Chapter Text
On his 10th birthday, the tattoo appeared on his wrist. The name of the person he was destined to be with. The premonition of soulmate and the allure of happily ever after in some divinely written characters on your body. Everyone got those on their 10th birthday. Just like he did. He was normal.
The catch was he couldn't read the name etched onto his skin. It was in a script he was unfamiliar with. Chinese? Vietnamese? Japanese? He couldn't tell. The ink on his skin bore no meaning yet it was supposed to mean everything.
The other catch was he couldn't afford to think about soulmates when his life next day was uncertain.
He was not normal.
His mother was not normal (or at least compared to his peers at school. Their mothers did not go around with many men and left their child often to starve). His abusive step father was clearly not normal (just thinking of being in the same family registry put an uncomfortable bile in his mouth). Just like tonight, like any other night, when his (not) father came home, reeking of alcohol, and decided he would make a good anger outlet.
The little boy gritted his teeth as the punch landed on his stomach. His skinny body crumpled to the floor. Ah, the usual.
He boxed the thoughts of happily ever after and stored it in the depth of his mind.
Survival came first anyway.
When he was 'April', he was also everyone else. He was the frail janitor trying to pay for his brother’s surgery, he was the trainer who got injured in his prime athlete's life, he was the model employee every colleague liked. His life filled with temporary facades needed to complete missions. Layers upon layers of personalities, ready to be ditched at moment's notice, like a reptile shedding its skin.
Sometimes he got lost in his little roles, and needed something to remind him of who he really was.
At those times, the still unreadable yet familiar symbols on his wrist served to ground him, a gentle reminder. Much like someone who stayed with him all this time; pulling him back to who he was simply by existing. Tracing the ink on his wrist with the pads of his fingers would certainly calm him down.
April, Organization, August, December.
The notion of soulmates and happily ever after were still as foreign to April as it was when he was a little boy. He wasn't expecting to meet his soulmate anyway, not in this lifetime maybe (besides, the statistics were low anyway and he was unfortunately a realist). No need to hope. Not when he spent years of his life not knowing how to actually read the name; who knows, maybe they crossed paths in one of his missions and he missed that so-called star-crossed meeting because he didn't even know what his soulmate's name was.
He was glad about the tattoo’s existence though.
The symbols still served no name, but it started to bear meaning.
Chikage Utsuki.
The name given to him for another mission.
This time he was also required to learn the language where the name came from. Japanese was pretty difficult, moreso because the written form and sentence structures were different from the language he used daily. But this was not the first time the Organization asked him to learn foreign language in a nick of time. Nothing new. He could handle this. He could speed through his lessons so he could throw dirt later at December for being slower. That sounded like a plan.
The new thing, however, was the realization that the name on his wrist was written in Japanese.
'So that's where you came from…' he had thought one night, as he stared at the unchanging strokes of ink on his wrist. He brought his other hand to trail his finger on the black characters, the movement soothingly familiar. He had become very well acquainted with the strokes that made up his soulmate's name, despite not knowing how to pronounce them.
That too, would change tonight.
For the first time since his 10th birthday, he attempted to read the name.
It felt rather exhilarating, and made him a bit nervous. Those symbols were there, almost all his life, and he didn’t bother to find out up until now. Sure, he used it to soothe and ground himself, but he never associated the name with a… person. Moreso, a person he was supposed to fall in love with. Finding out how to read and associating the name with a real person would probably disrupt this weird equilibrium he made for himself. Yet he wanted to know.
One translator engine run and several alternative readings later, he came up with the most plausible (common) reading of those kanji. Might be correct, might be not. He would never know anyway.
Chigasaki Itaru.
"Itaru."
He tried the name on his tongue.
The symbols now served both a name and a meaning.
For the first time since his 10th birthday, he wondered about the person bearing that name.
This was not the first 'smart businessman' he ever acted as, so he was somehow familiar with the routine. The suit jacket felt crisp, with no creases in sight. Fancy dress shoes. Glasses to complete the look. Know when to smile and butter up the colleagues. The usual.
Chikage Utsuki was transferred back to the Japanese branch after two years in the overseas branch. He was a kind and capable worker, topping it off with his good looks. A huge asset for the company. 'Chikage' was the easiest go-to character for information gathering purposes. He seamlessly fitted into the Japanese corporate setting.
This was somehow nice; the mission itself was supposed to be easy and they were progressing smoothly. No worries there. Even though this was not his first daytime office worker persona, this was the first time he actually felt some semblance of 'normal life'. Going to work and coming home to his family (even though both August and December were annoying, April was ridiculously fond of both of them). Not bad at all.
Today as well, he woke up, got ready, and went into the office just like any other normal 25 years old man. An accomplished 25 years old, even. Considering he had this job at an internationally acclaimed trading company. How many would kill to be in that position of financially stable young man climbing to the top of career ladder?
He saw several new faces in the office today, must be the new recruits. Chikage politely greeted back the ones introducing themselves to him and checked off the faces assigned to his department in case they served further use.
It was a little bit after lunch when his colleague from the sales department came over, with a blond man in tow.
A very good looking blond man, if Chikage himself had a say.
He swatted those thoughts away as soon as it appeared.
His colleague introduced the blond man as another new recruit. Chikage readied himself for another stiff and bland introductions motions he had been going through today.
"Hello, Senpai," the new recruit flashed him a dazzling smile.
Chikage could immediately identify the fake smile that didn't quite reach the eyes.
Well two could play that game.
"Hello," Chikage put on the same fake smile back. Only better, because he had been doing this since forever.
The new recruit then gave a slight bow, common courtesy in this country, Chikage had recalled.
What came out of those (pretty) lips, however, was totally unexpected.
"My name is Chigasaki Itaru, I'll be in your care from now on."
Chigasaki Itaru.
Itaru.
Chikage felt his world tilted on its axis.