Kiyoko Saiba

## Saiba Kiyoko

**Saiba Kiyoko**, or **Kiyoko Saiba** in Western name order, was an esteemed archaeologist and a former member of the Shinra Clan. She was the mother of Joichirou Yukihira and grandmother of Shirou and Souma Yukihira. She died in early 20XX due to natural causes.

## Appearance

In the pictures of her, Kiyoko appeared as a tall and graceful-looking elderly woman. Her black hair was styled into a high-bun, pinned by a rose-shaped hairpin, and her eyes were dark-gray.

## Personality

Kiyoko was generally remembered as a kind, caring, and gentle old woman who was missed by everyone after her death. She was known for her intelligence, being one of the first female archaeologists in Japan whose discovery had changed the field of archaeology as a whole. She was also noted to be a master gambler, enough so that she was "practically banned" from most casinos in Las Vegas.

She had an eye for art, being a sponsor for many young and talented artists in Tokyo, and had a preference for classical Japanese literature. She was also a foodie and it was her high standard for her food that introduced her son to cooking in the first place.

According to Byakko, according to remaining records of her, she also had a brash, rebellious, and violent side to her, having known to start many fights within their clan because she was bored. It could be assumed that this side of her had mellowed out by the years. Joichirou also mentioned that she was actually sterner than people realized.

## History

**Shinra Kiyoko** was born a member from a branch family of the Shinra Clan, though information about her family was largely unknown. Like other members of the Five Principle Clans, she was taught about the magical arts since an early age and attended Mahoutokoro at age 7, when she befriended Ahega Himejima from the Himejima Clan, another clan of the Five Principle Clans.

When she was 17, she met Mr. Saiba, a mundane man, and the two quickly fell in love. Three years into their relationship, her clan discovered about Mr. Saiba and threatened her to either leave him or be exiled from the clan. Angered, she destroyed more than half of the clan's ancient manor before leaving herself.

After leaving her family, she and Mr. Saiba got married and she officially became **Saiba Kiyoko**. Through clever manipulations, she got enrolled into college in the Archaeology Department and graduated as one of their greatest alumni. Soon, she began to make a name for herself as one of the greatest archaeologists of her time, making many outstanding discoveries that changed world history as many saw it, largely due to her wizarding background.

In 19XX, she gave birth to her only son Joichirou, though his birth came with a great tragedy. Her husband, who was a fellow archaeologist, was killed in a landslide in the excavation site alongside a dozen of her colleagues. Because of this, she stopped her career and came back to Tokyo and raised Joichirou as a single mother.

In late 19XX, after Joichirou already became an adult with a stable career for himself, she decided to restart her archaeologist career. On a trip to an ancient site in England, she discovered the Excalibur's Scabbard, though because of its magical powers, she decided not to reveal it. Using her Metal Phase, she created a perfect replica of the scabbard and exchanged it for the real artifact, which she sealed away in her family home. In 19XX, she had her first grandson, Shirou Yukihira, and several years later, her second grandson, Souma Yukihira.

In early 20XX, when Shirou got caught in a traffic incident, to save her grandson, she decided to take the Excalibur's scabbard and sealed it into his body, not knowing about his true nature as a special child. Several years later, she became weaker and weaker, until in 20XX, she died due to natural causes, surrounded by her family.

## Abilities

**Master Wizard**: As a wizard and former member of the Shinra Clan, one of the Five Principal Clans who hold an almost royalty-like status within Japan's wizarding world, Kiyoko was undoubtedly a master of the arcane arts. According to Byakko, despite being exiled, the Shinra still considers her as one of the greatest wizards of their clan in modern times.

* **Shinto Magic**: As a member of the Shinra Clan, she was trained in the magic system of Shinto mystics from an early age and quickly became proficient in her family's style of magic. In addition, due to her clan's inclusion of *shugendō* into their magical style, she was also somewhat trained in traditional *shinbutsu-shūgō* magic, or [Japanese-Buddhist Magic].
	+ **Metal Phase**: Due to her clan's piety and devotion toward the Shinto gods, she and other members of the clan were blessed with the power to control over metal and what it symbolizes, such as the mind, intuition, and rationationity.
* **Sealing Magic**: She had shown to be extremely skilled at Sealing Magic, as the room she locked away in her and her husband's old house in Kyoto was filled with cursed magical artifacts, such as charmed jewelry, cursed vessels, or haunted dolls. many of which are believed to have either gone missing or destroyed by the supernatural world. Despite this, her knowledge of Sealing Magic only extended to Eastern Magic, as shown with the Excalibur's scabbard sealed within Shirou's body being sealed with "beginner's level of sealing arts".

## Equipment

**Magic Wand** (魔法の杖, *Mahō no Tsue*): Like most wizards, Kiyoko owned a wand that served as the magical foci for her own magical power. Her wand was created by the Shinra Clan's private wandmaker, made with ash wood and had a dragon's heartstring as the core. Per wizarding traditions, it was buried alongside her body in her grave.

**Talismans** (お守り, *Omamori*): Like other wizards in South East and East Asian cultures, Kiyoko had most likely utilized talismans alongside her wand to perform her magic. As traditions from her time in the Shinra Clan, her talismans were drawn on white paper with a metal pen, using special ink mixed with a few drops of her blood as conduct for her magical energy. According to Shirou, he had never seen her out of the house without a small box of paper *ofuda* alongside her.

## Trivia

* She had a pet cat who disappeared after her death that could possibly be her familiar.
* Unlike her son, she was a terrible cook and approximately burned 3 out of 5 meals she tried to cook.