Kaito stared at himself in the mirror, letting out a sharp growl. Soulmates were a wonderful, glorious gift to mankind--but they were a pain in the ass to cover when he was disguised as someone. Especially the blue rose on the palm of his hand--why did it have to be the PALM of his hand, why not the back?

It was always taxing to cover up the marks. For the same reason he felt he should count himself lucky. Most people only had the two soulmarks. Their own, and obviously, their soulmate's. On occasion--though rarely--someone would have two soulmates, and hence three marks.

Kaito, on the other hand, had not one, not two, but a grand total of THREE soulmates.

His first soulmark--other than his own, of course--had appeared when he was three or four. He couldn't remember the exact incident, but he could remember his parents(mostly his Mom) excitedly freaking out about the book tattoo on the side of his neck.

He'd first noticed the second mark on a cold, winter's day. It was a year or two after Toichi's death, and he'd come home from school to find his Mom cooking something in the kitchen. He'd thrown his coat into the laundry room revealing his short-sleeved shirt underneath.

"Kaito!" Chikage had scolded when she saw him, "What have I told you about wearing shorts in the winter?"

"Not to?" Kaito had laughed nervously.

Chikage had opened her mouth to continue, but her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Kaito," she said softly, coming to beside him. She rolled up one of his shirt sleeves with a gasp. "Kaito... What is this?"

Kaito wrinkled his brow in confusion, but then he'd seen it. The black outline of a heart that covered the entirety of his right shoulder.

The third one--he couldn't pinpoint an exact date. It wasn't like the mark was easy to see! He hadn't even known it was there until a day at the pool with--once again--his mom. They were on vacation in Hawaii, and just before dawn his mother had told him to grab his swim suit and meet her to watch the sunrise.

He had done so--as making his mom upset usually a bad idea--and walked down to the beach before the sand had begun to warm. Chikage had spoken first. "Kaito... You aren't secretly getting tattoos, are you?"

That was how he'd discovered the pair of bronze-toned wings that marked his shoulder blades.

Now the only trouble was finding who the marks belonged to--and boy, was he surprised by the results.