of them spin around to look up at Enishi. Aside from Enishi in his balloon, there is another balloon present, but there is nobody in it, only a rope ladder hanging from it. Enishi: You don't have to be that panicked. At this point, I won't be doing any sort of surprise attack. (implication is someone else is doing it). Kenshin spins around. Kenshin: Kaoru dono! Come over here fast!! Kaoru: Huh? Kaoru freezes as she hears a sound coming from the roof in the dojo. She turns and sees one of the wooden boards of the roof being moved over just a crack. Kaoru: (Something is there!) Suddenly, a very long arm, the hand sheathed in some kind of clawlike armor breaks through the roof, hits the floor and sweep towards Kaoru. Massive destructive power noted. Kaoru is frozen to the spot! Kenshin runs in and forcibly picks Kaoru up by her shoulders and moves her out of the way! Kenshin: (skidding to a stop in the courtyard) You are... Something that coulda come right out of Spawn is purching on the roof. Really long arms and legs, and imagine a Spawn type mask. ^_^; Monster: As always, when a woman is involved, even the color of your eyes change. Kukukuku.... Kaoru: What... that man's arms and legs... They are 1.5 times that of a normal person. Kenshin: Yes... An assasin who can freely attack from a dead angle from the shadows by using those long limbs.. But what I can not understand is his left arm... More than before, it is even... Monster: I lengthened it. Using the 15 years since then. Back then, I was 16 years old, and because my growth period was over and it was quite impossible... Kenshin or Kaoru... can't tell ^_^;: Lengthened? Monster: Hey. Did you think that I was born with a body like this? This body is the secret of our Yatsume Clan, who are famed throughout all the great families of gold miners. The gold miners who excavate gold from the gold mines, supplying the ones who control the times/era with gold for their armies. And in the midst of the contest of trying to find more of the limited gold there is, there came the secret of the 'Yatsume's Refining of the Human Body'. Putting iron rings on the limbs of children right after they are born, and then adding more as they go on, the body is 'refined' with long arms and legs that made it easier to dive/drill/reach into the ground or into caves. It is the same as the clans with long necks in Africa, or the binding of feet of the ladies of nobility in China. This body is the pride and prosperity of the Yatsume Clan! And so we do not leave our home, and kill all the ones who know of our secret!! First is Battousai! And then everyone here!! A soft puff of smoke... an angular profile, a gloved hand and a cigarette. Everybody has figured out that it's Saitou by now...? ^_^; Saitou: Hn. It makes a lot of noise, being a monster. Sano and Megumi are staring at Saitou. Sano: You... You lived...? Saitou: What a thing to say. Hey. This is one who has passed through first Ikeda Ya and then Boshin and Seinan and many of places of death... Full length shot of Saitou. With his copyrighted slightly to one side, very slight, cold, cynical smile... ^_^; Saitou: The only man in Shinsengumi who was said to be immortal. *End Act*