Naruto One-Shot (Yaoi)

Red and Gold

By Phoenixyfriend

Soulmate marks, in the Uchiha clan, were considered in the plans for marriage, though not always. Most often, they were allowed to marry, if the soulmate was another Uchiha, a useful civilian, an unaffiliated shinobi, or from a clan without a bloodline that could prove a viable alliance.

A soulmate was… a very important thing, to anyone with a Sharingan, or the potential to develop one.

These rules had relaxed still further after the Warring Clans Era ended. Soulmates were encouraged to marry most times, with the only exceptions being, to Sasuke’s knowledge, a handful of soulmates in other villages, and one incident with a Hyuuga.

Sasuke knew all of this, and at six years old, he knew how to recognize his own soulmate marks. Every injury his soulmate got would reflect in image on his own skin, and either fade with his soulmate’s injury, or pale to gold as his soulmate’s injuries scarred over.

“It means that it healed faster than is natural, but not perfectly,” his mother told him as she traced a thumb over a stark red mark on his thumb, thin and bright. “I’d guess your soulmate is probably training to be a shinobi and has access to a medic nin, or perhaps a healing factor.”

“You’re sure?” Sasuke asked, staring at the mark that was already fading, and not even to gold.

“Mm-hm. A friend of mine had a healing factor, and her soulmate had his change color fairly often as she scarred. Generally, a healing factor results in a mottling of both colors, while a medical technique results in a full change. Your father has a few green marks left over from my days in the field, when I went to a medic instead of letting it heal naturally.” Mikoto smiled down at Sasuke. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

“Okay, kaa-chan!”

o.o.o.o.o

The entire clan was tense, these days. So tense that Mikoto almost welcomed the distraction that was Sasuke’s panicked face.

“Kaa-chan!”

“Sasuke-kun, what’s wrong?” She asked, crouching down to get on eye level with her son, now seven years old. “Did you hurt yourself training aga—”

“Look!” He said, shoving his arm into her face.

For a moment, the color made Mikoto think that Sasuke had been hurt, that someone had dared to make her son bleed this much and not even had the gall to take him to a healer, that someone had tossed aside all decency to use a bite in a fight instead of a more civilized attack, because—

It’s not Sasuke that had been hurt, she realized after a moment, because there is no blood, no smearing, no denting. Just a red pattern of teeth circling his arm, the same wine-red as every other injury he’d gotten from his soulmate so far.

The teeth were sized for an adult, and there were…

“Are there any others?” Mikoto asked.

He pulled down his collar, and there were faded red marks there, more pink than anything. Bruises, most likely, in the shape of a single large hand.

Something in Mikoto’s gut curdled. All of Sasuke’s injuries so far had indicated that his soulmate was the same age as himself, and Mikoto shuddered to think of what these meant.

Already, the circle on his wrist was paling, glittering in gold that overtook the red.

(Red and gold, she thought. Just like Kushina. Just like the marks on Mikoto’s own skin, platonic as they were.)

(No.)

“Let’s keep these hidden,” she suggested. “Maybe wrap them in bandages…”

Sasuke stared at her with wide, worried eyes.