The clock ticks down as he tries to focus on his test. He's subsisting on cigarettes, energy drinks, and relatively untreated ADHD.

Hi :) Appears on his wrist, where he can easily see it. He pauses to look at the new, inky message on his skin.

It's very common for soul mates to send each other messages by writing on their own skin. He'd written a few as a child and was disappointed when most of his peers got a response but he got heart-wrenching silence. Oddly, the names of places refuse to appear, leaving finding their twin flame up to the flames, themselves.

Plucking a pen from his desk, he glances around to find the teacher still busy. Carefully, he writes, What's your name?

He returns to his work, as he waits.

He makes it halfway down the page when he gets a confusing response, R u hanbsom3?

The teacher puts down his book and Shisui unrolls his sleeves so he doesn't get accused of cheating.

He isn't ready to tell anyone yet and the teachers wouldn't listen to him if he explained. So at the end of the day, Shisui hurries home and breaks out his pen. He stares at his blank canvas of an arm and tries to come up with something to say. Sorry. I was in school.

His heart races as he anxiously waits. The words on his arm fade of their own accord but no response comes.

With a sigh, he resigns himself to days or weeks or years of silence from his soulmate. Dejectedly, he sulks down to dinner with his parents.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" His mother asks.

He just shakes his head. Shisui doesn't want to talk about it. He picks through his food and listens to the radio with his dad. It's their favorite drama, but the protagonist speaking to his own soulmate just makes Shisui all the more sad.

Sulking back to his room, he changes into a tank top to finish his homework and keep a close eye on his skin.

Sill, nothing happens.

As he settles into bed, he stares at the ceiling and wonders why he's gotten silence for so long. Did they love someone else? What were they doing that made them so busy that they didn't reply until now?

Maybe they were in a coma? Or a secret agent?

Messy letters bloom across his skin. Im scar3d.

He scrambles for the pen tucked away in his backpack. Scared? His palms are sweaty, blood rushing in his ears because his soulmate is in danger and there's nothing he can do. Helplessness makes him barely able to sit still.

Its dark, Replies his soulmate. I don't, the words take forever to appear, like the dark.

You're going to be okay, He tries to assure her. What's your name?

Sakura, Comes the shakey reply.

He taps the end of his pen against his fingers as he thinks. What's your favorite animal?

Kittens, Sakura's response scrawls along his skin before fading. Wat's urs?

I like crows, He writes out. They're really smart.

My friend likes birbs, She replies after a moment.

He tries to distract her until she eventually stops responding, probably having fallen asleep. Saturday morning dawns bright for him and he walks to Obito's house. His whole extended family lives very close and he's glad for it.

Itachi is already there, so curious he looks like it's hurting him. "What's your news?"

"Let's go inside first."

"How's it going, Shui?" Asks Obito from his spot on the couch.

He takes Itachi's hand and practically drags him over to the plush furniture to sit. Then, he whips out his pen and draws a simple flower.

They watch with fascination as it evaporates like smoke. Almost immediately, a crude bird draws itself.

"Congrats, Shui!" Itachi says. "I was worried your soulmate had died prematurely."

"Aren't there backup soulmates or something?" Asks Obito. "Every pot has to have at least two lids. Mine did."

A smiley appears almost expectantly and he replies in kind. He assumes her speech pattern is a quirky highschool girl thing and, while it would drive Itachi up the wall, Shisui finds it endearing.

It means she's fun and doesn't take herself too seriously.

Having been in the same cohort and in the same area during First Contact, Itachi and Izumi figured out pretty quick they were each other's soulmates.

Kakashi, Rin, and Obito took a little longer because the boys were both terrified that there would be no one on the other side and refused to let Rin find out because they were having fun clinging to her for dear life.

A group of hearts surface from his epidermis and it feels as though she's trying to make up for a full ten years of silence. Like she's afraid he might forget she exists.

He writes Sakura's name, making the 'a's into hearts that he fills in.

They step into their shoes and go to pick up Sasuke from the park at the behest of Mikoto.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The walk is leisurely, no one is in any hurry as it's rather nice weather. Shisui wonders how he's going to find his new penpal. After all, she can't tell him in exactness. The journey is part of what will strengthen their bond.

Maybe she can give him some environmental clues. She experiences the night at the same time that he does, meaning they have to be in a somewhat general timezone. And she has long stretches of silence that sort of match his own. He's deduced she has more free time. So she must also be a prodigy and finish her work early with plenty of day left to goof around.

At the park is a pair of girls loudly arguing under a large, flowering tree. One of them has a sharpie in her hand as she pushes the blonde away from Sasuke.

Itachi steps in between the squabbling children. "What's the matter?"

"Sasuke's my prince charming!" The pink haired girl bellows. "And I'll prove it!" She promptly scribbles on her own arm.

The younger Uchiha brother holds out his arms to prove nothing has happened.

"What!" She demands, snatching his left wrist and spinning it to get a good look all the way around. "No way!"

"My turn!" Cackles the blond, grabbing the marker and closing a circle on her own forearm. They both squawk and scream at each other when nothing happens on either of Sasuke's arms.

Shisui laughs, hand rising to cover his mouth but he gives pause at the almost-crow that's begun to fade.

It's a coincidence, He tells himself, even as he twirls the pen between his fingers and takes the cap between his teeth. It comes free with a satisfying, Click.

And he writes her name on his arm.

The argument between the two girls immediately dies, savage aggression turning to innocent giddiness and they both begin giggling and chattering about who it could be.

Itachi sighs a sigh of relief and looks over at Shisui, eyes widening and lips parting at the mark on his arm.

xXx

He sticks to long sleeves any time he's around Sasuke's friends from then on and stops responding to her little happy love notes that unfurl on him.

It feels like a cruel joke as he watches her wilt from afar. She and Sasuke become rather good friends as they grow and Shisui tries to date other people.

Anyone who's Right Place, Wrong Time, like himself.

But he always finds himself drawing his fingertips over her messages, wishing he'd been paired with someone closer in age.

On her seventeenth birthday, a trio of black birds in flight carve themselves into his arm and refuse to fade.

Her tattoo is his, too.

The hole in his soul gnaws at him, but he ignores it. If he is her match, the right thing to do is to make sure she is safe and happy and stays far away from him.

Even though he's present in every moment, it feels like the world is still somehow passing him by. He crosses his arms, staring out over the city from his apartment balcony and letting the breeze caress him.

Shisui jumps at the ringing of his phone and answers, paying no mind to the unknown number.

"Is this Shisui-san?"

His brows furrow. "It is."

"Oh good," She says, "I just wanted to thank you. Sasuke said you pulled some strings for me to get into the Uni I really wanted."

"It's not a big deal," He replies. "Just graduate, alright?"

There's a long, pregnant beat of silence on the other end before she says, "Why?"

"You have a lot of potential. You deserve the biggest launch pad you can get." He says. It hadn't been that hard. He had some friends on the inside who owed him favors.

It's the least he can do for leaving her high and dry.

Forcing her to walk through the rest of her life without her soulmate because he's too much of a coward to kill himself and set her free to find her other lid.

"Well," She says. "Can I treat you to lunch?"

xXx

He adjusts his hoodie, leaving it unzipped because his only goal is covering his arms.

She's absolutely beautiful on the patio in her little white sundress and big floppy hat. Eyes as green as her nails track him as he approaches, swallowing the butterflies that won't settle inside of him.

"So you're Sasuke's big cousin," She says with a bright smile. "You guys bear a strong resemblance."

"I get that a lot," He says, rubbing his chin. "Who's prettier?"

She gives a shy giggle and he sits beside her, watching people walk to and fro. "What are you going to school for?"

"Engineering." She worries her lip. "I just hope I'm smart enough for it."

"You are," He assures her. "You definitely are."

Vibrant veridian measures him then softens. "Thank you."

"Anytime," Shisui carefully crafts a friendly smile. "I'm just telling the truth."

She stands. "Can we walk around for awhile? This will be one of the last times I can explore before I leave."

He rises to his feet. "Of course."

They drift from store window to store window, idly enjoying the company of one another and he starts to wonder if this is what it could have been like if she'd been his age. Or even Itachi's age, that would have been iffy, but somewhat acceptable.

The sidewalk by the canal is full of children feeding noisy ducks and she stops to watch them. "You're an Unmarked, right?"

He rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah."

"I'm not," She admits. "But I think my soulmate died before I could find him and I don't know what to do."

Shisui is at a loss for words. Finally, he says, "I think you have backup plans. That's what Obito seems to think."

"It just sucks," She kicks a rock into the water. "I don't really want anyone else."

"You didn't even meet him," Shisui argues and she turns her head rather sharply to look at him. He casts about for an excuse. "That's the impression Itachi gave me."

"Sorry," Sakura says. "I just... It's hard seeing everyone else be with their match."

"Yeah," He agrees. "It really is."

xXx

"I dunno about this Sasuke." He says as he stands at the entrance of the festival.

"Relax," His little cousin says. "She's Right Place, Wrong Time, too. You're going to love her. I promise."

"But who am I looking for--"

"Oop. Hold on. She's calling me~"

Shisui sighs as he removes the phone from his ear and hangs up. He takes a moment to touch the tattoo of the black birds he didn't choose.

"Sasuke," Speak of the devil. "I swear, if this is another weird loser, I-- Shisui?"

Their eyes meet and suddenly, Shisui realizes he's been duped.

"Yeah. I gotta go," She says and promptly hangs up on the younger Uchiha brother. "Are you... Waiting for someone?"

Folding his arms so that she can't see the tattoo they share, he says, "Sasuke's trying to set me up with a blind date."

"Me too..." Sakura replies. "I guess he won this round, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh well," She says. "We're already here, so let's have fun tonight!"

He buys them some beer to enjoy as they walk about the festival. "Congratulations on your degree."

"Thanks," She replies. "What have you been up to?"

"Just working and trying to have a good time, you know?"

"It's so weird how polar opposite you and Itachi are."

"We really aren't," He argues. "It's that he's got a tough outer shell."

"Oh. Huh."

They stop over a bridge to watch the large koi fish. "Did you ever find a backup plan?"

She leans her elbows on the railing. "No... Not really."

He follows her gesture, feeling warm and in a better mood from the stiff drink he'd been sipping. "I'm sure he's out there."

"I feel so lonely," She confides in him. "I know I just met you. But I'm tipsy and now kinda sad. Can I hold your hand?"

He offers his left and she takes it in her right. Her touch feels like a jolt of electricity, a spark of something that will not be tamed if allowed to catch into fire.

"The moon is so pretty," She leans against his shoulder. "Do you think he's looking at the moon right now?"

"I definitely do," He replies.

Veridian meets onyx and he finds his gaze drifting down to pink lips before bouncing it back up to her eyes.

He can't swoop in on her like this.

Tugging away provokes a tight grip on his arm. "Don't go. Don't go. I'm sorry. Your eyes are just so deep I could get lost in them."

Shisui smiles. "You're tipsy. Let's--"

She grabs the collar of his shirt and pulls him in for a kiss. His heart skips a beat and he slowly, so very slowly, wraps his arm around her waist to pull her closer.

He's practically seeing stars when she pulls away.

"Oh, hey," She says, taking his left arm in her hands. "You have a tattoo that..."

Recognition and understanding dawns on her. "... Matches mine."