(Soulmate AU in which the name of your soulmate is tattooed on your wrist)

Chapter rating T

You looked toward your father before smiling lightly at the job well done. The beautiful, black lettering that now ran across your wrist was done in such a delicate and intricate manner it was impossible to tell that you weren't born with it.

'Ukai Keishin'

"So, where did you choose the name from anyways?" your father asked as he slowly began to put away his equipment.

"Oh, I heard the gym teacher at Nekoma talking about how he was excited for some battle at the garbage dump and competing with an Ukai again. I don't know what it was all about, but the name sounded cool," you replied before standing up from your dining room table to help your father pack his things.

In a world where soulmates were everything people without them would often feel lonely or even be teased and bullied for not having one. It was because of this that many people began having 'fake' names tattooed onto their wrists.

You were one of the few who lacked a soulmate and thanks to that you spent most of your life feeling left out and sometimes even being teased by your peers; however, all that was about to change now.

Your father had recently just retired and closed down his tattoo shop. He had always dreamed of retiring out by the countryside away from the hustle and bustle of the city which was why you now found yourself out in Miyagi.

It didn't bother you so much though; especially since you had lacked friends back in Nekoma even though you were already eighteen and in your third and final year. You had been sadly one of only a handful that didn't have a soulmate.

That was all in the past now though!

Miyagi was a fresh start for you! You had your father tattoo a name onto your wrist and you promised yourself you would make friends this time around.

"You really did a great job though dad!" you said excitedly as you placed his equipment back into the closet where it had come from.

"Ah, really? That's great. I had really been concerned about it since the strain on my eyes had really started to get to me near the end," you father spoke up as he gently scratched the back of his head in something of a guilty manner.

That was the reason for your father's retirement. In recent years his eyesight had slowly started going and the strain from constantly having to perform tiny detail after tiny detail on a tattoo was only deteriorating his eyes quicker. It also gave him massive headaches.

"Ah….I need a smoke," you father muttered to himself as he picked his wallet up from the same table he had just been working on.

"Want me to go get a pack from that corner store?" you asked before moving to find your shoes.

"Yeah, that would be great," your father responded before handing you the proper amount of yen.

It wasn't long before you were out the door and humming softly to yourself. The path to the foothill store was the same one you would be taking to school from now on every day and this little walk would give you the perfect opportunity to further familiarize yourself with the area.

The door above your head ran out when you entered alerting the person on the clock to your presence. He was an older man with dyed blond hair that was pulled back by a band. A cigarette hung loosely between his lips and he seemed quite comfortable with his legs propped up on the counter and a newspaper in hand. You smiled happily toward him when you saw him look up toward you.

"New around here?" he asked as you approached the clear refrigerator and looked over the different juices inside of it.

"Yeah…I wanna ask how you knew, but I imagine only locals use this store," you asked before chuckling softly at the grunt of a response he gave.

"The way you dress too," he responded shortly after you approached the counter with a bottle of juice in hand. He wasted no time in removing his feet from the counter and setting the newspaper down against it.

"The way I dress?" you questioned looking down at your attire. You were in a simple pair of blue skinny jeans with a belt and a white shirt that hugged your body nicely. It was pretty casual for you.

"Most people come here in their house clothes," he answered before grabbing your bottle of juice and then ringing it up. You didn't have the heart to tell him that these were your clothes…were the people in the big city that different from the people along the countryside?

"Oh! Could you please add a pack of your cheapest cigarettes too?" you asked as you pulled out your wallet and dug around the money your father had handed you.

"ID?" the blond male asked raising a curious brow since you had definitely struck him as someone younger than twenty.

"Are you serious?" you asked eyes wide with surprise at the fact that you had just been carded. You had been buying cigarettes and alcohol for you father since you were about fifteen and you had never once been carded. Sure, Japan had the law set in place that you couldn't serve alcohol or cigarettes to a minor, but most establishments didn't care; hell, you could buy alcohol from the vending machines if you wanted to.

"Yes, I'm serious, most stores around here will card you. We're not like the city you came from," he stated simply before giving a small sigh at the look of disbelief you were giving him. He honestly didn't care at all, but he would rather not have his parents complaining to him about breaking the rules.

"Listen, can you please just do it this one time? I don't want to have to walk back just to grab my old man and come back out here again…" you sighed in a bit of annoyance before raising your hand and scratching the back of your head. It was a habit you had picked up from your father; scratching the back of your head whenever you were guilty, annoyed, or sometimes even confused.

Ukai hadn't meant to see it, but he did.

A small glimpse of the delicate name written across your wrist.

Surely, he was seeing things, right?

"Hey, your soulmate….what's his name?" the male suddenly asked you and you blinked a bit in surprise before turning a bright red.

"Will you sell me the cigarettes if I tell you?" you asked grinning slightly while being careful to keep your arm hidden behind your back. The blond male gave a frustrated sigh before running a hand through his hair and then turning his back toward you. A second later he was throwing down the cheapest pack of cigarettes muttering something about 'not doing this again and coming back with your father next time'.

You gave him a bright smile before looking down at the delicate words on your wrist. It may have been fake, but the fact that you now had a name gave you a warm feeling. You no longer had to worry about people giving you some pity filled gazes, whispering behind your back, or just people being plain out bullies.

"Ukai Keishin," you spoke up before flashing the name on your wrist to the blond male.

You blinked a bit in surprise though when you noticed his face. It was kind of hard to read. Was he surprised? Upset? Wait….

"Are you….Ukai Keishin?" you asked and watched as the man flinched before turning a bit red in the cheeks. Oh gosh, that was kind of cute and…shit…what the hell were you doing?! This man was how much older than you?! Still though…there was just no way he was your soulmate especially since your tattoo was…fake.

"Yeah, but…hrm…what's your name?" he asked eyes staring hard at the name on your wrist. There was just no way.

No way, did the universe finally decide to bring his soulmate into his life just to have her be how many years younger than himself?

This was worse than going a lifetime without meeting his soulmate.

It really was his name though and to think he had just given up on meeting his soulmate too.

You quietly whispered your name to him and watched as his eyes went wide with surprise once more. You had no way of knowing if that was surprise from the fact that you were indeed his soulmate or surprise from the fact that you weren't.

It had to be the later though.

You watched as Ukai slowly raised his wrist for you to see.

The name that was written there had your heart pounding against your chest, but you weren't sure if it was from excitement upon seeing your own name on someone else's wrist or dread from the fact that you knew that was just a pure coincidence.

"Ah…ah…" you spoke staring at your name before raising a hand to gently run across the delicate black wording. You almost missed the way the blonde male shuddered lightly under your gentle touch.

"I…I should go!" you suddenly called out before throwing your money on the counter and then promptly grabbing your belongings.

You were positive you had never ran home so fast in your life, but oh gosh…you never thought you'd meet the man whose name your stole. And even if you had met him you had thought you had simply taken the name of some old geezer's friend.

You had wrongly assumed that the old coach at Nekoma's friend would have also been an old geezer.

You quickly slammed the door to your house shut almost jumping when you suddenly heard the sound of your father's voice.

"Are you alright?" he asked before quickly approaching you and then gently touching your arm as if to try and soothe you.

"D-Dad….I met…the man. This name…" you spoke softly as you gave a quick glance toward your wrist. The delicate black words stuck out against your skin. You completely missed the way your father's eyes widened at your confession.

"And…?" he said carefully as if saying something wrong would break the entirety of your world.

"He has my name on his wrist…" you said softly and you were pretty sure that with the single look your father gave you the world around you crumbled at your feet.

The next day Ukai could only think about the young woman who had showed up at his parents shop the other day.

That was his name.

This was your name.

And you were beautiful, young, and everything he had imagined in a soulmate (appearance wise) about three years ago before he had given up all hope in ever meeting his soulmate.

It wasn't uncommon in this world for a person to never meet there soulmate and Ukai had already accepted himself as one of those people, but then you came wandering into his store and now….now he didn't know what to do.

You were obviously a student, he'd venture you were eighteen at most, and he was at least ten years your senior. He doubted you were ready to settle down or even interested in some old guy like him. You were still in the prime of your life and probably had a lot you still wanted to do.

He sighed as he lit yet another cigarette before looking up toward the cloudy sky from his spot in front of his store. It was a rest day for Karasuno's Volleyball team so he thankfully didn't have to worry about those kids today, but he knew they were probably going to stop here on their way home from school.

And then, almost as soon as he thought about the boys, a familiar voice suddenly called out to him.

"Coach!" the enthusiastic voice yelled toward him.

The blond male twitched with a bit of annoyance as he quickly put out his cigarette and turned to face the excited first year.

Of course, he was greeted with more than just the face of Hinata though since it seemed the entire Volleyball team was here minus Tsukishima and Yamaguchi.

In place of them though he found…you.

The two of you stared at each other for a moment before you gave a small and sheepish smile while turning your head away to chat with Sugawara.

Ah crap, what the hell were you doing here?

Not that he minded having you around, but after everything that had happened last night he had thought he wouldn't see you again for quite a while; after all, you had kind of just run off on him.

He could only assume you had done so out of dislike for finding him as your soulmate.

"Well, what do you guys want?" Ukai asked and watched with slight annoyance as Hinata beamed up at him before loudly declaring he wanted meat buns.

"You guys need to have a proper meal," Ukai responded without much hesitation.

He was vaguely aware of the way you snickered at his comment before the sound was drowned out by Hinata's whine.

Ukai frowned a bit before finally relenting to the short first year, but not before stating to the boys that they had to have a proper meal still when they got home. He hadn't been aware that by saying this he would end up alone outside of his store with you.

"You're a pretty sweet guy, aren't you?" you asked eyeing him for a moment before smiling brightly up toward him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he quickly responded his voice coming out a bit more gruff than he had hoped it would.

"Uh-huh…so it must have been my imagination when you put out your cigarette or gave the boys free meat buns," you said laughing slightly at the way his cheeks seemed to turn a light shade of pink.

"What are you doing here anyways?" he asked trying to desperately change the topic since he wasn't quite used to being called 'nice'.

"I made friends with Sugawara and Daichi…they uh…they saw your name," you stated softly before turning your gaze in the opposite direction in a pathetic attempt to hide your burning cheeks.

Damn it, you were supposed to be telling him that this name was a fake, but you sadly couldn't ignore the pleasant drum of your body as your spoke with him.

"What did they say?" he asked rather bluntly as you turned once more to focus your attention on him.

He kept it to himself that the sight of your burning cheeks was rather attractive, but the fact that you were embarrassed because him made it all the better.

He seemed nice and patient (had to be if he handled Hinata so easily) and he seemed to genuinely care about the boys health too.

Not only that, but you'd have to be blind to not think he was a good looking man.

Your eyes absent mindedly rolled over his form before you caught yourself and quickly turned your gaze away from him once more. You hoped he hadn't noticed you openly checking him out.

Crap…you were falling for him, but that was the last thing you wanted to do since the name on your wrist was…fake.

You had to tell him soon; otherwise, you were only going to cause more problems.

Of course, you had no way of knowing, but he absolutely had caught you checking him out and he couldn't help the feeling of his pride swelling or the grin that pulled at his lips despite the slight redness in his cheeks.

He had completely forgotten about your question until you finally decided to answer it.

"They didn't say anything. They kind of just smiled and asked me if I wanted to walk home with them…I see why they wanted me coming along now," you said laughing slightly as you scratched the back of your head in a bit of embarrassment.

"You were obviously set up," he said chuckling slightly at the fact that his two third years were a little more cunning than he had ever given them credit for.

"U-Ukai-kun…" you said slowly while ignoring the burn in your cheeks or the thumping of your heart.

Wow, was his laughter nice. It was kind of gruff and a bit low, but you'd be lying if you said you didn't feel it shake your very being.

"Yeah?" he asked after a few seconds of silence. He was completely unaware of the fact that you were trying to work up the courage to tell him about the lie on your wrist.

"Do you wanna have dinner with me tonight?" you suddenly asked before you could process the words that had escaped your mouth. You had panicked. Your brain had drawn a blank when he had spoken up and said the first thing that came to mind.

Crap, that was not what you wanted to say.

In fact, that was the exact opposite of what you wanted to say.

You silently prayed to whatever god was out there that he said 'no' or that he was 'too young for you'.

He blinked a bit in surprise at your sudden question before turning his gaze to look over the boys in the store as if making sure they weren't around to listen in on this.

Dinner wasn't so bad though, right? He had told himself he wouldn't come onto you if he saw you again, but he hadn't been prepared for you to make the first move.

Shit…you were bolder than he had had you pegged for at the start.

"Sure, my shift ends at eight"