~Eight Years Old~

Yukari dreamed of a bridge. For the eight year old, both sides looked like they went on forever and she was smack dab in the middle of it, or at least she thinks she is. And she's so high up, too. So high up she could see the ocean stretching far and wide. The dark, blue water sparkled and shimmered, reflecting the full moon in all of its beauty.

BOOM

Then there flames rising high into the sky, higher than the towers of the suspension bridge. Orange and red mixed with the dark blues of the night. Part of the bridge crumbled apart inches away from a broken vehicle on fire. Charred debris from the crash was streaking into the crystal waters below. The flames were burning higher and higher, and in front of the wreckage was a lone boy. His back was facing her, so she couldn't see his face.

"Hey!" She called out. The boy was startled, jerking violently before turning around.

His eyes were so blue, even in the reflection of the rising flames. There were tears pooling at the corner of his eyes. Stains from his tears had already stained his cheeks.

"Who are you?" His voice was hoarse, as if he'd been yelling.

"My name is Yukari!" She yelled back through the smoke. Her fear grew bigger as the wind grew higher, causing the flames to flicker faster. "The fire is gonna burn you if you stay there!"

"I don't want to move." She didn't know how she could still hear him over the flames, but his stubbornness irritated the eight year old. Her cheeks puffed out at his refusal.

The fire flared up again, and Yukari had to shield her face from the blaze. But the boy was still sitting there, unperturbed.

'He's gonna get burned.' She thought. What would her dad have done? He would've helped him, or called someone else to help him. But no one else else was here besides him and her…

So she'd have to do it.

So she steeled herself, and walked closer to the flames.

Fighting back the heat, she managed to successfully grab his arm. But when she tried to pull him away from the wreckage, she resisted.

"No! I don't want to leave my parents!"

Parents. She looked back at the crash. She now noticed the two bodies slumped over in the driver's and passenger seat. The flames were surging around them, not really touching them. They weren't moving.

Oh. This was his nightmare.

She stopped pulling on his arm, and he stopped moving. He just sat and stared at the flames, or at the crash, or his parents.

Or maybe nothing at all.

There was a moment of silence where he curled into himself, maybe thinking he was alone again, that the only people there for him were cinders inside the crackling flames.

Yukari surged in front of him. She hugged him tightly, holding him close to her, trying to convey her support the best way she knew how. She made sure she was blocking his view of the fire and the crash.

He tensed in her arms. For one… two… three… four… then he was shaking uncontrollably. He dug his fingers into her shirt. He sobbed into her shoulder, finally letting his grief out into the open. Wrapped in the comfort of another, the boy didn't notice the fire dying out and the car slowly vanishing behind him.

"Mama, what does it mean if you meet someone in your dreams?"

"Have you ever heard of a soulmate?"

~Ten Years Old~

He dreamed of a playground. The sun was setting, blue turning into vibrant shades of pink, orange, and purple. The playground was in the middle of a park, guarded by two large oak trees. Most of the outdoors area was rusted: the monkey bars, the slide, the jungle gym. The swing set was the only thing new, and sitting on one of the seats was a girl: Yukari.

The park was empty besides the two of them. She was staring ahead, not really noticing him until he sat on the seat beside her. She jolted a little, the chains holding her seat up rattling with her movement. She quickly tried to correct her previous dazed expression and sent him a half-hearted smile.

"Hi…" she started, tilting her head to the side. "You never told me your name."

"Minato," he responded. She smiled.

"Hi, Minato."

"So," he started, kicking his legs a little so the swing would start to rock. "I'm guessing this is your dream, since I've never been here before."

"My dad used to take me here all the time. This was the last place we spent time together before the incident." She looked back over the empty playground, taking in the lot of it. Some of the park was a little blurry since it was a product of her memories. It was still the same place her father used to take her though: the rusted slide, the ice cream cart on the path paved in front of the second oak tree, the shine of the new swing they finished installing the last day she and her father came. It was all there.

"Has it been a while since you've been here?"

"Yes. A lot of people blamed my dad for what happened and came after my mom and I. We had to move around a lot afterwards."

"...oh." He honestly had no idea what to say to that.

She shook her head. "I know he didn't do it. I still believe in him."

"Even if no one else does?"

She nodded her head, "Even then."

"Even if you end up alone because of that belief?"

"I won't be alone. I'll have you."

"And why are you so sure I'll stay?"

"You're my soulmate, so you're stuck with me."

Huh? 'Your soulmate?' He wondered.

Yukari tilted her head towards the sky. Looking into the horizon, he's sure he heard her whispering: "I'll always believe in you, dad."

At that, they sat in silence, idly talking until the world turned white and they both woke up.

"What is a soulmate?"

"Hah? Nothing you need to worry about. There's no way anyone would want a little brat like you."

~Twelve Years Old~

They dreamed of an empty movie theater. They've learned how to bend their dreams and shape them into whatever they imagined and agreed upon, instead of whatever nightmares or memories their minds dredged up.

The theater was dimmed as the movie played on the screen. Some comedy or rom-com or something one of them had seen before. Some of the scenes were fuzzy or didn't even happen in the original film, but that's the risk taken when dealing with the mind.

But at least the popcorn was good. Yukari hoped that counted for something at least. Maybe it cheered him up a bit.

Lately Minato has been coming into their dreams injured. A few bruises one day, a scratch the next, the more bruises before the others have even healed. Hw wouldn't tell her where or how he'd got them at first. Then one day he came into the dream worse than she's ever seen him before. It drove her to tears. She had asked again that day and that time he was a little more forthcoming.

"Foster parents."

It pained her that she didn't know how to help him, and still doesn't. The little moments they shared in their sleep was the only thing she knew was helping. He didn't like her worrying over him either. He had shrugged his shoulders one day when she was fretting over him. "They'll get tired of me eventually." He changed the topic right after he said that. "What's this movie, anyway?"

"An action movie. My mom and I went to watch it together.

"Does that mean you and your mother are getting along now?" He asked as he shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. He got his answer when the brunette wrinkled her nose.

"More like a plea bargain to forgive her for forgetting my birthday last week."

"I thought she bought you a present."

"A movie ticket, and it was two days later, and she brought a guy with us."

He had nothing to say to that. Minato was aware of the distance growing between Yuakri and her mother. Ever since her father's death, her mother has become more distant, neglecting her daughter more in favor of chasing affection from men. Yukari didn't like to talk about it, but he could tell that it really bothered her.

"Okay! Enough talk about families!" She shouted, a faux pas in a normal movie theater. They're alone - and in a dream - so it's fine, but he had to fight the urge to shush her just because.

She shuffled further up into her cushioned seat and snatched the bucket of popcorn out of his hands.

"Let's just enjoy the movie. The best part is coming up."

"Do you think my soulmate will give me his jacket if I asked for it?"

"Dummy, how would they give you their jacket if your both dreaming?"

"Well they can give it to me if I meet them in real life!"

~Fourteen Years old~

She woke up in a train booth. The world was zooming by the window faster than she could keep track of. Minato was sitting in front of her. His headphones that have become a staple for the teenager were plugged into his ears as he watched the world pass by, too. She could hear some music playing through them.

"Minato?"

He looked at her. She guesses his music wasn't up as loud as she thought. He pulled one of the buds out of his ear. "You're here."

"Were you waiting for me long?"

"A while," he shook his head. "But the view was nice."

"...So since we're on a moving train, I guess we have the same news."

"I'm moving in with my uncle."

"I didn't know you had an uncle." She flipped through all the conversations they've had over the years, and she's pretty sure an uncle or really any kind of biological family member of his never came up.

"Neither did I," he responded. It made him question a lot. As many foster homes he's been to and as long as it's been since his parents died, why was he just now choosing to adopt him?

"So you have to move again to go with him?"

Minato nodded.

"Do you know where?"

"Nope," he shook his head. "I just know it's far enough that I have to transfer schools."

"A new start then," she said. "You might enjoy it."

He hummed, setting his sight back to view outside the window, lost in his thoughts for a minute before he turned back to Yukari. "And what about you? Are you moving, too?"

"Yeah, I'm moving into the dormitories at Gekkoukan High."

"Is your mom okay with that?" The brunette frowned at the mention of her mother, her hands balling up into fists at her sides.

"My mom isn't really around much anymore. It's mostly been just me," she said. "It;s not like it'd make much difference if I moved out. I'd actually be around more people."

"Hey," Minato reached over and grasped her hand in his, shaking her from her negative thoughts. She was shocked. Minato was never one for physical contact. He's rarely initiated any type of touching since they've been meeting like this. "You'll still have me. We're soulmates, remember."

And he also had these rare moments where he would take her breath away. "That's the first time you've called us soulmates."

Pink climbed its way to the tips of his ear. "You're the one who said that I'm stuck with you."

"I was ten!"

"You still said it," he grinned.

Yukari huffed, pulling her hand back and folding her arms across her chest. She took to looking out the booth's window instead of the teenager in front of her. She was trying and failing to ignore the pink heating up her own cheeks, even though the one who caused it was sitting right in front of her. "I'm rubbing off on you too much."

He had put his headphones back in and they watched the terrain outside pass by until Yukari reached across and tugged on his shirt's sleeve.

"Hey, Minato. Let's meet up one day. Not in a dream, but… in real life. Face-to-face."

He was quiet for a moment, contemplating, before he nodded. "I'd like that."

"Yukari, I'd like you to meet our new roommate: Minato Arisato."

"Hi."

"Hi." His smile was radiating. "It's nice to finally meet you in person, Yukari-chan."