A few opening words: Holy long chapter, Batman! I am so very sorry it took me this long to update. Since it's been so long, I'll leave you with a long chapter to compensate. It's actually a chapter and a half. I kinda merged the two, and ended up with an awesome final product. As for my excuse, well, I just have a lot of stuff going on this week. It probably didn't help that my cousin threw up, or as he would say, "Blew chunks" all over my keyboard the other day. Also, an anonymous reader (says the name is Tipoc) pointed out that I had accidentally switched Chapter 7 with a copy of Chapter 8. Don't even know how that happened, must've been when editting the errors in either one. I should probably stop staying up so late, but when I get typing, i can't stop. Anyway, I won't keep you waiting any longer. Enjoy…
"Tetsu? When did you get here?"
"Oh, earlier today. It's been a while, don't you miss me?" He had a friendly smile on his face, but Kagura knew what lay behind his mask.
"Not nearly as little as I'd like to. Why are you here?"
"Can't a guy visit his favorite cousin?"
"Bullshit. Last time you were here you got drunk and started to hit on me."
"Oh. Well…talk about your awkward moments, huh?"
"Can the crap. Why are you really here?"
"Well, if I told you that, I'd ruin the thrill of the chase."
Kagura glared at him. He stared back, a cocky smile on his face. Before either could break the silence, Kagura's dad walked in.
"Well, I see you've met our guest." He then seemed to notice the tension in the room. Looking from Kagura to Tetsu, and back to Kagura, he chuckled.
"Kagura, don't tell me you're suspicious of him still. It's been a full year."
"You don't know him as well as I do, dad."
"You know, you won't gain many friends unless you learn to give people benefit of the doubt. Anyway, dinner's about ready." He left to go set the table, followed by Tetsu. Benefit of the doubt… Maybe he's right… She leaned back against the wall. Maybe she was wrong about Sakaki. It can't be anything bad, it is Sakaki right?She decided she would just let Sakaki tell her on her own time. Tetsu, on the other hand, was a different matter. Kagura already knew he was involved in several illegal activities, street racing being one of them. Last year when he visited, there were four homicides in one week, and he would always arrive home almost exactly ten minutes before the news came on to tell of the latest one. She knew he was dangerous, and that he was involved, but she just didn't know how much.
"Kagura! Your food's gonna get cold!"
"I'll be right there!"
"Ah good, you're here. I dunno what you know, but I'll fill you in on the way. Hop in; Ezaki's taking his own car."
As soon as Sakaki walked in the door to the garage, she was ushered into the passenger seat of Reiko's Fairlady Z. Ezaki was behind it in his own car, a red RX-8 with an intricate design on the side, in a slightly lighter tone of red. Before long, they were out into the night traffic, which was, as usual, hectic.
"All right, every year, the Yakuza, you know who they are right?" Sakaki nodded. Everyone knew about the infamous Japanese mob. "Good. Every year they sponsor a large street racing tournament, just outside of town, on a special track they built a few year back. They bought a huge plot of land just outside the city and built it, as traffic was increasing steadily throughout the years, causing more and more casualties, which are apparently 'bad for business'. Anyway, it's huge. It's also team based, and you need at least a four person team to be admitted, and only the best of those actually qualify." She took a moment to lean out the window and throw a few choice curses at a driver who cut her off. "As I was saying, teams come from around the world, not just Japan, though most are national."
"The cash prizes are huge; the equivalent of 2 million American dollars goes to each team member of the winning team. But it's not the cash that the teams are in it for. Each team gets a pair of Nissan Skyline R34 Nur's, completely tricked out and tuned by some of the best names in the street racing scene. Along with that, the team's home garage gets a complete renovation too, and they are often granted sponsorships from some of the biggest after-market parts manufacturers too. It's a sweet deal."
"I haven't ever been in the tournament; it's always been just me and Ezaki. I don't know about this year either, though it's not like it matters. I can always convince Take to get us the parts we need. Anyway, on to the teams. Since it's such a coveted prize, teams get quite competitive. The Yakuza doesn't care what goes on outside the track, so long as it doesn't involve them. Every year, some of the higher ranking racers fall victim to unexplained 'accidents' and their team is forced to leave the tournament. There are a few good teams out there, who I'll point out later. But the bad ones are who you want to watch out for, one in particular. The Vipers. They were kicked out of the tournament for sabotaging another racer's car, though, they didn't find out till after the next race, which didn't end well for that driver. They act all nice and honorable, but don't let that fool you. They're as dirty as they come. They'll find out who the best racers are, and what team they race with, and not long after that team is usually forced to drop out, due to casualties. They drive black RX-7s, with a cobra on the hood. They're good drivers too, so don't underestimate them. Anyway, look up ahead, we're here."
Sakaki looked up. She hadn't been paying any attention to where they were. Up ahead there was a large building, probably about four or five stories high, and from the left and right a cement wall went for about the width of the building to either side. The large parking lot in front of it was packed full of races and their cars, all obviously divided into their teams, with groupings of four cars seen here and there; Reiko called out the team names as they passed some of them.
Reiko pointed to a team of foreigners standing by four sleek looking exotics. "Those are the Bulls, they're here from Italy. They drive Lamborghini's, a Murcielago and two Gallardo's. They're god clean drivers." Pointing to a team driving NSXs, she called out again. "They call themselves the Six Shooters. You've raced one of their teammates before, T.L. They're kinda shifty; often carry around six shot revolvers to go along with their name, and the V6 engines. Careful around them." Pointing again off to her right at another group of foreigners, this one driving sporty looking 2 door sedans. "Those guys are German, all driving BMW M3 GTRs. A good solid car. They race kinda dirty, but only on the track. No one knows how to pronounce their team name, so we just call 'em the Beamers." Sakaki noticed they seemed to be in a good mood, laughing it up with a group of racers who weren't on a team. "Well, here we are." Reiko pulled into an empty spot, apparently reserved for her 'crew', as she had called it.
They got out of the car, as Ezaki pulled up beside them. Their small area had a picnic table and a large cooler, full of drinks and the like. There wasn't a barrier of any kind separating the areas, but the people had formed a small opening for each group. Apparently a team that was invited to the announcement was very important.
"Sakaki, you stay here with Ezaki. I gotta go inside to hear this announcement. There's only room for one member from each team. There are drinks in the cooler, other than that, try to have a good time!" She then turned, and shoved her way rather forcefully into the crowd. Sakaki took a seat opposite Ezaki, and rummaged through the cooler in search of something non-alcoholic. She had had alcohol before, but didn't like the taste. She finally found a can of soda, and cracked it open. Ezaki finished a small can of beer in one swig, and turned to her.
"Well Sakaki, you're now officially the third member of the team. Have any friends or siblings that are amazingly good at racing?" Sakaki thought for a moment, running through the several possibilities. Yukari-sensei…No. No way. Tomo? Unlikely, she'd end up totaling her car trying to out-do everyone. Osaka? No, she'd… well, she'd be Osaka. Yomi's too wise and watching over Tomo is a full time job. Kaorin wouldn't go near a race, she's too timid. Chiyo? Aside from being way too young, I doubt she'd go near a fast moving car after being in the Yukari-mobile. Though, she'd make a great mechanic. Her thoughts drifted to the last two candidates, those who seemed most likely. Kurosawa-sensei's outgoing enough, and her personality seems to fit… I don't know, it seems weird, but not in a bad way. Lastly, there's Kagura. She'd do it in a heartbeat just to compete with me, but aside from that, she seems amazingly similar to Reiko, both in personality and attitude. Maybe… "Not that I know of. Sorry Ezaki."
"Ah don't worry about it; it'd be dangerous for your health anyway. Some of those teams are way too competitive, the Vipers in particular. Even killed a guy last year, so I'm surprised the Yakuza is letting them back."
"I don't know, the whole Yakuza thing seems odd to me. Aren't they supposed to be the guys who go around killing everyone?"
"Not as much as you'd expect. They only 'dispose of' those who mess with 'em. You know, like the government. They'd be a respectable company, or whatever they'd be, if they didn't deal with illegal merchandise." Sakaki was about to ask another question, when from out of the crowd came none other than Nico.
"Well what have we here? Crazy girl decided to show up after all. Too bad you ain't got a team to race with. I guess you'll have to stay in the little leagues." Sakaki stood up. She wasn't frustrated or even angry, but she didn't like Nico much, and wasn't about to be pushed around.
"What do you want, Nico?"
"Oh wouldn't it be obvious? I want compensation for that little stunt you pulled. You totaled my car, and made me the laughing stock of the community. Pay up."
"No."
"Defiant, are we? Well, I guess I'm gonna have to teach you a lesson then." He cracked his knuckles. The crowd spread out, forming a large circle around Sakaki, Nico, and Ezaki. It seemed as though he wanted a fight. That was the last thing Sakaki wanted. She didn't even know how to fight! Wait, I did take those martial arts courses a few years back. When she was in grade school, she had often been bullied because of how tall she was. Fearing for her safety, her mother had enrolled her in a martial arts school. Sakaki learned well, and excelled at it, before she graduated and the bullying stopped. That was almost 4 and a half years ago, she could barely remember any of her teachings. All she could remember were some basic stances, and not much else.
"Sakaki, you don't have to do this! It's a bad idea! He's a street fighter, he'll really hurt you!"
"Pipe down, Ezaki." Yelled Nico, before he lunged over and leveled Ezaki with a straight punch to the face. "Now where were we?" Sakaki leaned back a bit on her right foot, and concentrated on anticipating Nico's attacks, so she could dodge, or even counter them if she was lucky. After circling her for a few long moments, Nico charged her, right arm raised high for a punch. Sakaki watched his arm as it came down at her face. Then something strange happened. Her body seemed to move of its own will. She twisted to the left, grabbing Nico's arm as it passed inches from her face. She added her own strength to his momentum, throwing him off balance. As he fell forward beside her, she brought he right elbow down on his back, causing a pained grunt from Nico. He hit the ground hard. The crowd had gone silent by now. Sakaki, edged back, giving him some room, and herself some time to think.
Sakaki wondered what had happened. It was as if her body remembered her martial arts teachings and her body simply tool over, as if on autopilot. Then she remembered something her sensei had said, that once her teachings were complete, she would not need to remember them. She would act on instinct, without having to think. So that's what he meant. She strafed right, her back to the picnic table now. Nico pushed himself up. Sakaki could see he was unhurt, but angry. Ezaki was on the sidelines, held up by one of the Bulls. His nose was bleeding profusely, obviously broken. He was beaming though, and when he caught her gaze, he raised both hands and gave her two enthusiastic thumbs up. Sakaki looked back to Nico, and readied herself for his next attack. This time, he charged in and attacked with a weak left arm punch aimed at her face. Sakaki ducked under it with ease, and pushed off with her left foot, crouching low as she did. She slid under Nico, almost between her legs. Continuing in one smooth movement, she reached between his legs and, using her left arm to support his chest, flipped him over her head, surprised at how light he felt. Nico catapulted over Sakaki and landed on his back on the picnic table, which collapsed under the weight. With a grunt her rolled over, and looked into her eyes. She could see he was no longer angry, but looked almost scared. As quickly as she saw it, it was gone and he heaved himself up again. The crowd was now cheering Sakaki's name, and once again, she slid back into her stance. Her eyes were slits, she was now fully concentrating on the fight.
Nico approached slowly this time, a small stream of blood coming from the corner of his mouth. Time slowed for Sakaki as Nico feigned a punch, rather poorly, and, using the momentum gained by the feign, spun around on his left leg, bring his right around in a roundhouse kick aimed at chest level. Sakaki could see this coming, and crouched low to the ground, spinning herself clockwise on her left leg in a perfect sweep kick. Her right shin knocked Nico's left aside with ease. Now without support in the middle of his kick, he began to fall. Continuing her spin, she raised herself off the ground, right leg swinging high to gain momentum. She brought her right leg back around again in a kick similar to a punt, connecting with Nico's midsection, before he even hit the ground. He was sent rolling away from Sakaki, grabbing for his stomach. Sakaki held her right leg high for a moment; where it was after following through with the kick. She balanced herself with ease and slowly lowered her right leg and transitioned back into her fighting stance. The crowd cheered even louder, and Ezaki almost fell over trying to raise his arms to clap above his head. The Bull member kept him up though.
Nico grunted, and slowly pushed himself up. His face was twisted in agony. He had his left arm around his stomach, and the other was… In an instant, the look of agony was gone from his face, replaced by one of grim satisfaction. His right arm came up from behind his back, a large silver pistol in its possession. He must've been hiding that in the small of his back! The gun glinted in the moonlight. Nico aimed it at her head, and spoke.
"Game over, Miss Sakaki."
Author's notes: Yaaaay! More cliffhangers!
First, two things. One, I am really bad at coming up with team names. Because of this, I am going to resort to using you guys. There will be a lot of teams, so I need some names, and cars. This is also your chance to kind of make an appearance in the fanfic, however small. I already have all the important ones squared away, but I gotta have some fodder….errr, competition for them right? Let me know if you have any ideas in a review!
Second, I'm sorry if the little fight is a little hard to follow. I did in fact take martial arts in the past, but I only vaguely remember it. Coincidentally, it works the same way as mentioned in the story, I seem to magically remember when in a fight. Weird, no? Anyway, what I mean to say is, sorry if the fight is hard to follow. There probably won't be that many in the story anyway, it's a street racing themed fanfic after all!
Alright, now that that's all squared away, I hope you enjoyed it! I will commence work on the next chapter as soon as Chapter 4 of Memories Lost is done. Until then, read and review people I'm open to constructive criticism and any ideas you may have (and I've even given you a task too), so let me know what you think!
Till next time…
