A/N: There's a tiny hint about the progress of Shin and Yankumi's relationship in this chapter. See if you can spot it! :)
Shin stood up immediately. "Minoru, get back-up ASAP. Summon Divisions 1 to 3, and get Divisions 4 and 5 to be on standby."
"Hee." The large man agreed hurriedly.
"Koisuke," He addressed the henchman. "Blades or guns?"
"Blades. Katanas." The man answered.
"Tetsu, Makoto. You heard Koisuke. Equip yourselves. Let's go. We need to hold the fort until back-up arrives."
"Hee." Both men were already ready to set out.
"Oyasan," Wakamatsu called out. "Please, let me help. I'll stay hidden. I can distract them." He said. His injury prevented him from moving fast, so he seldom went out to fight anymore.
Shin looked hesitant, but the gravity of the situation set in. "Alright, but stay safe."
Yamato could feel Ren tensing up beside him. Ren's body was practically shaking, probably trying to stave off the urge to join them for his sake. Yamato placed a hand on his shoulder gently. "Go." He said softly.
"No, I can't." Ren replied hoarsely, although it was obvious that he wanted to. "I promised you—"
"I'll be fine, Ren. They need you more than I do." Yamato said supportively. "Now, go."
Ren turned to look at Shin, who was watching both of them with a regretful expression. Ren and Shin's eyes made contact briefly, and Ren made his decision.
"Alright." He squeezed Yamato's hand quickly. "Yankumi?" He asked an unspoken question, the pleading and desperation evident in his voice.
Yankumi nodded. "I'll protect him, Ren. Go. Shin needs you."
Yamato and Yankumi sat together in silence. Kuroda had volunteered to be the lookout in case the fight got too near to the Oedo house. Shin and Ren had made them promise that they will flee to safety if the fight got too close; no matter what happened to the former two.
Yankumi was the first to break the silence. "I know you probably won't believe me, but don't worry too much about Ren. He's very capable of defending himself. I suppose it is relatively lucky that they chose the traditional Yakuza attack." At Yamato's confused look, she clarified. "Katanas. As opposed to guns."
Yamato nodded slightly, seeing her logic; but not feeling the least bit of luck. "Does this happen often?"
Yankumi brooded momentarily. "No, not really. Shin has intelligence almost everywhere; he usually uncovers attacks days or even weeks before it happens. This is either a very covert operation, or a very last-minute one. I would probably go with the latter."
That was interesting to know, but it wasn't what he meant. "I meant the waiting. And the worrying." He said.
"Oh." Yankumi moved to pour them some tea from the dinner table. "Well, yes, I guess. I was worried for Shin in the beginning, but after a while I learnt to trust him. Not that I don't worry, of course. You just get used to having the little nagging feeling in your gut most of the time; and learn how to concentrate on the other tasks at hand."
Yamato wasn't sure if he wanted to get use to this kind of feeling, but he supposed he had no choice. He settled into a restless wait.
"No offence, Yankumi; but I'm surprised that you stayed put." Yamato said after a while. He found it difficult to reconcile the crazy homeroom teacher who would charge headlong into a fight and this demure Yakuza wife who stayed at home waiting patiently for her husband's return.
Yankumi looked at him intently. "It's mutual trust. I trust him to come home, and he trusts me to stay safe." She paused before continuing. "Shin won't be able to concentrate on the fight if he is not absolutely certain of my safety." Here her voice dropped slightly. "The first time I tried to help him in a fight; he lost focus the moment he saw me. And a second was all it took. He took a knife in his shoulder. I never tried to help again afterwards."
Yamato winced. He couldn't imagine the feeling of knowing that you were indirectly responsible for your lover's injury.
"In due time, you'll have to learn to trust Ren too." She added gently. "He will come home to you. You are far too precious to lose in his eyes."
Yamato couldn't help but blush slightly at his ex-teacher's comment. He wondered for a moment how much Ren had told them about their relationship.
"Did it bother you at first? When you found out that we were dating?" He asked curiously. After all, Yankumi always appeared to him as an innocent lady. Or maybe that was just her teaching persona.
"Are you kidding? I absolutely love yaoi!" Yankumi grinned disturbingly at him.
Yamato shuddered. "Wipe that grin off your face, Yankumi, you look scary."
"Oh come on, tell me about it…" She begged.
"No!" Yamato yelled. "Why don't you persuade Shin to have a go with a dude or something?" He asked her.
"Nah. I don't share." Yankumi commented. "What about you?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Your group of friends seemed really close back in high school…"
"Gosh, no! That would be too weird! They couldn't even look Ren and me in the eye for a week after we told them that we were dating." Yamato told her.
Yankumi deflated slightly. "Oh damn, that too bad then. Oh, oh, wait, I know!" She exclaimed as if she was struck by an inspiration.
Yamato knew that he should know better than to ask, but he did anyway. "What?"
"You can always get an ex to join you guys!" She had a cheshire cat grin on her face. "He will definitely be quite willing."
He spluttered slightly. "I don't think that will be very conducive to Ren and Hayato's work relationship. Plus, we don't need a threesome! Keep your weird fantasies to yourself, Yankumi!"
Yankumi was staring at him with her mouth wide open. "Hayato… You don't mean Yabuki Hayato?"
Shit. Yamato cursed himself internally. "Umm. Yeah. Him." He coughed politely.
"Wait, was he your ex or Ren's ex?"
"Mine."
"Ah."
"Ah indeed." Yamato was dying in mortification, but somehow it was funny to see Yankumi's floored expression.
A few minutes passed before Yankumi spoke again. "Anyone else?"
"I really don't see how that's your business…" Yamato said teasingly. "But no, no one else."
"Ren?"
"Huh? Oh, no; at least, that's what he told me. Too busy with Shin and all."
Yankumi bit back a laugh. "You know, I once thought that they were dating." She said, recalling the time they had brought her to Shin's old apartment.
A ghost of a smile played on Yamato's lips as he recalled a similar memory. "So did I."
"They're really close, aren't they?" Yankumi said dotingly.
Yamato agreed. "I've come to accept that Shin will always be Ren's first priority; and weirdly enough, I can't bring myself to get angry at him."
Yankumi was startled at Yamato's sudden confession. She turned to examine the young man in front of her. He was surprisingly accepting of all this. Even some Yakuza wives were not able to grasp that concept properly. She was impressed by his maturity. "I understand how it's like. I, too, have accepted that I'll always come second to the clan. Both of the boys are incredibly alike in that manner. Shin is consumed by his oath to the clan, and Ren is consumed by his oath to Shin. I don't know about you; but I for one, am proud of Shin and his devotion. A true man is judged by his word, after all."
Before Yamato could express his agreement, the door slid open to reveal Kuroda; his face greyed with worry. Both occupants felt their hearts sink.
"Kumiko, Yamato. Please prepare the beds. We have injuries." Kuroda murmured gravely. "Yamato, we're going to need your help."
"I… Of course." Yamato swallowed a large lump in his throat. Inside, his head was screaming in panic, 'How is Ren?!'
They moved quietly and swiftly as they laid out some makeshift beds and clean sheets in the living room. Not a minute later, 3 men were carried into the room. Blood was dripping all across the floor.
"Place them here please." Yamato ordered the men. His face paled when he saw his patients. Shin. Ren. Tetsu. In increasing order of severity. Both Ren and Tetsu were unconscious. Shin was fighting a losing battle to stay awake. All 3 of them were losing a lot of blood.
"Yankumi, do you have surgery tools?" He asked, trying to keep his breathing even. 'Focus, Yamato. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.'
Yankumi, too, seemed to be in shock as she watched the three men unmovingly.
"Yankumi!" Yamato raised his voice sharply.
"Ah. Umm, no, we don't. What do you need? I'll go see what I can find." Her voice trembled.
"Bring some clean cloth or towels. And once you're done, sterilise three small, sharp knives and some needles and thread." She hastily left the room.
Yamato turned his attention back to the nightmarish scene in front of him and forced himself to pry his eyes away from Ren to check on the rest of the prone figures.
Tetsu's heartbeat was slowing dangerously. Yamato ripped up part of the bed sheets to staunch the open wound on his head. Tetsu was losing too much blood, too fast. Yamato had a sinking feeling that Ren was not far behind, judging from the amount of blood coming from the large gash on his abdomen. But there was nothing he could do without the proper tools.
"I came as fast as I can. What are their vitals?" Yamato spun around and almost wept in relief to see Minami with an emergency surgical kit and complete first aid kit.
"I haven't gotten to Ren and Shin. We're losing Tetsu as we speak. His body is experiencing severe haemorrhagic shock and his heart is going into cardiac arrest."
"Right." Minami immediately snapped into action and unpacked the contents of both kits. "You stabilise Ren and Shin, I'll staunch Tetsu's bleeding and intubate him."
Yamato grabbed the stethoscope Minami offered him with more force than necessary. Heart thumping fearfully, he searched for Ren's pulse. It was faint, but at least it was constant. He was starting to exhibit symptoms of shock as well, so Yamato would need to sedate him as fast as possible and stop the bleeding. He checked Shin's vitals and found that his initial diagnosis was right. Shin was stable, just exhausted and weak from blood loss. All he needed was a stitching-up and a blood transfusion. Both Tetsu and Ren must have protected him with all they had.
Yamato went back to work on Ren, tears glistening in his eyes. "You hang in there, Ren. Don't you dare leave me alone!" He whispered furiously.
"Did you bring any blood?" He asked Minami, struggling to keep the hysteria out of his voice. Minami looked around for the icebox he brought with him. "I did. It must still be in the car." He said when he couldn't find it.
"What do you have?"
"3 packs of O- and 2 packs of B+. Shin is B+, Ren O+, Tetsu AB+." Minami recited from experience. Yamato knew that Ren was O+, so he would have to trust Minami on the others. They couldn't use up all the O-, in case there were more injuries.
"Okay. Start the IV." He instructed Minami. "I'll get Yankumi to get the blood."
As soon as the blood transfusions were set up, with Yankumi and Kuroda acting as the blood bag holders; they worked on the internal bleeding.
Yamato pulled on a pair of surgical gloves and a surgical mask from the kit. "Scalpel."
Both of them worked tirelessly for an hour before the open wound on Tetsu's head and the internal bleeding in his skull cavity had been cleaned and stitched. The remaining problem was that they had no means of checking for any brain injuries. If Tetsu survived the night – the operative word being 'if'; he would have to be admitted into a hospital for a full scan.
When it was Ren's turn, however, Yamato found himself freezing up. The scalpel in his hand hovered uncertainly on top of Ren's mangled abdomen.
Minami nudged him gently. "You're the only one that can help him now, Yamato."
He looked up to see Yankumi and Kuroda watching him. They gave him a sympathetic but encouraging nod. "Is he not the reason you became a doctor in the first place?" Yankumi prompted gently.
Upon hearing that, Yamato clenched his jaw with fierce determination. He looked at Minami. "Sterilise the area. Prepare for incision."