The dim morning light was coming through the curtain, revealing the lines of a wardrobe, a table with the empty tin washbasin and a wide double bed, on which two naked bodies were resting.
Leo stared at the sloped wooden ceiling, listening to the lonely singing of some courageous bird from the outside, while Jane was sleeping right next to him, lying on her stomach with one hand resting on his chest, her long hair ruffled and spread all over the pillow.
Silent minutes were passing one after another, but the bedroom was not getting any brighter. It was caused by the cloudy sky, which refused to let through even a single beam of sunshine from behind them, and watered the woods around the mountain chalet with rain instead. Leo could hear the drops tapping on the roof. It seemed that the winter gave up its fight against the next season really soon this year.
Leo liked calm and lazy mornings like this one. Unfortunately, he had a feeling he would not be able to enjoy many of them from now on. He glanced at the peaceful face next to his. He didn´t tell Jane yet, but he was already decided. He discussed it just with Oswald so far, as it concerned the old man the most, and now he intended to wait for Koki´s return from the city to talk with the gang.
Even through the closed door, some steps and the clinging of dishes could be heard downstairs, which indicated that the owner of the house was already awake; Oswald was always the first one to get up.
The Riders´ leader slipped from under the warm hug carefully, not to wake his lover up, because Jane really did get up at four o´clock and with a scary glee she went to wake Koki up, so Leo wanted to let her catch up on sleep. He covered her naked body with a blanket and opened a window a little. Jane liked to sleep in a cool room.
Standing at the window, Leo noticed that somebody else was also up already – Kamenashi was walking toward the fence with horses, with scrubbing brushes in his hands, a hat covering him from the rain.
Leo watched him, as the young man stepped inside the fence. Before Kame could secure the entrance again, there was already a white mare sniffling around his coat pockets. He laughed and then took out two shriveled apples, offering them to the animal. The mare crunched on the morning snack satisfied, while her master soothed her across the long neck gently.
Cullen was not the only one wondering about the real motives of Jin´s acquaintance, but the truth to be told, Leo was willing to do anything for his own friends as well, so it wasn´t like he didn´t understand. He was more than sure that Kazuya Kamenashi was a good guy. Maybe exactly that was the reason for the gang´s distrust, as they had met so many selfish evil bastards so far, that it was hard to believe somebody like him even existed. Nevertheless, if everything Kame and Jin had said was true, then his brother was damn lucky to have somebody like the brown-haired handsome man on his side.
Thoughtfully, Leo turned away from the window, grabbed his shirt and left the bedroom to take some of the coffee, which Oswald definitely prepared, for himself, before the others would come and there would be nothing left.
*
When Jin woke up, he found Ryo, Jack, Carl and Patrick snoring happily in their sleeping bags, but Kame´s place was empty and his blanket properly folded up. Koki was not there either, but the blonde one was probably really close to Leadville at that moment, as Jane kept her word and she really dragged him out of his sleep just when Jin finished his part of the night´s watch, which he took over in place of pleading Ryo, who felt kind of sick. Todd was the last one to make the rounds around the property, so he was out as well. And as for the last Rider, always suspicious Esler, Jin could not care less where the man spent this night.
Jin sat up, trying to shake his sleepiness off. It took him hell a lot of time before he finally managed to fall asleep the previous evening. He was happy about the fact that Kazuya was there with him, and adding their hot session to the feelings, he was so excited, that he did not feel sleepy at all. That did not pay off in the morning, obviously.
The young gunman yawned widely and forced himself to move. He avoided the row of legs carefully and climbed down the ladder, remembering the alluring sight of a certain bum in the dark trousers, heading in the opposite direction, and it made him chuckle.
Who would have thought that Kame was so sensitive?
On the other hand, just a few months ago, Jin would not even think about doing such a harassing thing to another male. But how could he miss an opportunity like that one?
Ignoring the ugly weather, the young gunman headed to the house in a good mood, finding his brother in the kitchen sipping on some coffee and Todd literally lying on the table.
"Great!" he noted the liquid satisfied. "Good morning, guys. Is there some left?"
"Nope," Leo announced stiffly, covering the kettle behind him. "The rest is for Jane."
"That´s not nice of you, Brother," Jin reacted disappointed.
"Be a gentleman," there was a mocking response from his younger sibling. "Wait for Koki´s return; he will bring some for sure."
"Fine," the older Akanishi grunted. "Did you see Kame?"
"He´s with the horses," Leo informed him, enjoying the last gulp of the dark liquid.
"Thanks."
Jin was out before Todd even managed to lift his head up from the table.
"He forgot about that coffee quite quickly…" Leo murmured for himself.
"What?" Todd asked confused.
"Nothing. Just go get some sleep; I´ll do the checking round myself now."
The grateful gangster just nodded: "Thanks, Chief."
*
"Morning~!"
The brim of a black hat moved up to reveal the pair of brown eyes, which focused on the young gunman leaning over the fence comfortably.
"Good morning," Kame replied to the other´s greeting, while Oswald just tapped over his wide hat.
Jin found both of them grooming the horses one by one and checking their hooves. The animals definitely needed some proper treatment already; under the exciting circumstances, they were rather forgotten the evening before. Kuro was already standing there in his full black beauty and glory, but ignored his master reproachfully and rather joined Ukushi for the breakfast consisting of some oat.
"I can see that it´s hard to get rid of old habits," Jin stated, giving up on trying to attract the attention of his headstrong stallion, and rather watched the skillful movements of Kame´s hands.
"At least he´s doing something useful, instead of sleeping," Oswald was the one reacting to that and approached so-far-very-satisfied Akanishi. "Here you go, you can help him," the man pushed the second scrub brush into his hand and left the fence, ignoring the other´s annoyed look.
Jin watched the man´s departure quite offended, as he got up very early, at least for that day, but he entered the fence in his place anyway.
"That´s what I get for being an early bird for once," he complained, as he started to work on one of the last three remaining horses, which belonged to Jack, if he remembered correctly.
"I can finish it myself," a voice was heard somewhere from behind the sturdy stallion.
"It´s all right, I´ll help you," Jin pouted. "I didn´t mean it like that."
"I know," there was an amused reaction, and the younger one sent the stallion off to the others, moving onto the next one, behind Jin´s back. "This really reminds me something," Kame noted then.
"Yeah, me too," Jin grinned to himself, remembering the stalls behind Harada´s Saloon in Bozeman, where they ended up doing the same job together once, a long time ago. "Will you ask me how I slept this time as well?" he wondered, after he was finished with Jack´s horse.
"Should I?" Kame reacted walking around the older mare, to check the hooves on the other side.
"Rather not or I´ll start complaining again," the older one murmured.
"About what?"
"Do you really need to ask?" Jin replied, smacked the horse on his back to make it move away and looked for another one. Finding the last one, a big proud stallion, which was Esler´s, he approached him with respect, soothing the animal across the neck first, before he started the grooming.
"You seemed to be in quite a good mood, when we went to sleep," the younger one reminded Jin mockingly.
"I was," Jin admitted, focusing on the precise movements, while holding the horse´s bridle with his other hand. That one was not so happy about the treatment, shifting stubbornly, so Kame approached the horse from the other side to help Jin keep the animal calm. "But that doesn´t mean my mood couldn´t have been even better," he added in a more quiet voice.
He didn´t hear a response then, but he noticed that Kame lowered his head to hide a smile.
"You didn´t seem so amused climbing up the ladder," he stated innocently.
Kazuya raised his head and his eyes stabbed Jin from behind the horse´s back: "As I´ve told already – a pervert."
"I´ve never claimed to be a decent guy," Jin grinned and finished the last brush.
Both of them let the last horse go and the stallion stepped away with his head high, while they remained standing there watching each other in a wordless match.
"How did you sleep?" Jin asked when Kame kept suspiciously silent.
"Great," the younger one replied. "No cold, no hard ground, no dreams, no sneaking hands… I´m so refreshed," he noted, convincingly honest and headed to the opposite side of the fence.
Jin rushed behind him: "I didn´t know you mind sneaking hands," he noted curiously.
"It depends on how much sneaky they are," the immediate response made Jin think if he was not supposed to be sorry or something.
He blocked Kame´s path, before the younger one could open the fence´s entrance, studying his expression: "Are you angry at me, Kame?" Jin asked quietly.
"What? No," to his surprise, Kazuya almost laughed out aloud. "I was just mocking you, Jin… Don´t tell me you feel guilty now."
"Of course not!" the older one pouted. "I was just not sure… if you mind that or…"
"Did I look like I minded something yesterday?" Kame asked, with his eyes shining in the way, which made the older one forget anything else happening around him.
Jin grinned, relieved already that his suspicion was just his own stupid idea caused by wondering too much: "Not so much…"
"See? Don´t jump to foolish conclusions then," Kame smiled, reaching out to the pulley at the fence.
Jin didn´t move away from his way though and he grabbed the younger´s coat instead.
Kame pushed his hat back a little, to have a better view at Jin´s face and he stepped a little further away. The older one kept watching him with longing in his eyes, which squeezed Kame´s guts with desire to grab his face and give him a proper morning kiss. Which Jin obviously intended as well, shortening that space between them again.
"Try to be reasonable, Jin," Kame stated firmly, fighting against the desire to press himself against that strong body.
The older one´s eyes wandered around their silent surroundings.
"I´m not doing anything unreasonable. Yet," there was a quiet reply then, the dark eyes focusing on him again.
Kame gulped down heavily, feeling hot all of the sudden, despite the annoying rain.
"We must be careful now. There´s the whole gang around..."
"I know," the older one sighed. "But I don´t feel like being careful with you nearby."
Kame was flooded with warmness and shivering expectation. It was not easy for him either, to keep being aware about their surroundings all the time now. He missed Jin´s arms and kisses and the previous evening just reminded him fully of that fact. It was hard to keep his distance and Jin didn´t make it any easier.
"Then it would be for the best if I left," he reacted and pushed himself off Jin hastily.
"What?!" the shocked exhale made Kame turn, keeping the entrance open.
"Away from this fence, I mean…" he added softly.
Before Jin could react to that, a sudden call was heard.
"Ah, there you´re!! If you want to eat something at all, come then, before Ryo consumes everything himself!" it was Jack waving at them from veranda.
***
Koki returned shortly before the nightfall and he was not alone. He brought the other Riders along as well, those four whom Leo sent to Leadville before. The young leader wanted everybody to be present; they all deserved to know, even though it meant dealing with all of them at once.
He watched from his armchair as Ryo introduced Kame to the remaining four, who had the pleasure to meet the man from Bozeman for the first time. There were two half-breed cousins Ian and Sherman, usually very silent Nick and Benny – a muscular man, who outdid everyone in the gang in the height and weight. The others did not even try to cover their amused smiles when Benny grasped Kame´s slim hand for a handshake, during which he almost started to move up and down along with it.
Leo waited patiently for everyone to find their place to sit or stand and started paying him attention. He realized that Jin and Cullen were observing him quite suspiciously, but the others were in a good no-idea mood yet.
He looked around ´his boys´. He knew each of them for quite a long time already and he came to like all of them in a certain way. It was as he had said to his brother before – Cullen, Ryo, Koki, Jack, Patrick, Todd, Carl, Benny, Ian, Sherman and Nick were his new family and great friends. Naturally, Jane had a very specific place in his heart and Oswald was not a very open or talkative man, but they owed him a lot and he deserved better in his life. And lastly, there was also Kame, sitting at the bench between Koki and Ryo, while Jin was standing behind them with quite a mysterious expression on his face. He didn´t know the young man for long, but he had a strong feeling that he could become his good friend as well.
He was glad to have them all, but the longer that whole issue with Tabor took, the bigger danger was upon all of them. Leo knew they were all ready to fight for him, and just for that he would never leave them for the whole world, but still…. He considered taking a little pause and giving everyone a break from all that mess, as more than a good idea.
He got ready to talk, leaning forward in his seat, joining his fingers together. There was one more look, which became very suspicious at that moment and that belonged to Jane. The brunette made herself comfortable on her favorite place, from where she had the best view all around the room – she was sitting on the edge of the table and probably wondered what he was up to.
"As some of you already know, Koki didn´t bring any good news," Leo launched their meeting. "The real delivery was already done and the money, which we wanted to take for Oswald´s sister, is already in the bank´s safe. Did Koki tell you guys what happened?" the leader looked at the four who arrived with the blonde one and they just nodded. "Good. So… I have this idea. It seems we´ve got enough cash in our savings to cover the operation."
The Riders stiffened hearing that statement. They spent more than a year to gather their common savings and Leo knew that some of them even dreamt of moving to another state and start a new life with it. Once it would be enough for everybody, of course, even though they would not say it aloud, and he knew they would not like what he was about to propose. But he believed in the good in their hearts. Oswald was not happy about it either, and Leo assumed that he would have protested more if his sister was getting better, but it was more of the opposite…
"We promised Oswald to help his sister for what he had done for us and we don´t have much time now. I want to cover it with that then," he made his intentions clear for everybody.
The room fell very quiet then. The Riders were not surprised, just gloomy and frowning, the only non-understanding glance he caught belonged to Kame. Well, he would have been shocked by some gangsters helping the old sick ladies too…
"How much will be left after it then?" Todd, who was always their biggest dreamer, asked.
"None," Carl, who was in charge of their small accounting, informed him pessimistically.
"Ah, so…"
"You said there´s not much time… Any news about your sister then?" Cullen turned to Oswald and the man nodded heavily.
"It´s not good."
The gunman shrugged: "Then let´s do it; it´s not like we wanted to build some palace with all that money or whatever."
Some sad grins followed his statement, just Koki stood up smiling honestly: "And we can always gather even more again, can´t we?" he announced making a haughty trick with his revolver.
The blonde one even managed to pull some laughter about it, and Leo knew that this part was his win.
"If anyone is against it, just say it right away, guys, I won´t be mad. I know we risked a lot for that money."
One after another they shook their heads and he caught something like a proud smile at his brother´s face and also Jane´s look made him somehow sheepish.
"Fine… Then here´s the thing – we must deliver it to Ohio, where Oswald´s sister lives, as soon as possible and arrange the trip to Europe. Oswald had already decided, he wants to go with her," Leo announced glancing at the man.
"Yes, I will," he confirmed. "And I will leave everything as it is here…"
"You mean that?" Ryo gasped for breath.
The man nodded: "Yeah… I´ll pass the house over to you, guys, as a small repayment."
The atmosphere got much more optimistic then. They were sad that the man would leave, but they loved their safe place, they all felt as if it was their home now.
"So Oswald will go," Leo continued seriously. "And I´ll go with him."
That was the bomb he was afraid to launch. Everybody stared at him, as he let his words sink in and then he hastily continued before anyone would start objecting.
"It´s not that I want to go on some railroad trip. I feel that the ground is starting to be too hot for me here and that bastard Harvey getting so close was just a proof of it. Only my face is known around, so if I simply disappear for a while and let the things calm down, it will be profitable for everyone. You can rest meanwhile, don´t do anything suspicious, keep a low profile, and then, when Tabor will think his silver is safe, we can strike again."
"That was an awesome argumentation, Leo," Cullen spoke first. "But since you said it yourself – you´re the only one known, shouldn´t you stay in cover then?"
Leo smiled a little: "I´ll be covered, don´t worry. You know me, I can disguise myself."
"That means I can bleach you blonde again?!" Koki asked excited.
"What did you say?" Jin reacted on that shocked.
"Don´t you see his crazy head?" Ryo turned to surprised Akanishi. "He knows some tricks or what for that."
"I suppose you meant my stylish cool hair, buddy," Koki hissed warningly, but Ryo just grinned at him.
"We will see about that," Leo murmured, as he well remembered that Jane hated his unnatural hair the last time. "And if anyone recognizes me, it will be only for the best too. If the rumors spread that I´m somewhere else than here…"
Cullen could not find an argument to that, so he found something else: "But you won´t go alone. I…"
"I won´t," Leo interrupted him. "I´ll take Ryo and Koki with me. But I need you to stay here, Cullen."
"You cannot mean that…" the older man growled.
"I can. In case anything would go wrong, you´ll be the leader," Leo stated firmly in front of everyone. "I need you here, understand?"
The anxious silence was once again broken by Cullen, who obviously let it go through his head.
"The four of you is still not enough," he said in a strangely quiet voice.
"Don´t worry, Esler. We´ll go as well, of course," the other Akanishi´s voice reacted to that.
Cullen turned to him with a dangerous shine in his eyes: "I had no doubt you´d interfere in this, but what do you mean by ´we´?"
"Isn´t it obvious?" Ryo replied to him instead. "Him and Kame. They´re like twins, anyway," he added amused.
The mentioned man gave the black-haired gangster a mysterious look, not commenting on his statement, and neither did Jin.
"Do you really think I would let you both travel with Leo?" Cullen asked gritting his teeth.
"Why not?" Jin snapped back.
"Isn´t that up to me to decide, by any chance?" Leo asked in a cold voice, stopping the argument at its beginning.
"But this is really…" Esler took a breath, upset.
"Cullen, come with me, please," Leo stood up and took the older man for an arm. "Excuse us for a while, guys," he said to the rest of the room and pulled Cullen outside.
"You can´t mean that you´ll bring the two of them along and leave me behind!" Cullen burst out at the second they reached the veranda.
"Why do you have such a big problem with it, Cullen? Do you really think they´d betray me?"
The gunman stood there, staring at him, silent for a while.
"No," he admitted then not very willingly. "But…"
"But what?"
"I just think that´s not such a good idea because they might…"
"Because they might drag me back home?" Leo interrupted the hesitating man. "Is that what you think?"
Cullen went speechless.
"Do you think I didn´t realize it? I know my brother, Cullen and he didn´t search for me just to make sure I´m still well and alive. He was always against me involving with the Riders. And despite that he´s helping us now, he still doesn´t like it."
"So you know that…."
"Yes, I´m pretty sure he wants to persuade me to leave the gang. Do you have so little faith in me?" Leo asked a little disappointed.
"No! I didn't mean it like that, it´s just…"
Leo placed both hands on the man´s shoulders: "I do not intend to listen to him. I do what I want, Cullen. So… It´s more like I plan to do the opposite."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well… Don´t you think that the men like Jin and his friend would fit in our group quite well?"
Cullen´s eyes went wide: "You want them to join us permanently?"
Leo just smiled widely: "This trip will be quite a good opportunity to find out who´s the more stubborn Akanishi here…"
*
When they went back inside, Cullen still had a kind of dull expression at his face, but Leo seemed satisfied.
"It´s a done deal then, guys," he announced. "Me, Oswald, Ryo, Koki, Jin and Kame – we´re leaving tomorrow morning. There will be a long way to go and we cannot lose any more time. Get everything ready, I want us to be in Denver within three days."
Nobody seemed to have any objections, nobody except a beautiful brunette, who was stabbing her lover with a hurt look.