I do not own Kyo Kara Maoh! or its characters. They belong to Tomo Takabayashi. Only Kim, my OC belongs to me. I make no profit or value for writing this. It is simply done for creative mind's sake.

Woo! First fanfic ever! I wanted to try an interesting idea…the ANTI-OC! That's right. I want a made up character that isn't insanely awesome and actually handles the situation as a real person would, with panic attacks, disbelief and the self doubt that everyone faces at one time or another in a seemingly bizarre scenario. This story will be Romance/Humor in genre for now, as it doesn't have a truly serious nature for quite some time. I wish to make my OC a side character. In a TV series, the introduction of a new non-main character NEVER takes top priority over the MAIN characters originally established, so neither will my character, though I do hope to make the OC a decent add in to the KKM family. And yes, it is listed as a Wolfram/Yuuri romance fic, since I intend to go into the tribulations of their relationship. Feel free to tell me whether or not you think I should simply move this story to reside under the "All Character" setting. Please let me know what you think. Reviews welcome, flames only acceptable if they give worthwhile constructive criticism on what it is they despise and could be improved upon. Also, this is an un-beta chapter, as I have yet to find one. Oops.

There's One in Every Kingdom

Prologue

83 years ago…

It was an unnerving silence. No sound could be heard other than the flickering of the candles, and the sound of crickets chirping outside. The slight shifting of armor seemed more like the clashing of pans in the long corridor. The daintiest step magnified and clapping like thunder in the tense quiet. Just waiting…waiting. At the end of the hallway stood the immense, twin stone doors; the ones that every eye was trained on. A few glanced at the two armor clad guards right outside the formidable entrance, the same question in all their eyes. The guards placed their ears to the doors and were still a moment. After a few tense seconds, they drew away shaking their heads.

A piercing wail broke the silence of the night, echoing off the temple walls. It was a high, feeble cry; an infant's cry. The temple maidens and guards visibly relaxed, letting out a breath none of them were aware they had been holding as they had awaited the only sound that would signify a safe delivery.

"A boy, milady," The Priestess' soothing voice was soft next to the infant's. She cooed gently to the child before placing him in his mother's trembling arms. The weary woman looked down in awe at her wondrous creation. From his pale and tiny fingernails, to his light dusting of eyebrows and even his fine, rows of eyelashes, he was as perfect as she ever could have hoped. The little boy hiccupped and fell quiet, gazing up with large emerald eyes, sniffling as his mother smiled tiredly down at him. She lifted a shaking hand to caress his porcelain skin and laughed softly as her son tried to gain enough control over his small hands to grasp at her finger.

"Is he going to be alright? He wasn't supposed to be born this early."

The Priestess didn't respond right away, instead opting to wave over a shrine maiden carrying a golden rimmed bowl. Several other maidens padded back and forth across the room tending to the new mother and cleaning up the place between her feet. The mother's forehead was being carefully dabbed at with a linen cloth when the maiden with the heavy bowl finally made it to the center of the room. The liquid in the bowl sloshed and churned, the familiar scent of jasmine perfume filling the air over their heads.

"Don't spill a drop, Dieter," The priestess scolded, "It's sacred. You wouldn't want to offend the spirits, would you?" The young maiden shook her head and bowed apologetically as she placed the bowl down at the Priestess' feet. Without raising her head, she back stepped to the edge of the room, eyes transfixed to the floor in reverence.

"Well? Is my baby alright or not?" The mother raised herself up slightly, ignoring the hands that tired to lay her back down against the pillows. She shifted the child in her arms as she stared at the Miko before her. The weariness of childbirth was beginning to fade, anxiety taking its place. "Please, I have to know." It was never easy for a woman to know her child was premature. In their land, an early birth was a bad omen and usually was followed by the death of the child before it was even old enough to crawl. Since no healer could find answers as to why a child was born early, there was little they could do to help prevent its death soon after.

One of the women surrounding the concerned mother reached out and pushed aside the curls plastered to her forehead with sweat. She jerked her head away, flashing a small smile at the maiden and shaking her head as she turned back to the honored Temple woman.

The Priestess summoned forth another woman from the corner of the room. The woman approached on soft footsteps and came to stand at the Priestess' side. In her outstretched palms rested a small, brass cup with griffon clawed feet. Two fragrant sticks pointed up out of the cup. The priestess took one in each hand and placed the tips to her lips, blowing gently. When she pulled away, the tips were lit, thin wisps of smoke trailing into the air and smelling strongly of Ginseng and ginger. She handed them over to two of the maidens at the mother's side and leaned forward to inspect the newborn babe. The baby gurgled and kicked his feet lively as his swaddling was unwrapped. The priestess rolled him over in his mother's arm, a smile quirking her lips slightly as he tried to burrow into the ringlets that draped across his mother's shoulders. She ran a long fragile finger down his back, tracing the curves of his spine and following the path of his vertebrates. She flipped him back over and pressed gently on his small, rounded belly. The baby giggled and waved his arms as her own goldenrod tresses fell around him like a curtain. Catching one of the flailing hands, she smoothed the pads of her fingers over the lines in his palm, and then moved unto his other hand. She tapped every finger; she prodded every toe. After examining the soles of his feet, she stood up and looked at the golden haired woman calmly.

"The child will be fine, "She murmured, "He has a fighting spirit in him. I would almost say he has the…fire of life. " She smiled knowingly, ignoring the confused expressions on a few maidens' faces. The mother sighed and slumped back into the pillows. Relieved she glanced back down at her son and nuzzled her face in the soft golden curls that adorned his head. She breathed in deeply and relished the scent of her precious child.

A knock startle the small group of women out of their peaceful calm. They turned to the large doors as they creaked open and the head of a guard poked through. "Pardon me, my Liege," He bowed to the floor, gesturing with his head towards the woman and child resting on the center dais table, "but your sons are getting rather persistent on entering." He gave a sheepish grin at the end. To think he would have such difficult containing two mere boys.

The woman on the table laughed joyfully and nodded. The guard's head vanished through the door, only for it to open wider and let in two boys. The older of the two stormed forward, his dark hair pulled back tightly at the nape of his neck and a frown etched across his face. He seemed to have gone to the trouble of getting dressed to be here, despite the late hour of night. His brother followed less hurriedly behind him, smiling warmly at his mother. His hair was mussed slightly from sleep, though it seemed that his brother may have scuffled with him in the hall to straighten it, for the front left side was smoothed down and parted away from his face. His warm brown eyes fell upon the bundle in his mother's arm and he quicken his pace a little, almost skipping past his elder at the last second and earning quite the glare for it.

"Mother." Both boys bowed in greeting and then leaned forward to hug their mother awkwardly around the wriggling infant she held. She took in their grinning faces happily, (well one of them was grinning), but then frowned, her eyes scanning the door behind them. "Where's-"

"His Lordship could not make it."Her eldest son interrupted stiffly, "he had dire matters with the warring northern border to attend to."

His mother sighed and shook her head in amusement. Her husband was always busy these days. The one set back to him gaining her rule while she was with child, was that he would be required to handle every single dispute that broke out in her absence, no matter how late at night or early in the morning it may be.

She adjusted the child in her arms once more as she felt him nuzzling at her breast. Shifting slightly, she allowed one of the temple maidens to pulled down the side of her dress and raise the baby up to his mother for his first meal. "Mother!" Her eldest looked away in embarrassment, his frown seeming to slip further into place.

"You know, if you keep frowning like that, you're bound to get wrinkles on that handsome face." His frown only seemed to deepen at that comment. His mother couldn't help but chuckle, "Just like your father."

Her eldest merely snorted at her, his expression softening a bit as he risked another glance at the tiny newborn. The baby was fed in relative silence, suckling being the only sound heard until the baby fell asleep, and his mother covered herself once more.

Her middle child peered down at the baby, "This is our new brother, mother." It was more of an awe-struck statement than a question. She nodded her head the slightest bit at him and watched as he reached down to play with the gold tufts of hair on the newborn's tiny head. "He sure is puny," her oldest mumbled, receiving an elbow to the ribs from his brother and a tsk from his mother. He "hmphed" at them with the slightest ghost of his own smile and turned his stern eyes on the Priestess at the foot of the table. She titled her chin towards him in recognition and kneeled down to lift the heavy bowl she had had the maiden place before her, raising it up with surprising ease with her small delicate hands. She plucked one of the lighted incense from earlier out of her maiden's hand and waved it in graceful arcs of the infants head, the golden bowl balanced perfectly on one hand. "Ginseng for the soft at heart," She whispered. As the words left her lips, quiet whispers filled the air. They spoke in a strange, indiscernible language. The priestess seemed unfazed by this and continued on. Replacing the stick in the first woman's hand and switching to the other incense, she repeated the gesture again. The smoke swirled and danced in the dim candle light, entrancing the small babe as he gazed up sleepily, his nap cut short, "Ginger for the fiercest spirit" more hushed whispers. She set that incense back also and dipped on hand into the bowl. With the barest of touches, she ran her thumb over the child's forehead and down the tip of his nose. She placed her palm flat out on his belly and ever so slowly lifted it away, starting with the edge of her palm and ending with the very tips of her fingers until she was no longer touching the child. "And Jasmine for the sweetest and most beautiful of life's treasures" the strange uttering seemed more like hisses in the fire lit room.

The Priestess dipped her hand once more into the oil and dripped it over the baby and mother together. She raised the bowl high into the air over her head as the maidens back away from the dais to from a circle around the outside of the room, chins tucked to their chests and hands clasped together.

"Let it be known," The priestess called out loudly, "that this babe has been received into the world under the watchful eye of Shinou. Sanctified by me, the Oracle herself, and given to his mother's bosom, I welcome in this new life in the name of Shin Makoku, as Prin-"

"LADY ONDINE!"

The doors flew open and banged loudly against the walls. The child began to yowl loudly in fear at the sudden noise, causing his mother to draw him close and scowl disapprovingly at the figure that had entered. Her frown, however, was quickly replaced with shock at seeing a young girl, as young in appearance as the Priestess herself, fast approaching, robes of lavender billowing wildly behind her.

The young girl scurried towards them and stopped just short of the Priestess herself. In her arms she clutched a rather aged and tattered scroll. The Priestess quirked an eyebrow at her and set the bowl down; silently giving her permission to speak.

"Lady Ondine, you must look at this. It concerns the child!" At this the woman and her sons stiffen visibly, the baby being shelter more protectively in his mother's embrace. "What is it? What is wrong with my brother?" The middle child curled over his baby brother, his fearful gaze matched only by the anger in his older brother's stare.

The head priestess and Oracle straighten to her full stature. She threw out a commanding hand to the temple maidens. "All of you leave us. And Shinou help the poor soul who should try to listen in where their prying ears are not welcome!" With that, the maidens scurried out in timid whispers and scolding hushes.

Lady Ondine accepted the scroll from the young girl and laid it out at the edge of the table. The boys gasped as the unroll parchment reveal an intricate star map, covered in miniscule runes and symbols. Lady Ondine bowed her lithe frame over the worn parchment, as aged and frayed at the edges as she was young and spry in face and body. With the slightest tap of her finger, the map began to shift and alter on the scroll, like waves in water, circling and spinning in sporadic patterns. The constellations spun and intertwined in an assortment of webs and spirals. The planets switched through several different epicycles, almost like indecisive dance partners or fickle lovers. Two particular worlds circled each other in an endless waltz, the only two to never leave their partner's side. The girl traced a certain path in the runes, murmuring in hushed tones to the Oracle, the same hushed language as before. All the while, Lady Ondine looked on, her brows knitted into a slight frown of concentration.

Suddenly, the map stopped, the stars aligning themselves and stilling as though they had never moved. The parchment was just a mere piece of paper again.

"Well Lady Ondine? Lady Ulrike? What does it say?" The golden haired beauty was all but shouting, her voice breaking in trepidation.

It was Lady Ulrike that spoke.

Slowly, the childlike Priestess looked up into the eyes of her ruler. "It would seem," She began, "that the fates have quite a plan in store for us all, Heika"…

TO BE CONTINUED…