From: EJG87478@aol.com

A MOTHER'S ELEGY IN FIVE PARTS
By Eric

Disclaimer:
All rights and privileges to "Rurouni Kenshin" belong to Nobuhiro
Watsuki, Shuiesha, Sony Music Entertainment, and associated parties. 
The characters of these series are used WITHOUT permission and for 
entertainment purposes only.  This work of fiction is not meant for
sale or profit.  Original portion of the fiction included here is
considered the sole property of and copyrighted to the author.

FOREWORD (prologue):

People used to say a lot of things about my daughter Himura Tomoe.  

Some said she was mad.  Others said she was divine.  Most said she was 
bewitched.  

I say she was all three.  My daughter was the victim of her own tragic 
existence.  She was the answer to one of humanity's most definitive and 
timeless questions.  I can't conceive of any crueler blessing.  Few people 
liked her.  Everyone was afraid of her.  I think even I was in a strange and 
ambiguous, but no less shameful, way.  Tomoe herself was definitely no 
exception; I think she was more afraid than anyone.    

She had haunted eyes.  I see them often in my dreams.  They are sad, 
unearthly purple eyes.  In them, I see Tomoe's soul screaming.   Her scream 
is of the kind that resounds for as long as suns can burn.  I grieve knowing 
that no one wants to hear her.  The nature of men is such that they cannot 
truly see the sun in its entirety.  They are afraid of going blind and of 
thus going mad.  They can only gaze at the sun at dawn or dusk.  Men seem 
blind this way.  I truly believe that Heaven was trying to tell us something 
in Tomoe.  We did not listen when she was alive.  Maybe we will listen now 
that she is dead.  

That is why I have to share her story.  Think of it as my apology.  Think of 
it as a lecture.  Think of it as fiction.  Think of it however you please.  I 
share it with you simply as it has come to me through timeless time and a 
mother's heart.

-- Himura no Kamiya Kaoru
Los Angeles, 1907

CONTENTS (tentative):
I.  "Perfect in Eight Hundred Ways"
II.  "On the Other Side of the Mirror"
III.  "The Descendents of Jimmu"
IV.  "Eight Steps Ahead of Newton, Napoleon, and Giordano Bruno"
V.  "Anshin and Jiyuu"  


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