AN: Actually wrote this a bit ago, but wanted to post it for the anniversary of ep.19's first airing, a.k.a. the day I fell hard for KariSasa. This is my stab at a soulmates AU, but it's actually almost canon compliant somehow. I guess it's more like, how canon would've gone if the concept of soulmarks existed.

"Welcome, Miss." Those were the first words Karigari spoke to her. And that was the single most dumbfounding thing, of many, in Sasagawa's first meeting with the infamous Genius Scientist.

Everyone knew, the words written on one's arm were the first words your soulmate would speak to you. Sasagawa had pondered over those words a lot, ever anxious to meet the man of her dreams. But every gorgeous man she'd encountered had said something else to her first. And every plain-looking one.

Karigari was not the type of man she'd be attracted to. Even if he had been a good-looking man, he was a criminal. He was the enemy to Drive Head. He was the last possible man she would ever consider. And she still wouldn't consider him. At least, she was determined not to.

"You're Dr. Karigari?" Those were her first words to him. Merely asking his name in confusion. But she imagined, those were words many people first spoke to him. Merely because a person said those words first didn't mean they were definitely your soulmate. Only that these would be the first words your soulmate would say. So that didn't automatically mean Karigari were her soulmate, or vice versa. And she hoped that would be the case.

Sasagawa sat patiently, listening as Karigari bantered on about his evil scheme. And she was listening seriously. Anything he said might turn out to be vitally important in ultimately finding a way to stop him. It would be foolish to just ignore him. And maybe, listening to just anything would help her be less distracted from the dilemma going on in her head.

But Sasagawa had just about had enough. She ended up scolding Karigari.

"Stop involving people who have done no wrong in satisfying your selfish vendetta!"

But people would be hurt, if he shut down all the power.

"But I have to win this game. I absolutely refuse to lose!"

Karigari didn't seem angry at her, yet he remained firm in his conviction.

"I'm not seriously going to leave casualties. You needn't worry. I never planned for a capital-wide blackout to begin with," he continued. He'd been bluffing, he claimed, because he just wanted to beat Kurumada and Saionji. "Once they admit defeat, I'll be satisfied. And after that..."

"After that?" Sasagawa wasn't sure whether to believe him. It still infuriated her a bit, even if what he'd said had been true.

"The police will arrest me. I'll go to hell. Well, whatever the consequences may be."

It was Karigari's answer then that she completely failed to wrap her head around. That sounded… awful? Not that she felt sorry for him. She wasn't feeling sorry for a criminal even if he was a potential soulmate. But… she couldn't help it. It was an awful thought, and she did feel sorry for him. This man understood full well that he was a terrible person, and fully condemned himself. She always thought villains to be arrogant, people who believed that they were right no matter what. That was how badly he wanted to 'win'? Maybe this was arrogance to the extreme. But would a true villain even acknowledge that?

"Why did you choose me?" Sasagawa's next question to him probably seemed to come out of nowhere, she realized. She hadn't wanted to ask anymore about his plan, or his revenge. She just wanted to know what she had to do with any of this. Why he'd insisted she of all people be the one to cover the story. It wasn't as if the two had ever met before. It wasn't as if Karigari could have guessed that they were possibly, but not necessarily soulmates.

"Because of what you said this morning. It's my chance to confess."

That was the closest to an answer she was going to get. Sasagawa hadn't even had the time to ponder those words back then. Because that was when the spacecraft nearly crashed down onto the city, possibly killing countless people. And she knew this wasn't Karigari's doing. He seemed just as upset as she was.

'Maybe… he's not such a bad person.' Sasagawa finally began to humor the thought, as she found herself worried for him. Worried that he could be caught by the police. 'The police will only arrest someone who's bad, after all.'

She felt herself thinking, the police are wrong this time. 'Because Dr. Karigari really didn't want to hurt anyone. He's just… troubled?'

He didn't make any sense to her, in truth. Until just now, she thought he was horrible. She thought he was pitiful. But was he really? Perhaps he was just trying to confuse her, but she didn't really feel that way. Besides, if confusing her was his intent, he didn't really have to try. It just came naturally.

"It's my chance to confess."

What did he mean by that? Sasagawa knew exactly what she'd said on her show. She was reading fortunes, for a Sagittarius, which Karigari apparently wasn't even. And confess to who? Not to her, right? Who would confess to a total stranger? A total stranger who stood for everything that he opposed? If hypothetically it were her, why would he ever think that she would say yes?

And why was she thinking now, that if it was, maybe she would say yes? If only just to give him a fair chance. She'd been wrong about him, though. He wasn't some terrible villain. She wanted to give him another chance.

She thought, perhaps, if they were soulmates, she wouldn't be completely unhappy. The next time they met, if it ever happened again, she needed to get a good look at his mark. It had been covered completely by his clothing. But would it just be asking his name after all?

The next occasion where Sasagawa met Karigari managed to be an even stranger one than being asked to interview him in a trailer he'd somehow dragged into her office building.

This time she had been on vacation, in a nice hotel in the mountains. A disaster struck nearby, so she went out to film it despite her vacation, in hopes of seeing Drive Head. Sasagawa still hoped the driver of Cyclone Interceptor was her soulmate. He'd never really talked to her, so it was technically possible, though likely wishful thinking. Still, she'd never give up the chance to see Interceptor. So she went out and did her job, until she accidentally wound up falling over a cliff. But it wasn't Cyclone Interceptor who came to her rescue this time. It was none-other than Dr. Karigari.

Well, it didn't make a lick of sense to her as to why he was there, but she was more than grateful. And she'd at last found her chance.

"Why did you come to save me?" It was too awkward to ask first if she could see under his sleeve. Besides, she wanted to know the answer to this question anyway. She'd still never figured out why Karigari seemed to be so interested in her, even though she was sure it wasn't out of some sort of malicious intent.

He'd given her a nonsensical answer. Because he was her fan? Of course, she knew she did have fans. Just, mainly they were regular people. None that she knew of had turned out to be notorious wanted criminals before. Nor would be "fans" to such an extent that they'd appear out of nowhere to save her life. And she had been thinking right then, that was seriously cool to her. Someone thought of her that highly, and it was someone as fascinating and amazing as Dr. Karigari. Whom she definitely wasn't attracted to, she reminded herself. Probably.

But the point was that it was absurd. Karigari truly did a phenomenal job at leaving her confused. And he was leaving her physically right there, flying off in his Viper before she could even properly thank him. Before she could even ask him that question that had been eating away at her.

It was Sasagawa's third meeting with Karigari, whom she'd almost acknowledged by then she had a full-on crush on, where she realized that just asking him to see his arm was a lost cause. Why was it that every time they met, it was under absurd circumstances?

This time the Drive Heads were battling against evil copies of themselves, while she was covering the story from her helicopter. Sasagawa's helicopter was caught in the crossfire, and was shot down. But she was rescued again by Karigari, who was now driving a Drive Head of sorts of his own.

She didn't want to say it was cooler than Cyclone Interceptor, because nothing was cooler than Cyclone Interceptor. But a part of her felt like Karigari was her own personal hero, and him having a Drive Head only enamored her to him further.

Of course, there was no time then to dwell over who was cool and who was her hero. The only thing that was made abundantly clear on that night was that Karigari was a hero after all. He hadn't just rescued her. He'd risked his life to save everyone. And believing that he was dead, she was left broken-hearted. Until her mysterious criminal contacted her one day, letting her know that he was still alive.

And finally, some time later, they were able to meet for a fourth time. This time, Karigari's face was half-covered by a mask. And in place of his right arm was a prosthetic one. It was clear that he was very lucky to even be alive. Sasagawa could only stare at him for a moment that day, gaping. It hadn't dawned on her immediately that she'd never get to see what was written on his arm at all.

She couldn't help but embrace him. To hold tightly the man she'd feared she'd lost. The man whom she couldn't see the terribly flustered face of, through the tears that started falling all of a sudden.

"You know, Dr. Karigari…"

When she had a moment to compose herself again, it finally did dawn on her.

Sasagawa took off the jacket she normally wore, revealing her right arm to him.

"Do you remember the first words you said to me?"

"Do I remember?" Well, Karigari was a genius. And Miss was a subject he especially fixated on. He'd be lying if he said he didn't, creepy as he felt that made him sound. But even if he hadn't remembered, the words were right there in front of him. His face was a bright shade of red as soon as he saw them.

In fact, he squinted closer just to read them again. Never, in a million years, did he allow himself to be so deluded that he'd think those were the words on her arm.

"I always wondered, what your words were," Sasagawa spoke before he could even properly reply. "Now, I'll never… well, that must sound horrible for me to be worrying about that now. After all, you…"

She hated to see what happened to him. Karigari didn't deserve it. Even if the world condemned him, even if he condemned himself, Sasagawa couldn't condemn him. He didn't deserve to be hurt so badly."

"It said, 'You're Dr. Karigari?" Karigari replied. "Even so, I never worried about what it said. Most of the population could be my soulmate, as most of the population would immediately find me fascinating, even if simply out of horror rather than admiration as they should. They would speak my name before anything else. But you see, Miss, I planned to pursue the woman I loved no matter how the stars aligned. You might recall, I made myself a Sagittarius when I'm well known to be an Ophiuchus, if that would improve my luck in love. If your first words to me hadn't been questioning my name, I might have severed my arm sooner and built a new one just to match those words, given…"

Karigari froze. How much had he just blabbered out loud? Truly, his genius mind was hopelessly frail when it came to her.

"Then all this time, you were…"

Sasagawa's eyes were shining, her whole face lit up with a smile.

Now, she knew. Soulmate or not, Karigari was the only person perfect for her.

Sasagawa reached out, putting her hands over his shoulders. She leaned her head in closer, their lips finally meeting in a kiss. This time, she wasn't going to let him fly away.