fandom: Initial D
title: Invincible.
pairing: Ryousuke + Takumi
rating: pg-13 (we hope for now)

description: Ryousuke suddenly appears at Takumi 's house to ask him a favor, but is there something underlying his request? (Note: Shounen-ai)

Disclaimer – Initial D is one of my main addictions though I don't own it. I just can't live without seeing Takumi, Ryou, or Kei periodically.

Invincible.

By Miyamoto Yui

Chapter 6 – Never giving up hope.

I took the phone into my right hand and answered it.

"Hi Takumi! I thought for a second that I called while you were at work." Her voice radiated through the phone. "I'm so glad I caught you."

I closed my eyes for a moment and thought about how much I loved her voice. It's deep but light too, like the sky when I come back from my delivery every dawn.

But what I have now, why wasn't I satisfied with it?

I didn't want her to hear my troubles through the phone.

"No, actually, it's tomorrow." I went over to sit on the bed and glimpsed over at my mom's box. "Right now, I'm packing with Itsuki."

"I wish I could be there to help you." Mika sighed over the phone. "But this tournament is really important."

"Hey, I told you not to worry. We each have our list of things to do." My head pointed towards the floor and I ended up looking at my white socks.

"But this time, I'm our representative. It's not only for myself, but for our whole country." I could tell she was balancing the phone on her shoulder and her cheek on the other side of the line while zipping something up. "I want to give them a good fight."

"I have no doubt you will." I couldn't hide how confident I was about that. She could break any obstacle in front of her.

All the activity behind her finally stopped.

"That means a lot to me."

I grinned, feeling ashamed too.

"Then why are you nervous?"

"This is my first overseas tournament. I've never spoken English with natives either." Then, she began to giggle to herself. "Man, now that I think about it, I don't know how you did battle after battle. And you kept on winning too."

There was a pause.

"All I thought about was, 'I hope he emails soon so that I know he's safe.'"

I took the phone from my ear to look at her picture. My eyes glanced to once side as I put the phone back to my ear.

"How did you take the pressure, Takumi?"

"It never goes away." My eyes began to search around my room and my mind stopped over the stack of handwritten memos that Itsuki was putting into another box. "I just wanted to race because there are all kinds of drivers."

I can only do the best of what I know how to do.

If I can't defeat them, I won't discover the next one. And I'll be left behind.

I won't catch up to him…

...even with all the notes he wrote for me.

In the background, I could hear her father say something.

"Oh! I've got to go or I'll miss my flight! But before I do, is it okay to meet the day after I'm back?"

"Of course. I'll pick you up at your house."

"Okay!" Her lips kissed the phone.

Every time, my heart skipped a beat at that.

"Yes," I'd always answered back.

"I can't wait to see you!"

"Good luck with the tournament. Take care, Mika."

"I will. Bye!"

I put the phone down next to my mom's box, and turned to see Itsuki standing up with some of memos in his hands. His wide eyes said it all as he flipped one page after another, scanning through the elegant, precise writing.

"I knew he was a genius, but…" Itsuki finally tore his eyes from the papers in his hands to look at me. Ryousuke's stack reached up to his knees.

He asked with a serious tone, "He gave you all this?"

All I could do was nod slowly.

There was no way I could say to either of you that more than maintaining our reputation, all I thought at the end of every race

was to see if he was happy with what he asked of me.

*/*/*/*/*/00000

When it was getting dark, Itsuki and I finally finished. My dad and I had dinner and I passed out so fast, I was wondering why the lights were still on when I woke up to make the tofu round.

Straight after, I went to work as usual, delivering packages everywhere. It wouldn't be long until I wasn't doing this anymore. I'd be gone, actually trying to capture my dream.

What does it mean to live in the city? Do I have to change how I talk?

How will the other drivers be like? Are they different from us street racers?

Would I have enough money to survive there? I've been working this whole time, but my savings went towards our cars and then when I joined the team, Ryousuke took care of everything else.

I was very grateful, but in the back of my mind, I also felt a little guilty. Though I worked hard, all of that couldn't be possible without him. I owed him for all the things he taught me and everything in between.

When lunch time came, I parked by one side of the road and began to eat the meat bento I'd bought from the convenience store.

All morning, Itsuki's voice rang from the back of my mind, "He gave you all this?"

I can't believe it either, you know?

Even if he knew who I was, would he have really gone that far? Didn't he just want my talent because he knew I could do what he'd projected?

"Fujiwara."

"Yes?" I took my left arm away from my eyes.

I was lying on the hood of the '86 trying to close my eyes before the next race. I still hadn't cut my habit of sleeping on the hood to keep myself calm.

The road was full of cars and on our way down the Kanetsu Expressway into Tokyo, we decided to go by Odaiba. It was still a while until we could get to Hakone so we took a small break.

The sky was so clear, bright without clouds anywhere. Below, people ran around the beach and above, tourists walked around the deck of Agua City taking pictures. Because of the excitement, there was no way I could take a nap in my seat.

Ryousuke stood to one side and I put my right hand out so that he could sit on the hood next to me.

I could feel my temperature instantly rise. I wish I could hide my face, but the hot sun was saving me at the moment. The heat was more than I expected, coming from the mountains.

"Here. They told me you wanted ham and cheese." He put the sandwich on my stomach.

"You didn't have to. I was going to get up in a few minutes." My eyes watched the sky again as some birds flew overhead. "Thanks."

He unwrapped his salmon onigiri from the plastic and began to eat. "Do you sleep on your car often?"

I glanced over at him, wondering why he was still so formal with me.

"Not as much as before."

"Before?"

I sat up and took the plastic off the sandwich. "When I was in kindergarten, I would take a nap here as soon as I got home."

My cheeks throbbed. I couldn't believe I was having this conversation with him. I didn't even tell Itsuki about it and my dad would tease me once in a while, threatening he'd bring out the pictures as a last resort if I was really going to be stubborn about something.

He covered his mouth, but his eyes were smiling. Ryousuke shook his head. For the first time, I heard him laugh aloud.

It was like a little kid's.

"It's not that funny," I mumbled, even more embarrassed.

"I didn't mean to laugh so hard." He finished his onigiri and put the plastic into a bag. Then, he pushed himself back to lie on the '86 and put his hands over his stomach. "It's just that I do the same thing, only at night."

I watched as a small girl in a light green swimsuit went to the water, touched it and happily ran back every time a wave came.

"After each race, when everyone would go home, I'd remain behind. I'd lie on the FC and watch the stars. It's always been hard for me to sleep, but every single time I did that, I could." He put his right arm over his eyes.

I found myself wondering about this gentleman who was wearing navy blue pants, a white shirt, and deep brown loafers. His hair was all messed up too.

He was still intense, but not as exacting or cold as the first time we met. I don't know where he changed, but I know he did.

He is always running around between the hospital and battle sites, updating the data he'd already gone through for Keisuke and me, studying for school, and managing the website.

When do you ever have time for yourself?

Compared to him, I knew I shouldn't complain.

Was I not as serious about this as I should have been, even if I was doing my best?

All of a sudden, his left hand grabbed mine. He squeezed it, saying, "Thank you for playing my game until the very end."

He kept his arm over his eyes.

I was so moved that I thought my heart would burn out.

I stopped eating, putting my lunch to one side. The fogginess inside me became clearer and clearer as the feeling of guilt was sinking deeper within.

Pushing my back into the seat, I looked at the gray roof of the delivery van.

I'm not content with this.

And it isn't because of Mika herself

but she came in the middle.

You and I have been chasing one another all this time.

You try to defeat me in your data and I do my best to elude it.

My head pointed towards the empty road and then downwards, hanging dejectedly. I closed my eyes tightly.

"Deep down, I guess I was hoping you would never give up on me."

My heart began to ache in a way I'd never known it could.

Tsuzuku…/To be continued…

Author's note: This was a difficult chapter to write. I had written a draft multiple times and then I ended up doing something different from what I'd planned.

That being said, something really pinched my heart here. In the middle, with the flashback, I had to stop typing because I started to cry. It really resonated within me.

I hope you're enjoying this and thank you for all the reviews/faves/follows. It really means a lot to me.

I haven't written for a long time and this was the fic I wanted to write to get me back on track.

Love,

Yui