Disclaimer: the rights to the anime and manga series, Initial D, are owned by Tokyopop – at least in the states, they are – and they have not authorized this story in any way. Should they request, for any reason, that this not-for-profit piece of fiction be removed from the web, it will be done without question.

The Shadow of Usui

By Random1377

Takumi glanced up into the distance at the imposing mass of Mount Usui, shaking his head as his friend Itsuki tipped his can up and took a long pull. "Ahh," Itsuki said with some satisfaction, "nothing like throwing back a cold one after a hard day of drifting!"

"I don't think they mean soda when they say 'cold one,'" Takumi pointed out, leaning back against Itsuki's eight-five Levin and sticking one leg out in front of him. "And we've only been out for a couple hours."

Itsuki looked put out, glancing around the small gas station where they had come to gas up and get some snacks and saying, "Well, it feels a lot longer when you've been practicing I guess."

Takumi shrugged.

They had decided to drive out a ways from Akina to avoid the crowds of gawkers who had sprung up like weeds ever since Takumi's defeat of Shingo less than a week before. Itsuki had finally managed to pin his friend down and commit to help him out, since neither of them really had anything going on Sundays, and since Itsuki needed so much help.

The gas station itself was located about halfway down one of the foothills of Mount Usui, the next closest mountain to Akina in the Gunma prefecture, and was fairly devoid of other patrons… though the presence of one other customer was single-handedly responsible for keeping the two boys there long after gassing up.

"Man," Itsuki whispered, "there is something about a girl washing a car…"

The girl in question looked to be about their age, though Takumi could not tell for sure as most of what they'd seen of her was from the back.

Not that either of them was complaining about this fact.

She was dressed in shorts and a midriff-baring, gaudy pink tee-shirt which rode up almost to the point of exposing her bra-strap every time she leaned across the hood of her American-made car.

"You think that's a dye job?" Itsuki murmured, nodding to the girl's long, blonde hair.

Takumi shrugged. "Dunno," he said softly. "Better not ask her, though," he advised, "I see guys get smacked for stuff like that in school all the time."

Itsuki was about to reply when the girl finally straightened and turned around, revealing the front of her body.

"Damn," Itsuki muttered under his breath, "is she smuggling watermelons?"

Takumi gave the girl a considering glance. Cantaloupes at best, he thought critically, trying not to be too obvious in his assessing, small cantaloupes, for that matter.

…then again, when you're used to apples and peaches, cantaloupes can seem like watermelons, and so, neither boy was as subtle as he could have been.

The girl noticed.

"Aw crap," Itsuki groaned, "she saw us! Don't freak out, don't freak out!"

Takumi glanced at him. You're the one freaking out, he thought, shaking his head as the girl straightened up and approached them. Well, here's hoping she doesn't yell too long…

Itsuki was clearly thinking the same thing. "Let me do the talking," he said, trying to sound cool, "I'll get us out of this."

This, Takumi doubted, but he was always a 'don't speak unless spoken to' kind of guy, so he held his tongue, waiting for the girl to say something as she came to a stop in front of them and planted her hands on her flaring hips.

They steeled themselves as she drew a deep breath, both thinking, Here it comes, at the exact same second.

"You guys know anything about cars?"

Takumi's first impression at hearing the girl's heavily accented voice was that she was not all that bright. She had that kind of high, perpetually whiny tone to her voice that many guys liked… but that Takumi found annoying – as if he was speaking to a spoiled seven-year-old.

Itsuki's first thought, of course, was, It's not dye – she really is a foreigner!

"Er," Itsuki said, not quite regaining his composure, but remembering somehow that if a hot girl talks you, you talk back, "we both work in a gas station, and I'm pretty good at working on my own car right here."

The girl gave his eight-five a cursory glance before returning her gaze to Itsuki and putting her hand on the side of her head. "It's cute," she said lightly, "but I want to know if you can help me with my car."

Itsuki and Takumi exchanged glances.

Clearly, the fact that because Itsuki could work on his car, he might be able to help her with hers did not occur to her.

"I could take a look," Itsuki said, trying very hard to sound modest, "what's wrong with it?"

"The headlight on the right side doesn't work," the girl complained, "and Daddy said I can't drive after dark if I don't turn on the headlights."

Another glance was exchanged, and Itsuki rose to his feet, dusting off the back of his pants.

"Let's see."

Takumi shook his head, taking a sip of his soda as the girl turned around and started towards her car. Go for it, man, he thought, waving encouraging as Itsuki gave him the double thumbs-up before hurrying after the girl, good luck.

As his friend 'helped' the girl (spending more time angling looks down her shirt than at the car itself) Takumi pondered over recent events. It hadn't been that long since he had gotten his first kiss, so he could completely understand his friend's lack of tact. He wasn't much of a peeper himself, but he could not deny that he appreciated the female form, and as his father had once put it, 'If it's on display, you can't blame people for window-shopping.'

Being as he was almost always tired, Takumi closed his eyes to wait for his friend to be done.

"Hey man," Itsuki called several minutes later, "can you handle an automatic?"

Takumi rubbed his eyes, frowning as his Itsuki stood in front of him, nearly shaking with repressed laughter. "An automatic?" he echoed. "Like, a non-stick kinda car?"

"Yeah, dummy," Itsuki blew out an exasperated breath. "Shelly here," he jerked his thumb over one shoulder to indicate the girl, who waved jovially, "said she'd love to drive my car down the hill, so I was wondering if you could follow us in hers."

Glancing at the little blue import, Takumi pursed his lips. "The wheel's on the wrong side," he pointed out unnecessarily, "but I guess if I don't have to work the peddles, I could do it, sure."

Itsuki grinned like an idiot. "You're a true friend," he said, clenching one fist dramatically. "Shelly! He said yeah!"

The girl walked over to them, clapping her hands joyously. "Yay!" she cried. "Your friend Mister Itsuki's really nice," she told Takumi, "he fixed my headlight's little loose wire, and he's gonna let me drive his car. I'm so lucky!"

Takumi wondered if the girl would consider herself so lucky after spending some time behind the eight-five's wheel, but he politely kept his mouth shut. "Guess so," he said evenly, rising to his feet and sticking his hands in his back pockets. "Where are the keys to your car, so I can follow you down?"

"Oh, they're in the ignition," Shelly said absently, not noticing that both boys had fallen on their faces at hearing this, "I never take them out unless I really have to. I lose stuff."

"I see," Takumi murmured, dusting himself off and giving Itsuki a look with one eyebrow raised, as if to say, 'You sure about this, man?'

Itsuki, who was standing behind Shelly's back, nodded vigorously, cupping his hands over his chest and moving them forward several feet as he mouthed, 'Are you kidding?'

"See you at the bottom, I guess."

He hesitated, though, as he watched the girl climb into Itsuki's car. Something about the way she moves, he thought, mm, gotta be my imagination…

Halfway to her car, he stumbled as he heard her say, "Ew, your shifter thing is all sticky!"

Don't look back, he advised himself, biting his lip to keep from laughing, don't… look back…

Climbing into the passenger side of his car, Itsuki cried, "Hey, it's not… I just cleaned it! There's nothing, er, on it… is there…?"

"No," Shelly said, moving the gearshift from side to side, "I mean it kinda sticks."

"Oh," Itsuki said with clear relief, "yeah, I need to fix that. Hey, you have driven a stick before, right?"

Shelly gave him a sunny smile. "Sure," she chirped as he lifted his can to polish off his drink, "just not this kind, that's why I wanted to try it. Daddy always says that cars are like people – you should experience as many as you can."

Itsuki choked on his soda.

"No, wait," Shelly said as the young man coughed, "cars are like people, you should get to know as many as you can. That's how it goes." She put the key in the ignition. "I get confused pretty easy."

"R-right," Itsuki coughed.

Man, she's DIM, he thought with some amazement. But still, this is the best! Look at those legs… look at that RACK! I'm in Heav-

Itsuki was rattled in his seat as the eight-five suddenly lurched and stalled.

"Woops!" Shelly giggled. "That other peddle you use to shift is kinda sticky too."

"The… the clutch?" Itsuki stammered in horror.

"That's what it's called, thank you!" Shelly beamed. "I'm not too good at car stuff."

Is there anything you ARE good at? Itsuki wondered, wiping a large sweat drop off of his forehead.

His overactive imagination, of course, supplied suggestions for several things the well-proportioned blonde might excel at.

Restarting the car, Shelly said, "Ok, just to the bottom, right?"

Itsuki nodded. "Yeah," he said, suddenly wondering if maybe this wasn't the best idea. "I've still gotta practice."

"Alright," Shelly said as she pulled onto the road. "Wow, this car is so much heavier than my little Shadow… I'll bet it's fast, huh?"

Puffing with pride, Itsuki said, "It's pretty good, yeah… but you have to know how to – whoa, look out! You're getting too close to the rail!"

"Oh, sorry," Shelly said sheepishly, glancing at the road, but not really correcting her steering, "Daddy said I drive to close to the side."

Itsuki flinched as they made the first corner, but Shelly cleared it with plenty of room.

Not as much room as he would have been comfortable with, but enough not to worry about scraping his paintjob.

"So, uh," he said, trying to relax as they moved down the road, "the Shadow's what, a four cylinder?"

"I dunno," Shelly shrugged, "I just know it doesn't go very fast. Daddy bought it for me for my sixteenth birthday, but he said, 'No breaking the speed limit in this car, and you make sure you keep it clean, young lady.' That's why I was washing it at that gas station – I hit this big mud puddle back on-"

"You're getting too close to the rail again!"

Itsuki squinted in anticipation of the impact, but a moment before they collided with the rail, the back of the car caught up with the front and slid back onto the road.

Completely ignorant of his distress, Shelly went on as if he'd said nothing.

"…the hill. I don't normally drive through mud, you know, but this puddle was so big that I couldn't help it. I'm like a little kid sometimes. It drives Daddy nuts."

"Uh-huh," Itsuki gasped, starting to sweat for real as they made another corner at much higher speed than he wanted. "Hey, why not slow down a bit, huh?" he asked nervously, "Takumi said there are a couple hairpins on this road."

"Is that your friend?" Shelly said curiously. "He's really nice."

Itsuki nodded, thankful that they were on a straightaway, but uncomfortably aware that the speedometer needle was still up in the high sixties… and slowly climbing. "He's a great driver – he can even pull out of a flat spin and come out facing the right way, which is really cool, and… hey, can we slow down a little?"

Shelly's bottom lip poked out. "Aww," she whined, "but you said I could go as fast as I wanted!"

That was before I knew you'd do eighty on an incline! Itsuki thought, gripping the armrest so hard he nearly broke it as he checked in the side mirror for the little blue Dodge. Where's… oh there's Takumi – I thought we'd lost him on that last corner… he's kind of unsure of himself in that car.

"I like my car," Shelly was saying as they approached a corner – a hairpin, from what Itsuki could see. "It's nice and small, and it gets good gas mileage. I wanted something fast and cool, but since my mom used to drive one when we lived in Chicago, that's where I'm from, by the way, Daddy said I should have the same kind, and he had it imported so I-"

"Drifting!"

"Huh?"

"Drifting," Itsuki nearly babbled, pointing to the road in front of them in horror, "you're drifting!"

Shelly's brow crinkled. "Oo, is that bad?" she wondered, turning the steering wheel another few inches as the back of the car slid ever closer to the guardrail.

Itsuki slapped his hands over his eyes. My car, he thought desperately, this psycho's gonna wreck my car! We're gonna DIE!

When there was no bang of metal on metal, he risked a peek through his fingers, his eyes widening as he found his beloved eight-five rotating further and further to the left.

"We're gonna spin!"

Even as the words left Itsuki's mouth, the Levin went into a flat spin, whirling around three times as the poor young man shrieked in terror. His whole life flashed before his eyes faster than the trees and asphalt outside, a litany of incomplete tasks flooding his consciousness as he realized that not only would he never be a downhill specialist like his idol, Takumi, but he would never even get to go down Akina again, burn rubber, hang out with his friends, kiss his mother goodbye when he left the house, or even get to brush his teeth before bedtime.

As the car made one more rotation, all of these concerns were taken from Itsuki's mind as – like Koichiro in Takumi's car, though for different reasons – he blacked out, slumping forward against his seatbelt and missing entirely the mind-boggling site of Shelly casually correcting the steering and pulling the eight-five's nose back where it should have been.

Glancing at him, Shelly sighed.

"Guess I did it again…"

( 0 0 0 )

Pulling up behind the idling eight-five, Takumi climbed out of Shelly's Shadow (leaving the keys in the ignition in spite of every instinct screaming that he hand them to her) and walked up to where the girl was leaning up against the side of the car.

"Sorry it took me so long to catch up," he apologized, "I didn't want to take the corners too fast at first, since your car drives different from mine."

"Yeah," Shelly said, "Daddy said my car doesn't have much power because the engine pulls the car instead of pushing it like his car does."

"Front-wheel drive," Takumi said, "that's what it's called. Your dad's must be rear-wheel drive. What kind of car does he have?"

"A red one," Shelly said without even batting an eyelash.

Takumi shook his head in wonder as the girl walked back to her car and climbed in.

"Hey, sorry about your friend," she said guiltily. "I'm not too good at getting the car straight again after it spins around, but I really wanted to try it with his car, since he said it was so cool."

Takumi glanced at Itsuki. "He'll be fine," he said with a shrug, "but um…"

"Hm?"

"What group are you with?"

Shelly tilted her head. "I don't understand," she said with some confusion. "I sing with the choir at church, is that-"

"No," Takumi cut in, sighing at the girl's evasiveness, "what street-racing group? Are you a Night Kid? A Red Sun? Itsuki said there's a group on Usui called Impact Blue, and they have a couple girls, are you one of them, or do you just do this for fun? You're really good."

As he had spoken, Shelly's eyes had come unfocused, as if she was trying to keep up, but just could not manage it. "Night Kids?" she said after a long pause, "My little brother watches this cartoon called X-Men… aren't the Night Kids one of the bad guys in that show? What are you talking about, Mister Takumi? I don't understand."

Takumi bit his lip.

She really did not seem to understand where he was going with his line of questioning, so he simply went with the direct approach.

"What racing team do you belong to?"

Shelly's confused face cleared up. "Oh," she said, sounding relieved that she finally knew what he was talking about. "I'm not with a racing group – daddy would kill me if he thought I was driving around like that for fun!"

Takumi's jaw dropped. "But… but I saw the way you hit that corner," he protested. "You do it the same way I do it!"

"Oo, are you a racer?" she practically squealed. "That's so cool! Daddy always said that you guys are dangerous and I should stay away, though, so I have to go. Bye, Mister Takumi."

"Wh-wait!" Takumi stammered as the girl gave him a happy smile and shifted her car into gear. "Wait a second – before you go, tell me where you learned to drive like that."

Shelly turned the steering wheel so that her front tires pointed towards the road. "Well," she said reluctantly, "Daddy said I shouldn't talk to people that are dangerous…"

Takumi tried hard not to roll his eyes.

You were fine with spinning through three straight hairpins, but you can't talk to me if I'm a racer? he thought, glancing at the still-unconscious Itsuki. Your dad must have his hands full.

"Please?"

Shelly's smile returned. "You're so polite," she said happily.

"So you'll tell me?"

"Sure! But then I really have to go, ok?"

Takumi nodded eagerly, dying to know how this seemingly vapid foreigner had learned to drift like a pro.

Shelly leaned out of her window.

"It's really not that big a deal," she said earnestly, "I don't know why you're getting all excited about it, but whatever." Seeing that Takumi was still curious, she shrugged and told him, "Daddy owns a tofu delivery shop, and he taught me how to drive so I could help him. Simple, huh? See ya later, Mister Takumi!"

With a final, merry wave, Shelly eased her car out onto the road, leaving Takumi standing speechless in her wake.

After several moments of absolute silence, Takumi shook his head.

"Nah," he muttered to himself, walking around to the driver's side of Itsuki's eight-five, "They wouldn't believe me even if I told them…"

Turning the car over, he brought it back out onto the road and started for home.

The End

Author's notes: when I had the idea for this story while reading the third volume of the manga, Shelly was going to be a member of Impact Blue pulling a fast one on the overconfident loser stepping on her turf… but this way seemed so much more fun. Hope you liked it!

Redmage2k pointed out a couple flaws in the first draft and made me realize there were even more, so hat's off to him. If there are any more, anybody that sees them please feel free to let me know.

Feedback is always welcome on any site with reviewing capabilities or by e-mailing me directly at random1377(at-sign)yahoo(dot)com.