Value of life

Jin didn´t like the words Math Grenet used at all. ´Real fun´ sounded like a bad omen from the deputy´s mouth. And just a few minutes later, Jin found out that his intuition was correct.

Only Grenet, three other men and Jin himself were left for the second round. The number of targets was increased to four and the pace in which the boy was throwing them up in the air was faster.

The first participant, a grey-haired skinny man, missed the second plate and didn´t even try to hit the next one. The shorter one from the two Grenet´s gunmen missed the third and the last shooter almost made it, but he just scratched the last plate and it did not count as a hit. Despite that the man received some applause from the citizens and also a haughty nod of appreciation from Grenet.

The sheriff´s deputy was quite sure about his own skills from a good reason. He hit all four targets clearly in the middle and with that arrogant smile of his left the shooting spot. But it was nothing difficult for Jin either and he got the full number of points, too. Only he and Grenet were left for the third round. And exactly as Jin felt something bad coming, the competition rules were changed…

"So... Are we going up to the five plates?" the young gunslinger asked, while he was recharging his revolver carefully.

"No," the deputy denied his assumption. "We will make it more interesting."

"More interesting?" Jin repeated slowly, and put the gun back into its sheath for the moment. "What do you mean by that?"

Instead of giving an answer, Grenet turned away from him toward the crowd.

"Hey, boy!" the deputy shouted out all of the sudden and all looks focused on the small boy who was sitting on some old box, watching the competition. "Come here!"

The boy got up to his feet hastily and ran up to them. It was Mike from Harada´s stalls. Jin was waiting tensely for the revelation of the deputy´s intentions with his eyes narrowed, while Kame, still standing on the veranda, was more than worried, when he saw whom Grenet picked up from the crowd.

"How can I help you, sir?" Mike asked innocently.

"Go to those two," Grenet pointed at two boys with the plates. "Take one of the targets and go in front of that wall. When I tell you, raise it in the air next to your head."

Jin stiffened realizing what that crazy deputy had on his mind. The poor boy didn´t seem to be very sure about the request either.

"So… I should hold it in my hand, sir?"

"As I said," Grenet hissed. "Move."

Not very enthusiastically, Mike obeyed and went where he was told to.

*

Kame couldn´t hear what Grenet said, so he understood fully what was going on, only when Mike took one plate into his hand and approached the dark wall.

"What the…" he breathed out in fright. "It can´t be…"

"Another troubling day," Mr. Harada murmured from his armchair.

*

"Are you serious about this?" Jin asked slowly.

Grinning Grenet turned to him: "Of course, don´t you trust your skills?" the deputy raised his eyebrows mockingly.

"It´s not that. But this is dangerous," he objected the idea.

"You can always back off, if you´re too much of a chicken to do this," Grenet said with an awful smirk and left to the shooting spot.

Jin was watching the man, clenching his palms into fists so firmly, that he felt his nails creating the deep cuts in his skin. This was not just a game anymore. It was a serious threat to the boy´s life. Grenet was a good shooter, but he was too careless and even the slightest mistake would have been enough for a terrible result from the competition.

Jin looked at Mike, who moved with his arm, following Grenet´s order. The kid´s face was pale and he was shaking a little, obviously scared. But he didn´t dare to oppose the deputy, he knew very well that he would have brought the gunman´s anger on himself in that case. The boy was really friendly and nice to Jin and he didn´t want him to be endangered like that. On the other hand, if he gave up this game, he would be considered a coward and that would not help him in his goal to join Karnaka´s men.

But… What was more important now?

Grenet finished charging of his revolver and Jin took a deep breath. When the deputy raised his hand to aim at the boy and the crowd fell in deep silence, the two voices were heard in perfect union.

"Stop!!"

It was Kame, who rushed forward and shouted out at the very same moment as Jin did.

Grenet lowered his gun a little, turning his head. Kame stopped right in front of him, just a few steps from Jin, who was watching his back now.

"Stop this crazy game, Grenet, right away," the bartender requested sharply.

"Stay out of this, baby boy, if you don´t want to piss me off," Grenet reacted threateningly.

But Kame wasn´t afraid of the man like the others were.

"You put this boy´s life in danger for nothing!"

"Nothing´s gonna happen to him," the deputy retorted. "These are the rules."

"These rules suck! Not to mention you just made them up!"

"I don´t see anyone else here objecting…" Grenet stated, narrowing his eyes into a calculating expression.

That was true. The crowd around was deadly quiet. Most of the citizens avoided looking at Kame or Mike. Some were obviously angered and worried too, but nobody dared to say anything. Everyone was afraid of the consequences, which the resistance against Karnaka´s right hand could have.

Sometimes, Kame was sick of this cowardly attitude, but on the other hand, he understood. Nobody wanted to have any issues with Raynold Karnaka. He shouldn´t get involved in it either. But Mike was living only with his grandparents, who were usually staying in their house and they were not on the place. There was no one to stand up for the boy, just himself...

"Look, Grenet, we can solve this in tons of other ways. We don´t have to shoot at kids."

Kame glanced at the young man behind him. He was not completely alone in the end. Jin was against this nonsense, too. He was not sure, if he really heard the other one´s voice before, but now it was clear that Jin was trying to stop Grenet as well.

The murmur of agreement was heard in the crowd, but nobody else objected that crazy idea openly. Grenet was staring at them for a while, before an awful smile made his face quite hideous.

"What´s said, that´s done. I won´t go back on my word."

With that, the deputy turned away from them, aimed his gun again and fired before anyone could have even moved. The loud shot made Kame twitch. A yell of pain was heard right after that and everybody stared frightened at the boy, who was still holding the target, which was intact. But there was blood.

The boy dropped the plate and by the time he went down to his knees, Kame was already on way towards him, while shaken up Jin looked at Grenet, who lowered his gun finally.

"A doctor! Call Doctor Best!" Kame yelled, already kneeling next to the crying boy. Grenet´s bullet probably hit him in the shoulder.

The deputy was looking at the scene without any regret in his face, the revolver still in his hand. Jin approached the man carefully, suddenly being more than aware of that the deputy was capable of anything, while the doctor forced his way through the people, who gathered around the wounded boy.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Jin asked Grenet, suppressing the dark anger inside him from coming out. "You could have killed him!"

"But I didn´t," Grenet answered shortly.

A sudden urge to hit that bastard right in the middle of his arrogant face flooded Jin from head to toes. He was almost at the edge of his self-control, when Sheriff approached them.

"You overdid it this time, Math," the old man said in a firm, but careful voice. "You will be held responsible for hurting that kid."

"Oh, really?" Grenet raised his eyebrows. "But it was only an accident, you know. If our cute bartender didn´t interrupt me, everything would be fine."

Jin felt like bursting out any second. Now that bastard even blamed Kame? There was something seriously wrong with that man.

If Grenet had looked into Jin´s eyes at that moment, he wouldn´t have eaten his role of a young naive greenhorn, who wanted to earn some money working for Karnaka. But he didn´t look there; he was focused at the sheriff, who hesitated a little after his statement.

"Make some space, for God´s sake!" the doctor´s angered voice reached them. "Take him to my clinic, I´ll treat him there."

Three men turned into the direction, from where the doctor was coming, with the medical bag in his hand. Behind him, Jin saw Kame standing by the wall, watching two other men taking Mike away carefully.

"The boy will be all right, it´s just a scratch," Doctor Best informed them.

"See? It´s nothing," Grenet reacted scornfully.

The doctor pierced him with his eyes: "You should show some regret at least, Grenet," he said coldly. "Now, excuse me."

Jin was relieved that it was nothing serious, but it didn´t calm his anger down. And he was not the only one pissed off as hell. But the sheriff kept suspiciously quiet.

Grenet hid his revolver and looked at Jin: "We will finish this next time, greenhorn…"

After that the deputy turned away and gestured to his men. Sheriff said nothing else and went away too. It was scary how little value someone´s life had for them...

And then, Jin spotted Kame marching towards Grenet´s group with a dangerous shine in his eyes. His hands were colored in red, as he was trying to stop the bleeding from Mike´s arm. Grenet and the others were already going in the direction of the saloon, when Kame passed Jin like a tornado, not paying him any attention at all, with a clear intention to continue his furious race after Grenet. Jin managed to catch the younger one´s arm and stop him at the last moment, before he was out of his reach.

Making sure that nobody gave them even one look, as the citizens were already going after their business, he leant close to the young bartender.

"He will get what he deserves," Jin said in Kame´s ear so quietly, that no one else could hear it. "I promise."

*

The grip under his shoulder stopped Kame from moving and he wanted to snap at the one who dared to do it, when he felt a warm breath at his ear and then he heard Jin´s reassuring voice. And thanks to that he realized, that it wouldn´t do any good, if he jumped on Grenet and beat the living soul out of him. It would be only worse, for everyone.

Kame exhaled a deep breath, calming himself a little. It was not like him to get so angry, but Math Grenet happened to be a huge cause of his worries recently. Firstly, he threatened Liwan with his shotgun, and now he even hurt Mike – a small innocent boy, whose life could have been so easily lost...

Kame looked at Jin, who was observing him closely and just nodded to signalize he was fine and wouldn´t do anything reckless. Only then, Jin let him go and followed Grenet and his men hastily, before anyone could have noticed what he did. He made it just in time…

"Greenhorn! Where are you?! We have to drink to your shooting skill!"

It was Grenet shouting over the whole street of course. Jin fastened his pace towards the group, which already reached the saloon.

"Hey, pretty face!" Grenet yelled from the veranda. "Move your ass and get some beers ready, we´re thirsty!"

Jin had a hard time not making a face. He was quite disgusted already and started to despise that man. Not to mention he hated the way he talked to Kame. As if he was the servant of his or what.

When Grenet disappeared in the saloon, he turned back shortly and caught Kame´s glance, who was still standing near the shooting spot and whose expression was basically identical with his. It could be said, there was definitely something what they had in common.

*

Grenet really had his day… After the incident during the shooting, he and his companions made such an uproar in the saloon that only Madame Sukina´s harlots stayed there with them. All other customers gradually left the saloon, leaving only the loud group behind.

Mr. Harada was watching it from his place with a not very satisfied expression, but he didn´t do anything to make the ruckus calm. Kame was serving the group, fighting with himself in order not to show them something very vulgar and go home.

There was something what gave him strength to endure the never-ending flow of Grenet´s stupid remarks and tons of orders from his gunmen. It was Jin, who was sitting at the table and laughing with them, but Kame noticed that he was forcing himself to it. From time to time the young newcomer gave him the encouraging look. Somehow, it made Kame feel much better, when he knew that he was not alone in this.

Kame was preparing another round of beers a little in advance, when Jin got up and went to the bar.

"Can you please prepare five shots of whiskey, Kame?"

He looked at him surprised. The young man seemed to be quite annoyed now, when he was turned to the certain table with his back.

"Is that your order?"

"No. Grenet´s. He sent me for it," Jin responded. "He doesn´t know when he already had enough."

Grenet was the loudest one of the group, so Kame could only agree with that. Jin looked fine, just his face was a little darker and the eyes shiny. He nodded and bent down under the counter for a requested bottle. When Kame stood up again, he did it so that nobody could see he was talking.

"Thank you, Jin," he said quietly, preparing the glasses.

Akanishi´s eyes focused on him surprised: "What for?"

"For stopping me back there… Usually, I don´t let myself to get upset so easily. But this time…"

"You´re welcome," Jin reacted with a warm smile. "I understand you completely. I wanted to rip his head off myself… But I´m really glad I didn´t do that and stopped you instead, when it made you call me Jin again."

Kame stopped pouring the liquid. He didn´t even realize that he did call the older one that. Jin was leaning over the counter, watching him closely with the sparkles in his eyes, still smiling. And Kame couldn´t help but repay that smile.

"Hey! Greenhorn! Where are you with that fucking drink?!"

The connection between them broke and Jin waved his hand leisurely: "I´m on my way!"

He took the shots that Kame prepared and turned away from him going back to the drinking group, with that fake grin on his face again.

***

The forest around the small glade was peaceful and quiet, the faint sunbeams creating the deep green shadows under the trees. The piercing shriek of a dark brown buzzard flying high up in the air above them and looking for some prey was carried far away.

For Jin, the surroundings seemed more like menacing; anything could have been hiding behind those trees… The sharp sound of something being broken made him twitch and his hand slipped down to the gunstock. But there was nothing approaching them from any direction yet.

Kame sitting on the old stump looked up from something what he was carving from the piece of oak wood and checked on Jin.

"Why are you so nervous?" he asked the older one.

"What? I´m not!" Akanishi denied it immediately, still checking the group of bushes on the west side of the glade.

"No? Then why do you look like being ready to shoot down any living creature which might show up here?" Kame pointed at his hand, which was still prepared on the gun.

Jin forced himself relax a little, let the calming cold feeling under his fingers go and came closer to him.

"Fine, I´m not completely calm," he admitted unwillingly.

"You have no reason to worry," Kame said with an awesome certainty.

"I don´t know," Jin crouched down, so Kame didn´t have to bend his head up anymore. "What should I say to them?"

The younger one leant the elbows on his knees and looked him in the eyes.

"That´s simple - the truth. They hate lying, so just be honest and it will be fine," he assured Jin.

"That´s easy for you to say. You´re their friend. I doubt they will be willing to behave friendly to me. To some White Face bothering them with his…"

"Jin," Kame interrupted his worried murmuring. "Be polite and they will repay you with the same. Believe me; they have much better manners than white men."

"All right…" he gave up any more complaints.

"Moreover, you have me on your side," Kame smiled a little.

Only after that, Jin´s face brightened up.

"That´s good to hear," he reacted already more relaxed.

A fine neigh was heard from the left side, where they left their horses. Kame recognized his mare and got up.

"They´re coming…" he said with his eyes focused on the almost invisible path, which led to the glade from the east. Jin straightened up next to him.

"How can you know? I don´t see anyone…"

"Ukushi let me know," Kame explained.

"Ukushi?" Jin asked confused. "What´s that? Some special power?"

Kame suppressed the laugh, which filled up his chest.

"No. That´s my mare, Jin. I´ve got her from the tribe and she feels her brothers."

"Oh, I see… Hey, don´t laugh! How could I know that?" Jin pouted seeing Kame turning away from him trying to hide his smile. But in truth, he was really glad to see the usually gloomy bartender amused like that.

Kame patted Jin´s shoulder apologetically.

"Sorry, I didn´t mean to scoff at you. But… special power?" the younger one was laughing again.

"Well, I made your day with that, obviously," Jin grinned, but was not insulted at all.

At that moment, a faint rustle reached their ears and they both turned to the path on which three riders appeared - the Indians on their beautiful horses without saddles. One of them had an impressive headband with many feathers from birds of prey on his head.

Kame got serious at once.

"Is he who I think he is?" Jin asked quietly.

"Yes. The Tribal Chief himself," Kame confirmed.

They both kept standing there next to each other, waiting for three Indians to reach them…