A/N: Very eventful chapter coming up! As usual, I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts so, don't be shy (or lazy!) and let me know. ^_^

At any rate, thanks for reading!

Planetarium

Chapter Ten

'Aniki?' Keisuke insisted.

'I could ask you the same thing,' Ryosuke said.

'I asked you first,' Keisuke pointed out, using an unusually hard tone of voice.

Ryosuke observed his younger brother and realised that the person he had in front of him wasn't the usual carefree boy who had just turned seventeen and who still needed his help to do his homework, instead, he looked every bit like the hardened gangster he was.

'My friend Kuroki and I came here for a drive,' he finally explained.

'A drive?' Keisuke asked clearly not buying it.

'Yes,' Ryosuke insisted.

'Are you trying to tell me you don't know any of those people?' Keisuke asked him indicating the members of the Night Kids.

'Not really,' Ryosuke replied, 'however,' he added, 'I would prefer if there wasn't any trouble tonight.'

Keisuke glanced at his older brother staring at him through narrowed eyes.

'I understand,' he finally said.

'I knew you would,' Ryosuke replied.

'And I'll be waiting for you to explain to me what this is all about,' Keisuke added.

'I will,' Ryosuke promised.

'Alright,' Keisuke said then, talking to his large group of friends, he shouted, 'people: let's move out.'

'Keisuke-san…' a burly looking fellow tried to protest.

'Don't make me say it again,' Keisuke almost barked, 'we got the wrong place, the party isn't here.'

'Yes, sir,' the big guy replied.

Looking at his older brother one more time, Keisuke shook his head and, just as he was putting his helmet back on, Ryosuke thought he saw a small but proud smile appearing on the boy's handsome features and, for a fleeting moment, it made Ryosuke feel some unidentified but warm emotion in his heart which almost made him miss the rather spectacular fashion in which the twenty or so motorbikes left the parking space.

'We should go too,' Junichi told him finally finding his voice.

Ryosuke stared at him looking surprised to see him here, as if he'd actually forgotten all about the poor guy and, for the first time, he also noticed that everyone there was observing them with an indecent amount of curiosity. Even the guy called Nakazato seemed to be trying to make his mind up about whether to go and talk to them or not.

'Let's go,' Ryosuke decided.

Before Nakazato could move from where he was, both Junichi and Ryosuke got back onboard their cars and, a few moments later, everyone there watched them driving back downhill, travelling as fast as they could. They only stopped half an hour later when they reached the point of the road where Junichi would need to get into the expressway to head back to Kanagawa. There, Ryosuke saw the EG6 pulling to the side and, following suit, he turned the FC's engine off and, after making sure it was safe enough, he climbed out of it.

'Okay,' Junichi said, 'I can officially say that I'm no longer bored.'

'I'm glad to hear that,' Ryosuke replied with a hint of sarcasm.

'Seriously though,' Junichi continued, 'that gangster…'

'Don't call him that,' Ryosuke asked him, 'he's my younger brother.'

'Oh,' Junichi gasped then, he chuckled and said, 'and I thought Tsuyoshi was bad…'

'Who's Tsuyoshi?' Ryosuke asked.

'Rin's younger brother,' Junichi explained, 'he's quite a handful too and he's given Rin more than one headache.'

'I can imagine,' Ryosuke replied knowing very well what he was talking about.

'Anyway,' Junichi said, 'the fact that you're related probably saved our asses so, I'm grateful for that.'

'I didn't do anything,' Ryosuke insisted.

'It doesn't matter,' Junichi said, 'I'm just happy I get to go home with both my face and my car intact.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything to that, instead, he watched the guy get back in the EG6 after giving him a little wave. He too climbed into the FC and, turning its engine back on, Ryosuke tried to remember if Rin had ever mentioned having a younger brother. He couldn't but he found it interesting and a little unsettling to see that, yet again, there seemed to be something else they had in common.

He soon stopped thinking about that and, instead, he tried to come up with a plausible way to explain to Keisuke the reason why he and Junichi appeared to be involved in an illegal street race. He arrived home without having managed to find a good reason and he was only too happy to see that Keisuke's motorbike wasn't parked inside the garage. Leaving his FC there, he went up to his bedroom to think of a strategy and when a few hours later he heard the knock on his door, Ryosuke was fully prepared.

'Come in,' he said.

Keisuke entered the room and, sitting down on his older brother's bed, he looked up and said:

'Alright, I'm all ears.'

'Before that,' Ryosuke said calmly, 'can you explain to me what you and your friends were planning to do?

'Not much,' Keisuke replied shrugging his shoulders making Ryosuke notice that they looked broader, 'we just heard that there was some new people gathering up at Mt Myogi and we thought of joining the fun.'

Ryosuke stared at him in disbelief then, remembering what he'd decided, he asked him:

'Do you know what they were about to do?'

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied.

'And what do you think of that?' Ryosuke asked.

'What? Street racing?' Keisuke asked, 'it's alright, I guess.'

'And if I were to tell you that I'm trying to get into that world, what would you say?' Ryosuke said.

'Are you?' Keisuke asked.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied firmly then, he challenged him, 'does that disappoint you?'

'Disappoint me?' Keisuke asked frowning a little.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said, 'do you feel let down by me because I'm involved in such a thing?'

'What?' Keisuke gasped then, his lips curved into a grin and said, 'no way! I think it's super cool!'

'Really?' Ryosuke asked feeling slightly taken aback.

'Of course I do,' Keisuke said, 'it's about freaking time you did something…er…what's the word…'

'Unconventional?' Ryosuke supplied.

'Yeah,' Keisuke said, 'you work so freaking hard all the time. I'm surprised it's taken you so long for you to find some sort of escape valve or something to help you release all that tension you keep bottling up. Not that you need it but, you have my full support with this.'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said, 'I do appreciate that,' then, as an afterthought he added, 'would you want to join me?'

'Join you?' Keisuke asked now looking a little surprised.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said, 'we could both go to the gatherings together and next year you could get yourself a car and…'

'Aniki, please, spare me,' Keisuke interrupted him looking horrified, 'you know I hate cars, they're for…'

'Losers?' Ryosuke said a playful smile threatening to show up.

'Well,' Keisuke started then, he bit his lower lip and tried to fix his mistake: 'I guess some people might like them.'

'But not you,' Ryosuke said.

'Nah,' Keisuke confirmed, 'give me a motorbike any day of the week: they're much more agile, easier to park and they make a much better getaway vehicle which is awfully useful if you're being chased by the cops…'

'Alright, I get the picture,' Ryosuke interrupted him.

'Sorry,' Keisuke said with a sheepish smile, 'too much information, right?'

'Definitely,' Ryosuke replied.

'Alright,' Keisuke said, 'it's been a long day and I'm sleepy so, I'm off to bed.'

'Keisuke…'

'Don't worry,' the boy said getting up from the bed, 'I won't tell the parental units about the whole street racing thing. It's not like they would even listen to me anyway,' he added trying to crack a joke, failing badly.

'Keisuke…'

'Don't worry,' he interrupted offering him a reassuring smile, 'I prefer it now that they pretend I don't exist.'

'You know I'm always here for you, don't you?' Ryosuke said.

'I know,' Keisuke replied nodding once, 'good night, Aniki.'

'Good night,' Ryosuke replied.

Two weeks after that, on the second Friday of September, he joined Rin and Kaori at their usual ramen restaurant for lunch in what was becoming a less and less frequent occurrence. They had just placed their orders when Rin asked:

'Ryosuke, have you heard the latest rumour?'

'What rumour, Hojo-senpai?' Ryosuke asked back.

'I heard this from Junichi,' Rin explained, 'apparently there are quite a few people who won't shut up about some truly awesome racer who drives a white FC and who has connections with the yakuza.'

Ryosuke was so shocked hearing this that he put his glass of water back down onto the counter.

'And that's not all,' Rin said, 'there are a few people who go as far as saying that it's all some sort of myth the people from Gunma have created to scare racers from the other prefectures.'

'They can't be serious,' Ryosuke said.

'I know it's ridiculous but…' Rin stopped speaking when he heard his pager buzzing, pulling it out from his trousers' pocket, he checked it and, getting up from the stool he said, 'excuse me for a moment.'

Both Ryosuke and Kaori watched him walk to the back of the restaurant where they knew there was a public phone and while they waited, their orders arrived. Ryosuke thought they would wait for Rin to come back to start eating when he saw Kaori helping herself to some of her ramen, careful to make as little noise as she could.

'Is everything okay?' Ryosuke asked Rin when he returned.

'Yes,' Rin said taking the ceramic spoon so that he could start scooping the broth with it, 'my father told me he urgently needs me to help him with something so I'll be going to see him right after lunch.'

'But...' Kaori started.

'I know I said that we'd spend some time together,' Rin said, 'but it can't be helped, you understand, right?'

'Of course,' Kaori replied.

'Good girl,' Rin said smiling at her, 'now let's eat up or it'll get cold.'

They had just re-started eating Rin spoke again:

'I almost forgot,' he said, 'Ryosuke, can you please give Kaori a lift back home?'

Ryosuke nearly chocked himself with a piece of pork but, swallowing it as fast as possible, he forced himself to say:

'Sure.'

'Thanks,' Rin replied then, speaking to Kaori, he asked her, 'you don't mind, do you?'

'No, of course I don't,' the girl replied.

'Perfect,' a satisfied Rin said.

The two of them continued their conversation as if nothing had happened but, stealing a glance at Kaori, he noticed that the girl looked far from happy and, as it often happened while she was with her fiancé, she remained in complete silence while Rin and Ryosuke talked about the following day's race at the Nikko track.

'I don't think I'll be able to make it,' Rin told him, 'it depends on whatever my father wants us to do.'

'It's okay,' Ryosuke said, 'I know you're really busy these days.'

'That's putting it mildly,' Rin laughed, 'I just have so much to learn, you'd think that our four years here would prepare you for the residency but, seriously, you two can't even imagine how much more there is to learn.'

'You sound pretty excited though,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'I am,' Rin said, 'I've learned more in a month of induction programme than in all the time I've spent here.'

'Are you allowed to go near the patients?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Not yet,' Rin admitted, 'all I'm doing so far is learning about the hospital's administration and I'm reading up all the medical reports that I'm allowed to see. Some of the cases we've covered are simply fascinating.'

'I can imagine,' Ryosuke commented.

'I can't wait till I finish my fourth year so that I can start doing my first rounds,' Rin said.

'It's only six more months,' Ryosuke told him.

'That's right,' Rin said looking really pleased, 'and since I'm going to be so busy, I'm sure they'll just fly by!'

Ryosuke just nodded to that.

A few hours later and as they had agreed after they'd parted ways to go to their lectures, Ryosuke met up with Kaori at the car park. The girl was already waiting for him by the FC and she only smiled at him while he unlocked the doors. Kaori only started speaking once they were both settled onboard the Mazda, she then asked:

'Why don't we go somewhere else?'

'Kaori-san…'

'Come on, Ryosuke-kun,' she pleaded, 'I don't really want to go home just yet.'

'I promised Hojo-senpai that I would take you home,' Ryosuke said, 'and that's what I'm going to do.'

'Please,' Kaori begged, 'I just need a few minutes by the lake; it makes me feel calmer when I'm there.'

'Kaori-san…'

'Please,' she tried again, 'just ten minutes. I'll even cover the petrol we'll use to get up there.'

'Don't be silly,' Ryosuke said, 'it won't cost more than a few hundred yen.'

'Then I'll buy you a cup of coffee,' Kaori insisted, 'please, come on…I'll be a good girl, I promise.'

Letting out a frustrated sigh and even though he knew he was going to regret it, he nodded and gave in:

'Alright, ten minutes and then I'll take you straight home.'

'Thanks,' Kaori said her beautiful smile returning to her features.

Ryosuke drove his FC out of the car park and all the way up Mt Akagi's pass on their way to the Ono Lake. There, he stopped the car as close to the lake's shore as possible and watched as Kaori stepped out of the car.

'Come on,' she said, 'it's such a beautiful afternoon.'

Stopping the engine, Ryosuke climbed out of his FC just in time to see Kaori carelessly kicking her shoes off, leaving them right next to the Mazda and before he could even begin to protest, she started running towards the sandy beach by the lake and, once there, she started playing using her barefoot feet to splash in the water. The picture made Ryosuke curve his lips in an involuntary smile, one he removed the instant he became aware of it.

'Kaori-san!' he exclaimed, 'get out of the water, you'll get cold!'

'It's lovely,' she shouted back, holding her dress just a little higher, 'come here and see for yourself.'

'No, thank you,' Ryosuke said remaining by his car, 'I'm okay in here.'

'Ah, you're boring!' she laughed at him.

Less than two minutes later, Kaori stopped playing with the water and, instead, she just remained standing there looking at the lake with a vacant expression on her face. That made Ryosuke frown in worry and he was about to move towards her when she turned round and started walking back towards the car still looking a little too serious for Ryosuke's own peace of mind.

'It's so beautiful, isn't it?' she commented while she let her feet dry.

'We should go,' he insisted.

'Not yet,' Kaori said, 'my ten minutes aren't up yet.'

'Kaori-san…'

'I'm just so tired of pretending everything's fine,' Kaori suddenly said.

Ryosuke remained silent.

'You know,' the girl continued, 'I never fooled myself thinking that it would be easy but…'

She stopped talking and, before Ryosuke's brain even had the time to register that Kaori was crying, the girl crushed herself against his chest, grabbing the back of his shirt with her fists all while sobbing so loudly that it made Ryosuke look around to see if there was anyone around who could see them. Thankfully, they were alone but that didn't make him feel much better, instead, he remained there, frozen with sheer fear.

'…it's so hard!' Kaori cried, 'it's just too hard and I can't stand it anymore…'

'Kaori-san,' he finally managed to say, his voice sounding awfully strained, 'I…'

He never finished the sentence because, right then, Kaori's lips somehow found their way to his own and only an eternity later he realised that she was kissing him. An utterly horrified Ryosuke pushed himself away from her and, putting as much distance as he could between the two of them, he wiped his mouth with his hand and said:

'What in the heck are you doing?'

'Ryosuke…'

'Get in the car,' he barked.

'Ryosuke…'

'NOW!'

The girl winced visibly but Ryosuke was beyond caring. He had so many emotions whirling in his head that it was nothing short of a miracle he managed to climb into his car, let alone drive it all the way to Kaori's home. Thankfully, the girl was smart enough not to speak during the entire way and only when they arrived at the big house where her family lived, she tried to apologise for what she'd just done.

'I'm really sorry,' she said, 'I…'

'Kaori-san,' Ryosuke interrupted her refusing to look at her in the eye, 'I don't know what you were playing at back there and I honestly don't care but, I think it'll be better if, from now on, we don't see or talk to each other if Hojo-senpai isn't around.'

'Ryosuke…'

'Now, get out of the car, I want to go home,' Ryosuke ordered her.

Doing his best to ignore the devastated expression which appeared on her face, Ryosuke just drove off the instant she was out of the car, desperate to put as much distance between him and the girl as fast as he could. He only calmed down a bit once he was back in the safety of his own bedroom. There, he lied down on his bed covering his face with his arm while he tried to remove from his memory the last hour and a half.

He must have fallen asleep because when he woke up, he checked his watch and, to his horror, he saw that it was nearly four o'clock in the morning and that he hadn't even gone to Isesaki for his evening shift at the workshop. Checking his pager, he saw that Shuichi had sent him a message asking him to call him as soon as he could.

'Dammit,' he swore.

Ryosuke got up from his bed and, knowing that he needed to get as much sleep as possible, he removed his trousers and his shirt and got under the soft duvet. Setting the alarm to wake him three hours later, he forced his brain to shut down once again, hoping that he would not get any nightmares about a certain beautiful long haired girl.

At exactly seven o'clock in the morning, Ryosuke woke up with a massive headache. He forced himself out of bed and, opening his bedside table's top drawer, he took a couple of the aspirins he kept in there. Putting them in his mouth, he went to his en-suit bathroom and filled a glass with some tap water. Swallowing the pills, he removed the few garments he still had on and, stepping into the plate, he took a very long shower.

Half an hour later, a fully dressed and breakfasted Ryosuke picked up the phone to call Shuichi.

'Hello?' the man said.

'It's me,' Ryosuke replied.

'Oh!' Shuichi exclaimed sounding both happy and relieved, 'Fumihiro and I were so worried about you!'

'Sorry,' Ryosuke said, 'I'm also sorry I didn't show up yesterday, something…something came up.'

'It's okay,' Shuichi reassured him, 'you've already done everything you can for the race, haven't you?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'I just wanted to check the settings but that's not something we can't do at the track.'

'Speaking of which,' Shuichi said, 'Fumihiro and I are meeting up there in an hour, you'll join us too, right?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied, 'I'm leaving right now.'

'Okay,' Shuichi said, 'I'll see you there.'

Ryosuke hanged up the phone and, grabbing the keys to his FC, he went to the garage happy to see that Keisuke's CBR was parked there. Getting onboard his car, Ryosuke drove it down the lane and, a few moments later, he was driving towards the Tochigi prefecture. Half way through it, he decided to forget about the whole incident involving Kaori and he focused all of his attention on the upcoming race.

By the time he arrived at the Nikko circuit, he felt confident he was more or less back to normal and got confirmation of this fact when, greeting Shuichi and Hiroshi, neither of the two men noticed that something catastrophically bad had just happened to him. He was also happy to see that Shuichi had brought with him his super assorted toolbox and, very soon, his hands and mind were too busy to think of anything else.

'I think we're done,' Shuichi said twenty minutes later.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said, 'where's Fumihiro?'

'He's gone to do his job,' Shuichi replied, 'he's taking it very seriously, you know?'

'I see,' Ryosuke said.

Thanks to Shuichi's and Hiroshi's combined efforts Ryosuke soon reached the concentration level he needed to get through the day and, by the time he had to go to the pre-race meeting, he was calm enough to deal with the person who was quickly creeping up to the top of the very short list of people he truly disliked: Sudo Kyoichi.

'I see you're here,' the man sneered.

'You did ask rather nicely,' Ryosuke replied offering him a slight smirk.

'This time, the victory will be mine,' Kyoichi challenged him.

Ryosuke just nodded and, walking to the furthest possible chair, he sat down doing his best to ignore him; only an hour later, he had the immense satisfaction of crossing the line for the fifth and last of his qualifying laps knowing that he had just completed a masterpiece of a lap. Needless to say, Kyoichi looked furious but, somehow, that made Ryosuke feel ridiculously happy, even though he was very careful not to let it show on his face.

'You're in pole again!' Junichi exclaimed.

'When did you get here?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Just in time to see you trashing the track's record,' Junichi said, 'well done, mate!'

'Thank you,' Ryosuke said feeling slightly embarrassed.

'You're always too modest,' Hiroshi complained while Shuichi nodded his agreement.

Ryosuke was only too eager for the actual race to start and, even if it did behind schedule because the marshals had found some debris across one of the corners, at ten minutes past eleven Ryosuke was back onboard his beloved FC ready to start his second race in Nikko. He was well aware that Kyoichi's white E39A was right behind him in second place and that in third position there was a very fast looking blue Nissan 180SX which was driven by one of Kyoichi's friends.

Removing both cars from his mind, Ryosuke focused his attention on the track ahead of him and, once the marshal signalled the all-okay, he waited for the semaphore's red lights to turn green while he did one last quick check just to make sure everything was fine. A moment later, he glanced back at the semaphore and the instant the green lights came on Ryosuke took off with his car, heading to the first turn of the track.

He would never really know why but, some gut instinct made him check his wing mirrors and, just as he was about to slow down in preparation for the right-hander, he saw the Mitsubishi to his left and the Nissan to his right, both cars looking set on entering the corner at the same time as the Mazda. Ryosuke knew that it was physically impossible for all three cars to get around the corner without his FC getting sandwiched in the middle and, for this reason and sensing that it was the right thing to do, Ryosuke slammed his foot down onto the brake and, just then, he saw the E39A and the 180SX darting past him, heading into the corner going way too fast.

Inertia took care of the rest.

As if in slow motion, Ryosuke saw the moment when Kyoichi's Mitsubishi crashed against the S13, sending both cars out of the track spinning out of control. He was so startled by this that he almost missed the corner himself and only the FC's perfect balance allowed him to correct the trajectory so that he could exit the turn.

'What a pair of idiots,' he commented, his lips curving into a smile.

Thanks to Kyoichi's spectacular fail, Ryosuke claimed the win so easily that he found it a tad boring and was almost sorry to hear that Todou-san had ordered his two drivers to go home and reflect on the stupidity of what they had done. At any rate, Ryosuke was just too happy that he'd won again to bring himself to care and allowed his good mood to last all the way throughout the entire weekend.

Only when he returned to school on Monday he was painfully reminded of what had happened three days before. He then felt a brand new wave of angst hitting him while his brain went through the worst possible scenarios, the absolute worst one included Rin beating the crap out of him in front of the whole student body accusing him of being a home wrecker.

Parking his FC at the usual spot, he got out of the car looking around himself nervously. Seeing that the coast was clear, he started rushing towards the building where the lectures were held and had only started climbing the stairs when he heard a very familiar voice shouting his name. That made him freeze on the spot and, very slowly, he turned round to face his senpai.

'Good morning,' Rin said.

'Hi,' was all Ryosuke managed to say.

'I heard from Junichi,' Rin said, 'it seems like the race was perfect. I can't wait to see the footage.'

'Did he record it?' Ryosuke asked, happy to see he sounded almost normal.

'Yes, he did,' Rin confirmed, 'listen, I wanted to thank you again for that favour you did me last Friday.'

'It's okay,' Ryosuke said trying hard not to think of that day.

'Seriously,' Rin said, 'Kaori said you two got lost because she distracted you.'

Ryosuke knew that this was one of those moments when he had to keep his mouth firmly shut.

'I called her home to see if she was alright,' Rin explained, 'and I was surprised when her mother told me she hadn't arrived yet. Kaori called me later telling me that she had distracted you with her chatter and that she had made you miss the exit at the expressway, I hope that didn't cause you too much hassle.'

'No,' Ryosuke replied.

'That's good,' Rin said, 'I swear, Kaori can drive anyone up the walls sometimes…'

Once again, Ryosuke remained silent.

'Anyway,' Rin continued, 'I wanted to let you know that my father has put me in charge of the organisation of all his seminars, I can't tell you how happy I am about this but, unfortunately, this means we'll probably see each other even less than we do now.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' Ryosuke said honestly.

'I know,' Rin said, 'but there's something else I wanted to tell you.'

'What is it?' Ryosuke said.

'Well,' Rin said, 'as you know, I'll be finishing school in March and, after that I'll start my residency.'

'Yes, I know that,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'So,' Rin said offering him a smile, 'what would you say if I challenged you to a race then?'

'Are you serious?' Ryosuke asked temporarily forgetting all about Kaori.

'I am, 'Rin said firmly, 'I think that in six months from now and if you keep it up, you'll be ready to race me.'

Ryosuke did his best to take that as a compliment and, nodding once, he said:

'Alright, we've got a deal.'

'Perfect,' Rin said, 'now I've got to go and talk to Kaori's teachers, the poor thing is home with a really bad cold today.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything, instead, he watched his senpai go up the stairs while he thought that two positive things had come out from this whole sorry mess: one, he had finally managed to get Rin to recognise him as a rival; two, with his senpai out of the picture, he would have the perfect excuse to stay away from Kaori for good. Hopefully this would help him make it to the end of the academic year with some of his sanity intact.

To be continued…