Drifting
By: Sa'Kage
Disclaimer: I do not own The Fast and The Furious franchise.
Warnings: A bit of cursing, possible confusion and spoilers if you haven't seen Tokyo Drift (Although, if you haven't, why the hell did you click on the link in the first place?)
Characters/Pairing: Han, a bit of Sean/Neela
AN: This is unbeta'd, and though I tried my best to self edit, it's probably not as polished as it could be. I'm not quite sure how it ended up being over a thousand words though, it was supposed to be a short little introspective on Han and instead I do an overview of the entire movie.
Han has always looked to Tokyo as his Mexico, the place he'll escape the law and all the other shit that his life has stirred up. It's been his Eden as long as he can remember, the final destination in a life full of temporary finish lines. And at first, it is. It's got everything he had imagined when he thought of settling down: Races, crazy shit with cars, hot girls, and some crime, just to keep his instincts sharp.
But slowly, the satisfaction dwindles. The crime isn't as fun when it's not Dom and his crew pulling heists on an open highway. The hot girls were two-dimensional, with none of the spark that drew him to Giselle. The crazy shit with cars got boring, and the races weren't his kind of race.
And he finally figures out why. Drifting, for the real drifters, isn't just a way to make some money. It's a way of life, and Han left his way of life back with Dom's team in Rio.
Han can drift with the best of them, but he'll always belong to the life of ten seconds cars and a quarter mile of freedom.
Then he sees Sean, and knows, that even though the kid was a gaijin, more of an outsider than Han's ever been, he belongs here. The kid's been drifting all his life, moving from place to place, race to race, but never finding what he's been looking for. The kid has already chosen his way of life at seventeen, and with just a little help, he'll be more of a drifter than DK ever could.
After all, to really drift means to cut ties and lose all control, and Takashi couldn't do that. Not completely. He was always too grounded, too practical.
That's why Han helps Sean. Not because of boredom, or because the kid needs to pay him off for the car he wrecked. (Han's got money, one car is nothing.) He helps him, because Han can see the fire in the teen's eyes, the refusal to accept the loss DK dealt him.
Besides, the kid reminds Han of better days spent pulling heists with Dom's team. He's got the same defiance you need to be one of Dom's, and he's not afraid to show it. Dom was the one who got Han started on the life he leads, the life he loves, and it's the least he can do to repay the bald man to train up someone who, in another life, would have fit right in with the Torretto crew.
The Asian man knows he was a fool to think he could drift and get away from DK's wrath. He couldn't cut ties behind the wheel the way Sean could, the way DK sometimes could when he wanted it bad enough.
He was tied to Dom, part of his family, and to another way of racing, and DK had never known anything else.
Han dies the way he always knew he would. Behind the wheel of a car, his life on the edge finally catching up to him. The last thing he sees before the NOS blows is Sean, running toward him, and Han can't help but think that right there in that gaijin kid is his legacy. Then the fire reaches the NOS tank, and the world goes up in a burst of fire.
Han finds out soon enough that he had a few too many ties for even heaven or hell to take him, after he wakes up at the scene of his crash. He's a ghost, doomed to wander the earth for eternity, but he's ok with that. Now he can go anywhere, see anything, without any consequences. He's always thought that people were far more interesting than angels or demons.
His first choice of things to look at, was, of course, Sean. He hoped the kid wouldn't get into too much trouble. Turns out that was a futile wish. Now he really wished that he could at least touch things, so that he could smack some sense into the teen.
What kind of idiot throws his life away by walking into a Yakuza den, anyway?
Apparently, though, the gaijin kid kind. And he has the balls to offer a deal to a high ranking criminal and walk out again.
Han isn't sure what he would do if he was still alive. On one hand, Sean is completely stupid, but on the other... He's willing to risk a lot for what he believes in, and Han has to respect that. He'd still punch the kid though, just for nearly killing a dead guy.
The site for the race nearly gave Han another heart attack, and he didn't even have a beating heart anymore. DK, as the challenged, had the right to pick the site of the race. Han knew that, but he couldn't help but wish that Takashi had picked somewhere, anywhere, other than the mountain everyone called his. Han knew that Sean was a good racer, and he had faith in the gaijin teen, but he still had to wonder if the kid would even have a chance, drifting down a mountain no one else had ever finished.
The Asian ghost shook his head. He would just have to hope that the kid was up to it. Too much was at stake.
Sean didn't have a car? Han really wanted to punch the baka now. The date for the race was set, and the kid didn't even have something to race in.
...Never mind, he had a car. It just didn't have a fucking motor.
The kid was smart, Han would give him that. The car purist in him still had to wince at the blasphemy of putting a Nissan engine in a Mustang car.
The day of the race rolled around way too soon for their unseen observer, who felt that Sean could have used a lot more practice time in his Frankenstein car. But even a ghost, epitome of the supernatural, can't turn back time.
For one of the first times, Han was somewhat grateful for being a ghost. He didn't have to rely on screens and cameras to see the race: he could just hover above the cars.
Sean and DK hovered at the starting line, waiting for the signal. The flag fell silently, the tension stretching like rubber until the band snapped, the roar of engines breaking the hush that had fallen as both cars leapt forward, their power unleashed. Han followed.
Sean's face was cold and focused, uncaring of anything but the road ahead of him. Nothing else existed. DK was his complete opposite, face set in a fiery scowl.
The race did not stay fair for long, as DK rammed into Sean's car from the side, trying to force him off the road. Han shook his head. Drifting was aptly named, and if Takashi wanted to win here, against a teenager who'd made a lifestyle of it, he had to live it too.
Several more times, the Asian teen slammed into his gaijin opponent, his rage getting the best of him. Han sucked in a frightened breath that he was grateful no one could hear, but the kid stayed on the road, even pulling a little ahead.
Then DK messed up. He tried to ram Sean at exactly the wrong time, the kid pulling ahead and DK missing completely. Time seemed to slow as the black car slipped out of control, not like when you drift, but something far more dangerous. It seemed like hours as DK's ride slid off the road and tumbled through the air, finally landing near the finish line on it's front end.
Sean didn't even look like he'd noticed the loss of an opponent, his world narrowed to the stretch of road in front of him. His car skidded around the final turn, past Takashi's crumpled car, and across the line. Neela was screaming, crying, laughing... Han wasn't sure. Then all eyes turned to Kamata as he approached the relieved new couple. Han stiffened, wishing he could protect the kid he'd taken under his wing against a man sure to double-cross him. This would be the moment of truth...
Kamata upheld his end of the deal.
Han was never more relieved to be wrong.
Everyone was leaving, but Sean and Neela still stood, basking in their relief and giddy excitement. Han strode toward the duo, stopping just short of the kid.
"You did good, kid," He said, one hand clenching before he swung, his fist passing straight through the kid's nose. "Just don't ever scare me like that again."
Sean blinked and coughed as a sudden breeze smacked him in the face and kicked road dust up into his eyes. "You see all that, Han?" he thought and smirked.
It was all over now, and Sean was the new DK, just as Han would've predeicted, had he been alive to tell the gaijin teen. After all, Takashi may have been dethroned, but nature does abhore a vacuum, and the Asian man knew no one better to fill it.
Life was good, the ghost decided lazily, half formed thoughts of it being time for him to move on passing slowly before he grinned and shook his head. Why would he want that when he could watch over his legacy? After all, the kid was sure to be at the heart of something fun to watch. He was Han's heir, after all.
He was proven right a minute later, as Sean responded to a challenge sent out to him as the new DK, only to meet the last person Han had ever thought the kid would see. Han just had to laugh. He had taken the kid in because the teen had reminded him of better days with the Torrettos, and now his two lives had collided.
Dom sat in the seat of the Charger, revving the motor, and as the two took off, Han laughed again and turned to give chase.
Who would've thought that his past and his legacy would one day meet in the only place that really mattered? Then again, Dom had always had a bit of a drifter in him too.
Han followed. This was one race he'd never thought he'd see, and that made it all the more exciting to watch.
AN: Heh, that was fun to write. A side note for anyone who doesn't know this already: Baka - idiot/stupid. The ending probalby could have been better, but... Meh.