A/N: A teaser for before I go to camp. Two weeks before I get back. And I swear - Three Realms. On it.

Disclaimed.

Bonds of Love
Prologue; an introduction

Sixteen. It was an age to look forward to – the age where you were old enough to begin trying to find your Soul Mate, the person whose soul would become tied with yours for the rest of your lives. Those bonds could never be released, and were so strong that Soul Mates could often sense each other's feelings and stronger thoughts. Some Soul Mates got married – some didn't. It all depended.

But Kujyou Kazune – he had always been an exception. He was hardly thrilled he was sixteen. In fact, he was dreading meeting his Soul Mate. It would be downright horrendous to spend your life bound to somebody else. He didn't want to be bound to a girl – they were annoying little thing – but not to a boy, either.

And yet life works in strange ways.

Kazune was walking home from school that Tuesday afternoon. It had been an ordinary day, overall – he had gotten into two fights with Jin, both of which were broken up within half a minute by Michiru (who could magically show up whenever he and Jin had a fight, even if he was at the other end of the school), he had a Literature test, and he had scored three goals in P.E.

That was when a brown-haired girl – Karin, he knew, a girl from school – ran into him. Snapping, "Watch where you're going," he pushed past her, ready to completely ignore the klutz when a faint light came between them, illuminating their figures before sinking into them – their hearts.

All color drained from Kazune's face. He had officially been bonded. Judging from the look on the girl's face, she knew it too.

"I hate my life," Kazune muttered.

"Well?" offered Karin. "Nice to meet you too."

Kazune walked away. Karin followed, to his supreme displeasure.

"You can't just walk away! We just got bonded. We're Soul Mates now. If you walk away from me, I can make you feel excruciating pain, you know!" Karin said.

"Listen, Karin, I am trying to pretend this is a very, very bad dream and you are a figment of my imagination. Please go away before I have a breakdown in the streets," Kazune forced out. "It's either that or I will attack the next person I see, which would be you, considering that you are currently blocking my way."

He walked away, not sure if he should feel like a piece of crap or not. He decided on not.

It had been an uneventful Wednesday morning. Jin and Michiru were sitting in the courtyard chatting and eating lunch – the only person missing was Kazune.

"Why can't the idiot ever be on time?" Jin complained.

Smiling, Michiru replied, "Come now, yesterday you were the one who was late."

"…fine. But he had better have a very good excuse for this."

On cue, the blonde ran up to them. "Yo," he muttered. "I am having an exceptionally bad day, so before you even ask, Jin, I do have an excuse."

"Aw, Kazzieu, don't be glum! Tell us what's wrong," Michiru said.

Drooping like a wilted flower, Kazune said, "Michiru, I will never understand where you got that nickname. And…last evening…" He groaned. "I got bonded."

"Then cheer up. That's a good thing," Jin replied crisply. "To who?"

"That girl, Hanazono Karin," Kazune answered slowly.

Michiru patted Kazune's back. "It could be worse, Kazune. She's pretty, and she's nice too."

"A bit ditzy though," Jin tacked on. "Overall, you were lucky. I wouldn't mind being bonded to her."

"I mean, you did talk to her, right? You didn't just blow her off? Because she might hold that against you, you know," Michiru said. At Kazune's silence, he patted the blonde on the back again. "It's okay…you'd better talk to her, though."

"You guys give me such crap sometimes," Kazune said. "If you were bonded to a person you hardly knew, you would probably be taking this worse than I am."

"Aw, you don't give us enough credit," Michiru replied, slinging an arm around Jin. "Jin and I are pictures of maturity."

"And if you had thought it through, oh smart one, you probably would have done the same thing that we two would do: calm down, talk to her, attempt to not piss her off. Which, Prince Charming, you somehow managed to screw over, repeatedly," Jin said with a smirk. "Now kindly get off of me Michiru, I do not plan on dragging you back to class."

"Oh, you love it, Jin," Michiru replied teasingly. "Now, are we going to gossip or eat?"

"In case you guys didn't hear it the first three thousand times," Kazune said, "I hate my life."