Here goes Miko and Kristin's approximate Jump summary/translation. ^_- Bracketed text are 'thought' text... ^_^;

Rurouni Kenshin Act 208: The End of a Dream

Side Text: A sad funeral procession...!!

Narration: It is said that one can know a person's worth by seeing how many people would cry for him when he died.

A line of silhouetted figures is shown, bearing a casket in their midst.

Narration: At the funeral procession of Kamiya Kaoru (died age seventeen), many people gathered and shed tears.

Tae, Tsubame, the police chief, and other friends and neighbors grieve together.

Narration: But the figure of Himura Kenshin could not be found among those in the funeral procession.

Shot of Kenshin from behind, his clothing ragged, his head bowed, with leaves swirling about him.

Title Page: Rurouni Kenshin ­ Meiji Kenkaku Romantan ­
Act 208: The End of a Dream

A collage of smiles from happy moments surrounds the image of a laughing Kamiya Kaoru, who leans forward as if beckoning.

Side Text: Those gestures, that smile.... The color has faded and the warmth has cooled, the current that does not return flows to a cold and distant place...

At the doujou, the sun shines down on a scene of bowed heads and grief.

Tsubame: *crying* ...why, why does this kind of thing.........

Yahiko: *face shadowed* (...... when I opened my eyes.... It was after everything was over when I opened my eyes. It was on a bed in Koguni Clinic. So, I didn't see how Kaoru died. What I saw was Kaoru all in white, after being cleansed. )

An image of Kaoru's body seems to float on the page. Her eyes are closed in death, her hair unbound. A small bandage on her cheek covers the cross scar marked by Enishi.

Yahiko: (It was as if she were a complete stranger. So even now, after the burial, there is no sense of the reality of Kaoru being dead.)

Yahiko stares at nothing, lost in thoughts.

Yahiko: (And Kenshin... Kenshin disappeared the moment everyone took their eyes off of him. Even though Sanosuke has all of his buddies looking for him, we still don't know where he went...)

We see Kenshin retreating, his shadow falling long behind him. His head is still bowed, his ponytail blowing in the wind.

Yahiko: (Where did he go? He should have no other place to return to save Kamiya Doujou... The man who killed Kaoru, Yukishiro Enishi, fled into the gray smoke along with his comrade Gein.)

The dark figures of Enishi and Gein loom, surrounded by billowing smoke.

Yahiko: (Kujiranami, whom Saitou defeated, is still in a state of half madness, and cannot speak.)

A shot of Saitou standing near his fallen opponent, sword still in hand.

Yahiko: (We figured out where their base of operations was from the other three who were captured, and raided it immediately, but it had already been cleared out.)

A view of Enishi's base from above.

Yahiko: (In the end... while I was peacefully unconscious, everything was ---...)

His fists clench.

One of Sanosuke's friends bursts upon the scene, panting and obviously agitated.

Sano's buddy: Sano-san, found him! We found Mister Himura!

The four turn in astonishment.

Sano: Where, where is Kenshin!!

Megumi: I'll have to treat his wounds, if nothing else.

Sano's buddy: Wait a second, please. It would be better if the women and children didn't go. Because the place is that 'Rakuninmura' [Raku: fallen; Nin: person, people; Mura: crowd]

Sanosuke, Yahiko, Megumi, and Tsubame all stare with wide eyes.

Narration: From Bakumatsu on to Meiji... the revolution in the times also brought revolution to people's lives. But not all people were blessed and could welcome the new era.

The wind blows past ragged rows of decrepit shacks, some of them scarcely standing, their roofs half-thatched. Broken wood and stones litter the street. It is a scene of utter abandonment and despair, with no sign of human life except for a few hunched, shadowy lurkers moving amid the wreckage.

Narration: The ones who have turned their backs on the era, and the ones on whom the era turned its back... Repelled by society and forgotten by the world, before long, they naturally fell in together. The settlement beyond the bounds, 'Rakuninmura'.

A wooden gate arches beneath a forbidding sky.

Narration: This is the final territory of those who have thrown away life.

Kenshin sits, half in shadow, head bowed, his back to a wooden wall. His eyes are utterly blank and sightless, his lips barely parted. His clothing and body still show all the damage from the battle with Enishi. Resting against his shoulder is the sakabatou, with chains wrapped tightly around its hilt and sheath, as if to prevent it from ever being drawn again.

The four from the doujou stare at him.

Sano, Megumi, Yahiko, Tsubame: ............

Yahiko: *eyes wide* Ken...

Sano: *angrily* LET'S GO! COME ON, STAND UP!! WE'VE GOT TO FUCKING KILL YUKISHIRO ENISHI! AVENGE JOU-CHAN! It's not as if avenging her will bring Jou-chan back to life! But! You'll never be at peace like this! It won't ever end if it goes on like this, will it!!! KENSHIN!!!

Sanosuke grabs Kenshin by the cloth of his gi and forcibly picks him up.

Sano: Quit being silent and say something!

Kenshin: *reactionless* It's already enough... I'm already worn out...

Sano: *enraged* FUCK... YOU!!!!!

He throws Kenshin violently against the ground. Kenshin makes no attempt to resist.

Megumi: *alarmed* Sanosuke!?

Sano: *screaming at Kenshin* FUCK YOU!!!

As Sanosuke raises his fist, shadowy, almost vulture-like figures appear behind him, bearing crude weapons of broken wood and a few jagged spears and swords. Light reveals them to be a band of other outcasts, ugly, crude, misshapen. They approach, snarling.

Riffraff 1: I don't know what's going on, but young brat... Even though this new guy hasn't been here long, he is still one of the 'crowd'... he's one of us.

Riffraff 2: There are no laws here, but what we have is one rule, which is to protect each other...

Riffraff 3: If you want to fight further, we will not forgive one from the outside for being so high-handed.

Riffraff 4: You don't have the resolve for that, now do you!!!

Sano: *still furious* Shit!! Is this the fallen licking each other's wounds!! No matter who it is, I'll take him on and settle this!!

Megumi: *shouting at him* Quit being an idiot! Tsubame-chan is here, too!!

Kenshin takes a step.

Tsubame: *anxiously* Kenshin-san...

He collapses against the wall in his previous position, head bowed, eyes closed, still clinging to the chained sword.

Kenshin: It's enough... I'm tired...

Sanosuke, Megumi, Tsubame, and Yahiko stare at him again, this time with despair.

Kenshin: Let me sleep like this quietly.........

Yahiko: (Not anyone... After that, not a word crossed anyone's lips... That day we parted ways to go home, each of us in pieces... )

Night has fallen. Yahiko stands alone on a bridge, thinking of the past.

Yahiko: (The first time I met Kenshin and Kaoru was on a cold day near the end of winter on this bridge... )

He remembers the moment when he charged into Kenshin, intending to pick his pocket.

Yahiko: (From that day on, Kenshin was there, Kaoru was there, and my dream began... But... now -----...)

He shuts his eyes tightly, but cannot prevent the tears from escaping.

Small Side Text: Rurouni Kenshin ­ Meiji Kenkaku Romantan ­
Act 208/End
Knowing Kaoru's death, Misao will...!?
Issue 43 'Heart Freezing Over'

We see Yahiko at a short distance, as if from someone else's perspective.

Someone: ! Yahiko?

He turns, hearing footsteps, his eyes widening.

Voice: I thought it was Yahiko. What are you doing at a place like this?

Misao and Aoshi stand before him in their traveling gear, Misao with her bag in hand, Aoshi carrying the long sheath containing his two kodachi. Misao stares at Yahiko in surprise.

Misao: What's wrong, did something happen!?

Side Text: An arrival that is too late...!!

*End Act*