"A Storm in the West", Chapter Twelve
Title: A Storm in the West
Chapter: 12/13
Fandom: Arashi
Character, Pairing(s): Sho/Jun
Rating: R
Warnings: Language and violence. Graphic violence. R-rated violence!
Summary: A saloon owner with an enigmatic past, an idealistic sheriff, a remorseful shotgun messenger, and the town that unites them.
The horses were getting tired, but Jun had insisted they set off immediately and stop as little as possible. Which irked Nino something terrible, seeing as how he was still supposed to be a man in recovery. Doc Ogura had shaken his head at him as they’d rode out of town hours earlier.
But Jun was consumed with his thoughts. Nino could tell. The other man had said very little all the way back to Nagase’s, but his face told the whole story. He was worried about the sheriff being there at the ranch. Much as the man was occasionally incompetent, he wasn’t a total fool. Nino knew Sho could take care of himself, and he had two federal marshals with him to boot. Nagase wasn’t dumb enough to take their lives in his own house.
Jun wasn’t the trusting sort though. He was the only one of them who really knew Nagase and what he was capable of. But what the hell were they going to do? Morning was just peeking over the mountains as they approached, and Jun held up his horse at the start of the former Confederate’s lands.
“You’re going in as Aiba,” Jun said, finger flicking nervously over the hole in the brim of his hat. “Don’t think Nagase would know you from Adam, so you should be alright.”
“And you?” Nino asked, the deputy’s badge feeling strange and out of place on his vest. “We can’t ambush them when they head off for Santa Fe unless you’re feeling suicidal. Now if you’re here just to make sure your sweetheart’s safe, I’m turning tail and riding right back.”
Jun snorted. “Shut your hole.”
He laughed. “Calm down, I’m just teasin’ this time.”
“Can’t calm down,” Jun grumbled. “Whole plan’s gone south. Well. Not much we can do about that. Bound to happen once you get feds involved. They foul everything up.”
“Sure do.”
Jun licked his lips, and Nino looked away. Things were done between them. Settled. Over and finished, he told himself. Soon as they took care of Nagase, Jun would be gone and Nino could forget the man had ever come back to Rapid Springs. He could get on with his life.
“Alright. You go in, say your hellos to the Sheriff and the Marshals. You figure out the route they’re taking…”
“You ain’t staging the ambush still? Are you crazy?”
Jun shook his head. “No, not ambushing. I’ll ride ahead, put a shot right through the coach glass.”
“You couldn’t make that shot. It’ll be him and his lawyer and one of the marshals in there, that’s a big risk.”
“Just find out the route, Ninomiya, I don’t care if it’s a trick shot.”
He sighed. There were men that existed who were just as stubborn as he was. It would be one hell of a shot. “Fine. I’ll find the route. But how do I tell you?”
“Never you mind. I know Nagase’s property. I’ll keep an eye on you, probably sneak into the barn. You just find your way over there before you take off, and I’ll ride ahead.”
Nino gave the uneasy horse a pat on the neck. “This isn’t good. Then again, we seem to have some dumb luck, three of us, when we’re workin’ together. Killin’ folk in town, getting Mendoza, moving them cows…luck’s gonna run out, Jun.”
Jun nodded. “Nagase’s been lucky too. Something’s gotta give.” With that, Jun gave his horse a kick and took off, moving to head around the rear of Nagase’s property so he could sneak in. Nino sighed, urging his own mare forward. This wouldn’t be pretty, he could feel it in his bones.
The ride up to the house was one of the longest of his life. Would he get there and find two dead U.S. marshals and one arrogant Yankee, left for the flies and the vultures? Would Nagase come out of his house shooting? And the hell was he supposed to say? It was up to Jun and Sho to get the rest of this stupid plan moving. Much as Nino wanted the man dead, it would have been far easier to just show up and get him in a rain of bullets.
He dismounted near the main house, adjusting the star uneasily as his boots hit the porch steps. “Sheriff Sakurai?”
Instead, he was greeted at the screen door by a man in a bandanna who eyed him suspiciously. “You Sakurai’s deputy?”
“Yes sir. Masaki Aiba, sir. From Rapid Springs.”
The screen door opened. “Nakai. U.S. Marshals. Sakurai said he was calling you up here to help with the prisoner…well, to help with the transport.” This Nakai still didn’t like him. “Who’s watching your town? You deputize someone?”
Nino hesitated. The hell was he supposed to say? “Ah…no. No, the blacksmith is in charge right now. Folks’ll keep a good watch until we get back from Santa Fe, Marshal.”
“Well, come in then. Don’t see why we need you too, but Sakurai says you done more than your fair share in keeping the town safe from hoodlums. If you think it’s gonna get either of you a promotion you can keep dreaming.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nino followed the irritated Marshal into the house to find Sho standing underneath a sword mounted on the wall. Must have been Nagase’s officer’s weapon. It was a mite intimidating. Sho and the Marshal both looked exhausted, and Nino soon discovered why.
Sitting in a chair in the center of the room was Nagase himself, and he was a big man, even seated with dark black whiskers and cold-blooded eyes. He had on the Confederate jacket, even in the stuffy house. Wouldn’t take much for him to get Sho and this Nakai out of the way. No wonder neither of the two men had slept. There was no trusting that this man would let them live.
Sho stretched, joints popping. “Marshal Nakai, you mind if I have a chat with my Deputy?”
Nakai reached for his holster, reminding the unarmed Nagase that he was armed. “Make it quick. Ishibashi’ll be back soon, and we’re movin’ out. Not waiting for you farm boys.”
Nino smarted at that. What did this Marshal asshole know about him? But Sho grabbed him roughly, thankfully by his good arm, and led him back through the house to another room, Nagase’s study by the looks of the desk and bookshelves within.
“So where’s Jun?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m fine, Sheriff, thanks for asking.”
“Nino…”
He kept his voice low. “Fine, fine. He’s sneaking about the place. You know the route we’re taking north?”
Sho thought. “Well, probably the easiest and quickest. Back up through the pass, go through the town and over the bridge.”
“Okay, I’ll tell Jun that. He’s going to see how good a shot he is.”
The sheriff looked nervous. “That’s his plan?”
“You left it up to him.” Nino walked over, easing himself down to sit on Nagase’s desk. “He’s going to take a shot. If he gets Nagase, he gets Nagase. If not, then you get to see him stand trial in Santa Fe I suspect.”
Sho looked disappointed. “Nagase knows all our names now. And he has friends in the capital.”
“Not my problem, Sheriff. Told you from the get go this was a damn fool plan…”
Nino’s eye caught on something shiny. The morning sun was coming through the study window on a glass display case. All of Nagase’s loot, his spoils of war, he suspected. He couldn’t look away, shuffling along the floorboards until he couldn’t get much closer.
His gut turned over inside him, and he wanted to vomit. “What?” Sho was asking from behind him. “What is it?”
Sitting inside the case, jumbled in with other assorted trinkets was a locket. Not just any locket, he realized, feeling his eyes start to burn and his limbs start to shake. It was her locket. He’d recognize the ivy incised into the silver any day. It hadn’t been on her when he’d gotten there, finding her skirts at her hips and their dirty fingerprints on her thighs.
Stolen, the old sheriff had told him. Anything of value had been taken by the bandits. The bandits who’d never been caught. Left no trace of who’d hired them. But here, in the case, was the locket he’d given her. The symbol of the promise they’d made, and it was sitting in this man’s house. Tossed in their like some sick trophy.
He couldn’t focus. Couldn’t think. Could barely breathe. “Need to open this case.”
Sho was behind him then. “What? You find something?”
“Said I need to open this case, Sheriff.” He pulled at the glass door. Locked. No matter. Pulling up his arm, he put his elbow through the glass, shattering it.
“Nino, what are you doing?”
There was a shout from the other room, the Marshal, but Nino paid him no mind. Sho was tugging at him, telling him to stop, but he could only see the locket and the chain. He remembered the delicate neck it had been around, and how the last time he’d seen that neck there’d been deep purple welts on it.
Nino brushed some of the broken shards aside, little prickles stinging his fingers as the glass cut him. He pulled the locket out, balling it up in his bloody left fist. A fresh burst of pain from his wound shot up that arm from the tightening of the muscles, but he didn’t much care. “This ain’t his property.”
The chain wrapped around his knuckles as he turned to let his vision focus on the holster at Sho’s hip. He’d left his shotgun with the horse. Didn’t think it right to enter a man’s house armed if he was posing as Aiba. He yanked at the holster, pulling the gun away before Sho could stop him.
He pointed the pistol at the sheriff. “Move.” Sho did, and Nino was barely conscious of what he was doing, pulse rushing and feet carrying him faster than his mind could process. The locket was in this man’s house. Nino was no fool. He could add two and two to make four.
He shoved Nakai aside as he moved through the hallway. “Sheriff, control your deputy or I’ll put a bullet in him!”
Nino made his way back to the front room of the house where Nagase was sitting in the chair. The man just blinked as Nino put the pistol to his forehead. He held up his left arm, feeling the burning pain, and let the locket dangle in Nagase’s face.
“Weren’t yours to take.”
The man dared to smile. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He cocked the hammer. “This got took off a woman who did you no wrong. My intended. The sweetest, most gentle creature you ever saw. This was ripped off of her while you or people you hired raped and killed her.”
Nagase bared his teeth, and Nino felt lightheaded, felt the gun shaking in his hand. “Sure is a pretty locket.”
Ninomiya took a breath.
Closed his eyes.
And pulled the trigger.
--
He heard the splatter against wood before his brain registered the actual shot that had been fired- everything felt like it was movin' in slow motion, chugging through thick molasses.
"Sheriff!" The angry, howl of a cry was what startled him from his reverie, paces back from the living room where Nagase was sitting- had been sitting. Past tense. Past tense cause Ninomiya just put a fucking bullet through the man's fucking brain. "Deputy Aiba, you are hereby under arrest by the jurisdiction appointed to me by the federal government-"
Sho's chest felt so tight he could barely breathe. He stumbled, half-running, into the living room to see Nakai with his revolver aimed straight at Nino, and Nino's damn eyes glazed over with something Sho couldn't discern, fingers wrapped tightly 'round the necklace glinting in the morning sunlight. There were red splash-backs all over the place, on Nino's face, on his sleeves, on the badge shimmering on his vest.
"-of the United States of America," Nakai was continuing, jaw clenched so tight Sho could see veins popping out in the man's neck.
And then Nino's arm swung out widely, finger still poised over the hot trigger.
"Fuck you!" he screamed. He was aiming the muzzles at Nakai- he was aiming at a god damn United States Marshal.
"I'll see your ass hanged for this, Deputy!" Nakai shouted back. Flecks of spit were flying from his mouth. "I'll see your ass quartered and fucking drug 'cross town, you murderin' sonofa bitch!"
"He got what was comin' to him!" Ninomiya practically shrieked. There was something so fierce in his gaze that Sho wasn't sure he would have recognized the man, features contorted in rage. He was splattered in bits of crimson and gray. "He got what he deserved!"
"You are under arrest!" Nakai just kept shouting, over and over again, like the echoes of the bullet that were sounding in Sho's head.
And Nino's finger curved around the trigger.
Maybe it was the rage that blinded him- he was feet away from the marshal and missed the man wide enough to ding the doorframe. Maybe it was that he was using Sho's revolver and not his shotgun, maybe it was the fact that there was so much of Nagase's head on his face he couldn't see straight- didn't matter. He missed, and Nakai dove behind an upholstered chair, and Nino kept shooting.
"Nino!" Sho hollered, flattening himself against the side of the wall, half-hidden behind a large oak bookcase. "Nino, stop it!"
A bullet crashed through the living room window, sending shattered pieces of glass all over the woven rug beneath it- Nakai was shooting back. Sho couldn't tell what was goin' on with the bullets flying through the air, and the sound was so loud it was nearly deafening.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck- it was a mantra inside his thoughts, halting everything else. He had to stop Nino- had to stop Nakai. Had to stop both of them.
A shot hit only a few feet away from his head, close enough to make his heart leap to his throat in fear. He didn't know whose it was or who was shooting at him. Maybe they didn't either. But either way, they were completely fucked- Nagase's body was slumped over the side of the chair, and his blood was on the walls, and Nakai had seen everything.
"Nino!" Sho just kept yelling, and he didn't even know if the man could hear him. Ninomiya didn't look like he could hear anything. He'd gotten back behind the very chair Nagase's crumpled form was in, on his knees on the glass shards covering the rug.
"He deserved it!" he barely heard over the crossfire. Another ping close to his form, and he gasped, sliding down the wall with one shoulder against the bookshelves.
"Nino, stop!" he tried in vain. The necklace in the man's hand- oh god, the necklace. It had been hers, hadn't it? Oh god, it had been hers, the shot through Jun's shoulder- "Nino!"
"I'm not gonna arrest you!" Nakai shouted from Sho's left side, behind the opposite chair. "I'm gonna kill you!"
Nino replied with something garbled and incomprehensible, and when his finger closed 'round the trigger, there was a click where there should have been the bang of a bullet. He was out. Sho's revolver chambers were emptied into the walls of Nagase's living room. Nakai stood from his place, muzzle still trained on the chair Nino was kneeling behind.
"I'm gonna kill you for murder, you cocksucking scum," Nakai hissed, and his thumb hit the hammer of his gun.
"No!" Sho cried, but he was weaponless, and Nakai was gaining on Nino with every stomping, purposeful stride. "Nakai, don't!"
But his voice was lost on both men, and Nakai rounded the corner to level the barrel at Nino's head.
The blast nearly made Sho retch.
When Nakai's body slackened and fell, the gun slipped from his hand to clatter on the floorboards. And outside through the broken glass, there was still smoke curling up from Jun's revolver.
For several agonizingly long moments, nothing moved save for the pools of blood that were expanding and mingling on the floor. Sho couldn't take his eyes off where the side of Nakai's head had once been.
"Jesus," Nino gasped.
"Oh, God," Sho whispered. His hands were shaking. Nakai's eyes were still open. Jun's boots thudded inside, and he hauled Nino to his feet with one arm, stepping gingerly around the crimson spreading 'cross the ground and soaking into the rug.
"Dammit, Nino," the gunman swore. From the hiss of pain that fell from Nino's mouth, Jun's grip was tighter than hell. "What the shit is wrong with you?"
"Jun," Sho wheezed. He couldn't get himself to his feet. "Jun, you shot a marshal. You shot a United States Marshal."
Nino just thrust the hand still holding the necklace in Jun's face, locket swinging wildly. "He did this! He did all of this!"
Sho could see Jun's eyes sweep over the trinket, but there was too much else going on to focus. There was blood everywhere- Lord Almighty, there was blood everywhere-
"They're comin' back," Sho choked out, feeling strangled. Felt like the life was bein' squeezed out of him in painful, wracking spasms. "They're comin' back and they're gonna see. We can't hide this. We can't hide this."
Jun was in front of him, pulling him upright and on his feet, and he could see the same realization on the gunslinger's features. He knew. He knew pullin' that trigger what was gonna happen. Ishibashi and the lawyer were due back anytime, and they had two still warm bodies lying in pools of blood in Nagase's living room.
"Sho, come on," he was saying, but Sho couldn't really hear him. They would know. Feds knew who was there, governor had sent them personally. Even if they ran, they'd get traced back easy to Rapid Springs. Ain't no way to get away from this.
Sho's legs moved without him really thinking about movin' them. Nino had dropped his emptied revolver and it had fallen half-under the chair. He reached for it, brushing across the pool of blood.
"Go," he breathed, pushing at Jun with one hand while he re-holstered his gun. "Go."
"What?" Jun snapped.
"Go!" Sho cried. He gestured widely towards the door still open from where Jun had entered. "Go, get outta here!"
"You can't stay!" Jun said. He grabbed for Sho's arm, but the sheriff side-stepped away.
"They're comin' back!" Sho yelled, and it was true- he could see dust in the distance, see Ishibashi and the lawyer on the edge of the visible property. They were too late to stop it, and too soon to allow Sho to do anything else- there was no other choice. Emotion stung in the corners of his eyes, and he shoved at Jun's shoulder again. "Go, dammit, go!"
Jun staggered backwards, eyes haunted. Behind him, Nino was just starin' off out the broken window, face glazed and expressionless. Jun's hand reached for Nino's sleeve, and tugged.
"C'mon," he mumbled, but his gaze never broke from Sho's. There were hands gathered outside, watching- curious eyes were everywhere. They'd be seen, but that couldn't be helped. Maybe it wouldn't matter. Maybe Sho staying would be enough- Lord, Jesus Christ, Sho didn't know.
His heart was choking him in his throat.
"Go," he just whispered again, even as Jun was halfway out the door and draggin' Ninomiya behind him.
He watched until the two disappeared 'round the side of the house, and the air grew still, and the pounding hooves from Ishibashi and the solicitor filled his senses completely.
--
Nino was still dragging, and Jun almost had to pick the man up as he pulled him to Nagase’s barn. None of the hands had followed. He forced Ninomiya up the ladder to the hay loft, and he followed. From here, out the barn door, they could see the porch. Sho was still inside. What the hell was he thinking? They had to run!
Jun had his horse around back, and Nino’s was still in the front, still wearing the shoes Aiba had made for it. Shotgun and supplies could get traced back to Rapid Springs too. His heart was in his throat as two men approached on horseback. One had the star of a marshal, the other had glasses and a fine suit. Nagase’s lawyer.
Nino was gone, somewhere else entirely as he cradled the locket and chain. Jun remembered it. He’d never forget it. Ninomiya had found her murderer and killed him, and if their places were switched, he’d have done the same. But this was the worst possible timing. Jun just let Nino try and heal as he kept watch on the house.
The marshal knew something was wrong immediately and he started barking at the confused looking ranch hands, kids really, who were standing around outside the house. The man’s voice was carrying the other way, but obviously the hands were telling the newest arrivals that they’d heard gunshots in the house.
It took all his willpower not to climb down and let a round find the marshal and the lawyer between the eyes. But he sure as hell didn’t have enough ammo or speed to get the gathered workers. They were fucked. The marshal and the lawyer hurried inside, and the screen door slammed. Seconds later, the lawyer came running back out to retch violently into the dirt.
There was hollering, a whole lot of it. “I screwed it all up,” Nino was mumbling. “Jun, I’m sorry…”
“Be quiet,” he hissed back, straining his eyes to try and see through the windows, but the porch overhang wouldn’t let him. If there was another gunshot, it was over. But he didn’t want to think about that.
He inhaled sharply as Sho nearly went flying through the screen door, landing hard on the porch. “Where is he?” he finally heard as the marshal’s voice carried all the way to the barn. “Ain’t gone far! He left his horse!”
Shit. They were gonna think Aiba was some murderer. Aiba who did no harm to anyone. But Sho had said to go. Sho had pushed him and Nino out the door. He didn’t want help. He wanted to do this himself, god damn him. “…shot each other!” Sho screamed at the top of his lungs as he struggled to get to his feet.
The marshal wasn’t having none of it, and anger burned in Jun’s veins as the lawman landed a punch right on Sho’s face. He wanted to kill him. He had a clear shot. But Sho had made it so they could leave. The lawyer had gotten on his horse again and was already off into the dust.
Sho was hauled to his feet again, face bloodied, and said nothing. Jun could only watch in horror as the marshal handcuffed him and forced him up onto the horse Nino had left tethered. The lawman ran a rope between his own horse and Sho’s. The sheriff of Rapid Springs was under arrest.
“He let us get away,” Nino mumbled, staring at the locket. “He’s taking the fall so the town can be safe.”
“No,” Jun said. “Won’t let that happen.”
The marshal shouted for all the hands to go back to their homes, for no one to go into the house. Jun imagined there’d be folks from Santa Fe there in a few days, but by then the house would stink. Was he arresting Sho for not talking or for committing the crime? He had to know.
Sho kept his head down, solemnly letting the marshal bring him along, and Jun watched them disappear down the trail. The hands, still not sure what had happened to their boss didn’t feel like going against a fed’s orders and soon they too dispersed. It was just him and Ninomiya and Nagase’s miles and miles of grazing lands.
He started down the ladder, nearly quaking with anger. Why was Sho being so stupid? Why was he doing this? Nino followed him quietly. To the south was Rapid Springs - there’d be waiting and there’d be doubt. Nagase was dead, but would the sheriff come back? To the north was Santa Fe - Sho was gonna be interrogated for sure. Jun couldn’t leave him alone, not after this.
“Nino.”
The man was shoving the necklace in his pocket and finally wiped the spatters of blood and gray off of his face. “You ain’t comin’ with me.”
Jun nodded. “You need to get Aiba his star back. Don’t tell them what happened. Rapid Springs don’t need to be a part of this.”
Nino looked more annoyed than anything. “And when they ask what happened to their sheriff?”
“Tell them he’s done everything he can to protect them. Everything.”
He left Nino behind, moving back around Nagase’s house to find his horse. He was tired. He hadn’t slept much and had eaten little. But there was a cold, lonely cell waiting for Sheriff Sakurai in Santa Fe, and it was his fault. Turning himself in would make Sho’s own sacrifice meaningless. But there was no way in hell Jun was leaving him to face the crooks in Santa Fe alone.
He mounted up, spurring the horse along. His eyes were fixed on the northern horizon, and he wasn’t stopping ‘til he hit the capital.
------
It took a very long time for Nino's thoughts to clear. A long time, and hours spent riding back to Rapid Springs, and when the horse's hooves finally hit the main road, he was exhausted and shaky from the fire leaving his blood. He knew Aiba and Ohno were waiting for him- knew they would want to know what went down, but was still choking on Jun's words. He couldn't get them involved. Sho had given Rapid Springs' its freedom.
Ninomiya didn't think he could touch the significance of that.
He should have gone to Aiba's shop. Should have turned right there and given the man's badge back, but he didn't. He dismounted and his legs carried him to the church without his own volition, past the rickety walls and white-washed crucifix to the cemetary past the bend. He didn't know what he was doin' or what his plan was, but his legs did- his heart did. Somethin' inside was screaming for her with every breath he sucked in.
His knees hit the dirt just before her tombstone.
There were a million thoughts going through his head, a hundred and one things he wanted to say, and not a single one could escape his lips. It was as if there was too much and not enough to put into words. The engraving on the granite just stared back at him, and he reached up to let his fingertips trail through the embeveled words.
And then it hit him all at once, like a fist to his gut, and he leaned over the slightly unstable stone with both arms thrown over the top, teardrops splattering on the top of it. He wasn't entirely sure what he was crying about- the end? The reality? The blood still on his sleeves?
Nino pulled out the silver necklace from his pocket, fingers tightening around the locket. "I miss you. God, I miss you so much."
The image of the ivy etched into the trinket would never leave his mind. It was burned into his memory, just like the bruises on her thighs were, the broken blood vessels on her neck. But more than anything, he could see Nagase's blood splattered on the far wall. He could smell the bite of it, taste the copper on his tongue.
"It's over," he whispered, lips against cold stone. The words came out as a strangled gasp. "It's over."
His fingers hit the carved corners again, and he tried breathing deeply, attempting to quell the flow of salt from his eyes. "It's alright, now, ain't it? It's alright now. He's dead. I got him for you."
Nino closed his eyes- it didn't hurt as much. It was lessening, in a way. The tightness that he'd grown so used to, so accustomed to- it was uncoiling, bit by bit, inch by inch. It felt free. And the oddest thing was, he hadn't known he was ever trapped. The bars had been so close he hadn't registered them.
He kissed the smooth surface of the stone, and sighed. "Think it's gonna be alright now."
He sat up, and wiped at his eyes with the back of his hands. His head was throbbing, temples achin' something awful, but it was everything. Everything had come to a head and he was tryin' to sort it all out; a headche was the least of his worries.
He held the necklace up, locket twirling in the setting sunlight. It shimmered, and he smiled a little bit.
"I know," he said, and laughed a bit. "You prolly ain't happy with the way things worked out, either. Never did like violence."
He leaned over and draped the necklace across the left corner of the gravestone. It clinked once against the rock, and then hung still. Nino pushed himself back, both palms curving over the rounded top.
"I love you. I always will."
The breeze brushed against his cheek like feather-light kisses. He stood, and gave the grave a final nod, brushing flecks of dirt from where they clung at the threads of his trousers. When he walked away, his heart didn't feel so heavy.
He found Ohno near the saloon, unloading boxes of staples from an unhitched trailer- supplies. The goods had finally come to replace the ones lost to the fire. Rapid Springs might be okay, after all. Nino stopped just beyond the shadow of the wheels, and Ohno turned to look at him. The baker didn't seem surprised to see him.
Nino nodded towards the crates. "Need some help?"
"Sure," Ohno said.
And when Ohno's slow, unassuming smile spread across his face, Nino couldn't help but grin back.
-----
He’d expected the circumstances of his return to Santa Fe to be far different. Nagase, murdered by outlaws on the road, he’d expected to regretfully report to the governor. Instead, Nagase had been killed by Nino and Marshal Nakai shortly thereafter. He could still see the blood, pooling, soaking into one of Nagase’s rugs. He could still hear the bullets flying past. Everything had gone to hell, and it was his turn to make things right.
Ishibashi had barely spoken to him on the ride back. For as annoying as Sho himself had found Nakai, it seemed the two marshals had been partnered for years. The other man was feeling the loss strongly, had put all that emotion and anger into punching him, sending him flying out the door of Nagase’s house.
And Sho had taken it. They wouldn’t convict him. Not enough motive. They couldn’t pin him with two murders when he’d been the one opening the investigation with the governor himself. But he should’ve known that Nagase would have mentioned his suspicions to the marshals.
As Ishibashi hauled him to the Santa Fe jail, a far cry from the small two-room sheriff’s station in Rapid Springs, Sho hoped Jun was just gone. If he was smart, he would be in Mexico by now or even further south, on his way to find odd jobs in South America. He’d be a fool to stick around New Mexico territory.
He was shoved into a cool, adobe cell like a common criminal, and Sho had never seen the bars from the other side before. The marshal stood there, locking him up, and his eyes were dark. “You stickin’ to this fairy tale, Sakurai?”
The fairy tale in question, that Nakai and Nagase had killed each other, wasn’t gonna fool nobody. Sho had told the marshal that he’d been out taking a piss when the guns started going off. The two men were hotheads enough that the folks running the inquest might believe it. Sho could just get himself in trouble for leaving his post.
But the horse, Nino’s horse…well, Sho didn’t know how to account for that. “Got nothing more to say that I haven’t already told you, Marshal.”
Ishibashi shifted his weight from foot to foot, boots scraping the floor. “And you know nothing about the other guy? This Matsumoto?”
Sho did his best not to react, hoping he looked just as shocked and confused. “No sir."
The marshal spat on the floor, meeting his eyes one more time. “Governor’ll want an official investigation. They’ll be wanting to talk to you tomorrow.”
Sho simply nodded. He was going to tell the same story, no matter what. Doing this kept Rapid Springs in the clear. Kept Ninomiya clean - and Jun too. He hoped. The marshal headed off, leaving Sho alone. They were keeping him isolated, away from the common crooks - whether that was because of his star or because of the severity of Nakai’s loss, he didn’t know. All he could do was stare between the small iron bars that marked his window and pray.
--
The next day they left him stewin’ in the cell until past noon. They’d fed him well, so Sho was realizing that he wasn’t going to be charged with the murders themselves. But he was still in a cell, and it probably wouldn’t end in his best interests.
They escorted him to the courthouse, and people in the street stopped to stare. They hadn’t bothered to strip Sho’s badge from him, so it gleamed as other marshals took him from the jail to the courtroom. It wasn’t a formal trial, but there were a few curious locals in the viewing gallery. He only gave the balcony a cursory glance as they had him sit right in the witness chair.
There was an old man crouching over paper, ready to take his statement. Ishibashi was there and a few men he recognized from the governor’s office. There was a judge, but Sho suspected it was just to keep order. He wasn’t even wearing his robes. “Sheriff Sho Sakurai?” the judge asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“We’re here today to determine what the hell went wrong at Tomoya Nagase’s ranch. If you could do your utmost to provide truthful testimony, it would make this all a lot easier.” Ishibashi was watching him, probably wondering if he was still going to stick with his story. No matter what, he wasn’t going to let them put the blame on Jun. Didn’t matter how many times his name came up - Sho wasn’t gonna crack.
This was his chance to prove once and for all that it hadn’t been a complete mistake to come out west. The dime novels had been full of outlaws and rogues, heroes and lawmen. None of it came close to what Sho had lived since he’d left Boston, but maybe…just maybe he could live the life he’d intended. To protect those that were under his care. Ensure their continued security. And make sure anyone else thought twice before targeting his town again.
If that meant testifying to a lie, covering up the truth to keep crooks and murderers from Rapid Springs, then it was just what he had to do. And damn the consequences. He felt a sudden clarity as he sat in the witness box, a strange calm washing over him like the water from a baptism.
He hadn’t tried before. He’d been all bluster. All bark and no bite. He’d relied too heavily on Aiba, on others entering the town like Jun. Sho had doubted himself, let his allegiance to what his star meant overpower real justice. There’d be no justice in the Santa Fe court, nothing in the badge on his chest that determined right from wrong. So long as folks like Nagase called the shots and kept the governor and his cronies smoking the finest cigars, there was nothing a Yankee sheriff could do to change things.
And so he’d lie. Turn away from Santa Fe and away from everything he’d believed in so strongly when he’d left Boston. Everything he’d written to his mother and father back east. There was no right and wrong out here. You folded and got out of the way or you were a dead man.
One of the other lawmen in the court brought up a Bible, and Sho didn’t even blink. Weeks earlier, swearing on the word of the Lord would have meant something. But he didn’t need to put his hand on God’s book to know that his lies today were better than any truth.
His palm was a bit clammy as he placed it on the leather-bound book, holding up his other hand. Jesus, forgive me.
“Sheriff Sakurai, will you swear that your testimony will be fair, accurate and to the best of your knowledge, so help you God?”
He thought about Aiba, a hammer striking against iron. He thought about Ohno, pulling a fresh loaf of bread out of the oven. He even thought about Ninomiya, pouring a round of drinks (and watering them down but charging the same price) for some thirsty farm hands. Each face from Rapid Springs, each wanting a better life, a safe place for their family to live.
Sho thought about Jun, encouraging him when nobody else could. The feel of the man’s warm body beside his own, finding solace just in knowing they weren’t alone in this awful place.
“I swear.”
Chapter: 12/13
Fandom: Arashi
Character, Pairing(s): Sho/Jun
Rating: R
Warnings: Language and violence. Graphic violence. R-rated violence!
Summary: A saloon owner with an enigmatic past, an idealistic sheriff, a remorseful shotgun messenger, and the town that unites them.
The horses were getting tired, but Jun had insisted they set off immediately and stop as little as possible. Which irked Nino something terrible, seeing as how he was still supposed to be a man in recovery. Doc Ogura had shaken his head at him as they’d rode out of town hours earlier.
But Jun was consumed with his thoughts. Nino could tell. The other man had said very little all the way back to Nagase’s, but his face told the whole story. He was worried about the sheriff being there at the ranch. Much as the man was occasionally incompetent, he wasn’t a total fool. Nino knew Sho could take care of himself, and he had two federal marshals with him to boot. Nagase wasn’t dumb enough to take their lives in his own house.
Jun wasn’t the trusting sort though. He was the only one of them who really knew Nagase and what he was capable of. But what the hell were they going to do? Morning was just peeking over the mountains as they approached, and Jun held up his horse at the start of the former Confederate’s lands.
“You’re going in as Aiba,” Jun said, finger flicking nervously over the hole in the brim of his hat. “Don’t think Nagase would know you from Adam, so you should be alright.”
“And you?” Nino asked, the deputy’s badge feeling strange and out of place on his vest. “We can’t ambush them when they head off for Santa Fe unless you’re feeling suicidal. Now if you’re here just to make sure your sweetheart’s safe, I’m turning tail and riding right back.”
Jun snorted. “Shut your hole.”
He laughed. “Calm down, I’m just teasin’ this time.”
“Can’t calm down,” Jun grumbled. “Whole plan’s gone south. Well. Not much we can do about that. Bound to happen once you get feds involved. They foul everything up.”
“Sure do.”
Jun licked his lips, and Nino looked away. Things were done between them. Settled. Over and finished, he told himself. Soon as they took care of Nagase, Jun would be gone and Nino could forget the man had ever come back to Rapid Springs. He could get on with his life.
“Alright. You go in, say your hellos to the Sheriff and the Marshals. You figure out the route they’re taking…”
“You ain’t staging the ambush still? Are you crazy?”
Jun shook his head. “No, not ambushing. I’ll ride ahead, put a shot right through the coach glass.”
“You couldn’t make that shot. It’ll be him and his lawyer and one of the marshals in there, that’s a big risk.”
“Just find out the route, Ninomiya, I don’t care if it’s a trick shot.”
He sighed. There were men that existed who were just as stubborn as he was. It would be one hell of a shot. “Fine. I’ll find the route. But how do I tell you?”
“Never you mind. I know Nagase’s property. I’ll keep an eye on you, probably sneak into the barn. You just find your way over there before you take off, and I’ll ride ahead.”
Nino gave the uneasy horse a pat on the neck. “This isn’t good. Then again, we seem to have some dumb luck, three of us, when we’re workin’ together. Killin’ folk in town, getting Mendoza, moving them cows…luck’s gonna run out, Jun.”
Jun nodded. “Nagase’s been lucky too. Something’s gotta give.” With that, Jun gave his horse a kick and took off, moving to head around the rear of Nagase’s property so he could sneak in. Nino sighed, urging his own mare forward. This wouldn’t be pretty, he could feel it in his bones.
The ride up to the house was one of the longest of his life. Would he get there and find two dead U.S. marshals and one arrogant Yankee, left for the flies and the vultures? Would Nagase come out of his house shooting? And the hell was he supposed to say? It was up to Jun and Sho to get the rest of this stupid plan moving. Much as Nino wanted the man dead, it would have been far easier to just show up and get him in a rain of bullets.
He dismounted near the main house, adjusting the star uneasily as his boots hit the porch steps. “Sheriff Sakurai?”
Instead, he was greeted at the screen door by a man in a bandanna who eyed him suspiciously. “You Sakurai’s deputy?”
“Yes sir. Masaki Aiba, sir. From Rapid Springs.”
The screen door opened. “Nakai. U.S. Marshals. Sakurai said he was calling you up here to help with the prisoner…well, to help with the transport.” This Nakai still didn’t like him. “Who’s watching your town? You deputize someone?”
Nino hesitated. The hell was he supposed to say? “Ah…no. No, the blacksmith is in charge right now. Folks’ll keep a good watch until we get back from Santa Fe, Marshal.”
“Well, come in then. Don’t see why we need you too, but Sakurai says you done more than your fair share in keeping the town safe from hoodlums. If you think it’s gonna get either of you a promotion you can keep dreaming.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nino followed the irritated Marshal into the house to find Sho standing underneath a sword mounted on the wall. Must have been Nagase’s officer’s weapon. It was a mite intimidating. Sho and the Marshal both looked exhausted, and Nino soon discovered why.
Sitting in a chair in the center of the room was Nagase himself, and he was a big man, even seated with dark black whiskers and cold-blooded eyes. He had on the Confederate jacket, even in the stuffy house. Wouldn’t take much for him to get Sho and this Nakai out of the way. No wonder neither of the two men had slept. There was no trusting that this man would let them live.
Sho stretched, joints popping. “Marshal Nakai, you mind if I have a chat with my Deputy?”
Nakai reached for his holster, reminding the unarmed Nagase that he was armed. “Make it quick. Ishibashi’ll be back soon, and we’re movin’ out. Not waiting for you farm boys.”
Nino smarted at that. What did this Marshal asshole know about him? But Sho grabbed him roughly, thankfully by his good arm, and led him back through the house to another room, Nagase’s study by the looks of the desk and bookshelves within.
“So where’s Jun?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m fine, Sheriff, thanks for asking.”
“Nino…”
He kept his voice low. “Fine, fine. He’s sneaking about the place. You know the route we’re taking north?”
Sho thought. “Well, probably the easiest and quickest. Back up through the pass, go through the town and over the bridge.”
“Okay, I’ll tell Jun that. He’s going to see how good a shot he is.”
The sheriff looked nervous. “That’s his plan?”
“You left it up to him.” Nino walked over, easing himself down to sit on Nagase’s desk. “He’s going to take a shot. If he gets Nagase, he gets Nagase. If not, then you get to see him stand trial in Santa Fe I suspect.”
Sho looked disappointed. “Nagase knows all our names now. And he has friends in the capital.”
“Not my problem, Sheriff. Told you from the get go this was a damn fool plan…”
Nino’s eye caught on something shiny. The morning sun was coming through the study window on a glass display case. All of Nagase’s loot, his spoils of war, he suspected. He couldn’t look away, shuffling along the floorboards until he couldn’t get much closer.
His gut turned over inside him, and he wanted to vomit. “What?” Sho was asking from behind him. “What is it?”
Sitting inside the case, jumbled in with other assorted trinkets was a locket. Not just any locket, he realized, feeling his eyes start to burn and his limbs start to shake. It was her locket. He’d recognize the ivy incised into the silver any day. It hadn’t been on her when he’d gotten there, finding her skirts at her hips and their dirty fingerprints on her thighs.
Stolen, the old sheriff had told him. Anything of value had been taken by the bandits. The bandits who’d never been caught. Left no trace of who’d hired them. But here, in the case, was the locket he’d given her. The symbol of the promise they’d made, and it was sitting in this man’s house. Tossed in their like some sick trophy.
He couldn’t focus. Couldn’t think. Could barely breathe. “Need to open this case.”
Sho was behind him then. “What? You find something?”
“Said I need to open this case, Sheriff.” He pulled at the glass door. Locked. No matter. Pulling up his arm, he put his elbow through the glass, shattering it.
“Nino, what are you doing?”
There was a shout from the other room, the Marshal, but Nino paid him no mind. Sho was tugging at him, telling him to stop, but he could only see the locket and the chain. He remembered the delicate neck it had been around, and how the last time he’d seen that neck there’d been deep purple welts on it.
Nino brushed some of the broken shards aside, little prickles stinging his fingers as the glass cut him. He pulled the locket out, balling it up in his bloody left fist. A fresh burst of pain from his wound shot up that arm from the tightening of the muscles, but he didn’t much care. “This ain’t his property.”
The chain wrapped around his knuckles as he turned to let his vision focus on the holster at Sho’s hip. He’d left his shotgun with the horse. Didn’t think it right to enter a man’s house armed if he was posing as Aiba. He yanked at the holster, pulling the gun away before Sho could stop him.
He pointed the pistol at the sheriff. “Move.” Sho did, and Nino was barely conscious of what he was doing, pulse rushing and feet carrying him faster than his mind could process. The locket was in this man’s house. Nino was no fool. He could add two and two to make four.
He shoved Nakai aside as he moved through the hallway. “Sheriff, control your deputy or I’ll put a bullet in him!”
Nino made his way back to the front room of the house where Nagase was sitting in the chair. The man just blinked as Nino put the pistol to his forehead. He held up his left arm, feeling the burning pain, and let the locket dangle in Nagase’s face.
“Weren’t yours to take.”
The man dared to smile. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He cocked the hammer. “This got took off a woman who did you no wrong. My intended. The sweetest, most gentle creature you ever saw. This was ripped off of her while you or people you hired raped and killed her.”
Nagase bared his teeth, and Nino felt lightheaded, felt the gun shaking in his hand. “Sure is a pretty locket.”
Ninomiya took a breath.
Closed his eyes.
And pulled the trigger.
--
He heard the splatter against wood before his brain registered the actual shot that had been fired- everything felt like it was movin' in slow motion, chugging through thick molasses.
"Sheriff!" The angry, howl of a cry was what startled him from his reverie, paces back from the living room where Nagase was sitting- had been sitting. Past tense. Past tense cause Ninomiya just put a fucking bullet through the man's fucking brain. "Deputy Aiba, you are hereby under arrest by the jurisdiction appointed to me by the federal government-"
Sho's chest felt so tight he could barely breathe. He stumbled, half-running, into the living room to see Nakai with his revolver aimed straight at Nino, and Nino's damn eyes glazed over with something Sho couldn't discern, fingers wrapped tightly 'round the necklace glinting in the morning sunlight. There were red splash-backs all over the place, on Nino's face, on his sleeves, on the badge shimmering on his vest.
"-of the United States of America," Nakai was continuing, jaw clenched so tight Sho could see veins popping out in the man's neck.
And then Nino's arm swung out widely, finger still poised over the hot trigger.
"Fuck you!" he screamed. He was aiming the muzzles at Nakai- he was aiming at a god damn United States Marshal.
"I'll see your ass hanged for this, Deputy!" Nakai shouted back. Flecks of spit were flying from his mouth. "I'll see your ass quartered and fucking drug 'cross town, you murderin' sonofa bitch!"
"He got what was comin' to him!" Ninomiya practically shrieked. There was something so fierce in his gaze that Sho wasn't sure he would have recognized the man, features contorted in rage. He was splattered in bits of crimson and gray. "He got what he deserved!"
"You are under arrest!" Nakai just kept shouting, over and over again, like the echoes of the bullet that were sounding in Sho's head.
And Nino's finger curved around the trigger.
Maybe it was the rage that blinded him- he was feet away from the marshal and missed the man wide enough to ding the doorframe. Maybe it was that he was using Sho's revolver and not his shotgun, maybe it was the fact that there was so much of Nagase's head on his face he couldn't see straight- didn't matter. He missed, and Nakai dove behind an upholstered chair, and Nino kept shooting.
"Nino!" Sho hollered, flattening himself against the side of the wall, half-hidden behind a large oak bookcase. "Nino, stop it!"
A bullet crashed through the living room window, sending shattered pieces of glass all over the woven rug beneath it- Nakai was shooting back. Sho couldn't tell what was goin' on with the bullets flying through the air, and the sound was so loud it was nearly deafening.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck- it was a mantra inside his thoughts, halting everything else. He had to stop Nino- had to stop Nakai. Had to stop both of them.
A shot hit only a few feet away from his head, close enough to make his heart leap to his throat in fear. He didn't know whose it was or who was shooting at him. Maybe they didn't either. But either way, they were completely fucked- Nagase's body was slumped over the side of the chair, and his blood was on the walls, and Nakai had seen everything.
"Nino!" Sho just kept yelling, and he didn't even know if the man could hear him. Ninomiya didn't look like he could hear anything. He'd gotten back behind the very chair Nagase's crumpled form was in, on his knees on the glass shards covering the rug.
"He deserved it!" he barely heard over the crossfire. Another ping close to his form, and he gasped, sliding down the wall with one shoulder against the bookshelves.
"Nino, stop!" he tried in vain. The necklace in the man's hand- oh god, the necklace. It had been hers, hadn't it? Oh god, it had been hers, the shot through Jun's shoulder- "Nino!"
"I'm not gonna arrest you!" Nakai shouted from Sho's left side, behind the opposite chair. "I'm gonna kill you!"
Nino replied with something garbled and incomprehensible, and when his finger closed 'round the trigger, there was a click where there should have been the bang of a bullet. He was out. Sho's revolver chambers were emptied into the walls of Nagase's living room. Nakai stood from his place, muzzle still trained on the chair Nino was kneeling behind.
"I'm gonna kill you for murder, you cocksucking scum," Nakai hissed, and his thumb hit the hammer of his gun.
"No!" Sho cried, but he was weaponless, and Nakai was gaining on Nino with every stomping, purposeful stride. "Nakai, don't!"
But his voice was lost on both men, and Nakai rounded the corner to level the barrel at Nino's head.
The blast nearly made Sho retch.
When Nakai's body slackened and fell, the gun slipped from his hand to clatter on the floorboards. And outside through the broken glass, there was still smoke curling up from Jun's revolver.
For several agonizingly long moments, nothing moved save for the pools of blood that were expanding and mingling on the floor. Sho couldn't take his eyes off where the side of Nakai's head had once been.
"Jesus," Nino gasped.
"Oh, God," Sho whispered. His hands were shaking. Nakai's eyes were still open. Jun's boots thudded inside, and he hauled Nino to his feet with one arm, stepping gingerly around the crimson spreading 'cross the ground and soaking into the rug.
"Dammit, Nino," the gunman swore. From the hiss of pain that fell from Nino's mouth, Jun's grip was tighter than hell. "What the shit is wrong with you?"
"Jun," Sho wheezed. He couldn't get himself to his feet. "Jun, you shot a marshal. You shot a United States Marshal."
Nino just thrust the hand still holding the necklace in Jun's face, locket swinging wildly. "He did this! He did all of this!"
Sho could see Jun's eyes sweep over the trinket, but there was too much else going on to focus. There was blood everywhere- Lord Almighty, there was blood everywhere-
"They're comin' back," Sho choked out, feeling strangled. Felt like the life was bein' squeezed out of him in painful, wracking spasms. "They're comin' back and they're gonna see. We can't hide this. We can't hide this."
Jun was in front of him, pulling him upright and on his feet, and he could see the same realization on the gunslinger's features. He knew. He knew pullin' that trigger what was gonna happen. Ishibashi and the lawyer were due back anytime, and they had two still warm bodies lying in pools of blood in Nagase's living room.
"Sho, come on," he was saying, but Sho couldn't really hear him. They would know. Feds knew who was there, governor had sent them personally. Even if they ran, they'd get traced back easy to Rapid Springs. Ain't no way to get away from this.
Sho's legs moved without him really thinking about movin' them. Nino had dropped his emptied revolver and it had fallen half-under the chair. He reached for it, brushing across the pool of blood.
"Go," he breathed, pushing at Jun with one hand while he re-holstered his gun. "Go."
"What?" Jun snapped.
"Go!" Sho cried. He gestured widely towards the door still open from where Jun had entered. "Go, get outta here!"
"You can't stay!" Jun said. He grabbed for Sho's arm, but the sheriff side-stepped away.
"They're comin' back!" Sho yelled, and it was true- he could see dust in the distance, see Ishibashi and the lawyer on the edge of the visible property. They were too late to stop it, and too soon to allow Sho to do anything else- there was no other choice. Emotion stung in the corners of his eyes, and he shoved at Jun's shoulder again. "Go, dammit, go!"
Jun staggered backwards, eyes haunted. Behind him, Nino was just starin' off out the broken window, face glazed and expressionless. Jun's hand reached for Nino's sleeve, and tugged.
"C'mon," he mumbled, but his gaze never broke from Sho's. There were hands gathered outside, watching- curious eyes were everywhere. They'd be seen, but that couldn't be helped. Maybe it wouldn't matter. Maybe Sho staying would be enough- Lord, Jesus Christ, Sho didn't know.
His heart was choking him in his throat.
"Go," he just whispered again, even as Jun was halfway out the door and draggin' Ninomiya behind him.
He watched until the two disappeared 'round the side of the house, and the air grew still, and the pounding hooves from Ishibashi and the solicitor filled his senses completely.
--
Nino was still dragging, and Jun almost had to pick the man up as he pulled him to Nagase’s barn. None of the hands had followed. He forced Ninomiya up the ladder to the hay loft, and he followed. From here, out the barn door, they could see the porch. Sho was still inside. What the hell was he thinking? They had to run!
Jun had his horse around back, and Nino’s was still in the front, still wearing the shoes Aiba had made for it. Shotgun and supplies could get traced back to Rapid Springs too. His heart was in his throat as two men approached on horseback. One had the star of a marshal, the other had glasses and a fine suit. Nagase’s lawyer.
Nino was gone, somewhere else entirely as he cradled the locket and chain. Jun remembered it. He’d never forget it. Ninomiya had found her murderer and killed him, and if their places were switched, he’d have done the same. But this was the worst possible timing. Jun just let Nino try and heal as he kept watch on the house.
The marshal knew something was wrong immediately and he started barking at the confused looking ranch hands, kids really, who were standing around outside the house. The man’s voice was carrying the other way, but obviously the hands were telling the newest arrivals that they’d heard gunshots in the house.
It took all his willpower not to climb down and let a round find the marshal and the lawyer between the eyes. But he sure as hell didn’t have enough ammo or speed to get the gathered workers. They were fucked. The marshal and the lawyer hurried inside, and the screen door slammed. Seconds later, the lawyer came running back out to retch violently into the dirt.
There was hollering, a whole lot of it. “I screwed it all up,” Nino was mumbling. “Jun, I’m sorry…”
“Be quiet,” he hissed back, straining his eyes to try and see through the windows, but the porch overhang wouldn’t let him. If there was another gunshot, it was over. But he didn’t want to think about that.
He inhaled sharply as Sho nearly went flying through the screen door, landing hard on the porch. “Where is he?” he finally heard as the marshal’s voice carried all the way to the barn. “Ain’t gone far! He left his horse!”
Shit. They were gonna think Aiba was some murderer. Aiba who did no harm to anyone. But Sho had said to go. Sho had pushed him and Nino out the door. He didn’t want help. He wanted to do this himself, god damn him. “…shot each other!” Sho screamed at the top of his lungs as he struggled to get to his feet.
The marshal wasn’t having none of it, and anger burned in Jun’s veins as the lawman landed a punch right on Sho’s face. He wanted to kill him. He had a clear shot. But Sho had made it so they could leave. The lawyer had gotten on his horse again and was already off into the dust.
Sho was hauled to his feet again, face bloodied, and said nothing. Jun could only watch in horror as the marshal handcuffed him and forced him up onto the horse Nino had left tethered. The lawman ran a rope between his own horse and Sho’s. The sheriff of Rapid Springs was under arrest.
“He let us get away,” Nino mumbled, staring at the locket. “He’s taking the fall so the town can be safe.”
“No,” Jun said. “Won’t let that happen.”
The marshal shouted for all the hands to go back to their homes, for no one to go into the house. Jun imagined there’d be folks from Santa Fe there in a few days, but by then the house would stink. Was he arresting Sho for not talking or for committing the crime? He had to know.
Sho kept his head down, solemnly letting the marshal bring him along, and Jun watched them disappear down the trail. The hands, still not sure what had happened to their boss didn’t feel like going against a fed’s orders and soon they too dispersed. It was just him and Ninomiya and Nagase’s miles and miles of grazing lands.
He started down the ladder, nearly quaking with anger. Why was Sho being so stupid? Why was he doing this? Nino followed him quietly. To the south was Rapid Springs - there’d be waiting and there’d be doubt. Nagase was dead, but would the sheriff come back? To the north was Santa Fe - Sho was gonna be interrogated for sure. Jun couldn’t leave him alone, not after this.
“Nino.”
The man was shoving the necklace in his pocket and finally wiped the spatters of blood and gray off of his face. “You ain’t comin’ with me.”
Jun nodded. “You need to get Aiba his star back. Don’t tell them what happened. Rapid Springs don’t need to be a part of this.”
Nino looked more annoyed than anything. “And when they ask what happened to their sheriff?”
“Tell them he’s done everything he can to protect them. Everything.”
He left Nino behind, moving back around Nagase’s house to find his horse. He was tired. He hadn’t slept much and had eaten little. But there was a cold, lonely cell waiting for Sheriff Sakurai in Santa Fe, and it was his fault. Turning himself in would make Sho’s own sacrifice meaningless. But there was no way in hell Jun was leaving him to face the crooks in Santa Fe alone.
He mounted up, spurring the horse along. His eyes were fixed on the northern horizon, and he wasn’t stopping ‘til he hit the capital.
------
It took a very long time for Nino's thoughts to clear. A long time, and hours spent riding back to Rapid Springs, and when the horse's hooves finally hit the main road, he was exhausted and shaky from the fire leaving his blood. He knew Aiba and Ohno were waiting for him- knew they would want to know what went down, but was still choking on Jun's words. He couldn't get them involved. Sho had given Rapid Springs' its freedom.
Ninomiya didn't think he could touch the significance of that.
He should have gone to Aiba's shop. Should have turned right there and given the man's badge back, but he didn't. He dismounted and his legs carried him to the church without his own volition, past the rickety walls and white-washed crucifix to the cemetary past the bend. He didn't know what he was doin' or what his plan was, but his legs did- his heart did. Somethin' inside was screaming for her with every breath he sucked in.
His knees hit the dirt just before her tombstone.
There were a million thoughts going through his head, a hundred and one things he wanted to say, and not a single one could escape his lips. It was as if there was too much and not enough to put into words. The engraving on the granite just stared back at him, and he reached up to let his fingertips trail through the embeveled words.
And then it hit him all at once, like a fist to his gut, and he leaned over the slightly unstable stone with both arms thrown over the top, teardrops splattering on the top of it. He wasn't entirely sure what he was crying about- the end? The reality? The blood still on his sleeves?
Nino pulled out the silver necklace from his pocket, fingers tightening around the locket. "I miss you. God, I miss you so much."
The image of the ivy etched into the trinket would never leave his mind. It was burned into his memory, just like the bruises on her thighs were, the broken blood vessels on her neck. But more than anything, he could see Nagase's blood splattered on the far wall. He could smell the bite of it, taste the copper on his tongue.
"It's over," he whispered, lips against cold stone. The words came out as a strangled gasp. "It's over."
His fingers hit the carved corners again, and he tried breathing deeply, attempting to quell the flow of salt from his eyes. "It's alright, now, ain't it? It's alright now. He's dead. I got him for you."
Nino closed his eyes- it didn't hurt as much. It was lessening, in a way. The tightness that he'd grown so used to, so accustomed to- it was uncoiling, bit by bit, inch by inch. It felt free. And the oddest thing was, he hadn't known he was ever trapped. The bars had been so close he hadn't registered them.
He kissed the smooth surface of the stone, and sighed. "Think it's gonna be alright now."
He sat up, and wiped at his eyes with the back of his hands. His head was throbbing, temples achin' something awful, but it was everything. Everything had come to a head and he was tryin' to sort it all out; a headche was the least of his worries.
He held the necklace up, locket twirling in the setting sunlight. It shimmered, and he smiled a little bit.
"I know," he said, and laughed a bit. "You prolly ain't happy with the way things worked out, either. Never did like violence."
He leaned over and draped the necklace across the left corner of the gravestone. It clinked once against the rock, and then hung still. Nino pushed himself back, both palms curving over the rounded top.
"I love you. I always will."
The breeze brushed against his cheek like feather-light kisses. He stood, and gave the grave a final nod, brushing flecks of dirt from where they clung at the threads of his trousers. When he walked away, his heart didn't feel so heavy.
He found Ohno near the saloon, unloading boxes of staples from an unhitched trailer- supplies. The goods had finally come to replace the ones lost to the fire. Rapid Springs might be okay, after all. Nino stopped just beyond the shadow of the wheels, and Ohno turned to look at him. The baker didn't seem surprised to see him.
Nino nodded towards the crates. "Need some help?"
"Sure," Ohno said.
And when Ohno's slow, unassuming smile spread across his face, Nino couldn't help but grin back.
-----
He’d expected the circumstances of his return to Santa Fe to be far different. Nagase, murdered by outlaws on the road, he’d expected to regretfully report to the governor. Instead, Nagase had been killed by Nino and Marshal Nakai shortly thereafter. He could still see the blood, pooling, soaking into one of Nagase’s rugs. He could still hear the bullets flying past. Everything had gone to hell, and it was his turn to make things right.
Ishibashi had barely spoken to him on the ride back. For as annoying as Sho himself had found Nakai, it seemed the two marshals had been partnered for years. The other man was feeling the loss strongly, had put all that emotion and anger into punching him, sending him flying out the door of Nagase’s house.
And Sho had taken it. They wouldn’t convict him. Not enough motive. They couldn’t pin him with two murders when he’d been the one opening the investigation with the governor himself. But he should’ve known that Nagase would have mentioned his suspicions to the marshals.
As Ishibashi hauled him to the Santa Fe jail, a far cry from the small two-room sheriff’s station in Rapid Springs, Sho hoped Jun was just gone. If he was smart, he would be in Mexico by now or even further south, on his way to find odd jobs in South America. He’d be a fool to stick around New Mexico territory.
He was shoved into a cool, adobe cell like a common criminal, and Sho had never seen the bars from the other side before. The marshal stood there, locking him up, and his eyes were dark. “You stickin’ to this fairy tale, Sakurai?”
The fairy tale in question, that Nakai and Nagase had killed each other, wasn’t gonna fool nobody. Sho had told the marshal that he’d been out taking a piss when the guns started going off. The two men were hotheads enough that the folks running the inquest might believe it. Sho could just get himself in trouble for leaving his post.
But the horse, Nino’s horse…well, Sho didn’t know how to account for that. “Got nothing more to say that I haven’t already told you, Marshal.”
Ishibashi shifted his weight from foot to foot, boots scraping the floor. “And you know nothing about the other guy? This Matsumoto?”
Sho did his best not to react, hoping he looked just as shocked and confused. “No sir."
The marshal spat on the floor, meeting his eyes one more time. “Governor’ll want an official investigation. They’ll be wanting to talk to you tomorrow.”
Sho simply nodded. He was going to tell the same story, no matter what. Doing this kept Rapid Springs in the clear. Kept Ninomiya clean - and Jun too. He hoped. The marshal headed off, leaving Sho alone. They were keeping him isolated, away from the common crooks - whether that was because of his star or because of the severity of Nakai’s loss, he didn’t know. All he could do was stare between the small iron bars that marked his window and pray.
--
The next day they left him stewin’ in the cell until past noon. They’d fed him well, so Sho was realizing that he wasn’t going to be charged with the murders themselves. But he was still in a cell, and it probably wouldn’t end in his best interests.
They escorted him to the courthouse, and people in the street stopped to stare. They hadn’t bothered to strip Sho’s badge from him, so it gleamed as other marshals took him from the jail to the courtroom. It wasn’t a formal trial, but there were a few curious locals in the viewing gallery. He only gave the balcony a cursory glance as they had him sit right in the witness chair.
There was an old man crouching over paper, ready to take his statement. Ishibashi was there and a few men he recognized from the governor’s office. There was a judge, but Sho suspected it was just to keep order. He wasn’t even wearing his robes. “Sheriff Sho Sakurai?” the judge asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“We’re here today to determine what the hell went wrong at Tomoya Nagase’s ranch. If you could do your utmost to provide truthful testimony, it would make this all a lot easier.” Ishibashi was watching him, probably wondering if he was still going to stick with his story. No matter what, he wasn’t going to let them put the blame on Jun. Didn’t matter how many times his name came up - Sho wasn’t gonna crack.
This was his chance to prove once and for all that it hadn’t been a complete mistake to come out west. The dime novels had been full of outlaws and rogues, heroes and lawmen. None of it came close to what Sho had lived since he’d left Boston, but maybe…just maybe he could live the life he’d intended. To protect those that were under his care. Ensure their continued security. And make sure anyone else thought twice before targeting his town again.
If that meant testifying to a lie, covering up the truth to keep crooks and murderers from Rapid Springs, then it was just what he had to do. And damn the consequences. He felt a sudden clarity as he sat in the witness box, a strange calm washing over him like the water from a baptism.
He hadn’t tried before. He’d been all bluster. All bark and no bite. He’d relied too heavily on Aiba, on others entering the town like Jun. Sho had doubted himself, let his allegiance to what his star meant overpower real justice. There’d be no justice in the Santa Fe court, nothing in the badge on his chest that determined right from wrong. So long as folks like Nagase called the shots and kept the governor and his cronies smoking the finest cigars, there was nothing a Yankee sheriff could do to change things.
And so he’d lie. Turn away from Santa Fe and away from everything he’d believed in so strongly when he’d left Boston. Everything he’d written to his mother and father back east. There was no right and wrong out here. You folded and got out of the way or you were a dead man.
One of the other lawmen in the court brought up a Bible, and Sho didn’t even blink. Weeks earlier, swearing on the word of the Lord would have meant something. But he didn’t need to put his hand on God’s book to know that his lies today were better than any truth.
His palm was a bit clammy as he placed it on the leather-bound book, holding up his other hand. Jesus, forgive me.
“Sheriff Sakurai, will you swear that your testimony will be fair, accurate and to the best of your knowledge, so help you God?”
He thought about Aiba, a hammer striking against iron. He thought about Ohno, pulling a fresh loaf of bread out of the oven. He even thought about Ninomiya, pouring a round of drinks (and watering them down but charging the same price) for some thirsty farm hands. Each face from Rapid Springs, each wanting a better life, a safe place for their family to live.
Sho thought about Jun, encouraging him when nobody else could. The feel of the man’s warm body beside his own, finding solace just in knowing they weren’t alone in this awful place.
“I swear.”