A/N: I do not own the characters. Unbetaed. Kagami and Aomine will eventually meet, but not yet at the moment. Each bit is not in chronological order until they meet. I will warn you. I am slow at updating.

Kagami Taiga hates it. He hates this intangible crimson string tied to his left pinky; he almost hates it as much as he hates dogs. He despises its presence ever since the day his mother left his father years ago because it was proof, proof that even though you may have found your soul mate, your soul mate is not your mate for life. Kagami still remembers the day his father changed because that heartbroken man picked up the remaining shards of his heart and replaced it with a heart of stone.

One lasting memory would be time he tugged on the hem of his father's unkempt dress shirt.

When he called for his father, his old man grunted, "What?"

Grabbing his father's attention was rare, so he went straight to the point.

"I met a boy named Tatsuya and-"

His father pounded the table and interrupted his son. "Goddammit Taiga! Can't you see I'm busy?!"

Kagami knew he lost his father's warm smile forever.

So what if he is projecting his anger onto the string rather than his absent mother? Even if his mother wasn't involved, it doesn't change the fact that every time his father's relatives come and visit, they would pester him like flies, annoying him with the same rudimentary questions as if they were programmed by society to utter these stupid questions in chronological order.

"Have you met your soul mate yet?" one cousin would ask while elbowing him.

"When are you planning to look for them?" his aunt would question.

When he told them about his disinterest, they immediately assumed the worst.

"Waiting for your true love? Are you still held up about that crazy nonsense? Your soul mate is your true love!"

Kagami refuses to listen to their noise, refuses to conform to their expectations. If your soul mate is your true love, then why did his mother leave his father? Unable to bear it any longer, he blocks out the noise by playing basketball from dawn to dusk until the noise becomes a faint buzz, until the words soul mate is no longer in his train of thought.

Aomine Daiki is desperate and desperately wants to find his soul mate, but his parents tell him to wait patiently for the perfect opportunity, which is bull in his opinion.

"But they don't understand!" he grumbles to his childhood friend. "They got their fairytale ending. Why can't I have mines?" He puffs out his cheeks and sulks at the memory of his lovey-dovey parents ruffling his short midnight blue hair, smiling their condescending smiles.

Satsuki, who was working on her homework at the time, pauses and says, "Don't worry. You'll meet her, Dai-chan."

Not satisfied with her answer, he pouts and shouts, "How can you be sure?! I might never meet her until we're old like raisins!"

Tatsuya is Kagami's best friend.

Even though he seems gloomy, he was his savior because he introduced the world of basketball to him.

Tatsuya is too modest to accept his rare but kind and precious words, but Kagami will still revere him as the older brother he couldn't have.

Another addition to his makeshift family would be Alex, who he views as both his mentor and mother, and though the woman is not his blood mother, she is more than half of what his biological mother could ever be.

Ever since his real mother disappeared without a trace, mentioning her became taboo. However, he doesn't care anymore because he has Alex now, and Tatsuya mutually agrees with him. Besides, she scolds them whenever they are out of line and spoils them with gifts whenever their birthday is around the corner.

She is the best mother a kid could ever have.

One day Kagami was curious about her string. He sees a ring, but her husband is nowhere in sight.

He asks, "Alex, did you meet your soul mate?"

Alex, who is usually an energetic ball of sunshine, visibly stiffens. She then lightly touches her ring with such care that it looks like she was touching a newborn for the first time.

"I do," she replies solemnly, "but he's no longer here in this world."

Kagami quickly shuts his mouth and widens his eyes. The guilt starts to creep in, but Alex simply chuckles at the young boy's shame.

She embraces her favorite boys with a crushing hug and says, "Do not worry. I'm already happy. After all, who needs a soul mate when I have two angels by my side?"

It's official. Aomine can't take it anymore.

The basketball he loves is slowly getting more boring with each try. The effort he inputs seems useless. Kuroko's advice is useless. This is all useless.

Why is it all useless?

"The only one who can beat me is me," he repeats to himself.

This pent-up frustration consumes his very being, and the leftover steam from the last match is not waning. He stares at his hand, and his eyes trail his red string, which extends all the way past the corner five blocks from where he is standing. Many have warned him not to, but he runs after it with hope burning in his chest because at this point, nobody could stop him. Not even Akashi.

Aomine stopped pursuing his soul mate. He stopped ever since his string led him all the way to the ocean. His parents took him to the beach three weeks ago to pick him out of his slump, but it worsened it instead. He screamed at the body of water like a madman, cursing it with every bit of profanity he knew.

He laughs at fate. He scorns destiny.

Imayoshi told him to stop waiting anyway, so he did.

His first act of telling fate to fuck off was to hook up with some random chick. His first kiss, which he planned on saving for his soul mate, is given to a girl he met at the rooftop with orange streaks in her hair. She smells strongly of vanilla.

His raging hormones are telling him to cup her breasts, but he stops himself before he goes any further because the hand slithering its way up to her chest is the one with the red string attached.

"Sorry," he breathes out, fumbling over what to say. "Next time we'll-"

The girl just shushes him with one manicured finger and mischievously smiles. "I'll be waiting," she teases and slinks out of Aomine's space. She walks over to the door while seductively swaying her hips.

Aomine's heartbeat is racing.

Finally, he thinks, someone to look forward to. He no longer has to wait for anybody. Not anymore.