The Yakuza Path: Better Than Suicide

by Amy Tasukada

  The door to the tearoom whacked against the frame.

  “This is disgusting, Murata!” Kurosawa yelled. “I can’t let you do this anymore!”

  Nao pulled away from Aki.

  “You can’t tell me what to do!” Nao screamed “I’m the godfather. I can do whatever I want!”

  “You can have the decency to not screw a recruit so openly where everyone can hear. Go back to the whore you have in Shima.”

  “I bet if Aki was a woman, you wouldn’t care, huh? Wouldn’t mind hearing women moan, but if it’s a man, you suddenly care about what’s right.”

  “I would care if the woman was part of the syndicate.” Kurosawa’s fingers curled into a fist. “Your father brought his whores to his house.”

  “How dare you act like you have any power over what I do!”

  Nao stood, and his body grew detached from the rest of him. He couldn’t feel the floor underneath him, and nothing seemed real. Kurosawa grabbed Nao’s arm, sending a spasm through him.

  “Can you think outside of yourself for once? Do you know why Miko chose you to be godfather? She knew once she was released, everyone would welcome her return, because in her absence, you would do such a horrible job.”

  Nao jerked out of Kurosawa’s reach, and his feet stumbled on themselves. The pain overwhelmed him as the world boiled around him.

  “Murata!” Aki yelled.

  “WHERE AM I?” Nao’s voice scratched his throat. “How long have I been out?”

  “Let me get the doctor,” Kurosawa answered.

  “I didn’t ask to see a doctor.”

  Kurosawa ignored him and walked out the door. Nao rubbed his eyes, which didn’t lessen their sting, and plopped his head back on the pillow.

  He was in a hospital. There was no doubt about it with the disinfectant assaulting his nose. An IV taped to his arm coiled in his hand, and a hospital bracelet wrapped around his other wrist.

  Nao had to get out of there. He needed to see what Yuiko had found. He grabbed the cold railing of the bed and pushed himself up. The pole holding the IV drip tugged at his arm before rolling along the vinyl floor.

  A chair stood beside a wooden wardrobe and another door Nao assumed led to a private bathroom. The last thing he needed was for some civilian across a curtain to hear the Kyoto godfather’s medical condition. Then it would be splashed across the front page of national news.

  His skin no longer blazed with heat, and when he stood, the world didn’t immediately turn black. He grabbed the IV pole and walked with it to the wardrobe. Nao pushed the chair away and opened the door. A suit hung inside.

  The door opened, and the doctor who treated Nao the last time he’d come to the hospital strolled in with Kurosawa behind.

  “Mr. Murata, please go back to bed,” the doctor said.

  “I feel fine.”

  “That’s because you were given pain medication.” The doctor squeezed Nao’s shoulder. “You need to stay in bed for the next few days.”

  Nao blinked. “Days?”

  In the moment of confusion, Kurosawa closed the wardrobe door, and the doctor pushed Nao back onto the hospital bed. With two days left to turn the traitor in, Nao didn’t have days he could simply linger in bed.

  “You have a nasty infection,” the doctor said. “Most people would’ve gone to the hospital before it got so bad.”

  “Then give me a shot so I can go.”

  Kurosawa folded his arms. “You’re acting like a dumbass, but at the end of the day you might get your arm cut off.”

  “I don’t believe you.” Nao eye’s narrowed.

  “If you continue the way you have been, sure thing,” the doctor said.

  “I’m not staying in a hospital bed.”

  Nao sat up, but the doctor pushed him down again. Kurosawa positioned himself on the other side of the bed, making it impossible for Nao to try to get up without one of them forcing him back. Both Kurosawa and the doctor were blowing his injury way out of proportion.

  “You need to stay until your infection is gone,” the doctor said.

  Nao rubbed his temple, and the IV drip knocked against his collarbone. The day grew worse each minute.

  “I don’t have time for this.”

  “Don’t make the doctor tie you to the bed,” Kurosawa said.

  The vein in Nao’s neck twitched. “You can’t make me stay. Now give me a shot of antibiotics so I can leave.”

  Kurosawa crossed his arms and gave the doctor a little nod. Nao’s lips curled.

  “Okay, Mr. Murata,” the doctor said. “I ran some blood tests when you were sleeping. Let me check the results, and we’ll see about releasing you.”

  “It’s not a ‘we’ll see’ situation.”

  “You’ll get out. Don’t worry,” Kurosawa said.

  The doctor left, and when Nao tried to leave the bed again, Kurosawa held him down.

  “Rest until he gives you the shot.”

  There was no point fighting the five minutes it would take for the doctor to return.

  “What time is it?” Nao asked.

  “About three.”

  So he hadn’t been out for a more than a few hours. He could still go to Yuiko and then to Chen. If everything went according to plan, he could find the traitor and bring him to Detective Yamada a day before the deadline.

  “Did you really stay in that chair the whole time I was out?” Nao asked.

  Kurosawa sighed. “Hospitals are very dangerous for yakuza. They get shot in them all the time. Someone needs to be watching you at all times.”

  “Can’t you wait outside?”

  “I’m doing my job.”

  Nao sighed. There was already enough fruit to feed him for three days crowded around the nightstands in the room. If Kurosawa kept his mouth shut word wouldn’t have traveled among the family. A little infection landing him in the hospital made him appear weak.

  “It won’t be your job for long. You have Sakai to thank for your little week extension,” Nao said.

  Kurosawa rolled up the magazine he had left on his chair. “The next bodyguard will have the same complaints. He might not voice it, but if he doesn’t, he’s not doing the best job he could.”

  “Like you are?”

  “Do you really want to be the kind of boss that’s known for screwing around with the recruits? Why not go back to that prostitute?”

  “Stop speaking to me like your opinion matters.”

  “Once you’re done with Hisona, there’ll be a seed of jealousy within him. It will grow at whatever ward recruits him, and who knows what will happen down the line—”

  Nao’s ears grew hot. “Shut your mouth!”

  “I’m looking out for you and the future of the family. It’s my life— and whoever replaces me—on the line before yours.”

  He had allowed the infection to overcome him when he’d kissed Aki. The recruit’s lingering emotions needed to cease sooner rather than later.

  Kurosawa sighed. “You can trust what I say.”

  “No one has earned my trust.”

  “Is that what you think?” The magazine crinkled in Kurosawa’s hands. “Fujimoto, Sakai, Ikida… Your father trusted them to be in charge when he was alive. You’ve known Sakai since you were a child.”

  “Who knows what they really think about me? You said yourself: Miko chose me because she knew everyone would be happy to have me gone.”

  Kurosawa rubbed his face. “I said it because I was frustrated. Miko chose you because you proved your loyalty to the Matsukawa more than even Sakai had. There’s not a doubt in anyone’s mind about it.”

  Kurosawa had to be lying about one point, they couldn’t both be true. In the end it didn’t matter, because in two days, either he’d be jailed and the syndicate put to an end, or no one would ever doubt Nao’s place as the rightful godfather again. Somehow the look in Kurosawa’s eyes convinced Nao he really cared.

  The rough hospital gown scratched Nao’s skin. “This is taking forever.�
�

  “Wait until the doctor comes before you drag yourself to the far reaches of Kyoto to do whatever you think is important.”

  Nao glared at him, but with his stern look, Nao knew Kurosawa would just as easily tie him to the bed himself.

  The door opened, but it wasn’t the doctor who entered. Detective Yamada strolled in as if invited. Kurosawa stood, positioning himself between the detective and Nao.

  “Good, they got you your own private room,” Yamada said. “Too many innocent people end up shot getting mistaken for a yakuza while they’re in hospitals.”

  Kurosawa crossed his arms. “You have no business coming here.”

  “I need to talk with your boss.” Yamada whistled and tilted his head toward the door. “Go wait outside.”

  Kurosawa glanced back at Nao.

  “Do what he says.” Nao rubbed his forehead.

  Kurosawa left, brushing his shoulder against Yamada’s before slamming the door shut. The detective moved the chair to beside Nao’s bed.

  Nao’s nostrils flared. “Why did you come here?”

  “Tell me what you found out.”

  “I don’t have to tell you shit.”

  “Don’t play with me. We want answers.”

  Nao held up the arm with the IV drip. “I’m a little out of commission at the moment.”

  “It doesn’t stop you from telling us what you’ve found out every night you’ve gone to Shima.”

  So it hadn’t been the infection messing with his head. A cop had tried to tail him.

  “I’ll hand over the person in charge in two days like we agreed.”

  “I want a little something before then.” Yamada held out his palm. Two fingers curled together to resemble a yen coin. It was a quiet way to ask for a bribe.

  “Money wasn’t part of our agreement.”

  “A little something might help me forget the dead prostitute pumped with tainted drugs we found yesterday.”

  “I wasn’t even in Shima yesterday.”

  Yamada shrugged. “Still doesn’t stop your drugs from being sold.”

  “They’re not our drugs,” Nao said between clenched teeth.

  “The city wants to see someone go to jail.”

  “And I’ll get you the person behind all of it. Believe me, I want them gone as much as you do.”

  “Don’t want to give us anything? Fine.” Yamada stood. “If there’s one more, I can guarantee an hour later we’ll raid your headquarters, and we will find something there.”

  Nao could give up the Westerner or the snaggletooth working under Chen. Then the Matsukawa would be safe if someone else turned up dead. Nao shook the thought out of his head. He needed to find the real traitor to send a message to everyone in the family. It would be stupid to get so far only to give up.

  “Or have you changed your mind?” Yamada smirked, and Nao wanted to punch him right there.

  “I will bring you the right person,” Nao said. “Doesn’t your word have any value, or do you like making threats?”

  “Isn’t that how the Matsukawa play? Or should I threaten to break your kneecaps instead?”

  The doctor let himself in with Kurosawa on his heels.

  “There’s one way to make him stay, right, Detective?” the doctor said.

  Yamada pointed at Nao. “Don’t forget what I said.”

  The detective bumped into Kurosawa’s shoulder as he passed through the door. Kurosawa glared at the detective until he left.

  “What did the test results say?” Nao asked the doctor.

  “Another shot will get you all right to leave.”

  “Good. I’m glad we can see the same thing in this situation.”

  The doctor unclipped the syringe from the board and pushed it through the IV drip.

  “There we go.” The doctor smiled.

  A strange tingle filled Nao, and somehow his eyelids became too heavy to stay open. A side effect of drowsiness was the last thing he needed.

  Nao rubbed his eyes. “I’m getting sleepy.”

  “It happens.”

  Kurosawa glanced to the doctor. “Thanks again, doctor. It’s the only way to make him stay in bed.”

  “Stay in bed? No. I need to go.” Nao grabbed the bed railing, but his limbs grew heavy. “What’s going on?”

  “I suggested the doctor give you a sedative.” Kurosawa smiled. “I’m your bodyguard, so I’ll protect you, even if it’s from yourself. You need to rest.”

  Shit.

  A CHAIN OF PAPER CRANES lay over one of the wrapped fruit baskets. Their multicolored paper brightened the lackluster white walls. Underneath one of the long strands of birds perched a worn hardcover copy of A Thousand Cranes.

  “Aki?” Nao mumbled, still half-asleep.

  “Hmm, Murata…” Aki stretched in the hospital chair before nuzzling his face deeper into his arm.

  He had to be asleep. His black-framed glasses rested in his shoes, which lay next to him on the floor. His legs were drawn up, and his arms balanced on his knees.

  Nao bit his tongue. It wasn’t time to think of Aki’s body when he’d wasted hours sleeping off the sedative.

  “Aki,” Nao said.

  “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” Aki asked with a yawn.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to see if you were all right. Kurosawa refused to tell me.”

  “What time is it?”

  Aki pressed his lips together before speaking, “After midnight.”

  “Who allowed you stay so late?”

  There was no way Kurosawa had let Aki out of the house with how much he hated the two of them together. Aki slid his glasses back onto his face, his hair sweeping in front of his eyes.

  “I snuck out.”

  Nao cracked a smile. “I taught you bad habits.”

  Perhaps Nao hadn’t taught Aki anything he hadn’t already known. No innocent walked the yakuza path. If Aki could moan for hours and sneak out undetected he’d learned the skills before joining. He had to have mastered other talents, besides making tea, which Nao could use. But Nao couldn’t trust himself around the young recruit. The kiss might have been brought on because of an infectious delirium, but it didn’t stop the tingling on Nao’s lips.

  Nao needed to go. He still hadn’t talked with Yuiko, and he needed to check on Kohta. He was probably strutting around Shima trying to pick up women instead of doing his job.

  Nao swung his feet to get out of the bed, but thick binding pulled at his ankles and wrist. His eyes narrowed. Kurosawa had actually tied him to the bed.

  “Get these off me,” Nao said.

  Aki slid into his shoes and untied Nao’s ankle straps before pushing the blanket aside to reach Nao’s wrist. A glint in Aki’s eyes made Nao wonder what mischievous thoughts had crossed Aki’s mind. His fingers caressed Nao’s palms as he unfastened the first strap.

  Nao’s toes curled as Aki lifted the blanket from Nao’s other wrist. Even though he was becoming more exposed to the cold hospital air, each place Aki touched grew hot. Nao cleared his throat and pulled his bound wrist as far from Aki’s fingers as he could.

  A fluttering in Nao’s chest reminded him it was impossible to tell Aki about the traitor. He could trust Aki, but he couldn’t trust himself not to fall for him. Kyoto would find some way to kill anyone who distracted Nao from the city.

  “I didn’t mean to kiss you,” Nao said.

  Aki smiled. “I don’t mind.”

  “It was a horrible mistake.”

  The final strap loosened, and Nao snapped his wrist away from Aki. Nao turned away, wanting to avoid the hurt on Aki’s face. Nao rubbed his wrist, but it didn’t ease the ache in his gut. He bit his lip and stared at the book on the table. It was his fault Aki had the wrong idea about their relationship.

  “I want to help you any way I can,” Aki said.

  Any doubt remaining that Aki might not realize how he sounded left Nao. Aki knew exactly what he was doing with each of his accented syllab
les.

  “You want to help me?” Nao asked.

  “Anything you desire.”

  “I need to get out of here.”

  Nao pulled out the IV, pressing his skin until the bleeding where it entered stoppeed. Aki waited a few feet away. The jumpsuit uniform he had to wear at headquarters did not do his body an ounce of justice. Lean muscle hid under his black clothes, and so did a sizeable cock—but Nao knew that from firsthand experience. Nao rubbed his neck. After tonight, Aki needed to go—for his own protection.

  Convinced he wasn’t going to bleed out from removing the IV, Nao hopped down from the bed and opened the wardrobe. He glanced back at Aki, who’d turned his back toward him. Nao got dressed but couldn’t help but wonder if Aki’s gaze rolled back to him.

  Did he want Aki not to look, though? Nao shook his head. He still didn’t feel like himself. He couldn’t think past Aki, and he knew dealing with the traitors was more important. The medication must not have worn off, and a side effect was thinking with his dick.

  “I assume Kurosawa sent someone to watch me or else you wouldn’t be here.” Nao said.

  “Of course. I told the guard outside you’d called me, so I don’t think he really paid attention, or else he would’ve realized it would have been impossible for you to call.”

  Nao motioned to the door. “Make him go away.”

  “Anything for you.”

  Nao grabbed his phone from the bottom of the wardrobe as Aki opened the door.

  Aki cleared his throat to get the guard’s attention. “Go get us some lube.”

  “Lube?” the guard said.

  “We kind of need it to do the whole…” Aki whistled. “You know.”

  Sweet, innocent Aki possessed a dirty mind, but with the amount of fake sex they’d had the past week, it was a perfect excuse.

  “Kurosawa said not to leave.”

  “You want to go against a direct order from Father Murata?” Aki sighed. “I guess I’ll tell him—”

  “No! I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Footsteps trailed off. The guard would probably spend half an hour staring at the different lubes before picking one.