Kazuko Himura wasn't always known by that name. She was in fact, born into slavery as #1515 on the 15th of May, in an undisclosed year, and spent the first 8 years of her life as a slave for the Raiders of StKM 1-442, aboard one of their ships doing menial labor. Slaves were treated horrifically aboard that ship, and retaliation was met with terrible punishments. Kazuko was one of those who did retaliate, at an age far too young for her to remember, and her punishment was being forced to ingest a parasite presented by the slaver she retaliated against. Ever since then, her appetite had increased, and she was cursed with frequent hunger.

A catastrophic systems failure aboard the ship Kazuko was transported to a buyer on led her to find a means of escape. She found an escape pod and had it launched off the ship shortly before it began free-falling towards StKM 1-442 1 A. Her escape pod landed on the planet as well, and was retrieved by a rescue team. Her dire state when the escape pod was opened lead to Kazuko being rushed to a hospital on Keltim A5, where she was stabilized. Assessment of her revealed that she had not experienced life outside of slavery, so she would need to learn life skills, as well as go into therapy for the trauma she's experienced. The parasite-called a Buzhang Flatworm-she had ingested was also discovered at this time-there was no way to remove it without killing her.

After some coaxing, Kazuko was transferred to a psychiatric center, where the therapist that worked with her gave her the temporary name of "Ichigo Shiyoni". She thankfully was able to learn the necessary life skills she missed out on, and work through some traumas in therapy over the years. Her therapist eventually coaxed her to choose her own name, where she went with Kazuko Himura, as the meaning was fitting for her.

When she was much older, the facility that Kazuko was in at the time was bought out by CEA Psychiatric, and plans were set in motion for her to move to the next level of care. One of these was to start her out with a job program, that places patients in temporary jobs so they gain experience out in the world. One of her first assignments had her working for Captain Kodiak, and while the job went well, Kazuko had fainted before she could report it completed. At a later assignment, she met Kezika, and the two of them got along quite well. When asked by Kezika what her aspirations were after being reintegrated into society, Kazuko stated she would like to be a space pilot. Kezika, whom had some status and connections, offered to sponsor a Pilot's Federation membership for Kazuko-whom took the offer (Kazuko would later find out that Kezika actually owns CEA Psychiatric and thus, eventually, most of the stations in Keltim).

Kazuko eventually was moved to an assisted living facility, and when psychologically fit, attended the pilot's school in Matet. She was brought back to Keltim by Amaleigh upon completion of the exams, and got her loaner sidewinder from Kezika.

Immediately upon return, Kazuko, with assistance from Kezika both advice-wise and financially, bought and began outfitting a Krait Phantom for exploration, and signed up for one of Kezika's expeditions, Celebration of Early Astronomy 3. Before heading out 'into the black', she assisted CEA Psychiatric Institutions LTD. with various missions offered to other pilots-including participating in a war against Eurybia Blue Mafia. While on the expedition, Kazuko already began making a name for herself by mapping out highly sought after planet types and being the first to set foot on landable moons in systems designated as 'base camp waypoints' on the expedition. She even reached the Colonia bubble. While there, and after building a combat ship, she started thinking about exactly who was behind her predicament as a child, but pushed those thoughts away to continue exploring.

After being the first to arrive at the fifth basecamp on CEA 3, Kazuko heard from Kezika about war breaking out in the Colonia region, as Nu Simbad, an 'arm' of Simbad Regime (Whom Kazuko supported due to Kezika supporting them), had a planetary outpost taken from them. She rushed back to the Colonia region to fight for them (and did a little bit of ship shopping while she was at it, given that planet maps of certain kinds fetch quite a large amount of credits). While there, she ended up reuniting with Captain Kodiak, putting any concerns regarding her sudden exit to rest. Once the war was over, she spent a couple more days in Colonia before returning out 'into the black', but only for a scant few days, as she followed Kezika back to the main 'bubble'. Initially she planned to assist Kezika in her goal, but not before the thoughts of who enslaved her returned. She found out from Kezika that she was enslaved by the Raiders of StKM 1-442, and the proximity of the eponymous system to Keltim unnerved her, that combined with a weight being taken off her shoulders caused her to break down crying. Once calmed down, Kazuko moved into Kezika's mansion with her, quickly threw together a combat ship, and began enacting vengeance, completely forgetting why she came to the bubble in the first place.

Before returning back to the black, Kazuko aided Neomedical industries against the Kumo Crew, and helped Cornsar against the beginning Thargoid invasion. Then, she unfortunately managed to discover that she neglected to get her escape pods attuned specifically to her medical needs, after her ship got blown up by another individual. Thankfully, she managed to get a replacement in time for her departure.

Kazuko was only out 'in the black' for a few days, as she returned to the bubble as soon as she could, missing the comforts of human civilization. At the time, she was paid a visit by a Chapterhouse Field Agent (or as he introduced himself), alerting her that the Raiders of StKM 1-442 had been searching for her. Unnerved, but not surprised, Kazuko (and Kezika) opted to share information with said agent to help take them down. Yet despite missing the comforts of the bubble, Kazuko signed up for the next planned expedition, CEA 4.

A month or so after her return, Kazuko began to assist CEA Psychiatric in expanding, where she stumbled upon a mission where one of the members of the Raiders needed taken out. She immediately took this mission, and aired some of her grievances while doing so, unknowing that they'd travel farther than that one pocket of space. A couple days later, the expansion completed, and CEA now had a presence in Brihasatsa. The need for new staff lead Kazuko to hire a new medic, whom also had fighter pilot experience. In addition, Kazuko delivered some of the info gathered from the data core-and her medical records-to Captain Kodiak, having to unveil her past to him.

A later expansion into StKM 1-442, and another important Raider kill under her belt would have been what Kazuko had expected to get her in deep water, but in actuality, it was running her mouth during the first kill-the ship's black box was scooped, the conversation had been recorded, and Kazuko's buyer Nanurjuk attempted to retrieve her during a routine scavenger clearout mission. This lead her to call Kezika for backup, as Jenelle, Kazuko's new medic and fighter pilot, had been occupying the majority of the group. All of these events led to another meeting with her Chapterhouse ally, Jubei.

CEA 4 led Kazuko to meet a retired Saud Kruger pilot named Sylvie on the first basecamp's meetup, but all was not well. The events prior were causing Kazuko great turmoil, where the unfortunate timing of the news about the Emperor caused her to fall down a slippery slope mentally, with a psychiatrist she saw aboard Kezika's fleet carrier advising she get a full evaluation upon return to the bubble.