Title: Names of the Soul
Ships: Taichi x Yamato, Mimi x Sora, Koushiro x Jou, Takeru x Piemon, Takeru x Angemon x Iori, Hikari x Miyako, Ken x Daisuke
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 1,103
Genre: Romance||Rated: K
Challenges: Diversity Writing: Digimon Adventure 02 tri, soulmates Aus, C14, K rated
Notes: This was written to answer a tumblr prompt given by KrazieKat. It takes place in a combined breeds-AU/soulmate universe, where the name of one's soulmate is written on one's skin. Well, it can get complicated, really.
Summary: One name for each soulmate. That's what it's always been like. Only when one person has many names, that can get a little harder to deal with. More so when lots of people have this problem.

On Taichi's right forearm there spiraled elegant letters of sun-bright gold, spelling out Ishida Yamato. On the underside of his arm, in those same letters, there sprawled another set of kanji, this time spelling out a word that no one he knew understood for the first eleven years of his life: Chiguumon.

To make it more confusing, on his left arm there was a third name – Anbumon. As if that wasn't enough, that name was written in sullen blood-red.

Until the day that he me Ishida Yamato, he didn't understand any of it. Only when he learned that Yamato was the son of Piemon did he grasp what the other names meant – and when he first looked into Anbumon's sinister scarlet eyes, he wished that he didn't.

Mimi grew up with a set of silver words on her right arm – Takenouchi Sora, her fate was spelled out, and she'd looked forward all of her life to meeting whoever that was. Riding opposite to that name, also in pure silver, shone Aikoumon.

And on her left side, in a black that spoke of hate as much as the silver did of love, there lurked the name Akuenmon.

Finding out that they were all one and the same startled Mimi more than anything short of the discovery of the Digital World itself, let alone being bonded to Palmon. But she opened her heart wide to Sora and to Aikoumon, and watched for any signs of Akuenmon fearlessly. She spoke her heart at all times and the fact she accepted every part of Sora came right from her heart.

On Koushiro's right arm, there glowed two sets of kanji, each in a deep shade of blue. On one side he bore the name of Kido Jou, whilst on the other scrolled Jitsumon. On his left arm, however, letters in a shade that he could only he call blood-red revealed the name of Fuseiimon.

From the moment he entered the Digital World and learned of how their names worked, he knew what those names were – the names of their other selves, the power that flowed through their veins, and the names of the dark side that could rule them if they did not watch themselves, or if someone like Devimon, Vamdemon, or Piemon got hold of them.

Koushiro spent a great deal of time making sure that never happened. For his sake and for everyone else's.

For the first twelve years of his life, Kido Jou thought that perhaps he had two soulmates. He wouldn't have been the first person. Two names and two alone graced him – Izumi Koushiro and Oushimon, written in bright, cheerful red kanji that soothed him whenever he looked at them.

When he found out about Digimon, he was more than a little confused, for of them all, only Koushiro had one Digimon name – until they all realized that among them, he alone wasn't a Virus. He alone didn't have a dark side lurking in the back of his head.

Jou could not have admired Koushiro more. Finding out Koushiro admired them surprised him in the best way.

Hikari carried a name written in letters that spoke of flame and were edged in violet. Two names, in fact, and she wondered for so long who they were, until the day she heard the name Inoue Miyako spoken by the tongue of the owner – and saw Kipponmon rise into the skies, wings of flame spread wide in defense against the forces of evil.

Oh, she thought with a smile. It's really you. And she determined to find out what a phoenix might like most of all.

Strangely enough, Miyako only carried Yagami Hikari's name on her arm. She understood later, of course, but when her new friends carried more than one name, she needed to hear Sora's explanation to clear up the confusion. But she never really cared. Not nearly as much as she cared about Hikari.

If Takeru could have torn the name off of his arm he would have. He spent eight years not knowing what it meant and when he stared into the eyes of the leader of the Dark Masters, even at that young age, he wanted nothing at all to do with it. No, he swore again and again, this was not his fate. This was not his future.

Fate laughed. But it always did.

And Takeru laughed back when a second name unspooled itself, and then a third, emblazoned onto his skin by will and ferocity and hope that burned the other away: for Angemon and Iori would always have a greater claim on him than Piemon ever would.

Iori thought for some time that he had no soulmate. It wasn't such a bad thing. Not everyone did and he wasn't sure if he even wanted one. But when the time came and Takeru took control of his own fate, burning away the evil name on his arm, and Iori's own took it's place next to Angemon, he thought perhaps he could get used to it.

Ken wondered for so long who Motomiya Daisuke could be – along with Akigaramon and Taiyuumon. Coming to rule the Digital World as the Digimon Kaiser confused him – why would his soulmate have the name of meaningless data? Only when he learned the truth about himself and the blood that flowed in his veins did he approach the first moments of understanding – and he knew the names of Daisuke's evolutions before Daisuke himself did, and looked forward to the arrival of Giyuumon – though not so much Zannimon – with all of his very kind heart.

Three names, all written in blue, just in different shades. Ichijouji Ken and Jinshinmon were the names that Daisuke liked to look at, especially once he first saw Ichijouji Ken. He wanted to believe that one was his Ichijouji Ken, no matte what Jun said, and he'd figure out the others later.

Then he learned that Ken was the Kaiser and he and Takeru spent a weekend complaining together about why fate seemed to hate them so very much.

But then came learning what the third name – the name of Akogimon – meant and Daisuke didn't want that. He wanted even less to know what the names on the Kaiser meant – for those were his names and he feared what the Kaiser might do.

In the end, he welcomed Ken and Jinshinmon and watched warily for Akogimon, as all of those who carried the names of the Digimon-bred watched for the dark sides they dared not trust.

Some events are always meant to be – when they are chosen to be.

The End

Notes: One day I may write the full story of how Takeru rejected Piemon forever. That day is not today.