Turning sixteen was a big deal ' for

everyone

. Turning sixteen meant establishing a connection with your soulmate, able to hear their thoughts for the first time. If you were the first to turn sixteen then you would get to listen to them when they accidentally projected but you wouldn 't be able to speak back until they reached the same age and developed their own connection.

Kakashi was turning sixteen tonight. The fifteenth of September was almost over and he was sitting at home, alone, curled up on the futon that he dragged in to the kitchen every night. It felt less lonely when he wasn 't locked inside a cold bedroom. Tonight he hoped he would feel just a little less lonely as his mind reached out for the first time to the one he would spend the rest of his life with.