insaneneko

Ryuu no tsumeato by Yuuki Kazumi and illustrated by Takamine Akira is a very conventional yakuza x doctor story, but a rather pleasant one to read. Doctor guy has a pretty crappy life, but he's strong and not too angsty. He saves the life of a yakuza boss that is brought to the hospital with three bullet wounds, one near his heart. He ends up becoming the yakuza boss's main (and only doctor) because all the other doctors are too scared to be effective. Doctor is not (too) intimidated by it all. He treats the yakuza boss as a normal patient, scolding him when necessary.

Doctor is gorgeous yet cold. This is because his father had died with debt when he was still a student. Doctor was left with a very ill sister and no prospects, but luckily a friend of his father's came to his rescue. The friend paid for his education and his sister's medical treatment...But of course the "nice" man was doing it so that he could get doctor in a situation where he couldn't say no to sex. Eight years later doctor is an excellent surgeon working at his father's friend's hospital and still being fucked. We are treated to typical skeevy sex in the hospital, which results in doctor being blackmailed by another doctor who witnesses the sex. First with money, then with sex. Doctor is saved by yakuza boss. Doctor thinks that the yakuza boss wants the same thing these other guys wanted from him and gives the yakuza boss a blow-job. This begins the totally predictable daily sex in the hospital room routine (possibly the most boring and annoying part of the book) until yakuza boss is discharged. Yakuza boss gives doctor his card and tells him to call if he needs anything but doesn't contact doctor.

One night when doctor is leaving a hotel after a rendezvous with his boss he runs into yakuza boss. Yakuza boss drags him into a hotel room and gets mad when he realizes doctor's just been fucked. They have sex, and after that they meet and have sex (doctor initially resists meeting yakuza boss, but gives in after much persistence). Doctor slowly realizes he's drawn to yakuza boss, but he's still lashed to his boss. He doesn't know what to make of yakuza boss, who has previously declared that he's in love with doctor but hasn't tried to separate the doctor from his boss (though yakuza boss hadn't said anything doctor figures he must have been investigated doctor's life thoroughly...). He can't handle having sex with his boss, whom he doesn't love, and the yakuza boss, whom he is drawn to. He tries to escape by asking his boss to let him go back to America for more training, but the boss threatens to replace him with his sister. Doctor tries calling yakuza boss in desperation, but can't get through...When he finds out that his sister, who is attending nursing school, has been offered a place at his hospital he can see the writing on the wall. He calls his boss to the hotel they always meet at. His boss thinks that doctor has submitted to his control again (boss knew that doctor had been sleeping with another man and had blown up at doctor when doctor had asked to go back to America), but doctor is ready to end things. Permanently. He attacks his boss with a knife (a rather funny scene, actually, with the boss running around the room scared being chased by crazy doctor), but yakuza boss and underlings barge in and stop the attempted murder. Yakuza boss tells doctor's boss that he will pay off doctor's remaining debts and it is in the boss's best interest not to make a big deal of it. Besides the fact that he has more to lose (he has a hospital and a wife and family), he could also lose the most important thing of all--his life.

Doctor treats yakuza boss's hand which was cut when he stopped doctor's knife. Doctor feels horrible and dirty and awful, but is gently comforted by yakuza boss. They convey their love to each other and have sex. They live happily ever after...More or less.

It's pretty conventional, yes, but what doesn't come through from my brief summary is how normal doctor is. Yes, he's got all the traits of the tragic BL "heroine"--he's gorgeous, he's aloof, he's being forced to have sex to pay back a great debt, he can't trust people because he's been betrayed by people he's trusted, he's not happy. Yet he just doesn't fall into the typical tragic heroine uke mold. He doesn't act the victim. I particularly liked his decision to just kill his boss because he can't stand it anymore. He really goes berserk. XD Also, yakuza boss isn't a bastard. He teases doctor quite a bit (especially in bed), but overall he's rather gentle. I think doctor is unable to see it because he's too trapped by his situation, but it was pretty obvious to me reading it. And yet yakuza boss didn't come across as weak or ineffectual. The author did a good job of balancing both of them so that they don't come off as completely cookie cutter.

( some pretty pics )