Hijiro and his twin brother Seijiro were born in a small kitsune village in Minkai. While Seijiro was always fascinated with water, Hijiro was fascinated with anything with shine or sparkle, whether or not the object had intrinsic value. It was a great struggle for his parents to instill in him a strong enough moral compass to keep him from stealing anything he could get his hands on. Yet they did succeed, for the most part.
When Hijiro was 12, his twin brother ran away to go to sea on a merchant vessel and was never seen by the family again. This caused his parents to cling to him even tighter than they had before. They insisted that he learn a trade, despite his natural tendencies for thievery. He did manage to apprentice to a carpenter for a while, but his true talents lay in different directions.
He loved tinkering with traps and locks, though there were few enough opportunities in his small village. When he was 14, bristling under the tight control his parents tried to impose on him, like his brother, he ran away from home. He found himself after a time in the city of Wanshi, where he apprenticed to a locksmith. His natural abilities made him an apt pupil and he learned quickly. Soon, he learned what he could from his master, and decided to move on. Hearing that there might be greater challenges in the capital, he began the long trip there.
On the way to the capital, he passed by a remote temple where he stopped in for a meal and a place to sleep for the night. What he didn't know was that the temple was actually the location of a torii, a magical gate. Wandering the temple grounds late at night, his natural curiosity getting the better of him, he passed through the torii, whereupon he fell unconscious.
When Hijiro woke, he was lying in the middle of a main street in the city of Sandpoint, truly a stranger in a strange land. He masked his true nature through shapechange, but was totally lost, not speaking the language of the strange looking people of Varisia. It took him a good six months to learn Common enough to get by easily, and during this time, he was a constant visitor to the Rusty Dragon Tavern, where the innkeeper spoke his language and helped him with his Common. He fell hopelessly in love with the woman, though she didn't return his affections he was undeterred. While not quite stalking her per se, he does spend a lot of his free time at the Rusty Dragon, and does little things for her whenever he sees a need arise. He obsesses about every kindness she does show him, and it just fuels his passions each time.
Now 17, Hijiro is fluent in Common and a regular figure around Sandpoint, doing odd jobs and occasionally entertaining children with feats of sleight-of-hand. He rarely pilfers in town, his sense of honor not permitting him to steal from friends. Doesn't mean he doesn't occasionally palm a coin or steal an apple from a cart when he's really down on his luck, but those times are few and far between.
