Disclaimer applies…
A/N: the first sentence is actually a fact. The majority of people cannot remember anything from before the approximate age of three…can you remember anything before then? I can't.
Now, for those of you who haven't read my fic the Ryuukin, you won't have met my OC, Inari Kimiko, yet…I hope you'll all give her a chance, she didn't have it as easy as she should have growing up…
PART ONE – EARLY YEARS
EARLY CHILDHOOD
KIMIKO
It was thought, that a person's earliest memory came from the time when they were around three years old. This left Inari Kimiko with a window of only a little over a year of childhood memories where she was happy…and even then the majority of these memories and special times would not stay with her as she grew.
At the age of four, Kimiko's paternal grandmother arrived to take her away. "For a better life; a better education," her mother had claimed with tears in her odd eyes and a sad smile on her lips.
"Be strong," were Inari Maeko's last words to her only child.
The short six months that Kimiko spent with her grandmother were awkward and restricting compared to how she had grown up, but it was deemed necessary for her to learn the ways and mannerisms of the royal court; but her Obaa-sama* was obviously fond of her, as was the guard assigned to protect her, so they helped to ease the transition somewhat.
When her Obaa-sama passed away from a sudden and crippling illness, Kimiko didn't really understand, but soon enough her life was turned upside down again and she knew it would never be the same when, instead of being sent home to her mother, she was sent to the royal court to live with the King and his family.
Her first time meeting the Spirit King – the man she found out later in her lifetime was her father – and his wife and seven children, Kimiko could see the hatred and resentment in some of their eyes; and she couldn't help but be thankful that Mamoru, her guard, had decided to stay with her, as he soon became the only person to care for her and help her.
"Why do they all stare and whisper about me and my hair?" Kimiko wondered one night not long after her arrival at the castle while Mamoru brought her her dinner. "Is it because it is the same as some of the Royal-ke?"
"It is a very unusual shade Kimi-sama," Mamoru tried to pacify her.
Kimiko's unusual eyes narrowed. Those eyes were something to behold.
With her left eye a beautiful shade of amber, almost orange in colour; and her right eye a vivid shade of blue; it was easy to get draw into them.
A glare from those eyes was a frightening thing, even though she was still so young.
"Don't lie. Why do they all hate me? I'm only almost five, I've never done anything to them."
Mamoru paused, trying to think of a way to explain without telling the cleverly perceptive child the absolute truth he had been banned from revealing.
"Is it because the queen hates me?"
Mamoru was surprised by the question. It was very true that if the queen hadn't made it so…known, Kimiko would have had a few more…friends.
"You are far too perceptive for your age Kimi-sama,"
"My kaasan never treated me like a baby," Kimiko told him, as if that explained everything.
"How are your classes?" Mamoru sat with her as she ate.
"Harder than Obaa-sama's," Kimiko started on her rice. "Sakura-hime is much smarter than some of her brothers…and smarter than me, they seem to all take pleasure in that small fact."
"I think, and your honored Obaa-sama believed, that someday you'll outshine us all…and that includes the royals," Mamoru smiled kindly. "They don't know the truth about your reiatsu after all."
"It is pretty strong, isn't it?" Kimiko grinned the innocent pride of a child.
The following night, Mamoru was watching helplessly as she wiped tears from her eyes. Like most men, he became useless when faced with a female's tears.
Hisoka, the youngest of the princes, had taken a good verbal stab at her in front of some nobles about the fact that her hair shouldn't be the same as theirs.
Kimiko had taken it gracefully, not saying a word in return or showing any hint of the reaction he had hoped to receive from her in order to get her into trouble.
"I know what you can do, Kimi-sama," Mamoru brightened with his idea and went to her trunk, searching through it until he found what he was looking for and pulled out a section of silky emerald green material her obaa-sama had given her.
"Allow me," he knelt behind her and struggled with the cascade of long pale blonde locks until he had it all in something that resembled a bun. He then went on to wrap the material around her head effectively hiding her hair. "My wife always says that beautiful things should be kept hidden in order to dazzle people when they are seen. Now people wont question your hair, but instead will be dazzled by it whenever it is revealed."
Kimiko smiled radiantly, making her eyes crinkle into crescent moons and her face glow.
It was the first and last time Mamoru saw such a beautiful smile.
As the days went by, Kimiko's visage began to grow colder; her eyes hardening; her happy childhood years truly cut short.
She was always alone except for her hovering guard; the Spirit King's wife had everyone wary of Kimiko – the nobles would rather ignore one girl than get on the queen's bad side – they avoided and ignored her, snubbed her in public. No one spoke to her if they could help it; except for her half-siblings when they teased and ridiculed her.
One day after classes, when she was still five years old, sitting beneath the snow-covered skeleton of a sakura tree, white all around her, Kimiko finally found a friend.
"Konnichiwa," the boy greeted, seeming to appear from thin air, startling her.
His face was expressionless but his strangely coloured eyes danced with mirth.
"What are you doing out here alone?" he wondered, crouching beside her to see the figures she had made from the snow. "Those are very pretty."
Kimiko stared at him for a long moment.
He appeared to be about her age and height; he was skinny and his skin and hair were as white as the snow that surrounded them.
What fascinated her the most was those eyes.
They seemed to change colour every time something moved…they looked as if they were just reflecting all the colours around them.
The boy smiled under her scrutiny.
"Aren't you going to speak to me?"
"Why are you speaking to me?" Kimiko frowned in genuine confusion. "Nobody speaks to me."
The smile turned into a cheeky grin.
"But that's exactly why I'm here. I'm going to be your new friend. The forever kind that never leaves no matter what."
Kimiko continued to stare thoughtfully at him for a moment.
Finally her face softened, just a little, but still enough.
"That would be nice," she conceded, then she thought of something that made her visage harden again. "The queen isn't ordering you to make me trust you, is she?"
The boy chuckled huskily. "Such big mistrust from one so young," he shook his head. "The queen will never know who I am. She won't be able to find me, or use me, or sway me. I'm yours, not hers. I can prove that as time goes on, if you'll let me."
Kimiko watched him in silence for a time, considering his offer before she finally nodded.
"I guess we'll see."
"Good," the boy grinned radiantly. "For now you can call me Ki-kun and I'll call you Kimiko-sama."
Kimiko wrinkled her nose in disgust at the honorific.
Ki laughed. "I think you deserve the title, for putting up with the wicked majiyo* and her offspring," he said, as if reading her thoughts. "And I'm never going to call you with anything but respect."
As time passed quickly by, those closest to Kimiko noticed the slight change in her.
The more she opened up and trusted Ki, the more a secretive sparkle came to her eerie eyes.
It was only a year after she met Ki that she found out the truth.
One sunny autumn afternoon when she was six years old, Hisoka confronted her about being overheard talking to herself.
When she finally confessed about Ki, Daigoro, Tomishiro and Eiichi (A/N: princes in age order, youngest to oldest) burst into laughter along with their youngest brother.
"So you're imagining people now too?" Daigoro laughed.
"No, Ki-kun is real," she retorted stubbornly, trying to bring up her ice façade to defend against their insults.
"Is he with you now?" Eiichi wondered.
"No,"
"Kimi-sama?" Mamoru approached her, seeing she was losing herself.
"Mamoru-san," she turned pleading eyes to his. "Ki-kun is real, tell them…you've seen me play with him."
Mamoru pulled his eyes away, he couldn't admit to something he hadn't seen.
Kimiko's shoulders slumped and for the first time since her trusted guard had hidden her hair from view, she felt tears prick her eyes.
Tomishiro laughed again. "See, Ki-kun isn't real."
"Inari-san," Sakura, the only Ryu-Kin princess, spoke up, but cut herself off when Kimiko's tear filled gaze met her own orange-amber eyes.
Since coming to live at court, Kimiko had had to deal with a lot of cruel jokes and gossip; but never had any of them seen her lose her composure as she was doing now.
When Tomishiro began to open his mouth again, Kimiko ran from the room before she could hear what he had to say.
She made it as far as the tree where she had first met Ki before she broke down, collapsing to her knees with sobs raking her small body. She did everything in her power to not make a sound; to curl up and not draw any attention to herself.
She was so withdrawn that she didn't notice when the silent rain started to fall all around.
Passersby marveled at the rain that fell so silently, but didn't notice the crying girl.
The princes, Sakura and Mamoru hung back, all having followed, but none knowing what to do next.
"Ki-kun," Kimiko whispered to herself. "You're real right? You said," she trailed off on a rarely repressed sob.
'Of course I'm real,'
Kimiko started when she heard his voice.
'I'm always with you Kimiko-sama, didn't I say I would be?'
"They don't believe me; they say I'm imagining you,"
'But that's true in some ways; I have yet to properly exist,' Ki sounded apologetic. 'But I think it's time that I did…if I tell you my real name, will you call it out?"
"Mh," Kimiko nodded once.
'Then I guess it's time to show them what we're made of. Kimiko-sama, gather your reiatsu around you. Remember how I told you?'
"Mh," she nodded again and closed her eyes, gathering her reiatsu.
People watched on in shocked silence as the air around the six year old, King's ward distorted, as small rainbows appeared to shimmer in and out of focus around her and gravity seemed to get heavier.
The quaking of the earth itself from the force of her reiatsu brought others running.
Many witnessed the moment when time seemed to slow; when a rip seemed to appear in the very fabric of existence.
A whispered call of "Kiyoshi" and with a flash of blinding light a katana appeared.
From the tip of the blade to the edge of the hilt, the katana appeared to be as big as the girl that held it.
The skies calmed and the ground stopped protesting as Kimiko reeled in her reiatsu, wiped the last of her tears away and stood.
"Kimi-sama," Mamoru moved to her side, awe evident on his face.
"Ki-kun is real," she looked to him, her expression blank and as cold as ever. "See," she held up the katana.
"Mamoru-san," the king himself arrived in a flurry of anger. "Why is my innocent young ward holding a katana?" he demanded.
"Heika*, that's no ordinary katana,"
"Nani?" the king frowned and looked down to study the blade. "Kimiko-chan, may I hold it for a moment?" he asked of the child he was not allowed to acknowledge as his daughter.
Kimiko handed over the gleaming blade, and he took it carefully, surprised by the weight of it.
The moment his flesh touched it, Zentaro could feel the hum of power. A power that was greater than many of the royal guards that were more than twice her age…a power that was still immature.
"Sugoi*," the king's amber eyes widened as he studied it, taking in the silver rectangular hilt guard with diamond shapes set into it.
The weave on the hilt was as emerald as the headscarf she always wore and just as silky to the touch. The blade was just as silver as the guard and had a series of foreign symbols engraved into it near the hilt guard.
"Sugoi," Zentaro repeated. "Kimiko-chan, I am so proud of you," he smiled down at her.
Kimiko's eyes lit briefly, though her face showed no change; and quickly disappeared again when the queen arrived at her husband's side.
"Anata*, what is going on?" Saika questioned, glancing between the king's smiling face and the child that was his shame.
"Kimiko-chan summoned her zanpakutou," Zentaro smiled at his wife. "Look at it, isn't it beautiful?"
The queen seemed barely able to contain her jealous rage. None of her own children had achieved such a feet yet.
"What's it's name, Kimiko-chan?"
"Kiyoshi," Kimiko took the blade back from him. "And Ki-kun, he says he likes you better now."
The king looked surprised for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Did he not like me before?"
Kimiko shook her head.
"Does Ki-kun know if you'll be able to reach shikai some day soon?"
Kimiko shook her head again. "He says we're still too young, we don't have our purpose yet. Until we have one, we wont know what to call to go into shikai."
"All in good time then," Zentaro lay a gentle hand on her shoulder briefly "In the meantime, Kiyoshi needs a resting place. We need to have a sheath made up."
"Ki-kun says he wants it purple,"
"Why is that?"
"Because it's our favourite colour."
Zentaro chuckled and led her away.
"I think I could make that happen."
A/N: sorry this was a little delayed in being typed and posted, I went away for a few days…please leave me a review so I know what you thought…and if anyone ever wants to know what Kimiko looks like, there are a few images on my deviant page which can be accessed via my profile.
*Obaa = grandmother…
*Majiyo = witch
*Kiyoshi = the name has several meanings; the first I found was "bright, shinning, clear" I also found "quiet" and "quiet child/one"
*Heika = highness
*Sugoi = amazing
*Anata = dear/darling what a woman calls her husband