A/N: I started writing this with the idea of the three of them discovering they were soulmates during high school... and then Shinichi went, 'This is my backstory. You WILL write it.' and Saguru gave me a bunch of childhood scenes, so of course Kaito refused to be left out...

Long story short, in this chapter, the three of them are five.

When Kuroba Kaito's soul-mark appeared, he was thrilled. His mom had told him about soul-mates; how everyone had a mark that would appear sometime between their fifth and sixth birthday, and somewhere in the world, his soul-mate would have the exact same mark. People could have all different kinds of marks, but usually they were simple colored shapes. She hadn't told him that soul-marks could be beautiful. On Kaito's left wrist, there were three different colors: a golden brown color that somehow reminded him of warmth, a lovely blue color that reminded him of the sky, and a pretty purplish color his mother said was called indigo. However, his favorite part of the mark was the center, where all three colors curled around each other as if they were hugging. If his soul-mate was someone who gave him such a friendly and beautiful soul-mark, he couldn't wait to meet them!

~S~

Hakuba Saguru had waited eagerly for the day when his soulmark would appear. Baaya had told him that a person's soul-mark showed their relationship with their soul-mate. He had listened curiously to her descriptions of soul-marks. Baaya's own soul-mark was a small image of a yellow cake with green candles on top of her right foot. His parents had large matching dark blue flower bouquets on their shoulders (his mother had detailed the meaning of each flower at length when he asked to see it). He heard several stories from Baaya about people whose soul-marks were in the shape of an interest they had in common, or how some people had marks in which one shape was meant to be them and another shape was their partner.

When his own had appeared, Saguru had initially been confused to see that there were three colors, each forming its own distinct shape. In the middle was a large blue shape that was unfamiliar and swirly (he later found out from his father that it was a symbol used in music, and a quick search identified it as the treble clef). Near the top of the blue was a shape that was clearly a long-stemmed flower, despite the stem, leaf, and flower petals all being the same solid purple. When asked, his mother informed him that the shape was a rose; she then proceeded to tell him that he and his soul-mate were destined to meet in romantic situations (Saguru thought the situations she described would be more unlucky than romantic, but wisely kept it to himself). The instant Saguru had seen the final shape, he knew what it was. No one would ever convince him that the gold-colored shape was anything but an image of his grandfather's pocket-watch, complete with a long chain.

~S~

Kudo Shinichi was confused by the idea of soul-marks. When his mother had told him that someday he would find a person with a matching picture on their skin who would be his perfect match, he hadn't believed her. Deciding to like someone based on a matching mark seemed strange; like deciding to be friends because you both had a freckle on your nose. How was it possible for a picture on his wrist to know who he would be happy with? His mother said the power of love was magical, and that people with shared soul-marks would always love each other. Shinichi thought that Magic (if it existed) would be something like a force of nature. It wouldn't have thoughts or feelings that could understand which people would get along.

His father told him that some thought soul-marks were given to people by the gods so that they could find the person who was created to be their perfect match. Shinichi didn't think he liked that idea either, but it had made more sense than his mother's exclamations about the magical power of love. He wasn't really sure how his soul-mark would help him find a person: a flower, a curly blue shape that could be a ribbon or something else, and something round that might be a medal. Would he meet his soulmate at a flower competition? He still didn't understand how sharing a soul-mark would mean he loved the other person. In the end, Shinichi decided not to look for his soul-mate. After all, if soul-mates really are meant to be together and perfect for each other like his mother said, then he would meet them anyways, and like them even without knowing they're his soul-mate.

Salut d'Amour is a violin piece by Elgar, if you haven't heard it, go listen on Youtube, it's beautiful.