Shin Soukoku Soulmate AU ~ Chapter 1

The silver haired boy looked down at his hand, which was delicately intertwined with that of the paler boy next to him. Thinking back, he never would have expected to be here like this, but as he traced the word imprinted on his wrist with his free hand, he couldn't help but smile.

Atsushi sat up and stretched his arms. Despite having slept outside on a bench, he was surprisingly cheery and well rested. Most likely since today was his eighteenth birthday. Something he didn't notice until later that day, was a word printed onto his right wrist. Atsushi rubbed at it and even washed his arm off in the nearby river, but it didn't smudge, or fade in the slightest. He didn't even know what the word meant.

"Rashomon." He read, eyebrows furrowed.

"Hey Atsushi, how old did you say you were again?" Dazai asked him rather loudly as he walked into the door of the office.

"Um 18. Why?" Dazai had a glimmer in his eye. Instead of answering, Dazai grabbed Atsushi's arm and moved his sleeve to reveal his wrist.

"Rashomon. Hmm." Atsushi watched him with a look of both curiosity and confusion.

"What does this mean Dazai? It's been there since my birthday, but I have no idea what it is." Dazai let go of Atsushi's hand and looked at him deadpan.

"Your soulmate." To say the least, Atsushi looked even more confused than before, which Dazai found to be very funny.

"Don't you know silly Atsushi, when the gifted turn eighteen, the name of their soulmate's ability is shown on their wrist."

It would be an understatement to say Atsushi thought about the soulmate thing. As soon as he met a gifted with the ability called Rashomon, he'd have met his soulmate. But being Atsushi, that raised all sorts of questions, like what they live super far away and he never meets them? Or what if he does meet them but their ability never comes up in conversation? Atsushi was going to give himself a headache from all these questions.

"Hey Atsushi, we have a job, and you're coming with us." Atsushi looked up to see Tanizaki, Naomi, and a woman he'd never met, with blonde hair going down to her shoulders, and deep brown eyes. He had gotten up to follow them, but Kunikida stopped him, handing him a small photograph of a young man, with black hair dyed white at the ends. He had a long black coat on that reached just above his ankles.

"This man is very dangerous. Try to avoid him best you can, and if you ever encounter him, run." Atsushi nodded.

"What's his name?"

"Akutagawa."

"Sir, I have them here as planned." The woman's voice came clearly through the phone.

"Excellent, I'll be there in five minutes. Thank you Higuchi." The phone beeped, and the black-haired man slipped in neatly into the pocket of his long coat. He glanced at his left wrist, at the words that have been there for two years now.

"Beast Beneath the Moonlight." He never dared to let his mind wander to thoughts about love, or any sort or attachment. He thought he'd never meet his soulmate, and initially, he was okay with that.

Atsushi heard a faint cough at the other end of the hallway, flushed out by his own cry upon seeing Tanizaki collapse. He looked up frantically at the attacker, and his blood ran cold. The fabric like weapon receded back into the man's coat.

"Akutagawa." Atsushi spoke as confident as possible, despite being scared half to death knowing that this man was capable of so much more than he knew. He reached for one of Higuchi's abandoned guns. He aimed it shakily at Akutagawa.

"How foolish of you. Special ability, Rashomon!" Atsushi froze, did he hear that right? No, it couldn't possibly be... the black mass returned from Akutagawa's coat, zipping past Atsushi, creating a large indent on the ground next to him. Atsushi didn't know what do, he was completely stuck to the ground, his body weighing down on him. Rashomon lurched toward him once more, and Atsushi covered his face. But Rashomon never collided with Atsushi, in fact, when the boy opened his eyes, he found that his arms had become large tiger claws, which were pushing back against Akutagawa. Atsushi wasted no time in pouncing at Akutagawa, and Rashomon was quick to head back toward him. But they were both stopped.

"That's enough out of you two." As soon as Dazai's hand collided with the two of them, their abilities were nullified, causing Atsushi to fall once again to the ground.

"Are you alright Atsushi?" No. He was most definitely not okay. His soulmate just tried to kill him! Not the best start in a relationship.

"Dazai." Akutagawa spoke with a snap in his voice.

"Oh, hello Akutagawa, surely has been a long time." Dazai never turned to face the younger man talking to him. Atsushi was stunned, they knew each other?

"Dazai, if you knew Akutagawa, that means you knew his ability. Why didn't you tell me that?" Atsushi crossed his arms as he stared Dazai down.

"Calm down Atsushi. I figured you'd find out soon anyway, so I thought it would be more interesting for you to figure out this way." Atsushi didn't know what he expected, but it certainly wasn't this.

"My soulmate wants me dead Dazai, this isn't funny."