Darkness and awful humidity were filling up the misty evening. The fabric of Kame´s shirt stuck to his chest within mere seconds and it was uncomfortable to breathe the heavy air. He almost didn´t even notice that.
Kame was running in the direction by which Lena was usually going home; his heart beating in the irregular rhythm, the blood rushing in his veins and the worries flooding his mind. What could only happen to the girl?
His bad hunch made its knowing nod, when his ears caught a strange noise from the dark space between the closed warehouse and the huge rainwater barrel. Kame stopped on the spot and let his eyes search through the shadows carefully. Then he finally saw it.
The dim light of some lanterns was falling onto the two figures slightly. They would have been almost unnoticeable, if not for the yellow skirt which Lena wore that evening.
Kame´s sight covered with the burning anger, when he realized that Lena was desperately fighting against some man in dark clothes, who was pushing her against the wall, and covering her mouth to prevent the girl from screaming again. He had already ripped the warm coat off her and he was proceeding under the skirt. Kame took a breath and let that anger to take the control over his body completely.
His legs moved and he reached the dark place in no time. Hearing the rushing steps, the man rose his head up from Lena´s neck and turned it towards him. In the last second, Kame recognized him. He didn´t hesitate even for a moment. With all his strength, which he didn´t even know he had, he grabbed the man for the shoulder, tearing him away from crying Lena and hit him right into the chin with his other hand.
The blow was so strong, that Kame heard something cracked in the mouth under his fist and he felt the wave of pain from his own wounded joints on the right hand. The attacker ended up down in the mud, not able to stop the heavy fall.
Kame pulled shaking Lena to himself and then behind his back, piercing half-lying Math Grenet in front of him with the hateful gaze.
"Kame... He... He..." the girl was sobbing quietly, clinging to his sleeve.
"It´s alright, Lena, you´re safe now," Kame said as calmly as he could, not letting his eyesight from the deputy.
Grenet spat out the bloody sputum, wiped the stained chin with the back of his hand and repaid Kame´s glance. A strange expression appeared on his face.
"He wanted to..." Lena tried again, but lost her voice for the second time.
That bastard on the ground laughed loudly.
"I´m sure you would have enjoyed it, you little whore," he stated, getting up on his feet slowly.
That was only another feed for Kame´s rage. If not for Lena holding onto him, he would have jumped on that disgusting man again and wouldn´t have stopped, until that laughing would be erased forever.
"Shut up, Grenet!" he snapped, barely staying still. "Just shut up!"
"I´d have known you´ll destroy any fun, baby boy," the deputy reacted, moving unsteadily from one foot to another. He was obviously drunk.
Kame´s body was shaking with anger from head to toes and the urge for beating the shit out of that human trash was as strong as never before.
"If you ever touch her again...!" he hissed out in a raspy voice.
Grenet´s lips curved in a disgusting smile.
"Then what, baby boy? What will you do? I´m curious," he said provocatively.
Kame felt like he was able to kill the deputy right on the spot. A man like Grenet maybe didn´t deserve to die, and Kame wasn´t the one who would like to act as the judge, but he definitely didn´t deserve to live and continue making the hell from other people´s lives. Lena saw the expression on Kame´s face from close and got even more scared than before.
"Kame, no... Let it go..." she urged on him, clutching his arm.
The shaken girl wouldn´t have been able to stop him, if Kame had really decided to move from his forced motionless state.
"What the hell is going on here?!" a little out of breath but firm voice cut through the air and more light was brought on the scene suddenly.
It was an old sheriff and two other men, carrying the lanterns and revolvers in their hands. And behind them; walking slowly, but as fast as she could, Kame´s mother appeared. She went for the sheriff right after her son left the house.
Nobody from the incomers had to be a genius to figure the situation out, seeing the pale girl in torn blouse hiding behind furious Kame and very dirty Grenet opposite to them.
"Math! Are you out of your mind?!" the old man spat out, after he observed terrified Lena. "Don´t you have enough harlots at Sukina´s place?"
Kame had never seen the sheriff to confront his deputy so far. But the man liked the blonde girl and what he saw pissed him off to that extent, he forgot to worry about his own situation. Even though it couldn´t be measured with Kame´s anger. He kept his eyes on smirking Grenet, while the sheriff stood beside him and his mother came closer too, whispering something to Lena, before taking her away from them.
Grenet shrugged, not caring about what he did at all.
"I just wanted to... Have some fun, damn it," he stated haughtily as always, even though the drinks were messing up with his tongue.
It was clearly visible that the old sheriff would like to hit that bastard over the very same place as Kame did and where the nice bruise was starting to be visible. One of the two other men behind them just made some annoyed remark and otherwise they didn´t move from their spot.
"Go home and sleep out from this, you idiot!" the sheriff scolded his deputy. "Or I will arrest you! And I mean it."
"Oh, I´m so scared that I´ll rather go..." Grenet smiled odiously.
He went closer right to Kame, who was standing in his way, not intending to move at all. The lanterns light revealed how much Grenet was covered with dark brown mud, and the path of blood from the corner of his lips. He stopped only a few inches from Kame, who was clenching his fists firmly, trying to get control over his boiling wrath.
"You..." the deputy said from such closeness, that Kame could smell the whiskey from his mouth. Grenet raised his hand and touched his chin. "Quite a good hit for someone so girlish like you."
"Math! I said go to the bed!" the sheriff reminded him angrily, but Grenet didn´t care about the man. He kept staring in Kame´s eyes.
"But... I can assure you," Grenet continued more quietly. "You will pay for this, Kamenashi."
Saying that last sentence, the deputy no longer seemed so drunk to Kame. An idea ran through his mind. It was only a guess, but he thought that Grenet attacked Lena just to provoke him. Just to make him to do something, what the deputy could use against him. And he acted exactly according to his expectations...
"You. Will. Regret. This. Got that?" the deputy stated with a dangerous emphasis on each word.
Kame kept his mouth shut. He had already realized that he made a mistake.
After this, Grenet moved again, brushed by his shoulder to Kame roughly and finally disappeared from the scene. Kame kept staring blankly to darkness, still feeling the helpless anger inside, but also an awful anxiety.
"Go home too, boy," the old sheriff looked at Kame, who was frozen on the place. "We will discuss this tomorrow morning."
And they left him alone.
Kame was listening to his own heart calming down slowly. But even though the silence covered him and he knew that he prevented the worst, that Lena was saved on time, it didn´t brush the anger and bad feeling from the whole situation away.
He couldn´t take that hit on Grenet´s face back, and he didn´t even want to, but what it could cause, was nothing to look forward to...
*
Kazuya didn´t go home right away. His steps headed to Lena´s home first. He assumed that his mother took her there.
He took a deep breath before he knocked on the painted wood. The door opened in front of him almost immediately and a tall man invited him inside. It was Lena´s father.
"Come on in, Kame. Your mother already told us everything," he said, closing the door again with more force than it was necessary.
"Is she still here?" Kame asked him seriously.
"Yes..." Mr. Brice nodded. "They´re taking care of Lena, together with my wife," he paused for a moment, before he continued looking directly at the young bartender´s face. "You have my enormous gratitude for saving my daughter, Kame."
"I´m just glad I could get there on time," he reacted.
The older man knitted his eyebrows: "Where is that bastard now?" he asked slowly.
Kame looked at the angered father carefully.
"He was sent home for now. The sheriff wants to solve this in the morning..." he responded, keeping his voice calm.
"I have a right to shoot that man," the man growled, clenching his palms into fists.
"I agree," Kame said honestly. "But it won´t solve anything, Mr. Brice, you know that."
"Then what will solve it?!" the man opposite to him burst out loudly. "It´s my daughter! I won´t let anyone hurt her! Grenet thinks he can do whatever he wants! But if he wasn´t Karnaka´s gunman...! If only he wasn´t...!"
Mr. Brice´s voice died out. They both knew that the opposite was the case, unfortunately. They couldn´t afford to go against Karnaka. Kame had no idea what to say to comfort that anger and fear in the man´s eyes, which were so close to his own emotions.
***
On the next evening, the sheriff´s deputy figure wasn´t occupying its usual chair in the corner of the saloon. One could say that it was convenient not to deal with the annoying remarks and orders for the whole time, but Kame felt it as a bad omen. Unfortunately, he wasn´t wrong...
As the old sheriff decided, there was a meeting concerning Grenet´s attack on Lena Brice right in the morning. To Kame´s disgust, Grenet apologized for the incident, making an excuse that he was drunk and didn´t know what he was doing. Mr. Brice and his wife were furious; they wanted him to be arrested and punished properly, but there was no way against Karnaka´s right hand. It was enough to remind to the upset couple that they were late with their regular payment for the loan from Mr. Karnaka, which he gave them recently for Mr. Brice´s medical treatment, to make them be quiet.
The deputy promised not to repeat anything like the attack on the girl ever again and in the end, nothing actually happened. Those were Grenet´s words, and Kame felt furious only remembering it. As well as the stare, by which the deputy kept piercing him, although he didn´t say anything about Kame punching him at all...
After that morning discussion, the bartender couldn´t shake the nervous tension away for the whole day. Now, thanks to the very calm evening, Mr. Harada replaced him behind the bar quite soon and sent him home. Kame was grateful for it, as he wanted to stop by Lena´s house to check up on her. She wasn´t present at the meeting and he had no chance to ask her parents about her.
He didn´t manage to make even two full steps from the veranda, when somebody blocked his way. It didn´t surprise him, that it was Brad – one of Grenet´s underlings.
"Kamenashi, I would like to ask you to go with us," he said sardonically with a smirk on his face.
Kame felt the coldness falling on him, when he noticed two other gunmen stepping closer from both sides. They were waiting for him...
"What for?" he asked, even though he already knew.
"We won´t bother you for long, don´t worry. Our deputy just wants to ask you a few questions," Brad informed him.
It was three on one. No, four on one, Kame corrected his assumption, when he felt a very unpleasant presence behind his back as well.
What choice did he have? To refuse? To run? They would have forced him to go anyway...
"Don´t stand here like a totem and let´s go," the man ordered him rudely. "Now."
*
Jin didn´t understand, why Grenet told him to guard the back door of the sheriff´s office. It looked like they were going to have a secret meeting, but without him. And probably in the front room, not in the one from which he had overheard their conversation last time, as its window was right next to his left hand and it was dark there. It was a little inconvenient, but if not for that ugly raining, which started in the afternoon again, he wouldn´t have minded it so much. A drink from a certain bartender in the warm and welcoming saloon was his idea of well-spent evening, not this.
He caught the faint sound of some steps from the main street and then closing of the door. Unfortunately, he couldn´t see who went inside from his position.
Jin leant over the wall, hiding his hands in the pockets. The dusk was falling slowly and it didn´t seem that the rain would stop or even slacken.
He could only hope that whatever they wanted to do inside, they would finish it soon, at least before he would end up as a drowned rat again.
*
Despite his unenviable situation, Kame wasn´t scared. He would have been disgusted with himself if he had been. He already knew that Grenet was a cruel bastard capable of anything. What the young bartender counted as positive was that the deputy picked up on him this time and not on his mother or Lena again. It was better that he could deal with Grenet himself, instead of watching Lena in pain.
Naturally, Kazuya was tense and worried about what to expect, but he didn´t feel any fear when he was led across the street and inside the sheriff´s office. One of his guards´ went forward and took a position next to the table, which was occupied with the certain dirty boots, while the other two closed the door and remained standing in front of them. The last man stayed outside. They made pretty sure there was no escape for Kame.
"What a precious guest in my office…"
Just those few words were enough for Kame to realize, that he found himself in a more than bad situation this time. The deputy uttered that welcome in a spiteful and cold tone, marking the room as his, even though its true owner was not present. As usually, there was a cigarette between his lips and smoke from it was filling up the stuffy air, irritating Kame´s nose. The faint white clouds were going up along the face from which the sharp and scornful eyes were piercing him. That look put Kame on the highest alert.
"I´d offer you a seat, but we´re kinda out of chairs," Grenet informed him, despite the obvious fact, that there were two empty chairs just a meter from the bartender.
Kame didn´t react on such an idiotic joke, which could be laughed over only by the gunmen around.
"You know, we have a certain problem, baby boy," Grenet continued, brushed his legs off the table and put out a cigarette butt in the ashtray slowly. "Your red friends were cocky enough to rob my boss again. And I´m quite sure you realize that we cannot just let it go unpunished, right?"
The deputy didn´t get anything from Kame, just silence and steady gaze. The awful smirk disappeared from his face and he straightened up in his chair.
"Right?" he repeated again in a dangerously cold tone again.
"What do you want from me, Grenet?" Kame asked sharply.
A glimpse of anger went through the deputy´s eyes. He got up, went around the table and stopped in front of Kame, who didn´t move an inch.
"Well, for the start, you can describe us, where exactly we will find the village of those thieves... And don´t even try to pretend that you don´t know where it is," Grenet snorted.
Kame realized it would have been useless to deny it. Everybody in the town, who got to know him, knew from where he and his mother came to Bozeman, as well as many people were familiar with that he kept going back to the Blackfeet Tribe quite often.
It wasn´t such a surprise that Grenet figured out he could be the best guide to the Indians. But they were his friends and Kame swore to protect the secret of their village no matter what. It didn´t even come to his mind that he would have betrayed them. It was painfully clear that Karnaka probably wanted to send some killing squad there and carry out an awful massacre to get rid of them once and for all. Kazuya couldn´t and didn´t want to be responsible for that.
"Where is that Blackfeet trash´s village, Kamenashi?" Grenet asked him again, when nothing came out from Kame´s mouth.
"No matter who was stealing on Karnaka´s lands, they´re not responsible for it, Grenet. You cannot blame the whole village for..."
A strong grip around Kame´s neck cut off the rest of the sentence.
"That´s not what I asked," the deputy hissed right into his face. "Will you tell me where it is or not?"
Grenet´s fingers were clutching him so tightly that not enough air was going into Kame´s lungs, but despite that, he managed to respond: "I won´t."
The man in front of him grinned.
"Honestly, I hoped you´d say that..." the deputy stated and pushed the young man away suddenly, so that he stopped staggering only thanks to the wall behind.
Before Kame could have got himself together, Grenet gestured his men and he was gripped from both sides for the shoulders. They forced him to go down on his knees roughly and Grenet spoke again, while taking off his coat.
"You know, I had a discussion about you with my boss, baby boy. And he doesn´t like that you´re not able to behave."
Kame raised his eyes to look at Grenet, who was standing above him, keeping his silence.
"Obviously, you don´t realize that you should be grateful to Mr. Karnaka... Do you really think he doesn´t know who you are? Do you really think that you and your precious mummy have your pitiful lives because he´s too old and forgot about you?" the deputy kept putting up the questions scornfully.
Kame felt the shivers all over his spine hearing that. Grenet went down crouching and caught his chin into the hand.
"Well, you´re wrong," the man hissed. "You´re alive only thanks to Mr. Karnaka´s generosity. He´s letting you live, even though you´re supposed to be a long dead man."
Kame and his mother assumed something like that, when they returned to the civilization. They didn´t rely on that Karnaka already forgot about Kamenashi family. They counted with some troubles and that they would have to deal with it. It was not very probable that Karnaka would dare to simply shoot them down, when he was so well known man now. Not without a reason, anyway. Even after Karnaka visited Bozeman in person once and Kame met him in the saloon, they were left alone. The old gangster let them be. But it would have been naive to think that he was not interested in them at all.
Now, with Grenet´s words, it was more than clear that Raynold Karnaka didn´t intend to let them forget their past.
"There was only one thing you were supposed to give him back for it, baby boy," Grenet continued. "To keep out of his way and his business. To be a good boy. And you are not. You even dare to attack me. So, what do you think we should do with you?"
Kame tore his head off Grenet´s touch angrily, disgusted and fed up by his words.
"I did nothing wrong! I did nothing to get in his way!" he defended himself. "Don´t turn everything in your way, Grenet! You´re the one, who...!"
The loud sound of a heavy slap cut through the air and silenced Kame´s words. He felt his left face burning; the blood was dripping from the split lip and inside his mouth. The hair fell over his eyes, which were forced to stare at the wooden floor. And what was the worst – that slap hurt also inside. Being treated like a little bastard by that imitation of deputy was horribly humiliating...
"Don´t you ever talk to me like that," Grenet said in an ice-cold voice and straightened up. "I promised to my boss that I would teach you some manners, you little pretty bastard and I will..."
The deputy unbuttoned his trousers and striped them down. Kame´s eyes went wide, when Grenet revealed the lower part of his body right in front of him in all its glory.
"What are you staring at? Suck on it, pretty face," Grenet ordered him smirking awfully.
"What?" Kame breathed out, too shocked to comprehend it right away.
"Don´t tell me those red savages didn´t teach you a thing," that creep said. "I´ve heard about some very interesting things they´re doing. Well, you can practice now..."
Grenet intended to humiliate the young bartender in the most horrible way he could only figure out.
Kame was still a little numb. He didn´t see the faces of his captors, but he spotted Brad at the table, and he wasn´t watching them; the man kept his eyes out of the scene firmly, the slight disagreement in his facial features. But he couldn´t expect any help from him, anyway.
"You´re sick, Grenet..." he managed to say hoarsely.
"You think I can´t compel you?" the deputy smiled. "Hold him firmly, guys," he ordered, catching Kame for his hair painfully. "I´ll show you where your place is."
The horror and urge to vomit flooded Kame. Grenet was seriously fucked up, even more than he had thought. The idea of what might have followed made Kame fight back. He desperately resisted to the grips, which were holding him down. Grenet twitched with his head, so that Kazuya felt the sharp pain in his neck, but even though he managed to kick one of his captors to the shin, fighting for more freedom.
The fear from humiliation that Grenet meant for him, if he was not able to free himself, gave him enough power to shake one loosened grip from his shoulder away and pulled out from the grip on his hair too.
"You won´t escape from this!" pissed off Grenet snapped, reaching for Kame again.
The bartender used the offered opportunity, grabbed the ugly hand and using it as a support he kicked out, hitting a very low part of the deputy´s stomach.
"You little fuck..." the deputy puffed out heavily, bending down. "Tame him down…! Damn it!"
The other two men pounced on Kame immediately and he was flooded by the series of kicks, which stole his breath, made him fall down to the ground, and made his sight black.
He couldn´t prevent the moans of pain from his mouth. Only subconsciously, Kame attempted to protect his head from the painful attacks. It felt like the pain was becoming worse with each of them…
"That´s enough!" the angered voice stopped the rain of punches. "Out of my way! I will deal with him myself!"
Kame hadn´t even found his breath yet, when he was grabbed by the hair again and pulled up on his feet, his knees shaking from weakness.
"If you´re not willing to be taught in a good way, it will be in a bad one!"
Grenet threw Kame against the wall, causing the blast of sparkling stars in his head. A fist hit into his stomach again and then Grenet twisted his arm around, pushing him to the wooden boards, while his other hand directed down and squeezed the bartender´s butt.
"Let go... You bastard..." Kame managed to wheeze out, half blinded from a new pain.
"I´m pretty sure you will like it, baby boy. You can´t be normal with this face of yours," Grenet snorted into his ear hatefully, already slipping under his trousers.
Kame resisted again, with all his remaining strength, refusing to give up. But Grenet had more strength than him, and even though Kame tried so hard, he was not able to release himself from the grip, which was making him sick. He almost screamed in frustration, when a warning voice resonated in the room.
"Grenet! Soldiers are coming!"
It was Brad, who was looking out of the window all that time. The deputy twitched his head toward the man, not letting Kame go yet.
"What?! What the fuck they want at this hour?!"
"I don´t know, but it looks like they had some problems," Brad informed his boss. "And we will have them too, if they see him here like this," he pointed out the young bartender´s presence.
"Fuck! Fuck!" Grenet stepped away from Kame hastily, pulling him behind. "Keep them busy!" he barked at Brad, and rushed to the back part of the building, forcing bleeding Kame to go in the front of him.
*
At that moment, when the back door opened suddenly and a slim figure was literally thrown out, Jin didn´t want to believe what he saw. The young man staggered and ended up on his knees in the huge pool of dirty water. It was Kazuya.
Jin froze on the spot, unable to move. He gaped at the bartender for three long seconds, feeling baffled and trying to comprehend the situation.
"Akanishi! Don´t stand there like an idiot!" Grenet´s voice forced Jin to get himself out of his numb state. "Take him to his house and guard him there!" the deputy yelled. "Now! And go behind the buildings, do not appear on the main street, got it?!"
Not even waiting for the reaction, Grenet disappeared again, smashing the door behind him.
Neither Jin nor Kame moved for a while. Jin saw that the bartender was quite messed up, without a coat, which the deputy threw out behind its owner into the mud; the shirt ripped, the ruffled hair covering his face. And there were some blood stains on the white cloth...
Seeing that and putting two and two together, Jin was flooded by anger over his own stupidity. He was watching out there like a total asshole, while Grenet obviously had another confrontation with Kame. They had to bring him to the office by the front entrance, otherwise he would knew...
The younger one moved finally, trying to get up, but his legs couldn´t make it. Kazuya was not able to stand up on his feet by himself. Shocked Jin rushed to him immediately, supported him gently and helped him to get up. Kame tried to hide his face in front of him, but Jin noticed that.
He put his hand on the younger´s face and softly, but uncompromisingly, he made Kame face him. At the sight, the blood in his veins turned into ice. It was not only the huge bruises and scratches, but that expression on Kame´s face...
"What did that bastard do to you?" he asked on a grating voice. Jin didn´t know from what place inside of him that dark, ice-cold anger was coming, but it wasn´t important.
That incident from a week ago upset him pretty much too, but he hadn´t fully realized how much he cared for the young bartender, until he saw him like this – dirty, beaten up, shaking, bleeding, with hardly kept tears of pain in his eyes and with that desperate look he was trying to hide from him. Jin was not able to think about the cause of that feeling; it was so strong that it didn´t let him to think straight.
"What did he do to you?" he asked again in a so raspy voice, that he couldn´t recognize it.
Kame glanced at Jin and seemed almost scared from the tone the older one used. Then he closed his eyes and let go off a deep breath, which made Jin´s worries even bigger. That son of a bitch dared to hurt Kame again and this time it was serious…
"Kazu?" he asked more quietly, barely keeping control over himself.
"I will be all right, Jin," Kame said heavily.
Well, many words could be used to describe the guy at the moment, but ´all right´ was definitely not among them. Kazuya seemed calmer, when he opened his eyes again, but Jin was still holding him and felt how much he was shaking. It was something what the younger one couldn´t stop so easily, but he kept trying. Jin realized that Kame was doing it to calm him down.
In his fantasy, Jin ran inside the building, found Grenet and beat the soul out of him, so that he was begging for his life. But right now, there was more important thing to do – to take care of Kame, who was barely able to stand.
"I´ll take you home… Hold on to me."
Jin took one of Kazuya´s arms and let it rest on his shoulders carefully, not to cause him even bigger pain, while he hugged him around the waist firmly to give him some certainty. Kame didn´t have enough energy to protest, even if he wanted to and he let Jin carry him through the heavy rain...