Unwanted Connection

Chapter 1: What's a Soulmate?

Summary: Soulmate AU Victuuri Where the marks left on one body are transferred to their soulmate's. Any and every discoloration is transferred, not just ink or paint on skin. Two unlikely people are joined together, not by their marks, but by their love of skating and each other. But could there be something more? Are they hiding something from each other? Viktor/Yuuri

Viktor watches his arms with a predatory gleam. Even for being only three years old he's focused, watching to see if any other marks would appear next to the ones he'd put on his arms. It was art time in class, and even without the Pre-Kindergarten teacher telling them about soulmates, many of the children's parents were soulmates to each other and so they grew up seeing it and wanting it for themselves. For those whose parents weren't soulmates, the other students told them about it and so all the kids could be seen coloring on their arms and looking for a reaction.

Some of the kids found that their soulmate was a classmate, and could be seen sitting close together, drawing on each other's arms, loving that they'd found their other half.

Slowly, most of the kids got responses, some with pictures, others with actual writing that they demanded the teacher read to them, but some of the kids like Viktor got no response.

"Hey don't sweat it," their teacher would tell them, "maybe they just aren't born yet, or haven't noticed it. They might even be sleeping only to get the best surprise of their lives." She would throw her arms in the air, making it seem like the most wonderful thing in the world.

Viktor nodded at the kind lady, but continued to watch his arms, waiting for a response.

At the age of four Viktor tries once more to get a response from his soulmate, only to get nothing. Not a picture, not a word, not even a smudge of the ink on his arms. It's like he doesn't have anyone. No soulmate at all. It worries him, that he doesn't have anyone to connect with already.

He knew of people who'd waited years, only to find that their soulmate's had just been born, but he doesn't want to wait. He wants his soulmate now. He doesn't want to be those people he sees sitting on benches crying into their hands with childish drawing on their arms. Those people who are wrinkled, but share the same marks as the child's hand they hold. He doesn't want that.

People seem to think that he's just a kid, he is, but that doesn't mean he doesn't notice things, how flawed the soul marks can be.

He starts to lose some of the faith he'd previously had with soulmates and begins to ice skate, finding the speed, cool air, and serenity in the ice just what he needs to distance himself from the thoughts of soulmates.

It was just supposed to be a field trip, one that his class had taken for fun, but found a joy in gliding across the ice, amazing the people around him with what he could do. Viktor knew. He was hooked. Soulmate or not, he'd found something that he'd love.

Yuuri's parents didn't believe that they should respond to the marks they'd found on their child when he was born. It was Yuuri's soul marks and so Yuuri could respond when he was older with his own. They never washed them off either, thinking that it wouldn't be fair to the other person and so left their child marked, but cleaned him regularly as it seems that his soulmate took just as many baths as they gave their child.

Yuri always seemed so amazed by the drawings, the colors on his arms, that his parents didn't have the heart to get rid of them, but made sure he wouldn't eat the ink on his skin, making the marks run on the other end of the soul bond and potentially ruin whatever the other person was wearing. Yuri could be seen poking and prodding the swirls of color, gazing at them with wonder as a child, giggling when new ones would appear, clapping his hands together in joy at the images given to him by his soulmate.

No, Yuuri's parents wouldn't wash off such gifts for their youngest child.

At the age of three, Yuuri found himself wanting to share colors with his soulmate, wanting to give them the same happiness that he'd been given his whole life, or at least as a baby from the pictures he'd seen.

He'd known about soulmates from his parents, and he too never washed off what his soulmate had given him. Though there weren't as many pictures, if any at all anymore to be found on his arms. The marks never came like they used to. It saddened Yuuri, but he always waited with anticipation for more colors, more drawings, more anything and checked himself anytime he could remember to do so.

It was art time in pre-Kindergarten and he'd rushed to the paints, dipping his fingers in the yellow and blue, swirling it all over his arm instead of the paper they were given.

The other kids in class started to copy him, putting paint on themselves once Yuuri told them that he was painting for his soulmate to see, and a few got the surprise of finding out that their soulmate were in their class.

As more and more of the kids painted on themselves and each other, with their teacher trying to get them to stop as the paints were getting on everything, Yuuri glanced down on his arms, only to find them bare. The paint had been removed somehow. The ground beneath him was covered in the paint that was previously on his arms.

Curious, Yuuri went to the paints and this time tried black and red, making a smiley face with the two colors on his palm, watching it, staring hard at his skin, only to watch as the colors were slowly wiped off, falling it seemed off his hand. They landed on the floor with a plop.

He had a soulmate! Yuuri swung his arms around, up and down telling everyone he had a soulmate. A few of the kids in class, the ones without soulmates, came up to Yuuri to see what his soulmate had left him.

"They didn't leave me anything." He tries to explain. "But I know I have one because the paint went away by magic! Watch." He puts his fingers in purple paint this time and slides it all over his hands. The group waits with anticipation. Nothing happens for a long time.

"Yuuri you're a liar." One of the kids calls out. "I bet he washed it off himself." A few others mumble in affirmation, agreeing that Yuuri probably made it up. They start to turn their backs on him, looking at their own marks in anticipation.

"I didn't! I swear it came off by itself!" He waved his hands in the air, sending some of the paint on his hands flying.

"Yuuri stop that!" His teacher calls out, already upset with him for starting all the kids coloring on their body, most of it getting on the floor, walls, and their clothes; two of which the teacher had to clean up and the last one explain to the potentially angry parents later today. The teacher reaches over and grabs Yuuri's arm, pulling it down and stopping its erratic motions.

"But I'm not lying! It really did happen." Yuuri lowers his head, chastised. His teacher sighs.

"I'm sure you're not, and if they had washed it off, do you think it's wise to paint again when it seems they wanted to be clean? Maybe they had to do something important and didn't think having such pretty colors were good? Don't you think you should wait then, for them to respond so you know it's a good time?" His teacher tries to console the boy.

"Okay." Yuuri goes to sit in the corner, bringing a paper towel with him, wiping off the paint. If the teacher said his soulmate didn't want paint on his arms, then he'd take the paint off. He didn't want his soulmate angry at him.

Viktor watched as the colors came off his skin without any trouble, the swirl of clean water going down the drain, but the colors disappearing from his arms. Soul marks were strange things, where the image is transferred and able to be taken off, but leave no residue for the soulmate who is not the one writing the actual messages. Those that put the message on would find the residue there, but for Viktor there wasn't any evidence of having a soulmate either on his skin or in the sink's water.

Flicking his fingers, the cold air nipping the tips, he went to reach for a paper towel only to see more color appearing on his skin, this time in a smiley face on his palm. Frustrated that only now his soulmate decides to respond, he went back to the sink and washed his hands once more, getting the colors off before drying his hands and putting his gloves on.

Viktor refused to look at his hands again, not wanting to get distracted at practice. He also didn't want anyone to think that he was childish, that he'd been the one to put the colors on his hands and arms. There was so much pressure, people telling him how great he was while his coach Yakov constantly telling him to slow down, that he couldn't do the things he was. So many expectations for him to succeed, to go beyond the expected. Yakov telling him to wait, that he shouldn't be doing jumps with that many rotations, that he should take the time to also be a kid.

He never listened to him. If he listened, he'd never get to where he was right now. "Never do what people expect of you. That's how you surprise them". Viktor lived by these words. People expect him to be a predictable skater, to follow the rules and quit after it got too hard. No pretty boy would last long enough, especially one so young; they were all too fascinated with soulmates to do anything by themselves and Viktor would be no different. If that's what they thought, then he'd be the most unpredictable thing they'd ever see on ice and do so without his soulmate.

After all, the ice is what made him happy, made him feel the most like a kid, no matter what people were trying to tell him. He felt the most free on the ice, the most energized, happy, exhilarated. How could he give up such a feeling?

Viktor quickly tied his laces and walked out to the ice, warming up his body for another day of practice and mentally preparing himself for another day of disappointing and going beyond Yakov's expectations all at once. He made sure that most of his body was covered, in case his soulmate ever decided to color on themselves. He didn't want people to label him childish for the things that aren't his fault. He wanted to be taken seriously. He was going to become the greatest skater the world had ever seen.

"Viktor, are you ready yet?" A booming rough voice called out from across the ice.

"Almost Yakov!" Viktor smiled at the burly man and finished his warm up, ready for another day with the thing he loved, the ice.

Kids are cruel and can be excessively mean. Yuuri found this out the hard way.

"Hey little piggy," Yuuri gets shoved from behind and falls hard on the asphalt, hands coming back scrapped, "where's your soulmate huh? Little piggy liar." The group of kids, the taunters, kept up their taunts, each getting worse than the last.

"I hear he lied about having a soulmate."

"No, it's worse, his soulmate doesn't want him."

"His soulmate washes off the marks, he doesn't want a piggy. Nobody wants a piggy."

"What a loser."

"As if anyone could love a piggy."

On and on the taunting continued, occasionally pushing Yuuri so he'd stay within the middle of the cruel circle.

"Hey! What're you guys doing? Leave him alone!" Yuuri hears some girl shout out, before the stomping of shoes running away could be heard. He hesitantly lifts his head, gaze falling on an older girl and boy coming his way. "Are you alright?" She asks once she gets closer, the other boy scoffing at her question. The answer was obvious to anyone looking.

"Y-yes," he whimpers out the lie, holding his hands close to his body, tears streaming down his face. His palms sting.

"No you're not, here." the auburn haired girl reaches out for his hands and he slowly opens them to show her. She gasps before grabbing his wrist and tugging the young boy along with her. "We're taking you to the infirmary." She states, heading back to the school.

"What's this 'we' business about Yuuko? We're gonna be late for practice." The stocky boy complains. 'Yuuko' stops in her tracks, Yuuri bumping into her from behind.

"Brilliant Takeshi! We can take him with us! I even know where the first aid kit is." Yuuko starts to drag the youngest of the group into another direction entirely, Yuuri almost tripping at the sudden change in motion.

"That's not what I meant." Takeshi grumbles, "Do you even know who the kid is?" He questions his female companion.

Yuuko freezes in her tracks, looking to the kid she'd been pulling along with her.

"Hahaha, that's right." She rubs the back of her neck with her free hand. "My names Yuuko and this is Takeshi. We're both five years old, in the first grade class, and ?" She gestures to herself, her companion, and then finally at Yuuri.

"M-my names Yuuri. Katsuki, Yuuri." His cheeks redden at the smile the girl gives him.

"Yuuri huh, how manly. Well then let's go!" She grabs the little boy's hand again and proceeds to drag him like before.

"Where are we going?!" He calls out to his slightly older kidnappers.

"The ice skating rink!" Yuuko says. They continue on their way, ignoring Takeshi's grumbling about pigs on ice.

Yuuri decides that Yuuko is the nicest most wonderful person he's ever met.

It's been a few years since she'd dragged him to the ice rink to fix his hand and give him the most fun thing to do ever; ice skating, but she also introduced him to Minako; a kind beautiful woman who was the instructor of a ballet studio. Now, when the ice rink was closed, he could go to ballet and vice versa. Not only did Yuuko give him the most amazing feeling when she smiled at him and complimented his skating and giving impromptu lessons, but she also never made fun of him for having a soulmate who ignores him.

Every day Yuuri draws a picture on the back of his hand. He leaves anything and everything for his soulmate to respond to; a heart, a smiley face, tic-tac-toe board with one x filled in, flowers, he even tried to do an anime drawing of himself that failed spectacularly. He even wrote down his feelings, asking his soulmate to meet him or at least give him a name to work with. But the only response he gets is the effort he puts in being shedded from his skin, falling to the floor and a blank hand staring him in the face. He'd stopped using paints when the colors would fall to the floor in a big mess and had converted to pens instead, the ink flakes making less mess.

But slowly and steadily, Yuuri hated to watch as his hand would become clean, how he'd never get the response he wanted, needed from his soulmate. That his blank hand would tell him that he wasn't loved by the one person who was supposed to love him most. That he wasn't good enough for even his soulmate. Did they just not care about him that much? That even having the smallest of pictures by him would be something so bad they'd wash it off as fast as they could?

Was he really that unlovable.

Yuuri knew his family loved him, they had to they were family. And yeah, they didn't have to be as supportive of him as they were, but they all had their soulmates. His mom and dad were soulmates, leaving cute messages for one another and sending reminders for things they may have forgotten. His Mari-nee chan had a soulmate too, the little hearts on her hand telling her how much she was loved. But Yuuri, he didn't have that person and everyone at school picked on him for it.

Well, not everyone. That's why Yuuko was his favorite, she was nice to him when no one else was. That first day he'd met her had been the start, the beginning of his sisterly love for Yuuko and his love of the ice. After all, Yuuko already had a soulmate and it wasn't him. He sometimes wished he was.

'So what if Yuuko's not my soulmate, at least I have one.' Yuuri would think to himself, chastising his previous thoughts. 'Not everyone is lucky enough to have one. Maybe someday things will change.' Yuuri kisses the back of his empty hand before putting on his gloves and going back onto the ice. The one place he feels safe and acknowledged.

Viktor sighed as he stared at his hand. Was his soulmate still such a child, leaving him these immature pictures all the time? And what were those weird scribbles, some secret language or a new way to do something, Viktor wasn't sure what. He blames his "soulmate" for his habit of carrying hand sanitizer with him wherever he goes, having to constantly remove the drawings from his hands. If only all the marks went away so easily, but apparently his soulmate was a troublemaker as well, getting into fights and bruising all the time. He could tell, the scrapes, cuts, and bruises, though they didn't hurt, the colors would appear on his skin, making people constantly ask if he was "okay". He was tired of answering that question, or rather, avoiding that question.

No one had to know he had such a soulmate. Or that he had a soulmate at all really.

He can't deal with some childish soulmate today either, it's the Junior Grand Prix today and he was competing in it. More than competing in it, he was winning. He was not going to have one of his greatest accomplishments outshined by his 'soulmate' causing some big deal in the skating world. Why would people focus on the things he could do if they'd rather ask about some person who doesn't mean anything to him. He'd never even met the person. He'd rather people focus on the things he could do, his accomplishments, than his non-existent love life.

Maybe he should make things more clear. He grabbed a pen and wrote a quick message on his arm, in an area easily hidden by his unifor. Hopefully his 'soulmate' would leave him alone for now. He didn't have the time for such a person. Maybe later, but not now, not in the beginning part of his career when there's so much pressure, when he's having the most fun proving everyone wrong.

Viktor's ready to show them all what he can do. The youngest skater there, at thirteen is ready to make his debut in the big leagues. He's ready to surprise, not just his coach, but the world with what he can do.

"Up next is Viktor Nikiforov," that's his cue. Viktor steps out onto the ice, smile in place, and all thought of soulmates gone.

"Yuuko! I got a response! My soulmate RESPONDED!" Yuuri rushes out of the changing room, shirt still missing. At least he remembered to put his pants on.

"Yuuri, that's great!" Yuuko turns to her younger companion, the sight of a half naked Yuuri meeting her eyes. "Yuuri, go put a shirt on!"

"But it'll cover the mark." He waves his arm in the air, black ink showing on his skin. "See?" Yuuri comes closer to the girl, palm up and inner arm showing. There's strange marks, reminding the both of them of the English lessons they're forced to take at school, but there's also random letters and lines thrown in.

"Wow, do you know what it says?" Yuuko asks him, only to have Yuuri shake his head 'no'.

"No clue, but could you help me find out?"

"Sure! But first you need a shirt, and put your shoes on; it's freezing in here." Yuuri shivers, but complies, taking extra care to not smudge the hidden message from his soulmate. Their practice was over and both were getting ready to go home before the message appeared, giving the two of them something new to do after practice this time instead of just separating and going their separate ways.

"What's all this fuss about?" An older boy can be seen whispering into Yuuko's ear as Yuuri finishes changing. Takeshi may not skate as much as the other two or join in their practices, but he did skate for Yuuko and pick her up after their practice was over.

"Yuuri's soulmate finally responded."

"What are you serious? It's about time." The older boy, Takeshi responds to his soulmate, holding her close. She melts into his arms.

"I know right!" She smiles up at him.

"So what'd they leave him? Pictures? Words? A treasure map?"

"We're not sure. I think his soulmate's from a different country. We weren't sure what was written on his arm." She puts a finger up to her lips.

"Seriously, poor piggy."

"Stop calling him a piggy. But you're right, poor Yuuri. His soulmate finally responds, and were not even sure where they're from or where they are." The two of them watch as Yuuri approaches, wearing his clothes and tenderly holding his arm, the sleeve pulled up all the way to his elbow.

"Hey piggy, I heard the news." Takeshi leans in to get a better look at his arm. He whistles, not sure what to make of the strange writing. "Good luck figuring out what that is."

"Takeshi, stop calling him piggy!" whispers Yuuko, digging her elbow into her soulmate's stomach.

"It's fine Yuuko, I'm used to it." Yuuri's smile falters at the continuous digs from the older boy, but a glance at his arm and his smile returns full force. "Besides, I want to learn what this is." He holds his arm up to them one more time. "Any ideas?"

"No clue." Takeshi responds.

"We could ask Minako, she's traveled all over dancing. Maybe she'd know." Yuuko supplies. The two boys agree and they all start their trek to the ballet studio. It doesn't take long and the group patiently waits for Minako to finish giving her instructions with her students, despite Yuuri's constant leg bouncing. Minako spots the three at the entrance and calls out to them.

"Yuuri, Yuuko, Takeshi; what are you guys doing? Here for another lesson? Finally getting your soulmate into ballet Yuuko?" She winks secretly at the girl, watching as both blush. Yuuko's been trying to get Takeshi to try ballet like Yuuri did, but he just wouldn't budge.

"No! And I'm never taking ballet ever!" Takeshi points at the dancer's head. "We're here for something else."

"Something else?"

"My soulmate responded." Yuuri holds his arm up in excitement. Minako claps her hands together before picking up the youngest child.

"That's fantastic Yuuri! What'd they say?" Minako spins both her and Yuuri around before putting him down. Yuuri gets over his dizziness and looks up to the dancer.

"We don't know, we were hoping you might. Do you know what it says?"

Minako grabs his wrist and elbow before she leans in, squinting at the black marks on the young boy's arm. She hums in thought a bit longer before giving her reply.

"I recognize the language, even know what it says." The group beams at her. "But you're not going to like what I have to say. Yuuri, you should give up on whoever this is."

"W-what, but why? They finally responded. Doesn't that mean they want to meet me? What does it say?" Yuuri begs his ballet teacher. Minako pinches her nose, frowning down at the young boy.

"Leave me alone." She tells the boy, his grip releasing her as he stumbles back.

"What." He looks up to her, not believing she's telling him to go away.

"I told you you wouldn't like what it says. Your arm, it says Leave me alone Yuuri. Whoever your soulmate is, they don't want you." she pokes at the marks, her words stinging the young boy's heart before reality kicks in and starts stabbing at it.

"...liar." Yuuri looks to his teacher and then his two 'friends' but can't seem to make them out, his vision blurred. He could have sworn that there was water running down Yuuko's cheeks though and a look of pity on Takeshi's but he doesn't want to be sure. He wants to be wrong. He doesn't want this reality.

"I wish I was Yuuri. But I'm not. That's russian writing. I only stayed there as a dancer for two years, picked things up in order to work as a ballerina among other things, but I know what I'm reading. My advise to you is to give up on them."

"No, no, no, no, no, NO! It can't be true!"

"YUURI" Minako snaps. The boy meets her gaze, sympathetic gray and shattered amber. "It's true."

BAM "YUURI!" Yuuko called out to the running boy, Takeshi holding her back.

"Yuuko, stop struggling. Give him some space." An elbow hit his gut, but he held on tight. He knew, or at least had an idea what Yuuri was feeling, and as a man he knew there were times it was better to be alone. This was one of those times.

"Shut up Takeshi, I'm not leaving him alone, not right now. YUURI!"

"Takeshi's right Yuuko." Minako cut in, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Yuuri's going to need some time to adjust to this. Space is just what he needs."

"But-"

"Yuuko, leave him be. When he's ready he'll come to you, got it?" Yuuko nodded her head, both Takeshi and Minako releasing their hold on the downtrodden girl. 'I hope he'll come out of this alright. This was the last thing that boy needed.' Minako thought, as she went back to her ballet class. "I've got a class to teach and a pair of parents to warn about a potentially broken child. Will you two be alright getting home?" She turns her head at the two.

"We'll be fine Minako-san." Takeshi, unusually polite, replies for the two of them before ushering Yuuko to the door. "Thank you for your help." He bows and starts to lead his soulmate home.

'Oh, Yuuri.' Yuuko silently cries on their way back. 'You better be alright.'

'It can't be true. It just CAN'T!' Yuuri internally screams the whole way home. His eyes stay slightly blurred, him marked arm freezing in the cold air as he runs. His hands wipe as his eyes occasionally, making sure he can see enough to not take a wrong turn. He refuses to accept that his soulmate, who he'd been leaving his heart to, putting his all into every message he's ever sent them, is telling him to 'Leave them alone'.

His family's hot spring Yu-topia comes into view and he burst through the front door, pulling his shoes off as fast as he can while ignoring everyone around him.

"Yuuri, is that you? Are you okay?" His mother calls out to him, but Yuuri keeps going, rushing to his room. "Yuuri!" She calls one more time before turning to her husband.

"Give him some time Hiroko. You heard what Minako said." The glasses wearing older gentleman told his wife. She sighs.

"I know, but I want to help."

"You can, when he's ready. Right now, he needs his space." He goes back to work, leaving his wife at the front entrance of the hot spring.

"I know." she whispers to the air, sighing once more before resuming her work. And if she just happened to pass by her son's bedroom door and listen in to make sure he was alright, who could blame her. "I just wish the best for him."

The cheers of the crowd as he finished his last routine, the free skate, made his blood boil and his heart soar. Viktor had never felt better. He'd listened to Yakov, kind of, and only did one quad flip the whole routine, even though he could have done more. But even more important than listening to Yakov, he'd won. And not only that, he surprised the crowd. No one was expecting him to win, the competition being older than him and this being his first Junior Grand Prix. But he'd done it. He'd WON.

Viktor raised his hand high, the gold metal on show for the cameras as they got picture after picture of his success. He was on top of the world.

"Viktor," and now it was time to return to reality, "I told you no quads. You're too young." His coach Yakov lectured him once the press dispersed and the two were on their way back to the inn they were staying at. They had a flight to catch later that week to take them back to Russia.

"Yakov relax. I won didn't I?" Viktor hold the gold metal up once more to his coach who only pinched his nose in frustration.

"Viktor, you're still too young, your body developing. If you want to continue to skate at all, let alone under me, then no more quads until you get older."

"How old?" Viktor asks curiously.

"I'd prefer never, but sixteen at the earliest. You hear, at the earliest!" Yakov points between Viktor's eyes, hoping to get his point across.

Viktor wipes the spit off his face, his coaches angry yells sending the liquid all over him.

"And if I do earlier?" Viktor challenges?

"If you do so, get injured, or don't win gold, then you're out. I'll no longer be your coach."

"It's a deal." Viktor smiles. He just has to win.

The taxi they were in stops and the two climb out, gather their things, and separate from one another heading to their rooms.

"Remember, you have two days to relax, but on the third we leave early morning for our flight." Yakov points to the young teen as he heads over to his door.

"Alright. Goodnight Yakov." Viktor waves to his coach, opening his door and closing it behind him.

"Cheeky kid."

Viktor makes a quick sweep of his room looking for the 'do not disturb' sign. The competition was over and he was determined to sleep as long as he could tomorrow. He'd earned it. Putting the sign on the handle and locking his door, Viktor made his way to the bathroom, looking forward to a hot shower. Stripping as he went and naked as the day he was born, Viktor enters the bathroom. He was walking by the mirror, knowing what he'd see reflected back, and then noticing some things that shouldn't be there.

His eyes were red. They weren't puffy, but the color surrounding his eyes was red. He poked around a bit, finding no pain, and just figured that his "soulmate" must have done something stupid again, gaining another injury. But he could have sworn there were faint marks going down his cheeks as well, now that they weren't so red from the cold anymore. He reached his hand up, to comb back his hair, when another splash of change caught his eye. The words he'd put on his arm, they were smudged. Not gone, but the lines were no longer neat, the ink faded in some spots and swirling onto others. He wasn't sure what that was about, but watching his arm, he saw some ink move once more.

'Oh well, it'll come off in the shower anyways.' With that thought, Viktor turned on the steamy water, anticipation fuelling his excitement at the prospect of a hot shower. After being on the ice for so long, and with the weather being so cold, a hot shower just kept looking more and more promising.

The marks already forgotten as they didn't mean much to Viktor at the moment, he entered the shower and the ink ran down his arm, his leg, and into the drain. The message holding to value to Viktor and the words he'd sent already forgotten. And if he never received another "gift" from his soulmate, who was Viktor to remember why that might be.

He'd been fighting admitting he has a soulmate for so long, who's to say he wouldn't forget he has one when the marks stop reminding him.

Yuuri was a mess. Rather than hiding and crying his eyes out over and over, he kept reminding himself of the message given to him, the words ringing and appearing every time he closed his eyes. Even though they'd disappeared, he never forgot. Yuuri stopped hiding in his room early on, and made sure to help the family business when he could. He wouldn't risk some of the few people who still love him, their ire, just because he was hurting inside, just because his soulmate didn't want him. So Yuuri sucked up his despair, got out of bed each day, and went through his routines, always reminding himself to not do things that would make people upset, make them want him to leave them alone.

To a stranger, nothing would seem that wrong, a slightly mopey kid who was polite when speaking. To people that knew Yuuri, they knew something was extremely wrong. He wasn't smiling anymore; not a true smile that reached his eyes anyways, eyes were dead.

They insisted that he could take a break from the inn, go ice skating or dance or something fun, and he did. If his family thought it'd be better for him to skate or dance or to be with friends, he would. And so Yuuri developed a habit that when things got bad, when he wanted to be alone, but not alone, he'd go skate. When he wanted to clear his head and forget, he'd dance; letting Minako's voice and instructions wash over him, fill him, and engage both his mind and body. He'd perfect everything to a tee. He'd never be less than best and he'd never be hurt again. He'd never be abandoned by those he loves again.

Yuuri never did make any friends, people always making fun of him for his weight and the thing his soulmate did to him, the story somehow getting out and around school. People would talk, the kids spreading rumors about how unlovable Yuuri was, that the pig wasn't a good kid and that's why his soulmate abandoned him.

Yuuri would have been completely alone if it weren't for his family, Yuuko, Takeshi, and Minako. So Yuuri did his best to please those people. So what if others didn't love him and he'd never be loved the way his soulmate was supposed to love him, he'd do without. Who needed that kind of love anyways?

Never wanting to be affected by his soulmate, Yuuri wore gloves wherever he went, covering everything except for his head. It didn't hurt that the gloves also kept his hands warm on the ice rink. Yuuri closed himself off, keeping some contact with those he loves, but not as much as before. He became insecure in himself, thinking that there must have been something wrong with him that made people not love him, that the fault lay with himself.

Eventually Yuuko couldn't take it anymore.

One day before Yuuri could even think about stepping foot on the ice, Yuuko tackled him from behind and hugged him hard.

"Yuuri, come look at this." She released her hug and drug him by his arm to the TV. On it, there was a silver haired boy with blue eyes skating on the screen. "Do you know who that is?"

"No," Yuuri shook his head, "should I?"

"That, Yuuri, is a russian skater without a soulmate. That's Viktor Nikiforov, a Junior Grand Prix champion and my latest skating addiction." Yuuko hoped that by showing Yuuri someone who also didn't have a soulmate, even if they just weren't born with one unlike Yuuri, that he could see that there was a way to go with life, do the things you love. It also helped that he was russian, that not all russians are jerks like his soulmate.

The Viktor on screen did a quadruple flip and everyone cheered, even Yuuri.

"Did you see that Yuuri? That flip not only had height, but also four rotations, and he landed it. He's only thirteen!" Yuuko sighed dreamily. "I wish I could skate like that."

"Me too." Yuuri whispered, a light back in his eyes. Bingo.

"Hey Yuuko, do you think we could do it? Skate like him, I mean." Yuuri looked at his friend, gaze almost pleading for there to be a way. Yuuko smiled wide at the boy.

"Of course! First we'll start with our step sequences and then out spins! He doesn't just jump you know." Yuuko walks away from Yuuri, whose gaze returned to the TV to admire the russian skater without a soulmate, just like him. "Yuuri, what're you waiting for, the skates can't work without someone in them you know."

Yuuri rips his gaze from the TV to Yuuko, the smile back in his eyes once more.

"Right! Coming!"

Yuuri may never be the same again, always gain weight at the drop of a katsudon, but at least he had his sparkle back, an inspiration found to get better, and a new look on life. He didn't need a soulmate to be happy, and neither did Viktor.

'One day,' Yuuri promises himself, 'One day I'll skate on the same ice as him. One day I'll meet him, compete against him, and one day I may even beat him. If Viktor can do it, so can I. Soulmate or not I'm gonna meet him on the ice.'