New Domino City, an urban metropolis where speed rules all. The worldwide phenomenon known as Duel Monsters has evolved, with duels being played on high speed vehicles known as duel runners. But even among the turbo charged highways, crime ridden slums, and lawless desert towns, sophistication can still be found. Located on the outskirts of New Domino, Lillian Girl's Duel Academy has dedicated itself to teaching young ladies the ins and outs of dueling with poise and grace. Maria's light shines brightly on these young girls immaculate uniforms. It is in this city of speed and sophistication, that our story begins.

Yusei's Garage:

I was a warm Friday afternoon. While many would spend this day outside enjoying the nice weather, one young man chose to spend his day locked in his garage, fiddling with his duel runner. The aforementioned mechanic was a young man in his late teens. He had black spiky hair with golden streaks. His face was highlighted by his royal blue eyes and a jagged yellow mark under his left eye. His name was Yusei Fudo, a professional level turbo duelist hailing from the uber-slum of New Domino City, the Satellite Sector. Despite his humble background, Yusei was able to prove himself as an adept mechanic and exceptional duelist in the streets and stadiums of New Domino. Both skills would be put to the test in an upcoming duel tournament known as the World Racing Grand Prix (WRGP for short). Preparing for the tournament occupied almost all of his free time, especially since a visit to a dusty desert town put him behind schedule. Thankfully he didn't have to do this alone. Another young man with short blue hair named Bruno worked as his assistant mechanic. The two worked feverishly on a new duel runner design that they could use for the tournament, until a musical chime ringed from across the room. "Hey Bruno, can you get that," Yusei asked his assistant. Bruno complied and picked up Yusei's phone.

"Yusei's garage, Bruno speaking." Bruno said. A short moment passed before the blue haired mechanic brought the phone over to it's owner. "It's Akiza, she wanted to talk to you. Said it was important." Yusei stood up and took the phone.

"Hey Akiza," He said to his female friend, "Bruno said you have something important to tell me."

"Yes I do," Akiza's voice stated over the phone, "But not over the phone. This is something I need to tell you face-to-face."

"Aren't you still in school?" Yusei questioned.

"The final bell rang already. Just meet me at the school's front gate." Akiza then hung up suddenly. Yusei began to worry about what his friend wanted to talk about. The way she rushed her way through that phone call made him think that something was wrong. Yusei rarely ever panicked, but this time he was concerned. The turbo duelist grabbed his blue jacket, hopped on his red-framed duel runner, and drove out of his garage. The turbo duelist sped his way through the highways of New Domino and eventually arrived at the local Duel Academy. It was a large school building surrounded by a turbo dueling track. He parked his runner just outside the front gate with several students gawking at him. Yusei pretended not to notice as he looked around for Akiza. Just beyond the gate, standing under a cherry blossom tree, stood the girl he was searching for. Akiza Izinski was a beautiful woman in her late teens. She had flowing burgundy hair and enticing brown eyes, all of which matched nicely with the dark red coat of her school uniform. Needless to say, she stood out in a crowd.

"Akiza!" Yusei called out.

"Yusei, over here!" Akiza responded.

"So what was so important that you couldn't just tell me over the phone?" Yusei asked.

"Walk with me," Akiza made her way behind the tree and Yusei followed. The two walked through the sunlit grove of trees. The multicolored leaves made it clear that fall was in full swing. "It's a long story," Akiza said after a long pause, "But I suppose I should start with this; I'm leaving Duel Academy."

"Say what?" a stunned Yusei asked. Leaving New Domino Duel Academy? This was serious. Yusei didn't know much about his redheaded friend's school life, but he did know that she loved it here. It was a place for her to devote time to her love for Duel Monsters, and it was even the school of choice for two good friends of both her and Yusei, twins named Leo and Luna. The Academy was where she felt like she belonged. This didn't make sense. Yusei needed to get to the bottom of this. "Why would you leave Duel Academy? I thought you liked it here?"

"I do. You honestly think I'd do this willingly?" Akiza answered, "My parents are forcing me to do this…" The redheaded student then hung her head.

"Why?" the turbo duelist put his hand on her shoulder, "Akiza talk to me."

"It all happened yesterday…" Akiza trailed off, and so began today's flashback.

New Domino Duel Academy (Turbo Duel Track)... One Day Earlier:

"Black Rose Dragon, direct attack!" Akiza yelled. She and some male student (the name's not important) were in the middle of a turbo duel on the school's track. Akiza herself was riding her dark red duel runner and wearing her matching red and black riding suit. Both duelists had only 1100 life points left, but Akiza was the only one with a monster on the field. The aforementioned monster was a large black dragon with wings that looked like they were adorned with large red rose petals. Black Rose Dragon then charged at it's master's opponent and chomped away the last of his life points. Both duel runners slowed to a stop and the defeated boy congratulated Akiza on her victory.

"Once again the Black Rose Queen proves her skill," the defeated student said.

"Again with that nickname," Akiza replied, "Who even started calling me that anyway?"

"Not sure, but the name stuck. I'll see you in class." With that the defeated duelist drove off. The so called "Black Rose Queen" made her way off of the track and over to the girl's locker room, wanting to change out of her sweaty riding suit. Just outside the door, A tall man in a suit and glasses with black hair waited for her. His smiling expression greatly disturbed the redheaded duelist. The look in his eye gave Akiza the impression of a jungle cat waiting to pounce on its prey. She tried to ignore him and walk through the door, but he blocked the doorway with his outstretched arm.

"Congratulations on your duel Akiza," the man stated in a low voice, "I expect nothing less from New Domino's Black Rose Queen." the redhead was getting more unsettled by the minute.

"Thank you Mr. Shido," she said while playing it cool, "Now if you don't mind, I need to take a shower before my next class."

"Well then I won't stall you any further," Mr. Shido said while removing his arm. As Akiza made her way into the locker room and then to the showers, her uneasiness didn't subside. Mr. Shido was a relatively new teacher at the Academy, and one that the students were already spreading some pretty disturbing rumors about. Most of the gossip centered around his supposed attraction to the female students. Akiza never really believed anything on the rumor mill, but thanks to many encounters with the black haired teacher, she realized that the rumors may have some truth to them. After ten minutes of showering (about half of which was spent just washing her hair), The redhead made her way over to her locker and screamed. Not only was her riding outfit gone, but so was her school uniform and duel disk. The color drained from her face as she frantically searched the room for any sign of her missing clothes. She eventually found her duel disk by the door. She strapped it on and peeked outside. It was then that someone grabbed her hair and pulled her out of the locker room. Akiza suddenly found herself surrounded by three male students, one held firmly onto her hair while the others taunted her by waving around her riding suit and uniform. The redhead gripped the towel she hastily wrapped herself with.

"Come on Akiza," the bully that held her hair said, "Why are you being so modest? Show us the goods and we give you back your clothes." The tree of the laughed maniacally, obviously thinking that they were geniuses. Their victim primed herself to punch out all three of them.

"Hold it you three!" a random voice called out. All four students turned to see Mr. Shido approaching them. The three male students backed off. Mr. Shido made his way behind Akiza and stared down the three bullies. "I can't believe the three of you," the spectacled teacher told them, "Sneaking into the girl's locker room and stealing her clothes, do you even realize how much trouble you're in?" All three of them shrank in fear. The teacher then spun Akiza around so he could talk to her face-to-face. He wore that same predatory smile he had earlier. "Are you alright Akiza? I'm terribly sorry this happened to you." he continued in a low purr. He moved his left hand along the side of Akiza's face, and she didn't even want to think about where the other hand was going. The redheaded duelist acted instinctively.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled while slapping his hands away. His creepy smile drained away. In it's place was an expression of pure anger.

"I'm trying to help you, you bitch!" Shido said as he slapped her across the face. Akiza staggered. For a moment she stood there, stunned. Every muscle in her body tensed up and her mind started to go blank. She didn't exactly know what she was doing, but she was pissed and someone was going to pay. She reached down for her duel disk and placed Black Rose Dragon in one of the monster zones. Suddenly Akiza's flowery dragon materialized behind her. She then began to float and an unknown force blasted her harassers back several feet. A terrifyingly murderous glare was fixed on the victim's face. Black Rose Dragon soon went berserk, absolutely wrecking house in it's pursuit of those who have wronged its master.

New Domino Duel Academy (Courtyard)... Present:

"Oh my God," a shocked Yusei said. The two of them were seated on a bench in the Academy courtyard. Needless to say that Akiza's story left Yusei reeling.

"Thankfully the twins came by and snapped me out of it," Akiza continued, "And thankfully my father was able to pull some strings so that they wouldn't expel me."

"I thought you finally got control over your powers," Yusei said.

"I do… most of the time. I've noticed though, that whenever I get extremely angry, I just lose control. It's like I become the Black Rose Witch all over again." Akiza gripped her right forearm. Yusei knew what she was gripping. Akiza was a psychic duelist who's powers came from a mark on her arm. This mark branded her as a signer, a duelist who's been chosen and marked by an entity known as the Crimson Dragon. Those who bear the Crimson Dragon's mark are destined to save the world. Yusei and three other mutual friends of theirs were signers too.

"To be honest I don't blame you," reassured Yusei, "You were just defending yourself. You were completely in the right." He didn't know why, but the thought of those guys sexually assaulting her caused the anger inside him to boil over.

"I know," Akiza stated while hanging her head, "But my parents aren't as understanding as you Yusei. They said that I needed to be removed from the factors that caused this incident to prevent something similar happening. So they enrolled me in some all-girls duel academy on the outskirts of the city called Lillian Duel Academy."

"Let me guess, you don't want to go," Yusei theorized.

"I told them that I didn't need to be taken out of school, but they wouldn't listen. And here I thought that they weren't afraid of my powers anymore." Akiza clenched her fists.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you Akiza… I wish that there was something that I could do." The male signer hung his head in disappointment. He couldn't help but feel useless. Matters involving Akiza always seemed to wreak havoc on his emotions, even if he never did show it.

"There is one thing you can do." the redheaded student stood up and pulled her duel disk out of her bag. "Today is my last day at this school. After I leave today, I'm never coming back. Yusei, I want my last duel as a student of New Domino Duel Academy, to be against you." Akiza's duel disk then activated, and she readied herself to draw her hand. Luckily Yusei brought his own duel disk with him to this meeting. The black haired turbo duelist activated his own disk, determined to give his friend the duel she was seeking. Both shot each other a look of fierce determination.

"Let's duel!" they both called out. Each disk then displayed the 4000 life points they'd start with.

"I'll go first," Akiza announced as she drew her hand. "And I think I'll summon Phoenixian Seed in attack mode." A red leafed plant sapling with a giant eyeball on the stem appeared on Akiza's side of the field. "But that's not all. Thanks to Phoenixian Seed's ability, I can send it to the graveyard in order to summon Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis from my hand in attack mode." The sapling then began to grow into a larger, vaguely phoenix-shaped plant. "I'll set one card facedown and end my turn." A larger facedown version of a Duel Monsters card appeared behind Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis. In her first turn Akiza was able to summon a monster with 2200 ATK. Yusei could tell that she meant business.

"My turn, I draw!" Yusei announced, "I'll start by sending one monster card from my hand to the graveyard to special summon the tuner monster Quickdraw Synchron." A small robot cowboy wearing a tattered red cape and a hat that covered one eye arrived on Yusei's field. "Next I summon Unicycular in attack mode." A red robot balancing on one wheel materialized next to Quickdraw Synchron. "Now I tune my Quickdraw Synchron with Unicycular in order to synchro summon Drill Warrior." Yusei's two monsters jumped up into the air. Quickdraw Synchron then transformed into five green circles that Unicycular flew into. A giant beam of light then erupted from the circles. "Let's rev it up!" Yusei yelled as a large orange armored warrior with a giant drill where its right hand should be appeared on his side of the field. "Now thanks to Drill Warrior's special ability, I can halve its ATK and give it the ability to attack you directly." Yusei's warrior's ATK dropped from 2400 to 1200. It primed itself for an attack.

"I expected you'd do something like that Yusei," Akiza interjected, "Which is why I activate the trap card, Rose Curse!" The card behind Akiza's monster flipped up. "This card activates whenever a monster you control changes its ATK. Now I can inflict damage to you equal to the difference between its original ATK and its new ATK. And if my math is correct, that's 1200 points subtracted from your life points." A stream of rose petals shot out from the trap card hitting Yusei in the chest. He looked down at his duel disk and saw that his life points dropped down to 2800.

"Well played Akiza, but Drill Warrior can still attack." Yusei's drill handed monster charged at Akiza, driving it's drill into its master's opponent, and reducing her life points to 2800. "I'll set a card facedown. Your move." A facedown card appeared behind Drill Warrior, whose ATK rose back up to 2400. Akiza drew her next card.

"I'll have Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis attack Drill Warrior." she said. The phoenix plant then charged at Yusei's warrior who countered by drilling it into oblivion. Akiza's life points then dropped to 2600. "And now the effect of Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis activates. Since it was destroyed, you take 800 points of damage." A fiery version of Akiza's phoenix plant flew at Yusei, reducing his life points to 2000. "I then set one monster facedown in defense mode" A sideways facedown card appeared on Akiza's field. "Now before I end my turn, I'll banish one plant-type monster from my graveyard and summon Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis back in defense mode." The phoenix plant rose from the ashes of defeat, except this time coated in monochrome blue. It was Yusei's turn now, he drew his next card.

"I summon Junk Synchron!" he declared. A small and chubby warrior in orange armor appeared. "Now thanks to his special ability, I can summon one level 2 or lower monster from my graveyard, and I choose Unicycular." The one-wheeled robot returned to Yusei's field wearing the defense mode veil of monochrome blue. "Now I tune Junk Synchron with Unicycular." Junk Synchron morphed into three green rings that Unicycular flew through. Another blinding column of light passed through the rings. "Let's rev it up! I synchro summon Armory Arm!" A black mechanical arm with red claw-like fingers materialized beside Yusei. "And now Armory Arm's effect activates. I can target one monster on my field and equip it with Armory Arm." The robot arm found its way to Drill Warrior. The warrior then stuck it's left hand inside the arm, allowing the two to combine their power and boosting Drill Warrior's ATK by 1000 points in the process. "Now I activate the trap card Synchro Blast," Yusei's trap card flipped up. "With this in play, anytime a synchro monster I control declares an attack, you get hit with 500 points of damage. Now it's time for Drill Warrior to attack Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis!" Yusei's warrior then jumped into the air and brought its drill and Armory Arm down upon the phoenix plant, destroying it completely. The monster's fiery spirit then blasted itself at Yusei again. His life points dropped to 1200. Akiza want off the hook either. A small bust of energy reduced her life points to 2100. "Now Army Arm's second ability activates, when the equipped monster destroys a monster by battle, you take damage equal to your lost monster's ATK" Armory Arm then shot itself off of Drill Warrior's arm and punched Akiza, taking her life points down to zero. The duel was over and Yusei had won. The turbo duelist walked over to his defeated opponent as all of the monsters faded away.

"And I was expecting to turn around my losing streak against you," she joked. The two chuckled. "Thank you Yusei, I needed this." The two made their way from the courtyard to the main entrance.

"So are you going to be ok?" Yusei asked as they walked out of the front gate.

"I think so," replied Akiza, a tear welling up in the corner of her eye.

"You know, if you ever need to talk I'll always listen," Yusei told her as she approached her duel runner, "And It's not like this'll be the last time we see each other."

"I know Yusei. It's just… I'm just going to miss this place." Her eyes then leaked tears. Soft sobs wrestled their way out of the redhead's mouth. Yusei walked over to his friend and held his arms out. Akiza knew what he was offering and she fully embraced him, crying into his shoulder. Yusei completed the hug by wrapping his arms around her. He wasn't sure what the future would hold for his signer friend, but he did know that he wanted to make her feel better. He looked up to the sky, resolving to guide her through this troubling transition.

Lillian Girl's Duel Academy (Front Gate)… Several Days Later:

The day began like any other at Lillian Girl's Duel Academy. Fant sunlight reflected off of the autumn leaves and onto the perfectly tidy uniforms of the students. As the name implied (or rather explicitly stated), the crowd of students filing into the main building were all female. The school board hoped that this lack of any Y chromosomes would lead to the young ladies to act more lady-like. What was even more surprising, is that it appeared to be working. The halls of Lillian were peaceful pretty much 24/7, completely devoid of trouble or excitement. Of course this lifestyle was embraced by a great many girls, one of which was a student by the name of Yumi Fukuzawa. Yumi was a second-year student at the duel academy. Her hair was almost always tied into pigtails with red ribbons. It's true that she wasn't' the greatest duelist in her class, but she didn't mind, and neither did anyone else really. Lillian wasn't exactly a school that pushed its students to break their limits when it comes to dueling. Yumi walked slowly through the front gates of the school and soon came up to the school's statue of the Virgin Mary (or Maria as she was known here). There is an unspoken rule that all students must pray at this statue before they arrive in class every day. Yumi just about finished this morning ritual when a voice caught her attention.

"One moment," the voice called out. Yumi turned around to see the voice's origin. What she beheld through the softly falling leaves was a beautiful young woman who appeared to be slightly older than her. She had long, flowing hair that was as black as night, and her eyes were an almost piercing blue. The black haired student slowly approached Yumi, who was a bit in awe that someone that breathtaking would just come up and talk to her.

"Um, were you addressing me?" Yumi stammered.

"Yes, I was the one who spoke and I was addressing you," the older student stated clearly, "There is no mistake. Hold this." The black haired woman held out her bag and Yumi took it without hesitation. The other student then moved her hands to Yumi's sailor scarf.

"Your scarf is crooked," she said, "You should always keep your appearance neat. Maria is watching you." The blue eyed woman then moved her hands down to the knot and tighten it slightly. The entire time this was happening, Yumi just stood there mesmerized by the stranger's immaculate beauty. "Good day." The stranger then took her bag back and walked off towards the building.

"Uhh, good day. Thank you very much," Yumi nervously called out. The stranger girl then turned around with a slight smile on her face. It was then that Yumi finally regained her bearings enough to recognize the girl who fixed her scarf, and to see another girl with dark red hair walk past the both of them out of the corner of her eye.

Author's Note:

So this story was inspired by Count Morningstar's story, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Strawberry Crisis. I liked how he was able to transform a normal anime high school into a duel academy, so I thought I'd do the same with my personal favorite Yu-Gi-Oh anime, Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's. I ended up choosing Maria-sama Ga Miteru because I wanted to have Akiza transferred to an all girl's school, and this was the only slice-of-life anime that I could find that had even some semblance of a plot. This will be my first time writing a romantic story so forgive me for any hiccups along the way. I'm going to be adding my own plotline into the story much in the same way that Count Morningstar did, and that plot will get started in the next chapter. And for those who are wondering about Mr. Shido, he was based off a teacher from Highschool of the Dead. One last thing, to all of those who want to get mad at me for using the names from the English dub of 5D's, I will kindly ask you to get over it. Review and let me know what you think.