The first cracks happened when they were six.

Haruka had finally convinced Makoto that he wouldn't get caught if he went for a swim in the lake situated in the school gardens. It was their afternoon recess, and while most boys their age spent that time playing ball games or tag in the sprawling lawns, they preferred wandering around campus together at leisure. Some days they found a quiet corner in the library and read in companionable silence; others they spent in the stables with the horses or exploring corridors and marveling at the suits of armor, brilliant paintings and other wonders they would find within. The academy was housed in an old country mansion, and there was always something new to discover every day.

Of course, Haruka had discovered the lake on the very first day, but Makoto always held him back from stripping right there and then and jumping in, reminding him that the professors never said anything about students being allowed to swim in the lake, so it was probably off-limits; the lake might be too deep and he would be in danger of drowning; he would catch a cold if he attended classes after recess while still dripping wet; and besides, he could always wait until he was home for the weekend to swim in the pool in his family's estate. Haruka always complied, but not without insisting every time that the lake was way bigger than the pool at home, so he had to try it at least once.

Apparently his day had finally come, for this time Makoto didn't put up too much of a fight as he discarded his tie and blazer. Just as he had stripped down to his jammers (his odd choice of underwear) and splashed into the water though, he looked up to see Makoto hesitantly unbuttoning the front of his shirt as well. "Makoto? What are you doing?"

"I – I'll swim with you! Then when – I mean, if anyone catches us, I'll say I made you swim with me!"

Haruka shook his head in disbelief. "You're an idiot. Even if you tell them that, they'll still punish me anyway. They know you're too big of a softie to force anyone against their will."

"I – I'll do it anyway!" Makoto waded into the cool water to stand before his friend. "If you get in trouble, I won't let you be alone, Haru-chan!"

"Drop the –chan," Haruka replied automatically. "Fine, do whatever you want; I'm going to swim to the opposite bank."

"I'll swim with you! We can see who gets there first!"

"I'm not interesting in racing." You wouldn't have known it from the speed at which Haruka cut across the water's surface though.

Makoto did his best to catch up, and soon the two were almost neck-to-neck, with Haruka pulling ahead by a few inches. They reached the other shore and doubled back, their arms propelling themselves forwards until they were back at their starting point. Haruka let his legs sink and stood up, watching as Makoto did so as well a moment later. The corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted at the sight of Makoto panting happily while water dripped from his hair.

"That was fun!" the sandy-haired boy gasped while catching his breath. He caught Haruka smiling at him and beamed back in return before the other could turn away, causing Haruka's cheeks to strangely heat up.

That was when they both felt a ripple resonate throughout their bodies, and they both shivered involuntarily.

"Did it suddenly get cold?"

"I don't know, I - " Haruka's eyes fell upon the locket around Makoto's neck. "Your heart's jewel. It's cracked."

"What?" Makoto's hand flew to the emerald-tinted gem hanging below the hollow of his neck. He stared at the crack incredulously, then looked up and gasped. "Haru, yours has cracked too!"

Haruka held up his own gem and touched the fissure running down the middle gingerly, its sapphire gleam mirrored in his eyes. "You're right. But then - "

" – we both - "

Makoto's voice trailed off, and they were suspended in a moment of silence. Then Haruka cleared his throat. "Let's get out, it really is getting cold standing in here."

"Oh! Uh – yeah!" As they put on their uniforms though, without saying anything to each other, they both tucked their lockets into their shirts, hiding them from view.

...

Unbeknownst to them, miles away from the academy a heated discussion was going on in the royal council room.

"This is insane! You would have us act against a law of nature, a fundamental part of humanity from the beginning of time!"

"Yes, and history would tell you what follies that supposed 'fundamental part' has caused. Disloyalty, abandonment of duty, even bloodshed, all for the cracking of a useless stone."

"If you would call a part of your own soul useless, it is apparent who the fool here is truly."

"Sentimentality does not manage or protect a country, nor can I see any way in which it has been of use to the same ends. Let the common people love and be loved however they like, but those who lead and command do not have such a luxury. We who serve the realm cannot let anything come between us and our responsibilities."

"So you would have our next generation of leaders be nothing more than pawns, to marry as their superiors see fit in the name of maintaining peace? Our council will soon find itself lacking of successors; who would want such a fate?"

"You'd be surprised, there are many who would give up their personal desires for the nation."

"Or wealth and power, more like."

"We have the means to do so; why not? If it brings peace and order to the kingdom, I don't see why we shouldn't do it."

That was when the king cleared his throat, and every eye in the room turned to him. "My lords and trusted advisors, we are still at too early a stage to make a final decision regarding this matter. We must needs be cautious and wise, weighing all related consequences before we act. There will be many who will be affected by this, and there is still much left to be discussed."

"Your Highness speaks true," the others replied in unison, and the meeting adjourned not long after.

...

Twelve years later, and the two boys who once raced in the lake were now the cream of the crop in the academy. Their talents lay in different fields, one a rising star in military affairs and the other tipped to be the next junior minister, but they had remained the closest of friends, with a bond that nobody else was able to break though. Of late the rest of the school seemed unable to take a hint though, as Haruka found out to his annoyance when he walked into homeroom one morning to find his seat occupied – again.

"Ah, good morning Haru-chan."

"Drop the –chan," he intoned, although his eyes were fixed on the girl who'd claimed his place.

"Oh, sorry Nanase-kun! Here, you can have your seat back!" The girl stood up and left, but not before giving a little wave to Makoto. "Talk to you next time, Makoto-kun!"

Haruka plopped his bookbag down. "So you two are on first-name terms now?"

Makoto shrugged. "She just likes calling me by that. I don't mind one way or the other."

Blue eyes narrowed. "Did she ask about your heart's jewel as well?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"And nothing. I just told her it had already cracked, and I already knew who my other half was, and that was it."

The two of them had been rather conspicuous from primary school onwards, being the only two who did not display their heart's jewels on the front of their chests like everyone else. Traditionally only people whose jewels had cracked hid them under their clothing, for it was said that leaving the jewel in plain sight after its first crack would doom the budding relationship. Every child in the academy knew that, yet they did nothing more than stare curiously at the two, up until high school. Then the interrogations began.

"You would've thought they would've known it a long time ago since first grade, but no, every last one of them has to come ask and hear it for themselves," Haruka muttered as he stabbed at a lemon cake, only to squirt cream on Rin's face. By high school students took classes according to the path of their future careers, which meant different recess times. As a result the only time Haruka and Makoto saw each other during school was in homeroom, and he spent most of his free periods in the company of his sharktoothed classmate.

Rin wiped the cream off with a napkin and shrugged. "They just like being let down to their faces. Same thing happens for me and Sousuke." He'd concealed his heart's jewel just before middle school, and nobody in his circle of friends needed to be told the cracks on his jewel matched those of his childhood friend – which didn't stop the rest of the senior class from approaching him to ask though. Luckily, Haruka only needed one meeting to know that Sousuke cared deeply for Rin – a bit too deeply at times, in fact.

"Speaking of which, check this out." Rin was now grinning from ear to ear as he drew out his jewel from under his uniform. Haruka's eyes widened at the sight of the crimson and teal halves of the gem, joined in the middle in a pattern resembling flanes licking each other.

"You… he gave you his… when?"

"Last night. He sneaked some liquor into campus, so we locked ourselves in his room and got dead drunk. Turns out he's most honest when inebriated though – he said a whole lot of things he never told me before." Rin's cheeks turned a faint shade of pink at the memory. "Then we ended up in his bed, and although I think we were mostly sober by then – at least, I remember everything that happened afterwards clearly, so we couldn't have been too far gone – the alcohol was still racing through my bloodstream, you know? And then we were kissing, and – well, one thing led to another. We found the halves on the sheets this morning."

"Huh." The catalyst for heart's jewels breaking so they could be exchanged varied from person to person, but losing one's virginity wasn't a reason unheard of.

"At least the guy can stop glaring at me like I'm planning to elope with you now."

"I dunno, maybe he'll glare worse than ever. The more he knows something's his, the more he's loath to let it go."

"And you're actually fine with it, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Shows that he cares about me." Rin's smug grin threatened to spill out of his face.

"So what about you and Makoto? Can't be too far from your own breaking now."

"Well, I won't be doing anything on purpose about it. I'll just let - " Haruka was cut off by the jingle over the intercom that preceded an announcement.

"Would all seniors please assemble in the auditorium now. I repeat, would all seniors…"

"An assembly?" Rin wrinkled his brow. "What could that be about?"

"Guess we'll find out soon," Haruka replied as they joined the stream of students in the corridor.

…

"They're splitting our heart's jewels?" That was the word on everyone's lips among the senior classes for the rest of the day. Haruka barely noticed though; it was as if he was looking at everything through a glass screen, detached from his surroundings in a haze of surrealism. Rin kept sending him worried glances from two rows away but he was oblivious to them, and also the low-volume conversations around him.

"I hear the council pulled off this new thing because they'd had too many incidents of junior members involved in scandals because of having given half of their heart's jewels to lower-class people."

"Or like that time that deranged lieutenant threw a torch at his betrothed's house because she'd exchanged halves with someone else. Apparently he thought not having his feelings returned was good justification to burn someone's place down."

"What about that minister who arranged a marriage for his daughter only to discover on the wedding day itself that the bridegroom had some serving girl's half merged with his own?"

"He probably wished he could chop the guy's jewel in half. Maybe he was the one who came up with this idea."

"Well, then I'd like to chop him in half."

"What are you so upset about? It's not like your jewel's started cracking, right?"

"Yeah, I shouldn't be upset over getting treated like a random brick, to be combined with another piece at will. This is just so our parents can arrange marriages more easily, I tell you."

"Can't say we haven't been expecting that though; almost everyone in the academy is gonna end up hitched to a complete stranger. That's how it is as an elite."

"Some manage to find the other half of their heart's jewels though. At least the council won't insist on tearing apart the jewels of people who've already exchanged halves."

"Great, so they might not have qualms about destroying budding romances, but by all means if you've slept together then they'll let you off the hook. Not so cold-blooded and heartless after all."

Rin snorted to himself at the last quip, then glanced towards Haruka again only to find him sitting erect in his seat, blue eyes flashing. Oh good, he's showing signs of life. He wondered whether he should be worried about this new change though – it was a bit too sudden to be passed off as normal. "Damnit Makoto, just claim his half already so someone else can worry their head off about him for a change," he muttered under his breath.

…

Makoto's ears perked up at the three soft knocks on his door. His face broke into a smile at the thought of the only person he knew who knocked in such a fashion. "Come in, the door's not locked." He turned from his desk to see Haruka closing the door behind him.

"I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

"Of course you're not." He straightened the papers on his desk before moving to sit on his bed. "Do you need anything, Haru-chan?"

"Drop the –chan." The reply was as familiar as the feeling of the mattress sagging to his right as Haruka settled beside him. After a long pause, his friend spoke up.

"You… you were at today's assembly, right?"

Makoto blinked in confusion. "Uh, yes?" All the seniors had been there, of course he was too.

"So… what do you think of the new decree?"
"You mean about splitting heart's jewels? Well, I guess I could see why the council would make such a decision – I mean, we've all heard the stories before. And for them to decide to carry out the procedure before our final exams – I suppose it's so we can concentrate on preparing for them? You know, with the heart's jewels already split others wouldn't be fixated with their jewels cracking or - "

"I meant regarding us."

"Oh." Makoto fell silent, and the awkward tension grew in the room until Haruka could take it no longer.

"Do you really have nothing to say?"

"Huh? Oh – uh – well no, not really. I mean, well, they said our heart's jewels will still be able to bond with our future partner's, so there won't be any ill side effects. It's perfectly fine…" he trailed off as he stared down at his hands, deliberately looking away from Haruka's piercing gaze. Then he suddenly jolted in surprise as Haruka reached for his locket, drawing out the emerald gem from inside his shirt. He held it in his palm and ran a finger down the middle, where the crack had nearly divided the entire gem in two.

"Ha – haru?"

"Here." Haruka tapped the bottom of the fissure. "This was from the night before the military exercise, when you went through the drills for the last time with me. And this was when you rescued that middle-schooler from that frenzied horse and I had to take you to the hospital wing because you got a kick to the hip and fractured it. This was when we went to the summer festival together last year."

"You remember all of them?"

"Of course I did." Haruka paused. "Every time a new crack appeared, I would spend days looking at my jewel whenever I was alone, until I could close my eyes and draw it perfectly from memory. I've been like that from the first time." He touched the crack at the very tip of the jewel, which had grown deeper and wider over the years. "I think it was seeing you standing in the water with your hair dripping wet, face all flushed from swimming – that was when I felt it. You know, whatever it is that causes heart's jewels to crack." His own face was also flushed by now.

"If our jewels really got split from the council, they would erase the cracks and leave us with symmetrical halves and smooth edges. It would be like everything we ever went through together, every moment we shared that caused another crack, would be wiped out of our memories." Blue eyes stared into green ones firmly. "But I never want to forget them. I want to keep them forever – and keep you too."

"Haru…"

"I know it's possible for cracks to mend when a relationship ends without actually coming to fruition, and if that's what you want I won't oppose it, but… there's a selfish part of me that never wants to let you go, or let you forget what happened between us. Because like it or not, one half of my heart is already yours." Haruka let the final sentence hang in the air, then suddenly had to look away as his face burned hotly.

"Haru… but why would you ever think I would forget?" Something in Makoto's voice made Haruka turn back to face him, and when their eyes met he was struck by the tenderness overflowing in those green orbs.

"Because… well, It seemed like you were getting closer to those other classmates, like that girl this morning, or they were getting closer to you, and… ugh, I'm just jealous, okay?" Embarrassed by his confession, Haruka hid his face in one palm, only for Makoto to gently pull his hand away so they were face to face.

"It's alright, I understand how you feel. I also get jealous as well."

Haruka was surprised. "You do?"

"Yeah. For example, I can't help but envy the relationship you have with Rin – you're both rivals and good friends, and there are parts of you that he knows better than me. The truth is, I know you're the kind of person to go with the flow and not make a fuss over things, so I let our friendship run its course naturally, when actually I want to be so much more." Makoto's cheeks were growing redder now. "I want to be the one you rely on, who you turn to when you need help. I want to be there for you whether you're happy or sad, to go through all of life's ups and downs with you. I want to be truly worthy of your heart's jewel."

Haruka was struck speechless, but Makoto wasn't finished yet. "The reason why I had nothing to remark on the new decree was because… because no matter whether my heart breaks naturally or is split equally, you're the only one I'd give my half to." He pulled Haruka closer so their foreheads were touching. "It's always been meant for you. From the moment it began to crack. So hearing all you said, how you felt… that me so very happy."

"Idiot," Haruka replied, too overcome to say anything else. He was suddenly aware of how close their lips were, how if he leaned forward just a few inches…

Then a crisp ping broke the silence, and they both looked down at the same time to find half of their heat's jewel in their laps.

Makoto was the first to move after the initial surprise had worn off. Gingerly picking up his shard of emerald, he held it out to Haruka with both hands. "Here. Now I can finally give you what is yours."

Haruka picked up his own sapphire piece, then after a heartbeat reached for Makoto's locket again. The taller boy soon understood, and drew out Haruka's half-empty locket as well. Together they both fitted the halves into the slots in each other's lockets.

The light from the window caught on the newly-melded gems, and hues of blue and green glinted off the surfaces. Makoto gently ran a finger down the middle of his jewel where the two halves met, then looked up when Haruka called his name softly. "Yes – mmph!"

The kiss lasted only a few seconds, but to them it was like an eternity, where everything they hadn't been able to put onto words now passed between them as their lips pressed against each other.

They finally broke apart, then Haruka cleared his throat. "Well, guess it didn't take losing virginity for it to break after all."

Dazed as he was by the kiss, Makoto only let out a half-comprehending "What?"

"Nothing of importance." Haruka rested his head on his soulmate's shoulder and traced a line down Makoto's jawline with one finger. "We'll just work through it one at a time, together."

He felt Makoto's mouth curl up into a smile. "That sounds good."

…

"Next: Haruka Nanase. Your heart's jewel, please."

The official took one look at the locket presented before him and nodded as he typed something into the computer. "Thank you. Since you do not require undergoing the procedure, you may leave now."

"Yes, sir." Haruka's face was expressionless during the entire exchange, but as he turned to leave a small smile played across his lips. He walked across the room and opened the door, then stepped out to where Makoto was waiting for him.