All windows of the express train to Chicago were stained with heavy drops of rain. The iron track in front of the puffing machine was wet with water and the day was more grey than bright. Five gunslingers sat in the corner of the last wagon, huddling in their warm coats. The heating stopped working shortly after they set off from Cincinnati and the air inside the wagon was quite chilly. None of them talked, the young men were sitting there, each of them lost in their own thoughts.
Leo´s face was once again half-bandaged with some cloth. He was not very happy about that, and he kept scratching his nose. Jin deliberately settled on the seat next to his brother. He was in no mood to deal with Kazuya´s closeness more than was necessary and he avoided even looking at the younger one, who sat on the opposite side by the window, next to clingy Koki. Somehow, Jin managed to persuade himself that he didn´t mind the blonde Rider´s extraordinary behavior, although he had to repeat to himself many times there was absolutely no reason for him to be upset.
Apart from that, you´re unreasonably jealous; his inner voice reminded him gleefully.
Ryo, sitting beside Jin, was playing with their train tickets thoughtfully. The black-haired one was uncommonly silent since they had parted with Oswald and his sister and even the blonde noisy Rider restrained himself from the usual funny remarks.
It was a long and gloomy journey. Nobody said it aloud, but all of them hoped to get over it already and be back in Denver as soon as possible. But before that, there was not a very pleasant delay awaiting them in Chicago…
***
"Why do you keep checking the newspapers?" the curious voice spoke right in Kame´s ear, as the blonde Rider peeked from behind the younger´s shoulder at the ´Chicago Tribune´ in his hands.
"It seems strange to me there´s absolutely no wanted poster regarding Leo around," Kame replied, as he kept scanning one page after another.
"That´s good news though," Koki didn´t understand his concern about that.
"It depends… Jin´s brother is wanted nationwide, that means in all states belonging to the US. There should be at least a mention of it. What would be the point of those posters otherwise?"
"Maybe they ran out of paper," the Rider chuckled. "Or they care more about different news… You see? The biggest building in the city… A newest saloon at Margaret…. Visit the most luxurious hotel in the state…" Koki read some of the headlines, as Kame turned the pages.
"Maybe you´re right," Kame admitted unwillingly, turning to the last page without interest already.
"Ah, here we go!" the blonde one was the first to notice and tapped at the sheet, which was filled with many small, mostly hand-drawn, pictures of faces. There was around fifteen of them.
The eyes of both young men ran across the page hastily, until they reached the picture of a well-known face at the end of the middle line.
"It´d be too nice if they forgot about our dear leader… Satisfied now?" Koki asked Kame somewhat mockingly.
"At least we know we were not careful for nothing now," the younger one murmured in response and just out of the habit to finish what he started, he looked through the rest of pictures as well.
"Those are some pretty ugly fellows," Koki evaluated the rest of criminals critically. "Our Leo is like a princess among them," he stated amused, when Kame suddenly stiffened seeing the very last mini-poster.
"What is it?" Koki asked, when he noticed the younger one staring without a single move.
"There´s Grenet as well," Kame replied in an uptight voice.
The Rider checked the page again and his grin disappeared immediately.
"Pox on that fucker," he snorted and without any other interest in the news, he sat down at the pile of their bags. "If those crappy Marshalls did their job properly, he´d have been crossed out a while ago," he kept complaining. "Just for how long is he on the run?"
"For three months," the younger one reacted, folding the newspapers.
Kame didn´t look at irritated Koki, his eyes glanced down the stairs of the huge building, on which they were standing, toward the smoking area just next to the station. Jin was there, leaning over one of the empty benches. He was smoking and observing the rushing people on the street from behind his hat.
"Well, if he intends to interfere in our business, we´ll take that freedom off him before you could say the president´s name," Koki kept murmuring, but Kame didn´t hear him. His eyes were firmly set on the black-haired gunslinger, who seemed to be somewhat inapproachable at that moment.
Kame was not upset that Jin avoided him as much as possible; they were both trying to behave normally, but it was hard. A few times, he noticed that Jin was hurt when he ignored him. And when Jin did the same, he became so anxious afterwards that he almost couldn´t speak with Kame while looking him in the eyes.
Jin finished the cigarette and pulled the package out from his pocket again. Kame frowned seeing that; the older one had also started smoking more than before.
Consumed with observing his secret lover, Kame was not aware of other two Riders´ return from inside the station, until somebody squeezed his shoulder.
"Kame, are you all right?" Ryo asked him, his cheerful face a little worried over the younger´s ignorance.
Kame let go of a short sigh: "Yeah, I´m fine… What is it?"
"I asked you if you could go fetch Jin, we need to discuss something… Seems we´re stuck here for a while."
*
The city district around the main train station was similar to a huge anthill. Ten years ago, a great fire destroyed almost half of the city in flames and that disaster triggered the efforts to build safer buildings than wooden ones. Many constructions from steel and stone happened to appear one another, each bigger and higher than the previous one and Chicago definitely aimed for being the most buzzling and most populous in the country, despite not being its capital.
Just next to the station, only a few yards away, one of those buildings was in the middle of construction, with the supervisor yelling orders at his subordinates, as he tried to over-shout the noise of hammers, welders and whistle of locomotives.
Jin was watching the rushing human ants in the streets, including many workers and business men. Except the heavy smell caused by all those works, there was also the scent of water in the air, as Chicago was located right at the bank of one of the Great Lakes. The weather improved a lot, in comparison with their rainy journey before, dragging out children and many couples to the streets, to enjoy some plays and walks.
Chicago itself seemed to be alive thanks to all those people. Jin was not even alone in the smoking area, which was rather a new thing. There were other three men and even one woman, who seemed to be a reporter with a small notebook on the strip hanging over her neck, enjoying the same sin. But still, Jin felt desperately lonely, despite that the main subject of his thoughts was standing at the stairs just a few meters away.
What would it be like to walk on the street just like those couples there? Without caring, what the other people might think? he asked himself gloomily, having an immediate response on that. We would have ended up in jail, at the best…
Jin, upset at his own stupid ideas, reached for another cigarette. But what usually worked, seemed to be out of order this time. How many more hours was it back to Colorado? Necessarily spent in one wagon? Too many… He was quite sure that if he ended up next to Kame again, he would go crazy.
Jin had to use two matches to be able to inhale more nicotine finally.
"Akanishi, is that you?"
He almost choked on the desired smoke instead, hearing the surprised voice. Raising his head tensely, Jin ended up looking in the face of a tall uniformed man, which just brightened up with a smile.
"It is you!" Walker walked off the pavement and approached the gunslinger reaching out his arm for a handshake. Remembering his manners, Jin repaid the firm grip, but was not able of any response, stiff in unpleasant shock.
John Walker. A man, who helped him and Kame more than once. A man, with whom he searched for his brother. Captain Walker, the government soldier. Here, in Chicago, right in front of the building inside which his brother Leo could be found.
Jin glanced shortly over Walker´s shoulder. There were two other soldiers, probably Captain´s subordinates, waiting on the pavement, with non-understanding expressions on their faces.
Finally, Jin managed to force out a smile, being very careful about not giving even the shortest look toward the station: "It´s nice to see you again, Walker."
"You too, you too," the captain seemed honestly pleased and tapped the younger man over the shoulder. "I wouldn´t ever imagine encountering you. What are you doing here?"
"Well," Jin cleared his throat and doused the barely started cigarette to gain some time. "That´s a long story…"
Just what in the world I should say now? Definitely not the truth…
Walker was an honest and fine man, but he would hardly had any understanding for his younger sibling – the wanted criminal – he was sent after in the first place, before he was called off elsewhere.
"Still searching for your brother, I suppose…" the captain raised his eyebrows.
All Jin´s guts clutched in anxiety: "Well, yes."
Walker´s eyes narrowed at that hesitant reply: "You had no luck yet?"
"He did," another voice replied instead of the anxious gunslinger. "I found him; I guess that was lucky enough for Jin."
"Kamenashi!" the captain´s face brightened again, when the young man in the dark coat approached them and shook hands with him. "How comes you´re here as well?"
"I promised to help Jin out with the search for his brother," Kame informed the uniformed man smiling, though Jin, who breathed out in relief over the other´s appearance, noticed that his eyes had a very careful and tense expression. "I accompanied the Blackfeet Tribe to the reservation first and then we reunited back in Denver."
"Ah, is that so? But what are you doing here? In Chicago?" Walker wondered.
"There was a word that somebody spotted Jin´s brother on the way to Nebraska, so we just followed the track here," the younger one replied, looking to Walker´s face firmly. "But it was just a false alarm, it seems," he shrugged.
"Now I understand," the captain nodded, obviously not suspicious over the explanation. "So did you enjoy the city at least?"
"Not much," Jin murmured, finally finding his voice again. "We want to go back quickly."
"Well, then we might see each other in Colorado soon," Walker noted.
"How comes?" Kame asked interested.
"I have some business to deal with here, with my superiors and then… I suppose I´ll be sent there."
"Because of the Riders or something else?" Jin asked carefully. "The last time you said there was another task for you."
"Well, I assume it´s because of the Riders, Akanishi," the captain admitted slowly. "As I heard my colleagues in Denver are not able to deal with them."
"So, they want to send you," Kame figured.
Walker sighed a little, suddenly exposing a very tired face: "Probably. Sometimes, it´s difficult to say what is needed of you. In any case, I hope you still intend to inform the Marshalls if you come across your brother," the captain glanced at Jin again.
"You know very well that my main intention is to keep my brother away from the gallows, Captain," the young gunslinger replied a little harshly.
Walker returned his glare for a while, before he smirked a little: "That´s right, I know that. Then maybe it would be better if we didn´t meet again. Well… Honestly, I´d rather stay here, but unfortunately, I cannot give orders to myself," the captain joked suddenly, surprising both of them. "Anyway, I need to go now."
"Sure, it was good to see you, Captain," Kame kept the friendly way of his tone, parting with the honest man.
"The same here," Walker nodded and waved. "Take care, guys."
The captain turned away, joined his subordinates again and soon his figure disappeared behind a corner. Kame and Jin kept standing in the smoking area, equally stunned about the sudden and unexpected meeting, with somewhat strange conclusion.
"I´d like to hug you right now," Jin said, still staring in the direction, in which the soldiers left.
Kame breathed out, relaxing from his straight position. Their eyes met and Jin almost did what he had said. Hastily, he looked away and checked out the stairs.
"Where are the others?"
"I noticed Walker coming to you and told them to hide inside," Kame informed him. "We might have a small problem. We don´t know for how long we will have to wait for our train. There was some accident on the railway and they postponed the connection to Omaha."
"Damn…" Jin murmured, as they already walked back to the station. "That´s really something we need right now."
"Maybe they will get it in order soon," Kame reacted hopefully and his arm touched Jin´s as they went through the door, making the older one´s throat squeeze in a very narrow line.
"I doubt that," Jin reacted gloomily. "We´re not that lucky."
The Riders´ gang was standing in the darkest corner of the station building, welcoming the two of them with very dark stares.
"Oh, damn, they noticed Walker talking to me?" Jin whispered.
"Yes," Kame confirmed a little anxiously. "Be prepared to explain that."
"Another friend of yours?" Leo asked not very friendly, as soon as they reached the gangsters.
Jin sighed: "Look, I can explain…"
"But first we need to buy something to drink, I guess," Ryo noted, with arms crossed on his chest. "I´m starting to be really amazed with all those explanations you flood us with."
"If there´s a good reason for some whiskey, I´m all in," Koki announced, seeming to be the least bothered with their connection with a highly ranked officer.
"We have some time for a drink, anyway," Ryo reminded.
Leo closed his eyes for a while and when he opened them again, he appeared to be somewhat defeated, but also calmer: "All right, let´s get something to drink and eat… I don´t want to listen to this with my stomach empty either."
*
In the end, it took almost eight hours before the departure of special express to Denver was announced. Because of the delay, it was decided that the train would continue directly to Colorado, without the necessity for passengers to transfer in the capital city of Nebraska.
They boarded the express shortly before the sunset, tired, but in a surprisingly good mood. Leo, Ryo and Koki let Jin and Kame tell them about their experiences with Captain Walker and about why Jin joined him in the search after Leo without unnecessary hostility. To the relief of both, the Riders took quite an understanding opinion and none of them made a fuss about it. Ryo even mentioned that if the man was really so honest and reliable, it could be quite an advantage for them one day, as it was possible they would talk him off from pursuing the Riders, stating all the good reasons for that. Kame considered it very unlikely, but it made Jin ponder that option a lot.
As the Western Union wanted to make up to the passengers for the huge delay, they used a long coupe-type train, the dining wagon included, for their journey. It was one of the new trains, very nice, fast and well equipped and it soothed the waiting people´s outrage a little.
Dragging their things on board, the gang headed for the last wagon again and searched for a free coupe. Leo, Ryo and Koki occupied one of those in the middle and Koki spread himself over three seats immediately, stretching his aching back and waving the two last arriving – Jin and Kame – off with the cocky gesture.
"Go find another one," the blonde one recommended to them grinning. "I won´t give up this space."
"I don´t think it´s such a good idea to split," Ryo frowned at him, after he placed his backpack onto the shelf above their heads.
Koki just snorted something and placed a hat over his face, not giving a damn about his surroundings. Leo hesitated and turned to his brother to say something, but he didn´t manage to utter a word and there was already another voice reaching them from the end of the wagon.
"Jin, this one is free as well!" it was Kame, already standing at the door of the very last coupe.
"Great… So, we´ll be just over there," Jin announced, assuring his brother. "Just call if anything."
Leo nodded and sat down, while Ryo approached Jin with two train tickets in his hand: "Here, these are yours."
Jin thanked him and walked after Kame to the end of the train.
*
The train conductor glanced inside their coupe just shortly after they finally moved away from the platform and Jin presented the tickets to him for checking. The man apologized for the delay, asked about their final destination, assured them that they could go to sleep if they wanted, as they would be woken up in Denver and wished them a nice journey. Then he closed the door of their coupe and continued his trip to the next one with the exactly same speech.
Jin pushed his backpack up at the shelf and took off his coat, as the heating in the express was obviously completely all right and the coupe was almost overheated. Kame, who had already placed his stuff on the opposite side, opened the window sooner than Jin could propose it himself. The younger one remained standing there, looking out, while the cool air filled up the coupe.
"It´s beautiful," Kame murmured suddenly, Jin barely hearing him through the noise of the train on the rails.
He approached the window as well, standing close to the younger one, but being careful about not touching him and met the view over which Kazuya ogled. The sun was setting in the dark orange sea, the light clouds parting the way of the faint sunbeams and creating quite a nice view of that evening.
Nevertheless, more than to the beautiful sunset, Jin´s eyes were attracted to the younger´s profile. Kame closed his eyes for a while, clearly enjoying the air in his face; and the strayed strands of hair soothed his temples. He sighed inaudibly, and Jin´s heart ran for a short sprint just at that soft sound. That disheveled hair, that face with soft features, the exposed neck, the slim hands resting over the window frame, the chest raising up with each breath… All that time so close to him and simultaneously so far…
Jin just couldn´t bear it anymore. There was a limit to what he was able to deal with and that was just crossed. From a sudden impulse, he turned away and walked back to the coupe´s door, staggering on the way a little, in the moment when their wagon passed some turnout. He grabbed the handle and took a deep breath. Then he turned it in the reversed way, so that the lock inside made a sharp clicking sound…
When Jin stepped aside without saying anything, Kame thought that the older one might have disliked the cold draft, so he closed the window. He turned around pondering if there was anything to say with what he could ease up that heavy atmosphere between them. But then, he came to face the burning eyes and his brain literally stopped working for a while.
Kame opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Jin locked his lips, kissing them with desperate urgency. The younger one stiffened and almost lost the long-term battle against his desire and repaid Jin with the same. Still fighting against himself he pulled away, pushing both hands against Jin´s chest. The older one had no intention of letting him go, and his hands grabbed Kame´s waist, moving him back again.
Kame took a deep breath, trying to hold onto his self-control, which was exposed to quite a test recently.
"What do you think you´re…" Kame gasped, when Jin pressed against him hard, with the lips stopping just inches from his own. "…doing?" he finished through a narrow throat.
"Finally something unreasonable," there was a hoarse reply and the hands pulling his shirt off the trousers.
Kame´s determination wavered, once he felt the hard fingers touching the bare skin on his lower back.
"Jin, damn… This is a train!" he emphasized. "There are other people!"
The dark look full of desire buried into Kazuya´s eyes and made his hands, which were resisting the pressure so far, somewhat weak.
"I locked the door," Jin assured him, leaning even closer. "I want you," he whispered.
The awakening hardness in the other´s trousers was more than a sufficient proof of that and it made Kame´s head spin.
"Right here, right now," Jin continued heavily. "If I hold back even for one more minute, I will burst out."
With Jin´s fingers going lower and soothing the cloth of trousers between his halves in the greedy movement, Kame tried to grab onto the very last pieces of reason and he objected once again: "But here? Jin… Just try to think…"
Hearing that, Jin went motionless: "Is that really what you want me to do?" he asked hoarsely.
The strange anxiety and tension were suffocating Kame so much that he couldn´t catch a proper breath. His body didn´t listen to the brain anymore and his hands slipped up around Jin´s neck.
Jin stared into his eyes defiantly: "So?" his deep voice made the shivers run down Kame´s spine.
"I want… you too," Kazuya breathed out and kissed the older one hungrily.
Once again, the wagon shifted on its iron wheels heavily, but they both found the steady balance in the support of the other, not ever stop kissing. Kame lured the older one´s tongue out for a play, while both Jin´s hands squeezed his butt hard.
When they tore off for a second, Kazuya suddenly pushed himself away from the other´s grip, so roughly that Jin staggered surprised. Kame just passed him toward the door and with two fast movements; he pulled the dark curtains over the glass, which protected them from the looks of anyone in the main corridor. Turning back, Kame´s eyes were filled with the same fire as Jin´s…
They met in the middle of the coupe, as both of them moved at the same moment. Jin captured the younger´s lips again, while Kame´s hands headed to the belt of his trousers with greedy certainty. Even before he undid the fastening impatiently, there were already Jin´s hands doing the same with his own belt.
Both staggering a little with the moving machine, they leant over each other, Kame hugging the older one´s form, while Jin kept his hands on his hips, pulling Kame´s trousers and underwear down, as soon as they stood steady again.
Half closing his eyes, Kame gasped for a breath, when Jin reached for his shaft, teasing it with an eager caress. Having a lot to deal with own impatient desire, Jin did his best to arouse Kame as high as he already was himself. Trying to keep his breath and heart under at least some control, he leant forward, while his hand continued soothing the hardening arousal of the younger one.
"How… does it feel?" he whispered the question in his ear.
"Just… continue," Kazuya replied barely coherently.
There was no need to tell Jin twice, and with the blood throbbing in his veins with the increasing speed, he did as Kame requested. Breathing really heavily now, the younger´s hands headed down again, to finish what they started and a little clumsily, he pulled also Jin´s trousers down.
Suppressing a heavy moan, when Jin´s fingers squeezed him harder, Kame gently but at the same time uncompromisingly pushed the older one back and then down, making him sit at the seat. They didn´t interrupt the mutual touching contact for long, as Kazuya kicked his trousers off along with the boots hastily and holding on Jin´s shoulders, and he let his knees rest on the seat alongside Jin´s thighs and then he slowly lowered himself.
When Kazuya´s hard member slightly touched Jin´s in that position, the older one hold his breath, as the shocking wave of heat flooded his brain. He reached for the younger´s bare hips and then he let just one of his hands to move further, while the goldish look was sinking into his eyes. Kame´s lips parted and let out a heated moan, when Jin´s fingers touched the sacred entrance just gently at first and then pushed harder against it.
Kame clenched Jin´s shoulders so hard it hurt, but the older one didn´t pay any attention to it and kept observing that flushed face in front of him, while teasing Kazuya´s most intimate body part. Just faintly, he realized that he was impatient, but the younger one didn´t seem to mind, when he pushed two fingers inside of him at once. Kame squirmed, moaned again and then leant forward to his face.
"I can´t…" they both spoke at once.
Kazuya´s eyes widened a little, and Jin stiffened. Looking to each other´s eyes, they knew they both meant the same. They couldn´t bear prolonging that tension any longer.
Jin pulled his fingers out and spread both palms on Kazuya´s hips. The younger one moved his body up a little and shifted closer. One of his hands headed down, reaching for Jin´s eagerly standing pride, soothing over it with urgent gentleness, before he aimed it toward his awaiting anus.
Very slowly, Kame sat down, gradually letting Jin deeper inside of his body, while Jin´s fingers buried deep into his skin. Jin was enthusiastic over feeling that hot tightness again, the one he earned for such a long time. It seemed to Jin that the train started to move much faster, and his head was spinning in the red circles.
Kame stopped in the middle of the way, his body shaking, and with his eyes closed. He was trying to breathe steadily and accustom himself to Jin once again. The older one waited, quite impatiently, watching Kame´s face closely, and forcing his hands to remain gentle and unmoving on the younger´s body, not to push him further before he was ready, even though it was almost impossible.
Then Kazuya breathed out and faster than before he finished the movement, his sacred hole swallowing the whole length of Jin´s eager shaft. That brought Jin´s mind to the incredible height where nothing else mattered. It was almost too much, when the younger one started moving…
For one moment, Jin even thought he would go crazy from how damn awesome that feeling was. It was quite strenuous for the younger one to keep his movement up and down again, but Jin´s hands supported him firmly, as Kazuya was dragging his excitement up to the culmination, which came so suddenly, it really turned Jin´s brain off completely…
When Jin was finally able to open his eyes again, with his satisfied member still inside of the slim body, he found Kame soothing his arousal with the hasty movements of one of his hands, while the other still squeezed Jin´s shoulder. Amazed and mesmerized, Jin watched Kazuya´s face, when he came to his climax, moaning in pleasure. It was the most alluring expression he had ever seen.
Exhausted, Kame leant over him heavily, desperately trying to catch his breath. When he raised his eyes up again, he found Jin still looking at him, not able to tear his eyes away.
Then Kame glanced down at the mess his member caused over Jin´s abdomen and shirt and suddenly seemed to be ashamed. He shifted uneasily, pushing himself further, but Jin, immediately noticing his anxious reaction, pressed a palm over Kame´s face and made the younger one look at him.
"Do you really think I care about a damn shirt right now?" he asked him in a hoarse voice.
The smile, which curved Kame´s lips then, was so sweet that Jin just couldn´t help but kiss those lips lovingly.
It took quite a while before Kame was able to push himself up on the shaking knees. He still felt dizzy and hot. Barely thinking, he pulled a clean towel out of his bag, handing it over to Jin, so that he could clear the mess from that culmination up a little.
Jin didn´t say anything, when Kame pulled his trousers up again, but then he just threw the towel away to the corner of the opposite seat and dragged him down, right next to him. His dark orbs were not all consuming anymore, as they took a little broody expression.
"How do you feel?" Jin asked in a quiet voice.
"Well… I didn´t really expect this," Kame answered hesitantly, still feeling insecure about the fact that he exposed himself to Jin in that… needy way.
"Neither me," Jin admitted, smiling a little. "But… Are you all right?"
Kazuya finally repaid the look of those worried eyes, feeling the wave of warmness flooding him.
"I feel awesome, Jin," he assured him. "Just a little tired," he added softly.
He presumed that the grin on the older one´s face anticipated some dirty remark and Jin confirmed it right away: "And here I thought you´re ready for the second round."
"Jin!" Kame scolded him not very successfully.
"Don´t worry, I´ll be nice and let you rest," Jin promised overly serious. "At least for an hour..."
"Jin!!" Kame tried to pretend to be offended, but he failed completely, seeing Jin laughing heartily and with that relief, which he felt inside of himself as well.