Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Initial D Fan Fiction ❯ Initial D: Anything Goes Drift Racing ❯ Season 2: Chapter 2: Ghosts Of The Mountain ( Chapter 11 )

Initial D: Mt Furinken. Anything Goes Drift Racing.

Season 2: Chapter 2: Ghosts Off The Mountain

Ranma sat down at the small café table and look across at Edy.

"I got you're message, so what do you want." Ranma looked at Edy again, there was something different about him this morning. It was only subtle around the corners of his mouth and something in his eyes but he looked strangely contended and happy, happier Ranma thought than he'd ever seen him in the short time he'd known the street racer. Ranma knew something had always hung over Edy though he didn't pry but it was as if whatever burden he carried was gone and Ranma could associate with that feeling which was maybe why he recognised it.

"I want to thank you Ranma." Edy said. "Knowing you has changed me, you're a strong person stronger than I think even you realise and after recent events I finally found the strength I needed to face up to my ghosts, strength I got from you." Ranma was blushing slightly at this but he was confused.

"I don't understand. Sakura and Neji have mentioned a few things but." He tailed off not knowing what to say.

"Those two don't really know the full story just bit's they wormed out of me over the time we've raced together but I want to tell you now, I feel I owe it to you. It was a little over six years ago when I started getting into drifting properly, I'd bought and tuned my first drift car an old S13, nothing special but I had a girl friend, Miru who was into the whole scene even more than me though she had no licence, she used to like being in the car with me when I drove. It was quickly apparent to everyone that I was a natural, I had a born rhythm for this mountain and I learnt quickly." Edy paused while the waitress put two cups of coffee on the table, then began again. "Anyway there was another young racer then who was considered to be the fastest on the mountain and there were rumours some company officials had offered him sponsorship to do autocross."

"Mitzuki?" Ranma couldn't help the interruption but Edy only nodded.

"Yes and he thought I was some kind of threat so he made a very public challenge to me. Now normally I wouldn't have had my Miru in the car for big races but she'd begged me and stupidly I caved."

"Where was this, I think Sakura said you used to race on another mountain?" Edy shook his head this time.

"No it has always been Mt Furinken just not always the road you know." Ranma looked even more puzzled at this. "There is another road on Furinken far more difficult than the one you know and the entrance is almost impossible to find unless you know where to find it. And it was at the top of this road my S13 and Mitzuki's car then an MR2 lined up. I can still remember the starters face as he dropped his race to signal the go and I don't know why but that night I was on fire far better than usual, even though Mitzuki was leading at the start I soon over took and was leading all the way down with him always stuck just behind me, he just couldn't pass me on the corners it was so exhilarating and it was obvious I was going to win." Edy paused to sip his coffee and Ranma whose throat was drying with anticipation gulped his down.

"So what happened." Ranma said trying not to show how much the coffee had burned is mouth.

"I got misjudged him, I never believed he'd try anything stupid. Two corners before the finish it was a wide left hander and he made a rush on my inside line, he was going far to fast and I didn't notice. He tried to brake away but the slide was too far gone, his tail end impacted into the passenger side at over 70mph and cars weren't build like they are now, the passenger door was ripped away along with all the structural support and as my car crashed through the guard rail Miru was thrown out. She was crushed between the two cars as they hit the tree line though the doctors say she died when the cars first collided." Ranma was silent staring at Edy, hew was sure there were tears behind his eyes but he said nothing.

Edy continued, "I never forgave myself for that day but Mitzuki's sponsors already had all the paper work signed up and they didn't want to loose their investment and didn't want any bad publicity so they threatened Miru's family and mine into silence and `gave' me a brand new R32 as a shut up bribe. I sold that as soon as it arrived and bought the NSX but I couldn't bring myself to race it. Then there were six more bad accidents on the same corner in the following months and the course got a reputation as bad luck. That's when everyone switched to the main road and I found as long as I buried the pain deep away I could drive again, a little after I met Neji and Sakura and they just followed me around till I gave up trying to lose them." Ranma shifted in his seat.

"So how did I change things?"

"Seeing you advancing so quickly, you reminded me so much of me starting out then the other night when you had your accident everything I felt then came back but you did the one thing I wish I'd done. You did everything you could no matter what it would cost you to save the woman you loved and you did and afterwards you were both so strong in getting back to you're lives and didn't let it affect you. And from that I found the strength to face up to my mistake, I saw that it was in the past and that this was not what Miru wanted for our lives. So last night I went back to the road to finish that race and put to rest the demons that haunted the course."

"So they were your head lights I saw on the mountain last night." Ranma said with sudden realisation.

"You saw them?" Edy smiled. "Then that makes the tribute all the more fitting. Anyway I've finished what I meant to do and I'm satisfied now so, I'm going to retire from racing." Ranma looked at Edy with shock.

"What? Retire, why?"

"Because I have no more reason to race, I raced to bury the memories of that night and hide my pain but that's gone now so I have no reason to race anymore." Ranma stared into Edy's eyes looking for some hint of a joke but saw none.

"So what will you do now then?" Ranma asked.

"I don't know but I always wanted to see Europe so I thought I'd take an extended holiday. There is something I want you to do however." He took something from his jacket pocket and gently tossed it to Ranma, it was a key. "Take good care of her, she can have a bit of a temper with strangers but look after her and she'll look after you." Ranma looked at the key and then in the direction Edy was now looking, at a dark blue NSX type R with a body kit that still to Ranma made it look like the meanest thing he'd ever seen.

"You're giving me your car?"

"I don't need it anymore and you need a new car, besides I think you're ready for her." Ranma smiled a broad uncontrollable grin of gratitude.

"Now it's my turn to say thank you." Was all he could manage.

"You've earned it and remember if you ever need me, Neji will know how to find me." A flicker of confusion crossed Ranma's face.

"What about Sakura?"

"She's coming with me, now I've settled Miru's ghosts I'm ready to admit my feelings for her another one I owe you and Akane, Ranma." A horn tooted from the kerb and Ranma looked round to see Neji's Supra pulled up with Sakura in the passenger seat. "Well I guess I'll be off then, Sakura and I have a plane to catch."

"You're going already?"

"Yeah, I'm done here so the sooner I move on the better." Edy drained his coffee then stood up, he offered his hand to Ranma who shook it feeling a little awkward and also a little sad.

"Send me a post card ok." Edy grinned.

"You bet." Edy climbed into the back seat of the Supra before learning out the window. "Oh and look in the glove box, I left something you might find interesting in there." Edy said cheerily then the window closed and as the car drove away Ranma watched as Sakura and Edy waved goodbye and he waved in return till the car was out of sight. Then he turned and walked over to his new car, letting his hands run over the smooth metallic paint, little specs of silver glinting in the sunlight. He opened the door and climbed in feeling the plush leather bucket seats beneath him, adjusting the position for his slightly shorter legs. Then as an after though popping open the glove box, inside was a map showing the Furinken area and in red marker an arrow pointing to a turning at the base of the mountain road and then a red line tracing the unmarked road to the top of the mountain. Even like this Ranma could see it was a more difficult road that the regular one.

"Thanks again Edy." Ranma said to himself before starting the perfectly tuned engine and setting out for home and when he arrived he found Akane sitting on the bonnet of a white Mitsubishi FTO and grinning from ear to ear and Ranma could already guess what had happened.

"Thanks to you too Sakura." Ranma said softly pulling the NSX along side Akane's new car and climbing out to hug her close.

"You made some really great friends in those two you know." Akane said.

"I know, and where ever they go I can only wish them the best of luck. You know Edy thanked me today but I owe him and Sakura everything, they changed my life into something I could have never imagined and you know I think the best is still yet to come." Ranma said lifting Akane into the air and kissing her, properly this time, their first proper, deep, true kiss of love while from the dining room their parents danced for joy round their shogi board and made rash and over exuberant plans for the future.