#bk201

Your soulmate must either be an assassin or highly accident-prone. Or maybe both. Or maybe—

“Well, we don't have all day! Come on! Clock in!” Fuyumi exclaimed, and you just huffed but did as told and clocked in for your shift.

You spotted him approximately three hours into what should’ve been a regular shift. It wasn’t too busy, what with finals week at the local university just having finished the week prior. He looked to be around your age, maybe a student at the college?

Either way, you couldn’t deny he was attractive. With black hair and dark eyes, he was sitting with his back to the wall and sitting next to an older gentleman in a coat and a hat.

You watched him in between making drinks and cleaning tables. He seemed to be people-watching and listening to the older man talk. They spoke in hushed tones, almost like people sharing information that should be best kept secret.

There was a poke to your neck, right where your bruise was. You flinched and swallowed a reprimand as you turned to see Fuyumi looking shocked. “What?” You ask, and she shushes you quickly, pulling you into the back where she can peek around into the lobby without being seen.

Without looking, she reaches over and jabs you in the neck again, where the bruise is throbbing from her previous poke. “Ow!” You yelp, and she all but smothers you with a hand. “Sh! I’m testing something!” She whispers and pokes you again.

At this point, you’re swatting her away. “Stop poking me! It hurts!” You complain, and she just rolls her eyes, “Stop being a baby. I think I just found your soulmate!” She whispered.

That gets you to stop.

In fact, you almost trip from where you were about to head out into the fray of customers again. “What do you mean? Just from poking my bruise?” You ask, stupefied, and Fuyumi rolls her eyes again. “Man, you are dense. He’s out there! The guy you were making heart eyes at when he was talking to someone else! He has the exact bruise on the side of his neck, and he flinches every time I poke yours!” She exclaims, and then you peek out into the lobby.

The young man is still there, looking around and rubbing the bruise on his neck that you hadn’t noticed before. Now that you’re seeing it, it does look like yours… It’s mottled pinks and purples and partially hidden by his button-down shirt. But it looks an awful lot like yours…

It’s then that he looks up, and your eyes meet.

It’s like fireworks explode, and there’s an instant connection. While it feels like it lasts for hours, it lasts for a little more than a second because Fuyumi jabs your side and breaks your trance. “Quit it!” You hiss, and she pulls you back before you fall out into his line of sight again.

The young man becomes a regular after that.

You don't know if he knows. About the whole soulmate thing. But he doesn't seem like a total idiot, so you just assume he does, in fact, know you are his soulmate.

At least, you hope you are.

Because this would be really embarrassing if you were wrong.

Fuyumi immediately ships the two of you together despite the fact that the most interaction you've had is taking his coffee order every day. You both learn his name is Li Shengshun. He's a university student and odd job connoisseur. He gets the same thing every time. That in and of itself isn't odd, it's just… His order is a bit strange if you had to say so yourself.

He gets a large black coffee. And then proceeds to add an obscene amount of cream and sugar to make it so sweet you aren't sure his teeth haven't rotted out of his head and he has dentures instead.

But that doesn't stop the bruises from forming.

A large bruise that was suspiciously shaped, similar to that of a size ten boot. That one feels like your ribs are broken, and you call out for two days after the fact.

At one point, it feels like you've been hit with a bat upside the head and lost a tooth. A quick look in the mirror exposes that as a lie.

Just what did your soulmate do for a living? Did he fight in illegal fighting rings? Was he relentlessly bullied?

You just hoped he was okay.

Li was late.

You checked the clock as it ticked right past eight-thirty. That was odd… He was always here right on the dot, right at eight-thirty, as if it was the most important part of his day!

Fuyumi came up front with a fresh tray of pastries and paused.

"Is Li not here yet?" She asked, and you shook your head. You could count on one hand in the last six months when he was late. And each time, a new injury showed up within a few hours.

So that didn't help your racing mind at all.

"I think something is wrong." You mumble and she frowns, checks the back, and makes a shooing motion.

"Go on then." She hissed, and you froze.

"What?" Her shooing motion became more exaggerated.

"No one is here. I can handle this myself. Go find your lover boy. You seriously owe me, though." She said, physically pushing you at this point and out the front door before you can say another word.

You find him collapsed in an alleyway.

You had been wandering aimlessly at this point, checking the occasional alley when you found him.

"Li?!" Your shriek has people turning heads, but they ultimately pay you no mind as you sprint down the alley toward the familiar shape of your maybe-soulmate. He's sitting with a hand pressed to his side, where the suspiciously shaped boot bruise is.

And he's bleeding.

Which isn't good.

You are stripping off your work-issued apron and pressing it against the wound. He's dressed in an all black coat with a high collar, and you spy a white mask at his side next to a long dual-bladed knife.

"Hey." He grunts and hisses in pain as you press the apron harder against the injury. Your own agony flares, and you nearly black out at the sensation.

Your mother had always said you were a wimp when it came to pain.

"What happened?!" You demand, and he shakes his head,

"Can't say, not safe." He wheezes, and you are no doctor, but he looks paler than normal, and his movements are getting sluggish.

Is he dying? Is this what dying looked like?

You were not prepared for this.

"I need to get you to a hospital." You say, and once again, he shakes his head.

"They're watching." That's all he manages before passing out.

It takes a long time, but eventually you make it back to your apartment that you shared with Fuyumi. Li was semi-conscious and could barely walk, but barely walking was still walking, so you did your best to support his weight as the two of you stumbled through the streets of Tokyo.

Fuyumi was still at work, but she had been blowing up your phone the entire time. You still had yet to respond.

You barely managed to set Li down somewhat gently on the couch, kick the door shut, and took a minute to just… breathe.

Something he was doing very shallowly and weakly.

But hey, at least he was breathing.

"Right… First aid…" You mumble and go to stand when his hand darts out and grabs your own. His eyes are screwed shut, but his grip is surprisingly strong. Gently, you work your hand out of his grip, "I'm going to get first aid supplies, I'll be back." You say and your heart races when he mumbles your name.

Rummaging through your bathroom cabinet takes longer than you hoped. Half of the supplies have expired, but hopefully, there was something you could use to save the man currently bleeding out on your couch.

He's sitting up when you come back in with an amalgamation of medical supplies in your arms. Ace bandages, gauze, some painkillers, and ointment that you are pretty sure won't help.

The apron you had bunched and tied around his wound is discarded on the coffee table, and he's in the middle of shedding his coat when you drop the supplies next to him.

"How can I help?" You ask, and he looks at you warily. That was something you had never seen in your time knowing him. He was timid and kind and gentle, not… Like this…

He doesn't say anything, so you try again,

"You're safe for now. No one will find you here. So let me help." You say, and he sighs, but gestures for the gauze pads.

Patching Li up takes less time than you initially imagined it would. He's an excellent teacher, walking you through how to stitch up what turns out to be a knife wound in his side on top of the bruise that's already there. You almost pass out four separate times, but Li keeps you grounded and focused.

"Thank you." He says after downing some painkillers and goes to stand. He was leaving? No way!

And he promptly falls over back onto the couch when you gently push.

"You aren't going anywhere until those kick in." You say sternly, and he scowls.

"It's not safe for me here. Or for you." He says, and you cross your arms,

"Why not?"

"Dangerous people are looking for me."

"Dangerous how?"

"They are the ones who injured me. They'll kill you."

"Then you should hide out here for a few hours."

"No."

Frustration gets the better of you at this point, and you throw your arms in the air.

"You're impossible, Li." You grumble and he winces.

"That isn't my name."

That gets you to stop dead in your tracks. And you stare at him. And stare. And stare. He winces again and manages to stand.

"What else have you not been telling me? We're soulmates, aren't we?" Your voice thunders into the quiet, even though it's little more than a whisper.

"I don't know if I can tell you everything yet… I live a dangerous life. And soulmate or not, you'll be in danger around me."

"But can I at least know your name? Your real one, I mean." You say quietly, and he looks at you, surprised for a moment. Then, a small smile crosses his handsome face, and he says,