Day 1. Portrait | Landscape
She liked painting, it's a habit she developed during her teenage years when she was first enrolled in Duel Academia. It's one of the few things she could do without being distracted, without being called a monster. After all, drawing did not hurt anyone. The fact that she painted alone in her room helped too, a not present monster is a good monster. In the beginning, she drew "easy" things, like mountains, trees, classical landscapes. But after a while she thought it would be interesting to paint portraits. Happy portraits mostly, so that she can think to herself at least these people are happy to see me. So she started painting random people, some did have traits that she took from people she knew, some were more based on the beauty ideal of Japan. But one portrait was different. She didn't exactly know why, but she wanted to paint a tall blonde woman for some reason. And so she did: A tall blonde woman, with piercing green eyes, that smiles gently at her. If she was real, I might fall in love with such a beauty, she jokingly thought to herself.
And she didn't give it much thought after it either, because some thing happened the next day in a class which made her run away and never come back. She wanted to go back home, but her parents seemed so happy without her. So she ran away from home as well only to end up in the streets for some time. She didn't knew how long it took until she was in Arcadia Movement with Divine helping her to be herself. Or so she thought. It took long to understand he was manipulating her, she only realised it long after the Fortune Cup was over. She thought of painting to distract her from what she just heard from Mikage, but there was no time, they had to fight against the Dark Signers soon. It was then when she thought about that particular portrait again: A tall blonde woman, with piercing green eyes, that smiles gently at her. The description of the portrait became like a mantra. Every time she needs comfort she thinks of the woman she has drawn. It may seem weird, but it worked.
Only after the Dark Signers were defeated and they could live a normal life again, Aki decided to start to paint again. After all, getting to Duel Academia again would certainly mean that she would be bullied again, so using her time to paint would be better than wasting her time to get to know some of her classmates. Little did she know that painting or drawing during pauses actually cause more attention than she expected. "What are you drawing, Izayoi-san?", a timid voice asked next to her. Aki looked up from her painting, only to see Tanaka Sakura standing there, trying to figure out what Aki was drawing. "Just a random sketch, nothing too specific," Aki replied. Tanaka nodded, before her eyes went to another classmate of theirs. "Can you do portraits too?", Tanaka asked shyly again. Aki followed Tanaka's gaze – she was staring at Nakamura Mei who was helping someone to carry a pile of books. "Sure," Aki replied, "why?". Before Tanaka could reply, the bell signalized that the pause was over, so Aki stopped drawing. It was a weird conversation that lasted for maybe two minutes, but it was for once a conversation not about her powers so she was grateful for that.
After a while, Aki became friends with Sakura. The more they talked, the less shy Sakura was. And after a few more weeks, Mei joined their friend group too. Aki noticed Sakura and Mei being a lot more touchy with each other, but she didn't want to interpret much into it. They are probably just very good friends. She stared at the two. They were completely in their own world talking about table tennis for some reason. Right now they didn't have a course, they should do self-study, but no-one in the room really cared for it, because it was unnaturally hot for April. Aki decided to draw her two friends. For some reason, the drawing looked like a couple being on a date. Maybe they aren't just very good friends. Aki smiled at the thought, but at the same time she wondered if she would ever find the right one for her. Maybe a tall blonde woman, with piercing green eyes, that smiles gently at her, was an immediate thought, but she shook her head. The thought was just too unrealistic.
At least that's what everyone would have said. A day after she finished the drawing of her two probably in love friends, she found herself in a weird situation. Yusei has been kidnapped and all of the Signers were out looking for him. Aki happened to be the one who found him and she even managed to get into the truck, which caused her to be in even greater problems. How should they escape now? She lost her Duel Disk and her Deck, so summoning her Dragon was not an option at the moment. Hopefully Mikage would pick up her stuff. Of course Yusei had the great idea of escaping by using his D-Wheel, which Aki was not fond of, but there was no other way. And if that wasn't enough, a random riding duelist challenged them to a duel with the threat that if they decline, Yusei's D-Wheel would blow up. I should have never gotten onto this truck, was all Aki could think about. And after a while of dueling this random riding duelist, they came to a halt. The bomb was a bluff, which surprised Aki. But the long blonde hair that released itself after the riding duelist took off the helmet as well as those piercing green eyes, surprised her even more. "A woman who's a riding duelist", was all she could say, but in fact, the appearance of this woman reminded her so much about the painting she has made years ago. A tall blonde woman, with piercing green eyes, that smiles gently at her. This woman smiled too – maybe not at her – but everything about this woman seemed so familiar. "My name is Sherry LeBlanc," the woman introduced herself.
Of course the duel wasn't over just because Sherry revealed her identity to them. So they continued and Aki was intrigued by the woman, even though, whenever she tried to get into the conversation the blonde would react harshly and tell her that no-one asked for her opinion. Somehow Aki expected more; she expected Sherry to be the tall blonde woman of the painting she has made years ago. Being gentle, protective in a way. She appeared to be nothing of that. Suddenly the guys from before decided to drop the truck onto the Duel Lane. We will all die if I don't do anything, Aki concluded. And so she snatched Stardust Dragon out of Yusei's hand, placed it onto the Duel Disk and told the white dragon to protect them all. "A psychic duelist?", Sherry exclaimed just as she drove underneath the white dragon who held the truck for a few seconds so that they all could survive.
The day was eventful, to put it nicely. Both Sherry and Yusei stopped their D-Wheels, glad they survived the day. Aki needed a moment to calm down, so she got off Yusei's D-Wheel and held the helmet in her hands. Another riding duelist came, talking to Sherry before he analysed Yusei. Sherry and Yusei talked about their duel and that Sherry would have had a final turn that could have decided the duel. All came down to the last card that she was about to draw, but Sherry decided to let it go. "I won't draw," she said, a smirk on her lips. She said something to Yusei before she turned her attention to Aki. "You're interesting," Sherry said, before she smiled and winked at her. And Aki couldn't help but blush. A tall blonde woman, with piercing green eyes, that smiles gently at her. The description now fits perfectly and Aki knew that she needed to get her riding duel licence to get to know this woman.
And now she's here, gently holding a pencil in her right hand and a block in her lap, trying to catch the beauty of the blonde woman lying next to her, a tall blonde woman. Sherry looked so peaceful when she slept. "Drawing again?", the blonde asked which surprised Aki that she almost dropped her pencil. "Did I wake you up?", Aki asked gently. Sherry opened her eyes, her piercing green eyes, meeting Aki's brown ones. Her lips turned into a smile, she smiles gently at her. "Not at all," Sherry said.
A/N: Alternate Universe in which Aki likes to draw. I hope you enjoyed it!