Chapter Text
Akali was five when the topic of soulmates first came up. She didn’t remember a lot from the conversation, just that a soulmate was someone special, and almost everyone had some sort of connection to their own. In middle school was when all her friends started talking about their own soulmates. Most hadn’t met theirs yet, but they gossiped about what they thought their soulmate was doing, what they looked like. Akali had to sit quietly whenever she was asked about her soulmate.
It wasn’t that Akali didn’t have a soulmate, it was that her connection seemed...bizarre. She was given nothing but a huge number on her wrist. 4,543,042,612. No one had understood what it meant, which left Akali rather clueless.
So Akali drifted through life, doing her own thing. Trained in the martial arts dojo she’d known all her life, left Japan to pursue her rapping career. She followed her heart because hey, maybe that’d lead her to her soulmate rather than trying to use her shitty connection.
Her phone buzzed, snapping her out of her inner musings. Today was the day she was meeting the rest of K/DA, a girl group that she’d been invited to be apart of by the one and only Ahri. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, fumbling and nearly dropping it on the ground.
Ahri: What are you doing, lingering outside like that?
Akali blinked. She’d been standing in front of the building’s door for about five minutes, just staring.
Akali: you can see me?
Ahri: Yeah, we’re up on the seventh floor, looking right out at Seoul.
Ahri: You look silly, just standing there.
Akali’s cheeks flushed red out of embarrassment. Great, messing up her first impression by standing outside like some weirdo.
Akali: sorry sorry ill be up in a few
She practically threw her phone back into her pocket and stepped inside. For some reason, she was expecting to get approached by security and thrown out. Even after all of the reassurance and positive communication with Ahri, Akali still felt out of place in all of these business meetings with lawyers and managers and producers and investors and---it was all overwhelming for the girl who had grown up in a small Japanese dojo on the edge of Tokyo.
She was in the elevator, on her way to the seventh floor before she knew it. She tapped her foot anxiously, keeping her gaze glued to the floor. There was a man in the elevator with her, standing so far away from her that he had to be deliberately distancing himself from her. He was in a suit, and seemed far more ready for business than Akali looked, in her baggy bright hoodie and basketball shorts. Not to mention the high top sneakers that looked straight out of a kid’s cartoon, with its garish color scheme and design.
The elevator chimed, and Akali glanced up. Floor five. The doors slid open and the man moved out quickly. Akali peered out into the hall, then began to mash in the “close door” button. The elevator chimed again, and the doors slid shut. Her phone buzzed again.
Ahri: Are you taking the stairs or something? Lol
Akali: nah elevators just slow
Ahri: Whatever you say.
Akali had half the mind to send an unflattering selfie as proof that she was in the elevator, but reminded herself that she was supposed to be professional today. Or, as professional as Akali could be, with her neon streetwear. Finally, the elevator chimed and the doors slid open. When she stepped out of the elevator, she felt her own breath catch in her throat.
She had bumped right into the golden eyed diva that she had only seen in media. Evelynn. Akali was frozen as Evelynn scoffed, eyeing her up and down. “Watch where you’re going, darling.” Her voice was light, as if it was a tease, but Akali could hear the slight venom in her words.
“I--uh, sorry.” Akali mumbled, her gaze darting down. She tried to step out of Evelynn’s way, but Evelynn stepped right in front of her again. Like she was deliberately trying to get in Akali’s way. “E-excuse me--” Akali tried to step to the other side, this time, to get past Evelynn, but Evelynn stepped in front of her again. A hand reached out and pulled her chin up, forcing Akali’s own eyes to meet with those intimidatingly gold eyes.
“It’s best to look people in the eye when you speak to them.” Evelynn spoke with less venom this time, and Akali felt very much like she was on cloud nine just by looking at the woman. Her heart hammered in her chest and she felt her own cheeks go red. “I don’t bite, darling.” Evelynn purred out, and though it sounded like an attempt at comfort, the next thing she said did nothing to fix the situation. “At least, not yet.” Her voice lowered and Akali nearly burst into flames right then and there.
“Uh...yeah.” Akali didn’t know what to say. She only knew that she had to say something in response to that comment. “Mrrow?” Akali made a clawing motion with her hand, and then decided that she was ready to die, even without meeting her soulmate. Without even meeting the rest of K/DA. Evelynn narrowed her eyes, almost as if she was saying, “are you serious?”.
“Evelynn, please tell me you’re not toying with another assistant.” Akali heard Ahri’s voice from further down the hall. Akali turned even brighter red. This was so embarrassing.
“Oh, I’m just getting to know our soon to be maknae.” Evelynn purred, turning her head to look over her shoulder. She still had a firm grip on Akali’s chin, gold claws digging into her skin just enough to cause a faint sting.
“What the fuck?” Akali breathed out. As Ahri’s heels clicked further down to them, Evelynn turned her head to look back at Akali and giggle. Ahri pulled Evelynn away from Akali, the gold claws finally releasing her chin.
“I’m so sorry that Evelynn got to you first.” Ahri shook her head, giving Evelynn a look. Evelynn had her arms crossed, but she had a shit eating smirk on her face. “It’s so good to see you in person!” Ahri chirped, embracing Akali like they’d been friends for years. Akali was still a little flustered from her exchange with Evelynn, so it took her a moment to return the hug. “Let’s get back to the meeting room, that way Kai’Sa can meet you too.” Ahri said. Akali nodded, keeping her mouth shut. No way was she going to say anything stupid again. Akali trailed behind Ahri, and didn’t fail to notice the way that Evelynn deliberately walked beside Akali.
“So, do you have a soulmate?” Evelynn asked, moving closer and practically draping herself on Akali’s shoulder. Akali’s brain short circuited.
“Evelynn.” Ahri warned from just a few feet ahead of them. Thank whatever was out there that Ahri was buying Akali more time to form a coherent thought unintentionally.
“What? I’m allowed to ask, especially since you met your soulmate just a few minutes ago.” Evelynn rolled her eyes, and Akali tried to absorb some of the coolness Evelynn radiated to calm herself down.
“You met your soulmate already?” Akali quirked a brow in genuine surprise.
“Red string of fate.” Evelynn spoke before Ahri could. Ahri’s fox ears were pressed back against her head. “Since you’re from Japan, I’m sure you’re at least somewhat familiar with that particular connection.”
“Yeah, a lot of my friends had that connection.” Akali reminisced. If only her connection had been that simple. The ‘red string of fate’ was a soulmate connection that was very apparent in northeast Asia. Akali could feel the coming question from Evelynn, and spoke before she could, “Didn’t get that one.” Akali huffed a bit.
“You sound rather annoyed about that. You never did answer the question of if you had a soulmate or not.”
“Evelynn, that’s a deeply personal question.” Ahri butt in before Akali could make a remark about how she wasn’t even sure. “Just drop it. We’ve got more important things to talk about anyways.” Ahri opened the door to the meeting room. Evelynn stepped away from Akali, and the latter felt colder without Evelynn’s physical presence on her. Weird. Evelynn pushed past Akali rather rudely, and sat down before Akali could even get through the door. For a moment, Akali could see wisps of smoke from behind Evelynn as she moved.
“You must be Akali, then.” A purple haired girl sitting at the table stood up, extending a hand for Akali to shake.
“Yeah, that’s me. And you’re Kai’Sa.” Akali shook Kai’Sa’s hand firmly as the latter nodded. Akali had seen her videos online even before Ahri sent a few of them to her. “Sorry that I was just lingering. I was kinda distracted earlier.” Akali addressed the whole room, rubbing the back of her neck.
“You certainly seemed distracted.” Evelynn drawled. Akali swore at Evelynn internally and took a deep breath. She wasn’t this awkward, normally, but something about how the others carried themselves intimidated her. It was hard to imagine Evelynn or Ahri being remotely down to Earth, especially because they’d been famous for years before K/DA was even proposed by Ahri. Kai’Sa seemed nice, but Akali still felt like the runt of the litter compared to all of them. Hell, she was in fucking streetwear while the rest of them were in more business appropriate attire.
Akali just hoped that it wasn’t going to feel so overwhelming like this all the time.