A/N: Stop... prequel time. Oh yeah, and I just made up Kiku's parents. Look, I didn't know what to do, okay? Plus, Ferdinand is Germania. I also made up a wife for him.

There were four kingdoms in this land of Wonderland. The Spades, who controlled time, the Clubs, who controlled the weather and seasons, the Diamonds, who preserved and kept all forms of art, and the Hearts, who controlled all aspects of human love. In each kingdom's opinion, they represented the most powerful force in the universe. However, the Kingdom of the Hearts was always believed to be the most powerful out of all. Love was strong. It grew stronger through time, was not weathered by seasons, and was everywhere in art. That is where this story takes place. Deep in the Kingdom of the Hearts was the Monastery of Hearts, where the most powerful man in all the Kingdom, the Ace, made his home.

"Your wife's pregnancy is going terrific," said one of the monks at the monastery of Hearts, Romulus, as he washed his hands. "Your daughter will be a prefect wife to the king's son, I can assure you, your Acehood."

The Ace of Hearts, Xia, smiled. "Excellent, excellent. King Ferdinand has been hoping to leave a strong successor, and he can't have that unless his son has an obedient wife."

"You don't have to worry about a thing, your Acehood. Now, your wife will be giving birth any day now so keep careful watch over her," Romulus said, unconcerned.

"Of course, of course. I love my wife and my child," Xia said.

Romulus nodded. "Indeed. Rest assured, everything will be fine so you shall not have to worry."

Romulus bowed to Xia and left the room. Xia was pleased to hear the progress of his wife. As Ace of the Kingdom of Hearts, he needed to provide the King of Hearts an excellent wife for his son, as was tradition. The king would have a son and the Ace would have a daughter. They were to be married to keep the royal line as pure and well-bred as possible. The king's line was of ancient pedigree. There hadn't been one bad link in the familial chain for many years. It was far too long again for anyone in recent memory to recall. Besides, that was only because the Ace's wife birthed a son, and not a daughter and the king son's and the Ace's son were still were forced to marry. That was a rare case indeed. It wouldn't happen to Xia, no way. He'd been a good man of faith. His wife was obedient and kind. They paid their dues. Romulus told him everything was going to be fine. He trusted that monk deeply.

As they would find it, the Ace of Heart's wife gave birth only one day after. "Just like I said, sir, everything went fine," Romulus said, laughing nervously.

Xia frowned. "What's wrong, Romulus? How is our daughter?"

Romulus grinned awkwardly. "That's the thing, your Acehood. Now, er, don't be angry, but your wife, uh, gave birth to a male."

Xia paled. "Wh... What do you mean she gave birth to-"

"Your Acehood, I'm sorry, but your wife has bore a son. It's best you speak with her about the whole affair." Romulus quickly left the presence of the Ace.

The Ace was frowning deeply. He opened the chamber where his wife was. "M-My lord," her voice quivered. "I'm sorry. I didn't want..."

"It's not your fault," Xia sighed. "I don't know what went wrong, but we have to deal with this."

His wife held the hild in her arms. "Do you wish to see him?" she asked, holding him out, arms shaking weakly.

Xia took the child. He glanced down at his child, all wrapped in pink cloth. He didn't look half-bad, but Xia knew the king would be angry, or at least displeased. "What shall we be naming him, Michiko?" the Ace asked.

"I suppose what we were planning to name him," Michiko said, eyes downcast. "Kiku. It's a unisex name."

Xia nodded. "Ah. Kiku." He looked down at his son. "You better make me proud, Kiku. We're counting on you."

~'...'~

The King of Hearts was not happy to hear that news. "So your wife has gven birth to a son," Ferdinand said in an unwavering voice.

The Ace bowed his head. "Yes, my dear king Ferdinand. I do not wish to make you angry, but perhaps my wife, she could have another child-"

"You know the first-born can only be wed to my own first-born," Ferdinand said, tenting his ringed-fingers. His wife, Ostara, was sitting beside him on another throne. She was pregnant as well, and appeared nervous. "When my son is grown up, he shall marry your son, your Acehood Xia. We will have to make it work. It is tradition and we must not break it."

Xia sighed. "I understand, my king Ferdinand. Kiku will grow up to be the perfect bride for your son."

"I expect so," Ferdinand said sternly.

Xia left the king's court. Everything would be fine. Kiku would be brought up as femininely as possible.

~'...'~

It would later be discovered that Kiku's future husband would not be born until well into Kiku's childhood. It was apparent that Ostara had lost the child she carried, though Ferdinand's appearance during their conversation said otherwise. Xia did not push it. Kiku grew up around many servants and their own children. Kiku generally associated himself with the children only, and ignored the adults. Junsa Mito, Noto Kanazawa, Homare Aizu, and Tsukomi Osaka were all of his young friends. Friends could be used loosely. Kiku often bullied them since he was a higher rank than they were. "You know what I love about being the son of an Ace?" a six year-old Kiku asked his friend Mito (the same age) one day, grinning.

Mito glanced at him. "What?"

"I can basically do anything I want," Kiku purred.

Mito blinked. "You think so?" he asked, studying his friend.

Kiku nodded feverishly. "Yes! I can show you!" Kiku threw himself onto Mito's back, who fell forward onto his stomach. Kiku started pulling Mito's short ponytail, giggling.

Mito whined, "Stop it, Kiku! That hurts!" Some monks and servants passed by but they had to ignore it. This was normal. Completely normal.

Kiku, holding Mito's ponytail in one hand, tapped his chin with the other hand. "Hmmmm... okay." He let go of Mito's hair and removed himself from the other boy's back. "I'm letting you go. Why? because I can do whatever I want!"

The other boy stood up, lightly rubbing his head where it stung from being pulled at. "That doesn't mean you can be mean to me," he hissed.

Kiku snorted and rolled his eyes. "Oh, whatever. It couldn't have hurt that bad. I'm a femenane boy. My grip is soft. Mother said so. I'm a proper aristacat." Mito grumbled and left Kiku alone.

"Hey, wait up!" Kiku said anxiously, following his friend. "I don't like being alone, you know."

"That's what you're going to be when you grow up."

"Nuh-uh, I'm going to be married to the king's son. Father said it's tradition," Kiku said proudly.

Mito scoffed. "What a queen you'll be. We'll be lucky if the Hearts even exists after you're done with it."

Kiku giggled. "That won't happen. It'll take at least two generations to do that!" he said, smiling. "You'll be happy when I'm queen, Mito. I'll make you some sort of special thing in my government. Why? 'Cause I can do anything I want."

"Kiku!" His mother's voice called from nearby a fountain to the right of the two boys. "Mother and Father'll be taking you to King Ferdinand. He wishes to see the boy he'll be marrying his son to!"

Kiku grinned at Mito and ran over to his mother, who took his tiny hand into her own. His father was on his other side. As they walked from the monastery, Kiku said, "I can't wait to meet King Ferdynand! Is he nice?"

"Not exactly," Xia replied, "but he is a good man." He sighed softly. "A very, very good man."

A/N: First chapter! Did you like it?