Year of the Boar, Second Month, Day 27.

I hesitate to use the word "prodigy" about myself, although others have on more than one occasion... At my Mother's insistence, I began plucking the strings of the koto when I was two years old. I found that I liked it but, more than that, that I had a talent for it. More than that I liked, no, loved the attention it afforded me. When my Mother was entertaining, she would make me play for her guests after which I would be passed around from lap to lap, praised and petted and fed sweets from the tips of their fingers until I fell asleep and was carried to bed by one of them... By 5, I had learnt to play Hishinuma's famous koto concerto a piece which many adult musicians cannot play properly, and when he heard of this, Hishinuma himself, came to the castle and demanded to hear me play. When I had finished, he told my Mother that he would assume the duty of teaching me from now on... his lesson were harsh, he would often make me repeat the same phrase over and over again until my wrists ached and my back ached more. It was emotionally demanding as well as physically - Hishinuma expected to get what he asked for, I was to do as he told me and do it correctly or he would simply get up and leave without saying a word. It was not until a good few years had passed that I realised that Hishinuma was protecting me - he was irascible and impatient, he had a foul temper and when he was angered, he would shout and rant and throw things. He did not want to be responsible for destroying a young child and being the cause of her not wanting to play anymore. And for that, I came to love him, although that was not until a long time later...
Even as a tiny child, I knew I was beautiful, all of my Mother's friends would tell me so, and when we went to the bi-annual Kingdom Diplomatic Talks, the Lords and Ladies would always say pretty words about my face and deportment. It was at the Diplomatic Talks that Kenta, Kaede and I met for the first time. I had met the Children of other Houses before but White Lake and Silent Thunder were on the other side of the Kingdom and they were not our allies so we did not socialise with their people. We did not have to attend all of the talks while we were small children but we would have to observe the morning sessions and then attend seminars about them. Kenta and his brother Shunsuke, (who was later killed in a boating accident), Kaede, Taiji of Pale Twilight and his sisters Seira and Aki, Rise and her brother Naoki of Laughing Spider, and Taira of Crying Orchid were all in my class. Of course we all had different things to learn at different ages, so although there were plenty of other Children of the Kingdom at the Talks, because we took classes with our contemporaries, it was they that I spent most time with. Kaede was always the one with the correct answers to all of the tutors' questions, she was the darling of the Diplomats with Kenta not far behind her. I was the one who made them throw their hands up in exasperation, I could not concentrate for long enough to think about the answers to seemingly impossible diplomatic dilemmas. The pitying looks I got from the others might have been enough to make me develop a serious complex, were it not for that fact that after hours when the grown-ups had finished dinner and the other Children had gone to bed- it was I, who would be called upon to play the koto and entertain the adults. It was at one of these informal after dinner "parties" that Shigeru, Lord of Fallen Sakura came into my life. He was a particular friend of my Mother and Fallen Sakura was our main ally so he was no stranger to me, but it was at the Talks that I seemed to see most of him. When I had been passed around and petted and all of the sweets were gone, Shigeru would always have one more, just for me. I spent a lot of time in his lap, enjoying the attention as he pressed kisses which tickled into my neck and cheeks and being fed sugary treats from his fingers. Since I had grown up in his lap, I thought nothing at all of it when on my eleventh birthday, I found myself alone in a matted room with him. He said he had a special present for me and he did not want to make the other Children jealous since he had not brought gifts for them. He presented me with an exquisite lacquer box, inside of which was a miniature koto fashioned from the tusk of a strange beast from the Fifth Kingdom. I loved it, and threw my arms around my neck to thank him but instead of pressing his lips to my cheek, he pressed them to my mouth instead. I did not object, not thinking I had any reason to object, nor did I object when he slid his fingers into the top of my gown and began to stroke my collar bone. And though he hurt me when he lay me on my back and relieved me of my innocence, I did not cry. It was not until a long long while afterward that I understood that I had a reason to cry, and by then, it was much much too late for tears...