Prologue -- I'm Fat

    His reflection stared back at him.  He leaned in closer, studying the fine lines that were beginning to deepen around his eyes and the corners of his mouth.  He'd spotted a grey hair or two, the other day.  And was that the beginning of a double chin?  He tugged the skin at his jaw line.
    "You're getting old," his reflection told him.  "Your life is going to be a lot less comfortable for you if you don't start making provisions for your future."
    "Shut up," he told it.  But he knew it was right.  He wasn't getting any younger, and he didn't really want to be the last of his line.
    Now, in this era of peace, it was time for him to start concentrating on living after all, he decided.  The time had come.
    Sighing, he ignored the twinges and creaks in his back as he moved away from the mirror.  "Come on old man."
   Moving out to the front yard, he put himself though a rigorous workout.  Despite the occasional ache, he felt no different than he had in years of fighting and practicing.  His form was still excellent and deadly accurate.  One had to be very close to tell that he looked any different from the way he had years before.
    Three hours later, he sat down.  Feeling a little winded, he began to get annoyed with his body.  How could it betray him thus?
     There had to be a way.  Remembering a little more than a year ago how he'd learned something about devotion and love from a girl who had come seeking her beloved, only wishing to see him one more time...
    He knew what to do, suddenly.  It pained him immensely to have to stoop to that level, but he must contact his former student and seek his advice.  How could he find a woman worthy of him, and inspire such mindless devotion?  If that runty, stubborn little orphan could do it, surely it would be a breeze for he who had taught that former hitokiri.
    He rose from the log, and went inside to his desk.
    He began to write.
    It grated him sorely, stooping to such a level.  Still, it would not be the first lesson he'd have learned from Himura Kenshin.