Chapter 1

A/N: This is a spinoff a story of a character from my story: Gone. I had planned for a sub plot in that story for this character but since the plot was already seemingly complicated enough, I took it out altogether. However since I already had a story for them, it seemed like a pity not to write it. So here it is. Please also note there are fewer characters from the 12k universe and more OC because she is from a completely different country. And there really is red kirins in the 12k universe. :D I did research to check if it's possible.

I took the trouble of finding real Kanjis for their names this time, so I'll write it here even if it probably will never be shown again. For example Hisaoki: 玖冲 means black jewel rising into the sky. And our pretty Kirin's hourai name is Amaya Tsukino (family name): 雨夜 月埜which means night rain on a moon field. I hope the irony is not lost on you.


Yoko looked out over the garden. Under the thin silver of the moon, only the white snowdrops were visible and the barest reflection of the moon on the still pond. She could hear the soft swishing of the unkai from the depths of her room. It had been her solace since Shouryu had passed away. She hummed a tune, her hands itching to play her gittern. Nights like this always made her long to play the gittern, but to play the gittern would mean waking people up and it was something Yoko would dearly like to avoid on this night. Perhaps it was a habit since Shouryu and her used to do so, but Yoko thought that maybe it was because nights like these made her melancholy.

However unlike most of her usual nights, what Yoko had on her mind were of things that she had thought of for hundreds of years: her home in Japan, her family that had long passed away. It was not just the night that made her think of these things, it was also because of the sleeping figure in the bed.

Yoko turned to gaze at the figure. Her red mane fanned out, spilling over and onto her snow white pelt. This was the kirin of Shun. Freckles of iridescent red spotted down her pelt. Yoko had always thought that Keiki's beast form was beautiful but Shunrin's beast form was breath-taking. It had been told that the taika Taiki, Kaname Takasato, had a beast form that was extremely majestic, more so than any normal kirin. She never had the privilege of seeing so for Kirins rarely revert to their beast forms except in front of their masters, but she was certain that Shunrin's beast form was equally beautiful, if not even more so than Kaname Takasato's.

She fretted for this magnificent kirin. Taika kirins never turned out too well. Their forms were too closely linked to their shells in Hourai resulting in them being Hinna. Immature kirins often developed into small bodies and occasionally immature mindsets which made it difficult for them to carry out their duties.

It had been a hard four years for all of them. Yoko had done her best to find Shunrin. Now that Rokuta had passed away, there were no other taika Kirins that could take over his position. She had ordered Keiki to procure more shirei in order to increase the radius that the shirei could search for. Nevertheless, they had succeeded and with the help of the gogoukanda from Ren, they brought her back.

Shunrin had fared considerably better than Kaname Takasato had. They had found her fast enough and her body had instinctively reverted to her beast form upon arriving in Kei.

Truth to be told, there was no reason why Yoko should remain in the room. Shunrin had her nyokai to care and protect her. As soon as Shunrin woke up, she would be moved to Mount Hou to be looked after the nyosen. Yoko's part had ended here the moment she came from Hourai and into 12 Kingdoms. However Yoko felt a strange connection to the kirin and since the nyokai did not mind Yoko, she stayed there watching the sleeping form of the kirin.


When Amaya woke up, she became aware of a feathered arm cradling her. She looked up to a smiling face of a person with long black feathers as hair and wolf like eyes. It was from the back of her mind that she unconsciously knew her name.

'Hisaoki,'she spoke. The words did not really form in her mouth but rather in her mind yet she knew that the receiving person had heard her. It was the most peculiar feeling. No she was not a person, Amaya corrected herself. She was a Nyokai.

'Where am I?' she asked, her eyes wandering about her. It was a simply furnished room but the furnishings were not cheap. She reminded herself to act more childlike. More than often, she had appeared too intelligent to the adults around her that they felt unsure how to act around her. But where ever she was at, she knew she was safe. Hisaoki made sure of that. There was a sense of comfort being in Hisaoki's arms.

That was when she realized her nose was longer than she remembered it to be. Her body felt heavier than it used to as well. She turned to see her white pelt and brightly polished red hoofs. She was a kirin and in her beast form. Such knowledge came to her naturally despite how strange it felt.

"Shunrin."

She heard the low pitched voice of a man. There was the slightest shiver as the voice sounded through her. It was the faintest tone of that no man could hear; the melody that only kirins could hear and youmas fell to its prey. It was the tone of command, assertion, sympathy, compassionate; a tone that had no words that could describe it accurately for only kirins possessed it. It was this way that they knew without a doubt that they were kirins.

She knew without being told that he was Kirin of Kei.

"I see you had no issues with switching your forms," he said, pursing his lips. An odd statement as though to state that she might have had issues with changing her forms.

Amaya did not know how to react to such a statement. She struggled with herself for several moments, her unaccustomed weight of her body made her unbalanced. With the small thought of wishing to be her normal self, she shrank. She found it was as natural as taking a breath except for the peculiar change in weight. She felt the drape of the warm blanket across her before she could even shiver.

Keiki stood over her, having just dropped the blanket over her.

"I apologize for my master's rude behavior. We had been searching for you for four years. As there is no taika Kirin, it had been exceedingly difficult. I expect she fell asleep here watching you thinking that you are finally here."

The words the Kirin used were unfamiliar to Amaya as the name Shunrin that they seemed to have given her. She could hear Hisaoki's protests to Amaya's unhappiness to the name Shunrin.

"Your majesty-" the blonde kirin shook her gently.

Yoko woke up with a start. Violet eyes framed by pale gold hair stared down at her. She must have fallen asleep, having been lulled to sleep by the soft sounds of the unkai. Swerving her head to the bed, green eyes met the crimson red. Shunrin was awake and well enough to transform into her human form. She was equally beautiful in her human form. Beautiful but small as a typical four year old was. She had a head full of hair red like hers and eyes that matched its intensity and full of curiosity.

Yoko supposed the first thing she had to ask was her name.

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Amaya Tsukino," Amaya replied, glad finally someone had the civility of asking her name instead of naming her.

"It's a pretty name," Yoko said with a ghost of a smile lingering on her usually stern lips. "They call you Shunrin because you are the kirin to the country Shun and you are female."

Yoko could see the quiet confusion on Amaya's face clear upon hearing her words. People in this realm tend to believe that one would naturally understand the world. The measurement they use to the way the system worked, there was nothing similar to Hourai. Yoko would have scoffed had someone from the 12 kingdoms told her that there were heavenly beasts that selected the kings for each kingdom had she not been put through it herself.

"You were born on a tree in Mount Hou, but your eggfruit was swept by a storm into Japan and you were birthed in Japan."

Amaya nodded, she knew this without having to be told. Though he had been worried, it seemed that most of Keiki's fears had been nulled. She had not stayed long enough in Hourai to forget most of the latent knowledge that a Kirin was born with. It was clear as the way she had been able to easily control her form.

Unsure of what else to say, Yoko nodded to Shunrin.

"It is good to see that you are well enough," was all Yoko could think of. "Inform us should you require any assistance."

Yoko walked off, her plain brown ministerial robes fluttering as she did much like how Yoko's stomach felt. Amaya had seen many adults but Yoko was by far the sternest she had seen. Her lips were pulled so tightly and thinly together that it seemed almost like a straight line. Her green eyes stared at Amaya as though they could see through her every thought. The master of this Kirin was fierce and scary yet Amaya could sense the softness beneath her that she seemed so ardent in hiding.