Chapter 9

Kai stopped his the blue SW20 before the official finish line and he ran back to the Chevelle, when he got back to it he noticed how much damage was done to the paint and the massive dent in the quarter and hood, but he also noted the engine was still running and his blonde haired opponent was holding the wheel very tightly.

"Hey, are you alright?" Kai asked as he climbed over the car to the driver's door.

"That is one rush I could have done without," David chuckled as he climbed out of the car.

Akari heard the news of the crash and started flying down the pass followed very closely by Keisuke, Ryosuke stayed at the top to talk things over with Kyoichi about the race results.

"Kyoichi, David told me to acknowledge any form of loss on their behalf, I don't think he had this in mind though, so I'll let him do the talking," the brown haired man said as he climbed into the FC.

"This wasn't an Emperor's race, why tell me," Kyoichi laughed as the FC took off down the Iroha slopes.

Back at the bottom of the course David had already moved the Chevelle to the finish line and was assessing the damage when Akari flew through the last bridge and her tires screamed to a stop next to the Chevelle. The blonde had to stifle a laugh when he saw her frantic face as his brown haired partner stepped out of her car. Looking at her David saw nothing special, but most men saw a 5'4" bombshell with shoulder length brown hair.

When she spotted the two drivers on the other side of the Chevelle she ran over and hugged the car apologizing to it for letting David drive it down the pass, completely ignoring the two drivers involved in the race and everyone else staring at her.

"Akari, it's all fixable, I already have the parts to do just that, in fact I can do all the repairs at the house," David laughed as Akari walked over to them.

"Yeah and what will Emily say when she gets here in a week and sees the car this way? She'd kill you and then me for not keeping you safe," Akari shouted as David continued to fail at keeping a straight face.

"Alright, let's get this big beastie to the house, and I'll start working on it tomorrow night, might get Mr. Yokama to give me a few days off just to work on her," David said climbing into the driver's seat of the Chevelle.

The two vehicles belonging to the Akagi Timber Wolves roared to life with a deafening roar and they left as if the damage to the Chevelle was only superficial.

The following morning David called his boss and told him the situation and Mr. Yokama offered to come and help with the repairs, and also gave him the entire week off to fix the now famous Chevelle. The front left quarter and the headlamp were the easy part of the repairs. The quarter panel on the back would be the hard part, the accident left a few scars in the paint and huge dent across the entire length of the panel itself.

David spent the rest of the first day of his week off getting all the damaged pieces off the car and replacing some of the suspension pieces on the left side of the car before calling it a night.

He was in the kitchen cooking himself a small dinner for himself when he heard a knock on the door.

"Akari, what brings you out here?" The blonde asked as he opened the door.

"Just coming to see what you've gotten done in all of two hours," Akari said as she stepped passed him and headed for the garage.

"I've been home all day, boss gave me the week off to fix the baby up," David said following her.

The brown haired girl walked into the garage and was shocked to see just how much he had done with the Chevelle, but more so at the car sitting in the center bay of the garage.

"So this is the car you got for Emily huh?" Akari stated more then asked as she paced around the bright orange 2000 Nissan S15.

"Yeah, it's the 2.0 liter DOHC with a single turbo and a six speed manual transmission; I tuned it up just a little bit so it might keep up with yours on the uphill if its straight," David chuckled as he leaned against the S15.

"She's not a racer is she?" Akari asked sounding oddly serious.

"No, but she always has liked riding shotgun with me," David stopped for a moment before saying, "First time she rode shotgun on the race course she had more fun than I did, she can drive don't get me wrong, she just can't handle a car yet."

"How long have you two been dating?"

"About two years before I got sent over here, but her father is determined I'm after more than just her," David said as he pushed himself off the car and walked in the house.

"So she will obviously be here longer than a week or so with you getting her a car," Akari said as she followed him back to the kitchen and sat on one of the bar stools.

"Actually I bought the car for me to use while the Chevelle is down and if it ever gets beat up again, but once Emily gets here it'll be hers for the two or three months she's going to be here," David said as he took his dinner off the stove.

"How did she convince her father to let her come? I mean you said he hated you and all right?" the brown haired girl asked leaning her elbows on the counter in front of her.

"For one he has no idea she is coming here to see me, she told him it was an exchange program for her college, which is actually true I guess, but he thinks the school is a long way from here not ten minutes from this house."

"Where will she stay, I mean won't he get suspicious if the phone bill between you two goes down or something?" Akari said with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Lucky for me Emily's mother likes me, and does the finances of the household when it comes to the phone and food bills, so he has no clue I've been talking to her at least once a week since I got her letter back in December," David laughed and Akari joined in the laughter.

"It's almost February now, you've been racing on snow and ice covered roads up till now, once all of this melts away its going to be harder on the tires of the Chevelle, David I want you to consider taking the supercharger off," Akari said getting oddly serious again, "David you really scared me at Iroha when the nose of your car came off the ground."

"I do it all the time back in the states, I know how to handle it here, but the supercharger is already going to come off, that's why I wanted to do the Iroha downhill myself," David said leaning against the counter across from Akari.

The two spent the next two hours discussing the strategy they would use against Project D when they were ready for that battle.

David woke up early in the morning to his doorbell ringing rather frequently. He climbed out of his bed and slowly made his way down to the front door.

"Who is it?" David called through the door as he looked through the peep hole.

"Takumi Fujiwara," the dark haired young man said as he turned back to face the door.

David immediately opened the door and let the 86's driver through the door.

"I heard you wrecked your car at Iroha, I kind of hate I missed that race but those guys you met at Myogi decided to run up Akina instead," Takumi said as he looked around the house.

"Well if you want to see the damage the Chevelle is in the garage, hey what time is it?" David asked finally realizing it was still dark outside.

"About four in the morning, I just got done with the morning deliveries, figured I'd come by while I had time," Takumi said with a slight chuckle.

David simply shook his head and pointed to the garage door before going up the stairs to get a shirt before meeting Takumi in the garage.

"So you've already started fixing it?" Takumi asked staring at the open spaces where the rear quarter and hood used to be.

"Yeah, and you get to be my second hand, grab the other side of the new hood," David said walking over to the already painted piece.

Takumi obeyed and put the bolts in the hood hinges where David told him to before simply watching everything the older man did and handing him the occasional wrench. David told Takumi everything he was doing when he did it and about an hour after Takumi walked through his front door David handed him the Chevelle's supercharger.

"So you're taking this off because the drag it causes in the higher RPM range?" Takumi asked as he looked the part over.

"Yeah, and the race in Iroha proved that I can't use it as much on the downhill," David responded taking the supercharger and placing it in one of his tool boxes where a lot of other parts rested neatly organized.

"Takumi, this is just a warning, not a threat or anything, next time you show up at four in the morning without giving me a little warning, you won't live to see the challenge from the Akagi Timber Wolves," he added as the two men walked out of the garage.

Takumi left the house feeling slightly scared of the blonde American. David simply went back to work on the Chevelle as if Takumi hadn't shown up at all. He finished the removing all the pieces that went with the supercharger and replaced all the springs in the carburetor with new ones, and put a shorter belt to replace the one that went with the supercharger, he even ran the motor to make sure everything still worked in proper form.

The week went by quickly for David, the blonde spent most of it lining up the new back quarter panel. When he walked into the office his boss met him in the lobby.

"So how's the Chevelle?" the tall gray haired man asked as he shook David's hand.

"She's doing alright, just need to paint the panels and the light frame, the hood I painted when I first got it, I pulled the supercharger off and have it stowed away, put the original air cleaner back on to," David replied stepping into the elevator.

"And your newest acquisition, an S15 I believe?" Yokama asked as the elevator pinged through the floors.

"I've got her tuned up pretty well, but it's still just a run around car till I get the Chevelle fixed," David said as the elevator doors opened and the two men went to work.

After work David drove the motorway home faster then he thought possible in the S15 so he could get on the phone with Emily and figure out when to pick her up at the airport on Wednesday.

"Hello, whose calling?" A deep voice answered the phone attached to the American number David had just dialed.

"Hi, this is David Crandon, just calling to update you on my Japan training sir," David lied seeing he wasn't supposed to know about Emily's trip.

"Well Mr. Crandon, I'm surprised to hear your voice, things going smoothly?" the voice asked sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Yes sir, very smoothly, matter a fact I couldn't find the time at work but we need to set up an investors conference for your Friday," David said knowing that talking shop off the company dime would get him off the phone faster.

"Certainly, now I suppose you want to speak to Emily, well she just left for the airport," the voice said with a smug tone.

"I understand sir," David said hanging the phone up.

He dialed his girlfriend's cell number and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello David, I trust my father told you I had left for the airport?" Emily said with a slight chuckle.

"Imagine my surprise when he did, now I need to reschedule my day off to come pick you up, should be easy enough with my boss, but a notice would have been nice," David said faking an angry tone.

"Well I wanted to surprise you, Daddy didn't even set up a driver fearing you would find out, he really does hate you," Emily responded with a tone that sounded like she was pouting like a five year old.

"Well the boss wants to set up a meeting in the morning, but I should be able to weasel out of it."

"You better or you'll be leaving your girlfriend at the Airport."

"I do have a racing partner, I could send her after you," David said sarcastically.

"You do that then, I've been waiting to meet this Akari girl you speak so highly of," Emily responded sounding dead serious.

"Alright, I'll give her a call as soon as I hang up from talking with you, I'll come too so you can get used to your car," the blonde responded to the jealous tone in the woman's voice.

They spoke awhile on the phone before David had to hang up and call Akari with the flight details and where to meet up with the couple, and calling his boss and swapping his day off.