Chapter 1: Teardrops
The door slammed shut as he stormed out of the house. Tears streamed down his face, promising himself that it would be the last time he let himself be hurt by the man that claimed to love him. No soulmate was worth he pain he was putting him through each time he let him back into his life. His dark eyes were bloodshot from all of the tears he had cried. He could feel the bruise forming on his cheek from where the fight had gotten physical. The relationship had never been abusive before, at least not physically. There had been many arguments where they had both said things that they didn't mean, but this was the first time it had ever gone that far.
He looked at his soulmate mark, wishing that the rain that was pouring down would wash it away and that he could forget the toxic man he had just left behind. If he were honest, the mark seemed to be a large reason for why he had always let him back into his heart. The mark meant that they were supposed to have a happy ending, not something so toxic that it was tearing them apart.
"Baby, wait!" he heard his now ex-boyfriend call out as he ran to catch up. Everything in him told him to run, but his heart wouldn't let him. He stopped walking and turned to look at the other man. He hardly recognized the man in front of him, no longer looking like the man he was when they had first met. His once tan skin had become pale, his eye were glossed over and red, his blond hair was a mess and his once built body was now sickly thin. "I'm so sorry," the blond said, breathless from running, or more stumbling, to catch up.
"You're using again," it wasn't a question. It was obvious that the other man was back on drugs, his behavior told him all he needed to confirm that he had once again fallen off the wagon. "You promised that you wouldn't use again," his voice was just above a whisper. "You promised," he repeated as the tears continued to fall, blending with the rain that was pouring down on them. It was only fitting that the storm would be pouring down to match what he was feeling inside.
"It was one time," the blond pled as he reached to cup the other man's cheek where the bruise was forming. "I had one slip up, this will never happen again," he promised, moving the dark hair out of the other man's eyes.
The dark haired man stepped away, "I've heard that too many times and this time you've gone too far." This time he was done. He knew that he'd said that in the past only to give in to the other man's apologies soon after, but this time he meant it. The blond always knew all the right things to say to make him fall back into the trap that was their relationship. It felt like an endless cycle. "We're done, It's over for good this time," he had no idea how true those words were at the time, just not for the reasons he would have thought.
It probably wasn't his best idea to drive in his emotional state, especially in the rain, but he ended to get away. Between the tears and the rain falling down his eyes were somewhat obscured as he continued to drive. It was late at night and hardly anyone was on the road. Had he been in the right state of mind he might have noticed the other car running a red light at full speed. Before he knew what was happening the vehicle had slammed into the driver's side of the car, causing it to roll.
That was the moment Sasuke always woke up. His dark locks were clinging to his face as he woke up in a sweat, breathing heavily as his heart raced. He threw off the covers as he sat up, trying to process what he had just dreamed. It was always the same point of that particular nightmare where he woke up. He assumed it was the point where he had died in his past life. He fell back onto the mattress, lying down as he stared up at the ceiling. That nightmare had been the final confirmation he needed to know that he never wanted to meet his soulmate.
It was said that if you and your soulmate didn't have a happy ending in your past life then you would dream about it in your next life. The dreams were random, never in sequential order. Some dreams would show times when you were happy, while others would show you where things went wrong. Those dreams were allegedly to allow you to avoid making the same mistakes by learning from your past life. Sasuke thought they were a warning to stay as far away as possible.
The theory was that if you didn't have any dreams then you were one of the unlucky people that didn't meet your soulmate in your past life and the universe would fix it the next time. Those that dreamed of random things were the lucky ones that got their happy ending. Sasuke fell into the last group, the group that met their soulmate and didn't get their happy ending. There really was no known definition as to what a "happy ending" consisted of when it came to soulmates, as those that got theirs never dreamed about their past life.
At a young age Uchiha Sasuke had began having dreams about his past life. It started off with good memories, making his younger self wonder why he and his soulmate didn't have their happy ending. The dreams escalated more into nightmares in his late teens, causing him to question just what kind of person his soulmate really was. He was eighteen the first time he had the nightmare of the day he died in his past life. It was the moment he decided he would do everything in his power not to meet his soulmate.
He and his soulmate didn't seem to like calling each other by their names in his dreams, always using some disgusting pet name instead, so he had no idea what his soulmate's name was, which would have made him a lot easier to avoid. People said that the reason some people would find someone in history that seemed to look just like them was because it was them in a past life. The universe was allowing you to know what your soulmate would look like to make it easier to fix what had went wrong.
More often that not last names would be different unless your surname was extremely common, but the first name was always the same. Some called it fate, Sasuke believed it was bullshit. He didn't want a soulmate, especially if he were anything like the man in his dreams. The fact that he had never dreamed about the first them they had met confused him. Most people had that as their first dream, but of course he had to be the odd one out. Perhaps the universe knew that if he knew his name he would avoid anyone with that name like the plague.
One thing Sasuke hated the most was his soulmate mark. Everyone had them so even those without dreams of their past life were still able to know when they found their soulmate. The one person that was claimed be "made" for you. His was an intricate series of music notes. While it was illegal to cover the mark with a tattoo, he did the next best thing and had a tattoo artist hide it among many tattoos so it wouldn't be noticeable. He started his sleeve at the age of twenty and now, at the age of twenty-two, he had almost a complete sleeve. The vast majority of the sleeve was a large snake that went up and around his arm. The snake was surrounded by leaves, one of which held the music note near the end of the snake, making it blend nicely. From there he continued the sleeve with various designs that blended nicely with the snake until his entire arm was covered and no one would notice the music note on his forearm. His father always hated his tattoos, claiming he was a fool and that it would impact his career.
Another thing Sasuke had avoided was music. HIs soulmate had been in a rock band in his past life and the music note on his arm told him that music was probably what had brought them together in the first place. It made him not want to have anything to do with music. Unfortunately, his father seemed to have other plans for him. Now that he was graduating college he was expected to take his place in the family business, but what he wasn't expecting was that his tattoos would be there reason his father forced him into their entertainment sector.
He was upset when his father had told him that he wouldn't be by his side the way his brother was, but it didn't matter to his father. He told Sasuke that he couldn't do business covered in tattoos so instead of learning how to run a business he was going to be managing one of company's up and coming artists. His father had just told him that he should be happy he had any place in the business at all with his tattoos. It was obviously his punishment for going against his fathers wishes.
Sasuke sighed as he looked at the clock. It was round four o'clock in the morning and he was wide awake. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, scared of his next dream. Instead he got up and decided to go for a run to clear his head. It was all part of his morning routine. He'd wake up, get ready and go for a run through the nearby park or to the gym before starting his day. It helped him not think about the dreams that haunted him.
That morning he had decided to go to the gym and run the track. It was winter and a little too cold for an early morning run through the park. He got ready and made sure to bring his headphones. While he wouldn't actually listen to music, it deterred people from trying to talk to him and sometimes he'd find a podcast to listen to if he really needed something.
It was around six o'clock when he returned home from he gym, sweaty and ready to take a shower. Sometimes he would use the showers at the gym, but one of the men there had been looking at him far too long for his liking and he didn't want some creep to approach him while he was trying to shower or get ready to leave. Despite the fact that there were enclosures for the actual showering portion, he still had to step out after the shower and get ready to leave.
He was surprised when he walked in to find his temporary roommate sitting on the couch. His best friend, Suigetsu, had been staying with him while he was trying to find his own place after a bad break up. "What are you doing up?" he asked as he set his things down by the door. "You're never awake this early unless you have to be."
Suigetsu shrugged, "Just couldn't sleep." He looked down at his own soulmate mark, "I think my soulmate is hooking up with someone again. You know how it hurts when the other person is with someone else." That was another bad thing about soulmates. Whenever you or the other person hooked up with someone else, the bond between the soulmates hurt. It wasn't unbearable and only happened when one person was having sex. Some people were able to sleep through the feeling or were able to ignore it completely while others found it to be a bother. Suigetsu's had been a mild annoyance, making it so he was one of the people that were able to be with someone else without too much pain.
"That's never bothered you before," Sasuke said. He didn't add that he didn't really know what it was like to have his soulmate be with someone else on a regular basis. He had felt it twice in his life. The first time when he was nineteen and his soulmate was hooking up with someone and the second time when he was twenty and he went home with a guy he met at a club. Both times were extremely painful and seemed to prevent both of them from being with other people just to avoid the pain. Part of him wanted to rebel against the mark and hook up with as many people as he could out of spite, but he didn't feel like hurting himself in the process.
They didn't know why some felt it more than others, but the most popular theory was that the stronger the bond, the more it would hurt. No one knew how to explain what made bonds strong or weak, it was just something that happened. Sasuke felt he fell into the unlucky category to have a strong bond with someone he wanted nothing to do with.
"It's been happening more frequently lately," Suigetsu told him. "It's getting annoying."
Sasuke chuckled, "It's probably payback for all the times he had to suffer through you having sex with your asshole ex."
Suigetsu nodded, it wouldn't be the first time someone had revenge sex because their soulmate liked to have one night stands. "To be fair, it wasn't like my ex lasted very long," he scoffed. "Certainly not as long as this person seems to be able to last. Seriously, they can go all night, it almost makes me want to meet them," he admitted. Suigetsu was bi so he wasn't sure if his soulmate was a man or a woman, though it were possible for soulmates to end up with other people due to sexual orientation, especially people that had weaker bonds. "Weak bond be damned, I'll take the sex," he laughed. "They're still my soulmate after all."
"You're the worst," Sasuke shook his head. He looked at the clock, "I better go get ready. I have to meet this stupid singer I'm supposed to manage today." He hated the idea of having to deal with some entitled brat that would likely make his life a living hell. He'd heard horror stories of some of the artists and how much their managers had to work to keep them in line and how much they had to cover up.
"You never know, you could get lucky and have a responsible artist," Suigetsu smirked, knowing that it was unlikely. So many tried to put on the persona of being humble and nice, but very few were genuine. It wasn't like they were horrible people, they were just difficult to handle, especially the more popular they got.
Sasuke scoffed, "Yeah, right. With my luck that won't happen." He didn't have high hopes for the person he was going to be managing.
"What's their name again?" he asked.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Sasuke replied. "I guess the company feels he has a lot of potential and my dad says I should be happy he stuck me with him and not some entitled pop star that has gone through mangers because they're too difficult to put up with. Knowing my luck this guy will lead me to my asshole soulmate," he huffed.
Suigetsu laughed, "Or this guy will be your soulmate." He chuckled at the glare he received. "Come on, you have no idea how your soulmate will be in this life. You should at least give him a chance," he argued. It was a fifty-fifty chance as to how your soulmate would be in the next life. Some turned out amazing while others are like copies of their prior selves.
"We both know I'm not that lucky," Sasuke sighed. "I really do need to get ready now," he told him before walking towards his bathroom. He was done with the conversation and didn't want to think about his soulmate anymore, it only upset him. He had no idea what was waiting for him later that day.
TBC...?
Let me know if you think I should continue this.