Standing up together

The night was long and cold. The darkness echoed with the distant howling of lonely wolves and the chilly breeze whispered in the tops of thousands trees covering the Rocky Mountains.

For Jin, who didn´t feel the coldness of the outside world or hear the scary sounds of the nightlife around the village, the black hours passed away quickly. His sleep was deep and refreshing and when he came to his senses again, it felt like he finally slept properly for the first time in the whole month. Quite quickly, he also realized, what actually woke him up – it was a warm and soft hand at his forehead. It was not Liwan´s touch, he knew that for sure; the Indian´s approach was not so gentle. In that case, it had to be...

Before Jin gathered himself enough to open his eyes, the touch was gone and he just managed to spot the wigwam´s entrance moving a bit, as the fur was put back on its place.

He pulled the blanket away and dragged himself into the sitting position slowly, gritting his teeth. All his muscles protested, as they were tense after the long time spent motionless, not to mention the scabs, which strained his skin in a very unpleasant way. Jin was just sitting there for a few seconds, keeping his breathing shallow and waiting for his body to calm down a little. Then he looked around.

He was alone again. The fire in the middle of his temporary accommodation was almost burnt out, but still full of carbons, which kept the pleasant warmness inside. Except his own sleeping space, there were other two furs spread out on the ground, both with the blankets folded up and put to the side properly. Then his ears caught the sounds of two quiet voices from the outside.

Jin listened to them for a minute, getting upset because he didn´t understand a single word of the ongoing conversation and then his eyes fell on the pile of his stuff. He stared at it for a while before digging himself out of the warm blankets completely.

Except the bandages, he had his underpants on at least and some kind of shirt, which the Indian helped him to dress the day before. He needed the trousers, boots and coat, as he was sure that the outside´s temperature would not be something what would have made him happy.

As soon as Jin started to move, the new pinching of pain appeared on the places about which he thought that they left him alone already. But he refused to be discouraged and remaining on his four, he set off on the journey to the opposite side of the wigwam.

*

It took many very quiet, but also very vulgar words and much more energy than he had expected, but in the end he managed to dress himself in the spare trousers from his bag, warm vest and soft moccasins he found close to the exit, as he had no spare boots on his own. Then he tied a blanket around his shoulders closely and chose one thick stick from the pile near the fireplace.

After he found himself standing, leaning onto the provisional crutch heavily, as if he was a hundred-year-old man, staggering not very sure on his aching feet, he almost couldn´t believe it. He expected to be definitely scolded for this, but he didn´t care. His concentration on moving and getting up had only one clear goal. He needed to get out of this wigwam, he needed to approach those voices outside and he needed to see Kazuya...

Jin waited for a few more seconds, until his breath changed from the heavy panting to the usual one, but unfortunately it didn´t work out for his legs and arms, which kept shaking lightly from the sudden exertion. He ignored it stubbornly and filled with determination, he headed out.

*

Kame was poking into the cracking twigs to join them together onto the pile and make the awakening fire bigger. The mornings were gradually getting colder and colder; he felt the chilly air biting the skin of his unprotected hands. He was doing this task absent-minded, by habitual movements, while Liwan was preparing their breakfast on the huge flat stone nearby, putting the mallard eggs, dried strips of meat and some green herbs into the hand-made clay pan.

He was pondering gloomily about own feelings, even though he didn´t want to. His head was heavy, as well as his heart and he just wasn´t able to shake that layer of depression away, which was sticking to him as glue.

There was the empty hole inside of him, full of remorse and sorrow, which he couldn´t get rid of, and a weak voice of his mother was still resonating in his head. There was also the stone of black guilt, which was grinning at him in the form of Grenet´s face, reminding him everything what led to that emptiness, which was caused by the loss of his beloved Mum. And as an additional burden to all of this, every time he looked in the direction of the last standing wigwam, the shaky nervousness and tension appeared in his stomach.

Was it silly from him to avoid Jin like that? Or even cowardly?

From the depth of his whole being Kame wanted to see the older one, he wanted to be by his side, to take care of him, but at the same time he just couldn´t bear with his apologies or with his pity. He didn´t blame Jin for how all of this ended up. His inner self didn´t let Kame transfer the blame onto somebody else, even though he would have been probably relieved if he did. He knew that his own actions and decisions brought the lethal danger on his mother´s head, nobody´s else. Though, it was true that Jin´s presence was the very first impulse of all following happenings...

Kame didn´t know how to deal with himself, or even with his feelings towards the gunslinger, which he was trying to suppress in his troubled heart, to bury them so deep that he might be able to forget about them...

Meanwhile, the fire grew up cheerfully, spreading the pleasant warmness around. Kame put aside the short stick, which he used to alter the fireplace, and reached for the small kettle with water, placing it at the stone close to the flames. He was making sure that the bottle would not fall down, when something, what he spotted only by the corner of his eye, caught his attention.

Kame raised his head and his eyes went wide, seeing the staggering figure wrapped in the blanket, which was approaching the fireplace. The man´s face was contorted with huge effort to keep moving.

His body was faster than mind. Kame jumped up, rushed to Jin and supported him from the side exactly in the moment when the man´s legs buckled and almost commanded him to collapse. Kame caught Jin around the waist and grabbed his arm to keep the stumbling man steady.

"Damn it, Jin..." he huffed upset and led him to the log near the fireplace slowly, feeling the heavy shaking of older one´s body. "What do you think you´re doing?"

"You cannot keep me there forever," Jin responded already sitting, still out of breath, but his face was relieved and kind of satisfied, when he looked up to the younger one.

"You´re not supposed to move yet!" somehow Kame was not able to control himself, raising his voice up. "What if your wounds...!"

"Calm down, Kame," Liwan´s voice cut into his anger, as its owner just brought the full pan to the fire. "It is good that he can move himself."

"Almost himself," Jin grinned at the Indian suspiciously cheerful.

"Good mood is good too," Liwan said nodding calmly, while Kame was frowning not exactly happy about the agreement of those two. Without saying anything else, he returned to his place on the other side of the fire, and set his look at the kettle.

Liwan observed upset Kame for a while, after that he moved his look at Jin, whose grin was nowhere to be seen as he was watching the younger one with somewhat desperate expression, and coming to the quick resolution, the Indian straightened up on his feet.

"Can you watch over our breakfast, Kame? I will get more wood," not waiting for Kame´s reaction, whose head plopped up immediately, Liwan already moved away.

Kame opened his mouth to call after him at first, intending to go instead, but then he just replaced himself to the pan, with the gloomy expression, which he was trying to cover, knowing Jin´s eyes were on him.

One minute went by in the dead silence, disturbed only by cracking of the burning sticks and hissing of the heating-up meat.

"Can we talk?" Jin´s voice was hesitant, when he spoke finally, breaking the thick curtain between them.

"We´re talking," Kame murmured with his eyes still fixed at the content of the pan. Despite that he could almost literally feel Jin´s frown.

"Not like this."

"And how then?"

"You could look at me, for the start..."

Kame stiffened a little, still looking straight forward, but not actually seeing anything. Jin´s tone was not reproachful, just sad.

"Kazuya, please..."

That soft salutation finally made Kame focus at Jin. The young gunslinger was cringing there on the log, shaking a little, as he was probably feeling cold. No wonder after spending days in the warm wigwam. But he kept looking at Kame firmly and that worried wrinkle between his eyebrows eased up a little, when Kame repaid his glance.

"I know it won´t change anything, but I must say it again," the older one spoke in a serious voice. "I am so sorry about what happened, Kame. You can blame me whatever you like; I deserve it. I should have never dragged you into this."

As Jin continued talking, Kame was getting just angrier, until he almost snapped at him.

"And I have to say this again too, don´t I?" he reacted more loudly than necessary. "Stop apologizing, Jin! I have no smaller part of guilt in this than you!"

*

Hearing that piercing voice, Jin had the urge to make himself as small and invisible as possible, but it didn´t stop him from more talking.

"That´s not true," he objected Kame´s statement firmly, raising his voice up too. "It was me who wanted revenge. Me, who got caught as a complete idiot and you attracted the attention on yourself by rescuing me! If I didn´t...!"

Kame jumped up on his feet with such a sudden move, that next words choked in Jin´s throat.

"I was the one who dragged my mother to Bozeman in the first place!" he exclaimed. "I was the one resisting Grenet! I made him focus on me, not you!"

After the sound of yelling voice died out, they stared at each other, equally baffled by the sudden outburst. And into this thick silence, the calm voice involved once again: "And you are both stupid."

Both Kame´s and Jin´s head turned to Liwan, who threw the new load onto the pile of sticks and continued talking: "Why you two blame yourself for something what you did not do?" he asked sharply.

"You don´t understand this, Liwan!" Kame snapped, fighting with the flood of emotions burning in his chest.

"Is that so? I do not understand?" his friend repeated. "Well, did you take a gun and killed that good woman, your mother?" he asked caustically.

"It´s more complicated than that..." Jin murmured, also in the difficult match with his own feelings.

"I do not know about anything complicated here," Liwan replied coldly. "Did you know what that man will do beforehand? Could you do anything to stop him? You both know that all answers are ´no´."

"Liwan, I´m..."

"I did not finish yet!" the Indian interrupted Kame immediately. "More questions! You," he looked directly at Jin. "Did you force Kame to help you? He did it on his own will, didn´t he? Did you not have good reasons to go against that evil man? Did you not want to avenge your family and friend? Did you not want to protect others? What happened with your conviction that what you were doing was right?"

Jin stared at him dumbfounded, lost on words.

"And you," Liwan continued, looking at Kame now. "Did you not do everything to help your mother to get better? Did you not protect me in front of that man? Did you not do it because you protected the people you care about?"

The Indian stepped even closer to frozen Kazuya.

"And if you were in the same situation again, what would you do? Would you decide otherwise? Would you let him," Liwan pointed at Jin, "suffer on that place? Would you give him over? Or would you rescue him again?"

Kame was standing in front of his Indian friend motionless, his eyes shining, lips pressed together.

"Answer me, Kame," Liwan insisted. "Would you make same decision?"

"Leave me alone," the younger one whispered hoarsely, with a voice resonating in pain, which shook Jin from head to toes.

Then Kame moved faster than Liwan could do anything to stop him. He rushed away from them, reached Ukushi standing nearby under the trees and not caring that she didn´t wear a saddle, he jumped on her, turning her out of pueblo.

Both Jin and Liwan watched the slim figure leaving with worried expressions. Jin felt so damn helpless; he wanted to go after Kame, but he just knew he was not able to.

"Will you follow him?" he asked through a narrow throat, looking up to the frowning Indian.

Liwan thought about it for a while, before he shook his head: "He needs some time alone now...."

Jin nodded slowly, staring into the flames. Not that he disagreed with Liwan completely, but he was still worried as hell...

*

Even though the sun had no power to warm the air up anymore, the surprisingly shiny day was very nice and turned into the late afternoon slowly. The cool shadow covered the silent pueblo, bringing the first gust of the evening cold along.

Liwan was sitting nearby the fireplace in the comfortable position, focused at the shaving off the long cane, which he had made from one convenient stick. From time to time he raised his eyes up from work to check on the visitor of his home, as Akanishi was limping from one side of the village to another, unable to keep still. Walking was causing him pain, even though he did what he could to relieve his feet and stomach muscles. Liwan could see the young gunman´s inner fight in the tension of each his step, but the stubborn man kept moving anyway. At least he managed to make him wear the warm poncho, which was definitely more useful than the blanket he had before.

Liwan sighed a little, when he realized that he stopped counting Akanishi´s traces there and back again. He was worried for Kame too, but he didn´t let it be visible on his behavior. Akanishi´s case was the exact opposite...

He made the last long move to get rid of the sharp splinter, which was spoiling the lookout of the cane and got up. Akanishi, concentrated on his movements, didn´t notice him, until Liwan stepped right into his way. Only after that, his tired and haunted eyes focused on the Indian.

"Here," Liwan gave him the cane. "Try this instead of that stupid stick."

The white man stared at the thing in his hand, then at his face again, obviously surprised. He took the cane over from him a little hesitantly and changed it for that useless stuff he had been using so far. Then he tried a few steps around Liwan.

"It´s much better!" the gunslinger assumed cheerfully and looked at him. "Obrige tamaši, Liwan," he thanked him in the Indian´s language gratefully.

Now Liwan was the surprised one, that Akanishi bothered to remember it, but didn´t let it appear on his face, and he just nodded slowly.

"Do you think I can walk a little further?" the restless youngster proposed, trying to leave a full weight on the cane.

Liwan almost rolled his eyes over. Only his upbringing and steel habits make him keep his neutral face. This man just wouldn´t stay still even for a minute.

"Don´t go too far," he said. "Just so that I can hear you, if anything..."

Akanishi looked up again and grinned as a child: "Who would say you´ll be worried for me that much?"

"It is just because you are friend of Kame," he stated coldly, puckering his nose.

"Sure," Akanishi got more serious at the mention of the name, but kept smiling. "I´ll try it out more. Thanks once again."

Liwan pretended stopping to pay the other one an attention, as he went back to the fire, but he was watching the young man leaving the village very closely. He had to admit to himself, that he didn´t feel any grudge or animosity towards Akanishi anymore, even though he had a right for it. A little surprised, he realized that he even started to respect him. Not many people had this kind of willpower... Although, he was not sure about what exactly was propelling Akanishi forward so much.

*

That nice stick from Liwan made his walking much easier. Jin still felt the annoying itching and tension almost everywhere and he was already quite tired, but his joy from being able to move and walk himself was stronger.

He kept proceeding away from the village, through the grove of small trees, and then a little down the slope, enjoying the free movement. It was getting quite cold already, but he felt more than warm from the effort he exerted in making his muscles to move.

It was better than pondering other stuff, as for example, about his first real argument with Kazuya. Well, it was not exactly the argument, but they yelled at each other, moreover from the bad reasons. Liwan´s words really got to him; Jin knew the Indian had the point and that he shouldn´t feel guilty about how everything with his revenge worked out in the end. Nevertheless, he still felt like shit thinking about how Kame had to feel.

Upset that he was so hopeless and worried that something might have happened to Kame in this state, when the younger one was all alone, Jin didn´t notice that the grove already ended, until he stood up in front of the amazing sight, which at least for a while chased everything else from his mind away.

Already the view from the cliff, where Walker´s soldiers, Grenet´s men and Indians met up before, was something special, but this... It was hard to find the words for what his eyes saw.

The walk from the village took him some time, so the sun was already setting somewhere behind his back in the west. Its dark red shine was falling right on the sharp mountains in front of him in the east and south direction, changing their usually grey appearance into the beautiful play of crimson and shadows. Their peaks were already covered with the pure white snow, while their bases were sinking in deep dark shadows of the ocean of conifers, as the red sunshine was slowly proceeding up along the stone bodies.

That colorful picture was reflecting in the surface of the biggest lake Jin had ever seen. The water was unfolding far away, as well as to the sides, with the isle in the middle of it so small, that from this distance it looked like there was enough space only for two people standing. Above all of this, high above Jin´s head, the light clouds torn apart to small pieces, were completing the scenery with the mixture of red, orange, grey and dark blue colors.

The view was absolutely breath taking and Jin suddenly felt so incredibly small, being so tiny part of those mountains, of the nature and the whole earth. He was only one life among millions of others, insignificant, only a small piece of mankind.

So where was the point in it? What was the meaning of struggling against the destiny, against the bad luck or whatever it was what brought the ugly and cruel things to his life? He knew now. He should live it fully and in such a way, which he would not regret later. His life might not have been important in the scale of the whole world, but it could be more than important to those around him.

Jin had no idea how long he was standing there, rapt by complexity of the picture, watching the small waves on the huge water surface created by the evening wind, and the red west reflecting at the snowy peaks, as the time went slowly and smoothly... Until a soft neighing tore him out of his enchantment.

Not very willingly, Jin let his eyes leave the view and he looked after the sound. To his surprise, he found its source only a few meters away from him. The white mare was standing between the thin trees close to the edge of the cliff. Ukushi´s head was turned toward him; he felt her stare on himself, which was almost scary. But if Ukushi was there, it meant that her master...

With his heart beating steadily, but much harder, Jin made a few small steps, before he could see the owner of the mare too.

Kazuya was sitting at the wide root of the old oak, which was growing lonely almost on the very edge above the dangerous pit leading to the forest down there and to the lake´s shore. He was hugging his bent knees, the chin rested on the arms and he was watching the very same scenery as Jin himself a few seconds ago motionlessly.

At first, Jin breathed out in relief seeing the younger one in one piece. Kame didn´t ride somewhere far away or even to Bozeman, as he had feared. He was here in the end, close to the village. In the next moment his heart ached again, noticing the expression on Kame´s face...

Jin took a couple of slow and deep breaths, before he moved again and headed to him by the determined steps. Kame turned his head, when he noticed the sudden movement. His lips moved a little, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn´t and returned his attention to the view.

Jin stopped only two steps away from him and turned to the same direction, letting his eyes observe the slowly changing scenery again. He felt his knees were already shaking significantly, his stomach was burning and breathing started to be more difficult, but he pushed those unpleasant feelings away, focusing on what he wanted to say.

"This is so beautiful..."

As soon as the words escaped his lips, he scolded himself for not being able to think out anything cleverer. He rather kept his mouth shut forcefully, before he could say anything more stupid.

"It´s the favorite place of my mother..."

Kame´s reaction caught Jin unprepared. He moved his eyes back to him, but Kame was keeping his stare at the colored mountains.

"Or... It was," he added slowly, his voice broken. "She loved to go here. She always said that there is no place where you could feel the freedom more clearly..."

"I agree with her," Jin reacted quietly.

Kame straightened and leant his back over the wide bole, saying nothing else. Jin kept looking at him, forcing himself to speak again.

"Liwan was right, Kame... We believed that our intentions were right and just. We cannot change what happened, but there is still something we can do."

When the brown look finally focused at him, Jin gulped down heavily. Kazuya´s eyes captured him, froze him on the spot. He was waiting anxiously for any kind of reaction, until...

"I know, Jin. I know," the younger one said in a tired voice.

The anxiety got bigger inside of Jin and he had to get it out somehow: "I will understand if you want to continue on your own," he said, despite it was difficult as hell, willingly giving up on Kame´s companionship. "I will understand if you don´t want to have anything in common with me anymore..."

Kazuya stared at him, looking almost frightened suddenly.

"No, Jin, no! I don´t want you to think that..." Kame stopped for a second, thinking over the words rushing through his mind, before he continued. "I´d make the same decision," he said firmly, standing up from his sitting position. "I´d still want to save you if I had to decide again. Do you understand?"

That finally made Jin feel a lot better. He was really worried and scared from the idea that Kame regretted saving him from the farm, but seeing his face now, he could be sure that was not the case. However, there was still something, what Kame was not aware of and he had a right to know... Jin took a deep breath again.

"In that case you should know that..."

"Wait," Kame interrupted him. "Let me talk now, Jin. I know Liwan was saying the truth. I know what we both did was right. And I don´t regret it. But I still feel guilty because... It´s just that..." Kame´s voice started to shake, the words coming out only with obvious difficulties, but Jin forced himself to keep silent and let him continue.

"If only I got my mother out of town on time," Kazuya breathed out heavily. "I should have known that Grenet would do anything to get to me. It was that simple! I could have brought her to the tribe, at least for some time! She would be... She would be safe..."

It was like a dagger stabbed into Jin´s chest, when he saw the silent tears, which escaped from the shining eyes, falling across Kame´s cheeks.

"I should have protected her... But I didn´t. I lost her… And then... Then I almost lost you too..."

Kame was not able to continue anymore. He lowered his head, remaining on the spot for a while, before he moved hastily, avoiding Jin, obviously intending to run away again.

But Jin reacted quickly as well, without any useless thinking, listening to the voice of his heart. He let his crane go, onto which he was leaning until that moment and he reached both hands after Kame, managing to catch him for an elbow firmly.

"No, Jin..." that voice was so creaky; it was like it didn´t belong to Kame at all. "I don´t want you to..."

Jin stopped next Kame´s words by simply pulling him to himself and locking the slim body in his embrace. He felt how Kame stiffened, and how he hold his breath, but he was determined not to release the younger one.

"It´s all right, Kazuya. Just let it go..." Jin whispered.

The heavy shaking of the suddenly soft body revealed just how many emotions Kame was pushing back. It must have been very tough on him. During all those past days, so many difficult things were piling up – the rescue mission from the farm, fucker Grenet, his mother´s death and then stealing him off the Death´s claws, as that was exactly what Jin believed Kame did.

"It´s all right," he repeated, not thinking about what exactly he was doing or saying. Every time he thought too much, it didn´t help him anyhow. At that moment, he decided to follow what he felt, what his heart told him to do and that was not letting Kazuya go. "I´m right here. I didn´t die. You helped me to get up again, so I will help you too..."

There was a quiet whimper, followed by the slow movement, when the slim hands circled around Jin´s waist and the face buried itself into the soft cloth on his shoulder. Kazuya was holding onto Jin desperately, his shaking growing up as the heavy sobs started to come out mutely into the poncho. The older one pulled him even closer, trying to give him as much support as he only could, one of his hands unconsciously going up and soothing through Kame´s hair ends in a comforting way.

Jin felt the pinching of salt in his own eyes. Kame´s suffering, which just showed up in its full force, was breaking his heart. He had never imagined that somebody else´s pain would hurt that much. And if the only thing he could do for Kazuya right now was holding him, he was willing to do it for the whole night...

*

Too much of everything was simply too much...

When Kame realized that his protective walls, which he was keeping up around himself for days, started to fall apart with heavy rumble, his first impulse was to get away from Jin. He didn´t want the other one to see him like this, like a weak crying baby. But Jin surprised him by the protective hug, with which he stopped him from going away. His warm embrace and soft voice, assuring him that it was all right to let those walls fall, and that he could let go of whatever necessary…

Kame was broken by his mother´s death and only days ago he thought that Jin would be the next one whom he would have to bury under the ground. But now the older one was here, alive, holding him firmly and obviously not willing to let him go. After all what happened in the past days, after how lonely Kame felt, that warm hold and comforting words was what destroyed even the last piece of his efforts to control himself and what made him open his mouth and heart to cry out his frustration, grief, pain and fear.

When the flood of that horrible mixture faded out and he started to calm down slowly, the more he could perceive how comfortable Jin´s hug was. He was more muscular, higher and still slightly heavier than himself, despite the involuntary diet in the past week. Kame fitted into his arms so well, that it was as if he was hidden there in front of the whole world. Despite he knew Jin was still weak and full of pains, it felt so safe being held by him. It felt like the older one wouldn´t let anyone to harm him anymore...

It took Kame a while to realize, that there were no more aching sobs going out from his lungs and that the shaking almost stopped, but he remained clinging to Jin, holding onto his body. And he was definitely touching his wounds like that...

From the deep of his heart, Kame didn´t want to let go and abandon that warm safety. He had to fight over it hard to raise his head a little and release the grip, slowly retreating from Jin´s waist. Jin reacted on his movement and slowly pulled back his hands too, but he still let one of them on his shoulder.

Kame kept his head low, forcing himself to breathe slowly. It was hard for him to believe that he broke down like this in front of Jin. He was not the type to reveal his inner side so much, to open up to others.

"I´m..." he started heavily, before he was cut off by the older one.

"Don´t you dare to be sorry for something like this."

Kame looked up into the dark eyes, which were soothing and burning him at the same time, shocked by the words. How could Jin know what was on his mind?

"Don´t you dare, Kame," Jin repeated stubbornly.

Somehow, it made the younger´s lips move into the faint smile.

"Fine... I won´t be," he said, hardly recognizing own voice, how hoarse it was. "Thank you, Jin."

"Oh, come on, Kazu," Jin huffed out. "You don´t have to be grateful for anything here! I´m the one who will be thanking you for the rest of my life, for saving me out of there..."

Reminder of that place and of how Jin looked before the cuts and wounds on his body started to heal finally, still clutched Kame´s stomach. At the same time, he fully realized how actually happy he was that Jin seemed to be all right now, except some ugly bruises.

"I think I won´t argue with you about that," he responded softly and took a step back, immediately regretting that Jin was not touching him anymore.

"I´d not advise you to do so," the older one murmured.

Before Kame could be overpowered by the desire to hug the older one again, he headed to finish his original intention, going for Ukushi waiting under the trees. After he took her reins and turned again, he rushed back much faster, when he spotted Jin leaning onto the tree´s bole and breathing heavily.

"Jin, what is it?" he asked, immediately worried.

"I´m fine, really..." Jin responded. "But I think I overdid it a little for one day..."

Kame observed him carefully, noticing that he was shaking heavily.

"Don´t tell me you were doing errands around the whole village?" he reproached to the older one suspiciously.

"Of course not..." Jin murmured. "Only a few of them..."

Kame sighed and reached for the crane on the ground, which was obviously fresh made.

"I can imagine... " he directed the mare next to Jin, patting her across the neck, jumped on her in one swift move and put the crane across the animal´s back in front of him. "Come on, I´ll help you to get to the top," he reached out to Jin. "Stand up on that root, it will be easier," he advised, when the cold hand grabbed his arm.

*

Jin obeyed, getting himself into the higher position, put the other hand on the animal´s back, took two deep breaths and gave all of his remaining energy to bounce from his natural foot place. He would have never made it not being for strong hold around his forearm, by which Kame pulled him up. Like that, he managed to settle himself right behind the slimmer man.

"All right?" Kame asked turning the head back to him and let his hand go only when Jin nodded. "Hold onto me properly. You´re not exactly used to riding without a saddle, I guess..."

Only then, Jin realized that Kame left the village with his mare, but without anything except the soft reins around the animal´s neck and the blanket attached on the stomach.

At first, he just put both his hands on the sides around Kame´s waist, but as soon as the animal started to move, he realized it would not be that easy. There was not the usual support for his feet and legs, nothing to hold onto. Except Kazuya in front of him, who seemed unbelievably steady on mare´s back, leading it with his slim thighs. When Jin felt that he was slipping back and a little to the side, it scared him and he grabbed his hands around Kame much firmly, getting himself as close to him as possible.

"Damn, this is much more difficult than I had thought," he gasped.

There was a short silence from the other and he reacted only after he made Ukushi move to the right direction.

"Focus on Ukushi´s movements and try to comply with them. You´ll get used to it, you´ll see..."

"Easy to say for you," Jin murmured.

There was something like a short soft chuckle in front of him.

"Hey! Are you laughing at me?!" Jin objected a little offended.

"No," Kame replied, but it sounded not very convincing.

"You´re mean," Jin huffed unsatisfied.

"To you?" this time the younger´s voice sounded really surprised. "Never... Don´t worry, Jin, I won´t let you fall."

With that, he let Ukushi set off between the trees, finding the most convenient way back up to the Indian pueblo and they left the red mountains still reflecting in the lake behind their backs.