The last campfire

It took three long and very tense seconds before an unknown person hiding in the dark place under the group of cranberry bushes moved again, causing the leaves to shake violently.

"Slowly," Jin emphasized with his gun directed on the stranger. He didn´t like any unexpected visits and he intended to demonstrate it more than clearly.

The dark green wall went apart and somebody stood up from the ground, where the man was lying till that moment. Both Kame and Jin gaped in shock.

"Liwan?!" Kame exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

The shaman´s son was obviously not happy from being discovered and was frowning as hell, not very willing to respond.

"Well... That´s clear, isn´t it?" Jin hissed scornfully, not frightened by the Indian´s expression at all, and lowered his revolver down, but didn´t put it away. "He was spying on us."

Finally, the Indian spoke after Jin´s accusation, but in his mother tongue. Kame listened to him, but Jin was only more pissed by the attitude of the red spy.

"Kame, can you ask him to be so kind and speak in English?" he suggested, while piercing Liwan with his eyes. "I know he´s able to."

Kame looked at him and hesitated for a while, but then he nodded in agreement: "You´re right… Liwan?"

The red man frowned even more, so that his eyebrows almost touched above the long nose, and mumbled something in the Indian language again. Even Kame got irritated after that.

"You´re not in the position to insult him," he said coldly.

The younger´s reaction surprised the Indian; Jin could see it in his face.

"Be so nice and explain your reasons for being here," Kame continued sharply.

If the bartender had used this tone towards him, Jin wouldn´t have dared to object a thing. And not surprisingly, it had the same effect on the Indian.

"I heard shooting," Liwan said slowly. "I came to check it."

"So, you were not spying on us?" Jin asked suspiciously.

"Just checking," Indian repeated with the angry shine in his dark eyes.

Not being convinced so easily, Jin reacted by the next question: "What are you doing so far away from your village then?"

It could be seen on Kame, that he would like to know the answer to this question as well. Liwan´s expression changed and he got a little nervous, avoiding looking at Kame.

"You came to check up on me, right?" Jin asked again with a knowing smirk.

"Is it true?" Kame asked his friend, understanding exactly what Jin meant.

Liwan was looking at them blankly for a while, before nodding his head.

"Flying Feather ordered to watch over him," he admitted unwillingly.

Jin was not surprised at all, but Kame was...

"Why?" the younger one asked bitterly. "He gave Jin the permission for this hunt."

"To be sure," the Indian replied haughtily. "We don´t know him and we must be careful. And you should not be here, Kame. You were told not to involve with him."

Jin stared at the Indian almost amazed by his honesty. Then he glanced at Kame, whose expression wasn´t telling anything good.

"It´s only my business what I do, Liwan," he declared in a very calm voice, which sounded somewhat dangerous. "I´m responsible for myself and Flying Feather is aware of that."

Unlike Jin, Liwan didn´t like Kame´s reaction, but he didn´t start to argue with him. That was a wise decision to make, considering the coldness of Kame´s attitude. Instead of any next objections, the Indian shifted his sharp look at Jin.

"So... Shooting? Why?" he asked shortly.

Jin was repaying his glance for a while, before he responded.

"You can look at it yourself if you want..."

*

Jin felt quite a satisfaction, seeing their spy thunderstruck by the corpse, to which they led him. The Indian huffed a few times, went around the bear and checked the cut off head closely.

"Only two shots?" he asked then.

"Yes," Jin confirmed concisely, still amazed by this fact himself.

Liwan mumbled something, what Jin didn´t understand, but considering Kame´s satisfied expression, it wasn´t anything he should have been insulted about. The young shaman stood up.

"Good age. Good fur," he acknowledged with a serious nod.

From the sudden impulse, Jin spoke again, before even thinking about the idea: "You can have it."

Liwan´s and also Kame´s eyes went wide hearing his words.

"What?" the Indian obviously didn´t understand.

"That bear," Jin explained more clearly. "I will take the head only, so your tribe can have the rest. It would be a huge waste to let it rot here. You will use it properly, right?"

The red man looked like somebody who was just told that the sun is not the sun, but the moon. Kame approached Jin with a confusion written over his face.

"Do you mean it, Jin?" he asked, not being able to cover his surprise.

"Of course," he shrugged. "What would I do with the whole bear? I can´t make Kuro to drag it all the way back to the city. He wouldn´t have let me ride on him for a month!"

Kame knew that the Blackfeet Tribe would use the fur and meat from the grizzly king more than well, especially when the winter was coming, and he was pleasantly surprised by Jin´s gesture. He didn´t have to propose something like this. The Indians didn´t trust him, he had no reason for helping them out and even though he did... Jin was really an interesting man.

Kame looked back at silent Liwan, who wasn´t able to recover from the sudden offer yet.

"Well?" Jin raised his eyebrows. "You don´t want it?"

"No fun?" Liwan needed to be sure.

"No fun," Jin confirmed.

Only then, the Indian nodded his head: "I appreciate it. I will bring my people here soon."

"Fine."

Short silence followed. Jin pretended to check the precious rifle, while Kame did quite an obvious gesture towards his friend.

"Uhm... Thank you," Liwan overcame his pride and finally said it.

Jin raised his head with a very satisfied smile: "You´re welcome."

*

In the end, Liwan even helped them to finish the preparation of the grizzly head for taxidermy. He altered the edges of the cut and put it into the huge sac, which was powdered with the salt inside. That was supposed to protect the head against putrefaction.

All three of them cooperated on hiding the corpse into a natural hollow in the woods, covering it with many branches. The Indian promised he would bring the members of his tribe quickly and they would do the rest. Then Liwan said goodbye to both hunters, nodding his head towards Jin in appreciation again and they were left alone.

Kame watched the figure of his friend, until he disappeared from their sight on the opposite side of the brook. Then he looked at Jin, who was carrying all their stuff, from the rifle to axe, not to mention the bear´s head as well. Because of the sprinkled ankle, the older one let Kame have only the revolvers, even though he tried to argue with him. The better Kame got to know the young avenger, the more he liked him.

"I think that we can have that coffee finally, if you want," he proposed, when they set off on the way back to the camp.

"You have no idea how much," Jin reacted gratefully.

*

An alluring smell flying in the air made Jin even hungrier then he already was. They ate practically nothing since the previous evening and he almost couldn´t bear it anymore. He even envied their horses, which were taken care of as usually.

But he had to admit, that the meal and coffee which Kame prepared for them were definitely worth that crazy hunt and the wait for it. With his stomach full and with the hot dark drink filling in his energy deficit, it felt really great to see the precious bag with the bear´s head put aside in the cave.

The evening of the thrilling day came very fast...

The young hunters were sitting on one log near the fire, under the open sky this time, leaning on the other´s back. They didn´t see each other like that, but the more they perceived the presence of the other. And of course, it was more comfortable like that, having something solid behind. They didn´t even talk about it, they just did it and realized only after, how close they happened to be. But none of them wanted to change it.

"Did the Tribal Chief really tell you not to involve with me?" Jin asked all of the sudden.

Kame kept silent for a while and took a sip from the bottle of water first, before replying:

"Yes. He said that I´ll get myself into troubles... And don´t ask me why I didn´t listen, I´ve already explained myself to you."

"I didn´t want to ask about that," came Jin´s reaction.

"Good."

"But do I really seem so... Dangerous?" he asked uncertainly.

Kame laughed a little, so Jin felt the shaking of his body on the back.

"Sometimes," the younger one admitted. "But you definitely do dangerous things."

"I´d rather not to do them," Jin reacted almost sadly. "I didn´t think that I would end up like this. But after everything what happened..." the sentence ended unfinished.

One dry stick in their fire, which they kept quite big this time, cracked loudly. Kame moved his head a little, checking up on it and then he tried to see something from Jin´s face, but he was firmly turned forward, so he couldn´t see anything.

"You don´t have to talk about it if you don´t want to," Kame said quietly.

"No," there was an immediate response. "I think it´s my turn now."

Jin put something out from his pocket. When Kame felt that the older one gulped down, he knew that it was definitely his flask with the mysterious alcohol.

"God, this is so good..." Jin mumbled and without moving anything else except his arm, he offered it to Kame across their shoulders.

Kame took it into his hand and had a little sip. It wasn´t that horrible as for the first time, but still...

"I´ll never get used to it," he complained grinning.

"Never say never," Jin said, taking the flask back.

Short silence followed, during which Jin leant back even more, relying on Kame´s support fully. The younger one did the same, so the balance was restored and it felt quite comfortable for both.

"We used to be quite poor," Jin started in a quiet voice. "My father spent all savings on the search for gold. An unsuccessful search, of course," he added bitterly. "He was very short-tempered, got angry easily, because of any tiny problem, and you can imagine what it was like in our household thanks to it. It went even worse, when he finally brought home some money. It was when he started working for Karnaka..."

Kame stiffened hearing that.

"So, your father was one of Karnaka´s gunmen?" he asked, feeling the strange tension in his whole body.

"Yes..." Jin confirmed slowly. "I´m sorry I didn´t tell you about it before but..."

"You thought that I would judge you because of it?" Kame finished Jin´s thought.

Jin fidgeted a little, but kept leaning over Kame´s back: "Yeah, something like that..."

"It was your father working for Karnaka," Kame said quietly. "Not you."

"I´m glad you take it like that..." Jin said with a relieved exhale. "Well, he changed after that. He was unendurable. Only after his death, I figured out that he was probably eating himself from inside out because of the guilt. He felt guilty about that job and he wanted to drown it in alcohol. Then he usually got angry, came home and beat me up, because I was trying to protect my brother and mother from him..."

Jin was speaking in bitter and disgusted tone.

"I don´t know what exactly he was doing for Karnaka, but it was nothing good. But my mother... Despite all of this... She still loved him. And she relied on him, she had to, he was still bringing money for food so... And then..."

Jin stopped talking for a while and took a long gulp of the stinky liquid.

"My mother suffered for so many years, trying to fulfill his each wish. Then she got sick, and she wasn´t able to serve him as usual and he... He accidentally killed her, when he was drunk. She fell on the corner of the table and hit her head..." Jin finished that sentence with his voice broken.

Kame was not able to find any words to react on something like that. He was just listening to Jin´s story with his face turned to the dark woods, feeling the warm of the fire on his right cheek, while Jin could see the dark shadows of their loyal horses in the cave on the other side and the fire was lighting his face from the left.

Jin bent his elbow and handed the precious flask over to the younger one again, touching his shoulder with it. When Kame reached for that killing liquid, his fingers touched Jin´s ones shortly and from some reason, it brought shivers into his stomach. He gulped down a little from the flask to push that strange feeling away. But it didn´t help, he felt Jin behind, leaning on him, even more significantly after that.

"He wasn´t able to deal with it," Jin continued almost angrily. "And he killed himself after that. To be honest, I would have done it myself, if he didn´t. He was nothing but a wreck."

Jin was telling the pure truth, Kame was sure about it. Even though Jin was speaking so hatefully about his own father, he couldn´t judge him.

"All of this left a mark on my brother. I couldn´t keep an eye on him all the time and he ran off eventually. I don´t even know where he is now. Till what happened with Pi, I put all the blame on my father. But after I had found my best friend hanging from the gallows... Unjustly condemned..." Jin´s voice was harsh and bitter. "I couldn´t do anything to help him. If only I didn´t leave the town then..."

Kame gave him the flask back and Jin drank from it immediately.

"I´m sorry for your mother and friend, Jin..." he said slowly.

"Thank you..." Jin gave the little bottle back to him once again and looked into the fire. "I have never seen him, but I hate him," he stated after a while.

Even without a name, Kame knew very well, whom Jin had on his mind. He turned a little and Jin understood that he wanted to move, so he stopped leaning back. Kame sat straight towards the fire and turned his head to Jin.

"I do appreciate that you want to do something about all that shit, Jin," he stated seriously.

The older one looked at him and Kame recognized the huge pain deep in his eyes.

"How can I do nothing about it? How can I let unpunished everything that fucker did?"

"It´s not like I think you should," Kame shook his head a little. "What I mean that most of people rather shut up or run off. No matter how much injustice was caused to them. Nobody wants to involve into some bad things with Karnaka... Even I was too cowardly to do anything..." he finished bitterly.

"That´s not true!" Jin put his feet down from the log and turned to Kame hastily. "You´re not coward, Kame. It´s ridiculous to say something like that, especially after today. And you had good reasons for not going after Karnaka. You didn´t want to put your mother in danger. That´s completely understandable!"

"I know but..." Kame breathed out heavily. "Sometimes, I feel so angry at myself... It´s like I´m only looking for the excuses to keep myself out of troubles."

Jin put his hand on Kame´s shoulder and squeezed him so hard that it made the younger one look at him. Sinking into the dark eyes, Kame could see the small fires reflecting in them.

"We will make him pay together, all right?" Jin stated firmly. "For everything he ever did."

Jin´s touch was pleasant, assuring and made almost all Kame´s depressing thoughts go away like by a charm. They both intended to accomplish something very dangerous, but having the other on their side, it felt like they were able to do it no matter what.

Feeling a little better, Kame nodded his head slowly.

"We will," he whispered.

The older one´s face brightened up with a smile and he looked so handsome in yellow light of the fire, that Kame held his breath for a second. He didn´t quite understand, just where from those feelings inside of him were coming.

Jin Akanishi was an attractive man; that was for sure, but still, Kame didn´t know him for that long to be influenced by his mere presence so much. It was not that he would not have heard about more than friendly relationships between two men. In truth, Kame actually knew about this topic quite a lot.

Once he was a witness to an Indian ritual, which was supposed to ensure the success of buffalo hunting and the homosexual acts were almost inevitable part of it. Kame was quite confused about it, until Shaman explained to him that the Indian tribes usually consider the love relations between two men as something special. These persons were called the ´Two-Spirit´ individuals and in the shamans´ cases, such a relationship was even supposed to increase their powers and abilities to talk with the spirits.

So, Kame took the men´s love as something natural from that time on. Only later he had found out, that in the world of white men, homosexuality was considered as something sick, as some disease. And despite that, even Grenet was rumored to behave unusually regarding his relationships with men.

But it never crossed Kame´s mind that he would have found such an interest in the young gunslinger. What Jin´s closeness awoke inside him was... So sudden, and Kame didn´t know how to deal with it.

He realized that Jin didn´t move with his hand away yet. His grip around Kame´s shoulder tightened instead and something appeared in the other´s eyes, something what made Kame feel... hot.

Both guys were staring at each other, captured in the moment of connection, which didn´t let them even blink.

As if he was caught at something, suddenly Jin retreated from the younger one hastily and got up to add some wood to the fire. Kame gulped down heavily and only then he realized there was still Jin´s flask of home-made alcohol in his hand.

*

Jin threw some sticks into the hungry flames and watched the tiny sparkles to fly up before they disappeared. He heard his own heart beating heavily and felt the strange shivers in his stomach. Even though he wasn´t sitting next to Kame anymore, he felt the warmness of the younger´s body, as if he was still touching him. He was confused by the feeling, which flooded him only moments ago.

Kame was too handsome for a man, everybody could see it. He was helping him a lot and Jin knew that he became his friend in no time. But... But that something what he felt inside, that urge to touch the younger one, to be close to him, that was something what he did not expect. He didn´t feel anything like this over the years he was spending his time with his best friend Yamapi.

Jin liked the women´s company, he had already had a few of them in his bed and it was always more than a pleasant time. So, it didn´t come to his mind, that he would have ever be attracted to a man. And despite that...

It was hard to admit, but Jin knew that what he felt was attraction toward the slim bartender. And it scared him. Such relations between men were not something what was accepted as normal in the world around them.

"Jin..."

The older one jerked his head to the owner of the quiet voice.

"Here..." Kame was giving him his flask back, which he completely forgot about for a moment. "You should save it for worse times."

Jin avoided looking in Kame´s eyes, but he went back to the log.

"Thanks," he took the flask from him so clumsily, that it almost fell down.

He rather drank from it right away, hoping that the liquid would make him feel a little calmer.

"I think..." Jin started.

"We should..." Kame spoke at the very same moment.

They looked at each other, their eyes connected again and then they laughed awkwardly. Jin scratched his head and slowly sat down beside the younger one again.

"Look, I propose to finish this," he shook with the small bottle a little. "And go to sleep."

"Agreed," Kame nodded smiling.

Jin forced the flask back into his hand, and tried hard to ignore his tight throat.

Kame took a gulp from the rest of the alcohol without any arguments now. Despite the awful taste, he was grateful for the little flask that evening. If it wouldn´t be for the alcohol, which calmed him down somehow, he was quite sure he wouldn´t get any proper sleep at all.

He still felt a strange tension deep in his chest, when he and Jin prepared to go to sleep and he was able not to pay an attention to it only thanks to the calming dizziness.

They lay down next to each other again, but not so close as the previous evening, and with a wish of good night, they closed their eyes. Neither of them knew that a distance between them would not be any help. They cuddled close to each other in their sleep without even knowing it.

***

Jin felt some faint pleasant fragrance in his nose and curious about what it was, he opened his eyes. And he found his face buried into the hair of the young bartender, who was sleeping peacefully right next to him. He immediately felt the blood flooding his face.

What the hell? What was I doing in the night to be so close to him?

Jin moved away guiltily and sat up. Calming himself down a little, he checked their surroundings and...

"Oh, no!"

Kame was woken up by a loud complaint. He moved and opened his eyes worried. Checking his left side, where he felt some movement, he found out that Jin put the blanket over his face.

"What is it?" he asked confused.

An unsatisfied mumble came from behind the cloth. Kame looked around and he figured out, what was the reason of Jin´s bad mood right in the morning. It was raining again.

He looked at the drops going down across the cave´s entrance and at the wet ashes, which was left from their campfire and before he could help it, he started laughing.

Jin peeked out at him, pushing the blanket away a little.

"I have no idea what the hell you consider so funny about this ugly weather," he stated insulted.

"You," Kame reacted. "You´re incredible."

Jin sat up: "I´m not sure if I should take it as a compliment or insult."

"You can take it however you like," Kame reacted calmly, glancing at the scruffy guy.

"That´s all right, then..." Jin rather didn´t poke in the topic anymore.

The raining was creating a quiet sound of fizz all around, and the air was cold but fresh and felt nice. And it was so calm everywhere…

Jin sighed. It was a shame that their hunting trip came to its end.

Kame sat up too, with a worried expression.

"Jin? What is it? I didn´t mean it in a bad way, you know?"

"It´s not that," the older one replied gloomily. "I just don´t want to go back yet..."

***

But they had to leave the peaceful forest, of course. Kame couldn´t stay wandering in the woods anymore. Mr. Harada was supposed to come back into the city the very next day and he needed to be there. And as for Jin, he had to present his gift as soon as possible, before it would become useless.

It took them a few hours of fast ride through the woods, even though they could use a shortcut instead of following the playful stream this time and they reached Kame´s old home late in the afternoon. Kame showed Jin the hidden place for the rifles and they set off for the last part of their journey…

Kame stopped Ukushi right next to the huge oak, where they met almost a week ago and Jin noticing it made Kuro stop on the place, too. It was still raining slightly, but that could change into a pouring rain within minutes, considering the heavy clouds above them.

"We should go back separately," Kame said quietly, with the wide hat on his head, covering his face with the dark shadow. "To keep any suspicions away, you know..."

"Yeah, of course," Jin nodded, but couldn´t held back the disappointment from parting his way with Kame. "You go first. I´ll wait here for a while."

"Are you sure?" Kame incited his mare to get closer to him. "I already know how much you dislike the rain," he looked at the older one, shifting his hat back a little.

"Yes, I´ll be fine," Jin reacted. "Somebody has to let me into my room anyway."

"All right, thanks," Kame nodded gratefully. "I think that if you wait for a half an hour, it will be enough."

"Thank you once again, Kame," Jin said seriously. "Without you, I think I would have ended up as a bear´s snack."

"You´re welcome, Jin. Just be careful."

"I will be..."

Kame moved his head in the last greeting and asked Ukushi to move by a gentle touch. Then Jin realized something suddenly and went after him hastily.

"Wait a second, Kame!"

"Yes?" the younger one turned Ukushi back.

"Well, I know it´s a little stupid, but... What is your complete name?" Jin asked quite ashamed.

Kame was staring at him blankly for a few seconds, before his lips created an amused smile.

"I didn´t even realize you don´t know it..."

"Well, I did..." the older one shrugged. "Right now. So?"

"That´s a secret," the young bartender replied calmly.

"What?" Jin exclaimed. "Come on, tell me!"

"And what for it?" the other one asked.

"You´re a blackmailer!" Jin snorted out.

"Only a small one," Kame grinned innocently.

"Fine," Jin huffed. "I won´t ask for any more free drinks."

"Never?" the bartender raised his eyebrow.

"Well..." Jin hesitated. "I will try. Hard."

Kame laughed: "You´re honest, at least. It´s Kamenashi. Kazuya Kamenashi."

"Kazuya..." Jin repeated the name quite surprised. "That´s nice... And it suits you."

Kame fidgeted in his saddle. Almost nobody called him like that, only his mother. But it wasn´t strange to hear it from Jin´s mouth. On the contrary, it brought a nice feeling to him.

"Well, thank you. So... See you soon," he said parting with Jin finally.

"See you!" Jin reacted and watched the younger one leaving toward the city.

Kazuya, he repeated for himself. Jin liked the way it sounded a lot. And he really didn´t understand, why he didn´t ask about that earlier.