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

Rurouni Kenshin Act 223: Dreams, Reality, and Illusions

Side Text: Even though Tsubame is shaking with fear and terror...!!

At the entrance to Rakuninmura...

Tsubame is surrounded by a group of men who live in Rakuninmura. Some of them carry clubs, and some have makeshift spears in their hands.

Riffraff: I said go home!! Can't you hear, little girl? This is not a place for outsiders!

Tsubame bows her head, her small body shaking with mortal fear.

Tsubame: (I'm so scared...) Ken... shin-san...

Riffraff A: Ken...?

Riffraff B: What, so you're here to see that new guy? Then you should really go home. It's no use even if you saw him. For a guy who's just like the cast-off shell of a cicada, there's really nothing much that you can do ---

At that, the girl seems to lose sight of her fear and cries out in protest.

Tsubame: No! Kenshin-san is not like that at all! The Kenshin-san that I know is someone who is always gentle and strong!!

She disregards the men around her and starts running past them into Rakuninmura.

Tsubame: *running* Kenshin-san!!

Riffraff: *as Tsubame passes* Hey you!

However, someone reaches out and catches her with his arm.

Kuma: Oop.

Tsubame: *struggling* Let me go! Let me see Kenshin-san!

Riffraff: *looking on, surprised* Kuma-san.

Kuma: *looking down at Tsubame* For heaven's sake... Another guest of that samurai's...

Title Page: Rurouni Kenshin ­ Meiji Kenkaku Romantan ­
Act 223: Dreams and Reality and Illusions

Kenshin is seated still, his sakabatou chained. His eyes hold no light. The bottle of white plum blossom perfume that Oibore brought lies close to him, unstoppered.

Side Text: What the eyes to which light will not return saw in the shadows between dream and reality--are they illusions... or are they...?

Oibore: 'It is said that the fragrance of white plum blossoms has the effect of soothing the heart.'

Oibore's words ring in Kenshin's mind as he gazes at the bottle of perfume. ... But other things seem to crowd into his mind's eye as well: the face of Shishio Makoto, Kamiya Kaoru, the battles he has been through, Yukishiro [Himura] Tomoe's smile as she lay dying in his arms...

He sits, eyes without light seeing scenes from the past...

The young Shinta stands shocked, still, as Hiko Seijurou speaks:

Hiko: 'They thought that they had to protect you even if they had to throw their lives away...' 'From this day forth, you will change your name to Kenshin. And I will give you the best that I have: Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu.'

At the waterfall, a younger Kenshin stands, arguing with his master...

Kenshin: 'It is the philosophy of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu to protect the people from the hardships of the times, isn't it! If we don't use our strength now, when will we use it? The people are suffering before our eyes! So many people are grieving! No matter what kind of reason there is, I don't want to just sit back and let it happen!!'

A vision of Katsura Kogorou and Takasugi Shinsaku, both leaders of the Choushuu Ishin Shishi in the long gone days of Bakumatsu, both dead by Meiji 11...

Kogorou: 'So let me ask, have you killed anyone with your Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu?'

Kenshin: 'No.'

Kogorou: 'Then, do you think you can kill with it?'

As a vision of that fateful pass of blades that killed Kiyosato Akira, Kenshin remembers his reply to Katsura Kogorou...

Kenshin: '... If it is the case that beyond my sullied, bloodied sword and the lives that have been sacrificed, there is a new era in which anyone can live peacefully......'

Tomoe, drenched in blood, gazes at Hitokiri Battousai calmly, that night when she followed him into the darkened alley where he killed those assassins...

Tomoe: 'Though it is often said that in a place of tragedy blood falls in the place of rain, you can really make it rain blood, canšt you......'

Later, during the time when they were living at the inn in Kyoto...

Tomoe: 'Do you intend to keep on killing people like this forever?'

It is evening, and Kenshin and Tomoe are standing in front of the small house in the village they were staying at...

Kenshin: 'I learnt the way of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, used the sword, I even went as far as to kill...' 'Though I have struggled and come this farŠ to give to the people who, though weak, long for happiness a new era...' 'The truth is, till now, I had no idea what that thing called 'happiness' is at all.........'

Snow fell that night...

Kenshin: 'Now, after having lived through half a year with you, I know clearly what that happiness is that I have been trying to protect.' 'I can do but one thing. That is to protect the happiness of the people I see before me one by one......'

He gazes at Tomoe earnestly as he pledges this:

Kenshin: 'The happiness that you have lost once in this chaos and strife, this time around, I will protect it to the bitter end for you...'

And then, the shock when he slashes across Tomoe's back, delivering that fatal blow to her as well as the assassin he was trying to kill.

He touches the cross scar on his left cheek as he reads Tomoešs diary and realizes that it was he who had killed Kiyosato Akira...

Kenshin: 'I KILLED HIM!!!'

That last smile of Tomoe is burnt into his memory as he speaks to Katsura Kogorou...

Kenshin: 'If I throw away my sword here, then all the lives that I have shed will really come to nothing.' 'The small shards of happiness that people hold close to them that Tomoe taught me... Until a new era has come when such happiness can light up much more than before, I will continue to use my sword.' 'But... when the new era does come, then......'

Arai Shakkuu smiles a cynical smile, deep shadows cast on his face by the sun.

Arai: 'You've killed and killed and killed so many people, that you can't just run away now. Live by the sword, die by the sword. There is no other path for you.'

Kenshin looks at him, stunned, holding out the sword that he has been handed.

Arai: 'For now, put that on your belt and try to be a swordsman. It will be driven home to you just how naive what you've said is.'

Kenshin draws the sword ---- the edge of the blade is reversed. It is a sakabatou.

Arai: 'If or when that breaks, and you still continue to speak such nonsense, then once again--'

Kamiya Kaoru looks back at him. People pass the two of them on the street. She is wearing a kimono.

Kaoru: 'That's fine. No matter who it is, he might have one or two things about his past that he doesn't want to talk about. It's not so strange.'

Kaoru again, this time in her gi. Her expression is earnest, with a touch of anger.

Kaoru: 'I'm not telling Battousai that I want him to stay, I'm telling you as a Rurouni that I want you to---'

On the bridge, Yahiko yells at them.

Yahiko 'I'm not a kid! I'm Myoujin Yahiko of a warrior's family of Tokyo!!'

Yahiko is crying tears of frustration next...

Yahiko: 'Damn it, I want to become strong...'

Sagara Sanosuke stands ready to face Kenshin, Zanbatou in his hand.

Sanosuke: 'I won't lose! I absolutely can't lose!!'

Next, battered, with bandages over his face...

Sanosuke: 'Right now, I am just Sagara Sanosuke, the gangster. Just like you aren't the Hitokiri Battousai any more!'

Jine stands on the window sill, a full moon lighting him up from behind.

Jine: 'A hitokiri will die a hitokiri.'

He smiles maniacally.

Jine: 'I will watch you from the depths of hell to see just how long you can claim to be a rurouni or a whatever.'

A young woman stands behind Kenshin.

Megumi: 'Will you protect me and help me escape from Kanryuu?'

Ready to take her own life, Takani Megumi pulls out her tantou and puts it to her wrist...

Megumi: 'I'm really glad that at the very very end, I was able to meet all of you.'

Scared out of his wits, Kanryuu screams...

Kanryuu 'HE...L...P...'

Shinomori Aoshi stands at the entrance to Kanryuu's estate, his four men of the Oniwabanshuu gathered around him.

Aoshi: 'I had wanted to at least exchange the act of offering the title of 'The Strongest' to the Oniwabanshuu for pride and honor----'

Blood on the corner of his lips, he leaves these words...

Aoshi: 'Don't you be killed by anyone else before I can kill you.'

With Kaoru beside her, Sanjou Tsubame smiles shyly.

Tsubame 'I won't be frightened and timid any more.......'

A sling on one shoulder, gripping a shinai with his other hand, Tsukayama Yutarou cries out, determined.

Yutarou: 'I will absolutely not give up swordsmanship! How can I stand to give it up!!'

Also gripping his sword was Isurugi Raijuuta.

Raijuuta: 'Swordsmanship, from the beginning, is the technique of killing. The swordsmanship based on a shinai [bamboo sword] that is the mainstream nowadays is nothing but a sham.'

In Kamiya doujou, Saitou Hajime stands, nihontou drawn, across from Kenshin.

Saitou 'Aku. Soku. Zan. That is the only true justice that we share as Shinsen Gumi and Hitokiri.'

He gets into a gatotsu stance, glaring at Kenshin along the length of the blade.

Saitou: 'I will refute all that you are.'

Makimachi Misao smiles as she looks back at Kenshin.

Misao: 'Well, I'm looking for someone.'

Though battered, she yells as she runs.

Misao: 'Where the hell is the happiness in forgetting the one person that you love the most!!'

Standing with his Juppon Gatana, Shishio Makoto smiles, his jagged blade drawn.

Shishio: 'If chaos and strife have ended, then I will start them up again.'

Katanagari no Chou looks battered, but grips his sword.

Chou: 'If you say that you have forgotten the delight in killing people, then let me make you remember again.'

Yuukyuuzan Anji clenches his fist, his eyes blind with rage.

Anji: 'Such things as prayers and wishes won't save a single thing.'

Sword slung over his shoulder, Seta Soujirou smiles.

Soujirou: 'Though you say such things as not killing and protecting the weak, those are all mistakes.'

Dying in Shishio's arms, a tear glides down Komagata Yumi's cheek as she smiles.

Yumi: 'Please win, Shishio-sama...'

Sadojima Houji cries out in anguish, tears streaming down his face.

Houji: 'There is no reason why Shishio-sama would lose--------'

Engulfed by flames, Shishio Makoto laughs...

Shishio: 'HA------ HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!'

His sword drawn, Yukishiro Enishi smiles. His minions also close in.

Enishi: 'Come. It is the beginning of Jinchuu ---'

Kaoru [the doll], Enishišs blade piercing her heart, a cross scar on her left cheek, sits with her back against one of the walls of the doujou, lifeless.

Enishi: 'There is the answer that you have been searching for.'

Those lifeless eyes engulf Kenshin's heart utterly.

He closes his eyes.

Kenshin: (It's already enough... I'm already worn out---...)

Tsubame, Kuma behind her, arrives before the rurouni, panting from exertion.

Tsubame: Kenshin-san!!

Tears start to flow once more as she sees the state that Kenshin is in.

Tsubame: Kenshin...san...

The rurouni opens his blank, lightless eyes slowly...

Side Text: Will Tsubame's voice reach Kenshin!?

*End Act*