So Okina's been taken out, but he's not dead. Aoshi leaves Place A, telling Misao not to show herself to him again, and to tell Battousai he'd be waiting at Shishio's hideout. Poor Misao. Her idol has just nearly killed the man who raised her. Oi. She takes Okina back and they patch him up...he gets something like 150+ stitches. Omasu, one of the Oniwaban girls, hands a letter to Misao. It's from Okina. It starts out "Ciao, my pretty Misao" which causes Misao to facefault into the tatami. Basically Okina wrote a goodbye letter telling Misao to disband the Oniwabanshuu, live a normal life, and be happy. But Misao is determined not to lose because the Oniwabanshuu is her family, and how can she be happy without them? So she declares herself okashira in Aoshi's place.
Training by the waterfall near Hiko's home, Kenshin is hard pressed to even touch his master. Hiko reprimands him for being so out of touch and relying too much on the predictions of HMR. Just because a sword is raised, doesn't mean it will strike. Hiko finally delivers an ultimatim: if Kenshin can't land one blow on his next attack, he will forever lose the chance to learn the ohgi. So Kenshin concentrates his heart and soul on hitting Hiko, and lands poorly, nearly concussing himself. However, when he wakes up (bonking Hiko on the head, as Hiko was leaning over him), Hiko says that if he hadn't put his whole being into the attack, he never would have been able to land a hit.
Hiko begins teaching the ohgi with the move Kuzu Ryu Sen, which simultaneously attacks all nine major areas on the body. Kenshin assumes that this is the ohgi. He tries the attack on Hiko, but as it is a multiple-hit-charging attack, and he is much weaker in the arms and much lighter than Hiko, his Kuzu Ryu Sen is much weaker. So, the only thing that can defend against Kuzu Ryu Sen is the ohgi, Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki. That's a mouthful, although by the end of the show you learn how to say it because every freakin' character say it about ten billion times. Even Sano.
Kenshin, however, has retreated into Battousai mode. Hiko refuses to teach him the ohgi as such, and says that he has one day to find what is missing, or he will die. Kenshin spends the night ruminating on his past, how he was in a slave caravan when he was nine years old. It was attacked by bandits and he was the only survivor, as Hiko came and killed the bandits. Kenshin, whose real nama is Shinta, buried everyone in the caravan, and the bandits as well. Hiko took the boy in as his apprentice and began teaching him the HMR. Kenshin thinks especially about the three sisters (Akane, Kasumi, and I can't remember the third) who felt they had to sacrifice themselves to save him, because he was only a child.
To make a long story short, although I think it might be a little late for that, in the morning Hiko comes to attack Kenshin, and Kenshin figures out what it is that he was missing. He was missing the will to live. He learned the ohgi in action by using it against Hiko's Kuzu Ryu Sen. AKRNH leaves a big slash in the person's torso from hip to shoulder, and nearly killed Hiko. But that was supposed to be the way of the HMR--the ohgi is passed on by the death of the master and the succession of the apprentice. Of course, since Kenshin wields a sakabatou, Hiko wasn't killed. Kenshin takes Hiko back to his home and searches for medicine, trusting in his shisho's strength.
Kenshin discovers the medicine is a placebo.
We then proceed to a police station in Kyoto, where Saitoh has arrived. The chief welcomes him and takes him down to the cell block, where a familiar looking ahou is waiting. Saitoh, accosted by Sano, pretends not to know him. A furious Sano uses Futae no Kiwami on the door. He's still got that goofy fishbone in his mouth, too. Saitoh sends the chief away then irritates Sano some more before heading to the end of the hall to interrogate Cho.
Sano admitting he did nothing to train for defense.
Sano accompanies him, and he and Cho get into a fight, where Cho calls him tori-atama (chicken head) and Sano calls Cho hohki-atama (broomhead). It's hilarious, because they're animated as such...anyway, Cho ends up telling Saitoh about Shishio's plan to set Kyoto on fire, based on an old Imperialist plan.
In the morning Hiko kicks Kenshin awake, telling him to go back to Kyoto because there are people waiting for him. Kenshin is amazed at Hiko's recovery and launches himself up for a big hug.
Kenshin: Shi...sho? SHISHO! oro....
Hiko: I am not a man who likes being hugged by other men. -_-'
Anyway, Hiko offers Kenshin the white and red cape, which is weighted to slow down the HMR master and keep them from being too powerful. Kenshin, picturing himself in the enormous garment, politely declines, which is probably a good thing. He says that he doesn't want to be Hiko Seijuuro the 14th.
He also asks Hiko to guard the Aoiya, which Hiko eventually agrees to. Then Kenshin goes back to town to see Saitoh. The two of them, poring over a map and thinking about the plan Cho told them about, realize somethign is amiss. Kenshin's knowledge of the Bakamatsu and his familiarity with Shishio's personality leads him to the true plan, which is to take a ship and bombard Tokyo, sending the city into chaos (because of Perry's 1853 attack).
So off they go, with Sano riding on the roof of the carriage. Saitoh keeps trying to stab him through the roof, without much luck. 5000 policemen have been left in Kyoto to deal with the Grand Inferno, and Kenshin has left word with Misao and the Oniwabanshuu. They help stop the badguys from setting Kyoto on fire, although at one point Misao is nearly killed by Usui, until Anji stops him... anyway, Kenshin-tachi are in Osaka harbor. Kenshin spots the only ship that's ready for sail and they head that way. Sano reveals that Katsu gave him some bombs before he left Tokyo. Saitoh calls him an ahou. Business as usual.
While Kenshin and Saitoh attack from port and starboard side, it's Sano's job to get close enough to bomb the mechanical room at the end of the ship. Shishio is waiting on the ship, which is metal, named the Purgatory. While Kenshin and Saitoh draw Shishio's atention, Sano hops across the flotsam and jetsam of wood blown off the Purgatory. Shishio pulls out a Gatling gun, but Sano uses Futae no Kiwami, then tosses Katsu's bombs on the ship, effectively tearing up the back end. Now Shishio has proposed a fight at their true hideout on Mount Hiei, because he knows he has to defeat them before he can take over the country. Kenshin agrees, and Shishio-tachi goes off in lifeboats. Meanwhile, a soaking Sano arrives and starts shouting at Shishio's retreating group. He really is an ahou, I must agree with Saitoh.
Back in Kyoto, Saitoh goes to deal with all those lovely administrative details. Kenshin and Sano head back to the Aoiya, where Kaoru informs them of Misao's condition. She's embarrassed because she let Usui sneak up on her, but frankly, she really ought to just be glad she's still alive. Usui's a big creep. But now Sano knows that Anji is one of the Juppongatana. While they're there, Okina wakes up as well. Everyone runs to see him, leaving Sano to answer the door when a policeman comes by with a message from Saitoh.
I love how the first thing Okina does is tie a ribbon in his beard. Well, then he asks Kenshin to kill Aoshi, because no one else can do it. I don't like that quite as much, but I understand where Okina is coming from. He's afraid Aoshi is too dangerous ot be left alive, basically, as evidinced by the fact that he forsook them and joined with Shishio. Instead Kenshin promises to bring Aoshi back to the Aoiya for Misao. She starts crying about it too. I don't mean to be overly harsh on Misao, she's a pretty cool girl, but she hasn't even seen the man in eight years and she still thinks she's in love with him? Besides, I find it difficult to believe that anyone is really in love at age sixteen. It's all hormones. Of course, she could hardly pick a better person to be so infatuated with then Aoshi...he damn hot...
*Cough* Where was I? Oh yes. Kaoru gives the medicine from Megumi to Kenshin, and everyone promises to support him. Kenshin asks Yahiko to stay and help defend the Aoiya. In the morning when they leave, Kaoru says that they'll all go back to Tokyo together, and Kenshin agrees. This is more important than it sounds, because it fuels Kenshin's will to live. Seriously, whenever he gets iffy about living he thinks of Kaoru, and WHAM! He's alive! She's like electricity to Frankenstein. So Sano, Saitoh, and Kenshin head off to Moutn Hiei to do battle with Shishio and the Juppongatana. However, Houji devised a plan that leaves only Anji, Usui, and Sojiro to fight Kenshin et al, and sends Kamatari, Henya, Iwanbo, and Saizuchi and Fuji to kill everyone at the Aoiya.
Yumi is their guide when they reach the gates at the shrine of the six archways. She leads them into and to the first room, which holds Myouou no Anji. Obviously, this is Sano's fight. It's a Futae no Kiwami double whammy! Anji tells Sano that he must become a god of fire and destroy everything sot hat teh world will be made again. Sano doesn't like that too much--he's been hanging out with Kenshin, after all, so he wants to protect the people who live in peace and happiness in the Meiji Era. He uses the Futae no Kiwami and hits Anji right in the stomach, but a memorial tablet in Anji's shirt blocks some of the blow.
As it turns out, Anji was a monk in a small village ten years ago when the Meiji government decided to outlaw Buddhism. They began Buddhist hunts and closed down many temples. Anji lived with five children (I only know the names of three--Tasuke, Goro, and Tsubaki). The mayor of the town was kicking them out, but Anji promised the children that as long as they were all together they would be a family. While he was in a waterfall meditating, however, some of the mayor's supporters went to the temple and set it on fire. When Anji tried to go to rescue the children, they whacked him on the head. The temple continued to burn with the children trapped inside.
By the time Anji regained consciousness, the temple was completely burned down (ironically enough, except for the statue of Hotoke) and the children were all dead. That is a perfectly horrible way to die, and I can understand that he was righteously pissed. His devotion to those kids is adorable and heart wrenching at the same time. To avenge their deaths he became a killer, and joined with Shishio so that he could remake the world so that when they went through the wheel of reincarnation they would be able to be happy. However, Sano yells at Anji, bringing him back to some semblence of sanity--that those chldren are crying because they've been soaked in the blood that Anji has spilled. Anji then has a vision of the children, who say that they are with him always. He begins his repentence by taking care of Sano's wounds.
Anji also tells Kenshin and Saitoh about the proposed attack on the Aoiya. Kenshin knows they can't go back, especially not without a guide, so he and Saitoh head forward to the Room of Screams, where Usui waits. When they reach there Sano has regained consciousness and catches up with them. Saitoh sends them ahead while he deals with Usui. Usui uses superhuman hearing acquired from near death to sense his opponent's moves. He is blind, and his eyesight was taken away by Shishio. He says he wants to kill Shishio, but Saitoh soons takes apart Usui's psyche. Saitoh listens to Usui's narrative on how he gained the Shingan, then says that obviously Usui has given up on killing Shishio because Shishio is so much stronger than he is. Usui is not pleased with this. Saitoh also points out that Shishio has to know this, and is making good use of Usui's cheap pride. Usui gets pissed at this and uses the ro-chin and timbey (turle shell shield) to attack Saitoh.
The timbey is used not just as a shield but as a blinder. Held close to the opponent's face, it blocks one's vision and allows Usui to attack while fairly confident that no attack will be used on him. However, he makes a big mistake in underestimating Saitoh's Gatotsu. Gatotsu has multiple stances for attack. Ichishiki is the straightforward attack; nishiki is a downward thrust; sanshiki is upwards. And then there's zeroshiki, which uses only one's upper body strength to thrust the Gatotsu from a standing position.
The Gatotsu pierces Usui's timbey and his torso, pinning him to the wall. In the manga, the zeroshiki actually tore Usui in half and pinned his upper half to the wall...Saitoh kicks ass, ne?
Saitoh says that a man who has lost his beliefs is never more pathetic, dead or alive. Usui, with his last breath, asks Saitoh how long he thinks he can live by his sword and "Aku Soku Zan" in the Meiji Era. Saitoh smiles, and says that he will do so until he is dead. I love Saitoh, I really do. He is just so uber cool.
Anyway, Kenshin and Sano (carrying poor Yumi like a sack of potatoes) are running down the hall. Yumi's saying that Kenshin knows the next opponent is the boy, Sojiro. Hah! Little does she know...they pass Houji's room and Kenshin stops. Yumi's like, Uh, what are you doing? You were in such a hurry! And Kenshin says that Aoshi is behind the doors. I must say, I love this second fight with Aoshi. Mostly because I love Aoshi and this fight brings him back to who he was...and I'm a sick fuck for enjoying him getting a huge hole in his chest from AKRNH and all the emotional anguish over Hannya-tachi and Kenshin telling him that he's deluding himself.
Not that I'm getting ahead of myself or anything. Kenshin goes in, seeing Aoshi waiting for him. Aoshi says that the time has come for their second fight! But Kenshin's like, No, you're not the man I promised a rematch with. Not that Aoshi's going to take no for an answer. He's really not the most tractable of men, all things considered. Kenshin knows he has to wake Aoshi from his death-induced trance he's in to be able to keep his promise to Misao: that he would bring Aoshi, Oniwabanshuu no Okashira, back to the Aoiya. Yumi, while Sano is distracted, sneaks off to the second floor where there is a telegraph to report to Shishio.
Kenshin announces that he will defeat this Aoshi with only the trappings of their environment. As this is Houji's room, it's bookshelves lined with books. I swear, with how obsessed Houji is with Shishio, those books are probably filled with naked pictures of Shishio. That way I don't feel so bad when the books ge destroyed. I hate to see good literature go to waste. Bad literature I can do without.
So they're running around the shelves, Kenshin's tossing books at Aoshi, Aoshi's slicing them up. Kenshin hops on top of a shelf, then knocks it over on top of Aoshi. This bothers Aoshi not one bit! Aoshi merely slices up the entire bookshelf, then attacks Kenshin, so that Kenshin is forced to draw his sword. Now that Kenshin has drawn, Aoshi says he can fight at full power. Yeah, he's gotten a hella lot more powerful by walking on the edge of chaos. He beats on Kenshin some more, and then uses the kodachi nitou ryuu Onmyo Hasshin , where he throws both kodachi. The first one is easily blocked, but the second one is hidden by the first and nearly catches Kenshin in the face.
Aoshi tells Battousai to stand up, that there's no point in defeating him as he is. He sheds his coat and his shirt opens up to reveal...scars. Oh. My. God. I don't know why, but the scars make my knees weak. They are all over his otherwise perfect chest, a sign of the chaos he sought after the deaths of the Oniwabanshuu. Kenshin stands up, and inquires why Aoshi is still saying the Battousai nonsense. They fight some more, and Aoshi nearly cuts Kenshin's throat with his Goho Juuji , a scissor-like movement of the kodachi-ni. Kenshin, after blocking it, says to Aoshi that anyone can throw away everything if they wish, but that he has found something even stronger.
What Kenshin says to Aoshi is the hope that he saw when Hiko taught him AKRNH. That Hiko risked his life to show Kenshin that the will to live is the most important factor in a battle. As Hitokiri Battousai, Kenshin killed so many people and committed so many acts that he was ashamed of, he believed it didn't matter if he died. But now he'd found that beyond self-sacrifice, the will to live made him stronger than ever, and it made him stronger than Aoshi.
Kenshin's words hit Aoshi hard, especially the next ones. He tells Aoshi that although he says he is doing everything for the flower of the itle of strongest to put on the Oniwabanshuu's graves, that all he is diong is becoming evil and blaming them for it. This is like a sock in the gut to Aoshi. Kenshin continues, saying that Aoshi's actions have made Hannya, Beshimi, Hyottoko, and Shikijo into evil spirits. Aoshi is more pwoerful, yes, but his spirit has grown so weak compared to what it was.
Hearing Kenshin tell him these truths is hard for Aoshi. It's just as hard for Kenshin to say them, because he is tearing apart the heart and soul of a man he admires and respects. He's also tearing down the illusion that has been keeping Aoshi rather sane since the Oniwabanshuu members were killed. I use sane loosely, of course, but it was all Aoshi had to focus on, and man, when he focuses, he damn well focuses. Although I think my favorite line in this fight comes from Kenshin--and in it, he puts all his compassion not only for the Oniwabanshuu but for Aoshi himself.
Kenshin: Part of me didn't want to do this, because I knew the tragedy of those four.
