Author's one and only Disclaimer: I don't own Initial D

I've had an awful lot of help from an awful lot of people getting this one done and i'd like to thank one in particular.

Meteor helped me out a ton with this fic, kept me on track and in a few cases kept me going to the end of it.

Project GT

Chapter 1

It was just after sunset on an early March evening, when a heavily modified competition yellow mica 1993 Mazda RX-7 pulled into the parking lot at the top of Mt. Akagi and parked next to the only other car in the area, a Sydney Blue Pearl 2000 Subaru Outback Sport, as the driver of the vehicle watched on. He was a younger fellow with semi long brown hair wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. As the driver of the FD stepped out of his car, his bleach blonde spikes showed brightly under the street light nearby.

"Hey Keisuke, long time no see," the brown haired man greeted while walking around the back of the FD.

"Takumi, how's it going?" Keisuke asked as he stepped up to the man with a half friendly grin.

"Not too bad, heard you won a few championships in the GT500 series," Takumi said with an extended hand which the bleach blonde shook.

"Heard you won a few yourself in GT300. Do you know why Aniki called us out here to Akagi?" Keisuke asked looking around the lot of his old street racing team the Red Suns.

"Not a clue, I just got the call and booked over here, I just happened to be in Natsuki's Subaru when he called," the younger man replied with a curious tone that matched his old racing partners.

"You know, we race at the same time, but with everything our teams have us doing we have to 'hear' what each other is doing, it's ridiculous," the spiky blonde said with a chuckle.

"You're not wrong, it is just a little stupid," Takumi responded with a chuckle of his own.

The two men sat passing the time by talking about the two GT500 championships Keisuke had won and the three GT300 championships that Takumi had won in the six years since Project D. They also caught up on the status of their marriages to Kyoko Iwase and Natsuki Mogi.

They had been talking for an hour or so when a crystal white 1990 RX-7 with a carbon fiber hood, fixed headlights and a spoiler off the back pulled into the parking area and parked a few spots away from Takumi's Subaru.

"Speak of the devil, Aniki finally showed up," Keisuke said with a slight chuckle.

"Keisuke, Fujiwara, it certainly has been a while," The owner of the FC, a tall brown haired man in a tailored white suit, said as he walked towards the other two drivers.

"So Ryosuke-san, what did you call us up here for?" Takumi asked leaning against a guardrail.

"A proposition, you two come and teach for me at my school and we start a professional team made up of street racers," Ryosuke replied in his usual calm tone.

Keisuke and Takumi both were shocked at the way he made it sound more like an order than politely asking.

"You two were my double aces in Project D, so I want you to be my double ace teachers now that both of you have experience in the professional world," Ryosuke again stated making it sound more like an order than the first.

"I'll have to find out if the GT team wants me to re-sign again, I can't pass it up if they ask me to, they already have a replacement for me if I don't," Takumi said turning away from both men.

"Aniki, I'm in the same place, they ask I'm signing, I'm still having too much fun with it," Keisuke said with a slight chuckle.

"Both of your contracts are up in one month's time they would have asked already if they were going to have you re-sign. I think it's time for Project D's double aces to be more than just drivers and start teaching the next generation of racers," Ryosuke said regaining both men's attention as he leaned against his brother's FD, "Not to mention the fact you've both been moved to the test driver's position for the remainder of your contract time."

Keisuke and Takumi both seemed to think it over for a long while before either of them even moved, much less spoke.

"I'll talk it over with Natsuki, at least it would mean a more permanent home rather than running all over the place. Give me a month and I'll let you know," Takumi said as he walked back over to the Outback and took off before getting any form of response.

"Hate to say this Aniki, but I'm with him, Kyoko and I are going to need time to talk this over," Keisuke said as he placed a hand on his older brother's shoulder before climbing into the yellow FD and leaving the brown haired man standing in the summit lot of Akagi's mountain pass.

"At least they can think on their own now," Ryosuke said with a small chuckle as he too climbed into his FC and drove away from Mt. Akagi.

A few days later Takumi was driving around his old home town before pulling into the Esso gas station where he used to work. He let out a chuckle as his friends walked around his Grand Prix white 2002 Honda S2000, the official replacement vehicle for the 86 on the mountain pass after its unfortunate end during his race against Shinji Inui six years before. Looking at the car it was pretty much a factory machine with a carbon fiber hood and spoiler.

"Itsuki, would you fill it up and quit staring?" the brown haired man laughed as his shorter friend nearly drooled on the white and black car.

"So has this one seen Akina for the morning deliveries?" A tall black haired man asked as he came out of the station's garage.

"Yeah a couple of times, it's nice to see you too Iketani-sempai," Takumi responded with a slight bow, "Have you two been practicing in the six years since Project D? Normally when the three of us hang out we just talk about life in general."

"We get to Akina every chance we get, Itsuki is getting better every time we go down lately but there's no racers there anymore so we've got it all to ourselves," another black haired man said as he stepped out of a white 180SX, leaving Itsuki with a huge grin on his face.

"Oh, and is it the 85 or did he finally get his 86?" Takumi asked with genuine curiosity.

Itsuki and Iketani exchanged a couple glances with Kenji that a guy two prefectures over could see through.

"Guys come on, what's Itsuki driving?" Takumi said with a little more urgency in his tone than before.

"Well, he's been driving my old S13, I sold it to him when I upgraded to that grey S15 with a single turbo over there, happened a month or two after you went pro," Iketani replied with a grin two kilometers wide pointing towards the car in front of the garage space.

Takumi just stood stunned for a moment before the gas pump shutting off brought him out of his reverie. He jumped in the S2000 and moved it away from the pump so he wouldn't hold up traffic at the pumps.

"Alright, this explains why he was always getting out of the S13's driver's seat when we meet up at the Family's, but why didn't you tell me?" Takumi asked with a half false anger in his tone.

Iketani and Kenji nearly fell over laughing, which seemed to lighten the mood quite a bit around the station.

"Dude, you're a professional race driver, but you're still just as clueless as always Takumi old friend," Itsuki said as he patted the slightly taller man on the shoulder with a faked sympathetic look on his face.

Takumi spent a few hours catching up on everything his friends were up to and who was dating who before heading back to his father's tofu shop to see how the Subaru was doing after picking Natsuki up from the mall. As he pulled around the corner he spotted his old man sitting on the hood of the blue Subaru smoking a cigarette.

"You really should quit smoking Dad, might kill you before your driving does," Takumi said as he helped Natsuki out of the Honda.

"Well I'll think about it if you two have me a grandchild soon," Bunta said with a slight chuckle while hugging Natsuki before walking into the shop.

After having a good sized dinner cooked by Bunta and Natsuki, they sat watching a little TV while talking about Takumi making a few of the deliveries during the week. After talking for a while Takumi saw a face on the TV that looked familiar, his ex-girlfriend Mika Uehara. Natsuki noticed her husband staring at the television but didn't say anything until they were on their way home.

"So Takumi, what really happened between you and Mika?" Natsuki asked as they drove away from the tofu shop.

"Well I told you we broke up, what else is there to tell?" Takumi asked trying to dodge the long explanation.

"Okay, but by the way you were staring at that TV, she left a mark when she left," the brown haired woman said as she placed a hand on her husband's.

"It was about six years ago, right after Project D ended and my Super GT career started," Takumi said before taking a deep breath to tell the story of his break up with Mika Uehara.

Takumi waited for Mika at the driving range after one of her practice sessions just after Project D's last race in Hakone. He was leaning against his father's GC8 as a black haired man approached him with a kind smile.

"You must be Takumi-kun, my daughter speaks very highly of you," the man said with an outstretched hand.

"That means you're Mika's father, she speaks rather highly of you as well Sir," Takumi replied with a bow before shaking his hand.

"I wanted to talk to you before you two left here today, just to try and get something straight," Mr. Uehara said motioning the younger man to follow him to one of the benches close by.

"Takumi-kun, I know that you care for my daughter and that you want a professional racing career. Mika wants a professional golfing career, but I just want you to know that with you two being apart so much because of these I don't want to see my daughter hurt," Mr. Uehara said as the younger man sat at the other end of the bench, "As much as I know she's happy around you, and being with you, I think it would be best for her, and you as well, to go ahead and end this relationship, whatever it might be before it gets to a point of heart break later on."

"I think I understand, but I don't like the idea," Takumi responded after recovering from the initial shock before simply getting up and walking towards Nika who was coming out of the building.

The two drove to a small restaurant and were having dinner. Takumi was a little more spaced out than usual and didn't even notice that Mika was asking him about his races.

"Takumi, where are you tonight?" Mika asked when she finally got his attention.

"Just thinking of something your father said while we were waiting on you," the brown haired man replied honestly, "He thinks that maybe we should end this before it goes any further, with us both wanting to go professional in our fields we'll almost never see each other, he says better to end it before heart break becomes a distraction."

Mika seemed to notice that Takumi still seemed distracted.

"Takumi, what my father said isn't the only thing on your mind is it?" she asked taking one of his hands in hers.

Takumi told her all about his race against Kyoichi Sudo in Mt. Akagi nearly a year before when he blew the engine in the 86 over Natsuki. They both spent the rest of dinner in near silence only speaking when the waitress asked if they needed anything.

"Takumi, I think Dad may be right, and you telling me what happened at Akagi last year with your car, it just settled it I don't want to see you hurt on TV because of me, so let's end this before it gets distracting for both of us." Mika said as they approached her home.

Takumi simply nodded and brought the GC8 to a halt and said a quick good bye before leaving the girl standing at the door with a small tear in both their eyes.

"Okay, so it was a mutual, but unwanted break up?" Natsuki asked, receiving only a small nod in response as they continued to drive.

Over in Maebashi, Keisuke and Kyoko were sitting at a very popular family type restaurant discussing Ryosuke's offer. Kyoko was both shocked and proud that Keisuke, the hard headed uphill driver of Project D, was considering being a teacher of driving technique.

"I think it's wonderful darling, if it's something you want to do I'll support you all the way," The dirty blonde haired woman said as a certain spiky haired driver ate one of his shrimp.

"What I'm really worried about is actually being able to teach this stuff, you know how I am with trying to explain all this different stuff, I know it in my head but it never comes out making any sense at all," Keisuke said placing one hand on the table and the other over the back of the booth.

Kyoko simply sat across from her husband of four years now and placed both of her hands on his.

"Darling, I'm sure you'll do just fine once you get used to it, hey why don't you try teaching your old teammate from Project D to start off? Or just a newbie to see if you can explain it, if that doesn't work you can always be a demonstration oriented teacher," the dirty blonde haired woman said excitedly.

"Could work, Takumi has an S2000 now, could teach him how to go uphill in it," Keisuke laughed as he took his wife's hands in his, "Babe, you're the greatest."

The month seemed to move slowly as Takumi agreed to be Keisuke's "student" on the uphill of Mt. Akagi. Natsuki had always enjoyed riding with Takumi while drifting around the mountains so she took to sitting in his passenger seat whenever possible, and each night Takumi got faster and faster with Keisuke's teachings and Natsuki's encouragement.

Takumi was teaching Iketani and Itsuki to drive their new cars to the fullest on the downhill as his practice for becoming a teacher. Once he learned how to explain what he wanted to see, Iketani, Kenji and Itsuki all grew to a whole new level of fast using his teachings on both the downhill and the up.

"You two will do just fine as teachers since Keisuke is teaching you how to run the uphill," Itsuki laughed as the four men met up at the foot of Mt. Akina after a practice night.

"Come on Itsuki, Takumi's a three time GT300 championship winner, I bet he could teach us something new to do at every inch of the road for a month and still not be out of tricks," Kenji laughed.

"Come on guys, I just used what I learned in Project D to drive the GT300 car and teach you guys," Takumi said while scratching the back of his head.

"You'll have to be a little more confident if you want the students at Ryosuke Takahashi's school to listen to you Takumi," Kenji said before patting the younger brown haired man on the shoulder.

The group split up and went their separate ways for the night. Itsuki, Kenji and Iketani went back to the gas station while Takumi met up with Keisuke at the bottom of Mt. Akagi for his uphill lessons and to discuss Ryosuke's offer.

After training for a few hours together Keisuke and Takumi parked at the foot of the mountain pass to talk about things.

"So I guess we're teaching for Ryosuke now. I think I'm going to enjoy being able to run a home course again, can't believe how much I missed doing this," Keisuke said with a chuckle as he patted the hood of his trusted FD.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe how much I would miss making the delivery runs on Akina either. Just having that peace in the mornings this past month has helped me make the decision," Takumi said with a chuckle as well.

"Seeing you two talking like this is definitely a good sign that you've gotten used to being teammates again, but now you seem to be friendlier toward each other," A voice said from behind the two, "Does this mean I have two teachers for my school?"

"Yeah, I think it does Aniki," The spiky blonde haired man replied looking over his shoulder at his brother Ryosuke.

"Good, you have two months to find your first class. Use your training as professional drivers to find the best and ask them to come in and be trained by you," Ryosuke said before turning on his heels and leaving the two drivers of Project D standing in the parking lot.