Having a soul mate is something wonderful, at least that is what people who have a soul mate say. However, people who don't, usually say that people who do everything to find their soul mate are not pragmatic enough and it had been customary in Japan for centuries to not marry the soul mate, at least the wealthy class thought it more of a hindrance than an advantage to marry the soul mate, as marriage was not about love or a perfect fit between the marriage partners but rather about the families and circumstances matching.

Tsukishima Kei had as a child, thought that having a soul mate would be wonderful, but as he grew older and was disappointed in life – or rather in his worldview when he found out that his older, and much admired brother had lied to him –, he had started to think that indeed finding the soul mate would probably cause problems, because no matter how well suited two people could be for each other, one would be disappointed at some point and if he hated something, then it was disappointment. So he had not looked forward to hitting puberty and seeing the name on his wrist unlike his brother Akiteru had done. When he finally got the name, he looked at it with a smirk, grabbed a plaster and covered the two neat kanji with it, so that no one would be able to read them. Akiteru and his mother had been deeply disappointed when he had refused to remove the plaster and show them the name underneath it, despite them insisting that it wasn't fair that he had seen their names but didn't show them his.

His mother had the first name of her husband on her wrist of the non-dominant hand and she had never tired of telling her sons the story of how she had met their father and immediately known that he was the one. As a child, Kei had thought that that was how it was supposed to be, but now he only frowned when his mother said: "You know, I don't know what kind of first name is on your wrist and if you really don't want to show me, I'll accept it – as I will accept it when you come back to introduce me to the person who's name is there. I know you will meet them and I know you will know it immediately when you do – it will hit you like lightning." Kei only shrugged and left the breakfast table soon afterwards.

Yamaguchi Tadashi, whom he met on his way to school, too tried to coax him into telling him the name on his wrist, but gave up after a while. However, he renewed his efforts a couple of months later when he himself got the name on his own wrist. "Don't you want to know, Tsukki?" he asked.

"Not really." Tsukishima shrugged and walked on.

Yamaguchi had been a bit disappointed, but got over it quickly. He eventually did show Tsukishima the name, but not intentionally. Most people on their volleyball team didn't bother to cover the name on their wrist during practice, as most items that could be used to cover them up were a hindrance when receiving or serving the ball.

Outside the sports circle it was more common to hide the name, especially girls liked to make a secret out of it, probably because the media propagated that it was unbecoming to fall for someone who wasn't the possible soul mate. Yamaguchi did once voice the opinion that maybe the media were right, but Tsukishima only shrugged. He didn't care either way, he would not go out of his way to find his soul mate and he would probably also stay away from them if he would happen to find them. Probably old traditions had been more right about the whole thing than the modern love craze. So he would just marry some person who had nothing to do with the name of his soul mate, that was, if he would marry at all.

It was only a couple of years later, when he had entered Karasuno High School that he learned what it really meant to meet the one.

It had been a day like any other or not exactly, as it was on the day Nekoma High School's volleyball team came to visit them for a practice match. It first started when they met the other team in front of the communal gym where the match was held. Something in his stomach didn't feel like it usually felt. It was a tingling sensation, rather weak but still noticeable and at first Tsukishima did not pay much attention to it, as it did not compromise his ability to play. However, the feeling persisted while the team of Nekoma was around.

And then, when he was in vanguard and faced Nekoma's NR. 1, he suddenly saw it, there on his wrist was the kanji "蛍". The tingling stopped as he held his breath for a moment. Nonsense.

Author's note:

For those who don't know Japanese: "蛍" is the kanji used to write Tsukishima's first name "Kei". However, it can also be read as "Hotaru" and means firefly. It is a gender neutral name in both readings and unless specifics are given (like the reading of the kanji or the intended gender) it is up to the reader to interpret the reading/gender.

General information: I'll try to post a chapter every month, so this is a story with rather slow progress I'm sorry.