#he might have betrayed his brothers but he has big biceps so i forgive him

[hunterwritings]

guys it's not a joke anymore I need him

[imagine-shenanigans]

goddd thank you oh my god i love soulmate aus, honestly. I’m such a sucker for them tbh. Also Ryoma??? my HUSBAND i love him, he’s just so good....

I went with another marks au like the last request I did, but this one is where you and your soulmate have the same mark in the same place, and you can feel your soulmate’s emotions through it, and send emotions.

Ryoma soulmate AU

He’s always stared at the mark on the inside of his right wrist in wonder, curiosity, and just a little bit of adoration. 

The small, familiar shape of a shield between two katanas (which he later realized to be Raijinto) is extremely comforting to him. Even if he never meets his soulmate, the fact that he knows there is someone out there who is meant for him (and he for them) is extremely uplifting. It means that he’s got someone out there who believes in him and will support him, no matter what he’s going through.

There were so many nights spent lying awake, pressing the inside of his wrist to his chest and letting his soulmate wash away his insecurities with feelings of love and security, and he doing the same for them. Even though he’s never met his soulmate, he feels like he knows them so well, through the silent, wordless, but incredibly full conversations that they had carried out through nothing but fleeting emotions. 

He’s not going to drop everything and leave with his soulmate if he finds them - his sense of duty for his people and his family will always overrule anything else, no matter how much it hurts. So if he finds out his soulmate is an enemy... he couldn’t ever forgive himself if he abandoned his family and country for them. Nor could he forgive himself for betraying them, so he presses his wrist closer to his chest and begs for forgiveness in the dead hours of night, and hopes and prays that it will never come to that.

When he first meets his soulmate, it’s on the battlefield. 

He's already on edge with pseudo-nerves before battle, not to mention the pre-battle jitters that he always gets. He steels himself, and pushes some of the confidence outwards, hoping to soothe his soulmate for whatever they would be facing. The thoughts are promptly ripped away from him as the battle begins, however.

He’s in the thick of things when a soldier of Nohr challenges the spearmaster at his side. He’s too preoccupied with his own enemy to lend aid, but he’s forced to keep his eyes on the soldier with the shield and a gleaming sword, considering they’re easily besting their opponent, despite the disadvantage.

He dispatches his enemy and turns just in time to see the spearmaster fall, and for the enemy soldier to rush him. The battle is tough, he and his opponent exchanging blows so fast that he hardly registers the flitting of adrenaline and fear and triumph that swell and fall at the drop of a hat through his soul mark. 

He doesn’t let his confusion cloud his judgement, nor the dawning realization that he eagerly pushes down into the pit of his stomach. The soldier is holding their ground against him, and he briefly wonders how they could possibly still be standing, when he slashes at their arm in an attempt to make them drop their own sword.

He’s mesmerized as the fabric tears beneath Raijinto’s might, and his opponent falls to the ground. The now-ended battle around them has ceased, as his own soldiers gather any survivors for him to decide if any should be kept, killed, or allowed to go home. He doesn’t register his surroundings, eyes locked onto the soldier and their soul mark on the inside of their right wrist.

He can’t tear his eyes from them as he bends low, crouching to take their wrist into his hand, so tenderly that he hardly feels himself as he exposes his own mark, comparing the two. The soldier locks eyes with him, and all he can feel from his soul mark, and himself, is a deep sense of shock.

The time that had halted while he sat there suddenly resumes, and everything becomes a blur between Kagero quickly covering his mark, and knocking his soulmate into unconsciousness with a precise blow. Saizo picks up his soulmate and carries them away in a flash, while Kagero and Orochi do damage control and force Ryoma to come back to himself.

It’s a miracle that he hasn’t been found out, what with the show that he’d briefly put on, but his soldiers seem none the wiser, as what had felt like an eternity for him was but mere seconds. He continues on as normally as he can, but the nervousness that builds in his chest won’t leave him be, and he just hopes and prays that you’ll be able to forgive him.

He feels when you wake up, before he can be anywhere near you, and his heart drops at the confusion and fear that he feels. He does his best to convey an apology, sincere as ever, and feels the shaky tension that settles into his bones radiate from his soul mark. Gods, he hopes you can forgive him.

By the time he’s able to get back to you, you’ve been patched up by Sakura personally, who places a hand on Ryoma’s bicep and smiles timidly. He smiles back, as shaky as he’s ever been, and she promises that things will be alright. Hinoka hasn’t hear yet, and neither has Takumi, but he just knows that Hinoka will be ecstatic regardless of the loyalty of his soulmate (so long as they pick him, of course) and Takumi will be suspicious for some weeks until he regretfully gets over it.

Kagero and Saizo alert him to your condition, and he practically ignores half of it before all but busting into the room.

He apologizes profusely for what happened, as you’re bedridden to the cot (a stomach wound, Sakura had told him. You’d gained it before you and Ryoma had even fought) and does his best to not get his hopes up. He sits at the side of your bed, knowing that you wouldn’t hurt him, and even if you could he knows that Kagero and Saizo would have taken your weapons already. 

He’s more than a little surprised, and extremely confused (but more than anything full of sorrow) when you begin to cry, and he wonders if you’re intimidated. Were you upset by the circumstances? He would be, if he were in your position. It’s a small comfort considering how broad his frame already is, but he’s glad that he thought to change into clothing that did not have armor on any part of it.

He sort of just defaults to big brother mode (you think is panic is sort of cute) and starts wiping away your tears away while apologizing. 

He’s beyond stunned when you tell him that it was simply because you were so overjoyed to see him and meet him for the first time. You take your hands and hold his hand against your cheek, and he can’t help the grin that appears on his face as he pulls you close, careful of your wounds.

Despite a shaky start, and the hardships ahead, he takes comfort in knowing that you will still be by his side.