The sun cast a supernatural yellow glow onto the earth below. Kiku blinked his eyes open, breathing in the warm air. A sillhouette stood before him, and he stepped forward, reaching out a hand, trying to identify who it was. The dark figure's head shook slowly back and forth.

He tried once more, stepping forward carefully again, but the creature seemed to glide away, feet barely touching the ground. Kiku's breath caught in his throat. It was the most mesmerizing thing he'd ever seen in his entire life. He stood, frozen, staring at the thing in front of him.

The person let out a long sigh. Kiku could see the outline of their jaw moving downwards. He opened his own mouth, attempting to speak, but nothing came out of his mouth. The figure dropped something to the ground. It was a slip of paper with words scrawled across it. Kiku reached forward, picking up the paper and trying to read the text. But, it was in English- a language that Kiku couldn't read.

He looked up at the figure, and it waved a finger at the paper. When Kiku looked down once more, it was in his own language. Desperately, he read the words, nodding thanks to the shadowed figure.

'Arthur Kirkland

96 Blighton Ave, Milham, UK*

968-903-2361'**

He stared at it, trying to make sense of it. Was this his soulmate? No, no, it couldn't be; Arthur was a man's name.

But, as Kiku stared at the paper even more, it began to make sense. He knew himself that he'd prefer ... Well, a man. But he just didn't want to admit it. It was shameful in his country. But, he supposed if his soulmate spoke English, they were probably American, so he'd move to America. Hopefully it wasn't shameful there.

The paper began curling at the corners, the edges blackening as somekind of blue flame bit away at the paper. His fingers grew hot, and he was forced to drop the paper.

'Arthur Kirkland... Arthur Kirkland... Arthur Kirkland...'

He repeated the name over and over again, trying to remember it.

'Arthur Kirkland... Arthur Kirkland... Arthur Kirkland...'

And suddenly he was underwater; the sky was above him, the dazzling sun shining down and creating long rays of sunlight that pierced through the water's surface and into his eyes.

It was relatively peaceful until Kiku realized he couldn't breathe. He tried to gasp, but water filled his lungs instead of the much-needed oxygen. His eyesight grew blurry, and he struggled to see; struggled to breathe. Struggled to remember the name on that slip of paper.

Kiku tried desperately to paddle to the surface, but nevertheless felt himself sinking.

Down...

Down...

Down.

Black began to pool around his vision. Kiku opened his mouth to let out a strangled stream, but only a frantic stream of bubbles floated from it.

Suddenly, he felt warm arms envelop him, pulling him up, up, up! towards the sunlight; towards the sky; towards the open air. Kiku turned his head to look at his savior, his stomach twisting as he saw the shadowed figure from before. The only thing he could make out were dazzling emerald green eyes.

Kiku shot upwards, breathing labored and rapid.

"Arthur..."

The only thing Kiku could remember as he awoke from his dream was Arthur's first name and those beautiful green eyes. He blinked once, then turned frantically to feel under his pillow. At first he wasn't worried. The slip of paper was probably hidden in the folds of his pillow. But as he continued searching and nothing was found, he grew worried. Trying to calm himself, he muttered,

"It's okay... It'll be there..."

Movements growing frantic, he sat up, lifting his pillow up. Nothing was underneath it. No paper, no nothing. Kiku visibly flinched.

"Arthur... Arthur who?!"

He gasped, wiping sweat off of his forehead. For once, the usually calm and composed Japanese teen was feeling disorganized, frantic, and desperate. Kiku took a deep breath in a fruitless attempt to calm himself, trying to remember if he'd awoken in Arthur's body during his sleep. He couldn't remember anything. Was it normal to forget this?

Kiku slipped out from under his sheets and stood up, turning and making his bed before walking down the stairs to where Sakura sat eating her breakfast. She looked up brightly.

"Good morning, cousin Kiku!"

She greeted,then questioned,

"Can you show me your paper?"

She waggled her eyebrows. She nudged him as he sat down, sullen expression painted onto his face. Sakura waited, one of her legs quivering in slight anticipation.

"Kiku?"

She nudged him again, and Kiku had to refrain from snapping at her.

"There was nothing under my pillow, Sakura."

He said shortly, cutting off any other thing she was about to say.

"You're joking."

She declared confidently. His glare made her think otherwise. Kiku tried to calm himself, and half succeeded. He brushed a lock of messy black hair from his eyes, his mouth a straight line.

"Sakura, I'm going to America."

He told his cousin, who gasped, her brown eyes widening.

"Does your soulmate live there?"

She asked, cocking her head. Kiku pursed his lips and turned.

"I'm going to start packing."

It took a few days for Kiku to get fully packed and ready to leave for America. He'd told his mother and Sakura his problem when he'd calmed himself, and they'd reluctantly agreed to let him go to the far off country.

What was his reason for wanting to leave? Well, Kuro lived in America with his soulmate, Amy. Maybe they could help him. Maybe Kuro had changed.

Kiku's mother had gotten quite a lot wealthier in the past year, mostly because she'd been promoted more than a few times. They also had less mouths to feed, without Kuro there. It was easier, though Kiku had to admit it was quieter and much more lonely without his brother there. Even if the only thing he ever did was bully them.

Kiku stood at the front door to his house, lugging a grey suitcase behind him. His mother hugged him closely, kissing his forehead. Despite the fact that Kiku highly disliked invasions of personal privacy, this was one of the few exceptions.

"Come back, okay?"

His mother whispered into his ear. He nodded, whispering a quiet

"I will."

Next, Sakura threw her arms around his neck, weighing him down greatly.

"I'll miss you."

She told him. A slight smile graced his features, and he returned the comment back to her. His mother cast a worried glance at him, the lines on her old face much more prominent with the stress of her son leaving- maybe forever.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you to see you off?"

She offered. He nodded, and smiled lightly.

"I'll be okay, I promise."

Weakly, his mother nodded.

"I love you, Kiku. Be safe."

With one final hug, Kiku turned, then began walking down the street towards where a taxi waited. It was freezing out, cold air pricking at his skin like tiny needles. Wind whipped past him, making his scarf billow behind him like a flag. He tucked his already cold hands into his pocket, his cheeks blossoming from the cold.

The black haired teen met the taxi driver, and the older man grabbed his suitcase and putting it into the trunk of the car. The suitcase thudded into the trunk, making a small thunking noise. It was good that he didn't have anything fragile in there. It was relatively early out, so the sound of the trunk closing was loud. Very loud. Thanking the driver for taking care of his suitcase in a monotonous voice, Kiku dipped his head towards the bearded man, who introduced himself as Masato.

The eighteen year old slid into the car, closing the door behind him. He sighed with relief when he realized interior of the car was still warm. The taxi driver started up the car, then began driving.

Kiku never looked back.

*Not a real place in the UK

**Not a real phone number

Sorry for the lack of updates this past week, I was in a dark place that had no WiFi~

Also known as

'I was on vacation.'

And yeah, yeah.

I know this chapter is really shitty.

The only time I had to work on it was maybe ten minutes each day, so take pity?

Next chapter will come out as soon as possible /which may not be as soon as I hope/~

Thank you for your patience~