Born into superficial royalty, Kenji was the second son of his currently unknown parents, and the younger brother of Takeru, at the time the 'Prince' of their urban village. At age 3, Kenji first met his first friend, Miwako, of the same age. While it was Takeru's job to train them both in the same manor he had gone through himself, Kenji and Miwako often paired up, doing training together, playing together, eating together, the list goes on. They grew a strong kinship that seemed everlasting.

By age 12 Kenji was ordered on an assessment. An elaborate training area was set up within the forest that surrounded their urban village, his job was simple; he was to make his way to the end of the training segment within a set time limit to pass the first part of a two-part test. Though difficult, he was able to avoid trip-wire traps, concealed pits, and climb difficult walls under the set time. When he reached the end, however, the clearing at the end was not filled with village people, a congratulations banner, nothing. There was only one thing that stood in between him and finishing the assessment, and that was to fight and defeat his older brother in a bamboo stick fighting match, first to score three fatal hits wins.

Being on the offensive, Kenji charged in first to strike, but only to be countered by his skillful brother. Following immediately, Takeru charged in at Kenji for another point, but Kenji held his guard. The sticks clashed for a short while, then Kenji broke in, feeling his brother's strength straining him. He kicked him down, and gave a clean shot to Takeru's chin to score him his first point. This skirmish was to go on throughout the night, and by day break, the score was tied at 2 all.

There was a bruise on Kenji's left cheek, a spot Takeru had hit twice. Takeru bared a cut as well as a bruise on his forehead and his chin respectively. Kenji charged in, raising the bamboo stick up high. Takeru stood ready for his younger brother's feeble attempt to strike him from the top, but he didn't know what hit him. Kenji, seconds before his stick hit Takeru's, redirected the wooden weapon and thrusted right into his older brother's face. He had won the battle. He passed the assessment.

Later that day, after his brother and himself were treated and Kenji went out to go play with Miwako and tell her the wonderful news, Takeru called him off to the side to inform him of something. Ever since Kenji had met Miwako, he thought of her as his sister, but was Takeru told him was different. He told him the truth about Miwako and how she was found at the doorstep of the Bushido's house. The card attached to the baby's basket she laid in said only that her name was to be Miwako. The whole time Kenji had been lied to, into believing that she was his sister.

Upon hearing this, he broke out into a fit, whaling his arms at Takeru, trying to him but to no avail. Shortly after, Kenji ran away into the forest, running only a short distance until he tripped and fell, dislocating his ankle. He immediately regretted his decision of running away and make only a few attempts to call for help until the rain started to pour. He didn't want to be laying out in the forest all wet and open to predators, so he crawled his way to a very large hollowed out tree.

When he fell into the base of the tree, he noticed that the whole base and middle section of the gigantic tree, as if someone was here long before. He stayed there for the next 2 nights, and on the third day's morning he made his way out of the huge complex of the tree in order to find his village. He was starving, he was cold, he was injured, and he was alone. With the motivation that he had to get back to Miwako, he managed to limp 20 meters from the tree until he collapsed.

Fortunately, he had stumbled upon one of the search parties sent out to find Kenji. They brought him back and sent him straight to the medical center. He would recover rather quickly and after 18 days he was finally let out. The first person he planned to met was Miwako. Sure She had visited him in the hospital, but now he planned to tell her about her past.

Before he could get to his house though, Takeru confronted him and was about to send him off on a meaningless errant in order to distract Kenji when he told him why he was heading home so soon as Takeru had put it. The two argued, Takeru putting him down by saying that he didn't know how much turmoil it would put Miwako's delicate life into. Kenji retorted that she should know the truth and not live a lie, and that the long it went on, the worse the build up would be. After a long pause, Takeru finally let Kenji tell her.

Kenji approached her in the backyard, practicing Tai Chi. When she saw her she screamed in delight and ran over to hug him. After the hug, Kenji told her that he had to tell her something. Bringing her over to the center of the yard where the gravel on the ground turned to dirt and sat down with her. He began to tell her all about her, how she was not born into the family but instead found on their doorstep as an unwanted child. He told her most importantly that he was not her brother, Takeru wasn't her brother, and that her parents are still unknown.

He asked her when he was done if she felt OK, or if she wanted to go somewhere else to think about all that he had told her. After a long pause, she responded, saying that she was fine and didn't need any further time to absorb all of the information, but she did want to ask one thing to Kenji. She asked about their relationship, and how now that they weren't siblings if he would stop playing with her, stop being her training partner, stop all of it and lose their friendship. Kenji answered no, but before he could continue, Takeru called them in for supper.

Over the years to two's relationship didn't diminish like Miwako had originally though, but instead grew stronger because of this event. Miwako was always at Kenji's side, leaving only for brief moments and the two soon began to Go Steady as in form a 'girlfriend and boyfriend' connection. The two grew so close, they vowed that they would never leave the others' side no mater what may happen.

This soon changed, however, when Kenji grew to be 14. From nomadic merchants and the fliers they posted all about the town, Takeru found out about a grand scale battle tournament far off somewhere in the world. Known solely as, 'The =SB= RP Tournament' (xD), Takeru thought that it was necessary to send only his best warrior to compete in the tournament, and that fine warrior was Kenji.

When Takeru told him of his decision however, Kenji grew concerned over what he perceived as grave news. He would have to embark on a long journey to the tournament, but worst of all he was told he would go alone, which meant he would leave Miwako behind. Clearly troubled, he told Miwako about the tournament and asked for her insight on what he should do, after a long pause, she told him that he should go, but she didn't want him to leave just yet.

The two would later in their conversation decide to run away together for the week prior to his planned departure, and left a note on Takeru's room's door, explaining their disappearance. They left the same night, but soon the two didn't know where to go. Shortly after wondering around for a long while, Kenji rediscovered the same hollowed-out tree he found when he first ran away. He influenced Miwako to go with him, and when inside made a makeshift bed for themselves. The two hunted for their food and stayed close to each other for the whole week, eventually leading to untold moments together.

During the final night with Miwako, Kenji took her back to the village while still asleep and left her at the house, and without saying goodbye to her, he gathered his equipment and some food for the road and left. Many days passed and after 2 days of traveling he finally made it to the facility that housed the tournament. He prepared himself for hell as he entered the doors to the tournament's holding area, and thats where our story begins.