When I look back on my life, I see how everything I busted my ass for was ruined because I was too good at keeping my mouth shut. I'll skip over the boring shit of I grew up, I went to school, blah, blah, blah and I'll get to the point. After working for almost a good eight years in medical school, I was finally hired to work as a doctor in a hospital. Tokyo's best...near the Roppongi District. I treated patients for nothing serious. A few minor accidents, a few stitches required, whatever. Somewhere along this line, I met Toki. I would have never guessed he would have caused me so much grief. I treated him once for a superficial wound and we ended up talking. He was so real and blunt, I couldn't believe he was alive this long without getting killed. When I put his arm down, where he had a thin, but deep cut, I noticed he had a tattoo on the inside of his wrist. I read the kanji seeing it said Silence. There were rumors and word of mouth of the 36 Moons, saying they were the most ruthless yakuza that ever set foot through Tokyo. I said nothing and just told him to be careful and to not let it happen again.
Of course Toki listening to anyone would be a shock on my behave.
His behavior as I came to recognize it got him nailed on more then one occasion. I treated him more and more for wounds that sometimes required stitches, others requiring the ever gentle touch. He was always bleeding profoundly when he came to me, but it was never anything serious. He became my usual patient and I would always shake my head at him and tell him to stop doing whatever it was he was going that kept getting him hurt. He would give me that cocky little smirk of his and say he would, but then he'd come back a couple of months later. He was also tested every other month for whatever new disease was out there, but Toki couldn't stop fucking anything that had a pulse and paid him attention. I would just think back and try to estimate just how long he planned to live this way.
One night, I worked the late shift, just making some rounds, doing much of nothing. I was passing by a stairwell when I felt something grab my arm and yank me back. I was about to shout for help when I was dragged into the stairwell and I saw Toki. He looked up at me as he smiled and said,
"Hey Jun."
"Toki. What's going on? It's late."
He clutched at his side as he said,
"Think you can treat me?"
I thought he might have been in internal pain, or maybe another stab cut, but once he moved his hand away, I saw he had been shot. If he didn't get some kind of medical attention he would die. I treated him right away. He laid there at that table as he said,
"Jun."
"Hm?"
"You can't tell anyone."
It was law that if a patient had a gun shot wound, it had to be reported. I had made up other stories for Toki's other wounds, but I couldn't fake this one.
"I can't. I have to report this."
"You can't."
"If I don't I could loose my license."
"No one will know. If you, they'll arrest me."
"Toki..."
"I'm a yakuza Jun, you know that. I get nailed for this shit, I'm in there for years."
He put his blood stained wife beater back on as I made a choice. A choice that forever ruined me because I said I wouldn't tell.
So imagine much to my disgrace when the police where looking for a killer and they found out I treated him and let him go. The surveillance tape showed us talking in the stairwell, and then walking towards a room. I was caught. My medical license was taken away from me. And I served a few days in jail for not reporting the wound in. I was ruined for the time being. I could never get my license back for this shit. And at first I was mad at Toki but then I realized it was my fault. I should have said no. He was not to blame, I was.
When he called me a few months later, telling me he had once again been shot, I took him to my place and treated him. From there he called his oyabun, who also happened to be his best friend. I was sent to take his oyabun back to my new place and show him Toki was all right. I met Jia Li for the very first time then. He looked at me in distrust as he then asked me if I knew Silence. I told him I did and lead him to my place. Once he saw Toki was fine, he slapped him on the side of his head while yelling at him for making him worry. I laughed. They talked for a while until Toki told Jia I was a doctor. I had to explain to him I was.
"I was a doctor for like a year....I blew it when I met Toki."
"What happened?"
"I didn't report his bullet wound. Just treated him and sent him on his way. When cops like Oakaden questioned me on the whole thing, I denied I even saw Toki...but surveillance tapes showed otherwise. I served a few days in jail for standing in the way of justice and got my license taken away for not turning Toki in."
Jia looked at Toki as he said
"Damn Toki you just cost no end of trouble to people."
It was never more true. They talked about the situation that caused Toki to get hurt, then Jia questioned me about how I found him. He then asked me if I was now a yakuza. I told him no. He then said,
"Wanna be?"
I looked down. I thought about it for a moment before I said,
"I have no experience. I never held a gun or shot anyone. My biggest crime besides Toki would be nothing else. I don't even have any parking tickets. Why would you want me?"
He told me I could be of some use to him. I agreed and made an appointment to see him the next day. I was blindfolded and lead by Toki to Jia's office. There after a few random moments in the dark, my blindfold was taken off, and I was handed a sharp letter opener. It might as well have been a knife. Then, Jia said,
"Stab yourself through your hand. The deeper you go, the more loyalty you show."
I was shocked. Everything in my mind told me not to do this. I could very well cripple myself. I asked him if he was serious and he was.
"If I stab myself deep enough I could sever several nerves, I may not be able to move my fingers again."
His reply,
"You're a doctor. Figure out how to not do that."
It made sense. Jia moved out of the way as I stood up and placed my hand, palm down on his desk and carefully, stabbed myself through my hand. I didn't feel anything at first. And once I did, my legs begin to shake and I saw I had punctured a hole through my left hand. The pain that hit me after wards caused me to shake violently. I did not however, say a word. I told them I would need stitches, but I could do myself and that's exactly what I did.
I was accepted in. And soon afterwards I became very close to Mikkie Araya, who everyone affectionately called Little Ghost. I grew to like his company and to enjoy talking to him. For someone that everyone considered a helpless child, Mikkie was smart and intelligent and much more capable of holding a real adult conversation. He looked fragile and helpless, but he was not. I could see in his eyes the vision of a killer. He was also dead on the inside. Hardly anything could get to him. But becoming good friends with Mikkie I unknowingly crossed into territory. Toki was deeply infatuated with the boy, despite his bizarre ways of showing it and when he saw me getting close to him, he grew jealous and angry and he did not hesitate to show he now hated me.
Once a friend, now my enemy. He didn't bother listening as usual and he thought I was just getting closer to Mikkie to spite him. I didn't know he had a thing for him. I was new to the syndicate. I barely had a syndicate name and he expected me to know about Mikkie. Soon after that, everything became a rival between us. Who got the most jobs, who was a better shot, who was faster, quicker, had sharper reflexes and on and on. I got caught up in the competition as well. I begin to love showing Toki I was better then him. He was so arrogant after a while it just got me mad. So just to spite him, I began getting closer to Mikkie. Little Ghost trusted me after talking to me enough times and all that made Toki angry. It pissed him off because Little Ghost never once smiled at him and laughed for him. I knew he would appreciate these minor gifts more then I ever would, but this one of the things I know that is guaranteed to let me have the advantage over him. Jia saw the struggle between us and did his best to separate us. But as an oyabun and Toki's best friend he was spilt. It was always the same argument over who got what job. Eight times out of ten, the job would go to Toki because Jia rather have his employees pissed off at him then his best friend. But then again, he was never able to say no to Toki in the first place. A lot of people couldn't. They let him get away with pretty much everything and anything because it was Toki's attitude. I said no to him. I put my foot down and it often got me into physical confrontation with him because he didn't like hearing no. Jia was also trying to keep me from harm’s way, but I was not one to be intimidated by Arashashimia Toki.
As the time went on, we kept to ourselves and whenever he was hurt, I was the one that took care of him. He was after still a yakuza and someone that I have to look out for, since he looks out for me. Our personal feelings about each other has never gotten in the way of our work. And I have to admit it's one of Toki's better traits.
We trade our snide remarks to each back and forth when we cross paths, but I'm still the first person he comes to see when he's hurt. Even then I'm cracking jokes on his pain as I stitch him back up. So even though I lost my medical license, I still practice medicine. I still do what I always wanted to, though I have to deal with Toki on an everyday basis.
I think that's punishment enough for being a yakuza.