Chosen Family - MomoJiro soulmate AU

2 - Beginnings

    My mind slowly clears as I wake up. My face is buried in my favorite teal cylinder pillow, and my lavender blanket is draped loosely over me. I shift my face out of the pillow and open my eyes. Warm sunlight drifts in from the cracks in my curtains and hits my face. Pushing myself up onto my elbows, I reach up to rub my eye when I remember. Today is my eighth birthday.

    Today I find out if I have a soulmate.

     Remembering this makes my heart go haywire and I gasp, my hand going flying up to touch my cheek. My cheek is warm from the pillow and it feels soft as always. Nothing feels different. I pull off the covers and swing my legs off the bed. Slowly, I get up and creep over to the full length mirror resting against the wall. I inch next to it, my heart pounding in my chest, making me feel unsteady.

    I am afraid. Afraid to look. What if I don't have a soulmate? But... of course I do! My name is Kyoka Jiro and I am eight years old today. And I will find my soulmate, marks or no marks. I am sure of it.

    Before I can talk myself out of it or get scared again, I screw up my courage and leap in front of the mirror. What I see makes me gasp. My heart is pounding so hard I feel it might never slow down. There, on my cheeks, are three soulmate marks. Two on my left cheek and one on my right. They are right below my eyes. They are long and slender and curved up, like my momma's. I want to scream with joy, but my voice is gone. I just stand in shock and stare. I mean, I expected this, but still, it's so much crazier when it's real. And by far the most remarkable thing about my markings, is the color. They are a deep steely onyx color, mysterious and beautiful.

    "Wooooow, onyx eyes. I'm not sure I've seen eyes exactly like this before," I say to myself, "I bet my soulmate is beautiful."

    After staring for a bit longer, I decide it's time to make one final check. I slap both hands against my cheeks and rub as HARD as I can. Rub, rub, rub. Up and down, up and down. When I take my hands away my face is redder, but the markings are still there. This is real. I give a squeal of excitement and run out of of my room, bouncing down the stairs two at a time before arriving at the kitchen, where I slow down. Clasping my hands behind my back, I saunter into the kitchen. My mother is making pancakes with her back to me. Still acting as chill as possible, I clear my throat. She turns around, just smiling at me at first, and then looks to my face in anticipation. Her eyes widen. And the look of pure joy on her face is one I will never forget. I can't hold it back anymore.
    "Momma I have a soulmate!!" I scream, jumping into her arms.
    "Oh Kyoka, congratulations! I knew you would!" she cries, lifting me up and swinging me around.
    We laugh with ecstasy, and tears of joy fill my momma's eyes. She holds me up to her and touches my face.
    "What a beautiful color Kyoka, I bet your soulmate is beautiful," she says.
    "Yea! That's what I said!" I cry, "I can't wait to meet them! Do you think I'll find them soon Momma?"
    "I don't know Kyoka, only time will tell," Momma said softly.
    Just then my father comes into the room.
    "What's all this?" he asks, "Kyoka has a soulmate?"
    "Yea!" I say, "Yea I do Papa!"
    "That's my girl!" cries Papa, hugging us both.
    My parents are laughing, and I laugh along with them, warm tears pouring down my face before I could stop them. I just keep laughing.

***

    Little did I know my soulmate also waking up right around then, looking in the mirror and finding deep purple markings. She was silent, touching her face and feeling the warm tears flowing uncontrollably down her cheeks.
    "They're out there somewhere," she whispered, "My soulmate. My future love."

***

    I always thought when I looked at the color of my markings that my soulmate would have eyes like deep pools of mystery, filled with soft kindness and wisdom. I found comfort in the idea of those eyes, always keeping me tethered when I threatened to drift away. I always thought that those eyes would be my comfort. I had no idea how right I was. About all those things.

Short chapter today! Thank you for reading. <3