Yamato woke up feeling a little disoriented and sore from sleeping tied to a hard-backed wooden chair. He squinted his eyes in the darkness. Where was he? Why was he being tied down? Right at that moment, his memory started rushing back. He was just leaving the hospital at dawn, after being on call the whole of last night. He was obviously exhausted, and therefore wasn't paying close attention to his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was the stench of chloroform… SHIT.
"Are you awake, doctor?" A gruff male voice asked suddenly.
Yamato was startled. "Where am I?" He asked politely, not wanting to risk angering the unseen man.
"Nowhere you need to know about. Don't worry doctor; I'm not going to hurt you… if you co-operate."
"What do you want from me?" Yamato asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.
"You're a surgeon, right?" The man asked.
Yamato's eyes were gradually getting used to the dark, and were now able to make out a faint outline of a tall man. "Tell me where am I first." Yamato demanded.
"Why you—" The man raised his hand and Yamato braced himself for the impact, but it didn't come. The man lowered his hand, sighing exasperatedly. "Look, it really is better if you don't know. If you did, I'd have to kill you."
Yamato stared at him in disbelief.
"Now, are you a surgeon, doctor?"
Yamato nodded minutely.
"Good. I have a patient for you, doctor. You better save him…" or else was implied in his tone.
Yamato gulped both in fear and annoyance. This man was one of those people who didn't understand that doctors were not miracle-workers. Some patients were just too far gone to save, regardless of the doctor's abilities or best-intentions.
"So what's it gonna be, doctor?" The man demanded impatiently.
Yamato rolled his eyes internally. It wasn't like he was given much of a choice. "I'll try my best." He gave his standard answer to all his patients and their families.
The man rose as if to say something, but thought better of it. He untied Yamato and nudged a gun into his side sharply. "I'd really rather not use this, so you better not think about escaping."
Yamato looked at him and swallowed thickly before nodding once to show that he understood.
The man brought him to the next room, which was slightly brighter than the first room he was in, but still heavily dimmed. Yamato made out an old man in an orange prison jumpsuit on the bed. A wave of panic rose in his throat. This man was a prison escapee! That was why they had to kidnap a doctor to treat him!
The panic had obviously shown on his face, because the man spoke again. "No one will know. I won't ask for your name, so I won't be able to give you away even if they interrogated me. Can you please help us?" There was a tinge of desperation in his voice.
Yamato gulped. "I… I need more light." That was all he said.
The man nodded and bent down to speak to the patient. "Oyasan, I'm going to have to turn on the light for the doctor. Please keep your eyes shut."
Yamato almost fainted. Yakuza! He didn't mind his boyfriend's part-time occupation and his family, but that didn't mean that he was fond of the rest of the Yakuza. Whilst the Oedo clan was principled and honourable, there were also many other unscrupulous clans around.
Suddenly, light flooded the room. Yamato blinked repeatedly to adjust to the brightness. As soon as he could see properly, he examined the patient before him. The man had been shot in the shoulder and the gut; and had a deep, nasty gash across his right calf. Yamato had a bad feeling about the gash and the gut wound.
He looked up at the man. "Do you have a surgical kit?" The man nodded and pointed to a corner. It was a store-bought kit, not as sophisticated as the ones Minami brought (stole, actually, but that was just a small technicality), which were the official kits used in war; but it would suffice.
Yamato took a deep breath. "I'll have to wash my hands before I start."
"Why?" The man narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously.
Yamato felt like rolling his eyes, but refrained out of self-preservation. "To minimise contamination. Any bacteria on my hands can cause an infection during the surgery."
The man wavered, as if he wasn't sure if he should believe him. Finally he relented. "Fine. This way, but no funny business." He waved the gun threateningly. Yamato bit back a sharp retort. What funny business was he going to do, drown the man by splashing him with water?
Yamato washed his hands and pulled on the disposable surgical garb haphazardly. He wasn't sure which strings went with what; and where they should be tied. He had always had a nurse to help him into his surgical garb. Somehow – probably highly motivated by the gun pointed at his back – he managed it after a brief struggle. He pulled on a mask and a pair of gloves and picked up a scalpel; only to feel the gun nozzle digging into his back harder than ever. "You better be careful with that knife, doctor." The man said warningly.
Yamato did not reply. He made a small incision on the patient's gut. The sense of foreboding hit home when he saw the tinge of green in the patient's blood vessels. "He has blood poisoning. Do you have a supply of blood?"
"What? Who poisoned him? Was it the prison guards? Those bastards!" The man yelled in anger.
Yamato flinched at the outburst, but calmed down a little when he realized that the anger was not directed at him. 'Yet.' His traitorous brain supplied helpfully. "No, it's from foreign bacteria. My best guess is that gash on his leg. It was caught on the prison's barb-wire fence, was it not? The rust on the fence can cause blood poisoning."
"How do you know that?" The man asked suspiciously. "How do I know if it's not from you not washing your hands properly? You practically confessed it yourself just now, that you could be bringing bacteria into him."
"Yes, I could have." Yamato tried to keep himself from snapping. Inexperienced residents were one thing, but this stupid Yakuza thug was testing his patience on a whole new level altogether. "But even then it would not have festered so fast. Almost his whole body is infected now. Do you have blood or do you not?"
The man bit his lip. "We do not. Is it important?"
"Yes." Yamato said shortly. This man was obviously not too bright, so he better not go into details of medical conditions. "He will die without it."
"I'll send someone to get some." Yamato had a feeling that he didn't want to know how they would achieve that.
An hour later, Yamato had removed the bullet lodged in the patient's shoulder and sterilised the gash on his calf. He dared not remove the bullet stuck in his spleen without a proper supply of blood.
Three men rushed into the room with a large icebox. There were five packets of blood. One was more than enough, but they probably didn't know that. Such a waste of precious blood, Yamato lamented silently. He noted that they were all A+. They must know their leader very well if they knew his blood type from memory.
"So, his blood type is A+ right? Are you sure about that?"
"What blood type?" One of the men asked.
Yamato felt like smashing his head into a wall. "You have to match the blood supply to the recipient's blood type. There's AB, A, B, and O. All 4 variations have positive and negative types. If you didn't know his blood type, then you should have gotten O-. That's a universal donor."
"How would we know that?" The other man spat.
"Yeah, we thought A+ meant that it was the best!" The third man added.
'God save me from idiots.' Yamato thought to himself. He would sooner die from frustration than a gunshot if this went on.
"Can't you just use this anyway?" The man with the gun asked. He seemed the most in control out of them all, but Yamato knew that that could change in an instant.
Yamato shook his head. "No. If it is incompatible, his body will reject it and shut down. Meaning he will die. Slowly."
The man massaged his temple in frustration. "Why didn't you guys just get one of each type?" He asked the three henchmen who just came in.
"I wanted to do that, but then Kazu said to just get the best!" One of them said.
"Hoi!" The man named Kazu immediately jumped to his own defence. "I asked if you knew the difference, and both of you agreed that A+ was probably the best!"
"No, that wasn't me; that was Tako!"
"Why, you lying little bugger!"
"ENOUGH!" The tall man interrupted. "Go back and get some more."
The three men shuffled nervously. "Umm. Waka, we… accidentallytrippedthealarm."
"What?" The tall man – which Yamato now knew as the wakagashira – asked. Yamato felt a pang of longing for hisown wakagashira.
"We. Umm. Tripped the alarm before we left. By accident."
"You idiots!" The wakagashira snarled.
"How do you know that the doctor isn't lying anyway? Maybe the blood is perfectly fine and he just wants to kill Oyasan and blame us for it!" One of the men suggested.
The wakagashira turned on Yamato. "Is that true?" He asked menacingly.
"No!" Yamato replied hurriedly. "It's true. You can ask any doctor what's the significance of blood-typing."
"Stop using difficult words, doctor. We can't understand half of the things you say."
"I mean, you can ask any doctor how important it is to match blood types." 'Or any self-respecting high-schooler. Even I knew that in high school.'
"Why can't you just try a little bit and see if it works?" Another man piped up.
"I can't." Yamato tried to explain. "Once the wrong type of blood goes in, I won't be able to take it out again. And the patient is too weak to be subjected to testing."
"Can you try it on us?" The wakagashira asked.
"Are any of you his biological brother or son?" They shook their heads. "Then I can't. Even if you were, there would still be a 50-50 risk that it will be incorrect."
A soft buzzing filled the air. All of them immediately cocked their weapons in search for an intruder.
"Umm. That's my phone. It's in my pocket." Yamato answered, not daring to move a muscle in the face of the 4 guns.
"Turn it off." The wakagashira commanded.
"It's my brother. He gets a little paranoid at times; he might go to the police if he can't get hold of me. Can I just tell him that I'm out drinking or something?" Yamato asked slowly.
The wakagashira looked pensive for a moment. "Fine. But put it on loudspeaker. And if you dare breathe a word…"
Yamato nodded tersely. He had no difficulties imagining what would happen. He pressed the loudspeaker button on his phone.
"Mushi mushi?"
"Yamato, where are you?"
"Ren, I'm just grabbing a bite with some colleagues. Don't worry." He looked up. The wakagashira nodded approvingly at him.
Yamato continued. "I won't be back for breakfast, so don't wait up. And you don't have to buy the milk either."
"What milk?"
"The full cream milk I asked you to buy yesterday. But it's okay, since you don't remember anyway. I've got to go now, bye."
Ren hung up the phone, feeling pure terror rushing through his veins. As soon as he managed to shake himself out of his stupor, he snapped into action. Panicking would not help Yamato.
His first call was to Shin. "Aniki, Yamato is in trouble. I don't know what or where."
To his relief, Shin did not even doubt him for a second; despite his lack of concrete details. "I'll get someone in the police force to trace his cell now." The call was cut off abruptly.
Ren immediately took off his business suit and changed into a pair of khakis and long-sleeved shirt, packing tantōs into every imaginable crevice of his clothes. He also threw in a couple of guns for good measure.
The phone rang. Shin had called back. "Shed 9, Pier 4, Aiken Harbour. Word of caution – it belongs to Tarou Masakura of the Makai clan. And the Makai clan's Kumichou just escaped from the top security prison at the Aiken-Jigu border last night."
"Do you think the two incidents are related?" Ren asked worriedly.
"I think that we can never be too careful. Jigu is too far, so you'll have to seek back-up from Aiken. I'll get Taiyo Wataru to send some men and seek an emergency audience with Tanukibara-kaichou to prepare for the possibility of confronting the Makai clan."
"Thank you, Aniki."
"Be careful, Ren."
Taiyo Wataru had kept to his word and sent 50 of his best men to Ren; with strict orders to obey the Oedo clan's wakagashira unquestioningly.
They swarmed into Shed 9 from all sides, startling all of its occupants; including the mentally-frayed surgeon. Nevertheless, his eyes gave a relieved expression the moment they met Ren's worried ones.
The Makai clan's men, however, was not about to surrender. "Kuroda!" The wakagashira spat. "What are you doing here? This is a private property and a private meeting! You have no right to barge in here like this."
"On contraire, Tarou Masakura," Ren addressed the Makai clan's wakagashira smoothly. "I believe it became my right when you kidnapped a katagi."
Tarou Masakura immediately grabbed Yamato to be used as a human shield. "How do you know that he's a katagi? Is he someone you know?"
Ren gazed at him uncomprehendingly. "No, I was just making a wild guess. If you were desperate enough to challenge the Yondaime of the Oedo clan in front of the entire Yakuza, I thought that you would be desperate enough to break the Code as well. I just made a lucky guess. You were the one who gave away who the katagi is though." Ren purposely stared at Yamato without a speck of recognition in his eyes.
"We won't harm him. Just leave us alone, will you?" The desperation was obvious in his voice. He knew that they did not stand a chance with 50 men. Heck, they would not stand a chance even if Kuroda Ren had come alone. He had seen the man fight at the installation ceremony 5 years ago.
"What do you want from the katagi?" Ren asked.
"I just need some help." Tarou Masakura shifted slightly, trying to hide his Oyasan from Ren's view.
Ren, however, didn't need to see the patient to guess what was happening. He knew his boyfriend's occupation after all. Even if he didn't, the surgical garb was a dead giveaway.
"Don't bother, Tarou. I heard about your Oyasan's inglorious escape already. Looks like he made it out worse for wear, didn't he?" Ren taunted nastily. "I'll cut you a deal. You release the katagi and I'll take my men and go our way."
Tarou Masakura jammed his gun at Yamato's throat again. "Concerned, aren't we?" He smiled sinisterly. "I'm afraid I'll need the katagi for the time being. He consented to helping us, so you don't have authority to interfere as long as I don't harm him."
The leader from Taiyo clan stepped forward to whisper something into Ren's ear.
Ren nodded tersely and gave Tarou Masakura a predatory leer. "Tarou, Tarou, Tarou. You should have taken my very generous offer at the first opportunity. Too bad that offer has expired. Do you want to know what my ally leader has just told me? You remember our good friend, Tanukibara-kaichou, of course? Well, our good friend has just given me the green light to punish the Makai clan for breaking the Code. And my punishment is this: a life for a life. You can take the katagi, if you hand over your Oyasan."
"NEVER!" Tarou Masakura growled.
"Very well, then all of you – except the katagi – die." Ren said simply, raising a hand to wave his men forward.
"Wait!" Tarou Masakura yelled. "If I release the katagi, will you spare my Oyasan?"
Ren smirked triumphantly. "You release the katagi AND hand yourself over to the Oedo clan," Tarou Masakura started to protest, but Ren held out a hand to stop him. "In return, I will let your three henchmen go without repercussions and oversee the treatment of your Oyasan at the Oedo clan's medical facility. This is my final offer. Take it or leave it."
Tarou Masakura slumped his shoulders in defeat. "I accept." The Oedo clan had much more resources than they did. He was not surprised that they have their own medical facility.
"Good choice." Ren noted. "Washida, take him to the Oedo clan's custody. I'll deal with him later. The rest of you guys, work with the doctor. Move the patient to our facility without injuring him further."
"Are you alright?" Ren asked Yamato worriedly once they got into the car. He ran his hands all over Yamato to check for any injuries.
"I'm fine, just a little shaken. Thanks for coming, Ren." Yamato whispered.
Ren pulled him into a tight hug. "I will always come for you, Yamato. Don't ever doubt that."
Yamato nodded. "Well, let's go. I have a gut feeling that your 'medical facility' involves only me and a surgical kit."
Ren laughed. "Indeed. But he fell for it hook, line and sinker."
"Can you get Minami or a nurse to help me? It's hard to do everything by myself."
"Yamato, I can even get you a legion of servants just to wash and dry your feet. All you ever need to do is ask."
