Thread by @Yuujitic

#Sukuita #宿虎 #sukuitaweek2021
CW: Fluff (?), Soulmate AU
A/N: Day 3 of Sukuita Week. I can't believe I'm actually on time for the third time in a row. Please enjoy this soulmate AU.

Itadori Yuuji has never been lonely.

He’s always got an array of friends, granted he isn’t always super close to them but they’re his friends anyways. Yuuji’s six years old when he stumbles on the topic of soulmates.

The first time he sees it is when he sees a scar on his grandfather’s arm, it looks like burn marks but vaguely Yuuji can make out several characters but he can’t read them.

Yuuji’s still learning how to read but he can make out the characters.

“Jii-chan?”

His grandfather glances down at him, cocking one eyebrow as they continue to cook.

“What’s that?” Yuuji asks, pointing to the mark on his arm.

Unconsciously, the older man covers it with one hand, fingers tracing over the words.

He clears his throat a little before he answers, all gruff as always. “My soulmate’s last words.”

“Obaa-chan’s?”

His grandfather nods and returns back to rolling the dough.

Yuuji on the other hand, intrigued by the burnt mark, stares at his own arms, they’re much smaller than his grandfather’s and they’re clean too, free of any marks except for maybe a scratch here and there from falling over in the park.

A part of him wonders if his soulmate would ever write to him and if his soulmate did, would it stay permanent like his grandfather’s?

“Jii-chan, when will I get mine?”

His grandfather stares at him for a second before he reassures him that when the time comes, it will happen.

Satisfied with that answer, Yuuji happily returns back to cooking.

His grandfather has never been wrong.

----------------------

Time flies and Yuuji’s seven years old now and he can read a couple of words now.

Still, he struggles over the harder kanjis, unable to comprehend them without the help of his grandfather.

But he completely forgets about his soulmate mark until his newest friends—

—Fushiguro and Kugisaki both thrust their marked arms at him and he sees that both of his best friends are in fact soulmates—what a small world.

They have identical words running on their arms; Fushiguro’s words bleed a pretty green and Kugisaki’s a rosy red.

It’s quite beautiful, the colours and the fact that they found their soulmates so early and it makes Yuuji a little jealous.

“So like you guys are going to be together forever right?” Yuuji asks, slumping on his seat.

He's happy for his friends yet his stomach tenses painfully and he can’t help but feel bitter about this outcome.

Yuuji doesn't exactly know why he's feeling like this. He is happy for his friends yet he's a little sad about this turn of events.

“Yeah, but like we’re still eight years old,” Kugisaki says. “It’s too early to tell but Fushiguro and I are definitely soulmates, but who knows if we’re going to be together 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.”

“Eh,” Yuuji whines, burying his face into Fushiguro’s neck.

The black-haired boy gently wraps his arm around Yuuji’s waist.

Yuuji sighs, “I’m so jealous. Is it because I haven’t turned eight yet? That’s why my soulmate has yet to say hi to me.”

“Why don’t you write to your soulmate then?” Fushiguro suggests.

Fushiguro and his cool-headedness always came at the right times.

Kugisaki and Yuuji both pause, of course, he could have been the one to initiate everything. He’s not some kind of princess waiting for someone to rescue him.

Why didn’t he think of this in the first place?!

Yuuji scrambles to grab a pen and he starts to scribble on his arm, the tip hovering above his skin before he stops.

“What do I say?”

“Say hi!” Kugisaki barks out.

“How do I spell that?”

Fushiguro groans, scribbling on a spare piece of paper before he passes it to Yuuji.

He starts to carefully write the simple greeting because first impression matters and Yuuji isn’t about to show his soulmate his sloppy handwriting. With careful precision, Yuuji writes down a simple, ‘hi.’

Then he waits.

Well, they all wait, holding their breaths as they watch his arm for any changes.

Almost by some miracle, a black ink bleeds through his skin, and a small greeting form on his arm, it’s fancy—his soulmate’s penmanship looks like it’s straight out of an old film.

His soulmate looks like they wrote their response with a brush instead of a pen, a little bit old school but it’s fine.

His soulmate’s writing is gorgeous.

It takes Yuuji’s breathe away.

“Dude!” Kugisaki screams, grabbing Yuuji’s arm to stare at it. Her own pen hovers above Yuuji’s skin. “You do have a soulmate! Ask them for their name!”

“—no wait, he has to introduce himself first!”
Fushiguro hisses, snatching the pen from Kugisaki.
And Yuuji?

Well, he’s a little overwhelmed by the fact that his soulmate did answer him.

The rest of the day goes by with Yuuji repeatedly cradling his arm like it’s a baby he’s protecting. He does stare at his arm for the remainder of the night, knowing full well that the marks—

—will be gone by tomorrow.

Eventually, though, they stop interacting after that.

They don’t write to each other; Yuuji’s disappointed.

----------------------

But Yuuji does write on his arm again.

He’s 9 years old and falls feverishly sick that he gets bedridden and all the company he has is his arm and soulmate who was probably very happy without him but still, with the little bit of energy he has left, Yuuji scribbles on his arm.

‘𝘮 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬.

He falls asleep before he sees his soulmate’s reply. By the time he opens his arms, both his arms are filled with black ink, the words meshing together to form black blotches instead of words. But the lastest and last words that he can faintly make out is—

̲𝘉​̲𝘳​̲𝘢​̲𝘵​̲,​̲ ​̲𝘢​̲𝘯​̲𝘴​̲𝘸​̲𝘦​̲𝘳​̲ ​̲𝘮​̲𝘦​̲!

Yuuji quickly grabs his pen to answer his soulmate.

𝘚𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺! 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱!

​̲𝘛​̲𝘴​̲𝘬​̲.​̲ ​̲𝘏​̲𝘰​̲𝘸​̲’​̲𝘥​̲ ​̲𝘺​̲𝘰​̲𝘶​̲ ​̲𝘨​̲𝘦​̲𝘵​̲ ​̲𝘴​̲𝘪​̲𝘤​̲𝘬​̲?

𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘨.

​̲𝘠​̲𝘰​̲𝘶​̲’​̲𝘳​̲𝘦​̲ ​̲𝘬​̲𝘪​̲𝘥​̲𝘥​̲𝘪​̲𝘯​̲𝘨​̲ ​̲𝘮​̲𝘦​̲.​̲

𝘕𝘢𝘩, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘨’𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺. 𝘕𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘵.

̲𝘐​̲𝘥​̲𝘪​̲𝘰​̲𝘵​̲.​̲ ​̲𝘐​̲ ​̲𝘥​̲𝘪​̲𝘥​̲𝘯​̲’​̲𝘵​̲ ​̲𝘳​̲𝘦​̲𝘢​̲𝘭​̲𝘪​̲𝘻​̲𝘦​̲ ​̲𝘪​̲𝘥​̲𝘪​̲𝘰​̲𝘵​̲𝘴​̲ ​̲𝘤​̲𝘰​̲𝘶​̲𝘭​̲𝘥​̲ ​̲𝘨​̲𝘦​̲𝘵​̲ ​̲𝘴​̲𝘪​̲𝘤​̲𝘬​̲.​̲

𝘙𝘶𝘥𝘦! 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐—

—𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.

His soulmate stops answering from there yet Yuuji can’t shake the warmth he feels in his chest. His soulmate, despite not knowing his name, seems worried.

Or at least, that’s what Yuuji thought. He could be wrong but he doesn’t think so.

His grandfather does end up finding out about his soulmate and he certainly didn’t seem to appreciate the mass black blotches on Yuuji’s arm.

But the smile on Yuuji’s face is enough to deter him from nagging. His grandfather simply passes him a bag of things that he'll "need" and tells him to be careful, especially with rashes.

Yuuji thanks him.

Yuuji ends up sleeping like a baby that night.

----------------------

For a short while, all Yuuji does is greet his soulmate every morning with a simple ‘good morning’ unknowing whether or not his soulmate’s day had just begun or ended.

Yet his soulmate always never answers unless Yuuji marks his arm from top to bottom with endless hello’s and—

—then his soulmate always, without a doubt write in big angry print to ‘fucking stop it, you dumb shit’.

Apparently, his soulmate’s got a nasty temper.

----------------------

It goes on for years.

Yuuji never got the courage to ask his soulmate for their name but they exchange stories, and about their daily routines. Well, more like Yuuji pestered his soulmate until they caved in.

Eventually, Yuuji nicknames his soulmate as kitten.

Like a cat, his soulmate can be affectionate only when they prefer to be affectionate.

Otherwise, it’s a no-deal.

It's kind of cute.

And despite his soulmate’s mean streaks, Yuuji kind of likes it.

He’s no masochist by any means but something about his soulmate ripping him apart for doing ‘dumb shit’ and how his soulmate will definitely ‘kill’ him when they see each other only warms Yuuji.

The brush-like ink that bleeds through his arm becomes a part of him.

It becomes a part of his identity.

And even as years pass, his soulmate’s penmanship only grew more precise while Yuuji’s were apparently ‘so bad that a specialist would be required to decipher it’—his soulmate said.

Yuuji begs to differ but Fushiguro and Kugisaki saw the reply and wholeheartfully agree with his soulmate.

Even so, his soulmate is the only person in the world that is able to decipher his penmanship but that's a win in Yuuji's book.

----------------------

In the spring of his freshman year is when Yuuji finally develops the courage to ask his soulmate.

𝘏𝘪.

Of course, his soulmate doesn’t answer but Yuuji knows they're probably staring at their arm.

𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘠𝘶𝘶𝘫𝘪.

Yuuji nervously rocks back and forth, his eyes darting from the board and back down to his arm. He keeps rocking like that until Fushiguro hits him, shooting him an annoyed look.

But that isn’t enough to deter him, and eventually, he does get kicked out of the class.

Punish to stay outside with his arms raise until lunch and it’s only when he’s allowed to put his hand down that he catches a glimpse of his soulmate’s answer.

​̲𝘚​̲𝘶​̲𝘬​̲𝘶​̲𝘯​̲𝘢

Always to the point and sharp.

Yuuji smiles and traces over the inky blotch on his arm, and he makes sure to thrust it into Kugisaki’s and Fushiguro’s faces every chance he gets. He even had his grandfather take a commemoration photo because this is his soulmate.

His soulmate’s name is Sukuna.