Notes: Yes, I have other things to be working on right now, but this just had to be posted. I really enjoyed writing this, and I look forward to continuing it immensely. This is only a prologue.
And as for genre, I guess this is more Suspense/Action/Adventure/Horror/Romance/Angst, but I chose to make it Romance/Suspense, as those are the two atmospheres I see most prominently in the story's later chapters.
What, precisely, could you call their relationship?
It was not the first time Sora had pondered this question, and the thought always came to him, unbidden, the night just before he reached a landmark in a relationship. He had only met Riku a week ago, but they had gotten along very well. Very well, indeed.
Now, as Sora pressed the seventh floor button in the elevator of the fashionable apartment building that was Riku's home, Sora wondered exactly what they would be considered.
Not friends, certainly. After what they were going to do tonight, he would never again think of Riku as a friend. Friends were there for one another, and they helped ease pain in times of grief. Friends did not do what Sora would be doing here.
But before tonight, before the Big Night, had they been friends? It wasn't as though Sora didn't have any: his roommate was his friend. Cloud had always been a friend to him, as well as a business partner. And, Sora considered, all of the people he'd "seen," they were friends, until that Big Night, which came with all of them, always within a week. Some people thought a week was too fast. Sora paid them no mind.
The elevator started up with a jolt, and the rumble of mechanized gears gave Sora a chance to think a lot about what he was about to do. Did he want to do it? Oh, hell yes. It was fun, and it could help keep a roof over his head if he played his cards right. Would he do it if he wasn't being paid? Dear lord, no. If he did that, he'd be some kind of psycho.
Ah, said his mind, but didn't you just reflect on how fun it was?
Oh, and it was ever so much fun. The rush as fluid spilt, the danger of being caught...when so many sensations come together, it feels...oh, indescribable. And there were so many ways it could be done! Just thinking about some of these got Sora excited and giddy sometimes, and he was determined to have tried everything before he died, every method ever invented, and every method he could devise on his own.
He knew Riku Katsuwa. He was a nice man, really. Twenty-four, so a year older than Sora was. His platinum blond hair was simply gorgeous, and his turquoise eyes must have made many girls melt in his presence. As for Sora, well, he was, for lack of a better word, plain. Messy brown hair, brown eyes, and a face that practically screamed "Please leave me alone." It had shocked Sora that Riku was so friendly, especially considering he knew what Riku did for a living, and having met others in the same business.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Sora walked out and saw that there was no one in the hallways. Reaching into his pocket, Sora took out the key Riku had given him and walked softly over to room 704, Riku's room, one of the suites. He put his key in and turned it, the lock giving way.
Over the week Sora had known Riku, he had, as was his habit, gotten to learn the other man's likes, dislikes, and most importantly, his schedule. The sun was setting, and he had learned that Riku always, always, watched the sunset from his balcony. Not that he could be blamed. Riku's apartment had an incredible view, and the sun could be seen on the horizon beyond the other tall buildings in the city.
Sure enough, the apartment was dimly lit, and Riku was standing out on his porch, leaning against the railing, with the balcony door opened behind him. Sora quietly walked over to him and stepped out onto the balcony with Riku.
For a second, Sora looked out at the sunset with the other man, captivated by its beauty. He softly placed his left hand on Riku's upper back.
He pushed forward, and at the same time brought his right hand down to Riku's legs, lifting them up and shoving Riku off of the balcony. A deep-voiced scream erupted from Riku's throat, and continued for about ten seconds before stopping, signaling that Sora had fulfilled his obligation and officially ended Riku Katsuwa.
Had they been friends? Sora reflected once more and arrived at the conclusion that it really didn't matter now. He loosened up his shoulders before walking quickly back to the elevator. Calls had been made: if anyone asked, he had come to the hotel with a prostitute. In a few hours time, Cloud would return to their apartment with the payment, which Sora believed had been set at three hundred thousand dollars. The money wasn't really too important to Sora. Oh, he loved the life of luxury he and Cloud led, but really, this was his one passion and love.
That, and, in a small allowance of self-indulgence, reading the headlines of the next morning's paper.
"Riku Katsuwa, age 24, was found dead on the street last evening outside his apartment home on Watson Street. Police say that the death looks like an accident, although it is possible that it was suicide. "We've had some suspicions about Katsuwa," remarked Officer Brady, "that were pretty much confirmed. We found quite a bit of cocaine in his apartment, and since we've had tip-offs that he'd been selling the stuff, we figure it might have been a drug-induced suicide." Other investigators say they aren't so sure that Katsuwa took his own life, and are of the opinion that rival drug-smugglers may have arranged a hit, but most of the police force remind them that drug hits are very rarely this subtle. Regardless of the circumstances regarding Riku Katsuwa's death, he leaves behind a hospital-ridden mother and a younger sister in foster care, and it is surmised by the police that most of his drug money went towards keeping his sister happy and paying for the heroin rehabilitation of their mother."