Care

Kame felt like hit by a train, which dragged him along the railway for so many miles that it was impossible to count them up. Every simple movement caused him another wave of pain, which was blinding him with grey shadows and making him unable to go steadily. He was shaky and cold, not to mention a weak nausea, which was probably caused by that hard hit to his head. But the worst of all, he felt humiliated and pathetically weak.

If those soldiers hadn´t come to the sheriff´s office, no matter the reason they had for it, he wouldn´t have been able to fight Grenet back and prevent him from what the deputy intended to do. Just that idea brought the freezing shivers all over his skin.

If not for the securing arm around Kame´s body and the warmness, which he felt under his palm resting on the other one´s neck, he would have yelled in frustration. Fortunately, Jin was holding him firmly, leading his slow steps and it brought Kame the feeling of being protected.

It was maybe a little strange to admit, especially after what had happened only minutes ago, but undeniably, when he was hold by the older one like this, it felt like no one could hurt him...

Jin observed him worriedly, when Kame stumbled and relied on his support even more, clinging to his body like to the last resort.

"Wouldn´t be better if I took you to the doctor?" the young gunslinger proposed in a serious tone.

"No..." Kame wanted to shake his head, but he stopped this intention immediately, when the nausea became stronger. "There would be… many questions. It would be… worse…"

"How can this be even worse?" Jin reacted frowning.

"Just take me… home," the younger one breathed out heavily.

"Yes, but…"

"Jin… Please…" Kame asked again, focused at staying on his feet.

The older one stopped their movement forward and bent his head down a little to look at Kame´s face.

"Yes, Kazuya, I will. But which house is yours?" he asked him softly.

"Oh, yes…"

Kame raised his head slowly and saw that they were almost on the place. He didn´t realize that Jin didn´t know where exactly he lived yet.

"Sorry, I forgot… It´s that one, with the green shutters…" he identified the right house.

Jin started to walk again and led Kame to the said direction murmuring gloomily, not really expecting any reaction: "What the fuck you should be sorry for…"

*

Kame´s house was small, but very neat, with a welcoming atmosphere and also full of great silence. The younger one directed them to the kitchen, where Jin let him sit down on one of the chairs and lit up the lantern hanging from the ceiling above the clean table.

"Can you please check on my mother?" Kame requested, after Jin placed the light on the right place. "She should be behind the other door…"

Jin just nodded, went back to the dark corridor and pushed the mentioned door a little, which were slightly open, to peek inside carefully. He didn´t want to scare the woman. But it was all right; all he could see was an old but kind face with closed eyes and heard a mild regular breathing. The two candles were enlightening the room, but they were still tall enough not to be any danger, so he let them be and closed the door.

"She is…" Jin started the sentence, returning to the kitchen, but he didn´t finish it.

With the two fast steps, he reached Kame, who was doing something at the stove.

"What do you think you´re doing here?" Jin asked sharply, but keeping his voice not to be too loud.

Kame placed the last piece of wood into the furnace and trying to suppress the painful expression unsuccessfully, he turned to the older one.

"Basing a fire... I just need some hot water, so…"

Without another word, Jin caught Kame by both arms and gently moved the young man forcing him back to the chair.

"Sit here. I´ll do it," he stated uncompromisingly. "And your mother is all right, she´s sleeping."

Any resistance would have been meaningless, so Kame just nodded gratefully. Then he watched Jin, as he created the warm flames in the furnace in a few seconds; took his coat off, hang it over the other chair and then turned back to Kame.

"Where do you have pots? And disinfection and bandages?"

The older one obviously wanted to take care of him, which meant that he would definitely touch him again. And Kame was already tense enough from their painful journey to his house.

"Jin, you don´t have to…" he tried again.

"Yes, I have to," the other one interrupted him firmly. "Just tell me."

*

A few minutes later, Jin sat down right next to him, prepared with the hot water, some cloths, bandages, salve and disinfection for his injuries. Kame didn´t protest anymore, when he helped him take the shirt off, which by that time looked more like a bloody rag.

He heard a suppressed hissing, when the light fell on his skin, where the dark bruises were starting to be visible. Kame still felt each of the kicks, which he had received from Grenet´s men. He was lucky that none of his ribs was broken; at least he thought so. Jin didn´t say a thing this time. Only the look of his eyes became even darker.

Kame avoided that black look anxiously, yet his heart started beating faster, when Jin touched his chin gently and with the wet cloth he started to wipe the blood away, which was drying out already.

The broken lip was burning a little in the contact with disinfection, but Kame almost didn´t feel it thanks to the soft touches of Jin´s fingers. After the cruel and painful treatment he received from Grenet, he perceived it even more. First at the face, then at the neck and collarbones, which were stained with the blood as well...

His common sense was telling Kame not to do it, but he simply couldn´t help it. He tore his eyes off the water surface, which was slowly coloring in red, and let them meet with Jin´s, whose serious face was only a few inches from his.

Kame´s mind turned off for a fleeting second; when he lost himself in that warm look full of emotions, which were boiling in them. When he was able to think again, he already knew. Or better say, he could do nothing else than to admit what was clear to his heart for quite some time.

No matter how hard he tried to deny it, Jin meant much more to him than just an acquaintance in crime. He hadn´t even started to call him a friend and the young gunslinger was already something more than that. Kame could have pretended to the whole world that Jin meant nothing more to him, but he couldn´t lie to himself. He couldn´t make his heart to feel otherwise.

So in addition to all of his current troubles, he voluntarily added this unexpectedly strong affection for the handsome troublemaker.

Just great, Kame... he scolded himself subconsciously. Just something what you needed.

A confused expression appeared on Jin´s face. Then the older one let his hands go down slowly, which felt like a horrible loss to Kame, but he didn´t move his eyes away from him.

"What are you thinking about?" Jin asked in a tense voice.

Kame smiled faintly, feeling as if he was caught doing something forbidden: "Just about how stupid I am…"

A deep frown was added to the confusion of the other one.

"You? Are you kidding?" Jin let the blood-soaked cloth fall into the pot with water. "It´s me; who is a complete idiot here! I was just standing there, staring at the rain, while you were tortured inside!"

Kame blinked surprised with the sudden outburst.

"You didn´t know…" he objected faintly.

"I should have known!" there was an angry reaction. "I should have recognized that Grenet wanted to do something shitty again!"

"Jin... You couldn´t do anything against it anyway…" Kame tried to persuade him, but he took it from the wrong end.

Hearing that, Jin froze in his seat first, with his jaw clenched firmly, and then he jumped up on his feet.

"Then I´ll do something about it now," he stated and disappeared from Kame´s sight.

Surprised Kame just stared at the empty place for a few seconds. If not for the fact that furious Jin returned for his coat, stomping across the wooden floor vigorously, the younger one wouldn´t have been able to stop him before he would have run out. Fortunately, with the painful hissing and stumbling heavily, he managed to reach the door right before Jin and stood in front of them with a determined expression.

"Out of my way, Kame," Jin percolated through his teeth.

But Kazuya didn´t move by inch: "What do you want to do?"

"Well, let´s see… Beat him up, and then make him to eat his own dick. Something like this," Jin retorted his response without thinking.

"And what do you think will come of it? What will change?" Kame raised his voice as well.

"It will prevent him from hurting you again!" Jin exclaimed.

Kame´s eyes went wide, hearing the strong emotions in the other´s voice. He had no idea what to say for a few silent seconds, during which they were looking into each other´s eyes.

"And will you throw away everything what you´ve accomplished so far?" he asked Jin, when he found his voice again, and continued faster with each word. "You would have exposed yourself and turned Karnaka against you like this! Will you give up on your goal? What about your revenge? Would you let it go just because of me?"

Jin´s angry expression changed into something, what Kame couldn´t recognize, and he stayed silent for a while. It was like the older one was fighting with his inner self, probably not sure what to say.

"You wouldn´t... Right?" Kame managed to force the words through his narrow throat.

Suddenly, Jin moved closer and leant over the door, putting one hand right next to Kame´s head, and let out a deep depressed breath.

"It´s not only your goal anymore," Kame continued heavily, as his wounds were letting him know about themselves quite loudly. "I want to see Karnaka dead, too. And you would have destroyed any chance we have for it, if you had attacked Grenet."

"I know!" Jin reacted irritated, looking at him with burning glance. "But how am I supposed to let what he did to you go so easily?"

At the tone, which Jin had used, Kame´s heart almost jumped up into his throat.

"Why do you care so much, Jin?" he asked him slowly, suddenly nervous as hell from the look which the other one was keeping on him.

Jin blinked a few times kind of confused. Kazuya´s question filled him with many various emotions and he didn´t know which one he should choose. Why did he care for the young bartender so much? Just why...?

"What do you mean by this stupid question?" he snapped out a little, pissed by the fact that he was lost about own feelings. When Jin pulled his hand off the door, it became even worse, as he touched Kame´s naked shoulder slightly and it brought the feeling of pins and needles into his fingers. "Don´t you consider yourself as my friend?" he let the first thing he was able to think of out his mouth.

This time, it was Kame, who was standing there dumbfounded for a moment.

"Of course I do, but..." he tried to continue, but Jin didn´t let him.

"There´s not any BUT! I take you as a friend, actually the only one in the whole city! I care about you and I don´t want anything bad happen to you! Isn´t it clear enough?"

Jin seemed really angry, so that Kame felt ashamed for his question.

"I´m sorry, Jin," he apologized, forcing his voice to stay unshaken. "I didn´t want to be rude. It´s just despite us being friends, you shouldn´t waste our chance for revenge. And what Grenet did is not your responsibility..."

Actually, Jin wasn´t sure, why it felt so unbearable to let what happened to Kame go, when the thing he wanted to accomplish the most, was making Karnaka pay for what he did to Yamapi. And for what he created from his father, consequently hurting his mother and little brother.

But seeing the wounds on Kame´s thin body and the pain in his eyes; his otherwise smooth skin damaged badly and bloodily; it made Jin really furious. He was not able to think logically. Moreover, what he wanted to do at the very moment was raising his hands, hugging the guy and keeping him as close as possible, not letting anyone else to touch him, but...

Why did he feel this way? And why was it so strong?

"Well, I think that partially is..." Jin opposed Kame´s previous statement, but he was already giving up the argument. "If you didn´t help me with all of this..."

"Wait," the younger one interrupted him. "It was my choice, when I stood up against him. And it had nothing to do with you in the first place. Don´t try to put any blame on yourself. We´ve already discussed this," Kame said and right after that, he leant over the door behind him. The weakness was taking control over him, his knees shaking like a pudding, the head heavy and dizzy.

Of course that Jin noticed that and stepped closer again.

"All right, I know," he admitted unwillingly. "Come on, I´ll lead you back, before you collapse right here..." Jin took Kazuya around the shoulders gently.

They went back to the kitchen, which was already warmed up by the fire in the stove, and that was good, as Jin felt Kame´s skin under his fingers being so cold. And the younger was also shaking like hell. Kame sat down on the chair heavily, not able to cover his weak state. It was hard to let him go, but Jin did and straightened up.

"You´re right, that I cannot let this chance to slip away," he said quietly. "I owe it to Yamapi at least."

Kame met Jin´s eyes, remaining silent, somehow knowing that was not all, what Jin wanted to say.

"I won´t do anything reckless, I promise. Even though it will be damn hard," he grunted. "But I´ll go back there now, anyway. And before you start to object, I just want to find out what he´s up to... What reason did he have to drag you there and..." Jin made a short pause. "And do this to you?"

Kame wondered for a few seconds, if it was safe to tell Jin the truth, but the dark eyes were assuring him, that it was.

"Well, first of all, I hit him the previous evening, when he attacked Lena. She´s my very good friend – like a younger sister to me. She´s helping me with my mother a lot. And that bastard wanted to rape her..."

"What?!" Jin was shocked. "How comes I don´t know about this?"

"I had no chance to tell you earlier..." Kame reacted. "So, his men came for me in front of the saloon, when I finished my work and led me there. But Grenet didn´t want to talk about Lena at all. He wanted to know where the Blackfeet Tribe´s village is, because of that stealing from Karnaka´s fields."

"You didn´t tell him a thing, I guess," Jin murmured.

Kame nodded shortly, not really being able to give Jin any details of the beating he got.

"That shitty bastard!" the older one hissed angrily. "I will kick his ass to the moon… One day," he added hastily, noticing Kame´s strict glance.

"He threw me out of the office because the soldiers were coming and he didn´t want them to see me there..." Kazuya continued. "Otherwise..." he gulped down heavily.

Jin didn´t raise the question, which was burning him on the tip of his tongue. The bad treatment really got under Kame´s skin; who knew what was going on behind that closed door. That cocky son of a bitch should devour that stupid star from his chest...

"Soldiers?" he repeated slowly. "So late? That´s strange..."

"I think so, too," Kame agreed.

"One more reason to go and find out what´s going on," Jin was already decided.

Kame let out a tired sigh, but before he could have said anything else, another worried voice was heard in the room.

"Kazuya? What´s going on?"

Both young men turned to the kitchen´s entrance on alert, Jin moving to the side a little and letting also Kame to look at the grey-haired woman covered with a warm scarf. Kazuya´s mother observed Jin by very sharp and careful look at first, narrowing her eyebrows suspiciously, before her eyes fell on her son.

"Kazuya!" she exclaimed terrified. "What happened to you?!"

"I´m all right, Mother," Kame assured her hastily, worried that his appearance might scare her too much. "Don´t get upset, please!"

"What are you saying, dear?!" Rosie came closer to the table. "You look terrible!"

Jin couldn´t have agreed more with the woman, who was probably woken up by their not-so-quiet conversation. But thanks to it he had a chance to leave.

"I´m sorry for my rudeness, Mrs. Kamenashi, but I have to leave now... Kame, I will let you here with your mother, all right?"

"Jin, please..." the younger one glanced at him worriedly.

"Look, I´ll come back to let you know what I have found out," he promised. "And I´ll be careful..."

Kame already knew that he was not able to stop the older one and with a heavy heart he just nodded.

"I will be waiting..." he replied.

Jin greeted Kame´s mother politely by moving his head, before he left the room with the fast steps. Hearing the front door closing, Kame had to force himself to stay still.

"Kazuya..." his mother was already sitting opposite to him, on the same place as Jin only a moment ago, and she was observing his face and chest. "Oh, my dear God..." she whispered and then frowned in realization. "Did Math Grenet do this to you?" she asked him in a voice, which was not only worried now, but also angry. And the anger in his mother´s case, that was not good.

"Please, Mum, just promise me you´ll stay calm," Kazuya urged her imploringly.

"How can I be calm? How can I, when I see my son beaten up by that piece of trash, who calls himself a human?!"

Kame hadn´t seen his mother so upset for a very long time and he didn´t dare to oppose her.

"Is it because of what happened with Lena?" she asked him sharply.

"Yeah, it´s one of the reasons..."

"How could he?!"

"Mum..."

"Do not make this face on me, Kazuya," she interrupted him firmly and pulled closer the bandages and salve, which was already prepared by Jin, by a rough move. "I´ll go there right in the morning. He has absolutely no right to hurt my son!"

"We cannot afford to stand against him, Mother!" Kame stated so seriously, that Rosie stopped preparing the bandages and looked him in the eyes.

"Why? What did he say?"

Kame uttered a hopeless sigh.

"The truth," Rosie insisted.

"He said that we should be grateful to Karnaka... For letting us live," he admitted heavily.

His mother stayed still, just repaying Kame´s look.

"I will deal with him somehow, Mum. Just don´t do anything what would make him to hurt you too. I could have never forgiven myself..."

Rosie reached out her hand and very gently soothed him across the face. Even though it caused him the pain again, Kame caught the loving hand into his.

"Promise me you won´t go to Grenet."

His mother sighed in disapproval.

"Mum..."

"I won´t..." she said, but it was clear she was not content with it. "That man had already caused us too much pain... I can´t believe there´s not any justice to punish him yet."

She tore her eyes from him to focus on the bandages again, but Kame managed to notice the pain in them. And he had nothing to say to comfort his mother. They both felt the same.

"Is he your friend?" Rosie asked when she started to smear the salve across his painful chest. "That young man?"

Kame observed his mother´s expression carefully.

"Well, something like this..." he responded hesitantly. He didn´t want his mother to be involved in this more than it was necessary.

"I can say that he is," his mother opposed him in a very convinced tone. "I heard you two. Not everything, but enough to know."

"I´m sorry we woke you up, Mum," Kazuya said apologetically.

"No, no, it´s all right," she assured him and looked into her son´s eyes. "It´s good to know there´s somebody who cares about you so much..."

And she continued to treat his wounds carefully, while Kame was watching her wordlessly.

*

With each step that Jin made toward the sheriff´s office, it was harder to keep emotions, which were swirling in him, under control. Even though he promised to Kame that he would not do anything reckless and he intended to keep it, somehow, it was impossible to make the picture of Kazuya´s bleeding face and the desperate look in his eyes disappear from his head. The more steps he did, the bigger urge for making Grenet pay for torturing the young bartender like that was.

So only knowing that if he screwed this up, his only chance for proper revenge for his friend and family would have been gone maybe forever, made Jin let his revolvers in their sheaths, when he reached building and spotted the group of men on the veranda.

"...there in the morning," Jin caught only the end of the sentence, which was spoken by a tall man in dirty uniform. Jin had already seen him before. According to the braids on his shoulders, it was a captain – the leader of soldiers accompanying the surveyors accommodated in Harada´s Saloon. He seemed to be in his thirties, quite young for such a high position, with a short beard on his sharp chin and with the light blue eyes. He seemed competent, serious and hardly readable.

"Good night," the captain made his parting with the sheriff´s deputy and his men, going down to the muddy street.

Jin nodded his head politely for the greeting, when he passed by him and other three soldiers, who seemed quite dirty and even wounded. The man repaid the greeting without a word and continued his way, while Jin approached the veranda, onto which only Grenet stayed, watching him sharply.

"Akanishi..." he said coldly, when Jin made the last step and stood opposite to him. He kept his voice low, as the soldiers were not far away yet. "I think that I´ve told you to watch over him!"

At first, Jin thought that he wouldn´t be able to react normally, that he would just punch that ugly face. But the reminder of Kame´s worried look helped him to get control over his emotions. He hid his hands into the pockets anyway, not wanting Grenet to see they were shaking from anger.

"He´s barely able to move," he said in a very dark tone. Something from his state of mind leaked into the voice, but that couldn´t have been prevented. "I doubt he will run anywhere."

"That´s good to hear," Grenet grinned. "He got what he deserved."

Jin´s hands were turning into the dangerous ice-cold fists. He knew that what he was thinking about could be visible in his eyes. Fortunately, he was standing in such a way that a hat was creating a deep shadow, covering his real state of mind.

"But next time just follow my orders, asshole," the deputy added and spat over the veranda. "Let´s go inside. We need to talk."

It was unbelievably hard to stay still, when Grenet walked by him to the door. So hard that for a moment Jin couldn´t believe he really let him go...

"Do you need a special invitation, greenhorn?" Grenet barked at him from the doorway.

One day I will kill you... Jin promised to that bastard in his mind. I swear, I will.

*

Kame didn´t say much about what had happened in the sheriff´s office, neither about what Grenet told him and his mother didn´t even want to know more. She understood that their position was dangerous enough even without a reminder of what happened years ago. She knew what they should expect.

Before they moved away from the tribe, she tried to persuade his son not to go right under Karnaka´s nose just because of her. But it was useless, and she knew Kazuya well enough not to try again.

Rosie treated all his wounds the best she could, Kame had to repeat for ten times that he didn´t need Doctor Best and after he promised he would go to sleep too, she returned to the bed.

Kame was full of pain, even though he took two pills against it. He was tired as hell, but he was sure, that he wouldn´t be able to fall asleep, not with his thoughts running around Jin. He stayed in the kitchen, drinking the hot herbal tea, which his mother had prepared and waited anxiously for the smallest sign of someone´s coming to their house.

Despite his worries, Kame´s state was so pitiful, that his head started to fall down without him even realizing it. He almost fell asleep on the table, when a short knock roused him again. He took a small carry-on lantern and walked to the front door slowly, peeking outside carefully.

"I want to kill him."

Those were the first words of completely wet young man on their doorstep, when the light reached his figure. Well, at least it wasn´t: I killed him, to Kame´s huge relief.

He didn´t want to wake up his mother again, so he went out to veranda, dressed in his spare coat.

"Let´s go to the back, we can talk there," Kame said quietly and he went there first, much more slowly than usually.

Kame had a tendency to overestimate his strength and this evening was the case too, when his feet slipped in the mud. But a firm hand appeared around his arm to help him, before he could have even wavered. Kame didn´t utter a sound for protest. Why would he, when it was so pleasant to lean on Jin?

They walked around the house to the backyard and Kame led them to the small stable, which he made for Ukushi. The mare landed her eyes on the two, and snorted faintly welcoming them, when they entered.

Kame let Jin take the lantern from his hand and leant over the pole, soothing the animal slowly, while Jin hang the light on the hook near the entrance. Kazuya finished his greeting with Ukushi and turned to the older one´s gloomy face.

"It looks like you don´t have any good news," he assumed quietly.

Jin took his hat off to let it dry up a little and pushed his hair away from the face, exposing his worries like that.

"Unfortunately, I don´t."

"So? What did you find out?" Kame asked, suddenly really tired again.

"That group of surveyors, which is checking the way for the rails, was attacked by some Indians."

Kame was looking at the handsome face without a word.

"It happened just this evening. Two soldiers were killed during the attack. That´s why their captain came to the office so late. To report it and ask about something."

"About what?"

"About the local Indian tribes..."

"Oh, no..." Kame breathed out.

"Yes," Jin confirmed his assumption. "The one who talked with him was Grenet. And he said that you might know where the village of Blackfeet Tribe is."

"But I´m sure they have nothing to do with this!" Kame stated. "They fight only when they defend themselves. They wouldn´t have attacked them! The Sioux Tribe is the one always causing troubles; their territory is not far away."

"I´m sorry to tell you this, but I guess the soldiers cannot tell the difference between them," Jin reacted. "Your reasoning won´t stop the captain, neither Grenet... They´re planning to come for you tomorrow morning and make you to lead them there..."

"I can´t betray them!" Kame said desperately. "I swore to protect the secret of their village. If Grenet finds its location out, it´s over for them! Karnaka will kill them all..."

"But you can´t oppose the government soldiers, Kame," Jin reminded him. "To fight against that fucker is something different."

"You think that captain can be worse than Grenet?" Kame reacted ironically.

"In some way, yes," Jin nodded. "And you know that yourself. Grenet is a bastard and criminal, hiding behind that stupid star. Those soldiers represent the law and they can arrest you. Then they can take you away, to the trial or something... And you can´t leave your mother here, right?"

Yes, Kame knew that. Hearing those words from Jin made it the cruel reality. He couldn´t take it anymore, he let his knees bend and he sat down on the pile of straw. Jin was watching him worriedly.

"What should I do, Jin? I can´t betray the tribe. I can´t oppose the soldiers. And I must not let anything happen to Lena or my mother. What am I supposed to do? If only I could warn them..." Kazuya sighed full of uncertainty and worries.

Jin moved towards him and crouched down.

"How long does it take to get to the village?" he asked slowly.

Kame looked at the gunslinger in front of him.

"Three hours of fast gallop, more or less... Why?"

"I´ll do it. I will warn them," Jin stated seriously.

"What?" Kame´s jaw dropped. "That´s not possible... You would have to go right now! And it´s night! You don´t know where it is! And...!" he was flooded with even more worries than before. They filled up his throat so that he couldn´t continue talking.

"You simply cannot go in your state," Jin reacted in a surprisingly calm voice. "Not to mention that Grenet said he´ll send somebody else to watch your house till the morning. So there is only one option."

"Jin! You can´t imagine what it´s like! It´s too dangerous!"

Letting Jin ride to the tribe alone? At this ugly night? No way...

"Believe me, I´ve already been on dangerous roads," the other one informed him trying to calm Kame down. "Just describe me how to find it and I will make them leave before you bring the soldiers there. Like this, you won´t betray the tribe, but you fulfill the captain´s request at the same time. And it will make Grenet shut up too. It will spare the troubles for everyone."

"But Jin..." Kame forgot the rest of words, when he saw the expression on the other one´s face.

"I want to help you, Kazu... Or do you have any better idea?" Jin asked.

"No..." he admitted unwillingly.

"Great. So I´ll just take Kuro and..."

"No, wait," Kazuya started to think properly finally. "Take my Ukushi instead. I will describe you the way the best I can, but you won´t see much in this weather. But it was her home and she will lead you there, when you let her. The tribe will trust you thanks to her too."

"That´s true, they won´t be very happy with my visit," Jin assumed.

*

Only a few minutes later they were outside, exposed to the pouring rain, and in the dark, as they left the lantern inside, just to be for sure that no one would spot them. Ukushi was saddled and ready, fortunately quite friendly towards Jin. Kame caught Jin for the elbow, when the older one wanted to get on her.

"Jin... Please, be careful," he emphasized worriedly.

Jin smiled, moved closer to Kame, put the arm around his shoulders and only very carefully, not to cause him any pain, pulled him close to his own body. Kame held his breath; feeling the blood rushing up in his veins. It was getting more and more difficult to be so close to Jin and not to lose the common sense in his emotions.

"I will handle it, Kazu, just trust me," the older one said confidently.

"I do trust you, I´m just worried..." Kame murmured into the cloth of his coat, not really wanting that hug to ever end. But of course that Jin moved away...

The last look they shared was much longer than it had to be, making Kame´s throat very narrow again.

"See you soon," Jin said in a little raspy voice.

"Good luck," Kame reacted in an almost same tone.

Then Jin mounted the mare and gently incited her to move. Kazuya was looking in the direction, in which the rider´s figure disappeared, long after he couldn´t see a thing from him...