Most of the characters and situations in this story belong to the Wachowskis, Dune Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures, and other entities, and I do not have permission to borrow them. All others belong to me, and if you want to play with them, you have to ask me first. No infringement is intended in any way, and this story is not for profit. Any errors are mine, all mine, no you can't have any. The opinions expressed by characters in this story may or may not be those of the author.

Okay, so here's an idea. Jupiter and Caine meeting as kids–something under the age of twelve.

Maybe she got discovered as a Recurrence a lot sooner, and Kalique takes her to a Splicing facility to pick out a guard or a nanny or something; or maybe Caine's creche gets taken on a field trip to an underdeveloped world and he gets separated from the group. Or whatever.

This predicates, of course, that they are roughly the same age–there's really no telling with Caine as we don't know the development speed of Splices nor how much Regenex he's been given–but hey, it's an AU anyway.

Ye-ah. A couple of days ago I wondered what a "meet as kids" AU would be like for Jupiter and Caine. I did not expect the muse to run with it. This is just a sort of random quick fic, light on background detail; and for pity's sake, if the idea intrigues you, please write one of your own. Or several of them.

Beta'd by the amazing Cincoflex!

Jupiter was bored.

She glanced warily up at the tall woman by her side, but Kalique looked back down with a patient expression, and Jupiter turned her eyes away again. She'd already learned that Kalique would eventually get distracted; all Jupiter had to do was wait, since most of the people who went almost everywhere with the space woman had been left behind.

The big room they were in looked like a hotel to Jupiter, the front part where you came in at; not that she'd been in that many hotels, she was only nine, but she did watch TV. The carpet was thick, and there were soft floating chairs scattered around, and quiet-voiced people being polite to Kalique and calling her "Highness" and "Lady". There was one of those ginormous TV screens taking up most of one big wall, too, though all it was showing right now was a forest picture.

"We're going to choose a companion for you," Kalique had told her that morning. "The splicing facility has many people made just for that job, and we can choose the one that suits you best."

But so far, it wasn't very interesting. Jupiter wriggled her toes in her fancy sandals, and tried not to fidget. The outfit that the clothing-robot had told her to wear was fancy enough for a princess even if it was pants and a shirt, but if this was what being a princess was like, Jupiter wasn't too sure about it. Mostly it was boring, and a lot of the time it was weird too.

A tall man in a really long robe came up to Kalique, greeting her with a bow, and the two of them started talking about "merchandise" and "handmaidens" and some words Jupiter didn't understand. Then the man led them over to a couple of the soft chairs, and Kalique sat down, raising her brows until Jupiter sat in the other one.

"Let's see your catalogue first," Kalique said to the man. "This is a unique situation. I want only the best and most appropriate."

"Of course, Lady Kalique," the man said, and bowed again. Behind him, the big TV wall changed its picture to show the same symbol that had been on the front door of the place, and then shifted to a picture of a woman who looked like a rabbit.

If she'd still been at home, Jupiter would have been fascinated. But in the weeks since she'd been up in space, she'd seen real people who looked like animals, and robots, and all kinds of other things, so by now the image was kind of boring. Even if they were there to choose someone to be her companion, Jupiter knew that Kalique was going to do the picking.

"Mmm," Kalique said, and the image changed to another animal-person, with smaller pictures of them next to the big one and a lot of writing Jupiter couldn't read. The animal-people were called Splices, which sounded to her like someone had tried to mash up "splat" and "spice", and she tried to remember to call them that, but there were so many things she had to remember that it was hard.

The images kept changing, and Jupiter hunched down in her seat and waved her feet in circles; the chair was too high for her feet to touch the floor. "Jupiter," Kalique said quietly, but Jupiter could hear the disapproval, and she sighed and shoved herself straight in the chair.

Kalique smiled at her, and turned back to the screen. Jupiter watched her for a minute. She still didn't really understand why she was living with Kalique now instead of at home with her family; Kalique's explanation that she was a princess had sounded nice, but she missed her mom and her aunts a lot. Kalique kept saying Jupiter could go back to visit later, but later never seemed to get to now.

Jupiter was almost lonely enough to miss Vladie, and that was really lonely.

Kalique pointed at the screen and asked the tall man a question, and Jupiter decided it was worth a try. She slipped quietly out of the chair and around it, and wandered towards the side of the room. Maybe there was something to read on one of the little tables, the way there was in a doctor's office.

But she couldn't find anything. When Jupiter looked back Kalique didn't seem to have noticed that she'd left, so she kept going, following the curve of the wall towards the door where the man had come in.

It slid open when she reached it, so Jupiter walked through.

There was a long corridor on the other side, all white and bright, with no carpet at all. Jupiter started walking down it, looking curiously at the doors she passed, but all they had was numbers on them and they didn't open, even when she stopped in front of one.

There were footsteps behind her, but when she looked back it was just one of the blue robots, the ones with funny arms. At least one followed her every time she wasn't with Kalique, but Jupiter had learned not to mind. They didn't try to stop her or tell on her; she wasn't even sure they could talk.

She kept walking. It felt good to stretch her legs; Kalique hardly ever walked anywhere and she didn't seem to like it when Jupiter ran, though she didn't actually say anything. The corridor went on for a long time, and sometimes Jupiter could hear voices behind a door, but she couldn't quite make herself knock on any of them.

Then it ended in a T-junction. The way to the right was another hallway, but to the left was a big door a little ways away, with a big window in it, and sunshine coming in. Jupiter went that way, and when she reached the door she saw it was a playground out there. With kids.

She hadn't seen another kid since she'd been taken up into space - they didn't seem to have school, and everybody at Kalique's house was a grownup. Jupiter pressed her hands against the window, then looked for a button to open the door.

There wasn't a button, there was just a square, and she had to wave her hand in front of it a few times before the door opened, but finally she was through and half-running out into the sunshine. And then she stopped, and just looked.

The playground was big, really big, and it had a lot of equipment Jupiter had never seen before. And it was swarming with children of all sizes and colors and shapes, and it took her a minute to realize that they were all Splices.

There were bunny-people like the first one on the screen, with tall ears, and there was a little boy whose skin was green and scaly like a lizard; there were three children who had butterfly wings and antennae, and a whole bunch of kids who looked kind of like deer, except they each had four arms.

Jupiter stared and stared. It felt kind of like a dream, or maybe Alice's tea party in that old cartoon. They were running around, shouting, playing just like recess at school, and she looked around for a playground monitor, but she couldn't see anyone.

So she walked slowly over to the butterfly children. They were sitting on the ground in a circle, throwing a ball back and forth between them and singing something, and she stopped a little ways away. "Hey, can I play?"

The kids looked up, and Jupiter saw their antennae straighten up as they stared at her. "Who are you?" one of them asked.

She smiled. "My name's Jupiter."

"You're not from here," another said; all three of them looked kind of like girls, but Jupiter wasn't sure that they were.

"I'm a visitor," she explained. "My - uh - " She didn't know what to call Kalique. "My aunt is inside looking at stuff."

The third child frowned. "This is a skipper game. You can't play."

Jupiter shrugged, not letting her disappointment show. "Okay," she said, and walked around them, wondering if there was a swingset anywhere.

She couldn't find one, but there was a nice twisty slide, and Jupiter stood in line to go down it twice, though the other children stared at her. The robot stayed off to the side as she went through the line, not too close, and Jupiter smiled at it for not getting in the way.

But she was kind of old for slides. After her second turn Jupiter moved on, wandering towards the big field at the edge of the playground. There were a whole bunch of kids out there, and Jupiter counted at least two or three balls being kicked around, though she couldn't tell how many teams there were. A lot of the children were big, though - not fat, but tall and husky, though for some reason she didn't think they were that much older than she was. They all had dark skin and looked kind of alike, and she wondered if they were related somehow - they seemed to be on the same team, at least.

Two of them weren't playing; they were on the side of the field with another, smaller kid. And as soon as Jupiter saw them she knew what they were doing; the hard shove one of the big kids gave the little one proved it.

Jupiter felt her face heat up. She always got mad like that, really fast, and even though the smaller kid shoved the other one back, she started walking towards them. One of the bigger ones took a handful of the little one's hair and shook him, hard, and when she saw that Jupiter started running.

She skidded to a stop just as the big one dropped the little one on the ground. "Hey!"

The two big kids turned together to look at her. They had to be related, they looked almost like twins, and they frowned at her the same way. "Who're you?"

The one on the ground looked kind of like them, except his skin and hair were much lighter. He had a red mark on his face and a swollen lip, and Jupiter recognized his expression - he was trying very hard not to cry.

She whirled on the bigger kids - one boy and one girl. "Jupiter Jones." She left off the weird name Kalique kept adding at the end. "And you're big bullies! You leave him alone."

"He's a runt," said the girl, frowning. "Nobody wants him."

The boy stepped closer to her, wrinkling up his nose. "You're not a Splice," he said, and raised one hand, but before he could do anything else the smaller kid was on his feet and standing between them, glaring up at the big one.

The big boy shoved him out of the way, and he staggered and fell again, and Jupiter lost her temper and kicked the bully on the shin, hard. "Stop it!"

He yelped. The girl made a growling sound and stepped forward, but from behind Jupiter came a clicking noise, and both the big kids froze.

"Entitled," the boy said, eyes wide as he stared past her, and the girl grabbed his arm.

"We're sorry, your Highness," she said, looking scared. "We're really sorry!"

Jupiter looked back over her shoulder. The robot that followed her around was a lot closer now, and had raised its funny short arms to point at the big kids. It gave Jupiter a strange feeling when she noticed that they were guns.

She swallowed hard and turned back. "Go away," she said, trying to sound like Kalique.

She was a little surprised when the two bullies ran. Jupiter waved at the robot uncertainly. "Thank you?"

The arms lowered with a snap, and she felt a little better.

The smaller boy was still sitting on the ground, staring up at her with his mouth open in amazement. He had funny teeth, Jupiter saw, and his skin was kind of fuzzy, but he didn't look as strange as a lot of the other kids. She crouched down next to him. "Are you okay?"

He blinked at her, then wiped one hand across his mouth, smearing away some dust and a trickle of blood. "Yeah."

Jupiter wasn't too sure about that, but she could tell that he was still pretty shaky, so she didn't argue. "What's your name?"

The boy blinked again. "Caine," he said, looking wary.

"I'm Jupiter." She stood up and held out one hand.

Caine didn't move "You're an Entitled," he said, sounding confused. "You shouldn't be out here."

Jupiter had heard the word "Entitled" at Kalique's house, but she wasn't sure what it meant. "I got bored," she said. "Can you stand up - or are you really hurt?" Maybe the bullies had hurt him worse before she'd seen him.

Caine scrambled to his feet without taking her hand. "No. Your Highness."

The title sounded strange to her, though if she really was a princess like Kalique said, it might be the right thing. Jupiter took a better look at the boy.

He was just a little taller than her, and skinny like he didn't quite get enough to eat. He tucked his hands behind his back and stood straight, and Jupiter was reminded of one of the boys at school, who looked like that when he got caught breaking a rule.

But he hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, he'd tried to protect her from the other boy, even though he was so much smaller. Jupiter smiled at him. "Want to play?"

Caine opened his mouth, then closed it, his forehead wrinkling. He looked over at the robot, who was standing still like usual, then back to her, and took a deep breath. "...Okay?"

"Great!" Jupiter beamed at him. "Come on!"

She led him back towards the building, the robot trailing behind. The other kids stared and pulled back as they passed, but Jupiter made herself not care; she had found one friend, anyway.

She couldn't see any swings, but there was a set of parallel bars that nobody was using, so they played on those for a while. Jupiter had always been good at gym, but Caine was really good, spinning and flipping around almost like the Olympic gymnasts Jupiter had seen on TV.

But he wasn't snooty about it; he showed her how to do some new things, and even gave her a boost up to the taller bar when she couldn't quite reach it. He didn't talk much, but he listened as Jupiter talked about Earth and her cousins and Kalique, and the longer they played the more she liked him. He was much nicer than Vladie, for one thing.

She did find out that he had a bunch of brothers and sisters - the kids who bullied him - but no parents. None of the kids there had parents, which was extra-weird, but Jupiter was kind of getting used to weird now.

She was just getting ready to do a double somersault on the high bar when one of Kalique's people came hurrying up.

"Lady Jupiter, here you are," she said in the tone they all used when she did something they didn't like - not quite scolding. "Lady Kalique wants you."

Jupiter did one somersault and stared at the woman upside down, then sighed and dropped to the ground. "Coming."

The woman's hands fluttered, and Jupiter smoothed her hair guiltily, then looked over at Caine.

He had dropped off the bar too, and was standing stiffly, head a little turned away like he was hoping the woman wouldn't notice him. Jupiter felt her stomach twist as she looked at him.

It wasn't words that came into her head, just feelings - just knowing. She knew he wasn't happy, that people there were mean to him. She knew he liked her, because she'd been able to make him smile while they played.

And she knew she didn't want to leave him.

Jupiter leaned over and grabbed his hand. "Come on," she said, and marched back toward the building, right past Kalique's attendant.

"Lady Jupiter, you can't - " the woman began, but Jupiter ignored her and kept walking, towing Caine along like a very large balloon. For a second she thought he was going to pull away, but then his fingers wrapped around hers and he came to her side. She smiled at him and walked a little faster.

When they came back to the big room, Kalique and the man were still talking, and the screen held the image of a woman whose hair was brightly colored feathers. Kalique looked up. "Jupiter, it's not courteous to leave the room when...what is this?"

"She was playing with him, your Highness," the attendant said. "I'm sure she has no idea - "

Kalique lifted one finger, and the woman was quiet. Jupiter lifted her chin again.

"You said I was getting a companion. I want this one." She squeezed Caine's hand.

The man sputtered. Kalique raised a hand to her head as if it hurt. "Jupiter," she said tiredly. "That is not at all suitable."

Jupiter turned to look at Caine. He was all stiff again, and she got the feeling he was scared, but he was squeezing back. "Do you want to come with me?"

He glanced at the tall man, and the color went out of his cheeks, but after a second he nodded. Jupiter turned back to Kalique and looked her straight in the eyes. "I want Caine," she repeated firmly.

Kalique actually frowned a little; Jupiter had never seen her do that before. "This is a lycantant," she said. "An immature lycantant, and - " She glanced at the tall man. " - possibly a miscoded one. Lycantants are bred as guards, my dear. Soldiers, fighters. Not companions."

Jupiter didn't look away. "A companion is a friend. Caine is my friend." She hung onto the thought with all her might. Her mother and Uncle Vassily would never have let her do something like this, but Kalique was different.

The tall man frowned, and Kalique sighed. "Well," she murmured, "a protective bond this early would be superior to anything but direct genetic coding…"

Jupiter had no idea what that meant, but Kalique began arguing with the tall man about training and genomgeneering defects. After a few minutes Jupiter pulled Caine over to one of the floating couches and sat down. She tried to make him sit next to her, but he shook his head and stood next to the couch instead, head up. He had pointy ears, Jupiter noticed; she hadn't seen that before.

Kalique and the tall man talked for a long time, long enough for Jupiter to want to fidget again, but she stayed still so as not to annoy Kalique. Caine was as still as a statue next to her, but he seemed a little less scared now.

A grown-up Splice came in after a while, carrying a tray with glasses on it. She offered them to Kalique and the tall man, and then to Kalique's attendant, before bringing the tray over to where Jupiter sat. She ignored Caine completely, so when she lowered the tray Jupiter chose two glasses and handed one to Caine. He took it, eyes wide, and the Splice woman frowned before walking away.

Jupiter stuck her tongue out at the woman's back, and took a sip. The drink tasted kind of like lemonade.

Caine was staring at her, and Jupiter gave him a smile. "Go ahead," she told him.

He looked down at the glass for a long moment, then finally drank some, and Jupiter grinned wider.

It felt like it took forever before Kalique and the tall man finished talking. They both looked pleased, and Kalique waved to Jupiter to come over. This time, Caine followed Jupiter immediately, standing straight next to her.

Kalique looked at him, pursing her lips. "He may do," she said. "Jupiter, I respect your choice, but we are also purchasing an adult companion for you today. I want you to have someone focused on your needs, and as loyal as your lycantant may prove to be, he's not bred for the task."

That sounded kind of mean, but since she was getting what she wanted, Jupiter didn't argue. The tall man gestured at Caine with a frown, and he bowed. "I'll be right back, your Highness," he said to Jupiter, and ran out of the room.

"At least he's properly trained," Kalique murmured, and rose. "Ah, here's our other acquisition."

The woman who came in was the same as the person on the screen - tall and thin, with feathers on her head and shoulders and arms. She was very pretty and colorful, and Jupiter felt a little shy when the woman bowed to them, but then she smiled, and she looked very kind.

"Your HIghnesses, I am Sittac, and I am pleased to serve you," she said.

Kalique nodded; Jupiter didn't know what to do, so she nodded too. Then Kalique turned to talk some more with the tall man, and Sittac bowed again and went to the side of the room to hug someone who looked a lot like her. Jupiter wondered if that was what Caine was doing, and whether he really did want to leave even if he'd said he did.

But before she could worry too long, he came back in, wearing different clothes and carrying a bag over his shoulder. He scanned the room, and the second he saw her Jupiter saw a quick grin cross his face.

It made him look brighter, somehow, and she stopped worrying, and waved. Caine came right to her and stood next to her, shoulders straight; the marks were gone from his face and he was cleaner, but there was something else different about him too. Jupiter didn't know what it was, but it was good, and when Caine reached out and took her hand, it felt right.

Finally Kalique led them all back out to the shuttle waiting for them in front of the building. She had a couch she sat on near the front, but Jupiter liked to go to one of the big side windows and watch when the ship took off or landed. Caine and Sittac both followed her, but the woman stayed a little ways away; Caine stood next to Jupiter at the window as they rose into the air.

His eyes were big as he watched the ground get smaller, and Jupiter squeezed his fingers. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Caine looked at her and smiled again, slowly, like he wasn't used to it. "Yeah."

"Good." Jupiter grinned back. "We're going to have fun."

And they watched the world fade away and the stars come out.