Series: Passion's Flight||Title: True Passion
Characters: Asuka, Fubuki||Pair: N/A
Words: 1,060/1,060||Chapters: 1/1
Genre: Family||Rated: G
Timeline/Universe: Pre-canon. A universe where folks develop wings in one of two occasions: either soulmates meet or one discovers one's true passion in life.
Challenges: Diversity Writing Challenge: soulmate AU: D7, one-shot
Summary: Asuka completes her deck and makes a decision. Dueling is what she wants to do. And in this world, when one finds one's truest passion… one can fly.

This is it. This is what I want to do forever. Asuka stared at the deck she'd created, a thrill racing through her unlike any other.

At first she thought it was just the feeling of having made something she was so happy with. Ever since big brother Fubuki told her about dueling and bought her that first set of cards, she'd edged closer and closer to a realization.

But now, the sensation flowed through her and every part of her started to itch in a way that she'd never experienced before. Her breath caught in her throat and her fingers tightened around her deck.

Something wasn't right.

No. She knew better in a heartbeat. Something hadn't been right before and now it was becoming right, changing in a way that put everything the way that it should be.

Itches raced from her head to her feet, up and down, up and down, before centering at last where she'd almost hoped she would, and hadn't quite dared to dream.

Her shoulders.

The itch grew … itchier. Harder. More intense. Something moved under her skin and her head jerked up. It wasn't painful. It couldn't have been.

"Fubuki-nii-san!" She squeaked the word out, hoping he was home and would hear her. He should have been home, but hadn't he said something about going to visit Ryou-san? She didn't remember and with the itching growing stronger and the sensation growing more intense with each breath, she couldn't focus enough to think about it.

All of her thoughts turned inward. Dueling. That was what she wanted to do above everything else. She would spend her life as a duelist in some fashion, no matter how she expressed it. Perhaps she'd be a pro duelist. Perhaps she'd be something else.

But she would duel. Win or lose, she would duel, and this was the sign of it, that she knew what she existed for.

Something tore. Asuka didn't know if it was her shirt or her skin. But regardless, there wasn't any pain, because there wasn't pain when one's wings finally developed. She cried out softly at the sensation of the extra weight, bending forward, so very aware of them.

They moved. She could feel them moving, because she wanted them to move and like her arms and legs, they obeyed her desires.

She could see them now. They were still wet and sticky, fresh from being born, and she panted a little, realizing how strange it felt to have them there.

Strange and right. She'd always wondered how she would get her wings, be it from the discovery and devotion to her life's purpose or encountering someone she could very well love forever.

Soulmates were at least as common a source for one's wings as the discovery of one's passion and no one ever knew when would meet one's soulmate, nor did they know when they would discover their true passion. Sometimes eyes would meet across a distance and then one could fly.

Two could fly; the wings always appeared at the same moment, and it could always be told who one's soulmate was, because the colors of the wings always reflected the hair and eyes of one's partner. Or partners, though Asuka hadn't ever seen one of those rare multi-partner situations herself.

But for those who found a passion, a cause or a belief to devote themselves to, the coloring of the wings were different. She reached up to brush her fingers ever so lightly across the closest one, careful to do no harm. The final coloring of the wings wouldn't show up until they dried completely, but she could see it even now.

Just like her own hair and eyes, matching flawlessly. She shivered, wondering what it would be like to fly. Her parents hadn't developed their wings; no one knew if they hadn't met a genuine soulmate or if they just didn't have anything to devote themselves too. Fubuki declared that he loved the whole world far too much to only choose one person.

I hope he finds someone. Maybe he would stop trying to get her to date, now that she'd developed her wings.

No, she couldn't be that lucky. He would still try to get her to go out with someone. That was what he did.

He really needed more of a social life of his own. One that didn't involve her.

Footsteps echoed and she looked to the door in time to see her parents there. Fubuki bounced up behind them, trying to get to her.

"Did you get them? Did you get your wings? Move!" He poked both of their parents, sticking his head in between them. "You did!"

Asuka essayed a brief smile, moving her wings carefully. "I'm a duelist," she declared firmly, realizing only now that she still held her deck in her hands, sides of the cards cutting into her skin. She didn't care. She had her wings!

Her parents hurried over to her, each reaching for her, but her mother pulled back, resting a hand on her husband's arm. "Her wings aren't dry yet," she warned. "We can hug her when they are."

Fubuki didn't seem to have gotten that memo, as he darted in and wrapped his arms around her. He didn't touch her wings, but she leaned in closer, heart still hammering against her ribs.

"They're beautiful," he told her. "Really beautiful! I'm so proud of you. We're going to have to throw you a wings out party!"

Asuka couldn't help but smile at him. He would be going off to Duel Academia for his first year in another week or so, and she wished she'd wingsprouted in time to give him a feather from her molting. It would be considered good luck.

She'd send it next year, she decided. He would probably need it then.

"Do you feel up to a duel?" Fubuki asked. "Or do you want to go outside? They could dry faster outside." He perked up without warning. "I should call Ryou and Shou! They should see this too!"

Asuka had no objections to that. She leaned in closer to her brother, their parents also embracing her as carefully as they could. She would learn to fly. They would have to make changes to their home because of this.

But most of all, she would duel.

The End

Notes: There will be other fics, of course. This is like the one I wrote where Edo and Kaito sprouted wings because they were soulmates. This is the other side of the coin: someone's wings come in because they've discovered their true passion. Arc-V!Asuka probably had much the same experience.