The atmosphere around the cheerful fire was quite gloomy. The Black Riders´ members were drinking their beers, which had its source in the cellar under the veranda of Oswald´s house, and shared a big bottle of whiskey.
No one was very talkative, either because they were in no mood, or because they did not want to disturb their young leader. Leo was the most silent of all, staring at the flames, his face very serious. They knew him long enough to realize that he was trying to figure out a way to deal with their situation now. And Jin knew even better; he expected the younger one to get up from the log and retreat to privacy sooner or later, as he needed to decide about what to do undisturbed.
Leo confirmed his brother´s assumption, when Jane and Kame finally appeared, with Esler breathing on the young man´s back. All eyes focused on the newcomer, whose face was clean now, but his expression more than careful.
"Hey, that´s my shirt!" Jack complained once Kame, completely dressed in black, stepped into the light.
Surprisingly, Jane leant over Kame´s shoulder nonchalantly, smiling at the youngest Rider: "It was the closest to his size," she informed Jack, before Kame could start apologizing, which he was definitely about to do. "His own clothes are pretty torn and bloody, and I doubt you would like our guest to sit here in them, right?"
Jack pouted unsatisfied, but realized quickly, what was the reason for Kame´s need to change in the first place.
"Uhm, yeah… Right. It´s fine then," he murmured a little guiltily.
"See? I told you they´re good guys," Jane stated amused and patted a little anxious Kame on his shoulder. "Have fun," she parted with him then, following Leo, who had already left his spot at the fire without any word, back into the house.
Jin gestured at the free space next to him on the log and Kazuya seated himself there gratefully. He wanted to offer the younger one his beer, but there was already Koki handing him over the full tankard.
"I saved this for you," the blonde one informed Kame proudly. "Those selfish misers would not leave you a drop."
"Hey! You´re the one talking, Koki! You drink the most of us all!" Ryo scolded him.
"Overreacting, my friend," Koki snorted. "I was just thirsty. Cheers, Kame."
"Thanks, Koki," Kame clung with his glass to the other one´s with a grateful nod.
"You´re welcome, handsome. I can´t let you die from thirst, right?"
"Playing a merciful sister again," Ryo suppressed an amused laughter unsuccessfully.
"Be careful not to choke with your drink, buddy," Koki turned to him with an ironic smile.
"You behave as if you fell in love with him," the other one paid him a smirk back.
Koki didn´t let himself be offended and used it against his companion instead: "Would you be so surprised? He definitely looks more handsome than any of you," he reacted haughtily.
Kame was the one almost choking on his beer, while Jin´s tankard somewhat lost its good taste. The laughter of everyone else gave both of them some time to cover their reactions, while Ryo just rolled his eyes, considering Koki´s answer childish.
"Well… Kame, since you´re going to stick with us for a while now, I guess it would be nice for you to know who you´re dealing with," Ryo was also the one to speak then, ignoring Koki´s victorious grin. "This is Jack. Todd. Patrick. And Carl."
Each one of mentioned men nodded their head in greeting.
"You already know Koki…" Ryo waved toward the annoying blonde one.
"Lucky me!" the mentioned Rider noted cheerfully. "And that gentleman who´s watching you like a hungry wolf in retirement is Cullen," he finished the introduction teasingly.
The mentioned ´wolf´ stabbed Koki with his eyes instead.
"One day I´ll cut your tongue out from that cheeky mouth," Esler snorted, he left a new portion of thick wood branches close the fire and then retreated somewhere into the darkness, leaving the younger part of the gang there. Both Jin and Kame were sure the man would not go far away.
Kame was still nervous about how the others would react to him, but considering the cheerful teasing, it seemed they accepted the agreement and skipped any hostility. The drink had also calmed him down – the beer was very bitter, but cool and delicious once he gulped twice. He looked at Jin, but the older one still seemed somewhat gloomy.
"So… Where are you from?"
Staring at Jin´s profile, lit by flames, Kame almost failed to notice that the question was addressed to him.
"From Montana, Bozeman," he said, replying to Jack´s question.
"Bozeman?" Ryo repeated. "Do you have anything in common with Karnaka then?"
"Yes, I do," Kame replied, that bitter feeling turning very awful suddenly. "I lost my family and friends because of him."
"What a lovely fellow," Koki noted. "Akanishi had told us about him before, it was nothing nice."
"Did you do it together then?" Ryo asked suddenly.
The heads of Jin and Kame jerked up and they both forgot to breathe for a while.
"The revenge, I mean," the gangster completed the question, with his eyebrows raised. "Jin, you told us something about it before, didn't you…"
"Yes, we set his farm on fire," Jin was the one finally giving an answer.
"Hey, that sounds interesting!" Koki reacted excited. "Tell us more about it!"
"There´s not much to speak of…"
"Oh, sure, Akanishi," the blonde one reacted sarcastically. "You had successfully attacked the most powerful man in the area and there´s not much to talk about."
"Or are you worried that we would give you in to the Marshals?" Jack asked mockingly.
"How did you two even meet?" Ryo wondered, glancing from one to another curiously.
Kame smiled a little with the memories of that one evening a few months ago rising up in his mind: "The first time I met Jin he ordered tequila at the bar where I was working," he announced, glancing at Jin again.
"Why am I not surprised there was alcohol in it?" Koki reacted, pretending astonishment.
"I was thirsty," Jin returned his teasing grin back even more widely.
The other Riders laughed openly now, seeing Koki staring at the older Akanishi, who seemed to be a capable rival in teasing.
*
"Not in a sociable mood today?"
Smoking Esler took a short look at the brunette woman, who just joined him at the veranda. She left Leo inside the house alone quite soon… Jane stood there looking in the direction of the fireplace, which resonated with the burst outs of laughter and some surprised yells, among which Esler caught the words as ´crazy´ and ´grizzly´.
"Do I have a reason to be in one?" he snorted, but without a sign of annoyance, just with a heavy sigh.
"Being pessimistic won´t help either us, or Leo," Jane reminded the man.
"I´m just realistic," Cullen objected, a little offended.
"If you want to call it that… What do you really think about Kamenashi, Cullen?" she asked curiously.
Esler kept smoking without a word for a while, thinking over his response.
"He´s not lying," the gunman admitted in the end. "But he´s hiding something, just as the dearest brother of our Leo."
"Most of us have something to hide," Jane sighed quietly.
"That might be true… And I wouldn´t care if it had nothing to do with us. But that´s not the case," Esler growled and doused the cigarette butt over the railing, despite that it was not finished yet.
"You think they´re planning something we won´t like?" Jane reacted thoughtfully.
The older man looked at her, studying the faint features of the brunette´s face in the dark.
"And you think so too," he replied then. "You wouldn´t bother to be so friendly with that newbie otherwise. You feel there´s something off as well."
"Well… Yes," Jane admitted not very willingly. "I believe what Kamenashi told us, and I don´t think the two of them are bad, but…"
"Exactly because they are not bad guys, it´s highly suspicious they would have joined us so easily," Cullen continued, when her voice faded out. "We´re criminals, Jane."
The woman nodded in agreement: "But I´m not sure what to make of it."
"I think I do," the gunman answered slowly. "And I can understand it as I want to protect Leo as well."
Jane looked at the man with her eyes wide with sudden realization: "You think they want to persuade him to stop?" she whispered.
"Don´t know about that pretty Kamenashi, but I´m sure that´s what Akanishi is after," Cullen stated confidently. "He wants to keep his brother away from the gallows, so he doesn´t want him to be a part of the Riders anymore. And even I have to admit that´s the best way of achieving that goal…"
Jane was silent for a while, thinking over the situation from a little different perspective.
"You can´t know that for sure," she said then, keeping her voice low.
"No, but being in Akanishi´s shoes, I´d have intended to do the same," Cullen explained his assumption simply.
"Leo won´t leave us," Jane objected firmly. "Never. Don´t you trust him?"
"I do, Jane, you know that," the man shook with his head slightly. "I don´t trust his stubborn brother…"
*
Jin did not expect that the Riders would be so interested in his handsome friend, and in their story. They had many questions, and in the end, they got almost all the answers from them both.
Even Jin himself did not realize through how much they went together with Kazuya, until it was said aloud. It was visible on the faces around them as well, that the Riders were quite amazed – with their grizzly hunt, adventures with the Indians, issues with Grenet and finally, with the ambush on the farm. They were looking at them with more understanding after that. Even though neither he nor Kame were bothering them with too many details…
Jin was glad that the previous distrust was obviously forgotten. He didn´t care about Esler, who was certainly observing them from somewhere. That man would have been suspicious about his own mother, but the others seemed to take the situation more than well. Also Kame was more relaxed; sitting right next to him, Jin could feel that his anxiety went away.
Then the narration was passed over to Ryo, who picked up some crazy stories of the Riders´ adventures. Koki had just started arguing with him, whose fault was that they got lost in the woods once, when Jane appeared again.
"Guys, just a warning – I need somebody to ride to Leadville tomorrow for shopping, or you´ll starve," she announced. "Very early in the morning."
"Now you´re telling us when to sleep? We´re not kids!" Koki reacted as the most outraged.
"Really? You behave like one, though," the brunette reacted calmly. "Well, since you just volunteered, Koki, I´m going to wake you up at four."
"EEH?! That´s not fair!!"
"Kame, I´ve brought some blankets for you," Jane placed the sleeping stuff on the log next to him, completely ignoring Koki´s complaints. "I can show you where…"
"I´ll do it," Jin cut in hastily. "Don´t bother with it, Jane. I will show him the barn."
Jane shrugged: "All right. Good night, guys!" she was done with them right away and disappeared again, ruffling upset Koki´s hair on the way.
Jin stood up as well, sooner than anyone could ask or say anything else.
"Would you like to go right away?" he asked Kame. It was not even a question, as he had already taken the blanket from the log, but Kame didn´t seem to be bothered with that.
"Oh, come on! Are you scared of our beautiful so-called mother?" Koki complained. "It´s too soon!"
"Four o´clock is definitely too soon for me to get up," Jin informed him grinning.
"Cowards," Koki hissed, when Kame left his spot as well.
"Come on, Koki, it was a long day," Ryo yawned widely. "We should go to sleep as well."
"No way! We need to finish that barrel!"
"There´s almost nothing left anyway…"
"And who´s fault that is?!"
The sounds of argument were fading behind Kame, as he rushed to follow Jin, who was the first one to leave. He joined his side soon, cringing a little in the coat. Once they left the warmness of the fire, the chilly evening air reached out to him hungrily. They walked away from the veranda of the cottage, where the dark silhouette of a man smoking was standing motionless, but Kame still could feel those eyes on himself.
"He´s creepy as a scarecrow," Jin murmured, only whispering, to make sure Esler would not catch his words.
"He has a full right to be suspicious, don´t you think?" Kame reacted, also quietening his voice.
"That doesn´t mean he must slaughter us with his stare at every opportunity."
"I can handle stares; I´m more worried about his revolvers," the younger one reacted, amused with how much upset Jin sounded about something so expected.
"Good point," the older one admitted unwillingly.
The dark shape of a big barn appeared in front of their eyes, which slowly got used to the dark.
"Oswald used to raise sheep here, but there´s none anymore," the older one informed Kame. "The attic is still full of hay and it´s well covered from the draft, so almost all of us sleep there. Just Oswald, Leo and Jane use the bedrooms in the house. There´s place for two more, but it would mean to bother my brother with his love, so… You can guess why we´re here."
"More than clearly," Kame reacted, in a cheerful mood just from listening to Jin.
"And if I was a few years younger and my bones would not ache so much, I´d sleep outside as well," the deep voice welcomed them in front of the barn, making them freeze on the spot surprised.
"Oswald! Can´t you make some noise, man?" Jin found his breath again, reacting grumpily on the man´s presence.
"Why? You´re creating more than enough of it," the usually not-very-talkative man replied. "I´ve already lit the lantern upstairs, be careful."
"Yeah, sure," Jin nodded and continued walking to the side of the building, where the thin stripes of light could be seen, while the old man approached Kame.
"And you, the rules – no smoking, no peeing, no shooting inside. Got it?"
"Absolutely, sir," Kame assured him, a little out of balance from the man´s strict attitude.
Oswald nodded and headed back to the house, while Kame finally followed Jin´s track to a bright square in the barn´s wall. He stepped over the high threshold, finding a big free space filled with the nice smell of dry grass, and with deep shadows, as the only source of light was hidden somewhere up in the attic. Blinking a few times, he noticed a ladder in the middle of the barn, leading up.
Kame pulled the heavy door to close them because of the cold. He barely turned, when there were already two strong hands grabbing his arms and the hungry lips sealing his in a heated kiss.
Surprised Kame collected himself quickly, as he was eager for nothing else since the first moment he saw the face of his lover in the woods. Pulling the demanding man closer with one hand by his coat, he sneaked up into the other´s hair, grabbing them excitedly, and returned the kiss, sending his tongue on exploration at the same moment, when his colleague set off to the same purpose.
The body of the older one, stronger than he remembered, pushed Kame back, and pressed him against the wall, while doing the same move with his tongue. Not prepared for such an urgent attack, Kame felt like melting in those arms. He started to tremble a little; reacting to the probing of the demanding tongue, which was conquering his mouth.
Then the hands squeezed Kame around his waist hard; he could feel each finger burying into his skin under the thin cloth. He ran with his other hand up as well, throwing both arms around the other´s neck, closing their distance at the most possible minimum. And when he sucked on the retreating tongue gently, a heavy sigh escaped those hot lips, when they separated.
The fire in the dark eyes, which focused on him then, was worth of every single hit Kame had received back in the woods from the Riders, or every trouble on the way down to the south…
Jin didn´t even realize that he was holding something back, until he let it go free.
The beer and whiskey, which he had drunk at the fire, made it somehow harder to sit next to the younger one and not being able to touch him then, but now, the alcohol made Jin forget any over-thinking and just act according to what he wanted to do at the second his eyes met with Kazuya´s hours ago.
The blanket and cushion were forgotten on the wooden floor once Kame stepped inside the barn after him. Taking the younger one into his arms was the best damn thing in the whole day and even in all those damn long two months. Kazuya was still so slim, so hot and his lips so captivating… Never stop kissing him; that was the idea filling up Jin´s mind and he expressed it more than clearly. With his heart beating heavily, he pulled himself off the younger one, only when he lost his breath.
That goldish lake, into which he would love to jump in and sink, was so close, when Kazuya repaid his look, that Jin almost could not believe it.
How could I bear not kissing him for so long? he wondered amazed.
"Thanks for the proper welcome," Kazuya smiled happily, his cheeks a little darker than usually.
A provocative grin found its way on Jin´s face: "You could not wait for it, could you?" he asked hoarsely.
"It took you too long," the younger one complained, his fingers leaving the spot in Jin´s hair, running down along his neck, and soothing the skin on the way.
"Ah, so you expected me to jump on you in front of the whole gang?" Jin asked teasingly, his hands slipping a little lower from Kame´s waist, placing them at his hips instead.
They both knew he would have never done that, and it had a somehow bitter feeling, but Kame ignored it and leant a little closer.
"I wouldn´t be so surprised if you did…"
"What are you trying to imply, Kame?" Jin frowned, pretending to be outraged. "That I´m so horny?"
The younger´s smile faded slowly, and the color of his skin went even darker. Jin stiffened a little, realizing fully what he had said. Kazuya took a slow breath, blushing heavily.
"Are you not?" he asked then, in a quiet voice, which brought shivers into Jin´s stomach and even lower.
The older one tried to clear his throat unsuccessfully, now perceiving the closeness of the moving chest and of that slim waist and the younger´s hot breath even more.
"No arguments?" Kame was so sweetly provocative, tapping his fingers over the accessible skin of Jin´s chest that the older one could not help but join in teasing. However, he could not say it aloud, or in his eyes. Therefore, he moved with his head closer, avoiding the younger´s lips and got so close to Kame´s ear he almost touched it.
"Your moans will be my arguments," he whispered.
Before the younger one could beat his statement, Jin bit into his earlobe softly, as it just felt as a good idea to realize. That gained him the other´s shivering and Kame´s nails burying in the skin on his neck. Jin continued with kissing the younger one right under his jaw, hearing him letting go a heated breath. Immersed in their little game, Jin gave another long and sucking kiss to Kazuya´s neck, caressing the soft skin with his tongue. And when his hands moved again, to the back part of the handsome man´s body, and stopped at Kame´s butt, pressing there longingly, Jin could literally feel the moan in the other´s throat, though it never left his lips.
He straightened up to see that Kazuya covered his mouth with one hand to prevent the excited sound to come out.
"Hey…" Jin hardened his touch on the round bottom, making Kame´s body press itself against him eagerly. "You cheat, Kazuya."
He let one of his hands leave the lovely spot and pulled the younger´s palm off, to find Kame grinning at him victoriously, but his eyes burning with longing and that let Jin know that his action was not without a reaction.
They kissed again, and their lips did not play any games. They both were eager after each other and after a long separation, the passion inside of them woke up quickly.
Jin was amazed at the realization, that he would be able to throw Kame into the hay right away and claim again, what was his once, long weeks ago.
Kame felt some of it probably, as he tore himself off his demanding lips, trying to make some distance between them unsuccessfully.
"Not a good idea, Jin," Kame said in a raspy voice.
"Funny… I know what you mean, but…" Jin reacted, fighting against his fingers intending to approach the belts, which were in their way. "At the same time, I think it´s the best idea ever."
Kame loved the feeling, which he missed so much. He loved every single touch, everything Jin did with him, but then he noticed that the older one was really close to losing control; his eyes were too dark. That was not so good, considering the others… Naturally, it made the younger wish for nothing else than seeing how those eyes would turn out even greedier, but… They could not afford to do that, no matter how damn tempting the idea was.
The voices he managed to catch outside were more than obvious proof of that. Even if it cost him hell a lot of self-restraint, he avoided Jin´s attempt to kiss him again.
"The others are coming," he informed him hastily, and Jin noticed the approaching witnesses as well.
"Damn…"
Hastily, for one last time, Jin took Kame´s chin in his hand and captured his lips in such a passionate kiss, that the younger one thought he would not be able to keep standing, when Jin let him go.
With his head swinging a little, Kame pulled himself off the possessive arms and headed to the ladder first, desperately trying to regain his composure. He stepped just at the third partition, when a hard sting right in his buttocks made him stop and turn his head.
"Pervert," he hissed at grinning Jin under him right before the door of the barn opened and Kame continued climbing, away from those still dangerously dark eyes, which were promising him much more than just teasing next time…
The Riders entered the barn arguing about who had drunk more beer and was guilty for the empty barrel, and who was even able to keep the first watch.
Jin, turning his face away from them, picked up the blanket from the floor, approached the ladder again and threw it up to Kame´s awaiting hands. The younger one was still stabbing him with burning eyes, adorably upset about that completely innocent pinch, but Jin didn´t mind it at all. Their welcome was worth of anything for him…