The Beginning tale of Mr. Black

Posts : 760

One day had stretched into another. Keiro had found himself on a pliable map in a rusty smelling room of an old hotel. He found his eyes trail to the ceiling. It was pure white...no, it was more so ivory then it was white. The color of the room was the color of ivory yet the smell didn’t match it like an orange that tasted like an onion. He sat up off from the bed and swung his legs onto the floor. The carpet also had a smell the moment his nose turned to the direction of the carpet. If he remembered correctly, there were countries that still allow people to smoke in public places, even hotels still. He could only imagine the amount of people that have smoked in these places and letting all the smoke just seep into the walls, the carpets, the bedding. Bear Country was among the select that never gave a damn about the laws and decisions of other countries and Keiro couldn’t decide if that was the right or wrong direction for it. It was either that Bear Country will keep international law out of their country and still uphold to their standards or they just like to kidney punch people who decide to live in a shithold like this. There was a consistent dripping sound that was far off to his right. It was the sink and parts of the shower. He had taken a shower last night, waiting a good ten minutes before the hot water decided to make its arrival coming out of the nozzle. It didn’t last long and he was out of the shower in no less than five minutes. He could get some warm water out of the faucet which he was glad because shaving with cold water was a bitter thing to do to his skin.

After his walk into the city and seeing what he had to see, Keiro came to a room and board at a local inn. The caretaker seem shady enough in allowing Keiro to pay such a low amount for his room that it was hard not to think that the inn was of high quality. At this point, Keiro could only care even less as long as it held his basic need for tonight. He had every intention of leaving this city towards the next.

He asked the taker if he had a map of the world. The taker looked at him bemused as if he should know what the world looked like, gave a moments pause and then he said he did. The taker slid out of view into the next room and came back moments later with a large folded piece of paper and handed it to him.

After the quick shower and shave, Keiro open the map up to locate hot springs country. He spread his thumb and pinky finger apart giving him a good estimation as to how long it would take him to travel. His judgment estimated about three days the long way. He could cut into some villages but it was probably wise to stay out of there for now. Small towns and little rest areas are fine but a huge city was not some place he wanted to go, not yet that is. He wanted to stay away from already prosperous places that would make it very suspicious for someone like Keiro to open a small “operations” in.

He closed the map when he was finished, went to the small measly think of a bookshelf and pulled out a dusty book. He was able to swipe the inch thick of dust that rested on the cover. It was an old detective novel from the title “The case of the missing hand.” It was written by one of the famous authors back when his grandfather was young in Lightning country. He read a few pages interested in the writing style, the characters and the overall plot. It was a case of a detective, the hard hitting Muramasa Keikana who was hired on a case for a local politician. His wife had been murdered with what appeared to be a saw (He didn’t get that far in. Keiro was able to use his investigative skills to solve that little bit of information) and one of her hands had been missing. What was interesting was the way the writer was able to draw Keiro into the book; the way he was turning the page by page not wanting for it to end. It was a short novel, not something that would take Keiro a long time to read and when he was finish reading it was one in the afternoon. His intention was to call Zurui and talk business. There was one on a soft towel next to the sleeping mat. He sat down, folded in his legs in and picked up the receiver to his ear. Why not use carrier ravens Keiro asked when Zurui brought it up.

Zurui showed a loose smile and placed the cup down that he was polishing “Are we in war?” Zurui asked. Keiro thought the question was odd and shook his head. He wasn’t sure. From his understanding, the countries were in those momentary periods where they were in half time and they haven’t gone out of the locker rooms yet. “Right,” Zurui continued “If I wanted communications to reach me in two…maybe three days depending on the weather then yes, I would ask you to use carrier ravens.” He slid the cup down the counter “But we are not in war and there is no need for us to worry about information being heard from us. As long as you don’t go babbling out your name all around the area and doing some stupid shit that can get you into trouble, then calling me would be like a business owner calling in an investor. No harm, no foul.”

Maybe it was just paranoia but Keiro had always question Zurui’s sureness on things. Zurui wasn’t a shinobi, he didn’t know, or rather Keiro didn’t think he knew, anything about the way some villages ran intelligence. It wasn’t the fact that it was most villages who thought everyone was after them but all villages were like paranoid children all hunched up in a closet hoping the monster won’t come in and eat them. They set up elaborate traps just to question a merchant if he was trying to sell green oranges. He knew Konoha was one of the more ‘paranoid’ of the few and they had every good reason to be cautious with every step. Group after group after group had tried and dispose of the village like a business trying to ruin another out of sheer competition. Konoha was just one of the many who would go to such lengths.

But then the words “there is no war” rang in his head. There was no war going on, no need to keep extreme paranoia in the back of their pockets. If anything, the villages are just preparing in a ‘just in a case’ scenario where Kumogakure might come and eliminate or vice versa. They are preparing for a war on a grand scale. Hunting down missing nin was a side job, a quest for the adventuring and daring shinobi who wanted their reputation to rise to glory and be sought after by their peers. They aren’t hunting after him, not the villages in any case. It was the second player, the organization who is after Uriko and after him as well. They were the ones that was hunting them down for her power and his-what was it that they were hunting him exactly? The man talking through the seal of that dead said that he had potential in becoming someone great but that was vague to him. Sure, it meant that he had intentions of becoming someone powerful but in what way? Keiro couldn’t put a finger to it.

Ok, so the villages wouldn’t be tapping into their phones. Their hands didn’t stretch that far during peace, not in a country like this where the largest place of gathering was a large tree that could house over 500 people and maybe lay people drunk in the thousands. But the organization after them had enough men and wealth that it could stretch beyond the capabilities of the village. That alone was enough for him to disguise himself in any way he can. His only option was to give himself a new identity, for the time being anyway, so when he did travel to country to country, he would at least have some leeway. The leeway he meant was that people wouldn’t question a graduate student who was off to find business opportunities in different countries. Once that boat has sailed, Keiro would put on the new ruse that he is expanding said business to different country to country. This is good he thought. He picked up the phone and began dialing the numbers on the pad to call a certain office. It ranged twice and then it picked up by an older, gruff sounding individual.

“D’s investors and accounting office, how may I be of assistants?” This was the phony name of the business Zurui had given him. The phone would ring twice, only twice and then someone would pick up. If it ranged any longer, hang up immediately and don’t call for forty-eight hours. Yes, forty-eight hours. The man was a speck in the shadow world and he wanted to keep it that way with very precise guidelines to his practice. Keiro was glad that the man answered it. But now that he answered the phone, he didn’t know whether he should say his real name or his false name. Would the man know if Keiro gave his false name to him or should he give his real name? Could he trust this line without having paranoia filling his mind like a fog?

“Hello…?” The man said. The odd silence made him uncomfortable, hell it made Keiro uncomfortable too. Any rational man would’ve questioned another hello and then hang up. He seemed ready to hang up and he was about to but he was interrupted.

“Yes, I was calling because I was told to talk to you about a loan?” He said unsurely. He wasn’t too confident as to whether he should say anything that could sound odd or confusing. A business conversation wasn’t too odd of a thing but with these circumstances it’s hard not to consider it odd.

There was a pause but it wasn’t like the pause before. It was thoughtful, letting the gears in the head spin as to who it was that was on the other line. It was five seconds that went by before the gruff voice spoke “Ahh yes, you must be Z’s clientele. I’ve heard good things from you. He said you would give me a call in the week.”

“Yeah, I had to take care of loan issues with the university. And my bank was being a real bitch about handing me a loan for a start up. Probably because they see me as that young guy, the cocks.” He was making this stuff up as he went. Before Keiro slept that night, he had rehearsed lines in his head that would fit in regular conversations. Questions like “Where are you from?” and “What university you come from” was an obvious. The ones he hadn’t got were the ones that would get too complicated and would stump Keiro. He had sworn that he would not sleep until he rehearsed the stump questions many times in his head. Now that he was speaking it aloud, it was a lot easier to do. The man made a resonating sound of condolences that came from his throat as if to say “I know what you mean.”

“Ah, but you wish to ask me for a loan yes? Indeed I am a man of leniency and gifting but of course it goes without a price. A price that is costly to few in this world.”

“What is it that you want?”

The voice seemed to smile. It gave out a low, very hearty chuckle “One must always leave their name at home and come out as a different man. A man in the dark world cannot go in as themselves, not now, not ever.”

This man meant a disguise. A world where men would hunt after him because of his features and his name will make it difficult in the future. The world of shadows was a game that he was not new to but he was certainly not a veteran at it. Keiro had remembered the conversation he had with the young man, the Nukenin that was at the ramen shop. The story he made and the name he put out all sounded true, hell it was outright believable to a point where someone like the cook or the patron that was down in the booth to not give a second glance at the subject. A disguise, a ruse, a new persona for him.

“A man is nothing without a name” Keiro replied “So I believe you’ll need to write some things down if you will. You and I will have to have a long conversation on some important matters.”

“Oh ho, and what is it that I shall call you…”

Keiro lips creased to his charming smile “Shikyo.” He said confidently “Hei Shikyo.”

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The formalities were given, Keiro gave his false name to the man on the other line and e explained to the man on the other line, to which Keiro never found out his name nor did he have intention of finding out what his real or fake was, on the things he really needed for the trip ahead. He would need a passport, some sort of formal identification for him so that when he travelled from place to place he wouldn’t draw attention to a story about a young man going on telling people that he just graduate from a university. It may fly well in a small city information was really all internal and they didn’t trust outsiders anyway but larger cities would be a hassle since there would be talk, not as much suspicion as people came and went but there would be a bit more stabilization when it came to identification. He had to have some sort of identification seeing that all he had really was his face and a false name. He would need cash at hand and some sort of debit card. He still had some cash on hand which was good for the short dinner at a local restaurant and a hotel but seeing that he would be trying to find a place to store a business. The man said that the money situation wouldn’t be a problem.

“What about a background check information?” Keiro asked “Would you be able to falsify that as well.”

“That depends on how well you want me to do it.” The man explained “If it’s a rushed job then when he go into bigger cities and locations, you might be given the stink eye because you’re asking me to do a lot of thing at once. Like I said, I can do all these things for you but you have to give me some time in order for me to do it.”

Keiro was conflicted as to whether he wanted it rushed or not. He wasn’t planning on going balls to the wall and enter into a major village like Konoha or Kumo anytime soon. If any, he would want to avoid Konoha the most just out of notion that he had things to do before entering back into his home village. If he rushed it, he could ask him again to give it more depth and interest if someone were to read it. But when he would have the chance for that happen? In two weeks? Two months? He wouldn’t know seeing that he would be a very busy man for the time. Plus, what if he had a run in with a group of individuals who could check his background that wouldn’t be a superficial glance? He couldn’t truly chance an encounter such as this. He suppose it was better to have the ‘quality’ over the ‘quantiy’.

“Give it some depth” Keiro answered “I rather I have something to fall back on than stand on a sandy foundation”

“Of course. If the foundation cannot be stood upon, how can one move soundly?” he let out a waning giggle “In any case, since you’re wanting me to be detailed then it may take me a week…maybe a week in a half. I can install a good background check for you and give you multiple accounts, both debit and credit, at multiple banks. Don’t worry about it being too dark, the banks are quite legitimate as they were started by free market economist. They’ll lend me a hand if need be since I’ve done them a bunch of favors. I’ll put a good word in there that you’re some sort of free market enthusiast and is a anarcho-capitalist.”

Keiro heard the term used in many economic circles back in Konoha. He knew of the philosophy and of the teachings. He read up more on the subject when he was staying with Zurui. He was much of a anarchist as any other rebel. You couldn’t find anyone else that was more so an anarchist than Zurui. Maybe his parents were a bit so seeing they had such a dislike for both Fire and Lightning country but Zurui beat both them a hundred fold by the amount of books he contained on the shelves in his library. People he’s heard of that had written contents among contents of books that had been written a hundred years prior to current economic fallacies that have existed for long while. He had learned the current economic problems that exist in many first world and third world countries. Fire Country, Lightning, Earth and Wind had suffered a hyperinflation and doing so caused much of their goods to go higher in price. Zurui found that holding onto precious metals made it easier for him to survive during the previous recession. There are some things that don’t change to humans: Their love for war, their love for money, the wanting to procreate and economics. Zurui had contacts to many people with these understandings; one was this man that Keiro was talking to at this very moment. It would probably been save to say that he could’ve spoken in an open manner with him but the little inkling of a thing in his mind called caution told him otherwise. Some things are meant to be withheld, even from the trusting of most people.

“Any else?” the man asked.

“Just one question and then I’ll be on my way. I know official documents will need a picture. How will you obtain a picture of-“

“I already have a picture of you on file. Mr. Z had given it to me a two months ago and said to hold on to it for the time being. It was odd of him to give me a picture of you, I didn’t understand it at the time but now it makes sense. Mr. Z has a way of thinking ahead.”

He sure did Keiro thought. He had a way of not only thinking ahead but also implementing his own sense of logic when logic seem to be thrown out the window. His mixed feelings of Zurui made him all the better when someone else other than him had an opinion on the man. This man on the other line thought highly of him which he probably had every reason to. He’s probably getting a good amount of revenue from helping out Zurui’s clients. They were high paying by the looks of it and because the way Zurui carries himself with business, the clients could not and probably will never be slouches.

“All right.” Keiro replied “I believe this shall conclude our business. I assume you already know of my location.”

“Assumption makes an ass out of you and me my dear friend. You are right to ‘assume’ it yes. I already have a fix on your location. It would be best to stay in said location for the time being. I’m sure you can rest until your application goes through all the formalities. I hope you have something to do while you are there because you’ll be there for awhile. Until then.” He cut the connection. Keiro was now left with a dial tone that made an empty noise in his ear. He put the receiver down and then lay back on the mat with his head resting on his hand. Cripes, he had no idea what to do for the time being. He would have to find something to do other than just lie around or go out and punch and kick a tree. It would do him no good to just do repetitive things because he was easily bored. Well, he wasn’t easily bored in the past. In prison, being locked up and bored would have been the death of him. Madness and confinement was the essential ingredients for pure suicide. It would’ve been so easy to find something sharp, maybe the plastic fork and sharpen it with the ridiculous rough concrete walls or floors and then use it to create a deep incision into his throat for a quick and easy death. If he wanted it to be slow and painful, he would’ve slit his wrist and let the blood draw out slowly down on his ragged pants and create a pool of his liquid life.

Could’ve been simple but life wasn’t that simple.

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No, life wasn’t an easy start. No one handed him the instruction manual as to what to do and what not to do. It was something that had to be figured out by his lonesome. He was accustomed to it by now. A year or so had passed after his initial break out of prison, well more so escape than him actually chipping away at the concrete to find a path out. A year for him to dwell in his thoughts, to train his body back to its former glory and go further with his body (“Treat your body like a temple” he found himself saying), learn things that he never knew before, take on request by a half-crazed man who probably had every intention of trying to rule the underworld and get himself organized with a woman who probably sleeps with katanas with the blade pressed against her face.

He probably wasn’t appropriate to call the woman with such a title. Out of everyone he had met, she was one of the more interesting characters that drew him in. A woman who had pronounced skills in both hand to hand combat despite having such a handicap and could kill a person with the deadly plague was a character that would indeed need avoiding or make an ally right away. He chose the latter option. Why prey tell would he do such a bold thing when he was more than an obstacle to Uriko? He thought about it, trying to find any sensible logic behind his action. The moment Zurui had spoke even an iota of information on Uriko; he was immediately hooked into finding her. He was caught on the hook of information, swinging back and forth and flopping on the deck of a boat with intention of seeking out something that could possibly kill him. It was like a wolf purposely going into the mountains to seek out a pack of wild lions. There was the risk of getting killed but that was thrill of it. To kill or be killed because he had nothing to lose.

That was it, Keiro thought, I had nothing to lose.

He didn’t have much to him. He only had three things to his name which was his body, his mind and his soul; three things that meant little to mankind nowadays because many had devoid themselves from the trifecta of mankind. Never once had he once threw the trifecta out when shit had found his way in his life. Shit was going to happen, shit happens because of the circumstances that are brought upon or by fate. Maybe there was such a thing as coincidences and it’s just a matter of luck that brings people, ideas and organizations together but Keiro didn’t believe such coincidences had ever occurred to him because of the way that man spoke through the seal “Of course. I don’t know why you seem important to them.” There was that voice, its small existence noting how great importance he had in the grand scheme of things. Its lackadaisical tone of voice noting something so obvious that even Keiro should’ve known that it was fact “You’re just a measly exile anyway. But, they seem interested in you for some reason so they mainly wanted to test you out instead of Nagase. She was already on their radar for the longest time. You’re like fresh meat, straight off from the butcher.”

His life wasn’t a chain of coincidences. No, someone wanted this to happen to him. Someone wanted him to experience the pain of losing his father, the pain of never seeing his mother or his adopted Hyuuga family again. They wanted him to feel the shame of every friend and ally he had looking at him like a rampant lion being led to be executed. Whoever this group was had the intention of putting him in jail. But what made him wonder was that if this is the case, and then was it the same group that broke him out? Would it be plausible for a group, a large organization who had power to put him in jail, cause the trouble of breaking him out? Looking at it from a glass box, it kind of made sense. It would be odd to just release one man from a maximum security prison where it was widely known that no man would ever leave such a place unless they were in a body bag. It would cause them a bit of trouble to not only break him out but also break other criminals as well. They didn’t’ want all the criminals out, just him. Yet it happen and something told Keiro that there was something fishy about the idea of a large scale prison break out. It did fish out of Earth Country and into Wind but it hadn’t stretched this far. Maybe it did, Keiro thought, maybe it did catch this far but no one was really worried about it now. It had been a year ago. There was probably panicked but it all died down eventually. Keiro had stuck so low that his profile probably didn’t go out to many countries. Maximum security prisons don’t update their profiles in the main bingo book. This place to keep the prisoner from leaving and escape was near impossible so what was the point of updating?

It wasn’t too hard to believe it seeing how the circumstances came to be but there was nagging feeling in his chest that made doubt the theory. Maybe there is a third party involve in this. If there existed a third party then perhaps indeed they had caught wind of Keiro, maybe a renegade group in Konoha or some mysterious organization who was against this other org that was after Keiro and Uriko. But that was just as hard to grip as the theory of the evil organization (Keiro decided to call them that because he had no other way of naming them) breaking him out of prison. It was hard to grasp, even with the intellectual mind of his. He taught himself to keep himself skeptical common knowledge and theories that had been devised by a foreign party or himself. It kept the mind from holding onto a fallacy his father had said because it made Keiro think and keep an open mind.

But then he remembered something. The time when he was training on the hard concrete floor and he heard something pop out of the wall and roll on the ground with eerie slowness. That bottle. It was a small thing, no bigger than a hotel shampoo container, rolling towards his hand. He remembered it stopping at the palm of his hand. What did that message say again? It hadn’t been that long ago. Did it say that it was almost time to break out? Who sent that bottle over to him? How in the hell did he find a bottle so conveniently small and use a piece of toilet tissue with a utensil to write and made that note? The conspiracy theory was that there was an inside man within the prison but it had to be something a bit simpler than that.

He remembered when he walked out of his cell. His foot was stepping on what was left of the door and peered out. The amount of things that was going on was almost sensory overload. There was the smell of something that had previously exploded, nitroglycerin he thought at the time, the smell of burning flesh and burnt in blood that left an irony taste in his mouth. Loud sirens overhead screaming out the warning alarm of a prison riot occurring was blaring out of the loudspeakers. It had gone off before, the first time was a mistake made by one of the newcomers who decided that in order for him to relax he had to lean on one of the tables that so happen to have the emergency alarm. Needless to say, he heard the newcomer was chewed a new one. There were a lot of things being thrown from one side of the room to the other. There had been three kunai, all with explosive tags at the end of them, flying past Keiro’s head and onto the other side where it met its target of a guard. It went deep into his chest, the only visible part were the handles of the kunai and then it exploded. The clothes immediately burned away by the intense heat, flesh evaporated and out came the internal organs of the man. He was probably already dead with one of the kunai already piercing his lung and heart but the explosion made sure of it. There was screaming from both ends of the prison, men screaming at the top of their lungs as they fight for their lives. Some were maddening to hear, childlike and insane with their crescent moon smiles on their faces with the amount of glee that they were experiencing. Some were death screams, the last thing they ever spoke as someone maybe stabbing a person in the stomach multiple times wanting them to suffer the worst fate than they could possibly imagine.

Keiro ducked low, moving fast underneath the chaos ensuing. He looked to see the prison cell where the note had aspired from. It was caved in, the pile of concrete all shambled into fragments with the top of the pile lit on fire. If there was someone in that pile, they were likely to be dead. Keiro remembered that scene quite clearly.

Keiro turned on his shoulder and found himself in darkness as his eyes shut down on himself. He hadn’t realize how tired he was until he shut them.

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For a long awhile, Keiro could only remember darkness when he closed his eyes. It enveloped him with the utmost immediacy that could’ve convinced him that he was very tired. He didn’t feel tired when he woke in the late morning. He felt rested, rejuvenated even to a point where he felt like going outside and walk and scout the area a bit more. His mind was in twilight before moving in-between the waking and the sleep. His mind drifted to the kid he talked to, Isamu, who had escorted him around town a bit. He had a fine time with the young man, trying not to draw attention to the both of them by talking to him in a plain manner of speech, jokingly as if they were good friends or as teacher and student. However the people saw it, it didn’t matter. It was the end fact that people wouldn’t think of them as suspicious. It was when he was alone that he spoke to him matter-of-factly to him in the calm…almost sarcastic tone of voice. He wasn’t always sarcastic. Sometimes his tone of voice was mild, almost soothing to hear like a concerto playing a sinfonietta; a melody of a voice that had swayed many women in his past life. He may have some cynicism to him but it wasn’t so much a problem. Be in jail for six years for something you didn’t do and the outcome on life can be a tad bit twisted. It was a habit that he picked up on his own that attracted and repelled people to him. It was odd how it did more of the attracting than repelling but he didn’t mind this.

The conversation he had with the boy was fading away as the dream was taking over. It had something to do with the organization…what was the name of it again? He didn’t believe they gave it a name only that it was an organization that was gathering the nukenin together but he couldn’t believe he didn’t give it a name. He’ll have to think of a good name for it eventually. It’s like getting a dog who could do amazing tricks yet the only name that it was given was ‘dog’. Definitely something that was not appropriate.

Keiro dreamed something odd. Maybe it was because he ate later the night before than he did but maybe it was just odd because of what he was thinking beforehand. He was sitting down at a round table in a room that decorated extravagantly. Keiro was sitting on one side in a small dainty chair. He says dainty only because directly in front of him was a pure white throne with jewels that he had never seen before in his entire life. A gem that was crimson red, the color of the sun setting far off in the horizon leaving the world to sleep, a gem of oceanic blue that filled in a plethora of creatures that reflected odd colors of purple, gold and silver. The fish swam elegantly as one, as the arms moves with the legs as a person walks or runs. There are on the top of the throne was a single diamond, silver in color that could perfectly sync colors with the moon at midnight. Keiro stared in awe at these things. It felt unfitting for Keiro to even sit here just ogling the chair but he couldn’t help it. He was a deer stuck in head lights “This is dream” he told himself. “This is all just a dream and I can wake up from this anytime.” Could he wake up from this? He attempts to forcibly will himself out of the dream, trying to break out of the cycle that had overcame him. This puzzled him for a moment. He could usually do it without a problem once he realized that he was a dream. Becoming aware made the dream lucid and ideally gave him full control and Keiro had done this successfully many times over the years. It was the one thing about him that helped him survive all these years.

He tried to wake up again. Nothing. Not a single thing even occurred. It was like the dream itself didn’t want Keiro to wake up. It was as if someone in the dream was holding him against his will. Panic rose over him. He hated when he panicked, especially when he got himself in a situation like this. He shouldn’t have fallen asleep. He should’ve sat up…no stood up and got out of the hotel. Was someone taking control of him while he was asleep? This wasn’t good if that was the case. He would be at the hands of an outsider who could do whatever it is they pleased. Was it genjutsu? More so yes, genjutsu can hinder the five senses allowing the user to take control of the target’s sensory input. Sleeping enhances the genjutsu user so it would make sen-

“You are really overthinking this.” A voice said interrupting Keiro’s train of thought. “A real detective ain’t ya?”

The voice was coming above him. He looked up and saw how high the room really was. A crystal chandelier hung high in the air dangling from the ceiling about fifty from where the table stood underneath it. Keiro looked up and found that the only light source that came from it were candles, each one emitting white flames. There were ten candles in total, all of which circled the chandelier perhaps three feet apart. No reasonable candle could make a place so bright Keiro thought, especially a place which was expansive and seem to go on into eternity. He saw above that and saw a man hanging on the chain that was holding the chandelier. The man spun around the chain and then leapt forward. He descended down and landed on the empty table causing it shake but not break the legs. Surprisingly, Keiro found it easy to move out of the way. He leapt up off the seat and flipped up off the chair. He landed on his feet and stared at the man who was staring at him.

“Nice moves kid” the man spoke “You got some nice moves.”

“Where the hell did you come from?” Keiro asked, though it felt silly already knowing the answer to this question.

“I’ve been standing on the chandelier for quite some time now Hateshini-san. I was just waiting for you to stop staring at the effing throne.”

Keiro didn’t question how this man knew his name because the rational part of his mind deduced that this man was not a part of his conscious or sub-conscious. This man had a lax appearance, wearing something as simple as a pair of black jeans with a large amount of pockets on each leg and a red shirt with a strange symbol on it. It looked old, older than man itself this shirt but it looked like it was bought only recently. The shirt itself was loose but he could underneath that there was a tightly knit body that was like Keiro’s. Just by the definition in his arms alone made it clear that if he was to punch something hard like a building, it would break…no crumble to the ground like a bomb had hit it. His hair was dreaded together only to hold up by a band that put his dreads into a ponytail. What really got Keiro were the man’s eyes. They were coal black, a simmering black that held in the secrets of the universe. If he could stare into the man’s eyes even longer he probably would’ve seen the empty void that is space with the trillions among trillions of stars, galaxies and nebulas that filled in that void. He reminded him of someone he once knew just by the looks that were similar to this man standing on the table. The dark skin, the dreads, the black eyes all of his being just reminded him of someone. Maybe it wasn’t a friend that had these attributes. Had he seen him before? When he was younger perhaps but he didn’t believe so. No, he didn’t know him…but he knew of him.

He was something else…something that wasn’t exactly human. How he knew this he couldn’t answer it even if a person were to ask him how he could conclude this. He just knew that the man was not human. He wasn’t exactly alien either, not something otherworldly or god-like. It wasn’t befitting for this being to be a god for gods look at him and respect or worship him as a being higher than that.

“You’re a…personification…” Keiro finally said after going through all those steps in his head “A being that represents something that the universe stands for…” Keiro raised an eyebrow and then shook his head. He put a hand to his head feeling a part of his brain almost get pushed in with pressure “Ah…how did I…”

“Huh.” The being said with genuine surprise in his voice which surprised Keiro too “I don’t think we’ve met but I do believe we know each other in a sense. How odd that you figured that all out just by looking at me. Most people question as to how I know them or the location at the present. It’s odd, very odd that you know what I am.” He got off from the table and stood on the ivory tile floor looking at Keiro. “A shot in the dark here but do you know who my father and mother are?”

Keiro thought this over. He looked at the man and didn’t see anything that could give him any hints or clues. That sudden ephipany he had just a moment ago didn’t relay as to this being’s own origin. He just knew that he wasn’t human or a part of his imagination. He shook his head. The being let out a disappointed sigh but his face showed that an expression that wasn’t surprise by this.

“My name is Dimension. Many people who get to know just call me Dime. I am Dimension of the Endless and Dimension of the Infinite. My mother is Death of the Endless and my father is Father Time of the Infinite. There, I answered my own question and now you know.”

“Wait…” Keiro paused “You’re saying that you are the personification of dimensions? And your mom is the personification of death and your dad is the personification of time? How the hell does that work?”

Dimension lips part into a smile “There are just some things that are just so weird that sometimes it is hard to explain.”

Tell me about it, Keiro thought.

Posts : 760

“So why am I here? I never really been here before…well at least I don’t think I’ve been here before. Have I?”

“You’ve been here before” Dimension spoke matter of fact “Just that you don’t really remember it. Most humans don’t remember coming here when they sleep. When you have that little ‘epiphany’ you guys called it lucid dreaming. When you realize you’re now in the realm of dream, that’s complete different. That goes beyond understanding that you are in a dream because now you understand that you are in the realm of the personification. Strange how that happens huh?”

“I say. Something tells me I fell asleep on accident and you wanted to talk to me cause…”

“I’m not the holder of this realm?” Dimension finished “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you but you are an elusive son of a bitch. It’s hard to get you to fucking stand still for five fucking minutes.” But he didn’t seem agitated by that even with the sentence of cursing. Keiro couldn’t tell if he was actually serious or just outright kidding. He had to be dreaming, this had to be dream otherwise. Who was he trying to fool though? Himself? For all he knew, there still could be someone in the waking realm just influencing these events. Dimension partially stood, partially sat on the round table with his arms folded. Those eyes, geez those eyes were probably the most beautiful thing that Keiro had seen. They were a bit more entrancing than the gems that covered the throne which his sight was blocked by the personification Dimension.

“All right, so here’s the deal. You are going to become something of a threat if you continue doing what you’re doing. You’re breaking a bit of the stream-or rather the timeline- by doing this…”

Keiro had a puzzled look on his face, finding his words not so much vague as he couldn’t comprehend what he meant. Well if that didn’t sound batshit insane he didn’t know what did. Breaking the timeline? The stream “I’m sorry, you lost me at hello…”

Dimension rolled his eyes. He rolled his eyes? Geez, did the universe shake when he did that? “All right. I’ll put it in simpler terms.” He leans forward “You are supposed to be dead. I know, it sounds crazy but it’s true. You should be dead, as a matter of fact I’m surprise you haven’t spontaneously combust yet.”

Keiro’s bottom lip protruded outright, his head bobbing up and down sarcastic saying ‘sure buddy’ with doubtful staring back at him.

“I’m serious!” Dimension said “At the moment where you were in prison and the door exploded and came rushing towards you, it should’ve crushed right there and then. Kill you outright and yet here you are sleeping in a crappy hotel thinking about leaving to Hot Spring Country. Don’t you remember?”

He did but why he did not question it didn’t fathom at the time. He did find his survival on that day just a tad bit coincidental, seeing that he looted the body of a prison guard, Parkour his way of the prison and just ran his ass off aimlessly wherever he was going. He didn’t care as to where he needed to go, he just needed to get out of there and fast. When he settled down, the events behind him almost felt like a bad dream that he just woke up from. Realizing it wasn’t he known he had to continue otherwise or else someone would find him. There had to be what? A hundred men and women who escaped that place all at once? The shinobi village closest would probably send their military to apprehend them but they were probably reluctant as this was the stronghold of many strong individuals who were tried, judged and some awaiting execution.

He’s standing here now, in a dream nonetheless, realizing that his survival almost seems pre-determined and this being, this Dimension of the Endless and Infinite, was confirming it so. As if reading his mind, Dimension shook his head “It wasn’t pre-determined. Not after you survived that explosion it was. You were supposed to die right then and there but you didn’t. Instead of you, it was the man next to you who died the one with ceiling falling in on him.” Dimension gave Keiro to soak that little chunk of information in. He saw that he fully grasped it and continued “After that, your life was out of the stream, the your life is now in contingency. I’m sure you know what that means.” He did. The future events that could happen but it is not certain. To ascertain such a future meant destroying the odds against him. “It is ideal that you…make sure you don’t break anything of this world Hateshini…Keiro. If you break the world, you only break yourself.”

“I’m still lost.” He shook his head “You’re saying something that goes against something I believe. You’re saying that this ‘stream’ this construct was linear, determined that my life would end so suddenly after I reach the age of twenty-four. You’re saying this and I find it difficult to swallow.” But deep down he didn’t think it was hard to swallow at all. It was easy in fact, almost like he was thirsty and the water he drank was pure, clean and without waste. He drank it heartily and without pause.

“Sometimes it takes some hard realities to become concrete to break the realm of belief. Take it from me, I shouldn’t exist either and yet here I am living and being a personification. The omniverse without dimensions is as insane as water without hydrogen. It’s sometimes difficult to grasp but-in the end-it’s always easy to follow.”

“Dimension” A ethereal voice spoke. A low voice solemn in speech yet despite that it was not hard on the ears. It made Dimension his head towards the direction of the voice. Keiro leaned his body to the left where Dimension had blocked his vision of the throne. What he saw was a man in all white…no a being of all white. It was extremely literal. Sitting in the white throne was a being who had white hair, white skin and white clothing as pure and as clean as light itself. He had his legs crossed, his hands folded on his knees as he looked at both him and Dimension. And those eyes. Geez, those of eyes of his that was almost similar to Dimensions only that the part where it should be the whites of his eyes was black and endless. Dimensions pupil was that color but this being’s eyes were beyond that, beyond what the secrets of the universe held. This being, by default of his appearance, would be-

“You’re Dream of the Endless…” Keiro spoke.

Dimension leaned off the table and moved slightly so both Dream and Keiro could meet eye to eye. Dream tilted his head questionably and raised his lips to an almost unnoticeable smile “That is my ‘official’ title but that is not my name. I’ve had many names before this. Once, I was known as Morpheus, another name I was Daniel. But many have recognized me as The Sandman. However you wish to call me is up to you for you humans are given a choice.”

“This is all…so fantastic.” Keiro spoke “Why am I meeting you two? Is this all but a dream? If it is then you both should be a figment of my imagination.”

“You have questioned that.” The voice of Dream said in that ethereal voice “You will have doubt just as you will doubt many things that your life will partake in. Even with the seeds of doubt that rises in you, do not nourish the seed for it will only spawn bad fruit. You’ve been questioning yourself for some times as to whether you are meant to lead or not, the fear of leadership comes hard on humans. I sealed you here because I knew your spirit would be difficult to capture. After humans are taken off the track, it’s almost difficult for them to be tracked. I had to…break a few rules to get you here.”

“Yeah this guy.” Dimension’s voice, with its informal blunt tone of voice, was completely contrasted to the voice of Dream. “This guy is all about the rules. Breaking the rules for him is like a new thing, it’s so weird dude…”

Dream ignored this “I came here to speak and say just of one thing-“There was a moment pause. What was this being going to say to Keiro? He looked at him wonderingly as a creation would look at his creator. This being was omnipotent in some aspects. He wasn’t God; no he wasn’t everywhere and nowhere for he said that he himself had to break some rules in order for Keiro to stay in this realm. He felt small and insignificant to these two things even if this was a dream and they are a figment of his creation. Dream said “Do not give up hope. Let that seed of hope spread to others where hope has vanish. Do this, Keiro, and remember this meeting well.”

Keiro suddenly woke up. He sat up off the mat; his pulse was beating with rapid succession. He blinked, stared at the surroundings. He was back in the crappy hotel that he smelled of old rust and cigarette smoke. He blinked then proceeded to rub his eyes. “What in the…” he looked and found an electric clock. He had slept for two hours but it felt like he slept for only a few minutes. He got up from the mat and went into the bathroom to splash cold water onto his face. He let out a soft gasp of air because the cold water was almost freezing. Oh, so this place can get cold water like it came from the depths of a freezing lake but hot water was just too much of a commodity? That makes sense. He looks in the mirror and saw his reflection of a man who drenched his face. He looked at his eyes. He stumbled backwards.

“What the fu-“ he couldn’t finish his own disbelief. He looked in the mirror once more, looking hard into his eyes to make sure that everything he was seeing was legitimate. There was no possible way that this was happening.

His eyes are blue…he knew this because his mother’s eyes were just as blue as island seas. It was a trait that he himself picked up from his mother. That, along with his hair was the only thing that came from him. The rest of his features came from his father. His facial features, his body type, everything was almost identical to his father when he was his age. The only thing different was that his father’s hair was jet black hence giving him the title of The Black Death God.

He looked at his eyes. They were a surprising black and brown. He could say it was dark brown but it wasn’t. It would change colors the way he looked at it. When there was no light reflecting to the pupil, it was a hidden black that was a shade darker than black itself. When he looked where there was light, it was still somewhat black but with specks of brown within it the black. His eyes were no longer the color of his mother…it wasn’t even the color of his father’s eyes which were also jet black. It was a mixture of some kind that got rid of the blue itself.

“That wasn’t just a dream was it?” Keiro questioned “When I looked last time, my eyes were blue. They were very, very blue the last time I looked at it. I’m sure of it…” But had he been so sure? Couldn’t it have changed over the course of the following years? No, that’s impossible. Genetics just doesn’t change itself unless there was an outside force. No way in hell could eyes changed colors that dramatically. It was just no way, not possible. It didn’t compute. Yet he was staring at his own eyes and saw that they had changed completely. He was no longer Keiro of the charming blue…no, he was now Keiro of the infinite black. Yeah, they were like the eyes of Dimensions only that he didn’t see the stars or galaxies span outward.

“You will remember this meeting…” the voice of dream spoke again in his mind. And how would Keiro remember it? When he looked into the mirror and saw that his blue eyes had changed. This was his way of saying that it wasn’t just a dream. It was something more than that.

So began the first tale of Hei Shikyo…who will be known to others as ‘Mr. Black”.

[end]