A/N: I know that I am beginning the chapter, calling the main character by a different name. Please bear with me for a while, as I am merely building up the story that so strangely popped into my head during my week at Boy Scout camp
Chapter One
"So…" began an enthusiastic and somewhat overly imposing man in a designer gray suit with a taupe tie, a wide smile, and a terrible toupee. "Gary Sennex, the name that's on everyone's tongue these days. Let's give him a hand, folks!" the man said loudly, calling the large crowd at the recording studio to action, eliciting loud applause and whistling for the man who was being interviewed, apparently, a Mr. Gary Sennex.
For forty-five seconds or so, the crowd cheered enthusiastically, forcing Gary even to stand up and wave at them, forcing a smile, which he honestly did not wish to be wearing. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate his fan base. It was more that he was somewhat preoccupied. He remembered mere hours earlier, his girlfriend, who was just as enthusiastic and energetic as the crowd, and often, twice as loud, was pushing him to hurry up and get ready.
"Hurry up, Tr… er… Gary!! We're going to be late!!"
"I hate wearing ties! You know that, Kyoko-chan!" Gary replied irately, pulling away from her slightly. She was about to call him something else again. It seemed to happen from time to time that she nearly slipped and called him a different name. He was suspicious, but he didn't want to push her. He couldn't let her go. She was the one who brought him back to relatively good health after he woke up that day in an alley with no idea of who he was, or where he was, or for that matter, how he had ended up there with a gaudy looking gun strapped to his thigh and a picture of himself and two other people in his wallet, a stunningly beautiful blonde girl with crimson red eyes wearing spectacles that only served to make her look even more beautiful, and a man in a hat with green hair and a scruffy beard and a tacky suit and tie. Strangely, he didn't have any forms of identification. He figured that they must have been stolen, though, by whoever had beaten him so badly. After all, he must have been in a fight of some kind. His entire body was sore, and he found that all of his money was gone and he was bleeding from a wound on his head that was leaking down into his eyes and blinding him.
That was when a woman who appeared to be Japanese passed by and looked at him. She then called him a strange name that she hadn't called him again since. Gary had still been kind of woozy at the moment, so he didn't quite remember what that name was, but she helped him off of the sidewalk and brought him back to her own apartment. When asked if she had been busy, she had told him that she was on her way to college, but that she could make up the work another day. She was striking as well, and bore an uncanny resemblance to someone that he was sure that he had known at one point in time. Two people that he had once known, actually, and he got the feeling that he may have had romantic feelings for one of them, though he couldn't quite remember which one, nor could he remember their specific faces or names.
The girl said that her name was Kyoko Kirisaki, and that she knew him from a long time ago. She let him take a bath and washed his clothes for him. She seemed a bit eccentric at the time, but not altogether too odd for a college girl. He had no idea what his own age, name, occupation, or even place of birth was. For some reason, it was all a blur to him. The girl, Kyoko had told him that he could stay as long as he wanted. He tried to refuse, but she said that she had a couch that he could sleep on. At least she was acting appropriately.
It was sometime, about half a year, maybe, that he started having strange dreams about a man who looked exactly like him in every way, except that his name was Train Heartnet, and he was known and feared by the alias "Black Cat". Apparently, this Train fellow had been a member of an organization of assassins called Chronos. Then he met a girl named Saya Minatsuki, and she prompted him to leave Chronos and become a sweeper like she had been. He joined a man named Sven Vollfied, who was the man in the photograph. At one point, they picked up a girl named Eve, who was the girl in the photograph, just at a younger age at the time. And the three of them were sweepers together, and ultimately fought and beat a criminal organization of Tao users called the Apostles of the Stars.
But the whole story of how he got there was neither here nor there at the moment, and merely idle interest. What was important was that he was on stage with a talk show host, and was being interviewed about his latest book, which was to be a series named Black Cat. The novel had drawn a great deal of attention, and had won worldwide acclaim as a bestseller. He used all of the information that he was gaining from his dreams to fuel his series, but the dreams were steadily becoming more and more lifelike, and he was having more intricate dreams that delved deep into Train Heartnet's disturbing and somewhat frightening past, causing the dreams to become more like nightmares, themselves. They always started with some form of conflict between Train and the main antagonist, Creed Diskenth, both of whom once worked for Chronos. Creed was mentally unbalanced, though, and ended up murdering Train's one friend, the one with whom he fell in love. After that, he swore revenge on Creed and left Chronos to work as a sweeper.
"So, Gary, what inspired you to write such an amazing novel, and to promise more such novels to come?" the host asked, leaning forward as if begging for information.
"Well, I suppose that people are expecting me to say something like 'it just popped into my head one day.' That's not really the case, though. I guess it started about a year and a half ago when I started having some really odd dreams about the main character, and for some reason, these dreams kept occurring, so I started to write them down, wondering if maybe they'd help me later on. Then Kyoko told me that I should make a book out of it. Since I didn't feel like arguing at the moment…" Gary was interrupted by some laughter, mostly from the male audience members. "I wrote it up into novel format, and she sent it in to someone who decided it was good enough to publish."
"Well, that's pretty impressive…"
The rest of the talk show sort of blurred into the background, with Gary giving only minimal attention to the audience and the host. He couldn't say that he was disappointed when it was over, either, so he quickly changed into more comfortable clothes. He remembered once again how much he hated wearing ties and such fancy clothes. He had talked a great deal to Kyoko, as do most people who are going out, and he had learned that Japanese males wear uniforms with ties every day to school. He couldn't figure out how they did it. It seemed strange that anyone would force other people to wear uniforms. However, he couldn't be bothered thinking too much on the subject at the moment, so he sighed and changed, looking in the mirror and combing through his hair once more. He didn't know why he bothered trying to tame his hair. It had always been extremely messy, no matter what he did with it. He tried every remedy known to man, and none of it had worked. He had long since begun to suspect, in fact, that short of shaving his head, nothing would work on his hair.
With that, he put his comb back in his pocket, and walked slowly out of the dressing room. Looking to the left and to the right, having forgotten which way to go, he experimentally took a left turn. The halls in the studio, like in every other studio that he had ever been in, were extremely clogged with filming gear and cast members along with directors, and extras that all seemed to be talking at once. Gary didn't like all of the noise in the studio. He preferred it when it was only him and Kyoko. Despite what he was thinking about earlier, he did love Kyoko, and it wasn't merely that he was using her to get more information on his own past, although he couldn't deny that it was useful that she seemed to know more than he did about him. He just wished that she would be more honest with him. He didn't know a thing about himself beyond what he had figured out on his own, but he knew that somehow, he was incredibly, and almost inhumanly fast, could jump ridiculously high, was amazing in almost every sport known to man, including sharpshooting, but excluding strategy games like Chess, Shogi, and Go, and that he was strangely skilled at martial arts, despite the fact that he had just begun taking classes a few months ago. He had a feeling that all of this somehow tied into his past. However, he couldn't be sure, so he never brought it up.
Walking past some lights that the filming crew was testing, he found an exit sign on the left. Suddenly, the lights went on, blinding him and causing bright, sparkling lights to appear in front of his eyes. He sighed and shook his head, clearing away the sudden disorientation that always seemed to grip the brain when one had such a bright light so suddenly shone in one's face. Walking through the door, though, he found that it was not the exit that he was looking for. Instead, it was a misleadingly marked entrance onto a dark stage that still had the cameras all over it and the props from the latest show that had been aired there. Gary groaned and walked back out, running instantly into a director, who scowled at him and started instantly shouting.
"Hey! Who are you!? You don't belong out… Wait a minute! You're Gary Sennex! You were on the Danuve Show today. What are you doing all the way in the east wing of the studio? This is where they run sitcoms and comedy shows. Weren't you on stage 5B North?" the director asked, shaking Gary's hand jovially. Garry nodded, confused slightly by what the director was saying. 5B North, East wing, none of it made any sense to him.
"I'm just looking for the front parking lot…" Gary said exasperatedly, sighing and shaking his head.
The director nodded enthusiastically, much as the talk show host, Michael Danuve had been, and gave him very simple instructions on how to get from the East Wing to the North Parking Lot. He needed to make two rights, and then a left, walk through a double door on the left and then turn right a third time and then pass six doors on either side of him. In front of him, there would be a double door with an exit sign above it, and that would be the exit.
As he made it to the exit, he once again began to think about what had transpired between him and Kyoko that morning, and what she may or may not have been about to call him. He wanted to know, and had decided that no matter what, he was going to find out. It was high time that Kyoko started telling him the truth, especially since it seemed to be about his own life. He had a strong suspicion that the characters in his dreams and in his books were much more than just fanciful dreams. He knew vaguely of an organization called Chronos, and that they did indeed have many skilled assassins among their numbers. What further lent credence to Gary's former association with Chronos was the roman numeral thirteen tattooed on his chest. Kyoko said that it looked cool and manly, but Gary had the feeling that it was more than just a fashion statement. He got the feeling that it served the purpose of marking him forever as a killer for Chronos. Of course, all of this, even if it was true, was incredibly frightening, and unbelievable. After all, despite the fact that he could easily jump clear over a six foot tall man's head, he was but a humble author, albeit an extremely athletic one.
Walking out the door into the crisp autumn air, he looked around and saw the beautiful foliage falling all around him. He got the feeling that he had never really stopped before to look at the fall leaves. All of the oranges, reds, and yellows mixed together to form what seemed a perfect natural oil painting. He didn't have long to reflect upon this, though, as his attention was soon taken by Kyoko, who grabbed his hand and kissed him on the lips, smiling brightly at him. She looked really cute in her fall jacket and plaid skirt… Gary shook his head. If he really was going to try to find his old self, he was going to have to stop thinking like a perverted old man watching high school girls in their uniforms. Unfortunately, Gary and Kyoko weren't going to be left alone to leave the studio in peace. Suddenly, a voice rang out through the parking lot and then hundreds of fans came rushing over to ask Gary to autograph their book.
Gary sighed. This was one of the downsides of being famous, the screaming mobs that seemed to follow everywhere he went. In one respect, he was good for any store or business that he went into, as dozens if not more people generally followed in his wake. For example, the MMA studio that he had joined recently almost doubled in membership after he did due to people who wanted to meet him. Sometimes, though, he wished that he could just lead a normal life. He looked around. The mob wasn't too large that day, so, he swept Kyoko off her feet and carried her bridal style, jumping up onto the railing and jumping high into the air over all of the fans, and landing gracefully behind all of them and instantly breaking into a run faster than any of the fans could even turn around. That way, before they could follow him, Gary and Kyoko would be in their car safely, driving off.
The two drove away and out of the parking lot, sighing in relief. Gary hated crowds, and Kyoko wasn't too fond of being rushed by people either. They drove down the street toward their hotel. It wasn't that far away. In fact, the show that they had gone on had paid for their hotel room for the time that they would be in town. Their hotel was pretty basic, just a Holiday Inn, just the way that Gary liked it. Kyoko would have been glad to stay at a fancier place, but Gary preferred simplicity over swank.
When they got back to the hotel, Gary noticed a car that looked ironically familiar to one he was sure that he had seen before. It was a beat up old white station wagon with chipped mirrors and cracked windows, but it looked to be ultimately in good condition, considering that it had probably been made over twenty years before. The two walked into the hotel and started to go past the front desk when they were stopped by the receptionist, who told them that they had some visitors waiting for them in the hotel restaurant. Gary was grateful that the receptionist hadn't given them their room number. Again, although he appreciated his fans, he appreciated even more being given a moment's peace. However, it would have been frightfully rude to keep them waiting, so he walked over to the restaurant, asking if Kyoko would go back up to the room and wait for a little while. She seemed reluctant at first, perhaps a little overly so, but not so much as to make Gary suspicious. After a moment or two, though, she relented, and walked toward the room with their key, grumbling as she went about how bored she was. She, unlike he, enjoyed meeting new people. Of course, neither she nor Gary knew exactly what was about to transpire.
Gary walked into the restaurant and looked around. When he did, he saw a man with a scruffy beard and an age weathered face with green hair, a gray suit, and a tacky tie and hat, despite the fact that he was indoors, and a stunningly beautiful blonde woman of about sixteen or seventeen years with strikingly intelligent crimson eyes and an even more striking deadpan look on her face in a Gothic Lolita style dress with a red ribbon tying her hair back and rimless glasses that slid down her nose slightly, giving her a slightly skewed appearance, like someone else that he was sure that he had once known in passing. It was Sven Vollfied and Eve.