Yes, InnoDB was standalone. But it had it's own SQL parser and things like Stored Procedures as well ;) It was rudimentary, but I don't know if KVS is the bes

Yes, InnoDB was standalone. But it had it's own SQL parser and things like Stored Procedures as well ;) It was rudimentary, but I don't know if KVS is the best description. How MySQL and InnoDB talk is very much a K<->V / row based relationship.