Maybe, just Maybe, the Scar will Fade Away

Why do I carry this cross-shaped scar?
So deep, so dark, so full of memory.
One I've carried for a decade and beyond,
fading only when I perish from this world.

Why does my heart burn with such hatred
for my self, and my murdering deeds?
I've killed too many living men
and brought on countless red dawns.

I carry also, the frightening legend
of Hitokiri Battosai, the manslayer.
Why do I not shiver at these killing tales,
only a look for forgiveness in the stars?

No one will ever know the pain of my past,
the story behind my life-long scars.
How I committed so much crime,
I now suffer in the blood-filled images.

I can never enjoy cherry blossoms again.
I see with them only as a rain of blood
of all the men I killed as Hitokiri,
in the sword-age of Togugawa

I can never smile from deep within me,
for there lies my unspoken sins.
All I can manage is half a fake smile,
buried by my longing to repay the world.

I travel now as a rurouni, defending every weak.
Hiding all my past in that blood-red scar,
so I could protect all who I love
with the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.

Everyday, I put on a fake smile.
Hoping to trick myself into forgetting
that all my past was a horrible dream,
and the scar was merely a cut in play.

And maybe, just maybe if I can do enough,
that my memories would just fade away.
And maybe, just maybe if I can help enough,
my life as a Hitokiri will disappear.