Finally (Shin-Ah x Reader)

A/N: Shin-Ah deserves so much love. T_T I do not own Akatsuki no Yona or the picture.

Soulmate! AU: Soulmates go through multiple lives before they meet and are connected by the red string of fate

Hands intertwined, skin brushing against skin, the Blue Dragon worshiped the woman beneath him, memorizing the feel of her against his lips for the lives ahead. "I love you, (y/n)." It was whispered against her skin, a ripple in the warm silence enclosing them.

"And I love you, Abi." The words came out on a breath, her eyes unafraid to meet his and show him the endless love contained within them. "I'll love you in all the lives to come."

He smiled and nuzzled into the hand that had raised to cup his cheek, a fateful red string tied around one of her fingers, connecting her soul to his. "And I you..."

You didn't meet him in the next life, or the next, or the one after that, but love is patient and your soul was willing to wait for him. When you finally did meet him again, love him again, several hundred years had passed and the Blue Dragon had a new name.

Shin-Ah held your smaller hand up to the moonlight, the silver light painting your skin with an ethereal glow. Outside the tent, crickets chirped and owls hooted, but his focus was entirely on you. Your skin was soft, uncalloused, so unlike his own, and Shin-Ah remembered all the hours he'd spent marveling over the feel of your hand in his, memorizing the way it felt against his lips. 

On nights like these, when he was unable to follow you into sleep, the gentle warmth of your touch brought a certain comfort that had been absent for most of his life. It was a simple wonder to him, your touch, and hard-won at that. He was a man of few words after all, and hadn't been able to express his feelings to you except through touch, even that having been hard to come by after a life of isolation. 

Yellow dragon eyes glowing, he would observe the way your hand fit so perfectly within his, and, most nights, that alone was enough to lure him to sleep. Tonight however, his gaze did not admire the sight of your hand in his, instead focusing on the shimmering red string around your finger and tracing its length to where it looped around his own finger. 

You couldn't see it, no one could, only Shin-Ah with his dragon's eyes was aware of the red strings leading from everyone's fingers, connecting them to the person they were fated to be with, the connection between Yona and Hak a prime example of this. He hadn't known what it meant until he'd met Yona, the call in his blood triggering memories inherited from the first Blue Dragon, memories of what the string meant and who waited at the end of his. 

He remembered all of it, the smell of you, feel of you, sound of you...taste of you. 

When he finally found you, Shin-Ah had collapsed at your feet, unable to keep the tears from falling down his face. You had been alarmed, the memories of your past life dormant, but, deep down, your soul cried out to him, and you couldn't help but drop to your knees beside him and  embrace him, unsure as to why tears were falling down your cheeks.

Re-learning each other was not without its trials, but you had waited hundreds of years for him, what was a little longer? 

Touch came first. Shin-Ah was unfamiliar to it and a near-stranger to you, but the memory of your skin against his so long ago made his hands tingle, his soul begging him to reach out and hold you. Gradually, small brushes of fingers turned into something more as both you and he became more comfortable with one another.