Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ cuadro ❯ cuadro ( Prologue )

Dedicated to Rachel.

For Mae.

Chapter 1

The first time I saw him was when he was almost naked, prancing around a pole, amidst all the wild cheers and groping hands surrounding him. Despite the suffocating musk of arousal, I could still see him clearly. He had a sweet face, one of those, clichéd as it may sound, androgynous ones. He was clearly male, but there were a few feminine traits. Especially his hair. It was even styled like a girls'.

He swung once around the pole and stopped when he faced my direction, and gave the crowd a come-hither smile. My heart nearly stopped beating. Suddenly I had this vision, of us packing our bags, driving off in a car, into the psychedelic sunset - and life would be perfect. He rotated his hips, showing off his package that was barely concealed in that ridiculous thong that he was wearing. It was amazing how much he could expose of himself, without taking off that thong.

The show was nearing its end. The crowd became rowdier and I could distinctly hear the pants of the patrons around me. He turned his back to the crowd and nearly faded into the darkness at the back of the stage. Suddenly out of the air came flying a black thong. It landed neatly in my hands. I looked up quickly, and a flash of blue whisked past before it was gone.

I stared at the black thong he was wearing. I had fallen in love with a stripper.

~

I must have been quite a sight. I mean, I was wearing a full business suit, and surrounded by people who were mostly in their underwear. My client didn't seem to mind though. He seemed to fit in perfectly with the environment of hot sweaty gyrating bodies. I generally wasn't used to these kinds of situations. I hated clubbing. Those that I went to were usually strip clubs and even so, I just stayed for a while and left soon.

I kept going back to that strip club, but I never saw him again. I could barely remember his face, but I still remember the effect he had on me. I had never been so aroused in front of so many people before, and I had never ever wanted somebody, with so much ferocity before. It felt like a crime. I wasn't supposed to be so obsessed over somebody I saw for less than 5 minutes, and much less a stripper. Not that I had anything against strippers - just that no self-respecting stripper would throw themselves at me. It's not that I'm unattractive, I mean money can do wonders for you, but my appearance leaves much to be desired.

I generally look so… serious and uptight that it puts people off. I've never ever had a real relationship, which is pretty sad, considering I'm already about 28 and heir to my family business. Which I'm more or less married to anyway. My parents already have my whole future planned, I would take over the company by the time I'm 30, and I'd get married by the time I'm 32, have 2 kids by the age of 36 and live happily ever after. But well, they're probably going to be disappointed at the marriage part, I don't think I'll ever get married.

I'm so inexperienced at love that it's pathetic.

Whoosh. Somebody just bumped into me and knocked the glasses off my head. With blurred vision, I steadied myself with strong arms cradling my waist. Searching around for my glasses, I finally found them teetering on the edge of my arm. What a weird place. I hurriedly put them on.

It was he. HIM. He smiled broadly at me.

"Daijoubu ka?"

My heart started thumping really loudly and my jaw was a little too slack for my own reputation's sake. He smirked faintly and me and assuring himself that I was okay, turned his back to me and disappeared in the crowds.

I couldn't see him anymore.

~

Going to that club - even to entertain clients, just wasn't the kind of thing I was suited to doing. I ended up having to go home early, after running to the bathroom to puke like twice. And so now I was slumped outside the club, miserably thinking about my sad sad sad life of having to entertain clients and work too. Maybe I could call in sick tomorrow.

My chauffeur would take quite a while. But thank god I had a chauffeur. I would have just… died if I had to go home by myself now. It was already close to 2, and I could feel my eyelids drooping. I heard a murmur of voices near me. I opened my eyes and peered blearily at my surroundings.

"Hanagata-san!"

Oh great. At first having being humiliated by my lack of ability to hold my liquor in front of my client, he were treated to the sight of me slumped outside a seedy nightclub, looking miserable and lost. Now he's never going to do business with me ever again.

"Maki-sama."

He half-smirked as he took in the sight of me. He would. I really looked pathetic. That son of a bitch - dragging me to weird seedy places and then sloshing me with alcohol so I wouldn't be able to think straight and finally making me sign some stupid contract. HAH! I knew him through and through.

I never knew being drunk made me this melodramatic.

"Do you need help going home?"

I peered at him. "Iie. My chauffeur's coming."

He nodded, smirked and turned to leave. I saw his chauffer drive up with his black Mercedes. It looked cool too. Did he have to be cooler in everything he did? He was smarter, better-looking, more attractive, hotter, more… appealing.

And I was a stick-in-the-mud.

I watched him lean against the frame of his car, looking as if he was waiting for someone. Suddenly his face relaxed and a slow grin spread over his face. I turned towards the pub entrance.

It was he. That stripper guy. He smiled back at Maki-san and graciously accepted the opened door. The last I saw of him was his lingering hand on Maki's that promised of what was to come later in the night.

At that moment, I could think of nothing but how much I hated Maki Shinichi.

~

I pushed open the door to my bedroom groggily. I could barely keep standing and was teetering about, tripping over non-existent items in my room. I finally found the bed and collapsed on it.

I still remembered his voice as he asked me if I were all right, and the feel of his strong arms as he caught me before I fell, and the look in his eyes when he smiled.

That night I dreamt of baby blue eyes and soft hair. I dreamt about how I arched for him and came with him still inside me. I dreamt about how he kissed my cheek and bit my neck to make me his.

~