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Tsukishima is seven years old when they come for him, and his life changes forever.
His parents, hiding their trembling hands, say it’s an honor. His brother, staring at the robed elders in the doorway with relief, mutters that he’s jealous.
Kei watches as they pack his belongings to send him off to live with these new brethren in the Temple. Lacing up his boots, he recalls that children being taken as vessels for the lords of the forest has been a tradition in his village for ages, almost as old as the concept of soulmates.
He doesn’t know what the selection process is like, but it must not be very selective at all if they’re taking him over Akiteru.
He waves at his parents and brother in the doorway as the robed elders lead him down the forest path. They join up with a larger group, a few other children visible between the legs of the older elves, and Kei perks up — at least he won’t be alone. The boy closest to him is small, almost comically so next to Kei’s unusual height, but his bright, spikey hair makes him stick out like a sore thumb. He bounds over to Kei as soon as they join the group and begins chatting the second they start walking.
“Hi! What’s your name? Mine’s Shouyou! I can’t believe I got chosen to be one of the, well… chosen ones! My mama told me it’s a real honor but I think she was crying when I left. I think she might get lonely without me. Oh, she has Natsu though, so she’s not totally alone. Natsu is my little sister. Do you have any siblings?”
He continues on in this vein for quite a while, and where at first Kei is amazed that he can even find so much to talk about, that wears off quickly when he finds he can’t get a word in edgewise, even when Shouyou asks him questions. He eventually just tunes Shouyou out, looking around at something else to occupy his attention. He finds it more quickly than expected.
Shuffling on his other side, about half a step behind Shouyou and himself, is a small girl. She has chin length hair, almost the same shade as his own, with one side up in a ponytail, and she’s worrying her hands under her chin vigorously.
“Hey,” Kei says, when her eyes stray over to meet his. She jumps about a foot into the air.
“M-me?” She’s pointing at herself incredulously, as though she can’t possibly fathom a reason why anyone would want to talk to her, let alone Kei.
“Yeah,” Kei nods at her. “What’s your name? Shrimpy here is getting really annoying.”
“Hey!” Shouyou shouts. “It’s Shouyou, not Shrimpy!”
Kei ignores him, waiting for the girl’s answer. She’d flinched when Shouyou had yelled, and is now looking between them as though she can’t decide which is the bigger threat. Eventually, she sucks in a shaking breath.
“It’s Hitoka. Yachi Hitoka. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you also,” Kei responds, and he sees the tension in the girl’s shoulders relax a bit. It’s definitely still there, but it’s nice to see her let go of some of that strain. “I’m Tsukishima Kei.”
They’ve finally reached the Temple, and they fall into silence as they approach it. The town’s centermost building, it’s carved out of a sprawling tree that still buds in the springtime, despite the elves using its base as a home. The elders say it’s because the lords of the forest will it, but Kei thinks a tree that size must have enough will to live on its own without the help of anyone else.
They are lead into the main hall, where it seems like every other resident of the temple is waiting for them. There are other children, of course, though all of them seem older than Kei, Shouyou, and Hitoka. The elders lead them to the front of the room, where they introduce themselves to the room at large: Shouyou with gumption, Kei with indifference, and Hitoka with a quivering voice and nervous hands.
There is polite applause for their efforts. Then they’re lead to their rooms, where their belongings are dropped off and they’re instructed to get comfortable. Kei looks around the small, windowless room, a lantern hanging from the ceiling above the bed the only light, and turns to ask the elder what he’s supposed to do next, only to find the door already shutting.
And so begins Kei’s days as the lowest form of Temple life.
It’s quickly realized that as the youngest, newest recruits to the cause, Kei, Hitoka, and Shouyou get stuck with each and every unpleasant task that no one else wants to do. There are two kids one year older than them, Nishinoya and Tanaka, who like to lord over them that they no longer have to clean the bathrooms once a week, or help peel potatoes for dinner. Kei finds them annoying, and Hitoka finds them terrifying, but Shouyou seems fascinated by their elders and hangs around them every chance he possibly gets.
It turns out that the older kids have started combat training, and that’s why the younger ones are stuck with all the chores. Kei supposes it makes a certain amount of sense; only Temple elders are allowed to wield weapons. They are, after all, in charge of the safety of the village.
It’s only just struck him now that eventually, that will be him.
Honestly, he’s not at all sure if Hitoka and Shouyou can handle combat, but that’s a bridge they’ll cross when they get to it.
There are four other kids beside the two idiots, Tanaka and Nishinoya, who live in the Temple proper with them: three boys (Daichi, Suga, and Asahi), and one girl (Kiyoko). In general they’re much calmer than their younger counterparts, and Kei actually feels like he could leave something important up to them and that they’d be able to get it done, which is more than he can say for Tanaka and Nishinoya.
Luckily, the three of them don’t see their learning mates very often. Kei is relieved he doesn’t have to pretend that he respects them.
The formative years Kei spends in the Temple pass slowly, but without hassle. He continues to grow, something that seems to outrage Shouyou personally, but just makes Kei laugh whenever he starts hissing about it. Other children are brought in to take their place as they get older, but Kei doesn’t care enough to learn any of their names. Eventually, they’re allowed leave the Temple daily for school and combat training, which feels like a breath of fresh air compared to the completely mundane life of the Temple.
And it’s finally, finally then that something happens.
~~~
Kei remembers vividly the first time color swam noticeably into his world. He’d been on his way back to the Temple from practice, training bag slung over his shoulder, the twin short blades he’d inherited from one of his brethren sheathed safely at his waist, the setting sun painting the world around him into varying shades of grey. He’d been in an uncharacteristically good mood that day, though the reasons for it escape him now, and his feet had automatically slowed when the sounds of a scuffle and cruel laughter caused his ears to perk up.
He found himself moving towards the noise. A few boys he didn’t recognize had pushed another to the ground, their laughter escalating as fat tears began to trip down the boy’s dirty face. None of the children were wearing uniforms, but that wasn’t too unusual — classes had let out a while ago at that point — so Kei couldn’t tell which school they belonged to, but those hand-to-hand skills were —
“Pfft. Pathetic.”
The bullies’ heads snapped towards him as one, surprised and angry. Kei couldn’t see the expression of the boy on the ground, hidden as he was behind their legs.
“Hey!” One of the braver bullies marched over to Kei, apparently ready to switch targets at a moment's notice, but his courage flagged when he noticed Kei’s height, and he slowed. “H-hold it!”
“What,” Kei said darkly, looming over him, and narrowing his eyes.
The boy stumbled back a few paces.“Y-your glasses are lame! Idiot!” He scampered away, his two friends leaving their victim on the ground as they followed their leader.
Kei laughed at the pitiful insult before turning back to the boy still seated on the ground. Tears and snot ran down his face, though he appeared to no longer be actively crying. Kei’s nose wrinkled in disgust, and his eyes traveled up the boy’s face until their gazes met.
The world burst into color around them, almost as though someone had only just remembered that they’d left the switch off all this time, and had rushed to turn it back on. Kei’s eyes wandered from those of his (apparent) soulmate, taking in all the colors of the sky at sunset: the darkening hues of the vastness above as the sky became dotted with stars, the array of oranges and pinks as the sun sank below the horizon.
He reassured himself that he was not waiting for his (apparent) soulmate to make the first move.
Because no matter what Akiteru has said in the past, Kei was not shy.
“U-um!” A small voice called out, and Kei let his eyes drift from the space above him to the person directly in front of him.
His (apparent) soulmate was no longer on the ground, and had used Kei’s momentary distraction to clean up his face, his cheeks and nose pink from scrubbing, his eyes a little swollen.
“M-my name is Y-yamaguchi Tadashi!” The boy squeaked. Kei raised an eyebrow, silently motioning for him to continue. “And, um. I think you’re… my soulmate?”
His voice trailed off, questioning, and he seemed to bunker down, as though waiting for Kei to attack him.
Kei’s second eyebrow rose to join the first.
“Tsukishima Kei.” He stared at Yamaguchi’s confused face a moment longer, taking in his brown hair, his dark eyes, his freckles, before adding, “And yeah, I noticed that too.”
Yamaguchi’s face immediately brightened. He followed Kei all the way back to the Temple, chattering and smiling and seeming genuinely happy just to be in Kei’s company. Kei bore it all in stoic silence — not because it wasn’t annoying, because honestly it kind of was — but because it was the first time anyone other than his family had actually seemed to enjoy his company, and he hasn’t seen them in more than passing in years.
It was maybe even a little… nice.
When Yamaguchi left him at the double doors, waving madly before departing the path to his own home, Kei found himself feeling… oddly bereft.
He climbed the stairs and opened the doors, followed the matron’s voice to the kitchens in a daze, and let it sink in.
He’d found his soulmate today.
His soulmate was scrawny kid named Yamaguchi.
He suddenly found himself laughing.
The matron gave him a concerned look, brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, and handed him plates to set the table.
Despite the chore, Kei felt a bubble of joy in his chest he couldn’t ignore. It was odd, when he thought about it; they were still quite young for soulmates — almost absurdly so, when their lifespans were accounted for — but Kei finally felt like his life had a purpose.
Finally, there was something more for him than his mundane Temple life.
His good mood continued throughout dinner, and he ignored the strange looks he received from his brothers and sisters. Shouyou even tried to ask him about his happiness, but the words flowed through Kei, and he couldn’t be bothered to answer. Everyone else had left him alone after that, which had only improved his spirits further.
He knew better than to tell anyone about his soulmate, anyway, especially someone with a big mouth like Shouyou.
And when Kei left for school the next morning, Yamaguchi was waiting for him outside the Temple.
It continued that way for months.
~~~
Eventually, Kei’s secret does get out to the temple elders. The head of the Temple, an ancient, ornery elf named Ukai, takes him into his office and explains to him what happens when someone in the Order discovers their soulmate.
Kei leaves the office with his head swimming, unnecessarily arcane phrases and ancient words floating through his head. What his talk with Ukai essentially boils down to is this: Yamaguchi is to be inducted into the temple as an honorary member, and from then on is to be considered Kei’s bodyguard. Honestly, Kei’s not even sure how Yamaguchi will react to such news, because it’s only been a few months since they met.
But Ukai doesn’t sound like he’s willing to give Yamaguchi much of a choice.
It isn’t unprecedented, but the situation is definitely odd enough that Kei feels out of his depth. An elder brings him to Yamaguchi’s house to explain the situation. It’s been long enough since his own inductment into the Temple that he’s almost forgotten what it’s like to live in a family environment. As he’s sitting in the kitchen with Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi’s mom, and the elder, he can’t help the way his eyes trail over the portraits on the walls, the dirty dishes on the kitchen counter, the pile of boots by the front door.
Yamaguchi’s mother listens to everything the elder has to say in a tense silence, her hands gripping her tea mug so tightly her knuckles turn white. Eventually, she mutters a single acquiescence, then stands to pack her son’s belongings.
Yamaguchi’s eyes follow her as she leaves the room, before he turns back to face Kei, a tentative smile growing on his face. Kei returns it as best he can, but since he honestly feels like he just ruined Yamaguchi’s life, he’s sure that it doesn’t come out as much more than a grimace.
When they get back to the Temple, Yamaguchi is given the room across the hall from his, and his schedule is setup to reflect Kei’s exactly.
They are together from that moment on.
~~~
Despite their combat training, and technical occupation of the guards of the village, things very rarely ever happen that require force to be necessary. The feeling is more one of “better safe than sorry,” and while Kei understands the sentiment, it certainly doesn’t make his job very exciting.
Their village is too remote, too deep in the woods for things like bandits, and too small and poor to have anything of value for anyone to want to take it over.
Or so they thought.
Until Yachi goes missing.
~~~
The forest road is dappled with light, the sun coming through the canopy of leaves overhead and creating a vivid painting of yellows and greens that are beautiful to behold. Kei strolls silently along the path, admiring the view as much as he is able, given the circumstances. Yamaguchi is walking by his side, chatting up a storm in a feeble attempt to ease the tension in the picture-perfect air.
In any other circumstance, Kei would’ve let the usual sound of Yamaguchi’s talking rush over him like a wave, comforting in its familiarity, but given the situation they’re currently in —
“Yamaguchi, shut up.”
The sentence falls out of his lips with something akin to sheer muscle memory; he doesn’t even need to think the words before they’re forming on his tongue. Yamaguchi laughs quietly, nervously, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair, the tips of it catching on his long ears before fluttering back into place.
“Sorry, Tsukki.”
These words have been said between them so many times over the years now that Kei vaguely wonders if they even have meaning anymore. Still, the utterance is so commonplace that it makes him relax just a tad too soon — and in that split second, the ambush they’d been expecting, planning for, even, is upon them. The last thing Kei sees before a blow to the head renders him unconscious is Yamaguchi’s face.
~~~
When Kei next opens his eyes, he immediately shuts them again, the bright light shining directly into his pupils causing a previously unnoticed headache to quadruple in intensity. The searing pain in his head becomes all he can think about. After a few minutes, the feeling calms to a dull roar, and he cautiously cracks his eyes open, subconsciously searching for one thing. When he sees Yamaguchi, he’s still unconscious from the attack, but it’s enough. Kei feels himself relax enough to check their surroundings.
They’re being kept in a small tent, completely bare on the inside save for them. Beyond the flimsy fabric of their shelter, Kei can hear the noises of the rebel camp moving around them.
“Yamaguchi,” Kei hisses. “Get up. Hey.”
Yamaguchi starts to stir, his eyes blinking open slowly.
“Tsukki…?” he mumbles as he sits himself up. He looks around a bit before his eyes snap fully open, comprehension dawning on his face. “Did it work? Are we there?”
Kei nods. “We’re here. Time to start the plan.”
Both of their arms are tied behind them tightly, but Kei has been training for just such a situation for years. Dislocating his thumb is easy, and the fresh wave of pain it sends up his arm helps distract from the way his head is still throbbing in time to his heart beat. Freeing his arms from the rope, he rubs his raw wrists as he moves silently across the tent to free Yamaguchi with the small dagger he’d had tucked in his boot. Either the humans that captured them aren’t very good at their jobs, or they’re that confident that Yamaguchi and Tsukishima can’t possibly be a threat to them, a thought that rankles.
They move to the opening of the tent and peer through, taking in the hustle and bustle of the camp. Kei looks back to Yamaguchi, who nods, a look of determination on his face. That’s all Kei needs. They rush forward, moving quickly between people and objects, mentally following the maps of the place that they’d spent hours memorizing. It doesn’t take long for the alarm to sound in their wake, and they split up to both widen the search area and hopefully minimize the chance that they’ll both get caught.
Kei spies the tent that is his final destination, and veers around three men with swords looking wildly around, presumably for him. He ducks into the tent, and the sole occupant gasps loudly, flinching as he approaches.
“Hitoka,” Kei says lowly as he moves to untie her bonds. “It’s me.”
“Tsukishima…?” she whispers, tears welling up in her eyes as she takes him in. “H-how did you f-find me?”
Kei helps her get to her feet, her legs wobbly as she stands properly for the first time in days.
“Shimizu pointed us in the right direction,” he informs her, leading her over to the back of the tent. The noises outside have gotten a bit quieter, but Kei is sure that they’re lying in wait right outside, attempting to get the jump on them. “And then Shouyou and Kageyama found the camp.”
The rest had gone as they were all taught: make a map of the area then retreat to plan. Kei and Yamaguchi were better suited to this kind of thing than Kageyama and Shouyou, simply because they could manage to be in each other’s company for more than thirty seconds without arguing, and so, had been chosen to infiltrate.
Kei cuts the rope holding the back of the tent in place, and pokes his head through, looking around for Yamaguchi. It’s their predetermined meet up place, but Yamaguchi isn’t there and Kei can’t help the way his heart starts racing faster in his chest when he thinks that maybe there’s another reason after all why the camp has gotten so quiet. He shakes his head as though to rid him of those distracting thoughts. According to the Temple mindset, Hitoka, as a chosen child of the forest lords, is much more important than Yamaguchi, who as Tsukishima’s “body guard” is just doing his job by distracting their enemies long enough for them to escape.
His indecision must show on his face, because as soon as Yachi steps out from the tent and notices the distinct lack of Yamaguchi, she looks over to him sharply.
“We’re rescuing him,” she says simply, and sometimes Tsukishima forgets that she went through the same training they all did, and she’s known him long enough that she can guess almost exactly what’s running through his mind. She’s still better with weaponry than she is in hand-to-hand combat, however, so he tosses her his dagger, and together they edge around the tent towards sunlight. He notices just before he turns his head the large bruise around her eye, the way her hair is shorn close to her scalp where she used to wear her ponytail. The unrest he feels at not knowing Yamaguchi’s whereabouts blooms into righteous fury.
They pick their way back into the middle of the camp by skirting around the edges of tents and temporary buildings, but there really isn’t anyone around to harass them, at least until they turn one corner and find what seems to be the whole camp gathered in a crowd around a person that even from this distance Kei knows is Yamaguchi.
He hears Yachi stifle a gasp from next to him as a large man lifts Yamaguchi by his hair, making his face contort in pain. The human yells and swears into Yamaguchi’s sharp ears, likely causing damage to his hearing if the way he flinches whenever the man gets particularly loud is any indication.
The man pauses in his shouting, almost as though he’s looking for Yamaguchi to answer. When he gets no response, he throws Yamaguchi back to the ground in frustration, and one of the other men grabs him. Kei is gritting his teeth so hard he’s surprised his jaw hasn’t broken, and if it weren’t for Yachi’s surprisingly strong grip on his arm, he might’ve just charged straight into the center of them all with his fists swinging. That would be such a Shouyou move though, and that thought alone is enough to make Kei take a deep breath to calm himself.
The crowd around them begins to disperse, and Kei catches a glimpse of them tying Yamaguchi up before Yachi pulls him back behind the nearest structure. They wait there until everyone is back doing their business, and when they lean out again, just three men are left: one on either side of Yamaguchi, pinning his arms, and the first man that did the shouting, who hovers in front of him. Kei looks over to Yachi, who nods, patting the dagger she’s tucked into her belt in reassurance.
They dash out of their hiding place, and the moment Kei makes eye contact with Yamaguchi again, it’s like the world has stopped tilting on its axis. He can think straighter, and pressure in his chest has disappeared — but the anger is still burning hot, and for the slights these people paid against both Hitoka and Yamaguchi, Kei and the lords of the forest will make them pay.
Kei veers left, targeting the two holding Yamaguchi, while Yachi swings around, moving silently around a tent to get behind the big guy. The two holding Yamaguchi are on the ground before they even know what happens — while Kei knocks the first one out with a hit to the chin, Yamaguchi throws himself down on the second one with his entire body weight, making him hit his head hard on the ground.
The last man backs up when he sees their attack, causing Yachi, wielding Kei’s dagger, to overcompensate her swing. She misses, her momentum carrying her past her target until she manages to right herself, now standing in between Yamaguchi and Tsukishima and the man. He’s on her instantly, knocking the dagger out of her hands as he swipes at her, but she manages to dodge the rest of the attack, being much lighter and faster on her feet than her opponent. The dagger lands in front of Kei, and with Yachi acting as the perfect distraction, he grabs it and slices his palm, allowing the blood to saturate the earth beneath them as he calls on the lords of the forest.
For a split second, nothing happens, and Yamaguchi shouts as the human manages to strike Yachi across the face, knocking her to the ground. Then, the lords feel his anger, the hurt of two of their own, and respond in an instant, tangles of branches and vines sprouting through the ground at their feet, wrapping their tendrils around the human before he can lay another hand on any of them. Quickly, Kei turns to Yamaguchi, cutting him free as the earth beneath the entire camp begins to quake and crumble, more plant life forcing its way through to answer the bidding of their lords.
The three of them hobble their way through the camp to the extraction site, the humans no longer a threat as they scream and run from the angry plant life Kei called forth. Shouyou and Kageyama are waiting for them when they get there, of course, and immediately start helping them tend to their wounds.
“So, which one of you summoned the final boss?” Shouyou chuckles at his own use of his soulmate’s favorite phrase before he goes back to looking over the now densely populated forest that popped up right where the human’s settlement used to be.
Kei glares tiredly at him — Shouyou’s become a lot easier to handle since finding his admittedly lethargic soulmate, but that doesn’t mean that Kei doesn’t still find him annoying, even after all these years. It doesn’t help that he obviously can’t deny it; with the sudden drain on his energy and the bleeding cut in his palm, he’s practically wearing a sign saying it was him.
And from the way he’s grinning, Shouyou knows it.
“Anyway,” Hitoka says, louder than is strictly necessary, and everyone turns to look at her. She’s had many years practice in separating Kei and Shouyou, and allows the attention without so much as a flinch. “We should get going before the clean up crew gets here.”
The clean up crew of course being Daichi, Suga, Asahi, and Kiyoko, because even after all these years, Noya and Tanaka are still incredibly untrustworthy.
As they begin to move down the path, Kei and Yamaguchi walk behind the others — Yachi in between Shouyou and Kageyama to hopefully prevent any fights from breaking out — when Tsukishima breaks.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, just loud enough for Yamaguchi to hear. “I feel like… this is all my fault.”
“What is?” Yamaguchi replies just as quietly. “It was the humans that did everything. Kidnapping Yachi, hurting us both…” he trails off when Kei starts shaking his head.
“It’s not that,” he says, and now that he’s started, he can’t stop. He’s been thinking these things for ages, and now that he has the chance, he’s finally going to say them out loud. “For making you follow me into service at the Temple. If it weren’t for me, you never would’ve even been here, you never would’ve had to leave your family — ”
“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi interrupts, voice unusually firm. “Are you apologizing for being my soulmate?”
Kei pauses. He hasn’t ever thought of it like that.
But in a way, it’s not like Yamaguchi is wrong.
“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi says again, and Kei looks back at him, not prepared to suddenly find him walking so close. “You’re an idiot.”
There’s a smile on his face as he pulls Kei down and seals their lips together. Then he walks away, still smiling, and leaves Kei staring dumbly after him. Finally, Kei pushes his glasses up and runs his unbandaged hand down his face, hoping to dispel the warmth he can feel gathered there, before he, too, starts following the others.
Just when he thinks he knows everything there is to know about Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi manages to surprise him again.
And now that he knows Yamaguchi harbors no regrets about being his soulmate, he feels something deep inside him relax, a tension he hadn’t even known was there until he was able to let it go.
~~~
Kei is seventeen years old when he finally accepts that the life he’s living really isn’t so bad.
When he thinks back to his parents’ clenched hands, his brother’s relieved voice as the elders were taking him away, there was a bitterness to those memories that had subconsciously tainted him and everything he did. The years he had spent being disciplined and taught what he had always felt was useless knowledge simmered inside him when he considered the life he could’ve had. But then, he had managed to use the forest lords’ power and he had used it to save what he now realizes is his most important person.
Maybe their lives would be different if he had never been chosen to apprentice at the Temple, and maybe both his and Yamaguchi’s lives would’ve been better.
But he’s also realized that if he hadn’t been walking back to the Temple late after practice that fateful day, he may not have met Yamaguchi at all, and he knows for a fact that for him, a life without Yamaguchi in it would be no life at all.
So really, his life could be that much worse. He’s pretty sure he’ll manage though, because after all, he still has Yamaguchi.