Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Initial D Fan Fiction ❯ Initial D: Anything Goes Drift Racing ❯ Reflections and Rivalries. ( Chapter 5 )

Initial D: Mt Furinken. Anything Goes Drift Racing.

Chapter 5. Reflections and Rivalries.

It looked like a typical garage, typical to anyone obsessed with cars. The walls were lined with tools and spare parts, manuals lay stacked in a corner slowly degrading next to a set of snow chains and in the centre a hydraulic lift stood raised supporting a large deadly looking car. An experienced eye would have recognised a recent model Toyota Chaser under all the modified bodywork and oversized spoiler painted in space black with various company logo's in noticeable positions but Ryoga wasn't so experienced and to him it just looked like a car.

However it was the woman in her mid twenties working beneath the car Ryoga had come to see, particularly because she was experienced. At that moment the woman turned and spotted Ryoga standing in the door, she grinned showing her two small fangs the Hibiki family trait. -"Ryoga-kun." She squealed with delight bounding over to him. -"How's my little cousin doing then aye? Got your revenge yet?" Here voice was almost musical but shrill when over excited which happened easily, another Hibiki family trait.

-"Actually that's why I came to see you Kawaiiga-chan." He said distractedly looking over her shoulder. Kawaiiga followed his gaze to her car and her grin widened. -"You finally want to be a street racer." She said grabbing him and starting to dance round with him until suddenly she realised how heavy he was and they both collapsed on the floor. -"How much do you weigh?" -"It's mostly my umbrella." Ryoga explained. -"Oh that thing. Well if you want me to teach you how to race, leave it behind." She said punctuating her last three words.

Sixty seconds later the black Chaser landed with a thud and sparks on the concrete in front of the garage and disappeared down the street at breakneck speed. In the passenger seat Ryoga screamed as the car lurched this way and that through the busy afternoon traffic and finally out of the city and up into the mountains. Once they were on the open country roads Ryoga thought they were safe and began to relaxed and enjoy the climb on the gently sweeping road as it road up the mountain side. A road sign flashed by but he couldn't remember what it meant till he saw the road bend sharply back on itself.

-"Hey hey, slow down, slow dowwwwwwwww…" The rest was lost in another scream as the car rotated round the corner and headed further up the mountain. When the car finally pulled to a stop in a small lay-by Ryoga felt very sick and his skin wouldn't have looked out of place at a Hulk look a like competition. He slumped sideways out of his seat and crawled to the mountain edge to throw up. When he'd finished he looked up sheepishly at Kawaiiga.

-"Sorry I wasn't expecting that." He said poking small holes in a nearby rock. -"Hmm, well I didn't need to push it quite so much but I thought you should see how the really good people do it before you try. So tell me the truth you said you came to see me cos you're still seeking revenge on this Remi Soupy bloke but why the interest in cars, I thought it was martial arts you two were into?" Kawaiiga sat on the bonnet of her car and beckoned Ryoga to sit next to him. Ryoga reflected that she was the only girl he could talk to without becoming a complete idiot with the possible exception of Ukyo. He noted a surprising similarity between them though Kawaiiga had short green hair and wore cut-offs and a t-shirt. He had to admit she deserved her name even if she were his cousin. He took a seat. -"Well firstly, his name is Ranma Soatome but so far I have failed to defeat him in combat. However recently he started training as a street racer to improve his skills though I'm not sure how yet but I can't let him get ahead of me so I must train to. Besides I figure I have an advantage here, since my cousin is a professional drift racer I thought you could train me to be better than him."

Kawaiiga was quite for a bit while she thought. -"So you want me to train you to race, so you can beat this Ranma Soatome in a race?" -"Yeah that's pretty much it." -"Well, I'd better see how good he is first. Where does he race?" -"Mt Furinken, he's being trained by one of the local racers, I think his name is prawn cracker or something silly like that." To Ryoga it seemed like, in that moment the mountain held its breath and even the wind seemed to disappear, Kawaiiga was silent beside him. -"Edy." She whispered sadly. -"Do you know him?" -"Yes from a long time ago." -"What happened?" Ryoga asked innocently. -"It's a long story maybe I'll tell you sometime but not today." She smiled at him half heartedly and hopped off the bonnet of the car. Ryoga felt slightly unsatisfied with this answer but even he could sense she was uncomfortable about something so he decided not to press the issue. -"Ok, well let's get you started then." -"So you'll train me?" Ryoga squeaked. -"Of course, what are cousins for?"

Ranma felt like he stood at the top of the world as he looked out over the world below him letting the wind whip his pigtail round his face and pull his cloths about like the sails of a galleon. The previous night he'd beaten Kuno in a race down the mountain even though it had been his first and Kuno had surprisingly turned out to be one of the mountains best racers. But now in the morning air he was having doubts. All his life he'd practised his martial arts abilities religiously and though many of the styles he'd learned had been ludicrous they still bore a resemblance to the traditional arts.

But now he was a street racer and there wasn't really an element of anything he'd done before involved. It was true his skills gave him superior reflexes, judgement and control over the car but there was nothing new he could apply anywhere else. For the first time he was doing something that wasn't martial arts based and loving it and it bothered him. Was it right, what would everyone else think, wasn't he forgetting everything they'd always drilled into him. It was the Tendo and Soatome schools of martial arts not racing. He shook his head and growled. A foot step behind him snapped his attention back to earth. He turned to see a familiar young girl in a blue dress standing beside his car.

-"Akane. What are you doing here?" He said hoping he didn't sound annoyed. -"When you missed breakfast this morning and I saw Kuno in the market, I thought something might be wrong." -"Kuno? What's up with him." -"He looked like a mess and was rambling something about turbos. He didn't even bother me today. What's been going on and what happened last night?" Ranma didn't know why, maybe it was the mountain air or maybe it was emotional instability but he found he couldn't resist her eyes so he slumped down with his back to the car door and began to explain everything from the first night he saw the two cars whiz by on the road and Sakura narrowly missing him with the car to the present moment, even his confusion over what the others might say.

And when he'd finished she smiled at him. -"Ranma, it's your life you can do what you want. I know your dad has always drilled all that `be a man' stuff into your head but really it's all bullshit. It sounds like you're really good at this racing and you really enjoy it and enjoy it for what it is not because it's what you're told to do." Ranma suddenly found that their faces were only inches apart and his stomach felt like a million butterflies where trying to break free but they'd been here before and always their parents had jumped out and ruined the moment but Ranma realised this time they really were alone. Akane too had noticed their closeness, felt the warmth of his body against hers as they sat huddled against the car on the cold mountain her lips felt dry and her tongue naturally darted out to moisten them.

Ranma knew they'd moved close now, he could feel her hot breath on his face, see the moistness of her lips as she delicately licked them. Akane's eyes were half closed and her head tilted slightly as only an inch separated their lips when the bushes beside them rustled and moved and something emerged from them. In an instant both Ranma and Akane had jumped to their feet and were violently protesting their innocence to their parents and friends but there was no one there. They fell silent and looked about sheepishly to see a rabbit hopping slowly along the grass verge nibbling the odd flower. Their eyes met again and they blushed, Ranma found his mouth opened ready to defend his moment of weakness but at that moment something Neji had said came back to him. -`You've got to treat your car like a woman, you mess her around and she'll slap you but if you treat her right you'll never miss a corner.'

Ranma hadn't really understood him at the time but he knew now from experience that if you treated the car to roughly on the turns you could easily loose control and from experience he could tell that saying the wrong thing to any girl would get you slapped or usually worse. So Ranma closed his mouth and tried to get his emotions under control. Akane cleared her throat. -"I guess we should get home then. It'll be lunch soon." -"Yes lunch, I wonder what Kasumi will be cooking." Ranma said welcoming the change of subject. -"Meatballs I think. Come on, you can give me a ride, I want to see how you drive." They sat in the car and Ranma turned the ignition. -"Akane, do you want me to drive normally or the other way." Ranma asked. -"You say you're good right?" -"Yes." -"Then, show me what you've learned. Show me why you enjoy this so much." They smiled briefly at each other then Ranma put the car in to gear and was soon tearing down the mountain course determined to show Akane why sideways is the best way.

Meanwhile Ryoga too was sitting in the driving seat at the start line of a mountain race course. -"So it's clutch in, select gear, handbrake off and accelerator down." The engine screamed as the rev meter redlined and the car began to roll gently backwards from the start line. -"The clutch, let the clutch out." Kawaiiga screamed banging her head on the dashboard. Ryoga let the clutch out and immediately the wheels spun in a cloud of dust and rubber smoke before the car darted forward with a neck jarring motion catapulting Kawaiiga into the back of the passenger seat and keeping her there as the car approached the first corner for the sixth time that day. Kawaiiga screamed in frustration again as Ryoga spun the car out as he exited the corner. -"Maybe racing just isn't for you?" She suggested hopefully. -"No, I must become better than Ranma. I must." Ryoga's cousin groaned. This was going to take a lot longer than she'd expected.