Blue? It's my favorite color!
Five words. Five words that Jay has had memorized, since, well, forever. Five words that snake around his wrist, that keep him awake at night, and that always cheer him up when he's feeling down.
He wonders what situation he'll meet his soulmate. Maybe they'll meet by an ocean. He's never seen one, but he's heard of the sheer amount of blue water there. Or maybe they'll be looking up at the sky. The sky is pretty.
He begins to ask every single person he meets what their favorite color is. And while he's gotten several blues, none of them match up to the words on his wrist.
JAYAJAYAJAYAJAYA
Oo you ike bloo?
Four words that have haunted Nya her entire life. Four words that she tries desperately to hide, that she pretends don't exist, that she tries to forget.
But sometimes she can't stop the thoughts from coming. What type of person was her soulmate? Were they mentally-challenged? Were they a drunkard? She doesn't know, and she hates not knowing. One thing she does know, though: she's not going to be some person's prize just because they happen to say her words. And so she does the next best thing: she hides her mark and refuses to talk about the subject.
She grows from a forceful girl into a confident young woman, and it's not long before the men take notice.
JAYAJAYAJAYAJAYA
He fiddles with the last strap on his glider. The wings quiver in the wind. He steps to the edge of the building, glancing down and realizing just how high up he is. He almost considers backing out. But then the words on his arm catch his eye, and he resolves to go through with his plan.
He jumps, almost certainly to his death. He doesn't panic, doesn't fight back, doesn't cry. He only hopes that his soulmate will see him on the front page of some newspaper proclaiming his death- but more importantly, his dare-devil stunt. They'd be better off without me, he reasons. Without some lame failure. This way, they'll have a good memory of me.
But something changes. A fire hydrant below him bursts open, the geyser sending him spinning into a billboard. He stumbles to his feet and notices an old man calmly sipping tea, like some teenager didn't just smash through the board beside him.
"I am Sensei Wu," the man says. "And you have the potential to become a great ninja."
Jay is so stunned, he blurts the first thing that comes to his mind. "Do you like blue?"
JAYAJAYAJAYAJAYA
She leans against the doorframe, watching her brother pound into a sword. He plunges it into water, groaning as it comes out contorted.
"You made it too quickly, Kai," she tells him. "Be patient. If father was here-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Her brother cuts her off. "No matter how much fire you have, experience isn't something you learn overnight."
An elderly man strolls into the shop, and suddenly a routine day explodes into mayhem. Skeleton warriors pour into the village, bringing destruction and ransacking the houses. Her brother dons armor and hefts a sword. She follows with a staff. They fight together.
But then a bony claw is clutching her waist, and she's being ripped away.
JAYAJAYAJAYAJAYA
The only bad thing about being a ninja, he reasons, is the lack of socialization. Sure, he springs the question on his teammates as soon as he meets them, but they only answer orange and white. And the new kid's first words were "uh-oh," not "it's my favorite color!"
"But what about my sister?"
"We're saving a girl? Does she like blue?"
The hedgehog-haired teen blinks back at him. "What? That's none of your business!" He notices how the brunet's eyes stray to his wrist, and he's grateful that the words are hidden by his gi.
Jay covers it with his hand anyway.
JAYAJAYAJAYAJAYA
She finds herself thinking about the words- and their owner- as she's being kept captive. She wonders if she'll even have the chance to meet them. To hear the jumbled letters on her arm being spoken aloud.
Don't think like that! she scolds herself. You're going to get out of here. They can't break you.
She still wonders.
JAYAJAYAJAYAJAYA
As soon as she laughs, he knows he's hopelessly in love. Kai's going on about dragons and the underworld, but he's unable to focus. He panics. Of all the times to loose my voice it had to be this! He hacks, managing to wheeze out, "Oo you ike bloo?"
The girl freezes, even before Zane steps in to translate. He wonders if she had his words, his true words. He worries that he said something wrong, until she gasps out, "Blue? It's my favorite color!"
He's shocked and elated, but he can't help the dopey grin that breaks out.
JAYAJAYAJAYAJAYA
"Oo you ike bloo?"
She gawks. She actually stares at him, lips apart in a silent 'o'. She barely hears the one in white speaking, because all she can do is gape.
"Blue?" she chokes out, because who was this boy and why was he saying that? "It's my favorite color."