Satisfaction

They traveled together only until the first houses of Fort Collins appeared on the horizon, stopping by the stagecoach station. As they planned to avoid the city, they needed to buy some supplies there. While Leo, Jin and Cullen stayed out of sight in the grove off the main road and watched over their captive, the rest of them did some shopping at the owner of the facility and let the local blacksmith check the horseshoes of their animals.

Ryo and Koki also ´sacrificed´ themselves to visit the dirty taproom and hear out the recent news. As expected, the Sioux attack on the sandstone quarry in Laporte was the main topic of the day. The people complained about incompetence of the U.S. Army, which was supposed to prevent such a situation and the voices calling for the final removal of all remaining Indians were increasing once again.

When the time to say goodbye came, nobody was very happy about it, but they tried to keep the positive atmosphere, counting on an early reunion.

Jane approached Kame and Jin holding a small package: "Don´t forget to re-bind your wounds," she urged them, forcing the spare bandages in the younger one´s hands.

"Thanks, Jane," Kame accepted the medical equipment gratefully.

Then the brunette looked from one to another, sighed and instead of more lectures, she just spread her hands and hugged them both at once, hiding her face between their shoulders.

"I want you to know that even if I don´t like it, I understand your decision," she whispered just for their ears.

When Jane pulled away, both of them just looked at her without reaction, but she didn´t need any, anyway.

"Be careful," she patted their shoulders for one last time, before heading to Koki and Ryo.

Leo came to them as the second one and reached out a hand to his brother.

"Back then, I didn´t know what to make of your arrival, Bro, but in the end, I don´t want to let you go," the younger Akanishi grinned a little forcefully.

"We´ll see you soon again," Jin promised. "Thanks for everything, little Brother."

"Me too. You both helped us out a lot," Leo looked at Kame as well. "We´ll stay in Hereford for as long as necessary, so catch up with us there."

Kame nodded: "We´ll try, but if we´re not in time, then…"

"We´ll leave a message for you at the local post office. Either with your name, Kame, if you don´t mind it, or Koki´s," Leo proposed.

"Of course, no problem," the younger one agreed, while shaking the Riders´ leader hand.

"Fine," Leo smiled and smacked Jin over his back playfully: "Good luck," he wished them both, before turning to the other two Riders.

The last one taking his turn was their ´old wolf´. The Rider stared at them for a while and both youngsters repaid his look.

"I won´t hug you, if you don´t mind," Cullen snorted in the end.

"We´ll survive it," Jin made a mocking face.

"Yeah, I´ll bet on that," the oldest Rider altered his hat, so that it hid his face in an even deeper shadow. "We won´t be there to save your stupid asses every time, so spare me listening to Leo´s cursing and avoid troubles, will you?"

"We´ll try our best," Kame replied with a serious face.

"I know you will, but I´m not so sure in his case," Cullen pointed at Jin.

Jin´s eyes sent the daggers toward the man, but the veteran was unmoved by that.

While this nice conversation took place, Leo parted with Koki, who went to pick up mummified Grenet from the ground under a thick pine, from where he was staring at them the whole time, as that was literally the only thing he could do at the moment, and took Ryo a little aside.

"I count on you, Ryo. Keep an eye on them, understood?" Leo urged the black-haired Rider.

"I know. They´re not exactly sane, when it comes to Grenet," Ryo figured what was on his leader´s mind. "Don´t worry, Leo. I won´t let them do anything stupid," he promised seriously.

Then, they mounted their waiting horses and divided into two groups.

Math Grenet´s hands were firmly tied and connected to Kuro´s saddle. Koki made himself comfortable on his horse and took a position right behind their captive with a gun in his hand, while Ryo was supposed to ride last.

While Leo´s group promptly continued further on the road to the north, the other one with Kame in lead, turned toward the Rocky Mountains in the west. Very quickly, they disappeared from each other´s views, heading to their separate goals.

***

The Indian settlement located nearby the Lake Granby served just as a temporary reservation before the gathered red men were supposed to be moved south, to the borders with New Mexico. It was rather small, so the Army didn´t bother guarding it much, since they had their hands full with nomadic Indians and their gathering.

No matter the poor security, the Riders camped for the night far enough from the reservation. They waited for the dusk and after a short discussion, only Jin and Kame headed for the negotiations with the Indians, while Ryo and Koki stayed to watch over obviously still angry Grenet. Every time they pulled the gag out of the man´s mouth to give him some water, he just kept spatting insults at them. But they all ignored him, as well as his questions about what they meant to do with him.

Getting inside the reservation was easy; there were only two cards-playing soldiers at a small fire and no fence around. Finding anyone willing to talk to them was much harder. The inhabitants of this small village were mostly women, children and elders and moreover from the various tribes. But Kame could be very persistent and persuasive when he wanted, even when he used up his limited vocabulary.

In the end, one young Sioux female led them to her grandfather and after he heard Kame out, he summoned the small Council. There were only three elders in it, but that didn´t mean it took less time to persuade them. They even requested to see the captive, so in the middle of the night they took the liveliest old man out of the village.

Almost five-hour-long negotiations paid off, even though Kame seemed quite exhausted after that. They were told about the Sioux rebels´ approximate location and decided to set off right in the morning. The so-called Baxter Peak was their next destination.

*

The hills were not so steep in that part of Colorado, but it was a difficult trip between the mountains nevertheless, especially when Grenet had started to pretend that he was too tired to go on. Ryo suggested that they could drag him behind over the ground, which Jin refused, claiming that his Kuro would not be bothered with any dead weight. Koki had a better idea, when he told Grenet that in the case he wouldn´t move, he could piss in his own pants the next time he would need to relieve. The gunman reconsidered his attitude quite quickly after that.

Within another day, they passed the beautiful area in the full spring, with some small lakes and a few waterfalls and then the goal of their travel finally appeared – the half rocky, half green foot of a low mountain.

They chose an inconspicuous clearing for their encampment to rest. They didn´t consider it wise to run around the peak searching for the Sioux hideout. Kame suggested they should look for some signs or tracks first, but in the end, it was not even necessary. They didn´t have to search for the Sioux rebels at all, since they were found themselves…

The Riders barely managed to stretch their legs, before they faced the sharp arrowheads aiming at them from all around.

"Oh, no… Again?" Koki complained annoyed before raising his hands in the air.

*

"Lakota le mita cole…"

"Kame? You´re still talking the Indian way…" Jin interrupted the flow of words softly.

The younger one broke off, looked at the puzzled expression of his friends and ran a hand over his face: "Sorry… I didn´t realize it," he sighed and started explaining again. "Well, I told them everything and they seem to believe me. But they want to bring Nepotonje first, to confirm the whole story."

"That´s the Indian we took along from the quarry?" Koki guessed.

"Yes," Kame nodded. "We must wait here for a little while…"

"Under the supervision, as I see," Ryo stared at the couple of Sioux, who stood there between them and their horses with bows in their hands.

"We already know that they have serious trust issues," Jin noted, not a bit concerned by their guards. After so many previous experiences, he trusted Kame´s negotiating skills with the Indians.

"I have them as well," the blonde one stated complainingly.

Some incomprehensible and very persistent murmuring disrupted their conversation. All four Riders looked at Math Grenet swirling in the grass, trying to attract their attention. They tied up his ankles now as well, not willing to risk anything, so he indeed looked like a properly wrapped present.

"What now?" Koki reacted on the man´s effort to talk through the gag. "You´ve just been there behind that bush!"

The gunman kept mumbling, his eyes shining with almost crazy intensity.

"Pull it out of his mouth," Kame said suddenly.

The blonde one raised his eyebrows: "You´re curious about what he´s got to say now? Well, if you think so…" Koki bent down to the man and took the gag out of his mouth roughly.

Grenet spat disgusted, before looking up at them.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he snapped hoarsely. "You dragged me all this way to visit those red shits?"

"Oh, you don´t like it here?" Koki asked him with a pretended surprise.

"We´re very sorry to hear that," Ryo completed him caustically.

"You two are on my list as well now, brats!" the gunman hissed, as he struggled to sit up.

"It seems that you don´t understand your situation well, Grenet," Koki announced in an instructive tone. "We´re here to visit our Indian friends, but you happen to stay in their company…"

Grenet spat again: "Cowards! I knew you had no guts!" he yelled.

Very slowly, Jin made two steps, which separated him from the man and crouched down to look at his face closely: "Is it fear that I see in your eyes, Grenet?" he asked in a deep, dark tone.

"Screw you!" the man blurted a little breathless.

On that, Jin just smiled, in a carefully controlled, ice-cold way. He didn´t say another word, but it still made Grenet, probably for the first time ever, shut his filthy mouth up. Koki was not surprised; even he felt chills on his back seeing that smile and it was not meant for him… The gunman watched Akanishi with the bloodshot eyes and Koki realized that Jin was right – no matter how hard he tried to cover that up with cursing and yelling, Grenet was afraid…

When Jin straightened up, he found Kame looking at him with an expression which he couldn´t read. Then the younger one turned and walked away from them. Jin let Ryo and Koki guard that bastard and followed him. Just a few yards away, in sight of their Indian guards, they both remained standing above the small brook, which was flowing its cheerful way under them.

Kame was looking at the distant tops of the mountains, floating in the light fog northwest from them, but Jin had a feeling that he didn´t actually see them, as if he was completely elsewhere.

"Having doubts now?" he asked quietly.

The younger one took his time before he replied: "No… I´d lie to myself if I said that I hesitate to do this. You?"

"No," Jin replied immediately. "I need to watch him die…"

A short silence followed, during which both of them pondered the words that were just said.

"But…" the older one spoke hesitantly. "The truth is that… Damn, I don´t know how…"

"That we know it´s a wrong thing to do and yet, we still want it?" Kame said in a quiet, serious voice.

Jin looked at the profile of his lover, surprised that Kame expressed exactly what he meant: "Yeah, something like that…"

"It´s not the first time," Kame noted forcefully calmly.

"No," Jin agreed. "But back then, we wanted to avenge our families. This time…" he subconsciously soothed the tips of his nails. "I´m looking forward to it," he finished darkly.

Kame turned to him and his eyes were unusually dark, when he raised a hand and very gently placed it on the huge bruise on Jin´s chin.

"This time we want to avenge each other," he stated in a gloomy but somehow reconciled tone.

Jin shivered from the painful truth behind that statement. That was truly what made him so eager for Grenet to die the most – he would not allow that man to touch Kazuya ever again, no matter what was necessary to be done to achieve it. He nodded slowly, looking to the younger one´s eyes.

Kame let his hand fall, but Jin grabbed his coat before he could step back. The younger one shivered, when this time Jin touched his face, which also still carried the signs of recent rough treatment: "I couldn´t have said it better..."

"Guys!"

They turned to see Ryo waving at them to drag their attention and then pointing at the grassy slope from which a group of Indians was approaching. The Sioux were back with the reinforcements and their witness.

*

Some of the Indians, who flooded the small clearing, participated in the attack on the quarry and they might have recognized them, but almost none of the Sioux cared about the Riders much. Instead, most of them gathered around lying Grenet, who stared at them spitefully.

Nepotonje headed to Kame along with other two, quite frightfully painted warriors, but even though he walked slowly, he didn´t need their support anymore. Jin stood by Kame´s side, when the younger one started explaining their intentions again. Then the Sioux asked something and Kame fell silent.

"What did he ask about, Kame?" Jin wondered curiously.

"Why didn´t we kill him ourselves, when he caused so many bad things to us," the younger one replied quietly.

"Tell them the truth then," the older one reacted composedly. "That he deserves to suffer at their stake."

Kame looked at him with a strange expression.

"And that he belongs to their revenge as well. We want to be friends with them, don´t we?" Jin added under that look.

"That´s a better way to say it…" Kame agreed.

After a few more exchanged sentences, Nepotonje seemed to insist on something that Kame didn´t like. The younger one turned to Jin with a tense face then.

"What now?" the older one frowned.

"They will put him to death tomorrow morning. Nepotonje offered us that we can… participate in it."

Jin stiffened: "You mean… in the torture?"

"Yeah…" the younger one cleared his throat. "I refused that."

"Good," Jin breathed out relieved, but Kame continued.

"Anyway, he said that we should stay and watch it. But only the two of us can, they won´t show the hideout to us all."

Jin locked his look with Kame´s for a long while. Then, without saying anything else, the younger one turned to the Indians again and announced their reply. Nepotonje nodded, squeezed Kame´s and also Jin´s arm in a friendly gesture and then all three Indians went to join their red brothers.

One Sioux in the terrifying circle, who seemed to be the leader of rebels, spat at Math Grenet with resentment, which was definitely equal to the one which Jin or Kame felt, before turning away from the furious gunman. He yelled something, his Sioux brothers grabbed the tied up man and dragged him away to their horses. It seemed there was another unpleasant journey in front of Grenet.

The tall Sioux leader headed right to them then. His bright eyes evaluated Ryo and Koki, who stood by the horses and then also Jin and Kame, before he spoke in a little strange, but understandable English.

"My eyes saw that man torture and kill my brothers and sisters. My heart desire for his death. I and my tribe owe you. If you want something, and we can do it, it will be done."

"Thank you," Kame reacted seriously. "We appreciate it. But we didn´t come to bargain with lives. Grenet is yours to execute your justice on him. He belongs to your revenge just as to ours."

The Indian nodded: "You understand. You have Indian heart, white brother. Join us in village, to oversee this man destiny. You will be blinded, but my brothers lead you."

*

Not that Ryo and Koki would agree with it, especially the black-haired one seemed to be willing to stop them even by force, but in the end, they could do nothing to prevent the other two from going.

Jin and Kame let the Indians cover their eyes with straps of cloths and then the red men led the way to their hideout, leaving two worried Riders and their horses behind.

They walked for almost two hours and most of the time it was up the hill. But since the sun had already set off, they really couldn´t tell in which direction they went. It was not a comfortable journey, but their guides were careful enough not to let them trip over anything.

Once they arrived to the village, the Indians led them inside a small tipi, and only there took the cloths off their eyes. They provided them with some water and dry meat and let them spend the rest of the night there. There were a few hours before dawn, so they could use if for rest, but neither Jin nor Kame could sleep…

When Kame closed his eyes, the darkness behind them was not calming as usually, it was restless and pitch-black instead, with a terrifying aura, as if some monsters were hiding in it. He felt as if sinking in it, but at the same time he didn´t want to escape it. That darkness represented his wish to bring a cruel death upon a man, who did his best to destroy his life.

They could have just put a bullet through Math Grenet´s head; they could, but that wouldn´t be enough. Not even suffering at the stake would be sufficient for everything that man had done. There was a part of Kame, which felt strange. That part was furious and wanted to end that monster´s life with its own hands. He was balancing between being scared of that stranger and welcoming him with arms wide open.

Only one thing was as clear as the sun to him. No matter how hard it would be to watch, he would bear it, for his mother, for his Indian family, for Jin, for himself. He would watch Grenet´s suffering till the very end. And then, maybe, he would be able to get rid of that shaky scared part of him, which was still squeezing his heart every time he remembered any moment in Grenet´s company. Because he clearly remembered each word, which seeded doubtful thoughts and weird feelings in him and he hated that.

Kame knew that he couldn´t rest until that man would go through the Hell and he would accompany him on the way…

Jin stared at the sloping leather roof above his head, which was slightly orange in the dim glow of hot coals. He had already heard some terrifying stories about the Indian ways of torture, so he knew what to expect. However, he had a feeling that his imagination was not enough to beat the personal experience.

Soon, that man, who tortured him while laughing, who hurt his Kazuya so many times, would be dead. He couldn´t wait for it and at the same time, he was terrified by that part of him, which was looking forward to it.

The temperature in the tipi was just fine, but Jin still felt cold. Grenet deserved it and even more. But did they really have the right to act as his judges, even if they thought so? Looking at stiffened Kame lying with his eyes closed, Jin realized that he was not alone in this contradictory state of mind…

"Kame?"

"Yeah…?"

"Can I…" it was embarrassing, but Jin couldn´t think of anything else to do or say. "Just… Can you take my hand?"

The orange coals flashed in the younger one´s eyes, as he opened them. Kame didn´t say anything for a long moment. It was so long that Jin started to think his idea was stupid, but then Kame reached out to his waiting hand. They both took a shaky breath, when their hands connected. Something fitted in its place, when their fingers entangled together.

"We´ll get through this, right?" Jin whispered, squeezing that warm connection.

"We will," the younger one replied equally quietly.

Hand in hand, silently and anxiously, Jin and Kame waited for the dawn to come…

*

No matter the early hour, it seemed that the whole rebel village was up, including some very young Sioux, almost only kids and they gradually assembled around the tall stake in a wide serious circle. Everybody was there, including a few women and all of them were looking at the condemned man.

Math Grenet couldn´t be further from his usual cold and cruel self at the moment. The Sioux had given him some water and food, but it was just so that the man would last longer. The captive was firmly tied up to the stake, but his mouth was left uncovered.

Already since the first daylight, the air was shivering with the sound of drums. Now, Jin could literally feel them on his skin, when Nepotonje led them to their places, which was supposed to be in the last row of the assembled circle. Some of the Indians were humming a dark melody and ten strong warriors were preparing around the stake, gathering for their turn. They had the privilege to being the first torturers, and after them it was quite possible that the rest of the village would participate in it as well, one by one. It depended on how long the victim would hold on…

It was a heavy and dark atmosphere and Jin felt chills, as he glanced around the dark faces around them. He was aware that the whole matter wouldn´t be nice at all and one part of him wanted to turn on his heel and leave Grenet to his painful destiny, but the other one, the stronger one, made him stay and watch. After everything that bastard did to him and to Kame, Jin needed to see him suffer to feel at least some kind of satisfaction.

Grenet spotted them, as they walked around: "Here you are," he said, but it sounded more like a crow´s roaring. "I wondered if you´d come, you little pieces of shit," the man had no strength to move even an inch in his ties, but he didn´t forget how to make insults yet.

Kame just clenched his jaws, didn´t react and followed Nepotonje. Jin looked at the man, who caused him so many non-healed scars. Despite his situation, an insane smirk was playing on Grenet´s lips: "Are you sure you can bear it, my little screamer? You should run away before you start crying."

Just looking in those crazy eyes and hearing these words threw any possible Jin´s doubts out of the window.

"Say our regards in Hell," he hissed and turned away.

"I´ll see you there soon, Akanishi! And then we can play again, huh? I´ll see you there!!"

Jin ignored the desperate mocking and merged with the gathered crowd. He found Kame and stood by his side, focusing his eyes on the events in the middle of the circle, determined not to look away.

It was not long before the Indian warriors started to move in the speeding rhythm of drums and started dancing around the stake, giving out loud cries.

Later on, Jin would have described the whole situation as a dream. Unreal, but still lively enough, when the first Sioux disrupted the dancing circle, stood in front of the stake and released an arrow from his bow. The tied man yelled some curse, swirling in pain, when other two arrows pierced his thighs shortly after that.

Jin didn´t understand what Grenet said, though they were not so far away. His senses were strangely subdued, as his eyes were watching the scene, coldly evaluating the progress step by step.

The Indians were clever. They started with the legs, causing only mild injuries, so that the man would not lose too much blood at once. After arrows, it was the daggers´ turn, which headed mostly for the shoulders and arms. Then they brought a kettle full of hot coals. Jin figured what was it for only when they picked one carefully and pressed it against the man´s stomach. His enemy and tormentor screamed and yelled and cursed, but nothing could shake with the composure of Indians who continued in their task, accompanied with the strengthening humming of their red brothers and heavy drums.

Jin didn´t even realize that he was clenching his fists, until they started to hurt him. He still clearly remembered the pain that man caused him in the past and the Indians were just as heartless to him now. The Sioux rebels had the reason for it; they wanted their revenge, just as him and Kame. Grenet tortured people because he enjoyed it. Jin had no compassion for the man in this regard at all. It was only right that the man would find out just how much pain he caused to the others.

But… but still… Something in Jin stirred listening to those screams. Didn´t they do enough already? Grenet met his fate in the hands of Indians, but what good it was for them to watch the man suffer in agonizing pain? There was this dark satisfaction; Jin couldn´t deny that those finally reversed roles, when Grenet suffered such an agony was satisfactory. But still, it was not right…

In the bloodthirsty atmosphere, all Indians joined the dark singing as the tormentors peeled the stripes of skin off Grenet´s back. The tortured man screamed with each of them, as the blood flooded down his legs. It was a horrible and bloody performance to watch, and it was not about to end yet, as Jin realized, when the tallest Indian of all, their English speaking leader, approached the stake with a sharp blade in hand.

Seeing the Indian invoking Manitou to help him in his task, it ripped Jin out of the dark enchantment. He turned to Kame and he knew that it was damn enough. The younger one was standing there next to him, totally motionless and pale, only his eyes were proof of that he was still alive. Kazuya´s look didn´t wander of that ugly scene even for a second.

Wrong… wrong… wrong… was running through Jin´s mind.

He grabbed the younger one´s elbow: "Kame."

There was no reaction at all.

"Kame!" Jin reached out and turned him aside by force. Kame blinked and his look returned to the presence. "This is enough," he stated emphasizing each word. "Let´s go."

Kame stared at him as if he saw Jin for the first time ever, while the hoarse screams from Grenet´s throat filled the air again.

"I… I must watch this…" Kame reacted hoarsely.

"No! This is not what your mother would want, is it?! This isn´t you!"

"But I am," the younger one replied quietly. "This is how I am now."

It was as if he received a hard blow to his head, that was how Jin felt, seeing the irreversibly changed look of his lover.

Another inhuman scream cut the air. Kame´s eyes looked back to the stake, Jin´s ones right after that too, as if it was impossible not to glance that way. The streamlets of blood were flowing down Grenet´s face, so that he looked like a bloody monster with his mouth still open in painful screaming. The Sioux leader scalped Grenet alive.

The gathered savages burst out in celebratory shouts and Jin´s stomach made a somersault.

Without asking anymore, Jin strengthened the grip around Kame´s elbow and dragged him away from that horrible performance. The younger one didn´t fight back and he let Jin lead him away from the circle.

Neither of them saw the wide stare of one Indian, who noticed their departure from the opposite side of the crowd…

*

They didn´t know the exact way back to their horses, so they just reached the last Indian shelter, and ended up sitting in the grass in front of the tipi, in silence, still hearing the sounds coming from the stake, which lasted for another hour. But it felt more like an eternity…

When the tortured man´s screams finally ceased, as well as the drums, they sat there for a long while, while the Indians started slowly returning to their usual tasks.

Jin wanted to say something, but he didn´t know what without stirring in the whole matter unnecessarily. It was Kame, who broke the silence in the end. His voice was husky and his eyes buried to the ground, but nevertheless, he seemed to be calmer than before.

"Thank you for… dragging me away, Jin. I wanted to leave, but… I couldn´t move."

"You don´t have to explain…"

"No, let me… I need to say this," the younger one insisted. "The truth is that… a part of me wanted to stay and watch till the end no matter how horrible it was."

"As I said, you don´t have to explain, Kame. I felt the same way."

The younger one finally raised his eyes to connect them with Jin´s.

"It´s over," the older one emphasized firmly. "He cannot reach us or anyone else anymore. That´s what matters."

With that, they could reconcile somehow with what they committed, but they both knew, without saying it aloud, that it changed them forever.

*

It was Nepotonje, who found them there, still sitting. The Indian stared at them for a moment, before he walked away, only to be right back with some leathered bottle.

"Drink," he told them simply and left again.

Jin reached for the unknown liquid as the first. It was sweeter than any alcohol of the white nation, but it still had a good kick. He took two gulps before almost forcing the bottle to Kame. The younger one was more careful with drinking, but didn´t refuse it. Then the tall Sioux leader appeared, took the bottle back from Kame and drank as well, before sitting down opposite to them.

"You shock?" he asked after a while of thinking.

"You might say that, yes," Jin reacted nodding.

"You did good thing," the Sioux announced. "That man monster. Must be done."

They didn´t react on that.

"White faces weak and blind," the Indian assumed. "Not see this Manitou. Everything."

"Our habits are different," Kame said. "But that doesn´t mean that we don´t understand."

Sioux nodded: "You back now, come," he stood up and called other two Sioux, who were supposed to lead them back to their friends.

At the moment, Jin wanted nothing more than to be gone from that village. They covered Kame´s eyes first, and then it was his turn. But in the last second, he stopped the Indian´s wrist.

"Wait!" Jin stared in the direction of a few Sioux, who were holding another one back, trying to seize him. As if the red man wanted to get to them, but the others wouldn´t let him. Jin didn´t believe his own eyes. "I said wait!" he snapped at the Indian, who wanted to cover his eyes again and turned to Kame. "Pull it off!"

"What´s going on, Jin?" Kame asked.

"Just… Nah!" Jin pushed away the Sioux, who was not so willing to clear the way. "I´ll take it off for you."

He pulled the cloth away hastily and uncovered Kame´s surprised eyes.

"Look behind me and tell me that I´m hallucinating," Jin requested.

Kame obeyed and his eyes widened in shock: "Oh my…"

Not a hallucination then, Jin figured.

He recognized the struggling Indian as well – it was nobody else than Kame´s blood brother – Liwan.