Killing time

Puffing out the heavy black smoke, the red locomotive was hurtling forward with rumble that could be heard far and wide on the prairie. Following its iron road, the amazing human creation was heading restlessly to its final destination, and to their first transfer in Nebraska – Omaha.

Koki was only partially right in his statement that their journey would be boring. Watching the quickly passing wild scenery outside the small windows was not so bad after all, and it was even better, when Leo improved the atmosphere with a bottle of whiskey, which he fished out of his backpack. Ryo stared at it in disbelief that their leader would have given in to the blonde Rider´s pleading requests, whereupon Leo assured him the alcohol for the trip was bought long before Koki even mentioned it.

After everybody took a good gulp, they talked a lot – a bit about the blacksmith´s family, about the others they left back in Leadville, also about Tabor and the necessity to avoid the direct confrontation with the man. Oswald even explained to them a little bit more about his sister´s condition, which had been gradually worsening for years.

Naturally, they were careful enough to mute their voices during the conversation, but in general, they could talk freely, without worrying that somebody might listen to them. They sat in the middle part of the whole train, in the third wagon, which could take in many passengers, as it was equipped with long benches with soft high backrests. The wagon was packed to the last place and almost everybody was chatting excitedly, while raising their voices to talk over the noise of the train´s movement on the rails. As it was, it was almost impossible to catch the exact words of other passengers.

With more passed hours, the travelling became much less fun. Despite being faster than riding a horse, the possibilities of the machine were also limited, and there was a long way to go for the gang.

The evening came; the small gaslights hanging from the wagon´s ceiling were brought to life and the view outside became nothing more than darkness. Late in the evening, the train stopped at the North Platte station, already somewhere in Nebraska, where two families with quite loud children got off, along with a few more passengers and the wagon turned very quiet within a few minutes.

*

Jin tore his look off the window, which reflected nothing more than his own face, after the lights of the station disappeared in the darkness. Leo was settled opposite to him, with a half of his face covered with white bandages, so that only one of his eyes, which were closed at that moment, was visible. It was Ryo´s idea, since Leo refused to let Koki bleach his hair, to pretend he had some injury on his head, so that he was quite hard to recognize now. Jin was sure that his brother was not sleeping even if he pretended so. He saw the younger´s hands placed on his thighs firmly, and ready to grasp the revolvers under the coat. It was too soon for Leo to be tired so much to relent in his focus.

Next to the Riders´ leader, there was Ryo talking with Oswald quietly, asking questions about Hamilton in Ohio, which was their final destination. Kazuya was sitting next to Jin, with his head leant back over the seat and his eyes closed as well. Koki was already asleep, snoring lightly and leaning to the side so heavily it looked like he would fall out in the aisle soon.

With a short sigh, Jin let his head rest back too. Nevertheless, it didn´t matter that he didn´t see the younger one´s face anymore, he still felt Kame´s leg pressed against his, he could still hear his slow breathing. All six of them managed to fit on those two benches quite comfortably, but the seats were not big enough to be seated with some space between each other. Not that Jin would have any complaints about this positioning, when the train set off from Denver, but with the passing time, it turned out to be a sweet torture for him.

They talked about exactly this kind of situation long ago already, but Jin could have never imagined what it would be like, to have Kazuya so close all the time and not being able to touch him or being careful even about the way he talked to him. Simply to behave just like friends, to pretend there was nothing more, that he was not attracted to the younger one as an owlet moth to the light; everything, just not to expose themselves.

Jin even pondered gloomily if he was not obsessed with Kame. He tried to ignore his inner desires as much as he could, but it seemed that the only way to overcome them was to ignore Kazuya himself. Which was impossible, when Jin felt the warmness of the other´s body right next to him…

He shifted restlessly, stretching his legs forward, trying to create some space between them. Not very successfully, as he was touching Kame´s hip now instead. He was almost tempted to stand up for another walk to that ugly dark place, which they dared to designate with the notice ´Lavatory´, only if he was not there fifteen minutes ago.

With a corner of his eye, Jin noticed someone´s look. It was Kame, who observed him carefully, as if the younger one felt his uneasiness. He didn´t say anything, and Jin didn´t dare to look at him. He rather closed his eyes, knowing there was a long night in front of him…

*

Kame was not sure about how he managed that, as he was still quite amazed with the speed of their travelling, not to mention that his pulse got faster every time Jin next to him moved, but he fell asleep in the end, lulled to unconsciousness by the regular train´s movement. He was sure he could never sleep like that, until someone´s hand squeezing his shoulder woke him up.

"Kame, wake up, we´re almost there."

He raised his head slowly from someone´s shoulder, on which it was resting until that moment and focused his blurry sight at Ryo, who was the one talking to him. The wagon was lit with the first morning sunbeams already.

"Wake Jin up," the black-haired one continued and turned his attention to still snoring Koki to kick him out of his sleep as well.

Kame turned to his left side, toward which he kind of snuggled during his sleep and glanced at the deeply breathing man´s face next to him. The hair fell down to Jin´s face and his full lips were a little parted. Forbidding his brain to even think about such things as kissing that view, Kame forced himself to stop staring and shook with the older one´s knee, as his hand was conveniently placed there, even though he didn´t know how it got at that position.

Jin flinched and straightened, as if he expected something bad to happen and squinted around as an owl.

"We´ll be in Omaha shortly," Leo from the other side informed them. "Get ready."

Kame, who only now remembered to check on the younger Akanishi, glanced at him, but Leo didn´t seem to notice anything strange about their sleeping positions. Jin just nodded and yawned widely, which was something Koki also did at the same moment.

"Damn, my back hurts…" the blonde Rider complained loudly, gaining some amused reactions from the slowly awakening wagon.

"You have nothing to complain about in your age," Oswald scolded him, who was obviously suffering from the long sitting the most.

"You talk as if you´re hundred years old," Koki snorted.

"I feel like that listening to you," there was a sharp reply, which made Ryo and Jin burst out laughing.

*

At the busy station, they were informed that they must wait for their next connection, which was supposed to take them to Chicago, for three hours. To Koki´s enthusiasm, Jin remembered a pub near the station, which had basically no closing time, and Leo agreed they could wait there, hidden from curious looks, instead of showing themselves off in one of the waiting rooms, which was occupied by some soldiers heading to the nearest fort.

The beer was really good, properly bitter and cool. Kame was not surprised that Jin remembered that shady tavern from his first visit to Omaha a few weeks ago. Only to him, the older one mentioned quietly he was there with Captain Walker once, when they waited for the transport to the Fort Kearney.

The gangsters and their ´escort´ were not the only customers in the Durham´s Tavern, despite the early hour. The pub was very conveniently located for the travelers waiting for their transfers and many of them gathered there. Everyone´s mood brightened up with the second tankard of draft beer, even Leo seemed to be more relaxed, only Kame was still sipping from his first glass, feeling somehow uneasy. The bad feeling didn´t want to leave him since they departed from Denver and he just could not figure out what was the reason for it.

In the end, Oswald almost had to drag them up to their feet to catch their train. A pretty girl, who was serving them, even gave them some discount from the bill, as she probably found a liking in Ryo, at whom she was smiling all that time.

Laden with their stuff again, the gang waited for the announcement of their departure in the hall, which was much smaller than the one in Denver, but still huge enough to create echoes from the voices of the people there. They stood close to the wall to cover their backs, facing each other in a small private circle.

Not being able to suppress his bad hunch, Kame´s eyes kept wandering across the passengers. At one moment, he noticed a familiar face, which disappeared somewhere in the crowd right away. Kame frowned wondering if it was not just his imagination and waited if he manages to spot it again…

Once the dispatcher called for the departure to Chicago, he felt that hostile stare from the opposite side of the hall more than clearly. Stepping a little back, to cover himself behind Jin, Kame checked all the waiting people on the other side once again… And his eyes widened, when he finally proved himself that his hunch was right.

"Let´s go, guys!" Ryo incited all of them, while Oswald and Leo were already on their way to the platform. "Another part of our journey is here!"

"I should have taken some beer with me," Koki snorted at the idea of more sleeping on the train.

Kame realized it would have been useless to make a fuss at the station, so he said nothing and grabbed his bag to follow the others. Just Jin glanced at him suspiciously, noticing his dark expression, but didn´t ask anything.

*

The coupe part of the train was packed up, so they ended up on the benches with short rests, from which they could see the other passengers as well this time. But there was a little travel table in the middle of their seats, which Koki used immediately, taking out cards and talking everybody into a poker game.

Jin didn´t like playing cards much, but he had to admit it was more fun like that and the journey went quicker. He noticed Kazuya was trying hard to enjoy it with them, while his eyes slipped somewhere without any obvious reason from time to time. He was sure the younger one would tell them what was going on eventually.

"And here we go again – Koki wins!" the blonde Rider took all the beans they played for to his growing pile. "Another round?!" he asked victoriously.

"You can bet! You´re just lucky," Ryo snorted gathering all the cards again.

Kame leant forward suddenly, so that his face would not be visible above the rests anymore and spoke, finally clearing up the reason for his anxiety.

"Listen up, everyone… Just keep pretending we´re discussing something normal," he said with urgency in his voice, which made all of them look at him.

Leo was the first one to understand and continued in their mocking conversation: "You could be in trouble now, Koki. I´m thinking about joining somebody to make a team," he smirked and took half of deck of cards from Ryo to help him mix them. "What is it, Kame?" he asked then more quietly.

"We´re being watched, ever since Denver. I was not sure about it, but then I finally spotted him in the station building in Omaha," Kazuya explained quickly and leant back to the straight position with a forced smile, as if he was telling some joke.

"By whom?" Leo asked sharply, while the others listened anxiously.

"Harvey," Kame replied almost wordlessly, but despite that, his response reached everyone.

Jin stiffened, watching the younger´s serious face. A quiet swearing escaped Koki´s lips, while Oswald and Ryo frowned.

"Are you sure?" Leo asked, handing out the cards for the next game.

"Positive. He has a beard now, but it´s him," Kame nodded, taking his cards and raising them up, so that he half-covered his mouth.

"How could he notice us? He knows only Leo´s face… And yours," Ryo assumed, taking his cards into hands as well, but not exactly seeing them.

"Maybe it was at the Blake Street," Jin murmured annoyed. "You said you met him there for the first time, right?"

Kame repaid his look and nodded shortly: "Probably."

"Where is he?" Leo asked. "Can you see him?"

"Yes, he sits close to the exit, on the opposite side of the aisle."

There was a short silence, during which everybody held their cards, but nothing was played.

"We must not let him follow us to Ohio," Leo stated then, taking out the first card, pretending that he started a discard pile.

"And how do we do that?" Ryo asked frowning, as he was trying to figure out the best way out of that situation. "We cannot create any fuss right here… That could end up very badly for us."

"I know… But we can set up a trap for him," Leo reacted thoughtfully.

"A trap?" Ryo repeated doubtfully, while surprisingly Jin seemed to follow the track of Leo´s thoughts.

"Yeah, we can lure him out of the wagon," the older Akanishi noted. "Out of sight of the other passengers."

"And then to do what exactly?" already quite worried Oswald asked. The man was very anxious about their journey to continue without any big issues. "Throw him off the train?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

The duplicate confirmation came from both Akanishi´s at once; in a little different meaning, as Jin only thought about getting rid of the annoying hunter as soon as possible, while Leo managed to figure it out further, aware of their current possibilities, but it definitely had the same meaning.

In the short surprised silence, everybody eyed the brothers, who came to the same conclusion so nicely.

"Well, shooting would definitely attract some attention," Ryo admitted. "This can be done inconspicuously."

"And just that idea sounds quite tempting," Koki made a gleeful remark, while he kept pretending to play just another game.

"Harvey is going after me…" the Riders´ leader spoke again then. "So, if we give him a chance to…"

"No," Jin interrupted him hastily. "You won´t be any bait, Brother. Not in this situation, I will not allow that."

Leo stared at his older brother stubbornly, but also Ryo supported Jin: "I won´t allow that either. That would be too dangerous."

"But I can do it," Kame said suddenly.

"What?!" Jin exclaimed so loudly, that Ryo nudged him in his ribs, to remind him to be quiet.

"We know that Harvey is always after information," Kazuya started to familiarize them with his plan. "He wants to be sure about anything possible, before he acts. He doesn´t know where we´re heading now, and he might take his chance when it´s offered. Since he tried to use me before, he might try again… Especially now, when it´s clear that I´m really on your side."

"Unacceptable," Jin snorted, refusing the proposal immediately.

Leo was of a different opinion and ignored his older brother: "I think you might be right, Kame. But it will be very risky; we have no idea what he might do. And also… Did you notice that blue group in the middle of the wagon?"

Kazuya nodded seriously: "I know about them… The soldiers."

"Exactly, so we will cover you, but we cannot create any commotion while doing it," Leo continued, while Jin was frowning unsatisfied.

"But if he really is following us since Denver, why didn´t he notified those soldiers? Or even Marshalls? It would be so easy to get us all now," Koki wondered with a dark frown.

"That´s simple," Kame replied to him. "If the Marshalls get their hands on Leo first, he won´t receive any reward."

"That´s totally right," Ryo nodded. "He´s a greedy bastard."

"The money always blinds people," Oswald noted, looking somewhat gratefully at both Leo and Kame, as it seemed they could manage their ´problem´ quite peacefully.

"But at the same time, he doesn´t dare to go after you, Leo, while we´re around," the younger one continued fiercely. "He´s alone and he´s waiting for an opportunity. And my presence might spoil it for him…"

"What makes you think he´ll go after you?" Leo asked quietly, the serious look of just one of his eyes focused at Kame.

"I´ll pretend to notice him only now. He´ll definitely want to prevent any disarray, which would have warned the rest of you. I bet that he won´t let me go back to you," Kazuya explained.

"And without asking any questions he might just get rid of you," so far silently upset Jin snorted.

"Don´t talk as if we never did dangerous things," the younger one replied to him with a mysterious expression.

Jin knew very well, what Kame hinted at, while the gang observed the other two a little confused, noticing almost amused Kame and staring Jin.

"Koki and Jin will cover you," Leo announced decisively, not moved by Jin´s objections.

"Sure thing!" the blonde one nodded. "I´m looking forward to an opportunity to kick that bastard´s ass."

"Nobody else will move, we don´t want to raise a suspicion either," Leo continued, in his leader´s tone. "And we will do it shortly before Chicago. If anything goes wrong, at least we´ll have a chance to get away."

Nobody had any remarks this time, not even Jin, who was still too busy with the staring-match against composed Kazuya.

"Who would say that you will be so eager to get into troubles?" Jin asked in a dark whisper, but still audibly for the others.

"If you have any better idea, we´re all eager to hear it, Jin," Kame reacted calmly.

Koki unsuccessfully suppressed an amused chuckle, gaining a killing glare from the older Akanishi, while Leo noticed the danger in the form of his brother not being in control and tried to calm him instead: "It´s our best chance, Bro, you must admit that. We cannot let Harvey follow us and we cannot make a fuss at the same time. And it will be the best to do it sooner rather than later."

"All right, all right, I get it!" his brother snapped a little, placed the cards back at the table, giving up the ´game´, then pulled his revolver out of its sheath and started checking the bullets.

*

Considering their circumstances, they are damn noisy, Harvey thought, secretly observing the still-cards-playing gunmen. They were too much at ease, as if they didn´t even notice the group of blue-uniformed soldiers in the middle of the wagon, or upset stares from other passengers.

The hunter hid his face behind the newspapers again, listening to every sound, which got to him through the noise of the iron wheels on the rails. The train conductor passed by, informing everybody that they were just ten minutes late, and they should arrive to Chicago in a half an hour.

What the Black Riders might want in Chicago? So far from their usual field of actions? Or are they heading even further, and they want to transfer there just like in Omaha? Harvey asked himself those questions many times during the journey, and he just couldn´t figure our anything reasonable.

The papers were very boring at the third reading, so he just folded them down in his nap, glancing at the group again. They were laughing again, certainly over some stupidity. It was so easy to follow them, as if they were just a gang of kids.

"Excuse me, sir…"

Harvey turned toward the man at the window, who addressed him. "If you´re done with the newspapers, do you mind if I borrow them?"

The hunter almost snapped at that pensioner annoyed, but then reminded himself to fit in the crowd as much as he could and he just nodded, giving the reading over to the man.

Turning his eyes back to the aisle, he immediately regretted this decision. There was a young man approaching, and to his misfortune, it was Kamenashi, probably heading to the toilets, or to what was pretending to be so. That the youngster hadn´t noticed him so far, didn´t mean he could not recognized the hunter from up close.

Instinctively, Harvey raised his hand for a hat, but his fingers touched just the bare hair and he realized he put it up, onto the shelf. He promptly got up, staggered a little because of the turn, which the train just passed through and grabbed his only available cover.

Harvey put his favorite brown hat on his head, and turned to sit down again, but Kamenashi was already there, at his level sooner than he had expected.

First, the young man´s eyes just flew across the hunter´s face without any interest, and Harvey almost breathed out in relief, but then Kamenashi stopped, with his hand already at the doorknob, behind which there was a small corridor and the lavatory, and his look turned back to him, the eyes wide with surprise.

Shit… Harvey acted quickly, before Kamenashi could gather himself and rush back to the others. Covering it between their bodies, he pulled out a revolver on him and buried it in his stomach.

"Just continue, boy. Go," he hissed at him, giving more than a clear threat, what would happen if he disobeyed.

When stiffened Kamenashi didn´t move immediately, he pushed him back to the door and opened them himself. Hoping that it was quick enough for nobody to notice anything strange, he forced him to move there. With the last glance inside the wagon, making sure that the gang still played the stupid game, the hunter kicked the door to close again.

*

"The hunter took our pretty bait," Koki announced grinning, as he was the only one with the view on the opposite end of their wagon, immediately forgetting the cards.

"Fine. Give him two minutes and then…" Leo started, but then stopped talking suddenly.

Also the blonde one stiffened, turning his head slowly. Jin, ready to set off after Kazuya any second, noticed that their eyes were slowly moving, probably following somebody´s movement in the aisle. He forced his palms to remain resting on his thighs and turned toward the reason of their reaction.

A short man in old-fashioned tailcoat measured them with a strict look: "Gentlemen... I´m sorry to disturb your obviously funny ride, but could you be quieter, please? I and my wife are trying to rest."

The deadly stares almost made the complainer step back. The poor man didn´t choose the best timing…

"We´re sorry, Mister, we didn´t realize that," Oswald took his chance to speak before any of the youngsters could say something rude. "We will…"

"I don´t think we´re doing any bigger noise than the train itself, Mister," Koki cut in haughtily, which made the man´s satisfied reaction die in the very beginning. "Go get some wax into your ears."

Oswald closed his eyes sighing; his effort just flew out of the window.

"That was not very polite, young man," the dwarf replied upset.

"The same counts for you," Koki snorted, before Leo stepped on his feet hard, pulling a hurt moan from the blonde one.

"We were promised a comfortable ride! I won´t allow any outlaw like you to talk to me like that!" the man reacted quite loudly.

Just like the others, Ryo wanted to send that annoying man to some very dark place. They were not exactly quiet during the journey, he had to admit that, but they were not that loud to bother anyone except the husbands in the seats on the other side of the aisle. That fat penguin definitely chose the worst timing ever for his complaints, especially when there was only a little left until the final station. To threaten the man to piss off was definitely not an option, despite that Koki and staring Jin obviously thought otherwise. But Ryo didn´t even need his leader´s urgent gesture to watch the other passengers carefully, while Oswald tried to calm the situation down.

Crap… Ryo thought, glancing over the other passengers, when he spotted the movement in the middle part of the wagon, as one of the soldiers, probably with the highest rank, stood up and with a frowning expression headed toward their seats. So much for not attracting the attention of any government employees…

Leo was really hardly recognizable, so he should be fine, just… Ryo glanced at obviously upset Jin. Their leader´s brother that was another story…

He hastily leant forward to him, catching his attention by tapping over his knee.

"The uniform…" he said wordlessly.

To Ryo´s surprise, the older Akanishi didn´t need any other warning to react to the approaching man of the law. He pulled his hat down, so that half of his face was covered and leant back to the seat, stretching his legs, getting himself into the almost half-lying position, pretending that he didn´t care about his surroundings at all.

The complainer didn´t even notice the change of the youngster´s attitude, as he was too engulfed in the argument with Oswald and angry Koki. Ryo leant back next to Leo relieved. Jin might have been a little slow from time to time, but he was definitely not dumb and he realized quickly how dangerous this confrontation could be…

"Is there any problem, Mister?" the blue-uniformed soldier, probably lieutenant or something like that, with the long mustache, addressed the red penguin, as he arrived to them.

"Ah, thank you for asking, Mr. Officer! These boys have no manners! My wife is very tired and needs to rest and they´re making this fuss all the way long!"

The blonde Rider was ready to snap at that sleazy man, but Jin´s boot kicked him hard to his ankle, making Koki shut up. The soldier glanced around the group, which was sitting there very quiet, his eyes only shortly stopping at the bandage over Leo´s face.

"The boys just kept themselves busy during the long ride, Lieutenant," Oswald took a word again, addressing the man properly. "Playing the cards, you see?" he waved the hand above the small table. "We´ve already apologized to this Mister. They will keep it calm now," he assured both standing men.

"That is not enough!" the penguin in the tailcoat snapped. "I want some satisfaction!"

"What kind of satisfaction you mean, Mister?" the soldier, suddenly not so understanding towards the man now, asked.

"We´ve already apologized, I suppose that´s sufficient enough, Mister," Ryo involved calmly. "I must say that right now you´re the one making the noise around."

The man´s face turned into a huge tomato: "How dare you…"

"He just said the truth," Koki noted in a cold voice, even though his eyes were burning with anger.

"That´s right… You should not trouble the other passengers either, Mister," the lieutenant reminded him.

The penguin opened and closed his mouth a few times, as a fish on the shore, before he turned and marched back to his seat. Ryo would not be surprised if the steam started coming out of his ears.

The soldier observed their group once again: "I believe this settles it," he said.

"I´m sure about that as well," Oswald agreed politely.

They thought that the lieutenant was finished, but he glanced once again at the bandaged youngster.

"What happened to your face, Mister?" he asked curiously.

"An accident with the boiling water, sir," Leo replied in a weak voice, while the others stiffened at the question.

"Oh, sorry to hear that… It must be painful."

The Riders´ leader just nodded and the lieutenant finally saluted for parting.

"Ah, Lieutenant! Here you are!" the train conductor suddenly appeared in the door leading to another part of the wagon, and stopped the man. "I need to talk you. Can you come with me, please?"

"Of course," the soldier nodded and they both left.

Jin was on his feet sooner than the door could close fully and half on his way through the wagon, when Koki finally managed to move as well.

"Wait!" Leo hissed at him. "Let him deal with it and cover the door, got it? If anybody notices something…"

"I got it, Chief," Koki nodded seriously and rushed behind Jin, who had already disappeared in the corridor on the other end of the wagon.

*

The wind was whizzing around the train, carrying the black smoke from the locomotive away, along with some ashes. The speed seemed to be much higher from the outside than inside the comfy wagon and also the shifting of the machine on the rails felt heavier. Adding it to the muzzle of the revolver floating in front of his face, Kame was not exactly in a comfortable situation.

"You´re crazy if you think I´ll tell you anything," he announced to the bounty hunter, who was already quite impatient.

They were standing on the small platform with railing, which served for getting on and off the train. Their wagon was connected with the next one by heavy chains and one iron pipe with threads, which clung over each other from time to time, as they proceeded fast toward Chicago. Harvey was pressing Kame against the wagon´s wall, threatening him with his gun, asking his questions.

"You think that this gun is not loaded or what? I can assure you about the opposite right away!"

"That won´t help you, Harvey!" Kame informed him, focusing at each of the man´s movements. Harvey had to deal with the sudden motions of the train as well. "I don´t know a thing about their plans!"

"Do you really think I will believe that?" the hunter snorted.

"They don´t exactly trust me," Kame snorted, justly upset.

"Oh, how´s that? Since they didn´t shoot you, I´d say that it´s quite sufficient proof of trust in their case!"

"Somebody guaranteed for me…" Kame explained unwillingly. He didn´t intend to tell the hunter anything important, he was just playing for time.

"Guaranteed?" Harvey repeated in upset disbelief. "Aah, don´t tell me they didn´t kill you just because you´re friend of the older Akanishi!"

Kame kept silent.

"What? Did you think I wouldn´t figure it out? You were never after the money, were you? Well… I don´t care!" Harvey barked. "But if you don´t talk, I have no use for you. You don´t leave me many options, Kamenashi…"

Noticing the dangerous shine in the man´s eyes, Kame realized his playing for time just ended. Since the moment when Harvey pushed him through the door to the corridor and then outside, to the platform, he pretended to be clumsy and bad at dealing with the train´s movement, just so that he could use his only chance for surprise attack he had.

Making his legs to relax and cope with the ride, Kame flinched to the side, slipping from the grip of one Harvey´s hand and at the same time grabbing the wrist of the other. He pushed the danger away to the side with the strong move, which bent the hunter´s hand into a very painful position. Harvey groaned in pain and his revolver clanged on the wooden floor before it jumped off the platform.

Kame won the first round, but the hunter collected himself quickly and he was stronger. He grabbed Kame again by both arms and threw with him against the railing, so hard that the younger one almost fell over it. With his heart racing, Kame managed to prevent the ugly fall at the last second, and leant fully back to the platform, but there were already the hard hands again, grabbing him around his neck and forcing him to bend.

Kame felt the railing burying into his lower back, while the hunter´s hands stole air from his lungs. The strong wind plucked at his hair, bringing some dirt into his eyes. Risking losing his balance again, he kicked out, hitting the hunter´s stomach twice. Harvey gasped heavily, but didn´t let go and only more angrily pushed Kame back, to throw him off the small platform.

Desperate Kame stopped trying to get rid of the strong hands and like a cat; he aimed for the hunter´s face. Harvey avoided the attack, grinning at him awfully. Then his grin turned into a surprised expression, when he was suddenly pulled back from Kame and he had to release his grip.

Relieved to be able to lean on the wall again, Kame was trying to find his breath, while a new fight concluded on the other side of the platform. This time, it was Harvey, who was chased into a corner, as the black-haired gunslinger resisted his attempts for defense, fiercely pushing him to the edge.

Then Kame noticed one of Harvey´s hands going somewhere down in his coat and grabbing something. Suspecting danger, he quickly approached them and instinctively, trying to protect Jin, he nudged the hunter away roughly. Against their common forces, Harvey couldn´t stand still and his body rolled over the railing, while the knife, which he pulled out of its secret sheath, slipped from his fingers.

In the last attempt to remain aboard, Harvey grabbed for Jin´s coat, getting the youngster out of his balance. But Kame grabbed the older one´s arm firmly and pulled him back.

Ralph Harvey fell over the railing with a yell, and his body met the stony ground next to the rails with a heavy thud. They managed to spot that the hunter rolled a few times before he remained lying motionless. Then the train moved away, turning a little and covering their view.

Kame was breathing heavily, still holding onto the older one firmly. Jin´s thinking was running on the adrenaline in his blood, and he kept being anxious about Kazuya´s safety, even though he felt his hands on himself.

They looked at each other, the strong wind playing with their hair.

Jin squeezed Kazuya´s arm to make sure the younger one remained standing there, unharmed: "Are you…"

"I´m fine," Kame nodded, before Jin could finish his question.

The half-closed door on the platform got opened again. It was Koki this time, checking on them wide-eyed, with revolvers in both hands.

"What was that yell? Are you ok, guys? Where´s Harvey?"

"One question at the time, Koki," Kame sighed and let Jin go slowly.

"That yell was a good omen for us. Harvey has just disembarked this train a little ahead of time," Jin explained the events not without a gleeful joy in his voice.