Chapter Text
Montana Territory, August 1871
An unexpected storm was coming.
The sky was covered with the dark thick clouds and the strong wind was bending the treetops of those few oaks that have been growing around a neat one-storey house. A long thunder was heard in the distance as the dark warning before the upcoming rage of the nature. But it was not the only danger, which was approaching the home of one immigrant family…
A slim boy was standing on the hill in the back part of the small farm, watching the sky in the west, from where something not that scary for him as for his brothers was approaching. According to his opinion, storms were fascinating. They were always so strong and furious, hitting everything and everyone on the ground with wind, lightening and raining without mercy. He had already seen the first lightening of this one and was waiting impatiently for the next, when a call was heard behind his back.
“Kazuya! Come home!”
The boy, disappointed from the fact he was exposed so soon, turned away from the black clouds and ran to his mother, who was waiting for him just under the hill.
“I told you not to do that! It´s dangerous!” she scolded him right away.
“Come on, Mum, it´s not!” her son shook his head vigorously. “And it´s still far away!”
“I don´t care how far it is, it is still a storm!”
Mother pulled the boy into the safety of their house and closed the door.
“Just wait, I´ll tell your father you´ve been naughty again.”
“You´re a traitor, Mum,” Kazuya pouted.
“Watch your tongue, young man!”
The small boy obeyed this time and just kept staring stubbornly at his Mum´s brown apron.
“Mummy!!” a yell was heard from another room. “We are hungry!”
Kazuya´s mother let go of a deep sigh.
“I´ve already told you we will wait with the lunch for your father,” she said while going in the direction of an unsatisfied screaming.
Young Kazuya just rolled his eyes. His two younger brothers were still so childish. He was already eleven years old and he knew how to behave. Well, most of the time he did. And he even overheard his father once, saying that his oldest son behaves too adultery for a kid of his age. It was very rare for their father to praise them about anything, so he felt really proud thanks to it, even though his Dad didn´t say it into his eyes directly.
Kazuya intended to go after his mother, when another strong gust of wind pushed the front door open, revealing the view outside. And that was when he saw them - a group of horse riders on the driveway approaching their front garden.
Surprised Kazuya walked out of the door and stopped at the veranda. As far as he knew, they didn´t expect any guests… Then he noticed that all those strangers had their faces covered by some cloths or scarves and he got scared.
“Dad? Dad!!” he called over loudly, so that his voice reached through the noisy wind to the short man, who was just closing and securing the stable with their two horses.
His father turned his head questioningly and Kazuya pointed to the driveway with his hand. When the man realized, what the reason for his son´s concern was, he pulled out the small gun from the waistband immediately and started to run half backwards to the house without letting the riders from his sight.
“Kazuya, return to the house! Now!” he screamed in a voice which couldn´t have been disobeyed.
The boy stumbled over the threshold as he rushed to get inside and bumped into his mother. She grabbed his shoulders firmly and just one short glance outside was enough for her to squeeze her son so hard that it hurt.
Then the shooting began. The sharp awfully loud sounds, which made Kazuya terrified. He saw his father pointing with his gun at the attackers. Another shot.
“No!” it was his mother screaming desperately.
“Run…” Kazuya´s father managed to say hoarsely, before he fell down to the ground.
Kazuya spotted the red color on the Dad´s chest right before Mum released her grip on his shoulders, shut the door with a loud bang and ran to her other two kids. They were already both crying from fear, when she grabbed them into her arms and dragged them to the back door.
“Kazuya!” she screamed urgently and that shook him out of his stiffened state.
They slipped out of the door together. They ran like crazy in fight for their lives, even though Kazuya knew that they have no chance. Those men had horses, they didn´t. But he ran because he felt so much afraid as never in his life before.
There was another shot, which sounded like a thunder to him. He was surprised, when something made him to fall down and bury the face into the soil. He didn´t feel it first, but then it came... Some numb pain in his back.
“No, Kazuya! No!”
Mum...
It was weird, he couldn´t speak out aloud.
What is going on? Kazuya was not able to think clearly.
Then he heard the horses trotting, and they were so close…
“Please, don´t! Not my kids!!”
Screaming and crying brothers. Kazuya heard them as loudly as the next thunder, which suddenly filled up the air. The storm was already very near. And that numb pain didn´t want to go away.
Kazuya turned his head a little and he could see the dark hooves through the straws of grass. Though he tried hard to move more, it was impossible.
“Let them go, you bitch!” that voice was strange, and Kazuya didn´t like it.
“Noo!!”
Other two gunshots froze Kazuya´s heart. Sobbing and crying of the two kids was suddenly over. One of them fell down right in front of his eyes. He could see the strange bloody hole in his small brother´s head. It started raining and the small drops created two red trickles on his sibling´s face.
Kazuya couldn´t breathe all of the sudden, he was losing his senses. And he felt burning tears in his eyes and also something really hot and unknown deep inside of him.
The very last thing he could perceive was an evil laughing, the sound of clothes tearing and desperate crying of his mother. And then the darkness came and absorbed him, so there was nothing but silence.
***
Their house wasn´t one of the biggest in town, it didn´t even belong to those middle-sized. It was one of the smallest buildings, located on the edge of the recently built city. And it was also the ugliest. At least, Jin thought so.
He didn´t care about it when he was a small child, but as he grew older, he noticed the disgusted looks of other citizens, which they gave to him, his brother and also their home. They didn´t dare to look in that way at their father though and their mother rather remained in the house all the time.
Jin was only thirteen and he was already working for the local blacksmith, who assigned him with some small tasks, so that he could have brought home some reward in the form of food and rarely money too.
He was sitting at the threshold too tired from his job of that day to do anything else than staring at the sky, which was clearing up slowly after the crazy storm that hat just passed across the town. The west was turning into the red color, which could have been seen in the narrow lines between the tearing up clouds.
“Dad!” an excited yelling tore him off his dark thoughts. “Dad is home!”
It was his younger brother Leo, who had been playing on the wet ground of their front patio with some sticks all that time. Jin looked at the main road to confirm the message of his sibling, who was already running towards the rider. Then he turned a little to the narrow hall.
“Mum? Father is coming!” he announced for his mother to know it was time to prepare the dinner on the table. He always did it like that, so that she had enough time for it. If he wouldn´t have done it and their father wouldn´t have found the meal prepared, there were always troubles...
His father was a tall gloomy man in his forties. He didn´t speak much, but he could lose the temper and get angry very easily, even over some trifle. Everything had to follow his orders and decisions. If not, he focused his frustration on the nearest possible target. And that was usually his family.
Once, when Jin was alone with his Mum, she told him that father wasn´t always like that. He changed a lot after an unsuccessful search for gold, for which he had spent all of their money and ended up on broke. Not even moving their home into another town helped much.
Jin learnt to avoid his father if possible and not to attract attention, if he didn´t want to get beaten. He was the target of his bad mood the most often. So he stood up to clear the way into the house. But before he went inside, he looked once again at his small brother, who was hopping happily around their father´s horse. And the old man didn´t snap at him for it. It looked like father was in a little better mood than usually.
And only a few minutes later Jin got to know the reason, when the head of their family sat to the table in the tiny kitchen and put a few notes on it. Mum lost her voice for a moment, just staring at the money, then at her husband.
“What did you get paid for, dear?” she asked quietly.
Jin, standing in the doorway cautiously, was also confused, just Leo was patting at the table excited from the sudden improvement.
“Mr. Karnaka gave me a job,” their father responded on a strange voice.
“Karnaka?” their mother repeated slowly. “My dear... What did you do for him?”
“It does NOT matter!”
A sudden outburst made Jin to twitch a little and his Mum backed off from the table. Leo looked like he couldn´t decide, if he should hide under the table or not.
“It was a job, which I brought money for! Don´t care about that and give me some damn meal! Now!”
It was here again. His father got angry, his face red, hands grasping in fits. Mum immediately obeyed and started to serve him in the record speed, even if there was not much to eat. Yet.
“I´m not so hungry, Mum...” Jin uttered a quiet apology.
She just nodded and made only Leo to take a seat. His father didn´t give him even one look, already throwing the potatoes inside his mouth.
Jin gave one last glance to the money, which were still put at the table. He had a really strange feeling about them. He didn´t want to touch them at all. It felt like he would have got dirty from it.