I got an interesting idea to write a one-shot about Qinus Axia and Drum.
I know Qinus Axia is a transgender female in the Japanese and a male in the dub, but I'll make the Dragowizard 100% female in this short story. So far, I haven't seen fanfics with Axia being pure female, so why not add some variety?
This one-shot will be about Axia's past and background and why she's wearing male clothes.
A small warning; there will be some sexually mentions, but nothing explicit.
I hope you'll enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not own any Future Card Buddyfight characters!
XXXXXXXXXX
Drum was amazed to see Gao take down one opponent after another. The Mikado-style Aiki-jujutsu group was currently competing in a regional competition and Drum got to tag along, as long as he didn't enter the stage. So he was watching from one of the hallways that led to the indoor stadium in his mini form. He had a great view from there, so he didn't mind.
But the Armordragon wasn't exactly alone. Qinus Axia decided to tag along since she didn't want to be separated from her "buddy". She wasn't really that interested for martial arts, but she still stayed close to Drum.
Drum grew stiff whenever he felt the Dragowizard lean closer to him. He was afraid to suddenly get hugged and yelp out loud and distract Gao and make the Mikado group lose the competition. If that happened… Well, Suzumi threatened that she wouldn't make puddings for him a whole month. Drum shook in despair by the thought of not being able to eat his favorite dessert for 30 days. That was like trying to survive in the most dangerous jungle in the Dragon World.
Axia was feeling a bit bored. The competition didn't really excite her as it did to Drum. She wanted to spend some "quality" time with her prince and maybe go out on a short date while Drum's human Buddy was busy throwing down his opponents.
The Dragowizard poked Drum's back. "Hey, Drumkins. Would you like to-"
Axia halted in her words when she saw the next opponent walk up to Gao. It was a female human. It was a bit strange to her to see females doing martial arts. Sure, she was familiar with Suzumi and Hanako, but other females besides them?
So Aiki-jujutsu wasn't only for males? It wasn't gender-restricted?
Drum growled, annoyed that Axia distracted him, and looked over his shoulder. "What?"
Axia held back a grimace as she pulled back her hand, looking away. "No, nothing…"
Drum blinked confusedly. That was a weird reaction from the blue dragon. In fact, this was the first time the Armordragon had seen such a sad face on Axia. He did notice the sudden halt in her question, so he knew she had been distracted by something.
A roar of cheers brought Drum's attention back to reality. He turned around and saw Gao was standing while his opponent had fallen.
Another victory for the Mikado group. Also meaning there would be pudding for Drum.
XXXXXXXXXX
Suzumi and Takashi had together cooked up a giant feast for the children of the Mikado group to celebrate the victory. Gao was literally glowing like the sun as he accepted congratulations from his Aiki-jujutsu comrades.
Drum stood aside from the group and ate a pudding with a spoon. He was enjoying his own moment of eating the soft dessert that he didn't even notice someone was missing. Drum finished eating and walked over to the food table to grab his second pudding when he realized something was wrong. Axia would usually try to "harass" him and make him like her by feeding him pudding, or even try hugging or kissing him, but she wasn't in the kitchen or in the living room where the humans were.
The Armordragon hummed before he grabbed two bowls of pudding and headed up to Gao's bedroom. Maybe she was upstairs to read her magic books? Drum realized he had often been quite harsh at her and maybe his tone earlier had hurt her. So he would try to mend things by offering her some pudding.
Drum clumsily opened the door to Gao's room and stepped inside. "Hey, Axia, I've got some-"
The Armordragon blinked when he saw the room was dark and empty. Axia was nowhere to be found. She wasn't resting on Gao's bed or reading by the boy's desk.
Drum began feeling a bit nervous. Where was Axia? It wasn't like her to walk away without telling someone. He saw the glass door to the balcony was open, so maybe the female dragon was outside? Drum put down the bowls of pudding on the desk before walking out to the balcony.
Axia wasn't there neither.
The Armordragon was starting to panic inboard. Where was his friend?! Did she seriously get so upset she ran away?
No, that couldn't be. She would've left a note or personally tell Drum and Gao's family.
Drum decided to go after her and make her tell him why she left without saying a single word. He jumped down from the balcony and landed gracefully on the grass before he ran out to the dark and empty streets.
The dragon smelled the air, searching for Axia's unique scent. The words he would use to describe her scent were sweet like nectar, fresh as dew, delicious as a flower… Wait, what?!
Drum shook quickly his head, trying to get rid of the thoughts he had of Axia's scent. But those thoughts helped him to catch an inch of the Dragowizard's scent. He followed it through the streets until he was in front of a forest.
"Why would Axia walk in a forest in this time of hour?" Drum wondered.
The Armordragon shrugged before he walked into the forest. It was dark and thick, but the scent was getting stronger. Gao and Hanako had showed him a beautiful lake deep inside the forest where the siblings used to go with their family to take a swim and cool themselves during hot summer days. And when Axia came into Drum's life, he once showed him the same area to her when Gao was away and his Buddy couldn't come along.
Drum chuckled lightly when he recalled Axia's glittering eyes when she saw the lake. She had gushed like a girl who got excited to see something pretty and shortly after that, the two dragons had a water fight. That was a nice memory.
Drum smelled the scent of Axia and water as he got closer. He was about to call Axia's name when he suddenly stopped.
Axia was sitting by the lake in her true form. She was curled into a ball, hugging her legs to her chest. Since her back was facing him, Drum couldn't see her facial expression, but he could tell she was being distressed over something.
Drum turned himself into his true form as well before he slowly walked toward Axia. "Hey."
Axia looked over her shoulder, her eyes a bit watery by tears as they had widened a bit in surprise. "Drumkins…" She quickly wiped off the tears. "What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you", Drum explained as he sat down next to Axia. "I didn't see you at the party. I thought you were in Gao's room, so I brought some pudding for you, but you weren't there."
Axia smiled lightly. "Aww, that was sweet of you, Drumkins…" Her smile quickly disappeared before she looked at the river. "But even if I were there, I wouldn't be in the mood of eating something sweet."
Drum began sensing something was definitely wrong here. Axia had been acting like this ever since the final match of Aiki-jujutsu this afternoon.
"What's bothering you, Axia?" Drum asked.
"Huh?" Axia said, trying to act dumb. "What do you mean, Drumkins?"
"Don't try to fool me!" Drum retorted, trying to keep his voice low to not scare her. "I know you're thinking too much about something and that's not like you at all! If I did something to hurt your feelings, then tell me!"
Axia blinked once before she shook her head, her blonde hair shining in the moonlight. "No… You didn't do anything to hurt me, Drumkins…"
"Then what's the thing that's nagging you?" Drum asked.
Axia looked down before sighing. "The match today…"
"What about the match?" Drum wondered.
"When I saw Gaowow's last opponent being a girl…", Axia hesitated for a minute. "It reminded me of my past…"
"Your past?"
Axia nodded, "About…my time when I was studying to become a true Dragowizard in the Magic World."
"You mean the part you told me before that you had to crossdress and pretend to be a male in order to study in the Great Dragowizard Academy?"
When Drum first met Axia, he thought she was a male due to her clothes, but shortly after the encounter he learned Axia was a female and that there was a reason why she was crossdressing. She didn't tell him then, so maybe she could tell him now.
Axia nodded slowly. "Yes… My past…is not a pretty one."
Drum felt her mood had sunken a bit and knew he had to somehow comfort her and give her strength to talk. He blushed lightly as he placed his hand on Axia's that was resting on her knees. The blue dragon looked up at the Armordragon in slight surprise. It wasn't everyday Drum took the initiative to hug her or even touch her.
"You can tell me", Drum told Axia as he stared into her beautiful eyes. "I'd…like to know more of you, since we're friends and stuff."
Axia giggled before she turned her hand so she could grab Drum's and give him a soft squeeze. "Thank you, Drumkins… Your friendship means a lot to me."
Drum looked away a bit modestly. "Y-You're welcome…"
The two of them stayed silent as the Dragowizard tried collecting her words before she began telling her story. "My mother was a Witch of Illusions, Luvia the Mirage. She was one of a kind, and a very strong wizard."
"Witch of Illusions, Luvia the Mirage?" Drum mumbled. "But… How come you're a Dragowizard?"
"Don't be so impatient, Drumkins", Axia told him. "I'll get to it."
Drum rumbled to himself and crossed his arms.
"Normally, Dragowizards are males, so in order to produce an offspring, they mate with a female wizard", Axia explained. "When my mother tried to find a mate, she was rejected by many wizard males in the Magic World. She became very upset and teleported herself to the Dragon World. She just wanted to take a break and learn more of the Dragon World as a distraction. But things ended up differently. Mother met a blonde-haired Drum Bunker Dragon and not so shortly after that… They became mates, and you can find out where I got my dragon side from."
Drum was certainly stunned. So Axia was half-Drum Bunker Dragon? That explained why she smelt a bit of a Drum Bunker.
"When I was born, my parents agreed that I should go through the same education as the other wizards in the Magic World", Axia continued. "But we lived together for as long as we could before I became the age to attend the Great Dragowizard Academy. That academy is the best for Dragowizards, but that was only for males. No females, since those were almost not born."
The puzzle was slowly being put together.
"So in order to attend the Great Dragowizard Academy…", Drum began slowly.
Axia nodded, "I had to disguise myself by crossdressing. Mother taught me early to act more like a male and be dressed like one, like a precaution for my future studies. Mother followed me on the trip to the academy to help me get comfortable on the day before the classes would begin."
"Did the others get suspected about your mother?" Drum asked.
"A little", Axia confessed. "But it's not uncommon that a female wizard mate with a Dragowizard. They did get suspicious that my father didn't join us, but Mother told them a white lie. She left me with a sad goodbye and told me to be very careful, especially during the time of year when it's mating season."
Drum recalled some of his early adult years in the Dragon World. Just as he had become an adult, he started experiencing the mating seasons. However, thanks to his stubbornness, he was able to hold back and not mate with a female dragon who only liked him during the mating season. He wanted to have a partner who loved him and accepted him all the time.
"During the first two years, I was able to keep my disguise", Axia said. "I made sure to study and get great grades, so the teacher wouldn't question me about something and get accidently discovered as a female. I also had my own room at the dorms, so I was all clear. Until one day…"
XXXXXXXXXX – *FLASHBACK*
Axia was walking down the corridor, making sure to hold her books as a male and not hug them to her chest as a female. It kept getting harder for her to act like a male. Her female sides were slowly coming out as she matured and grew older.
Some other Dragowizards like her had recently started teasing her about how she was protective of her blonde hair, calling her some harmless names. Of course, she ignored them and never said a word back.
All of the sudden, Axia felt someone tugging her long hair. She yelped out a high-pitched tone as she dropped her books on the floor. She looked over her shoulder and saw two of the same kind of Dragowizard as her, but they had shorter hair in different colors.
The one who held her hair chuckled deeply, having purple hair. "Well well, did you hear that yelp, buddy? That was the same tone as a female Monster's, right?"
"Sure was", the other Dragowizard with brown hair nodded.
Axia grew frustrated by these bullies who harassed her every day. "Let go of my hair!"
"Oooh, so now you demand me to let go of your hair?" the purple-haired Dragowizard snickered.
The brown-haired Dragowizard walked over to Axia and leant in close to her face. "If you're a male, then you should keep the male pride by cutting your hair. Or do you wish that you were born as a female?"
Axia couldn't contain her anger anymore. No one made fun of her female pride! Her precious hair she combed every morning and every night before bedtime and washed it clean twice a week.
XXXXXXXXXX – *END OF FLASHBACK*
"So I tried casting some spells to knock out the Dragowizards, but that wasn't enough. One of them grabbed my top and ripped it off me, revealing my true gender…", Axia said as she pulled her legs harder onto her chest.
Drum could feel Axia felt very embarrassing for telling the part of when her gender was revealed. "Did you…get expelled?"
"At first, I was very close to it", Axia nodded. "The council was close to vote on kicking me out, but the principal spoke up. He said, despite being a female I was one of the most honorable student in the academy. My track record was spotless and I had good grades. He also came to my defense that maybe it was time for a change. Female Dragowizards had the same potential as males. The council couldn't say anything to their defense because the principal was the oldest Dragowizard in history."
Drum felt a bit relieved that Axia didn't get expelled just because she was a female. And a pretty one too…
The Armordragon shook his head for a second. He shouldn't think of Axia like that. She was just his friend, right?
"Even though I was allowed to continue in the academy, the other Dragowizards tried bullying me and even…", Axia swallowed. "…sexually harass me."
"What?!" Drum exclaimed, his eyes widening.
Axia curled more into a ball. "The males wanted to use me as their sexual toy. Some were close to get what they wanted from me, but luckily I had taught myself some useful spells to either freeze or shock them to stop."
Drum couldn't help but smirk lightly. He knew Axia was a tough cookie when it came to battles, but this only proved she was even strong before he met her.
"Those who harassed me were reported and kicked out of the academy, even though they tried claiming their innocence", Axia continued. "After the Dragowizards stopped harassing me, fearing to get expelled, I realized I wasn't going to be safe forever as a female. I had to keep dressing as a male when I'd graduate from the Great Dragowizard Academy if I didn't want to get harassed by other monsters."
"So you crossdress not because you want to, but you have to", Drum concluded.
Axia nodded, "Yes. Sure, I'm an adult now, so I can dress however I want, but this has become more like a habit than coercion." She let out a soft sigh. "I'm afraid I might never be a pretty female Dragowizard…"
"You will, Axia!" Drum exclaimed, suddenly feeling so angry when he heard Axia talk herself down.
Axia flinched by the sudden cry and looked at Drum who was now standing next to her.
"Listen, Axia", Drum began. "I don't know what else you went through before we met, but you're beautiful and perfect just the way you are! Don't let those bullies' words hurt you anymore! I, Gao, and everyone else accepted you and welcomed you into our group, despite being a crossdressing Dragowizard. We love you just the way you are! In our eyes, you are beautiful!"
The Armordragon suddenly stopped when he realized what he had just said to Axia. He turned around with a bright blush on his cheeks. That almost sounded like a confession. The truth was he was very close to tell Axia his inner feelings. It was a good thing he stopped himself in time.
Axia stared at Drum's back, feeling her heart beat in a nice way. There was no pain; only happiness in her heart. She couldn't help but smile as she stood up and wrapped her arms around Drum's waist, resting her cheek against his back.
Drum froze lightly by the contact, but he calmed down when he realized this type of hug was different. It wasn't possessive as it usually was. It was warm, gentle, feminine…
"Thank you, Drumkins", Axia smiled as tears ran down her cheeks. "That means a lot to me. I'm so happy I met you and Gaowow and your friends. You accepted me." She closed her eyes. "That's what I've been missing for so long. Acceptance."
Drum blushed, but chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "N-No problem…" He then remembered something. "Hey, Axia."
Axia removed herself of Drum, allowing him to turn around. "Yes?"
"Remember the pudding I told you about? I bet they're still waiting to get eaten", Drum grinned. "How about we go back home and eat them before Gao finds them?"
Axia nodded with a bright smile. "Yes. Let's go, Drumkins. We can't let the pudding go to waste, especially for you."
Drum felt relieved to see Axia smiling again. A smile really suited her face. But suddenly, a playful gleam was seen in her eyes.
"Last one to Gaowow's bedroom is a rotten egg!" Axia declared before she ran off.
Drum blinked a couple of moments before he realized what just happened. "Hey! Wait for you, you cheater!"
The two dragons laughed as they chased each other back to the Mikado family's house to eat the pudding and enjoy each other's company. Drum almost felt like he understood Axia a little better now after hearing her story. Now he was determined to help her regain the self-esteem she had lost in the past.