Black Heaven

Chapter 1

Numbers flashed over the inlaid screen on Akito’s desk as his fingers moved over the touch screen, moving through the figures, estimates, and costs of the Black Heaven Escort Service. They were doing well, more than well, the gross income of their establishment had finally soared into the billions for the first time since its founding. As sex androids soared in popularity the human sex trade had plummeted, except for a select few. Black Heaven had found a niche in the elite of the post industrialized city of Neo-Tokyo, a niche filled exclusively by human escorts and with androids serving as only support staff. Costly, expensive sex androids where used not for sex at Black Heaven, but only for scenery and menial tasks of fetching and guiding anxious clients to the true gold of Black Heaven.

Highly trained humans spent months, sometimes even years learning exactly how to please their clients not only sexually, but intellectually and even at times emotionally. It wasn’t unheard of for an escort of Black Heaven to find a permanent relationship amongst their clients and move from paid sex slave to lover and even spouse, although it was rare for such a thing to work out in the long term. Still, Black Heaven had become the standard for escort services and its client list was among the wealthiest and most beautiful that Japan and many of the surrounding countries had to offer. The waiting list for potential clients numbered in the hundreds now, and Akito knew that he would need to expand his roster soon to help fill the demand.

The sound of distant thunder shook Akito out of his thoughts and he closed down the accounting files, knowing that their accountant would take care of everything and that his checking was only his overly detailed mind wanting to make sure everything was perfect. He looked at the antique clock on his desk, noting it was well past the time when he should have headed home. It was late, almost midnight, and he knew that Takamura would tease him mercilessly if he found him still in his office.

With a sigh he rose from his straight-backed chair, stretching a little. He walked around his giant black desk, picked up his trench coat off the rack next to the door and exited his office into the lush, crimson carpeted hallway of Black Heaven’s main inn. He walked down the private hallway into the main foyer, where several clients were entering. Richly dressed men and women looked up in surprise as Akito entered.

He ignored their stares, knowing fully what they saw when looking at him. A dangerous man most certainly, with his broad muscular body and tall frame that soared over most. Sharp features and dark grey, narrow eyes that even without meaning to speared most people with their intensity. Long, glossy black hair that ran down his back, blending into his black suit and trench coat, made him look even darker and more dangerous. Takamura often teased him that he looked more like a yakuza boss than the president of an escort service, although it was a poor joke considering he could have been a yakuza boss, as Takamura well knew.

Akito sighed, walking past the staring clients, knowing they probably had no idea he was the owner of the club they so eagerly sought out. Takamura was the face of Black Heaven, but Akito was the core of it. He was the one that dealt with every facet of the business end of Black Heaven, even down to approving the client and escort rosters, yet when it can to dealing face to face with people he often left such things to his partner Takamura, who had an uncanny knack for it.

He still remembered the day when he had first asked the bright shining man to partner with him and form an escort service in their forth year of college. Takamura, being the third son of a relatively minor businessman with very little interest in anything other than sex and socializing, had very few prospects other than an inevitable college life and dull salary man future. Yet Akito had seen a great potential in the man who was always surrounded by people and was able to charm his way out of any trouble he found himself in. It hadn’t been difficult to convince the man to join him, despite the fact they had never spoken a word until Akito asked him to join in building the greatest escort service in Asia.

Akito knew he needed someone like Takamura, with his overflowing charisma, if he was to truly break free of his own family and create a business that could stand without the powerful Sakamoto clan’s support. He had wanted desperately to be free of his yakuza roots and blood soaked past, and knew that if he was to succeed he would need more than just his intelligence and money. Only if Black Heaven prospered, and could stand without the backing of the Sakamoto clan in five years after its creation, did his family swear to break ties with him and let him go his own way.

It was a promise that had been won with his very own blood by his older brother’s hand. A fight that no one ever thought that he would win and that had left scars on both of them. With that hard won promise of freedom he created Black Heaven, and with Takamura’s help he had succeeded in winning something no one had ever won in his family. He had won the freedom to rule his own life, apart from the violence and death of the yakuza underground.

Akito looked out at the light rain that fell down and washed the darkened streets as he stood under the awning sheltering the entrance to Black Heaven. His car pulled up and the android attendant dressed in skin tight clothes opened the door to the large black car. Akito hesitated a moment, then shook himself, getting inside. He looked at the humanoid android chauffeur for a moment before directing it to his home.

Without a word the car took off and Akito sighed. Despite the promise of freedom, he found that his clan still remained engraved in his soul, just as the twin dragons spiraling up his arms were engraved in his skin. He couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever truly be free of the Sakamoto legacy, or if it would haunt him the rest of his life. Even after a year of freedom he still felt their presence hovering on the edge of his life, and even his business.

Akito leaned against the window, looking out into the brightly lit city as the rain blurred the wavering lights. It was the rain; it always brought out the painful memories of his past and stirred something within him. He stopped the car and got out, directing the android to take the car home. He had often preferred using human servants but had found that androids at least didn’t argue with him, just took orders and followed them. He had switched to an android driver when he tired of constantly arguing with his human chauffeur that he was more than capable of walking when he felt like it.

The rain had begun to increase, quickly soaking through his expensive designer suit and coat, plastering his long hair to his face as it slid out of its loose tail. He looked up into the charcoal gray sky as the rain fell, feeling the coolness wrap around him. He started off down the sideway lined with high walls enclosing the houses from view. He knew he was close to his own home and yet he felt no real need to hurry there.

The listless sound of the rain soothed him as he walked and he let his mind drift, avoiding thinking about anything. He eventually found himself walking along the outside wall of his own large residence. He had spent an enormous amount of money on his home, making it into the perfect traditional Japanese home, finding, despite his dislike of his childhood, the traditional Japanese house was still a source of comfort to him. He let his fingertips slide along the gray stone of the wall as he approached the gate leading into his residence.

He suddenly stopped when he saw something sitting near the iron wrought gate. He looked closely for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he saw a boy sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees, staring blankly out into the street. A thin white shirt that was obviously made of expensive material clung to his pale form, completely soaked with water. His short black hair streamed down his face into his dark eyes as the rain poured down on him. By his clothes he was anything but a street rat, yet he was far from being a normal boy with those emotionless eyes. Whatever the boy was he wasn’t a normal run away or a homeless man.

Sighing softly, Akito stood looking at the complication that he knew was going to enter his life in the form of a lithe, delicate boy that had the audacity to sit in front of his gate. He thought briefly of just leaving the boy to sit there, but he knew that he couldn’t do it. There was a look in the young eyes that he had seen countless times before mirrored in his own. Hopelessness and death, a gaze that could only be found when one’s world had been destroyed. Memories best forgotten began to swirl around him as he looked at the lost little kitten that had found him so unexpectedly.

Walking up to the gate he looked down at the soaking wet young man that had landed on his doorstep. The boy looked up at him with a dead look, expecting nothing, wanting nothing. Akito reached down and grabbed an arm, hauling the boy to his bare feet, feeling the chilled skin under his own cold hand.

"Well come on, unless you want to catch a cold out here," Akito said softly.

The boy looked up at him, dark eyes that seemed almost black; for a moment he stared at Akito before bowing his head, remaining completely silent. Akito turned and entered the security code of the gate, allowing the sensor to scan his hand. The iron gate opened and he walked down the large driveway lined with cherry trees, as the young boy following obediently. The iron gate clanged closed behind them, echoing through the empty area, accompanying the distant thunder.

As they walked he noticed the boy always remained slightly behind him, with a posture that spoke of polite subservience that he had seen on many of his servants. Yet the boy had an aura around him that hung on the edge of Akito’s mind that was not that of a common servant, but something far more. He had yet to hear a word from the little kitten and he began to wonder at the boy’s story.

He had seen a spark of something come into the boy’s eyes when they had stared at each other, but it had faded quickly, making Akito wonder if he had imagined it. Still, he wasn’t about to try to get information out of the boy while standing in the pouring rain, sensing that he needed caution with the strange boy. Akito hadn’t missed how pale and cold the young man was when he had hauled him to his feet, and he knew that the little kitten had spent far more time in the cool rain than was good for him.

He entered the genkan of the main house to be greeted by Tsubame, dressed in the bronze and green kimono of the Sakamoto clan, with her long dark hair tied back formally. She gasped when she saw the little kitten Akito had drug home with him. Her chocolate brown eyes widened for a moment before her light voice rose, asking for assistance as two more of Akito’s house servants appeared. Before he could even say anything he found himself wrapped up in a large soft towel along with his guest.

"Oh Akito-sama, how could you? You shouldn’t be walking out in the rain, you are already twenty-eight and yet you act like my six year old nephew. How many times must I scold you? And what of this young boy, dragging him around in such weather," Tsubame scolded sternly in her airy voice.

Akito held back a chuckle as he looked down at the woman that barely came up to the middle of his chest, sternly scolding him, undeterred by who he was or what he looked like. She was barely older than him, yet never held back on her scolding and mothering ever since she had joined his household from the Sakamoto clan six years ago. Over the years many of the spies planted in his house by his family had rather firmly been asked to leave, yet Tsubame and a few others like her had remained, for their loyalty was undoubtedly to him and not the Sakamoto clan.

"I found him on our doorstep, I have nothing to do with his bedraggled appearance," Akito explained as he was firmly pulled down by a lock of hair to find his head covered by yet another soft towel that vigorously rubbed his wet hair.

"On our doorstep? What in the world, he isn’t from around here, how could he have possibly gotten here? I had just assumed with those clothes he had come from the club," Tsubame said.

Akito looked in surprise over at the boy, never having thought of it, but he did look very much like an escort. He certainly had the beauty for one, and the clothes. Suddenly something snapped in his mind and his gray eyes narrowed, an unwelcome thought came to his mind as he looked at the boy.

"Don’t be absurd Tsubame, when have I ever brought anyone from the club other than Takamura here?" Akito scoffed, pushing down his thoughts.

"There is always a first. Sometime you are going to have to let go Akito," Tsubame said wistfully.

"No," Akito said with iron in his voice as he looked down at the woman, spearing her with a glance that even she couldn’t ignore. He wouldn’t allow that line of thought go any further, he would never take a lover again.

Tsubame sighed, looking away.

"Come, let’s get you both into a warm bath," Tsubame said after a moment of silence.

"You did all that work to dry us only to drown us again?" Akito asked dryly.

"Go now," Tsubame said with a stern growl totally ruined by her beautiful smile.

Akito laughed softly as he took the boy’s arm and led him down the wooden walk way to the bathing room as Tsubame rushed off, presumably to gather clothes for his guest, knowing that he would not tolerate help with bathing. It had taken a hard won argument with the woman to give him privacy, but he had eventually gotten his way over the years and now she didn’t even bother bringing it up anymore.

He’d discreet been watching his guest ever since they had entered his house, hoping that Tsubame’s bright, playful attitude would thaw something within the emotionless face, yet not a flicker of emotion had passed. Once inside the shower room he let go of the thin wrist of the boy and looked down at him closely in the bright lights. Tsubame was right that the boy could easily pass for an escort of his club, dressed as he was, except for one thing. No person with such a dead, lifeless expression would ever be allowed to work for Black Heaven.

"Do you have a name, little kitten?" Akito asked quietly.

"Kiyoshi," the boy said in an even tone, his voice surprisingly deep.

"So Kiyoshi, why were you sitting out in front of my gate in the rain?" Akito asked as he began to remove his clothing.

Kiyoshi looked up at him, the first hint of emotion in his black eyes spoke of resignation and a deep sadness. Inky black hair framed the far too delicate face of the boy; Akito could see that despite his physical age he was no longer a boy. He had seen such expressions on countless faces when he had been younger than the man standing before him. Expressions on the men and women who had been taken to serve in his family businesses, taken from their own family. Children who lost everything because their parents were stupid and greedy. Sighing, he stopped unbuttoning his shirt and reached out to remove the thin white shirt of his guest.

He inhaled sharply as he looked down at the pale, icy cold skin lacerated with angry crimson marks mixed in with pale scars. He spun the boy around, stripping off his sodden shirt, knowing what he would find but hoping he was wrong. Whip marks ran down the thin back and narrow shoulders, making Akiro close his eyes. He knew now that his guess was right. This boy could be nothing more than a runaway from some low class brothel run by a yakuza family. They were the only ones that still dealt with human whores, most having switched to the easier to deal, disease free, and legal sex droids that had become the standard in teh sex industry. To make things easier there were only a few groups that still dealt with humans, narrowing the boy’s origins even more. This boy was a bigger problem than just being a lost little kitten.

"Tsubame," Akito called out.

"Yes, Akito-sama?" Tsubame said, poking her head into the room to gasp in shock as she saw Kiyoshi.

"Get Dr. Gensi here," Akito said softly.

"Right away," Tsubame said, quickly slipping out of the room, her eyes worried.

Tsubame had served the Sakamoto family since she was a child, and she was far from stupid. There weren’t many explanations for the level of abuse on the boy’s pale skin, not at his age and not with his expression. It was possible he could simply have come from an abusive relationship, but it seemed improbable when combined with all of the small evidence around the boy.

"Come, let’s get you warmed up at least," Akito said softly.

The boy removed his pants without hesitation, standing still as Akito finished undressing and turned the boy towards him to lead him over to the shower, only for the boy to gasp and stare at him.

"Ryusuke-sama," Kiyoshi said softly, before sinking down to the ground, bowing to him.

Akito groaned softly, cursing, that name was the last thing he wanted to hear. It had been a vain hope that the boy wouldn’t be connected to the Sakamotos. All he had wanted was to get away from them and to prove to his older brother that there was another way to make money from the sex trade, without destroying the people that worked in it or using androids. Yet it now seemed even as he was slowly freeing himself that fate had decided to pull him back into the middle of the sordid brothels of his past.

He looked down at the broken little kitten with a sigh. Once again he felt the little bit of humanity he had regained slipping away as he stared blindly down at the naked boy at his feet. He couldn’t risk getting involved, with being drawn into a fight with his brother again; the boy had to go back. He couldn’t help him, for he knew his father and he knew Ryusuke. For the boy to recognize the tattoos on his body, if not his face, meant the boy wasn’t just a common whore that wouldn’t be missed.

"Get up, Kiyoshi, I am not Ryusuke. I’m his younger brother, Akito," Akito said with resignation as he felt a sense of foreboding wash over him.