Here goes Miko's approximate Jump summary/translation. ^_- Bracketed text are 'thought' text... ^_^; (original translation from Rurouni Kenshin Archive) ---------------------------------- Rurouni Kenshin Act 197: The Wolf Once Again Saitou slowly walks over to Sano and Megumi [Yahiko is lying on the ground unconcious, Kenshin and Kaoru are off to the right, nearer to the house/ dojo], taking leisurely puffs from his cigarette. Saitou: I came to ask questions about 'Yukishiro Enishi'. But without even inquiring, it seems like you are on the worst of terms. Sano: Hey!! You... If you lived, then why did you not appear but hid all this time? Saitou: (puff) You're already in the middle of fighting. Saves me trouble. Perfect. But, if I don't know what's happening, it's not interesting. Sano: Were you trying to play dead to wait for a chance to kill Kenshin?! Saitou: Explain. [Saitou is using the Japanese command form of speech] Sano: Don't command me! Listen to what I'm saying!! Saitou: (annoyed) A guy who is noisy and just won't shut up. Do you want me dead that badly? Sano: ...... Perhaps the aftertaste would be terrible, but if you are alive, then just come and let people know without delay. Saitou: (puff) Then don't get all tangled up with it and labor the point. Explain. [command form] Sano: (half SD enraged) You! I won't!! Megumi: (knocks Sano out of the way, slamming her elbow back onto his chest) Fine, I'll explain. Sano: (being knocked back) Wait!! I still haven't asked... Megumi: I'll give you all the details and brief you on the current situation... but in exchange, please... help Ken-san. Saitou: (pauses and puffs) Thanks but no thanks. The only reason that I will use my sword is for my own sense of justice. I reject that request. Just give the explanation briefly. [still using command form ^_^;] Kenshin and Kaoru are staring up at Yatsume [Spawn Man ^_^;] who is perching on the roof. [To give a brief description of Yatsume: quite heavily muscled, with arms and legs about 1.5 times the normal length. He's got a metal 'claw' type weapon in his left hand, and a Spawn type mask pulled on. Also has long pointed tongue and sharp pointed teeth... ^_^;] Yatsume: Well. Take your sword. (Kenshin is still on the ground with Kaoru, and Kaoru is holding his sword) Or what? Should I instead fight the girl? Kenshin: ...... I generally grasp what the situation is. But, there is one thing that I do not understand. (Yatsume looks slightly surprised) You who should be one of the gold miners, why did you join the fray as a member of Yaminobu (Army of Darkness) ...? Yatsume: When the circumstance changes, the situation also changes... Even though Japan, with its gold ore vein, was once called the Country of Gold (Sipang/Jipang), at the end of the Edo dynasty because it was depleted from digging, there wasn't much gold left to be dug. If there is no gold, then the gold miners can't live. There was a need to find a new way of life. The Yatsume clan had its secret 'Human Body Refining', and they made their bets on it -- therefore, on me. This kind of body has a high potential in fighting skills, so if we told the Tokugawa Bakufu about it --- Yatsume: But I lost to you, and Tokugawa was defeated by the Ishin Shishi. Now, the Yatsume clan will soon be a candle flame placed in the wind [soon to die out]. Risking death in the face of cold and hunger, there are looking for gold ore in the undeveloped land in Hokkaido, betting on a slim chance. Well, that's the end of all the stories! Take your sword, Battousai!! Kaoru: (... This man isn't just obeying the rules of a clan. He has turned all the misfortunes of his clan into hate for the Ishin Shishi, and he's throwing it all at Kenshin.) Kenshin stands. Kaoru: Kenshin...? Saitou: (walked over while people were not paying attention) If you intend on fighting while not killing, then get back. Both Kenshin and Yatsume look back at Saitou with surprise/alarm. Kenshin:... So that voice just now was you... Saitou: (still got cigarette in hand) You don't seem shaken in the slightest. Kenshin: Things like people who should be dead turning out to be alive, I got used to it during Bakumatsu. Saitou: (cool smile) I see. That is true. Kenshin: What are you here for? Saitou: Fu. As a part of cleaning up after the Shishio crisis, I was looking for the malcontents who sold the battle ship 'Rengoku'. And it came down to that guy in the sky... Enishi pushes his glasses up slightly... Saitou: Just as Japan can finally steady herself internally after the end of Shishio, and gather up strength to resist foreign countries, there is no worst thing than having a door open for free movement of weapons between Japan and its closest contact point with foreign countries, Shanghai. The 'existence' [it uses quotes in the original text] of that man is a danger to Japan now. Kenshin: (casts a glance at Saitou) ...... You intend to kill Enishi.....? Saitou: (casts a glance at Kenshin) ...... Well now. Whether I want to kill him, arrest him, or exile him, first we'll have to drag him onto the ground. He'll come down if we defeat all the opponents on the ground, right? So, there is one monster left to go. (places his left hand on the hilt of his katana) This is a good chance that doesn't come often. I wouldn't let it slip by if I were you. Yatsume:...... Who the hell are you? [he used 'kisama' here, which is the worst form of 'you... therefore, the token curse word ^_^;] Saitou: The likes of monsters have no right to call me 'kisama'. Kenshin: (alarmed) Saitou! Saitou: If you were human, then having reason you would understand a thing called 'a time to quit.' Even dogs and animals can detect it by instinct. But guys who let that chance to quit slip by and blames his defeat on the winner is even below that. He's worst than dogs, and the same as monsters. Yatsume: (nearly frothing at the mouth??) ... I give you five minutes, Battousai. Kenshin: (alarmed) Wait, Yatsume! Saitou: (Saitou copyrighted cool smile) I don't need five minutes. Three is more than enough. Yatsume: This man who calls this form of mine a monster, I'll kill him first!! Yatsume: (leaping off of the rook to attack) I will not forgive you for calling me, this body and Yatsume a monster!!! (lifts 'claw') See! This is the power of the Yatsume 'Human Body Refining'!!! Yatsume strikes with his 'claw', shatter rock, breaking up pieces of the ground/pavement. When he is done, there is a semi circular trench to Saitou's right. Saitou stands unscathed. Kaoru: (shocked) !! The surface of the ground is just like a canal...! Yatsume lands and gives Saitou a smirk. Saitou looks unimpressed. Off on the side, Sano is watching with Megumi. Megumi: (sighs, looking slightly exasperated) Whatever he said about it, it seems that he is lending Ken-san a hand. Sano: Isn't he just fighting cos he wants to fight? Megumi: That is highly possible. Sano: (Whatever the case, now Kenshin can await the fight with Enishi without having his strength lessened any further.) Yatsume: How about this power? I am not a monster but one who has surpassed humanity!! Saitou: Those fangs [meaning Yatsume's teeth], is that one of the Human Body Refining? Yatsume: (slightly surprised) Yes. It was sharpened bit by bit since I was young and then hardened with bone meal. Saitou: And so is that tongue of yours? Yatsume: That's my own. Saitou: (smile) I see. Very much a monster. Yatsume: (enraged) ! I'll kill you!! Saitou: (slowly drawing his katana) Kill? You? Kill me? You're getting above yourself. *End Act*