Chapter 9: The Black Hat of Rushes

(Lightning crashes. Inside a mansion, a well-dressed man cowers before a man shrouded in a cloak, wearing a wide black hat. He carries a bloody sword and bodies litter the floor between them.)

Rich Man: P ... please. If it's money I can get you as much as you want. Just spare my life.

Black Hat: The honored patriots of the new age bathe in money like water. Has it made you weak?

(He laughs, quietly. The man screams. Black Hat fixes his eyes upon him.)

Rich Man (thinking): I ... I can't move! What's happening?!

Black Hat: Die.

(The sword is brought down.)

Sanosuke: This is terrible.

(Kaoru is grimly grilling fish in the dojo yard.)

Sanosuke: It's no good at all. Girl, you've got to take some cooking lessons. I could teach you to do better than this. How do you take this day after day, Kenshin?

Kenshin: It's not that bad. The more of Miss Kaoru's cooking you eat, the better it tastes.

Sanosuke: Oh, so this is some kinda exotic acquired taste, is it?

Kaoru (pelting him with utensils): If it's bad then don't eat it! You come over here all the time to mooch food!!

Sanosuke (blocking with Kenshin): Since I stopped taking fights I have no money. Don't be so uptight.

Kenshin (as he gets pelted): Oro! Oro! Oro!

(the Chief of police--from part 2--slides open the gate.)

Chief: I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt anything, but is Mr. Himura here?

Kaoru: Chief! Kenshin, the chief of police is here--

(Kenshin is dazed and covered with bumps.)

Chief: I have a favor to ask of you, Mr. Himura.

Kenshin: Oro?

(Yahiko continues to munch determinedly at his fish.)

Chief: I truly apologize for the trouble with the Sword-bearing police. The matter has served as an opportunity to dissolve the unit. Discipline within the force is being strengthened. I, too, am working at this, so please forgive us...

Kenshin: That's all right. What is it you have to ask me?

Chief: Let me explain something first. This concerns the problem of the police's reputation. We've kept this out of the newspapers, so I beg you all to keep this a secret. My request is none other than this. I want you to destroy a certain ruffian.

Sanosuke: Ruffian?

Chief: Known as "Black Hat of Rushes," he's a fiend who targets former patriots who play a part in the Meiji world of power and wealth. An swordsman without scruples, he has struck over ten times throughout Japan without making the slightest misstep.

Kaoru: So basically he's out to get the Meiji patriots? Is it because of a grudge, or does he think he's making the world a better place or something?

Chief: Perhaps. But above all the Black Hat enjoys killing. Since he's targeting patriots who hold important posts, the police has dedicated itself to providing guards, and the targets themselves use their power and money to hire bodyguards. Yet the Black Hat seems to enjoy killing as many as he can, once he has broken through our defenses. Two months ago, when he appeared in Shizuoka, counting victim, police and bodyguards, thirty-four were killed and fifty-six suffered heavy injuries.

Kaoru: Wait a minute. If you know he's so strong, why don't you use the infantry? Since there were so many casualties...

Chief: We did ... but the unit was wiped out before they could draw their weapons. According to one who just barely escaped with his life, he couldn't move at all, like he was bound hand and foot. That's why they were killed--

Kenshin: By the Nikaidou Heibou "One-sided Heart."

Kaoru: What?

Kenshin: Probably after so many murders, he has lost his original purpose and will, drawn only by the color and smell of blood. That such a man should exist ten years into the Meiji era...

(they all stare at him)

Kaoru: Kenshin...

(Kenshin, saying nothing, sips his tea.)

(Another mansion. Inside is the man they have come to protect, Tani.)

Tani: A guard? No thanks. It's only one ruffian. I won't need police to protect me.

Chief: It's not that simple. Mr. Tani, your assailant is the Black Hat of Rushes!