Ralph Harvey cursed vulgarly, when yet another protruding root tried to slow him down. As if it wasn´t difficult enough to determine the correct direction only according to the broken twigs and faint noises their fugitives created, because of that damn fuss which the sheriff´s men from Leadville made in his steps, including that asshole Duggan. If he didn´t decide for them that they would try the direction toward the road first, down from the hill, they would be still up in the camp, arguing.
It was almost impossible to wake up all of them. When that strong feeling, which was screaming at him that something was wrong, interrupted his own sleep, Ralph himself felt somehow dizzy. But there was not much time to think about it, as he found their captives missing. How the hell they got out of the ties, which he had checked himself, didn´t matter at that moment. What angered him the most was the fact those so-called men of law were not able to watch over them.
He should skin those idiots for being so reckless, but it was weird they all dropped off like that. One thought popped up in his mind while he was running through the sparse forest – was it possible that Akanishi´s girlfriend put something in their food the evening before? But where would she get anything like that? They didn´t have anything left in their pockets, they had checked them carefully enough…
Anyway, Ralph realized he should not have underestimated her just because she was a woman. There had to be something about the brunette, that secured her position in the Riders´ company. But he could think and complain about it later – now, there was another burning issue to deal with – they had to recapture them.
Dashing across the damp surface of the forest floor, Harvey admitted to himself that Leo Akanishi surprised him again. The youngster managed to steal one of his own revolvers, which pissed him off quite a bit, even though he couldn´t use them both at once, since one of his hands was still temporarily out of order. Not to mention, that the young outlaw didn´t even try to get rid of at least one of them while they were asleep, though he had to be aware of a great disadvantage in case they would have been chased. Why would Akanishi let such a chance slip away? Was it against his code of honor, or what? An honest bandit – it was laughable.
Luckily, his hunch was right, and they were closing up on Akanishi and his precious girlfriend. They were getting closer and closer to the main road quickly and Ralph had already glimpsed both runaways between the trees a few times – something was slowing them down.
The bounty hunter jumped over an annoying fallen tree, which was in his way and turned to call over to the others, who followed behind him in a wide line.
"Everybody move! We almost got them!"
And one of his dumb underlings took it as an order to open fire.
***
After agreeing upon a slower and even more careful advance, they divided themselves as before – with Kame and Jin riding ahead again, there was almost half a mile between them and Esler with Ryo and Koki. They had already left a greater part of the steep descent behind and the surroundings of the road was peaceful, interrupted only by early birds singing from time to time. There was no sign of anyone else´s presence, except the scattered hints of tracks left after a group of riders.
Until the rising sun separated from the ground, setting off for yet another journey across the sky, they encountered nothing suspicious. Only then, like a bolt out of the blue, a not very distant gunshot disrupted the peaceful nature.
No matter that the young Riders and their temporary leader had all senses on alert, when that shot cut through the chilly morning air, it made everybody – both men and their animals – wince and look around with a fright. Ryo and Esler had to calm down their startled horses, while Koki almost fell from the saddle, this time for real, hooking both arms around the animal´s neck only in the last second. Jin was the quickest in reaching for the revolver and Kame straightened up from the knee-bend, as he was observing some tracks in the ground.
Another gunshot followed even before they could get themselves together. The shooting was heard somewhere on the right side of the road and it totally surprised them that it was so close – somewhere between the two units of their rescue squad – behind Jin and Kame, but in front of Esler and his companions.
They all realized at once, that there was a damn low chance that such a coincidence was not related to those they were chasing after.
Kuro turned and set off into motion so promptly that his hooves left the deep marks in the damp ground, as his rider forced him to trot and then to gallop. Kame also mounted Ukushi right away, but still, the older one was almost a third way back before he managed to follow him.
From the other side, Esler and the others somehow made their animals find some energy for the faster pace, too.
Then, far ahead of galloping Kuro, a woman limped out of the woods. Even from that distance, Kame easily recognized the tall figure of the brunette rushing across the road. Jane didn´t look left or right and the next moment, she disappeared on the opposite side between the trees. Her escape was followed by more gunshots, now so close that the approaching Riders could see the splinters flying off the trees.
The black stallion even accelerated, when the second figure staggered backwards onto the road, with a single revolver in hand. It was not hard to identify the haunted face of the Riders´ leader.
Leo Akanishi cowered behind the nearest tree, avoiding just another series of gunshots. Suddenly, the road turned out to be quite lively, as four gunmen appeared on it too, furiously trying to hit the escaping Rider.
At that moment, to Kame´s amazement, Jin, who was closest to that scene, let the bridle go completely, keeping himself steady in the saddle with his thighs, as he drew the second revolver. Then with both hands, he aimed at his brother´s chasers, totally ignoring the fact that he was outnumbered.
One of those gunmen, whom Kame didn´t recognize, finally noticed the approaching gunslinger and his jaw dropped in shock, before he yelled to alarm the others.
They certainly didn´t recognize who was that crazy rider, but the revolvers in the young man´s hands gave them more than a good reason to consider him an enemy. While one rifleman kept proceeding toward hiding Leo, the other three spread across the whole width of the road and their reloaded rifles aimed at Jin.
The older Akanishi didn´t even flinch. He didn´t make his horse move off the road or at least somewhere aside, Jin just kept riding toward the prepared gunmen straight ahead, leaning a little from the saddle to one side. With a growing fright, Kame pushed his dear mare to her limits, but he was still far behind, when the rifles fired.
*
Once the road was in their sight, Harvey finally noticed what slowed down the escape of their captives – the brunette probably got hurt on the way, as she was limping heavily. Akanishi was covering their retreat to the other side, shooting after the pursuers.
Harvey carefully listened to the number of shots, which fired from his revolver. He didn´t know if Akanishi managed to steal also spare bullets, but in case he didn´t, the young outlaw was about to be out of ammunition very soon.
The hunter let four Sheriff´s men go ahead and push the youngster across the road, while the fifth one covered them from the woods. He turned and searched through the woods with his eyes, until he finally also noticed Duggan between the trees. The former Sheriff was obviously not much into physical activities and he was wheezing heavily as the last of them.
Turning his attention to the road again, he saw that Akanishi took a cover on the opposite side and their gunmen walked right toward him.
Harvey thought that would be the end of a little detour the two of them managed, and proceeded forward too, ready for any unpleasant surprise the youngster might have had for them. But then, he heard the rushed clatter of hooves from the right side. The gunmen on the road heard it too and their attention turned from hiding Akanishi to the unknown rider.
Well, not so unknown… At first, Harvey thought he had been hallucinating, or not seeing well from that distance, since the youngster on the pitch-black stallion, looked almost exactly like Leo Akanishi. But since the said wanted man was still hiding behind the tree on the other side of the road, it could not have been anyone else than his older brother.
It was a very awful surprise to find the older Akanishi on their tail so damn quickly. He either had to follow them from Leadville, or had no rest at all. And seeing his crazy ride right toward the armed gunmen on the road, ready to fire with rifles, he would bet on the latter.
*
Kame´s heart skipped a beat, as his imagination showed him Jin being hit and falling on the ground in a waterfall of blood. But when the echoes of three gunshots subsided, the young gunslinger was still riding forward. Within two heartbeats, he got into range too and Jin´s revolvers replied to the hostile greetings of the rifles.
The precise shooting of the young gunslinger, which didn´t lose anything from its lethal preciseness despite the inconvenient conditions, made the first gunman fall like a felled tree, with a gaping hole in his skull. The other one yelled in pain, as the red stain appeared on the shirt under his coat, spreading quickly. The third one dropped the rifle during a hasty attempt to reload it, as he was hit in a shoulder.
Only then, the rifleman intending to chase the younger Akanishi out of his poor hideout, noticed also the second part of their group, as Koki and Ryo started shooting as well, to drag the gunmen´s attention to themselves and away from Jin.
*
The gunmen started shooting first, but they were either blind or the older Akanishi had incredible luck, as the young gunslinger just kept riding forward and once his revolvers spoke it was met with a pained response from the men on the road. That youngster was damn good, shooting from the saddle like that and his horse even better, for not running wild.
"Take cover!" Harvey yelled, noticing the two masked riders approaching from the other side.
*
Somebody´s voice from the woods yelled an order to retreat. Cowering under the second set of shots coming from the lethal revolvers, the unwounded gunman and the other one, who could still move, retreated to the relative safety of the woods again, leaving their two fellows behind.
With the emptied revolvers in his hands, Jin reached the spot where the two men were bleeding heavily. Not paying them any attention, the older Akanishi dismounted Kuro in one swift move. With a hard smack, he sent the animal back and he literally jumped behind the tree, to the side of his brother, who stared at his sudden appearance in utter shock.
*
Harvey rushed forward and took a convenient position from which he could aim at the older Akanishi. But the youngster dismounted his impressive horse and hid on the other side of the road next to his brother, before Harvey could target him properly.
Four bullets mercilessly hit the poor wood, which covered the gunslinger in the last second and barely missed the fleeing stallion.
*
As soon as Jin disappeared from Kame´s sight on the side of the road, certainly to reload his lethal guns, the younger one turned Ukushi to the left, slowing down significantly. His heart was still beating as crazy, his hands shaking a little, but at that moment, he just had to calm down.
Trying hard to suppress his worries, he figured that since their enemies were occupied with both Akanishis, plus with Ryo and Koki rushing to them from the other side, he might just surprise them.
Ukushi proceeded through the woods slowly, her hooves avoiding the big dry sticks, which would have made too much noise. They continued alongside the road, while Kame tried to see through the play of shadows and sunlight to estimate the situation. The forest resonated with barrages of shots again, coming from here and there, depending on which side was ready at that moment.
Hoping the gunmen didn´t notice his maneuver, Kame dismounted Ukushi, leaving her behind one large ugly rock and ran closer. He managed to get to the backs of two gunmen who escaped from the road and he crouched behind a tree.
Kame took a deep breath, while pulling the revolver out of its sheath. But he wasn´t able to just shoot at them like that, from behind. He wanted to give them a chance to give up.
"Look out! There!"
Kame stiffened a little, but the warning wasn´t related to him – one of the gunmen noticed a blonde head between the trees. So, Ryo and Koki sneaked inside the woods too, he figured and carefully aimed at the gunmen, who were getting ready to welcome other uninvited participants of the reunion on the road.
"Drop your weapons!" he exclaimed, leaning out from his cover.
He startled them for sure, but hearing his voice the gunmen didn´t freeze up. They turned and immediately started to shoot. Kame hid quickly and waited until the gunshots died out, his face darkening – as much as he hated any needless bloodshed, he was ready to protect himself.
Jumping up from the other side of the tree, he fired. His bullet hit one of the men right to the chest and left him lying motionless. The other was killed by Ryo the moment his focus was on Kame. Koki, who acted as a decoy, popped out from behind another tree as well, waving with the rifle he took from the third gunman, who was hiding nearby.
Three young gunslingers looked at each other over the dead bodies wordlessly, when just another deafening bang resonated in the valley.
*
With a loud grunting and puffing, Duggan made his way through the low spruces, ending up at Harvey´s cover spot, and leant on the rifle.
"What the fuck is going on?!" the gunman snapped at the hunter.
"Shut up!" Ralph snapped angrily. He had a bad feeling and didn´t want to reveal his position. Those two youngsters left the horses on the road and rushed somewhere to the right. Both sides of the road kept exchanging more of warning shots than serious ones and Harvey was still missing something on the scene.
"I´m not taking any orders from you!" Duggan even raised his stupid voice.
"I said shut up, you dumbass!" the bounty hunter grunted annoyed.
"Hands up!!"
Shit, I so knew it, Harvey grunted in his mind and raised both hands in the air, realizing he was not careful enough to watch his back – he knew there were more of them than just Leo´s brother and those two with the scarves over their faces. Duggan was not so wise though and turned with the rifle in his hands.
"I said…"
Harvey couldn´t help but flinch a little, when there was a loud shot right behind his back.
"…hands up," the ice-cold voice finished.
The former sheriff of Leadville growled and when Harvey carefully glanced to his side, he saw how the man spat out a waterfall of blood and then fell with his face right into the pile of dry needles.
"I´ll gladly do the same with you, if you try anything!" a harsh voice spoke above Harvey´s head.
You´ll do it anyway, but I might try… Harvey thought gloomily, as he let his revolver drop to the ground.
*
Everything happened so quickly that Ryo couldn´t even start to worry.
It ended up with four bodies among the trees, two on the road. Cullen dragged Harvey, who was the only one who surrendered, out from his hideout to the road, while Jin and Leo appeared on the other side. He and Koki approached the same spot, after they gathered the horses, while Kame with Ukushi rode to the woods to get Jane.
They gathered in the middle of the road, with the pools of blood soaking into the earth just a foot away from them. Cullen made Harvey kneel, keeping the rifle aimed at his head. Leo, with a disbelieving expression, was still gasping for breath and trying not to put much weight on his left leg, his trousers soaking with blood. Jin, with suspiciously dark color of his left sleeve, checked on the bodies on the road, if there was really no life left in them. Koki and Ryo were tying the horses together with Kuro, who came back as soon as the gunshots died down.
"There´s Duggan, that former Sheriff from Leadville, and three other men in the woods – is that all of them?" Cullen looked at baffled Leo, who just managed to nod.
"Well, that was some surprise ambush, guys, wasn´t it?" Koki noted with a little crazy grin.
"When? How? I don´t…" Leo was obviously helpless about understanding what just happened in front of his eyes.
Before anyone else could move, the older Akanishi returned the emptied revolvers back to their places in the belt sheaths and turned to his sweaty brother. Without a word, Jin made three fast steps, crossing the space between him and Leo, and with all force he had, he hit the chin of Riders´ leader. The blow sent Leo down to the ground, where he ended up sitting in the mud, just when the white mare returned to the road, with Kame and Jane in the saddle.
"Hey!" Koki yelled surprised, but Cullen and Ryo saw Leo´s face, before the hit fell – the younger Akanishi expected it and did nothing to avoid it.
Harvey snickered, and to his luck, nobody noticed it, as everybody was watching the two brothers – the older one standing above the younger as a huge complaint. Leo held his chin, repaying Jin´s stare for a long moment. Then Jin moved again, but this time he reached out with his right hand and after a short hesitation, Leo accepted it. The older Akanishi pulled his brother up on his legs again.
"You deserved it, stupid Brother," Jin announced.
"I know," Leo admitted quietly.
Cullen and Ryo looked at each other, more than relieved. Their reunion was complete with Kame stopping Ukushi behind kneeling Harvey. The youngster left Jane sitting in the saddle, and dismounted throwing his leg above the mare´s head. Then he passed between Cullen and Ryo, who still kept their guns in hands, not feeling secure enough.
Within a second, Kame was in front of Jin, who turned toward him, not suspecting anything. The young man shoved Akanishi with both hands with such a force, that it made the older one stagger a few steps back.
"You idiot!" Kame snapped angrily and shoved him again. "What were you thinking?! You wanted to get yourself killed?!"
Jin just barely stayed on his feet, but didn´t defend himself in front of Kame´s angry outburst, too surprised. The younger one was breathing heavily, not pushing Jin away anymore, but still staring at him. Leo, Cullen, Koki, Ryo, Jane and even Harvey observed the scene speechless.
"Kame… I didn´t…" Akanishi tried to justify himself, without much success.
"Think, right?!" the younger one cut in, snapping again. "I thought so!"
After a short deafening silence, Kame looked down from Jin´s face and he noticed the color of his coat.
"You´re even bleeding!"
Even more upset, Kamenashi turned on his heels and returned to his mare, to get the medical stuff from the saddle. From some reason, nobody dared to say anything. Only Jane was watching the younger one pulling the bandages out with unspoken understanding.
*
Harvey couldn´t help but chuckle. What a lovely scene that was. First, Leo Akanishi scolded by his older brother as a little kid. And then, the very same person getting the similar treatment from an even younger man. Harvey knew from the very start that Kamenashi had balls…
"What the hell are you laughing about?" one of his captors, the blonde one, hissed and poked the muzzle of the rifle in his back painfully.
"That humor will leave him, you´ll see," the older Rider noted darkly.
Of course, Harvey could imagine that himself. Since all of them had their faces uncovered now, there was no chance they would have let him live.
Damn Tabor with all his money... Seeing nothing positive in his non-existing future now, Harvey realized he quite liked his life and was not very happy to give up on it already. Damn it, really…
*
"Leo? What about him?" Koki pointed at the kneeling hunter, after Kame finished the provisional binding of the leader´s leg wound and moved on to the older Akanishi, who seemed to be quite dumbfounded.
"We should get rid of him right now," Cullen assumed coldly, his rifle long ready for the task.
Leo limped closer. Harvey looked up and his eyes connected with the young leader for a long moment. Leo saw that he was not afraid – the bounty hunter was disappointed, pissed and tired, but not afraid.
"Just tie him to some tree nearby and leave him there," he said from the sudden impulse.
"WHAT?" Ryo and Koki reacted with an equal shock, their jaws dropping down.
"You´ll let him go?" Jin, letting Kame check on the ugly scratch on his shoulder, almost glad for some distraction, frowned as well.
"What the hell are you thinking?" Ryo burst out angrily.
"He saw all of us!" Koki joined him. "He killed our friends!"
The bounty hunter seemed to be the most surprised of all, but said nothing at all.
"Why?" Esler asked seriously, narrowing his look. "What makes you let him live, Leo?"
The Rider´s leader kept looking in the hunter´s eyes seriously, when he replied: "I owe him for Jane´s life… She would be dead if not for him."
Esler turned to look at Jane, who was still sitting on the mare´s back, silently soothing her neck, but her eyes focused on Leo. She didn´t say anything, as he expected she would. Jane was usually the one to talk Leo out of any nonsense, but not in this case it seemed.
"But with this, we´re settled, Harvey," Leo added, turning away from the shocked bounty hunter.
*
They had to drag all the bodies deeper into the woods, but still close to Harvey´s ´resting´ spot, and cover them with some branches. Then, while Kame, Jane with a sprinkled ankle and Esler remained with the bounty hunter and the horses, slightly limping Leo led Ryo, Koki and Jin to the encampment on the hill, which was not so far away, as they intended to take anything useful from there.
Ralph didn´t understand at all. He was so surprised that he didn´t manage to say a single word. Only after they really tied him up to the tree, quite painfully, not far from the road, he was willing to believe Akanishi´s decision.
He observed his company, distrusting their obedience quite a bit. That oldest Rider didn´t look to be any fun, as he stood there, leaning over the tree and staring at him all the time. The sneaky woman was resting on the old stump and then there was Kamenashi, who was reloading a pair of revolvers.
"Who would say we´ll meet again so soon, Kamenashi," Ralph noted.
The youngster eyed him with an unmoved expression: "I´m not interested in any conversation with you, Harvey."
"Too bad, I´m starting to get bored," the bounty hunter reacted disappointedly.
"Get used to it, I bet you´ll spend some time over here," the watching Rider hissed.
"You don´t think that it´s a very good idea to let me go, right?" Harvey noted.
"Good guess," the man reacted coldly.
Harvey was honestly curious; the arrangement in their gang was just strange.
"So, what is it about that Akanishi brat that you follow up with his whims?"
All three of them stabbed him with their eyes.
"I advise you to shut up, Harvey, or I might reconsider my obedience to our leader within two seconds as I´ll pull the trigger," the Rider informed him.
Harvey eyed the man, still at loss. It was incredible, that they were willing to let him go just because their honest Leo Akanishi said so.
"Or I´ve got another idea," the Rider continued. "Leo didn´t say anything about not hurting you, so… What about I´ll cut your tongue out?"
Harvey´s face turned quite pale – that man seemed to be absolutely serious.
"Ehm, well… I can assure you that´s not necessary. I´ve had enough troubles with you, and got paid for it already. I don´t mean to get in your way anymore."
"That´s a song you should have sung from the very start," the gunman grinned in a very scary way.
*
Once the others got back, with two spare horses too, the younger Akanishi approached the bounty hunter with a strange expression in his face.
"Sooner or later someone will find and untie you," Leo said. "Or not; that´s not my problem anymore. But do not ever come after me again, Harvey."
The hunter was repaying that serious look wordlessly, wondering just what could make that youngster to be… to be the way he was.
"Koki, cover his eyes," Akanishi asked the youngster standing nearby and turned away.
Harvey stared at that unusual young man and something made him speak for one more time: "Akanishi – just a friendly advice."
Leo Akanishi turned with his eyebrows raised, while his Riders stared at the hunter in a very hostile way, including the blonde one preparing a long strip of dark cloth.
"I´m surprised about you using a friendly word towards me, but I´m listening," Leo reacted carefully.
"Nobody has ever surprised me as you did today. Or maybe you´re just plain stupid, I don´t know," Harvey laughed shortly.
The blonde Rider approached Harvey with a clear intention to hit, but his young leader stopped him with a raised palm: "And?" he asked.
"I might give up on you," Harvey continued. "It seems to me that the reward on your head is not worth of all those troubles… But Tabor will never let you go."
"Are you planning on helping him out with it?" Akanishi asked coldly.
"Well, I don´t think so..." the bounty hunter admitted with a weird smirk. "Tabor doesn´t like mishaps, and considering how your capture worked out, he might want his money back. Well… I suppose I should rather avoid Denver for a while."
"Oh, really?" the black-haired Rider, standing behind his blonde companion, snorted. "Nice speech for a bloody bounty hunter."
"You don´t have to believe me," Harvey would have shrugged, if the ties were not so firm, preventing him from it. "It´s the risk you take since you´re letting me live."
"That´s right… I do," Leo confirmed with that incredible certainty. "For the first and last time... Goodbye, Harvey."
***
Exhausted, aching, thirsty and hungry, but relieved, the Black Riders left the spot of the bloody clash long after lunchtime. To confuse Harvey, who was surely listening to where they would go, they headed to the south through the forest first, before returning to the right west direction. For the return journey, they agreed on avoiding the road as much as was possible, and with a half of their group wounded, they proceeded quite slowly and did not get far.
They stopped very early, with a few hours of daylight still left from that day, as they really needed some rest. Cullen found a convenient spot on a small glade, far off the road, hidden behind the thick bushes and high rock.
*
Leo felt as if he was dreaming, until Jin hit him. That blow assured him that the shootout between his dear Riders and Harvey´s men was a bloody reality. They really came to rescue him and Jane, following them all that way, not giving up on him, despite his stupidity.
He was sitting on an old stump, feeling dizzy from the loss of blood, watching somewhat slow activities in their small temporary camp.
Cullen was commanding grumpy Koki to take a proper care of the horses, while Ryo was setting up a fire, carefully picking up some dry sticks, not to cause too much of dark smoke. Kame was cleaning and rebinding up Jin´s wound so firmly, it was a wonder there was any blood left in his brother´s arm. Leo didn´t wonder that Jin didn´t dare to complain; the younger one could be quite terrifying when he was angry… And his brave Jane, his love which he had almost lost… She was preparing some meal for everybody from their supplies, smiling at him when she noticed Leo´s glance. The brunette didn´t comment on his decision to let Harvey go yet, but somehow, Leo felt she was glad he did it. The members of their gang could be described with many words, but they were not cold-blood murderers.
Leo watched all those little scenes and felt happy. He had the best friends, brother and girlfriend ever. If he was not too ashamed for that, he would have cried.
*
When everyone finally gathered around the small campfire, they sat down very quietly. Not because there would be nothing to say; they were just too tired, and they had to focus all their remaining energy to stay awake. Jane divided some dried beef, tough cheese and pieces of bread between everyone and they chewed on it in deep silence for a while.
"Thank you," Leo stated suddenly, turning a piece of bread in his fingers sheepishly. "Thank you, guys. I didn´t even hope…"
"Well, we couldn´t let our most beautiful member get hurt, right?" Ryo, already finished with his dinner and altering the fire, complimented Jane with a wide grin.
"Oh, thank you for remembering me as well," the brunette smiled playfully, while Leo seemed to be little aggrieved.
"You´re very welcome, sweetheart," Ryo reacted before turning to the silent leader. "Leo, you didn´t really think we´d let you march to the gallows, did you?"
"Too soon for that, Chief," Koki nodded right away.
"But we might reconsider if you ever do something like that again," Jin, brushing the last crumbs from his trousers down, growled threateningly.
Leo sighed: "I just couldn´t…"
"…act otherwise," Cullen completed him quickly. "It was stupid and reckless, and I should have slapped you for it, but I suppose that hit from your brother was sufficient enough."
The silence fell on the little camp again, with just a breeze hustling in the treetops above them, while the deputy and the leader of the Riders exchanged the long looks.
"I´m sorry," Leo stated in a hoarse voice. "I´m really sorry, but I had to try it alone."
"We know that, Leo," Ryo reacted, without even a hint of smile this time.
"Yeah, we know, and in a way, I can even understand," Cullen continued less harshly. "We all voted for you to be the leader knowing what you´re like, so it´s too late to complain now."
"I wouldn´t have said it better," the black-haired one agreed.
Leo´s face brightened a little: "I…" he started, but once again, he wasn´t allowed to speak.
"But try something like that again and I´ll kill you myself," Cullen warned him in the end, making the young leader lower his head guiltily.
"After me, though," Jin insisted right away.
"I wouldn´t risk that, they sound serious," Ryo winked at their unhappy leader.
"No need to worry, I´d have defended you, Leo," the blonde Rider announced proudly.
"And that was supposed to calm Leo down?" Ryo raised an eyebrow, calling up a nearest stick on his head.
"Dickhead," Koki expressed his opinion about such a taunting.
"The main thing is that you´re both all right," Kame said quietly and both Leo and Jane looked at him gratefully for saying something nice at last.
"That´s right!" Koki joined him, got up and started digging in one of the rucksacks, which they packed with the stuff they took from the dead gunmen. "Which means we have to… celebrate!" victoriously, he pulled out a big bottle of something suspiciously dark.
After a short incredulous silence, Ryo started to laugh and at the same time search for some cups, into which they could pour the liquid. Cullen face palmed himself, murmuring something over the young people´s disability to read any atmosphere. Jane reached out and took Leo´s hand into hers. He repaid her smile and hugged her shoulders tightly. And Jin found himself unsuccessfully trying to catch Kame´s look, as the younger one seemed to be busy with the fireplace, his face unreadable…