The water gathered after many rainy days was vaporizing under the delicate touch of the autumn sun, creating the white haze under the trees and making the air so damp it was difficult to breathe it in. Some small birds left their hiding places early in the morning, but didn´t stop welcoming the warmness even after hours of the day passed irretrievably, and their happy singing was completing the relaxing atmosphere of the green forest.
When they went through the localities, on which mostly deciduous trees had their territory, it was obvious that the colorful season was coming to its end inevitably, as almost all leaves had already fallen from their original spot to the ground, where they started to rot, repeating their annual cycle according to the unchanging rules. But otherwise, Jin would have sworn that the summer had just returned.
It was as if the nature was mocking him. After that crazy wet night, which made his journey to the tribe quite difficult, he had to spend a beautiful day like this in the damn humid rainforest with that bastard Grenet annoying him every five minutes. The young gunslinger felt unpleasantly hot, also sleepy as hell, the clothes were clinging to his skin, and his brain was swirling in slow circles inside the firm walls of its skull. If not for the steady movement of Kuro, which gave him certainty and for the slim figure riding beside him, Jin would have just turned around and went back to Bozeman right into his bed.
When he returned to the city, as inconspicuously as was only possible he took Ukushi back to her shed, but didn´t dare to check on Kame because he would have to go through the main street. He went to the saloon right away, where Mr. Harada informed him, that quite a furious search for him was ongoing since the very morning. Jin just changed his clothes in a hurry and rushed to the stalls, where he almost crashed into Brad, who was still looking for him.
During the shower of complaints and vulgarisms, Jin found out that their departure was postponed because of a certain whining-girly-bartender, who spent eternity at Dr. Best´s clinic. Jin´s stomach clutched into a little ball, when he heard the word ´doctor´ in the connection with Kame and seeing his difficulties with getting up on the horse later didn´t ease up his worries. His own timing was almost perfect thanks to this delay, but that didn´t mean it made Jin feel better.
He had no chance to tell Kame how it went at the tribe and he wasn´t sure what he should tell him anyway. The Chief believed him in the end, but he didn´t seem to agree with Jin´s recommendation to leave the village immediately. At least Liwan did, so Jin hoped that the young shaman persuaded the old Indian boss somehow to prevent the tribe from getting into useless troubles.
Well, they were supposed to find out the result of his night trip soon... Even though they proceeded through the forest in the calm pace, Jin expected that he would see the Indian wigwams again in less than two hours.
He dared to steal a glance at Kame, who said nothing except the instructions to keep the riders in the correct direction. The bartender was pale, except the places, which were covered with dark bruises, and he kept his eyes firmly on the road in front of them. He was tense, holding the bridle rather uncertainly and Jin realized Kame had to be in pain, even though he was covering it.
After a few minutes, their group reached the narrow path above the steep slope and there was a sharp turn at the same time. Jin took this chance as soon as he noticed that he couldn´t see the four riders in front of him thanks to that difficult place. Moreover, Grenet had his smoke-and-pee pause shortly before that and he and the others were a few meters behind them. Jin incited Kuro to go first and as soon as he took the turn, he turned his head back.
Kame appeared behind him only two seconds after and his eyes looked at him with a clear question.
"I did my best, but the Chief didn´t want to leave the village," Jin whispered hastily.
A deep worry made Kazuya´s face even gloomier.
"I hope that Liwan will persuade him; he had the same opinion as you," he added something at least a little more optimistic. "I´m sorry."
Kazuya shook his head hearing Jin´s whispered apology.
"Thank you for trying," he indicated by his mouth soundlessly, as Grenet´s men were already close now.
Jin already spotted the head of the first horse in the turn behind Kame´s back, so he turned forward again, hoping nobody noticed their small talk.
*
They continued riding through the woods quite slowly, which surprised Jin a little. But despite Grenet´s never ending complaints that their journey would take forever like this, Captain Walker leading their group didn´t give any order for faster progress, keeping the instructions which Kame gave him without any problems so far. It was almost as they were on some peaceful ride in the nature, instead of marching to the Indian tribe with the intention to accuse them from a murder.
When Grenet couldn´t bear it anymore, he used the wide clearing to rush forward on his horse and asked the captain for a reason, why the hell they´re proceeding more slowly than a drunk snail. Both Jin and Kame heard a very calm response of the uniformed man, when he said it´s not necessary to rush and attract more attention, because of the high possibility of the hostile Indians´ attack. Grenet huffed something about how he would have shot any attackers down in a minute, but surprisingly, he didn´t argue with the captain. He stopped the horse and waited for the back part of their procession to join his men.
When Jin and Kame were passing by, Grenet suddenly incited his horse and stopped Kame´s one by snatching after the bridle. So far calm stallion stomped on the spot surprised by the sudden and rough move, and Jin froze seeing Kame gasping for breath, his face going even paler than on the beginning of their journey.
"I´ve heard you went to see our doc," Grenet hissed. "How the examination went, huh? You don´t look very well, baby boy," he smirked mockingly.
Kuro was already standing motionless, even without Jin´s order, and he flinched his ear hearing the rude voice. Jin was staring at the deputy from the shadow of his hat, clenching the bridle in both hands.
"Let that bridle go," Kame´s voice was very quiet, but so overfilled with disgust, that it sounded as if he would spite the words out.
Grenet´s following smile was something what brought a very bad feeling into Jin´s stomach.
"Looks like we´re far from being done with your lessons. If I find out that you´re holding us off on purpose, you´re gonna get the next one in a blink of the eye. Is that clear, baby boy?"
Jin could see how Kame´s jaw stiffened suppressing some probably not very polite reaction. The younger one said nothing at all, but his expression told Jin enough. During their previous confrontation, Grenet had crossed a line, which was too much to accept for the bartender and he had the hard time to keep his anger from bursting out now.
Finally, with an awful smirk, Grenet released his grip on the bridle, so that they could move on. Jin would love to point out that bastard himself was the one holding them back, but unfortunately, it was wiser to keep silent, just as Kame did...
*
After another hour of riding up the hill covered with young spruces, the path suddenly ended as they reached the unexpected edge of the cliff and the view, which appeared right in front of their eyes was so breathtaking, that even Grenet and his gunmen stopped their horses and stared at it in astonishment.
At that moment, Jin was honestly glad that he had passed through that part of the journey to the tribe in the dark… He didn´t see it yet, but he was quite sure there was a secret path going around the rock, which led to the small forest between the mountains and then to the Blackfeet Tribe itself. And with what he saw below them, it was a trip only for very calm and brave people.
The wide dark-green valley showered with the warm sunbeams was cut in half by the fast stream, which looked just like a thin sparkling thread from their distance. Right under the cliff, on which they were standing, there was a small mountain of fallen stones, which gathered there during the years. All of this was at least six or seven hundred meters under them.
When Jin kept looking down there for too long, he started to feel dizzy. Just one step in the wrong way and it was possible to fly for a few last seconds of that person´s life span and then… Bye, bye, precious life.
"What the fuck is this?!"
The angry exclaim made Jin tear his eyes from the awesome and scary view. It was Grenet, of course, who grew bored of the scenery a while ago and now he approached Kame again.
"What do you think you´re doing? Leading us to the end of the world?" the deputy snapped at the bartender angrily.
Kame moved back in the saddle of the borrowed horse a little, surprised by the sudden outburst.
"No, this is the correct way, Grenet," he tried to explain. "We just have to…"
But Kame´s voice was interrupted by the sudden shout of one soldier: "Look out! Indians!"
Suddenly, the air filled with the sharp sounds of guns being taken out of their holsters and preparation of triggers.
*
Kame almost freaked out seeing the lethal weapons in both groups´ hands – the rifles held by soldiers and the bows by red men, who stepped out of thick bushes on the right side of the cliff. For a second, he was sure that this whole unexpected meeting would end up in the bloody mutual killing and he was ready to jump into the space between both sides in the desperate attempt to stop them. But then, everybody´s attention was caught by the tall man in uniform, who rushed forward still sitting on his horse, but with both hands empty in the air alongside his hat.
"Don´t shoot! I repeat – don´t shoot!"
His strong order belonged to his own men, the empty hands to the Indians. Both Kame and Jin stared at the scene from the back, behind four soldiers, stiffened with tension. Grenet´s gunmen already had their guns in hands too.
"Lower your weapons!" the next order was heard.
"Captain?" one of Walker´s subordinates spoke up questioningly. "Are you sure?"
"As I said, Lieutenant!" the captain´s voice was very firm this time and all of his men obeyed right away.
Only Grenet and other gunmen remained armed. Captain Walker raised his voice for the threateningly silent Indians.
"We just need to talk with your leader! A few questions! No harm! Do you understand?!"
A keen silence was responding him.
Kame incited his horse to move with the intention to talk with Indians in their language, but almost immediately, there was somebody to block his way with another animal.
"No fucking move," Grenet hissed at him.
"I just want to translate!" the bartender reacted annoyed.
"That won´t be really necessary, right? We don´t need them to understand, we just need to find their precious village…" the deputy´s face was one huge grin, making Kame want to vomit.
"Can any of you speak English?!" another call from the captain came.
Kame was ready to push Grenet out of his way and go there before any unnecessary misunderstanding occurs, but then the bushes shook again and another Indian appeared almost right in front of the captain´s horse.
"I can," he stated calmly.
Kame breathed out with relief, while Grenet frowned unsatisfied.
Since that moment Captain Walker and the Indian, who was nobody else than Liwan, spoke more quietly, so the words didn´t reach their ears. Everybody was waiting, watching Indians still on alert, as if they were statues. Then Captain finished talking and even turned to the Indians with his back. At the same moment, the bows disappeared and their owners with them in the shadows of the trees.
"We´re staying here!"
The next captain´s words surprised everyone, but none of his men questioned them and started to settle down only a little further from the woods and the cliff´s edge. The captain himself rode between them and stopped his horse in front of the sheriff´s deputy.
"You and your men car rest too, Grenet. They will bring their Chief here," the tall man said seeming quite satisfied with himself.
"Whaaat?" Grenet´s reaction cut through the air.
Kame was not able to react anymore, as he was overfilled with relief, that they wouldn´t march to the village directly, at least not for the moment and Jin was too busy to cover a wide gleeful grin, which was sneaking up to his face hearing the captain´s statement. Liwan didn´t look like a smartass at first sight, but if this was figured out by him, Jin promised to himself to show some respect to the Indian next time. As far as he could remember, the village was not far away from this place, but not so close to be discovered easily. So like that, Indians were cooperative, but at the same time, they kept their secret place hidden.
"Calm down, deputy," Walker said, calm as the frozen water surface. "For now, we just need to interrogate them. There´s no need to infiltrate their village, if they cooperate."
"You believe them?!" Grenet exclaimed. "They´re just a bunch of sneaky redskins, Walker! What if they went for the rest of their ugly buddies and they will ambush us from behind, then what?!"
Captain´s expression was very cold, when he responded: "We will be prepared then. And we will have the evidence of their evil intentions. But their speaker seemed like a reasonable man and I do believe he´ll keep his word."
Grenet just gritted his teeth furiously, while Kame and Jin enjoyed the view at the pissed deputy and a nice surprise, that Captain Walker was not such a blind government servant as most of the soldiers who came to the West.
Jin focused his eyes on Kame shortly. The younger one looked much calmer, not completely relieved, but that horrible tension disappeared and he even dared to repay the warm glance to Jin. They could only guess what would happen next, but the situation was much better than in the morning.
"I recommend you to get some rest, there´s a way back to the city in front of us," Walker reminded them. "And stay on alert."
With that, the captain turned his horse and went back to his men, not even waiting for the next angry deputy´s reaction. But Grenet was more than angry and he needed to let his frustration out on someone. And that nearest someone was Kame.
Grenet reached out to the young bartender, grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards himself so that he almost couldn´t stay in the saddle.
"If I find out you have anything to do with this…" the deputy lashed out at Kame. "You´ll be screaming for mercy."
Jin´s self-control was tested heavily, as he forced himself to stay still. He saw that the younger one was not scared; Kame didn´t even show the pain, which the rough move had to cause him. He was just annoyed and didn´t held back this time.
"Fuck off, Grenet," he snapped, took the deputy´s wrist and tore it off his clothes with the surprising strength. "I knew you´re an idiot, but I didn´t think that this big."
"Watch your mouth, you…!" Grenet looked like a volcano before eruption, but Kame interrupted him firmly.
"I was in the city all the time! Beaten up by you, if you remember! Do you really think I didn´t know about that watchdog you sent? How could I do anything?!"
There was no argument to his statement and Grenet knew it. He kept silent for a while, just piercing Kame with his eyes, before he spat some saliva out of his mouth, which was quite a disgusting habit in Jin´s opinion.
"You´ve got a nerve to speak with me like this, baby boy…"
Kame didn´t move by inch, neither said anything more, considering it useless.
"Akanishi! Watch over him and do not let him out of your sight, even if he goes to piss, got it?!"
Then Grenet finally left, bossing his men around to settle down and take care of horses.
"As you command, you motherfucker," Jin whispered, as soon as he was sure Grenet couldn´t hear him.
When he looked back at Kame, he got worried immediately. The younger one was bending over the saddle, holding onto it convulsively, gasping for air a little. Jin moved hastily, so that he covered him from the side.
"Kame? Will you be all right?" he asked in a whisper.
"Sure," the younger one breathed out. "I just need to get down from the saddle… Slowly…" he said persuading himself to do it.
"Wait a moment, I´ll help you."
"That is not a good idea…" Kame opposed faintly.
But Jin was already on the ground, patting Kuro gratefully. He moved closer to Kame´s stallion, while Kuro stayed still and covered him like that with his body. Jin looked up to Kame.
"Come on," he raised his hands up, so that he could catch the younger one.
"Seriously, Jin," Kame whispered, checking up on both soldiers and Grenet´s men, if nobody was looking in their direction. "If they see you…"
"I don´t care," the older one reacted willfully. "I´m supposed to watch over you, am I not?"
Kame sighed, but then he gritted his teeth, took a deep breath and slipped down from the saddle. He staggered heavily, his knees weaker than he thought, but there were the strong hands catching him and helping him to stand still.
"Everything all right?" Jin´s hot breath tickled Kame across the right cheek.
He moved his head a little to face the older one from such a closeness, which brought thousands of shivers into his stomach.
Oh, my... Will it be like this every time I get close to him? he asked himself almost scared of own reactions, gulping down nervously.
"I´m fine," he replied quietly, hoping his voice wouldn´t betray him. "Thanks."
"You´re welcome."
Then Jin let him go hurriedly and took the Kuro´s bridle to lead him to the place, where all other horses rested too. Kame followed him full of worries, as he noticed that Jin´s face was as handsome as always, but the older one wasn´t only tired anymore, there was something more in his eyes full of red threads…
*
The grass and soil on the cliff´s top was soaked after the recent rain, but the red men brought thick blankets and leathers on which they could sit comfortably without making their trousers wet. Captain Walker was obviously familiar with this Indian habit related to any serious conversation, so he settled down opposite the Tribal Chief without any remarks. As also Jin had his experiences with this, the only one who caused a fuss about it was Grenet, who insisted on his participation in the interrogation but refused to be there without his weapon.
But the Indians were relentless in their conditions and when the captain warned the stubborn deputy, that he was holding them up without a proper reason, Grenet submitted to the request in the end and joined their circle on the ground without his revolver, but with an inevitable scornful grin on his lips.
In addition to Captain Walker, his first lieutenant, Grenet and Kame, Jin joined the ´white´ party of the circle too. Him sitting right beside Kame wasn´t objected by anyone, not even by the Indians, which could have seemed a little suspicious, but Jin was lucky that nobody cared about this interesting fact under the given circumstances.
Blackfeet Tribe was represented by the Chief himself and the shaman´s son Liwan. Three more warriors were also there, but they were standing four steps away from the circle, acting as the Chief´s guards, and they didn´t interfere in the conversation. Jin was mostly grateful for the fact that Manipi wasn´t a participant either, as that cocky Indian was the most probable source of unnecessary problems. It was more than enough that he was standing nearby with the group of other Indians, who were armed to teeth, and he watched the scene with the dark frown.
As always, Kame took his role of the interpreter from the Indian language to English and the opposite. The talk was a little lengthy like that, but at least they could be sure both sides understood each other correctly.
"Thank you for hearing out my request, Chief Flying Feather," Walker started speaking in a serious tone and waited for Kame to translate his greeting. "I´d like to ask you a few questions."
Tribal Chief nodded his head and Captain continued.
"I´m Captain Walker and with my unit we accompany the group of surveyors, who are responsible for checking of the way for the railway. I mean, the way for the Iron Horse, as you understand… The previous day we were assaulted, approximately ten miles from Bozeman City and two of my men were killed, some surveyors injured seriously. It was a group of ten, maybe even Indians. Did they belong to your tribe?"
Walker certainly didn´t lose any time to get to the point. No wonder that instead of response, a rather insulted question came from the mouth of the old Indian.
"Did you come here to accuse us from this attack?"
"No," Captain responded immediately. "I wouldn´t ask you about it if I did. But your village is the only one in the range of many miles around. You have to admit that my action and question is only natural."
Chief kept silent for a while, piercing Walker with a quite disturbing look, but the captain endured it proudly.
"My tribe is peaceful, Captain Walker. We mean no harm to the white men, in case that you leave us live at peace. My warriors didn´t attack, neither killed your men," Flying Feather said finally.
Jin couldn´t tell what Walker thought about this response, but it was more than obvious in the Grenet´s case.
"And we´re supposed to believe that?!" he exclaimed so loudly that all looks focused on him. "Do you really think they would confess, Walker?!"
The Indians literally stabbed the man with their eyes, but none of them said anything. It was the captain, who turned to face the pissed man.
"As much as I appreciate your concern, Grenet, I´d like to ask you for staying out of this conversation, until I´m finished with my questions."
Jin didn´t understand just how Walker could behave so politely towards that asshole, and he had to give some credit to the soldiers´ leader. Handling that situation properly required a calm and reasonable head.
Grenet´s face got red with anger and it looked like he would like to say something very ugly, but in the last second he reconsidered. Jin didn´t think that the bastard deputy and Karnaka´s gunman had any respect in front of the captain, not at all. More like he was clever enough to let it go for the moment. He had that sort of character to wait for a better opportunity to repay for what he considered as an insult.
Walker returned his attention to the deadly serious Indian in front of him.
"Do you have any idea to which tribe those attackers could belong to?"
But in reaction on this question Chief remained completely silent.
"I understand that you don´t want to accuse anyone, Flying Feather," Walker spoke again. "But you have to understand, that if we are to remain at peace with your tribe, we need to find the culprits of those murders. If you really intend to keep on the good terms with the government in Washington, and with the Great Big Father, you should help me and you know that."
There was a long intense silence and then it wasn´t Flying Feather who spoke. It was Liwan, as he would react on some invisible sign from his Chief.
"They might be from the Sioux Tribe," he said in English and earned the surprised glances from behind his back, where his red brothers were listening carefully. Only the Chief´s face remained unmoved.
Walker focused his eyes on the young Indian.
"Why do you think so?"
"They caused problems before. And they are against Iron Horse," Liwan explained shortly.
"But the Sioux´s village is far away in the south," Walker objected. "Why would they be concerned about the matters here?"
"This isn´t about the whole tribe, Captain," Kame answered this time. "I´ve heard about them too. It´s the group of ten, maybe fifteen warriors, who had left their tribe. They have caused a few incidents in the Yellowstone area already. Their leader is the admirer of Sitting Bull1, I´m sure you´ve heard about him."
"Yes, I know the stories about the Great Chief of Lakota Sioux, but... You sure know a lot about this group of troublemakers, Kamenashi," Walker raised his eyebrows.
"Not at all, they´re well known around this area," Kame explained. "It´s just that they operated only far away in the south so far. But they could move and focused on the final part of preparations for the railway."
"That sounds highly possible," Walker admitted. "Sioux Tribe then… Do you know where their shelter is?"
Chief spoke in the Indian language again and Kame translated: "No, they are Travelers; they have no permanent place to stay."
"Can you tell me anything else about them? Who are the members of this group, what guns they have, or anything else?"
"No," Chief´s reaction was so definite, that Captain understood his time for the questions had just ran out. But he raised one more anyway.
"Will you help me find them then?"
Another long keen silence followed.
"It is also for your own tribe´s good to cooperate, Chief," Walker emphasized. "Your warriors are familiar with the woods around; I would appreciate some help from you."
"I do not intend to help you fight against the Sioux," Flying Feather stated. "They may be from another tribe, but they are still our brothers."
"Meaning I can hold you responsible for their actions too..."
Indian Chief frowned as he didn´t like the tone, which was used by the captain and his guards took a threatening stance. Walker didn´t show any worries on his face, just a strong conviction.
"Flying Feather, I strongly recommend you to let me know anything what you might find out about this group of rebels. Also, we will be searching in the woods for their tracks for a while, and I would like to tell my men, how to recognize your tribe from them. Can you tell me at least this?"
First Liwan asked for a permission to speak, before he gave the response to Walker.
"We understand that might be a problem. Sioux have the black colored stripe around their eyes when they are on the War Path. We think this group is no exception."
"All right, thank you. I appreciate your cooperation, Flying Feather," Walker moved his head in the farewell and to Kame´s surprise; he was able to get up at the same time as Chief.
The others followed them and the meeting was over.
"And that´s it?!"
Well, of course there was one man who didn´t get up from the leather yet and intended to express his opinion…
"You just let them go like this, Captain?!"
Everybody stopped and stared at the sheriff´s deputy.
"Yes, why not?" Walker asked, as there was nothing clearer than his intentions.
"Because they´re lying!" Grenet hit the ground with his fist to give more emphasis to his words.
"We have no evidence they did anything wrong, deputy," Walker objected firmly.
"But we can make them to tell the truth!"
"I know where you´re heading with this, but the thing is that I believe them."
This made Grenet shut up finally. He stared at the tall man above him for a while, before getting up slowly.
"Ah, right," he said, all of the sudden calm as a lamb. "You believe them. That explains a lot."
With that, he went away, back to his men, with the non-understanding stares following him.
"Is he always like this?" Captain Walker said more just for himself, than as a question.
"Yes," he received a double response anyway, as Kame and Jin spoke at the same moment, earning the surprised look from the man.
Jin rather didn´t say anything else and Kame pretended it wasn´t anything unusual, watching the Indians going away. Captain smiled a little.
"Seems you both have your experiences with our deputy…"
"More than I´d like," Jin blurted out before he could think about it first.
"It can be said like that too, yes," the bartender responded more carefully.
"I understand," the captain nodded and something changed among the three men, something what made Kame speak further.
"But you should be careful, Captain," he said, as he couldn´t help but to warn the likeable man. "You don´t want to have the deputy as your enemy."
"Oh, really?" Walker looked in the direction, in which Grenet marched away. "Thank you for warning, Kamenashi, but I´m sure I don´t need to be worried. Mr. Deputy is a little explosive, but I´m able to handle the situation."
"I´m glad to hear that, but… Do you even know who he is, Captain?"
"You mean that he´s working for Raynold Karnaka?" Walker asked bluntly.
Kame just nodded.
"Mr. Karnaka is a powerful man, I admit, but not even he is above the law," the captain stated calmly.
"Is that really what you believe?" Jin asked him with the clear sarcasm in his voice.
Kame looked at him warningly and Captain knitted his eyebrows.
"Yes, that´s what I believe, Mister…?" Walker reacted, raising a question about his name.
"Akanishi!!" the angered yell came before Jin could open his mouth again. "Come here! Now!"
A quite annoyed expression could be seen on Jin´s face before he turned away from them and went toward his boss, kind of missing the enthusiasm he was supposed to show. And Kame decided to use the situation.
"Captain? Would you mind if I talk with my friends for a minute?"
"You mean with the Indians?"
"Yes," Kame confirmed.
"Of course, I doubt I have any right to forbid it," the captain reacted.
"Thank you," Kame said anyway and rushed towards the group of Indians, who were already prepared to leave the place.
"Liwan!"
His friend looked around to see who called after him, but there was somebody else, who also spotted Kame and happened to be closer. Manipi made five long steps, stepped into Kame´s way and pushed him roughly to the chest, so that Kazuya staggered two steps back almost falling to the ground.
"You! How dare you do show your face here! You traitor!" he hissed at him spitefully and pushed him once again.
Kame was speechless seeing the Chief´s son so angry and didn´t even defend himself. Fortunately, there was Liwan who rushed towards them and caught Manipi for a shoulder.
"That´s enough! Let him be, Manipi!"
"He broke the promise! Traitor! Dirty rat!"
"That´s not true and you know it!" Liwan raised his voice too.
"If anything bad happens to our tribe, it will be your fault!" Manipi pointed one finger out at Kame, and then he shook the Liwan´s hand off and marched back to his horse as a furious buffalo.
Kame was just standing there thunderstruck.
Yes, it was his fault. If he wasn´t so obvious about being friend with the tribe, they wouldn´t even think of him leading them to the village. It was his fault that he didn´t obey Grenet and behave as he should have. He should have continued pretending to be a scared baby boy. He didn´t think and…
"Kazuya…" Liwan´s voice brought him out of his pessimistic thoughts.
He was looking at him worriedly and not angry at all.
"I´m so sorry for all of this," Kame emphasized hurriedly. "They made me do it and I…"
Liwan moved his hand and caught Kame for a forearm, stopping his next words.
"It is all right, my friend," he said. "I understand. Akanishi told us everything. Our Chief understands too. Only Manipi is hasty with judgments, you know him."
"But I´m still worried about you," Kame sighed. "Grenet won´t give up. You should move your village, you should…"
"We had already discussed this with the Elders and we will move to our winter place sooner than usually, so don´t worry."
"How can I not worry?" Kame complained.
"Because you obviously have your problems yourself…" Liwan said quietly. "You look horrible."
Only at that moment, Kame realized how his face must look like and stiffened.
"That man… He did this to you, right?" his friend asked then, and the anger appeared in his eyes. "I should take his scalp for this…"
Kame squeezed his hand too: "Do not even think about it," he emphasized, not leaving any place for objections. "I will handle it."
*
"What the fuck do you think you´re doing?"
It looked like Grenet was pissed all the time now. Well, it was a bad day for his plans...
"What do you mean?" Jin asked him innocently.
"Playing on friends with that idiot in blue uniform?"
"Well..." Jin was trying to figure out something believable fast.
"What is this game, Akanishi?!"
"I just thought that it would be convenient, if at least somebody gained his trust, that´s all," Jin proclaimed satisfied with his idea. "He was sent here by the government, after all. Making him our enemy will cause only troubles. You fucked it up, Grenet, not me."
The deputy stared at him saying nothing and Jin repaid his glance. What he said was right and it was clear even to those idiots around. Grenet had to admit that, no matter if he wanted or not.
"Ok, not bad, not bad... But don´t overdo it, greenhorn," Grenet said in the end. "You don´t have to lick his ass, that would be suspicious anyway."
"I didn´t even mean to do it," Jin reacted in an annoyed tone.
Grenet was just trying to cover his own stupidity, making Jin look like the jackass. That man was so low... Not even worth of bothering with him.
When Jin turned back to check on the situation, he saw Kame talking with Liwan. The Indian was holding his hand and looked worried. Well, no wonder considering Kazuya´s appearance.
But something strange moved in the Jin´s stomach, seeing those two being so close. It was short, but it left a burning and bitter taste in his throat. It took him a while to admit, that maybe, only maybe he was a little jealous about Kame´s best friend. He suppressed that stupid feeling back deep inside. He really needed some sleep.
***
For Jin, the journey back to Bozeman was awfully long and difficult. The waves of heat were changing the place with the incredible coldness, which made him shake like a leaf in the gale. By the time they reached the first houses, he was absolutely exhausted and the only thing he could think about was going to the bed and sleep for a week.
But he didn´t want to show weakness in front of Grenet and the others, so he just gritted his teeth, persuading himself that he would hold on for a while longer... Just a little, only to bring Kuro to the stalls...
*
Kame´s mind was drowning in pessimistic thoughts about his ´betrayal´ of the tribe. Manipi´s words stabbed him through and he was worried that Grenet would come that far as looking for their village without a guide. He didn´t even need it anymore...
Blackfeet Tribe´s Indians rescued him and his mother; they allowed them to stay in their homes, creating a new one for them and took care of them. And this was how he would repay for everything good they did for him? Bringing the danger upon their peaceful village?
By the time, they returned to the city, the sun had just set down and the lamplighter was going around bringing some light to the darkening streets. But it didn´t reach his mood.
Grenet and his men headed to the sheriff´s office, while the soldiers with their leader and Kame with Jin to the stalls behind the saloon.
"I appreciate your help, Kamenashi," Walker said after they all dismounted. "But I´m afraid I will need it again soon, so... Just be around."
"I will try, Captain. I´m glad you considered their situation reasonably."
Walker just nodded shortly, parting with them.
All soldiers, one after another left the stalls, leaving their horses with the saddles on behind, as they knew the animals would be taken care of well as a part of the saloon´s services.
Kame closed the door behind them and turned to the last man remaining inside. And he found Jin with the strange color of his skin leaning over the wooden counter, holding onto it as the only firm thing in the world and breathing heavily. Kame didn´t even realize that his feet were moving and he was already right beside him.
"Jin! What is it?" he asked with the heavily beating heart.
"I´m fine..." the older guy mumbled. "It´s probably only a cold..."
Kame put a palm on Jin´s forehead under the hat. It was burning...
"Why didn´t you say anything?!" he breathed out shocked. "You have a high fever!"
Jin looked at the younger one with the blear eyes.
"Oh, really? I thought that... it will... I..." he didn´t even finish the sentence.
If Kame wasn´t there and didn´t caught Jin firmly, he would have fallen down on the rotting straw, passing out.
"Jin!"