Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Kingdom Hearts fandom, however, the original characters are mine.

Autor's Note: This is the prequel and back story to 'Delicate Dreams', but the two can be read entirely separately.

A young boy of six sat in an old musty library, engrossed in a hard cover copy of J.R.R Tolkien's 'The Silmarillion'. Now this would be quite heavy reading for someone his ages, but this child had an extraordinary mind. Brilliant was another way of describing it. With a little nurturing, he would become quite the genius. That was one reason why his father had been bringing him to work on weekends. The other reason was that both he and the boy's mother had busy full time jobs that often went into over hours, and a nanny was out of the question. Though it was unclear to the child the reason why.

Afterschool when his parents weren't there to pick him up, which was how it generally went, the boy knew the usual drill - To go to his father's work place and wait for him in the library. He loved those days. He could just loose himself into another world full of adventure and fantasy, and forget everything else. Today was no exception.

His father worked as a scientist and researcher with the King of Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise, who owned the most extensive library in the world. He had been more that happy to have its contents be explored by a promising youth, who so happened to be the son of his most prominent employee.

The child brushed blue strands of hair out of his face, and pushed up his reading glasses. His normal vision was good, but close up, small letters tended to blur together. He'd finished all the 'big kids books' at his school, and upon entering Ansem's library, felt like he'd died and been sent to heaven.

"Ienzo." A warm whisper called him at the end of the day, and a silver, scruffy haired man smiled from the door at the other end of the room. The boy in question had huddled into a large chair, eyelids weighing down heavily. "Ienzo." The soft low voice was closer now.

Stirring slightly, the young blunette parted his eyes just enough to see who was talking to him. Recognizing the familiar person, he almost jerked the book into his face. "Daddy!" springing up, he jumped into the man's arms, voice between a shout and a yawn. "Are we going already?"

The man smirked lightly at reluctance to leave that his son always had in the evenings, and set him back down onto the ground. "You can come again tomorrow, I have a long day." Huffing, the boy grabbed his father's hand and let the man drag him along. "There'll also be a surprise for you."

Ienzo's eyes lit up. "What is it daddy?"

His son's enthusiasm excited him, and he just couldn't help himself. "A colleague is bringing their kid in tomorrow. You'll be able to make a new friend."

"But what if I don't want to?" Ienzo considered it for a moment. He'd been in special classes for gifted children all his life, with mainly older students. They were acquaintances, more like competition that real friends. It was possible that it might be fun, but it made him nervous. How would he handle this new person? Would easy would he be to converse with? Would their intellectual standards be close enough for them to get along, or would he reject him like other children seemed to, as just a little freak.

"Why don't you make up your mind after you meet him. It's not very scientific to draw conclusions out of nothing is it, hmh?" His father gave a carefree laugh "Lighten up, you're just like your mother." Ruffling the boy's hair, he pulled him in close.

Pressing against his father, the blunette smiled. "You're terrible at keeping secrets dad."

"But what's the fun in them if you don't get to tell someone." Pouting, the man managed to acquire a laugh from him son. Sometimes he made Ienzo doubt his maturity, and the fact whether or he had ever grown up. "Just pretend to act surprised, okay" he nudged the boy lightly.