The first touch is like a physical brand, a wash of warmth on the skin.

Your soul is marked too.

(Wherein a touch from your soulmate, random and unanticipated, sets your senses alight. You feel every breath you share, the syncronised beating of your hearts. But...only the one touched realises. And not everybody matches up.)

It was on a normal day.

Ha! Of course, it was. All extraordinary days start off ordinary...before promptly derailing like a runaway steam engine.

They were at her house, like normal, and Kiharu was cooking, like normal. Unfortunately, it wasn't a tray of delicious goodies, like Shisui had hoped, but a simple curry. But Ki-chan's food was always tasty, even if she didn't enjoy savoury like her sweet creations, so they had tucked in with gusto.

It was only when Shisui leaned over to take her dirty dishes, as per the agreement of fairness, that either of them realised her earring was missing.

"Oh no!" Kiharu wailed, one hand reaching up to blindly feel her bare lobe. Panicked blue met concerned black. "Ensui made them; he'll kill me if he finds out I lost an earring he made, especially something that cut into his naptime!"

The 18-year-old Jounin gulped loudly at the ramifications - Ensui was terrifying - and immediately activated his Sharingan to start scouring the room. Kiharu had jumped to her feet and started carefully spooning through the last of the curry, lest it had fallen in the pan.

"And you're sure you didn't eat it?!"

Shisui rolled his eyes for the millionth time as he crouched to check under the table - no dice. "Yes, Ki-chan, I'm sure."

Scarlet irises swept along the floor before a glint of blue glimmered against the skirting board.

"A-ha!" he reached to pluck it up, Kiharu immediately behind him. "Found the little bugger!"

The aggravating sapphire stud was thoroughly washed and Shisui wondered if Kiharu felt faint, her expression so relieved.

A small hand was held out for the tiny earring but something...stayed Shisui's hand.

"Here," His fingers brushed her fringe behind her ear and gently fastened the bright blue droplet, "let me?"

Kiharu didn't move and Shisui's fingers...lingered.

He'd known Kiharu since they were kids, fallen asleep in her arms as she had in his more times that he could count. But...why did this feel different? More intimate?

Kiharu hadn't moved.

Internally, the smaller brunette was...burning.

Her earlobe was on fire, not a painful burn like touching a hot skillet...but warm. Like that gentle, skimming touch had set all her nerves alight.

She...she couldn't believe it-!

"Hey, Ki," Shisui dipped his head to meet her eyes, previously wide and almost unseeing, "still at home?"

Bloodless lips parted and Kiharu forced herself to focus on anything but the warmth of Shisui's arm near hers. "Of course…" she licked her lips and tried to pull some of her usual wittiness from thin air. "Some people actually have stuff to think about-"

Shisui jerked back with a sharp bark of surprised laughter, dark eyes sparkling with mirth. "Ouch!" He took a few steps backwards and Kiharu tried not to feel bereft from the loss. "Kitty has claws, Hitoshi would be proud!"

With a final chortle, when the Baker couldn't bring herself to do anything but roll her eyes, the Jounin disappeared into the hall for his jacket and katana.

In the momentary reprieve, Kiharu decided now was the best time to get her mental breakdown out of the way.

Oh, fucking Kami- oh, my god-

He'd burned her!

She never thought it would happen to her, a reincarnated soul from a world without soulmates, and she'd told herself it was fine. Build up your precious bonds and you'll never be alone.

But...then she'd met Shisui.

Oh, she'd known about him long before they actually met. A boy destined to die a tragic death, blinded and cast aside by the very village he was trying to save. She… she couldn't bear it.

Because Shisui was good, kind and innocent and laughing and everything right with the world. 9 to her 7, he'd held out a hand to lead her through the Compound. His eyes had been so careful, carefully hopeful and carefully bright, and his smile was pure sunshine.

She'd beamed and threaded her fingers through his and neither of them had truly let go since.

And it wasn't just that Shisui was bright and funny, despite all the hardships and tragedy and loneliness. He got her, the girl with precious few friends because she was so intense. Too knowing, creepy eyes, they'd said.

"Like the Naka, big and blue and beautiful!" Shisui had laughed.

Her mother had burned Papa when she decked him for being a dick. Not a week later, Seiichi had returned the favour when Aki had reached to pick up a dropped pear and he beat her to it.

Soulmates weren't smooth sailing. The burns didn't mark an occasion, like when you met or fell in love it anything. You could burn for your mortal enemy, a stranger or a love; for anyone whose soul was your match, no matter the body. Your souls resonated, yes, and generally, people ended up together that way, but it wasn't a law. Sometimes you loved someone else or you never met them or it just didn't work.

Sometimes it was one-sided and they never burned back-

Kiharu breathed in deeply and focused on her thumping heart. Like an echo, the ghost of a feeling, she could sense Shisui's own pulse. Their hearts kept the same rhythm and she'd never noticed before. Another...another sign…

Steps in the hallway, only audible out of learned consideration, and then dark curls were peeking around the door.

Even at eighteen (still rather short and yet gangly), the smooth plains of Shisui's face, from his sharp jaw and hidden dimple to those gorgeous eyes, were already a sight to behold.

Kiharu breathed and felt how Shisui's lungs expanded in an echo of her own motion. At least, this way, he'll always be with me.

Kiharu looked...off, pale but drawn. Focused. Dark eyes carefully scrutinised the lost look tucked behind her mask of thoughtfulness (he knew her too well) but, eventually, decided to leave it. For now. She'd...tell him when she was ready.

"Ready to go? We spent so long looking for your stud, we may as well head out now."

Kiharu exhaled slowly and, in the privacy of her own heart, marvelled at the soothing thump of her soulmate's own.

"Yeah...yeah, let's go."

….

A/N- I was a send button away from only showing this to my Discord chat, lmao...you lucky sods