Initial D

(Author's note: For sake of ease, I'll put it here. Whenever Takumi speaks, or is spoken to by Eric or the Red Suns, it's in Japanese. When the story shifts to Japan, everyone will be speaking in Japanese, this way when/if an American comes along who doesn't understand you'll know why he's confused.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Initial D, that honor belongs to Shuichii Shigeno. Nor do I own Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Honda, Subaru or any car company for that matter, it'd be a scary thing if I did though.)

Chapter One: Halfway Around the World

"Damn!"

The black GT-R came to a halt at the bottom of the mountain road, the tail lights of the car that had just beaten it slowing down a bit farther in front of him.

"Yahoo! The undefeated streak for the Speed Stars continues!" Itsuki shouted from his vantage point, jumping and pumping his fist in the air.

"I swear he can't lose!" Kouichirou giggled like a schoolgirl as their 'secret weapon' stopped next to them, the driver of which stepped out.

"Chalk up another on Takumi's bumper! To think, my best friend is the single greatest driver in all of Gunma prefecture," Itsuki glowed with admiration at his friend, Takumi Fujiwara.

Takumi was just a regular 18-year-old teenager, except when he got behind the wheel of his Trueno AE 86. He pumped gas at a gas station not too far from his house/father's business in a small town in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. There wasn't much to do, except school, the local arcade, and of course, Akina Mountain.

If you had your license and a good car, you went up Mt. Akina every chance you got to take on the corners and test your skills as a driver. The local street racing team, the Akina Speed Stars, are the fastest on the mountain, namely because they're the only team ON the mountain. They were a mediocre team with mediocre drivers, that is, until the top street team in Gunma, the Akagi Red Suns, stepped up and challenged the Speed Stars. After scouting out the Speed Starts and the road, the top two drivers, Keisuke and Ryosuke, the Takahashi Brothers, figured they didn't need to go all out, but Ryosuke wanted Keisuke to race so he could set a time that the locals could never beat. It didn't exactly happen that way.

On the way back from issuing the challenge, a car came up behind Keisuke Thinking it was one of his teammates, he slowed down, only to notice that it was an old, beat-up Trueno 86 hatchback. Deciding to have a little fun, Keisuke blocked the 86 and toyed with him, until the 86 flew into a turn, feinting right then inertia drifting left around the next corner. Keisuke couldn't handle it, spun out, and became obsessed with the 86. On the night of the race, the 86 showed up (thanks to a little cajoling from Kouichirou Iketani), along with its driver, Takumi Fujiwara. Takumi demonstrated the control he had over the 86 by blowing past Keisuke and his RX-7 FD in the hairpins. The Speed Stars just got put on the map, and from there on out, it's been one win after another.

"I just drive like I normally do; I don't know why you guys think it's such a big deal. My old man promised me another full tank of gas if I beat him, and I needed the gas," Takumi said.

"Why? Got another hot date with Natsuki that I can't tag along on," Itsuki said acting upset.

"No, gas is cheaper here than it is in the States."

Nothing but blank stares accompanied Takumi's statement.

"Oh, that's right, I never told you guys. I'm going to the United States for a month, my old man told me that there's some kind of street racing tournament there. He said if I win, I get what I always wanted."

"What's that," Kenji asked.

"My own car."

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, in a small town in New York…

"Hey Eric."

"What's up, Mike?"

"You think you could take a look at my car tonight? She's not sounding right and I need to get the rest of the guys together, got some news I want to share with everyone."

"Yeah, sure. What's the big news?"

"You'll have to wait and find out, hell, even YOU might be interested in it."

"I keep telling you, I'm a mechanic now man."

"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that. Anyway, just be at the usual place in an hour."

"Sure, but I gotta go get myself that new car, so I might be a little late."

"About damn time, it's only been two years since I've seen you-"

"Yeah, I know. I'll seeya later."

Eric closed his cell phone, a hand running through his black tresses. He sat on his bed and slipped his shoes on, wincing a bit as he sat back up.

"Damn, does that every time."

He slowly got to his feet, stretching and wincing at the same time before he worked his way downstairs.

"I'm heading out to get my car mom! I'll be back late!"

"Ok dear, be careful, it's getting dark out!"

"I know, I know," Eric said as he shut the door behind him. He went to the garage and took his bicycle out, hopping on and pedaling off towards the address printed in the car ad. On the way there, he remembered the small fight his mother had put up about the car.

"Hon, it's a beat-up….," she squinted to read the name of the car, "Toyota? It's a beat-up Toyota, plus look at the year. It's old, too. You can find something better for your money."

"But look at it. Only 80,000 miles, no problems, and it's cheap."

"Hon, are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"I think this is the place." He stopped at a small house, the Toyota in the ad sitting off to the side of the driveway. He dumped his bike on the side of the road and made his way to the door, azure gaze looking around the well-kept yard while a hand drifted through his onyx locks.

"Nice place, don't see too many brick-faced buildings around here anymore."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Eric quickly turned to see a man standing at the door, puffing on a cigarette.

"Uh…hi, I'm Eric; I came about the ad for the Toyota in the paper…"

"You lookin' to buy it?" The man took another drag off his cigarette, stepping off the stoop and walking towards Eric.

"Actually yeah, I am, price the same as it was in the paper?"

"Yup, $1,000."

"Great," Eric produced a wad of bills from his pocket and handed them to the man, "should be $1,000 there."

The man counted the money, taking a long drag off the smoke as he did so.

"Yup, it's all here," the man reached into his back pocket and produced the title to the car, "it's yours, free and clear. Here are the keys."

Eric calmly took the keys from the man, "thanks, 'preciate doing business with you."

"Likewise, just take good care of her," the man finished his cigarette and dropped it in front of him, stomping it out, before he walked back into the house.

Eric could only smirk as he unlocked the door and slid into the driver's seat.

"Now, let's see if I remember how to do this."

Eric looked down and noticed that it was a manual.

"Hmph, manual to boot, guess I gotta re-teach myself faster than I thought."

Eric put his left hand on the stick, shifted into reverse and began to back out of the driveway, turning so he was facing the correct way to go.

"Ok, I think I remember how to do this now."

Eric pressed the clutch, held the brake, and shifted into first before pressing the accelerator. Just then…..the car started forward.

"Excellent."

It took a moment, but he managed to shift.

"I should be able to get used to this again. I can't believe how much I still remember."

"A street racer never forgets, just loses his edge."

Eric smiled as he remembered those words.

"Yeah, but this racer's retired. A short and sweet career of a whole six months."

After taking a few laps around the neighborhood to get his driving legs back, he started off towards the meeting place.

An hour later, Eric was pulling up to a deserted stretch of road out in East Hampton.

"Woah, you finally got a new car?"

Eric closed the door behind him and locked it, "Yeah, but I wouldn't call it new."

"Still, old or not, that's some nice taste."

"So," Eric looked around at the gathered crew of Mike, himself, Jake, Matt and Rick, "what's with the sudden meeting?"

"That'd be my doing," Mike said and stepped forward. He wasn't a half-bad-looking person, but his time with his car cut into his social life. He was scruffy and bulky, but he was nice guy overall, except on the quarter-mile.

"I got some news I wanted to share with all of you. Turns out that some underground racing circuit is sponsoring an SRT."

Mutters began to move through the group as they talked in hushed tones.

"A Street Racing Tournament, really?" Jake was the first one to speak, "How? They think they can hold one and not have the cops interfere?"

"Apparently so, they're offering $10,000 cash to the winner."

"They're offering WHAT?!" Matt nearly fell down upon hearing the figure, "That's some serious jack!"

Mike spoke up again, "Yeah, I know, supposedly they got racers from all over the world going, even some from Japan."

The guys could only snicker as he said that.

"But man, think about it, it's an AMERICAN tournament, sure they can drift in Japan, but they don't have the muscle to run the quarter-mile like we do."

"Well, therein lies the problem guys," Mike sighed and leaned back against his car, "it not American street racing. It's togue."

An even louder mutter ran through the small group at this.

"Togue," Rick spoke this time, "are you serious? I mean shit man if it were quarters I'd say we go for it, but togue man? We'd have to completely re-tune our cars!"

"I know, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I plan on re-working my entire car, driving upstate and paying the $1,000 buy-in to give this a shot. With Eric in my corner as my mechanic, we can do this," Mike turned to Eric at that point, "right man?"

Eric looked up at that moment, still leaning against his Toyota.

"As long as I'm not racing, I'm in your corner, man."

"Excellent! I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

Eric smiled and chuckled slightly as he shook his head.

"So, when's the meet?"

"Two weeks, think you can pop the hood tonight and see what's wrong with her, then come by tomorrow and we can start tuning her?"

"Yeah, sure," Eric said.

Matt spoke then, "You always were really into the whole togue and drifting scene."

"Because it's pure racing, not just how many horses you got under the hood or how fast you can slam a quarter."

"Yeah, we know, you've told us before. I'm happy with quarter-miles myself, I mean just look what happened to you-"

Eric slowly turned and stared Matt in the eyes.

"Man, I'm sorry, that's not how I meant it. I meant it like, you know, what happened to you can happen to anyone togue racing."

Eric leaned back against the car, "S'ok."

"So," Mike interjected, trying to change the subject, "how about we get a few timed runs in before we pack it in, huh?"