Author's Note: This is dedicated to @QueenCraft915 😌💜 And it's another AU. What else do you expect from me. Oops it took 2 months to update but hey it's my summer now? So I have more time yay.
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I wonder how many people wake up without remembering what they've dreamt about, or without dreaming at all.
Perhaps in another life, people thought, it would be possible. In another life, it might have been common to not remember your dreams. For dreams to be nonsensical or unimportant.
But not here.
As the God of Sleep casts a spell on me, black fills my mind. It's a blank space, and I'm endlessly wandering until I wake.
I've told several people of this occurrence. Most of the time, they think I'm trying to pull a joke.
"Haha, you're hilarious, (F/N)!"
Others, meaning the adults, grew a serious expression. "That's bad. I mean, that's not supposed to happen."
I usually don't care. I didn't dread going to sleep or anything, but this difference made me feel incomplete.
Like I was missing out.
I mean, when you're one of the only people who doesn't dream of their past lives, who wouldn't?
---
There was a man with dark hair that went just below his shoulders, tied into a ponytail.
He has a paint smock on, reds and yellows splattered on it.
One hand holding a paintbrush, another a palette, he's standing in front of a wooden easel. Though he stands, not doing anything, his canvas is anything but empty. If anything, it looked close to completion. A masterpiece near to completion.
His subject was an unknown woman, to him at least. Her hair was (h/c), parted in a fitting fashion and left unscathed by pins, ribbons, and other accessories. No rubies, sapphires; no silver or gold. Yet she snatched his attention, like a moth to a flame.
She wore a radiant dress of maroon, trimmed with silver, with intricate yet subtle patterns. Based on her garments alone, she looked like a woman of noble blood, despite the lack of jewels adorning her neck and ears.
Yet the focus of the painting was clearly not her hair or dress. It was her eyes.
On her face was a mask, the design matching that of her dress, covering her features partially.
Her lips are positioned in the shape of neutrality, yet her eyes, peeking through the holes of the mask, are enough to captivate anyone.
Despite the stillness of the portrait, there was a certain glimmer present in her irises. It was as though all the emotion was painted so carefully in her eyes, making them unforgettable.
---
His dream ends as Tsukishima wakes him up from his slumber, slightly scowling as he looks down at him.
"Oi, it's lunch break already." Tsukishima grunts, before sitting back down on his desk chair, laying out a bento in front of him.
"H-hold on, didn't sensei-"
Yamaguchi gets cut off by his best friend, who rolls his eyes.
"We had history class. Sensei doesn't give a crap whether you sleep or not as long as you don't blame him for any failed grades."
"Though, of course, if you want notes, you're going to have to earn it." Yamaguchi doesn't even question the blond anymore. He knows his best friend well enough- Tsukki does favors, but only for high prices. Although the megane is definitely less harsh on him.
Tsukki picks up his chopsticks. "Your dream." He states, already knowing Yamaguchi would be willing to talk about it.
"Is it still-"
Yamaguchi nods pathetically. "Disguised. Better than those dreams where she doesn't appear at all, and I have to understand some deep metaphor." Tsukishima is silent, waiting for him to continue talking.
"I, well my past self, didn't even talk to her... I mean, she was an inanimate painting."
If Tsukishima found it amusing that the closest clue Yamaguchi had to find his soulmate was a masked woman in a painting, he didn't show it.
Tsukishima probably would have laughed if he didn't already know the distress it would cause Yamaguchi at times.
"What era?"
"Renaissance Europe, I think. Everything looked really fancy..." There isn't much to say anymore. Tsukishima doesn't tease him, which makes it all the worse for Tadashi.
The blond clearly knew he was upset.
"Tsukki, what if I never had a soulmate in my past lives? What if the same happens this time?" Yamaguchi questions, lightly chewing on his lip.
His friend still does not speak, but he seemed to be thinking.
"Yamaguchi, when did you start getting glimpses of her again?" Tsukishima inquires.
Yamaguchi's eyes dart to the side, trying to recall the date of the first dream he's had where he wasn't completely alone.
"Two months ago." He's not sure of the specific date, but he remembers the dream so vividly, clear as a typical summer sky.
She bumped shoulders with him, and while he had not seen much of her, she was wearing a derby cap, shades of red and purple on her clothing. Her hair was (h/c), cropped short. He could not see her face, did not know the sound of her voice, but he knew that she was supposed to be his soulmate.
The morning after, he recalls calling Tsukishima right away, considering he was the only one who knew of his... dream issue.
He recalls Tsukki cussing for waking him up so early, but Yamaguchi was simply too delighted to even get a glance of her.
Now Yamaguchi Tadashi feels like the Gods above were mocking him. Like a kid with a prize dangling in front of him, near enough to gaze at, but too far to grasp.
"Is that so?" Tsukishima finally responds, and Yamaguchi sees the gears in his head working- but on what?
"Are you planning something?" Yamaguchi asks, more curious than suspicious.
"No. Anyway, I think you'll find her soon." Tsukishima is pretty much known to be crap at consoling and comforting people, but Yamaguchi appreciates the effort.
"I mean, I know what my soulmate looks like, but I'm not going around looking for them like the rest of these desperate fucktards." The megane adds as a jab, but Yamaguchi only laughs.
"Thanks, Tsukki. You're being nice today." A glare is sent towards him. "Shut up, Yamaguchi."
---
When I heard squeals and hollers from an estimate of 10ft away, I had a fairly good idea of what was happening.
Unless it was an athlete stripping naked, or perhaps a suspension of classes on a sunny day (both of which were highly unlikely), there was only one constant reason in occurrences like these.
My friend Franny ran towards me with a giddy smile, her braces shown.
"Guess who?"
I smirked slightly. "If I didn't know better, I would have said it was finally you with that smile you have."
She laughs. "Yeah, but I'd ditch you to spend some time with my man, mhm. You wouldn't hear from me until tonight."
I groan. "Gross. Why am I friends with you?"
The black haired girl frowns. "Darling, first of all, you're the gross one. Spending time could be, like, cutting class to wifi battle them on Pokemon in the library."
She clicks her tongue. "And you're friends with me because I give you all the right answers in Algebra."
Before she could jokingly ramble about how great she was, I stop her mid-sentence.
"So who is it then?"
"Ooh, so you know our student council President, right?" My friend starts.
I nodded. "Duh. I voted for her in the last election. Her face was plastered on every locker and wall the Principal would allow."
She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I think everyone voted for her. Anyway, you know that delinquent who broke a window that one time? Ahh, good times."
"Um, he broke his fist. Someone bled when they touched the glass by accident." I reminded her.
"Good. Times." She repeated slowly. "But yeah, he got into a fight today with some athlete dickbag." I found myself snickering at her colourful vocabulary.
"Unlucky for him, or perhaps he was lucky, Miss President was there." It didn't take me that long to connect the dots.
"A rule-enforcer and a rule-breaker? How cliche," I reply, though I had to admit it was rather cute.
"Cliche, but hella cute. Like she was mid-rant about bringing him to the clinic, and then to the Principal's office afterward; then they took a good look at each other's faces."
She laughs loudly, recalling the event. "Priceless, really. I bet someone is gonna post a video of it on the school FB page."
I smile, despite a bit of anxiety creeping up in my system.
"Gee, I wonder how I'll find my soulmate. Will they go looking for me?" I say quietly, but the distance between me and her was small. Before she could say anything, the school bells rang, alerting everybody of the start of classes. Students were running in the hallways, and Franny quickly turned to me. She narrowed her eyes, but her eyes seemed more upset than angry. "We'll be late. Let's talk later."
---
The school bell rang, and the students rush out of their respective classrooms. Tsukishima waits outside lazily for Yamaguchi, scrolling through seemingly endless selections of music.
"Should we go, Tsukki?" Yamaguchi asks once he exits the classroom.
"I'm gonna go to the library before it closes- I have to check out something. Tell coach I'll be late." Tsukishima tells his friend, before bidding him goodbye.
Well if anyone can be nonchalant about an angry, reprimanding coach, plus an irritated captain, Yamaguchi figures it's bound to be Tsukishima.
He heads to the gym by himself.
---
Franny and I walk out of the classroom together in silence. I didn't really feel like talking about the whole dream-soulmate situation, and I most certainly wasn't going to start the conversation.
Luckily, Franny seemed hesitant to discuss it too.
We mostly stayed quiet, clicking noises occasionally coming from her phone as she typed away about God knows what.
When we stopped by her club room, she sends a smile towards my direction. "You know, (F/N), you're wonderful. Anyone would be lucky to have you as a soulmate."
The doors to the drama club close behind Franny, and I find myself confused for a second, before smiling.
Within two sentences, I felt a lot better about the situation I was in. Made me realise I definitely did not have it as bad as others. I was going to persevere like I had for years already.
Walking past the gym, I frown at the weather outside.
Now, if I could find out how to get through the rain without an umbrella.
I take a glance around me, and seeing no one in my surroundings, I sigh before hastily putting on my hood.
---
Mysterious Oddities:
A Dream Guide
Volume 1
By: Miura I.
Tsukishima barely glances over the plain cover before putting it in a pile of books he was going to check out.
Truthfully, he went to the library to grab a history book. And then he stumbled upon a couple of books about dreams, and he couldn't help but take a look.
Thankfully, no one seemed to be around the library- other than the librarian's assistant.
He's never telling Yamaguchi about this. He simply has too much pride.
"Tsukishima? Is that you? What will you be checking out today?" The bubbly assistant questions him, and he just grunts and puts down several books.
"Alright, I'll just have these inputted and- oh wow I didn't know you were interested in things like this?"
She says it like he's checking out fifty shades of grey or some shit, and Tsukishima rolls his eyes.
"It's not for me." Not directly, at least. The assistant lets out a laugh. "That's what they all say."
"Oh fuck off." He gets all the books, somehow managing to shove it in a bag, and heads off to the gym.
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Falling. I'm falling from skies painted by artisans alike. A canvas of reds, oranges, and yellows fill up my vision as I descend to the unknown. The clouds seem to envelop me into an embrace, without touching me.
I risk looking behind me, moving from my position- I gasp.
A valley of darkness awaited me. A world of grey and black at the bottom, of wilting nature and life. It looked so lonely.
Desperately, I try to prevent myself from falling. My arms reach out in front of me, towards the ever-changing sky, hands grasping to hold onto something, anything.
For a moment, I give up. I simply wanted to remember the beauty of the sky one last time.
Then a hand holds on to one of my own, and I feel like energy had surged into me within a millisecond.
"Give me your other hand. It's getting a bit hard staying afloat." He, I could tell from their voice, laughed quietly.
His grasp is gentle but firm. There is a certain carefulness in the way he held me, and I look up with the need to see whoever this being was.
And for the first time, I knew what my soulmate looked like.
---
Tsukishima finishes his homework earlier than expected, but instead of hitting the hay early, he pulls out the other book he checked out in the library.
He reads the description on the back.
Are dreams as perfect as they seem? Definitely not. Here are several mysterious oddities and occurrences that have occurred to people all over the world! From people who dreamt of multiple people, to people who don't remember their dreams at all! All these and more in this book!
Honestly, Tsukishima thought it was a whole lot of bull crap. The author seemed unknown. The ideas presented in the book all seemed so unreal, and yet he's already inspecting the table of contents.
He's an asshole, but not so much as to not do something nice for his friend every once in a while.
The megane scans at the "mysteries" presented in the book.
The aforementioned ones were listed as chapters, as well as "My Soulmate and I Aren't Dreaming Of Each Other Anymore", and "I Dream of a Dead Person".
"I Never Dream", "I Just Started Dreaming Recently", "My Soulmate Keeps Dying in My Dreams"- it took Tsukishima to find the one he needed, wondered if he ever will find it at all-
"I Can Never See My Soulmate's Face".
---
"We're going," Franny says, shoving her phone in my face. I narrow my eyes at the small text on the screen, reading what I can before she puts back her phone in her bag.
Karasuno High Boys Volleyball. Friday. Match.
"Saw it on our school board. Took a picture so I don't have to drag your bum all the way there." She tells me, twirling her hair.
"Since when did Shiratorizawa have matches with high schools? It's usually universities."
Franny smiled. "Since they lost to Karasuno last year. Now, are you free tomorrow or not?"
I pursed my lips. "I'm free, but why do you want to go?"
She giggles. "I hear there are some very attractive guys in Karasuno. Oh, and the guys from our team are hella cute too, in case you've forgotten."
"Besides," she interjects, "You might be able to find him. You said he looked your age, no?"
I smile so genuinely I can feel my cheeks ache, and for the first time, I think I have a chance at meeting my soulmate.
---
The volleyball team was excused from their last two periods in class in order to go all the way to Shiratorizawa Academy.
As soon as the team boarded the bus, Yamaguchi proceeded to sleep. He excused himself from Tsukishima, saying that it would be best to get some rest before the match. The latter only nodded, plugging his headphones into his phone.
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A chrysalis. Yamaguchi isn't aware why he's staring at it, why he isn't moving, but he finds his body completely stilled. His eyes don't waver as he observes, and he realises that it was about to hatch. He sees the winged insect escaping its shell, it's white wings peeking through.
He probably had other things to do, but he kept staring in fascination. It took a while, Yamaguchi had read before that butterflies were rather slow when it came to changing into their last evolution.
And yet he sat and watch, and suddenly the butterfly emerged, flapping its white wings and moving east.
His eyes trailed after the fragile creature, seeing it briefly land atop the head of a girl. He locked eyes with her, (e/c) meeting his own irises. One of her eyebrows arch, a smile resting upon her face. She's dressed in modern looking clothing, all in the colour white.
Yamaguchi finds himself walking towards her, and the closer he walked, a brighter glow seemed to emit out of the girl.
Then he wakes up.
Relief washes through him, a weight lifts from his shoulders- because for the first time he has an idea on what his soulmate actually looks like.
---
Arriving early, they spent the time warming up in the designated gymnasium, and touring the campus without any formal permission. Ennoshita, their captain, tried to stop them until someone mentioned that it would be good for him to practise his photography in the academy.
Actually, they spent so much time touring the campus that when the team noticed students begin to exit their classrooms, they rushed back to the gym.
With their haste, Tsukishima accidentally bumps shoulders into someone walking the same direction as them. Yamaguchi turns to face the person to apologise on Tsukishima's behalf, but he finds himself completely stuck in place.
Could it be?
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I reread the text message Franny sent to me.
Received
From: Franny ( ◕‿◕✿)
Sub: SORRY oOps
Message: i forgot to ask permission from the moderator to let me skip club :P i've been working hella hard tho the past weeks so she'll probs let me?? go ahead to the gym sEE YA bab
I sigh, shaking my head even though she wouldn't be able to see it. It wasn't like her to forget so easily.
I continue to walk forwards, barely looking up from my phone. After having studied in Shiratorizawa since last year, I pretty much memorised the place. I knew at what times students would traffic the halls, and what hallways they usually would walk past. Normally, the walkway to the first gym would be pretty empty after dismissal save from volleyball play-
Someone walking hastily bumps into me with only a grunt that might resemble some sort of apology, and I already have half the mind to send a glare, until the guy walking beside him turns to me.
I freeze, unable to actually say anything or even react properly at all.
My brain hasn't actually seemed to fully comprehend that I actually met my soulmate, that I was looking at him, that I actually legitimately had a soulmate- and when it did kick in, I started to feel my cheeks aching from it's continuous reddening.
All I could think was that finally, I met him.
The people who were walking with him, who I identified as Karasuno based on the different uniform, halted too when they realised that their teammate stopped walking. They talked quietly among themselves, most of them having realised the situation.
"I, well, I'm going to take a gamble and say you're... we're soulmates, right?" I ask nervously, somewhat afraid that I wasn't his soulmate- that it was unrequited.
Snapping out of his trance, the freckled boy beams. "Finally! You don't even understand how... difficult it was to find you, given my circumstances," The boy says sheepishly.
I let out a laugh, relating instantly to what he said. "I get that completely! It was such a pain, I didn't even have an idea of how you looked like until recently," I tell him, and I let out a sigh of relief because I didn't have to worry so much about that anymore.
Despite having met him only mere minutes ago, it would have been devasting for me to have him reject me.
"They don't even know each other's names..." I hear a brunet whisper, and the flush I thought was retreating comes back.
"I'm (L/N) (F/N)," I said, extending my hand to him and ultimately resisting the urge to hug him. Was that how soulmates typically felt despite having only met each other? I didn't mind, though. It was like bundles of joy had presented themselves to me, and I couldn't help but go along and take them.
"Yamaguchi Tadashi," My soulmate, who I now know is Yamaguchi, shakes my hand in turn.
Tsukishima groans. "Lovebirds, I hate to interrupt, but we're going to be late for the practise match."
Instead of being annoyed, I grin at the megane. "You, whoever you are, bless you." He scrunches his eyebrows in confusion. "The fuck do you mean?"
"Well, by bumping into me you did just speed up Yamaguchi-kun and I's meeting by an hour at most, so thank you," I reply cheekily, before turning back to Yamaguchi.
"You're gonna be late. Let's go?" I take his hand, and it brings me back to the first time I dreamt of him. I held on to his hand to, desperate to stay closer to the skies, to him.
Finally, I don't have to reach out so far. He was within my reach.
---
Chapter XIV: "I Never Dream"
While still a theory, it is commonly accepted amongst researchers that a person who has never dreamt before had a "new soul". Since dreams replay aspects of your past lives with your soulmate, having no past life would explain the lack of dreams.
There have been several writings from centuries ago that suggest that "new souls" were much more common before the 16th century. Due to their present rarity and decline in appearance, a "new soul" is typically unheard of.
According to several documents ranging thousands of years apart, until a soulmate has been chosen for them, they will not dream of anything.
To read up more regarding the last paragraph, proceed to Chapter XV: "I Just Started Dreaming Recently".
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Chapter XXIX: "I Can Never See My Soulmate's Face"
This was a rare occurence, especially in the early years. When there was a lesser population, people were able to have soulmates assigned to them automatically, or within time.
A man named Alexander in the 18th century had not been able to find his soulmate since he was a new soul in the 15th century. He reports never seeing the face of their soulmate.
Researchers assume that their soulmate would arrive to them in later lives, thus covering the face of a currently non-existent person until it was their time to appear.
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Author's Note: I love me my metaphor filled fanfics.
There's a lot of symbolism about birth (new soul), purity, etc.
Sorry this took so long. I've been busy. bUT WHO'S READY FOR A GENDER NEUTRAL TSUKISHIMA X READER NEXT CHAPTER WOOT WOOT
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WORDS THIS CHAPTER (including author's notes) : 3896 words
Can this be found on another site or story: Nope :3
Last Edited: May 5, 2017