Distance

The stench hovering over an unused sandstone trench was horrible, and seeing its source didn´t make it any better. Disturbed by the arrival of four people, the black swarm rose from the feast upon decomposing bodies and the deafening buzz of flies absorbed any other sound for a while.

Captain John Walker crouched to observe the Indian corpses properly. Painted clothing and necklaces with geometric design were also worn by other tribes, but the black painted stripes around sunken eyes didn´t leave him in doubt that he was looking at four Sioux rebels.

He straightened up again and turned to the sturdy man, who led him and his subordinates to that ugly spot on the far edge of the quarry.

"Were there not any more casualties on the Indians´ side?" John asked seriously.

The quarry guard spat out toward the bodies: "There were, dang it. But those shitty redskins dragged their precious little dead brothers away."

"What about the workers then? How many of them were killed?"

"None," the man replied in a disgusted tone. "Those lazy bastards hadn´t been here yet. Many guards were killed and some shift leaders. Almost twenty altogether."

"That´s very regrettable," he reacted and glanced at the corpses again: "You should bury them before some disease spreads around…"

"You´re kiddin´?!" the guard snapped. "It was pain in the ass to bury all of ours! I won´t bother with these!"

John suppressed an urge to roll his eyes: "At least burn them then, as soon as possible," he recommended urgently. "It´s a necessary precaution, otherwise it might happen that this quarry will lose even more people."

The irritated guard growled something, but didn't argue with the military officer anymore.

"We can find our way back, thank you," not really willing to spend more time with the nasty man than necessary, John turned to leave the smelly place, being followed by his first and second lieutenants.

Swiftly walking back to the very center of the sandstone valley, which was bustling with noise as the workers were put to work again, not very positive thoughts were going through the captain´s mind. These problems with Sioux were going from bad to worse and even though he had intended to solve it in the least bloody way, he was being pushed by his superiors to deal with the Indian rebels quickly and with a certain result. Another bloodshed seemed to be inevitable.

They passed around the pile of black debris, which was originally the main building of the whole quarry and John couldn´t help but glance at it with a certain feeling of déjà vu. Sometimes, it felt like there would be no end to the conflict between the red and white nation, no matter how many lives were lost on both sides.

He ordered the second lieutenant to get all their men ready for departure and together with his deputy entered a rather small chalet, which they had already visited, before going for inspection around the valley.

The quarry´s manager – Cameron Henderson – was still sitting behind the battered table, absorbed by the decent heap of correspondence, but he raised his head when they walked in and looked at them with just as stern expression as before.

"So, did you check out everything you needed, Captain?"

There wasn´t even a hint of respect in that addressing, more like the opposite, but John decided to ignore it.

"More or less, yes," he replied, as he stopped in front of the table, with the lieutenant remaining right behind him. "The thing is that I can´t figure out, why they would attack you without a reason, as you claimed."

Henderson stared at him for a moment and John assumed that the man was already a bit annoyed with him, even though he didn´t let it show.

"I´m pretty sure that you´re aware of problems with Sioux in this area, Captain."

"Naturally. I was assigned to deal with them," John reacted calmly. "And I assure you we´re working on it and we have made a significant progress. Only some scattered groups of Indian rebels are still escaping justice, as they´re hiding in the mountains. And according to my experiences, something usually provokes them to act…"

"Those savages don´t need a reason to kill white men," the manager interrupted him rudely. "And it seems to me that you´re simply not doing enough to prevent it."

"The best we can, Mister," he replied coldly. "Unfortunately, we don´t have enough manpower to gather all nomad Indians at once and transfer them to the reservations."

"Then hang them all," Henderson recommended harshly. "That would be faster and less costly, wouldn´t it?"

John had already made his opinion about the neatly clothed man with unmoving face, so such a statement didn´t surprise him much, but still, he didn´t like it.

"There are laws to follow, Mr. Henderson. The convicted criminals should be hanged without excuses, but the Army is not murdering innocents."

"A few years ago, that didn´t seem to be such an issue," the man´s face remained impenetrable, but John could still feel a hint of mocking challenge in his voice.

"And nobody would be happy if we had stuck in the past like that, don´t you think?" John had enough of the way their conversation was going. It was highly unlikely he would get any more information from Henderson with such an attitude. "Anyway, I appreciate your cooperation. I assure you we will do what´s in our power to catch those who killed your employees. If there´re any more incidents with the Indians, please, notify the Marshalls office in Fort Collins without any delay."

John touched his hat in a not exactly polite way and turned to his leave, not waiting for reaction. He had more important things to do than bearing with the former, but haughtier servant of some rich rancher.

*

Cameron watched as those annoying soldiers in blue left the room, listened to the strict voices giving out orders and patiently waited for the sound of hooves to cease completely. Only then he stood up and headed out from his temporary office, waving off two men outside, who were ready to accompany him.

He arrived back to the quarry two days after that disaster happened, so the news about it had reached him on the way. But only after he saw the real extent of the aftermath of Sioux attack, it made him believe it. And also furious.

All their supplies and accounting books were consumed in the fire. He had no office and was half of men short. On the top of it, Grenet was missing and he had to raise his own voice quite a few times to bring those idiots, who were just slacking, back to work, because the substitute foreman was totally incompetent.

At least, no other building took so much damage, so the old barn remained standing also. Two guards were standing in front of the entrance and one of them lifted the bolt and opened the door for him, when he approached.

The inside of the crappy building was too warm and too smelly, with the sunlight penetrating through the holes in the roof and revealing quite a mess of straw, tattered saddles and old tools. He made a mental note to kick somebody later to finally repair it and approached the main pillar, which was supporting that tacky roof.

A slender figure was kneeling at it, with both hands and legs tied. Cameron observed the fresh bruises and blood dripping from the wound on the boy´s forehead and judged that his subordinates did a little more than what they were requested to, but it was no harm in this case.

He was staring at the prisoner without a word, until the boy raised his head slowly. Somebody did a good work on the boy´s face.

"Are you ready to talk now?" Cameron asked coldly.

Grenet´s little bitch reacted with something what almost looked like a smirk.

"I was ready even… before. But you didn´t… let me," Danny McFly breathed out hoarsely.

"You´ve got what you deserved for being a cowardly deserter," Cameron assumed. Not to mention that now the boy would certainly be less prone to lies. "So? I´m listening. What happened during that attack?"

McFly took a little shaky breath and then he leant his head over the pillar behind him, closing his eyes: "The day before the attack… Black Riders appeared in Fort Collins," the boy started talking in a tired and somehow uninterested voice. "Math captured Kamenashi… And after that also Akanishi, who came to rescue him."

Cameron´s eyes widened in surprise. None of those stupid douchebags told him anything about that. All of them just kept complaining about the crazy bloodthirsty Indians and none of them bothered to even mention… He gritted his teeth to suppress the useless anger. He had been working with idiots for ages, one would have thought that he could at least be used to it, if not reconciled with the fact.

"And? What went wrong?" he could clearly imagine that Grenet stopped thinking once he put his hands on those little brats from Montana.

"Someone set up a fire in the warehouse and that created quite a turmoil," Danny continued. "Almost everybody ran out to put it out and meanwhile, Akanishi managed to escape."

"What about Kamenashi?" Cameron frowned.

McFly opened his eyes, but he doesn´t seem to be focused on anything, it was as if he was a bit lost is his narration.

"I rushed upstairs to get Math, but I found him unconscious after his fight with Kamenashi… He locked us in the room shortly before the fire spread to the main building."

So, that idiot tried to get into Kamenashi´s pants and failed. Again, Cameron presumed.

"The Indians were helping them then? Did they set up that fire?"

"No, that didn´t seem to be the case this time," McFly shook his head and winced at the pain he caused to himself with that movement. "We found out only later… Akanishi´s brother with his Riders returned. We thought that they had separated, but somehow, they found out that the other two were in trouble and… came back. Right after they ran off, the Sioux attacked…"

It was hard to believe that something like this would be just a coincidence, especially after what those brats managed to achieve by associating with Indians back in Montana. But the truth was, that Sioux kept causing them troubles for months and hadn´t attacked directly till now. So, it might have been that the red bugs just used the offered opportunity.

"After Math woke up, the main building was already engulfed in flames. We… we managed to jump out of the window only in the last moment," McFly continued and Cameron felt that the boy didn´t say the exact truth, but he decided to let it pass. "Then we gathered some men and horses and fled from the quarry. The Sioux outnumbered and surprised us, we stood no chance."

Cameron would rather not know what the damn watches above the quarry were doing while the Indians were sneaking around.

"What then?" he asked impatiently, when his prisoner seemed to be lost at words.

"Well… Math insisted that he would pursue both Kamenashi and Akanishi, but nobody wanted to go with him…"

"So, he took only you along," Cameron assumed scornfully. "What a surprise."

McFly shrugged, at least as much as the ropes allowed him to: "He was overconfident. We followed their track and found their camp. Math let me guard the horses and went to spy on them alone. When he hadn´t come back, I went to check on the situation and saw Math captured. The Riders were just about to take him away."

"And you didn´t do anything to help him?" Cameron asked suspiciously.

McFly chuckled a little: "There were nine of them, what could I do? I´m too young to let myself be killed, Mr. Cameron. So, I set off on the way back."

"But, obviously, you didn´t intend to return to the quarry to report this," Cameron hissed, reminding the moment, when his returning company literally ran into the boy on his way to the north.

Danny returned his sharp stare: "No, I didn't," he admitted quietly. "I just wanted to go home."

"I don´t remember firing you," Cameron reminded that brat caustically.

"I just don´t want to be anyone´s bitch any longer!" McFly suddenly burst out, confirming to Cameron that the treatment the boy had received from Grenet had left quite a mark.

Cameron stared at him for a while: "You grew up in a cheeky way… Lucky for you I have no weakness for baby boys like Grenet."

Seeing his cold expression, the boy´s haughty attitude wavered now, Cameron could see as he bit his lip and fidgeted anxiously in his ties.

"Let me go then, Mr. Cameron. Please… You don´t need me here," McFly pleaded, with hope in his tired, but yet bright eyes. Apparently, the idea of homecoming brought life into him again. Before, when Grenet was using McFly instead of a mattress, the boy was only thinner and more depressed every day. With Cameron´s main foreman disappearance, Danny McFly started to live again. And that even raised his suspicion, that the boy might have been involved in Grenet´s capture by the Riders…

"The last time you saw Grenet, was he alive?" he asked, leaving the previous plea without reaction.

"Yeah, he was… But I don´t know what they meant to do with him."

Cameron could imagine it was not anything friendly. Grenet did enough shitty things to both those brats for them to feel vengeful. He considered only fifty-fifty chance that his foreman was still alive, so it was better to presume he would not be coming back at all.

Now, he only had to decide what to do with McFly. The boy was not involved in anything important regarding the businesses within his quarry, but he knew enough and if he would talk, it would mean troubles, which Cameron didn´t need.

"Mr. Cameron, I… I don´t mean to cause you any problems," McFly spoke as if he recognized some of Cameron´s thoughts in his face.

"All right, let´s say I believe you. But still, I can´t let you go."

"I swear that…!"

"I need all hands here now," he cut into another plea. "We need to get this quarry back to business, and quickly. After you work out your part of the job, you can go."

The tied-up boy breathed out in relief: "Really?"

"I must say that Grenet brought this upon himself," Cameron assumed coldly. "All he thought of was revenge. He wasn´t able to keep his head clear and it got him wherever he´s now… It wasn´t your fault, but I expect you to work for free here until I release you, agreed?"

"Sure, I´ll do my best then!" McFly promised excitedly.

Cameron let his lips spread in a fake smile. After all, he was still just the boy who could be fooled easily: "Good," he nodded. "I´ll send someone to treat you. Take some rest and I want to see you up and working tomorrow morning, understand?"

McFly nodded vigorously, and he seemed to be honest. But it would be better to keep an eye on him for some time yet. If he was about any escapes or stupid ideas again… Well, there were other men among Cameron´s acquaintances, who were fond of boys…

He turned to leave, feeling more satisfied now. As always, he could deal with McFly, as well as with the snoopers from the Army and with the current situation in general without bigger problems. And after everything will be in order again… Cameron smirked to himself at the following idea.

Those two Montana brats had been playing with fire for simply too long and he had been patient enough already. Soon, his time for revenge would come and this time, there would be no hot-headed Grenet, who would screw it up.

***

The sturdy lieutenant raised his hand and with a clumsy kick made his horse move. A rather small unit of soldiers followed their leader with obvious enthusiasm, which revealed that they were no less happy than the citizens about the fact that the quarantine situation was over.

The sharp eyes of a certain man in black watched the departure of blue uniforms from behind the valance in the window of a small guesthouse, which was, up to that very day, used as a temporary hospital.

Cullen let himself feel a hint of relief only when the dust above the road to the west settled down.

They had been in Hereford for just two days, but each hour of that time made him feel more anxious. Jane and little Jack were confident that none of those, who managed to spot their young leader, would talk. Everyone knew that they were those who brought so much needed medicines, but Cullen was not so trusting. Even in this God-forgotten hole there were wanted posters on the walls and despite being sick, a greedy person could happen to be suddenly healthy enough to get up to earn some easy money.

But the small US army unit was gone now and it didn´t seem that they would be coming back. There were only the last three patients left in the building, and they were recovering quickly. The main street was not so empty anymore either; Hereford was slowly coming back to life, though with only a half of their original number of citizens… The grim fact was that the busiest part of the city was the cemetery.

Slowly, Cullen let his revolver slip back to its sheath and turned to the simple bed behind his back, which was occupied by the sleeping brunette.

The evening before, Jane collapsed from exhaustion, as she kept helping in the hospital nonstop ever since their arrival, taking a special care for her remaining sister. Fortunately, her body temperature was normal, and the highly contagious disease seemed to avoid her.

Leo watched over his girlfriend´s sleep nevertheless, settling in a chair next to her bed. But not so long ago, he fell asleep in it. He needed rest as well, as he spent some dreamless nights in Hereford as well and Cullen didn´t consider necessary to wake him up for saying goodbye to the soldiers.

A sudden stomping was heard in the corridor and before Cullen could prevent it, the door flew wide open.

"They´re gone!" Jack exclaimed excitedly, as he entered the room like an avalanche. "The soldiers…!" the rest of the words was muffled by a hand pressed against the youngster´s mouth.

"For Christ´s sake, can´t you be quiet?!" Cullen hissed, as he pushed Jack back. Then he glanced back, to make sure that Leo was still sprawled in the chair, drooling in deep sleep, before he closed the door again. He was glad that the youngster was slowly gaining back his usual carefree self, despite still mourning his late mother, but that didn´t mean he wasn´t in need of some behavioral lessons.

Jack tore Cullen´s hand off his face: "I only wanted…"

"Leo has just fallen asleep!" the older man interrupted him. "For the first time in three days!"

"I didn´t know… I´m sorry…" Jack mumbled humbly.

Cullen waved his hand, driving the youngest Rider away: "Down with you, I bet they need some help there yet."

"Well, they do, but…"

"So scat!"

Offended Jack ran down the stairs, almost bumping into Nick, who was on his way to get rid of some dirty water.

They all had been helping out, even though by the time they arrived to the town, the worst wave of influenza had already passed, but each healthy hand was needed. So far, nobody even asked from where they had got the necessary medicines. Both Jack and Nick happened to be the saviors of Hereford by now, the rest of them, who sneaked into the town later, managed to blend in less conspicuously, to Cullen´s relief.

But anyway, it was clear what they should do next – as soon as their presence was not necessary anymore, they should move on, before someone remembered the duties of the US citizen. They didn´t have to travel too far; it would be impossible to persuade Leo not to wait for his brother´s return anyway. Cullen knew their young leader long enough to notice that he was anxiously waiting for the second part of their gang to appear.

*

Jane opened her eyes just as the door shut with a quiet click. Two voices, which woke her up, continued their talking behind them, so they sounded muffled and she didn´t understand the exact words, but she assumed that if it was anything important, Cullen or Leo would come to tell her. Feeling a little dizzy, she realized that she overdid it with her efforts to help. She was really lucky not to fall sick as well.

She still felt tired, even though she had to sleep for quite a while, as her neck was all stiff. Jane reached out to massage it and only then her look fell upon the other side of the room.

A beautiful smile spread on the brunette´s face, when she recognized her lover, snoring lightly in the chair right next to her bed, one of his hands resting on the mattress. He chose quite an uncomfortable position for his rest, but Jane figured, it was not Leo´s intention to fall asleep in the first place.

She observed his sleeping face for a while, which was worried even in his sleep and suddenly felt incredibly grateful. No matter what, Leo was on her side even in the hardest and darkest moments. It was selfish of her to drag him along to the town under quarantine. What if would he fall sick? What would she do then? She had already lost so much, and she couldn´t bear an idea of losing Leo too…

Jane sat up slowly and reached for his hand, soothing it with her fingers. It took a while before Leo came to himself and looked around half-confused, half-alarmed. Jane recognized from his reaction that he was really tired, otherwise he would have been wide awake right away and ready to defend himself with a revolver in his hand. The life on the other side of the law made him be like that.

"Jane… Do you feel better?" he straightened in his chair.

She smiled at him softly: "Not yet… Come here to me," she requested, pulling on his hand a bit.

Leo didn´t need to be persuaded for long, he just kicked the boots off his feet, pulled the trousers down and then he slipped under the blanket. Only when he circled an arm along Jane´s waist, she felt calm enough to close her eyes again.

"Better?" Leo whispered in her ear.

"Yes, love…Thank you."

"… Me too."

***

It was not an uncomfortable travel. The weather was nice; the road calm, they had enough food to eat and the lack of alcoholic liquids could only benefit them. They cracked all the known and even unknown jokes on the way, told stupid stories and mocked each other, with Jin and Kame somehow ending up to be the most frequent targets.

Their easygoing behavior was a little forced, but it served its purpose. For once, they all wanted to leave the bad stuff behind and forgotten, before they would jump into other issues again. Which were definitely drawing near to them…

*

"Ouch!" Jin flinched under a connection of his thigh with a mixture of mysterious herbs and disinfection. "Can´t you be more careful?"

"It heals no good," Liwan frowned at him. "Do you want infection?"

"Of course not," the half-undressed Rider reacted offended. "But it seems to me you enjoy this too much," Jin´s face contorted in a painful grin, as the medicine got inside the wound and started to burn like hell again.

"You whine like child. Stop wiggling and endure it like man," the young shaman held the other´s leg connected with the ground ruthlessly to prevent him from moving.

"Sure… But you could be more gentle," Jin complained persistently.

"You have Kame for that," Liwan reacted immediately.

Koki burst out laughing so hard that he almost toppled himself right to their fireplace. Jin´s face blushed and he was not able to react right away.

Ryo raised his head from cleaning up the saddle as well: "I´m gonna miss you, Bear," he said amusedly, using the Indian´s nickname, which both he and Koki quickly caught from Jin. "You always find so incredibly fitting responses."

"Exactly," Koki caught a breath to speak.

"Thank you for your friendly support, buddies," Jin snapped sarcastically.

"You´re very welcome," both Riders grinned at him.

"Did I miss anything?" another voice joined the little company in leeward behind the hill near Longmont. It was Kame, returning with the bottles of water hooded on strips around his shoulders and neck for everyone.

"My torture," Jin grumbled.

"Overreacting," Liwan stated coldly, as he tightened the bandage around his leg.

"Sissy," Koki made a mocking gesture at him.

"Shut up!" Jin snapped.

"Man up," Ryo reacted right away.

Kame was looking from one to another confused, while Jin was sending killing stares toward the other two Riders.

"Your turn, Kame," Liwan, ignorant to the childish argument, stood up and gestured the younger one to sit. "Let me see your back."

"I´m fine, Liwan, you don´t have to…"

"Sit," his blood brother interrupted him in a relentless tone.

And Kame closed his mouth, put all the bottles aside and sat down without any other word.

*

It was their last evening together, so that was probably why the young shaman insisted on checking their slowly healing wounds personally. And no matter the ´cruel´ treatment, Jin appreciated that. He had many reasons to trust the Indian´s medical skills.

Right in the next morning, Liwan was supposed to set off to the north, while their road should be leading them to the east. Jin was not surprised that Kame seemed to be out of his usual self; he could imagine that he younger one was not very happy about the repeated separation with his blood brother.

But still, there was something else off, apart from Liwan´s departure; Jin already knew that broody-gloomy look Kazuya had. This Kame´s side, when the younger one was usually overthinking things and kept quiet about what bothered him, was sometimes quite annoying, but Jin accepted it. His lover was definitely that type of person, who was thinking first and talking second.

Not surprisingly, the younger one noticed Jin´s suspicious looks and it didn´t take long before he reacted to them… Right after they finished their dinner, Kame got up and asked Jin for help with the dishes. They gathered the kettle, all casseroles and spoons and left their bright camp behind, heading through the thin grove to the small brook.

The hungry Riders literally licked their meals off, so they didn´t have much work with washing almost non-existing leftovers away. But they did it in silence.

Jin straightened up and wiped his hands into the pants, while Kame remained crouching, looking at the rushing water, which was turning dark in the deepening twilight.

"So, what is it this time?" Jin asked, carefully controlling his voice.

Kame replied only after a few seconds: "I want to go with Liwan," he said quietly, making Jin stiffen. He stared at the younger one´s profile for a long while, not being able to react. At first, he didn't understand and he didn´t even want to. Why? Why now? Was Kame even serious?

But in the end, Jin admitted that he was actually not that much surprised…

When there was no reaction coming from the older one, Kame stood up as well and looked at Jin directly: "I was thinking about it since the moment we saved him from the Sioux. I cannot let him go alone, Jin. I owe it to him."

It was hard to say it aloud, harder than Kame had thought it would be, because leaving Jin right now, was the very last thing he wanted to do, but his conscience wouldn´t have let him at peace, if he would let Liwan travel back to Montana alone again. It was about to be a long and dangerous journey; and no matter how capable he was, the young shaman needed somebody to cover his back. That issue with Sioux rebels was more than a good proof of that.

"Yeah, sure…"

Jin´s voice was somewhat stern, so Kame quickly thought of something more to say to explain.

"He helped me back then, when I was looking for you, now I want to help him too," Kame was getting really nervous under that unreadable look Jin had. "I don´t want to leave you," he stated unhappily. "But I cannot… I hope you understand that…"

"Oh, yes, I understand," Jin confirmed still in that strange tone. Then he leant down and started putting the clean dishes on one pile.

Kame sighed: "Jin…"

Just a clinging of casseroles replied him.

"Jin, please!"

The older one stopped already two steps away from him, remained motionless for a while, before he turned back to Kame.

"You just keep talking about what you want. What about me then?"

"I´m sorry," the younger one said quietly. "I know that you…"

"What do you want me to do?" the older one interrupted him.

Kame took a deep breath: "I won´t persuade you to leave your brother now, when you finally found him. I don´t want to stand between you two."

"So once again," Jin snapped quite irritated now and hastily put all the dishes aside to the ground, barely preventing himself from throwing them away. "What do you want me to do?!"

"I want you to go back to Montana with us!" Kame let his earnest wish come out heatedly. "I want to be with you, close to you, so that I can hug you and kiss you! I can´t bear the idea of us separating again! But I won´t make you choose between me and Leo!"

Jin buried his dark eyes in the younger one´s: "And you can´t even do that. Because it will be my decision."

Kame was repaying that deep look and he was almost afraid to believe what that expression meant... Could it be that Jin was willing to leave Colorado as well? But he still felt bad for that he was pushing the older one to it.

"Listen to me, Jin. You don´t have to…"

"You came after me before," Jin interrupted him quickly. "To help me with my brother, no matter what that could actually mean. Now, it´s my turn to repay."

"But what about Leo? You wanted…"

"My little brother is in a good company. I didn´t know that before," Jin stated seriously. "Just as I didn´t realize that he´s an adult now. He can take care of himself, and moreover, he has got Esler and the others. So… I don´t have to be worried anymore. Not so much, at least," the older one attempted for a grin.

Kame released a shaky breath. It was damn selfish, but disappearance of that possibility that they would be separated again made him incredibly happy.

"But you should have told me about this earlier," Jin reproached to him.

"Well… I didn´t want to spoil the mood," Kame apologized softly. "It was… too nice to be together like this."

"And here I had almost thought that you want to get rid of me," Jin reacted with a pretentious complaint.

Kame made two steps closer to the older one, slowly entered his personal space and circled both hands around his neck.

"That will never happen," he whispered tenderly before attaching to Jin´s lips. I love you too much for that… he added only in his mind, feeling Jin´s mouth reacting to his action eagerly.

"Good to hear that," Jin replied once they freed each other from a loving kiss and he pulled the younger one even closer for his waist. "But I really should start punishing you for not telling me things."

"Oh…" Kame raised his eyebrows, when he felt two cheeky hands making themselves comfortable on his bottom cheeks. "Should I be afraid?"

A calculative smirk appeared on Jin´s lips: "Maybe…" he replied indefinitely, before he captured Kazuya´s lips again in a much greedier kiss.

*

The next morning came up cloudy and windy. The clouds seemed to be unnaturally low, chasing each other above the hilly terrain, as the gusts of wind kept trying to blow away the hats of four young men and throwing with the long hair of one Indian.

The little group was standing at the invisible crossroads north of Longmont – there was a clearly visible track made by stage coaches leading directly to the north and almost non-existing path, which led to the east to the small town of Greeley, from where it was possible to get to Hereford.

Liwan was checking on the horses, making sure that they had no hidden injuries or problems, which would prevent them from fast travelling. He checked on both Kuro and Ukushi as the last, recognizing that they were in great shape and ready for the journey. Their masters took care of them quite thoroughly. Soothing both their necks, he smiled a little at the tenderness, which they seemed to have towards each other, even though he stood between them.

The shaman looked to the north, across the hills and plains, wondering if he would not be too late in coming home. Only Manitou knew what might have happened while he was gone. There was a great distance to overcome, until he would be able to see his family again. He was already restless to set off and he planned on proceeding as quickly as possible. And he hoped that his unplanned companions would be able to keep on the pace…

He let Kuro and Ukushi to their sniffing game and turned to the Black Riders, who were almost packed up already. Well, seeing Kame and Akanishi now, a quick proceeding should be just fine. It would take some time before their wounds would heal completely, but they seemed to be doing all right and they were fully relaxed around each other. Especially, his dear blood brother was finally smiling the way he used to…

After the two of them sorted the things out the previous evening, Liwan couldn´t miss Kame´s happy expression. He was glad that Akanishi decided to accompany them, too. He figured that Kame might insist on going with him, but he would rather not imagine what it would do with his blood brother, if he separated from the hotheaded gunslinger now. The uncertainty in Kame´s heart was probably chased away completely, but considering what they had been through recently, they really needed each other to recover from the encounter with the evil spirit completely. Liwan could feel it; it was lingering in their sometimes dark, absent looks. That wound was too deep to be forgotten completely and it needed time. And last, but not least, considering what and whom they could encounter on the way, it was a way better to travel in a greater number.

Liwan suddenly realized someone´s stare, which interrupted his thoughts. It was the yellow-haired Rider, looking at him with a somewhat knowing smirk. The young shaman returned Tanaka´s look and then the Rider winked at him. Liwan raised his eyebrow.

What that was supposed to mean?

*

"Are you sure?" Ryo was standing in front of Jin and Kame, but he was looking mostly at the older one.

"That´s quite a useless question, mate," the blonde Rider announced before either of the two could react. "They´re stuck together, none of us is able to detach them."

Jin sent a cold stare in his direction: "Envious now?"

"You can bet," Koki grinned.

"Your bad luck then," Jin spread his lips in a winning grimace and turned to Ryo, so he didn´t see how Koki winked at Kame, making the younger one chuckle. "Tell my brother that I´m sorry. I don´t think he needs me so much, when he has you guys around."

Ryo nodded, seemingly pleased by that indirect appreciation: "Got it. I´ll tell him about our new Indian friend and I´m sure he´ll understand."

"I hope so…" Jin sighed, trying to be optimistic about it as well. He couldn´t help thinking that Leo would be quite disappointed. "I´ll be looking forward to see your annoying faces again," he reached his hand toward the black-haired Rider, who was the first one to trust him, when he introduced himself as Leo´ brother at their encounter months ago.

Ryo shook it heartily: "Hopefully not on the wanted posters."

"Yeah… Definitely not there," Jin nodded grinning.

Kame proceeded forward as well and to Jin´s badly hidden displeasure, he hugged Ryo shortly: "Tell my greetings to everyone, and especially to Jane. It was really nice to meet you all."

"You too, Handsome," Ryo smiled at him widely, repaying his hug willingly. "Who would have thought you´ll end up being a Rider as well, huh?" then he glanced at Jin, who was just indicating something what almost looked like cutting his neck, and he stepped away from Kame laughing. "Easy, Jin, he´s all yours now."

Kame turned to his boyfriend reproachfully, but at that moment Jin already seemed as the most innocent man in the world.

"Liwan, it was my pleasure," Ryo approached the serious Indian as the last one and the shaman of Blackfeet Tribe accepted his offered arm with both hands.

"Mine too," he nodded.

"Koki? You won´t say them goodbye?" Ryo asked the blonde one, who was just leaning over his horse with his arms crossed all that time.

"No," Koki shrugged. "It´s not necessary."

"That was some education you´d received from your parents," Jin snorted.

The blonde one smiled at him brightly: "You don´t understand. I don´t have to say goodbye, because I´m going with you."

"What??" a double-reaction came from Jin and Ryo, while Kame and Liwan just stared at the Rider surprised.

Koki walked over to his best friend and tapped his shoulder: "You know me, buddy. I just can´t stay still," he smiled a little apologetically. "I haven´t been home for ages, so I thought I might go to see my folks, especially since these three are heading the same way."

Ryo was looking at his blonde friend rather abashed: "But… We´ve just got you back from that damn quarry and now you want to leave again? Leo would definitely disagree and I…"

"I know and that´s why I´m not going to ask him," Koki reacted half-joking, half-serious. "And also…" he looked at Kame. "Four are always better than three, right? Since you emphasized the safe journey so much."

The younger one returned Koki´s look for a while, before he remembered something: "If you think that you still owe me something, then it´s nonsense. You paid it back like two times already."

"Well, it´s more like I don´t want to give up on your pleasant company, Handsome," Koki reacted amused.

"You won´t change your mind?" Ryo tried one more time, but he already saw on his friend that the question was useless. He sighed, not feeling upset, only sad: "Well… At least, I´ll have some peace from you for a while."

"Jerk," Koki stuck out his tongue at him.

The black-haired Rider laughed shortly, but then pulled Koki into a friendly hug: "Be careful."

"Don´t worry, man. As I said – you know me, right?"

"It´s because I know you that I worry," Ryo sighed and let Koki go. Quickly turning away, as if he didn´t want them to see his face, he jumped into the saddle. "You two owe me," he pointed at Jin and Koki then.

"What for?" Jin frowned.

"For having to deal with Leo, once he finds out about this."

"I´d say that you owe us for taking him along," Jin snorted, pointing a finger at Koki.

"Come on, don´t be such a spoilsport," the blonde one threw an arm across Akanishi´s shoulders. "It will be fun!"

"I have no doubt that for you it will," Ryo reacted grinning and turned his horse to leave.

"Ryo!" Kame called after him in the last second. "If anything comes up, send us the telegram to Bozeman. We´ll be probably available there."

Jin looked at the younger one, grateful that he thought about something like this.

"Good idea," Ryo nodded. "Can we use your name?"

"No problem," Kame agreed.

"And even if my brother says not to write to us, don´t listen to him," Jin urged on him. "No matter the distance, we will come."

This time, Kame´s eyes turned to the older one, in an understanding and approving way.

"Well, I think I should follow our leader´s orders first, so…"

"Ryo," Jin said the name with a serious emphasis.

"Ok, ok, I will, promise," the Rider nodded, actually glad that they insisted on something like that. "Unfortunately, I have no idea to where we might head from now on, otherwise I´d tell you how to contact us."

"Just stay out of troubles. Especially my little brother," Jin reacted. "I´d rather not hear about you from the newspapers."

"All right, I´ll pass it on. See you, guys!" and then, without looking back, Ryo set off in the fast pace toward his goal.

In an unspoken agreement, the rest of them headed to their animals as well, as soon as the Rider´s figure disappeared behind the hill.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Jin mumbled, as he tightened the buckle on Kuro´s saddle. "Dealing with that dumbass´ remarks all the time…"

"Jin, don´t be so grumpy," Kame appeared on his side, calming him quietly. "It´s true that it´s better if there´s more of us."

"Maybe, but not in his case," Jin hissed. "And in combination with Bear… You must keep me from jumping on them or I´ll probably strangle them just to make them shut…"

While Jin kept complaining, Kame sighed, checked on Liwan and Koki, who were mounting with their backs to them and quickly grabbed the collar of Jin´s shirt.

A sudden move, with which Kame pulled him close, surprised Jin so that he lost the thread of his words. The soft lips locked his mouth in a short, but quite demanding kiss. It left Jin dumbfounded, when Kame bit his lower lip before pulling back.

Kazuya smiled satisfied, seeing Jin´s expression: "You´re allowed to jump only on me alone," he whispered, and it would really sound like an order, if not for the longing in the younger one´s tone.

"Well," Jin cleared his throat, desperately holding himself back from jumping on his lover right away. "I might deal with them somehow then," he admitted.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Good."

"Can we go or are you gonna drag this out till nightfall?" Koki´s mocking voice interrupted their moment.

Kame left the spot between two horses, flashing an innocent smile, while Jin raised his hand above Kuro´s saddle and showed the blonde one a very rude gesture. Liwan was already on the move, while Koki was leaning over the pommel, waiting for them.

"You want a fight?" the Rider asked grinning.

"A race," Jin replied immediately.

"Fine," the blonde one agreed. "Let´s go, boy!" and in the next second, Koki´s horse set off in fast gallop.

"You cheating bastard!" Jin sent an insult after him, already also in his saddle, but Kame could see that his lips were twitching in an excited smile. "Come on, Kuro. We´ll show him his place."

Kame watched as his lover rushed his faithful stallion after the blonde Rider. After that he got seated on Ukushi in a much calmer way and leisurely caught up with Liwan, who observed the passing competitors with a surprised look.

"Are they always like this?" his Indian brother asked.

"Pretty much," Kame confirmed.

Liwan turned to look at him and watched the smiling face of the younger one for a while. Kame realized it and returned his stare questioningly: "What is it?"

And Liwan couldn´t help but smile too: "I am just happy you are with me, my Brother."

***

He was excited about what He felt in the air. Another journey, another adventure.

The speed with which He could move forward was so consuming and it was great to feel that His Master was happy and excited too.

When their new Herd stopped for the night, He was still restless, and He wanted to continue. But White seemed to be needing rest, so He settled next to her and watched as Humans gathered around that hot thing, which always smelled in a little different way.

Later on, Master and his Mate walked away into the dark, probably to do that strange thing with their mouths. They kept on their secret, even though it was not secret anymore. How foolish.

But He considered the privacy in the dark a good idea and shifter closer to White, away from the light. She welcomed him tenderly, leaning Her head over His. And He realized something – there was something different about the way White smelled.

He snorted a little and pushed His head under Her neck, sniffing again. When He raised it and looked at White, She neighed softly. He snorted excited and made a few enthusiastic steps around His White, as far as the small trees allowed Him to. Now, they had Secret too.

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~